Did Assistant Xie Make the Trending Searches Today? - Chapter 27

Chapter 27: Extreme Star

Previously, only four rooms had been arranged. The staff quickly cleared out two more rooms upstairs. This time, the rooms were selected freely. Jin Huaifeng chose Room 6 and then told Xie He-ting to choose Room 7.

Xie He-ting was originally unwilling; he wanted to stay on the second floor with Lan Chi and the others, as it was livelier with more people.

However, Jin Huaifeng kept hinting at him with his eyes.

Xie He-ting remembered his promise to Jin Huaifeng and thought of the delicious cake, so he resignedly chose 7.

The final arrangement was: Jin Huaifeng and Xie He-ting lived on the third floor, while everyone else lived on the second floor.

Xie He-ting had already packed his things. Since he was moving rooms, he did a quick tidy-up and prepared to carry his belongings upstairs.

“Need a hand?” Shen Ji asked, standing by the door.

“Thank you, Brother, but no need.” He didn’t have many things.

Shen Ji smiled, walked over, and naturally took the things from Xie He-ting’s hands. Carrying a bag in each hand, he led the way, leaving Xie He-ting no room to refuse.

Xie He-ting keenly sensed that Shen Ji seemed to have something he wanted to say to him, so he kept quiet and followed behind.

Once they reached the third floor and the items were set down, Xie He-ting braced himself, but Shen Ji only gave him a hesitant look. In the end, he only said “Rest well” before leaving, leaving Xie He-ting quite baffled.

Except for Zhou Yanrong and Shen Ji, who were already in single rooms and didn’t need to move, the other guests all had to switch rooms. Everyone was exhausted after a long day; the production team arranged no further activities, allowing for free rest. Most guests returned to their rooms to lie down.

Shi Jixing had thought he could stay with Xie He-ting tonight, but this sudden change at the last minute left him feeling quite upset. He listened to some music with headphones for a while, but soon stood up, took his “Extreme Star,” and headed out.

Xiao Xing looks like he’s in a bad mood.

He went to the terrace? He took ‘Extreme Star’ with him.

Xie He-ting was about to take a shower when he heard the pleasant sound of a lute. He set his clothes aside and followed the sound.

On the terrace, Lan Chi was sitting in front of Shi Jixing, staring longingly at his guitar and pleading in a small voice: “Just let me look at your guitar, just for a second. I’ll just look, I won’t play it, okay?”

Shi Jixing completely ignored him.

Some in the bullet chat said Shi Jixing was being cold-hearted; little darling Lan Chi had been asking for over ten minutes and he still wouldn’t agree.

Shi Jixing’s long-time fan “Wen Bei” couldn’t stand the criticism and immediately clarified: ‘Extreme Star’ is like a wife to our Xing. If you think about it from his perspective, you’ll know why he can’t give it up.】

Why does Shi Jixing treasure his guitar so much?

Isn’t that normal? There’s another singer whose microphone was custom-made by fans—there’s only one in the world. He protects it fiercely and uses only his own mic for all activities, big or small.】

True, it’s quite normal for artists to have their own specific preferences.

Xiao Xing’s guitar also has extraordinary significance to him; you can tell just by the name. Last time, a veteran senior who had been famous for a long time wanted to see Xiao Xing’s guitar, and he didn’t give it to him. What if it got broken? There’d be nowhere to cry.

Lan Chi pestered Shi Jixing for a long time without success and finally left in disappointment.

By the time Xie He-ting reached the second-floor terrace, only Shi Jixing was left.

“Didn’t I tell you it’s not—” Shi Jixing’s impatient gaze swept over, but when he saw who it was, his expression shifted through several changes before he spoke in surprise: “He-ting?”

Xie He-ting’s eyes were sparkling as he looked at the guitar in Shi Jixing’s hands.

“I just heard your music; it was very beautiful.”

Shi Jixing followed his gaze.

He had wanted to say it for a while now—Xie He-ting was always glancing at his guitar, seemingly intentionally yet subtly.

Shi Jixing hesitated for a moment and then asked proactively: “Do you want to play with ‘Extreme Star’ for a bit?”

Bullet chat: ???

Lan Chi: Excuse me?

“Ah? Is it really okay?” A brilliant light of surprise flickered in Xie He-ting’s eyes, as if he couldn’t quite believe it.

Shi Jixing quietly looked into those clear eyes, which were brighter than the stars in the sky, yet like a black hole—if you stared for a second or two, you would be sucked in.

