She Said She Has Feelings For Someone - Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Shy

“Quite perfunctory.”

“The one I want to tear off most is this—”

Xia Leshuang maintained that standard professional smile.

“Film Queen.”

Unlike Chi Shan’s mixture of helplessness and shock over the earpiece, Xia Leshuang spoke very calmly—flatter than if she were saying “the weather is nice today.”

“Next, let us grandly welcome—”

Tang Jiahe’s voice rang out from the set. Xia Leshuang pinned her noun tag on and walked steadily toward the entrance. The fill light beside her suddenly flickered out; for a split second, Lu Shuyu’s eyes felt as if they were synced with the camera lens at the entrance.

In the shadows, Xia Leshuang took step after step into the light.

“PD Lu? What happened to the lighting over there?”

The lighting technician had already pulled the plug. “One of the lights malfunctioned. The others are fine.”

Filming continued. Tang Jiahe, true to her background as an elite host, moved through the process smoothly and decisively. The other guests had also done their homework; they supported and complemented each other, turning a simple self-introduction segment into a treasure trove of interesting footage.

By the time Lu Shuyu returned to the monitors, Tang Jiahe was hitting the clapperboard toward the camera at Chi Shan’s signal, concluding that segment of recording.

The recording paused. The six women immediately “powered down,” standing by on the spot.

Song Yi couldn’t help but smile. “Thank you for your hard work, everyone. It’s been a long time since most of you participated in an event like this.”

Hearing this, Lu Shuyu suggested, “If we finish early, how about we arrange a hotpot dinner?”

She was whispering to Song Yi, but Chi Shan overheard and shouted in surprise, “What? PD Lu is treating?”

…

Song Yi smiled helplessly. Chi Shan’s expectant gaze was full of mischief. Lu Shuyu gave her a mock glare, and just like that, the hotpot proposal landed precisely as a plan.

“Good work, teachers,” Lu Shuyu walked onto the set. “If we finish early today, I’m treating you all to hotpot. There will be some filming, but it will be much more relaxed.”

“Great!” Jiang Fei was the first to respond. “I’m in.”

“Since the theme of the first episode is ‘Teamwork’,” Tang Jiahe added, “a hotpot gathering is actually very appropriate.”

After everyone agreed, Xia Leshuang also nodded and gave a simple “Okay.”

Lu Shuyu then turned to the crew behind the scenes: “I’m treating everyone to hotpot after we wrap!”

“Thank you, PD Lu—!” Chi Shan led the cheer. “And thank you to our six teachers!”

Lu Shuyu covered her ears and retreated behind the cameras, unable to resist giving the “troublemaking” Chi Shan a playful punch. The latter cried “Ouch!” while clutching her shoulder, laughing. “Your Producer Lu is seriously strong!”

“Alright,” Song Yi interrupted timely. “Get ready—”

Recording resumed.

As a brand-new show intended to be a series, the first episode was naturally themed around the team. It featured competitive challenges, but they were not individual races.

“The competition consists of six segments, which the six guests must complete together.”

“The stages include both individual and multi-person tasks. You must coordinate and arrange yourselves reasonably.”

“The score is based on the total combined time. The passing time is 600 seconds. For every 100 seconds you shave off that time, you earn double the ‘Gold-Gold points’!”

Hearing this, the guests asked in unison, “What are Gold-Gold points?”

Song Yi, explaining the rules, gave a gentle smile. “They are points that can be exchanged for actual gold.”

“Exchanged for gold!!”

Jiang Fei was always the fastest and most enthusiastic. The way her eyes bugged out as her voice cracked made everyone laugh.

“Sorry, sorry.” Jiang Fei covered her face and hid behind Xia Leshuang. She was petite, and standing behind Xia Leshuang made her perfectly invisible. Luo Han couldn’t watch any longer and reached out to pull her back out. “The camera can’t see you now.”

Tang Jiahe, mindful of the flow, picked up the topic: “You aren’t giving us the gold directly, are you?”

Zhong Wen added with a laugh, “Yeah, it feels like that would be less meaningful.”

Song Yi continued the explanation: “Correct. The gold exchanged from Gold-Gold points will be used for a public welfare project initiated by Cherry Film & TV—’Helping Impoverished Girls Attend School’ and the ‘Golden Cherry Girls’ School Construction’.”

“So, every bit of effort you put in is a solid step of help and hope for girls to walk out of the mountains.”

“That’s wonderful!” Jiang Fei clapped.

Tang Jiahe reached out her hand. “Then let’s work hard together!”

The six of them stacked their hands and threw them upward with a shout: “Jiayou (Let’s go)!”

The group quickly changed into the “Gold-Gold Team” uniforms—a bright, vibrant lemon yellow that made them look energetic and fresh. Once they returned to the set, recording continued.

Receiving a look from Song Yi, Lu Shuyu pressed the play button. The screen began playing the edited video from the dry run.

“That silhouette looks a bit familiar?” Tang Jiahe noted.

Soon, Jiang Fei’s mouth fell open. “Is that… PD Lu?”

The short three-minute video left them dumbfounded. Until the video ended, they forgot to react.

“My god…” Jiang Fei said. “PD Lu, you’re a bit too strong.”

Not just her; the others simultaneously realized the production crew had aired this specifically to show off Lu Shuyu’s agile movements and textbook-perfect strength.

