“Have you rested yet?”
At 10:00 PM, while Li Jiao was lying in bed with a face mask her assistant had forcibly applied, crossing her legs and scrolling through her phone, she received a message from Song Li Sheng.
“Not yet,” she replied with a pitiful-looking emoji. “I’m being punished by Mo Mo.”
It took Song Li Sheng a couple of seconds to remember that Mo Mo was her assistant. “What did she do to you?”
As he typed those words, an elaborate drama began playing out in his mind—Mo Mo transforming into a vicious villain planted by Li Yichen to deliberately bully Li Jiao.
His thin lips pressed together slightly, and a flicker of ruthlessness passed through Song Li Sheng’s eyes. How dare anyone bully his person? They must be tired of living…
“Jiao is inviting you to a video call”
The sudden ringtone interrupted his thoughts.
Song Li Sheng quickly propped up his phone, studying his expression through the dark invitation screen.
After adjusting to appear normal, he finally pressed the answer button.
What greeted him was Li Jiao’s face covered in a white sheet mask.
“Ah Sheng, you see! Mo Mo is forcing me to wear this sticky thing for twenty minutes!”
She complained.
Song Li Sheng stared at her, his mouth slightly agape. After a dazed moment, he burst out with a “pfft” laugh.
She was just too adorable.
Li Jiao watched as the person on the other end of the screen squinted his peach-blossom eyes into slits, the teardrop mole beneath them trembling with his uncontrollable laughter. Puzzled, she asked, “Is it that funny?”
“No…” Song Li Sheng replied between uneven breaths from laughing. “It’s just that…”
The word “adorable” almost slipped out but rolled on his tongue and came out as “very novel.”
“…Ah, forget it.” Li Jiao was convinced Song Li Sheng was making fun of her.
Pity her usually majestic image, now reduced to such a ridiculous state!
But if it could make the beauty laugh like this, it wasn’t a total loss.
This was the first time she had seen Song Li Sheng laugh so heartily.
Li Jiao sighed. It was a shame he wasn’t beside her right now—she really wanted to ruffle his hair again.
She still remembered how it felt—fluffy and incredibly soft.
Like a big cat.
At 8:00 AM, the camera crew arrived punctually at the door of Li Jiao’s presidential suite, armed with their equipment.
Thanks to last night’s suffering and emergency skincare, Li Jiao’s skin now seemed so delicate it might break at a touch, looking absolutely stunning on camera.
Mo Mo glanced through the viewfinder and couldn’t help but praise, “Our Jiaojiao is just too beautiful! Once the trailer airs, she’ll slay all the haters with her looks!”
Jiaojiao: ?
“I told you to call me Sister Li. Jiaojiao… makes me sound like some kind of food.”
“Okay, Sister Jiaojiao.”
“…” Li Jiao fell silent. Fine, whatever makes you happy.
Before the official recording began, Lin Ru stubbornly handed her a prepared script, trying to persuade her to follow it.
Li Jiao only glanced at it before tossing it aside. “I don’t need this.”
Lin Ru could only sigh.
“Sister Lin, please step aside. We’re about to start filming!”
The recording officially began.
Li Jiao walked to the bedside, picked up the clothes she had changed out of yesterday, folded them haphazardly, then went to the bathroom to pack her electric toothbrush into its case before tossing both into her suitcase.
She crouched down, zipped it up, stood the suitcase upright, and said, “Let’s go.”
“Is that it?” The cameraman couldn’t believe it. He’d worked on many variety shows where packing alone usually took two hours of footage!
But Li Jiao… finished in less than five minutes…
“Yep,” Li Jiao replied matter-of-factly. “I packed everything yesterday. I can’t wait to get going. Let’s speed things up, hurry hurry.”
“Well…” The cameraman glanced at Lin Ru.
Lin Ru massaged her temples, unable to bear watching. “Let’s go then…”
She comforted herself thinking it didn’t matter – there would still be interviews in the car to fill runtime and establish personas.
“Compared to the other guests, what would you say are your advantages in Chinese Style?”
To create drama, the production team had chosen particularly challenging questions.
The interviewer selected was also known for their sharp, confrontational style.
Of course, all these questions had been reviewed with Lin Ru, who was now holding up her phone to show Li Jiao the prepared answer:
[Everyone is so talented. I feel like I’m participating more as an apprentice than as a guest. I’ve always loved our Chinese traditional culture, and this is a great opportunity to learn more.]
Lin Ru’s prepared response emphasized humility.
However, Li Jiao didn’t even glance at it. “Advantages? I don’t compare myself to others, only to my past self.”
“Can I interpret that as you being unable to name any specific advantages?”
“You can interpret it that way. After all, I’m good at too many things.”
The interviewer barely suppressed an eye-roll. “Does my questioning make you uncomfortable?”
“Not at all. Feel free to continue.”
Lin Ru wanted to yell “Cut!” but the interview continued.
“There’s actually quite a lot of skepticism online about your participation in this program. Do you have any response to that?”
“Skepticism?” Li Jiao looked down with a slight smile. “I wasn’t aware. But if there is any, all I can say is: wait and see. Nobody is more suitable for this show than me.”
…
When the prepared questions finally ended, Lin Ru was drenched in cold sweat. Li Jiao’s answers had given her such a… tremendous surprise.
She now wondered if it would have been better to just have Li Jiao stick to acting. Why bother with variety shows for image rehabilitation? She’d never seen anyone so utterly unfamiliar with the concept of humility!
If Li Jiao actually had some skills related to Chinese Style, such arrogance might have worked to establish a sharp-tongued, cold, prodigy persona.
But she genuinely couldn’t do anything!
Lin Ru felt utterly hopeless.
Since the guests came from different cities, they had to take separate flights to Country F.
The three other guests from City A had just finished their awkward small talk in the VIP lounge when Li Jiao pushed the door open after checking her luggage.
“Hello, I’m Li Jiao.” She closed the door behind her and greeted them with natural confidence, completely at ease.
“I’m Santu, Chen Lingxuan.” The first to respond was the Chinese Style singer sitting in the single sofa nearest the door.
She stood up somewhat shyly and gave a polite slight bow.
Then Li Jiao extended her hand.
Chen Lingxuan blushed as she shook it.
Having gained fame through video streaming platforms as an online singer, this was her first variety show appearance and her first time meeting a real female celebrity. She couldn’t help feeling shy around Li Jiao, who struck her as both beautiful and elegant.
The male idol Lu Chexi and popular actor Zhou Wenyuan sitting in the back row stood up to greet Li Jiao, each leaning forward to shake hands.
However, Lu Chexi withdrew his hand before making contact with Li Jiao, performing an air handshake instead.
Zhou Wenyuan noticed this subtle gesture and shot Lu Chexi an annoyed glare off-camera.
Damn it! Why hadn’t he thought of using this moment to buy a “gentleman’s hands” trending topic? Now he was going to be upstaged!