After the first two groups had raised the bar for absurdity, Lu Heng and Jiang Mian, who had dragged their feet until the last moment to make their grand entrance, failed to deliver the visual impact the audience had anticipated.
The two emerged with full confidence, but the real-time feedback on the big screen was far from what Lu Heng had hoped for.
In the barrage, aside from a small number of fans gushing over how well-matched the two were and swooning over their looks, everyone else was debating whether Fang Xubai had sacrificed more or Jiang Ling had given more.
As for why no one mentioned Jiang Qiyu, it was because everyone unanimously agreed:
When it came to playing these kinds of lowbrow games, other celebrities might feel ashamed and humiliated, wishing they could smash their heads against the ground, but Jiang Qiyu was different.
She genuinely loved playing them.
After everyone had been busy in the studio for a long time, taking enough photos, they were finally allowed to go remove their makeup.
On the way, Jiang Ling and Fang Xubai even ran so fast they left afterimages.
Only Jiang Qiyu, unhurried and unbothered, carried her wine jug and machete, going around making friends (or rather, causing trouble).
While removing their makeup, the staff notified the guests that the Love Friends Circle interactions would be made public in the evening, so they should use the remaining time in the afternoon to enrich their content and interact more with the other guests.
After removing their makeup, it was free time. Fang Xubai clamored that he was too embarrassed to show his face and hid away, while Jiang Ling, unwilling to face everyone’s gazes, returned to her room to rest.
Jiang Qiyu happily carried half a watermelon upstairs to play shooting games, justifying it as: “I need to rest well during the day because I still have to sleep at night.”
The others also scattered throughout the apartment, enjoying their hard-earned leisure time.
Qi Yu, who had yet to choose a room, carried his high-end luxury suitcase—which couldn’t sing, couldn’t carry people, and had nothing to offer but was dozens of times more expensive than Jiang Qiyu’s Mecha Combat Vehicle—straight to the top floor.
Unlike the others, aside from the phone issued by the production team, he had kept his own.
This was so he could remotely handle some company matters during the program’s downtime.
He had been following this program since its planning stages, initially adopting a wait-and-see approach because the new social platform product from Qi Corporation’s branch wasn’t fully developed yet.
It wasn’t until Understand Love APP aired and successfully dominated the trending searches within a day, generating massive discussion, that his proposal was officially approved by Qi Corporation’s headquarters board of directors, and preparations began to invest and acquire shares.
But as luck would have it, right at the critical moment of the additional investment meeting and bidding, he received a baffling “kidnapper call” from his brother’s good daughter, Qiao XinXin, who was feeling homesick, and was summoned to the airport.
He missed the opportunity to become an investor and, by a twist of fate, ended up appearing on camera and becoming an overnight sensation.
When the program’s director contacted him, Qi Yu had just hung up a call from that old man in S City. Unable to control his long-suppressed temper, he spoke rather harshly to Director Zhang…
Perhaps more than just “rather harshly.”
As for why he changed his mind and condescended to personally participate in this dating show:
First, he was intrigued by some of the clever design ideas of Understand Love APP and wanted to experience them firsthand. Second, he naturally recognized the program’s potential to become a phenomenon-level variety show.
And third…
After organizing his current experiences and thoughts on Understand Love APP and sending them to Secretary Zhao, Qi Yu looked up and gazed out the floor-to-ceiling window.
The sky was now approaching dusk. In the tastefully designed open-air garden pavilion, an exquisitely crafted swing basket swayed gently.
From the angle of his room, he couldn’t see the front of the hanging basket, only a glimpse of a pale, slender calf dangling freely below, swinging back and forth at will.
“Tsk.”
For no apparent reason, Qi Yu frowned slightly, paused, then casually picked up the remote control from the table.
“Beep—”
The blackout curtains slowly closed, also blocking another figure gradually approaching the hanging basket.
