Xiang Lingyun tried to pull Shen Fu back.
Jiang Shu gripped Shen Fu’s hand tightly and shoved Xiang Lingyun aside with his shoulder.
Back and forth they went, and Xiang Lingyun couldn’t get close to Shen Fu at all.
Blindfolded, Shen Fu had absolutely no idea what was happening.
Suppressing the veins bulging on his forehead, Xiang Lingyun looked toward the production team. “Weren’t people not allowed to talk? Mr. Jiang’s violation of the rules is way too obvious!”
Jiang Shu looked down at him and sneered. “And aren’t you breaking the rules right now too?”
The production team felt enormous pressure.
Logically speaking, they should point out Jiang Shu’s violation and preserve the fairness of the game. But they genuinely didn’t dare offend him. Compared to offending Jiang Shu, they’d rather offend ten top celebrities.
The director stepped forward under tremendous pressure to mediate. “How about we start over and choose again?”
Jiang Shu replied immediately: “Fine.”
The director sighed in relief.
Looks like Jiang Shu wasn’t as unreasonable as the rumors claimed.
Jiang Shu released Shen Fu’s hand.
Then, the moment Shen Fu pulled her hand free, he grabbed it again.
“Done. We’ve reselected.” Jiang Shu unilaterally declared the matter settled.
Director: “…”
Xiang Lingyun: “…”
Comments:【……】
“Have we already chosen again?” Shen Fu asked through her black blindfold, unsure which direction she should even face. “Then I’ll choose whoever this is.”
This time, the hand felt like Jiang Shu’s.
Xiang Lingyun’s expression became uglier and uglier.
How was this fair?
This was outright stealing someone from him!
Shen Fu must not realize that the shameless person who grabbed her hand the second time was Jiang Shu too, right?!
The production team coughed awkwardly and tried to smooth things over. “Then, Teacher Shen Fu, please come this way.”
Jiang Shu held Shen Fu’s hand and started walking toward the room alongside her.
The production team panicked. “Come back! The male guests still have to participate in the game!”
Jiang Shu paused.
Only then did he suddenly remember that the rules of this round weren’t actually about taking away the female guest you liked.
Reluctantly, he handed Shen Fu over to the staff and returned to his position.
After that, Zuo Mei successfully chose Wen Zhenghan as she’d hoped.
Gu Qingshuang had long witnessed how hopelessly devoted Chu Wei was to Shen Fu and had no desire to bother with such a simp.
She actually wanted to choose Jiang Shu.
But when she reached forward, she couldn’t even reach the fourth male guest.
So she settled for the next best option and chose the third one.
That should be Xiang Lingyun, right?
Xiang Lingyun was fine too.
Amid all the chaos, the blindfold-selection round finally came to an end.
The comments were stunned:【The Crown Prince completely cheated!】
The people most dissatisfied were Chu Wei’s fans.
Everyone’s attention had been focused on Jiang Shu snatching Shen Fu away from Xiang Lingyun.
Nobody had paid attention to the fact that Jiang Shu had yanked Chu Wei aside so hard that he nearly stumbled and fell.
Though they weren’t entirely satisfied with Shen Fu either.
To be honest, as fans of a young male celebrity, they probably wouldn’t be satisfied with any future girlfriend.
Rather than someone else, Shen Fu wasn’t actually that bad.
Leaving aside the fact that Chu Wei genuinely liked her, just considering Shen Fu’s rapidly rising status in the entertainment industry, plus her beauty that completely outclassed everyone else’s, having a sister-in-law like Shen Fu actually sounded pretty good!
Although they normally didn’t show it, Chu Wei’s fans were definitely keeping score at a time like this.
Only they were allowed to dislike Shen Fu.
Nobody else was allowed to snatch Shen Fu away from Chu Wei.
So they secretly began complaining:
【Is it really okay to be this competitive on a dating show that’s supposed to be fair, open, and impartial?】
【Ha, is this what having money and power looks like? You get whoever you want? The production team isn’t saying a word either, everyone’s suddenly gone silent? Now I actually believe those rumors from last night about Young Master Jiang forcibly taking what he wanted. When Shen Fu put her hand in his, she looked completely unwilling!】
Jiang Shu had gained plenty of fans from appearing on the show.
And human nature was to admire strength.
Given how thoroughly he outclassed the other male guests in every aspect, aside from the fans of those male guests, most casual viewers were on his side.
Not to mention the rapidly rising Shen Fu–Jiang Shu ship fandom.
