Chapter 36

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Chapter 36: Title

The director continued, "And the remaining group of disappointing teams is—"

Each group knew whether they were successful in finding the treasure, so the director did not keep them in suspense and said, "Liu Tian and An Xin’s group!"

An Xin gave a wry smile at the camera.

Liu Tian’s features drooped, looking like a hungry little puppy.

It just happened that the two failed groups were sitting very close together, and the photographer gave a close-up shot of both teams.

Compared to An Xin and Liu Tian, who clearly had sadness written on their faces, the expressions of the other two were more subtle.

Wei Yao originally had lowered her gaze when she heard her name, feeling quite down. But after the director announced another group, she suddenly looked up, as if she were looking for someone, and she seemed a bit happy.

Gong Yu’s expression was even more impressive.

At first, he remained calm when he heard the director mention his name and Wei Yao. However, when he heard the director announce who the other group was, a look of shock appeared on his face, and his gaze unconsciously drifted toward Song Yutian, who was sitting in front of him.

After the treasure hunt ended, the live stream changed to show only one main perspective. Gong Yu thought the camera would surely shift to Liu Tian and An Xin at this moment, so he relaxed his expression a bit. Little did he know, he had been caught in a close-up shot, and the camera captured every change in his expression.

Gong Yu’s mind was even more shocked than he appeared. What was happening? Hadn’t Song Yutian returned later than them? How could she have found the treasure?

Gong Yu quietly glanced at Gu Feng, thinking: Could it be that Gu Feng had found the treasure on his own after separating from Song Yutian and returned early? Song Yutian really was lucky.

Thinking of this, Gong Yu clenched his teeth in frustration. Why? Why was he in the same group as Wei Yao?

In terms of popularity, Wei Yao was not as popular as Su Moying; in skills and intelligence, she also did not rank among the top contestants. The only advantage was that Wei Yao had a moderate level of fame**—**she had fans, but not too many die-hard ones, making her an ideal object for publicity.

Gong Yu himself ranked low in attention among the contestants, even below Wei Yao. If he could team up with a star like Wei Yao for publicity, he would surely gain a lot of attention—no doubt the benefits would outweigh the drawbacks.

Since he had teamed up with Wei Yao, he had been trying to make their relationship a bit romantic. At first, it was fine, but later Wei Yao became less cooperative, especially after Song Yutian showed up.

Fortunately, he would soon be able to change partners. Gong Yu thought to himself, imagining the other female contestants and figuring out which one would be more beneficial for him to team up with.

Just as Gong Yu thought of this, he suddenly heard Liu Tian say, "Sister Yutian!"

Hearing Liu Tian’s voice, everyone except Song Yutian turned to look. They were all curious about why Liu Tian suddenly called Song Yutian at that moment.

Among them, Gong Yu’s reaction was the strongest**—**he immediately looked over as if he was expecting something.

Liu Tian’s words really surprised everyone, "Sister Yutian, I’m sorry."

After Liu Tian spoke, aside from Liu Tian and An Xin, as well as Song Yutian herself, everyone wore a puzzled expression.

Song Yutian looked both amused and confused, "What are you sorry for?"

Liu Tian wore a pitiful expression, "Sister Yutian, you came to help us, but we still couldn’t find the treasure."

An Xin was clearly not ready for Liu Tian’s sudden comment, but after she processed it, she said, "I’m sorry, Sister Yutian, for troubling you to come so far to help us, but in the end, we still failed."

Song Yutian shook her head helplessly and said, "It’s really nothing. I only played mahjong for ten minutes. You all make it sound like I walked through fire and climbed a mountain!"

Liu Tian said, "Sister Yutian, you won’t blame us, right?"

Song Yutian smiled and replied, "Of course not."

Liu Tian’s expression changed from feeling wronged to hopeful, "Then can I still ask Sister Yutian for help in the future?"

Song Yutian was taken aback for a moment and said, "Sure."

An Xin beside her gave Liu Tian’s shoulder a hard slap and said, "Hey, Liu Tian, can you not be so thick-skinned!"

The audience in the live stream burst into laughter.

[Hahaha, Liu Tian, are you addicted to holding onto big legs?]

[So this is Liu Tian’s ultimate goal, to gain permission for long-term support, hahaha.]

