Listening to Director Zhang mutter to himself, Xie Tangning’s emotional intelligence kicked into gear in an instant.
“Oh, come on~ How can you say you lost that badly?”
“You took on all of us by yourself and still went back and forth with us! You’ve already won, okay?!”
“A one-versus-ten record! You may have lost, but you lost gloriously, so our wise and mighty director should stop doubting himself, all right?”
The girl laid it on thick while watching Director Zhang’s expression. Once she saw the corners of his mouth gradually lift, she finally revealed her true intentions.
“So… can we get more money?”
Director Zhang: “…”
I knew I was wasting my breath talking to this bunch of bastards!
“No. Now all the guests, come up and collect your hundred yuan, then get ready for your dinner!”
“If you fail to prepare a closing banquet that satisfies me, an ultimate punishment will be waiting for you!”
With that, he shoved the megaphone into the assistant director’s hands, making it perfectly clear that he wanted nothing more to do with this bunch of bastards.
Xie Tangning wasn’t disappointed that her attempt to fleece Director Zhang had failed. It would have been downright strange if an old fox like him had been easy to trick.
Still, wasn’t there something off about his final sentence? The girl narrowed her eyes and began questioning him.
“Why is there still a punishment at this point in the show?! Director Zhang, are you seriously determined not to be a decent person?”
Wu Dacheng folded his arms and glared indignantly at Director Zhang. “If we get punished for failing to satisfy you, then if we do satisfy you, shouldn’t you be the one getting punished?”
Liang Zhou raised both hands and both feet in agreement with the chubby boy’s suggestion. “Exactly! That’s what you call fair!”
Su Xiaoye cautiously added a safeguard. “I don’t think Director Zhang should be the one judging whether he’s satisfied. The assistant director should do it.”
Xie Changyu immediately piled on without a second thought, his sharp-tongued persona fully intact.
“Exactly. Everyone knows what you’re like, Director Zhang! Just so you can torment your beloved guests one last time, you’d absolutely cheat and deny being satisfied even when you are!”
“So you can’t be the one judging this.”
Xie Wanwan nodded and summarized, “To conclude, the rules contain loopholes. We request that they be amended!”
Director Zhang: “…”
These little bastards were always ruining his reputation! How infuriating!
What made it worse was that his own dear assistant director kept nodding beside him, having defected completely.
Furious, he threw a few punches at the empty air, radiating an inexplicable sense of heartbreak.
The cameraman, always ready to seize an opportunity, happened to point the camera at Director Zhang again. The audience just happened to witness him having a meltdown.
[Director Zhang, is that all you’ve got? You really thought you could win another round of wits and courage? Dream on!]
[Hahaha, getting to see Director Zhang lose it at the end of the show is so satisfying!]
[I hereby announce that Xie Tangning is a natural-born leader. Every time she starts a campaign, someone immediately joins in!]
Watching the laughter practically overflow from the comments section, Director Zhang grew even angrier—but chose to indulge them anyway.
“Since everyone is making such a strong request, as the world’s greatest director, I shall naturally fulfill it!”
“The assistant director will be the judge. If you lose, you’ll accept the punishment. If you win, I won’t accept any punishment!”
“And that’s final. No objections will be entertained!”
The guests: “…”
The good news: Director Zhang had regained his humanity and was finally willing to accommodate the guests!
The bad news: He was only accommodating half of their request!
Seeing their crestfallen expressions, Director Zhang’s mood instantly went from overcast to clear blue skies.
“Don’t just stand there. Come collect your money!”
Xie Tangning patted her brother on the arm and began giving orders as if it were only natural. “Go collect the money, go collect the money!”
The moment the order was given, Xie Changyu’s feet moved faster than his brain, and he obediently became a tool.
He stuffed the hundred yuan into his sister’s arms, then checked the time before speaking.
“It’s only one-thirty. There’s still ages until dinner! Want to go out for afternoon tea with your brother?”
