The check-in at the Burj Al Arab went very smoothly. Although their budget was limited and they chose a more affordable option, the hotel’s level of luxury was still uncompromising. The room was a duplex suite with an upper and lower level, and even the bath products were full-sized Hermès. This made the girls sigh in admiration, saying, “What we brought isn’t even as nice as what the hotel provides.”
There were two large beds upstairs, naturally meant for the four girls. The boys planned to push the sofas together on the first floor to make their sleeping arrangements. The sofas were big enough anyway, and there was plenty of space—one room was more than enough. Perhaps it was because of this kind of communal living, combined with everyone having relatively easygoing personalities and not too much scheming or calculation, that Zuo Ning quickly blended in with the group.
And so, the image of Zuo Ning in everyone’s mind—originally that of an elegant little prince—collapsed completely into that of a goofy young guy. He was incredibly rowdy and energetic, which unfortunately made the cameraman assigned to follow him suffer. While other celebrities could barely drag themselves to a chair to rest, Zuo Ning still had the energy to wander all over the place.
In a place like Dubai, what’s most abundant in the Middle East? Sand. Even though the streets in the main city area were extremely clean and well-maintained, to someone as sensitive as Zuo Ning, the air still felt like it had sand in it. Although all the funds were controlled by Chu Hang, it wasn’t possible for everyone to just ask him for money every time they wanted to do something. So, aside from the major expenses being centrally managed, each person was given about a hundred dirhams. But Chu Hang always gave the least to Zuo Ning, because Zuo Ning simply couldn’t help himself from going out and splurging, unlike the rest of the team who would rather lie still and conserve energy.
Everyone joked that Chu Hang was practically Zuo Ning’s nanny, having to manage every little thing for him.
Chu Hang didn’t really stop Zuo Ning from always running around. He knew the cameraman’s assistant was someone from Lu Chenghe’s side, so there was no need to worry about safety. In fact, there were even benefits to his wandering. For some reason—maybe Middle Easterners just had a particular fondness for someone like Zuo Ning—people kept offering him food and asking to take photos with him. Once, when the group was eating out together, two little girls even walked up, each holding a small cake, saying they wanted to give them to him. His popularity was truly unmatched.
So when they finally reached a point of scraping the bottom of the barrel, with two days left before they could use their own money for shopping and spending, and less than 300 dirhams left between them, everyone lay back on the sofas with silent sighs.
“Do you think we should check out early? If we save on the room cost, maybe it’ll last us the next two days.”
“If we check out, where would we sleep tonight? On the streets? That’d probably make us the first ever group of artists in a show to actually end up homeless on camera because we ran out of money.”
A few of the girls remained cheerful and said, “Sure, sure! Let’s go explore at night. There are so many beaches here. We can rent a few tents and get through the night.”
But the oldest among them, Zhou Xicheng, immediately shot down the idea. “It’s fine for the guys, but the girls really shouldn’t be out on the streets so late at night.”
Seeing that no one said anything else, Zuo Ning quietly tugged at Chu Hang’s sleeve. “So… are we checking out now?”
Chu Hang thought for a moment and said, “Let’s first look around and see if we can find a cheap place nearby. If we can, then we’ll check out. Otherwise, if we check out now and end up not finding a place to stay, that’ll be a problem. As for now…” As he spoke, he stuffed the remaining few hundred dirhams into Zuo Ning’s hand. “Pick someone and go out for a walk. See what you can find for lunch. Best case, use your charm and get food that’s worth more than what we’ve got, so everyone can eat their fill.”
Zuo Ning immediately took the money with enthusiasm. “Got it! Even if we’re broke tomorrow, we’re going to eat well today!”
With that, he directly pulled the oldest, Zhou Xicheng, and the youngest girl, An Xin, out the door.
Although “Dubai” instantly makes people think of a land of tycoons, the cost of living here wasn’t actually as sky-high as imagined. It wasn’t true that everything cost a fortune, or that a single bottle of water would break the bank. At the supermarket, a bottle of mineral water only cost one to two dirhams, which, when converted to RMB, was pretty standard. So with around 300 dirhams, if they really wanted to buy food for all eight people, it was actually doable.
Of course, the goal now was to save wherever possible, so the three of them headed straight to the supermarket to see if there were any ready-made hot meals for sale. Ideally, they could also buy some bread—longer shelf life and more filling.
While comparing prices, Zuo Ning seemed to catch sight of someone familiar out of the corner of his eye. Then, turning toward the camera, he asked, “I think I know someone who could treat me to a meal. If I get free food, does that count as breaking the rules?”
