What Was an "Experience Season"?

When they reached the villa, the two couples-Mo Yuanyuan and Qi Xiao, and Chu Yue and Nie Ge-had already arrived.

Seeing them come in, Mo Yuanyuan smiled and said, "Come sit down and rest a bit. The director said we'll assign rooms once everyone's here."

Sheng Nian set his suitcase aside and blinked. "How are we choosing? Do we have to play games again or something?"

Mo Yuanyuan said, "Director Ren didn't say, but knowing him, I doubt it'll be that easy."

Sheng Nian sighed. "After I went home, I binge-watched clips from the earlier seasons. Director Ren really is a demon. Isn't this a dating show? Why would he make the guests raise pigs in the countryside?"

Hearing the pretty young man sigh, Mo Yuanyuan couldn't resist sharing some gossip. "You mean the Country Love episode, right? Liena, a senior at my agency, was on that season. After she came back, she said she was going to focus on acting and never do another variety show."

"And Director Ren adjusts the filming content each season according to the theme. This season's theme is 'experience season.' Who knows what that means."

"Yuanyuan, you're making me even more scared."

Mo Yuanyuan laughed and reassured him, "Whatever happens, it can't be worse than raising pigs."

After they chatted for a while, the last guest, Tang Jiang, arrived.

Once everyone was there, Director Ren brought out his megaphone again and first read off a string of sponsors' names.

"Finally, thank you to Mr. Yan for sponsoring the estate, allowing us to film this season on such comfortable grounds."

With that, he led the applause, and the guests obliged by raising their hands and clapping along.

"All right, let's get down to business."

"First, let's talk about room assignments."

Director Ren took out a sheet of paper and began reading out where everyone's rooms were.

Mo Yuanyuan was puzzled. "This season, we actually don't have to compete in some intense games to choose our rooms like in the previous seasons?"

Hearing their muttering, Director Ren gave a thoroughly crafty smile. "Our filming location this time is a small estate. The rooms everywhere are all quite nice, so there's no point making you play games to assign them."

Looking at his expression, which practically said, "If we're stirring up trouble, we're going big," Sheng Nian grew even more uneasy about the tasks on this show.

"Don't look at me like you're guarding against a thief. Our production team is very kind."

Director Ren was all smiles, but to the guests, he looked like a sly old fox.

Sheng Nian muttered, "Kind? More like nuclear-kind..."

"All right, everyone knows this season's theme is experience season. So what does experience season mean? It means letting everyone experience the entire process, from that first flutter of attraction to falling in love, during this shoot!"

Looking at Director Ren's expression, which said, "Well? Isn't our idea amazing?" the guests' mouths all twitched. How should they put it? This wildly popular variety show had suddenly lost its mystique.

Only Mo Yuanyuan was willing to liven up the atmosphere. "Ha, hahaha... Yes, that really fits the purpose of our show."

[I'm dying. The director's still having his own tacky little party, and the guests are the least impressed in history. How is this not a kind of mutual commitment?~]

[Our Yuanyuan's still smoothing things over ＜(￣︶￣)/]

[It can't be helped. So many of this season's guests are already incredibly accomplished and don't work in entertainment. Several are even financial backers themselves. It'd be stranger if they played along like the guests in previous seasons.]

[It's only fun when the guests and production team are evenly matched! I've wanted to see that fox Ren get put in his place for ages...]

Seeing that they weren't buying it, Director Ren felt no embarrassment. He cleared his throat and continued, "All right, all right, back to business. Last episode was a compatibility test. By searching for pheromone perfumes, most of you found your romantic partner for this episode, so this episode's theme is 'attraction.'"

"Go to your rooms and unpack first. We'll meet in the estate's garden in an hour to announce this episode's attraction task."

At the director's call of "Dismissed," the guests followed their respective PDs toward their assigned rooms.

Sheng Nian had been so busy complaining about the director that only now did he realize the room assignments were a battlefield too.

The small estate had a cluster of five villas. Two were being used by the production crew, leaving the other three for the guests.

The three unpaired guests, Ye Heng, Mu Ran, and Tang Jiang, were assigned to one villa, while the two couples-Mo Yuanyuan and Qi Xiao, and Chu Yue and Nie Ge-were assigned to another.

That left the last villa for him, Yan Feizhuo, Jiang Shu, and He Gu.

Inside the transparent bubble, the little figure gave up and flopped backward, landing squarely on a soft little bed: [The director's up to no good! Why did he put me with those two? Now I have to keep up the lovesick act even in the villa. How exhausting.]

To Yan Feizhuo's ears, the part about keeping up a lovesick act, which would reveal the plot, was censored, but he still heard that the young master didn't want to live with Jiang Shu and He Gu.

He glanced at the oblivious Sheng Nian and began to seriously question the accuracy of the investigation report.

The villa had three floors in total. The first floor was the living area, while the second and third floors contained the bedrooms. According to the assignments, Sheng Nian and Yan Feizhuo would stay on the second floor, and Jiang Shu and He Gu on the third.

The whole way, Sheng Nian kept thinking that his days during filming probably wouldn't be easy, completely failing to notice the increasingly suspicious looks the three men behind him were giving him.

Jiang Shu followed behind Sheng Nian, watching him with a dark expression.

Sheng Nian's room was in the same villa as his and Xiao Gu's, except that he was on the third floor and Sheng Nian was on the second. He had assumed Sheng Nian would insist on staying on the same floor as him again or demand that Xiao Gu leave.

He had still been hesitating over how to refuse and persuade Sheng Nian, worried that too gentle a rejection would make Sheng Nian think there was still a chance between them.

He had never expected that Sheng Nian wouldn't say a word and would instead charge ahead with his head down, as though he hadn't seen them.

What was wrong with him?

He spoke. "Sheng Nian."

The instant Sheng Nian heard his voice, the corners of his mouth turned down. Then he composed his expression and turned around.

"Jiang Shu, what is it?"

Jiang Shu glanced at He Gu behind him, seemingly checking his reaction.

Sheng Nian immediately understood what he meant. This damned scumbag didn't like him, yet still wanted to enjoy watching him fight over him out of jealousy!

[Human prop, calling human prop. Hurry up and save the day~]

The little figure in the bubble pulled out a diamond-studded megaphone and shouted toward Yan Feizhuo.

Watching the young master's excessively lively inner world, Yan Feizhuo couldn't help curling his lips.

"Sheng Nian, let's go."

The little figure in the bubble cheered: [Reliable!]

Sheng Nian turned to glance at Yan Feizhuo, then looked back at Jiang Shu and said obediently, with apparent reluctance, "Jiang Shu, I have to go sort out my room."

Jiang Shu paused and glanced at Yan Feizhuo, whose powerful presence loomed like a door guardian at the foot of the stairs, then pressed his lips together.

Yan Feizhuo seemed to be keeping him apart from Sheng Nian. Did he like Sheng Nian?

Yan Feizhuo paid no heed to Jiang Shu's glance. Looking at Sheng Nian, whose face showed reluctance while the little figure in his bubble was already bouncing around and humming a tune, he curled his lips almost imperceptibly.

How interesting.