“Mhm,” he laughed softly. “I feel like you really like it, so I think it would be willing too.”

Shi Jixing handed the guitar to Xie He-ting.

“It’s beautiful.” Xie He-ting reached out somewhat nervously. He looked down at the strangely shaped “lute” in his hands, his fingers slowly tracing the smooth curve of the body as if it were something extremely precious, not daring to touch it directly with his palm.

“You can play it, it’s fine.”

Xie He-ting stole a quick, shy glance at Shi Jixing and said with great embarrassment: “I don’t really know how to play this. I’ve never played it before.”

Shi Jixing was stunned for a moment but quickly reacted: “It’s okay, I’ll teach you.”

A guitar only has six strings. Since Xie He-ting had a foundation in the Guqin, Shi Jixing gave him a brief explanation. He roughly understood how to make the guitar produce sound and casually plucked out a few notes.

Seeing his focused expression, Shi Jixing pursed his lips: “If you want to learn, I can take you to my studio. There are many more guitars there, and I can teach you slowly.”

“Really?”

Shi Jixing met his gaze and nodded.

The two played with the guitar for about twenty minutes. Seeing Xie He-ting yawn twice with teary eyes, Shi Jixing proactively said that if he still wanted to play, they could do it together during the free activities over the next two days.

Xie He-ting happily said goodnight to Shi Jixing and returned to his room to rest.

As he left, he stole two more glances at “Extreme Star.”

Shi Jixing watched Xie He-ting’s departing back thoughtfully, then took out his phone and sent a message to Li Lesheng.

Tonight was the first night he lived alone. Without the “Great Demon King” present, Xie He-ting was very relaxed. He lay beautifully on the soft large bed, read for a bit, then turned off the light and went to sleep.

Laughing to death, it’s only past nine o’clock. He-ting, aren’t you sleeping a bit too early?

A young person’s nightlife has only just begun!

Except for Xie He-ting, everyone else was indeed still awake.

Shi Jixing sat on the carpet in his room, guitar in his arms, looking at his phone with relaxed features—it was clear he was in an excellent mood.

Wen Zhou was playing a game. Without a roommate, doing commentary was very convenient.

The bullet chat was dying of laughter: Hahahaha, fans of Eight-Treasure-Zhou’s ‘wife,’ come directly to our live stream to watch; first-hand broadcast with multiple camera angles.

Zhou Yanrong leaned against the headboard, wearing a face mask while using a foam roller and a massage gun on his calves.

Between climbing the mountain and the “triathlon” today, his calves were aching severely.

Shen Ji, wearing a pair of rimless glasses on his nose bridge, was reading a thick script and taking notes. The bullet chat went wild again.

Shen Ji’s big fan “Er Dong” was the first to praise: Teacher Shen is truly dedicated. I heard that he writes character sketches every time; before a movie starts filming, his notes can fill an entire notebook.

Of course, anti-fans who found him disagreeable immediately jumped out: Yes, yes, yes, your Teacher Shen loves writing the most. Your Teacher Shen is the only dedicated person in the whole world.

Finally, the camera cut to Lan Chi’s room, and the bullet chat rolled with laughter.

Lan Chi was wearing a huge pair of headphones, rolling from the head of the bed to the foot while listening to music. That wouldn’t be a problem, but the issue was that Lan Chi was singing along to the songs in his headphones.

Singing was one thing, but his singing was… beyond words.

My God, this song seems to be by ‘you-know-who.’ If it weren’t for the fact that I’ve listened to this song on loop three hundred times, who would have thought it was the same song?

It can be said it no longer has any relation to the original singer.

XSWL (Laughing to death), Lan Chi, you should go do hip-hop. Singing a ballad sounds like a rap; I literally couldn’t catch a single word.

The tune isn’t right either.

Eh? Where’s Brother Jin? He’s not in his room?

Seems he hasn’t been seen since the rooms were assigned. Did he go out?

The show was not a closed recording; guests could request leave during free activities.

He wouldn’t be out preparing some surprise for Xie He-ting again, would he? That cake today really shocked my whole family! I thought He-ting would be the one to back down first after their fight; I never expected this.

Crap, it’s actually possible. Last time he bought snacks for He-ting too.

My God, it’s so shippable. I can’t suppress the smile on the corners of my mouth anymore.