The cameraman glanced at the assistant, who then contacted the director’s team. After some back-and-forth, they got the green light. As long as he didn’t spend any of his own money within the allotted time, getting a free meal was fair game—it counted as using his own resourcefulness.
As soon as the assistant nodded, Zuo Ning immediately put down the two cartons of milk he’d been comparing and dashed toward the man browsing meat in the nearby section. “Taylor!”
Taylor looked up to see a boy running toward him with an angelic, radiant smile, and he grinned widely in return. “Hey, A-Ning! What a coincidence!”
Taylor was Lu Chenghe’s childhood friend and Lou Jiu’s little lover—well, not so little anymore, but he had been when they first met. At the time, Taylor was only twenty-one, while Lou Jiu was already thirty—a full nine years older. With a saying that every three years marks a generational gap, they were spanning three of those gaps.
Taylor fell in love with Lou Jiu at first sight—one look and he was utterly captivated, the kind of head-over-heels obsession that left him completely lost. He chased Lou Jiu all the way from the UK to China, and in order to cut off any chance of rejection, he sold off everything he owned in the UK and declared he was going to settle in China with Lou Jiu.
Taylor’s grandmother was Chinese, so he was technically half-Chinese and half-British—but honestly, he didn’t look all that mixed. He had a head of soft, dark brown curls, and when he smiled, two deep dimples appeared on his cheeks. In terms of looks alone, he was definitely handsome, and when paired with someone as stunning as Lou Jiu, they made quite the striking couple. Most importantly, he treated Lou Jiu like a deity, as if Lou Jiu were his god. Whenever Lou Jiu was around, Taylor’s eyes simply couldn’t see anything else.
Zuo Ning had always thought his own love for Lu Chenghe was already intense enough, falling for him without hesitation, even across racial lines. But compared to Taylor’s devotion to Lou Jiu, it simply didn’t measure up.
Anyway, the two had been in an on-again, off-again entanglement for years, and it wasn’t until a couple of years ago that they officially got together. Everyone in their circle had witnessed this epic, moving love story of one man relentlessly pursuing another. Watching how much Taylor loved Lou Jiu, even Lu Chenghe and the others had come to accept him. It was just that Lou Jiu himself probably couldn’t fully let go of the past—there was a knot in his heart. But faced with a love as reckless and wholehearted as Taylor’s, there were few who could truly resist it—especially someone like Lou Jiu, who had given so much for so many years and longed deeply to be loved in return.
As for Lou Jiu’s ex, he probably had thought Lou Jiu would never leave him. He had only seen Taylor as some lonely-boy side project—a little wolf cub Lou Jiu kept around during moments of weakness—and never took him seriously. It wasn’t until last year, when Taylor and Lou Jiu got married, that the ex finally realized some people really do leave.
But it was already too late for regret. No matter how much he begged or repented, even offering to give up everything for Lou Jiu, once someone had tasted that kind of pure, untainted love, who would ever look back at the person who had left them so wounded? Eventually, tired of the ex’s harassment, Lou Jiu simply took Taylor and began traveling the world together.
They’d actually met up over the New Year. At the time, Lou Jiu mentioned he wanted to go to Moldova to drink red wine. Who would’ve thought they’d run into each other now in Dubai?
Zuo Ning pointed at the camera and said to Taylor, “I’m filming a show right now. Budget travel in Dubai. At this point, we’ve only got 300 dirhams left, but we’ve got eight mouths to feed.” He finished speaking and looked at Taylor with hopeful, expectant eyes.
During those years of relentlessly pursuing Lou Jiu, Taylor had mastered Chinese to the point of near perfection. When he spoke, you’d never guess he wasn’t a native-born Chinese. So when he heard Zuo Ning say that, he immediately gave a dramatic wave of his hand: “No problem! Eat on me today—get whatever you want! Ah Jiu will be so happy to see you!”
Chu Hang hung up Zuo Ning’s call and turned to the group who were still searching for cheap hotels nearby. “Our little lucky star has worked his koi magic. We’ve got lunch and dinner covered.”
Everyone quickly looked over at him. Chu Hang stood up and straightened his clothes. “Let’s go. Time to feast at a rich friend’s table.”
They had been scrimping and saving for days, budgeting every dirham just to have fun, so this meal was a rare moment to eat freely without worry. Taylor knew Zuo Ning’s appetite well, so in the end, he bought three full shopping carts of food. They even needed help from three of the show’s camera assistants to carry everything back.
