Meanwhile, not far away, chief director Zhao Weidong pulled a long face and asked his assistant, “What is going on? It is 8:15 and Xi Yan still is not here? Is he planning to arrive right on the dot at 8:30?”
The assistant wiped the sweat from his temples, complaining inwardly that everyone here was like an emperor to be pampered, and replied timidly, “He is not here yet. I will make a call and ask.”
Just as he picked up his phone to dial, Xi Yan happened to answer Li Minghui, “Director Li, I am Xi Yan.”
Xi Yan’s voice was gentle and soft, like a green leaf falling onto a calm body of water, sending ripples spreading across the air, yet it was also like a stone thrown into the water, causing a huge uproar.
He is Xi Yan?
Because of the accommodation issues over at the Santorin Islands, Zhao Weidong was in a bad mood, and no one dared to provoke his wrath. The staff were working quietly, and the guests were speaking in subdued tones.
Therefore, even though Xi Yan’s voice was not very loud, it still managed to drill into the ears of most people present.
In everyone’s impression, Xi Yan always wore bizarre hairstyles, colorful makeup, and out-of-the-ordinary outfits, always speaking in a loud, exaggerated manner.
The Xi Yan before them now sported black, finely layered textured bangs, wore an exquisite and flawless bare face, and had a plain white silk shirt tucked into vintage high-waisted wide-leg pants. Speaking softly, he stood there looking just like a little prince from a fairy tale.
The sharp-eyed cameraman whipped the lens right onto Xi Yan’s face.
“You are Xi Yan?” Li Minghui blurted out the question in everyone’s minds, his voice cracking slightly at the end.
Xi Yan nodded, a look of remorse on his face: “Sorry, I was delayed on the way and wasted everyone’s time.”
Li Minghui gave a light cough to hide his composure: “Uh, hurry up and get on camera; filming has already begun.”
Everything had gone wrong with the launch: the originally scheduled sea-view room had some issues, and the show’s schedule had to be rearranged. Zhao Weidong was already in a terrible mood, and to top it all off, Xi Yan arrived right at the deadline.
He had originally made up his mind to give Xi Yan a thorough scolding the moment he arrived. But now, upon seeing Xi Yan, his temper melted away like butter.
When Love’s First Play 2 invited Xi Yan, it was precisely to use him to generate talking points and buzz.
Xi Yan loved making a fuss and liked to latch onto everyone to form shipping pairs and chase clout. Put in a dating variety show, he was guaranteed to be dramatic and trending.
All in all, in short, everything was for the sake of the show’s ratings.
Since Xi Yan had transformed overnight from a tacky, non-mainstream rebel into a little prince, Zhao Weidong could already imagine how high the ratings would be when the first episode aired.
Moreover, in Zhao Weidong’s view, although Xi Yan looked normal now, an old saying goes that a leopard never changes its spots. He believed Xi Yan was still the same as before, and that he had only adopted a normal look out of respect for the dating show. Once things settled down, he would surely go back to stirring up trouble.
Even so, when a pretty person causes trouble, it generates more talking points than when an ugly person does.
When an ugly person makes a scene, the internet unanimously scolds them.
When a pretty person makes a scene, there are always looks-maxxing fans defending them. By the time the praising faction and the scolding faction start arguing, it creates another wave of traffic.
To put it mildly without exaggeration, Xi Yan’s face belonged to the country-toppling level; looking at his face gave one the impulse to forgive him for every mistake he ever made.
It was just like humans facing a soft, pretty kitten: even if the kitten intentionally knocked over expensive perfume, it could still be forgiven. The owner might be furious enough to have steam coming out of their ears, but after a short while, they would bury their face right back into the kitten’s belly to fiercely cuddle it, under the guise of “revenge.”
Zhao Weidong had forgiven Xi Yan right then and there. His previous irritability was swept away in an instant, and his expression turned kind and benevolent.
Lu Chengyan was currently closing his eyes to rest, and there was a vacant seat beside him. Xi Yan walked over without a second thought.
In the novel, besides being a movie emperor, Lu Chengyan’s identity was also the heir of a wealthy, prestigious family. His parents did not want him to enter the entertainment industry, but since Lu Chengyan loved it himself, they could only support him.
After entering the industry, Lu Chengyan lived up to this passion, working extremely hard and constantly polishing his craft, never letting up even when he reached the peak.
Seeing that Lu Chengyan worked too hard, his manager arranged for him to go on a dating variety show to rest and recuperate.
Xi Yan was an avid reader who had browsed countless web novels and possessed a rich reserve of theoretical knowledge. He believed that the most suitable persona for conquering a high-and-mighty aloof flower like Lu Chengyan was that of a “Green Tea” character.
Green Tea: a high-end human type combining both offense and defense.
“Offense” meant actively creating opportunities to communicate or even get physically close to the target, while “defense” meant using subtle, passive-aggressive tea-infused phrasing to lower the other party’s guard and even evoke guilt or pity whenever offensive behavior caused resentment.
As he was meticulously planning in his mind how to open the conversation and leave a good first impression on Lu Chengyan, he failed to notice the black velvet pouch containing a jade flute that had fallen onto the floor.
