Did Assistant Xie Make the Trending Searches Today? - Chapter 24.1

Chapter 24.1: Three-in-One

SVIP users were once again a step ahead, switching to the small-window live streams.

Lan Chi, what’s up with you? Why aren’t you keeping up with the rhythm? Stopping and starting… are you out for a spring stroll?

No, is he not participating in the show? Why is he so slow and leisurely? Is there a couples’ segment later?

I’m dying; he’s here to cause trouble. Everyone else has charged ahead, and he’s still playing in the mud on the spot.

Damn, Young Master Jin, your physical fitness is truly great. How are you already running?

The journey for Shi Jixing and Xie He-ting’s group was long, and currently, they were the only group that chose the ancient costumes. Consequently, it was a mountain-climbing segment without many “explosive” points, so the production team didn’t give them much screen time.

In their live stream, aside from some die-hard fans, the remaining viewers were either watching the main screen broadcast or swarming into Shen Ji’s and Jin Huaifeng’s live streams.

After the staff gave the signal to depart, Shen Ji and Jin Huaifeng had quickly lunged out. Twenty minutes had passed, and the two were still chasing each other.

Zhou Yanrong was clearly lagging a large distance behind them.

Shen Ji filmed movies all year round and had a consistent habit of exercising; his physical stamina was not an issue.

But Jin Huaifeng, who looked like a playboy, was actually stronger than Shen Ji in both speed and endurance!

I sincerely ask, Young Master Jin, do you usually do some kind of Special Forces training? It’s only been half an hour and you’ve already run three kilometers. Have you participated in a triathlon or something?

That’s right, Jin Huaifeng was actually running.

Without that little “oil bottle” (burden) Lan Chi, his speed was nearly that of a professional sprinter.

Shen Ji was biting hard at his heels, so Jin simply started running.

Ang ang ah hahah, someone save the photographer! This heavy breathing is affecting my viewing of the live stream.

Too tragic; having to carry such heavy equipment for weighted cross-country. Can the two in front care a little about whether others live or die?

Shen Ji and Jin Huaifeng were charging so fast that it was originally handheld filming, but the director’s team truly had no choice and had to activate drone filming plus vehicle tracking.

This area was a no-fly zone, but luckily the director’s team had the foresight to apply to the air traffic control department in advance, otherwise it would have been another major Waterloo.

The incident last time where Jin Huaifeng drove too fast, resulting in twenty minutes of no guest footage, absolutely could not happen again!

Although the bullet chat just now said Lan Chi was being leisurely, his speed wasn’t actually as slow as described; he was just noticeably lagging behind the others.

It was estimated that reaching their respective destinations would take over an hour. Since the journey didn’t have many highlights, the main camera cut to the inside of the villa.

Wait, what is Wen Zhou doing?

Playing a game???

Holy crap, my favorite one!

The game Wen Zhou was playing was currently the hottest space-adventure-themed turn-based strategy game. Players explore a large map and fight monsters upon finding them. Due to the exquisite character designs, top-tier plot, and writing, plus plenty of rewards, it had been welcomed by many players as soon as it was released. Its popularity had quickly approached that of two other ultra-popular mobile games.

Everyone soon discovered that Wen Zhou wasn’t just playing a game. Because the Wen Zhou on camera was wearing a mic, his hands never stopped moving while his mouth continued to speak.

Is Wen Zhou doing a commentary?

His ID is actually ‘Eight-Treasure-Zhou’ (Babao Zhou). Don’t love him too much, puppy, wuwu, so romantic. Is it the ‘Zhou’ from Zhou Yanrong?

That ID looks like it’s been around for a while. So when did he and the Big Beauty actually start?

Wait… have you guys not noticed he’s already over level forty?

I’m sweating, family. I’ve worked myself to death and I’m only level twenty. Wen Zhou, how many secrets do you have that we don’t know?

Wok (Wow), I was wondering why this ID looked so familiar. He is that ‘Eight-Treasure-Zhou’!!

Ah? Who is ‘Eight-Treasure-Zhou’? Can someone provide a fun fact?

“Eight-Treasure-Zhou” was a well-known game commentary blogger on Bilibili. His original ID was “A Page of a Thousand Boats” (Qian Zhou Yi Ye), but for some reason, he had changed it about a year ago.

Because his commentary style was steady, his gameplay was good, and his voice was pleasant, he had accumulated a group of loyal fans over several years. Although his fan count was only a few hundred thousand, he had several viral videos.

So as soon as this ID appeared, some hardcore gamers immediately responded.

