Everyone’s face was covered by a special-effect filter, and their voices were digitally altered.
At this moment, at Table 3, the camera deliberately panned from below to capture a close-up of Jiang Hua’s waist and hip curves—graceful and alluring. A rose effect covered her face, complementing her red dress perfectly.
Across from her sat Fu Ran.
This was their first meeting in a week.
Fu Ran’s eyes were dark and menacing, as if he wanted to bore a hole right through Jiang Hua.
Jiang Hua, meanwhile, sat resting her chin on her hand, her gaze drifting now and then to his limbs and features.
She mused that fate really did put a price tag on every gift.
For instance, arms priced at 20,000 points, eyeballs at 40,000 points.
The thing between his legs: negative points.
Hmm… which one should she go for first?
“What are you looking at, Hua?” Fu Ran smiled at her. ”Only today did I notice that Hua’s eyes are quite beautiful too—like colored glaze. I wonder if they’d look even prettier soaked in formaldehyde?”
“They would,” Jiang Hua nodded earnestly.
Anyone who soaked them often would know.
Fu Ran narrowed his eyes and sneered coldly.
He’d never realized she was such a good actress before? No matter—he was best at waiting. Waiting for the crowd to disperse, waiting until they were alone, and then…
He hoped she could still smile then.
The livestream feed swept over from Table 1.
When it reached Table 3, the bullet comments surged.
[A red dress!! At Hehe’s birthday fan meet last time, she promised fans she’d wear a red dress to the next event! It must be Hehe!]
[With a figure that good, it has to be Hehe]
[So the guy across from her is the scumbag who dumped Hehe? Tsk, he’s definitely a skinny twig—looks like he hasn’t seen sunlight in eight hundred years. What is this, a forest fire that let a vampire out?]
[How is Male Guest 2 so handsome even in a wheelchair?! It’s definitely Fu Ran! Fu Ran must have secretly bulked up without telling us!]
[Did Fu Ran deliberately wear a white shirt because he knew Hehe would be in a red dress?! My eyes thank you]
[Looking forward to the million-copy scripts from Durian TV!]
The host, Xiao Yuan, took the stage: “Welcome to the recording of the 24-hour livestream variety show, Broken Mirrors Can Be Mended!”
“Breaking up is easy; meeting again is hard.”
“Love is one house, two people, three meals, four seasons. Love is morning frost and evening snow, growing white-haired together. Love is the warmth of daily life—through poverty and riches, never parting. Focusing on intimate relationships is forever one of life’s great subjects.”
“At this moment, the three couples of this episode have all arrived—but right now, they’re meeting you all as complete strangers!”
“Before we officially begin, the production team has invited relationship experts to prepare a few small questions for the three couples. Based on these questions, viewers will vote for their favorite male and female guests! The popularity winner will enjoy first pick of rooms over the next three days of filming! Meanwhile, viewers can also interact with us in real time through the bullet comments!”
“Now, let’s have the female guests answer first—why did you two break up?”
As she finished, the spotlight swung over.
Female Guest 1 said, “He brought it up. He insisted on making a scene. I never wanted to break up.”
The spotlight turned to Guest 2.
Female Guest 2 paused. “Our personalities… still need more time to adjust to each other.”
[Ah, Guest 1’s is pretty obvious—the A-list celebrity surnamed Ke, right? “Insisted on making a scene” is the key phrase]
[Guest 2, Jiang Hua, stop pretending too. Who wants to “adjust” with you?]
Director Li immediately said into his earpiece: “Close-up on Jiang Hua’s lips. If there are tears, capture those too.”
The show’s promotional strategy this season was to sacrifice Jiang Hua—the trending topics would all be about tearing her down. No matter what she said, the editing would cut it into something damaging and promote it on its own.
But on screen, the expected crying never came.
Instead, her red lips curved upward, opening and closing: “The reason we broke up is very simple. It’s just that…”
The camera pushed in, giving a close-up of those soft lips.
But the words that came out were harder than nails.
“We just weren’t having sex.”
【?】
【Huh??】
The entire room went into an uproar.
N-no… no what?!
On the audience feed, Male Guest No. 3 suddenly spoke in warning: “You’d better tell the truth—”
“Huh? Isn’t that the truth?”
The female guest covered her mouth in mock surprise. “Oh, so there was? When? How come I never knew?”
She turned around, pulled out her phone from her bag:
“Hello, Officer? I’d like to report a crime. Someone drugged and assaulted me… Yes, he admitted it himself.”
“You—!” Male Guest No. 3 shot to his feet.
“What’s the rush?” A laugh came through the voice changer as Female Guest No. 3’s mood shifted instantly, her pale fingers twirling the black-screened phone. “Just kidding. I didn’t actually call.”
Male Guest No. 3 clenched his fists, held still for a few seconds, then slowly sat back down.
The moment he sat, that lazy female voice came through the voice changer again: “If I called the police, I’d worry you’d have too long a record to get out in time for filming.”
Male Guest No. 3 slammed the table outright!
Staff rushed in to intervene, announcing a pause and a five-minute mediation.
Jiang Hua took the chance to glance at her stats—Abuse Value up by 5,000.
Tch. Too little.
【OMG, it’s this intense right from the opening?! Who is No. 3?! Someone tell me, this is important!】
【You city folks call this “teasing”??? Where I’m from we call this “walking the dog”】
【Honestly, this doesn’t feel like getting back together. It feels like revenge】
【As a veteran who’s watched all ten seasons, let me say it: this season is absolutely the MOST! EXCITING! ONE! YET!】
The staff separated the two, and only after Jiang Hua promised not to say anything else unairable did the director let her return to continue filming.
The host continued: “Second question—what’s the most memorable thing he ever said to you?”
Female Guest No. 1: “He said he’d propose to me once a year, in a different location each time.”
【So romantic! I just slapped my sleeping husband after hearing that】
Female Guest No. 2: “He said he’d come on this show with me.”
【Sis, your bar is so low it’s lower than my standards. Rare to see, honestly】
Then came No. 3, and the camera trembled slightly.
The woman in the red dress leaned forward a little and said simply—
“He said he’d break my legs.”
The bullet comments went silent for two seconds.
Then the whole room erupted again!
Director Li broke into a cold sweat, sneaking a glance at Fu Ran, who was only glaring darkly at Jiang Hua across from him.
Terrified that Fu Ran might walk off the show, he hurriedly gestured to the host to move past the topic quickly.
The host reacted fast: “Female Guest No. 3 is such a joker, haha! That just goes to show how close you two are—you can joke about anything! …Alright, final question!”
“What’s his greatest strength?”
Female Guest No. 1: “He’s adorable.”
Female Guest No. 2: “He’s a gentleman.”
Jiang Hua: “He keeps his word.”
With that, she lifted her leg.
Crack.
Her leg in the cast slammed onto the table with a heavy thud.