Song Xia had only ever seen Alphas who could control their pheromones like this in textbooks when teachers were lecturing in class.
A Grade 3S Alpha was the kind of existence that only existed in legends. Song Xia never imagined she would run into such an Alpha simply by signing up for a casual dating show.
And she had actually harbored the audacity to try to taint the Omega who belonged to him. Would he tear her to shreds after work tonight?
Frightened by her own imagination, Song Xia shivered before finally speaking up.
“Hello, everyone. I am Song Xia.”
“Hello. I am Shi Yan, and this is my older brother, Shi Ruan.”
To exact revenge for being ignored just a moment ago, Shi Yan directly hijacked the conversation, cutting off whatever Shi Ruan was about to say.
Shi Ruan closed his mouth and gently pressed his lips together.
“Thin Jing.”
Shi Ruan, who had still been feeling somewhat upset, practically demonstrated the four words “at a complete loss” to absolute perfection.
The very instant Thin Jing spoke, Shi Ruan felt as though he could feel the vibration coming from the man’s chest, and his nostrils caught the scent that belonged uniquely to Thin Jing.
It tempted Shi Ruan so much that he just wanted to turn around and bury himself in the man’s arms for a deep, greedy inhale. When he did turn around, he realized that Thin Jing was standing terribly close to him.
Shi Ruan felt the blood in his entire body rush straight to his face with a loud roar. At that moment, Shi Ruan did not even dare turn to face the camera, terrified that the viewers in the live chat would discover the fact that he was blushing.
“What is wrong?”
Thin Jing only saw Shi Ruan turn around, glance at him, and then lower his head, burying his little head right against his chest.
Thin Jing genuinely could not help the urge to pull him straight into his embrace. Thin Jing even felt as though he was starting to have a physiological reaction, yet he could not bear to push Shi Ruan away.
“Ah? Nothing.”
Shi Ruan’s only saving grace was that his acting skills were still somewhat passing. By the time he turned around, he had managed to hide any trace of a flaw. But how could the live chat ever let him off so easily?
[I bet a pack of spicy strips that these two definitely have something going on!]
[No need to bet upstairs, because anyone with eyes can see it.]
[What a pity, Shi Ruan is a Beta, otherwise I would be shipping them hard.]
[The AO sect is suffering too. I want to ship them, but I can’t.]
[Betas are great! They can be versatile. I don’t care, I am a madwoman and I ship everyone!]
Su Jiaojiao had stood there for a little while before her patience ran out. She stood straight up, picked up her luggage, and prepared to leave.
Naturally, Shi Yan had no intention of letting go of an opportunity to leech onto the camera time. Wasn’t Su Jiaojiao’s screen time still screen time?
“Jiaojiao, where are you going?”
Su Jiaojiao stopped in her tracks, cringing so hard she felt like shaking to rattle off all the goosebumps on her body.
“Excuse me, are we that close? Of course I am going upstairs to pick a room, or where else am I supposed to go while lugging a suitcase?”
As she spoke, she swept her gaze up and down over Shi Yan, wearing a look of sudden realization. “Could it be that you know you are ugly, and you are afraid I will be scared away by your ugliness?”
[Three, two, one, drop the link!]
[Seriously, I surrender. What can you do when Su Jiaojiao is just too good at roasting? Hahaha.]
[Wait, what is Su Jiaojiao acting so arrogant for? Didn’t he just ask a question?]
[Right, I really feel bad for my baby Yan.]
Staff member: “Teacher Su, we have to wait for everyone to arrive and draw lots before rooms can be assigned.”
“Did you invite the emperor here? Why do we have to wait for just one person when there are so many of us? Besides, we can just divide the rooms one per person.”
By the time Su Jiaojiao finished speaking, the staff member offered a mysterious smile. This time, it was not just Su Jiaojiao; everyone else felt a sudden drop in their hearts.
“You people aren’t insane enough not to have prepared separate rooms for each of us, are you?”
The staff member adopted the ultimate deadpan strategy, refusing to open their mouth no matter what Su Jiaojiao said.
