Chapter 72

The seven guests received the task and took a car to the mall.

The camera shook unsteadily for a while, and the screen went black briefly. When the live stream reappeared, the group was already standing inside IKEA.

Since the purpose of this major shopping trip was to decorate their respective rooms, the guests who shared a room naturally formed pairs.

Leng Xiang and Jiang Sisi paired up, the three male guests formed another group, and Bai Rou and Lu Rui made the third pair. The three teams wandered through the mall.

The production team did not provide a specific script for this segment but had instructed them to encourage more interactions between male and female guests, exchanging opinions on decorations.

One main camera wasn’t enough for live streaming, so the team opened two sub-cameras, creating three live windows, each focused on one of the pairs.

The three male guests proceeded in a straightforward manner, browsing the black, white, and gray minimalist decoration area. Following the hints in the script, they “happened to run into” Bai Rou and Lu Rui, who were also selecting items in the minimalist section.

The five of them chatted for a bit before splitting up again, forming new pairings: Bai Rou with Yi Jing, Lu Rui with Xu Xingche, while Qin Yang was left alone, trailing pitifully behind Yi Jing like a nearly two-meter-tall abandoned puppy.

The overall script for Love Diary had been handed to every guest before the show aired. The intended pairings were Bai Rou and Yi Jing, playing on the sparks between a playboy and a good girl; Lu Rui with Xu Xingche, a sweet and adorable girl paired with a warm campus heartthrob in a fresh college romance vibe. Qin Yang was matched with Leng Xiang, embodying the perfect combo of a cold royal sister and a wild masculine type.

Inviting Jiang Sisi solved the hosting issue and allowed the team to piggyback on some hype.

After all, Jiang Sisi and Leng Xiang had dominated the hot searches for the three months spanning the end of last year and the beginning of this one. Jiang Sisi happened to be interested in the Love Cottage concept, so the production team eagerly pulled in this big shot.

But no one had anticipated this turn of events.

First, Qin Yang ended up single.

Second, across the three live streams, the total online viewers exceeded forty million, with the camera on Leng Xiang and Jiang Sisi claiming over thirty million—nearly three-quarters of the traffic.

This was absolutely not what the Love Diary production team had intended.

If things continued like this, the show might even get axed.

Yi Jing catered to Bai Rou’s tastes as they strolled through the pastoral fresh style area, looking around. Bai Rou took a liking to a shell wind chime and a few wall paintings depicting girls in long skirts, glancing back with gentle, elegant smiles.

For some reason, the production team hadn’t even provided shopping carts.

Yi Jing helped Bai Rou carry her items, wind chime in his left hand and wall paintings tucked under his right arm.

Qin Yang had been wandering behind Yi Jing, pretending to browse, but once they entered the pastoral area with Bai Rou, he couldn’t hide it anymore. His long legs took a few extra strides, and he walked shoulder-to-shoulder with Yi Jing.

Yi Jing shot him a sideways glance before turning to chat with Bai Rou.

Yi Jing pointed to a small throw pillow nearby, adorned with pink floral patterns. “Do you like this one?”

“It’s pretty nice.”

Bai Rou smiled gently, speaking softly to him as the two conversed warmly.

Yi Jing smiled too, his long arm reaching out to grab the pillow.

He was already handsome, and his smile carried a hint of roguish charm, instantly sending the viewers on this live feed into a frenzy of screams.

“He’s so handsome!! He’s so handsome!!”

“Right now, all I want is to soul-swap into Miss Bai Rou!”

“No, I want to soul-swap into the wall painting he’s holding!!”

Qin Yang watched them and pointed to a star-shaped hanging lamp tucked in the corner. Each star featured a little cat bell, with long tassels dangling below. “What about this one?”

Bai Rou’s eyes lit up, and she immediately headed toward the corner.

In comparison, her earlier chat with Yi Jing seemed downright perfunctory.

The viewer count for this live stream slowly climbed.

“Hahahaha, Yi Jing, you gotta step up your game!!”

“Miss Bai Rou is so real—her likes and dislikes are way too obvious!”

“Give Yi Jing a break, okay?! Hahahaha sorry, I can’t—I need three minutes to laugh this off!!”

Qin Yang grinned at Yi Jing, flashing a mouthful of white teeth.

Yi Jing: “…”

Damn, this guy’s teeth are annoyingly white.

With that, Qin Yang openly joined Yi Jing and Bai Rou. The two men flanked her on either side, helping carry her items.

In another corner of the mall, Xu Xingche walked with Lu Rui through the sweet and cute style section.

The overwhelming pink made one’s eyes dizzy. Xu Xingche had zero interest in it and was just accompanying Lu Rui.

Lu Rui wasn’t particularly fond of pink either, but her assigned persona was sweet and cute, so she pretended to browse enthusiastically.

They wandered around, exchanging occasional gentle words—nothing exciting.

The barrage comments dwindled.

“Honestly, what will Bai Rou and Lu Rui’s rooms end up looking like if they shop like this?”

“Half pink, half pastoral fresh… emmm, will it even be livable?”

“And the male guests aren’t giving any opinions at all—just nodding along like ‘uh-huh, looks good.’ Exactly like my boyfriend shopping with me.”

“Hahahaha, upstairs is peak real life!!!”

“This script is getting obvious… Thinking about the trio next door, the production team must’ve paired Leng Xiang with Qin Yang?”

“Thinking about that makes me laugh. The other five are sticking to the script, mingling as planned, but those two ignore it all and actually go shopping together…”

“By the way, how’s it going with Xiangxiang and Sisi?”

Leng Xiang and Jiang Sisi browsed for a while without finding anything they particularly liked, so they ended up at a claw machine in a mall corner. They exchanged a hundred coins and started grabbing plushies.

