In the early morning, warm sunlight streamed in through the window, coating the entire kitchen in a cozy, golden hue.
At that moment, two people were busy in the spacious kitchen.
One was Bai Baozhu, a dating guest wearing a white apron. The other was Bo Shenyu, wearing a black apron of the same style.
One of them was washing vegetables, while the other was swiftly chopping various ingredients.
The warm sunlight fell upon them, making the pair look like a loving young couple, creating a scene of great warmth and harmony.
The production team staff filming the two cooking in the kitchen were extremely excited. This was the first time Bai Baozhu was cooking with a male guest!
Previously, she had always cooked with the female guests.
It wasn’t that the male guests in Love Cottage were lazy or unwilling to get up early to cook with Bai Baozhu. It was simply because anyone who proposed cooking with her would be rejected by Bai Baozhu herself!
So, seeing Bai Baozhu actually agree to let Bo Shenyu help with breakfast this time, the Love Cottage production team staff couldn’t help but be thrilled!
What did this signify?
Did it mean Bai Baozhu had finally ‘got it’? That she was starting to like Bo Shenyu again?
Amidst the staff’s gossip, Bai Baozhu and Bo Shenyu, working in perfect coordination, quickly prepared that morning’s breakfast.
Steaming hot congee with century egg and lean pork, full of ingredients, paired with soup dumplings with thin skins and generous fillings, looked incredibly appetizing.
“Huh? Why are you two cooking breakfast together today? Where’s Tian Tian?”
After Su Han had finished washing up, gotten dressed, applied her meticulous makeup, and come down to eat, she discovered that the person cooking with Bai Baozhu today was actually Bo Shenyu!
“Tian Tian was sleeping very soundly this morning, so I didn’t wake her.”
Bai Baozhu said to Su Han while holding the utensils.
Watching Bo Shenyu follow closely by Bai Baozhu’s side, helping her fetch bowls, plates, and carry the breakfast, Su Han pursed her lips. Then, with a smile, she walked over to Bai Baozhu and began helping her set the table.
“Zhu Zhu, how about from now on, it’s always the two of us cooking together? That way I can share the load. It’s less tiring when two people work together.”
Hearing Su Han’s words, Bo Shenyu, who had remained silent until then, immediately looked up. His deep blue eyes turned towards Su Han.
“It’s fine. I’m not tired cooking alone.”
Bai Baozhu didn’t overthink it. For her, whether she cooked alone or with someone else made little difference.
In fact, when cooking with another person, her speed was actually a bit slower.
“Then…”
Just as Su Han was about to say something more, she saw the other dating guests arriving in the dining room one after another.
“Wow! It’s been ages since I had congee with century egg and pork! It looks delicious.”
“Zhu Zhu, good morning! Thanks for making us something delicious again today!”
“Brother Shen, why are you wearing an apron! Don’t tell me you helped Bai Baozhu make breakfast today!”
…
Once the group entered the dining room, the atmosphere immediately became lively.
As they enjoyed the incredibly delicious breakfast, all the dating guests chatted casually.
The atmosphere was indescribably warm, as if everyone were one big family—bustling and harmonious.
Of course, among these people, Su Han, with her heavy heart, was the exception.
Watching Bo Shenyu proactively sit next to Bai Baozhu, no matter how delicious the breakfast before her was, she couldn’t bring herself to eat it.
Recently, she had realized the plot was becoming more and more derailed. Bo Shenyu and Bai Baozhu’s relationship was also getting better and better.
Clearly, in the novel, before that unexpected low-grade fever incident, Bo Shenyu had never been interested in any of the female guests in Love Cottage, treating them all with polite detachment.
But now…
Bo Shenyu had clearly broken free from that one-dimensional image in the novel. He had started to become lively and personable, began to show expressions, started to smile…
Yet, all these changes were not because of her, but because of Bai Baozhu!
Just thinking about this made Su Han somewhat unable to control her emotions.
