Seeing that Xie Weiyi still hadn’t recovered from the reunion with her ex-girlfriend, Su Leli curiously poked her head out and glanced at Jiang Tong.
Jiang Tong was already chatting with Xia Yuan, seeming quite congenial.
“Aine, drink some water.” Su Leli smiled as she handed Xie Weiyi a cup of water, guiding her to pull her thoughts back. “Mind your boundaries; don’t stare people away.”
After thanking her, Xie Weiyi took the cup of water. Taking advantage of the action of drinking, she swept another glance at Jiang Tong from the corner of her eye, while a few blurred frames uncontrollably flashed through her mind.
In front of the mirror in the narrow practice room, twenty-year-old Jiang Tong had just finished dancing, covered in sweat yet with sparkling eyes as she helped her correct her Chinese pronunciation. Under the warm light of a late-night convenience store, the two of them shared a box of ice cream that was about to melt, Jiang Tong smiling with her eyes curved into crescents.
The Jiang Tong at that time was vivid and cute, occasionally carrying a bit of youthful craftiness, far from her current obedient and gentle appearance.
After that car accident, Jiang Tong seemed to have evaporated from the human world, cutting off contact with everyone and leaving behind only an official statement of “amnesia.”
Indeed, just as Su Leli had said, since she had managed to encounter Jiang Tong again with such difficulty, she needed to mind her boundaries a bit.
She couldn’t accept the occurrence of Jiang Tong evaporating from the world a second time.
Tilt her head back, Xie Weiyi drank the water in the cup, the icy liquid sliding down her throat to suppress that untimely churning sensation. Tucking a lock of hair behind her ear and readjusting her state, she cast her gaze back toward the central circle of lively chat and laughter.
The program crew’s staff appeared at the appropriate moment, beginning to explain the arrangements for the first episode.
Jiang Tong tried hard to concentrate on listening, but a wisp of her thoughts always refused to obey, drifting toward that dazzling figure.
That mixed-race girl from back then who would worry because she couldn’t speak fluent Chinese and would pester her privately to correct her pronunciation word by word was now able to move around effortlessly in this Vanity Fair, talking and laughing easily.
As for herself, she had retreated from the center of the stage to the margins, even needing to rely on variety show exposure to maintain a livelihood, striving to fight for a glimmer of breathing space for herself and the “backyard chicken company” in other people’s words.
The difference between clouds and mud—nothing more than this.
Her choice back then was perhaps correct.
At least, it didn’t drag Xie Weiyi down with her into the muddy, sunless abyss.
“Miss Jiang?” The staff member’s voice recalled her thoughts.
Abruptly snapping back to reality, Jiang Tong raised her eyes to look at the other person, revealing an apologetic yet gentle smile: “I’m sorry, I drifted off a bit just now. Could I trouble you to say that again?”
Her voice remained peaceful and soft, revealing no abnormalities whatsoever.
Only she herself knew that from the moment she saw Xie Weiyi, the peaceful world she had worked so hard to maintain had already quietly cracked open a seam.
The program crew announced the first warm-up segment: the guests needed to successively conduct simple self-introductions and draw room numbers.
Recording would take place during the self-introductions, but since everyone obviously wasn’t enthusiastic with each other yet, the seven of them engaged in a small game prior to the recording.
As to whether this game process could be broadcasted in the program’s behind-the-scenes footage would depend on the circumstances.
The host was a seasoned variety show senior, pleasing in appearance, high in emotional intelligence, and very adept at warming up the venue.
Arching his eyebrows with a smiling tone, he said: “To help everyone quickly ‘fall in love’ / get ‘heartbeat-moving’, let’s start with a warm-up. Groups of two, randomly drawing lots; the extra guest will need to pair up with me to see who is so lucky.”
The result of the drawing came out: the male blogger and the host were paired together.
This male blogger was from the fitness track, named Xie An, with a very robust figure.
Smilingly patting Xie An’s arm, the host then gestured to the size of his own head, joking: “This muscular guy could kill me with one punch.”
Looking at the contrast between the two—one tall and one short, one strong and one thin—everyone couldn’t help but burst into a fit of laughter.
