rsvt_05

The short-haired girl was named Lu Shutong. She'd originally been a regular MC on a popular sports competition variety show, before switching careers to focus on acting, mostly starring in action films. Mu Qi wasn't the least bit interested in martial arts or action stuff, so she'd never watched any of her shows, but she had seen her in theaters once—in the New Year's holiday comedy "Good Fortune Every Year", released earlier that year.

Lu Shutong was quite popular, but since Mu Qi had no interest in sports competition shows or action films, she'd never particularly followed her before.

Lu Shutong came up to the second floor, and the three of them introduced themselves to each other.

"You really are impossibly pale, huh. Don't take what I said earlier to heart." Lu Shutong patted her shoulder.

Mu Qi hadn't taken it to heart at all, plenty of people had joked about her pale skin before.

"Oh, there's a room here too." Lu Shutong's attention was quickly drawn elsewhere. She walked into a room on the right side, with Mu Qi and Su Zhizhi following behind her. "I want this room!" Lu Shutong declared, thoroughly pleased after looking it over, turning to Mu Qi and Su Zhizhi.

The room on the right side of the second floor was slightly larger than the other three rooms, and its window looked out directly onto the sea.

"Sure, works for me." Mu Qi didn't mind either way.

"Let's sort out the rooms once everyone's arrived," Su Zhizhi said.

"Sounds good." Lu Shutong took another lap around, then finally headed out to the terrace garden, with Su Zhizhi tagging along, the two of them chatting as they walked.

Mu Qi went downstairs alone. She was feeling a bit thirsty and decided to head to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water. The tap water was drinkable straight from the faucet. Mu Qi had just finished one glass when she noticed a sound coming from the living room. Assuming it was the other two coming back downstairs, she paid it no mind and poured herself another glass of water.

Not until the sound reached the kitchen did she look up. "Hello."

Mu Qi was still mid-drink when she heard the voice and glanced over at the person who'd arrived. That single glance nearly made her choke on her water.

The Best Actor winner!

Talk about a heavyweight guest.

Cui Ran, only 28 years old. He'd won Best Actor just last year, and the film he'd starred in had been the previous year's box office champion, on top of winning numerous other awards. Ever since, any film he was attached to was practically guaranteed box office success. Mu Qi genuinely couldn't wrap her head around why someone with fame at this level would come on some online dating variety show.

Someone at her level, filming a dating show together with someone like him.

She truly couldn't even imagine it.

She could already picture exactly what netizens would say about her once the show aired.

"Hi, the slippers are on the left side by the entrance." Noticing him looking down at his shoes, Mu Qi set her water glass down on the table and led him over to the slipper rack.

"Thanks." Cui Ran changed into slippers, and the two of them exchanged brief introductions. Cui Ran asked her, "Is it just you here?"

"There are two others up on the second floor, you probably know them."

All three of them were actors, and people in the same circle surely knew each other.

Mu Qi called up to the second floor, and the other two came down right away. The moment they saw Cui Ran, both of them froze for a second.

The three of them sat down on the sofa in the living room and started chatting, while Mu Qi finished off the rest of her water in the kitchen. Suddenly, the sound of conversation in the living room cut off. Mu Qi paused mid-drink, straining to catch any sound from the living room. There was no sound of the front door opening either.

Must have fallen into an awkward silence.

What Liu Mei had told her a few days ago flashed through her mind.

Mu Qi sighed, poured three glasses of water, and grabbed a tray from the rack. She carried the tray of water into the living room, and for a moment, she almost felt like she'd become the household butler.

"Come on, come on, water's here."

The three of them on the sofa immediately stood up. Cui Ran was the quickest, taking the tray from Mu Qi and thanking her with a smile.

"Are you all hungry?" Mu Qi asked, glancing down at her watch, it was already 11:30.

Lu Shutong answered right away, "A little, but not everyone's here yet."

There were still four guests who hadn't arrived.

Su Zhizhi asked Mu Qi, "Are you hungry?"

Mu Qi nodded, her expression a bit pitiful. She'd eaten very little that morning, having been nervous about filming a reality show for the first time. Now that the nerves had settled down, the hunger was starting to creep in.

"Do any of you know how to cook?"

"I don't," Su Zhizhi said helplessly.

"Me neither," Lu Shutong added.

Mu Qi: "...Well, guess our hopes rest on the other guests then."

"How come you didn't ask me?" Cui Ran suddenly asked.

Mu Qi's eyes lit up instantly. "Best Actor Cui, don't tell me you can cook?"

Amused by how Mu Qi addressed him, Cui Ran laughed. "Nope, can't cook either."

Mu Qi: "......"

The atmosphere suddenly relaxed.

The four of them chatted for a while. "Your bag looks so stuffed, what's in there?" Lu Shutong asked, pointing at Mu Qi's canvas tote bag.

Mu Qi, lounging lazily on the sofa, reached over at Lu Shutong's question and pulled the bag onto her lap.

"Just some books." She pulled out two books.

Lu Shutong looked stunned. "Oh my god, you actually brought books to study? Are influencers really this competitive these days?" But once she caught sight of the titles, she fell silent.

"Tarot cards!" Su Zhizhi grabbed one of the books and examined the cover closely.

" 'Tarot Crash Course', and..." she picked up the other book. " 'The Complete Guide to Fortune-Telling'. Mu Qi, are you trying to switch your whole image and become a tarot influencer?"

"No, no, just a hobby, just something I look at occasionally," Mu Qi explained.

Cui Ran took 'The Complete Guide to Fortune-Telling' and flipped through a few pages. "If you get the chance, you could give me a reading sometime. I'm pretty interested in this stuff too."