She was starting to get scared. Scared that if the plot was irreversible, if Bo Shenyu was destined to fall for Bai Baozhu, then anything she did seemed futile.
However, if the plot was reversible, then given the current chaotic, derailed state of affairs, she was a bit afraid. Would that low-grade fever—the turning point that could change Bo Shenyu’s favorability—be affected by the butterfly effect and not happen at all?
If that were the case, given the current situation, how could she possibly snatch Bo Shenyu away from Bai Baozhu?
Turning it over and over in her mind, Su Han couldn’t come up with an answer.
Until—
“Xiao Han, what are you thinking about? Your congee is almost cold. It won’t taste good cold.”
Jiang Boyan, sitting next to Su Han, kindly reminded her after noticing she hadn’t touched her breakfast at all.
Hearing Jiang Boyan’s voice, Su Han snapped out of her thoughts. She turned her head and saw Jiang Boyan’s sunny, handsome, yet somewhat roguish face. She was momentarily stunned.
Jiang Boyan’s handsomeness was different from Bo Shenyu’s. Although Jiang Boyan’s aura wasn’t as refined as Bo Shenyu’s, and his looks didn’t seem as striking as Bo Shenyu’s…
But… Jiang Boyan was more humorous than Bo Shenyu.
The only pity was that Jiang Boyan was the official male lead of this novel, already reserved by the novel’s female lead…
Furthermore, when she read the novel, she found the love story between the male and female leads quite cloying. She felt that Bo Shenyu’s clean romantic history, powerful background, and his persona that ‘makes your legs go weak’ were more appealing. She preferred Bo Shenyu.
Otherwise, Jiang Boyan, coming from a super-wealthy family, would actually be a pretty good choice.
“Xiao Han, why are you looking at me like that? It’s kinda creepy.”
Jiang Boyan muttered, feeling a bit uncomfortable under Su Han’s stare.
“It’s nothing.”
Su Han smiled slightly, elegantly picked up her spoon, and began eating her congee. As she ate, she pondered.
If things with Bo Shenyu didn’t go smoothly, if he really couldn’t be won over, should she switch targets?
Like Jiang Boyan?
Thinking this, Su Han decided she needed to keep a backup option!
Just in case that turning point with Bo Shenyu really went wrong, at least she would have an alternative to choose from…
Having made this decision, Su Han felt she needed to be more mindful of her attitude towards Jiang Boyan in the future.
As for Wei Wenbo, whom she already had wrapped around her finger, she didn’t need to pay too much attention.
After all, that boring, rigid man wouldn’t fall for anyone else besides her.
Of course, after nearly a month of living together, no other female guest would like Wei Wenbo either…
However, what Su Han didn’t know was that this line of thinking was completely wrong!
Because—
“Huh? Sister Tian Tian, you’re saying you want to give your Moon Date invitation to Wei Wenbo?!”
When Bai Baozhu learned that Xia Tiantian planned to give her Moon Date invitation to Wei Wenbo, she was utterly shocked!
Although she, a steel-straight girl, was quite slow regarding the romantic developments in Love Cottage, having spent every day with Xia Tiantian, she hadn’t noticed any interaction between those two!
Wei Wenbo was introverted and reserved. Apart from Su Han and the other male guests, he really had very little interaction with Xia Tiantian, who was also relatively introverted and slow to warm up around the male guests.
Even she had more interaction with Wei Wenbo than Xia Tiantian did!
But now, Xia Tiantian was giving the Moon Date opportunity to Wei Wenbo???
“Yes. In this Love Cottage, besides Bo Shenyu, the male guest I’ve had the least contact with is him. We’ve been living in the Love Cottage for almost a month, but I don’t know Wei Wenbo at all, and we haven’t had any exchanges. So, I thought I’d use this Moon Date to get to know him a bit.”
Xia Tiantian smiled and nodded, speaking very rationally.
Hearing Xia Tiantian’s words, Bai Baozhu blinked and muttered quietly.
“Sister Tian Tian, I think you’re just like me. You had no one else to pick, so you just chose someone randomly!”
