Shi Yi: Don’t! No!
Auntie Chen had intended to agree.
The words were right on the tip of her tongue, but the very next second, she swallowed them back down—she had seen Gu Zhan’s chat history.
Auntie Chen: “…”
Her old heart trembled; if she hadn’t weathered many storms in her life, she would have dropped her phone for sure.
Those two screenshots!
…Forget it, let’s talk about the poems.
The poems sent at the very beginning were genuine compliments.
Things like 【Prettier than a flowering branch.】
Or 【A quick glance radiating charm, a glowing and fine jade-like face. Words unspoken, yet breath like a sweet orchid. Graceful and alluring in posture, making me forget to eat.】
Graceful and alluring, making me forget to eat—though a bit too direct, it wasn’t overly out of line.
Later, when Shi Yi blushed, the poems changed.
【Her delicate blushing cheek condenses shame as she unfolds, her willow waist like drunk, leaning close in warm embrace.】
【A light flush of spring upon her face, casting glances with sparkling eyes, an immortal stance and jade skin, divine charm naturally endowed.】
【A golden parrot inside the cage, a phoenix embroidered across her chest. Stealing secretive glances from afar, better to marry me and become a pair of lovebirds.】
Stealing secretive glances from afar, better to marry me and become a pair of lovebirds.
What did that mean?
Stop peeking at me in secret; you might as well just marry me and be lovebirds!
…It couldn’t bear close scrutiny.
Teacher Chen Hongmei had a kindly expression, but out of the corner of her eye, she darted a glance at Gu Zhan, who looked as if none of this had anything to do with him. “Ahem, let’s wait for everyone to read their own. What everyone wrote is quite fun, so I won’t get involved.”
Wen Xin: “Fun? Why don’t you read them out?”
Teacher Chen: “The male guests should read them to you. I wouldn’t dare interfere.”
She placed heavy emphasis on the words “wouldn’t dare.”
Wen Xin was persuaded; she looked at Xie Yixing, lost in thought.
Having Little Xie read poems to her—that would be a pretty good interaction.
?
???????
Teacher Chen Hongmei hid her trembling motion very quickly. Unobservant guests might not have noticed, but fans who had been staring non-stop couldn’t possibly miss it.
Fans: !!!!
From the moment Gu Zhan handed that slip of paper to Shi Yi, Little Liu had a bad feeling.
【My Male God, I! Am! Begging! You! Guys!】
【Isn’t this gesture way too natural?】
Little Liu: Deep breaths, deep breaths, Male God is just being thoughtful.
Then came sending messages to each other. When sending to others, the chat box took just two seconds, but when sending to the young lady, the little heart in the middle of the chat box never stopped!
Clicking in meant ‘In Private Chat’!
Clicking in again was still ‘In Private Chat’!
The fans hit another climax: 【Everyone make way!!! I can’t hold back the ship I’m stanning!】
【Sending to Wen Xin and Ming Qiuqiu was done in two seconds flat, how long has it been now? HOW LONG?!】
【Gu Zhan is still pretending he isn’t sending messages, keep pretending! If there’s nothing fishy, why not just post it out in the open! What are you hiding!!】
【Mama, I love this sweet candy with such a stark contrast!】
Little Liu: Haha, they must be discussing nicknames, old classmates always have a lot to talk about.
【Ahhhhhhhh look fast! The young lady is blushing!】
A scream drowned out Little Liu’s dry comment, and fans swarmed in:
【!!!! What on earth did my Male God send!】
【Gu Zhan, tell me what you sent! To make the young lady blush like that!】
【Stomping my feet on the spot, I can’t control my heart racing!】
【She actually blushed, blushed, blushed! Replaying this moment 800 times!】
【Can’t stop my brain from storming, my expression is gradually turning perverted!】
Little Liu gritted his teeth: Hmm? Blushing where? How come I didn’t see it?
And now—
The moment Teacher Chen Hongmei trembled, Little Liu’s heart trembled three times as well.
Sure enough, rows of ‘Ahhh’ merged into a vast ocean, and his existence was like a tiny boat in that sea, carried along by the waves without even making a splash.
