She silently looked up and shot Lu Nan a glare where the camera couldn’t catch it.
What was she glaring at?!
She actually dared to glare at her now! Yesterday’s sweet affections had vanished into thin air.
If she dared to glare now, what about later? Would she dare to hit her or curse her down the line?
She had never even glared at Song Wenwei once. This damn variety show—this world had no love left.
Smile for the whole world? Screw that.
Lu Nan steadied her heart, acting as if she had just realized she’d said the wrong thing. She cleared her throat lightly and explained in a futile attempt to cover it up, “Uh, I mean the kind of good sisters they talk about online.”
Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey! She hurriedly spat it out a few more times in her mind. This polite small talk was truly lethal.
Gu Yue watched the whole thing from the side. Knowing Song Wenwei was Lu Nan’s idol, and with the flood of car crash videos online lately, she knew there was more to them.
She cursed inwardly: That’s some next-level cover-up. Sis, you were absolutely doing that on purpose.
Lu Nan’s expression looked like she’d genuinely slipped up by accident, but Song Wenwei saw right through it. What accident? It was clearly deliberate.
She was just throwing little jabs to vent her petty temper. Song Wenwei regretted that the camera was rolling; otherwise, she could have soothed the puffed-up little kitten.
“Hahaha, I didn’t expect our Lu Nan to not be as poker-faced as everyone says. She knows how to joke around too. I’m sure everyone will get along great,” the host said with a dry laugh.
After that, Lu Nan picked a spot and sat down. Only two chairs remained side by side, suggesting one more guest hadn’t arrived yet. She sat in the front one according to the order.
“And our final guest,” the host said mysteriously. “Everyone, guess who she is?”
“What? There’s one more?” The man sitting in front turned back with a smile. That was where Lu Nan had entered from earlier—if there was another guest, they should come from there too.
“I knew there were extra chairs for a reason today.”
“The director’s no fun—new member’s joining and not even a hint.”
“Yeah, yeah!”
A tall, slender figure emerged from the corner. She had long hair cascading down, draped in a thin gray coat, with a round stud in her ear cartilage. Her wild personality was softened by her relatively gentle features.
“Hello, everyone.” The woman greeted them enthusiastically and smiled as she introduced herself. “I’m Xia Yubing.”
“Woo-hoo, new member!”
“Hello, hello…”
Her gaze swept past the others and lingered on Xia Zhengyun, reluctant to pull away but forced to.
The person next to her noticed Xia Yubing’s stare. He was You Hui, tall and burly, famous online for his gossip-mongering and goofy big-guy persona. He always spoke with a hilarious accent that made people want to laugh—he was one of the variety show’s resident clowns.
He nudged Xia Zhengyun. “Why’s she staring at you like that? Do you two know each other?”
Xia Zhengyun glanced at her and said, “Now we do.”
Her words neatly implied they hadn’t known each other before.
“Didn’t expect you to master high-EQ responses already.” He gave her a thumbs-up, praising her repeatedly.
[Low EQ: Who are you?]
[High EQ: Now we know each other.]
It was as if Xia Yubing had been waiting for those exact words. She extended her hand toward her. “Hi there, Xia Zhengyun… Zhengyun…”
She started chanting her name, her voice sticky like she had gum in her mouth.
Xia Zhengyun shook her hand.
Her face remained impassive, her demeanor calm, but under the table where the camera couldn’t see, the hand resting on her leg trembled slightly. Her heart sank—she’d come after all.
Seeing them shake hands, You Hui stood up to offer his own, but Xia Yubing had already sat down. He sheepishly withdrew his hand.
Xia Group… Xia Zhengyun, Xia Yubing.
Song Wenwei’s mind raced, piecing together all the connections to figure it out. She exchanged a glance with Lu Nan—Lu Nan had mentioned before that Xia Zhengyun knew about what happened between them.
If those incidents involved these two, then the mastermind was standing right in front of them.
Xia Yubing sat next to Lu Nan—the only spot left. If there’d been another, she never would have sat with Lu Nan.
A smile played on her face as she said to Lu Nan, “Long time no see.”
Lu Nan remembered her—Xia Zhengyun’s stepsister, the most likely heir to the Xia Group.
She nodded but had no intention of saying more, yet Xia Yubing ignored her indifference and kept trying to chat.
“Have you found that person you were looking for?”
Lu Nan paused, not quite understanding. “Who was I looking for?”
She eyed Xia Yubing leisurely, curious what she’d say. Looking for someone—Lu Nan recalled that Xia Yubing shouldn’t know about her frantic search for Song Wenwei back then.
“That time in the hospital, she said you were urgently looking for someone.” Xia Yubing explained. The “she” referred to Xia Zhengyun, who had been in the hospital then.
“Is that so?”
Lu Nan stared at her, but deep down, she didn’t buy it. Was that really it? So much time had passed—didn’t the Xia Group have better things to do than remember some stranger they’d met once?
Two people who clearly knew each other—even closely—were now exchanging the most distant words.
Was it to hide her identity as the Xia heiress, or something else?
Lu Nan didn’t want to care, but for her and Song Wenwei’s safety, she had to.
The hospital surveillance was just a small move. She hadn’t forgotten the distant camera footage from the day of Song Wenwei’s car accident. If the Xia family was behind it all, they needed to be cautious.
Every day it was these damn issues. Couldn’t people just get along?
Their few ties to the Xia family were that scrapped drama from before and these two women. The fox’s tail would show eventually.
With everyone gathered, the host got serious and introduced the next segment. A large screen rose behind him, displaying a big spinner divided into five sections labeled with wooden plaques: Teams A, B, C, D, and E.
“Now we’ll draw the plaques. Those who draw the same one will team up to complete tasks and compete for tonight’s accommodations.”
“Let’s see what’s up for grabs. Whoa, two luxury hotels just two kilometers away, plus the nearby homestays, wooden houses, and tents up on the mountain.”
“To accommodate our new member, she’ll draw first.”
Xia Yubing tapped the screen, and the wheel spun. She landed on Team B.
Next was Lu Nan’s turn—she drew Team A. The girl next to her drew Team C, and Gu Yue also got Team A, teaming up with Lu Nan.
Gu Yue stood beside Lu Nan, patting her shoulder warmly. “Old friend, how’s the leg injury?”
Lu Nan glanced at her fully healed foot. “Very good, very good.”
Gu Yue: “…That’s not how you use it.”
Song Wenwei drew Team C, leaving Xia Zhengyun to draw Team B.
