Su Zhu’s mind was a complete mess. The sudden appearance of Song Yuran had completely derailed all her plans, catching her entirely off guard.
Hearing Song Yuran’s voice right then felt as if time had instantly flashed back to that night.
Su Zhu was so startled she almost bit her tongue, instinctively refuting with a trembling tail-end: “No, no, no, nothing of the sort.”
This exaggerated reaction directly amused the people in the car; everyone couldn’t help laughing out loud. Song Yuran also couldn’t help smiling gently, casting a soft gaze at Su Zhu, parting her lips, and speaking as if soothing an unfamiliar junior: “Relax, I won’t eat anyone.”
With that, she didn’t spend any more energy on Su Zhu, instead returning to the topic she had just been discussing with everyone. It was as if Su Zhu genuinely had no connection to her whatsoever, the two of them were strangers meeting for the very first time, and what had just happened was merely a small episode.
This kind of behavior made Su Zhu even less capable of figuring out what on earth she meant.
Su Zhu’s gaze flickered slightly. If not for the intimate contact between the two on that night leaving her with a deep, unforgettable impression of Song Yuran, she would honestly have started doubting whether the person in front of her was even Song Yuran at all.
Then why was she pretending that the two of them didn’t know each other at all?
The moment this question arose, Su Zhu came up with the answer herself.
It was understandable, too; after all, they were currently on a variety show, and as the public figure with the greatest influence in the industry, every single action of Song Yuran’s would be watched, magnified, and interpreted.
Therefore, no matter how ruthless Song Yuran’s methods were or how fierce she was when retaliating against people, as long as she maintained a sense of propriety, watched her words and actions on the show, didn’t provoke Song Yuran, and kept a certain distance to avoid dangling before her eyes,
then she should still be able to survive.
As for what the company said about hyping a CP, are you kidding? Her life was about to be gone; who cared about any subsequent traffic?
After making this assessment of the situation, Su Zhu calmed down slightly.
She took a slow breath, forcing herself to return to a composed demeanor to respond, though every time her gaze was about to land on Song Yuran, she would cautiously avoid it. This instinctive fear born from the depths of her heart couldn’t be completely concealed after all.
This scene fell into the eyes of Xi Peini, who was sitting right beside her.
She glanced sideways at Su Zhu, then swept a look at Song Yuran, her fingertips unconsciously stroking the edge of her phone. Her half-closed eyes carried a hint of scrutiny and insight, looking contemplative.
The car carried the six of them all the way to the airport.
After parking, the six of them got out one by one, carrying their luggage and waiting at the entrance. The following camera car also pulled up slowly, and the director got out first.
Right behind the director was a woman dressed in simple, stylish attire, wearing a duck-billed cap and a mask.
She possessed a tall figure, and an aura of natural, effortless casualness radiated from the inside out, a kind of rebellious, untamed spirit deeply ingrained in her bones, completely incompatible with the temperament of standard staff members commonly found in the industry.
What was this person’s identity?
Su Zhu and the others instinctively made guesses in their minds, unable to get an answer for the time being. Only Song Yuran frowned slightly when she saw the other person appear here.
The director didn’t make them guess for long either, stepping forward with a formal tone: “Let me introduce everyone to our general planner and executive PD for this Starlight and Distance journey, Feng Jingwei. The subsequent travel itinerary, task rules, and precautions will be explained in detail by PD Feng. Thank you all for your cooperation, and we wish our journey a smooth success with everyone gaining something.”
It turned out to be the program PD.
Su Zhu couldn’t help taking a few extra glances at Feng Jingwei. It wasn’t that she judged people by their appearance, but rather that the aura around this PD Feng was simply too special, lazy yet carrying a sense of control, along with a free-spirited, devil-may-care vibe as if nothing in the vast world mattered.
To call her the core PD of the production team was less accurate than calling her a rich second-generation kid who came out to experience life.
Yet, while Feng Jingwei looked lazy when doing nothing, the moment she stepped forward to start working, her entire body radiated pure professionalism, making it impossible for anyone to look down on her.
Feng Jingwei stepped forward, pressing down the brim of her cap, speaking in a calm tone with every single word clear: “Good afternoon, guest colleagues. I am Feng Jingwei. You can address me directly by name or as PD Feng for the next fifteen days. I will be in charge of coordinating all tasks and processes for this trip. Let me clarify the core rules first to avoid any misunderstandings later.”
“The starting point of this trip is Guili, passing through Wuchuan, with the destination being Xijiang, a total of fifteen days throughout. During this period, everyone needs to complete a series of tasks we have preset, which will revolve around identity-immersive experiences.”
“There are two core points that need to be emphasized here: First, the use of personal mobile phones, bank cards, and any electronic payment tools is strictly prohibited throughout the entire journey. All communication devices will be uniformly kept by the production team and returned after the trip ends. Second, we will give you an identity setup at each stage, and guests must strictly adhere to their identity setups to complete corresponding tasks. By then, our director team, as well as yourselves, will score your task completion rates, and those who fail will face penalties.”
