I Swear I Don’t Want to Be Everyone’s Favorite - Chapter 66

Beneath the watery moonlight, the two remained silent for an unknown length of time until the director’s urgent call finally prompted Ning Fuguang to step out of the car and open the door for Jiang Luoyue.

Jiang Luoyue was too exhausted to even muster a refusal. All that lingered in her heart, aside from weariness, was the sweetness and happiness brought by those carefully spoken words.

She shook her head, trying to suppress her emotions deep inside, planning to sort through them when she had the time. By the time she could think clearly again, they had already returned to the villa.

Jiang Luoyue had assumed that the three mutually antagonistic participants would have returned to the villa long ago. Only upon stepping inside did she realize that she and Ning Fuguang were actually the first ones back.

Even Ning Fuguang seemed surprised. “Did something happen?”

“Don’t jinx it!” The assistant director, who had stayed behind, took a deep breath upon facing Ning Fuguang’s sharp tongue for the first time. “They were just worried about Luoyue…”

Throughout the day, the two of them had barely streamed for a cumulative hour, with each session lasting only a few minutes before abruptly cutting off. This only heightened the anxiety of the other three, who were already concerned about Jiang Luoyue after the earlier hug.

Xiang Fan had returned to the villa at noon but left again after failing to find Jiang Luoyue.

Clearly, she had assumed the two would return to the villa after leaving the Ning residence.

Ning Fuguang crossed her arms and sneered coldly. “They’re overthinking it.”

Jiang Luoyue had no time to dwell on her smugness, feeling a bit anxious herself. “They could’ve just sent a message.”

Before she could finish, she remembered she hadn’t touched her smartphone all day. Whenever she showed any intention of opening a social media app while with Ning Fuguang, the woman’s gaze would shoot over like a dagger, accompanied by the same words she’d used while pinching her chin,

“You’re still contacting them while you’re with me?”

It had taken Jiang Luoyue nearly five minutes just to wipe off those three lipstick marks.

Unwilling to go through that again, she had suppressed the urge.

Fortunately, although Ning Fuguang was strict with her, she herself refrained from using her phone as well. Thus, the entire afternoon had been spent in total immersion and enjoyment.

Having lost herself in the moment, blaming Ning Fuguang now would only make her seem petty.

Jiang Luoyue sighed and dialed Yu Jingtang’s number. “I’ll go find them now.”

Just as she stood up, the ringing of a phone grew closer from outside.

Under the bright corridor lights of the villa, the three women appeared as dejected as defeated dogs, their expressions gloomy.

The breeze rustled the greenery in the garden, carrying their clear, contentious voices into the house.

“If you hadn’t drawn such a bad hand, would she have been paired with Ning Fuguang?”

“And if your luck was so great, why did you end up with Yu Jingtang?”

The sudden ring of Yu Jingtang’s phone interrupted their argument.

Fu Yunqing, assuming it was Yu Jingtang’s manager, rolled her eyes and didn’t bother asking. Xiang Fan, however, noticed how Yu Jingtang quickened her pace after seeing the caller ID.

After a moment of stunned silence, Xiang Fan hurried after her and, as expected, found Jiang Luoyue waiting in the hall.

The despondency of the three women stood in stark contrast to the program crew behind them, who still seemed to be relishing the day.

A cameraman wiped away tears. “When will we get more shoots like this paid vacations, basically?”

“I never thought I’d live to see the day the director would buy me a bag with her own money.”

Jiang Luoyue hung up the phone the moment she recognized the figure and began eavesdropping on the conversation. Before she could piece together the truth, she was already pulled into an embrace by Yu Jingtang, who had just stepped into the room.

Yu Jingtang wrapped his arms around her waist in a far more intimate manner than when Ning Fuguang had held her. The distance between them closed instantly, and even the sound of his breathing near her ear became distinct.

As their eyes met, it felt as though a kiss was only a slight tilt away.

“Luoyue.”

Unfortunately, Yu Jingtang only had time to utter her name before Fu Yunqing, beating Xiang Fan to it, stormed into the room.