Wait? Wen Zhou? ‘Eight-Treasure-Zhou’? I love him! Not a single redundant word in his commentary, and he plays well.

Oh my, my ‘dimensional wall’ has broken!

Wen Zhou had always been the type with little screen time. Now that another layer of his identity had been unmasked, everyone suddenly became interested, watching Wen Zhou play the game with great interest.

The bullet chat was peaceful.

Until ten minutes later, a golden SVIP comment floated across.

Wait, what happened? Are Shi Jixing and his group going in the wrong direction?

Then, rows of Holy crap and It’s game over, they took the wrong path appeared on the screen.

To make it convenient for viewers to understand the travel distance of each group of guests in real-time, the guests wore positioning bracelets, and their progress was displayed directly through the on-site LED screen.

However, at this moment, the route Shi Jixing and Xie He-ting were taking was a hundred and eight thousand miles away from the route on the map provided by the production team.

Shi Jixing’s big fan, “Star-Picker,” was furious, and the “Shi Jixing Global Fan Club” was also in an uproar.

“Why are they going the wrong way? Didn’t the production team already give them a map? What should we do now?”

“Yeah, it’s clearly too late to turn back now. The ancient costume group’s location was already very far away, and now the journey has become even longer. I checked the GPS; it takes nearly three hours to get there!”

“Ahhhh! When the production team announced the rules, they said if you don’t reach the designated spot within the agreed time, you have to accept the penalty of a cross-dressing photo shoot! I’m dying; it would have been better to just choose the primitive man at the start!”

“No, I absolutely cannot accept our Little Star shooting cross-dressing photos. Damn it, I’ll go crazy!”

Ding Hongye, the big fan “Star-Picker,” had fingers trembling with rage. She immediately posted in the group: “We absolutely cannot let Xing shoot a cross-dressing photo set, absolutely impossible!”

“The one leading the way has been He-ting the whole time. Sisters, let’s go to the official Weibo and @ the production team. This is He-ting’s responsibility; why should our Little Xing bear it?! He was just trying to complete the team’s task; this isn’t fair!”

Someone immediately responded to Ding Hongye.

“I’ve been recording the whole screen. When they set out just now, it was He-ting leading the way. I have the video.”

The speaker was the head of the online promotion group of Shi Jixing’s fan club.

“Art group, coordinate with the promotion group to immediately cut the segment of He-ting leading the way from the video. Anti-black group and comment-control group, coordinate as well. And those in our support group, go to the official Weibo now. Everyone, try to use accounts with higher ‘weight’ to leave comments so our comments can be pinned to the top.”

“Sisters, every time you post one, send the link to the group and we’ll like it together. If necessary, we can link with other friendly artist support groups for solidarity. At worst, next time they need it, we’ll help hype their heat too.”

“Anti-black group, go to the ‘Plaza’ now and start hashtags. Use #XieHe-tingStopIt #XieHe-tingLedThemWrong #XieHe-tingGetOut.”

As a PR expert for a well-known enterprise, she was very comfortable with this kind of organizational work. Her typing speed reached its peak under the fuel of anger. As her messages were sent out one by one, the large group of two thousand people responded rapidly.

“Good!”

“Moving now!”

“Already left a comment; please like it!”

Ding Hongye let out a long breath.

Their group was the veteran group of Shi Jixing’s fan club. Every group leader had several other large groups under them. She believed the production team would see the “Stars'” rage immediately!

The cross-dressing penalty had probably truly touched the “Stars'” nerve. Within a short ten minutes, the official Weibo and home page of Love Signal had been occupied, and the comments from Shi Jixing’s fans were quickly pushed to the top.

Hot search tags like #XieHe-tingPigTeammate and #XieHe-tingDirectionallyChallenged also quickly shot up.

Xiao-De GPS, hearing the news, reposted a Weibo with the tag #XieHe-tingLedThemWrong: “Use Xiao-De GPS, never get lost.”

In recent years, Xiao-De GPS had been known for very inaccurate routes—for example, leading bicycle users directly onto highways, or providing “shortcuts” that turned a three-hour journey into eight.

Xiao-De GPS was therefore affectionately called “Wicked GPS” (Que-de Dao-hang) by netizens.

But this time, they proactively used He-ting’s tag, which was a pleasant surprise for the “Stars.” With Xiao-De GPS entering the fray, the hot search for Xie He-ting leading them wrong shot up several more places.

The “Stars” returned the favor by flooding the Xiao-De GPS app store with five-star ratings.

Uninformed onlookers clicked in and saw the first few rows were filled with people scolding Xie He-ting. Rows of comments like “Xie He-ting is a disaster” and “Just let Xie He-ting accept the penalty alone” made people’s “mammary glands alarm” (frustrated).