After finishing this section, she paused, checked the time, and said: “There is still one hour until boarding. Twenty minutes are reserved for everyone to have a final communication with family and managers. Please handle any matters that need attending to during this period. Private communication time will no longer be provided after boarding. Fifteen minutes later, we will gather at the boarding gate to draw lots for the grouping of the first stage’s task.”
The rule introduction was simple and clear, with no superfluous nonsense and maximum professionalism.
Once her voice trailed off, the guests present scattered to busy themselves. Basically, they had all already spoken with their families before departure, but with the trip now imminent, many people still chose to make a final phone call to their families or managers.
As for Su Zhu standing there, she felt a bit awkward for a moment.
Having transmigrated over, she was all alone in this world with neither kin nor friends. Watching everyone else busy with their own things while she was left with just a camera shoved right into her face, she was momentarily speechless and could only lower her head to fiddle with her phone, looking busy.
In just a short while, Xi Peini finished her call, smoothly slipped her phone into her bag, walked over to Su Zhu, arched an eyebrow, and spoke in a direct, unyielding tone: “Come to the restroom with me?”
“Ah? Sure.” Su Zhu hurriedly stood up.
No matter what, at least she wouldn’t have to stand around awkwardly by herself anymore.
Xi Peini very naturally linked her arm with Su Zhu’s, and the two walked toward the restroom like that. Seeing the following cameraman about to keep pace, Xi Peini raised a hand to stop him, blinking playfully at the cameraman: “Solving personal matters, surely we don’t need a camera following us for this.”
The cameraman nodded and stayed in place.
The two entered the restroom. After washing their hands upon coming out, Xi Peini touched up her makeup in front of the mirror. While applying her makeup, she asked Su Zhu seemingly casually: “Do you have some kind of grievance with Song Yuran? Did you offend Song Yuran?”
The name Song Yuran suddenly echoed in Su Zhu’s ears, causing her hand to tremor slightly, but she quickly reined in her composure, putting on an unhurried and calm look: “No way, Teacher Song and I aren’t close.”
“Not close?” Xi Peini couldn’t help letting out a scoff, tidying away her items while maintaining her exquisitely put-together look. Raising an eyebrow, she looked playfully at Su Zhu: “You can turn pale just seeing her, and you call that not close?”
Su Zhu: “…”
“Fine, you don’t need to deny it, nor do you need to guess how I figured it out. The reason is simple: because the expression you had when looking at her was identical to mine back when I offended her.”
Su Zhu: “…”
Teacher Xi Peini, that wasn’t exactly something to take pride in.
Maintaining her unbothered front, she wiped her hands, smiled, and said to Xi Peini: “Teacher Xi, you’ve probably guessed wrong this time. I was just too nervous upon suddenly seeing her because I admire Teacher Song from the bottom of my heart.”
“Nervous?” Xi Peini burst out laughing directly, though she didn’t expose Su Zhu further, smiling instead: “Alright, I don’t care how you feel about her, let’s clear the air first, didn’t you also get hints on your end about hyping a CP for traffic on this variety show?”
Extremely direct, without a shred of cover-up. A topic that a crowd of stars would usually deny was tossed out so openly and generously on the table by her, leaving Su Zhu momentarily speechless. Should she call this straightforward, or utterly lacking in subtlety?
She mumbled a few vague words, wanting to dodge the topic.
Xi Peini wouldn’t let it slide. Seeing her avoid a direct answer, she stopped and pressed on: “No way, you seemed pretty savvy earlier, and the two of us matched each other’s pace pretty well. What? Ever since that person arrived, everything changed?”
“Teacher Xi, you might have misunderstood. I…”
Before Su Zhu could finish her explanation, Xi Peini tapped her on the crown of the head with her knuckles: “I’m not listening to any explanations from you. Anyway, big sis here needs your traffic, so cooperate a bit when the time comes. Let’s go.”
Hiss.
Unexpectedly getting tapped on the head hurt quite a bit.
Yet Su Zhu didn’t have the bandwidth to haggle over that right now; her real headache was Xi Peini’s situation.
Clearly, Xi Peini had misunderstood her. She wasn’t avoiding hyping a CP with her because she had set her sights on someone else and looked down on her.
It was simply because…
Between the two of them, one was an early-stage foil minor villain, and the other was a mid-stage cannon-fodder key villain who provoked Song Yuran and caused her dark awakening. If the two of them teamed up to hype a CP carrying identities like these, wouldn’t that just make them walking dynamite packages courting a faster death?
Big sis, me turning you down here is purely to help the two of us stay alive!
Su Zhu had grievances she couldn’t voice.
Meanwhile, while everyone else was busy with their own matters, Song Yuran said to the cameraman: “No need to follow, I’m going out for a cigarette.”
With that, she walked alone toward the outdoor smoking area of the airport.