Indeed, it was a coincidence.
Feigning that she didn’t understand Xie Weiyi’s mouthing, Jiang Tong turned her head away to dodge her gaze, a classic case of protesting too much.
While feeling guilty, Xia Yuan came over with a cheeky grin and asked, “Sister Jiang Tong, which room are you in?”
“202.” Jiang Tong unfolded the slip of paper to show her.
Covering her mouth in surprise, Xia Yuan looked at Xie Weiyi, then turned back to look at Jiang Tong: “Wow! You and Aine are destined to be together! Even your rooms are adjacent! Let me rub some of your good luck!”
With that, Xia Yuan cupped Jiang Tong’s hands and rubbed them together.
Amused by Xia Yuan’s cute appearance, Jiang Tong tentatively asked, “Do you want to trade with me?”
She hadn’t sorted out her emotions to face Xie Weiyi yet, thinking it might be better to avoid her.
“No need, my room is on the third floor. Your health isn’t too good, so climbing to the third floor will tire you out,” Xia Yuan said, lowering her voice as she leaned closer, a hint of apology in her tone, “I’m really sorry, I just searched your name online and found out you were in a severe car accident…”
Lowering her gaze, Jiang Tong smiled: “It’s all in the past.”
“Sister Jiang Tong, don’t worry, I’ll protect you well during the upcoming recordings!” Finishing her sentence, Xia Yuan pushed her sleeves up to her shoulders and flexed her upper arm muscles to show her.
“Wow! A golden-winged Barbie!”
Clapping her hands, the director drew everyone’s attention back: “Teachers, have you all drawn your rooms? Tonight’s recording was very successful; thank you everyone for your cooperation. You can all go back to your rooms now, rest and adjust a bit, and one hour from now, our prologue preview will be released on our official Weibo.”
Sweeping her gaze across all eight of them with a mischievous smile, she gave a special reminder: “Please everyone make sure to repost the official Weibo post at that time, say hello to your fan friends, and interact with them.”
Flapping her hand toward the host, she said: “Little Liang Ge, the visiting guest for our first episode hasn’t arrived yet—eight missing one. Tonight’s editing will just have to rely on you to fill in.”
Waving his hands in utter helplessness, the host Liang鑫 (Liang Xin) said: “Leaving it in your hands always makes me worry.”
Watching everyone burst into laughter, Jiang Tong curled the corners of her lips as well.
Unexpectedly, the private atmosphere of this dating reality show remained quite good; the production team was considerate, and the guests were friendly.
Jiang Tong felt that she would surely have a pleasant time.
The first-floor lobby served as the filming spot, while other rooms functioned as staff dormitories, leaving the guests’ rooms located on the much more spacious second and third floors.
Stepping onto the staircase one after the other, Xie Weiyi and Jiang Tong reached their doors. When they arrived, Xie Weiyi stood still without moving, staring intently at Jiang Tong’s back and saying nothing.
Feeling uncomfortable under her gaze, Jiang Tong tightened her grip slightly on the room card.
Showing no emotion on her face, she tried hard to ignore Xie Weiyi’s gaze and pressed the room card against the sensor area.
With a soft “beep,” the door lock clicked open.
Without hesitation, she pushed the door open and stepped directly inside, turning back to pull the door shut softly.
The thick solid wood door isolated everything from the outside world—including Xie Weiyi’s gaze and aura.
Leaning her back against the cool door panel, Jiang Tong stood quietly for a few seconds. Hearing the same faint “beep” sound coming from next door, she finally let out a slow breath.
The room was spacious and bright, decorated in the minimalist style she loved. Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows was a small private terrace with a view of the sea not far away.
Instead of organizing her luggage right away, she walked toward the window, gazing blankly at the outside, watching the sea surface gradually dye with the colors of dusk in a daze.
The prologue preview was about to be released.
Seven years later, she and Xie Weiyi were about to “reunite” in the public eye.
Lowering her gaze, Jiang Tong stared blankly at her outstretched palms.
The tactile sensation of tightly gripping the room card just moments ago seemed to linger in her palms, alongside the earlier light touch against Xie Weiyi’s hair.
After a simple wash, the director tagged everyone in the WeChat group chat: [@All Members, our prologue preview has aired, please remember to repost it, teachers!]
The prologue was a mere fifteen minutes long, showcasing the scene of the seven guests meeting for the first time after arriving at the resort.
The program’s editor was exceptionally skilled at creating drama, interweaving everyone’s brief self-introductions into a massive CP hotpot stew.
Bai Yu and Song Anna were the official canon couple here to promote their drama, and their CP couldn’t be broken up, so the production team had them take full responsibility for spreading sugar.
Their editing was placed right at the beginning. During self-introductions, clips recreating famous scenes from their drama shared the screen 50-50 with the original show. Bai Yu and Song Anna, dressed in different outfits, gazed at each other, carrying a sense of pre-destined fate across past and present lives.
Their edit was extremely sweet, filled with pink bubbles across the entire screen.
Consequently, the subsequent CP pairings with other guests were entirely borne by first-tier actress Xie Weiyi.
Not only because Xie Weiyi had high popularity, but most importantly, Xie Weiyi possessed an extremely stunning appearance and a pair of eyes that looked deeply at anyone, making the edits extremely easy to excel in.
Thus, the second half of the prologue transformed into an “all-Xie” CP stew.
When Xie Weiyi draped her arm over Su Leli’s shoulder, Su Leli’s self-introduction voice rang out. In the next frame, she handed a cup of water into Xie Weiyi’s palm, and the two smiled at each other.
Next to it was captioned: “Bo Ya and Ziqi (Painter Version)”
Immediately following that came Xia Yuan’s excited voice: “My goddess! My goddess! I super love Aine!”
