The Theory of QueerbaitingChapter 3

You Xin’s food strategy was very effective. He quickly became acquainted with the original cast of “The Wacky Family” because of the cookies he baked. The original cast has four people: Qi Xuan, Apple TV’s leading host, Song Yunyun, a famous actress, Yuan Feng, a tough-looking rising star, and Lin Qiubi, who was the second female lead in a hit idol drama. Although these people are all more popular than You Xin, they got along with him quite well and were happy to sit together and chat.

Duan Jiashu was the only person who reacted a bit slower. Although he nodded along during their conversation, he gave off the feeling that he’s in his own little world and there was an invisible barrier dividing him from the others. However, it’s normal for others to be introverted on their first meeting. vWq9dJ

But what isn’t normal is that the said “introverted” Duan Jiashu was always staring at him. While the group was discussing their assignments, You Xin would feel a strong gaze. When he looked up, his eyes would trace over and he’ll see Duan Jiashu expressionlessly looking at him. Even if he was discovered, he’d still be completely unmoved until You Xin would break out in a sweat. Only then will he slowly turn away, and even lower his head to take notes.

You Xin: ???

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What do you mean? What’s the point of staring at me like that! You Xin couldn’t figure out what was going on in Duan Jiashu’s mind, so he could only pretend that he didn’t see it.

The meeting finally ended and they were now preparing to start filming. The content they will record for the day would have several people going out to explore their surroundings while leaving two people to cook inside the house. ybQo9D

Considering the program’s contents, they would have more footage of the cast going out for a walk, but You Xin already knew before the shooting even began that his role was to be the cook, so he naturally chose to stay in the courtyard and cook. To his surprise, Duan Jiashu also chose to stay behind after a moment of hesitation.

The rest of the crew chattered for a while then headed out, leaving only You Xin and Duan Jiashu in the house, with the air immediately quieting down. You Xin didn’t dare to delay his work, so after boiling hot water, he began to wash and cut vegetables. While he was busy preparing, he heard the sound of the TV coming from outside. You Xin quietly poked his head out and saw Duan Jiashu wiping the table while watching a video, his face flashing a smile of unknown meaning from time to time.

He didn’t stay behind and clean up just to watch a video, right? You Xin came up with this sh*tty idea, but looking at the other person’s satisfied look, such a sh*tty reason became even more believable. He didn’t look like a childish person, so You Xin fell into deep confusion, feeling that Duan Jiashu’s being was layered with fog.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Would it really be possible to start a CP with this person? You Xin continued to cook while thinking with uncertainty about Duan Jiashu. He even began to doubt his own plan of finding a “date”. However, while he was in a trance, he realized that there was another urgent problem that needed to be solved: he and Duan Jiashu had been together for almost an hour already and they hadn’t even spoken a word to one another.

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What does he want? You Xin scratched his forehead. Their part won’t take up a large share of the broadcast, so what exactly is the rhythm this segment is going for?

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“Duan… Duan…” Before You Xin could finish saying “laoshi”, Duan Jiashu quickly stood up and walked in the direction of the toilet. Shocked by Duan Jiashu’s quick reaction, his mind became blank. You Xin subconsciously followed Duan Jiashu, and when he saw the other had finished washing his hands, he wanted to speak again, “Duan…” but the other turned his head once more, strode to the dining area, sat on the couch, then played games on his mobile. The whole process was so quick that it was all done in one go. 16UvfO

You Xin stood by the bathroom door for a long time until he finally came back to his senses. However, he was still in disbelief and tentatively looked in Duan Jiashu’s direction. Sure enough, the person sitting on the couch moved his butt slightly in a direction away from You Xin.

You Xin: …

You Xin felt a bunch of mud horses whistled past his heart, leaving an echoing “cao cao cao…” Duan Jiashu really used this kind of schoolboy act in a variety show as if he truly hates him! The two of them only knew each other for less than a day, and haven’t even spoken a word to each other in that time period. You Xin really didn’t know when he had offended Duan Jiashu, so much that he treated him like this!

Looking at Duan Jiashu’s attitude of acting like he’s avoiding snakes and scorpions, You Xin’s heart stirred and thought of a possibility. The other must not want to stir up a CP with him, right? Although You Xin has repeatedly failed in these queerbaiting attempts, his agency still continues to hype up the CPs that included him. Duan Jiashu must’ve heard about it before joining the program, so he acted like this during the shooting. ipN2Kh

Thinking that this was the case, You Xin’s heart cooled down, but when he thought about it some more, he got even angrier. No matter how much he was shipped by his fans, he never forced others to stir up CP rumors with himself! If this guy was truly unhappy about the idea, couldn’t he just expressed his opinion or implied it? Why did he have to act like he hates him so much in such an obvious way?

The camera was still recording, and there were staff members nearby. You Xin held back his anger and silently returned to the kitchen. Were there dragons flying high up in the heavens? Pigs running on the ground? This program has so many male guests, who else would he start a CP with? Then they should just cut off today’s segment. He doesn’t want it!

Although his inner declaration sounded very domineering, his facial expression said otherwise. If one looked at his face, they’d see that he was pouting, and his normally white face had turned red. Seeing that his task was almost finished, You Xin brought the dishes he cooked over to the dinner table without asking for Duan Jiashu’s help and silently served them.

At this moment, Duan Jiashu felt awkward. As You Xin was busy serving the dishes, he very consciously came over to help set the utensils. He tilted his head to scan the food, nodded in satisfaction, and even handed his bowl to You Xin, signalling him to serve him rice, as if his cold treatment prior didn’t happen at all. 7HEqby

You Xin: …

Pretend, why are you pretending?! You Xin heated up from anger and acted braver this time. He angrily picked up Duan Jiashu’s bowl, scooped a spoonful equivalent to only half a bowl of rice, and placed it in front of the other person with a loud “patter” sound.

