After the movie ended, Bai Baozhu was completely dazed.
Throughout the entire film, she was in a state of confusion, drifting in and out of awareness. She had no idea what the movie was about.
The only thing she knew was…
In this world, women give birth to children!
Wo—! Men—! Give—! Birth—! To—! Children—!
So, at the beginning of the movie, when the male lead’s wife died along with her child during childbirth, Bai Baozhu completely broke down!
She had no mind to think about anything else.
Her entire brain echoed with the thought: women giving birth… so terrifying… women giving birth… so terrifying…
“Zhuzhu, what’s wrong? You look a bit pale. Are you okay?”
When the movie finished and the lights came back on, Xia Tiantian finally noticed Bai Baozhu’s unusual state.
At that moment, Bai Baozhu’s face was pale, devoid of any color. Compared to her usual beauty, she now had a fragile, delicate beauty, like a glass doll, extremely vulnerable.
This made Xia Tiantian a bit nervous.
“Did you catch a chill? Should we have the show’s doctor take a look at you?”
“N-no, I’m fine. I’m just a bit tired. I want… I want to go back to sleep…”
Bai Baozhu pursed her lips, glanced at Xia Tiantian with vacant eyes, and then walked straight toward the girls’ bedroom.
Her light, floating demeanor really was like a ghost, quite frightening.
The production team was also startled by Bai Baozhu’s sudden listlessness and quickly arranged for a female staff member to take her temperature.
Fortunately, the temperature reading was normal, which put everyone at ease.
They thought Bai Baozhu might really just be tired and wanted to sleep.
So, after seeing Bai Baozhu wrap herself tightly in her blanket, no one disturbed her rest anymore.
In the vast bedroom, only Bai Baozhu remained, lying in the dim and quiet room, trembling with fear.
Although Bai Baozhu was the mighty, brave, and ever-victorious Great General in the Female-Dominant Kingdom,
in reality…
She was especially afraid of pain and death!
It was precisely for this reason that she became the Ever-Victorious Great General—because she really… valued her life too damn much!
In her memory, giving birth had always been a dangerous thing.
In her Imperial Mother’s and elder sister’s imperial harems, many had lost their lives due to childbirth.
And her own Imperial Father… also died from a difficult birth…
This made her extremely fearful of the act of giving birth.
But, fortunately, throughout history, giving birth had always been men’s business. She was a woman and didn’t have to go through that life-and-death experience of childbirth.
However…
Who would have thought she would transmigrate into a world where genders were reversed! Giving birth had actually become women’s business!!!
Wuwuwu… Imperial Father, although this place is very much like the heavenly world you described, but… but here, women give birth… I’d rather go back to the Female-Dominant Kingdom and be a mighty, majestic general QAQ
This place is really too terrifying…
Crying and crying, the carefree Bai Baozhu drifted into dreamland amidst all these troubles…
And just as Bai Baozhu fell asleep, everyone in Love Cottage gathered in the lounge to play games.
“Is Zhuzhu really okay?”
To maintain her persona, Su Han, who had just returned from her date outside, inquired again.
“Yeah, she’s probably just a bit sleepy. Should be fine.”
Xia Tiantian nodded and said softly.
“Sleepy? Oh~”
Su Han nodded and let out a light “oh.”
However, for some reason, Xia Tiantian felt there was some special meaning in Su Han’s “oh,” something that made her a bit uncomfortable.
Pushing aside that uncomfortable feeling, Xia Tiantian asked curiously.
“Xiao Han, tell us about your date with Brother Shen today.”
Xia Tiantian was quite curious about what happened in Love Cottage today, aside from her and Bai Baozhu staying in the villa while everyone else went out.
For example, what Su Han’s four-person sun date was like, and where Wei Wenbo and Lin Dong went to prepare their ultimate skills.
She was quite curious about these things, but even more curious about—
Su Han’s four-person date~!
And, most importantly, judging from the interaction between Su Han and Bo Shenyu, today’s date… should have been quite successful for Su Han, right?
After all, Bo Shenyu had maintained a subtle sense of distance from all the female guests for the half-month he’d been on the show, making him really hard to figure out.
