Chapter Summaries

Director Ji and the guests went to Ye Yizhou’s villa to pick him up and waited while he got ready. After Ye Yizhou arrived, he traded barbs with Zhong Xi, ending by accusing him of stealing other people’s opportunities.

• Director Ji took the guests to Ye Yizhou’s villa, where Aunt Chun invited them inside to wait.
• The guests marveled at the villa and sat nervously among its expensive furnishings until Ye Yizhou came downstairs.
• Ye Yizhou ate a sandwich and told Aunt Chun to take time off, while theatrically complaining that he might starve alone at home.
• Zhong Xi accused Ye Yizhou of hiring Aunt Chun to pretend he was rich, and Ye Yizhou challenged him to hire an actor himself.
• Zhong Xi claimed he acted the same in private and on camera, but Ye Yizhou mocked him for how he had begged Director Ji to join the show.
• Ye Yizhou accused Zhong Xi of stealing other people’s opportunities, making Zhong Xi jump up in anger.

Ye Yizhou confronted Zhong Xi on the livestream, warning him to stop making accusations and inviting him to let the law decide. On the bus to the dating house, Jiang Chuyu sat beside Ye Yizhou, who mistook his intentions for romantic interest and declared that he was married.

• Zhong Xi denied stealing opportunities, and Ye Yizhou accused him of trying to incite cyberbullying and warned him to watch himself.
• Zhong Xi failed to answer Ye Yizhou, and Director Ji broke the tense silence by directing the guests to board the bus.
• Ye Yizhou sat in the back row, while the other guests chose seats near the front and Zhong Xi sat far from Sang Xiangwan.
• Jiang Chuyu chose the seat beside Ye Yizhou, and Ye Yizhou told him he was married and that his partner was still the one for him.
• Song Jincheng and the other guests reacted with shock to Ye Yizhou's remarks to Jiang Chuyu.

On the dating-show bus, Ye Yizhou confronted the hostile live comments and made clear he would no longer let anyone use or bully him. After the guests reached the villa, he went to the garden swing instead of joining them, leaving Director Ji baffled.

• Ye Yizhou showed Jiang Chuyu the livestream comments attacking them as Song Jincheng sat alone after Jiang Chuyu ignored him.
• Jiang Chuyu said Ye Yizhou had influenced his choice a little and that he would accept the consequences himself.
• Ye Yizhou laughed off the insults, answered the commenters directly, and told them to ask Song Jincheng to leave if they disliked looking at him.
• Ye Yizhou warned the guests that nobody could climb over him or other innocent people anymore, leaving Song Jincheng and Zhong Xi silent.
• After the bus arrived, Ye Yizhou went to the garden swing instead of entering the villa and told Director Ji he should appreciate how good Ye Yizhou was to him.

Ye Yizhou discussed the dating show's manufactured romances with Director Ji, then mocked hostile viewers in his solo livestream by joking that his unhappy marriage left him with nothing but money. After haters flooded the chat, he made a call and had them repeatedly removed from the livestream.

• Director Ji refused to accompany Ye Yizhou, warning that their presence could embarrass people on the show.
• Ye Yizhou told Director Ji that the participants had their own agendas and that the show's romantic chemistry was deliberately manufactured.
• After Director Ji left, Ye Yizhou joked in his livestream that his husband had given him a limitless black card and gone abroad, leaving him with only money.
• When haters criticized him and demanded he leave the show, Ye Yizhou challenged them to pay to have him removed.
• Ye Yizhou called someone to get to work, and the haters were blocked from re-entering his livestream.

Ye Yizhou challenged viewers to use their money to force him off the show, then turned his livestream into an academic discussion about entertainment personas. He revealed that he had adopted a persona he believed was popular two years earlier and insisted that his career plans were backed by data.

• Ye Yizhou told viewers that whoever paid could call the shots, and challenged anyone who wanted him gone to make it happen.
• When viewers asked why he had changed so much, Ye Yizhou borrowed the production team's monitor to read livestream comments.
• Ye Yizhou asked viewers whether high-maintenance and ditzy beauty personas were popular in the entertainment industry.
• After viewers said the persona had fallen out of favor, Ye Yizhou complained that they had changed their minds too quickly and called them players.
• Ye Yizhou rejected the idea that he had chosen his persona carelessly, saying his plans for entering the entertainment industry were serious and backed by data.

