[Four women, one drama—the director knows what I like [thumbs up][thumbs up]]
[Quick quick quick, start fighting! My popcorn is ready]
At the scene, 'Village Chief' Qiao Yuran began introducing the show's rules according to convention.
Shen Xiaoyu stood at the back of the group, spacing out and not in the mood to listen at all.
Who would have thought that just participating in a show, she'd encounter so many familiar faces! Shi Qiubai and Su Huan were one thing, but Tang Tang didn't even have children...
Just how popular was this show that everyone was cramming to get in?
She was so lost in thought that she didn't notice Shen Nian'an's gaze occasionally sneaking glances at her.
Su Huan's hand resting on her shoulder quietly squeezed once, then casually changed position, completely blocking her line of sight.
Unable to see anyone, Shen Nian'an pouted unhappily before refocusing her attention on the 'Village Chief.'
When Shen Xiaoyu snapped back to attention, the 'Village Chief's' rule explanation had finally ended.
"Now please have the parents go to our task cabin and wait for the children to rescue you!"
After all, this was a children's variety show—the children's main stage, with primary camera focus on the kids.
The ten adults were divided into two groups, staying in two different rooms, awkwardly chatting to maintain surface harmony.
Shen Xiaoyu's gaze unconsciously observed these people. When her eyes swept over Tang Tang, she paused for two seconds, her heart involuntarily starting to murmur.
[System, can you detect any abnormalities in Tang Tang?]
The system buzzed twice and lit up with a big red X. [The original female protagonist belongs to a special character class, no query permissions available.]
[? Didn't you say you were upgraded and could actively detect as long as you got close to the target? How come you're saying no query permissions now?]
[Detection function under repair, temporarily unavailable.] The system was helpless. [New functions have many bugs. Even without repairs, usage isn't recommended.]
[...Garbage.] Shen Xiaoyu cursed. [Useless! Can't help with anything, what's the point of having you?]
The system felt indignant but could only endure it.
It couldn't exactly say it was because Tang Tang carried special energy that prevented detection, right?
If it really tried to probe, it would likely be devoured as an invasive entity. It didn't know how much longer this world could hold up, or whether the host could complete her mission before then.
Shen Xiaoyu didn't know about the system's worries. After giving it a thorough scolding, she continued waiting for the show to proceed.
The children were playing games on their side, so presumably all the cameras should be focused on them... right?
Just as she was thinking this, the room door was pushed open again. The 'Village Chief' came in from outside, holding a box in her hands.
"This time we'll determine families through completing puzzle patterns. 'Parents' can come choose your puzzle pieces." She said, extending the box to Tang Tang first, letting her choose first.
Tang Tang, having worked in the entertainment industry for years, naturally chatted with the host, easing the current awkward atmosphere while smoothly cuing others, letting everyone gradually participate.
Only then did Shen Xiaoyu understand that among the five people sitting here, only she and another girl named Yan Yan were civilians. The remaining ones were a girl group member and a singer, neither with much clout, so they somewhat flattered Tang Tang, trying to go along with her conversation.
Shen Xiaoyu found it boring, leaning back on the sofa and couldn't help yawning.
She covered her mouth with her hand and turned slightly away from the camera. It shouldn't have been noticed, but unexpectedly Tang Tang, who was still chatting, suddenly spoke up.
"Is Xiaoyu tired?"
As soon as her voice came out, everyone looked at Shen Xiaoyu with suspicious and uncertain gazes.
Shen Xiaoyu immediately closed her mouth and just said sorry.
But Tang Tang wasn't willing to let her off. "If Xiaoyu is tired, then rest for a while."
She thoughtfully asked staff to bring a blanket for Shen Xiaoyu, saying she was worried about her catching cold.
Shen Xiaoyu glanced at Tang Tang indifferently, then smiled and shook her head at the staff before saying thank you.
"Thank you for Senior Tang's concern. After sitting in the car for so long, my body is indeed somewhat fatigued. But compared to Senior Tang's care, my heart is still warm."
