Liu Qingye’s face went white, then green.
Ji Mingtian hurried to smooth things over. “Um, Yezi didn’t mean anything by that. Come on, everyone, let’s raise a glass to Cen Yu. Chef Cen has worked hard.”
Wang Aitian shot him a look. “What about me?”
“Right, right! Tiantian has worked hard too. Come on, everyone, let’s raise a glass to the Sweet-Rain pairing.”
Since everyone’s phones had unrestricted internet access, they could see the audience’s comments and the online reactions after the show aired.
Wang Aitian’s face flushed slightly when their relationship was so bluntly exposed.
Cen Yu did not deny it. She rose to her feet and said, “Everyone’s worked hard. Let’s drink together and celebrate our island life in the house.”
Everyone picked up their glasses and clinked them together in the middle of the table.
The matter was quietly put to rest.
Unexpectedly, Liu Qingye started stirring up trouble again during the meal. She looked imploringly at Xu Jinsi beside her.
“Jinsi, I want some bean sprouts. Could you put some in the pot for me?”
A coconut chicken hot pot sat in the center of the table, with various vegetables, meat rolls, and meatballs arranged on both sides.
The bean sprouts Liu Qingye wanted were placed in front of Ji Liuyue.
If Xu Jinsi agreed to put some bean sprouts into the pot for her, he would have to stand up and reach across Ji Liuyue to take the plate.
It was an obvious provocation.
Liu Qingye knew he might not agree, but what if he did? After all, Xu Jinsi had already had an unpleasant confrontation with Ji Liuyue that morning.
What if he deliberately decided to rebel against her now?
With that thought, she watched him expectantly.
Who would have guessed that Xu Jinsi would not answer her? Instead, he turned to Ji Mingtian and said, “Mingtian, Liu Qingye says she wants some bean sprouts.”
“Sure!”
Ji Mingtian immediately set down his chopsticks, stood up, and walked over to Ji Liuyue.
With a broad grin, he said, “Hey, sis, I’m going to take some bean sprouts.”
Of course, Ji Liuyue nodded.
Ji Mingtian carried the plate back, put some bean sprouts into the pot, then turned to Liu Qingye and asked, “Yezi, is this enough, or should I put in half the plate?”
At that moment, Liu Qingye was gritting her teeth.
It was not the bean sprouts she wanted.
She wanted to see the conflict between Xu Jinsi and Ji Liuyue deepen. Instead, Ji Mingtian had stepped in at precisely the wrong moment and foiled her scheme yet again.
She forced herself to maintain a smile. “I don’t have much of an appetite. That’s enough.”
Then, pretending to be considerate, she looked at the others and asked, “Does everyone like bean sprouts? If you do, put in some more.”
Everyone shook their heads.
Ji Liuyue suddenly spoke up.
“Put the whole plate in. That way, you won’t have to keep getting up.”
Ji Mingtian scratched his head and gave an honest, sheepish smile. “All right!”
With that, he emptied the entire plate of bean sprouts into the pot.
“Thank you, Mingtian,” Ji Liuyue said.
Ji Mingtian waved his hands repeatedly and joked, “We’re brother and sister. What are you thanking me for?”
Liu Qingye glared at Ji Mingtian in secret, inwardly seething.
She thought the man was stupid, clueless, and hopelessly dim-witted.
Ji Liuyue had said that deliberately. Her words had been a sarcastic retort aimed at Liu Qingye herself. How could he not understand?
Some people enjoyed that coconut chicken hot pot, while others sat there fuming.
Xu Jinsi watched helplessly as Lu Nanxun and Ji Xizhou, seated diagonally across from him, fawned over Liuyue.
The expression on his face shifted through every shade of a painter’s palette.
He wavered between pride and regret.
He wanted to apologize to Liuyue, but he could not bring himself to swallow his pride.
After struggling with it for a long while, the meal ended.
Ji Liuyue took the initiative to handle the washing-up. Xu Jinsi’s heart lifted when he saw the opportunity.
He was just about to say that he would help clear the table and wash the dishes when a staff member entered carrying a letter.
Everyone’s attention was immediately drawn to it.
“What’s going on?” Ji Mingtian asked curiously as he came over to see what was happening.
Lu Nanxun guessed, “Could a new guest be arriving?”
Wang Aitian was the quickest to react. She glanced at Ji Xizhou and said, “That’s right. This dating show has always had five men and five women. Xizhou is the fifth male guest, and he’s already appeared, so we should still be missing one female guest.”
Her words struck like a thunderclap.
Everyone still had not gotten used to the previous newcomer, and now another one was joining them.
Ji Xizhou wore an expression of gleeful anticipation. No one else had received an envelope—only Xu Jinsi had.
“Open it already and see if it’s a date invitation,” he urged.
As a male guest who had joined the show later, he knew that newcomers were given a special dating privilege.
Namely, the guest invited by the newcomer could not refuse and had to attend.
When Ji Xizhou had first joined the show, the production team had arranged for him to go on a date with Liu Qingye. But shortly before filming began, the first two episodes aired, and Liu Qingye’s real-name-versus-stage-name scandal was exposed, causing her reputation to plummet.
Ji Xizhou had then taken the opportunity to request a change.
He wanted to go with the Ji Liuyue he had been longing for.
However, the production team had its own considerations and ultimately refused. They changed the one-on-one date into a two-on-one date, having him go on a plane date with two female guests at the same time.
Xu Jinsi did not immediately open the envelope. Instead, he first glanced at Ji Liuyue.
She was standing by the sink, completely absorbed in tidying the dishes, so he distractedly looked away.
He took out the card inside.
There were only four words on it.
The name of a date location:
Xinlan Restaurant.
As expected, it was an invitation from the fifth female guest.
Everyone erupted in excitement. The male guests began jeering playfully.
“Wow! The new female guest! Old Xu, you really are something. She actually picked you!”
The female guests each reacted differently.
Zhang Weiyi merely observed.
Wang Aitian looked somewhat worried. She stole a glance at Yueyue, afraid that the arrival of a new female guest might disrupt the ambiguous relationship developing between them.
Liu Qingye, meanwhile, was rather annoyed.
What was going on?!
Xu Jinsi had just fallen out with Ji Liuyue, creating a crack between them. Liu Qingye had been planning to take advantage of the opening.
Why did the production team have to arrange a new fifth female guest at a time like this?
Still, she could be certain of one thing: the production team had definitely changed the script.
The original love triangle had been broken up. After assigning Ji Xizhou as the fifth male guest, they were leaving her to rely on her own abilities.
As for the new fifth female guest, she might well be the production team’s latest favorite.
A trace of hostility flashed through Liu Qingye’s eyes.
But no matter how reluctant Xu Jinsi was, he still changed clothes and left to meet the new female guest under the staff’s urging.
Before he went out, his gaze kept drifting toward Ji Liuyue in the kitchen.
Everyone noticed, but they tacitly chose not to say anything.
“Are you heading out? The female guest has already arrived,” a staff member urged softly beside Xu Jinsi.
He hesitated, still feeling uneasy.
Perhaps meeting this new female guest would create a rift between him and Yueyue.
“Wait!”
Standing by the entrance, Xu Jinsi hesitated for a moment. In the end, his feelings defeated his pride.
He changed back into his slippers and dashed toward the kitchen like a gust of wind, running straight to Ji Liuyue.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
