The Fake Player's Guide to Getting Exposed

A second-chance romance between two supposedly innocent playboys. A sporty motorcycle-racer bad boy on the bottom × an art student turned gorgeous young artist on the top

Seven years ago, Yu Chen was a sports student. He fell into a wonderful first love with Qiao Mu, an art student, but in the end, they still went their separate ways.

Seven years later, Yu Chen returned from Spain as a motorcycle racer for a professional team. Because he was ridiculously good-looking, he also signed on as a content creator for a platform.

Qiao Mu had become a well-known illustrator in China. Whenever he held a signing, his fans would line up from the top floor of Xidan Book Building all the way down to the third basement level.

The platform was up to no good. It brought these two people, who had nothing to do with each other, together and stirred up a couple pairing to attract fans. But when they met:

One gritted his teeth. "It's an honor to meet you, Mr. Yu."

The other bared his teeth. "It's an honor to meet you too, Teacher Qiao!"

The host, completely baffled: "You two know each other?"

Both at once: "No."

Yu Chen even said sarcastically, "I'm just a guy who rides motorcycles. How would I know an artist like Teacher Qiao, who is accomplished in both virtue and art?"

Fans in the livestream comments: ...These two definitely know each other!

After the livestream ended, Qiao Mu blocked him in the lounge. "Your ears are still so sensitive. You've been alone all these years, so nights must be rough, right?"

Yu Chen: "Nonsense! I've had twenty-one boyfriends in the last three years. I've been having the time of my life every night. You're the one who's been single all these years. You must be lonely, right?"

Qiao Mu: "Not really. I have enough people interested in dating me to fill the road from here to Sanlitun."

Yu Chen: "Sanlitun? I could fill Wanda Plaza. You're really good at flattering yourself."

And so, the weekly livestream somehow turned into a show where two big shots took turns making snide remarks about each other.

*

A poll in the art district called #WhoWouldYouWantToDate# suddenly went viral. Qiao Mu topped the rankings, and the comments section erupted in a flurry of enthusiastic squealing.

User [Jian'an]: "Squeal! Qiao Meiren's hands aren't hands, they're spring willows along Su Causeway in West Lake!" (Eight hundred words of praise omitted.)

Yu Chen: Hmph. Those hands are vicious in a fight.

User [Jian'an No. 2]: "And a gentlemanly menace like Qiao Meiren must be amazing in bed. I want to see the cold-and-distant type lose control of himself, squeal!"

Yu Chen passionately replied to [Jian'an No. 2]: "He's not cold and distant. He just can't perform."

All the fans: !!!

Really? We don't believe you. Unless you admit you've tried!

Yu Chen glanced over and realized, damn, he'd posted from the platform's official account.

*

With things getting this rowdy, the platform was at a loss. If it came to it, they could cancel the show and replace the two men with mixed-gender pairs, splitting them up into couples.

So, just before the next livestream, they hastily posted on Weibo that the two guests couldn't make their schedules work and the show was on hiatus.

The fans were in tears: This is too much. We really liked watching them bicker.

But then Qiao Mu posted on Weibo: He and I [picture of Yu Chen eating a donut]

Yu Chen reposted it: Him and me [picture of Qiao Mu drinking black coffee]

The fans went wild: These two are definitely together now! Platform, come out and take your beating! Didn't you say their schedules didn't work? Get them back on the livestream right now, or I'll come after you with a knife!

The platform's publicity team: Could you two please stop sabotaging us next time!

1. A first-love couple, one-on-one. Neither had anyone else during their breakup. They're both hopeless romantics who suffered for love.

2. After reuniting, they pretend to have plenty of romantic experience, so they're also two innocent fake playboys. (Maybe it's just a man's competitive nature at work.)

3. The phrase in the blurb, "XX's hands aren't hands, they're..." comes from an internet meme.

4. Memories of high school will appear in brief flashbacks, rather than long sections interrupting the main storyline.

5. The motorcycle racing events can be treated as fictional.

Added May 25, 2022

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