According to the order, the first one to draw was Shi Ruan. Without any hesitation, Shi Ruan walked right up and drew a slip of paper.
When he opened it, the number five was written on it, which presumably meant room number five.
Shi Ruan had no objections to where he would live. After drawing, he sat right back down in his original seat, though Thin Jing lingered with a few extra glances, looking somewhat preoccupied.
“Is it my turn now?”
Shi Yan put on a feigned look of surprise, wanting to appear innocent, yet under the camera lenses, his actions looked utterly brain-dead.
[Not to be mean, but I rarely associate being greasy with an Omega.]
[My anti-stupidity reflex is kicking in.]
[What are you people even talking about? Our baby Yan is just a little unworldly, how is he greasy? I think you are the greasy ones, which is why everyone looks greasy to you!]
Although this wave of Shi Yan’s antics was unacceptable to a portion of the viewers, there was still a huge chunk of the audience that ate this act right up. In their minds, Omegas were supposed to be this innocent and spoiled.
Only then could it be easy for them to control. As for those who constantly advocated for Omega equal rights, in their eyes, they were the scum of Omegas and didn’t even count as real Omegas anymore.
The live chat was also monopolized by this group of people. Shi Yan put on a pretentious posture as he went up to draw lots. When he opened it up, it turned out to be a one, which went straight to Shi Yan’s heart.
In his mind, he was number one; since childhood, and now that he was grown, he should still be number one. Coming to this dating show was just the first step, and afterward, he would surpass Shi Ruan step by step.
Thinking this, he cast a strange look of mixed motives at Shi Ruan, then bypassed Shi Ruan and pinned his gaze on Thin Jing.
Only someone with status and standing like Thin Jing was worthy of him. Even if he couldn’t make Thin Jing willingly be with him, as long as he used the dating show to link their two names together, his path forward would be far, far smoother than Shi Ruan’s.
Seeing Shi Yan finish drawing, Xu Rui also glanced over. In his opinion, living next door to Shi Yan was still much better than living next to anyone else, but since he was the last one to arrive, he could only sit quietly.
After all, he didn’t even have the qualification to draw. Thinking of the marriage partner his family had lined up for him, Xu Rui couldn’t help curling his lip inwardly; it would have been better if it were Shi Yan.
At least Shi Yan could listen to reason. Su Jiaojiao would never have guessed that Xu Rui was secretly cursing her in his heart, and even if she knew, she would only give a disdainful huff and call him childish.
Thin Jing wore a frosty expression as he silently went up and drew a piece of paper, but his physical actions bore zero relation to indifference, something even the live chat could clearly see.
The speed at which he opened the slip of paper was extremely fast, a pace that completely clashed with his cold face.
Yet only he knew just how massive a sigh of relief he exhaled when he saw the number six written on the slip.
Seeing his actions carry a hint of eagerness, Shi Ruan curiously looked over as well, only to lock eyes with him. Shi Ruan always felt that the way Thin Jing looked at him was as if he couldn’t wait to strip him bare.
Perhaps even Thin Jing himself didn’t realize how much possessiveness his gaze actually held, but Shi Ruan, being the one stared at, could feel it clearly.
Shi Ruan had never been in a relationship before and had no idea how to handle this kind of gaze, yet not a single shred of resistance could rise up inside his heart toward Thin Jing.
He could only shyly lower his head to count ants, though why were there ants indoors anyway?
“We are living next to each other. Do you have any thoughts about that?”
Seeing Shi Ruan acting like this, Thin Jing couldn’t resist wanting to tease him. Taking advantage of the cameras focusing on Su Jiaojiao over there, he leaned close to whisper in Shi Ruan’s ear.
Mmh? Thoughts? Shi Ruan didn’t know what kind of thoughts he was supposed to have, so he probed tentatively:
“I want to eat fish?”
Did they think that because the cameras couldn’t catch them, the live stream couldn’t hear them? Were the microphones clipped to their bodies just decorative ornaments?