[Oh ho! The Shura field has finally arrived (turns into a monkey) (swings on vines) (beats chest wildly) (laughs out loud)]
[I love watching Shura fields. Do you love watching Shura fields? Hahahahaha]
Seeing their reactions, Su Jiaojiao sneered, realizing her guess had been right on the mark. She promptly slumped back down onto the sofa and fell silent.
Finally recovering from her shock, Song Xia smiled and extended her hand toward Shi Yan.
“Hello, hello. It is very nice to meet you.”
Shi Yan never expected Song Xia to suddenly come over and greet him, but who would turn down a smile from a cold, aloof beauty?
While Song Xia and Shi Yan were shaking hands, Shi Ruan quietly unclenched his tightly gripped hands, wondering how he could smoothly shake hands with her when she reached him.
To his surprise, the moment Song Xia turned her head to look at him, she instantly wiped away her smile and quickly turned to extend her hand in the other direction instead.
Shi Ruan’s already extended hand hung suspended in midair as he looked with utter bewilderment at Song Xia, who was suddenly acting out of her mind.
After turning away, Song Xia thought her own behavior was absolute garbage. Wasn’t it just shaking a hand? Would Thin Jing really break her hand off?
Yet the pheromones lurking around Shi Ruan warned her that Thin Jing might actually do something that insane.
Song Xia could only weep silently in her heart: I am sorry, little cutie Shi Ruan, preserving my life has to come first.
“Yo, what is this? Were your hands washed clean yet before you wanted to touch this young lady’s hand?”
Su Jiaojiao was playing with her freshly done manicure, casting a look of disdain when she felt Song Xia’s hand nearby.
Seeing that Song Xia did not pull her hand back for a long time, she frowned and cursed, “Peeping Tom!”
Song Xia yanked her hand back immediately and retreated to the very corner of the sofa, swearing to herself that she would never speak another word to this spoiled miss.
Su Jiaojiao could not care less what was going on in her head. She pulled her gaze away from her nails, lifted her head, and spotted Thin Jing holding Shi Ruan’s hand.
Following her line of sight, Shi Yan saw it too. A dark glint flashed in his eyes as he blurted out, “Brother?!”
Startled, Shi Ruan immediately yanked his hand back. Feeling that his behavior matched Su Jiaojiao’s earlier insult of a peeping Tom, he hurriedly sat down and kept his mouth shut.
Thin Jing directed a displeased look toward the mood-ruining Shi Yan. Shi Yan felt as though he had been targeted by a ferocious wolf in the dark night, but remembering something, he met Thin Jing’s gaze without flinching, even going so far as to release a bit of his pheromones given how close they were.
Thin Jing found his pheromones completely incomparable to the scent of the milk body wash on Shi Ruan’s body. The wave of disgust grew even more pronounced, but Shi Yan retracted his pheromones right at the exact threshold before Thin Jing’s anger boiled over.
That only made Thin Jing even more irritated, but considering that he was Shi Ruan’s younger brother, he ultimately refrained from erupting.
Instead, he simply lowered his head and stared in a daze at Shi Ruan’s reddened ear tips.
Shi Ruan recalled how he had just been about to pull his hand back when Thin Jing had grabbed it instead. Perhaps because everyone in the live chat had their attention focused on Su Jiaojiao and the others, no one noticed them at all.
Although Shi Ruan had developed some favorable feelings toward Thin Jing, he still did not feel comfortable engaging in public hand-holding in front of everyone.
When he tried to pull his hand back, Thin Jing instead tightened his grip. Not only that, but Shi Ruan also felt Thin Jing’s fingers lightly rub against the back of his hand.
This time, Shi Ruan proved smart enough to ensure no redness could be seen on his face, but he had not anticipated that his ears would betray him.
In Thin Jing’s eyes, those originally fair, round, and dainty earlobes slowly flushed red, the blush climbing all the way up to engulf his entire ear.
Yet the person in question was still putting on a solemn face, using his eyes to signal Thin Jing to let go. Little did Shi Ruan know that in Thin Jing’s eyes, he looked precisely like a little white rabbit with red eyes trying to act tough while begging its master for a hug.
