Duan Xuanyu was just about to draw his sword when he suddenly remembered that the empress had confiscated it.
She had said it was considered a restricted weapon here and that carrying it around could get him stopped for inspection.
She had also said he couldn't just cut people down here.
No matter.
Duan Xuanyu raised his hand and caught a falling leaf between his long index and middle fingers.
Whoosh!
The leaf shot toward Lu Zhou.
A huge swath of Lu Zhou's hair was sliced off in an instant!
He had a bald patch!
Lu Zhou clutched his chilly head, looking around in terror.
Su Mian slapped the tree trunk and roared with laughter.
What a blessed life-after her boyfriend upset her, she still had a fiancé to stand up for her!
Duan Xuanyu lowered his eyes slightly, watching her quietly.
She had never laughed so freely in the palace.
When he had gone clothes shopping with her earlier, he had also noticed that in this era, both men and women showed their faces in public to do business.
So women here could live with such freedom and abandon, without any restraints.
No wonder she hadn't even cared for the position of empress and had insisted on returning here.
Duan Xuanyu couldn't help feeling a little worried again.
The empress had said she would be willing to return with him once she finished her business. She wasn't deceiving him, was she?
Once Su Mian had laughed enough, she looked up at him. "Let's go home."
"Mm." Duan Xuanyu followed her.
Once they got home, Su Mian was still a little worried that Duan Xuanyu might climb into her bed in the middle of the night.
Back in ancient times, she had taken advantage of applying medicine for Duan Xuanyu to feel his abs a few times.
But Duan Xuanyu was an upright, honorable gentleman, and they had never consummated their marriage.
He had always said they could only consummate their marriage after the empress's investiture ceremony, once she officially became his empress.
Then, on the very day of the investiture ceremony, she had transmigrated here.
So now she was a little worried... worried that he might ask her to finish what they hadn't done in ancient times.
But she soon realized she had been overthinking it.
Duan Xuanyu was utterly absorbed in the wonders of modern electronics.
He spent the entire night playing on the phone.
Early the next morning, everyone gathered on the island.
To let everyone immerse themselves in romance, the production team asked them to finish dealing with their messages before handing over their phones.
Su Mian sent a message to the original body's mother.
"Mom, I'm filming a show and have to hand in my phone, so you might not be able to reach me for a few days. Don't worry. I'll definitely earn enough money for your treatment."
After everyone handed over their phones, they set off for the guesthouse where they would be filming.
The guesthouse was still about five kilometers away.
The production team had prepared two cars.
One car would hold one woman and two men, and the other one man and two women. The production team hoped to create a little romantic battlefield.
The reward rules were the same as yesterday: anyone who could make someone's heart race would receive a living allowance of one thousand yuan.
The results of the draw came out quickly.
Group one: Su Mian, Cheng Qin, Gu Yichen.
Group two: Duan Xuanyu, Lin Xi, Fang Nuonuo.
In the first group, Gu Yichen drove, Cheng Qin sat in the front passenger seat, and Su Mian sat in the back. They left first.
The second group was still debating who would drive.
Lin Xi had originally wanted to say that he held an international driver's license, so he couldn't drive domestically.
But then he suddenly remembered he was pretending to be poor.
So he said, "I'm a delivery rider. I've only ever ridden electric scooters. I don't know how to drive this."
Fang Nuonuo also looked apologetically at the two men before her.
"I'm sorry. I do know how to drive, but I was hit a few days ago and injured my arm. I don't dare drive right now."
[Boohoo, our goddess is so gentle! This isn't her fault at all, yet she's actually apologizing!]
[So our goddess was injured when she got hit last time? She actually reassured the person who hit her that it was all right and was considerate of how hard their life was. She's such a good person!]
[My heart aches for her! The last good girl of the twenty-first century!]
Lin Xi had been about to suggest calling someone from the production team over if none of them could drive.
But Duan Xuanyu confidently opened the driver's door and got in.
Last night, he had used the empress's phone mainly to study this era's military affairs and technology.
He had also watched videos on driving.
It wasn't difficult.
He wanted to try commanding this thing.
Once he returned to Northern Liang, he would have cars everywhere there too.
