Chapter 28
Xie Mi’s sudden intrusion caught the staff off guard.
For a moment, no one was paying attention to Liu Woxing’s heart rate—everyone’s priority was figuring out how to get Xie Mi out of the room.
Taking advantage of the distraction, Liu Woxing tried to regulate her breathing, attempting to calm her racing pulse.
But it wasn’t that easy. The man’s mocking words still echoed in her mind, and she could clearly hear her heart thundering in her chest.
No, if this continued—
“I’ll quiz you first!”
That crisp, lively voice cut straight through her thoughts.
“‘So Annoying! The Villain Always Wants to Steal My Master!’—which classic novel is that?”
Xie Mi unceremoniously helped herself to the cake on Liu Woxing’s plate, raising an eyebrow at the man across the table.
He froze, then quickly replied, “That’s not a classic at all!”
“How dare you say it’s not a classic? Haven’t you read Journey to the West?” Xie Mi shot back without hesitation.
The man was dumbfounded.
Villain always trying to steal my master… Journey to the West…
[Wait, that… actually makes sense lol]
[You can’t be serious… HAHAHAHA I’m losing it]
“Next question. ‘Dominant! Overbearing! Tiger Girl’s Forced Love’—which classic?”
The man wracked his brain. “…No idea.”
“It’s Rickshaw Boy! Next question. ‘The Sickly Young Master and the Handsome Farmhand’—what’s that one?”
“Still no idea…”
“Young Run Tu! Next—‘My Insane Upperclassman Wants to Kill Me Every Year’…”
[Oh I know this one! It’s Harry Potter!]
[Looks like if you give classics webnovel-style names, they all sound explosive]
[Honestly, the world itself is just one big Tomato Novel]
…
The chat was completely derailed by Xie Mi—full of “HAHAHA” and people making up more examples.
Even the man across the table got sucked into her bizarre logic. Forgetting his actual task, he listened with fascination.
“Interesting, interesting. Then how would you rename Romance of the Three Kingdoms?”
“Oh, that’s easy…”
The staff nearly exploded through the earpieces, “You’ve already gone off track! Stop engaging her!!”
“Pfft—”
Liu Woxing couldn’t hold it anymore and lowered her head, laughing softly.
Her smile was like ripples spreading across a still pond, gentle and serene, putting viewers at ease.
[Aaaah, I love Woxing so much—she’s gorgeous when she smiles]
[Wait, come to think of it, she never actually got angry. Even when her date was being so rude, she kept her cool. Such a good temper]
[Truly a proper lady]
In the end, Liu Woxing’s persona held steady.
Not like in the original storyline, where the beeping watch exposed her anger, her graceful image cracked, and she was dragged on Weibo for ages as “two-faced.”
…
The mock blind dates concluded. The guests’ results were as follows:
Xie Mi turned the tables and made her date faint with rage.
Qiu Chengye went berserk and stormed out.
Xiao Jingxi argued rationally, and though angry, maintained his gentlemanly demeanor without losing control.
Xu Shuangrong was brought to tears but stubbornly held her ground, voicing her own opinions.
Liu Woxing’s date was interrupted by Xie Mi.
Shen Yeqing’s hearing problem resurfaced.
Yes, the hearing problem resurfaced.
That long-forgotten trait from day one of the show—when he struggled to converse with Xu Shuangrong—was suddenly back.
The scene went something like this:
Date: “Blah blah blah blah blah!”
Shen Yeqing: “Huh?”
Date: “Blah blah blah quack quack!”
Shen Yeqing: “Huh?”
Date: “Fck you, you fcking son of a b*tch!”
Shen Yeqing: “Huh?”
Blind date over.
The staff backstage were speechless.
So Mr. Shen’s deafness was… intermittent?
…
The guests all rode back to the villa in the production van.
As soon as Xie Mi saw Shen Yeqing board, she clapped a hand over her mouth and whispered a stream of insults about his ancestors.
Then—flick! Shen Yeqing smacked her forehead with a finger. “Filthy words.”
“…Wait, you can hear me?” Xie Mi rubbed her forehead in disbelief. “Didn’t they say you were hard of hearing?”
Clearly, someone in the crew was feeding her fake intel.
“Sometimes.”
“What do you mean sometimes?”
“Selective hearing. Cuts down on pointless socializing.”
He paused, as if recalling something, and a faint smile tugged at his lips, “Someone once taught me that.”
The last part was so quiet Xie Mi didn’t catch it—she only heard the first half.
She couldn’t help but admire his mindset, “Just like me.”
“Mr. Shen.”
At some point, Xu Shuangrong had gotten into the car. She seemed to have overheard their conversation. Her eyes were red.
“So… on the first day, when you were talking to me—did you also think of me as pointless socializing?”
She looked like an abandoned little rabbit, thin shoulders trembling.
Shen Yeqing responded lazily, “That’s my personal flaw. Nothing to do with you.”
“In other words—he’s a jerk, and it’s not your fault.” Xie Mi translated.
Xu Shuangrong choked.
Her carefully prepared lines were blocked on the spot.
With others still boarding the van, she swallowed her words and moved to the back seat.
When Xiao Jingxi got on, he noticed Shen Yeqing sitting beside Xie Mi and frowned.
He was about to sit in the seat behind Xie Mi, but someone beat him to it.
“Movie King Xiao, I’m feeling a bit carsick today. Can I sit here instead?” It was Liu Woxing.
The corner of Xiao Jingxi’s mouth twitched, but in the end, he had no choice but to sit in the back.
The car ride passed in silence.
But the viewers had turned into Sherlock Holmes, analyzing every detail of the strange atmosphere.
[Xu Shuangrong cried during her date, and her eyes are still red. No way Xiao Jingxi didn’t notice. But he didn’t comfort her at all. Is this really a CP?]
[Doesn’t seem like a fight either. Just now, Xiao Jingxi wanted to sit behind Xie Mi]
[Is this couple really over?]
CP fans broke down again and immediately clashed with casual viewers. The live chat became a battlefield.
The arguing didn’t stop even after the guests returned to the villa.
Xiao Jingxi approached Xu Shuangrong, his tone flat, “Let’s talk.”
Xu Shuangrong froze for a second. “…Okay.”
[Here we go, here we go, everyone shut up]
[I have a bad feeling about this conversation]
[No, it has to be a reconciliation!]
They walked into the back garden.
Xiao Jingxi wasted no time, cutting straight to the point.
“That drama we starred in finished airing two months ago. The promotions are more or less done.”
“All those interactions we did for publicity—we can stop now.”
