Under the camera’s gaze, the azure sea met the horizon, and seagulls, along with the cruise ship, moved toward them from where the two intersected.
As the camera slowly zoomed out, in the midst of everyone’s anticipation, the various guests waiting to board the ship finally appeared on screen.
The production team, well-versed in the viewers’ preferences, naturally gave the first character spotlight to the most popular guest, Ming Jiao.
Ming Jiao was wearing light yellow casual wear and a bamboo-woven hat. Upon seeing the camera approaching, he immediately raised a wide, bright smile, waved, and signaled: “Hello everyone, it’s been a long time! Did you miss me?”
Such an open and relaxed performance made him seem completely unlike a novice without prior filming experience.
Seeing this, the viewers’ bullet comments were naturally intense:
“Missed you, missed you!! Missed you to death, baby!!”
“Jiao-bao looks much more radiant than in the first phase. Is it just me? ovo”
“He’s been nourished (not!).”
“Ahhhhh, it’s not my imagination! My baby is so pretty! Those stinking men are getting a bargain!”
After giving the audience enough time to react, the camera slowly shifted away. By then, the cruise ship had docked, and when the camera panned over, the other guests were already beginning to board under the host’s direction.
Everyone was carrying their own luggage. Under the sunlight, only one person’s luggage sparkled with a brilliant light.
It took a while for the viewers to realize it was the new ring worn on Duan Xingge’s finger.
Ming Jiao was the first to notice this and hurriedly lugged his suitcase over: “Brother Xing! Long time no see!”
He was small, and he was carrying a lot of luggage, so he stumbled as he walked over. Upon hearing this, Duan Xingge paused, and seeing the camera following closely, he specifically stopped to move his suitcase to his right hand.
But even after doing that, he feared it wasn’t enough. Knowing the camera would follow Ming Jiao, Duan Xingge acted as if he was afraid the viewers wouldn’t see the diamond ring on his hand, and insisted on taking Ming Jiao’s luggage: “Slow down, don’t trip.”
Seeing this, the bullet comments became excited:
“Ahhhhh, it has to be my Xing-Xing!”
“Damn, wearing the diamond ring on the middle finger—you kid have some tricks up your sleeve. And this clearly looks specially designed; it’s designed so well, oh my god.”
“Doesn’t wearing a diamond ring on the middle finger mean being in love or engaged? Hey, wait, who agreed to get engaged to you, you kid!”
“Such a huge pigeon-egg, it nearly blinded my dog eyes.”
“Starting off by declaring dominance, right? I am shipping this so hard!”
Ming Jiao felt his face heat up. Looking at the hand resting on his luggage, he exclaimed: “Such a huge diamond ring… is it a new design from Brother Xing’s company?”
The host also boarded the ship at this moment and, seeing the scene, asked the exact same question at the perfect time. Duan Xingge, however, only smiled without a word.
Yun Qi glanced over and saw that although Duan Xingge didn’t wear the ring on his ring finger, he wore it on his middle finger, which was essentially no better in comparison. His vision went black for a moment, and he pressed his lips together, putting distance between them to avoid being dragged into whatever massive headline this person was trying to create.
After everyone had finally boarded the ship, as the staff performed routine checks, Ming Jiao cheerfully came over to greet everyone and chatted about his experiences during this period.
Duan Xingge was as talkative as ever, while Yun Qi was as silent as always. As they conversed, he looked up to observe the remaining people.
There were a total of eight guests participating in the dating show. Besides the three of them, there were two of Duan Xingge’s peers in the industry, and the remaining three were a well-known industry author, a painter whose paintings could fetch sky-high prices, and a popular idol singer who had just gone solo from an idol group.
Among them, one of the two actors was named Bai Yiming, and the other was Luo Guang.
Bai Yiming had once collaborated with Duan Xingge on a project, and Luo Guang was the celebrity who, in the previous life, had asked Yun Qi to kiss Duan Xingge during a game of Truth or Dare.
Luo Guang was cheerful and lively, and usually quite carefree, so proposing such a request in that situation didn’t seem out of place.
However, thinking of that glass of juice later, if Luo Guang were the murderer, everything seemed to make sense.
Just as Yun Qi was about to analyze the others, the painter named Yu Siwei, who had sharp eyes, noticed the small piece of necklace showing from behind Yun Qi’s collar and asked curiously: “Is President Yun also wearing new jewelry today?”
Thinking of Duan Xingge’s ostentatious display earlier, Yun Qi’s heart tightened, and he became even more afraid to reveal the necklace, shaking his head on the spot to indicate it wasn’t convenient to talk about.