After everyone had eaten their fill at lunch, they went back to the hotel to check out. With the refunded room fee in hand, they finally felt a bit more financially relaxed. Since they’d be having dinner at Zuo Ning’s friend’s place that evening, everyone chipped in to buy some food to bring along. It just didn’t feel right to freeload completely.
When evening came, that was a proper feast. On the long table set out in the courtyard, there were both Chinese and Western dishes in abundance. Off to the side, a grill had already been set up, along with marinated meats ready for barbecuing. Most importantly, the table was overflowing with alcohol.
During their days in Dubai, no one had touched a drop. In Dubai, without a proper license, you’re not allowed to drink in public. Plus, alcohol was expensive, and none of them had money to spare. But now, at Zuo Ning’s friend’s place, they could eat and drink freely. It was as joyful as celebrating the New Year.
Zuo Ning couldn’t hold his liquor very well, and both Lou Jiu and Chu Hang, who knew his nature all too well, kept a close eye on him. Once he passed a certain limit, they wouldn’t let him drink anymore. With Lu Chenghe not here, who knew whether anyone else could keep him under control if he got too wild.
As the rest of the group got tipsy and scattered—some sitting in the yard chatting, some singing in the living room—Zuo Ning slipped off to a bedroom to video call Lu Chenghe. It was a little past 10 p.m. on their side, which meant it was around 6 p.m. back in China. Zuo Ning’s cheeks were flushed red as he looked at Lu Chenghe through the screen. The moment he saw him, he nearly kissed the phone out of reflex.
“Chenghe, Chenghe, I miss you so much.”
Watching him speak with a slightly slurred tongue and dazed eyes, Lu Chenghe furrowed his brow slightly. “You’ve been drinking?”
Zuo Ning held up his pinky finger: “Just a little. My sister-in-law’s watching me, and so is Brother Lou Jiu. They won’t let me drink.”
“Lou Jiu?”
Zuo Ning quickly nodded. “Yeah! What a coincidence, right? I ran into Brother Lou Jiu and Taylor. You don’t even know—we were totally out of money, only had 300 dirhams left, and we still have two more days before we can use our own money. If I hadn’t bumped into Taylor today, I’d have been eating dry bread for lunch. Do I look like I’ve gotten skinnier? I’ve been eating so little these past few days. I even wake up hungry in the middle of the night, and there’s no one to make me a midnight snack.”
As he spoke, his eyes turned red with grievance. He had already missed Lu Chenghe terribly ever since they were apart, and now, on top of that, he had to go hungry. He might’ve been able to hold it in if he didn’t say it out loud—but once he did, and with alcohol in his system, all the pent-up feelings exploded. He almost couldn’t stop himself from crying.
Seeing that pouty little face so pitiful it looked like it could hang an oil kettle, Lu Chenghe let out a helpless smile. “So… is it fun out there? Did anything interesting happen?”
Zuo Ning plopped down on the floor, lying half across the bed with his big head resting right in front of the phone screen. He thought for a bit, then beamed. “I’ve got great luck with people. Everywhere I go, someone’s offering me food. The other day, these twin little girls were having a birthday party, and they gave me cake—just me, no one else got any.”
Under Lu Chenghe’s intentional topic shift, Zuo Ning began recounting every little detail of his past few days. One story after another, until he eventually talked himself to sleep. Lu Chenghe looked at the now-sleeping Little Pudding and couldn’t help but reach a hand out toward the screen, as if he could somehow touch the person on the other side.
Little Pudding missed him. How could he not miss Little Pudding, too? In all these years, that little guy had never been apart from him for this long.
Chu Hang came in and saw Zuo Ning twisted into an awkward position. He couldn’t help but sigh. This was him after they’d controlled how much he drank. If they hadn’t, who knows what kind of state he’d be in. Seeing that Lu Chenghe was still on the video call, Chu Hang picked up the phone and said, “I’ll take good care of him. Don’t worry.”
Lu Chenghe replied, “If anything comes up, contact me.”
Chu Hang asked, “Have things on your end all been taken care of?”
“More or less.”
Chu Hang nodded. “That’s good, then. I’ll hang up now and get him into bed.”
After ending the video call, Chu Hang called in the crew from the production team to install the cameras. They still had to film something, after all. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be anything to edit later. And with this whole group of little drunkards, who knows, it might turn out to be the highlight of the episode.
