I'm your own father. Would I ever hurt you?

"Director Ji, don't do anything rash! Don't hit him!"

Pei Lan cried out nervously when she saw Director Ji move.

Director Ji ignored her and reached straight over to forcibly pull Ye Yizhou's hand away from Jiang Chuyu's.

Everyone: ??

"Tsk, just talk. Why are you grabbing his hand?" Director Ji frowned at Ye Yizhou and said disapprovingly.

Jiang Chuyu was utterly baffled.

"Pfft, you don't know a damn thing."

Ye Yizhou refused to back down and shot right back:

"Simple, basic physical contact helps convey your current emotions to the other person and makes it easier for them to empathize."

By then, Ye Yizhou had instantly shed the frail, helpless, aggrieved little innocent act from a moment ago.

That change of expression was a textbook display of acting.

Through gritted teeth, Director Ji said sarcastically, "Yes, you're absolutely right. The Oscars really do owe you a statuette!"

"Hmph."

Ye Yizhou gave a slightly haughty little snort.

The other guests watched this exchange between Ye Yizhou and Director Ji in bewilderment. What was with all these twists in the space of a second?

"Don't worry. Director Ji and I were just messing around."

Seeing Jiang Chuyu looking at him with confusion and concern, Ye Yizhou couldn't help explaining gently, "You shouldn't always be so naive, either, foolishly believing everything people tell you."

"But it felt so real!"

Jiang Chuyu offered this explanation in an aggrieved tone.

"I really like your personality. Keep it up. You might get something unexpected out of it."

Ye Yizhou reached out and patted Jiang Chuyu's shoulder as he spoke meaningfully.

A trace of confusion appeared in Jiang Chuyu's clear eyes. His eyes darted about before meeting Ye Yizhou's gaze, which brimmed with a meaningful smile. Seeming to understand something, he nodded obediently.

"Still flirting!"

Like the Queen Mother of the West cruelly separating the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, Director Ji pulled them apart again. "Weren't you leaving? Go on, get lost."

"I'm off!" Ye Yizhou's mood was entirely unaffected, his smile as radiant as ever.

"You're really leaving?"

Hadn't Ye Yizhou just said he was joking with Director Ji?

"Yeah, I have no choice. Director Ji hasn't even prepared a room for me, and there's no food, either. I'll have to beg on the streets. Boo-hoo-hoo~"

Covering his face with one hand, Ye Yizhou ran out, sobbing.

Director Ji: ...

Suddenly remembering something, Director Ji hurried after him. His voice came from off camera. "Hey, hey! Do you have a car to leave in? You'll walk your legs off trying to get anywhere from here!"

After that, neither of their voices could be heard.

The others in the dining room exchanged looks, seemingly not quite understanding what was happening.

[I told you, Ye Yizhou calls Director Ji useless on WeChat and even to his face. How would Director Ji dare kick him out?]

[Ye Yizhou really is number one at making up and spreading rumors!! He trashes himself and everyone else!]

[Director Ji really cares about Ye Yizhou. He's even worried he won't have a car to leave in. Those two really do have a love-hate relationship.]

[Honestly, Ye Yizhou's acting really blew me away.]

[Looking at it this way, we really need to take a proper, serious look at Ye Yizhou's old interviews. He might have been telling the truth all along, and we just didn't understand.]

[That's very likely.]

[Wait, what are you all talking about?]

[How does Ye Yizhou dare keep calling Director Ji useless?]

[Ye Yizhou left? He really left? What's going on?]

[Is this another publicity stunt? Can this washed-up nobody stop being so dramatic?]

A separate livestream feed had been set up earlier, but not everyone was curious about Ye Yizhou, so many people had no idea what he and Director Ji had discussed over there, or about the somewhat subtle relationship between them that was difficult to define.

Unsurprisingly, ever since the show's livestream began, almost all the online discussion and attention had centered on Ye Yizhou, this uninvited guest.

Whether it was his sudden arrival, the things he did, or the things he said, every one of them sparked widespread discussion online.

He had even directly stolen the spotlight from the country's first livestreamed dating show itself.

But with Ye Yizhou as this unpredictable factor, the number of people following the dating show and watching its livestream shot straight up, and its popularity reached a new high.

Faced with this overwhelming attention, Director Ji didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Ye Yizhou had just taken the villa community's electric sightseeing cart to the entrance of his own villa when he spotted two men in black suits outside his home.

"Young master, Chairman Ye knows you haven't had lunch yet. He specifically sent us to bring you over to dine with him."

The man in the black suit spoke respectfully as soon as he saw Ye Yizhou, gesturing toward the car that had been waiting nearby for some time.

"Are you really just picking me up for lunch? With these black-clad bodyguards and this black sedan, I have reasonable grounds to suspect you're trying to kidnap me."

With one hand in his pocket, Ye Yizhou raised an eyebrow slightly. He kept feeling that his father probably wanted more than simply to invite him to lunch.

If he really just wanted to have lunch with him, a phone call would have done.

And sending someone specifically to pick him up just after he left the show made it feel as though there was something else to it.

"You must be joking, young master."

The young bodyguard smiled calmly at Ye Yizhou. "Chairman Ye said that if you're worried about being kidnapped, you can call the police. He can just send someone to pick you up from the police station afterward. It makes no difference."

Ye Yizhou: ...

How could this not count as a father knowing his son best?

"Let's go!"

Ye Yizhou could only obediently get into the car.

"You're here! I've ordered all your favorites. Come sit down and try them."

The moment Ye Yizhou entered the private dining room, Ye Chongli warmly and affectionately invited him to sit down and eat.

Ye Yizhou naturally took the seat farthest from Ye Chongli. Folding his arms across his chest, he gave Ye Chongli a strange look. "What's wrong with you today? You sound kind of disgusting talking like that."

"What's wrong with you? If I go one day without calling you an ungrateful brat, you feel something's missing, is that it? You just have to piss me off?"

Unable to help himself, Ye Chongli rolled his eyes at Ye Yizhou and grumbled.

"Do you know how that overly attentive attitude of yours just now made me feel?" Ye Yizhou looked at Ye Chongli with a serious expression.

Ye Chongli frowned in puzzlement. "How did it make you feel?"

Ye Yizhou said, "Scared."

Ye Chongli: ...

"I'm your own father. Would I ever hurt you?" Ye Chongli slapped the table hard in irritation. This damn kid!

"You wouldn't hurt me, sure, but you're definitely going to screw me over. If you've got something to say, say it. Otherwise, I'm leaving."

Ye Yizhou wasn't about to indulge his father or waste time going back and forth with him. He laid it out directly.

"Ah, why can't you understand your father's good intentions at all?"

Ye Chongli heaved a long sigh and couldn't help shaking his head, seeming a little dejected as well.

Ye Yizhou said nothing, but his brows drew together even more tightly.

There was only one thought in his mind.