Do You Want to Be on My Team?

In the blink of an eye, it was time to film the show.

This time, it was an outdoor activity. The production team had not assigned groups at the start, so the celebrities were paired with ordinary participants from the first episode. In other words, Wen Shuang still had to stick with Chen Zong.

Zhu Lian chatted with Wen Shuang in the nanny van, getting more animated the longer they talked. She genuinely liked this young man, but the pleasant atmosphere came to an abrupt halt once Chen Zong climbed in. His expression was ugly, carrying the unmistakable air of, "I'm unhappy, so don't you dare be happy in front of me."

Wen Shuang kept his eyes on his nose and his nose on his heart, wisely falling silent. Yet the moment he quieted down, Chen Zong became displeased again. As they neared the filming location, he suddenly said in a cool tone, "Don't be a hindrance this time. Even if you do something, don't make it so obvious."

He was talking about the slipknot incident last time. Chen Zong's fans and Jiang Ning's fans were still tearing into each other, while Wen Shuang himself had come through it mostly unscathed. Chen Zong was inferior to Jiang Ning in every respect; once people broke it down properly, Jiang Ning's fans rubbed him into the dirt and cleaned up the Weibo square spotless. Even some of Chen Zong's old scandals had been dragged out again, leaving his fans too scared to say a word. Chen Zong, however, was narrow-minded. Seeing the outcome, his face nearly twisted with rage. These past few days, he had been picking faults with everyone from assistants to staff. Zhu Lian was the company's top agent, so he did not dare provoke her, but what was Wen Shuang?

After saying that, he pushed open the door and got out. Once exposed to the cameras, his face was again polite and smiling.

Zhu Lian frowned deeply, clearly quite unhappy, but it was not the right time to lose her temper. She turned to comfort Wen Shuang. "Chen Zong just has a terrible temper. Don't take it to heart."

"I won't, I won't." Wen Shuang could handle this much hostility. He casually stuffed a fruit candy into Zhu Lian's hand, said, "Bye, Sister Zhu," then hopped out of the van and quickly caught up to Chen Zong.

Zhu Lian suddenly felt her palm burning. She had always judged the artists she managed by their value rather than personal feelings, but Wen Shuang had truly poked at the softest part of her heart several times lately.

The moment Wen Shuang appeared, the cameras gave him several close-ups. The young man wore a white tracksuit today, along with a pair of dark blue canvas shoes because of a sponsor. It was no exaggeration to say that the exposed skin on his body looked like jade by contrast. If this footage aired, who knew how wildly those young girls would scream?

Wu Tan had arrived long ago, but he was in poor spirits. He had started spending money to buy promotional posts, but he had pushed too hard. Once his reputation failed to match the hype, the backlash came swiftly. In particular, the scene of him rolling his eyes had been made into a GIF, drawing a wave of mockery from rivals and passersby alike. It was only because Jiang Ning's fans and Chen Zong's fans were fighting so fiercely that the public's attention had not landed on him. Otherwise, he would have been drowned in spit long ago. President Zhao had told him to rein himself in, Peng Shanshan found him embarrassing and stood farther away from him, and in short, Wu Tan was feeling awful. After such a huge fall from grace, resentment toward Wen Shuang naturally rose within him.

Wen Shuang pretended not to see him. You stomped the heel of my seven-hundred-yuan shoes completely bare. The fact that I didn't make you compensate me is already generous of me.

Once filming officially began, everyone greeted one another before the director explained the rules. Different amounts of money would be distributed based on the rankings from last time's knot-untying challenge. For example, Jiang Ning, who came first, received five hundred yuan, while Chen Zong, who came second, received three hundred. There were five celebrities in total, and the last-place celebrity received only thirty yuan. Each celebrity and ordinary participant pair had to reach the island in the middle of the lake before seven that evening. It was over two hundred kilometers away. The last-place pair would be eliminated, no matter who they were.

Phones could be used during filming, but any action that required personal payment would be considered a violation. Once caught, they would be eliminated immediately.

Jiang Ning was delighted and was already planning to take a taxi. Han Ling, the female singer with only thirty yuan, was nearly in tears.

The production team would not provide any food or drinks. It was ten in the morning, and even if they had eaten breakfast, lunchtime was approaching. A small sign had been placed at the entrance with route directions, but Wen Shuang did not quite trust it. He felt things could not be that simple. He pulled out his phone and searched for directions himself when he suddenly heard Chen Zong call, "We're leaving!"

