Demon Consort Runs into the Beijing Crown Prince - Chapter 39

Early the next morning, Chu Muyun dragged his suitcase into the dormitory.

Each mentor’s team occupied a separate villa.

Upon entering the villa with his teammates, Chu Muyun found a light blue, Nordic-style interior that was surprisingly cozy. The two-story building had only seven bedrooms. With no eliminations yet, the large group would have to share rooms, and several would even be triples.

The live stream had already begun.

From that day forward, all public areas of the villa would be under constant surveillance by cameras, except for the bedrooms and bathrooms, which were kept private.

Chu Muyun turned to Jiang Wenhao, the School Bully from Youth Idol Ring, and boldly suggested, “Why don’t we share a room?”

Jiang Wenhao was openly straight, making Chu Muyun feel more at ease.

“Sure, let’s do it.”

While the others were still discussing room assignments, the two of them had already claimed a second-floor room and dragged their suitcases inside.

The room resembled a standard double hotel room, with two beds, a wardrobe, a desk, and bedside tables, but without a private bathroom. Each floor had only one communal toilet and shower.

After settling into their rooms and unpacking, the group gathered in the training hall within the campus, which was also being live-streamed.

Mentor Wen Haizhou would subject them to a week of grueling training, culminating in their first public performance and elimination round seven days later.

By then, each team would have to present three performances to compete against the opposing team in a best-of-three format. The losing team would face the elimination of three members.

This meant the eighteen members of each team would need to split into three smaller groups to rehearse and perform. While each group could consist of six members, more extreme arrangements were also possible, such as having the two strongest dancers perform solos while the rest were thrown together in a chaotic group number.

However, such a format would likely result in poor entertainment value and severely unbalanced screen time for the contestants. Mentors rarely resorted to such arrangements.

Unless a superstar with phenomenal popularity joined the show, or a contestant displayed dance skills that defied belief, they might earn the opportunity for a solo performance within a team battle.

In the practice room, Wen Haizhou divided them into three groups.

Chu Muyun’s group had five members, with him as the center. Jiang Wenhao was also in this group, which primarily consisted of members with some basic dance experience.

Mentor Wen Haizhou didn’t explicitly state it, but he met Chu Muyun’s gaze and nodded encouragingly.

Chu Muyun instantly understood.

They’re the top-tier horses in Tian Ji’s Horse Race!

The second group also had five members, likely the mid-tier horses. The third group, however, boasted eight members, including the “Hidden Dragon and Phoenix Cub” who had performed military boxing and calisthenics on the initial stage.

Mentor Wen Haizhou prioritized skill over star power when selecting contestants. However, forced by circumstances, he had to admit some slackers into his team and choreograph a barely passable dance routine for them. Being a mentor was a tough gig.

He assigned Chu Muyun’s group a hip-hop-infused boy group dance—dynamic, rhythmic, and highly challenging.

Chu Muyun felt confident he could pull it off.

While he and his teammates were buried in grueling rehearsals in the practice room, a sensational video titled “The Entertainment Industry’s Stunning Golden Flower Has Emerged!!!” quietly went viral online.

The video spliced together clips of Chu Muyun as Gu Minglun and Jiang Lan from drama promotions, his captivating jazz performance on the Dance Storm stage, the three-way tension during team selection, and even that fleeting, upward glance from the leaked assistant-scolding video.

He was both a red and white rose, exuding captivating charm.

His manager, Jin Ming, hadn’t yet delivered on his promises of marketing campaigns and paid articles, but someone else had already discovered him first.

With enough exposure and a grand enough stage, true beauty cannot remain hidden.

The live comments flooded the screen:

[Oh my god, he’s so beautiful!]

[That smile is so bewitching! I’m completely spellbound!]

[After seeing so many ugly men in Domestic Entertainment, please recommend more like this! Please!]

[I can’t wait to watch the drama!]

[How can one person possess such completely opposite auras? It’s incredible!]