[I’m done for, I’m going to die laughing, hahahaha]
[An overbearing, greasy CEO lowers his voice and says, ‘Man, what are your thoughts?’, while a comical third-tier extra actor goes, ‘Old Mo, I want to eat fish’]
[The man wants to talk romance with you, and you’re playing old internet memes with him. Shi Ruan, you truly are this one (thumbs up)]
Seeing Thin Jing’s face covered in bewilderment, Shi Ruan realized he had misinterpreted the meaning. Thin Jing wasn’t trying to play memes with him at all. Alright, forget about counting ants anymore.
He felt like his toes inside his shoes were about to claw out an entire Barbie Dreamhouse. Meanwhile, Thin Jing was wondering what variety of fish he should buy when they went out shopping later.
“Can we leave now that the drawing is done?”
Su Jiaojiao had just wrapped up an advertising photoshoot yesterday and flown in overnight. If not for the production team’s rules and the live broadcast, she would have long since dropped her pleasant expression and walked out.
Right now, having finished drawing lots, she just wanted to return to her room early and get some rest; she had zero energy left to play-act with everyone else.
[Here it comes, here it comes. According to directors who worked with Su Jiaojiao before, she loves putting on big star airs on set]
[Truly speechless. She’s acting like this even on a live broadcast, goodness knows what she’s like behind the scenes]
[Don’t you people who like Su Jiaojiao also happen to be spoiled misses? After all, like attracts like]
[Wait, why do you guys start throwing hate the moment you open your mouths? Our Jiaojiao is exhausted because she rushed over overnight right after participating in an event yesterday!]
[I hate these haters who put on neutral skins and run their mouths the most. They don’t know a single thing and just spew hate]
[Right, right, your beloved sister is truly the hardest working person in the entire world~]
True to form, Su Jiaojiao’s Shura-field constitution lived up to its legendary reputation; wherever she went, arguments inevitably followed.
Thinking that there were no further announcements to make, the director directly chimed in, “Teacher Su can head upstairs first if you’re in a rush.”
Normally, just saying a simple yes would have sufficed, but how could that generate the same level of web traffic as stoking the flames of controversy in the live chat? Engineering hype and manufactured drama through deliberate friction was standard operating procedure for the production team anyway.
Who told Su Jiaojiao not to lean on her family’s influence when she entered the entertainment industry? In fact, one could even say that under Su Fu’s instructions, she had even been suppressed by her own family for a period of time.
Later on, after Su Jiaojiao carved out a name for herself through her own sheer talent, the Su family used moral blackmail to force her into an engagement with Xu Rui.
It was fortunate that she and Xu Rui loathed the sight of each other; otherwise, she probably would have been married off to Xu Rui long ago.
With these thoughts in mind, Su Jiaojiao couldn’t care less about playing nice with them, directly standing up, dragging her suitcase, and heading upstairs.
“Next it’s my turn to draw. I actually quite like living in the middle, it’s lively…”
Song Xia was trying her absolute best to salvage the ice-cold atmosphere Su Jiaojiao had left behind. Someone who normally couldn’t even stand a tiny bit of extra noise was actively claiming she liked lively places.
Yet fate truly harbored no love for liars; even as Song Xia drew her slip of paper, a smile still lingered on the corner of her lips.
When she saw the number three, her composure completely shattered. What kind of twisted, inescapable fate was this!
Other people might not understand why her expression twisted so drastically, seeing as none of them knew what number room Su Jiaojiao had drawn, but the live chat knew!
[Who gets this! I’m already shipping them, this pairing is called the Nemesis Couple!]
[I agree, hahaha. Being in the same show was one thing, but even though Song Xia looks like she wants to slap a ‘keep away from Su Jiaojiao’ sign over her entire body, she still ends up drawing the neighboring room]
[Song Xia: Let me demonstrate the vanishing smile technique for everyone…]
[Isn’t anyone curious how Song Xia knew Su Jiaojiao was in room number two? I only found out because the camera followed Su Jiaojiao upstairs]
[Great question, Song Xia claims she just happened to glance over and see it]
[Wait, what’s wrong with being next to our Jiaojiao? Our Jiaojiao is perfectly fine on her own]
Aside from the production team, no one else knew why Song Xia’s face had dropped, and Song Xia herself felt her reaction had been far too dramatic.