At this moment, the bullet comments—
[Let me translate: Compared to Senior Tang directly calling out my drowsiness, my body has recovered, but my dislike for you is even stronger]
[Correct interpretation above!]
[Shen Xiaoyu was sleepy? How long has the show been on? If you want to sleep, go home to sleep. Why participate in a show? Just wasting a guest spot.]
[Could this be some kind of tactic she's using to attract attention? Otherwise who would yawn while others are chatting? For those who don't know Shen Xiaoyu's character, check @100 Reasons to Hate SXY]
[Although Shen Xiaoyu has character issues, isn't this room itself problematic? The topics are explosively boring. Shen Xiaoyu and Yan Yan aren't industry insiders so they can't join the conversation. It's normal for them to be bored]
[Doesn't the other room also have two civilians? Why aren't they dozing off? Some people should stop whitewashing—this is clearly a character problem]
[But the other livestream room has Shi Qiubai! She's such an extrovert! So many topics, and she doesn't just talk about industry stuff. All topics revolve around children, and both civilians are mothers, so naturally they can join the conversation]
[Who says everyone next door is chatting? Hasn't Su Huan not said a word from beginning to end? Su Huan isn't social either, why isn't anyone scolding Su Huan?]
[Ridiculous. Who's so bold as to find trouble with Su Huan? Aren't they afraid her fans will come knocking?]
Scold Su Huan?
She's a Best Actress!
Even though she lost some fans due to her previous unmarried pregnancy and was mocked online for half a year, she'd gotten through it all and even transformed into capital.
Her recent hit movies had exploded beyond the industry circle. Her current fanbase was incomparable to others. Forget her being bored and dozing—even if she really fell asleep, the production team could arrange for Shi Qiubai to cover her with a blanket.
That's what they thought, but no one in the bullet comments dared say it out loud. They could only pick on the easy target Shen Xiaoyu for crazy output.
The system enjoyed watching the drama unfold, directly linking to the internet to show Shen Xiaoyu the live comments.
[Can't Shen Xiaoyu just quit the show? It's only the first episode—finding another civilian to participate would be the same.]
[This livestream room is really boring. Call me when Shen Xiaoyu and Tang Tang start fighting]
[I also want to see them fight. Can't you really have a fight?]
The system said seriously, afraid Shen Xiaoyu would get angry, adding at the end: [These aren't my words, they're all comments from everyone.]
Shen Xiaoyu: [...If you're that bored, go urge the main god to hurry up and complete the program upgrade.]
[Don't rush, haste makes waste.] The system changed topics. [But if you're very bored, I can help you get a screen to see what Shen Nian'an and the others are doing.]
Shen Xiaoyu's heart stirred. [Really possible?]
[Of course.]
As soon as the system finished speaking, Shen Nian'an's image appeared in her mind.
The little girl was running around sweating, holding a piece of paper in her hand, looking around while constantly muttering, "If I want to be in her group, I must find more puzzle pieces. But where are all these puzzle pieces hidden?"
She ran east and west, anxiously searching everywhere. She didn't find puzzle pieces, but she did see a little girl whose clothes were dusty gray, as if she'd fallen, crying while walking and searching for something.
The little girl looked somewhat familiar. Shen Xiaoyu thought for a moment—it was the girl Shi Qiubai had brought, seemingly called Yaoyao.
Shen Nian'an hesitated for a moment before walking toward Yaoyao, squatting in front of her and asking, "What's wrong? Why are you crying?"
Yaoyao bit her lip, tears swirling in her eyes. "My puzzle piece was taken away, and I can't find a new one."
"It's okay, we'll find one slowly." Shen Nian'an helped brush the dust off her clothes, thought for a moment, then actively took her hand. "Come on, I'll help you look for one together."
What followed was footage of two little children hand in hand searching for clues.
The system thoughtfully displayed the livestream bullet comments too.