[Wow! I’m getting a taste of a shura field!]

[The shura field scene is making me laugh so hard!]

Some random comments popped up:

[The title says “Golden Flower,” but why is it a man?]

[Since when can’t men be flowers?]

[If you clicked by mistake, just exit. These two characters are both the uke in a BL adaptation. They truly are exquisite Golden Flowers!]

[The interactions in this clip feel so loving. I’m starting to get interested in the drama.]

[If Luo Yi doesn’t watch, Youth Idol Ring might give it a try.]

[You’re really bold, OP… That fan group is untouchable.]

[On the contrary, won’t Gu Minglun make Luo Yi look like a complete scumbag, leaving Bai Xiaoyang in the dust? The guy who paid for articles claiming to outshine his former teammate is about to get outshined himself! I’ll definitely watch the show when it airs!]

Chu Muyun’s Weibo followers surged again, finally reaching a million. Simultaneously, a wave of new fans flooded into the official Dance Storm livestream, scouring the multiple camera angles until they located Chu Muyun’s practice room.

They watched as Mentor Wen Haizhou, after guiding their group’s rehearsal, moved on to supervise other teams. As the center and team leader, Chu Muyun meticulously corrected his teammates’ movements, physically adjusting their arms and legs with no hesitation, as if he were very close to them and completely comfortable with physical contact.

But the moment they took a break to drink water and stepped out of work mode, his demeanor shifted instantly.

When his teammates joked around, draping arms over each other’s shoulders and leaning in, Chu Muyun subtly sidestepped, his body language radiating rejection.

When a teammate complained about the choreography’s demanding hip movements, he glanced at Chu Muyun’s waist and chuckled, “You’ve got an A4 waist—it’s so tiny!” He placed his hands on either side of Chu Muyun’s waist to measure, but Chu Muyun, his face cold, slapped the guy’s hands away.

After a full day of intense practice, the exhausted contestants showered in the training room’s bathrooms and returned to the villa, collapsing onto the living room sofas for casual chatter.

Chu Muyun sat playing on his phone. Soon, another group of contestants arrived, and the sofas became crowded. Someone tried to squeeze in next to him. Chu Muyun shifted sideways, then sideways again, until he was practically perched on the armrest. Finally, as if reaching his limit, he stood up, phone in hand, and retreated to his bedroom.

There were no cameras in the bedrooms, but the lack of exposure didn’t deter the contestants from preferring the communal areas for interaction. After all, wasn’t the production crew’s decision to have them live together precisely to foster such connections?

Fans and casual viewers were stunned, flooding the live stream chat with comments:

[He’s got that “player” face, calling everyone “bro” while avoiding any hint of intimacy like the plague.]

[Is he homophobic?]

[Homophobia is just deep-seated closetedness.]

[With a face like that, he’s probably been hit on by guys a lot. His homophobia is understandable.]

If Chu Muyun heard these comments, he’d sigh helplessly.

…It’s not that I’m homophobic. My husband’s just really jealous. I’m a married man, and I take my marital duties seriously!

Of course, some eagle-eyed netizens saw through the facade:

[He’s not homophobic. He has a male roommate.]

[Maybe he keeps a male model at home, lol.]

[Roommate: stares intensely]

Lu Hanzhang, who occasionally glanced at the live stream, remained silent.

Stares.

While Chu Muyun was on his phone, he was chatting with his Great King.

With surveillance cameras in the public areas and his dormitory roommates nearby, even a video call felt inconvenient, let alone anything more intimate.

That’s why, on his last night at the hotel, he was desperate for just a glimpse of his Great King.

Ugh… I miss seeing him and talking to him so much.

Chu Muyun sat on the bed in his bedroom, sent a few WeChat messages, then got up and walked down the hallway to the second-floor bathroom.

Ding-a-ling~ He initiated a video call.

It connected almost immediately.

There was the reassuringly handsome and dignified face he longed to see.