Wasn’t it just rooms being next to each other? It wasn’t like she was sleeping in the same bed as Su Jiaojiao. With that thought, Song Xia forced a smile back onto her face, waiting for Xu Rui to begrudgingly take out the very last slip of paper and open it to finalize the room assignments.
Shi Ruan got room five, Shi Yan room one, Thin Jing room six, Su Jiaojiao room two, Song Xia room three, and Xu Rui room four.
Seeing this result, Shi Yan’s mind started plotting again. Shi Ruan’s luck meant he lived right in the path between the other Alphas; hadn’t anyone ever heard the saying about how being close to the water gets you the moonlight first?
If Shi Ruan got the moonlight first, what was he supposed to do?
“Everyone, you can come over and collect your room keys.”
“Hey, Brother…”
Just as Shi Ruan stood up, he was grabbed by the sleeve by Shi Yan. When Shi Ruan turned his head back to look at him, Shi Yan appropriately put on a worried expression.
“Brother, your sleep schedule isn’t good at night, would you like to swap with me? Didn’t you always prefer staying on the side with good sunlight when we were at home?”
“I…”
“Brother, it’s fine, as long as you sleep well, I’m at ease…”
Shi Yan was doing this completely on purpose. He wanted to swap rooms while simultaneously letting the live chat know that Shi Ruan bullied him at home. The actual reality was that Shi Fu and Shi Mu didn’t allow Shi Ruan to live on the second or third floors at all.
Shi Ruan had no choice but to stay in a nanny’s room on the first floor, while all the other rooms were occupied by the family’s caregivers and housekeepers, leaving Shi Ruan with no option except the very corner room.
That place was freezing in the winter and scorching in the summer, making it impossible to sleep well and even leaving him with chronic rheumatism.
Yet how could Shi Yan ever give Shi Ruan the chance to explain? He directly cut off whatever words Shi Ruan was about to say. If Shi Ruan swapped, he would be saddled with the reputation of bullying an Omega.
If he didn’t swap, in everyone else’s eyes, that would also serve as proof that Shi Ruan treated Shi Yan poorly.
Just as Shi Ruan was caught in a painful dilemma, Thin Jing strode over and forcefully pulled Shi Ruan right to his side.
“President Thin? I’m just worried my brother won’t sleep well and wanted to swap rooms with him…” This remark both explained Shi Yan’s actions and highlighted his own kindness.
“President Thin, if you mind, I don’t have to swap either, I’m just worried about my brother not sleeping well…”
This statement was equally clever in shifting all the blame onto Shi Ruan. Who could have guessed that Shi Ruan hadn’t even uttered a single word?
[Ah? Shi Ruan doesn’t look like the type who would bully an Omega at home, does he?]
[To the user above, I can only say you can know a person’s face but not their heart…]
[Who would have thought my baby Yan gets bullied like this at home, heartbreaking…]
[My Shi Ruan is not that kind of person, okay? There has to be a misunderstanding, who is this Shi Yan acting green-tea for?]
At this point, Shi Ruan’s meager handful of fans finally realized that something was wrong with Shi Yan. They had originally thought they were all one big happy family of biological brothers.
Who could have expected Shi Yan to be a white lotus? Speechless, what good did smearing Shi Ruan do for him?
[Look at that, the fans are cut from the same cloth as their idol. Who knows how Shi Ruan bullies Shi Yan behind the scenes]
Even without seeing the live chat, Shi Yan was extremely satisfied with his own performance. Naturally, the reaction in the live chat would play out precisely as he wished.
Shi Ruan didn’t understand why Shi Yan would say those things either, but it was most likely to switch rooms, so remembering what Shi Mu had instructed him about taking care of Shi Yan, Shi Ruan opened his mouth to speak, but Thin Jing suddenly interrupted him.
“Don’t swap. I snore loudly at night, I’m afraid I’ll disturb you.”
With that, he grabbed Shi Ruan’s luggage and headed upstairs. Family members, who can understand this?