However, the less Yun Qi was willing to say, the more curious people became. The viewers were clearly among those curious ones, and the bullet comments immediately began guessing what the hidden necklace could be:
“!! Could it be a gift for Jiao-bao?!”
“Is it possible that it’s a necklace engraved with Jiao-bao’s name or photo?”
“Divine quality! A cold, unreachable flower secretly becoming a devoted fan for the little beauty—this is just too attractive!”
“President Yun is a jewelry designer himself. Being this embarrassed to show it, could it be a design he made himself to give to his wife?”
“Wuwuwu, such a confident great designer becoming cautious because of his crush—I’m dying from this ship!”
Ming Jiao was just as curious as the bullet comments about what the necklace looked like. Seeing this, he leaned in, eyes twinkling, and said: “Is this necklace new? I’ve never seen it before!”
Yun Qi gave a light nod. He hadn’t expected that as he nodded, Ming Jiao would add: “Can you show me?”
Yun Qi’s movements paused abruptly, but it was already too late. Ming Jiao took his nod as agreement and, with a crescent-moon smile, leaned in with a coquettish air.
Yun Qi never expected him to lean in directly, and caught off guard, his necklace was actually hooked by Ming Jiao. Duan Xingge’s expression clearly darkened upon seeing this, and the camera, quite perceptively, zoomed in on the spot. The bullet comments immediately started shouting as if injected with adrenaline, but before they could shout many more, Ming Jiao, “relying on the indulgence,” hooked that necklace out from Yun Qi’s collar.
The production team even specifically zoomed in for a close-up. The massive pigeon-egg diamond, under the sunlight, nearly blinded the countless viewers in front of the stream.
When the dazzling light faded, the ring hanging at the end of the necklace the exact same design as the one on Duan Xingge’s hand was exposed, and the entire scene fell silent.
The previously lively livestream suddenly became so quiet that a pin drop could be heard. It was like the “elephant in the room”; anyone with eyes knew something was wrong, yet not a single bullet comment dared to be the first to jump out and say anything.
At this moment, Luo Guang, who was quick-tongued, said: “Yo, as expected of President Yun, the pigeon-egg is this big… wait, it seems to be a couple’s design with President Duan’s.”
Ming Jiao put down the necklace, somewhat at a loss, and moved his gaze back and forth between the two in disbelief.
Luo Guang clearly realized something was wrong and widened his eyes in shock.
Yun Qi pressed his lips together and stuffed the necklace back into his collar, giving Duan Xingge a cryptic glare. Although the other party didn’t have much of an expression, Yun Qi could clearly tell that the brat’s mood had improved quite a bit.
The host, seeing that the situation wasn’t right, hurriedly and dutifully recited the advertisement: “Respected viewers, respected guests, welcome to the second phase of ‘A Promise of Mountains and Seas,’ sponsored by Jinxi Jewelry! To buy jewelry, for parents, for lovers, go to Jinxi Jewelry!”
After a series of crisp and powerful slogans, the viewers finally regained their senses from the previous silence. The bullet comments breathed a collective sigh of relief, then proceeded to fill in the cause of events themselves:
“What kind of crazy sponsor is this? Why let Xing-Xing and President Yun wear couple rings? Do you not understand publicity?”
“No wonder President Yun didn’t want to take it out; he was afraid of hurting Jiao-bao, right?”
“My baby is just an innocent fool who only knows how to ship CPs, but even so, you two should properly coax your wife!”
“+1, you two big presidents, you could totally refuse a promotion you don’t want. How can you step on your wife’s feelings for a little profit? I want to see the ‘crematorium’ (heartbreak) and the wife-coaxing!”
After the “false alarm,” the bullet comments changed from shouting to see the “Shura Field” (rivalry) to wanting to see the “crematorium.”
However, in the gaps between the bullet comments, there were also some that were different from before:
“! Couple rings? Was Xing-Xing intentionally carrying the luggage just now to show off the ring?”
“Logically speaking, given their stature, they could certainly refuse advertisements they don’t want… hiss, could it be…”
“!! Don’t do this, if it’s true, us ‘omnivorous’ shippers are going to start shipping! I actually shipped Xing-Yun before this show aired!”
However, the number of these comments was too insignificant at the moment to stir up any waves. Under the camera, the host, having finished the advertisement, continued the process.
With the first phase as a foundation, the self-introduction segment was skipped after the second phase started.
After the host briefly organized everyone to chat for a bit, he introduced the first major highlight of the second phase: “Seeing that everyone is still holding their luggage, it’s not very convenient. How about we distribute the rooms first, and then continue with other activities after dropping off the luggage?”