He stepped right on it, slipped, and fell straight forward. The direction he was falling happened to be right where Lu Chengyan was sitting.
He instinctively reached out for something to steady himself to avoid crashing into someone, but it was all in vain. His head crashed directly into the side of Lu Chengyan’s neck, his right arm bent and loosely braced against the back of the chair, while his left hand pressed right between Lu Chengyan’s legs.
From the moment Xi Yan uttered his first sentence upon boarding the plane, everyone’s gaze had intentionally or unintentionally fallen on him. With this sudden fall of his, everyone gasped audibly.
When Lu Chengyan opened his eyes, a bone-chilling gaze pierced straight into Xi Yan. Even as bystanders, they did not dare to look him in the eye.
Several of the other guests hurriedly stepped forward to help.
Before they could pull him up, the system inside Xi Yan’s consciousness sounded an alarm in his mind:
[Host has made contact with the capture target. Activating affection level reminder.]
[Beep! Capture target’s affection level has decreased by 99 points, current affection level is -99.]
[Host, please note: if the capture target’s affection level reaches -100, the capture mission directly fails.]
[Oh my goodness, Host, what on earth are you doing? You are the only host I’ve ever guided who started with an affection level of -99.]
Crap.
His conquest career had suffered a Waterloo right at the start!
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Xi Yan scrambled to get up, withdrawing his left hand first.
He had no idea what was wrong with him today. Normally, he was a pretty agile person, but today his limbs were utterly uncoordinated. His center of gravity landed on his right hand as he tried to push himself up, but his hand slipped, and he lunged forward again, burying his entire face right into Lu Chengyan’s chest…
“Holy cow!” someone exclaimed in astonishment.
The un-flexed pectoral muscles were soft, and the impact was not very painful, but Xi Yan was scared out of his wits.
That last stunt had dropped his affection by another 99 points; if he did that one more time, he would drop dead on the spot!
[Beep! Capture target’s affection level…]
“I’m sorry! Believe it or not, I really did not mean to!” In his panic, Xi Yan’s hands could not find any leverage, and he lifted his head to apologize just as the system was about to broadcast the change in affection.
His bright peach-blossom eyes were swimming with a damp, watery mist, the outer corners of his eyes slightly reddened from the fall. From this downward-looking angle, his lips looked pink, tender, and plump.
“Teacher Lu, Teacher Xi, are you both alright? I’m so sorry, it is all my fault,” Yu Wan said, helping Xi Yan up, her face and ears flushed bright red with shame. “I was not paying attention and dropped my jade flute on the floor, causing Teacher Xi to step on it.”
She had originally brought the jade flute to entertain everyone on the plane, never imagining she would cause such a massive disaster before the plane had even taken off.
[Recalculating affection level…]
[Beep! Capture target’s affection level has increased by 100 points, current affection level is 1.]
[Host, take it easy. This system does not have a rewind function. If the mission fails, you will die directly, and this world will also be wiped out.]
Xi Yan was so touched he was on the verge of tears. He thanked Yu Wan for stepping in to explain just in time, and thanked the reasonable Lu Chengyan, who, after his sincere apology and explanation, had magnanimously forgiven him and rewarded him with 100 affection points.
He did not notice that as he lowered his gaze and stood up, Lu Chengyan’s obscure, dark gaze licked across his face.
“How is it? Are you alright? Should we have a doctor come over to take a look?”
Jiang Yi helped Yu Wan support Xi Yan, looking back and forth between Lu Chengyan and Xi Yan.
“I am fine,” Xi Yan hurriedly shook his head, then immediately locked his gaze onto Lu Chengyan, his eyes filled with anxiety and worry. “Brother Lu, are you alright? Did I hurt you when I hit you? I’m so sorry, it was all my carelessness.”
His fall had been an accident; even though his bodily instincts made him hold back his strength, he was still a 1.75-meter-tall man who looked slender, but actually carried a solid amount of weight and muscle. Taking that hit would not be light.
Seeing that the guests and the director’s team were about to swarm over, and that the doctor in the back was already rubbing his palms in a display of making a huge fuss over nothing, Lu Chengyan spoke up in a calm voice to cut them off:
“I am fine. Thanks for everyone’s concern, let us all sit back down and not delay the filming.”
Zhao Weidong still came over to check on them just to be safe. Not only was Lu Chengyan a guest, but he was also the financial backer; as chief director, he had to show concern regardless of whether something happened, and he threw in a word of concern for Xi Yan along the way.
He only left after receiving confirmation from both of them that they were completely fine.
As he turned to leave, his gaze lingered on Xi Yan for a full second.
When the incident happened, he had happened to witness the whole thing.
Yu Wan’s flute had fallen to the floor at some point without anyone noticing. When Xi Yan walked past, Yu Wan had just turned sideways to grab her bag for touch-ups, moving her foot and accidentally kicking a corner of the jade flute right under Xi Yan’s foot, which triggered the theatrical sequence of events that followed.
So, it was all an accident.
And this accident had happened to befall Xi Yan; this must simply be what you call having the innate constitution of a reality TV star.
Zhao Weidong pressed his lips together to suppress the upward curve of his mouth. A variety show like this would be hard-pressed not to go viral.