Thin Jing maintaining a deadpan, imperious poker face while dead-pan seriously declaring that he snored loudly at night was no less terrifying than my head teacher wearing a creepy, honeyed smile and announcing that I got first place in the entire grade.
Shi Yan, on the other hand, grew bashful. Although he hadn’t managed to switch rooms, he had confirmed that Thin Jing was indeed interested in him.
Otherwise, why else would he worry about disturbing him? (Truth be told, young man, you are overthinking this)
Xu Rui, standing nearby, wore a face full of astonishment. Since when did his little uncle snore?
Tsk tsk tsk, who would have thought that coming on a dating show with Thin Jing would unearth this kind of juicy gossip? He had better run upstairs right away and tell his mom, maybe it would even net him a raise in his allowance.
Just like that, a random lie casually tossed out by Thin Jing quickly spread throughout the entire Thin household.
[Did you guys hear that just now?]
[I heard it! Turns out a big CEO like President Thin snores when he sleeps at night? Suddenly I feel like the dimensional wall has been shattered]
[President Thin snores when he sleeps, and I snore when I sleep too. Rounded up, that means I am President Thin]
[What a fantastic rounding up]
[Oh? Didn’t you guys feel the chemistry?]
[President Thin and Shi Yan should just be locked in a room together. One gives up his room in agony just so his older brother can sleep well, but gets stopped by the person he likes on the grounds of ‘I want you to sleep well’—how can you not ship this?]
[You can ship this too? Should we call them the Sleepy Couple? Heh, it’s alright I guess]
[You’re all heretics. I ship President Thin and Shi Ruan as the White Jade Couple, I’m raising the big flag for the White Jade Couple, let’s see who dares oppose them]
[Excuse me, Jade can barely be stretched to refer to President Thin, but what does White have to do with Shi Ruan?]
[Because Shi Ruan is fair!]
The live chat was temporarily left speechless by this sister’s train of thought, yet someone actually went over to Weibo to set up a dedicated super-topic for the White Jade Couple.
Shi Ruan was naturally oblivious to all these events unfolding outside as he asked Thin Jing with an earnest expression:
“President Thin, do you really snore when you sleep?”
“Hmm?”
Thin Jing hadn’t expected him to still be fixated on this detail. Did he really look like a person who snored in his sleep?
Seeing Shi Ruan looking at him with such serious eyes, Thin Jing felt the urge to tease him. In truth, it was quite strange because Thin Jing normally disdained this sort of behavior, feeling it was far too childish.
Yet in front of Shi Ruan, he always found himself wanting to use childish actions to close the six-year age gap between them.
Six years didn’t sound like much, yet it was enough for Thin Jing to be labeled as nearing thirty while Shi Ruan was still a fresh newcomer just starting to make his mark in the entertainment industry.
“President Thin, I won’t mind you!”
Seeing Thin Jing nod, Shi Ruan immediately expressed his stance. Watching his earnest look, Thin Jing couldn’t help finding it amusing as he casually took Shi Ruan’s luggage from his hands.
With an amused smile, he left behind a single sentence: “Fine, as if it’s your place to mind?”
“President Thin, let me carry it myself?”
Shi Ruan trotted after Thin Jing, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. How could he possibly let President Thin carry his luggage for him?
“What do you want to eat tonight?”
“Um…”
Thin Jing effortlessly diverted Shi Ruan’s attention. To give credit where it’s due, you kid are truly skilled at handling your wife.
“I can eat anything.”
“Does that mean you’re easy to feed?”
Shi Ruan blinked his eyes at him, only to have his vision suddenly blocked by a hand.
“Stop staring at me. We’re at your room. Unpack your things and then come outside with me to buy groceries…”
Thin Jing stood right in front of Shi Ruan with a straight face, dropping that cold, aloof remark before stepping into his own room. Behind closed doors, however, Thin Jing covered his face with his hands as he reminisced about the way Shi Ruan’s bright, glittering eyes had stared right at him.
In the end, he had no choice but to head into the bathroom and take a half-hour cold shower.
Banxia Novels, bringing you endless joy.