I Swear I Don’t Want to Be Everyone’s Favorite - Chapter 7

But this time, faced with Ning Fuguang falling silent over the challenge, the barrage of comments showed rare unity in expressing understanding and tolerance.

[“I don’t even listen to rap.”]

[“Ning Fuguang graduated from a top university, isn’t it perfectly reasonable that he’s not good at vocational school rap?”]

[“Went to check the blue team Fu Yunqing didn’t believe that guy’s words, but by sheer luck, she also found the inheritor. Now she’s reciting tongue twisters!”]

Many netizens followed the lead and switched over. Sure enough, in the blue team’s livestream, Fu Yunqing was struggling to learn a classical Chinese tongue twister. Just the first line [“Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi, shi shi, shi shi shi shi.”] was enough to make the viewers dizzy.

Not to mention, the entire passage was over a hundred characters long, and the requirement was to recite it twice in three minutes without pauses or mistakes.

By comparison, Ning Fuguang’s task was like a “1+1” math problem anyone could do it.

In just that short time, Fu Yunqing made another mistake. Unwilling to admit defeat, she immediately regrouped. Zhao Mei, watching this, complained, “Instead of wasting time here, why not just redo the task?”

[“There are six hours can’t she try a few more times?”]

[“Is only your time valuable? Fu Yunqing has been giving Zhao Mei the cold shoulder since the teams split. If she hates teamwork so much, why not go solo? Afraid to lose?”]

Just as the barrage was filled with arguments and criticism, Fu Yunqing succeeded on her final attempt. When she finished the last line flawlessly, she herself was stunned for a few seconds before hurriedly urging Zhao Mei to complete her task.

Even though Fu Yunqing hadn’t openly agreed when Jiang Luoyue mentioned clearing the challenge in two hours, she had quietly made it her goal for the day.

While Zhao Mei collected her task card, Fu Yunqing stepped aside. The harsh sunlight cast a golden halo over her red hair as she sipped water leisurely, occasionally responding to comments: “Ning Fuguang hasn’t finished his task? If you’re bad, just practice more.”

“What’s the special item we drew?” Fu Yunqing asked. “Zhao Mei picked it I didn’t look closely.”

But before Fu Yunqing could figure it out, Zhao Mei had already used the special item a Help Card.

[“Production team, be honest did you only prepare Help Cards?”]

Fu Yunqing was also taken aback.

Less than two minutes had passed since she finished her task. Was Zhao Mei’s challenge so difficult that she needed help immediately after receiving it?

She stood up at once, but the task card was simple: [“Recite the following content twice in full and translate it to succeed.”]

On the back was a common English tongue twister:

[“Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

Did Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers?

If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,

Where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?”]

Zhao Mei’s task had no time limit, meaning she could take as long as she needed even reading word by word would suffice.

Fu Yunqing thought he had misunderstood the task requirements and wanted to ask her for tips on tongue twisters. Just as she was about to explain, she saw Zhao Mei’s face turning red with effort before he finally blurted out, “Um, Sister Fu, what does this ‘p… pui-po’ mean? If possible, could you translate the whole passage for me?”

Not only Fu Yunqing, but even the barrage comments fell into silence at that moment.

[I looked it up specifically isn’t Zhao Mei a college graduate? Did he fail the CET-4 and CET-6??]

[His education background is fabricated. He’s actually a high school dropout who accidentally went viral as an internet celebrity and got dragged into the entertainment industry to torture our eyes.]

[Ning Fuguang, this time I really have to call you out. Why did you have to fight Fu Yunqing for the NPC role? If you’d just swapped, both rap and English would’ve had the right people for the job. Now it’s a lose-lose situation, who’s happy about this?]

[I don’t know who’s unhappy, but Xiang Fan looks pretty pleased. Can someone explain why, in a perfectly good variety livestream, there are guests scrambling to visit a museum? Shouldn’t you all be competing to complete tasks?]

In the main livestream room, the director spotted this comment and immediately switched the camera to the Red Team, who hadn’t been tracked by the lens since entering Ancient Music Street.

The next second, the two members of the Red Team were exposed on camera at the queue area.

Xiang Fan casually raised her phone to scan the code, her red wristband sliding down her arm. On the screen, the words “Museum Reservation” were glaringly obvious.

Even the director seemed stunned by this scene and quickly pulled up a small “previously on” window. It showed that ever since the Red Team entered Ancient Music Street, they had been single mindedly heading west.

The camerawoman initially thought they were trying to locate NPCs by identifying landmarks and didn’t interfere much, until they passed by a cultural inheritor on the road, and the Red Team completely ignored them. Only then did she realize something was off: “Aren’t we supposed to be doing the task?”

