Love Variety Show: The despised me exploded in popularity

"Hmm," Xu Qingyan nodded, his expression slightly cold, "Not bad."

After Xu Qingyan and Pei Muchan had taken their seats, Bai Jinze at the other end of the living room looked even more upset, and consequently, Song Enya spoke less as well.

Tomorrow would be the third day, and the voting time had already been set for the prime time slot at 8 in the evening.

Everyone had one vote, a total of nine votes, to ultimately determine the one with the most votes to be eliminated. The identity of the person eliminated would be revealed when the final results were confirmed.

Both Bai Jinze and Song Enya were confident they could sway more than two votes each, testing each other out stealthily. One wanted to vote out Pei Muchan, the other aimed to eliminate Xu Qingyan.

So now seeing Liu Renzhi, who had been left out in the cold all day, suddenly warming up to Xu Qingyan, it was no wonder the two of them were feeling on edge.

The staff invited the guests to head to the dining room for a meal, just as Shen Jinyue and Nian Shuyu happened to be coming downstairs. Shen Jinyue, hearing it was time to eat, cheered.

"Thank goodness! It's finally time to eat!"

The group made their way towards the dining room, passing through the garden path. Xu Qingyan and Pei Muchan were at the back, talking intermittently as cameras followed them.

"Remember the melody?"

"Yes."

"And the lyrics?"

"All sorted out, the kind I can sing,"

"When did you think of them?" Pei Muchan touched her phone, its screen buzzing to life and illuminating her serene and gentle face with its graceful air.

"While taking the glamour shots."

Buzz, her finger paused on the screen for a moment. Her eyes lowered, her voice soft but without a spark of contention, she asked,

"Was it very boring for you to take those photos with me?"

At her words, Xu Qingyan went rigid, his back stiffening.

"That's not what I meant, you know that,"

"Then what did you mean?" Pei Muchan slowly turned her head, her gaze sweeping over Xu Qingyan, her voice soft, "Is it really boring to be with someone like me?"

"Ah...," Xu Qingyan was already sweating profusely.

The live-streamed footage had been rather uneventful until this point, with several guests chatting about the day's fun events on the way, only the perspective with the chattering Shen Jinyue being slightly more popular.

But who knew that as they walked, the program suddenly got interesting and the barrage of comments came to life. Message after message bombarded Xu Qingyan with things like, was Xu really already neutered? Join the adventure on m-vl-e-mpyr

"True Liu Xiaohui, Xu, maintaining purity in the face of temptation, aren't you?"

"Holy shit, spacing out while doing a photo shoot with Sister Pei, even the imperial eunuchs had nothing on you."

He looked around, then covered up his own microphone and reached over to cover Pei Muchan's as well, leaning in closer and lowering his voice to say,

"Stop messing around, sister, you know I wasn't distracted."

Pei Muchan wiped off the corners of her slightly lifted mouth and glanced at him.

"I don't know anything, and I can't guarantee I won't speak out of turn."

"What do you really want, then?"

"Nothing at all, just be more serious next time we have a task." She cleared her throat and gently brushed Xu Qingyan's hand off the recording device.

Xu Qingyan stood there, staring after Pei Muchan as she walked away, still somewhat dazed.

What's going on, she's making a thing out of this?

Forget it, I'll jot this down for now. There will be plenty of time to settle this later, Pei Muchan.

He quickened his pace, intending to catch up with the dining group when his personal phone suddenly vibrated. Thinking it might be Pei Muchan messaging him, he pulled it out to check.

[Lin Wanzhou has withdrawn a message]

Huh?

Xu Qingyan continued walking forward, unconsciously slowing his steps, he tapped on Lin Wanzhou's blank avatar to check it out, then opened her empty Moments to have a look.

Still nothing—could a blank account have some activity?

He had heard that celebrities have multiple WeChat accounts to connect with different people. Wait, when did he add this WeChat account?

It seemed to be during her birthday banquet not long ago, when things were a bit chaotic, and he forgot who had given him a QR code to scan. In any case, he scanned it absentmindedly, and the person on the other side sent just three words.

Lin Wanzhou.

After that, there was no further interaction, until the day before yesterday when he accidentally sent a... past message.

Someone from a blank account must be a staff member, probably operated by a designated person, right? Maybe it's specifically for keeping in touch with past friends?

As he pondered, the restaurant was already in sight.

Xu Qingyan couldn't figure it out and decided not to think about it anymore. He was the last one to sit down at the table, with an empty spot next to Pei Muchan, and Shen Jinyue on the other side.

As soon as he sat down, Shen Jinyue turned to him, and Xu Qingyan raised a finger to his lips.

"Don't make a peep," he said.

"Hmph! Why should I listen to you?" Shen Jinyue was in high spirits and didn't care whether Xu Qingyan was keen to listen or not. "Let me tell you, Mr. Stingy, today..."

Shen Jinyue rattled on, causing Xu Qingyan's head to spin, thinking that You Zijun's ears must be suffering today too.

...

"Sister Zhou Zhou, so the guy you like is him?" Qi Ting curiously leaned over from the driver's seat, the car parked in the underground parking lot.

Wen Yun was still communicating with the brand, hoping for an opportunity to collaborate again, leaving just the two of them in the car.

The dim breathing light was on, and Lin Wanzhou's heart pounded incessantly.

"He's an amateur, right? I remember it was me who phoned and invited him to the banquet," Qi Ting scratched her head and just crawled from the front seat to the back after taking off her shoes.

"I remember now! I was the one who made him add you on WeChat."

"Yeah," Lin Wanzhou replied, as she turned the lit screen face down on her chest, her cheeks growing gradually hotter.

"So Sister Zhou Zhou, you like this type of guy, huh? He definitely has good looks. The only problem was it was so difficult to find him at the time," Qi Ting leaned closer.

"I searched all his friends and classmates but couldn't get in touch with him, like looking for a needle in a haystack. It was only later that I learned he was hard to contact because he spent a period borrowing money everywhere, and everyone had blocked his contact info."

"Borrowing money?" Lin Wanzhou suddenly lifted her head, her eyes fixed intently on Qi Ting. "Why didn't you tell me about this at the time?"

"Is it... that important?" Qi Ting began to sweat, "I mean... Sister Zhou Zhou, you didn't say you liked him back then."

"I remember you only gave me a few phone numbers and asked me to inquire about someone's contact information. When I asked who it was, you said it was a distant relative's kid."

"Moreover... mainly it was because when I had found the good-looking guy's contact information, the borrowing money stuff had already happened several years ago, and I only heard about it from someone who returned my call later."

"What did they say?" Lin Wanzhou pressed.

"Uh..." Qi Ting scratched her head, now genuinely flustered, having not seen Lin Wanzhou in this state in the years they'd worked together, "It was one of his female university classmates."

"I had called before, but it wasn't successful, probably got considered a nuisance call. Then, after I contacted the good-looking guy, that girl somehow returned my call."

"She mistook me for a debt collector, asked very detailed questions, but I bluffed my way out. Later, she told me that the good-looking guy had borrowed money all over the place years ago, but she didn't know what for."

"Sister Zhou Zhou?" Qi Ting glanced at her and saw her complexion was pale. "Did I... do something wrong again?"

Lin Wanzhou calmed herself for a moment, her voice steady.

"No, it's not about you."