[Haha, Liu Tian, you are so cute! Keep going, my dear, you can definitely win next time!]

[From this, it seems Liu Tian plans to continue today’s strategy, hahaha.]

The three-person conversation came to an end, and the director stepped in to take control, "Ahem, alright, let me take this opportunity to announce the new rules that the director team just approved!"

Once the contestants’ focus returned, the director continued, "In future competitions, unless the rules specifically state otherwise, any challenges that require teamwork must be completed by the group members themselves. In other words—"

The director glanced at Song Yutian, "Today, actions like Liu Tian and An Xin having members from other groups play Mahjong for them will no longer be allowed."

"Ah?" Liu Tian immediately raised her hand, "But Xinxin and I really can’t play Mahjong! Does that mean in the future, we’ll just have to wait for our tasks to fail?"

"Ahem." The director coughed a few times, feeling a bit guilty, "This is indeed something we didn’t consider well. We thought everyone would at least know a little. In the future, we will set up a fallback system. If there are too many failures or it takes too long, there will be other options instead of getting stuck."

"Alright, I understand." Liu Tian put her hand down, feeling a bit disappointed.

After Liu Tian finished speaking, Wei Yao also raised his hand.

The director nodded in the direction of Wei Yao.

Wei Yao said, "I want to ask, the new rule only says we can’t directly replace someone in the game, but it doesn’t say we can’t help, right?"

"That’s right," the director said, rubbing his chin. "As the saying goes, friendship first, competition second. Players from different groups can help each other; the rule I just announced only stops you from directly replacing someone in a challenge."

After Wei Yao asked, Gu Feng also spoke up, "Director, I have a question too."

Apparently, the players’ eagerness to ask questions surprised the director, who said in astonishment, "Mr. Gu, go ahead."

Gu Feng said, "What I want to ask is, besides not allowing other group members to replace someone in the challenge, shouldn’t we also limit people outside the players from participating in the challenges?"

The others found Gu Feng’s question a bit strange, not understanding in what situation "people outside the players would participate in the challenges." But the audience who watched Song Yutian and Lu Qiao dance immediately understood what Gu Feng was talking about.

[Hahaha, I’m going to die laughing. Gu Feng must have been holding this in for a long time to say it now.]

[No, I want to keep watching that kind of dramatic scene, hahaha.]

[I feel like the whole show has been influenced by Sister Song; these questions seem to be related to her.]

[I agree, and Sister Song keeps making the program group improve the rules, hahaha.]

The director certainly knew what happened on the dance floor. In fact, the person who had agreed to allow Song Yutian to dance with others was the director himself. He had agreed after considering the show’s highlights and ratings.

The director looked deeply at Gu Feng and said, "Mr. Gu, your point is something we have considered as well. Currently, the conclusion is that the overall rules of the show will not prohibit it. However, when we set the rules for each challenge, we will be more thorough."

Gu Feng’s expression seemed a bit unsatisfied with that answer, but he nodded. "Okay, I understand."

"Um, um," the director smiled and nodded at Gu Feng, then said, "Does anyone have any other questions about the newly announced rules?"

This time, finally, no one raised their hand.

So the director continued with a cheerful expression, "Alright, that was just a small interruption. Since we mentioned this, I’ll announce the new rules ahead of schedule. Now, let’s continue with the rankings!"

"Do you remember our scoring rules? The top three places are worth 100 points, 50 points, and 30 points. Yesterday’s competition was based on earnings, but today’s ranking is not determined by how quickly everyone found the treasures."

Aside from Song Yutian and Gu Feng, the other contestants were surprised to hear the director say this, and a soft murmur spread through the room.

The director signaled for everyone to be quiet and then continued, "Before we announce the standards, let’s first take a look at the treasures everyone found today."

The director snapped his fingers, and a staff member walked up holding a tray, finally stopping in front of the contestants.

The tray was covered with a piece of velvet cloth, and on it were three pieces of jewelry arranged from left to right: a ring, a necklace, and a pair of earrings.

The director said, "Do you remember I told you this morning that the treasure is a set of jade jewelry? What you see now is a complete set, and each of the three groups found one piece. I believe you have guessed that the ranking of this treasure hunt is based on which piece of jewelry was found."

The staff member took a few more steps and stood next to the director.

The director said, "Next, I will announce which of these three pieces of jewelry is the least valuable."