They immediately fired back at Chu Wei’s fans:【So what if he broke the rules? So what if he cheated? Chasing your wife means using every method available! Look at your Ge being such a coward. No wonder your Ge doesn’t have a wife!】
Ignoring the fan wars entirely, more people were discussing the actual plot developments.
【Seriously though, the Crown Prince is way too obvious now, isn’t he?!】
Previously he’d still tried to hide it.
Now he wasn’t even pretending anymore.
He literally snatched her away right in front of everyone!
Thinking back on it now, there was a very good chance he’d come onto the show specifically for Shen Fu from the very beginning!
On the first day, when he wanted to switch seats with Xu Tiaotiao, it wasn’t because he wanted to sit across from Gu Qingshuang at all.
Wasn’t it obviously because Shen Fu was sitting beside that seat?
And later, when he clashed with Chu Wei in the gym, wasn’t it because he knew Chu Wei was Shen Fu’s ex-boyfriend and deliberately wanted to provoke him?
The show was already almost halfway over.
For twelve days straight, he’d basically been fighting one-against-three.
Everyone thought he just had a bad temper.
Looking at it now, wasn’t he simply driving away every male around Shen Fu?
The comment section was filled with Jiang Shu’s appearance fans practically dying of envy:
【Waaah, I want to possess Shen Fu right now. Does anyone understand me?】
【Wait a second.】
Xiang Lingyun’s fans looked at those comments in confusion and protested:
【If the Crown Prince wants to pursue Shen Fu, then fine. But when you say he’s been targeting three people every day, that includes our Ge too. Why would he be hostile toward our Ge? Our Ge has never shown any interest in Shen Fu from beginning to end.】
While the comments remained chaotic, the production team announced the second mini-segment of the date round: “All guests have now completed their mutual selections. Please remove your blindfolds and confirm who you’ve selected.”
“After confirming, everyone should return to their rooms for a one-hour cooling-off period.”
“A cooling-off period?” Chu Wei, the only person who hadn’t been chosen by anyone, spoke up.
“That’s right. Since the previous selection was done blindfolded, we’ll give the female guests time to reconsider.”
“During this one-hour period, the male guests can use the phones we’ve provided to send text messages to the female guest they’d like to date, or they can knock directly on her door.”
“In other words, every male guest will be given one more opportunity to actively pursue the person they want.”
The audience’s attention instantly shifted.
【The production team really knows how to play.】
【Who do you think will actually make a move?】
To be honest, viewers were pretty confused too.
At this point, Chu Wei’s situation was completely clear.
He was simply a lovesick ex who had come onto the show hoping to reconcile.
The Crown Prince also seemed to have come specifically for Shen Fu.
The only people still shrouded in mystery were the Film Emperor and Xiang Lingyun.
During those two days in Cuirujia, the Film Emperor had behaved completely out of character, constantly approaching Shen Fu.
But after returning to the country, he’d gone quiet again.
And he seemed to be on terrible terms with the Film Empress.
It was impossible to tell whether he genuinely wanted to try getting along with Shen Fu, or whether he’d simply been fighting with the Film Empress and was deliberately trying to make her jealous.
Everything was incredibly unclear.
As for top idol Xiang Lingyun,
Before the Any Door segment two nights ago, he barely interacted with Shen Fu either.
Yet during that segment, he suddenly revealed that he thought Shen Fu liked him.
Which was equally bizarre.
Still, he probably didn’t have strong feelings for Shen Fu…
right?
Someone analyzed:【Everyone else already got someone they more or less wanted. The only person likely to actively pursue someone now is probably Chu Wei. He’ll probably go knock on Shen Fu’s door.】
While viewers were busy analyzing, the guests all returned to their rooms.
Before closing his door, Jiang Shu glanced toward Shen Fu uneasily.
The moment the door shut, he quietly stood in place and pressed his ear against it, listening for activity outside.
But after waiting for a while, there wasn’t a single sound in the hallway.
No one came out.
Chu Wei, Wen Zhenghan, and Xiang Lingyun all remained in their respective rooms, their expressions less than pleasant.
Every one of them was a major figure in the entertainment industry.
How had appearing on a dating show turned into this?
First, they discovered that all three of them were Shen Fu’s ex-boyfriends.
Then they discovered that the Crown Prince, who seemed least likely to have feelings for Shen Fu, was actually her most fanatical pursuer.
At first, Chu Wei had thought Jiang Shu was simply attracted to Shen Fu’s looks and was casually pursuing her.
But after watching today’s performance, it clearly wasn’t like that at all.
If this were a historical novel, Jiang Shu would be the kind of tyrannical emperor who marched his army to the city gates at any moment.