In the rooftop garden, Jiang Qiyu was sprawled comfortably in the hanging basket, holding her phone with a serious expression.
“Jiang Qiyu.”
Just as she hadn’t even warmed up the 8x scope she had looted, she was startled by the sudden voice, her hand slipping and exposing herself while also getting shot.
Still immersed in the pain and indignation of her death, she looked up and saw a face with a smile that concealed a knife.
It was Jiang Ling.
She had already changed out of her casual clothes and was holding a glass of milk, offering Jiang Qiyu a practiced, professional smile:
“Qiyu, since we met, we haven’t had a chance to talk properly away from the cameras.”
Upon hearing this, Jiang Qiyu raised an eyebrow slightly, turned off her screen, and slowly sat up straight, looking at Jiang Ling with a teasing expression:
“What? Do you also want to come and ‘water’ this friend of yours?”
“Qiyu…”
Jiang Ling’s expression stiffened, but she still gently placed the milk in her hand down:
“I know you’re still angry about that incident, but I had my reasons for doing what I did.”
As she spoke, she sat down on a nearby chair, forcing a strained smile:
“If you don’t understand me, I don’t blame you.”
“Well, thank you for that.”
Faced with her shameless skill, Jiang Qiyu nearly laughed out loud.
“Qiyu, you know my status…”
Seeing that this foolish cousin, who was usually soft-hearted and lacked cunning, remained unmoved by her usual tactic of feigning weakness, Jiang Ling sighed and continued:
“No matter what, you are Grandpa’s biological granddaughter. Even if you make a mistake in a moment of confusion, Grandpa will quickly forgive you. It’s different for me. If it were me…”
Jiang Qiyu grew annoyed at the sight of her self-pitying, misery-laden demeanor and waved her hand dismissively:
“Cousin, let me open the window and speak dirty words…”
“Wh-what?”
“Speak plainly.”
Without blushing or flinching, she corrected her slip of the tongue and said calmly:
“What exactly do you want? Just say it.”
Then hurry up and leave; don’t interfere with my parachute jump.
Jiang Ling was taken aback and, no longer bothering to play the victim, got straight to the point:
“Qiyu, I know you came to participate in this show for Brother Heng. The two of you were engaged since childhood, but now he…”
“……”
Seeing Jiang Qiyu remain silent, Jiang Ling thought she had swayed her and added another heavy dose, shaking her head with a bitter smile:
“Speaking of which, ever since… both of our lives have become a complete mess. Who can we blame…”
What she left unsaid, Jiang Qiyu understood perfectly well—this was an attempt to use the same old trick, manipulating her once again to deal with Jiang Mian.
Great, you can’t compete with the female lead yourself, so you’re urging this little mouse to step forward, huh?
A mouse’s life matters too!
Feeling the malice from the world’s second female lead, Jiang Qiyu (Mouse Edition) immediately went into a frenzy on the spot:
“Cousin, you’re right, but I think in Train to Busan, escaping six carriages of zombies but failing to escape one carriage of human nature—what does that tell us?”
“…Huh?”
“This shows! One section is stronger than six, the king among kings, ham sausage, for jelly I want Xizhilang!”
“Qi…”
“What? Your life is a tangled mess? No problem! When I grow up, I want to be Xizhilang jelly, the astronauts are so happy, they give me my favorite grandpa and grandma!”
“……”
Looking at the person in front of her who suddenly started acting crazy without any reason, Jiang Ling finally understood.
Then, with a look of frustration, she raised her voice to scold her, attempting to awaken the deep admiration and longing for Lu Heng hidden in Jiang Qiyu’s heart:
“Jiang Qiyu! Have you ever thought about what exactly you and Brother Heng are to each other?!”
“Consider me unlucky.”
“……”
Still unwilling to give up, she clenched her hands tightly: “What about all those beautiful times you had before?”
Jiang Qiyu paused, thought for a moment, and then affirmed:
“You can’t trick me, this is seaweed.”