Xie Changyu draped an arm over Xie Tangning’s shoulder, shifting half his weight onto her.
He secretly thought, This height of Xie Xiaoning’s is so useful. She’s practically a walking crutch!
Luckily, Xie Tangning couldn’t hear his thoughts. Otherwise, she would have jumped up and kicked him in the kneecap.
“Do you even have money? You want to go out for afternoon tea?”
That was what she said, but the cunning glint in her eyes was impossible to hide. She was practically winking at him.
Qin Shuchun, Qin Zhe, and the others were right nearby. Of course they had to take the opportunity to make them pay for a feast!
Xie Changyu’s acting was so natural that he didn’t reveal a thing about his plan to call in outside help.
“Aren’t you already clutching the money? Eat first, and we’ll worry about the rest later!”
Director Zhang assumed the two of them had simply gotten a food craving. He was still wondering why none of the others were stopping them from going wild.
How could he know that Liang Zhou, who was in on the plan, was also eager to fleece his friends properly?
As for everyone else—some were devoted solo fans, and others were shamelessly spoiling their favorites.
What objections could they possibly have? It was only afternoon tea. Let them spend to their hearts’ content!
The budget? The ultimate punishment? Who cared!
“Gather around, Sister Qing, Brother Shen Lin, Uncle Weixiang,” Xie Tangning said. “Let’s discuss what ingredients we need to buy first.”
“Right,” Xie Changyu added. “That way we won’t buy duplicates.”
The ten guests whispered among themselves for five minutes, quickly hammering out a plan before setting off for the nearby market to do some serious shopping.
Before leaving, they specifically asked whether they were allowed to use the production crew’s transportation freely.
Fortunately, although Director Zhang was shameless, he wasn’t quite that shameless. He said the guests could use the drivers and vehicles however they liked.
Xie Tangning immediately showered him with praise, never stingy when it came to complimenting people.
Director Zhang nearly got flattered into a puddle again, secretly marveling at how powerful Xie Tangning’s mouth was.
She and her brother were worlds apart!
If Xie Changyu could learn even a tenth of Xie Tangning’s emotional intelligence, his hater count would be cut in half at least!
And so, the whole group piled into cars and headed for the market.
Meanwhile, Director Zhang had no idea that, in the palace-like house he had specially prepared—one filled with the exotic flair of the Western Regions—he was waiting to laugh at the group of pampered young masters and ladies who knew nothing of ordinary life.
Just imagining these people, who had never lifted a finger around the house, racking their brains to bargain because they didn’t have enough money was enough to fill him with excitement.
He couldn’t help it. He was simply a terrible person by nature.
He loved watching other people’s misfortunes and gossip!
Beside him, the assistant director watched Director Zhang inexplicably start swaying with delight and began wondering whether he should call a psychiatric hospital.
After all, leaving Zhang Goudan—Director Dog-egg—with his questionable mental state and dangerous tendencies out in public was hardly conducive to maintaining public safety.
“You’re sure you don’t want to go with them? Be careful—they might pull something huge on you!”
Director Zhang waved him off indifferently. “No way. Why would I follow them around in weather this hot and suffer?”
“Those idiots may be a little crazy, but they wouldn’t go so far as to rob people in broad daylight just to win, would they?”
Their current location was at a much lower elevation than Sayram Lake and the Tianshan Mountains during the competition, so the temperature was naturally much higher.
The assistant director gave a dry chuckle. “I’ll bet you anything you’re going to regret that decision!”
“I hope you understand that we’ve only unlocked less than one percent of those people’s potential for causing trouble!”
Director Zhang thought about what that bunch was like and decided there was some truth to it.
But he was a stubborn bastard.
Fine! He just wouldn’t listen. What were they going to do about it?
The assistant director said nothing. He simply set up the camera, ready to record the moment Director Zhang got proven wrong and completely lost it.
