Chapter 21: The Thirteenth Day

On the penultimate day of the program, the four pairs of guests were tasked with "renovating the garden" outside their respective cabins.

The production team provided bricks, cement, gravel, mulch, potting soil, and a large quantity of flower cuttings. The guests had two days to decorate the front yards of their villas. By now, the grass had been turned over and the ground leveled.

The small cabins for "Three Lives, Three Worlds" were sponsored by a resort, which hoped the flowers and plants planted by the guests would attract tourists and boost revenue.

Upon hearing the content of the challenge, the oldest guest, Jin Ranqiu, simply said, "Huh???" He was already forty-six years old.

However, despite his age, he received no special treatment from the production team. The only exception was the pianist—the crew dared not risk his hands, so after some consideration, they assigned a "garden assistant" to help them move the heavy bricks and stones.

After waking up and having a simple breakfast, Su Shengxin pulled Shang Yin to the table to plan the landscape. He pressed one hand on a sheet of white paper and scribbled symbols with a pencil in the other, muttering, "Hmm... we’re tight on time, so we can’t do too much. Let’s make two rectangular flower beds on the right—one here, and the other here... We can scatter white gravel around them and maybe stick in two windmills. Then, use wood chips to make a path leading to the window, and place a bench in front of it. Keep it simple, alright?"

He had searched for many design examples online the night before and felt he had gained some understanding.

Shang Yin sat beside him, leaning slightly, his elbow on the table and his chin resting on his hand. When Su Shengxin asked "alright," his gaze drifted lightly from the paper to Su Shengxin’s face, their eyes locking.

After a long moment, Shang Yin replied, "Alright."

Su Shengxin: "..."

Shang Yin wasn’t taking it seriously; Su Shengxin didn't want to bother with him anymore.

However, Shang Yin took the drawing and carefully marked it in various places, though perhaps to save strokes, he wrote in English: "gravel" here, "mulch" there, and "paver" over there. Su Shengxin: "..."

He was worried his husband would be accused of being pretentious.

Never mind, let it be. It wasn't him getting criticized. Shang Yin’s skin was thicker than a city wall; he clearly wasn't afraid of being criticized.

The two started working immediately.

Su Shengxin applied plenty of sunscreen, layering it on and not missing any corners, before putting on a sun hat.

Shang Yin teased him, "A true big star, indeed."

"Don't give me a bad name here," Su Shengxin retorted. "I'm just a small actor."

After watching the production team's instructional video a few times, the crew brought over a bucket of ready-to-use cement mortar.

Both Su Shengxin and Shang Yin were highly efficient. As soon as the mortar arrived, while the other groups were still dawdling, they started working according to their plan without hesitation. One was responsible for the horizontal rows and the other for the vertical, aligning the light gray bricks one by one to slowly outline a rectangular flower bed on the ground.

The bricks were only one layer deep and were embedded into the soil, so the soil inside the flower bed was at the same level as the ground outside.

During a break, Su Shengxin retreated to the shade, took off his hat, and fanned his neck with it.

Seconds later, Shang Yin walked over slowly, lowered his head, and tried to kiss him.

But Su Shengxin leaned back, dodging the kiss.

Shang Yin stood straight, frowning at him. He wasn't sure if Su Shengxin’s evasion was instinctive or something else. He even began to suspect that Su Shengxin’s acting over the past few days outweighed his sincerity.

However, Su Shengxin immediately laughed. He leaned in and planted a kiss on Shang Yin’s lips with a "muah" sound, then calmly turned back, put on his hat, and went back to work.

That smile made it clear he was just teasing Shang Yin.

Shang Yin stared at his back.

Once the flower beds were built, the production team brought over many flowers that were easy to propagate. They weren't in the best condition—leftovers from flower shops that would normally be discarded—but they were perfect for cuttings.

The two decided to start with geraniums.

Su Shengxin picked up a stem, estimated the length, and followed the video to select a piece about ten centimeters long with two nodes. Since this part was close to the flower, Su Shengxin chose the second and third nodes. He cut it straight at the top to remove the flower, and slanted at the bottom to help the roots absorb nutrients. He then trimmed off all the lower leaves, leaving only the two small ones at the very top, which looked quite beautiful.

He then soaked the cutting in a solution nearby to disinfect it—the color looked like potassium permanganate—and walked back to Shang Yin.

Shang Yin crouched down and used a long pencil to poke a small hole in the soil. He was wearing a T-shirt and sunglasses, and before crouching, he smoothed his pant legs in a slow, deliberate manner.

"Alright," Su Shengxin said, inserting the stem about two or three centimeters into the soil. "Shang Yin, look, about this deep. If it's too deep, it won't work—it'll rot. But if it's too shallow, it won't work either—it won't be enough. It has to be just right."

"..." Shang Yin paused and said, "Teacher Su."

Su Shengxin didn't pay much attention: "Hm?"

Shang Yin glanced at the camera and leaned into his ear, whispering, "Watch your phrasing."

Su Shengxin froze. He lowered his eyes, recalling what he had said for a few seconds, and realized he had said a lot of things like "too deep won't work, it'll rot, too shallow won't work, it's not enough, it has to be just right." He fell silent.