Everyone clicked into the live stream and saw it was indeed as the “Stars” said—the two were still walking further and further along the wrong road, and in the footage, it was clearly Xie He-ting leading the way.

Shi Jixing’s reputation with the general public was actually quite good.

For a time, Xie He-ting’s live stream was nearly bursting with people scolding him for leading them blindly.

U-Ji-Ba-Yu (Speechess). They’ve already gone a hundred and eight thousand miles the wrong way; why aren’t they turning back! Truly speechless! If you can’t read a map, don’t look at it!

Yeah, is there any sense of direction? I’m anxious! Is there no staff member to remind Shi Jixing???

Even as a passerby, I’m starting to pity Shi Jixing, being dragged down by a pig teammate.

The scolding on the screen was extremely fierce. Xie He-ting had gained a wave of fans recently, but they were no match for Shi Jixing’s, not to mention there were many passersby participating.

Although a portion of people was trying to clarify for Xie He-ting, it was simply of no use. Without Xie He-ting even knowing, he was being criticized to pieces.

The public’s eyes are sharp after all. After a portion of onlookers finished their “melons,” they raised a question of justice.

Looking at how you’re scolding him, I thought the guy called He-ting had broken divine law. I want to ask—even if he led the wrong way, Shi Jixing didn’t notice and followed along. How is that only one person’s responsibility?

A portion of Shi Jixing’s rivals’ fans were also watching the variety show. Seeing people scolding Shi Jixing, they, who had been submerged for a long time, immediately popped up and empathized strongly: 【Yeah, Stars, please, they’re recording a variety show. Risks are shared, don’t you understand?

Under Ding Hongye’s guidance, the “Stars” counterattacked even more fiercely.

Shi Jixing is only doing it because he’s recording a show. He-ting insisted on going his own way; what could he do?

How come I haven’t seen an unwilling expression on your Shi Jixing’s face until now?

Maybe it’s just a case of ‘one willing to hit and the other willing to suffer.’ Heh.

XS (Laughable). Sister Stars, don’t disregard the facts too much.

Where did these ‘sour chickens’ come from, chirping around here? You must be professional anti-fans.

The two sides went back and forth, neither yielding. A portion of pure passersby couldn’t take it: Can you go somewhere else to scold? It’s affecting my viewing of the live stream.

Hilarious. You can turn off the bullet chat; no one’s forcing you.

Heh, I just want to watch the discussion in the chat. Can some people’s fans have some quality and not be so domineering? The show doesn’t belong to your ‘brother’ alone.

It’s fine to go crazy in Shi Jixing’s live stream, but can you not spam all the live streams

@Administrator, come out and handle this.

Under the guidance of those with intent, the hostility in the bullet chat reached its limit. When the production team’s public opinion monitoring department saw things were wrong and were preparing to clear some negative comments, a golden comment with a font size larger than everyone else’s appeared on the screen.

Eight Hundred Moron: You’ve been arguing for half a day; aren’t you tired? Look at the camera, please. He-ting’s group is almost at the finish line.

The previously spamming bullet chat suddenly emptied.

Ding Hongye, who had been following the dynamics, saw this, and the hands that had been typing stopped immediately. She quickly switched the camera to Shi Jixing’s live stream.

At this time, the camera had changed from drone filming to tracking. Both Xie He-ting and Shi Jixing were panting, looking as if they had just been pulled out of the water, their clothes damp and clinging to their bodies—a very wretched look.

The camera panned in front of them, and the ancient characters for “Wan-Zhu Garden” (Ten Thousand Bamboo Garden) appeared on the screen.

The shooting location for the ancient costume photos was indeed in Wan-Zhu Garden.

“Finally arrived.” Shi Jixing walked to the entrance of the bamboo garden, looking at the gate, and let out a large sigh of relief.

Xie He-ting saw the characters “Wan-Zhu Garden,” and his gaze softened: “What a close call; luckily I didn’t lead the wrong way.”

He turned his head and thanked Shi Jixing earnestly: “Brother, thank you for believing in me.”

Both were covered in sweat, but Xie He-ting was sweating even more profusely. Sweat slid down his fair cheeks and hung from his chin; a single crystal droplet was about to fall but didn’t—it was practically a provocation.

Shi Jixing’s gaze suddenly paused. He shifted his eyes away awkwardly and gave an unrelated answer: “Let’s go in. Just in time, we still have nearly two hours.”

Ding Hongye was stunned.

The bullet chat was also stunned.

