Chapter 85
In the restaurant, Xie Mi laid out the three breakfast sets one by one.
The first set: a light meal — black coffee + boiled corn + boiled egg + boiled broccoli.
In the monitoring room, Xiao Jingxi pressed his lips into a smile.
He had known Xie Mi since high school and understood her preferences better than anyone.
Those junk foods she ate on shows were only for maintaining her “persona.” In reality, she had long been on a fat-loss diet and preferred healthy light meals.
Naturally, no one else understood this about her as well as he did.
Xie Mi opened the second set: fragrant river snail rice noodles (luosifen) + fried egg + braised pork trotters + iced cola.
Yu Jinzhe smiled silently.
The night before, he had messaged Xie Lian.
According to Xie Lian, the first night Xie Mi came home, she cooked a pot of “stinky noodles” and laughed maniacally while eating, scaring Xie Lian so badly she couldn’t sleep all night.
That pack of noodles was exactly XX brand luosifen, so he had gone out of his way to buy the same one, pairing it with the best companions for luosifen — fried egg and pork trotters.
Surely, Xie Mi would not be able to resist this temptation.
The restaurant was instantly filled with that infamous stench. The three female guests all wrinkled their brows, and Lai Bingxuan even gagged aloud.
But Xie Mi’s eyes sparkled as she eagerly opened the last set.
Soy milk + fried dough sticks + seaweed wonton soup.
She froze for a moment.
[Ahhhhh why do I feel like Yu Jinzhe is about to win?]
[Sister Xie Mi’s eyes lit up when she saw the snail rice noodles!]
[Isn’t this hitting her straight in the heart? My CP is in danger!!]
[Did Shen Yanqing really prepare something this plain? From what I know of Sister Xie, something ordinary like this would never be in her choices.]
[Yu Jinzhe is pretty observant — only a few days in and he already figured out Old Xie’s preferences.]
[Sweet-talking Xie x Yu shippers are celebrating!!]
Both Xiao Jingxi and Yu Jinzhe — who saw Shen Yanqing as their greatest rival — smiled in unison.
To them, victory was already in the bag.
But Shen Yanqing wasn’t in any rush to show his emotions. His long, slender fingers idly traced the rim of his cup, while his deep, abyss-like eyes stared fixedly at the girl on the screen.
Only when the girl picked up the bowl of seaweed wontons did his previously taut gaze soften into a sudden smile.
[Huh?? Huh?? HUH???]
[Exm? This can’t be scripted, right? Is the production team secretly Team Xie x Shen too?]
[Why would Sister Xie choose the plainest option? Beaver??]
[Maybe she’s not used to the smell of snail rice noodles? Sure, she usually likes instant noodles, but the stink of snail rice noodles isn’t for everyone… so maybe?]
[No! Not maybe! When she saw that snail rice noodles, her eyes practically drooled. As a fellow snail rice noodles fan, I recognized that look instantly!]
[Then why in the world did Sister Xie precisely choose Old Shen’s set?!!]
Even Xiao Jingxi and Yu Jinzhe in the control room exchanged suspicious looks at Director Niu.
Clearly, they too suspected collusion.
Director Niu raised his hands innocently, “You know me. I only play real.”
To be honest, he was shocked by Xie Mi’s choice too!
Xiao Jingxi and Yu Jinzhe: “……”
Meanwhile, in the restaurant, Xie Mi gave her answer with actions.
She sipped a spoonful of seaweed wonton soup, her eyes lighting up instantly. She gave the female PD a thumbs-up.
“Less salt, extra seaweed and shrimp — this soup is the freshest! The production team really knows their stuff!”
After a few wontons, she eagerly dunked a crispy youtiao into the soy milk and took a huge bite.
“Soy milk-soaked fried dough sticks — I’ve been craving this bite so much!”
As she ate, she praised non-stop, moved to the point of tears.
Because right outside her childhood neighborhood was a fried dough sticks stall and a wonton shop, soy milk with fried dough and wontons had always been her favorite combo since she was little.
And wonton soup with less salt, more dried shrimp, and extra seaweed — that was a “precious discovery” she had made after years of eating wontons.
She hadn’t expected the production team to accidentally recreate it today.
What a joy!
[Sister Xie is… actually eating so happily?]
[Come on, Chinese breakfast is forever god-tier, is that so hard to understand? Why would you assume she’d pick snail rice noodles? Isn’t snail rice noodles better suited for midnight snacks?]
[If it were me, I’d also pick Old Shen’s soy milk and fried dough sticks are the unbeatable combo.]
[Didn’t I just eat breakfast? Why am I hungry again watching this?]
[No kidding, Old Xie could totally switch careers to mukbang.]
[I’m standing right here. Let’s see who dares to cry “script.”]
[Script? Not a chance. This is Xie Mi we’re talking about.]
[…………]
A single truth dawned on everyone: If there’s one person you can’t give a script to, it’s Xie Mi.
And so, the doubts dissolved. Instead, the perfect synergy between Xie x Shen CP drove their shippers into a frenzy.
After finishing the wontons, Xie Mi — true to expectations — started eating the snail rice noodles as well, proving Shen Yanqing’s prediction right.
Breakfast ended, and the production team finally explained the bizarre morning to the female guests.
“Ohhh, so that’s why! No wonder the production team suddenly served breakfast.” Liu Woxing realized.
Xu Shuangrong smiled faintly. “Teacher Xie really is popular.”
Lai Bingxuan only rolled her eyes disdainfully, “No or no, I still don’t care for that bunch of stinky men.”
Only Xie Mi sank into thought.
Soy milk, fried dough sticks, and seaweed wontons… Shen Yanqing had prepared that?
Then that time he called her “Liuliu” absolutely wasn’t a dream!
She couldn’t believe so many coincidences could all come from the same person.
Thinking of this, Xie Mi turned to look deeply at Shen Yanqing.
Just what secret are you hiding?
Morning pairings ended.
Shen Yanqing & Xie Mi, and Qiu Chengye & Liu Woxing — two CPs boarded a luxury stretch limousine to begin their custom day-dates.
The remaining guests, however, had to squeeze into a bus bound for a pig farm on the northern outskirts.
The joys and sorrows of humans are never the same.
Inside the limo, Director Niu handed two tablets to the CPs.
“Please choose your first destination.”
On the screen were two options: luxury yacht or street-food alley.
“Luxury yacht!” Qiu Chengye blurted out in a rush, afraid he’d miss his chance.
At least a yacht barely suited his status. But some smoky little alley full of food stalls? Who knew what kind of greasy smoke might ruin his designer clothes.
To that, Director Niu added casually, “No need to rush. You can both choose the same option if you like. Since it’s a custom date, it’s entirely up to your preferences.”
Qiu Chengye immediately grew tense again.
Wait — the same option?
For some reason, an image flashed in his mind of Xie Mi kicking him off the yacht.
“…………”
On Shen Yanqing and Xie Mi’s side, though, they didn’t rush their decision.
Xie Mi carefully read the descriptions under the two options, while Shen Yanqing simply waited patiently for her choice.
“The luxury yacht has a Michelin chef serving French fine dining. The street-food alley is full of viral online delicacies. What’s there to hesitate about? I choose street-food alley!”