The director’s hand reached above the tray and paused, then began to move back and forth as if he were choosing.

The contestants’ eyes followed the director’s hand.

Finally, the director stopped and picked up the pair of earrings from the tray.

At the same time, the live stream switched to Shen Xi and Zhong Yueli.

Zhong Yueli’s expression didn’t change much, while Shen Xi looked disappointed for a moment, then quickly adjusted her expression and smiled at the camera.

The director’s voice came through, "Zhong Yueli, Shen Xi. Congratulations, you won third place!"

Amid the applause, the two stood up and walked in front of all the contestants, and the staff handed each of them a small trophy. Just like yesterday, they took a group photo under the staff’s guidance.

After they returned, the director continued, "Now, there are only two items left. Can everyone guess which is more valuable, the ring or the necklace?"

The live stream focused closely on the tray.

Among the three pieces of jewelry, the earrings were the smallest and the most delicate, and the jade stones on them were noticeably smaller. But the other two items had jade parts that were about the same size, and they were both very exquisite, so it was hard to say which one was more expensive.

In the live broadcast room, many viewers were guessing which one it was. From the bullet comments, the votes were evenly split.

After keeping everyone in suspense, the director slowly reached out and picked up the ring from the tray.

The camera showed both groups of competitors at the same time, and none of the four had any obvious changes in their expressions. After all, the director hadn’t spoken yet, and no one knew if he was holding the less expensive one or the more expensive one.

The director finally spoke, "This jade ring is priced at one hundred thousand, which is ten thousand more than the necklace. So, congratulations to Song Yutian and Gu Feng—you have won the daily championship again!"

The audience erupted in loud applause, and Wei Yao even cheered out loud.

Guided by the staff, Su Moying and Qin Yuanzhuo came up first to receive their awards.

Su Moying looked very happy. Although, as a female idol, she often wore a sweet smile, her fans could tell that this time she was truly delighted.

Su Moying’s fans were thrilled for her.

[Ying Ying is amazing! She has improved from fourth place to second place!]

[Who says Yingying is just pretty? She has talent too!]

Compared to this, although Qin Yuanzhuo was also smiling, he did not seem as happy as Su Moying. Of course, Qin Yuanzhuo’s fans were still sending supportive comments.

[Brother Yuanzhuo is amazing! Second place is great too!]

[Go, brother! Next time, let’s win the championship!]

After the two took a photo together, it was time for first place.

Song Yutian and Gu Feng stepped forward to receive the trophy. With the staff saying "cheese," the two took a picture together.

Song Yutian’s smile was still as bright as ever, while Gu Feng’s smile looked forced.

As the eldest son of the Gu family, Gu Feng had everything he wanted as a child and had faced no major setbacks as an adult, making him used to things going smoothly.

As a result, winning first place did not make him feel very happy. For Gu Feng, who was used to success, this was normal and expected, but…

Whenever Gu Feng thought of the scene where Song Yutian and Lu Qiao danced, he felt as if something was churning in his stomach, making him more and more uncomfortable.

He even felt that he would rather not have this first place if it meant changing the fact that Song Yutian had danced with Lu Qiao back then.

The other contestants did not know the inside story, and since Gu Feng had always seemed quite aloof to them, hardly anyone noticed that something was wrong with him.

After the two returned to their seats, the director said, "Alright, this award ceremony has come to an end. Before we move on to the next part, does anyone have any questions?"

Shen Xi raised her hand.

This was Shen Xi’s first time speaking up, and the director was a bit surprised as he said, "Xi Xi, go ahead and ask."

Shen Xi said, "My question is, are the treasure locations for these three accessories random?"

After passing the Mahjong round, she chose the bookstore from those three locations. At that time, she thought the rankings depended on how fast they found the treasure, so she picked the place that sounded the smallest.

To her surprise, the earrings in the bookstore had the lowest value, which meant that even though they were the second ones to find the treasure, they only earned third-place points.

The director finished listening to Shen Xi’s question and smiled, saying, "Hehe, this question is very interesting. Actually, the treasure location we designed has a mystery. Let me ask the contestants what they think. Does anyone want to speak up?"

Liu Tian raised his hand and said, "Is it based on distance? The farther from the Mahjong hall, the more valuable the treasure!"