There weren't any bad comments—most were praising Shen Nian'an.
Shen Xiaoyu's heart relaxed slightly as she continued watching.
The children found the puzzle pieces in the final moments and brought them back, rescuing their 'parents.' Next it was the 'parents' turn to find the remaining puzzle pieces.
Without Shen Nian'an's footage, Shen Xiaoyu found it boring while giving a thumbs up to a complaint on the virtual screen: [This is a clue-finding game, right?]
Her view was following Shi Qiubai, watching her run up and down in the village, finding a place with puzzle pieces. Because she wasn't sure if what was inside matched what she had in her hand, she hesitantly took it.
"The 'Village Chief' said there are several different puzzle piece sets in the village. If puzzle pieces are matched incorrectly, you lose the right to choose a 'parent' and can only wait for the next game victory." She explained the rules while walking. "And the number of family combinations each episode relates to the final game victory."
"Although this is just a linear task, I still want to win. After all, I can't disappoint the little one, right?"
Shi Qiubai had a smile on her face as she carefully examined the box in her hand, shaking it to try to identify the puzzle by sound, but couldn't hear anything.
"Forget it, let's keep looking. The more things I find, the greater the chance of winning."
Saying this, her footsteps suddenly stopped, as if she saw something. She quietly crouched down, warily looking in another direction.
The camera followed her gaze and turned—it was Su Huan.
Su Huan by the river had also found a box. She opened it without hesitation—it was a white rabbit tail puzzle piece.
Shi Qiubai's eyes widened. Seeing Su Huan about to throw the puzzle piece away, she hurried forward saying, "Wait! Senior Su, please show mercy!"
She hurriedly emerged from the haystack, smiling as she walked forward with the box in her hand, gently shaking it. "Senior Su, shall we make a deal?"
"I also have a puzzle piece in my hand, but I haven't opened it yet. I'll trade this box for the puzzle piece in your hand. Since this box isn't opened, I don't know if the puzzle inside is what you need—" Shi Qiubai said, "So how about this—if this box doesn't contain a puzzle piece you need, I'll help you find the puzzle piece you need together. This way we'll both win."
Su Huan raised an eyebrow and smiled. "In that case, you open the box in your hand first. If it's what I need, I'll trade with you now. If not, we'll look for others together. But until we find it, I won't give you this puzzle piece."
Shi Qiubai agreed without thinking, directly opening the box. Inside lay quietly an orange-red fox tail puzzle piece.
The moment she saw the puzzle piece, her face stiffened.
Shen Xiaoyu didn't understand what was happening. Only after reading the bullet comments did she realize this puzzle piece was exactly what Su Huan needed.
Wasn't this perfect? The two could trade and both complete their tasks. But why did Shi Qiubai's expression not look very happy?
Su Huan observed her expression and immediately understood her intention, her voice turning cold. "Take out the puzzle piece."
Shi Qiubai slowly took out the puzzle piece, smiling as she said, "Senior Su, look how coincidental—I got exactly the puzzle piece you need. Shall we trade now?"
She nodded. "Alright, come over."
Both holding puzzle pieces, they walked toward each other step by step, but stopped when they were one step apart.
"How about this—I'll count to three, and we'll throw them to each other together." Shi Qiubai said.
"Fine."
"One..."
The two looked into each other's eyes, gradually squinting.
"Two..."
Their gazes shifted to the puzzle pieces in each other's hands, feet shifting slightly, ready to move.
"Three!"
Both stepped forward simultaneously. In a flash, Su Huan threw her puzzle piece toward the lake while lunging at Shi Qiubai, grabbing the hand holding her puzzle piece.
Almost instantly, Shi Qiubai realized what was happening. Her expression changed dramatically as she gritted her teeth, protecting the puzzle piece in her hand while avoiding Su Huan's attempt to control her movements.
Shi Qiubai gritted her teeth and sneered coldly, "Is Senior Su planning to cheat and rob me directly?"