Netizens:
【What did she see!】
【She trembled!! Screaming from the bottom of my lungs!】
【Read it, read it, read it! I beg you to read it out!】
【I can’t take it anymore, I can’t hold it back ahhhh!】
【I beg you to read it fast! I’m kneeling down for you, wuuu!】
Little Liu wanted to slam his keyboard and quit.
On screen, Gu Zhan didn’t know someone was in a dire situation because of his actions.
Hearing Auntie Chen’s “wouldn’t dare,” Gu Zhan’s eyelashes fluttered as he exchanged a look with his aunt.
Gu Zhan kept a calm expression. “Finished inspecting?”
Tsk.
She had underestimated the thickness of her nephew’s skin.
Auntie Chen handed the phones back one by one, keeping her composure. “Everyone has completed these few tasks. There’s still the love duet and the holding hands task left, shall we continue now?”
Wen Xin waved her phone and looked at Xie Yixing. “Wait a second, I haven’t had time to look at the poem Little Xie sent me. Little Xie, why don’t you read it out for me?”
Xie Yixing let out an “Ah?” “I read it?”
Wen Xin: “Yep.”
Xie Yixing looked left and right, appearing bashful. “Then, then I’ll read it.”
“What I wrote compliments beauty: ‘Throughout the ages, beauty knows no peer; a pleasing sight, a classic beauty near…’”
“…”
Xie Yixing’s face flushed red as soon as he finished reading. Under the gaze of so many people, reading something akin to a love poem made him deeply uncomfortable.
Fang Yanhang gave Little Xie a thumb-up. “Little Xie is so talented, I could never think of a poem like that. After pondering back and forth, the only poem I could think of to praise a woman was something about ‘a so-called fair lady on the water’s brink’.”
Ming Qiuqiu glanced at the poem she had received. “So you sent that single line to all three of us.”
Fang Yanhang: “…Isn’t that because all three of you are fair ladies?”
Fang Yanhang changed the subject. “Brother Gu, what did Brother Gu send you guys? Brother Gu has real talent.”
Wen Xin was amused to the point of laughter. “Don’t bring it up, he’s even worse than you.”
“Teacher Gu feels that I am suited for ‘a friendship between gentlemen is as pure as water’—good grief, is ‘a friendship between gentlemen is as pure as water’ even a poem?”
Normally speaking, ‘a friendship between gentlemen is as pure as water’ implied a compliment to her character, but Wen Xin felt she would much rather be praised for her looks.
Fang Yanhang and Xie Yixing were stunned.
Ming Qiuqiu raised her hand. “Me too.”
A friendship between gentlemen is as pure as water.
Ming Qiuqiu and Wen Xin turned together to look at Shi Yi. After Shi Yi took her phone back, even though Auntie Chen hadn’t shown any unusual reaction, her face still burned involuntarily.
Ignoring the people around her, Shi Yi forced herself to go along. “Yeah, me too.”
Gu Zhan laughed.
Her too?
Netizens: 【I don’t believe it】
【I don’t believe it】
【I don’t believe it either】
【Unless you pull it out and show us!】
【I beg you, let the children see, the children’s curiosity is about to explode!】
The guests couldn’t tell Shi Yi was lying. Wen Xin launched an attack on Gu Zhan, “Teacher Gu is still laughing!”
“Thankfully I saw through your true colors and didn’t plan to team up with you this time, otherwise wouldn’t I be infuriated to death?”
“Does Teacher Gu never say nice things to girls?”
No, he says them a lot.
Shi Yi would rather he kept his mouth shut!
Gu Zhan said indifferently, “Perhaps.”
He looked at Shi Yi, his eyes filled with meaningful depth.
Shi Yi: “…”
She glanced at the big screen, pretending not to see it. “There are still two tasks left, singing a love duet and holding hands for three seconds. Shall we do the tasks?”
This topic couldn’t continue. If they kept pressing him, what if Gu Zhan actually opened his mouth?