Shang Yin looked at him and chuckled softly.

After a while, Su Shengxin said solemnly, "Geraniums don't actually need rooting powder; that’s bad for the flowers."

Shang Yin dropped his expression and nodded: "Understood."

After planting a row, the two took another break.

Shang Yin asked for a kiss again, and this time Su Shengxin responded.

Their lips brushed against each other. Su Shengxin wanted to wrap his arms around Shang Yin’s neck, but Shang Yin, disgusted by his dirty hands, grabbed his wrists and pinned them behind his back, leaving Su Shengxin unable to move while he continued to kiss him.

From then on, they exchanged a kiss during almost every break. Sometimes it was just a fleeting peck, and other times it was lingering and affectionate.

Finally, they finished one flower bed.

"Done," Su Shengxin went into the cabin and returned with a watering can. "I put some rooting agent and fungicide in the water, following the ratios in the video. It should be fine. The resort's gardener will take care of them later. They should take root in about two weeks."

Shang Yin said, "Good. We'll come back to check on them then."

After watering, Su Shengxin stood there with his head tilted, wondering, "Everything we did was correct, right? You were watching too, weren't you? They should grow, right? I mean, it’s not possible for all of them to die, is it?"

That would be too embarrassing.

"The steps were correct, but the results are unknown," Shang Yin said, half-crouching in front of the flower bed. "But if they insist on dying, there's nothing we can do about it."

Su Shengxin laughed at that: "Fine. If they die, it’s because they insisted on dying."

He knew that this was the temperament that had always attracted him to Shang Yin. Unlike himself, very few people dared to defy him, which was how he had grown to be the person he was today.

Putting down the watering can, the two scattered gravel around the first flower bed. They looked at the effect, felt it was decent, and went back to shower and have lunch.

Su Shengxin took a nap while Shang Yin was in a video conference, and they started working again at 2:30 PM.

Because the work was purely mechanical, Su Shengxin didn't feel irritable. On the contrary, he felt quite satisfied watching the garden change bit by bit according to the plan.

Gradually, the second flower bed was also finished, planted with a different kind of flower.

Both of them worked efficiently, moving through the cuttings quickly without lingering on any single step. Even so, it took them nearly ten hours in total.

As the sun began to set, amidst the final glow of twilight, Su Shengxin hammered his lower back a few times. He looked at Shang Yin, who was strangely picking and choosing among some flower cuttings they hadn't selected, and asked, "Shang Yin, shall we stop here for today? We’ll have plenty of time tomorrow to scatter the wood chips and lay the gravel."

"Mm." Shang Yin suddenly stood up and walked toward him, holding the best flower he had just picked—a bright red one. He raised his hand and tucked the flower behind Su Shengxin's ear.

Among the many cuttings delivered, it was the most vibrant.

Su Shengxin was stunned again.

The sunlight was fading by then. Su Shengxin had taken off his hat, but he still had his sunglasses on the bridge of his nose. The red flower was caught by the frame of his glasses. Su Shengxin now possessed a very contradictory aura: dark hair, fair skin, sporting large sunglasses, looking dashing and free, yet with a bright, fresh red flower tucked beside his sunglasses.

The cameraman knew this was perfect footage and snapped away.

"..." Su Shengxin touched the flower but didn't remove it, continuing to pack up their tools.

...

Back at the villa, Su Shengxin took the red flower from his ear, found a glass vase, washed it, filled it with water, and placed the flower inside, admiring it for a while.

It was bright red and beautiful.

Shang Yin grilled a plate of lamb chops, and by the time they finished eating, it was already past nine o'clock.

"Shang Yin," Su Shengxin asked, "let's go to bed early tonight? We can wake up earlier tomorrow and start earlier. That way we'll have time to perfect the details of the garden."

Shang Yin listened to everything Su Shengxin said: "Alright. You go wash up first."

Because he was exhausted, Su Shengxin took a slightly long shower. The hot water washing over his body truly helped wash away the fatigue.

After finishing, Su Shengxin cleaned the bathroom and walked out while drying his hair, only to find Shang Yin crouching in front of an ottoman with a basin of clear water on the floor.

Su Shengxin asked, "Shang Yin?" What are you doing?

Shang Yin glanced at him and said, "Teacher Su, sit."

Su Shengxin was confused: "Huh?"

Shang Yin swirled his hand through the clear water and asked, "You must be very tired today. Soak in some hot water, then I'll apply some essential oil and give you a massage."

"Ha, thanks." Su Shengxin became interested. He walked over, slipped one foot out of his fluffy slipper, and dipped it into the water.

But as soon as he dipped it in, Su Shengxin hissed, "It's hot!"

He tried to pull his foot out, but Shang Yin gripped his ankle firmly. His voice was steady as he said, "It’s supposed to be hot. I already checked the temperature."

Su Shengxin resisted, and the two stood in a stalemate. The clear water steamed slightly. Shang Yin held his ankle, his instep flushed red from the heat, and water droplets slid down his toes into the basin. As Shang Yin looked down, he saw another drop of clear water disappear into the basin without a trace.