Taking in the scene, she immediately flared up, “Yu Jingtang, let her go! Are you insane? Who said you could touch her?”

“She didn’t refuse.”

“She didn’t refuse because you startled her!”

Before her words even faded, Fu Yunqing had already taken action, forcibly pulling Yu Jingtang away from Jiang Luoyue.

At first, it was just a shoving match, but somewhere along the way, real anger crept into their movements. Just as it was about to escalate into a full-blown fight, Jiang Luoyue barely had time to call out Fu Yunqing’s name before another hand yanked her into an embrace.

This time, it was Xiang Fan.

Her collar felt cold against Jiang Luoyue’s skin. Having just removed the glasses she had worn all day, Xiang Fan’s gaze was filled with impatience and scrutiny.

Yet her lips curved into a smile as she greeted Jiang Luoyue, “Do you care about her that much?”

Jiang Luoyue: “…”

Instinctively unwilling to answer, she glanced at Ning Fuguang.

Responding to her silent plea for help, Ning Fuguang nodded and asked, “Should I step in?”

Jiang Luoyue: “…” Was that really the tone for a friendly negotiation? Just as she was about to voice her astonishment, Xiang Fan released her, and the two immediately began shoving each other as if no one else were present.

When Xiang Fan landed a punch on Ning Fuguang’s face, some ill-intentioned staff member abruptly turned on the gramophone in the hall.

In an instant, the room was filled with the melodious strains of a symphony. Under the golden glow of the lights, the sounds of scuffles, grunts of pain and retaliatory strikes, echoed through the hall, as if “freaks, lunatics, and late-stage maniacs” were clashing with “hypocritical fools.”

For a moment, Jiang Luoyue felt as though she were not on a reality show but at a medieval ball, watching a flock of mad little white ducks pecking at each other in the dance hall.

She mentally ran through every harsh word she had ever heard in her life but couldn’t bring herself to utter a single one.

Exhausted in both body and mind, Jiang Luoyue decided to start the live stream, if these people loved causing chaos, they could do it on camera. It wouldn’t hinder anything anyway.

In the living room, as the long-dormant screen suddenly lit up, its harsh glare illuminating everyone’s faces, they seemed to snap out of their frenzy and gradually stilled.

After taking in their expressions, someone, shocked, sent a glittering paid comment:

【??? Did you just have a fight???】

The comment echoed the thoughts of countless viewers.

Since the show began, there had been arguments and moments of disarray, but for the most part, everyone had been impeccably dressed and well-composed, fitting the image of high-quality individuals. Today, however, all four bore visible injuries, their clothes in disarray, their irritation palpable they had truly lost their temper.

No one paid attention to the comments, and even if they caught a glimpse, they had no intention of responding.

Jiang Luoyue, however, read the comment aloud and challenged the group, “Why is no one saying anything?”

The four: “…”

Seeing her grim expression and sensing her genuine anger, they finally began to rein themselves in.

The first to straighten her appearance was Ning Fuguang. Despite a noticeable bruise at the corner of her mouth, she still wore a faint smile, completely unbothered. “It was just a friendly exchange. Calling it a fight is a bit of an exaggeration.”

Xiang Fan let out a cold snort. She hadn’t come out unscathed either, casually adjusting her crooked glasses before replying with a simple, “Mm.”

Fu Yunqing and Yu Jingtang hadn’t gotten physical, but they remained silent. Only when Jiang Luoyue rejoined the group did they both let out a quiet sigh of relief, though the sidelong glances they exchanged still carried intense animosity.

Whether this brief peace was genuine or not, the scene quickly returned to order.

The director, terrified that this fragile truce might vanish like a bubble, hurriedly interjected, “Alright, now that all the guests are here, let’s proceed to evaluate the results of your tasks ”

[Why does the director sound like she’s about to cry?]
[What task again? I totally forgot.]
[Giving gifts to the guests! Who did Jiang Luoyue draw? She never mentioned it.]
[Haha, Fu Yunqing got Xiang Fan. She’s been sulking all day because of it.]
[? Shouldn’t the fight be the main topic? How did we just breeze past that?!]