The response came in Xiang Fan’s dismissive tone.

“A place spanning tens of thousands of square meters, and the program only placed twelve inheritors. Unless you’re familiar with the route, it’s impossible to complete the task in six hours.”

“Since it’s impossible, why bother? Playing along with something this stupid only makes you stupid too. Might as well spend the time on something more meaningful.”

The camerawoman was dumbfounded and tried to argue back, but Fang Yuan reminded her, “The contract doesn’t specify that skipping tasks is a breach.”

The exchange was brief, and by the time it ended, many viewers were still processing it.

As Xiang Fan passed through security and was about to enter the museum, the director urgently called the camerawoman: “Xiao Li, stop Xiang Fan! If she takes Fang Yuan inside to tour, how are we supposed to record the rest of the episode?”

But how could she stop her?

Xiao Li was indignant. Even the director didn’t dare confront Xiang Fan directly, so why push her to do it? What was the difference between this and the Nine-Headed Insect ordering his underlings to eliminate the Tang Monk and his disciples?

She racked her brain but still couldn’t come up with a response.

Xiang Fan, however, noticed her dilemma and suddenly stopped walking. She turned around and took the phone from her hand.

Seeing the contact name on the screen, Xiang Fan’s brow twitched, but she still spoke: “She’s been running around all day and is exhausted. Let, Xiao Li leave the equipment here and come in with us.”

“Worried about the equipment getting stolen? What kind of excuse is that?” Xiang Fan tilted her head. At this point, the Red Team’s livestream alone had over 100,000 viewers. “Who would steal it? Sounds like a case of the thief crying ‘stop thief.'”

“The weather is so hot, has the production team properly provided high-temperature subsidies? Any extra pay? She almost got heatstroke on the way, did you even bother to check in on her?”

Xiang Fan was accustomed to scolding people on set, and her tone carried a hint of interrogation no matter who she was speaking to. Surprisingly, the usually rebellious netizens didn’t mind her sharpness this time. Instead, they marveled:

【Xiang Fan actually cares about the crew?】

【She’s been carrying cameras herself every day on set, so she knows how heavy they are. When she noticed the camerawoman looking pale on the road, she immediately took over the equipment and sent Fang Yuan to buy food to prevent her from fainting. I almost suspect Director Xiang has personal experience with passing out.】

【Xiang Fan, beautiful inside and out! Xiang Fan, a born legendary director! Xiang Fan, girlfriend energy overload! Now if only she could come to my company and yell at my boss too, that’d be perfect!】

In contrast, the director being grilled by her barrage of questions couldn’t handle the pressure and immediately agreed to everything she said.

The camerawoman felt like she was floating on clouds. Even as she followed the two into the museum, sneakily glancing around, she couldn’t stop worrying about her future: “Um, I’m not gonna get fired tomorrow for stepping into the office with my left foot first, am I?”

“If that really happens, I’ll invite you to join my team,” Xiang Fan shot her a glance. “Of course, that’s assuming you don’t have my contact saved as ‘Heartless Bald Director Who Doesn’t Pay High-Temperature Subsidies.’”

Fang Yuan pondered and said, “Well, aside from the fact that you’re not bald, do pay high-temperature subsidies, and aren’t garbage, it’s pretty accurate.”

Xiang Fan:

The camerawoman looked around and burst out laughing.

The trio strolled happily through the air-conditioned museum, admiring the artifacts with ease and delight.

But at the same time, the live-stream audience was having a far from pleasant experience.

As a professional camerawoman, Xiao Li, though her heart was already inside the museum, had thoughtfully left the equipment in the shade before leaving, aiming the lens at the greenery outside for the viewers’ sake.

Every time the wind blew, the screen filled with lush greenery.

Beautiful.

But Xiao Li had forgotten today was a scorching sunny day.

The shade captured by the camera only stayed picturesque for a few seconds before the overexposed sunlight blurred it into a mess of light halos. Not to mention, in her pursuit of shade, she had placed the equipment right by a tree. The cicadas’ chirping grew loud and soft unpredictably harsh and jarring

【Hang in there, everyone. I’ve already placed an order on the platform to have someone go kill that cicada.】

【Live variety show turned eye-care stream, meaning my eyes hurt from watching too long, so I’m logging off to protect my vision.】

【I take back everything I said about Xiang Fan being a born legendary director with overflowing girlfriend energy. Xiang Fan, you’re not allowed to take Xiao Li away [sobbing][fist] Xiang Fan, you’ve done too much evil [sobbing][fist] Xiang Fan, give us back the original Xiao Li [sobbing][fist] The Love for Xiao Li Alliance won’t let you off [sobbing][fist]】