When he and Ji Liuyue had first met for their date, the two of them had only exchanged names without shaking hands.
After all, it was their first time meeting. Physical contact like that would have been a little too much.
Liu Qingye, however, wasn’t embarrassed in the slightest. She smiled, lowered her hand naturally, and looked apologetically at Ji Liuyue.
“Um… I received a text saying we were supposed to meet here for a date. You must be the female guest from the previous date, right?”
Her voice was soft and gentle, but the implication was clear: Your date is over, isn’t it? If you know what’s good for you, you should leave now and save us both the embarrassment.
Ji Liuyue was a little surprised.
According to the original plot, Liu Qingye should have mutually chosen Lu Nanxun for a date, while she was supposed to be the clueless extra female guest who rudely interrupted them.
“Yes, my name is Ji Liuyue.”
As if she hadn’t understood the meaning behind Liu Qingye’s words at all, she pointed to the chair beside her.
“Have you eaten? Would you like to order something else?”
The smile on Liu Qingye’s face stiffened.
She then sat down in the empty chair beside Xu Jinsi.
The atmosphere among the three of them instantly became rather delicate.
Xu Jinsi already had a naturally aloof appearance, and his current silence made him seem even more intimidating.
Liu Qingye leaned slightly toward Xu Jinsi in a perfectly natural manner. Her long black hair fell over her shoulder, carrying a faint scent of perfume.
Xu Jinsi noticed it and turned his head slightly.
He happened to meet Liu Qingye’s dewy eyes. She tilted her head a little and said,
“I don’t know what’s good here either. Could you order something for me?”
She looked delicate and utterly endearing.
Although Ji Liuyue had been the one to ask the question, Liu Qingye had directed her response at Xu Jinsi.
Even the cameraman carrying the camera could sense the drama and tension of this first date. Who would have thought they would capture such an explosive scene right from the start?
Xu Jinsi ordered her a black truffle and mushroom risotto.
The smile on Liu Qingye’s lips grew even brighter. She tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear, tilted her head up, and gazed at him with a pair of moist, alluring eyes.
Her lips parted slightly as she praised him again.
“Even though you look so cold on the outside, you’re actually very considerate. You must be warm-hearted underneath.”
Sitting diagonally across from them, Ji Liuyue saw through her little act at a glance.
A frail and helpless little white rabbit?
The smile at the corner of her lips turned faintly inscrutable as her eyes moved back and forth between the two of them.
She chimed in, “He is pretty nice. His photography skills are just a little terrible.”
Xu Jinsi raised an eyebrow in displeasure.
He had worked so hard to take her pictures beneath the cherry blossoms, and she actually dared to say his photos were terrible?
Liu Qingye said softly, “Really?”
Ji Liuyue nodded. “Yes.” As she spoke, she pulled up the pictures the two of them had taken earlier and handed them over.
Beneath the cherry tree, the two of them stood close together, flashing peace signs at the camera.
The pictures looked straight out of a romance drama, practically overflowing with the rosy bubbles of young love.
The smile on Liu Qingye’s face could no longer hold.
“Oh,” she said. “That’s a selfie of the two of you.”
“Exactly,” Ji Liuyue replied. “Xu Jinsi has long arms, so I asked him to hold the phone out front and take it.”
Liu Qingye cast another seemingly casual glance at Xu Jinsi and said in her gentle voice,
“No, I think his photography skills are quite good. Better than those of many of my friends. Jinsi, maybe you could take a picture for me next time?”
As she spoke, she turned slightly to look at Xu Jinsi.
After only a few sentences, she had already begun addressing him much more intimately.
Xu Jinsi lifted his drink, took a sip, and set it back down.
A hint of amusement appeared at the corner of his lips.
Looking at Liu Qingye, he said, “Why wait until next time? I can take one for you now.”
Liu Qingye’s eyes lit up. She covered her lips and giggled.
“Sure, sure.”
She immediately handed him her phone and added, “You’re taller. Hold it up for me.”
Ji Liuyue simply watched as the handsome man and beautiful woman across the table took selfies together. Then she received a signal from the show’s PD and director from off-camera.
Steal the spotlight!
That made sense. After all, she was the female guest who was supposed to stir things up.
So, just as Liu Qingye was sweetly counting down, “Three, two, one…”
At the very last second, Ji Liuyue swiftly stuck her head into the frame.
The two-person selfie instantly became a group photo of three.
In fact, judging from the picture, Ji Liuyue was even closer to Xu Jinsi, while Liu Qingye stood slightly farther back, creating a bizarre triangular formation.
The smile on Liu Qingye’s face froze once again.
She couldn’t believe what had just happened.
Xu Jinsi also gave Ji Liuyue a complicated look, unable to stop himself from silently cursing her as an idiot once again.
Did she have any idea how many people would curse her online once the show aired because of this?
Why had she come on the show—to become famous, or to get dragged by the entire internet?
Her IQ was truly worrying.
His intolerance for stupidity was acting up again.
That was what he told himself, at least. But Xu Jinsi hadn’t noticed that today, compared with the delicate and alluring Liu Qingye, he had been paying far more attention to Ji Liuyue across from him.
“This picture turned out pretty good, don’t you think?” Ji Liuyue said, admiring it after they finished taking it.
At that moment, Liu Qingye really wanted to start cursing.
Just as the atmosphere was becoming awkward, Ji Liuyue spoke again.
“Xu Jinsi, give me your phone.”
Xu Jinsi looked wary. “What for?”
Ji Liuyue pointed at the two of them.
“I’ll take a picture of you together. Look at how well your outfits match today. The pictures are sure to turn out beautiful.”
This time, even Liu Qingye couldn’t understand what she was doing.
One second, she had stubbornly inserted herself into their photo; the next, she was suggesting that she take a picture of the two of them.
Xu Jinsi handed over his phone.
Ji Liuyue accepted it with a strong sense of distance, pinching the edge with only her fingertips and not touching his fingers at all.
“Hey, stand a little closer together.”
“That’s right, Yezi. Turn your gaze toward Xu Jinsi a little. It’ll look very romantic, especially with the sunset behind you.”
“Xu Jinsi, don’t look so stiff. You’re on a dating show—try to look happy.”
Ji Liuyue fiddled with the phone, becoming more and more absorbed in taking pictures.
Click after click, she took roughly a hundred photos of them.
During the shoot, Liu Qingye tried to make physical contact with Xu Jinsi without drawing attention to it, only to discover that he was being very careful to keep his distance. Whenever she moved even slightly closer, he would retreat.
Once she understood his boundaries, Liu Qingye restrained herself somewhat.
She merely tossed her hair back while fixing it, allowing the strands to brush against the man’s arm.
She secretly congratulated herself.
He must be completely intoxicated by my scent!
But Xu Jinsi’s eyes remained fixed on Ji Liuyue, who was holding up the phone and taking pictures nonstop.
Idiot woman! If we weren’t filming the show, why would I cooperate with you?
You’re here to appear on a dating show and become famous, not to work as a wedding photographer!
She had come here with the intelligence of a disaster.
His intolerance for stupidity was acting up again.
A faint floral fragrance suddenly reached the tip of his nose.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Liu Qingye fixing her hair, and a trace of mockery flashed across his lips.
Because of his family background and profession, there had been no shortage of women trying to get close to him over the years.
He had encountered every type, and he had seen plenty of pure-and-sensual little white rabbits like Liu Qingye.
If this had been in the past, he might have been interested.
But now, all his attention had been occupied by the noisy idiot in front of him.
Hmph.
He simply watched in silence as Ji Liuyue dug her own grave!
