Ji Xizhou repeated the question to confirm the rules. “What if we accidentally touch?”
The staff member said expressionlessly, “We won’t start over, and we’ll cut the kissing footage!”
“Oh.”
Ji Xizhou answered with a hint of disappointment.
As for what exactly he was disappointed about…
Xu Jinsi could no longer sit still. He stood up and called someone right there in front of everyone.
“Can we skip this segment? No, it’s not that I don’t want to do it. I mean, don’t film any of it. I know this is a dating show, but don’t you think this game is going a little too far?”
Wang Aitian glanced over curiously.
“Who’s Boss Xu calling?”
Zhang Weiyi said nothing.
Liu Qingye guessed, “Could he be calling the producer?”
Ever since joining the show, she had vaguely suspected that Xu Jinsi had no shortage of money or beautiful women throwing themselves at him, so why would he come on a dating show? Most likely, he was an investor.
Ji Xizhou was just about to ask the staff for a finger biscuit when he turned around and saw the executive director receive an urgent phone call.
“Sorry, everyone, but let’s end this game segment here. It’ll be cut from the show.”
Ji Xizhou was dumbfounded.
“Cut? My punishment game hasn’t even started yet!”
The executive director helplessly glanced at Xu Jinsi, who had already hung up and returned to his seat.
What could they do? The man had money.
Liu Qingye had actually guessed correctly.
Xu Jinsi wasn’t merely an investor in this season—he had also invested in the first and second seasons.
As for why he had come on the show, he was simply bored and wanted to kill some time. He also wanted to experience what it was like to film a dating show.
He was the kind of person who treated life like a game and tried everything for the experience.
Ji Xizhou gnashed his teeth in frustration, yet there was nothing he could do.
Damn capitalists.
After Xu Jinsi calmly took his seat, he lifted his glass and took a sip. With a light, casual smile, he turned toward Ji Liuyue beside him.
“What’s the fun in playing with him? I’m much more fun.”
Ji Liuyue smiled and replied softly, “Oh, so it’s not that Mr. Xu dislikes the segment. You just dislike the fact that you aren’t the one participating with me.”
Xu Jinsi gave a soft snort but did not deny it.
Because of Mr. Xu’s one phone call, the game session ended at once, and the staff had no choice but to hurriedly change the rules.
Damn capitalists!
The staff cursed him silently as well.
But once they heard that they would be paid triple for working overtime that day, they instantly felt much better.
After a half-hour break, the new game rules were finally announced.
The game was also designed to help the guests get to know one another better.
It was called “Never Have I Ever.” At the beginning, everyone held up all ten fingers. Starting from left to right, each person would name something special they had done. Anyone who had never done it had to fold down one finger.
The game would continue until everyone had folded down all their fingers. Whoever had the most fingers still raised would be the winner.
Xu Jinsi asked, “There’s no prize for the winner?”
The staff member answered, “The winner of this round gets the chance to go on a little date with someone of their choice. However, that person can decide whether to accept or refuse.”
A “little date” meant two or three hours spent having a meal together or doing a small craft project.
They generally wouldn’t go too far—usually no more than five kilometers from the house, so they could easily coordinate with the group filming tasks that followed.
Xu Jinsi curled his lips, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
Ji Xizhou looked utterly hopeless.
He was a complete game black hole! This time, he was doomed to be an even bigger one.
Still, his eyes burned with fierce hostility as he looked toward Xu Jinsi. Xu could only break the rules once. If he did it again, everyone else would go on strike.
Ji Xizhou wasn’t entirely without ability. He simply didn’t want their first meeting to end in such an ugly way.
The questions still proceeded from left to right.
Ji Mingtian went first.
“I’ve raised both dogs and cats.”
Zhang Weiyi folded down one finger.
Wang Aitian said with a troubled expression, “I’ve only raised a cat.”
Everyone else was more or less in the same situation and folded down one finger.
Only Ji Liuyue kept all ten fingers raised.
Ji Mingtian looked surprised and delighted. “Little Sis, you’ve raised dogs and cats too?”
“Mm.” Ji Liuyue nodded with a meaningful smile.
What a joke. She belonged to the Beast Taming Sect.
Compared to the beasts she had trained, dogs and cats were nothing. She had even managed to tame demon beasts far more powerful than them.
In the next round, Zhang Weiyi spoke. She furrowed her brow, trying to think of something everyone else had never done but she had.
“I’ve never been in a relationship.”
This time, Ji Mingtian obediently folded down one finger.
Wang Aitian and Cen Yu exchanged a distant glance before everyone honestly folded down a finger.
Lu Nanxun was single from birth, so there was no need to mention him. To maintain his image as a master of romance, Xu Jinsi regretfully glanced at Ji Liuyue before folding down one finger.
Ji Liuyue watched him with a beaming smile. “Who hasn’t?”
She folded down one finger right in front of him.
Xu Jinsi’s back teeth ached with irritation, yet he still had to pretend to be a carefree playboy.
“Was your ex-boyfriend as handsome as me?”
Ji Liuyue leaned a little closer and lowered her voice.
“Hey, you’re not even mine. Why are you comparing yourself to my ex-boyfriend?”
“What if I were?” Xu Jinsi asked quietly in return.
“I wouldn’t know without trying.” The corners of her lips lifted, and a hint of provocation glimmered in her almond-shaped eyes.
After saying that, she leaned back to her original position.
Lu Nanxun had been silently observing the way they interacted. Although he couldn’t hear what they were saying, the sight of them chatting and laughing together once again stirred up a sense of crisis in his heart.
Xu Jinsi was even more shameless than he had imagined. Look at that smile—wasn’t he obviously trying to seduce Yueyue?
Hmph! He was a disgrace to men. Unlike him, Lu Nanxun was an honest man.
Honest men only did honest things.
Ji Liuyue had just tugged at the sleeve of her off-the-shoulder top when Lu Nanxun considerately handed her half of the blanket.
“Cover yourself with this. It’s cold at night.”
“Thank you.”
As for why he only handed her half, it was because the other half was covering his own legs.
In other words, the two of them were sharing a blanket. From a distance, they looked extremely intimate and flirtatious.
The corner of Xu Jinsi’s mouth twitched as he glared unhappily at Lu Nanxun.
Dr. Lu, the honest man, gave him a gentle, innocent smile, as if to say: Why are you looking at me? I’m an honest man. I’m only concerned about whether Yueyue is cold.
Liu Qingye watched them from the side. When she noticed that Lu Nanxun and Xu Jinsi seemed ready to come to blows, a thought suddenly occurred to her, and she revealed a strange smile.
When her turn came, she said, “I don’t like Lu Nanxun. Not in a romantic way.”
Everyone present was stunned.
This was her publicly declaring that she would not be interested in Lu Nanxun as a male guest in the future.
But wasn’t she being a little too blunt? There was no need to announce it so openly, was there?
Naturally, none of the male guests folded down a finger.
Ji Mingtian even joked, “I’m completely straight, Dr. Lu!”
When it was the female guests’ turn, Wang Aitian and Zhang Weiyi also kept their fingers raised.
Wang Aitian had already clearly realized that Cen Yu was the person who made her heart flutter.
As for Zhang Weiyi, none of the male guests had sparked anything in her so far. The only one she was even slightly interested in was Ji Xizhou, the new fifth male guest.
Everyone’s eyes turned toward Ji Liuyue in unison.