Unfazed by the comments, the director gestured for the staff to bring out the props, she had never expected any of them to actually prepare gifts for each other, so she had made arrangements in advance.

But before the staff could act on her signal, Ning Fuguang took over the conversation. “Sure.”
“However, my gift isn’t really suitable for live broadcast. If you’re concerned, you can supervise after the stream ends.”

The director fell silent. Still shaken by Ning Fuguang’s sudden outburst earlier, she hesitated before replying, “If it’s a gift, why wouldn’t it be suitable for broadcast.”

Before she could finish the word “broadcast,” Ning Fuguang cut in, “Wouldn’t it be considered flaunting wealth? I’m not entirely clear on the rules, but if you think it’s fine, I can present it now.”

Recalling Ning Fuguang’s financial status and the recipient she had drawn, the director’s lips twitched, and she immediately backed down. “Alright, next”

Ning Fuguang’s high-profile remarks instantly clued in every viewer with at least a shred of intelligence: the gift recipient was Jiang Luoyue.

While the audience marveled at Jiang Luoyue’s luck, Jiang Luoyue herself was utterly bewildered. She had spent the entire day with Ning Fuguang and hadn’t seen her prepare any gift.

True, Ning Fuguang had given her a small bead art piece at the bead shop, but what did bead art have to do with flaunting wealth?

Jiang Luoyue was completely lost, yet she had no desire to look at Ning Fuguang.

Just as she couldn’t grasp Ning Fuguang’s words, she also failed to understand why Ning Fuguang had suddenly attacked Xiang Fan.

In a civilized society, no matter how deep the resentment, shouldn’t people sit down and talk things out? Even if they were love rivals, was it acceptable to resort to violence? Was this some kind of “Beacon Fire and the Duke’s Play” scenario?

After mentally venting and feeling shocked, Jiang Luoyue suddenly remembered she was the “Bao Si” in this analogy: “…”

As Jiang Luoyue fell silent, Xiang Fan also produced her gift.

As luck would have it, she had drawn Ning Fuguang, the very person she had brawled with just minutes earlier.

When she prepared the gift, their relationship hadn’t deteriorated to such an extent, so Xiang Fan’s present was relatively amicable: a copy of The Economics of Money, Banking, and Financial Markets.

Ning Fuguang didn’t take the book immediately, and Xiang Fan didn’t mind either. She simply placed the gift on the coffee table, considering it delivered. Whether the other person wanted it or not, Xiang Fan couldn’t care less. If she really disliked it that much, she could just let Fu Yunqing take it back to wipe her dog’s rear, there was no shortage of canines in this world in need of toilet paper.

Then, just as the barrage comments predicted, Fu Yunqing and Yu Jingtang drew each other’s names.

The former gifted a folding fan inscribed with the words “tone-deaf,” while the latter printed out screenshots of the one-star ratings from several of Fu Yunqing’s short dramas.

Although the ratings only filled a few pages, the moment the first negative review appeared on the screen, everyone silently determined the outcome of this silent battle.

However,

[Who can return my innocent and kind-hearted Xiao Tang to me.]

[Analysis of the joke: “Innocent and Kind-hearted”]

Fu Yunqing rarely read negative reviews, especially those about herself.

For the first time in her life, being confronted so directly, she froze for a few seconds before abruptly turning to the director and asking, “Now that this lousy gift exchange is over, when do we start voting for the mole?”

If she didn’t manage to get Yu Jingtang, that lunatic, unanimously voted out today, she wasn’t human.

The director replied weakly, “But Jiang Luoyue hasn’t given her gift yet.”

And so, Jiang Luoyue joined the list of people receiving Fu Yunqing’s glare.

Jiang Luoyue took a deep breath, hesitated repeatedly, and finally handed over the perler bead creation stored in a small box.

The box, small and square, looked almost identical to a ring box from the outside.

The moment the gift was presented, the barrage erupted with excitement.

[Could it be? Could it be? Is today the day?]

[Is anyone going to check on my Yunqing? I feel like she’s about to explode from anger.]

