Ning Yuxuan stared at the comments, lost in thought.
Why did these people seem more invested than she and Xie Zhiyan themselves?
She had her own favorite fictional couples from books and dramas, but she'd never been one to ship real people. Their fervor was something she couldn't quite understand.
And that last comment mentioning "unmentionable things"—was it referring to what she thought it was?
Ning Yuxuan unconsciously touched her lips.
After the livestream ended, she and Xie Zhiyan had engaged in some... "interaction," but it had only gone as far as kisses and embraces.
The netizens were far bolder than her.
She tossed her phone onto the bedside table, rolled over in bed, and buried herself in the blankets, trying to clear her mind of these chaotic thoughts.
The production team had notified them about filming an outdoor segment tomorrow—she should be getting an early night.
Yet after tossing and turning several times, sleep remained elusive.
The phrases from those comments resurfaced in her mind.
"Wild, unmentionable things."
Ning Yuxuan: "..."
When she closed her eyes, the memory of their kiss on the sofa replayed vividly.
The crisp, clean scent unique to him, the slightly ragged breaths between their lips, the searing touch of his fingers tracing her bare back as he held her tightly.
Being kissed by Xie Zhiyan—firm yet tender—was an entirely new experience for Ning Yuxuan.
It made her realize that when two people truly cared for each other, even their bodies would yearn for closeness.
Back when she'd been controlled by the plot, obsessing over Gu Yunhao, she'd wanted many things—recognition, a public relationship, even marriage.
But never had she felt like this, as if her body had a will of its own, craving his touch, craving more.
And she was certain she had the same effect on Xie Zhiyan.
As an adult, she couldn't mistake the desire—and restraint—in his eyes when their kiss ended.
Ning Yuxuan took a deep breath, wrapped herself tighter in the blankets, and tried again to sleep.
But five minutes later, she gave up and grabbed her phone, opening her chat with Xie Zhiyan.
The last message was from him, saying he'd gotten home safely, followed by their mutual "goodnights."
Above that was his question during the livestream: "Why run?"
And before that, the photo she'd accidentally sent him last night—the one where her lingerie strap had slipped into view.
Suddenly, she wondered what Xie Zhiyan was doing right now. Was he lying awake like her, or had he already drifted off peacefully?
It wouldn't be fair if she was the only one losing sleep.
But they'd already said goodnight. Messaging him now without reason would make her seem clingy.
She knew it was childish, but she couldn't help this competitive streak—wanting his love to outweigh hers.
After much deliberation, she finally concocted a plausible excuse.
Ning Yuxuan sat up in bed.
Tonight, she was wearing the lavender nightgown she'd described to Xie Zhiyan in detail during their phone call in Jiangcheng.
She went to the bathroom, angled herself in the mirror, and snapped a half-body selfie.
Then she sent it to Xie Zhiyan with a caption:
[Remember that light purple nightgown I told you about? I happened to wear it tonight—thought I'd show you.]
After sending it, she admired the photo.
Her photography skills really were impeccable—even a casual shot turned out beautifully.
Her collarbones were delicate, her skin fair, and the soft lavender straps complemented her effortlessly.
Just as she was appreciating her own beauty, a call notification popped up.
Ning Yuxuan: "..."
That fast?
Even though she'd been the one stirring the pot, now that Xie Zhiyan was actually calling, nervousness prickled through her.
She took a steadying breath and answered.
"Hello?" she said, feigning nonchalance. "What's up? I was about to sleep—why are you calling so suddenly?"
His voice was low. "Isn't this what you wanted?"
Caught but unwilling to admit it, she played dumb. "Huh? I never asked you to call."
Xie Zhiyan: "The photo."
Ning Yuxuan doubled down. "What about it?"
A pause. Then, firmly: "Ning Yuxuan."
She blinked. "Why the full name?"
Xie Zhiyan: "I regret something."
"Regret what?"
His voice dropped, roughened. "Letting you off so easily earlier."
Her lashes fluttered. "And what would you have done instead?"
Xie Zhiyan: "Told Auntie Ning I was taking you with me."
Ning Yuxuan: "..."
Asking "take me where?" would be pushing the act too far.
There was a dangerous edge to his husky tone.
But with the safety of distance, she grew bold: "Well, it's too late for regrets now. You're already home—you can't possibly come back at this hour."
She added smugly, "Even if you did, I wouldn't open the door."
Silence. Then—
"Xuanxuan," he said, softening her name this time, "if you're going to provoke me so brazenly, aren't you afraid of what might happen next time I see you?"
Her heart skipped.