Mu Qi lit up with delight, and was just about to agree when Lu Shutong cut in, "This stuff's not really useful though, is it?"

"Hard to say," Su Zhizhi countered. "Sometimes it can be surprisingly spot-on."

"You've tried it before?" Lu Shutong asked her.

"I tried it online once, in some influencer's video. They have you pick a card, and whichever one you're drawn to is supposedly the one most in tune with your inner self, and then they start analyzing it. You can get readings on romance, career, all sorts of things." Su Zhizhi finished speaking and slumped back lazily against the sofa, just like Mu Qi. "Though honestly I usually only try it out of boredom, I don't really put much stock in the results. But some people swear it's really accurate."

"Only the people whose predictions actually come true bother commenting, right? Out of everyone watching the video, maybe only a handful happen to land on exactly the right point the influencer hit, the silent majority is way bigger." Lu Shutong said.

"That's true too," Su Zhizhi agreed.

Noticing Mu Qi hadn't said anything, Cui Ran picked up on her mood. "It's fine, Mu Qi, as long as you enjoy it, that's what matters."

Mu Qi smiled, not particularly bothered by any of it.

A noise came from outside the villa. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, the three of them spotted two people out in the garden.

Mu Qi got up to open the floor-to-ceiling window.

There was a button on the interior wall that could open the first-floor floor-to-ceiling windows, connecting the garden and the indoor space directly.

"Not taking the usual path, I see." Lu Shutong laughed, quickly walking over to take one of the newcomers' suitcases.

"Thanks." The voice that responded was low and deep.

Among the guys present, this one had the longest hair, reaching down to the back of his neck. He wore a simple white short-sleeve shirt with black pants, layered with a dark olive-green shirt over it.

His side profile was extremely handsome.

That was Mu Qi's first impression of him.

But she didn't recognize him.

The man turned slightly and noticed Mu Qi, giving her a small nod.

The other guy had originally been sitting on the sofa under the covered area, but the moment the floor-to-ceiling window opened, he darted over eagerly.

"Oh, this actually opens?"

"Yeah, there's a button over here," Mu Qi said.

This one, she recognized.

Voice actor Mu He, who specialized in dubbing for TV dramas, films, animation, and video games. His voice was extremely popular, and he'd become widely known last year after voicing a hugely popular character. He was quite handsome, and seemed to have a cheerful, outgoing personality. From the moment he stepped from outdoors into the house, his face was lit up with a bright, radiant smile.

The six of them introduced themselves to one another.

The long-haired guy was named Luo Xiangxun, a race car driver, a man of few words.

The moment he said his name, Mu Qi recognized it. It was a fairly well-known name in racing circles. Lu Shutong knew him and seemed to be on pretty familiar terms with him, but Luo Xiangxun really was a man of few words, it was mostly Lu Shutong carrying the conversation.

"There are still two guests who haven't arrived," Mu Qi said, checking her watch. It was already 12:30.

She really was hungry now. She couldn't wait any longer for everyone to arrive.

"Do either of you know how to cook?" Mu Qi asked the remaining two.

"Nope..." Mu He shook his head.

Mu Qi flopped back onto the sofa, having given up hope.

"Then we're doomed." Su Zhizhi flopped down onto the sofa next to her too, feeling a bit hungry herself.

The show's rules didn't allow ordering delivery.

Truthfully, Mu Qi could cook, though she ate pretty casually, just rice and eggs, a simple meal. But if she cooked, she'd have to make enough for all eight people, how could she possibly subject the other big-name stars to her haphazard cooking?

"I can."

Suddenly, Luo Xiangxun spoke up.

.

Haicheng Airport.

Di Jing was frantically calling Yu Xiaochong's phone, over and over.

At first, Yu Xiaochong simply declined the calls. After that, he just turned his phone off entirely.

"Oh, very nice, Yu Xiaochong. Truly, truly wonderful of you!" Di Jing slammed his fist against the railing beside him.

"Brother Di Jing..." Yu Ran'er hesitated to approach him. "Let's get in the car. There are a lot of people around here, it wouldn't be good if we got caught on camera."

Seeing the crowd around them starting to gather closer, Di Jing pulled up his hoodie, and despite the anger boiling inside him, followed Yu Ran'er into the car.

"Brother Di Jing, Brother Xiao Yu said to wait until you've calmed down before calling him back..."

"He texted you?"

"My manager told me. Brother Xiao Yu is really scared right now."

"Of course he's scared." Di Jing gritted his teeth.

"The moment I get back, I'm going to tear him limb from limb!"

The moment he'd gotten off the plane, Di Jing had received a license plate number from Yu Xiaochong, and using it, he'd found the car sent to pick him up, only to find Yu Ran'er standing right beside it as well. Right after that, he'd received the show's schedule and details from Yu Xiaochong.

"Traveling Together With You" had, quite conspicuously, turned into "Zero Distance With You".

Watching Di Jing's face darken as he furiously tapped away at his phone, Yu Ran'er asked curiously, "Brother Di Jing, what are you looking for?"

"Booking a flight back."

"You can't go back now. Backing out of this variety show is a huge hassle, you'd have to pay a breach-of-contract fee..."

"Then I'll pay it," Di Jing shot back immediately.

Yu Ran'er silently looked down at the message Yu Xiaochong had just sent her. He'd turned his phone back on, apparently.

Brother Xiao Yu: Xiao Ran, so you're filming this one too? Please, I'm begging you, you have to keep him distracted! I'll treat you to a big meal when I'm back!

Yu Ran'er was at a loss for words, unsure whether she'd even get to enjoy that meal once they were back.

"Brother Di Jing, going back would be a hassle too. Just treat this dating show like a travel show, same as me."

 

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