[My husband’s voice is so sultry, ahhhh!]
[Team up, team up! Team up with her!]
[Seriously though, did anyone else notice Gu Zhan’s face turn completely dark? Right in that final split second before the livestream shut off!]
[I saw it! So dark! It looked like he just heard someone was trying to steal his wife!]
[No way…]
[How come I didn’t see it? Must be a coincidence, right?]
[Ahhhh, I suddenly have a terrifying theory!]
When Yu Wensheng read up to this point, he broke into a cold sweat. Water army—where the hell was the water army?!
—
Gu Zhan hadn’t just turned dark-faced; his aura had practically frozen over.
Team up?
What dating?
Who is dating you?!
In that exact moment, he suddenly remembered that fortune teller’s bullshit fortune slip—
Gu Zhan sneered, “If you’re poor, at least have some self-awareness.”
Being that broke, and he still thinks he’s qualified to date?
Fang Yanhang was utterly dumbfounded. “…That pierced my heart, bro.”
The guests burst into laughter, doubling over with amusement. Even the usually shy Xie Yixing couldn’t help but chuckle.
Shi Yi lowered her head and let out a soft hmph.
Teacher Chen let out a meaningful laugh, looking at Gu Zhan with an even more meaningful gaze—Don’t be superstitious? No snipping peach blossoms?
—
Thanks to Gu Zhan stepping in, the topic was successfully bypassed.
And because they had shared a laugh at Fang Yanhang’s expense, the group grew a bit closer to one another.
Xie Yixing was still shy, but he began to voice his own thoughts. “Are we going to ride bicycles there?”
Fang Yanhang replied, “No, no way, let me save my money.”
Everyone laughed again.
When they were taking the cable car, they had felt that the sea of lavender wasn’t terribly large. Only when walking through it on foot did they realize just how vast it was. Coupled with the winding, twisting pebble paths, the group walked for over ten minutes and still hadn’t reached their destination.
Fortunately, Teacher Chen was an NPC—provided with food and clothing without a care in the world—so he didn’t need to join them.
“…Now I finally get why there were bicycles available. They calculated that we’d have no choice but to buy them.”
Wen Xin was panting heavily. “Damn it, I’m even wearing high heels!”
“Are you two wearing them?”
She was asking Shi Yi and Ming Qiuqiu.
Without realizing it, Shi Yi had fallen behind near the rear of the group.
Gu Zhan was walking right by her side. Tilting his head, he asked, “Tired?”
Shi Yi: You sure look like you’re looking forward to me being tired.
Hearing Wen Xin’s question, Shi Yi quickened her pace, intent on proving that she wasn’t tired in the slightest. She offered a hand to support Wen Xin slightly. “I’m not wearing any. How come you wore high heels?”
Wen Xin said, “I thought this was a normal dating variety show.”
“On a dating show, aren’t you supposed to just sit inside a house, talk about love, and show off affection?”
Ming Qiuqiu grabbed her other arm. “Before I came here, I thought so too.”
She wasn’t wearing high heels either.
Shi Yi: Before she came here, she didn’t even know this was a dating show.
So should she be thanking them for scamming her here?
Shi Yi looked at Wen Xin. “Are you really tired? Want to rest for a bit?”
“No need.”
Wen Xin refused. She was mostly worried about twisting her ankle—her heels were too thin, making every step on these cobblestones a hazard.
“Besides, if we walk too slowly, we’ll lose them.”
“Lose who?”
“The male guests, of course.”
“We won’t. They’re all waiting for us.”
Wen Xin: ???
Well, whaddya know.
Up ahead, Fang Yanhang and Xie Yixing had paused, and Gu Zhan was even walking slower than the two of them.
Wen Xin looked at Gu Zhan in surprise. “Did you undergo a personality shift this time??”
She still remembered the trauma of trying and failing to keep up with him last time—he hadn’t dropped her on purpose, but wasn’t it even scarier that he didn’t do it on purpose?! Did a drop-dead gorgeous woman like her really have that little presence?
After filming that dating show, Wen Xin had almost suffered an existential crisis. According to her manager, as soon as the stream ended that day, she had begged him for compliments just to rebuild her self-confidence, driving her manager to frantically spew endless rainbow farts.
Gu Zhan glanced at Shi Yi. “I wouldn’t dare.”
Shi Yi: Making it sound like I’m super bossy or something.
Wen Xin failed to notice their silent exchange.
Ming Qiuqiu raised her eyes, her gaze flickering subtly.
—
Crossing the dividing line of Peach Blossom Road, they entered the right half of the island. The scents of various delicacies overpowered the fragrance of lavender, wafting out through the open glass doors and enticing the hungry guests to enter and spend their money.
“Smells so good.”
“These restaurants are so romantic.”
“…The prices are probably very ‘romantic’ too.”
“Stop looking, let me head to the exchange hall first.” Wen Xin forcibly dragged her eyes away from the array of food. The balance on her bank card told her that she couldn’t afford these delicacies unless she was willing to stay behind and wash dishes to pay off her debt.
“Let’s go.”
The exchange hall was conspicuous among the various styled buildings. For no other reason than it was a behemoth—one building alone was as big as a whole cluster of restaurants.