After obtaining the consent of the guests, the host turned to introduce the accommodation rules for this phase:
“Next, our eight guests will spend a wonderful two weeks together on our cruise ship. I assume that not only the guests, but the viewers in the livestream room are also eager to know about the room allocation. So, let me introduce it to you”
“On our luxury cruise ship this phase, we have prepared seven luxury single rooms and one luxury double room. How you stay will be decided by the draw you make next, completely random, entirely based on luck.”
“It’s worth mentioning that the guest who draws the double room has the power to designate a roommate, and the other party cannot refuse. Of course, the guest can also choose to abandon that power and enjoy our luxury double room alone.”
“After our first round of drawings, there will be a second round, mainly to decide the location of your rooms. This round of drawing is not public, which means everyone is unaware of others’ rooms and must find out the other’s room through the ‘dating’ segment after the daily activities.”
As soon as this was said, the focus of the bullet comments was immediately shifted:
“!! Damn, the room owner of the double room can choose a roommate? And the other party can’t refuse??”
“Ahhhhh, what kind of forced-love plot is this!!”
“Okay, okay, that’s how we’re playing, right? Sorry Jiao-bao, it’s not that Mommy doesn’t love you, but this time, Mommy really doesn’t want you to be the room owner.”
“Hahahaha, Jiao-bao: QAQ”
“A poor little beauty being forcibly chosen, a canary on a cruise ship!! I am so into this!”
Having the experience from the previous life, Yun Qi knew clearly who it was that drew the double room in the previous life…
He glanced cryptically at Duan Xingge in the distance, but this time he wasn’t worried about any accidents.
Although Duan Xingge was occasionally crazy without warning, based on Yun Qi’s understanding of him, this brat was only crazy in private.
On the surface, he valued his career quite highly. From the moment he debuted, he had always maintained a gentle and polite persona under the camera.
Once such a persona was broken, it would not only bring him trouble but also trouble for his company’s stock and the company itself.
Therefore, when the production team brought the drawing cylinder over, Yun Qi drew a lot without any worries, and the result was exactly as he expected: the same as the previous life, he still drew a standard lot.
Yun Qi deliberately tilted his lot to observe, with his peripheral vision, those who were paying attention to him.
Ming Jiao looked around generously and, after coming over to see Yun Qi’s lot, went to look at Duan Xingge’s.
Luo Guang simply sighed and showed his lot: “Bad luck, it’s a standard lot… I originally wanted to live with Jiao-Jiao.”
Although he said that, his eyes were sizing up the lots in others’ hands, while also “inadvertently” sweeping over the lot in Yun Qi’s hand.
Yun Qi couldn’t help but narrow his eyes. At this exact moment, Ming Jiao’s exclamation sounded: “Brother Xing drew the double room!”
Others heard this and looked over, unable to help but emit sounds of envy.
Faced with the development that was exactly the same as the previous life, Yun Qi was indifferent.
However, for the audience who knew nothing, this was almost the development they wanted to see the most. The bullet comments became excited upon hearing this:
“!!! Xing-Xing drew it!”
“Woc, the production team is so good at this!! Ahhhh, Xing-Jiao is gaining big points!!”
“Oh, is President Yun jealous? The narrowing-eyed President Yun is so ‘A’ (alpha) ahhh, I love this Shura Field so much.”
“Ahhhhh, it’s getting exciting!!”
The development in the previous life was the same as it was now, only that in the end, Duan Xingge chose no one; he seemed unwilling to force anyone.
From the start of the broadcast until now, the viewers had never seen Duan Xingge behave in any way that was coercive.
He seemed always gentle, always considerate, always in control of the big picture, yet empathetic.
In the previous life, the bullet comments at this moment were all moved by his gentlemanly style, praising him as “acting with emotion but stopping at propriety,” gentle and gentlemanly.
Therefore, Yun Qi didn’t take it to heart. He inadvertently looked at the lot in Duan Xingge’s hand, just as he was about to move his gaze away, he found that the other party was looking straight at him.
Yun Qi felt his heart skip a beat; he suddenly had a bad premonition.
Facts proved that once he encountered Duan Xingge, his sixth sense was basically always correct.
Under the shocked gaze of everyone on the ship and all the viewers in the livestream, Duan Xingge raised a perfect smile toward Yun Qi, but his eyes were dark and bottomless: “President Yun, are you interested in living with me?”
As soon as these words were out, the whole place suddenly fell silent.
The bullet comments that were shouting in the livestream suddenly stopped as if someone had choked them, countless people were directly stunned in front of their screens, looking in shock at the scene before them.