Some people doubted if there was something wrong with their eyes: No, what exactly happened? Weren’t they just a hundred and eight thousand miles away? I just went to take out the trash—how did they get there?

Damn! So that’s how it was. Xie He-ting, you look honest, but your little head is truly clever.

Eight Hundred Moron: He-ting took Shi Jixing on a shortcut. Look at the map in his hand.

On the map in Xie He-ting’s hand, the production team had already drawn a route with a blue pen—the official recommended route.

On his map, another road was drawn with a red marker, going in the opposite direction of the original route, but from the perspective of distance, this route was only about four or five kilometers.

Xie He-ting had chosen a shortcut. Although it was hard to walk, it saved a lot of time.

Eight Hundred Moron and Xie He-ting’s fans felt vindicated.

After scolding He-ting for so long, some people won’t even say a single apology?

Is this how the traffic star’s support groups bully commoners?

Shi Jixing’s fans were deathly silent. Even when Eight Hundred Moron was being overtly sarcastic, no one came out to refute him.

The Shi Jixing Global Fan Club, which had been filled with righteous indignation just now, also lost its steam.

After a moment of silence, someone finally couldn’t help but post a message: “Um, does it seem like we scolded the wrong person?”

“I feel a bit embarrassed. I’m going to delete my comments scolding He-ting.”

“Actually, I quite like He-ting. No drama, no trouble. My emotions were high just now. It seems we really wronged him this time. I see many people on Weibo are scolding him now….”

Ding Hongye bit her lower lip hard, her typing actions becoming difficult.

How could it be? How could she have gotten it wrong?

Clearly, it was He-ting who led the wrong way!

But… but…

Looking at the footage of “Wan-Zhu Garden” on the screen, and seeing Shi Jixing and Xie He-ting getting closer and closer to the ancient costume photo shoot point.

Ding Hongye had no way to deceive herself anymore.

She lowered her head, silent for a long time, and slowly typed a line of words:

“I’m sorry. It was my subjective judgment, thinking He-ting led the wrong way. Everyone, please delete your previous comments scolding He-ting. Group leaders, please be responsible for supervision. Let’s go and wash back his tags.”

“I am responsible. I will pay for a positive hot search for him myself, as my… apology to him.”

After finishing this sentence, Ding Hongye leaned back in her chair, exhausted, as tears welled up in her eyes.

Although she still disliked He-ting, they, the “Stars,” would never smear Shi Jixing!

Shi Jixing’s fans had always had a good reputation.

Because although the “Stars” were domineering and protective, they also admitted their mistakes and corrected them.

Soon, under the collective cooperation of Shi Jixing’s fans, the hot tags #XieHe-tingYouKnowTheWay and #XieHe-tingLittleCleverGhost quietly climbed up.

The “Stars” put all their effort into clearing Xie He-ting’s name, even establishing his “Super-Topic” in an instant.

Within two hours, Xie He-ting appeared on four hot searches.

Everyone was following the drama—what exactly was Xie He-ting’s background? The hot searches just wouldn’t stop!

Then someone discovered that the official Weibo of Xiao-De GPS had silently deleted its previous post and posted another one with the tag #XieHe-tingYouKnowTheWay: “Little He-ting is good at leading the way; Xiao-De is good at navigating.”

Netizens commented: “Xiao-De GPS never misses a chance to rub off some heat.”

Xie He-ting and the others were completely unaware of the drama on Weibo.

Finally, they were about to reach the shooting location.

Two burly men in black short-style ancient outfits appeared out of nowhere on their left and right, blocking their path.

“Stop—this road was opened by me!”

“This tree was planted by me.”

“If you want to pass through here—”

Xie He-ting’s instinct from reading countless stories allowed him to blurt out: “Leave behind your ‘road-buying’ money?” (A classic bandit line).

Great—he climbed a mountain and transmigrated back again?

The bullet chat was silent for a moment.

A few seconds later, the screen was filled with “Hahahahahaha.”

He-ting, you’ve watched too many period dramas, hahahaha. That came out so naturally.

I’m impressed by Orange TV’s creativity. The task segment is like a cosplay.

An old man in an ancient costume, looking like an immortal, strolled out from the side.

“Please wait, travelers. If you wish to take the ancient costume photos, you must complete the tasks before you are allowed through.”

Xie He-ting let out a small sigh of relief.

He was truly startled, thinking he had gone back!

Xie He-ting asked the NPCs very politely: “Sirs, could you inform us of the task content?”

He’s in character! This kid is in character!

Even his speech has become formal. It makes me afraid to use my favorite internet slang in the chat; it makes me look uncultured.

