A World of Difference

At the corner of the sofa, the sunlight on Tang Zhi Chu had faded. He shook his head, forcing himself out of that detached state.

Being reborn in another world was already enough to leave his nerves taut and on edge. On top of that, a chaotic mass of memories kept intruding, leaving Tang Zhi Chu with little energy to deal with this kind of occasion.

He simply listened, silently committing the useful information to memory.

What surprised Tang Zhi Chu was that another female guest was equally quiet: Jiang Lan.

Her silence was not the awkward kind that came from not knowing how to handle herself. It was a composed silence, carrying the sense that everything was under her control.

Tang Zhi Chu was not as complicated as Zhou Yun had analyzed him to be. He simply felt that this show did not seem as straightforward as it looked on the surface.

Creak! The door was pushed open once again.

Everyone stood up to welcome her. The final female guest had arrived.

She wore a white inner shirt beneath a beige knitted cardigan. Her black hair was light and flowing, and her delicate, elegant features combined into a breathtakingly cool aura.

Zhou Yun covered her mouth again and whispered, "She's so pretty!"

Yang Jia Xing was the first to step forward and take the suitcase from her.

"Thank you."

Her voice was lovely too.

"You're welcome. We were just guessing whether the last female guest would have long hair or short hair. Didn't expect her to be this beautiful." Yang Jia Xing praised her as he pushed the suitcase into the corner.

A smile appeared on the girl's face, the slightly embarrassed kind. She seemed unaccustomed to such straightforward praise.

"You're Chen Si Yang, right?" Huang Ze Jun suddenly spoke, his face full of delighted surprise.

Zhou Yun's gasp came right after. "Oh my God, I was wondering why you looked so familiar!"

Yang Jia Xing froze, then hurriedly turned back to look at the new female guest. His eyes visibly began to light up.

Chen Si Yang was a former member of Planet Girl Group and its designated visual—a famously beautiful woman.

Tang Zhi Chu, however, withdrew his gaze from Chen Si Yang. A female celebrity on a Dating Show?

With everyone present, they sat in a circle and began introducing themselves in detail, such as what industries they worked in.

Tang Zhi Chu still spoke very little, silently remembering the useful information.

Zhou Yun was the most active one, and she owned a gym.

Jiang Lan was quiet and unassuming, but she also owned a small food company.

Yang Jia Xing was not very old, yet he was already in charge of a financial institution, one that belonged to his family.

Huang Ze Jun was a photographer, and he also owned a small media company focused on self-media.

Chen Si Yang did not even need to introduce herself. Everyone knew she was a female celebrity, an entertainer.

Even though Tang Zhi Chu had mentally prepared himself, he was still shocked. Damn, they might as well rename this show Heartthrob of the Nobility.

When Tang Zhi Chu introduced himself, everyone fell silent for a few seconds. His background was simple and ordinary.

After graduating from university, he had taken over a small Sichuan restaurant from his father. Still, that made him something of a boss.

Tang Zhi Chu's introduction made quite a few people suddenly understand. No wonder he did not talk much. He was probably insecure, right?

Zhou Yun's words—"Then your cooking must be delicious"—smoothed things over. Everyone moved past the discussion of careers and began talking about dinner.

Whatever else could be said, at least everyone was considerate on the surface.

Tang Zhi Chu, however, went upstairs, claiming he had a headache. He also said they did not need to wait for him to eat.

That was Tang Zhi Chu's first day on the Dating Show. His mind was a mess. He needed quiet, and he needed rest.

Tang Zhi Chu had a dream. He was still called Tang Zhi Chu, but he had become someone else.

Back in high school, his father had been a long-term alcoholic. His mother could no longer endure that kind of life, so the two divorced.

After the divorce, his father turned his Night Market stall into a traditional stir-fry restaurant. That had been his mother's wish before the divorce, but his father had come to his senses too late.

Because of his outstanding looks, Tang Zhi Chu had always been surrounded by beautiful female classmates throughout high school and university.

But as a commuting student who had to help out at his father's restaurant every day, he had no courage to get entangled with those glamorous, beautiful girls.

Every day, he had to face the realities of daily life. Over time, he became an extreme homebody.

But he had one strength: singing. It had been his hobby since childhood.

For a child from a poor family, singing could only remain a hobby. He had never told his father that he had some talent or that he wanted to pursue the arts. He knew perfectly well that there was no point in bringing it up.

Fortunately, the internet developed by leaps and bounds, and a short-video app called DY became popular.

Tang Zhi Chu became an on-demand singer in DY's short-video song-request rooms. Put simply, when a wealthy viewer wanted to hear a song, they would pay him to sing it. If he sang well and the viewer was happy, he might even receive extra tips.

It was much like singing for money in a bar, except Tang Zhi Chu could not adapt to the flashy, chaotic atmosphere of offline bars, so he kept doing it online as a side job.

After graduating from university, Tang Zhi Chu had planned to rent a better, more soundproof place and focus on singing. But his father fell ill. Years of alcoholism had planted the seed of disaster: pancreatic cancer.

Treatment cost money. With a friend's help, Tang Zhi Chu signed up for an online singing competition hosted on DY's short-video platform. The first-place prize was as high as two hundred thousand yuan.

Tang Zhi Chu himself had not expected it, but he fought his way through round after round and won the championship.

Not only did he win the two-hundred-thousand-yuan prize, but he also earned an opportunity to participate in the filming of a variety show.

Tang Zhi Chu thought that since the variety show was a reward for singing, it had to be a music show! He agreed without a second thought. After all, making a living through singing was his dream.

But it turned out to be a Dating Show.

One word apart, yet worlds apart.

He wanted to turn it down, but he had already agreed. Moreover, his elderly father, who was receiving treatment in the hospital, knew about it and refused to let him back out no matter what.

Father Tang felt that his son had spent all year cooped up at home. Now that he himself did not have much time left, a matchmaking show had finally come knocking. No matter what, Tang Zhi Chu had to go.

He did not ask that Tang Zhi Chu find a partner on the show. As long as his personality changed even a little, Father Tang would have no regrets.

In the eyes of the older generation, staying at home all day was a sign of having no prospects.

The Dating Show had a rule: to help everyone get used to filming, cameras had to be installed in their homes a month in advance.

Tang Zhi Chu was an extreme homebody, and his father had fallen ill. He was already exhausted from running the restaurant during the day, and when he returned home, he still had to face so many cameras. It left him feeling severely insecure, and he suffered from insomnia every day.

After a month, his body grew increasingly haggard. Then, on the first day of filming the Dating Show, he fell asleep and never woke up again.

Knock, knock, knock.

The knocking startled Tang Zhi Chu awake. He sat up abruptly, drenched in sweat, but he felt much better. It seemed that while he slept, his subconscious had helped him sort through those chaotic memories.

"I'm coming!" Tang Zhi Chu jumped out of bed, splashed water on his face in the bathroom, then jogged over to open the door.

When he opened it, Zhou Yun was standing outside.

"Are you okay?" Zhou Yun's tone carried a hint of concern.

Tang Zhi Chu shook his head. "Maybe it's because of the late spring cold. I have a bit of a headache, but I've already taken medicine. I wasn't in a good state earlier. Sorry about that."

"It's fine. It's nothing. They saved you some food in the dining room."

Zhou Yun did not linger. After saying that, she turned to head downstairs. After taking two steps, she turned back and said, "Oh, right. It's almost eleven."

"Okay, thank you."

"You're welcome. Hehe."

Watching Zhou Yun's retreating figure as she went downstairs, Tang Zhi Chu paused for several seconds. He was not quite used to Zhou Yun's little bursts of warmth.