After the others gradually put down their chopsticks, the mini-game officially began.
(The “Have You Ever, I Have Never” Finger-Folding Game)
Game rules: Starting from the first person, each player states something they have done or experienced. Everyone holds out their hands with all five fingers open. If you haven’t done it, you fold one finger. When all five fingers are folded, it means elimination.
From left to right, Su Anlin went first. He grinned broadly, then pulled out a big move: “I pissed my dad off so much he jumped up to beat me, and ended up spraining his ankle. Have any of your dads done that?”
Su Anlin’s dad, watching the live stream: ?
[My goodness, what a filial son.]
[You’re actually quite proud of yourself, aren’t you? Not planning to go home after finishing the show, are you, hahahahahahaha.]
[Is this even how you play this game? I’m dying of laughter.]
Su Anlin put his hands proudly on his hips, casting a confident glance all around. Seeing that everyone else had folded a finger, he grew even more smug.
It was easy to see that Su Anlin had an exceptionally good relationship with his father. Shen Qing, who had never experienced a father’s love growing up from childhood to adulthood, smiled with envy.
Jiang Siyu and Jiang Yinyin, who had never even seen their father growing up, lowered their gazes, their expressions unclear.
Le Zhiyi was cracking melon seeds in his mind. Excluding Su Anlin and Qi Li, the four male leads and supporting characters among them couldn’t even scrape together a complete set of parents.
It was practically a parental elimination game.
Next was Qi Li. After hesitating for a few seconds, Qi Li said, “I confessed to my crush, and he acted deaf and walked away, so I chased after him with my phone blasting Men Are Rotten Cabbages.”
Su Anlin’s face instantly flushed red, and he hurriedly lowered his head.
[????????]
[Wait a minute, baby girl, why does every word strung together sound so ridiculously funny hahahahaha.]
[Talk about instant karma, hahahaha.]
[Hold on, why is Su Anlin blushing?]
Pfft.
Laughter rang out one after another. Shen Qing collapsed into laughter against Jiang Siyu, who was laughing too, yet still remembered to steady Shen Qing, who was leaning against his shoulder.
[Candy is being served! Candy is being served!]
[Wuwuwu, so sweet, what a little couple.]
[Show it off more so Le Zhiyi gives up.]
Le Zhiyi was giggling while covering his mouth, swaying his body back and forth. Jiang Yinyin was on his left, and the moment the two of them were about to brush against each other, Jiang Yinyin gave him a disgusted shove.
As luck would have it, Jiang Siyu was on his right. Just as Le Zhiyi was about to crash straight into Jiang Siyu’s shoulder, at the very nick of time, he frantically swayed back the other way, steadily regaining control of his head.
He had almost given the netizens another handle to grab onto so they could turn around and curse him out.
[Le Zhiyi, you dare to lean over and try—um??]
[Hahahahahahaha, he really knows how to dodge danger.]
[The curses got stuck right in my throat, but I guess you’re sensible this time, Le Zhiyi.]
It was Jiang Siyu’s turn next. After thinking for a moment, he gave a faint smile and said, “Let’s skip the three questions. I’ll just state one thing straight away: I was ranked first in our grade for three consecutive years in high school.”
As soon as those words were spoken, Shen Qing, Su Anlin, and Qi Li each folded a finger.
Seeing that his younger brother hadn’t folded his, Jiang Siyu laughed with a trace of regret, “I almost forgot about A-Nian. A-Nian was also first in his grade for three consecutive years in high school.”
[Academic gods, little me worships you both.]
[Both brothers are top scholars, oh my god. I have an exam next week, let me absorb some of that academic deity energy first.]
[Shen Qing is also great at studying; truly a match made in heaven.]
[Wait a second, why didn’t Le Zhiyi fold his?]
Aside from the audience watching the live stream, the other guests also turned their gazes toward Le Zhiyi.
Le Zhiyi slowly folded a finger. “Sorry, I was just zoning out for a second.”
He didn’t fold this finger willingly; back in the real world, he had also been first in his grade during high school.
An academic deity? Who wasn’t one, after all?
[You scared me to death.]
[Why has Le Zhiyi become so obedient? I don’t even have any reason to scold him anymore.]
[Plus one to the person above.]
[Could he have been so mesmerized by Jiang Siyu that he’s completely lost his mind?]
It was Shen Qing’s turn. He smiled shyly and spoke up, “When I was little, I was chased by a dog and had to climb up a tree just to escape.”
Jiang Siyu immediately patted Shen Qing’s shoulder reassuringly. “It’s all in the past now.”
Shen Qing nodded.