[Haha, forget about that, let’s ship Luoyue and Jingtang instead!]

Jiang Luoyue had anticipated that the gift might be misunderstood and was about to suggest that Yu Jingtang open it privately later. But Yu Jingtang opened the box as soon as she received it.

The camera promptly zoomed in, allowing the audience to clearly see the perler bead inside.

It was a chibi version of Yu Jingtang, strikingly similar to her, holding a guitar.

The barrage was filled with praise:

[It looks just like Xiao Tang!]

[So that’s why! Someone spotted Jiang Luoyue and Ning Fuguang spending hours at a perler bead shop this afternoon they were making gifts!]

[Ning Fuguang doesn’t mind?]

Yu Jingtang took out the perler bead, examining it over and over.

Jiang Luoyue was a step too late to intervene, but she didn’t dwell on it. Instead, she said, “I just happened to see a template and made it.”

It wasn’t an expensive gift in fact, it was rather cheap. Jiang Luoyue felt a bit guilty after saying this and rubbed her nose, adding, “I’ll get you something else later.”

“No need,” Yu Jingtang shook her head, her eyes sparkling. “It’s really beautiful.”

As she spoke, as if sharing the same brainwaves as Ning Fuguang, she took out the perler bead and prepared to hang it on her phone case.

Jiang Luoyue’s internal alarm bells went off instantly. “How about hanging it somewhere else? What about at home?”

The fact that Jiang Luoyue had given her a gift at all was beyond Yu Jingtang’s expectations.

That it was handmade made her even more delighted.

She never imagined such luck would come her way, and she was overjoyed. Hearing Jiang Luoyue’s suggestion, she assumed the other was just feeling a bit shy. Shaking her head again, she emphasized with bright eyes, “I really like it.”

Jiang Luoyue: “…” She knew Yu Jingtang liked it, and she was happy that the other was happy, but why did it have to be hung on a phone case?!

Forcing a smile, she tried to dissuade her further when a sudden, blinding flash of white light cut through the air.

Both were startled awake. Yu Jingtang frowned as she looked past Jiang Luoyue, who remained frozen for several seconds before finally moving in sync with her.

Not far away, Ning Fuguang acted as if she had just noticed her mistake, lightly tapping the raised phone in her hand with feigned surprise. “How did the flashlight turn on suddenly? My apologies.”

As she spoke, she casually swayed the phone in her hand.

The beaded snake keychain dangled with the motion, its silently flickering tongue carrying a faint hint of mockery.

The world fell into silence.

If this gift had been given out of obligation for a mission, Fu Yunqing and Xiang Fan wouldn’t have been affected. But now, aside from them, the other two had received gifts. What did that mean? Favoritism?

Xiang Fan removed her glasses, her beautiful face darkening like a gathering storm, a faint, ambiguous smile playing on her lips. Fu Yunqing seemed so furious that even her hair appeared to be smoldering. Her eyes, already reddened from Yu Jingtang’s negative review of the gift, shimmered with unshed tears, as if she were on the verge of crying from Jiang Luoyue’s actions.

Jiang Luoyue, who had never imagined she would bear such a heavy responsibility, broke into a cold sweat and attempted to explain, “If I told you that making yours took two hours, while making hers only took half an hour, would you mind?”

Xiang Fan let out a soft “Oh” and said, “So I’m not even worth half an hour.”

Ning Fuguang, who had initially remained relatively calm, also quickened the pace of her phone-swaying after Jiang Luoyue mentioned the difference in the time spent on the beaded crafts.

Jiang Luoyue fell completely silent.

She felt she was undeserving of such intense anger and affection and, in a more civilized tone, raised the same question as Fu Yunqing: “The gift-giving is over. When do we start voting for the spy?”

The director, who had been fully immersed in watching the tense confrontation, snapped back to reality, blinked innocently, and said, “Didn’t I mention it? Because Xiao Tang has a last-minute event tomorrow and can’t participate in the recording, she’ll be automatically eliminated. There’s no need to vote tonight.”

Jiang Luoyue: “…”