Yet Jiang Tong couldn’t quite laugh. Staring at the small red ball in her hand, she peeked again at the color of the small ball in Xie Weiyi’s hand, which was also red.
How could this be!
Smilingly, the host called out to everyone: “Alright, those who drew the same color small balls, please form groups automatically!”
Raising her eyes, Jiang Tong took small steps toward Xie Weiyi’s side, continuously chanting “it’s fine, it’s fine” in her mind to pump herself up.
Clutching the red small ball, Xie Weiyi unhurriedly raised her gaze, precisely meeting Jiang Tong’s look. Taking long, straight strides, she walked directly toward Jiang Tong.
The remaining four people were Bai Yu and Song Anna as a group, and Su Leli and Xia Yuan as a group.
“Everyone has traveled far and wide, so you might as well stretch your muscles. The program crew has set up a simple obstacle track on the lawn outside. Everyone needs to take turns carrying your partner across obstacles to reach the finish line. The combination with the shortest round-trip time wins, and the prize is the priority enjoyment of tonight’s luxury seafood feast!”
After the rules were announced, everyone was eager to try.
Only Jiang Tong frowned.
Carry a partner?
If it were just simply walking a trip, Jiang Tong could barely manage it, but carrying a load while running was simply out of the question—the steel nails in her bones hadn’t been removed yet.
Just as she was pondering how to open her mouth to withdraw from this segment, Xie Weiyi said to her: “I’ll carry you; for the return trip, I can just have you hold my shoulders and walk back.”
“Thank you,” Jiang Tong nodded gratefully, her eyes brimming with light and her expression very sincere, “I’ll remember that I owe Senior Xie a lavish dinner.”
Arriving at the lawn’s starting line, Xia Yuan softly said to Su Leli, “Then I’m coming up,” and then carefully climbed onto Su Leli’s back.
Song Anna smilingly let Bai Yu carry her. After Bai Yu staggered a bit, she chuckled twice and switched positions with Bai Yu.
The host’s side adopted a comedic style. Carrying the robust Xie An, his legs kept shaking, the scene looking like the concrete embodiment of the foolish old man removing the mountains.
Xie Weiyi squatted down slightly in front of the starting line, turning her back to Jiang Tong.
Softly, Jiang Tong spoke: “Thank you, senior.”
“Mn,” Xie Weiyi nodded.
She could feel the shadow brought by Jiang Tong’s approach and that familiar fragrance. Then, a warm, soft, but even thinner body than in her memory gently pressed against her back.
So light!
Xie Weiyi froze, feeling immensely grateful that her long hair could cover her side profile.
——She felt a little like crying.
She hadn’t expected Jiang Tong to have lost so much weight; it could even be called frail.
“I’m ready, Senior Xie,” Jiang Tong said softly, wrapping her arms around Xie Weiyi’s shoulders to help tidy her hair, then placing her hands loosely crossed in front of her chest.
Xie Weiyi felt Jiang Tong’s chin lightly brush against the side of her neck, her warm breath blowing against the skin behind her ear.
The track wasn’t long, featuring colorful small cones that needed to be bypassed and a horizontal bar that needed to be stepped across.
“Get ready—”
“Start!”
With the start signal, the other groups had already charged out laughing and chatting. Fearing that running too fast would jolt Jiang Tong, Xie Weiyi planted every step solidly, yet still maintained a leading position.
Song Anna and Xie Weiyi were neck-and-neck in speed, almost synchronized when dodging the cone obstacles.
Until Xie Weiyi overtook Song Anna and made a playful teasing face (“bleh”) at the two of them, prompting Song Anna to compete with her.
Frowning angrily, Song Anna shouted, “Bai Yu, hold on tight!” and sprinted in one breath to the finish line, insisting on dragging Bai Yu to pull a teasing face back at Xie Weiyi at the finish line.
As three groups successively reached the finish line and started running the return trip, the host’s face turned red from holding his breath, trembling as he carried Xie An, having just walked a quarter of the distance.
“Pfft…” Seeing this, Jiang Tong couldn’t help laughing out loud.