[No wonder Shen Qing said before that he was afraid of dogs. Wuwuwu, my heart aches so much.]
[Jiang Siyu is too good. He can always sense Shen Qing’s emotions at the very first moment.]
[Shipping this CP is just so satisfying!]
Except for Shen Qing, everyone else folded another finger.
It was Jiang Yinyin’s turn. He curled his lips. “I have never confessed my feelings to anyone else.”
As he spoke, his eyes flicked toward Le Zhiyi.
Le Zhiyi: “…”
Uh-oh, it was aimed directly at him.
Qi Li, who had been caught in the crossfire: “…Wuwu.”
Aside from Le Zhiyi and Qi Li, who lowered their fingers, the others still held theirs up.
[The mortal enemies go to war! Round one, Jiang Yinyin wins!]
[Poor my little Li, getting caught in the crossfire hahahaha.]
[Let me look forward to Le Zhiyi’s counterattack hahahaha.]
So far, Le Zhiyi had zero fingers left, Jiang Yinyin had two, and everyone else had one finger remaining.
Le Zhiyi waggled his single remaining finger and gave a cheeky grin at Jiang Yinyin. “I’ve touched Jiang Yinyin’s butt.”
Jiang Yinyin: “??”
His eyes widened abruptly, and he tried to get up.
Ding-dong.
He didn’t succeed and flopped back down into his seat.
He could only watch as Le Zhiyi waggled his finger, grinned at him cheekily, and dropped the next statement: “My haters outnumber my fans.”
Counterattack successful, mission accomplished.
Jiang Yinyin: “…”
Damn it.
[That’s actually impossible to refute hahahaha.]
[This?? I surrender, hahahaha.]
[I get it now, this game is all about exposing yourself hahahaha.]
Unable to refute, the others all folded a finger.
After a round of the game, casualties were heavy; only Jiang Yinyin won thirty yuan, while everyone else got three yuan.
The director walked out swaying with a broken megaphone: “Seeing everyone having so much fun makes me extremely happy too.”
“You all gathered a huge sum of money to cover dinner, which is definitely more than enough. So this money requires everyone to buy ingredients and cook yourselves, and everyone has to eat, you know.”
Whether they could cook was one thing, but that massive sum of money…
Looking at the three single-yuan bills in their hands, the group fell into deep thought.
Jiang Yinyin was managing his diet and planned to save ten yuan to eat grass. He pulled out twenty yuan, handed it to his older brother, stood up, and walked away.
Le Zhiyi let out a yawn as he watched Jiang Yinyin’s retreating back, sighing inwardly: As expected of a brother-con.
They muddled through dinner, casually buying a few random items to toss into a pot and pretending they had cooked it themselves. The director didn’t say anything either; after all, alternating between relaxation and tension was essential for any good variety show.
As the first day of recording came to an end, the trending searches were already dominated by the six of them.
Aside from the CP shippers, online public opinion toward Le Zhiyi had already undergone some reversal.
[English Given Back to the British]: I watched the entire day’s live stream. Not only was Le Zhiyi nice to the guests, but he also put a lot of effort into making the games funny. He’s actually pretty great.
[I Don’t Want to Climb Slopes]: Everyone keeps saying Le Zhiyi is a third wheel, but Jiang Siyu and Shen Qing haven’t even officially announced anything yet.
[Life is Bitter Like an Americano]: Le Zhiyi is actually quite pretty, and his personality is pretty good too. Mutual antagonism with Jiang Yinyin is just so hilarious.
[Women Who Can Endure Suffering Will Suffer]: It’s only the first day, who knows if he’s just putting on an act? Le Zhiyi really did confess to Jiang Siyu, after all.
[My Mom is Tian Xiaocao]: I’m camping out for tomorrow’s stream. Le Zhiyi, better not let me catch you slipping.
…
Meanwhile, inside the bedroom devoid of any cameras, Le Zhiyi and Jiang Yinyin stared in silence at the single bed. Fortunately, there were two duvets.
Though they might as well not have been there.
Too lazy to deal with Le Zhiyi, Jiang Yinyin squatted down to dig a bath towel out of his suitcase and headed to the bathroom to shower.
The sound of the door locking echoed through the room.
Le Zhiyi let out a disdainful snort. Locking the door, as if he were some kind of pervert.
“System, this is so annoying! You tell me, what’s even the point of participating in this variety show if the male lead and shou aren’t sleeping together? I don’t want to parti…”
Before he could even finish his sentence, the system’s mechanical voice chimed in: [Affection value increased by 0.2 points, fast-forward count increased by 2, current total fast-forward count is 6.]
