The food group’s venue.
Today, they were making taro ball desserts.
That meant hand-rolling little taro balls, and tapioca starch along with all the other ingredients had already been laid out on the worktable.
The cameraman had set up his equipment, and the four guests stood before the worktable, waiting for the instructor to teach them step by step.
The instructor began, “They say men and women make the work easier when paired together. So, gentlemen, be proactive and team up with a lady.”
Xu Jinsi reacted quickly and immediately walked over to Zhang Weiyi.
“I’m with you!”
He had no intention of getting involved with Liu Qingye.
Lu Nanxun was a beat slower. By the time he realized what was happening, the other pair had already formed. He could only take one step to the right and stand expressionlessly beside Liu Qingye.
Liu Qingye delicately brushed a loose strand of hair away from her ear and said softly, “Nanxun, what a coincidence. We’re partners again.”
Her gaze still drifted toward Xu Jinsi in the distance, filled with unwillingness.
Why was it that the more proactive she was, the more Xu Jinsi tried to get away? When they had first met for their initial date, he had clearly had a good impression of her.
Lu Nanxun was a gentleman. He merely nodded.
The instructor then told them to put on aprons first, so they would not dirty their clothes with tapioca starch later.
And so they reached the classic moment in every dating show: tying aprons.
It was the scene so many viewers loved to ship—the men and women helping their partners tie the apron strings.
Xu Jinsi and Zhang Weiyi exchanged a glance.
“We’ll tie our own,” they said.
Zhang Weiyi nodded. “That’s what I was thinking too.”
Their gazes were as firm as those of revolutionary comrades, with not the slightest hint of romance between them.
Meanwhile, Liu Qingye had only just pulled the apron over her head when she naturally turned around and pointed at the strings around her waist.
“Nanxun, could I trouble you to tie my apron for me?”
Lu Nanxun was in the middle of tying his own apron when he heard the female guest beside him.
He took a deep breath.
Still maintaining his gentlemanly composure, he nodded and agreed. However, he kept a considerable distance between them, and even tied the strings into a loose, sloppy knot.
As he tied the apron, Liu Qingye discreetly ran her fingers through her glossy black hair.
She had deliberately put on perfume that day, applying it to the back of her neck. With the way she was moving, Lu Nanxun—standing behind her and tying her apron—was certain to smell it.
He would definitely be enchanted by her fragrance!
A smug smile appeared on Liu Qingye’s face.
Lu Nanxun, however, looked as though he had just endured a punishment. The moment he finished, he hurriedly stepped back and maintained a polite distance.
There was a rule when mixing starch and water: if there was too much water, add starch; if there was too much starch, add water.
Cen Yu had previously said that Zhang Weiyi was a disaster in the kitchen, and his words were completely accurate.
They were both kneading dough for taro balls, but Zhang Weiyi’s group kept making their dough bigger and bigger.
Even someone like Xu Jinsi, who could not cook at all, noticed that something was wrong.
“Why is our dough so big?”
Then he noticed that they had already used up an entire bag of tapioca starch.
Meanwhile, Lu Nanxun’s group still had more than half a bag left, and their ball of dough was also much smaller.
The instructor continued, “Now, everyone can take out a portion and roll it into small balls…”
Liu Qingye looked at her own creations with great satisfaction.
She kept glancing over at the other female guest. When she saw that Zhang Weiyi was rolling taro balls as large as cannonballs, she could not stop herself from letting out a laugh.
Zhang Weiyi looked over and asked, “Yezi, what are you laughing at?”
Only then did Liu Qingye realize that she had let herself lose control.
She hurriedly covered her lips and tried to disguise it. “Ah, it’s nothing. I just think your taro balls are pretty cute.”
Xu Jinsi gave a faint snort.
He saw through Liu Qingye’s hypocrisy in an instant.
Lu Nanxun also stopped what he was doing. After taking a look at the situation in the neighboring group, he took the initiative to walk over.
“Do you need any help?”
Zhang Weiyi nodded excitedly, as if she had just seen her savior.
“Yes!”
Liu Qingye was dumbfounded. Her partner had abandoned her to help the other group?
Unwilling to accept this, she called softly to Lu Nanxun, “Nanxun, what am I supposed to do by myself if you leave?”
Lu Nanxun gave her an encouraging look.
“Yezi, you’re very talented. You roll the taro balls quickly and well. You’ll be fine on your own!”
Liu Qingye was rendered speechless.
So being good at it was her fault?
Besides, she could vaguely sense the polite yet distant attitude Lu Nanxun held toward her.
How infuriating!
The men she met offline were all so easy to handle.
Why were the three men she had met on this dating show so difficult?
Oh, wait!
Ji Mingtian was pretty stupid and easy to manipulate!
If only Lu Nanxun and Xu Jinsi were as easy to handle as Ji Mingtian.
Liu Qingye let out a quiet sigh.
…
The simp Ji Mingtian never would have imagined that the female guest he liked, Yezi, would think of him.
Of course, she had only remembered him when she was frustrated.
At that moment, the simp Ji Mingtian was still completely immersed in the joy of exercise. His group had arrived at a huge game arcade.
The venue was packed with all kinds of games, including bowling, basketball shooting, rowing machines, motorcycle simulators, claw machines, and practically everything else one could imagine.
Ji Mingtian instantly forgot that he was there to film a dating show and threw himself into having fun.
At that moment, several of them were standing in front of a basketball-shooting machine.
Ji Mingtian tossed in a ball, and the machine announced electronically, “One point.”
The score on the electronic display had already climbed to six points.
He had taken ten shots and made six of them.
That was quite impressive!
He raised his eyebrows proudly and said to Cen Yu beside him, “Buddy, you want to give it a try?”
Cen Yu shook his head, looking troubled.
“I’m not very good at basketball.”
“It’s fine. It’s not a real match—it’s just shooting. You only need a decent aim.” Ji Mingtian handed him a basketball.
Cen Yu reluctantly took a shot.
He missed.
He tried again and missed once more.
In the end, he took six shots in a row without making a single one.
Things grew a little awkward. After all, it was embarrassing to reveal one’s weakness in front of two female guests.
Ji Mingtian scratched his head, not expecting things to turn out this way.
He swore!
When he had invited Cen Yu to play, he had genuinely meant well. He truly had not expected Cen Yu to be so terrible at it.
He absolutely had not intended to make him look bad.
Just as the atmosphere was becoming awkward, Wang Aitian proactively picked up a basketball and said with a smile, “It looks fun. I can play basketball too. Let me try.”
She rose onto her toes and took seven or eight shots in a row, but none of them went in.
With an expression of helpless despair, she looked at Cen Yu and said, “Shooting is really hard for people like us who don’t know how to play basketball.”
Cen Yu promptly nodded in deep agreement.
“Exactly. We’re giving up on this event.”
The atmosphere eased considerably.
Wang Aitian picked up another basketball and placed it in Ji Liuyue’s hands.
“Liuyue, you should try too. We both got defeated. Looks like we won’t be able to surpass Ji Mingtian this time.”
Ji Liuyue cast a smiling glance at Ji Mingtian.
In a relaxed tone, she said, “That may not be true. I’m not going to let my brother get too smug.”
As soon as she finished speaking, she casually tossed the ball toward the hoop.
The machine announced, “Plus one…”
Wang Aitian’s eyes lit up, and she exclaimed excitedly, “Wow, Liuyue, you’re so lucky!”
For the next minute.
The electronic voice kept chiming: “+1, +1, +1…”
Everyone was dumbfounded.