“Boss~ Typing just isn’t enough. I wanted to talk to you face-to-face for a bit,” Chu Muyun whispered, sitting on the toilet lid with a Bluetooth earpiece tucked in his ear.

Lu Hanzhang smiled gently on the other end, “Mm, good boy.”

“How’s our son doing? Are you taking good care of him?”

“…Don’t worry, he’s eating and sleeping well. I take him for a walk every day, and he’s even learned to punch me.” The Great King, the Crown Prince of the household, complained to his Beloved Consort about the two playful punches he’d received.

Chu Muyun’s eyes widened, “Ah, then I’ll go and give it a good scolding!”

“Good. Wait until you get back to scold it… cough cough.”

Chu Muyun was still smiling when he saw Lu Hanzhang cough twice in the video. His expression instantly changed, like a startled animal whose fur had bristled.

“What’s wrong? Why are you coughing? Did me asking you to show me your abs make you catch a cold?” he asked urgently.

These past few days, even their WeChat conversations with the Great King felt like secret rendezvous under the camera’s gaze. They hadn’t even spoken on the phone. Lu Hanzhang would never tell him he was sick, that was just his nature.

“No, the house is well-heated. I didn’t catch a cold,” Lu Hanzhang replied. “I wasn’t careful at last night’s business dinner. It’s just a minor cold.”

“…Still, you should get it checked out. Go to the hospital tomorrow for a full examination. I’m worried about you,” Chu Muyun insisted.

“Then I’ll call Doctor Chen and ask him to prescribe some cold medicine.”

“That’s not enough! You need a thorough medical checkup with proper equipment at the hospital!” Chu Muyun insisted.

“…Alright,” Lu Hanzhang agreed.

The next day, Chu Muyun couldn’t shake his worry. He felt uneasy throughout his dance practice. That night, before bed, he slipped into the bathroom and video-called Lu Hanzhang.

“Did you go for your check-up today? What did the doctor say?” Chu Muyun asked as soon as the call connected.

“Uh, not yet. I had two meetings during the day and a business dinner tonight,” Lu Hanzhang replied casually. “I’ve been swamped lately. Cough, cough. I’ll squeeze in an appointment in a couple of days.”

It was just a minor cold, and Lu Hanzhang figured it would clear up on its own in a couple of days. The weather had been chilly recently, with significant temperature swings between day and night. During his meetings, he’d even noticed two of his subordinates coughing and sniffling with colds.

Lu Hanzhang had a strong constitution and rarely fell ill, never having experienced any serious illnesses. He hadn’t given the matter much thought.

He was deeply touched by Chu Muyun’s concern. In most relationships, a partner might simply say, “Drink more water.”

The moment the words left his mouth, he realized he’d made a mistake.

Chu Muyun was furious.

“You’re not planning to go to the hospital, are you?! You promised you would!” Chu Muyun shouted, his eyes red with anger. “Do you think I’m meddling? Fine, I don’t care about you anymore! Don’t come looking for me!”

Click! The call abruptly ended.

Lu Hanzhang: “……”

This was the first time he’d seen his delicate Little Canary lose his temper. He knew he’d messed up. If he hadn’t spoken so nonchalantly about “squeezing in an appointment in a couple of days” and instead immediately assured Chu Muyun he’d go “tomorrow for sure,” perhaps Chu Muyun wouldn’t have been so angry.

Chu Muyun pushed open the bathroom door, cautiously peeking into the hallway. Seeing no one, he breathed a sigh of relief. He washed his face at the sink, dried it with a towel, and then dashed down the hallway into his bedroom. He closed the door behind him and collapsed onto his bed.

His eyes were slightly red, and he worried about being caught on camera.

He hugged the large strawberry-shaped pillow he’d brought from home, lowered his gaze, and thought, It’s impossible to ignore the Great King after this. After finally finding him in the vast sea of people, how could he possibly ignore him?

I’ll urge him to go to the hospital again tomorrow, he resolved, feeling utterly humble.