“…Pfft.”
Hearing Bai Baozhu’s brutally honest words, Xia Tiantian couldn’t help but laugh.
“Stop telling such blunt truths.”
She tapped Bai Baozhu’s head and sighed with a smile.
“Although it’s true there wasn’t anyone else to pick, I didn’t just choose Wei Wenbo randomly. I actually really do want to get to know him.”
She had been the third to enter Love Cottage. At that time, she was cold and nervous. It was Wei Wenbo who poured her a cup of hot water…
“Ah, then we’re different.”
Bai Baozhu shrugged. Her Moon Date partner was completely chosen at random. Though, saying it was random might not be entirely accurate either.
Just as Bai Baozhu and Xia Tiantian were discussing private topics in the bedroom, the bedroom door was knocked on by the production team.
“Zhu Zhu, the production team needs to discuss something with you. Come with us.”
After following the production team staff to the all-too-familiar solo interview room, Bai Baozhu learned she had new work again!
“Zhu Zhu, the advertisement photos you shot for Glory of Kings a while ago received an excellent response. So, Glory of Kings wants to collaborate with you on new work.”
Bai Baozhu, who was currently short on money and thinking about paying off her breach of contract penalty, immediately brightened up upon hearing this.
She thought that as long as the work wasn’t too difficult, she could accept it!
However, when she heard the job description, she was shocked!
“What? I just need to livestream and play games?! Making money is that simple?”
Although Bai Baozhu knew from the original host’s memories that being a streamer could make money.
But receiving such a money-making job herself still surprised her.
“Yes, just livestream for two hours every night at eight o’clock…”
Before the Love Cottage staff member could finish speaking, they saw Bai Baozhu nodding her head like a chicken pecking grain.
“I accept! I accept! Forget two hours, I could even do five!”
Bai Baozhu thought to herself that she already loved playing games, and now she could actually make money from it! This job couldn’t be more perfect! (/≧▽≦)/
Seeing Bai Baozhu’s excited little face flushed with a rosy hue, the Love Cottage production team staff couldn’t help but laugh.
“However, you won’t be doing the game livestream alone. There will be a big celebrity doing the livestream with you.”
The production team staff, wanting to give Bai Baozhu a surprise, were being deliberately mysterious to keep her in suspense, hoping to tease her a bit.
But what they never expected was that Bai Baozhu didn’t care at all about who would be livestreaming with her.
“Oh.”
Bai Baozhu reacted indifferently, nodding with absolutely no interest.
“Zhu Zhu, aren’t you curious about which superstar you’ll be collaborating with?”
The Love Cottage production team staff looked at Bai Baozhu, somewhat puzzled. A normal person would be curious, right?
Why wasn’t Bai Baozhu curious at all!
“What’s there to be curious about? Anyway, I’m really good at gaming. It makes no difference whether I stream alone or with someone else.”
Hearing Bai Baozhu’s words and seeing the utterly unconcerned expression on her face, for some reason, the production team staff felt her statement strangely echoed another sentiment—
No matter how good anyone else is, they’re not as good as me.
“Alright, alright. So, do you want to know who you’ll be collaborating with or not?”
“It doesn’t matter. If you want to tell me, go ahead. If you don’t, then don’t.”
Thrown off by Bai Baozhu’s attitude, the production team staff instantly lost their desire to surprise her. They straightforwardly revealed who Bai Baozhu would be collaborating with for the livestream.
“The person livestreaming with you is a friend you know from gaming. You two added each other as friends in the game…”
However, before they could finish speaking, before they could even say who this friend was, they saw Bai Baozhu’s eyes light up as she looked at them excitedly and asked—
“My gaming friend?! Could it be Sister Yangyang??”
“……”
The staff of the Love Cottage production team watched Bai Baozhu’s excited expression and really couldn’t bear to tell this silly girl that the ‘Sister Yangyang’ she kept mentioning was actually a man a year older than her…
“No, it’s SZ.”