Chen Zong's eyes were full of intense impatience. Small-minded people were prone to angering themselves to death. Every time he thought of what Jiang Ning's fans had said online, his blood pressure surged. He was eager to win back a round, so he especially could not stand Wen Shuang dawdling. Deep down, for some reason, Chen Zong was somewhat wary of him.

"But..." Wen Shuang wanted to explain.

"Enough. I'm leaving first. Catch up on your own." Chen Zong turned around and jumped onto a bus.

"Huh?" Wen Shuang rushed forward, only to get a mouthful of exhaust as the bus drove off. Chen Zong had taken all three hundred yuan with him.

Watching Wen Shuang stand there, Chen Zong pressed down the smile at the corner of his lips.

How could his heart be so filthy? Jiang Ning watched from afar, feeling indignant for a moment. Even though his eldest brother had given him a full hour-long ideological lecture after he got home that day, telling him to stay away from Wen Shuang, and had even shown him the information he had investigated, Jiang Ning had indeed been shocked and developed some misgivings over Wen Shuang's past actions. Still, he felt that something was off.

Should I go help him? As Jiang Ning thought this, he saw Wen Shuang calmly head to the public bicycles, scan the code, and take a bike in one smooth motion. The first half hour was free, and the timer reset after locking the bike. He was planning to ride for free.

Jiang Ning's mind instantly cleared. Right, the production team might pull more tricks later. Every cent he could save was worth saving. He suddenly found his five hundred yuan exceptionally precious and led his ordinary participant over to scan a bike as well.

Jiang Ning was precious and delicate. Before joining the show, Jiang Suqing had repeatedly reminded and warned everyone about him until Xuan Zhe's head hurt. So he had pulled some strings: the ordinary participant paired with Jiang Ning was actually his assistant.

"Brother Jiang, which way are we going?" the little assistant secretly asked.

Jiang Ning answered without hesitation, "Follow Wen Shuang."

Wen Shuang was heading in the opposite direction from the route suggested by the production team. People easily fell into fixed patterns of thought, especially when they lacked a sense of security, and would be led around by the nose. Everyone believed the route set by the production team was correct. It was correct, but they had not considered whether it took a detour. Wen Shuang, meanwhile, was not looking at the problem from the guests' perspective. He was looking at it from the production team's perspective.

The directors: "...This guy doesn't play by the rules."

The weather had not been hot lately, and the breeze was just right. Wen Shuang rode his bicycle leisurely while the cameraman followed behind on a self-balancing scooter, carrying equipment and feeling certain that he might capture some major news. Jiang Ning and his assistant trailed behind, pedaling hard.

At an intersection, Wen Shuang turned, and the people behind him turned as well. Unexpectedly, a tricycle came out from the side. Jiang Ning managed to dodge it, but the little assistant crashed into it with a bang. He failed to grip the handlebars and was immediately thrown off, followed by a miserable scream.

Hearing the commotion, Wen Shuang stopped and turned around. He saw Jiang Ning's ordinary participant sprawled on the ground, blood streaming from his nose and mouth, his face full of pain.

The person riding the tricycle was an old man. Seeing that the fallen person was well dressed and that cameras surrounded them, he immediately became flustered. In less-than-standard Mandarin, he cried, "It has nothing to do with me! He crashed into me himself!"

Jiang Ning parked his bike with a grim expression and rushed over to help the little assistant up. The fall was fairly serious. A large section of his trousers at the knee had been scraped through, gravel embedded in the flesh that had begun to bleed, making for a frightening sight.

"No, you need to go to the hospital." Jiang Ning frowned.

The little assistant mumbled, "But the show..."

"The hell with the show at a time like this!" Jiang Ning could not help swearing. The little assistant glanced at him and said no more.

At that moment, Wen Shuang stepped forward, took wet wipes from his pocket, and cleaned the dirt from the little assistant's knee. Then he told him to tilt his head back to stop the nosebleed. The person who usually wore every emotion openly on his face now looked stern. Raising his head, he said to the assistant director who had followed them, "Call someone and send him to the hospital."

His gaze was too solemn and resolute. The assistant director had originally wanted to ask if the little assistant could hold on, but for some reason, he felt intimidated and swallowed the question. Looking again at the little assistant's blood-covered face, he realized the severity of the situation. "Okay. Leave this to me. You and Jiang Ning continue filming."

Once the little assistant left, they were essentially eliminated.

Jiang Ning and Wen Shuang set off again. This time, Jiang Ning rode alongside Wen Shuang and asked softly, "Do you want to be on my team?"

Wen Shuang blinked. "Can we switch?" Being with Chen Zong truly was not as good as being with Jiang Ning.

Jiang Ning gave a playful smile. "Let's try."