Wen Xin followed Shi Yi’s lead down the ladder. “Does the love duet mean singing a love song? Can we sing whatever, or are there rules?”
Wen Xin was known in the industry for being bright, generous, and outspoken, but being outspoken didn’t mean being brainless.
Her relationship with Gu Zhan wasn’t particularly close; teasingly pressing him a couple of times when emotions ran high was fine, but dragging it out endlessly wouldn’t be good.
After all, no rule stated a man had to be sweet to a woman, nor did Gu Zhan have to treat her well.
Teacher Chen spoke up at the right moment. “It needs to be scanned by the robot Little Tu. Everyone needs to invest real emotion, and if the emotion reaches the standard, it counts as completed.”
A robot could measure emotions? The guests were quite skeptical.
However, since the production crew dared to do it, they likely had some confidence.
Wen Xin: “Fine then, Little Xie, what love song shall we sing?”
“Anything is fine with me, which one does Sister Xin like?”
Xie Yixing had debuted through a talent show, so singing was his bread and butter, and he could sing most songs.
Shi Yi’s expression stiffened slightly—singing, huh.
Normally, hearing news about the robot should have made the netizens thrilled.
A robot detecting emotion meant whether they invested real feeling or not would be clear at a glance, so couldn’t the things they had been guessing about be verified?
…If only they hadn’t noticed the progress bar.
The netizens were on the verge of collapsing. The higher the anticipation, the deeper the despair—there was only one minute left! How could anyone finish singing a song!
【No way!】
【I want to hear it!! The young lady is a non-celebrity and can’t act; once a song is sung, everything will be exposed! How can it stop here?!】
【Bring me my Italian cannon! Production team, speak while looking at my cannon!】
【Give us another minute, please! I just want to know if Gu Zhan and the young lady really have something going on, just two minutes will do, two minutes!】
【Production team, be human! Plop, I’m kneeling down for you!】
Little Liu’s mood was quite the opposite.
The moment Teacher Chen said the robot could detect emotional investment, he had been startled.
Thankfully, thankfully.
Auntie Chen glanced at the time. The livestream was about to shut down. The viewers probably wouldn’t get to see the love song duet finish, but holding hands for three seconds was doable.
She spoke up, “Guests who need to build up their emotions can try Task 10 first.”
Task 10: holding hands.
Wen Xin pondered, “…Let’s sing the love song first.”
She needed to get into the mood. Having acted in so many dramas, holding hands really couldn’t stir up any interest in her; she had to think about how to act bashful.
Holding hands, huh.
Shi Yi lifted her eyes. The man was looking right at her, his gaze carrying a heavy weight that seemed to sever their little space from the rest of the room, causing the temperature in the air to rise continuously.
Shi Yi’s eyes brushed past Gu Zhan’s hands, and she couldn’t help shifting slightly to the side.
Gu Zhan’s Adam’s apple moved slightly. He lowered his gaze to conceal his eyes and grabbed her hand.
Acts as if nothing happened, cold and indifferent: “Wanna do a task?”
He held on tightly, the burning heat startling Shi Yi.
Shi Yi’s first reaction was to pull her hand back, but realizing that pulling away would draw even more attention, she stopped her movement.
She pressed down on it with a throw pillow.
…You’ve already held it, why are you still asking me.
Gu Zhan’s hand was pressed beneath the throw pillow, looking at the husky on the pillow with an utterly calm face.
Yet the hand under the pillow moved, forcing her fingers apart and stubbornly lacing his into hers.
Fingers intertwined.
The burning heat in her palm traveled along her bloodstream straight to her face.
Shi Yi felt her face burning.
The two seconds felt exceptionally long to her.
She tried her best to remain composed, pulling her hand outward. “That’s three seconds.”
Gu Zhan didn’t move a bit. “Is it? Didn’t notice.”
The final frame of the livestream froze on that slightly bulged throw pillow, and the man’s quiet, casual “didn’t notice.”
Countless netizens: “…”
Countless netizens: “…”
The netizens completely went insane.
Little Liu was utterly dumbfounded.
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