Behind-the-scenes analysis

When a staff member reached Bai Shen's door, he opened it and sent a text right in front of them.

A few taps of his fingers, and he was done in seconds.

He hadn't actually come on the show to find love, so sending it to someone who might misunderstand, like Yu Manman, wouldn't be appropriate.

Sending it to Shi Zhou was fine.

It was a friendly text. He saw Shi Zhou as a little brother.

Actually, put that way, it was quite nice. He was the youngest of his generation in his family, and he had never looked after such a sweet, sensible kid before.

At that thought, Bai Shen smiled faintly, then nodded and said,

"Done."

The staff member: Huh?

Bai Shen didn't seem particularly upbeat, but perhaps he had simply decided who to text long ago.

The guests were in low spirits, but the production team was the exact opposite!

They had so much footage today.

Ever since Xie Jiali had been the first to return early that morning, the romantic showdowns and standout moments had just kept coming!

Director Zhang rubbed his head, thinking excitedly, Oh, we'll probably have too much material for the first episode. There won't be enough runtime.

But every shot is a highlight! What do we do?

Haha.

A staff member brought in their late-night food and set it on the table.

Working behind the scenes was stressful, and they often stayed up late. Since they didn't need to worry too much about their figures or appearances, naturally they bought themselves something tasty as a reward.

Several key staff members from each team gathered with the directors, eating as they analyzed the guests' footage.

None of them had had time for dinner. Only after taking a couple of bites to ease their hunger did Director Zhang ask,

"Have all the romantic texts been sent?"

A staff member took a sip of milk tea and said, "Everyone's sent theirs except Xie Jiali and Su Yue."

Everyone laughed.

They knew why those two hadn't sent anything.

Ah, even they thought they were being too mean.

Editor Liu clicked his tongue. "They don't handle pressure very well. Those people from seasons one and three were practically made of iron. Nothing rattled them."

Another veteran staff member chimed in,

"That's hardly a fair comparison, is it, Editor Liu?"

"The one in season one was a playboy finally settling down, and the woman was rich and gorgeous."

"The two big stars in season three worked together all the time, and they'd known each other for years."

Editor Liu was clearly teasing, merely throwing out a topic. Now that someone had disagreed, they smiled leisurely and added, "Exactly."

"Here, it's someone from the top chasing someone farther down the ladder. The privileged elite pursuing an ordinary person. And even leaving that aside, neither of these two has dated before, right?"

Director Zhang said, "I don't know about Xie Jiali, but Su Yue is a blank slate."

He had been put through military academy training since childhood. His family was odd, too. While he was at school, his father had asked them to work him to death, only to start pushing him to date not long after he reached adulthood. Honestly.

Still, they knew Old Su had met his partner on a blind date, and even after all these years, the couple were as devoted as ever. No wonder he wanted his son to try the same route.

Someone in the room was also a Xie Jiali fan-a dad fan, at that.

After a bite of fried chicken and a satisfying big gulp of cola, he said, "That goes double for Xie Jiali. His schedule is terrifyingly packed. Where would he find time to date?"

Someone said, "Not necessarily. Plenty of big stars are like that. Who ever suspects anything before it comes out?"

Xie Jiali's fan shook his head. People in the interstellar era lived long lives, and they had watched Xie Jiali grow up. His grandparents had started taking him onto shows when he was very young. His family also had strict moral standards. He wouldn't do something like that.

Xie Jiali had once been asked about this and joked that if he dared, his clan elders would dare to invoke the family's disciplinary rules.

Another director, a middle-aged woman, was even more blunt than the men. She clicked her tongue twice.

"Those two are obviously little virgins. Look at how Su Yue acted today. He couldn't even bring himself to give him a kiss."

"Hahahahaha!"

The room erupted in laughter.

On a show this popular, what sort of people or situations hadn't the production team encountered? Their private conversations could get wildly explicit. This was nothing.

Someone else said, "Xie Jiali's a little better."

He had the nerve to invite him to feel his abs.

The speaker rubbed his own protruding belly. He thought that was exactly the right approach. If you'd trained those muscles, hurry up and let the person you were pursuing touch them. Otherwise, all that training was wasted.

The female director shook her head and sighed. "Better how? He practically wants to keep him strapped to his body all day, as if Shi Zhou might turn into an angel and fly away the moment he blinks!"

In her view, this sort was the most intense.

It was one thing while they weren't officially together, but once they were, he would absolutely take it further. By then, he would probably want to feed him every spoonful himself.

Naturally, everyone burst out laughing again.

After gossiping for a while to relieve the stress, they had mostly finished eating and returned to business.

"Pull up the footage of everyone sending their texts today," Director Zhang said.

They had a robot clear the table, pulled out the whiteboard, and put the guests' names back up on it.

"Let's start with the easy ones."

Zheng Yu's was a straightforward, one-way connection. He had sent his text to Asta, and the wording wasn't especially suggestive. It looked as though he was still tentatively getting to know him.

Someone from the writing team analyzed it.

"Asta's personality and looks should be very appealing to Zheng Yu. There's nothing surprising about him texting Asta."

But Asta was well above Zheng Yu's league, and Zheng Yu had no confidence at all that he could win him over. So, for now, he hadn't made his feelings explicit and had sent it as a friendly text.

Editor Liu considered it for a moment, then said,

"Actually, I think we could add an individual storyline for Zheng Yu. There should be more about him for us to explore."

"If we can get viewers to see someone anew and recognize their complexity, that would be good, too."

Unlike other dating reality shows, their production team didn't reduce people to flat stereotypes, as though someone seductive and roguish could only ever be that, someone domineering could only ever be domineering, or someone pampered could only ever be pampered. That simply wasn't possible.

People had many sides.

Only by digging deeper and thinking more could they make a show that was compelling and held up to repeated viewing.

Everyone agreed on that. They made a note of it for now, and the editing team would work on Zheng Yu's storyline tomorrow.

"Next up is the main event, then?" Director Zhang chuckled.

Without question, that guest was Shi Zhou, who had received four texts.

The remaining text had gone to Asta.

The last two guests hadn't sent any at all.

A staff member got up and moved Shi Zhou's name card to the middle of the whiteboard. Everyone rose and gathered around it.

"Who did he send his text to?" Editor Liu asked first.

"Xie Jiali," someone answered.

That wasn't unexpected.

They first pulled up Xie Jiali's footage on the big screen and watched closely.

On-screen, Xie Jiali's expression softened at first, his eyes showing three parts uncertainty, six parts delighted surprise, and one part sadness.

Once he opened the text and finished reading, only the sadness remained.

He stood there expressionlessly for a few seconds,

then tossed his phone aside and came over to cover the camera.

It looked as though it had struck him right in the heart.

Everyone sighed.

Director Zhang asked with a smile, "What did it say?"