The director neither agreed nor disagreed but continued to ask, "Does anyone else want to guess?"

After a moment of silence, the director signaled to Gong Yu, who had raised his hand.

Gong Yu didn’t share his guess; instead, he said, "Director, why don’t we let the first-place winner explain how they chose their location?"

As he spoke, Gong Yu eagerly looked at Song Yutian and said, "Yutian?"

Gong Yu smiled, looking at Song Yutian with an expression of expectation, as if he was just simply curious.

Gu Feng glanced at Gong Yu with an unfriendly look, making Gong Yu feel a little confused.

Earlier, Gong Yu thought Song Yutian had lost, but she turned out to be first. Although Gong Yu comforted himself that he hadn’t shown it clearly and no one had noticed his initial thoughts, the feeling of humiliation in his heart was still very clear, as if he had been slapped in the face.

So he deliberately asked Song Yutian before the director revealed the answer, trying to turn the situation around and show the audience that she got first place yesterday because of Gu Feng, and today it was just luck.

In Gong Yu’s view, since Song Yutian liked to be in the spotlight and had disagreed with him yesterday, if she had known the answer, she would have already said it.

So Gong Yu felt that Gu Feng’s glance at him was strange. Didn’t Gu Feng also dislike Song Yutian? Why was he glaring at him instead?

Gu Feng was thinking, Since he and Song Yutian got first place together, why was Gong Yu specifically asking Song Yutian? Did Gong Yu also think that Gu Feng got first place because of Song Yutian?

Plus, because of the incident in the restaurant, Gu Feng had already been feeling uncomfortable, so when he heard Gong Yu’s question, he looked at him with annoyance.

No one noticed the little incident between the two men; everyone else’s attention was on Song Yutian.

Caught off guard by being mentioned, Song Yutian paused for a moment and said, "There was a reason why Gu Feng and I chose the restaurant. The clues given by the NPC were about a place to read, a place to watch movies, and a place to dance. We thought the dance hall would have the highest cost, so we chose the dancing place and ended up at that music restaurant."

After speaking, Song Yutian glanced at Gong Yu, their eyes meeting.

Gong Yu did not expect Song Yutian to actually respond; he felt guilty for a second, then realized he didn’t need to panic. He was just asking a question, and the director hadn’t said whether her answer was correct yet.

So Gong Yu asked, "Director, is it true what Yutian said?"

The director began to speak, "Well, how should I say this…"

Noticing the hesitation in the director’s words, Gong Yu felt a little thrill inside but tried hard to hide his expression.

The director continued, "The production team designed it based on the daily revenue of each location. Places with higher total revenue were associated with more valuable treasures. However, what Yutian said was also correct; it’s not wrong to understand that places with higher spending had higher treasure value."

Gong Yu’s expression froze.

Liu Tian next to him had already started praising, "Sister Yutian is indeed amazing," which made Gong Yu’s face look even worse.

He originally wanted to dampen Song Yutian’s spirit, but instead, he only made her shine more.

Gong Yu silently gritted his teeth. Song Yutian, I don’t believe you can be this lucky every time.

After Shen Xi finished asking, the director asked if anyone else had questions. After receiving negative answers, he moved forward with the process.

"Well, this brings us to the end of the first theme that included two Match Days. Before we start the next theme, there will be a day off. However, even though tomorrow is a holiday, the director’s team will still assign tasks for the break."

The contestants all had expressions that showed they were not surprised at all.

Although it was called a holiday, the show was still being broadcast, so real rest was impossible.

The director continued, "Besides the holiday, I believe everyone is looking forward to the part where you choose new teammates. We will have the teammate selection tomorrow. We will announce the specific rules then, but I promise that this time we will consider everyone’s wishes!"

Finally, there was a bit of excitement in the air.

Many contestants wished to change their teammates.

Of course, Gu Feng was the only one who made it obvious. Hearing this, he immediately glanced at Su Moying. Su Moying felt Gu Feng’s gaze, met his eyes for a moment, and then shyly looked away.

When it came to changing teammates, many contestants also thought of Gu Feng, who had claimed from the very beginning that he had come "for Moying." They all looked over in unison and naturally noticed the small interaction between the two.

Wei Yao joked, "Moying, it seems your next teammate has already been decided."