How come she smiled so genuinely and sincerely at others, yet smiled so fake and officially at her?
Lonesomely curling her lips, Xie Weiyi raised her hand to rest on Jiang Tong’s shoulders, coldly reminding her: “It’s time for the return trip.”
Restraining her smile, Jiang Tong propped Xie Weiyi’s porcelain-white arms onto her shoulders, then reached back to loosely hug her slender waist, making the motion of carrying someone.
“Hey, hey, hey, why are you two cheating?” Perched on Bai Yu’s back, Song Anna didn’t forget to turn around and catch the two of them in the act.
Yet Bai Yu was carrying her with such difficulty that she couldn’t make big movements, so she could only rely on external force to frantically raise her hand to the program crew, joking: “I want to report this! I’m going to sue to the Central Committee!”
Jiang Tong and Xie Weiyi were the second group to reach the finish line, followed closely by Xia Yuan and Su Leli.
At this moment, the host finally carried Xie An to the finish line. The moment he put him down, Xie An scooped him up and easily ran the return trip as if lifting a little chick.
The stark contrast between the two was extremely funny; the director praised them repeatedly, and the atmosphere among everyone became lively as a result.
Seeing that no one cared at all about the two of them cheating just now, Jiang Tong couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief.
Turning her head, she saw Xie Weiyi’s cheeks flushed from exercise, her chest still heaving slightly. Smilingly, she raised her hand to gently brush away a strand of hair that had somehow stuck to Xie Weiyi’s cheek, her movement natural and intimate.
This action of hers hadn’t gone through conscious thought, entirely an instinctive, habitual behavior.
Simply because Xie Weiyi’s appearance made her feel as if she were back in the talent show practice room seven years ago.
Seven years ago, playing the role of the older sister, she often took care of Xie Weiyi. As days and months passed, she had practically turned tasks like smoothing hair strands and tucking in blankets into a habit.
Realizing what she had done, Jiang Tong pulled back her hand in a flash, muttering a dazed apology: “Sorry.”
Not only her, Xie Weiyi froze as well.
Not until the host called everyone to go back did Xie Weiyi recover her senses, raising her hand to smooth her hair to calm her chaotic heartbeat and the heat on her face that still refused to recede.
Dinner was a table of seafood. Because Song Anna and Bai Yu took first place, the two of them claimed four extra big hairy crabs.
Xie Weiyi watched while smacking her lips endlessly, while Jiang Tong lowered her head, silently noting down: “Owe Xie Weiyi four big hairy crabs.”
After the meal, the host continued to warm up the venue to keep the atmosphere from cooling down: “Alright, next we are officially recording the self-introductions. Tonight the editor will piece this into a prologue preview to air, so everyone think carefully before saying anything, huh.”
The first to conduct a self-introduction was Bai Yu, with the camera recording both her and Song Anna together into the frame.
The two recreated a famous scene from their drama on site, drawing a wave of fond motherly smiles from the program crew.
Through the self-introductions and the contact during the game just now, Jiang Tong discovered that Bai Yu and Song Anna truly matched the personas they displayed to the public: Bai Yu was the white-moonlight type—gentle and intellectual—while Song Anna was the passionate red rose, also possessing a strong competitive spirit.
When it was Xie Weiyi’s turn, she stood up gracefully and openly. Instantly, all cameras and gazes focused on her.
Curving her lips into a radiant and charming arc, she spoke in standard Mandarin without the slightest foreign accent: “Hello everyone, I’m Xie Weiyi Aine. I’m very glad to meet everyone here and spend this journey together. I hope to cooperate well and get along happily with everyone next.”
Confident and dazzling, Xie Weiyi received thunderous applause after her voice fell.
Next was Su Leli. Su Leli was Xie Weiyi’s close confidante and friend; the two met at Su Leli’s art exhibition, and because of Xie Weiyi’s unique insights, Su Leli directly gifted her a painting worth tens of millions. The two were dubbed by netizens: “Bo Ya and Ziqi (Painter Version).”
As a popular painter, Su Leli had appeared on quite a few celebrity interviews and authoritative magazines, yet she herself possessed no artist airs whatsoever, being instead very unconstrained and casual—just now during dinner, she directly opened her mouth to hard-gnaw crab legs.
