No need to feel inferior just because you can't out-man me

The guests arrived at their date venues one after another.

The pairings for the first round were finally revealed.

Garden restaurant: Mr. Panda and Miss Rabbit.

Sky restaurant: Mr. Fox and Miss Peacock.

Seaside restaurant: Mr. Tiger and Miss Salted Fish.

The shippers in the live chat started getting excited.

[Aaaah! We know Rabbit is Shuangrong, and Panda's build matches Best Actor Xiao the most, so the Xiao-Rong ship is officially confirmed!!]

[The lovebirds described each other as their ideal types! I'm going to die from all this sweetness!]

[Drool, drool. Best Actor Xiao looks even more untouchable with that mask on. I'm licking my screen.]

Miss Rabbit lowered her head with a shy smile. Even the voice changer couldn't hide the gentleness in her voice.

"You seem like a gentle, well-mannered person, exactly my ideal type. The production team matched us very accurately."

The live chat started teasing them.

[Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh.]

[The lovebirds are about to get all lovey-dovey~~~]

"Not that accurately."

Mr. Panda suddenly spoke.

His altered voice sounded casually languid.

"You're not really my type."

Under the rabbit mask, Xu Shuangrong's smile froze.

Even the live chat stalled for a few seconds.

No.

This definitely wasn't Best Actor Xiao!!

At the seaside restaurant.

Xie Mi sat with her legs crossed, looking at Mr. Tiger across from her.

She couldn't help laughing in exasperation.

Fine, fine, fine. So this was how they wanted to play it? Fine.

Not pairing her with You Hongxuan was one thing, but they had actually stuck her with this piece of work.

Qiu Chengye, a second-generation heir to a financial empire, was a painfully average yet absurdly confident chauvinist who had no respect for women.

Before transmigrating into the novel, she had cursed this character plenty of times.

"What are you laughing at?"

Mr. Tiger slapped the table, his tone displeased. "And what kind of posture is that? Do you know anything about etiquette? I've never seen a woman cross her legs like that!"

"Sorry." Xie Mi uncrossed her legs.

Mr. Tiger snorted. "That's more like-"

Xie Mi crossed the other leg over. "That one went numb."

Mr. Tiger shot to his feet in fury. "Don't push your luck!"

Xie Mi flipped the table with one hand. "Got a problem? Come fight me!!"

Mr. Tiger: "..."

After a few seconds of silence, Mr. Tiger sat down.

[That's it??]

[Wait, I seriously thought these two were about to throw hands.]

That was the one good thing about Qiu Chengye.

With his money and influence, he was used to being fawned over. Nobody ever dared defy him.

The moment he met someone fiercer than him, he chickened out.

[Good grief, I got startled twice in just one minute.]

[I was worried about Miss Salted Fish before. Now I'm more worried about Mr. Tiger.]

[Sorry, I wandered in by mistake. Is this a dating show or a gladiator arena?]

[Neither couple gets along, huh? I'm crying.]

[Don't say that. Fox and Peacock are getting along pretty well.]

At the sky restaurant, Mr. Fox and Miss Peacock were having the most normal date of the episode.

After arriving, they greeted each other politely, then asked about each other's dietary restrictions. Once they finished ordering, they began to chat.

Fox was gentlemanly, Peacock was elegant, and the two got along harmoniously.

[This couple finally makes me feel like I'm watching a dating show.]

[Wait, if Panda isn't Best Actor Xiao, doesn't that mean Fox is?]

[Exactly. With Panda ruled out, Fox's build is the closest match, so...]

[Aaaah, I won't allow it! Best Actor Xiao, you can't pair up with another woman!!]

[Then who on earth is Mr. Panda!!]

Xu Shuangrong sat across from Mr. Panda, squirming in her seat.

She had exceptionally high emotional intelligence and could handle any situation.

But this time, she really couldn't keep it together.

Because this Mr. Panda...

Seemed to be hard of hearing.

When she tried to ease the tension, she said, "Mr. Panda, your outfit is very well coordinated. Do you usually take an interest in fashion?"

Mr. Panda: "Huh?"

When she tried to get some interaction going, she said, "Sorry, could you pass me the napkins on your side?"

Mr. Panda: "Huh?"

When she unleashed her innocent-damsel finishing move, she said, "Ah! That's hot! Be careful, Mr. Panda. Don't touch the candleholder."

Mr. Panda: "Huh?"

Xu Shuangrong couldn't smile anymore.

[Now that's communication with every possible barrier.]

[I'm laughing my head off. Let's crowdfund a hearing aid for Mr. Panda.]

[Why am I suddenly shipping them?! Mr. Panda can't hear a single thing she says, but he responds every time. Is he the legendary tsundere type? He deliberately says Miss Rabbit isn't his ideal type when he actually really likes her!!]

[Is Shuangshuang going to become everyone's crush on this dating show? Best Actor Xiao will have plenty to be jealous about. (snicker)]

An unexpected situation arose in the latter half of the lunch dates.

A staff member hurried over and whispered something into the director's ear. The director's expression changed instantly.

They immediately began an emergency discussion. After a while, the director spoke with an apologetic expression.

"Sorry, we're having some equipment trouble, so we may need to pause filming for a while. The livestream will also be temporarily shut down. Please bear with us for a moment, everyone."

With that, the staff began packing up the cameras.

[?? What is this? A disaster on the very first day of the premiere??]

[Wait, isn't the livestream still going?]

The livestream was still running, but the camera angle had changed, and there was more background noise in the audio.

The live chat caught on instantly.

[It's hidden-camera filming! Director Niu is up to something again!]

Viewers familiar with Director Niu knew his name was Niu Bi, and he lived up to its sound: he was one badass director.

His specialty was pulling stunts on his shows. If you could imagine it, he could film it.

At the seaside restaurant.

A server was hurrying toward the table with red wine.

This was the hidden test for the day.

How would the man handle it when the server accidentally spilled red wine on the woman's clothes?

It was time to test his emotional intelligence and gentlemanly manners.

"Ah-"

Sure enough, as he reached Xie Mi, the server spun and hopped, toppling toward her with the wineglass.

Mr. Tiger, sitting across from Xie Mi, made no move to help. He even covered his mouth and laughed at her misfortune.

But Xie Mi rose gracefully, spun a full 360 degrees on the spot, wrapped one arm around the server's slender waist, and caught the wineglass with her other hand.

She smiled tenderly at the male server cradled in her arms.

"You silly girl. Be careful."

The male server instantly blushed and lowered his eyes shyly. "Oh, stop..."

Mr. Tiger: "?"

[?]

[How does a 185-centimeter man falling into the arms of someone 165 centimeters tall look so completely natural?]

[You silly girl, hahahahaha! She called him a silly girl, hahahahahaha!]

"Enough!"

Unable to take it anymore, Mr. Tiger stood up and roared at the staff busy nearby.

"What kind of partner did you people assign me? Is she even a woman?! The way she talks and acts is practically more manly than a man!"

Qiu Chengye had only ever met women who were delicate and dependent. Encountering someone like Xie Mi for the first time had completely upended his worldview.

Then he heard Xie Mi sigh helplessly.

"All right, kitty."

"No need to feel inferior just because you can't out-man me."