After a long while, she heard him give a low chuckle: “Alright.”
She had never been a delicate flower in a greenhouse. The wild rose on the cliff never allowed anyone to pluck it.
Zhong Ruanxing's ears perked up at the sound of waves in his background: “Are you still at the seaside?”
Song Jingxing glanced at the endless sea outside the room. “Yeah, the wind is pretty strong tonight.”
Zhong Ruanxing looked at the balcony door that wasn't shut tight. “What a coincidence. The wind is really strong here too.” She jumped off the bed and firmly shut the wildly blowing door. “Well, I'm going to sleep. The livestream starts tomorrow.”
He said in a low voice: “Okay, good night.”
Zhong Ruanxing pursed her lips and casually asked: “Will you watch?”
He laughed. “I will.”
If he really liked her, could he bear to watch her on a dating show?
Zhong Ruanxing's previously elated mood dampened again. She curtly said “Good night!” and hurriedly hung up.
Despite feeling glum, Zhong Ruanxing slept quite well that night. She always had good quality sleep, and her easygoing personality meant she rarely lost sleep over worries.
The next morning after breakfast, the staff came to pick her up and they boarded the bus headed to the pier.
At this time, the livestream room for “Love by Instinct” on the domestic video platform already had over a hundred thousand viewers. The room was open, but the camera was still aimed at the azure blue sea. The show would not officially start until the first guest appeared.
The livestream room had one main channel, and eight smaller channels below that viewers could freely switch between to watch their favorite celebrity’s perspective. It was quite an innovative variety show format.
So the viewers watched a full half hour of the sea.
At this time, most of the bullet screen comments were fans of the four confirmed guests spamming their idols’ names. Many were also guessing who the remaining two celebrity guests might be. As for the two civilians, no one cared about them at all.
There were so many civilian dating shows, they were all tired of watching those. Now they just wanted to see celebrities date!
At ten o’clock, the camera that had been aimed at the sea finally moved.
The viewers also grew excited. The camera panned to reveal a handsome figure pulling a suitcase down a road leading to the pier.
He was dressed very formally in a shirt and slacks, with leather shoes and a belt. But around his neck he still wore the out of place headphones. His smile was very bright and he waved in greeting as he approached: “Hello hello, good morning everyone. I’m Xia Xi, 30 years old this year.”
Bullet screen comments:
[It's the king of pop music, Xia Xi!!!]
[Xia Xi! Don't wear headphones with a shirt and slacks! You can't take them off, is that it?]
[Xia Xi dressed so formally for the first time, like he's going matchmaking. He must really want to find a girlfriend on this show.]
[Haha, introducing his age right off the bat, he really is like someone going matchmaking.]
[Please let the boy have a sweet romance, or we'll have no more love songs to listen to.]
...
Xia Xi debuted as a singer at 18. He had released many hit songs over the years. While his peers had either retired from the industry or transitioned into acting, he persisted in his position as a singer, wholeheartedly focusing on music.
Nowadays, the identity of "singer" afforded much less popularity and traffic than idols and actors. Xia Xi's appearance wasn't lacking either, and directors had wanted him to try acting, but he declined them all.
Xia Xi said he only liked singing, and only knew how to sing. He was constantly working hard on music, holding concerts, releasing albums, participating in music variety shows, steadfastly walking the path of a singer.
The news that he would participate in a dating show was very shocking when it broke out. In a recent interview when asked about it, Xia Xi answered very frankly: "I socialize too little, and want to try dating, so I'm going to try this out."
So today he had dressed especially formally, and if you looked closely, had even used hair gel.
He really wanted to date.
Not long after the first guest arrived, the second soon followed. This time it was a female guest, Yong Yun. An actress of her stature appearing also caused a commotion. Xia Xi's participation could still be explained, but Yong Yun going on a dating show was truly baffling.
[Bring on the older woman-younger man romance!!!]
[Yong Yun is so beautiful, forever young.]
[Still can't figure out why an award-winning actress wants to go on a dating show. She looks down on rich heirs, yet looks upon the male guests on a dating show?]
[Other than Xia Xi and Yao Jingshan, is there anyone among the remaining two male guests fit for an actress of her stature?]
[I can accept an older woman-younger man romance, but not with an age gap of over a decade, I'm crying.]
[There must be male guests closer to her age! I'm down for a charming uncle!]
...
Xia Xi and Yong Yun were in different fields and didn't know each other, but Xia Xi was outgoing by nature and politely greeted her, soon chatting idly with Yong Yun. Yong Yun's temperament and looks were very refined. Even with her age, standing together with Xia Xi, the difference wasn't as big as the viewers imagined.
Soon, the third guest appeared.
Rising actor Yao Jingshan dragged his suitcase into view. He was dressed very casually in a white t-shirt and shorts, wearing sunglasses, very pleasing to the eyes. Yao Jingshan had been acting for close to ten years, and was known as a handsome ancient costume male lead. Although he had never made it to first-tier status, his high public recognition meant he had the most traffic out of this batch of guests.
As expected, the bullet screen comments multiplied the moment he appeared.
[Handsome guy! Awesome!]
[Why is Yao Jingshan participating in a dating show??? I alone am enough of a wife for him!]
[The handsome guys and beauties are so nice to look at. On second thought, Yong Yun and Yao Jingshan don't seem that weird together.]
[Yao Jingshan didn't actually need to participate in a dating show. He has so many upcoming dramas this year and will have to hype up CPs with his co-stars. Doesn't seem like he came to actually date.]
[Go away! Yao Jingshan is already in his 30s, why can't he date?]
...
The first three guests had all been officially announced beforehand, so the fourth was undoubtedly Zhong Ruanxing. The moment she appeared on camera, even the dazzling sunshine at the seaside seemed to dim in comparison.
She hadn't dressed up much at all, just an overshirt on top of a white t-shirt, comfortable black pants and sneakers below. Her long wavy hair was tied in a high ponytail. Bare-faced without any makeup, just a tinted lip balm to add color to her lips.
Yet the vibrant, eye-catching beauty radiated from her, piercing through the camera lens and piercing deeply into the viewers' hearts.
[F*ck me, she's so beautiful I'm dead!]
[Why is such a great beauty going on a dating show! The line of men chasing her probably reaches France by now! How could the four men on this show be enough for this goddess to choose from!!!]
[Is this the pinnacle of beauty? I'm in awe.]
[Just thinking that this beauty is going to start dating, my heart hurts so much.]
The barrage was full of exclamations about her beauty. Zhong Ruanxing had already greeted the other three. There was astonishment in both Xia Xi and Yao Jingshan's eyes, especially Xia Xi. He didn't know Zhong Ruanxing and this was his first time hearing her name. He immediately started a conversation: "Hi there, are you an actress? What TV shows have you been in?"
Bullet screen comments:
[He's smitten, he's smitten, he's smitten!]
[Xia Xi, don't be so easy! She's not worth it!!!]
[I know Zhong Ruanxing is very pretty, but don't rush.]