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Duan Jiashu frowned when he looked at his bowl. He raised his head, and just as he was about to open his mouth, You Xin quickly and neatly picked up the pot for rice then left saying, “There’s no more rice.”

Duan Jiashu: … OWb53A

Back in the kitchen, You Xin felt secretly happy while washing the pot. He didn’t need to turn around to imagine the other person’s stunned expression. But after a while, You Xin started to feel that he was being too irrational. Duan Jiashu has other projects and is already popular, he has enough money for him to act casually during this program. However, You Xin only has this program to rely on. If the stunt he pulled towards Duan Jiashu earlier was broadcasted, he won’t get any good results from it.

You Xin felt uneasy in his heart. When he walked out of the kitchen, he saw Duan Jiashu staring at him again. He didn’t know if he was imagining the grievance in his expression or not. Duan Jiashu just looked at You Xin and said nothing. Then, he lowered his head to stare at his own rice bowl, instantly looking quite pathetic.

Looking at this image in front of him, You Xin’s heart became even more uneasy than before. What in the world have I done, ah?! He was at a loss for words and stammered, “Duan… Duan laoshi, uh, that… I’m sorry for not making enough rice today. If you want, I could give you some of the rice in my bowl~”

Right after he said this, You Xin discovered that the opposite result had happened, and Duan Jiashu’s rather pitiful state seemed to have broken instantly. Duan Jiashu quickly raised his head, his face no longer looking pitiful. Instead, he wrinkled his nose and gave him a disgusted look. “No, thanks.” He then brought his rice bowl forward a little. mMLurG

You Xin: …

QNMLGB, where did this TM come from?! You Xin struggled with his whole body to not speak out any curse words, causing him to pout and his face to turn into an angry red. He turned around to sulk for a while, when he saw the cameraman who had no presence at all earlier reveal a smile with his thumb raised.

You did great!


sky has something to say 🙂 (it’s a bit long so I put it on drop down)

This is 2 chapters late, but I’d like to say hello to everyone and thank you for reading TTOQB! I’d also like to point out a few things. First, the summary is made by me. If you check the raws, there’s only Duan Jiashu’s dialogue in the summary section, so it naturally couldn’t properly explain the plot. I wrote what I felt best explains the plot in a few short paragraphs while also avoiding any major spoilers. I’m not very good at summarizing things, so I’m sorry if the summary feels weird 😅 (I also edited it a bit, so check it out if you want!) Second, there’s a lot of Chinese slang mentioned in the novel, and sometimes it’s untranslatable or weird-sounding in English. For these, I would stick to the original word and use pinyin or their abbreviations in online slang (like QNMLGB). Third, I prefer that some words to be transliterated, so you would see terms like “laoshi”, “gege”, etc. instead of “teacher”, “brother”, etc. This is just a personal preference of mine, and I always put a TL Note to explain them for those that don’t understand the transliterated terms anyway. Finally, I’m also going to admit here that since English isn’t my first language, I would use machine translation and grammar-help apps to help aid me in constructing sentences. Translating also helps me improve both my English and Chinese. I don’t have an editor so if you see a mistake do let me know. Thanks 😅 DQhF4N

If you haven’t seen from the novel description, this novel’s physical book is still open for pre-orders. If you are interested in buying, you can pre-order the novel here until December 16, 2021. (you can also wait for when it’s already in stock, but from past experience it’s a bit more expensive during that time) As far as I know, they also have pre-orders for officially translated English danmei physical books, so check them out too of you’re interested.

The physical book will include an exclusive extra and unless I’m told by the publisher not to, I will be translating them for you guys 🤗 The book won’t be shipped out until 2022, so stay tuned for an update about this in the future.

Giving me a ko-fi is of course optional and I don’t have any ko-fi goals, but as a thank you, I will upload an extra chapter for every ko-fi given. Remember to support the author if you can. Have a good day!

Translator's Note

the raws actually say 草泥马 (cǎo ní mǎ) which is used to substitute the curse word 肏你妈 (cào nǐ mā, meaning “f*ck your mother”) to avoid censorship etc. 草 is also commonly used as a curse word

Translator's Note

草 means grass, but it’s also used for cursing (meaning “f*ck”)

Translator's Note

avoiding vicious people

Translator's Note

it was written as “去年买了个表” in the raws (“qu nian mai le ge biao” in pinyin) but in online slang, its abbreviated to QNMLGB. In literal translation, it means “I bought a watch last year” and it’s used as a curse word equivalent to another curse word that sounds similar, “去你妈了个逼” (qu ni ma le ge bi) to use to avoid censorship. It felt a bit weird to use the English sentence so I used the online slang term instead

Translator's Note

slang for the pinyin of 他妈 (ta ma); is another curse word meaning “damn it”, “f*ck your mother” or “motherf*cking”

Leave a Comment

14 comments

  1. Hah… I can feel your frustration through the screen YX and honestly same. Also can’t wait for what the fans will say after the episode airs~

  2. Lol even thought YX really only tried to be friendly in offering more rice, he still got cruelly rejected. Well, I do understand DJ point of view but at the same time I felt really sad each time I read that YX is pouting and sulking. 😅

  3. Lmfao if DJ had done that to me I would have cursed him out so much that even sailors would become flustered by my foul mouth. But anygay, thank you for the chapter!!

  4. This is hilarious 😂 Love how Duan Jiashu trying to be smart but only outsarting himself and making so much CP content for all fujoshi (fudanshi too!) XDD Can’t wait to see what gonna happen next! Thank You for sharing this novel with us ❤

  5. Book is great! You don’t need to worry it’s good so far and the description is fine 😂 it’s actually the description that made me curious to see what it was about