Xie Tangning gave the stick in her hand a little wave and smiled sweetly. “Brother Shen Lin, nephew! Take a guess—do you think this stick will hurt when I hit someone with it?”
With two enormous wings strapped to his back, Xie Changyu also waved his miniature prop monk’s staff, making his threat perfectly clear.
Shen Lin and Shen Hao wisely shut their mouths. But the moment they saw the wings fluttering nonstop behind Xie Changyu, the uncle and nephew duo broke into what could only be called a turtle-school routine—unable to hold back their laughter.
Because the four of them were simply too hilarious. They looked like some kind of bizarre mishmash, and no one could even tell what they were cosplaying!
Xie Tangning was wearing a bright yellow shirt with a tiny tie, serving as her “Great Sage costume.” A huge “monkey” was printed on the front, while the back read Account-Balancing Great Sage.
She wore a little heart-shaped crown on her head to stand in for the golden headband. It was undeniably abstract, but not at all unattractive.
In fact, it matched her tendency to act completely unhinged from time to time. It didn’t look out of place in the slightest.
Xie Changyu was cosplaying the “Golden Cicada” version of Tang Monk. The enormous wings on his back explained everything.
His shirt looked perfectly ordinary—except for the words printed across the chest.
They read: “Six-Winged Golden Cicada here. Demons, begone, begone, begone!”
It was obviously an absurd shirt his friends had made specifically to prank him. When Xie Changyu returned to his room last night and discovered the monstrosity, he furiously hammered away at his keyboard, cursing out that group of terrible friends for half an hour.
Then, in a fit of anger, he muted them all in the group chat!
After that, He Ya, Wang Chaoming, and the others took turns sending him private messages to continue the “greetings.”
Monkey Bro had received his costume last night, but he hadn’t managed to beat Xie Tangning to the “monkey” outfit. (Actually, that wasn’t the real reason. The Great Sage costume had been specially chosen by Qin Shuchun for her bestie, and the size was nowhere near right for him.)
So he had to settle for the Bull Demon King instead. He wore two horns on his head, and the back of his blue-gray shirt read: “Father of the Holy Infant King.”
Just looking at him made it seem like there was something seriously wrong with the man.
Wu Dacheng was still fully immersed in his role as Zhu Bajie. With two pig ears on his head, his chubby appearance was actually rather adorable.
Since all the costumes had come from the same batch Qin Shuchun had sent over, his outfit matched Xie Tangning’s and Monkey Bro’s perfectly. The back of his shirt read: “Zhu Bajie, professional snack thief.”
And so, the Animal Quartet officially made its debut.
Wu Weixiang walked over and tugged on the pig ears his son was wearing. Finding them amusing, he gave them several more squeezes.
“Your boss got you this equipment? Who would’ve thought it’d be so advanced? It even moves by itself!”
Wu Dacheng looked immensely proud, delighted that his boss hadn’t left him out.
“Of course! My boss had someone deliver it overnight. How cool is this?”
Wu Weixiang gave him a sidelong glance, then bestowed upon him the special treatment reserved exclusively for biological sons.
The moment he opened his mouth, he went straight for the jugular. “If you ask me, with the way you look, why would you need equipment to cosplay a pig demon? You could just play yourself!”
Wu Dacheng: “…”
What a truly loving father.
Liang Jiaqing found the sight of her foolish nephew’s costume painful to look at. It was simply too offensive to the eyes.
She turned and moved closer to Xie Wanwan and Su Xiaoye. At least those two looked relatively normal.
“Your outfits are gorgeous, girls. But are you supposed to be Lady White Snake and Xiaoqing?”
Su Xiaoye and Xie Wanwan’s outfits looked much more normal. One wore a blue ancient-style dress and the other a white one, each with a delicate hair clip matching the color of her clothes.
They looked just like two little sprites who had accidentally wandered into the human world.
Su Xiaoye was silent for two seconds before answering, “I don’t think I’m Xiaoqing. Tangtang said I’m the banana leaf fan in Princess Iron Fan’s hands today!”
As she spoke, she pointed to the banana-leaf-shaped hair clip on her head.
