If the fans of Little Fishy (Xiao Yu Yu) were to describe in one sentence their feelings upon seeing "wdlpml" on the list of lucky winners, it would be:
How old are you.
(Chinese internet slang implying "Why is it you again?")
If Little Fishy (Xiao Yu Yu) were to describe her mood upon seeing "wdlpml" on the lucky winner list with one phrase, it would be:
Fur-i-ous!!!
The fan group went crazy:
[Why is it always him, how can it still be him, how can it forever be him!!!]
[I have never in my damn life seen someone this lucky.]
[@Weibo Assistant, get over here! There's a shameless person here using hacks!]
[I'm convinced, I'm really convinced. The Carnival VIP ticket was him, first in line was him, and now the guest spot on the show is him too. I don't even have the energy to curse him out anymore, really.]
[No energy to curse +1. Nothing but exhaustion and heartache right now.]
[I want to cry wuwuwuwu...]
...
Weibo Assistant, receiving the tag notification, rushed to the scene and stated that after a backend check, this lottery draw was fair, just, and transparent, with no under-the-table operations whatsoever.
Even though they had pretty much expected this outcome, hearing it confirmed directly by Weibo Assistant finally made the fans' hearts die completely.
Looking at that "wdlpml" still sitting pretty on the winner's list, they felt an instant decade-old weariness.
Too tired to be angry anymore.
Still want to curse?
Too tired for that too.
Let it be.
Goodbye, cruel world.
The Fish Pond fan group had never been this quiet since its creation.
All because of that nobody wild fan named "wdlpml", the man who spent five hundred and sixty thousand on the charging leaderboard.
...
When Gu Ran saw the winner list on the show's official Weibo, her expression twitched slightly, and she was plunged into a mood of questioning her very existence.
This could happen? This could really happen?
She was speechless, choked up, and then remembered something else.
Ji Shiyu was so busy with work; even if he won the lottery, so what? How could he possibly come to participate as a guest on a variety show?
Gu Ran was thinking this to herself when she saw the show's official Weibo had just posted:
"After communication, all five winners are available and will be present on-site. The winner slots are now full, and the lottery activity is concluded. This is hereby announced."
Gu Ran: "..."
"...?"
Learning that the lottery results were out, the regular cast members in the cottage were happily preparing for the arrival of the lucky fans the next day, some cleaning, some prepping ingredients.
Among everyone, only Gu Ran was half-heartedly wiping a table, seeming somewhat distracted.
Zhou Yuqi walked by carrying some fruit, saw Gu Ran, and asked, "What's wrong, Ran Ran?"
"Huh?" Gu Ran snapped back to attention and smiled at Zhou Yuqi. "No, it's nothing."
...
The next day was the "Our Little Cottage" lucky audience guest special.
The live stream's viewership soared. Especially today, many regular viewers noticed that the concentration of a certain fanbase in the stream seemed particularly high—
The Little Fishy fans of streamer Gu Ran stared at the live feed, gnashing their teeth.
Although they were too tired for anger and curses, no one could resist coming to see just what that public enemy of the entire Fish Pond, the infuriatingly, maddeningly lucky "wdlpml", actually looked like.
This is called wanting to at least see the enemy's face clearly before you die.
At the show's location.
Gu Ran stood with the other regular cast members, waiting for the five lucky audience guests today.
The production team had arranged a minibus with the show's logo. Upon arrival, the lucky fans got off the bus one by one.
They were all ordinary people who had only ever watched the show online. They were all very excited to have been chosen to come record the show. One female fan among them was a die-hard fan of Liu Xiaolin and started crying upon seeing Liu Xiaolin in person, even more excited than Gu Ran was when she first met Zhou Yuqi.
The lucky fans disembarked one after another, announcing their winning IDs to the camera.
Gu Ran stared intently at the bus door.
Staring even more intently than Gu Ran were the Little Fishy fans in the live stream.
The first four lucky fans got off, and none of the announced IDs were "wdlpml". So that person, who from the very first appearance had carried an aura of controversy (xfxy), driving all Fish fans crazy and turning their world upside down, was now the last one remaining.
The fan group had discussed this person last night. Some fans who had attended the Cat's Paw Carnival before claimed to have run into someone in the VIP section who felt a lot like wdlpml. It was too dark to see clearly then, but they remembered he was a pretty tall guy, wore a black mask, ignored people, but overall gave off a not-bad vibe.
When the words "not-bad vibe" were uttered by those who had been at the previous event, the Fish Pond was filled with boos. Some even angrily questioned if they were traitors or someone's alternate account.
Phrases of praise like "overall, not a bad vibe" could be used to describe the Fish Pond's public enemy wdlpml?
Wdlpml could have a not-bad vibe?
Utterly, completely fake.
Someone who could come up with a garbled ID like "wdlpml" was clearly no good.
