Su Zhu felt that Murphy’s law could sometimes be truly mystical, bringing about whatever you feared the most.
The moment she saw that the card in Song Yuran’s hand was a spouse card, her mind replayed her entire life’s experiences over the years like a rapid slideshow.
And then, she prepared herself for martyrdom.
To survive, she needed to stay as far away from Song Yuran as possible, ideally making herself invisible so Song Yuran would ignore her existence altogether.
Yet now, she had drawn the exact same spouse card as Song Yuran, meaning for the next two days, they would have to play the role of a married couple, joined at the hip.
Could anything be more soul-crushing than her current situation?
At that exact moment, Su Zhu seriously contemplated the possibility of faking a sudden, severe illness, collapsing on the spot, and withdrawing from the show entirely.
“Teacher Su Zhu?” PD Feng called out to her.
Su Zhu snapped back to reality hurriedly.
PD Feng smiled and said, “Your identities take effect starting from this very moment, so we ask the two who drew the spouse cards to please stand together.”
Su Zhu’s scalp tingled. She glanced at Song Yuran, not daring to move half a step closer to her.
Song Yuran had expressed no outward reaction, her gaze remaining fixed on Su Zhu with a hint of appraisal and exploration.
Not daring to appear too abnormal, Su Zhu feigned composure and made a final, desperate attempt to negotiate, “Um… PD Feng, this is a spouse card, but we are both… female. Isn’t that a bit…”
Before she could finish, PD Feng raised a hand to cut her off. “What’s wrong with that? Same-sex marriage has been legal for the past two years; what’s wrong with playing a married couple on a show? Oh, in the case of the two of you, you’d be a wife-and-wife pair.”
Su Zhu: “…”
Her last avenue of appeal had been completely sealed off. Maybe she should just faint on the spot and play dead.
Su Zhu struggled fiercely on the inside. Just as she was about to fake a faint the next second, Song Yuran sighed with a touch of helplessness.
She swept the hair falling across her chest back over her shoulder, her brows and eyes carrying a hint of glistening laziness mixed with a half-smile. When someone’s appearance modeling reached absolute perfection, even the most ordinary gesture radiated an intoxicating attraction.
She took two steps forward, closing the distance, and Su Zhu instinctively stopped breathing.
Song Yuran looked at her, suddenly lowering her gaze with a soft chuckle, “It seems Teacher Su Zhu isn’t very willing to be in a wife-and-wife pairing with me?”
A life-or-death question!
Every inch of Su Zhu’s skin instantly tightened. Her scalp tingling, she hastily refuted, “No, not at all. Being able to draw the same group as Teacher Song Yuran is my honor.”
Song Yuran stepped closer, naturally wrapping one arm around Su Zhu’s waist while her other hand gently brushed the long hair away from Su Zhu’s shoulder. Leaning in close right against Su Zhu’s ear, she spoke in a low, seductive whisper like a siren, making one’s heart itch, “Then what is it? Do you need me to teach you how to play the role of wives? Or… are you waiting for me to take the initiative?”
Su Zhu froze completely, her entire body going numb as if struck by electricity.
Standing there with her mind blank, Su Zhu was utterly dumbfounded.
Before Su Zhu could react, Song Yuran withdrew her hand, stood right by her side, and looked toward the others. “We already know our cp relationship, but what about the other two groups? What did you all draw?”
Song Yuran seamlessly changed the subject, shifting everyone’s attention away from the two of them.
“Oh right, I almost forgot to check mine,” Zhou Lei and the others said belatedly, beginning to open their envelopes.
Upon opening the envelopes, the two male contestants, Zhou Lei and Cao Yi, had been grouped together, and the relationship they drew was best friends.
Correspondingly, Xi Peini was naturally grouped with Teacher Mao Junrong, taking on the role of siblings.
Their dynamic was the most harmonious. The moment they saw the result, the two simply exchanged a glance and smiled at each other, highly satisfied and completely in sync.
Xi Peini even reached out both hands, taking hurried little steps over to hug Teacher Mao Junrong in a full embrace and press close.
In stark contrast, Zhou Lei and Cao Yi exchanged glances, both of their eyes clearly reflecting mutual disgust.
Gazing at the word “besties” written on the card, Zhou Lei mentally translated it into good bros and said with relative satisfaction, “My draw isn’t bad at all. Brother Cao and I are already bros to begin with.”
Cao Yi’s expression also looked noticeably more relaxed.
An identity like bros required no acting whatsoever, especially when paired with another guy.
Both of them visibly relaxed, though that relaxation did not last long before PD Feng asked with mild confusion, “Is there a brother option? I don’t remember having that.”
