[I'm a longtime fan of his, but I've never heard that name.]
Only after finishing the introduction on the card did the director turn his attention to the guests. "Did everyone understand the rules?"
He said "everyone," but his eyes remained fixed on Ye Qingzhou, his expression so attentive that it seemed he would read the rules again as long as Ye Qingzhou said he didn't understand.
"Wait, what does romance mean?"
Chu Ci was the one who asked.
Chu Ci was highly adaptable, and by now he had mostly figured out his current situation. For some unknown reason, he hadn't died on the interstellar battlefield but had instead arrived in a completely unfamiliar world. From what these people were saying, they seemed to be filming a show?
But what did filming a show mean? What did being in a romantic relationship mean? And what did he need to do to leave this place?
"Huh?"
The director thought he must have been hearing things. He gave two awkward chuckles and tried to smooth things over. "Chu Ci, you're so funny..."
[Wait, is he making a joke or being serious???]
[Only Chu Ci would ask something this insulting to everyone's intelligence just to grab screen time, right?]
[So disgusting. Chu Ci has no shame when it comes to getting screen time.]
[Can they kick Chu Ci off the show? I feel like he isn't good enough for any of the female guests here...]
[The thought of one of these gorgeous ladies having to pair up with Chu Ci makes me want to puke.]
"I'd like to know too."
Noticing Chu Ci's bewildered gaze out of the corner of his eye, Ye Qingzhou raised his brows slightly, amusement in his voice. "What does romance mean?"
Had anyone else asked that question, the director might have thought they were deliberately making trouble. But since it was Ye Qingzhou speaking, he could only explain patiently, "Romance is the most sincere admiration two people develop for each other in their hearts, based on certain conditions and shared romantic ideals in life, along with the desire for the other person to become their lifelong partner. It is the strongest, most stable, and most exclusive of feelings."
"Did you understand?"
This was the first time Ye Qingzhou had met Chu Ci's eyes. The young man's gaze rested directly on him as he leisurely repeated what the director had just said, chuckling softly. "Romance means hoping the other person can become your lifelong partner. In short, seeking. A mate."
Ye Qingzhou's eyes seemed to have hooks in them.
Even someone as strong-willed and focused as Chu Ci found himself momentarily distracted by those beautiful peach-blossom eyes.
Those eyes... looked so familiar.
He seemed to have seen them somewhere before.
[Does anyone understand that look Ye Qingzhou just gave him?! So full of affection! If the person opposite him weren't Chu Ci, I'd be shipping them so hard!]
[Wait? Ye Qingzhou, what are you thinking? What celebrity have you ever seen explain romance by summing it up as "seeking a mate"?]
[Crude wording, sound logic. Isn't romance just seeking a mate?]
[Have Chu Ci and Ye Qingzhou worked together before? Why do I feel like Ye Qingzhou is being so gentle with him?]
[...Oh no, I think I kind of ship them.]
[Are you all crazy? Chu Ci is obviously clout-chasing. I suggest you get your brains checked.]
[Please, Chu Ci, stop leeching off our Ye Qingzhou's popularity.]
[Can this bottom-tier nobody stay away from him?]
[I've been a fan of Ye Qingzhou since his debut, and I've watched his off-camera interviews and behind-the-scenes footage too. How do I put this? He's an actor with a very good sense of boundaries and propriety. This is the first time I've seen anything like a "doting" expression on Ye Qingzhou's face. It feels so bizarre...]
The bullet comments flew past.
The livestream was drawing more and more attention, with most viewers coming for Ye Qingzhou. Seeing that Ye Qingzhou had explained it again, the director hurriedly nodded in agreement. "Romance is..."
"Seeking a mate" was a little too blunt, so the director could only choose a more tactful way of putting it. "It's what Mr. Ye said."
Although there was no "romance" in interstellar society, there was "seeking a mate."
Seeking a mate, as the name suggested, meant pursuing the opposite sex and looking for a partner.
When boys in interstellar society met girls they liked, they would show off with all sorts of exaggerated physical movements to win the affection of the opposite sex.
Chu Ci's question amounted to a minor interruption and had no substantive effect on filming. Once he confirmed that none of the guests had any further questions, the director began handing out the question banks in order.
They called it a "question bank," but it was actually a thick book.
The book was around two or three hundred pages long and contained a total of 1,980 multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions.
There were six guests participating in the show this time.
Ye Qingzhou and Chu Ci accounted for two, and third-tier celebrity Zhou Jin accounted for another.
The others were Bai Zihan, who had debuted through a talent competition, Li Muting, who had debuted as a singer, and Zhou Ze, who had debuted in a supporting role.
Seeing that all the guests had received the question-bank books prepared by the production team, the director took out a timer. "The game officially begins in fifteen minutes."
The production team had originally allotted half an hour, but after considering the livestream and how viewers might find it dull, they had shortened it to fifteen minutes.
In truth, there wasn't much difference between fifteen minutes and half an hour. After all, the question bank contained over a thousand questions. Rather than testing the guests' "memory," the game was really testing their general knowledge and what they had accumulated over time.
[Who could finish a question bank this thick?]
[Holy moly, who can even tell the director apart from an examiner now?]
[I think these fifteen minutes are completely unnecessary. I don't believe anyone could finish this question bank in such a short time.]
[I think they're necessary. Look at Ye Qingzhou...]
As Ye Qingzhou was the biggest star on set, the camera operator devoted most of the shots to him.
After receiving the question bank prepared by the production team, Ye Qingzhou calmly began reading. He read quickly and turned the pages even faster. While most of the guests were still debating whether to start at the beginning or pick a random place, Ye Qingzhou had already turned ten pages.
[Is Ye Qingzhou really remembering all that?]
[Huh? Huh?? Huh???]
[At the rate Ye Qingzhou is turning pages, I don't think he'll need fifteen minutes. He's turning a page practically every two or three seconds, and that book only looks about two or three hundred pages long, right? At thirty pages a minute, Ye Qingzhou could finish it in just ten minutes.]
[...That's got to be fake. Anyway, I don't believe Chu Ci can take in that many words.]
[I remember Ye Qingzhou's photographic memory trending on Weibo, right? He'd only had the script for two days, but he'd already memorized his lines perfectly. Every director who's worked with Ye Qingzhou has praised him as the actor in the entertainment industry who learns his lines the fastest and remembers them most reliably.]