It was as if he hadn’t come to the show to fall in love but was just going through the motions.
But now, he had actually chosen to sit with Su Han on his own initiative.
This was undoubtedly a special signal!
Having worked as an original artist for a hugely popular dating game, Xia Tiantian was still quite ‘a bit’ sensitive when it came to matters of love.
“Haha, I need to apologize to Jingyu and Xiao Jiang here. It was supposed to be a four-person date, but I prioritized romance over friendship and ditched them.”
Su Han openly apologized to Ye Jingyu and Jiang Boyan, then cheerfully steered the conversation back to her and Bo Shenyu.
Just as everyone curiously pricked up their ears, wanting to hear where Su Han and Bo Shenyu went on their date,
the result was—
“I know you’re all curious, but my date with Brother Shen is a secret!”
“…” Everyone whose curiosity had been piqued: Suddenly feel like hitting someone! =_，=
As the group played games, chatting and laughing, time quickly passed until it was time to send the love text messages.
The male and female guests all separated, sitting in two small living rooms upstairs and downstairs. It was then that everyone realized Bai Baozhu was still sleeping.
“Uh… should we wake Bai Baozhu?”
The staff looked at Bai Baozhu sleeping soundly, hesitated for a while, but looking at that beautiful, angelic face, no one could bring themselves to wake her.
Plus, Bai Baozhu’s physical condition today really wasn’t good, so in the end, no one woke Bai Baozhu from her sleep to vote.
“Forget it, missing one night of sending messages isn’t a big deal.”
“Bai Baozhu hasn’t had any romance lines recently. We can just edit in a random night’s voting information later.”
…
In the end, Bai Baozhu did not participate in that night’s love text messages.
That night, only three female guests and four male guests exchanged messages. So, for the four male guests, that night’s love text messages were truly brutal.
Only two people received love text messages.
One was the most popular male guest, Bo Shenyu. Unsurprisingly, he received two love text messages again.
The other was Lin Dong, whom Xia Tiantian wholeheartedly liked.
Compared to the male guests’ love text messages, which didn’t change much, the love text messages the female guests received saw much bigger changes!
Su Han, who usually only received two love text messages, actually received three this time.
And Xia Tiantian and Ye Jingyu, who usually received one each, now… only Ye Jingyu still had one love text message.
That night, Xia Tiantian did not receive any love text messages.
“…”
Xia Tiantian looked at her smartphone, quiet as a chicken. She pursed her lips slightly, her eyes holding an expression of “as expected.”
She felt a bit amused and a bit sad inside.
Although she had long known Lin Dong wasn’t interested in her, she hadn’t expected him to dislike her so much.
Even though she sent him love text messages every day, as soon as he received messages from other female guests, he switched his vote so quickly…
For a moment, Xia Tiantian felt a bit lost. She didn’t know if she should continue sending messages to Lin Dong.
But if she didn’t send them to Lin Dong, who else could she send them to?
Sigh~ If only she could send messages to female guests, she wouldn’t have to struggle over who to send them to. She’d just send them to Zhuzhu!
Zhuzhu is not only beautiful but also has a lovely personality. Most importantly, her cooking is so delicious!
Those unreliable men, how can they compare to our Zhuzhu!
Hmph! But today, not receiving any love text messages is also because of Zhuzhu! When Zhuzhu wakes up tomorrow, I’ll definitely have to make her properly compensate my wounded little heart!
I’ll have to make her cook more special dishes for me!
Thinking of Bai Baozhu led to thinking of the delicious food Bai Baozhu made. Thinking of delicious food made Xia Tiantian not feel sad or discouraged at all!
How can men compare to the deliciousness of food!
Especially food made by Zhuzhu!
She remembered… before her nap today, her Zhuzhu seemed to have marinated the leftover pig’s trotters, ears, and tail from the suckling pig and put them in the fridge, saying she was going to make spicy roasted pig’s trotters, spicy pig’s tail, and spicy stir-fried pig’s ears… (0﹃0)
Xia Tiantian was so lost in thought that her mouth watered profusely, making her swallow her saliva repeatedly.