??? Why is all the ‘shipping sugar’ based on imagination now? No need, sisters. The ‘real’ sugar provided by the show is already enough; let’s not eat ‘hard sugar’ (forced interpretations), or we might get indigestion.

The bullet chat was noisy for a while, and finally, someone said: He probably just went out for some business; he’ll surely be back tomorrow.

Early the next morning, after the guests finished breakfast, Mu Ying announced the schedule for today’s activities.

“The next two days are free activity segments. The production team will gradually interview each guest about their first impressions of one another.”

Because Jin Huaifeng took leave, his interview had already been completed last night.

“Additionally, to add a bit of fun for everyone, the production team has specially planned a ‘Caring for Single Dogs’ project.”

Eh? Is the production team finally going to act like decent humans?

Caring for Single Dogs? How will they care?

“The production team has prepared several small activities for everyone: 1. A delicious afternoon tea; 2. DIY handicrafts together; 3. Cooking a delicious dinner together; 4. Watching a sweet movie together.”

“Each guest can vote for the guest they want to play a game with. Guests who receive a message cannot refuse.”

The bullet chat boiled over:

?? I thought Orange TV was becoming humane—but this? In that case, what if everyone chooses the same person? Will that person work themselves to death?

Even if everyone chooses one person, everyone still has a date partner, so it counts as caring for single dogs.

But isn’t that a bit… much for that one person?

Sister, this is a dating show. Being a ‘heartthrob’ or whatever is quite normal.

Mu Ying continued with the rules: “For each ‘care’ session, both parties can gain five points. There is no upper limit.”

Xie He-ting’s eyes lit up again.

Haha, the benefits of this show are great; there are always lots of ‘silver’ pieces!

Once the rules were out, Zhou Yanrong felt something was amiss.

“Alright, everyone can send their messages now.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Yanrong’s phone rang first. He picked it up and saw it was indeed a message from Wen Zhou.

I finally understand the point of this segment. Wen Zhou, you kid didn’t get this through the back door, did you? Hahaha.

Wuwu wuwu, but the Puppy can finally spend time alone with the Big Beauty.

What will the Puppy take the Big Beauty to do?

“A date.” Wen Zhou’s burning gaze fixed unblinkingly on Zhou Yanrong’s direction: “Shall we go have afternoon tea together? Let’s go to your favorite shop.”

“Can we send messages to guests who aren’t on-site?” Lan Chi raised his hand.

Mu Ying smiled and broke his illusion: “Jin Huaifeng has taken two days off for business and won’t be back until Friday.”

“Oh!” Lan Chi was a bit disappointed.

Fine. Although Jin Huaifeng was a big moron, the one who made his heart stir the most was still Jin Huaifeng.

Well, of course, the others weren’t bad either—Brother Shen Ji was gentle, Brother Yanrong had great style and taste, and then there was He-he! He-he was the best, but unfortunately, they clearly ‘clashed’ in roles (both submissive/cute), so there was no future there.

The second to receive a message was Xie He-ting; the message was from Shi Jixing.

The content was very simple: “Does this count as a second date? Shall we go see a movie together?”

Ahhhh Xing, did you go for extra training last night? You’ve got quite a way with words now.

Xing truly likes him now, doesn’t he.

Soon, the third person’s phone rang. Shen Ji pulled it out and saw it was actually from Lan Chi.

“Brother Shen Ji, choose between cooking or handicrafts.”

Shen Ji naturally chose cooking.

The remaining ones who hadn’t chosen were Zhou Yanrong, Xie He-ting, and Shen Ji.

Shen Ji also chose Xie He-ting. Xie He-ting chose Wen Zhou, selecting cooking together. Because Xie He-ting wanted to learn how to make cakes from Wen Zhou.

Choosing not to participate was impossible—completing one activity earned five points, and completing two earned ten.

Zhou Yanrong chose… Shi Jixing.

This was completely unexpected.

The final selection results were:

1. Wen Zhou x Zhou Yanrong – Afternoon tea together

2. Shi Jixing x He-ting – Movie together

3. He-ting x Wen Zhou – Cooking together

4. Shen Ji x He-ting – Afternoon tea together

5. Lan Chi x Shen Ji – Handicrafts together

6. Zhou Yanrong x Shi Jixing – Movie together

Xie He-ting was the undisputed “Heartthrob King.”

“Wind-Stop” (Jin & He) CP fans let out a final roar: Brother Jin! If you don’t come back soon, your wife is becoming everyone’s darling!