He was definitely just an utterly ordinary, or possibly even oddly shaped, plain-looking person, that's all.
Now was just the moment to confirm this fact.
The Fish fans smiled with a trace of disdain, watching as the fifth and final lucky fan slowly stepped off the bus in the camera feed.
First to catch the eye was an outfit of gray-black casual wear, which looked to be of decent quality.
But that was normal, considering he'd once directly thrown down six hundred and eighty thousand for charging support.
Next, scanning from the bottom up, the length of his legs—though they were extremely reluctant to admit it—was indeed decent. Even with the loose casual wear, one could tell the man had broad shoulders and a narrow waist, clearly a natural clothes hanger.
Fish fans: That dog's body shape is actually not bad.
But so what if his body is good? His face definitely won't live up to it.
So finally, the photographer's lens moved to the face of the fifth lucky fan.
He still wore a black mask. However, it was abundantly clear that just from the upper half of his face—his eyebrows, eyes, and the height of his nose bridge—one could infer the grade of this male ordinary person's looks.
This time, however, before the stunned Little Fishy fans could even comment, other fans and neutral viewers in the live stream had already provided a profound and visceral reaction. The comment bar was flooded:
[Holy crap!!!]
[Has the bar for fan appearance been raised to this level now?]
[Are we sure this is just a lucky male fan/ordinary person?]
[You can tell he's handsome even with the mask on, incredible.]
[Dammit dammit why the mask, I want to see the full face!]
[Wuwuwu mom I'm in love.]
[That bone structure is top-tier. How the hell is this a male ordinary person?! How the hell is this Gu Ran's ordinary male fan?!]
[Why the mask, I hate this so much.]
[Probably doesn't want to expose his face and get bothered in real life, but also didn't want to miss the chance to see his idol, so he's wearing a mask.]
...
Gu Ran glanced at Ji Shiyu, who was wearing a mask, and secretly curled the corner of her mouth before looking away, afraid of revealing anything.
The photos taken last time when she was drunk were at night, and the paparazzi were far away. At the time, they didn't yet know the man was the CEO of Xinbo. They were solely focused on getting a clear shot of her face as evidence, so in the few photos, Ji Shiyu was either shown from the back or only a sliver of his profile was visible, his image blurry.
Ji Shiyu had given some interviews before, but he had never publicly shown his face.
No one should be able to recognize him, Gu Ran thought.
...
The five lucky fans invited as guests today had all arrived, and the director began announcing the pre-designed segment.
Since the crops in the fields and the farm work had mostly been taken care of by previous batches of guests, this time they wouldn't be doing farm labor. Instead, the five permanent residents and the five lucky fans would pair up, two by two, and starting from raw ingredients, prepare one of the dishes designated by the program team for tonight's dinner.
The director directly announced the pairing method.
Because today's episode was specially arranged to invite fans as guests and give them benefits, according to their research, among the five lucky fans, three were casual viewers or show fans, while two were clearly dedicated fans, staunch supporters of the show's permanent guests.
These two dedicated fans were called "Xiaolin's Melody" and "wdlpml," and they were fans of Liu Xiaolin and Gu Ran, respectively.
The program team, wanting to consider and satisfy the attributes and wishes of the five lucky fans to the greatest extent, had therefore paired "Xiaolin's Melody" with Liu Xiaolin today, and wdlpml with Gu Ran. The remaining three groups of lucky fans and permanent residents would pair up through mutual selection.
As soon as the director finished announcing the pairing method, the Little Fish fans in the live stream, having just recovered from the shock of seeing that wdlpml in person actually had some decent looks, suddenly realized that today wdlpml not only got to see Ran Ran and was called a "staunch fan" by the director, but was even going to be her partner.
Their expressions then began to twist gradually again, wishing they could rush into the scene and shout in the director's ear:
Did you even do your research properly! wdlpml isn't a registered fan! He doesn't even have a proper fan affiliation! He's just a nobody, a random casual fan!
Unfortunately, the director couldn't hear them, his gaze satisfied and pleased.
If nothing else, the visual of Gu Ran's pair was simply too pleasing to the eye. The height difference, the build difference, even their clothing coordination—everything looked just right.
This is definitely what the audience wants to see now!
Ji Shiyu stood beside Gu Ran.
Perhaps because the two of them looked so good together, the cameraman gave them several close-up shots.
In the live stream's bullet comments, curious onlookers kept spamming messages like "Gu Ran and her civilian male fan look so good together" and "The civilian is so handsome."
Gu Ran glanced at Ji Shiyu standing beside her, then stole a look at the camera trained on them.
The other three permanent residents and lucky fans were enthusiastically playing rock-paper-scissors to decide their pairings, their attention not on the two who had been automatically paired up.
Gu Ran quietly turned off her own microphone and said, somewhat unwillingly, "What are you doing here?"
