Xuelai froze for a moment when she saw Xie Zhuzhou, too. She seemed to have seen him yesterday, heading upstairs after her. The women stayed on the second floor, and the men on the third.
That morning, this Xie... she had forgotten the rest of his name. He seemed to have greeted the camera!
As she watched his retreating figure, a flicker of surprise crossed her eyes, but she was mostly puzzled. Hadn't the production team said there were only eight people?
Xuelai counted them in her head. The women were herself, Yu Wei, and Bai Shankui.
The men were Zhang Yin, Wen Nan, Wen Ruohuai, Zhuang Xingye, and Wang Zhengxiao.
Eight people. That was right!
If there were nine, why hadn't the production team said so?!
It wasn't just Xuelai. Wang Zhengxiao had also seen him when he looked up while cutting fruit in the kitchen yesterday.
His introduction had been so quick, as though he were hurriedly going through the motions. Then the heavyweight guest Wen Ruohuai had appeared, and everyone had forgotten he had ever shown up!
The more he thought about it, the creepier it got.
He hadn't seen him when the director read out the rules that morning, either...
Could he be a hidden romantic partner?
After all, doing that would certainly make for good television.
Given what a bastard Director Wang was, it certainly wasn't impossible.
Everyone climbed the mountain in twos and threes. Wen Nan, being the most physically fragile, was left behind.
Even with an easy way to climb the mountain, Xie Zhuzhou ultimately lacked the perseverance to keep going. He gritted his teeth and climbed for only a short while before he was drenched in sweat.
At that moment, he utterly despised his gray hoodie. It made him so hot he felt as though he had been steamed alive.
Just as he was about to give up, he spotted a vending machine ahead! It stood right beside a small pavilion!
His eyes lit up. Without looking back, he finally veered off the path and marched resolutely toward it. Someone stood beside the vending machine, but Xie Zhuzhou couldn't spare a thought for that. He felt like a fish dying of thirst in the desert.
He opened his phone, scanned the code, and bought a bottle of blueberry juice he had never tried before.
Clunk!
He bent down and reached into the bottom of the machine to retrieve a bottle of blueberry juice. It was even the sponsor's brand.
Zhuang Xingye: ...
There stood Zhuang Xingye, a whole grown man right in front of him, yet he acted as though he couldn't see him.
Zhuang Xingye found it strange. This guy looked familiar. Thinking back, hadn't he seen him yesterday?
If he was a guest, then he was even ruder than Zhuang Xingye!
He had thought his own cockiness was enough to offend gods and men alike! How could someone even cockier than him have shown up?
"You..."
Zhuang Xingye hesitated and was about to say something, but the guy gave him no chance at all. After buying his blueberry juice, he went over to the little pavilion, sat down without a care for anyone else, and struggled to unscrew the cap.
He drank it slowly and reverently, as though it were some divine nectar.
He was a guy, after all. Being able to drink something with such refinement was a talent in itself.
Zhuang Xingye didn't plan to linger any longer. He was aiming for first place, after all. As for romance? If his family hadn't signed him up out of boredom, he would never have come.
There would be a prize for reaching the summit, perhaps a reward that could make tomorrow easier. He was different from those people behind him who looked like old men and women out for a stroll.
Xie Zhuzhou hadn't thought that much about it. In this society, it wasn't as though you had to get on your knees if you didn't greet someone.
At worst, people would gossip about how rude or arrogant you were.
Either way, it wasn't anything that would hurt this body. Capybara-like, Xie Zhuzhou was gradually adapting.
After all, how could he go back to school if he couldn't even overcome this little difficulty? Aloofness could eliminate over ninety percent of social interaction.
Speaking of school, Xie Zhuzhou received a message from his class group chat. The homework was due next Monday.
Homework?
Xie Zhuzhou's face visibly went blank. It hadn't occurred to him that the huge piece of wood in the original owner's living room was actually homework!
How could I move the wood into my room without drawing attention? And then keep the netizens from finding out?
Under cover of a dark and windy night?
But I should be strong enough to move that piece of wood, right?
The homework was due next week, yet that piece of wood hadn't even been touched...
Original owner.
Come back.
Xie Zhuzhou prayed for a moment. Gusts of wind swept past his ears, chilling the skin of his neck and sending a shiver down his spine.
Fundamentally speaking, they were both ghosts.
He was scaring himself.
Forgetting the sweetness of the blueberry juice on his tongue, Xie Zhuzhou stood up and decided to climb the mountain as soon as possible, descend, and then go home to haul that block of wood.
The director looked very kind. He would probably turn a blind eye, right?
After all, even while on the show, they could still go to work and come home, go to school and leave school. There were only group activities on weekends.
A dating show like this was quite accommodating.
Xie Zhuzhou had so much on his mind that he didn't notice anyone who passed him. After taking that break, he and Wen Nan were bringing up the rear.
Wen Nan thought Xie Zhuzhou was a crew member and was just about to trouble him to fetch a bottle of water, only to find the guy walking blankly past him.
Wait, this guy didn't recognize me?
He currently had a hit drama airing. He was Wen Nan, famous all across the country!
And this guy wouldn't even look at him?!
Looking at his clothes again, wasn't he the hoodie guy who had just ridden in the same car as him?!
Wen Nan was utterly shocked, but he didn't let it show. Right now, aside from fighting Wen Ruohuai to the bitter end, he couldn't be bothered with anyone.
He had come on the show specifically to put Wen Ruohuai down!
Wen Ruohuai had grown up in a county town and was a small-town test-taking ace. He hadn't had any more opportunities to climb mountains or exercise than Wen Nan, so he was only a little faster than him.
The two were already far behind everyone else, yet neither would let the matter rest or concede defeat.
Xie Zhuzhou cared about none of that.
All he could think about was how to move the wooden block into his room tonight.
But the villa's soundproofing wasn't very good, either. How about carving something smaller instead?
Xie Zhuzhou looked at the perfectly straight stick beneath his hand, a flash of excitement in his eyes. Wasn't this a Sea-Calming Divine Needle in its own right!
Director Wang, who had seen everything Xie Zhuzhou did, was speechless.
Xie Zhuzhou had indeed dutifully climbed the mountain, only slacking off along the way, but wasn't he a little too oblivious to everyone else?
No, these guests were either big shots in entertainment or big shots in other fields. Did this kid not follow celebrities? Did he really not have even the slightest interest?
Among the show's guests, only one man and one woman were ordinary people.
They were Xie Zhuzhou and Bai Shankui, respectively.
Those two...
Bai Shankui wasn't trying any harder than Xie Zhuzhou. She was off in her own world, following behind Wang Zhengxiao. When someone asked her something, she answered.
When no one asked, she quietly ate her lollipop.
Director Wang belatedly felt that he had invited a bunch of pampered lords over to torment him.
Disheartened, he rubbed his smooth, bald head and finally decided to issue the first side quest: learn about at least three guests, including their hobbies and occupations.
It was a task that was simple, yet not so simple.