At this moment, a certain someone traveling hastily toward A-City suddenly sneezed.

He instinctively took out his phone to take a look.

Clicking into the live stream, he saw exactly the results of the “Caring for Single Dogs” project.

Damn.

I guarded against everything and thought I had arranged everything before leaving—Shi Jixing couldn’t even share a room with Xie He-ting.

Damn it, who thought of this moronic ‘Single Dog Care Plan’.

Jin Huaifeng’s face turned green again.

It was already two days later when Jin Huaifeng returned.

During the two days he was absent, netizens said he was “working to avoid disaster” and had escaped a calamity.

The introduction of the “Caring for Single Dogs Plan” turned a perfectly good dating show into a total comedy variety show. It topped several hot searches and even bumped the Blue Channel’s ace drama variety show, Who Is the Biggest Star, becoming the top comedy variety.

Even the director of Biggest Star called out the Heartbeat director on Weibo, suggesting they hold a joint activity.

This development was completely unexpected, from the production team to the fans.

It all started with the two commoner guests.

The most concentrated laughs were focused on Lan Chi and Xie He-ting.

First, let’s talk about Lan Chi’s date.

He had afternoon tea with Shen Ji, which was normal, but Lan Chi was the type who wanted whatever he saw. On the way to afternoon tea, they encountered a circus with a giant python performance. If anyone was willing to interact with the “actor,” they could receive a custom doll.

Lan Chi immediately set his sights on the colorful doll and took a special liking to the Burmese python, insisting on playing.

Shen Ji was afraid of snakes; many of his long-time fans knew this. He had mentioned it more than once in interviews.

He couldn’t stop Lan Chi from playing, so he waited three miles away.

Before playing, Lan Chi was full of confidence, patting his chest and promising: “There’s a zoo near my house, and snakes have even entered our yard. I’m not afraid. Brother, just watch me!”

Then, as soon as he got on stage and saw such a large snake behind the glass, his legs turned weak. He grabbed Shen Ji’s hand with teary eyes: “Brother, I’m scared!”

Shen Ji immediately said: “Then let’s not play.”

Lan Chi became dramatic again: “Brother, I want the doll, it’s colorful, I like it, I want it. Wuwu.”

He refused to leave, and when told to leave, he cried.

The final result was predictable. Shen Ji saw the child crying like that, and being older, he had no choice but to help Lan Chi complete the task. The cool, slimy sensation almost sent Shen Ji “away” right then and there.

Lan Chi held his new doll with satisfaction, and his mouth was sweet, saying things like “Brother Shen Ji is so good,” “Thank you Brother Shen Ji,” and “I’ll work like an ox or a horse for Brother Shen Ji in the future.”

After returning, Shen Ji scrubbed himself in the shower for an hour. Everyone found it both pitiable and hilarious.

Lan Chi’s line “Brother, just leave it to me” was supplemented with “I will definitely mess it up,” and made into a widely circulated meme.

The second was Xie He-ting.

To be honest, Xie He-ting’s destructive power was much greater than Lan Chi’s.

While Lan Chi only victimized Shen Ji alone, Xie He-ting was different—he nearly destroyed the villa’s kitchen, making everyone almost have to eat takeout together.

He had been longing to learn how to make cakes. It just so happened that the production team arranged cooking—wasn’t this like someone bringing a pillow when you’re sleepy? He immediately rolled up his sleeves and told Wen Zhou he would study hard and show off his skills.

He certainly had no foundation in culinary arts. Wen Zhou first taught him how to use an electric mixer to whip cream.

A water-free and oil-free stainless steel bowl, pre-chilled heavy cream, an appropriate amount of sugar—three minutes on low speed, one minute on high speed. Every step was perfectly fine.

Yet, that cream simply wouldn’t whip.

He nearly whipped through the bowl, the mixer was smoking, and the cream still hadn’t thickened.

After failing the first battle, Xie He-ting persevered and learned to use the oven.

Wen Zhou was worried about a repeat of the previous scene and damaging the motivation of a (potentially) culinary genius and rising star. He prepared everything, so Xie He-ting only needed to pipe the prepared dough into shapes using a piping bag and put them into the oven.

Anyway, no one knew which step went wrong. The oven actually broke—thick smoke billowed out, forcing everyone into an emergency fire-fighting effort.

