"Plunder Card..."
Zhou Ze lowered his eyes to read the card, reciting its contents word by word: "Having your hat removed by an opponent automatically activates this card's skill, allowing you to claim their money as your own."
Zhou Ze: "..."
The production team really loved their flashy gimmicks.
By this point, Zhou Ze had finally pieced together everything that had happened. Chu Ci hadn't been eliminated, and he had removed Zhou Jin's hat, while Ye Qingzhou had then removed his. Under this episode's principle of "sharing blessings and hardships alike," he, Bai Zihan, Zhou Jin, and Li Muting all had to head to the mission point.
"Zhou Ze, Bai Zihan, Zhou Jin, and Li Muting, please proceed to the revival point."
"Zhou Ze, Bai Zihan, Zhou Jin, and Li Muting, please proceed to the revival point."
"Zhou Ze, Bai Zihan, Zhou Jin, and Li Muting, please proceed to the revival point."
The production team's announcement repeated over and over.
With great reluctance, Zhou Ze handed the hundred yuan he had just earned to Chu Ci. "Take good care of it. I'll definitely come back to ransom it."
Chu Ci chuckled at that. "Don't worry."
Zhou Ze thought Chu Ci's "Don't worry" meant he would take good care of the hundred yuan. He was about to say thank you when he heard the rest of Chu Ci's sentence: "You won't get the chance."
Zhou Ze: "..."
[Hahahahaha, he went straight for the kill.]
[Why is Chu Ci's mouth so vicious?]
[I can't, I love Chu Ci's personality so much. I'm a fan now.]
[How long do they have to wait at the revival point? Do they have to do anything?]
[I remember the director saying eliminated players have to drink bitter melon juice, right? And after drinking it, they have to wait another ten minutes. If things go smoothly for Chu Ci and Ye Qingzhou, ten minutes is enough for them to finish a mission.]
[Chu Ci and Ye Qingzhou already have 350 yuan. If they're lucky, another two missions will get them to 500.]
Only after watching the four leave did Chu Ci put his hat on.
Chu Ci put it on very casually, the brim partly pressing down the wisps of black hair over his forehead. He gave a languid yawn. "While they're all at the revival point, shall we go do a mission?"
"Wait..."
Seeing that Chu Ci was about to leave, Ye Qingzhou called him back.
"Hm?"
Before Chu Ci had finished speaking, a shadow fell across his vision.
Ye Qingzhou took the white hat off Chu Ci's head, adjusted its angle, and put it back on for him. "Your hat was crooked."
They were very close.
Chu Ci could even feel Ye Qingzhou's hot breath.
He caught that familiar scent again.
It smells so good.
"Thank you."
Chu Ci thanked him softly.
He took out the map the production team had given them. The nearest mission point was still a three-minute walk away, so he made some small talk with Ye Qingzhou. "Did you get what you wanted?"
Ye Qingzhou nodded. "I did."
"That's good, then."
Chu Ci nodded without asking any further questions.
"Here."
Just as Chu Ci was wondering what the next mission would be, several pieces of candy appeared before his eyes. "I saw you chose a mint-flavored candy earlier, so I thought you probably liked mint..."
Although Ye Qingzhou didn't finish his sentence, Chu Ci already understood what he meant. "You..."
Chu Ci gathered his words. "The important thing you mentioned was getting candy?"
[Aaaaaah! Ye Qingzhou went to get mint candies!]
[Was this the important thing Ye Qingzhou was talking about? I'm shipping them so hard.]
[Tsk, I never thought the first couple I'd ship on a dating show would be two men...]
[Ye Qingzhou really is so gentle with Chu Ci. He's always cold toward everyone else, but his eyes are always smiling when he looks at Chu Ci.]
[! Please, just get married right here!]
[If Ye Qingzhou really doubled back just to get candy for Chu Ci, they're definitely the sweetest couple.]
"...Not entirely."
Ye Qingzhou looked a little awkward and cleared his throat twice. "I just thought there was a lot of candy left at the mission point, and I didn't want it to go to waste, so I asked the staff for a few pieces while I was there."
[Hahahahaha, you even came up with "not wanting it to go to waste" as an excuse. Ye Qingzhou, try not to be so in love.]
[Just say you wanted to give your wife candy. Why go through all this?]
[...Isn't Chu Ci a man? Why call him a wife?]
[As everyone knows, wife isn't a gender. It's a feeling.]
[Ye Qingzhou, Mommy gives you permission to date Chu Ci, but you have to be the top [finger heart][finger heart][finger heart]]
[Girl, you really dared to say it...]
"Thank you."
Chu Ci accepted the mint candies. Rather than expose Ye Qingzhou's lie, he unwrapped one in front of him.
Sweet.
Sweeter than the one I picked myself.
Watching Chu Ci narrow his eyes in contentment, Ye Qingzhou finally relaxed. "As long as you like it."
They soon arrived at the next mission point.
News that Ye Qingzhou had come to participate in Let's Fall in Love had already spread throughout the production team's group chat. The staff had seen the trending topics on Weibo and knew that Ye Qingzhou's partner today was Chu Ci, so when the young woman at this mission point saw Chu Ci and Ye Qingzhou push open the door and enter, she didn't look surprised. Instead, she greeted them with a smile.
"Hello to you both."
"Hello."
Chu Ci nodded politely. "We'd like to do a mission."
The staff member explained gently, "This isn't an ordinary mission point. It's a skill card supply station."
As the name suggested, a skill card supply station let them obtain skill cards prepared by the production team by completing missions.
The Plunder Card Chu Ci had used earlier was one such skill card.
"What kinds of skill cards are there?"
"Sorry, the production team has rules."
There was a hint of apology in the staff member's eyes. "We can't tell the guests exactly what skill cards are available."
[The production team has done a pretty good job keeping things secret.]
[I think it's to make the show more entertaining, right? After all, the unknown is what keeps viewers watching...]
[To be fair, Chu Ci's Plunder Card is really powerful.]
"Then can we make some guesses?"
Chu Ci said gently, "If we guess right, you nod. If we guess wrong, you shake your head. That wouldn't count as breaking the production team's rules."
"Well..."
The staff member looked hesitant.
"Wouldn't adding an impromptu guessing segment make the show more entertaining?"
Seeing the staff member's hesitation, Ye Qingzhou explained unhurriedly, "Didn't the director tell all of you to keep things secret precisely to make the game more entertaining? We're doing this with your show's ratings in mind, too..."