Su Moying said uneasily, "Yao Yao, why do you and Sister Xi love to tease me so much?"

Everyone joked about the two of them for a while, and then the director told everyone they could take the bus back to the villa to rest.

At dinner time, in the dining room on the first floor of the villa.

Today, the production group did not arrange a big feast but instead prepared small bowls of dishes and rice in the kitchen, so the contestants could choose what they wanted and eat in the dining room.

The big round table from the restaurant had been removed at some point, and instead, there were four small tables, each with three chairs around it.

Five groups of contestants and four tables; clearly, the production group did this on purpose.

Su Moying ate very little and chose just two vegetable dishes, without even taking any rice. As the first person to finish dinner, when Su Moying arrived at the dining room, all the tables were empty. She thought for a moment and sat down at one of the tables at the back.

Qin Yuanzhuo was the second to arrive in the dining room. When he saw Su Moying alone, it was only natural for him to sit next to her.

Gu Feng was the third to arrive. After he entered the dining hall and paused for a second at the door, he immediately walked toward Su Moying, glancing back at Song Yutian behind him, and said, "I’m going to eat with Moying."

The unspoken message was: Don’t come along.

Song Yutian found it somewhat funny. She didn’t really want to eat with Gu Feng anyway; to be honest, for the past two and a half days, besides resting in her room, Gu Feng had been always nearby. She had been wanting to get a bit farther away from him.

Gu Feng sat down across from Su Moying and glanced back at Song Yutian, only to find her sitting far away and not planning to join them at all.

Initially, Gu Feng chose not to eat with Song Yutian, but seeing that she showed no interest in coming over, he began to feel uncomfortable.

Gu Feng forced himself to stop thinking about Song Yutian and flashed a smile that he thought was a charming expression towards Su Moying.

The other contestants had not yet arrived; apart from Su Moying’s table, the other three tables were empty. Song Yutian randomly chose one of the empty tables to sit at.

An Xin and Liu Tian finished getting their dinner together. While they were choosing their dishes, they couldn’t help but tease each other. As they chatted, they walked in and sat down at the nearest table without even looking around.

Soon after, Zhong Yueli came over with his dinner. As soon as he appeared, Liu Tian immediately called him over to eat together.

One minute ago.

An Xin said while eating, "Finally, I get to change teammates! Next time, I definitely won’t be in last place!"

Liu Tian immediately looked up at An Xin, "What’s wrong with having me as a teammate? You should be happy to be with a handsome guy like me!"

An Xin rolled her eyes at him. "Can you stop being so narcissistic?"

Liu Tian retorted, "What’s wrong? Am I not handsome? Then tell me, who is handsome?"

An Xin replied, "Brother Yueli is the one who is really handsome!"

Liu Tian said, "Oh, Xin Xin, you’ve been eyeing someone else’s teammate all along!"

Just then, Zhong Yueli walked in, and Liu Tian immediately started teasing, "Brother Yueli! Xin Xin wants to have dinner with you!"

An Xin glared fiercely at Liu Tian and said, "Liu Tian!"

Liu Tian purposely ignored An Xin and continued, "Brother Yueli, come quickly! Xin Xin has been saying how handsome you are!"

So, with Liu Tian’s "warm invitation," Zhong Yueli sat down with Liu Tian and An Xin.

Shen Xi, Gong Yu, and Wei Yao all got their dinner around the same time and walked into the dining hall together.

Seeing that there was only one empty table left, with exactly three chairs next to it, Gong Yu naturally thought they would eat together. He felt a little disappointed because he had already planned his next teammate choices and wanted to get closer to them.

However—

Wei Yao saw Song Yutian sitting alone and immediately walked over. "Yutian, can I sit here?"

Song Yutian nodded. "Of course you can."

Seeing Wei Yao go to sit with Song Yutian, Gong Yu felt a bit annoyed.

Was it necessary for Wei Yao to do this? Always favoring Song Yutian, and now he had left without saying a word, leaving him alone with Shen Xi.

Since that was the case, Gong Yu turned around, intending to act a bit friendlier and call Shen Xi to join him.

As a result, when he looked to the side, Shen Xi was gone.

"Sister Xi, come over and eat with us," Wei Yao said with a bright smile.

On the other side, Gong Yu was the only one still standing, looking at the only empty table, feeling stuck.