Meanwhile, over on Xia Zhiyi's side.
"Mr. Xia..."
Xia Zhiyi said, "Why don't you just call me by my name?"
Xiao Yang coughed and said, "Xia Zhiyi, you got up relatively early, so we set off early too. I just received word that the other guests have started going live one after another. Would you like to take a look at their livestreams?"
Xia Zhiyi asked curiously, "Watch other guests' livestreams on my livestream?"
Xiao Yang said, "...Yes, that's right."
This had not originally been part of the plan at all. Xia Zhiyi's schedule had simply ended up out of sync with everyone else's, and the production team had come up with the idea on the spot.
Xia Zhiyi nodded. "If it's no trouble, sure."
He could also take this opportunity to get a general sense of the other guests' personalities and learn a little more about them.
So Xiao Yang quickly picked up a phone from beside him. As he opened the Orchid App, he delivered a promotional spiel, then casually said to Xia Zhiyi, "You can try to remember a little of that spiel, Teacher Xia. If needed, you can help promote our show to the viewers too."
Xia Zhiyi said, "...You seem really uncomfortable calling me by my full name. Why?"
It was always Mr. Xia or Teacher Xia, as though his name burned his tongue.
Xiao Yang glanced up at him, cleared his throat, and hesitated before honestly admitting in a low voice, "You're just so incredible, Teacher Xia. Calling you by your name feels a little disrespectful."
Unlike the viewers watching through a camera, Xiao Yang had witnessed Xia Zhiyi's skills in person. He had already slapped a huge "expert" label on Xia Zhiyi in his mind. Even though the other man still looked very young, he could not help...
Ahem.
If his adult self-control and sense of shame had not held him back, and if they had not been on camera, Xiao Yang actually really wanted to drop to his knees, cling to Xia Zhiyi's thigh, and beg him to teach him how to fly.
At this point, many viewers in Xia Zhiyi's livestream had rushed off to watch Fu Yunyi after his appearance, while others had been drawn away by the celebrities in the other livestreams, so his own stream was actually much quieter now.
[Xiao Yang said exactly what I was thinking.]
[So am I watching a livestream of a guest watching a guest's livestream?]
[...Fuck, what kind of tongue twister is that?]
[Xiao Yang thinks just like me.]
Since there were far fewer people in the livestream, and this was not a peak viewing time either, it was much easier for the viewers to chat. They did not have to worry about their messages scrolling out of sight before anyone could read them.
After opening the app, Xiao Yang first had to enter the "Incredible Life" section before he could choose which guest's livestream to enter. The app also displayed the real-time popularity of each livestream.
So Xia Zhiyi immediately saw that his own livestream's popularity figures were far below those of the other celebrities.
Realizing this, Xiao Yang looked up a little awkwardly. "Teacher Xia, this is only because most people aren't familiar with you yet. Things definitely won't stay this way."
With skills that incredible, never mind that Xia Zhiyi was already good-looking-even if he had looked ordinary, he could still have drawn plenty of people to watch!
He certainly would not lack fans either, because in any era, most humans admired the strong!
Not to mention that Xia Zhiyi was good-looking too, with a cute, delicate baby face and eyes as beautiful as glass marbles. In all the years since Xiao Yang had graduated and started working, he had hardly seen any boys with eyes as beautiful as his.
Xia Zhiyi said, "It's fine. I'm an ordinary person. It's normal."
Hearing this, Xiao Yang nodded repeatedly, then hurriedly opened a livestream. As luck would have it, it was Fu Yunyi's.
At the same time, Fu Yunyi's voice rang out inside the vehicle. "So it's an observational show where you make me live with other people and then watch what kinds of conflicts we have and so on?"
Xiao Yang: "..."
Xia Zhiyi: "."
Xia Zhiyi asked, "What's wrong?"
Xiao Yang: "..."
Xiao Yang gave an awkward laugh, thought for a moment, then said, "Please don't misunderstand, Teacher Xia. Our production team isn't like that. This...this segment is just meant to give the show a few more points of interest, like the guests' views on the production team. It doesn't mean what Teacher Fu said is right."
Xia Zhiyi said, "...I know."
It was not as though he was stupid.
[Pfft, he's panicking, he's panicking, he's panicking.]
[Watching a livestreaming guest livestream watching a guest's livestream.]
[I suddenly get what's fun about livestreamed variety shows. Everything the guests say and do is on camera, with no postproduction. Doesn't that mean if they do or say the wrong thing, they could crash and burn on the spot?]
[Hehehehe, interesting. Very interesting!]
Xia Zhiyi smiled, his tone calm. "So the production team will go against the usual formula this time, right?"
Xiao Yang said, "Ahem, you'll find out the specifics once you get there."
After a pause, he still added an explanation. "But our production team definitely won't deliberately set up challenges to damage the relationships between guests."
As for whether the guests would have conflicts among themselves, the production team would not concern itself with that. In any case, these guests had all signed contracts. Having agreed to livestream, they could not refuse to work unless they paid the contractual penalty and left the show.
Xia Zhiyi nodded. "Okay, I understand."
Xiao Yang switched to the other guests' livestreams. At this point, their schedules were all different. Fu Yunyi, for instance, was being interviewed, while Zhou Kai was running at the gym and telling viewers how long he worked out each day and so on. Everyone had their own things to do.
Xia Zhiyi said, "...It looks like I'm the only one who set off early?"
Xiao Yang chuckled and said, "That's right, so the production team has also assigned you an extra mission, Teacher Xia. If you complete it successfully, you'll receive some show funds."
Xia Zhiyi looked at him, then at the mission card being held out in front of him. He did not know whether it had been prepared in advance or put together on the spot. Rather than taking it right away, he asked, "Show funds...if the show needs to provide funds, does that mean the guests won't be allowed to use their own money once filming starts?"
Xiao Yang said, "You can take a guess yourself, Teacher Xia." In any case, he was not going to say it outright!
Xia Zhiyi smiled, took the mission card, and gave it a quick scan. His expression turned subtle.
[Surprise mission: without revealing your identity as a guest...]