Just as Thin Jing was on the verge of leaning down to personally test the temperature of Shi Ruan’s ear tips, his voice was interrupted by Shi Yan.
Thin Jing had no choice but to let go of Shi Ruan’s hand, consoling himself inwardly: It is fine, we have plenty of time ahead.
At that moment, the final guest arrived, and the instant he saw the person, Thin Jing could not help frowning.
The newcomer turned out to be the son of Thin Jing’s eldest sister. Thin Jing was a late-in-life child born to his parents, which meant there was only a six-year age gap between him and his eldest sister’s son.
[Handsome guy, hurry over to my bed, slurp slurp!]
[The user above threw their shorts right in my face, but to be fair, the guests Mango TV scouted this time are all handsome guys and gorgeous girls. It is truly friendly to my eyes!]
[I have already fallen in love with Mango TV. Who is this handsome guy? Butler, within five minutes I want his entire life history.]
[I don’t mind a polyamorous setup. Left hand Shi Ruan, right hand the new handsome guy. Tsk tsk tsk, let us all live happily together.]
While the live chat was going wild, Xu Rui finally spoke up.
“Hello, everyone. I am Xu Rui.”
“Hello, I am Shi Yan.”
This time, Shi Yan was too busy feeling pleased with himself over his recent provocation toward Thin Jing to pull any shady stunts. In his mind, anything he set his eyes on would eventually become his no matter what Shi Ruan did. Weren’t Shi Fu and Shi Mu living proof of that?
Thinking along those lines, Shi Yan convinced himself that Thin Jing would ultimately choose him in the end. Seeing how poised and graceful Shi Yan looked, Xu Rui actually developed a bit of favorable impression toward him.
“Yo, isn’t this the emperor?”
When Su Jiaojiao’s sarcastic voice rang out, Xu Rui initially thought he had misheard. As Thin Jing’s nephew, anyone in the upper-class circle, whether acquainted or not, would afford him a modicum of respect.
It had been so long since anyone dared speak to him in that tone. When he turned around and saw that it was Su Jiaojiao, he had no choice but to swallow his anger.
Because, as luck would have it, the marriage partner his mother had lined up for him was none other than the daughter of the Su Group conglomerate, Su Jiaojiao herself.
Did you really think someone who dared to offend people so brazenly in elite circles lacked any backing at all?
“I am Song Xia.”
Having witnessed this spoiled miss’s terrifying prowess firsthand, Song Xia sympathized with a fellow sufferer and hurriedly spoke up to help him bail out of the awkward situation.
Su Jiaojiao had never looked favorably upon this nominal fiancé of hers anyway, and seeing that the person she had waited so long for turned out to be him made her even more displeased.
Seeing Song Xia step in to rescue him, Su Jiaojiao simply let out a huff and said nothing more. Song Xia was somewhat unaccustomed to her backing down so easily; in her mind, this older sister was the type who never let anyone off when she had the upper hand.
Since everyone else had already introduced themselves except for Shi Ruan and Thin Jing, the camera naturally shifted to them, finally alerting the viewers in the live chat that something felt off.
[These two always give me such an ambiguous vibe.]
[Me too. The moment I saw them, my shipping radar started spinning.]
[What started spinning?]
[User above, street racing on flat ground, watch out for a rollover (speechless).]
[Everyone look quickly, Shi Ruan’s ears are completely red! Did he and President Thin do something lewd behind our backs?]
[Congratulations, blind student, you have spotted the crucial detail.]
“Ah? Hello, I am Shi Ruan.”
Xu Rui clearly caught the amusement in his little uncle’s eyes when Shi Ruan spoke. Oh ho! My little uncle’s wife is finally secured.
So he smiled and said, “Hello, nice to meet you.”
In Thin Jing’s eyes, Xu Rui looked precisely like a peacock opening its tail, causing him to instantly pull a straight face and think that his nephew must simply have far too much idle time on his hands.
“This is Thin Jing.”