I know this one! The ‘Pre-Qin Lady Walk’! Simple!

Hahahaha what the hell is a ‘Pre-Qin Lady Walk’!

“Follow this old man, dear guests.”

Guided by the NPC, Shi Jixing and Xie He-ting walked through the bamboo garden to a small house.

Inside were four rooms. On the curtains of each room were several large brush-written characters: in order, “Zither” (Qin), “Chess” (Qi), “Calligraphy” (Shu), and “Painting” (Hua).

The NPC explained: “Guests may choose any three items from these four challenges to complete. Five teachers will score you. If more than half give a ‘Good’ (Shan), you shall pass.”

As he spoke, two black-clad attendants pushed open the doors to the four rooms. Shi Jixing’s gaze swept over the one labeled “Zither”; inside were a guqin, a guzheng, as well as a piano and a saxophone.

Clearly, their task needed to be completed using the props provided by the production team.

“What are the performance requirements for the Zither segment? Can we just choose any instrument and play?” Shi Jixing asked.

“Indeed.” The old man stroked his long beard and nodded repeatedly.

“And if we don’t pass, are there other challenge tasks?”

“Naturally.”

Then the black-clad NPC explained: “There are three series of challenges in this round. If you fail the first series, the content of the re-challenge will be different, though the rules are the same.”

In other words, if they didn’t pass this time, they would face new challenges until they passed or time ran out; they could also choose to abstain.

“Can you show us the content of the other two series?”

“Yes.”

The other two challenge series were slightly more complex, including but not limited to finding more than three species of bamboo in the garden, completing a “Flying Flower Command” (a poetry game), and so on.

Looking at it this way, the current challenges were easier to complete.

Shi Jixing thought for a moment. He had studied the piano for a while as a child; he wasn’t a master, but playing a Sonata in D Major wouldn’t be a problem.

For the remaining three: painting was out—he hadn’t studied traditional Chinese painting, so he passed on that immediately.

Chess? Does a third-grade elementary level of Gomoku count? Then there was calligraphy; he had practiced regular script for a while. It should be barely acceptable, right? It just depended on whether the production team would cause trouble.

But according to the production team’s usual behavior, they had no lower limit for causing trouble. They wouldn’t let such a good opportunity pass for free.

It looked a bit precarious…

He didn’t know how things were on He-ting’s side. As long as he could handle two items, He-ting would only need to complete one to pass.

Holy crap, the production team set it to hell-level difficulty! Normal people know ‘Zither, Chess, Calligraphy, and Painting’? Knowing one or two would be considered impressive, okay?

Shi Jixing’s fans also broke into a cold sweat for him.

They were finally close to the destination; if they got stuck here, it would be a tragic waste.

Shi Jixing asked Xie He-ting: “What do you want to choose?”

Xie He-ting carefully looked over the production team’s requirements. He felt the difficulty wasn’t that great.

Zither? He was famous in Lin’an.

Chess? He studied under the grandmaster Elder Yan.

Calligraphy? He was proficient in Clerical, Regular, Cursive, and Running scripts.

Painting? Mm, although he wasn’t as skilled in it as the others, he heard from his father that some years ago, someone offered a hundred gold pieces to buy a small painting he had done casually. It should be acceptable?

He just didn’t know if the competition requirements were high. If they were very high, he wasn’t entirely sure.

“I can try any of them,” Xie He-ting said modestly. “Brother, you choose first; I’ll take the remaining ones.”

Ding Hongye, who felt guilty for scolding him wrongly, was almost angry to death hearing this answer!

Can this He-ting not survive without ‘faking it’?

Saying things like ‘I can try any of them’… what if he fails? They’d have to start over. This is a two-person task!

She switched to a side account and posted passionately.

That tone, so arrogant. It seems he thinks all four levels are easy.

Detestable, he’s successfully ‘faked it.’

Waiting for him to get slapped in the face.

“Then I’ll choose Zither and Calligraphy. For the remaining two, you pick one?”

“Then I’ll choose Chess.” He didn’t have much confidence in his painting skills.

Once the two had selected their first challenge, guided by the NPC, Shi Jixing and Xie He-ting entered the room labeled “Zither” together.

Then, five judges dressed in ancient costumes filed in.

The production team made it feel quite ceremonial.

Shi Jixing briefly tested the sound, brought up the sheet music, and began to play. One could tell he had a foundation; he completed the task in a few minutes.

Wuwu wuwu, Little Xing is truly beyond words. I never expected to hear him play the piano one day.

So handsome, multi-talented Little Xing, sister loves you.