Su Huan gripped her wrist, veins bulging on her forehead. "I threw it to you, you just didn't catch it."
"You!"
Fine! How wonderful!
Since that's how it was, don't blame her for being impolite!
Shi Qiubai used all her strength to pull her hand from Su Huan's control, then raised it toward the lake.
Noticing her movement, Su Huan reached out to stop her.
The two became entangled again, neither yielding to the other.
Not only Shen Xiaoyu, but even the livestream viewers were stunned.
[...They're fighting already? I thought the other two would start first.]
[This entanglement... so exciting!]
[Is Su Huan sick? Throwing it in the lake means the task really can't be completed.]
[Don't just blame Su Huan—Shi Qiubai clearly had no intention of giving her the puzzle piece either]
[Hahahaha! I knew the 'Worldly' CP was the best! Their thinking of not letting the other win is completely aligned—it's killing me!]
[...CP fans are the most terrifying]
The bullet comments were hotly discussing when suddenly there was a splash. The screen almost froze in that instant.
While Shi Qiubai and Su Huan were entangled, they didn't notice their footing. One misstep and both fell into the lake together.
The location should be close to the task cabin. Shen Xiaoyu also heard the commotion and immediately stood up to look out the window, but couldn't see anything.
Instead, the image in her mind became clearer. Even after falling into the lake, the two had no intention of letting each other go.
You pull me down, I drag you down—nobody gets to go ashore.
Shi Qiubai gripped her hand, breathing heavily as she said quietly, "Senior Su, it's just a game. You don't need to really fight this hard, do you?"
"Same question back to you. It's just a game—can't you let go?" Su Huan's tone was cold, her grip on Shi Qiubai's hand tightening even more.
Without knowing how the production team had arranged things, to team up with Shen Xiaoyu, she had to complete her puzzle.
She wouldn't miss any opportunity to be with Shen Xiaoyu, nor would she allow anyone to stand in her way!
Especially Shi Qiubai!
Coincidentally, Shi Qiubai thought the same way.
"Since our goals are the same, I definitely can't let go!" Shi Qiubai lifted her legs in the lake, directly clamping around Su Huan's waist, equally preventing her from moving.
The production team hadn't expected accidents during the search task and hadn't prepared waterproof microphones. After soaking in water for a while, they completely stopped working.
Livestream viewers could only see their mouths moving but couldn't hear what they were saying.
But this didn't prevent their fans from spamming the screen, and CP fans from happily causing chaos.
Both their livestream rooms were scrolling rapidly, jumping up in large blocks.
The most eye-catching was undoubtedly a comment from CP fans—
[Worldly! Falling into love achievement unlocked!]
Shen Xiaoyu: ...
It wasn't until the director went over that the two were fished out of the lake.
After coming ashore, Shi Qiubai finally let go. The puzzle piece she'd been clutching had been soaked and was now a wrinkled mess. Originally just paper, it was now unrecognizable with even the pattern invisible.
The two walked toward the task cabin soaking wet, neither speaking, looking at each other with cold eyes.
The moment she saw them, Shen Nian'an ran over with a towel, looking at Su Huan with concern. "Mommy, dry yourself off quickly."
"Thank you." Su Huan smiled at her. While using the towel to dry her hair, she looked up toward the window sill, meeting Shen Xiaoyu's gaze directly. Her movements paused slightly.
She imperceptibly looked away, her momentary panic not captured by the cameras.
Shi Qiubai tugged at her wet clothes and bent down to ask, "Little one, where's my towel?"
Shen Nian'an snorted coldly, acting like she didn't want to deal with her, but pulled out a towel from behind her and stuffed it into her hands. "Dry yourself off quickly! You're so dirty!"
She frowned and dodged aside with a disgusted expression.
Shi Qiubai didn't mind, drying her hair while provocatively raising her eyebrows at Su Huan.