After stumbling through his words and seeing that Thin Jing gave no reaction, recalling how Shi Yan had introduced him earlier, Shi Ruan tentatively tried introducing Thin Jing as well.
Just as Thin Jing was contemplating how to double Xu Rui’s workload, he heard Shi Ruan gently murmur his name in that soft, sweet voice of his.
Thin Jing, who had spent his entire life thinking of his name as nothing more than a plain, meaningless label, now wished he could press Shi Ruan down and make him say it a hundred times over.
Thin Jing thought that perhaps it wasn’t the name itself, but the fact that the person before him had such a lovely voice. He hoped that voice could remain just as sweet when they were in bed later on.
Unaware of Thin Jing’s inner thoughts, Shi Ruan saw Xu Rui looking at him with a smile and wondered if he had said something wrong.
“Hahaha, good, good, good. Thin Jing is my little uncle, of course I know him.”
Only then did Shi Ruan realize why Thin Jing had not introduced himself, and a wave of awkwardness washed over him. The next second, however, Xu Rui uttered words that echoed every single fan’s inner thoughts:
“Why are you so cute?”
[What kind of Shura field is this?]
[An uncle and his nephew falling for the same person? (Screaming wildly)]
[I was just about to ask everyone not to ship randomly, but then I remembered this is a dating show. What is everyone pretending for? Start shipping already!]
[I am shipping them like crazy.]
[Shipping drugs is illegal upstairs. I’m already preparing to call the police.]
Xu Rui made that remark purely to piss Thin Jing off, while also testing Thin Jing’s attitude.
Seeing that Thin Jing showed no outward signs of anomaly on the surface, not even changing his facial expression in the least, Xu Rui could not help muttering doubts to himself: Could I have misread the situation?
In a place where Xu Rui could not see, Thin Jing had already doubled his workload. Poor Xu Rui was still working under his little uncle’s thumb, utterly clueless about what it meant to offend your superior.
At that moment, the director stepped forward to take control of the scene: “Welcome everyone to the recording site of Falling for Another Self in This World…”
Just as the director began speaking, Xu Rui casually sat down next to Shi Yan, meaning nothing by it other than finding a place to sit.
Yet Shi Yan’s imagination ran wild once again, leading him to convince himself that Xu Rui must be romantically interested in him. He shot a provocative, sideways glance at Shi Ruan.
Shi Ruan, however, was paying rapt attention to the director’s speech and completely failed to notice him. As for Xu Rui, that blockhead genuinely thought Shi Yan was a pretty pleasant person.
Thinking that he was not here to find a partner anyway, but rather to follow his maternal sovereign’s decree to keep an eye on his little uncle and ensure he could date in peace, Xu Rui had only one piece of advice for him: being blind is a disease and it needs to be treated.
“For this season, we have implemented a special adaptation: every participant will have a private individual room. There are a total of ten rooms in the Fall in Love cabin, which means there will be additional guests arriving later. Every single day we will be adding new guests, so please look forward to it. Every evening, everyone is required to write a letter for the person who made your heart flutter that day. Note that phrases like ‘let’s be together’ or ‘be my boyfriend/girlfriend’ are strictly prohibited in the letters; anything else goes. Keep in mind that you need to accumulate five letters before you can open and read them. Additionally, the production team will randomly drop mystery blind boxes, which might contain items everyone will be dying to get their hands on. Moving forward, we hope everyone spends a wonderful month here in the cabin.”
By this point, everyone had a basic understanding of the rules. Shi Ruan was already deep in thought about how he should write his letter that night.
As for Su Jiaojiao, she realized that the staff had deliberately teased her earlier just to make her angry for the sake of variety show effect, leaving her with no choice but to silently roll her eyes.
Unbeknownst to her, the camera had quietly recorded that entire moment. Later on, when Su Jiaojiao’s reaction memes went viral across the entire internet, the frequency of use for this particular screenshot was exceptionally high.
“Now, please draw your room numbers in the chronological order of your arrival at the cabin.”
Banxia Novels, bringing you endless joy.