The man who always carried himself with such restraint in public was speaking with startling bluntness now.
Her pulse raced so loudly she could barely hear herself think. It took several seconds before she managed a reply.
"Next time..." Her voice came out small. "We'll talk about next time... next time."
Xie Zhiyan: "So next time is permission?"
Ning Yuxuan: "..."
He was cornering her.
It wasn't that she opposed the idea—otherwise she wouldn't have sent the photo.
But who knew what circumstances they'd be in next time? She couldn't possibly give him a straight answer.
After a beat, she relented, her tone gentler: "Actually... I couldn't sleep. That's why I sent the photo."
A pause. She wondered what expression he was making on the other end.
When he spoke again, amusement colored his voice: "And you thought sending that would help you sleep?"
Ning Yuxuan exhaled—it seemed she'd successfully sidestepped the earlier topic.
She answered truthfully, "Because I couldn’t sleep."
Xie Zhiyan chuckled, "So sending me a photo was supposed to help you sleep?"
Ning Yuxuan felt a little guilty—after all, her initial thought when sending the photo was simply that if she couldn’t sleep, she didn’t want him to sleep either.
She hastily made up an excuse, "I thought maybe hearing your voice would make it easier for me to fall asleep?"
Xie Zhiyan’s tone softened noticeably compared to before. "Did it work?"
Whether it was the deep, magnetic quality of his voice or not, Ning Yuxuan tried to focus and realized she did feel slightly drowsier than before.
Ning Yuxuan: "Seems like it worked a little."
Xie Zhiyan: "Then go to sleep now?"
Ning Yuxuan mumbled, "Then I’ll really sleep..."
"Mm."
"You’re not hanging up?"
"Mm."
On the other side of the city, the woman’s voice on the call grew softer and softer until it was replaced by steady breathing.
Xie Zhiyan looked at his phone screen, his usually cold eyes unusually tender.
...
Ning Yuxuan didn’t know when she had fallen asleep.
When she woke up, she saw that the call had actually lasted seven full hours before disconnecting, possibly due to a network issue.
The next day’s variety show filming was set to take place at a villa.
When Ning Yuxuan and Ning Fei arrived at the makeup room, Qin Man and Jiang Ning'an were already there. The group casually chatted about their separate filming experiences from the previous day.
On Jiang Ning'an’s side, they had also invited two guests—one was a veteran actor Qin Man had worked with before, and the other was a female friend Jiang Ning'an had met on set.
Ning Yuxuan briefly summarized their own situation.
Jiang Ning'an had already heard some of it and had seen the trending topics about Xie Zhiyan.
She had previously noticed Xie Zhiyan coming to pick Ning Yuxuan up after filming, but since she wasn’t one to pry into others’ private lives, she hadn’t known his identity at the time.
After seeing the trending searches last night, she realized that Ning Yuxuan's boyfriend was actually a prominent figure in the business world.
Jiang Ning'an teased, "Yuxuan, why didn’t your boyfriend come to see you off today?"
Ning Yuxuan blinked. "Since when did you become so gossipy?"
Jiang Ning'an stuck out her tongue playfully.
Her personality wasn’t as aloof as her appearance suggested—she was just slow to warm up, becoming lively only around people she was comfortable with.
After filming so many episodes together, Jiang Ning'an was nothing like the reserved person she had been when they first met.
Jiang Ning'an: "But you and your boyfriend really do make a great couple. When I saw the trending topic yesterday about him joining the show, I thought you two were planning to go public."
Ning Yuxuan explained, "It’s not that we want to keep it a secret forever, it’s just..."
Jiang Ning'an nodded understandingly. "I get it. Putting your private life entirely on display isn’t always the best choice, especially since we’re on a live-streamed show."
Early in her career, Jiang Ning'an had openly shared details about her past relationships with the media, only for them to twist her words into sensationalized headlines.
Since then, she had decided never to publicly discuss her romantic life again unless it reached the point of marriage or children.
Once everyone was ready, the live stream began at 10 a.m.
The staff announced the day’s schedule.
The entire day would be spent filming outdoors, with both mother-daughter pairs heading to an amusement park five kilometers away.
The production team had already informed the guests the night before to wear comfortable shoes, so no one was particularly surprised by the plan.
Upon arrival, the morning started with a relatively warm and lighthearted segment.
The crew led everyone to the milder rides, allowing the guests to freely choose what they wanted to try.
They started with the carousel.
Ning Yuxuan chose a seat next to her mother on the outer row and began taking photos of Ning Fei as soon as the ride started.
