Showbiz Scandal: The Official Announcement of My Ex and Myself-Chapter 288: Xie Qingci Has Better Stamina

Yu Xia stood up, and Xie Qingci took the opportunity to flip over and sit on the ground, his arms supporting him from behind, opening his collar and gasping for air.

His chest was faintly visible, a thin sheen of sweat on his face, Adam’s apple moving up and down.

A bit sexy.

Ling Luo, who had fallen off, looked at them enviously: "You’re done already?"

She coughed and turned to look at them: "Yeah, Xie Qingci has good stamina."

This comment implied that Luo Sheng didn’t have such stamina, didn’t it?

Luo Sheng, with a grim face, adjusted his position to start over. This time, Ling Luo realized how difficult this task was for him; even the act of sitting was done cautiously.

"Don’t worry, baby, we’ll take it slow. Xie Qingci’s stamina isn’t normal, don’t overthink it."

Luo Sheng gritted his teeth, looking at Xie Qingci, who was resting. After doing over sixty weighted push-ups, Xie Qingci’s hands didn’t even tremble, clearly he had more stamina than them.

"I thought idols were supposed to maintain a slimmer figure. For appearances, I don’t usually dare to train too much," Luo Sheng said to save face.

Still panting, Xie Qingci was answered nonchalantly by Yu Xia: "There are plenty of idols with six-pack abs and chest muscles that show well on camera. Young people should exercise more, being skinny isn’t the only truth, having a good physique is. Who wouldn’t like a male idol with a good physique? Trust me, no one likes a weakling." 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Luo·Weakling·Sheng: "..."

Ling·Girlfriend Fan·Luo instinctively looked at Luo Sheng’s abdomen, then at Xie Qingci’s.

Luo Sheng’s face turned green.

Xie Qingci pulled his jacket to cover his abdomen, then called out to Yu Xia: "Sister, can I have some of your water?"

The water bottle was full, but he assumed it was Yu Xia’s to use.

Yu Xia nodded, took out the water bottle from her backpack, unscrewed it, and handed it to him.

"Drink slowly."

During this time, Luo Sheng, still in disbelief, tried again. But having already exerted himself and feeling the strain again after a pause, it was even harder than the first time.

Ling Luo bit her lip, feeling embarrassed to count out loud.

Yu Xia, not particularly interested, waited for Xie Qingci to catch his breath, then followed the drone’s prompt and returned to the sign-in machine to retrieve their clue and Fast Forward Card.

The clue was an aerial photograph of a mountain, lush and verdant, with no distinguishing features.

This marked the location of their next task station, but without a clear location or direction, it was hard to find the destination.

Xie Qingci suddenly leaned in, pointing with his finger at the side of the mountain in the photo.

"Here, the trees on this side of the mountain are different, uniformly planted and even from this distance you can tell the trunks are straight with no excess branches. This should be a shelterbelt."

Yu Xia listened as she subtly edged away; being close to him felt hot as his body was radiating heat.

"Then we’ll look for it based on this feature." She tucked the photo into her bag, looked up at the surrounding mountains.

"The mountains here don’t seem like it, probably further away. Which direction do you think we should head?"

Xie Qingci pointed toward the area where they’d just completed their task: "Over there."

"Okay." She didn’t ask further or question him, trusting his suggestion by heading in that direction, giving him face.

Heading over to where they’d been, Ling Luo and the others still hadn’t completed their task.

Their card task was different, with fifty push-ups and a time limit extended to twenty minutes.

Luo Sheng was already drenched in sweat, his face flushed red, as Ling Luo cautiously sat on him.

Just as he completed the eighteenth, about to count the nineteenth, Luo Sheng’s hand trembled, his form broke, and with a "whoa" from Ling Luo, she fell backward.

Her legs still draped over Luo Sheng’s waist, and when she fell, her neck got scratched by the grass, irritating her so much that she hurriedly got up, frowning and softly complaining: "It hurts, my clothes are dirty too."

Luo Sheng’s expression wasn’t good, finally unable to contain his temper, he complained back: "Can’t you hold on tighter? It’s not that hard just sitting there, now we have to start over again!"

Ling Luo opened her mouth, feeling a bit aggrieved.

Yu Xia, who had just approached, furrowed her brows at these words.

Then she twisted the cap of the half-drunk water bottle, handed it to Xie Qingci without turning her head, and strode over to pull Ling Luo up, addressing Luo Sheng with a cool indifference:

"Is this her fault? You’re the one who couldn’t stabilize yourself first. If you think sitting on top is so easy then you do it; at least if she couldn’t do fifty push-ups, she wouldn’t take it out on you."

Luo Sheng’s face turned blue and red, unable to reply. Ling Luo instinctively wanted to smooth things over, only for Yu Xia to let go of her hand and say to her:

"What’s the use of red eyes? This task is clearly unachievable. If you let him continue, once all the time is wasted and his stamina’s depleted, when the chaser comes you’ll be caught like turtles in a jar."

Both of them were scolded, but seeing Yu Xia’s serious expression, they didn’t dare talk back.

Xie Qingci, head lowered, twisted the cap back on with a smile, unfazed by her interference.

He took two steps forward, lazily calling her: "Sister, let’s go."

Yu Xia gave a disappointed glance at Ling Luo, making her shiver, before bypassing them and moving on.

After they had walked a distance, Xie Qingci asked her: "Why remind them? Wouldn’t it be better with one less competitor?"

Yu Xia surveyed the surrounding hills, contemplating their shapes as she casually said: "I just like meddling. If you’re going to get scolded after getting into a relationship and all you can do is cry, I really don’t see what’s so great about being in love."

Sounding rather helpless, she clicked her tongue and added: "Relationships shouldn’t be about physicality or gender defining strength or weakness; why do some girls automatically assume a subordinate position?"

Xie Qingci replied nonchalantly: "Maybe they prefer that obvious power dynamic in the relationship. Do you think it’s Luo Sheng’s fault?"

"Both of them are at fault. But though Ling Luo likes to complain, she’s never complained about Luo Sheng, whereas he’s quick to lose his temper at her when he’s not feeling good... whatever, meddling leads to criticism. My agent is watching, better just say ’it’s none of my business’."

Xie Qingci didn’t pursue the topic further.

The sun was overhead, and by late March, the sunlight was nearly as hot as midsummer. Without any structures for shade, after walking for half an hour, Yu Xia was sweating all over.

She panted as she looked up, the sunlight glaring, scorching the earth. The occasional breeze didn’t bring lasting relief, quickly replaced by the heat.

All around were low hills, but they were far away. The expanse of this plain was unknown, yet after such a long walk, they still hadn’t crossed it.

Having taken off her jacket, she eyed the forest ahead, commenting: "I wonder if the chaser has reached that station, will they follow the same direction?"

"They won’t, we deliberately took a detour. Can you continue? Let’s rest in the forest ahead and figure out the lunch situation," Xie Qingci said, reaching out to support her.