Neither Lin Xi nor Fang Nuonuo suspected anything, and they sat in the back.
Duan Xuanyu recalled the procedures he had seen on the phone last night.
Start the engine, shift gears, step on the accelerator.
Whoosh!
The car shot off!
Backward!
Lin Xi jumped in fright.
With thirty percent hope and seventy percent doubt, he asked, "Buddy, did you get your license so long ago that you haven't driven in ages and aren't too familiar with the gears...?"
Duan Xuanyu said, "A driver's license? What is a driver's license?"
Lin Xi froze, then frantically pounded on the window. "...Holy shit, let me out! Let me out!"
Duan Xuanyu said, "Rest assured. I can tame the fiercest horse. How could I fail to tame this little car?"
Lin Xi said, "...Wait, you're still stuck in your tyrant role?"
Fang Nuonuo had also turned deathly pale with fright and scrambled into Lin Xi's arms.
[Incredible. He found a bug: as long as he doesn't have a license, the traffic police can't revoke it!]
[Modern times really are better. I've even got a tyrant to make me laugh...]
[Our goddess actually hid in another man's arms? Suddenly I don't like her anymore.]
[She feels dirty now.]
[I don't like Fang Nuonuo, but now I'm starting to feel sorry for her. Did she murder someone or commit arson? Why is she being targeted by such vile fans?]
[That's normal. Her persona easily attracts fans like that... Meanwhile, Teacher Su's gold-digger persona screens all those people out right away.]
Backstage with the production team.
Lu Zhou, who had come to work wearing a hat even in the summer heat, realized something serious had happened when a flood of comments announcing they were no longer fans suddenly appeared on the bullet screen.
Fang Nuonuo's persona had attracted a crowd of male fans.
But these weren't normal male fans.
They treated Fang Nuonuo as their own wife and would lose it whenever they saw her interacting with other men.
Still, these fans weren't worth much. They were only needed to boost her numbers early on and would have to be gradually weeded out.
Besides, the more extreme these vile fans' comments became, the more sympathy casual viewers would feel for her.
He quickly arranged for paid trolls to drag Su Mian down to prop Fang Nuonuo up and redirect the attacks.
[Those vile fans above are all trolls Su Mian paid for, right? Our goddess is on a dating show. What kind of dating show would it be if she didn't interact with men?]
[Our goddess is so kind. Even though Lin Xi is just a delivery rider, she doesn't look down on him. That disgusting Su Mian would probably despise him, wouldn't she?]
[Our goddess looks so sweet and fragile hiding in Lin Xi's arms! My heart is melting! Is this dating show's first couple about to be born?]
In the end, worried that Duan Xuanyu would cause an accident by driving without a license, the staff hurriedly instructed him remotely to brake and replaced him.
But he had already succeeded in making Lin Xi's and Fang Nuonuo's hearts race, winning this round's living allowance.
The first group was driving smoothly along the road.
After going back last night, Cheng Qin had crammed a hundred little tricks for making men's hearts race.
She was now putting one into practice. "Mr. Gu, you look a lot like my best friend's ex-boyfriend."
According to the internet, saying this to a man would make him think: Her best friend can't really be my ex-girlfriend, can she? If I dated her best friend, she must have said plenty of bad things about me after we broke up. Wouldn't I be done for?
That would make him nervous.
But Gu Yichen's heart rate didn't budge. He replied flatly, "I saw that guide you looked up online too."
"..." Silence fell over the car.
Su Mian suddenly asked from beside them, "Are you thirsty? I brought my family's special herbal drink. It's made by steeping precious ingredients."
Gu Yichen had no fondness for her whatsoever and didn't want to drink anything of hers. He shook his head in refusal. "No, thanks."
Cheng Qin had just been terribly embarrassed and desperately needed to change the subject, so she asked, "What medicinal ingredients?"
Su Mian pulled an enormous transparent bottle out of her bag.
Cheng Qin took one look, her breath caught, and her face turned deathly pale. She screamed in terror and shrank toward the car door!
Gu Yichen glanced back through the rearview mirror.
Once he saw what was in the bottle, his legs trembled with fright too!
Both their heart rates shot straight up to two hundred bpm!