[Those two are making such smooth progress.]
[I thought we'd get to see them tear into each other. I didn't expect this episode to be so peaceful...]
[It's mainly because Ye Qingzhou and Chu Ci have skill cards, right? That's why Zhou Jin and Zhou Ze don't dare make any rash moves.]
[Am I the only one who thinks the "Exchange Card" isn't designed very well? Compared with the "Double Card," "Plunder Card," and "Zeroing Card," its effect seems a little too weak...]
[Huh? I think it's pretty reasonable. You think it's weak because Ye Qingzhou and Chu Ci are in the lead, so the card doesn't do much for them. But if Zhou Jin or Zhou Ze drew it, it'd be powerful.]
[That's true. I guess I was overthinking it.]
Before long, Ye Qingzhou and Chu Ci arrived at the next task location. The staff member had been waiting there for them for quite some time. Looking at their handsome faces, the young woman made no attempt to hide the smile in her eyes. "Please draw your task card."
This time, Chu Ci drew the task card.
He froze slightly when he saw what was written on it.
Ye Qingzhou leaned closer in curiosity, enveloping Chu Ci in a faint scent of grass and trees. The young man lowered his eyes to the small line of text on the task card, and his mind briefly went blank.
The first time they had frozen was over the "candy-wrapper kiss," and the second was over "sharing a chocolate stick." Seeing their reactions, the viewers' appetite for gossip flared.
[What task is it? A French kiss?]
[Girl, you really dare to say anything. [thumbs up][thumbs up][thumbs up]]
[Aaaaaaaaaah, I really want to see them kiss. Production team, indulge me just this once.]
[They've already done a candy-wrapper kiss, shared food, and held hands with their fingers interlaced. What sweet task is it this time?]
After completing these past few tasks, Chu Ci had learned what the viewers wanted to see. Without needing a reminder from the cameraman, he showed the task card to the camera.
Written on the task card in standard regular script were the words-"Look into each other's eyes for one minute." Beside them, a line of red text stated the requirement for this task: "Neither guest may laugh while looking into the other's eyes, or the task will be considered a failure."
[So it's eye contact.]
[I actually think looking into each other's eyes is more intimate than kissing. As the saying goes, "the eyes are the windows to the soul." People's emotions show through their eyes. Their mouths might lie, but their eyes won't...]
[But Ye Qingzhou smiles every time he looks at Chu Ci. Can they really complete this task?]
[The wording of "laugh" is a little vague. Does "no laughing" mean they can't laugh out loud, or that they can't even smile?]
[It probably means they can't laugh out loud?]
This task was simpler than the "candy-wrapper kiss" and "sharing a chocolate stick," yet Chu Ci felt inexplicably ill at ease.
But giving up meant paying a fine of "five hundred yuan," which would send all their earlier efforts down the drain. So Chu Ci forcibly suppressed that uneasiness, turned his gaze to Ye Qingzhou, and said softly, "...Let's do it."
Despite saying that, Chu Ci was still a little worried about whether he and Ye Qingzhou could complete this task. After all, in Chu Ci's impression, Ye Qingzhou was someone who smiled a lot.
"Okay."
The eye-contact task had another prerequisite: the distance between them could not exceed five centimeters. As they drew closer, Chu Ci could even see Ye Qingzhou's long, thick eyelashes trembling slightly. His breathing was a little quick, too.
Was Ye Qingzhou... nervous?
The thought had only just flashed through his mind when the staff member's voice interrupted it. "Shall I start the timer?"
Chu Ci and Ye Qingzhou nodded at the same time.
And so their gazes met.
Unlike their previous moments of eye contact, neither looked away. Chu Ci gazed intently into Ye Qingzhou's exceptionally beautiful peach-blossom eyes. He wasn't sure if he was imagining it, but he actually saw a hint of... sadness in them?
How could that be?
Chu Ci blinked and looked toward Ye Qingzhou again. By then, the young man's gaze had become calm, but through that calm gaze, he could still see the sadness Ye Qingzhou had hidden deep in his eyes.
Why was he sad?
An inexplicable discomfort stirred in Chu Ci's chest.
[Holy moly, they actually haven't cracked up.]
[If that were me, I'd have failed ages ago.]
[The way Ye Qingzhou looks at Chu Ci... I don't know how to describe it, but it really gives me the illusion that he knew Chu Ci a long, long, long time ago. I even feel like there's a deep bond between them.]
[What an affectionate gaze. No wonder he's a best actor.]
[Why do I feel like Ye Qingzhou isn't acting?]
[The look in Ye Qingzhou's eyes hurts so much to watch. I don't know if I'm reading too much into it, but I keep feeling there's something sad about his expression. Yet no matter how hard I rack my brains, I can't figure out why he'd be sad...]
[I also think Ye Qingzhou seems a little different from usual.]
[Ye Qingzhou and Chu Ci looking into each other's eyes gives me this feeling of "past lives and present lives" and "ten thousand years in a single glance." I love that sense of destiny so much. This eye contact moves me even more than the candy-wrapper kiss and that fleeting accidental kiss.]
[This is the first time I've gotten the chemistry between Chu Ci and Ye Qingzhou. When I saw them kiss, I felt nothing and even wanted to laugh a little. After all, dating shows love using tasks like that to draw views. But with this eye contact, I really felt that sense of destiny between them.]
Ye Qingzhou was indeed a little sad.
Looking into Chu Ci's sharp phoenix eyes, he recalled something that had happened a long, long, long time ago.
He had only been about eight or nine then. His mother, an imperial consort, had died giving birth to him. Ye Qingzhou had never been favored since childhood, and the palace servants were all the sort to fawn on the powerful and trample the weak. Seeing that Ye Qingzhou was out of favor, they bullied him.
That winter had been colder than any before it.
Back then, Ye Qingzhou had not yet awakened his talent, much less cultivated internal energy, so he could not withstand the cold weather. All the charcoal in his palace had been taken by others, leaving him no choice but to wrap himself in a thin quilt and watch the snowflakes drifting outside.
The quilt in the palace was very thin, but it was better than nothing.
And that was when Chu Ci appeared.
The young man looked about fifteen or sixteen. He seemed to have just rushed back from the battlefield and was still wearing white battle robes. Noticing Ye Qingzhou curled up in the corner, a trace of surprise appeared in Chu Ci's sharp phoenix eyes. "Your Highness, why are you here all alone?"
Never expecting Chu Ci to address him as "Your Highness," Ye Qingzhou froze on the spot.