However, the exchange hall only occupied a fraction of this building; the rest consisted of shops.
The exchange hall was divided into several service windows, each hanging a sign above: Poet Exchange Window, Singer Exchange Window, Farmer Exchange Window, Cleaner Exchange Window…
Since they were already here, they might as well ask about the rates.
The staff member gave a picture-perfect smile. “Farmers can choose to sell wild vegetables. Every ten catties of wild vegetables can be exchanged for one gold coin.”
“Cleaners can earn different levels of rewards based on their assigned areas. Level 1: Sweeping the reception area of Sweet Cabin will earn you three gold coins.”
“Poems used for trade by poets must meet quality requirements, fulfilling basic parallelism and rhyming. They will be evaluated by experts into three tiers, earning 1, 3, and 5 gold coins respectively.”
“Singers can go on a concert tour. Ten audience members will rate your performance, and you will receive gold coins based on the score.”
“…”
Shi Yi’s smile stiffened. There’s an audience too…?
She mused, “If someone only gets five points, wouldn’t that be a little embarrassing?”
Gu Zhan: “…”
He turned his head away, trying his best not to laugh out loud, though the laughter in his eyes grew increasingly dense.
Instead of that, why not worry about whether you’ll set a new record low?
Once the staff member finished her introduction, she gave the guests some time to think before flashing a smile. “By the way, today is the Love Festival! The production team has prepared a surprise gift for everyone!”
She clapped her hands. A door suddenly opened on the silver-colored wall, revealing a large round table inside, laden with an abundant feast.
A mouth-watering aroma surged forward.
The staff member paused, adding a line: “It’s free of charge!”
The moment those words were uttered, the guests’ eyes lit up instantly. To them, the table full of dishes practically radiated a golden glow.
Their waists no longer ached, their feet no longer hurt, and their moods instantly brightened.
Shi Yi took a seat by the window, and Gu Zhan, quick on his feet, sat down right beside her.
Fang Yanhang didn’t overthink things and settled for the seat near the entrance.
Everyone was truly starving and picked up their chopsticks to attack the food.
Wen Xin chewed while whimpering happily, “Free stuff tastes the best! Thank goodness we didn’t spend money earlier!”
“Thank you, Director!”
Ming Qiuqiu took a spoonful of soup. “Sister Xin, you were calling the director a dog just a minute ago.”
Wen Xin: “That was then, this is now.”
Ming Qiuqiu: “What if after we finish eating, the director demands payment again?”
Wen Xin: “Qiuqiu, don’t jinx us!”
Shi Yi didn’t join in the chatter, using her chopsticks to grab the shrimp in front of her. She loved shrimp, but she was very picky; the flavor of this dish happened to suit her palate perfectly.
Beside her, the man lowered his long eyelashes. His fingers lightly rotated the lazy Susan, and the plate of shrimp came to a stop directly in front of her once more.
The round table was quite large, with seats spaced over a meter apart. The table was packed with a dizzying array of dishes, and no one had the time to pay attention to others. Only after a round of furious eating did their pace slow down, putting them in the mood to chat.
Wen Xin felt immensely satisfied. “I wonder how much this table of food costs. As long as it’s under five gold coins, I’ll come eat here every day.”
Fang Yanhang let out a scoff. “You have five gold coins right now?”
Making it sound as if five gold coins were so easy to earn.
Ming Qiuqiu gave a somewhat embarrassed smile. “I can pay for it.”
Fang Yanhang choked on his words.
Ming Qiuqiu: “It’s very easy for models to earn money. I can’t finish all that food by myself anyway.”
Ming Qiuqiu comforted him further, “Don’t worry, Senior Fang. Being a cleaner is also a very easy way to make money.”
Fang Yanhang: No, it isn’t.
Fang Yanhang’s eyes darted around, deep in thought. “How about I… find a cute sugar mama?”
The man who had been staring unabashedly at someone suddenly paused.
Young Master Fang still had a bit of pride he couldn’t let go of, but hey—whose soft rice isn’t soft rice? He used to live off his dad’s money anyway, so what was the difference if he just switched to someone else?
Once Fang Yanhang rationalized it, he uncrossed his legs, straightened his clothes, and picked up his bowl to scoop a serving of Peach Blossom Soup.
“Ahem.”
The Peach Blossom Soup rotated away from right under his nose.
Fang Yanhang: ???
He glanced at the other guests. Everyone had completely normal expressions, so he assumed someone just hadn’t noticed.
He waited a moment, rotated the Peach Blossom Soup back to his side, and reached for the soup ladle—
The table spun away again.
This happened three times in a row.
Fang Yanhang looked at the Peach Blossom Soup that was now a hundred and eight thousand miles away, and then looked at the pig’s trotter sticking up right in front of him.
Fang Yanhang: …I suspect someone is targeting me.
His eyes landed on Gu Zhan’s two fingers.
Cool and composed, Gu Zhan placed a peeled shrimp onto a plate, gave the turntable a gentle spin, and downstream, Shi Yi picked up the shrimp from the plate with her chopsticks.
The man wiped his hands and cast a calm glance in his direction.
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