Matchmaking corner

The young man snatched the tissue, wiped his lips carelessly, shook off his hand, and walked ahead with his ears turning red.

[The whole atmosphere between you two has changed since you slept together!]

[Seriously, with how intimate they are, who knows how far they've gone off camera!]

[Shen Yanci has two sandwiches. He left the hall early yesterday-Xingxing must have told him!]

[You two could just do it out in the open. Why insist on hiding in a corner!!!]

They reached the truck parking area and found the truck marked with their names.

It was filled to the brim with mandarins, almost two or three times as many as the other trucks.

There were four trucks in total, and they were the first to arrive.

Shen Yanci calmly walked around the truck, then climbed into a passenger seat.

Song Yunxing sat in the passenger seat on the other side, his brows knitted as he began asking the driver questions.

"They told me to take you to the fresh food market in Yu City. You'll catch the morning rush at this hour. That's where we usually sell our mandarins, too," the fruit grower driving the truck replied.

Song Yunxing nodded, looking rather grim.

Selling them under ordinary circumstances would have been fine, but they were being filmed, and fresh food markets were usually frequented by middle-aged women. Probably not many would even want to approach them.

With an entire truckload of mandarins behind them, they might not finish selling them even by nightfall.

He let out a long sigh and turned to watch the scenery flashing past the window.

Shen Yanci leisurely finished one sandwich, tucked the wrapper and the remaining sandwich into his jacket pocket, then took off the jacket, folded it neatly, and set it on the seat.

The truck soon arrived at their destination. As it passed the temporary stalls in the fresh food market, they spotted four or five stalls selling mandarins alone.

The truck drove all the way to the end and stopped at the last temporary stall in the first row.

Song Yunxing's right eyelid twitched, and he got out after the others.

"This is your stall. Contact me once you've sold all the mandarins. Here's my number." The fruit grower handed Song Yunxing a slip of paper.

"Wait, can't we switch spots?"

This was the very last spot in the row. Hardly anyone came this far!

There were five or six stalls selling mandarins along the street, and theirs was at the very end. How were they supposed to sell anything?

If the other guests showed up later, it would be a complete disaster!

"These stalls have to be paid for a day in advance. You can't switch-the market staff check!" The fruit grower turned specifically toward Shen Yanci. "Oh, and the director said you can't get someone else to sell for you. You have to sell them yourselves, bag by bag, at our prices! All the equipment's on the front passenger seat. Good luck!"

With that, the fruit grower left the stall.

Song Yunxing: ...

The two stood by the street, staring at each other in silence.

[Oh my god, could they have picked a worse spot?]

[They won a huge villa yesterday, and today they're out on the streets. Director, you're ruthless!]

[They've blocked every other option. Retail is their only choice.]

[Look how lost our Xingxing looks! Director, have you no heart?!]

[A popular singer and a top movie star sell mandarins on the street, only to be completely ignored. Is this the extinction of humanity or the collapse of morality~]

[Aaaah! Yu City is my hometown! If I didn't have this damn job, I'd rush back and buy everything!]

[Friends in Yu City! Where are you?!]

Song Yunxing tried stepping forward to attract customers, but everyone passing by either already had mandarins in hand or backed away at the sight of the cameras.

The show was being filmed. They couldn't exactly ask the camera crew to leave.

Song Yunxing, who had debuted in a boy band and become a regular singer for drama soundtracks, had somehow lived to see the day when nobody paid him any attention.

After a full hour, Song Yunxing's throat was dry, and he had sold only five kilos of mandarins. Meanwhile, Shen Yanci had already been surrounded by a group of middle-aged women.

"Where do you work, young man? Why are you out here selling mandarins?"

"Oh, handsome, how old are you? My child's twenty-five this year, a lovely Omega!"

"What a good-looking young man. Add me on WeChat, and I'll send you my daughter's profile."

His side had practically turned into a matchmaking corner, with everyone asking to add Shen Yanci on WeChat.

Shen Yanci's face really did appeal to the older ladies. With broad shoulders, long legs, handsome, well-defined features, and an unmistakably aristocratic air, he looked like someone from a wealthy family at a glance.

Shen Yanci tactfully explained that he needed to sell mandarins. The slightest furrow of his brow nearly broke the women's hearts, and they promptly waved their hands and surged forward to buy some.

Song Yunxing was dumbfounded. He scorned this marketing strategy of trading on good looks, but his hands never stopped weighing mandarins.

Only then did the women notice that there was another beautiful young man here.

"Here's your bag, miss. Hold it carefully." The young man lifted his eyes and flashed a flawless smile with practiced ease.

The women watching were delighted, their voices growing noticeably sweeter.

"Oh, what a handsome young man!"

"Are the mandarins guaranteed sweet? Weigh out a kilo for me, too."

Song Yunxing was run off his feet, but strangely, not a single woman asked for his WeChat.

Puzzled, Song Yunxing looked at Shen Yanci, who was surrounded by women. People came and went around him, but nobody struck up a conversation.

Were Betas really that undesirable these days? Was he that hideous?

Song Yunxing mechanically weighed mandarins for the women. One older woman even stood right in front of him, studied his face carefully, then gave a long sigh, shook her head, and left.

Song Yunxing looked utterly bewildered. Once he processed it, anger flared inside him.

What was wrong with him? He wasn't ugly! Why didn't he qualify as son-in-law material?

He could make money! He could sing, dance, and rap! Wasn't that better than an Alpha whose only asset was his face?

Song Yunxing shot Shen Yanci a vicious glare. Once he differentiated into an Alpha, he would crush him in every way!

The livestream viewers were puzzled, too.

[Why aren't any of these women asking for Xingxing's WeChat? Honestly, he's better-looking than most Alphas and Omegas.]

[Would you really feel comfortable finding a son-in-law prettier than your own daughter?]

[True. With looks like Xingxing's, not many people could hold their own beside him.]

[Only an Alpha male on Shen Yanci's level could stand beside him and be equally striking. And Shen Yanci's so sly. He's a master at playing hard to get-not one of them has managed to add him on WeChat~]

Song Yunxing seethed, but his hands never stopped moving as he stood beside the digital scale, dutifully handling support work.

Only after that wave of customers left did Song Yunxing get a chance to catch his breath.

He peeled a mandarin and bit angrily into a segment. Juice burst across his tongue, sweet and refreshing, quenching his thirst and soothing his throat.

"Give me a piece." Shen Yanci straightened his clothes, which had been rumpled by the crowd, and held out a hand.

Song Yunxing turned his back, stuffed the rest of the mandarin into his mouth, and said sulkily, "...Peel your own."

Shen Yanci glanced at him, raised an eyebrow slightly, and picked up a mandarin himself.

Just then, the other guests' trucks began arriving one after another. Lu Yiyi and Luo An's truck stopped diagonally across from them, in the fifth spot from the end of the second row.

Lu Ran and Gu Nianzhi were in the middle of the third row, while the two veteran celebrities' truck had parked so far away that they couldn't see it from here.

Compared with the scattering of passersby on their side, Lu Yiyi and Luo An's stall was wildly popular. They were surrounded the moment they got out.

People nearby gathered curiously around them, and the crowd kept growing.

Song Yunxing suddenly understood. As actors in mainland television dramas, Lu Yiyi and Luo An were far better known among middle-aged women than they were.