Xia Yuan from the blogger side looked sweet and particularly loved to smile, though seeing Xie Weiyi still couldn’t hide her excited emotions.
Fitness blogger Xie An tried hard to serve as a background board, working briskly and speaking little.
When it was Jiang Tong’s turn, she stood up, slightly bowing with a gentle tone: “Hello everyone, I’m Jiang Tong, a music blogger. I’m very honored to participate in the program; please take good care of me, seniors and teachers.”
Low-key and humble, she placed her posture low enough to fit the current reality of her status as a minor blogger. Weighing every word, she avoided any sharp edges that might attract attention or discussion.
Finally came the drawing-lots segment. A box wrapped in black velvet cloth was placed on the table by the staff, and the guests stepped forward in turn, reaching inside to take slips of paper.
Jiang Tong waited until the few people in front had finished drawing before stepping forward.
Whether by coincidence or deliberate arrangement by the program crew, the room number she drew happened to be adjacent to Xie Weiyi’s.
Why is it so coincidental tonight? First getting assigned to the same group in the game, and now drawing adjacent rooms.
The fingertips gripping the slip of paper applied a bit of force. Raising her eyes, Jiang Tong cast her gaze across the crowd in the middle of the living room toward the other side.
Xie Weiyi happened to be looking in Jiang Tong’s direction as well. When their gazes met in mid-air, Xie Weiyi pinched the slip of paper in her hand between two slender fingers, leisurely lifting it to shoulder height and gently shaking it left and right toward Jiang Tong.
Mouthing the words word by word at Jiang Tong, she said: “What a coincidence, Jiang Tong.”
Author’s Notes:
Please collect the pre-release novel in my column, thank you, heart shape! Damn it, I Fished the Wrong Bad Woman (Scheming fishing type, bright and stunning beauty VS strong possessiveness, noble and high-end aloof older sister, Ye Shuangyi vs Zhou Lingxi, love at first sight, 5-year age gap)
Ye Shuangyi’s best friend was deceived by a bad woman, crying pear blossoms drenched in rain: “I just agreed to her confession yesterday, and today she brought a beauty home, wuwuwu~”
The best friend begged Ye Shuangyi to step in and play with the bad woman’s love to take revenge for her. Following the address and photo sent by the best friend, Ye Shuangyi came to a cocktail bar, catching sight of that noble and intellectual bad woman at a glance.
Ye Shuangyi walked up to the other person to radiate charm: “Miss Zhou, may I invite you for a drink?” The bad woman raised her head, her eyes under gold-rimmed glasses like water, and Ye Shuangyi’s legs went soft all at once.
After Zhou Lingxi returned to the country, her twin sister threw a welcome-home party for her, taking her home to chat the entire night. “Lingxi, I’m in love!” The sister handed her a photo of her crush and classmates together. Yet Zhou Lingxi was attracted by the brightly smiling girl in the corner, feeling slightly moved. Never did she expect to have a romantic encounter with the other person the very next day, and the other party even took the initiative to treat her to a drink.
“Alright, treat me to a glass of love-at-first-sight,” Zhou Lingxi said.
On the day Ye Shuangyi received Zhou Lingxi’s confession, she sent a message to her best friend with a complicated mood. On one hand, she felt relieved inside for avenging her best friend; on the other hand, she was somewhat reluctant to part with Zhou Lingxi.
Yet the next second, she scrolled past her best friend’s public announcement post on WeChat Moments.
Ye Shuangyi called her best friend: “Bae, who is this Zhou Xinxin? Why does she look exactly like the bad woman?”
“She’s my girlfriend! It was a misunderstanding before; she’s always loved me.”
“Then who is Zhou Lingxi?”
“My girlfriend’s twin sister. Don’t they look super alike!”
Ye Shuangyi was petrified, wishing she could kick her best friend’s head off to use as a football. At the door came the sound of a key unlocking the lock, and Zhou Lingxi, with slightly disheveled long hair, stared coldly at her: “Baby, what does it mean to say you don’t love me?”