“Pfft!” Liang Jiaqing gave her a thumbs-up. “Now that’s creative. Clearly, I’m the one who’s fallen behind the times!”
She then turned to Xie Wanwan. “And you? Is the one in white Guanyin Bodhisattva?”
Xie Wanwan shook her head and pointed at the delicate little white-dragon earrings she was wearing. “I’m the Little White Dragon!”
She had originally wanted the Jade-Faced Fox outfit, but that thing was far too bizarre. There was no way she could bring herself to wear it.
It absolutely wasn’t because, before they left, her brother had repeatedly reminded her to leave him at least a little dignity on the show.
He didn’t want to become the second Lu Huaiyu in the education field so soon.
Xie Wanwan considered this a tremendous pity. She had wanted to join her friends in embracing the absurdity too!
But her brother had offered her far too much in return. She truly had no way to refuse.
Liang Jiaqing blinked at Xie Tangning several times, very clearly asking whether there were any spare costumes suitable for her.
Xie Tangning had just opened her mouth when Director Zhang, sharp-eyed as ever, noticed what was happening. His pupils widened in alarm as he hurriedly intervened.
“Liang Jiaqing! This is the final trip. Are you sure you want to go crazy with Boss Shen and the rest of them?”
“What happened to your image management? If you put on one of those ridiculous outfits, won’t your manager come after you?”
Liang Jiaqing thought about it and decided he had a point. She hadn’t actually planned to wear one; she’d only wanted to ask.
She had an idol image to maintain, okay?
Wasn’t it much nicer to look beautiful and enjoy a taxpayer-funded vacation with a handsome man?
Why bother acting ridiculous?
Seeing that she truly had no intention of joining in, Director Zhang let out a huge sigh of relief.
A few guests dedicated to creating absurdity and atmosphere were enough. They couldn’t afford to lose their visual centerpiece too!
“You little brats! Since this is the final day of filming, your director has decided to show mercy and return your phones after work!”
“And this is how you repay me? By biting the hand that feeds you? Answer me!”
After speaking, Director Zhang pointed at the several people still admiring one another’s costumes, his tone carrying a distinct edge of gritted teeth.
The bunch of them gave sheepish little laughs.
Then Xie Tangning immediately exposed him. “Stop pretending. I don’t believe you didn’t know we went out to get these clothes last night!”
Xie Changyu sounded thoroughly pleased with his own terrible idea. “Exactly. Anyone could tell you were totally on board with our concept!”
Liang Zhou wore an especially shameless expression. “Of course! As the chief director, how could you not know about the little things your guests were up to?”
“Give it up!”
Director Zhang: “…”
He had indeed noticed the group sneaking around last night. But who could have guessed they’d take things to this level of absurdity?
Ever since the show began, they had been willing to put on any ugly outfit imaginable right in front of the livestream cameras!
They had no idea what dignity or maintaining an image even meant, completely overturning his impression of wealthy young ladies and gentlemen.
Director Zhang made a gesture as though he were about to beat them to death, then drew a deep breath and continued, “Try to maintain some semblance of an image. The livestream is about to start!”
Everyone gave an okay sign and gathered around the camera.
On the final morning before the show wrapped up, they were going to give the audience a surprise: the entire cast appearing together in costume.
The assistant director timed everything perfectly. At exactly eight o’clock, the livestream room opened on schedule.
“Good morning, everyone!”
“This is the final morning of filming! Let’s record a little something together, hehe!”
As soon as the livestream opened, the entire cast appeared together on screen. Some viewers had already grown attached to the show, and their noses suddenly began to sting.
Out of nowhere, they found themselves getting a little sentimental.
[Ah~ So it really is the last day already! My comfort binge~ I’m a little sad to see it end, sob sob~ Though, that said, are a few of our classmates’ outfits looking a little... off?]
[So summer vacation is really almost over? I still haven’t finished my homework (bursting into tears)(bursting into tears)]
[Somebody get the person above me out of here! I was just about to have an emotional moment, but seeing the words “summer vacation homework” completely broke me!!]
