Enya, because we're ordinary people, we should be even more cutthroat. (laughs)
Nian Shuyu cast her vote with trembling hands, and when she raised her head to face the camera, tears of guilt streamed down her face.
At this moment, Song Enya's face was ashen. Watching Nian Shuyu crying guiltily in front of the camera she felt a chill in her heart.
The production team didn't interfere much with the guests' autonomous actions. Utilizing the rules of the love-themed show was also one of the highlights, and Song Enya knew she had taken a fall this time.
If she had fallen at Pei Muchan's hands, she wouldn't have been so ashamed. But it was Nian Shuyu, a flight attendant, a nobody flight attendant, who dared to mock her!
Crying crocodile tears! A bitch who kowtows to old men, a cheap slut no one wants!
"Enya, I'm sorry... really..." Turning towards Song Enya, Nian Shuyu began to speak but then gradually broke down into uncontrollable sobs.
The moment the camera panned to her, Song Enya's eyelids twitched rapidly, yet she still managed to smile and said it was nothing. The thread of rationality in her mind was taut, on the verge of snapping.
The production team announced Song Enya's identity card: Gold Digger!
The bullet comments were celebrating, the tense atmosphere in the room lightened, even Nian Shuyu was slowly stopping her tears. Although her methods were somewhat disgraceful, in the end... it wasn't a falsehood, was it?
Gold Digger Song Enya was eliminated with four votes, her three-day dreamlike reign as the queen of popularity coming to an end.
Half an hour later.
The director announced the latest progress: due to an extreme imbalance between the numbers of male and female guests, a special flying guest would be invited to join "Love Hunter" tomorrow.
"Have you heard? A new person is coming in." You Zijun stood in the second-floor men's corridor, whistling towards Liu Renzhi, who was holed up in his room, "What do you think the new female guest will be like?"
"I don't know." Liu Renzhi was in a bad mood.
Song Enya had just gone on a date with him, promising great rewards, and then she was voted out. Of the remaining three female guests, basically none of them were interested in him.
This was it, he was done for, destined to warm the bench.
Chen Feiyu's room was right across from Liu Renzhi's, and at this moment, his door was also tightly shut, with no interest in listening to You Zijun, who was merely looking for some hot gossip to chat about.
With Song Enya gone, his hopes were shattered as well.
Nian Shuyu was just an ordinary flight attendant, just like him, hoping to make a quick buck on the show. She even tentatively suggested that they could sign a contract off-air to be a couple for social media accounts.
But what he wanted was not these things: scamming netizens with an account, live streaming with product placements... it was too slow, investing a lot of energy and money, with the end profit still uncertain.
With a creak, the neighboring room's Bai Jinze opened the door, looking like he had just finished showering, his hair still damp.
"If you ask me, no matter who the incoming female guest is, just give it your all and do your best."
He seemed to be in a good mood; Song Enya's departure, in his view, was not a bad thing. Song Enya was too dominating and had more control over the situation than he had.
Now, the flying female guest would land on the show tomorrow, taking over Song Enya's spot. For Bai Jinze, this was also a good opportunity.
In the room at the very end, Xu Qingyan didn't care about any flying guest at all.
For him, the love-themed show was practically over, his task essentially completed. The next voting would be in three days, by which time the show would be nearing its conclusion.
By then, staying or leaving wouldn't matter much.
Right now, he was talking to his mother, Zhang Hongmei, pacing back and forth in the living room of the suite with his phone to his ear.
"Mom, I really earned some money."
"Qingyan, you better not be doing anything shady, otherwise I..."
"You can rest assured, your son is doing everything above board," Xu Qingyan coaxed in a soft voice, "How could I dare to tread the wrong path? I wouldn't even dare to walk at night."
Zhang Hongmei was still skeptical about him having made money, insisting on being discharged from the hospital.
Xu Qingyan, having no other option, agreed and promised to pick her up from the hospital for a day out soon.
After the last misunderstanding, he didn't want to explain too much to his elders, fearing it would just make things worse. She wouldn't understand anything about love-themed shows, barely being able to use a smartphone smoothly.
He also knew what his mom was worried about, she just feared he'd turn into a gigolo.
But working a job and being a gigolo aren't too different, every day you're empowered by idiotic leaders, aligning granularity, focusing on key issues, and meshing together, they just fucking don't speak human language.
What 'big data analysis'? It's just opening up the phone to see how others do it. 'Community marketing' is just starting a group to sell stuff, and 'reviewing' is either showing off or passing the buck.
Always going on about 'fundamental logic', my ass, I am the fucking 'fundamental', what the hell do I need logic for!
Feeling like if I work any longer, my mental state is going to be uncannily close to that of a villain. All I want is to cook some chopped pepper fish head and kill every last person in the company.
The leaders need a few more runs over, just to stop them from reviewing.
After hanging up the phone, Xu Qingyan scrolled through the backend and replied to each WeChat message that came in.
Pei Muchan: "I want to practice a new song in my room, the moon came to visit."
He replied, "She's missing your sashimi."
Within three seconds, Shen Jinyue sent him a fist emoji, immediately followed by a voice message that popped up.
"Xu Qingyan! It's Sister Pei who treats me well, having sashimi tomorrow!"
He replied, "Let's delete each other and use message bottles to communicate."
Shen Jinyue: "Nuh-uhh!! No way, I'll annoy you to death!!"
Swoosh swoosh swoosh, a barrage of emojis was sent over in rapid succession. Before Shen Jinyue could get carried away, she suddenly found herself blocked on WeChat, and she was seething!
"Alright, alright, alright! You've touched my raw nerve!"
In a burst of anger, Shen Jinyue realized she was actually so good-tempered. Time and again, Xu Qingyan crossed her lines, and time and again, she lowered her standards.
A true aggravation, that was bullying the right person indeed.
The last message in the backend was from Lin Wanzhou, and it was more than one. Looking up, there was a message every three hours, mostly photos.
He still felt a bit unfamiliar with chatting with Lin Wanzhou, especially this kind of telegram-style interaction.
Honestly, it was kind of cute but also made him feel at a loss for words.
Seen by the Emperor?
Thankfully, WeChat doesn't have a 'read' indicator. Otherwise, I'd seriously not want to live on this blue planet anymore.
After thinking for a while, he replied with...
"I'm going to take a shower now."
Xu Qingyan wasn't lying; he really put down his phone and went to take a shower. When he came back ten minutes later, there was an additional photo from Lin Wanzhou – a picture of the airport.
"Flying so late? Being a singer is really hard, huh."
"Mhm."
As the night stretched on, the airplane slowly taxied along the route provided by the control tower to the edge of the runway.
Qi Ting had boarded the plane, taking the outside seat, already dozing off.
"Miss, may I get to know you?" The man next to her, wearing a flight jacket and tall and straight with an oppressive bearing, a sharp profile, gazed past the sleeping Qi Ting, staring straight at Lin Wanzhou.
"My name is Ji Chen, you might have heard of me. I think I recognize you, miss."
Lin Wanzhou, wearing a duckbill cap and carrying a light brown bag, was wrapped in a green windbreaker. She glanced coolly at the man and pulled down her cap brim, saying.
"Don't know you, not interested."