Chi Shan stuck her head out from behind the monitors. “How was it? I spent the whole day yesterday editing that. Multi-camera angles to show off your PD Lu’s perfect skills.”

“So,” Zhong Wen asked, “what was PD Lu’s individual record?”

The dry run was for checking camera angles, so every section was filmed multiple times. There hadn’t been a dedicated timer; Lu Shuyu didn’t know the duration herself.

Chi Shan flashed a “V” sign. “I counted. Two hundred seconds.”

“Incredible…” Jiang Fei gasped.

As more admiring glances came her way, Lu Shuyu smiled and accepted the praise with composure—except for Xia Leshuang, who remained staring at the screen in a daze.

Snap.

The connection was cut, and the screen went black. Xia Leshuang snapped out of it and joined the others in clapping twice.

Quite perfunctory, Lu Shuyu muttered to herself.

“Shuangshuang—” Jiang Fei looked expectantly at the woman beside her. “Can you do it?”

At her question, everyone looked over. Indeed, the only one who could likely compete with Lu Shuyu was Xia Leshuang, the eight-year Muay Thai enthusiast.

Xia Leshuang startled, then laughed and shook her head. “Probably… not.”

“Aww—” Jiang Fei looked dejected.

Tang Jiahe patted Xia Leshuang’s shoulder. “No, Leshuang. As women, we can’t say we ‘can’t’ do it.”

Something about those words struck a chord in Xia Leshuang. Her eyes widened instantly, and she was momentarily speechless.

Luo Han captured this perfectly and asked in surprise, “Is Leshuang… shy?”

Xia Leshuang’s face immediately reverted to her standard smile. She shook her head. “How could I be?”

The quietest member, He Wenyin, finally spoke up: “It doesn’t matter. The cameras will record everything.”

As the only single mother among them who had given birth, He Wenyin had been acting as a “slow-burn” participant. Now that she had finally taken the initiative to speak, everyone’s attention shifted to her.

“Sister Wenyin really is ‘a silent bird that amazes with its first song’!”

“Sister Wenyin is right. The cameras will record it all!”

The crew gave the six women five minutes to discuss strategy. Five minutes later, they stood at the first stage, ready to begin. The screen lit up again, and at Lu Shuyu’s clear command of “Start!”, the timer officially began.

The first stage was the “Elephant Trunk” (spinning ten times with a hand on the nose) followed by a puzzle. The six divided into three pairs as planned: one with a strong sense of balance leading one who was weaker, holding onto each other so they wouldn’t veer off course on the way to the puzzle table.

Xia Leshuang led Jiang Fei, catching her just as she was about to stumble, and they were the second pair to reach the puzzle table.

Behind the monitor, Chi Shan couldn’t help but say, “I feel like the Film Queen and Jiang Fei are going to be a ‘CP’ (couple/ship). They’re quite cute together.”

“CP” was a major marketing trend. The screenwriters would often write “official” ship lines, but it worked best when guests combined naturally so the audience could enjoy it authentically.

“I think Luo Han and Jiang Fei are a better ship,” Lu Shuyu argued.

“Tch~” Chi Shan snorted. “Congratulations, you’re my ‘rival shipper’ again!”

Song Yi didn’t say anything, but the helpless, indulgent smile on her lips showed she was listening.

The puzzle wasn’t difficult. The six divided the pieces into three piles. Luo Han’s years of experience on construction sites actually proved useful here. Not only did she recover fastest from the spinning, but her eyesight was top-tier. She solved the puzzle with incredible speed and precision.

He Wenyin, her partner, didn’t even dare to touch the pieces for fear of slowing her down. “You’re amazing.”

Luo Han smiled gently. “It’s done. Let’s see if the others are finished.”

“What? Finished already?” Jiang Fei and Zhong Wen looked up almost simultaneously, and the sudden movement made their vision blur. The camera instantly captured two faces full of dizzy misery.

“That’s a great shot,” Chi Shan laughed.

With Luo Han’s help, the six completed the “Gold-Gold Sisterhood” text puzzle and immediately rushed to the next stage.

The second stage involved eating food placed high up. During the dry run, Lu Shuyu had jumped up to grab the top bar and eaten three onion rings while suspended in a pull-up position.

The guests’ task was eight rings. Among them, only Xia Leshuang and Luo Han had similar athletic capabilities. Not sure if the bar could support two people’s weight at once, they decided that the lighter Xia Leshuang would take the bar alone to finish three, while the others would split into two teams to handle the remaining five.

Once Xia Leshuang was steady on the bar, Luo Han lifted Jiang Fei up. Jiang Fei grabbed the top bar to take some of the weight off Luo Han. He Wenyin and Tang Jiahe lifted the lightest member, Zhong Wen, who did the same as Jiang Fei—grabbing the upper bar so the two below wouldn’t carry too much weight.

Lu Shuyu watched the monitor. Xia Leshuang was even faster than she had been. She finished her three and then helped Zhong Wen eat one of hers. Because she was tall and had long arms, reaching the fourth one wasn’t much of a struggle; she just shifted slightly to reach it.

Chi Shan’s voice came softly: “The Film Queen is a bit stronger than you.”

This woman really can’t keep her mouth shut, Lu Shuyu thought.

She replied calmly: “True. But no one is weaker than you.”

Chi Shan: “…”

Everyone on set: Pfft…