The cameraman trailed behind, his face full of black lines.

Over thirty million netizens watched them live.

More precisely, Jiang Sisi grabbed while Leng Xiang watched from the side.

“Holy crap!!! Twenty-eighth one!!!”

“Is Jiang Sisi cheating? Did the production team hack the machine?! Is this even humanly possible?!”

“One hundred coins, fifty tries, twenty-eight grabs—the machine’s about to be emptied…”

“She’s going for the biggest one!!!”

With twenty-eight plushies and no shopping carts from the team, Jiang Sisi scanned around. Her eyes lit up, and she wheeled over a small cart from the baby supplies section nearby.

Leng Xiang saw the baby cart but kept a straight face, casually piling Jiang Sisi’s plushies into it until they formed a little mountain.

Jiang Sisi pointed to the machine at the far end, which held only one massive plushie, nearly human-sized.

Jiang Sisi grinned wickedly, all smug dominance. “Xiangxiang, want the biggest one? Beg me if you do.”

Leng Xiang rolled her eyes mercilessly.

The barrage exploded with laughter.

“Hahahahahaha, Xiangxiang’s eye-roll is textbook perfect!”

“Zero pretense in that disdain!!”

“Don’t say Xiangxiang’s disgusted—I am too!! Ugh, that smug look is so punchable!!”

“Placing bets! Can Jiang Sisi grab the big one?”

“I bet no! You think the biggest is that easy?!”

“I don’t believe it!! Twenty-eight already!! If she gets it, cheating confirmed! Program hacked confirmed!!”

Jiang Sisi exchanged another hundred coins and focused on conquering the giant plushie.

The big one cost five coins per try. Unfortunately, she burned through nearly all hundred coins without success.

Jiang Sisi sighed regretfully.

Leng Xiang watched coolly. “See, when you’re old, you’re no longer up to it.”

Jiang Sisi clutched her chest in agony. “You’ve changed. You’re not the gentle, cute Leng Xiang I used to know.”

Leng Xiang’s eyes nearly rolled to the heavens.

The viewer count for Leng Xiang and Jiang Sisi’s main feed skyrocketed, nearing forty million, while the other two streams dwindled—Xu Xingche and Lu Rui’s even dropped below five million.

Those five million were mostly multi-screen viewers with phones, iPads, and computers each running a feed, not wanting to miss anything.

The screen was flooded with “hahahaha.”

“Yesterday they were like an old married couple reading scripts together, today they’re roasting each other nonstop. Tsk, the kind of love that makes your teeth ache.”

“Hahahahahaha I can’t—they’re too fun!!”

“Laughing my head off hahahaha!!”

“So sweet!! Really so sweet!!”

With five coins left, Jiang Sisi pointed at the machine. “You try.”

Leng Xiang hesitated. “I’ve never played.”

Jiang Sisi said, “Give it a shot. Maybe beginner’s luck.”

Leng Xiang took the coins from Jiang Sisi, lightly slapping her hand in the process.

The barrage went wild again.

“You know, sometimes newbies get it on the first try.”

“Yeah, yeah—last time, a classmate who’d never played nabbed one instantly! Total god move!”

“But this one’s tough. If it were easy, the owner would go bankrupt.”

Leng Xiang fed in the five coins one by one. The machine lit up, and the claw mechanism slowly rolled.

Leng Xiang focused intently on the claw and the plushie’s hook, holding her breath.

Forty million viewers held theirs, waiting for her to press the button.

Snap.

The hook snapped, and the plushie dropped.

The barrage lost it completely.

“Aaaah Xiangxiang she got it!!”

“God tier!! God tier!! Is this koi luck too?!”

“Forward this Leng Xiang claw video—you’ll snag career success and love within three days!”

“Forward this Leng Xiang—guaranteed no exam fails this semester!!”

…

Leng Xiang hugged her prize plushie while Jiang Sisi pushed her baby-cart mountain of plushies. They rejoined the other five guests.

The others had originally been Yi Jing, Qin Yang, and Bai Rou together, with Xu Xingche and Lu Rui paired. Somewhere along the way, Bai Rou and Lu Rui had swapped, leaving Yi Jing and Qin Yang with Lu Rui, and Xu Xingche with Bai Rou.

Lu Rui, sandwiched between the two men, chatted sweetly with Yi Jing one moment and Qin Yang the next. Both guys carried items for her.

Xu Xingche and Bai Rou whispered furtively.

The audience’s eyes were sharp.

“Hey, I think Xu Xingche and Bai Rou match well.”

“Yeah, same here.”

“Was too busy watching the claw machine—totally missed what happened with the others…”

“Something definitely went down with these five…”

“So mysterious, can’t figure it out.”

“And Leng Xiang and Jiang Sisi are just eating melon with us, not joining in.”

“Hahahaha, too real.”

Lu Rui finished schmoozing Yi Jing and Qin Yang, then spotted Jiang Sisi and Leng Xiang. She smiled. “Teacher Jiang, did you buy plushies? So cute!”

Jiang Sisi didn’t want Yi Jing knowing she’d spent two hours on claw machines, so she bullshitted, “Came with the baby cart purchase.”

Lu Rui: “???”

Lu Rui forced a smile. “Then, Sister Leng Xiang, was your plushie a baby cart gift too?”

Leng Xiang caught on to Jiang Sisi’s fib—two hours of claw machines on a live show didn’t sound great. “Oh, came with the claw machine.”

Lu Rui: “…”

An awkward wind blew through.

Even the cameraman couldn’t hold back a “pfft” of laughter.

Remembering her host role, Jiang Sisi smiled at the camera. “Alright, we’ve had a very fun shopping trip today. Everyone’s loaded up, so let’s head back to the Love Cottage.”