After a black screen, light spots slowly diffused from the center as the segment of Xia Yuan shaking hands with Xie Weiyi with starry eyes gradually cleared up.
Watching this, Jiang Tong could fully imagine how excited Xia Yuan must be.
“I am Jiang Tong, a music blogger…”
“I am Xie Weiyi Aine…”
The next second, Jiang Tong and Xie Weiyi’s voices were placed side by side, overlapping in dual channels.
Pausing, Jiang Tong dragged the progress bar back and listened again. Accompanied by the self-introductions, the onscreen footage showed Xie Weiyi bending down to perform a cheek-kiss greeting with her.
As the cheek-kiss concluded, the self-introductions of the two came to an abrupt halt. After a two-second pause in sound within the prologue, the prelude to Jiang Tong’s new song Waiting for the Sudden Rain slowly played.
“I am waiting for a clear sky,
To drop a sudden rain,
…”
Appearing alongside Jiang Tong’s singing was a slow-motion video of the two silently gazing at each other by the window. The sea breeze brushed through their hair as they each stood in opposite corners of the room, looking at each other from afar.
The editing style of their segment turned somewhat bittersweet, and a few bullet comments drifted across: [I’m crying]
Raising a hand to touch the corner of her eye, Jiang Tong discovered a trace of dampness there as well.
The final group in the prologue was Liang Xin and Xie An’s comedic pairing, attempting to pull back the bittersweet atmosphere, but with little effect as the bullet comments above were still reminiscing about the mutual gaze between Jiang Tong and Xie Weiyi.
[It really is Jiang Tong! The blogger I super love is actually my original idol who disappeared for seven years, wuwuwu! Who can understand my crying point!]
[Jiang Tong has lost so much weight, wuwuwu, she still had baby fat seven years ago.]
[She actually really looks like this. Just as I imagined, she’s a gentle big sister.]
[The editor is an old connoisseur; back when chasing the talent show, who hasn’t eaten a bite of Jiang-Xie.]
The talent show that Jiang Tong and Xie Weiyi participated in back then was the first of its kind held in the country. Even in an era lacking developed internet and self-media, it still exploded in popularity, allowing contestants like Jiang Tong who didn’t debut in the final group to win the affection of many.
When she announced her exit from the industry, fans felt regret and sorrow for her. For seven years, people still left messages in her Weibo private messages expressing their longing.
After she became a music blogger, quite a few fans recognized her based on her creative style and voice, though because she always kept her face hidden, everyone wasn’t 100% certain.
When the production team invited her back then, they hyped the gimmick of her dating reality show face-reveal debut, so now that the prologue had aired, it attracted many fans to watch.
Sister Li was also paying close attention all along, sending a screenshot of the trending topic slowly climbing to the bottom of the hot search list with the accompanying note: [Tongtong, we’ve weathered the clouds to see the moonlight!]
In the screenshot, the two hashtags #JiangTongDatingShowDebut# and #TearsofAnEraJiangTong# were listed side by side, one right above the other.
Following the hashtags into the square, Jiang Tong found it exceptionally lively.
Her works had been compiled and uploaded, and her ethereal vocals and unique creative style were once again a hot topic of discussion.
Meanwhile, more people—especially talent show fans who had experienced that phenomenal talent show seven years ago—had already begun frantically digging up her history.
[Wait, blogger Tong is the Tong of Jiang Tong? No wonder she has this much talent, I kneel!]
[If she hadn’t withdrawn from the competition back then, she definitely would have been a top-tier star by now, right?]
[Is it only me still caring about her and Aine? That eye contact in the prologue gave me goosebumps.]
[Sister in front! Me too! Their relationship was already so good on the show back then; Xie Weiyi’s first stage Chinese pronunciation was taught by Jiang Tong!]
[Unearthed from history, presenting everyone with screenshots from the talent show back then [Picture] [Picture]. Pic 1 is Jiang Tong helping Xie Weiyi correct pronunciation in the practice room; Pic 2 is the two leaning against each other resting backstage. With this vibe, who dares say they never dated!]
[Stop stabbing me, stop stabbing me, the child has already been stabbed silly, expired sugar is the most lethal.]
In accordance with the production team’s request, the guests needed to repost the prologue preview on Weibo and actively interact.
After deliberating for a long time while reposting, Xie Weiyi added the caption: “A new journey, please advise.” Following that, she tagged the guests one by one, placing Jiang Tong’s name at the very end.
As soon as it was published, the comments instantly surpassed ten thousand.
With quite a few people asking about her current relationship with Jiang Tong, she bit her lip hesitantly, chose to skip them one by one, and instead replied to a few greeting messages.
She didn’t know Jiang Tong’s career plans, nor was she clear on whether Jiang Tong was still willing to be associated with herself. Without obtaining Jiang Tong’s definite willingness, she couldn’t bring any trouble to Jiang Tong.
“Xie Weiyi, oh Xie Weiyi, you coward.” Lying facedown on the bed clutching her phone, Xie Weiyi waited five whole minutes before she finally waited for Jiang Tong to repost the official Weibo post.
Quickly liking and following Jiang Tong, her movements as smooth as flowing water, she then opened her homepage backend to wait for messages.
When the system notification of Jiang Tong following her back popped up, she rolled around in the quilt with a blushing face.
Smilingly clicking into the hashtag #JiangTongDatingShowDebut#, she downloaded the popular work compilation that had already climbed to the top search list onto her local phone, set it to single-song loop, and decided to listen to it as she fell asleep tonight.
That historical investigator was right: they had dated.
Unfortunately, for now, she could only listen to Jiang Tong’s songs, look at the wall separating her from her, and rely on memories to ensure that she and Jiang Tong once had an emotional connection.