Mu Qiu maintained a smile as she looked at the screen, pretending to have selective blindness and not seeing the barrage calling for updates. She continued to speak into the camera: "Yes, it's Mu as in admiration, and Qiu as in autumn."
[??? Who asked you that?]
[Don't dodge the question; do you think we don't know your eyesight is 5.0?]
[It's bustling next door, so quiet here]
[I even comforted you to rest well, but you don't have me in your heart!]
[Missed the official announcement from the show crew, laughed at the show for half a day and then you tell me this person is the author I'm following?!]
[Last month you said you were writing so hard that your head was going to go bald, but I see you have a lot of hair / evil grin]
[I just said, there are few variety show novels, this plot feels so familiar I must have read it]
[Jealous tears are streaming down my mouth]
[The author I follow and the idol I follow are sitting together, sob sob sob]
[+1 to the person above, don't know who to be jealous of for a moment]
Before she could see more of the barrage, the room door suddenly knocked.
She took off one side of her headphones, had barely finished saying the word 'come in', when the door was directly turned open, and Shu Ran came in holding up her phone.
"Mu Qiu, you're live streaming too, I'm showing my fans everyone here."
Talking to herself, she had already walked behind Mu Qiu, then lowered her head to greet the computer screen, "Hello Mu Qiu's fans, I'm Shu Ran."
The screen barrage suddenly multiplied, all shouting for Shu Ran's name.
Mu Qiu felt a bit uncomfortable with Shu Ran's action, looking indifferently at her until she finished her greeting. When Shu Ran directed her phone towards her, only then did she raise a smile, saying with a cheerful tone, "Can we live stream like this? I didn't think of it, I was just wondering what to chat with them about later."
Shu Ran blinked playfully, "We probably can, I'm just trying it out, the director didn't say we couldn't do this."
With that, she held up her selfie stick to aim the phone at both herself and Mu Qiu, her voice warming by two degrees, "You've seen this pretty lady, let's go downstairs and see, shall we? Say goodbye to Mu Qiu~"
"Mu Qiu, you keep streaming, I'm going down now."
Mu Qiu nodded, watching her leave and close the room door. The curve of her mouth fell and then rose again, before turning back to continue discussing the halt in updates and exploring the meaning of life with her book fans.
She was actually live streaming to explain to her book fans why she suddenly appeared on this variety show. It wasn't long, and when she finished the live stream and went out, she could still hear lively chatter from the two rooms next door.
She took a cup downstairs to get water, not expecting to bump right into Cheng Zhirang, and nearly fell into his arms.
Miscalculation, needed to move faster.
While her mind was thinking of different excuses, she said, "Sorry, Brother Cheng, you're getting water too?"
The two were quite close, Cheng Zhirang discreetly stepped back a bit, nodded, and instinctively focused his gaze on her eyes.
This time, they weren't red and pitiful looking.
The cameras outside had been retracted, and the remaining two couldn't capture them inside. They had sort of met before, so they could exchange a few pleasantries now.
"Ran into you at the airport the other day, there was a misunderstanding, sorry about that."
Mu Qiu held her cup with both hands. Thinking of the incident at the airport that day, she couldn't help the corners of her mouth curling up, "It's okay, but why did you think I was sad over a breakup at that time?"
Speaking of the misunderstanding, Cheng Zhirang felt a bit helpless. He had just returned from a trip abroad, from a country of gentlemen, his mood was good coming back, and his impression of the domestic careful avoidance of fans and paparazzi was not as vivid then. He happened to see a girl with red eyes about to cry, coming to take her luggage, and instinctively asked a couple of questions, politely handing her a pack of tissues.
Wasn't expecting to see that girl on his new show today, started to recall her startled responses from the other day. It was only then he realized she truly wasn't being stubborn or face-saving; she really wasn't upset over any breakup with her boyfriend.
Thinking of the reason, he instinctively glanced at her eyes, catching her curious gaze.
Cheng Zhirang's eyes quickly shifted to the side, moved his gaze away, "That day, your eyes were red, like you'd been crying."
Mu Qiu blinked, "I did cry, but it was because I was reading my novel and it moved me to tears before getting my luggage."
Cheng Zhirang raised an eyebrow, not quite understanding. But thinking that some people cry over TV shows, cry over books, it wasn't something too strange, so he didn't ask further, just nodded to show he understood.
There were still two cameras outside shooting, so they couldn't stay in the kitchen too long. After exchanging a couple of words, Cheng Zhirang left, Mu Qiu stepped forward to get water, tilting her head slightly to drink a sip, thinking of Cheng Zhirang's elegant, noble, yet gentle demeanor just now, licked her lips and felt a kind of inexplicable stirring.
The kind of stirring was like her novel's male protagonist in her narrative, breaking through that layer of ascetic veneer, rumpled shirt and changed expression, causing her to feel uncontrollably excited.
Mu Qiu's throat felt a bit dry, she drank another sip of water, then walked out, keeping a composed face as she returned to her room upstairs.
At dinner, Shu Ran, who had been live streaming the longest, came downstairs apologizing nonstop.
"Sorry, sorry, I lost track of time chatting with fans, didn't delay anyone, right?"
Li Yang, feeling slightly awkward, quickly shook his head, "Not at all, Sister Shu Ran."
The others just nodded, following Li Yang's words, not intending to say much more. Instead, Shi Yuhuai asked the director if everyone was here so they could start dinner.
Shu Ran's face stiffened for a moment, her bow apologizing slowed, she probably wanted to say something more, but couldn't at this point.
"Hey, isn't it like performing without a partner, rapping without a teammate, comedic dialogue without a foil, singing opera without an audience?" Guan Yu suddenly approached Mu Qiu, whispering, and spouting off a neat quip.
Mu Qiu's eyelids twitched along with her, quietly glancing at Shu Ran's expression, swallowing her laughter, and almost imperceptibly nodded.
Sure does seem like it.
Among the six of them, their character roles were all different, no overlapping types, if there were another female star with similar popularity, Shu Ran wouldn't be left without anyone to play out a drama full of sharp words, once a confrontation succeeded, the trending topic would be inevitable.
Unfortunately, from the start of selecting guests, the show crew didn't fulfill her wish.
Everyone acted as if they didn't see Shu Ran's face, Cheng Zhirang maintained a cold and distant demeanor as if there wasn't even a Shu Ran in front of him, Li Yang didn't quite understand the situation with female stars, and Shi Yuhuai was even more extreme, only thinking about having dinner.
Finally, it was warm-up expert Guan Yu who called for dinner, easing the awkwardness, Shu Ran's face finally improved, returning to her previous gentle and slightly playful goddess appearance.
Dinner was also prepared by the show crew. Before they started eating, the director smilingly announced the rules for tomorrow's tasks.