Late at night, when everything was quiet and the show’s staff had already gone home to sleep—
“Psst, psst~”
“Psst, psst, psst~”
Their secret signal successfully answered, and the two rooms next to each other simultaneously cracked open, revealing two fluffy heads.
They were Xie Tangning and Monkey Bro. The two childhood friends, their faces covered with scarves, exchanged a glance before creeping out of their rooms like a pair of suspicious little thieves.
They quietly closed the doors behind them and sneaked out of the guesthouse.
The moment they reached the courtyard, the two of them nearly jumped out of their skins.
Xie Changyu was leaning against the wall by the gate, striking a cool pose. When he saw the two “thieves,” he immediately made a throat-slitting gesture.
“What are you two doing sneaking around in the middle of the night? Planning some kind of crime?”
Xie Tangning calmed her pounding heart, then raised her fist the size of a sandbag in warning.
Liang Zhou warily looked left and right for a while before motioning for silence. “Second Brother Xie, keep your voice down! If you wake them up, there won’t be any surprises tomorrow!”
Xie Tangning crept over to her brother, looked him up and down, and lowered her voice to a whisper.
“I haven’t even gotten started on you yet! Why are you out here in the middle of the night chatting with some… non-material friend? Could you stop being so creepy?”
The hairs on Xie Changyu’s body stood on end. “Can you not bring up stuff like that in the middle of the night?”
“If I can’t sleep when we go back later, you’re not sleeping either tonight!”
Xie Tangning showed him no mercy. “Classic case of being terrible at something but addicted to it! With how cowardly you are, how do you have the nerve to keep dragging Sister He and the others into haunted-house adventures?”
Whenever she was roasting her brother, the words flowed endlessly. She could rattle off an eight-hundred-word essay without breaking a sweat.
The girl was still chattering away, completely unaware that Liang Zhou’s eyes were darting around suspiciously. At a glance, it was obvious he was up to no good!
He had already quietly crept behind Xie Tangning, preparing to pretend to be a ghost and scare her.
But just as his evil plan began to emerge from the depths of his mind, it was frightened right back in by Xie Changyu’s sandbag-sized fist.
At that moment, Xie Changyu’s eyes clearly said: If you dare pretend to be a ghost and scare my sister, I’ll turn you into a real ghost!
The motto was simple: I’m the only one allowed to bully my sister. Everyone else can get lost!
Liang Zhou awkwardly abandoned the idea and cursed under his breath.
No wonder Xie Tangning yelled every day about overthrowing her brother and taking over the throne, yet never actually did anything!
So Xie Changyu was sometimes her real brother and sometimes her cousin, was he?
Real brother or cousin?
Xie Changyu: Or.
After pointing at her brother and lecturing him for a while, Xie Tangning decided to strike first and demand to know why he was there.
“Come on, talk! Why are you out here showing off in the middle of the night? Are you planning to rob the place?”
Xie Changyu couldn’t resist knocking her on the head. “I’m here to prepare for tomorrow’s grand finale surprise, of course. The Flaming Mountains!”
“You can’t seriously say you two don’t have ulterior motives too, can you?”
The moment he said that, Xie Tangning and Liang Zhou immediately exchanged knowing smiles.
“Great minds think alike, Brother Yu!”
“Brother Yu, you’re here to pick up equipment too?”
Xie Changyu clicked his tongue. He had known those two were up to no good. They had probably heard that tomorrow’s filming location was the Flaming Mountains.
The moment the livestream ended and they got their phones back, they must have frantically called in favors to have equipment delivered!
Just then, Xie Tangning’s phone vibrated. She glanced at it and immediately trotted over to open the gate.
Standing outside was the bodyguard whom Qin Shuchun had recently hired.
Ever since appearing on an episode of the show, Miss Qin had immediately hired several female bodyguards averaging one hundred and seventy-five centimeters tall, just to indulge in the experience of being a celebrity.
For this finale trip, Qin Shuchun, Shen Yunqiong, and the others had also come to Urumqi. They were waiting for Xie Tangning to finish filming so they could embark on one last midsummer trip before the start of the school year.
The bodyguard handed Xie Tangning several paper bags, said a couple of words, and then left.
Liang Zhou casually took the bags from Xie Tangning and looked at Xie Changyu. “Why hasn’t yours arrived yet, Brother Yu?”
Xie Changyu smiled faintly. “Are you blind? Can’t you see that pile by my feet?”
“You’re so young and your eyesight is already this bad. When you’re old, don’t even bother going to a nursing home—just cremate yourself directly. It’ll save the caregivers the trouble!”
Liang Zhou gave him a thumbs-up. “That mouth of yours is unbeatable. This little brother admits defeat.”
Xie Changyu waved his hand, looking rather proud. “Oh, it’s nothing special~ Just average~”
Once they had their supplies, the three of them began tiptoeing back.
Xie Tangning suddenly remembered something and lowered her voice even further. “It seems like we never asked Sister Qing and the others!”
“Doesn’t that make it look like we’re excluding them?”
Liang Zhou scoffed. “Brother Shen Lin has been strutting around her like a peacock. She’s completely caught up in it right now!”
“She’s not going to join us in doing anything ridiculous, so give up on that idea!”
Xie Changyu also offered some terrible advice. “Why tell them?”
“Wouldn’t it be much more satisfying to make them jealous when we show up with a surprise tomorrow?”
After thinking it over, Xie Tangning decided that did, in fact, sound pretty good, and happily agreed.
…
Early the next morning—
Director Zhang and the assistant director stared at each other, their eyes filled with shock and confusion.
“I didn’t just imagine that, did I? Or am I still asleep?”
“If you want, I can give you a free slap to help determine whether you’re dreaming.”
Director Zhang snorted. “Get lost! I should be the one giving you a big slap!”
“I seriously can’t with these little brats. Where did they even get those clothes?”
The assistant director looked equally exhausted. “I’d also like to know what kind of normal person packs clothes like that as everyday vacation wear!”
“Compared to that, I’m more curious about where they got the props in their hands!”
Director Zhang felt his heart grow weary.
The assistant director might have been speechless, but his instinct to spoil children seemed carved into his bones. The kindergarten principal in him had made another appearance.
“But they’re pretty cute, though! At least we don’t have to worry about today’s ratings. A surprise like this is interesting!”
Director Zhang let out a cold laugh. “You just keep spoiling them. Sooner or later, they’re going to bring the whole sky crashing down!”
Just as Liang Jiaqing and the others finished getting ready and came downstairs, they discovered a whole group of little delinquents in bizarre costumes sitting neatly in the living room.
Everyone fell silent.
Liang Jiaqing found it impossible to understand the thought process of these children. She looked at her nephew and spoke with an indescribable expression.
“It’s the last day of the show. Do you really have to dress like this?”
Liang Zhou instantly stood up and seriously corrected her. “What do you mean, dress like this? I’m dressed like a bull! A bull—Bull Demon King!”
“What’s with that look on your face?”
Liang Jiaqing: “…”
Do I really have to keep this idiot as my nephew?
Shen Lin looked Xie Tangning and Xie Changyu up and down before finally speaking.
“Did our show turn into a zoo makeover special? Have you had enough of being human and decided to become something else?”
“Or have you finally realized how much of a menace your big brother is and started following in his footsteps?”
Shen Hao also felt his eyes take a bit of damage and couldn’t help bursting out laughing.
What sane person joins a travel variety show and is still pulling this kind of crap after the show has already wrapped?
Are they all level-ten psychiatric patients or something?