Zhou Lei promptly flashed the card he had drawn. “Right here, besties! Girls are called besties, and since the two of us are guys, doesn’t that make us brothers?”
Zhou Lei’s tone was breezy, utterly oblivious to the gravity of the situation at hand.
PD Feng smiled and explained patiently to the two of them, “You misread it. The rules state very clearly that whatever you draw is what you get, so you aren’t brothers, you’re besties.”
Zhou Lei: ?
Cao Yi: ?
“No way,” Zhou Lei said, dumbfounded. “Isn’t ‘besties’ a term used between girls? The two of us are grown men, how are we supposed to be besties?”
PD Feng raised his eyelids, failing to conceal the mischievous smile at the corners of his eyes. “Actually, under certain specific conditions, guys can be besties too.”
At those words, both Zhou Lei and Cao Yi froze for two seconds.
Specific conditions? Guys as besties?
Zhou Lei understood in a split second. What did that even mean? Weren’t they talking about two bottoms?
Cao Yi understood as well, and his expression turned unspeakably complex.
As a straight-as-an-arrow young idol who made his living through costume dramas, he was now expected to act as a “bestie” with another man?
You’ve got to be kidding me.
With a complicated mix of emotions, Cao Yi had yet to build up his psychological defense when Zhou Lei beside him snapped back to reality almost immediately.
Thus, a one-meter-eighty Northeast man instantly switched gears into an overly cloying persona, pinching his voice, striking an orchid finger gesture as he leaned toward Cao Yi, and dragging out his vowels endlessly, “Big brother~”
Cao Yi froze on the spot, his pupils dilating in shock.
In practically an instant, goosebumps broke out all over his body, every hair standing on end. Looking at Zhou Lei with a terrified expression, he blurted out, “Holy crap, what kind of freak are you, get away from me!”
As a rising star who relied on his looks, Cao Yi had always tried his absolute best to maintain his facial expressions.
This was the first time since the trip began that he had lost control of his expression to such an extreme degree, twisting his facial features almost out of shape.
The surrounding staff members tried their utmost to hold it in. No, they were professionals and wouldn’t laugh under normal circumstances, but this was truly irresistible!
The staff’s shoulders shook violently while they desperately tried to suppress their laughter, terrified that making a sound would ruin the shoot.
Nearby, Su Zhu was shaken by the scene and couldn’t help laughing out loud, but the moment her laughter escaped, her peripheral vision met Song Yuran standing off to the side, causing her to instantly freeze.
She couldn’t laugh anymore.
Su Zhu instinctively lowered her head, dodging Song Yuran’s inspecting gaze.
PD Feng expressed great satisfaction with the groupings of Song Yuran and Su Zhu, as well as Zhou Lei and Cao Yi.
Seeing that time was running out, PD Feng urged everyone to board the plane, and the group filed aboard.
Zhou Lei was still acting up and teasing Cao Yi near the front, while Xi Peini and Mao Junrong walked onto the plane chatting, laughing, and affectionately leaning close like true sisters.
Only Su Zhu trailed along timidly and quietly behind Song Yuran, occasionally casting wary glances at Song Yuran with her heart pounding in her throat.
Given what had happened between the two of them recently, she originally assumed Song Yuran would react strangely upon seeing her again, but the actual reality was that Song Yuran was unnervingly calm.
From the moment they met until now, Song Yuran hadn’t looked at her with even a hint of abnormality, her pace remained steady and composed, and her conversational delivery was so graceful and refreshing that it made people feel completely at ease.
Song Yuran’s behavior was so airtight that it felt as though she truly viewed Su Zhu as an ordinary industry colleague she was meeting for the very first time.
This eerie calmness made Su Zhu feel even more anxious.
What on earth was going on inside Song Yuran’s head?
Had she genuinely forgotten what happened that night? Surely she wasn’t face-blind and failed to recognize her just because she put clothes on?
Su Zhu walked onto the aircraft in a daze, arriving at the seats assigned by the production crew. Seated in pairs, her seat number happened to be right next to Song Yuran’s.
Su Zhu acted with extreme caution, genuinely trying to minimize her movements and lower her presence as much as possible.
She thought to herself that this was actually fine; if Song Yuran could genuinely forget about her and leave her alone, that would be the best-case scenario.
Yet right as she let out a slight sigh of relief before even fully settling into her seat, Song Yuran’s voice rang out. It was low-pitched and breezy, casually tossing out a question: “Did someone on your side find out my schedule in advance?”
Su Zhu’s body instantly tensed up, a sharp jolt of electricity shooting through her entire frame.