“Ah, it’s him…”
The expression on Bai Baozhu’s face instantly shifted from excitement to disappointment. It was plain as day just how much she disliked SZ.
“Zhu Zhu, aren’t you curious about which big celebrity SZ is?”
“Not curious.”
Bai Baozhu pouted, speaking with immense disappointment.
Seeing Bai Baozhu being so uncooperative, the production team staff had no choice but to carry on with the process themselves!
“SZ is that top-tier male god, Song Zhi!”
“Oh…”
Bai Baozhu nodded perfunctorily, showing no excitement at the name.
However, suddenly, it was as if she remembered something, and her eyes widened!
Just as all the Love Cottage staff thought Bai Baozhu had finally realized who Song Zhi was and was getting properly excited, finally showing the normal reaction a woman should have when facing Song Zhi.
What no one expected was—
“Ah! Song Zhi?! Is he the one who played the male lead in Extreme Escape, the one whose wife died in difficult childbirth?!”
“……Huh???” The staff: What kind of bizarre reaction was this?!
“Is it that Song Zhi?”
Bai Baozhu looked at the Love Cottage staff with an extremely grave expression, her tone utterly serious.
Under Bai Baozhu’s intense and serious questioning, the Love Cottage production team staff nodded dumbly.
“Yes, Song Zhi is indeed the male lead in Extreme Escape.”
At this moment, the Love Cottage production team staff finally remembered that during the recording of Episode Eight, the movie Bai Baozhu watched with Xia Tiantian was Extreme Escape.
Back then, for certain program highlights, it was their own staff who had deliberately made the two of them watch this movie starring Song Zhi!
Could it be that after watching that movie, Bai Baozhu really liked Extreme Escape? Had she become a fan of Song Zhi’s movies? Were they actually doing a good deed here?!
Just as the production team was wondering if Bai Baozhu might actually be a fan of Song Zhi, they saw her frowning deeply, muttering something softly under her breath.
Judging by her expression, Bai Baozhu didn’t look like a fan of Song Zhi at all, but more like… an anti-fan.
……
“Achoo—!”
Song Zhi, who had just sent another flower to Bai Baozhu’s Weibo and was soon to become the number one fan on her official Weibo account, sneezed violently.
He set his phone aside and was just about to mix himself a cocktail when his phone rang.
Seeing that the caller was his agent, Song Zhi immediately answered.
“Hello, Brother Cheng.”
“Song Zhi, the plan for you to livestream the game with Bai Baozhu is confirmed. Bai Baozhu’s side has agreed.”
Hearing Cheng Yingda’s words, the corners of Song Zhi’s mouth lifted, his face filled with anticipation and excitement.
“Great, so when will I be livestreaming with her?”
“Promotion will start tomorrow. The official livestream program will begin at 8 PM the day after tomorrow.”
After getting the precise information from Cheng Yingda, the smile on Song Zhi’s face grew wider and wider. Even though his livestream with Bai Baozhu wouldn’t be face-to-face but a video call connection, he was still incredibly nervous and excited.
After all, no matter what, this was his ‘first’ meeting with Bai Baozhu! No matter what, he had to make a good impression on her!
After hanging up with Cheng Yingda, Song Zhi began pondering what to wear for the 8 PM livestream the day after tomorrow.
Should he dress more formally or more casually? More elaborately or more simply? Did Bai Baozhu prefer a manly feel or a boyish feel…
Just for a video call livestream, Song Zhi was as nervous as he had been four or five years ago during his debut performance when he first stepped onto the stage.
He deliberated for a long time but couldn’t pick a suitable outfit.
However, little did he know that no matter what he wore, no matter how handsomely he dressed, no matter how charming and dazzling he tried to be, it would all… be useless ╮(╯▽╰)╭
In the eyes of a certain someone, no matter what Song Zhi wore, in her eyes he was just—the ter!ri!fy!ing! man who let his wife die in childbirth!
Bai Baozhu (shivering): He really is a terrifying man!