Ye Yizhou explained that he had built his showbiz persona by following advice from a Zhihu post, insisting his success came from research and data rather than mysticism. After saying he had achieved his goal in showbiz and was done pretending, he offered the livestream viewers genuine industry gossip in return for helping answer his question.

• Ye Yizhou recalled a popular Zhihu reply recommending a soft, adorable airheaded beauty persona, and viewers found the post under his username, One Leaf, One Boat.
• Director Ji questioned whether Ye Yizhou had really relied on Zhihu to become a showbiz legend, and Ye Yizhou defended his research-based approach.
• Ye Yizhou claimed his fame proved the persona had worked and said he had achieved his goal in showbiz, so he was done pretending.
• Ye Yizhou directed viewers to his explanation from the dating show's first episode and thanked them for resolving a question that had bothered him.
• Ye Yizhou offered to share genuine showbiz gossip with the livestream viewers as a return favor.

Ye Yizhou addressed livestream viewers’ gossip requests and explained why Zhou Niansheng had been mocked online for not recognizing stinky tofu and river snail rice noodles. He defended the eighteen-year-old newcomer and condemned the abusive comments targeting him.

• Ye Yizhou said he would share gossip about people who had trended alongside him, while Director Ji voiced concern that the livestream might be shut down.
• Viewers asked Ye Yizhou about Zhou Niansheng, who was trending with him under an “airheaded beauty” topic, and Ye Yizhou watched the clip that had prompted the mockery.
• Ye Yizhou said Zhou Niansheng was not pretending to be naive: he had grown up abroad and genuinely had not seen the foods he mistook for spoiled.
• Ye Yizhou explained that Zhou Niansheng had worried about people eating the unfamiliar food and offered to help them, calling him cute.
• Ye Yizhou condemned the thousands of abusive comments mocking Zhou Niansheng for his cultural gaps and said he had not deserved them.

Ye Yizhou explained that he was extremely vindictive and openly praised Zhou Niansheng, then pressured Entertainment Emperor Entertainment to respond to the online attacks against him. After the company issued a lawyer’s letter, Ye Yizhou ended the seminar and played a romance drama on the livestream instead of focusing on the dating show.

• Ye Yizhou told Director Ji and the livestream viewers that he was vindictive and had a stellar reputation.
• Ye Yizhou enthusiastically praised Zhou Niansheng’s looks and personality, prompting viewers to comment on their supposed rivalry.
• Ye Yizhou called Entertainment Emperor Entertainment and demanded that it handle the online attacks against Zhou Niansheng.
• Yuhuang Entertainment Company posted a lawyer’s letter threatening legal action against people abusing and slandering Zhou Niansheng.
• Ye Yizhou ended the seminar and played a romance drama on the livestream, while Director Ji tried to draw viewers back to the dating show.

Ye Yizhou turned his confrontation with Director Ji into a potential teaser, then criticized the Guests’ cooking segment and accepted Director Ji’s challenge to make it more exciting. He left the livestream to arrange something in secret, hinting that the Guests were in for trouble.

• Ye Yizhou stopped his argument with Director Ji and suggested editing the exchange into a teaser to attract viewers.
• Director Ji praised Ye Yizhou’s publicity instincts as viewers joked about the teaser in the livestream comments.
• Ye Yizhou spotted flames in the Guests’ kitchen, and Director Ji hurried the crew to deal with the burning pan.
• Ye Yizhou criticized the cooking segment for wasting food and failing to create romance, until Director Ji told him to do better himself.
• Ye Yizhou accepted Director Ji’s challenge, then told the crew to follow the original plan while he made arrangements off-camera.

On the final day of Dating Show Livestream’s installment, Director Ji took the guests on a sponsor-funded trip in a stretch Rolls-Royce. The guests relaxed on the two-hour drive, while Jiang Chuyu rebuffed Song Jincheng’s flirtation, and Director Ji hinted that the production would stream something else during their rest.