“What did you just say, Host?” the system asked.
Le Zhiyi: “…”
“^^, Nothing at all. This variety show is simply wonderful, I love it.”
A variety show that could increase affection values was utterly meaningful!
Le Zhiyi carefully recalled the plot in the original novel: What happened after the male lead and shou stayed in the same room?
!!!
A blackout.
In the book, after the gong finished showering, a blackout hit. The shou was terrified of showering in the dark, so the gong kept him company from outside, and through that night, the two of them entered the ambiguous phase of their relationship.
But right now, the person sharing this room with him was Jiang Yinyin. Le Zhiyi sucked in a cold breath. “System, use up today’s remaining charges, fast-forward!!”
He instinctively wanted to use fast-forward, but quickly realized that fast-forward only accelerated time.
When it was his turn to shower, the blackout would still happen.
“Wait!” Le Zhiyi hurriedly stopped the system.
But it was too late; three chiming sounds rang out.
Inside the bathroom, Jiang Yinyin was in the middle of rinsing off the soap suds when he heard the chimes. His whole body stiffened, though by now he simply closed his eyes out of sheer habit.
Sure enough, the water flow surged in the next second. He counted silently in his head: three minutes, and his movements returned to normal, the lather on his body almost completely rinsed away.
Jiang Yinyin: “…”
Wonderful. It had fast-forwarded a full three minutes this time.
Le Zhiyi raised his head in despair and resorted to the most primitive method: walking over to the bathroom door to knock. Because of his underlying resentment, he struck the door with exceptional force.
With a single tap, the door flew open, and a wave of hot steam rushed out, along with a semi-naked Jiang Yinyin.
Le Zhiyi: “???”
What the hell, is the damn door broken?!
Jiang Yinyin, who was in the middle of wrapping his bathrobe around himself: “…”
“Le Zhiyi?” He tightened his bathrobe and spoke with a darkened expression.
Le Zhiyi offered an awkward laugh and started making up a story on the spot: “Seeing that you ate so little for dinner, I was worried something might happen to you in the bathroom, so I came over to check. I didn’t expect the door to be broken.”
Jiang Yinyin let out a cold sneer and walked past him.
The moment he left, Le Zhiyi bolted inside to take a shower, chanting silently in his heart: Don’t let the power go out, don’t let the power go out. But fate is a cruel mistress—right as he lathered up the soap, the lights went out.
His hand paused. Rather than calling out for Jiang Yinyin, calling the system seemed like a better option.
“Little Tong?”
The system’s mechanical voice chimed in: [Due to the fact that this cool and dashing system is allergic to the dark, please do not cue me for any issues.]
Le Zhiyi: “…”
Just admit you’re scared of the dark instead of dragging out so much useless nonsense.
At that moment, the bathroom door creaked open.
Le Zhiyi jumped in fright.
The next second, Jiang Yinyin’s voice drifted in: “Seeing that you ate so little for dinner, I was worried something might happen to you in the bathroom, so I came over to check. I didn’t expect the door to be broken.”
It was a completely flat sentence delivered in a single breath, sounding just like a human machine.
Le Zhiyi was defeated. He knew Jiang Yinyin would definitely find a way to get back at him.
Damn it, Jiang Yinyin’s pettiness was smaller than the blackheads on his nose.
With a creak, the door started to close again.
Le Zhiyi hurriedly spoke up: “You human machine—pfft.”
“A-Nian, it’s too dark, I’m scared to wash up. Can you stay outside and keep me company?”
As those words fell, the surrounding area plunged into silence. Knowing that Jiang Yinyin hadn’t left yet, he seized the opportunity to rinse off at lightning speed.
After a long pause, Jiang Yinyin’s voice rang out with a malicious edge: “Beg me.”
Le Zhiyi: “…”
What a malicious human machine.
He was someone who knew how to bend and stretch when necessary; what was a little bending, anyway?
Time to bend.
“I’m begging you~ A-Nian, don’t go, keep me company, alright?” Le Zhiyi said while softening his voice and furiously washing himself at top speed.
Stupid hands, wash even faster!!
Jiang Yinyin hadn’t expected Le Zhiyi to actually beg him, giving him a full case of goosebumps. “Stop deliberately acting spoiled.”
“Who’s doing that? I’m expressing my genuine feelings toward A-Nian,” Le Zhiyi declared, his hands flying across his skin.
Jiang Yinyin: “…”
A total liar.
He didn’t bother entertaining Le Zhiyi any further, but he didn’t leave either. He was simply the type of person who took things rather seriously; once he promised someone something, no matter what, he would see it through.