Showbiz Scandal: The Official Announcement of My Ex and Myself-Chapter 287: Weighted Push-Ups

"Check-in completed! Please choose the task you want to complete!"

A row of selection boxes appeared on the machine screen, divided into fast-track tasks, card-drawing tasks, and regular tasks. Each regular task corresponded to different points.

Yu Xia and Xie Qingci glanced at each other, quickly choosing the fast-track task first.

However, their eye contact evidently wasn’t quite on point, as their hands collided when they reached to tap the screen.

Xie Qingci’s hand covered the back of Yu Xia’s hand for a moment, then he quickly withdrew it.

The surrounding onlookers’ gazes on them carried a hint of curiosity. Xie Qingci’s earlier statement to reporters, "I just like someone," had left a deep impression.

At this moment, everyone was observing their every move with the feeling of watching a neighbor pursue his girlfriend.

Of course, apart from them, the bullet screen was even more lively.

[I still haven’t recovered from Xie Qingci’s bold confession just now]

[The other guests all looked like they just witnessed a sweet moment]

[Wow! Every move they make feels like candy to me, the kind where an unrequited love for the goddess gets discovered - a bittersweet lemon candy]

[This guy ranks as the number one in the entertainment circle. Honestly, what seems low-key is actually high-profile. For so many years, no celebrity dared to directly say they like someone like this]

[It makes me feel like I’m watching a teenage love drama about a boy’s secret crush]

[Their hands! They touched! Xie Qingci’s awkward look is really endearing]

[He was bold enough to declare his affection for everyone, but now he’s shy when he touches her. Oh, I’m gonna lose control and start yelling]

[If Changhui allows him to work properly, then dating isn’t impossible]

[Do you think it’s fine? Did you ask Yu Xia? What’s the big deal with a high-profile confession? There are at least ten, if not a hundred, men who confessed to Yu Xia before. Can’t the newcomer stop riding on Xia’s fame?]

[Exactly, have you considered the high quality of Xia’s romantic partners? Can Xie Qingci really match up? A top-tier female celebrity and a rookie idol, it seems like Yu Xia’s getting the short end of the stick]

[It’s my first time seeing a female celebrity being told she’s not a good match by male fans and the male being told he’s not good enough by female fans. Xia is amazing]

[Yu Xia shines on her own; isn’t silent admiration enough?]

[...]

Compared to Xie Qingci’s actions, Yu Xia remained quite calm. She tapped into the fast-track task section; the task content wasn’t directly displayed but a task card was ejected from inside the machine.

She picked the card, ignoring the others’ stares, and without looking, stuffed it into her bag. Taking Xie Qingci along, she intended to distance themselves from the group first.

The athlete brother loudly asked, "You don’t even know which direction the next task point is. What if the route you leave on is opposite the correct direction?"

Yu Xia waved a hand: "Doesn’t matter. Just moving first will make it harder for the chasers acting half an hour later to catch up with us."

The opinion of others wasn’t important to them; they walked roughly 500 meters away before she took out the task card from her bag, signaling to Xie Qingci to look at it together.

"Let’s see how hard this task is—a person does push-ups while the other sits on his/her back to add weight... Completing over sixty-six consecutive ones without stopping in ten minutes meets the standard."

After reading it dryly, Yu Xia fell silent.

She suspected the card-exuding machine was operated by a real person; otherwise, how did they get assigned such a task?

"Can you do sixty-six push-ups in one go?" She raised an eyebrow, somewhat doubtfully looking at Xie Qingci.

Xie Qingci had already taken off his backpack, rolled up his long sleeves, and got into position. Then, he just looked at her and said, "Come."

"...Alright."

She circled around him twice, deciding to sit on his back from the right side.

"Are you okay? I shouldn’t be too heavy, right?"

"It’s alright," Xie Qingci said without a hitch, lowering himself peacefully, "Sit tight and help count the numbers."

"Sure."

Her feet were suspended, with both hands propping up at her sides, pressing against his lower back and shoulders.

"One, two, three... Slow down a bit, four..."

With his motions of dipping and rising, Yu Xia moved along.

Her palm pressed against his back, through the thin fabric, easily feeling the vigorous muscles, and the temperature seemed hot enough to make her palm sweat.

Eventually, the continuous movements indeed became tough, his breath started to quicken, and a heat emanated from him.

Yu Xia tried hard to focus, gazing at a crooked grass stalk in front of her, earnestly counting out the numbers.

"Forty-eight, forty-nine... Keep going, not many left."

As soon as she finished speaking, voices came from behind them.

It was Ling Luo and the badminton athlete brothers.

Upon seeing them, Yu Xia felt a moment of discomfort, almost wanting to ask Xie Qingci to pause.

But Ling Luo ran quickly, coming near with the task card and loudly said, "Are you guys almost done? What a coincidence, we also chose a card-drawing task, and it’s also a push-up task! I don’t think this task is too hard—Baby, look at Xie Qingci doing it effortlessly; you should be able to do it as well, no problem!"

Luo Sheng was inwardly pained, wanting to say he’s not the same as Xie Qingci, but didn’t want to admit defeat on camera. So, he just forced a smile, saying, "Let’s try it first."

Ling Luo happily pushed Luo Sheng down to the ground, and as soon as she sat on his back, Yu Xia saw clearly that Luo Sheng almost lost his breath and collapsed.

The athlete brothers nearby had it a bit easier; the only tougher part for them was the weight, which was not the one hundred pounds of a girl, but a male’s one hundred sixty pounds.

Yu Xia, like sitting on a boat bobbing with the waves, lifted her chin while grooving to the challenging push-up efforts of Luo Sheng next to her, subtly suggesting to Ling Luo, "Actually, the task card didn’t state that the person doing the push-ups had to be a guy."

Ling Luo genuinely seemed not to understand: "I saw that. Maybe it’s thought that one team’s girl might be stronger than the boy. But clearly, not in our case. Baby, that’s three, keep going!"

Luo Sheng’s cheeks were puffed up.

"You’re really... Hey, Xie Qingci, how many were we at again? Oh no, I forgot the last number!"

Xie Qingci, adjusting his breath, said, "Don’t worry, I’m counting too; this is the fifty-third one."

"Alright, alright. Don’t talk, just focus."

The veins in his neck were tightly stretched.

For the final few, his pace slowed, while Yu Xia, nervously counting, glanced sideways.

Compared to Xie Qingci’s standard, Luo Sheng’s form seemed a bit off; his waist sagged, looking like he might lose his balance and kneel any second.

Sure enough, when Ling Luo counted to sixteen, Luo Sheng just fell flat on his stomach.

Right then, Xie Qingci pushed up one last time, right on sixty-six, meeting the mark.