When she was little, Ning Fei had occasionally taken her to amusement parks, but back then, her mother would usually stand on the sidelines taking pictures of her, rarely joining in.
In those days, taking photos wasn’t as convenient as it was now with smartphones, but Ning Fei had printed out every single photo of her daughter and kept them in albums at home.
Aside from her wedding photos, however, there were hardly any pictures of Ning Fei herself after marriage.
So this time, Ning Yuxuan wanted to take plenty of photos of her mother to cherish as memories.
For the rest of the morning, the group tried bumper cars and a spinning swing, creating a warm and relaxed atmosphere in the live stream.
[I love watching these mother-daughter moments. There’s no unnecessary drama—it’s just so comforting.]
[But wasn’t this episode’s theme supposed to be about the mothers and their daughters’ friends? Why are there still only the four regular guests?]
[Maybe the new guests will show up in the afternoon as a surprise?]
After lunch, the staff announced that the afternoon segment would be much more intense than the morning.
The four were first brought to a pirate ship ride.
"Next, we’ll be conducting a challenge called the Friendship Test," a staff member explained. "The task must be completed while riding this attraction. Each group can choose one person to take on the challenge."
Since neither Ning Fei nor Qin Man enjoyed thrilling rides, the responsibility fell to Ning Yuxuan and Jiang Ning'an.
Once the participants were decided, the rules were announced:
Each of them would select a friend from their phone contacts as an off-site assistant, providing the staff with the phone number.
Once the ride started, the staff would call the chosen friend, and the guest—wearing a fixed earpiece—would communicate with them mid-ride.
The guest would have to ask their friend three predetermined questions from the show, and only after all three were answered correctly could they get off the ride.
If the call didn’t go through or the answers were consistently wrong, they could call another person, repeating the process until all three questions were answered correctly.
After hearing the rules, the live audience immediately felt sympathy for Ning Yuxuan and Jiang Ning'an.
[These rules are brutal! What if the questions are super hard? They’ll be stuck on that pirate ship forever!]
[At least the crew chose the pirate ship and not something like a pendulum ride or a loop-de-loop roller coaster.]
[LOL maybe they were afraid the guests would start vomiting questions if they got stuck on a more intense ride.]
Before the challenge began, the staff asked both of them to provide three backup contacts in case the first calls failed.
Ning Yuxuan scrolled through her contacts, first thinking of Tao You and Ning Shiyue.
Given the show’s usual style, the three questions would definitely be about her.
Since the rules prohibited writing Ning Fei's name, apart from her mother, the two people who knew her best were these two.
After some thought, Ning Yuxuan wrote Tao You's number first.
Today was the weekend, so Tao You probably wasn’t working.
Ning Shiyue was currently filming on set and might not have time to answer the phone.
As for the third person…
Ning Yuxuan admitted she was thinking of Xie Zhiyan.
But not long ago, they had agreed not to reveal their relationship on the show. If she wrote Xie Zhiyan’s name now, wouldn’t that be slapping herself in the face?
The staff’s voice urged her from the side: "You have thirty seconds left to decide. Please make your choice quickly."
Ning Yuxuan pressed her lips together and wrote Xie Zhiyan’s number anyway.
It wasn’t like the third person would necessarily be called. Given her friendship with Tao You, maybe Tao You alone could answer all three questions correctly.
Ning Yuxuan handed the card with the numbers to the staff.
Then she was the first to take on the challenge, boarding the pirate ship.
Once the ride started, the staff dialed the first number Ning Yuxuan had written.
Since the show hadn’t revealed who the guests had listed, the audience was busy guessing who the first call was going to.
[Is it Ning Yuxuan’s college classmate who came on the show yesterday? They seemed really close.]
[I bet it’s Ning Shiyue. Her brother is practically a semi-regular on this show—he’s always popping up.]
Of course, the shippers weren’t about to stay quiet.
From the moment Ning Yuxuan started writing the numbers, the livestream chat had been sporadically flooded with mentions of "President Xie."
Now, they made their expectations loud and clear.
[Ahhh it’s definitely going to President Xie! I’ll bet fifty cents on it!]
[President Xie, pick up the phone! Your girlfriend needs your help!]
After a few rounds of acceleration, the pirate ship began rocking to its highest point.
But the phone rang for over ten seconds without being answered.
The staff asked Ning Yuxuan through her earpiece if she wanted them to call the second person instead.
Ning Yuxuan: "Wait a little longer."
A few more seconds passed, and the call disconnected automatically.
By then, Ning Yuxuan had already been on the pirate ship for a full minute.