Xie He-ting’s fans immediately clarified: Qing-Mo YSKE: It was definitely the oven’s quality! Big Orange, what happened to you? Couldn’t you buy a better oven?

Laughing to death, the “investor-father” who provided the ovens has already fainted from crying in the bathroom.

Wen Zhou also had his eyes opened.

Xie He-ting was busy all afternoon, and the only successful step was decorating the cake with fruit. He was a textbook case of an unlucky disaster.

In the end, while cleaning up the mess, Wen Zhou tactfully told him: Let’s not take the path of a chef in the future. If you like eating cake, just pay to buy it.

“Some money is simply meant for others to earn.” Hahahaha, the thought of Wen Zhou’s expression when he said that makes me laugh.

He-he, you truly are a kitchen slayer.

The funniest part is that he was very serious in every step. It’s a pure case of the ‘Founding Master’ not bestowing the gift.

It’s one thing for the Founding Master not to bestow the gift, but he even smashed the bowl.

Good, good, good. I’ll summarize today’s Single Dog Care Plan—Shen Ji touches a snake, Xie He-ting blows up a room. The horizontal scroll: “Everyone come play.”

The bullet chat was so sarcastic that even the staff were laughing like roosters.

The director loved these two “Living Treasures,” Lan Chi and Xie He-ting—they were naturally born variety show talents! They were too good at finding comedy points! Their acting was smooth and natural, without a hint of being staged.

Geniuses! These are geniuses!

Although the “Single Dog Care Plan” didn’t achieve the results the production team expected due to the participation of the two “Crouching Dragons and Hidden Phoenixes,” it indeed allowed for deeper contact between the guests.

For example, Lan Chi, who had always shown a “thick arrow” (obvious interest) toward Jin Huaifeng, expressed very frankly during his post-interview after spending time with Shen Ji: “Brother Shen Ji is very interesting. If there’s a chance later, I hope I can date him formally.”

Once everyone was gathered, Mu Ying, representing the production team, announced the rules for the second date.

“For the first round of dates, we used a ‘blind selection’ method. For the second round, we will separate into a celebrity group and a commoner group for selection. Since our number of guests is odd, to ensure the show is more interesting, we will invite a mysterious flying guest to participate in everyone’s second date.”

“Commoner guests need to send their desired dating locations via text to the production staff by 16:00 today.”

“After dinner, the celebrity guests will confirm their next date partners by choosing a location.”

“This activity will again have hidden tasks and rewards. The specific rules will be announced later.”

Once the rules for the second date were out, Jin Huaifeng’s expression clearly became a bit unpleasant.

The camera faithfully recorded all the guests’ expressions. Zhou Dingchen, in front of the screen, was laughing like a rooster.

Jin Huaifeng had returned yesterday to hold a meeting with them. After the meeting, Zhou Dingchen remembered the second date and had planned to sync up with Jin Huaifeng.

He had been following the show; Jin Huaifeng’s performance on the show clearly indicated he had feelings for the guest named “He-ting.”

As a “bad friend,” he had to walk on the front lines of eating melons, so Zhou Dingchen asked him point-blank if he had taken a liking to He-ting.

How did Jin Huaifeng respond then?

“Little swallow, wearing floral clothes, comes here every spring. I asked the swallow why, and the swallow said, ‘Mind your own business’.”

Since he had been severely mocked by Jin Huaifeng, Zhou Dingchen decided to keep the results of the second date as a reserved surprise.

And so came the current scene.

Now there were only fifteen minutes left until four o’clock. After finishing the rules, Mu Ying cleared the room, and the several commoner guests stayed behind to think about the dating locations they wanted to go to.

Wen Zhou sent his message within a minute.

Lan Chi was clearly conflicted, typing and deleting on his phone.

He had completely given up on that moron Jin Huaifeng. If it were the celebrity guests, he wanted to date Shen Ji. So if he wrote “zoo,” would Shen Ji get it?

They already played with a snake together; it should be fine, right?

Lan Chi soon pressed the send button on his phone as well.

Jin Huaifeng hadn’t expected the production team to be so wicked. The situation was now very clear: if celebrity guests were choosing commoners, either Shen Ji or Shi Jixing—those two who were eyeing Xie He-ting like tigers—would definitely choose Xie He-ting.

Thus, Jin Huaifeng thought of a perfect plan…

As for Xie He-ting, he only thought briefly about what he could do with a rare chance to go out.

Dating? He wasn’t very interested.

However, going to that place… would be quite nice.