See? The little one wasn't loved for nothing. Now she knew to care about her too. At this rate, even if she couldn't wash away Su Huan's position in Shen Nian'an's heart, she could make her have great affection for herself.
She shook her head happily, feeling extremely relaxed.
Su Huan glared at her with an unfriendly look, then took Shen Nian'an's hand into the cabin.
Shi Qiubai followed closely behind. Upon seeing Shen Xiaoyu, she pouted and stepped forward, stuffing the towel into Shen Xiaoyu's hands who was walking at the back.
"Sis... this parent, I can't reach my back. Could you help me?"
She looked at Shen Xiaoyu with pleading eyes.
Shen Xiaoyu glanced at the others' expressions, then at the still-filming cameras. Her body stiffened, the towel in her hands feeling like a ball of fire, burning so hot she couldn't hold it.
Shi Qiubai was certain she wouldn't refuse, slightly bending down to let her help dry her hair.
Su Huan's mouth corners pressed down as her dark, deep eyes coldly stared at Shi Qiubai, warning herself internally not to get angry.
Her gaze slowly shifted to Shen Xiaoyu's face, staring without blinking, as if wanting to imprint her in her heart.
Shi Qiubai was doing this to make her lose control in front of the cameras. If she had an outburst, she'd fall into her trap.
Under everyone's gaze, Shen Xiaoyu's heart pounded as she gripped the towel in her hand, awkwardly tightening her hold on it.
She quickly lifted it to cover Shi Qiubai's head, hastily rubbing it a couple times before hurriedly returning the towel to her.
"There, done."
After speaking, she stepped back, afraid Shi Qiubai would approach her again.
[Villain corruption value -2]
Shi Qiubai's mouth corners lifted as she said sweetly like a peacock displaying, "Thank you, parent."
"No need to thank me."
Shen Xiaoyu saw she had no follow-up actions and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
This small episode passed, but it stirred up huge waves in Su Huan's heart.
Shen Xiaoyu's reaction...
She thought of the past, when she wasn't famous yet. When she came up after filming underwater scenes, Shen Xiaoyu would be waiting on the side with a bath towel. As soon as the director called cut, she'd wrap her up completely.
The care and affection in her eyes were almost tangible.
But looking now, Shen Xiaoyu didn't have that emotion, and was even somewhat—embarrassed?
Yes, that was embarrassment!
It was just an ordinary intimate gesture—why would she feel embarrassed?
Su Huan felt like she'd discovered a loose thread. Recalling how Shen Xiaoyu and Shi Qiubai had interacted before, she'd been blinded by anger and lost her reason then. But thinking of Shen Xiaoyu's reactions at the time, she hadn't been that happy either, but rather somewhat stiff.
So they were fake!
Since it was fake, did that prove Shen Xiaoyu still had some feelings for her?
Su Huan's heart suddenly cleared up. Her hair-drying movements became lighter, her mouth corners slightly lifting, looking like she was in a very good mood.
To verify her guess, Su Huan deliberately began observing Shen Xiaoyu and Shi Qiubai's interactions during the remaining time.
This increased the number of times she looked at them.
The bullet comments quickly noticed something was wrong.
[Wow—Shi Qiubai is like a peacock displaying its feathers. Does she really like Shen Xiaoyu? Can Qiubai's fans come out and explain?]
[Stop talking, I'm in self-isolation. Came to happily watch variety shows, but Sister is flirting with Sister?]
[Hahahaha Qiubai charge ahead! You've successfully caught Su Huan's attention. Keep going and my 'Worldly' can manifest!]
[What the hell is 'Worldly' above? CPs aren't reversible! Our Huanhuan is the top, okay?]
[CPs are the most boring. Triangles are the most stable! So you three living well together is better than anything]
[World famous literature: you let others help you dry your hair while the person who needs hair drying watches you... guys]
[I wish today that all my CPs come true! Best if it's a threesome]
Shen Xiaoyu seeing that last comment: ...
When will these netizens put their pants back on? They're falling all over her face!