Luckily, she was used to rides like this and had even started enjoying the view.
[At least Ning Yuxuan isn’t scared of this. I’d have been screaming my head off by now.]
[This show really doesn’t have a script, huh? I thought they’d at least warn the people being called beforehand, but nope—if they don’t pick up, they don’t pick up.]
[That makes the challenge way harder. Like, my phone’s always on silent on weekends—whether I answer is pure luck.]
The staff dialed the second number, and this time, the call connected after just two rings.
The voice on the other end came through Ning Yuxuan’s earpiece and the livestream simultaneously.
"Hello, Yuxuan-jie," said a young man’s voice. "Shiyue’s filming right now and can’t take the call. If you need something, you can tell me first?"
It was Ning Shiyue’s assistant, Ding Yan.
When Ning Shiyue was on set, he usually handed his phone to his assistant to handle incoming calls.
[So the second person was Ning Shiyue, but he’s not available.]
[Does that mean they have to call the third person? What if they don’t pick up either?]
[Do they start over with the first number? Or maybe get off and write three new names?]
Before the audience could debate further, Ning Yuxuan spoke up.
"Ding Yan, are you busy right now?"
"Not at all, just waiting around on set. Yuxuan-jie, do you need my help with something?"
Ning Yuxuan briefly explained the challenge’s rules and asked if he’d be willing to answer the questions for her.
Ding Yan sounded hesitant but eventually agreed. "...Alright, I’ll give it a shot."
Given how much Ning Shiyue cared about his sister, Ding Yan had a feeling that if he refused, Ning Shiyue would chew him out later.
Such was the life of an assistant—you had to be ready for anything.
At least compared to some of the horror stories he’d heard from other assistants, Ning Shiyue was a pretty good boss who never made unreasonable demands.
The staff relayed the first question through Ning Yuxuan’s earpiece: Have the other person state her birthday.
Ning Yuxuan repeated it to Ding Yan verbatim.
Ding Yan hesitated. "Yuxuan-jie, I… I don’t actually remember this one."
As Ning Shiyue’s assistant, he only knew Ning Shiyue’s birthday—this question was beyond his scope.
The rules didn’t allow Ning Yuxuan to give him the answer, but she could say other things.
Ning Yuxuan asked, "You’re holding Ning Shiyue’s phone, right?"
Ding Yan paused. "Yeah, Yuxuan-jie."
"What about yours?"
Ding Yan took a few seconds to process before it clicked. "Oh! Hang on, Yuxuan-jie."
The line went quiet for a moment—presumably, Ding Yan was typing the question into a search engine.
The staff: "..."
[LMAO how does Ning Yuxuan always find these loopholes?]
[I’m dead. The staff’s faces say they never expected the game to be played like this.]
About ten seconds later, Ding Yan found the answer on a wiki page.
The second question: What gift did Ning Yuxuan give Ning Fei in the first episode?
This one Ding Yan knew—Ning Shiyue had been on that episode too and mentioned it afterward.
Ding Yan: "A few boxes of jigsaw puzzles, right?"
Third question: Name all the film and TV projects Ning Yuxuan has appeared in.
Ding Yan repeated his earlier method and searched online again.
After turning eighteen, Ning Yuxuan had played a supporting role in a web drama that flopped spectacularly—but it was still easy to find.
Ding Yan answered quickly: "Got it—My Crystal Lover."
Plenty of netizens knew about that one too.
Before Dear Mom aired, many had disliked Ning Yuxuan because of her notoriously bad acting in that drama.
[This third question is way too easy. I could’ve answered it myself.]
[Looks like Ning Shiyue’s assistant handled the whole challenge alone—even if he needed a little outside help, haha.]
But instead of the staff signaling "correct," the livestream showed them shaking their heads—the answer was wrong.
Ning Yuxuan knew perfectly well that she’d been in another project too.
However, she only appeared in it for about ten seconds, and it was already over a decade ago, so searching her name online probably wouldn’t bring up that movie.
The question was too difficult—she wanted to subtly hint at Ding Yan but couldn’t find a way to do it without being obvious.
Ding Yan tried his best to search on the engine, even resorting to asking an AI for help, but still only got one answer: My Crystal Lover.
In the end, there was no choice but to give up.
The staff began dialing the third phone number.
If Ning Yuxuan hadn’t written down these three numbers herself, she might have suspected the show’s crew had secretly coordinated with Xie Zhiyan in advance.
Otherwise, why would it be this particular question? And she knew—if Xie Zhiyan answered the call, he would definitely know the answer.
After three rings, the call connected.
