Sheng Nian shook off Jiang Shu, wheeled his suitcase into the room assigned to him, and did not spare his tool, Yan Feizhuo, so much as a glance.
Yan Feizhuo: ...
Once inside, Sheng Nian immediately shut the door, flopped onto the large bed, and rolled around twice before finally burying his face in a pillow, not wanting to unpack at all.
In the end, Sheng Nian only managed to get out of bed by repeatedly brainwashing himself into believing that once he finished filming the variety show, he could ditch the scumbag and welcome a new life.
Sheng Nian opened his suitcase, hung all the clothes inside in the wardrobe, and put his toiletries in the bathroom. After that rough bout of organizing, he considered his room sorted.
Keeping an eye on the time, Sheng Nian only headed downstairs to gather in the small garden when ten minutes remained of their hour-long break.
When he reached the meeting spot, Sheng Nian noticed that Yan Feizhuo had changed. He had taken off the rather formal suit he had worn that morning and changed into a well-fitted, casual, pale moon-white silk shirt with a traditional Chinese diagonal fastening, paired with simple but high-quality black trousers. His entire appearance had shifted from an unapproachable man of power to a gentle, refined young nobleman.
It was not just Yan Feizhuo. Almost everyone seemed to have changed into more casual clothes. Only he was still wearing the same simple white shirt and jeans from that morning.
Director Ren surveyed the eleven attractive guests before him, each with their own distinctive appeal, and nodded in satisfaction like an old-era madam admiring her star courtesan. "Now that everyone's here, I'll announce today's heart-pounding missions."
"One of our show's major sponsors is the capital's largest amusement park, Evernight Sky. Its thirty-day carnival happens to start today, so Evernight Sky will be the location for today's missions!"
Several of the younger guests' eyes lit up. Evernight Sky was the capital's largest amusement park, built beside the sea. Besides traditional amusement rides, it offered all kinds of activities on and under the water, not to mention performances, food, experience shops, and more. It would take at least a week to try everything there.
Seeing their interest, Director Ren curled his lips. "Well? I told you the production team was nice~ A date and a day out, all on our dime~"
Sheng Nian perked up at this too. He had been to Evernight Sky twice without managing to explore all its attractions. This was the perfect chance to find some time to have fun.
"Under the rules, CPs who have successfully paired up must visit Evernight Sky's attractions in pairs. Successfully completing an attraction according to the production team's requirements will earn you a Heart-Pounding Badge. Solo missions work the opposite way: unpaired guests must earn Matchmaker Badges by completing solo missions or sabotaging the pairs' missions."
Mo Yuanyuan raised her hand. "What's the difference between those two badges?"
"Little Yuan got right to the heart of it!"
Director Ren gave her a thumbs-up, thinking highly of this guest who was always willing to play along. "Because our pairing rules require you to choose your heart-pounding CP again at every stage of the romance, Heart-Pounding Badges and Matchmaker Badges will count toward the same rankings. We'll tally them at the end of each stage, and the top three will receive a mysterious romance boost from the production team!"
"In addition, the production team has a 'Single-Dog Care Mechanism' for unpaired guests. If a Matchmaker Badge holder makes the top three, they can choose their own CP for the next stage, or designate two other people as a CP. Nobody can refuse unless they rank higher than that badge holder~"
"The winner of this round of attraction missions will also receive a thirty-day VVVIP Unlimited Play Pass from our generous sponsor, Evernight Sky. Give it your best, everyone!"
[A fucking Single-Dog Care Mechanism, I'm dying. Did you see Ye Heng's, Mu Ran's, and Tang Jiang's faces? Hahahahahaha, they looked so pissed!]
[Forget Matchmaker Badges. Just call them Forced Matches Are Sweet Badges.]
[Stir things up! Stir things up! Now that's Ren the Fox.]
[Aaaaaah, if I were an unpaired guest, I'd definitely place in the rankings, then force a match and lock my ship together!]
[I propose the guests raffle off the Evernight Sky Unlimited Play Pass. They're all so rich. Perks like this should go to loyal fans like us!]
[I second the person above!]
Tang Jiang lightly twirled a strand of hair and asked, "What counts as sabotaging a pair's attraction mission?"
Director Ren chuckled and delivered a line that sent chills through all the pairs. "Anything goes~"
"After all, you have to put in some effort when pursuing love, don't you?"
He Gu first glanced at Sheng Nian, then asked gently, "Director Ren, can people in pairs sabotage other people's missions too, so they can earn more badges themselves?"
Sheng Nian was baffled. What was he looking at him for? He would never waste his energy sabotaging their missions. He wanted nothing more than for Jiang Shu and He Gu to stay locked together!
Director Ren's eyes lit up before he said approvingly, "He Gu has some good ideas. The production team didn't think this through thoroughly enough. Let's add another rule, then: pairs can trip each other up too."
[Ooh, even more exciting~]
[He Gu glanced at Sheng Nian just now. Was he worried Sheng Nian would sabotage them?]
[Sheng Nian likes Jiang Shu so much, it would be weird if he didn't sabotage them.]
[Not necessarily. With such an outstanding Alpha as Yan Feizhuo right in front of him, would he have eyes for anyone else?]
[Come on, wasn't he pretty concerned about Jiang Shu during that suitcase showdown at the entrance? For anyone else, it's just "don't trouble yourself," but for Jiang Shu, it's "I'm worried he'll get tired." Pretty obvious double standard.]
[I'm a multishipper. I ship a pampered, bad-tempered pretty face × a gorgeous big shot richer than a nation too!]
[Sheng Nian doesn't deserve him. Poor President Yan has to pair up with someone like that.]
"All right, any other questions? If not, let's head to Evernight Sky!"
When none of the guests asked anything else, Director Ren waved his hand, and the eleven guests boarded the large hover vehicle arranged by the production team.
Remembering how he had nearly acted out of character the previous two times, Sheng Nian decided to take the initiative this time and reassure Jiang Shu so he would stop suspecting him.
And so, he took the initiative to issue a command to his tool in his mind: [Yan Feizhuo, you have to play along with me in a moment~]
After that, Sheng Nian trailed after Jiang Shu like a little shadow, looking as though he wanted to sit with him.
Inside the transparent bubble, the little figure spoke: [Quick, quick, quick! Call me over right now.]
Seeing the troublemaking expression on the little figure's face inside the bubble, Yan Feizhuo mischievously refrained from speaking right away.
In reality, as Jiang Shu watched Sheng Nian cling to him just as he always had, his doubts faded, but he also felt somewhat annoyed. How was he supposed to turn him down?
Looking at the expectant Sheng Nian before him, Jiang Shu momentarily found himself at a loss for words.
"Little Nian, you..."
"Jiang Shu?"
Sheng Nian wore an expectant look while repeatedly calling for Yan Feizhuo in his mind.
[Yan Feizhuo? Seriously, what is going on with this cheat's commands? They only work half the time. 01100, you're so unreliable.]
Only when the little figure in the bubble grew so anxious that his eyes reddened did Yan Feizhuo speak at his leisure. "Sheng Nian, come here."
Sheng Nian inwardly cheered, but outwardly, he looked reluctant, as though Yan Feizhuo's words left him no choice but to go with him.
"Jiang Shu, I'll head over, then."
Yan Feizhuo suddenly found the scene before him rather grating. He reached out, pulled Sheng Nian over, and headed two rows farther back.
Jiang Shu frowned at how overbearing Yan Feizhuo was, but ultimately said nothing.
Before you continue