• Director Ji announced that a major investor would cover the day’s expenses and led the guests to a stretch Rolls-Royce waiting outside the villa complex.
• The guests boarded the luxurious vehicle, enjoyed its roomy seats and refreshments, and marveled at the sponsor’s wealth.
• Song Jincheng offered Jiang Chuyu a peeled grape, but Jiang Chuyu declined and awkwardly ate the grape skins he had left behind.
• Pei Lan asked about the drive, and Director Ji said it would take two hours and that the guests could rest while their microphones and cameras were turned off.
• Director Ji said the livestream would show something else while the guests rested, leaving them puzzled about what was planned.

Director Ji used Lingyao Group’s new technology to turn the livestream into an immersive first-person drive, drawing new viewers and publicity for the company’s joint project with Yan Group. After more than two hours on winding mountain roads, the guests arrived at their destination and climbed out of the car.

• Director Ji switched the livestream to a first-person view of the road and read the big sponsor’s explanation of the experience.
• Viewers praised Lingyao Group’s immersive driving technology, and the livestream’s popularity reached a new peak.
• Lingyao Group announced that it was developing applications for the technology and promoted its project with Yan Group and The Red Thread of Love.
• Lingyao Company’s executives praised Ye Yizhou’s publicity strategy, while Lu Yuanqing shared that Ye Yizhou planned to test more ideas during the livestream.
• After more than two hours on winding mountain roads, Director Ji restored the guests’ microphones and told them they had arrived.
• The guests stretched and climbed out, then were dumbfounded by what they saw.

The guests arrived at a lavish castle supplied by their generous sponsor and learned they would take part in an escape-room game. After signing liability waivers and eating lunch, they were assigned rooms and told to stay inside until strange sounds stopped after nightfall, when the game would begin.

• The guests and Director Ji were amazed by the castle, then a butler and servants welcomed them inside and served a feast.
• Director Ji said the sponsor had increased the investment after seeing the guests perform and had planned an activity for them.
• Director Ji revealed the activity was an escape-room game but admitted he did not know its theme or details; the guests agreed to participate and signed liability waivers.
• After lunch, the butler assigned each guest a room and ordered them not to leave until nightfall, when strange sounds outside their rooms stopped and the game began.

After a strange sound echoed through the hallway, Jiang Chuyu realized it could not have come from the carpet, and the guests were plunged into darkness. They linked together and moved down the hall, where a flash of lightning revealed a figure ahead.

• Jiang Chuyu and the other guests came out of their rooms after hearing a sound like beads dropping onto the floor.
• Jiang Chuyu pointed out that the carpeted hallway could not have made the sound, just before the doors slammed shut and the lights went out.
• Li Chonghua found the room doors locked and led the guests forward along the wall, with everyone holding on to one another.
• Jiang Chuyu noticed a blurry shape ahead and wondered whether it was a person.
• Thunder and lightning revealed the figure, and the guests screamed.

The group recovered from a scare when a dagger-wielding figure turned out to be a statue, but Jiang Chuyu warned that it had seemed to move and questioned why the corridor had suddenly become lit. As they explored, they witnessed a married man cheating with a young actor, and the chapter ended with Jiang Chuyu noticing that Song Jincheng had gone pale.

• Li Chonghua calmed the group and confirmed that the figure holding a dagger was a plaster statue.
• Jiang Chuyu insisted that the statue had seemed to move and pointed out that the corridor had become lit despite the windows.
• Song Jincheng led the group toward the light, and they spotted two men kissing in the corridor before the pair went into a room.
• Pei Lan condemned the married man and his lover, while Li Chonghua nervously assured Pei Lan that he was not like them.
• Jiang Chuyu tried to steer the group back to the escape room, then noticed that Song Jincheng looked pale.

Song Jincheng grew increasingly alarmed as clues in the escape room echoed details from his own life, while the group searched a bloodstained room for a way out. As they continued investigating, Ye Yizhou encountered an approaching figure in the hallway.

• Song Jincheng panicked when the group found a divorce agreement and opened the locked room using the man’s birthday as the code.
• Li Chonghua and the others entered the bloodstained room, found it empty, and discovered that tapping the door labeled “I’m the light” turned on the lights.
• The group searched the room for an exit and clues, while Song Jincheng found a half-burned photograph showing a birthday cake marked with the date 030.
• Ye Yizhou finished putting on his costume and wandered through the hallway, where a strange noise led him to face an approaching figure.