Meanwhile, Wen Zhenghan was busy thinking about how to handle his upcoming date with Zuo Mei when his phone suddenly chimed.
Frowning, he picked it up.
Chu Wei had created a group chat and added both him and Xiang Lingyun.
The group was called:
“Ex-Boyfriend Alliance.”
Wen Zhenghan: “…”
Xiang Lingyun: “…”
Although Xiang Lingyun wasn’t quite as shameless as Jiang Shu, his temper wasn’t exactly good either.
He’d only been pretending before.
Now that all three of them had laid their cards on the table, he immediately started cursing in the group chat: “Are you an idiot? Creating a group is one thing, but why give it such a stupid name?”
“I don’t want to argue with you.” Chu Wei was already furious enough and wanted to get to the main point. So he changed the group name again. “Operation Win Back Our Ex-Girlfriend.”
Wen Zhenghan: “…”
Xiang Lingyun: “…”
“Still not good enough?” Chu Wei rolled his eyes.
Why were these two so difficult?
He jabbed at the screen repeatedly and changed the name yet again: “Anti-Jiang Alliance.”
Wen Zhenghan: “…”
Xiang Lingyun: “…”
Xiang Lingyun was truly at a loss for words now. He finally understood why Shen Fu had broken up with this guy after only two months of dating. There was genuinely something wrong with this kid’s brain.
“Do you f*cking think we’re fighting a flood here?”
“Let’s pause the arguing for a moment.” Chu Wei said, “Don’t you think that while we’re standing here fighting among ourselves, the one benefiting from it all is someone else? Mr. Jiang hides his intentions very deeply. At first, nobody realized he was here for Shen Fu, so everyone let their guard down around him. Now we’re screwed. We’re bashing each other’s heads in here while he’s winning Shen Fu’s heart.”
“What heart?” Xiang Lingyun was displeased by that statement. “If he hadn’t cheated today, Shen Fu was originally planning to choose me. I don’t see any sign that Shen Fu likes him.”
Chu Wei said, “Anyway, what I mean is, right now he’s the final boss. Can we unite temporarily? Let’s eliminate him first.”
Xiang Lingyun thought it over.
Chu Wei’s proposal was actually advantageous to him.
As far as Shen Fu was concerned, Chu Wei was already a thing of the past. That was obvious from how she had repeatedly rejected him since joining the show.
As for Wen Zhenghan, according to Chu Wei, he had seen it with his own eyes, Shen Fu had never invested any real feelings in Wen Zhenghan.
So if they could get Jiang Shu eliminated, the person with the best chance of winning would be himself.
Besides, Xiang Lingyun had suffered setback after setback because of Jiang Shu and was thoroughly annoyed with him.
“Fine,” Xiang Lingyun said slowly.
Chu Wei turned to Wen Zhenghan. “Senior Wen, what about you?”
Wen Zhenghan almost laughed from anger.
Chu Wei was such a scheming little green tea. Whenever he needed something, it was Senior Wen; when he didn’t, he mocked him for being old.
Wen Zhenghan said, “Temporary truce.”
“OK.” Chu Wei said, “Then, Ling Ge, you go knock on Shen Fu’s door.”
At present, neither he nor the Film Emperor had any chance of success. Only Xiang Lingyun seemed to have some hope.
Even without Chu Wei saying anything, Xiang Lingyun had already planned to do exactly that.
To prevent Jiang Shu at the end of the hallway from hearing and coming out to interfere again, he opened his door very carefully and quietly, like someone sneaking off to destroy an enemy tower.
The livestream audience had been wondering why Chu Wei still hadn’t come out when they suddenly saw Xiang Lingyun appear in the corridor.
[What’s the top idol going to do? Go discuss date details with Xu Tiaotiao?]
[Why isn’t Chu Wei going to find Shen Fu?]
Xiang Lingyun’s fans: [Shen Fu’s fans are getting more and more outrageous lately. Even when nobody related to your girl is on screen, you’re still bringing up Shen Fu. My Ge isn’t going to see your…]
Before they could finish typing, Xiang Lingyun appeared outside Shen Fu’s door.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
The door opened.
Shen Fu looked at him.
Shen Fu closed the door.
From beginning to end, the entire interaction lasted no more than three seconds.
Xiang Lingyun’s hand froze in midair.
He stood there like a wooden chicken.
Xiang Lingyun’s fans: […]
His fans collectively lost their minds:
[AHHHHHHHHHHHH HOLY SH*T AHHHHHHHHHH!]
Wen Zhenghan’s fans:
[HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA]
Chu Wei’s fans:
[HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA]
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