Ye Yizhou fled from a masked man wielding a scythe, then jumped from a balcony onto a safely prepared lower terrace. He returned to embrace Yan Qingdu, revealing that he had recognized his husband beneath the disguise, while Yan Qingdu questioned why he had run.

• Ye Yizhou saw a masked man approach with a reaper's scythe and fled as the man chased him.
• Ye Yizhou reached a balcony with no other escape and jumped to the lower balcony, landing safely on an air cushion.
• The man picked up Ye Yizhou's abandoned chain while viewers argued over whether the masked figure was a famous retired celebrity.
• Ye Yizhou returned and jumped into the man's arms, prompting him to ask what he was doing.
• Ye Yizhou identified the man as Yan Qingdu and said he had recognized him, while Yan Qingdu doubted him and called him a liar.

Ye Yizhou and Yan Qingdu reconciled after a playful argument, and Ye Yizhou admitted he had hired male models to get Yan Qingdu’s attention when they first met. As they resumed their staged scare act, Ye Yizhou reflected on how deeply he loved Yan Qingdu and suddenly threw himself into his arms.

• Ye Yizhou accused Yan Qingdu of trying to break up with him, then learned that Zhou Yubai had complained about Ye Yizhou drinking and staying out late.
• Yan Qingdu reassured Ye Yizhou that he had defended him to Zhou Yubai, and Ye Yizhou admitted he had once hired eight male models to attract Yan Qingdu’s attention.
• Ye Yizhou and Yan Qingdu swapped weapons and returned to a room to continue their scare act.
• Ye Yizhou complained that Zhou Yubai had tattled to Yan Qingdu, and Yan Qingdu agreed that Zhou Yubai was as good as dead.
• Ye Yizhou thought about how much he loved Yan Qingdu, then suddenly wrapped his arms around Yan Qingdu’s waist.

Ye Yizhou and Yan Qingdu joked intimately on the livestream while the other guests struggled through an escape room. After uncovering the room’s story and triggering a misleading display-shelf mechanism, Jiang Chuyu found the real exit beneath the carpet.

• Ye Yizhou learned that his private camera was livestreaming, and Yan Qingdu advised him to claim he had only been bragging about hiring male models.
• The guests stayed frightened by noises caused when Ye Yizhou’s swinging chains struck things as he ran away.
• Pei Lan, Sang Xiangwan, and the others pieced together a story of infidelity, divorce, abuse, and a stabbing, while Song Jincheng worried about his own affair.
• Zhong Xi turned ornaments on a display shelf, opening it to reveal a solid wall instead of an exit.
• Jiang Chuyu urged the guests to keep searching, then found the exit hidden beneath the carpet.

Pei Lan, Li Chonghua, and the others found a hidden passage beneath the floor and climbed into a dark room, where a bandaged figure threatened to catch them. The guests fled, while Ye Yizhou stopped pursuing them to tell Yan Qingdu he wanted to play before Yan reminded him that his prey was escaping.

• Li Chonghua and Pei Lan climbed down the ladder first, and the others followed into a large closet.
• Song Jincheng said he felt dizzy and urged everyone to leave the unsettling room quickly.
• A bandaged man appeared amid red light and mist, declared that he would silence anyone who knew the castle’s secret, and threatened to catch the guests.
• The guests screamed and ran toward the exit as the bandaged Ye Yizhou prepared to chase them.
• Ye Yizhou took Yan Qingdu’s hand and said he wanted to play, and Yan reminded him that his prey was getting away.

Ye Yizhou chased the guests through the castle on a skateboard, playing with them until Jiang Chuyu fell and decided to play dead for a rest. Ye Yizhou stopped the chase and escorted Jiang Chuyu out, while hinting that Yan Qingdu was his partner and praising his voice.

• Ye Yizhou rode a skateboard through the castle, taunting the fleeing guests as Yan Qingdu watched.
• Jiang Chuyu tripped and lay motionless, so Ye Yizhou stopped beside him and asked if he was okay.
• Jiang Chuyu admitted he had played dead to rest, then praised Ye Yizhou's frightening performance.
• Ye Yizhou said he had had his fun and escorted Jiang Chuyu out by another route.
• Ye Yizhou revealed that Yan Qingdu only chased him, then enthusiastically praised Yan Qingdu's voice.