Thus, the production staff who wanted to capture Xia Tiantian’s expressions of loneliness and sadness after not receiving love text messages fell silent.
“…Why is Xia Tiantian reacting like this after not receiving a message? It’s like… she’s a hungry ghost…”
“Maybe… turning grief into appetite? Is she really hungry???”
…
— Celebrity Observer Live Connection —
Due to the pandemic, the celebrity observers couldn’t go to the show’s set stage to record the program.
They had to sit in front of green screens in their own homes, relying on post-production editing to bring them together in the show.
At 3:30 PM that day, the six celebrity love observers of Love Cottage all turned on their videos and started connecting for the program.
There were six celebrity love observers in total, with a lineup of four men and two women.
They were:
Liu An, a top host over forty with profound hosting skills.
Han Ren, an acting veteran who has won Best Supporting Actor multiple times and is known as a specialist in villain roles.
Xu Bingying, a popular online emotional streamer with strong analytical skills, a “tea-identifying master,” and a sexy, quirky woman.
Tian Hongxiu, a famous psychology professor with average looks but extraordinary academic credentials and extensive knowledge.
Xiong Mengmeng, a nineteen-year-old, cute cat-eyed beauty, lead dancer of a popular girl group.
And Song Zhi, the most popular among all celebrity observers, with the most fans, the highest looks, who recently transitioned from a top idol to an actor and won this year’s Hundred Flowers Award for Best Newcomer.
Although these six celebrity observers weren’t very familiar with each other, after six episodes of recording, they had developed a good rapport.
For example, Professor Tian Hongxiu had the highest accuracy rate in the romance connection segment; Xiong Mengmeng knew nothing about love; and besides Song Zhi, the most eye-catching on the show was Xu Bingying, the “tea-identifying master” who exposed Bai Baozhu’s “green tea” behavior with her sharp words.
Amidst a background music track, the seventh episode of Love Cottage began recording.
“In the sixth episode, we saw that due to the arrival of the fourth female guest, Ye Jingyu, the first female guest, Bai Baozhu, tragically received zero votes. I wonder what surprises our Love Cottage guests will bring us in this episode?”
During the casual discussions among the celebrity observers, the edited romance segments of the Love Cottage guests were soon played on everyone’s screens.
“Oh my! Bai Baozhu actually formed a CP date with Wei Wenbo, and it was a library date. Bai Baozhu must be furious. Did you see her micro-expressions? Her eyes were full of disdain.”
“Bai Baozhu really doesn’t take Wei Wenbo seriously at all. She’s so perfunctory. Wei Wenbo isn’t a fool; how could he not notice?”
“I want to tell the female audience in front of the TV, please, please, do not learn from Bai Baozhu. She is really too low. I dare to predict that Bai Baozhu will also get zero votes today.”
…
As soon as the guest content for Episode Seven of Love Cottage aired, revealing that the first pair on a date were Bai Baozhu and Wei Wenbo, Xu Bingying—the program’s acknowledged ‘Tea-Identifying Master’ and recognized ‘Bai Baozhu Hater’—began her usual routine of tearing into Bai Baozhu.
Regardless of whether Bai Baozhu in the video actually meant anything by her actions, once Xu Bingying analyzed it, everyone would start to feel that was indeed the case.
It was precisely because Xu Bingying’s analysis of Bai Baozhu—that universally disliked ‘Green Tea’ and ‘Fish Pond Manager’—was so brutally honest and spared no face, that her popularity on the show kept rising, and her fanbase grew larger and larger.
By the time the show reached Episodes Three and Four, Xu Bingying’s fan growth rate left everyone else in the dust, making her the celebrity observer with the most new followers. She was completely riding the coattails of the benefits she gained from targeting Bai Baozhu.
Although, the fans she attracted were mostly just spectators enjoying the drama.
Listening to Xu Bingying rant about Bai Baozhu with her usual fervor, the other celebrity observers had grown accustomed to it.
However, they still couldn’t understand why Xu Bingying would go easy on the other female guests, but become exceptionally aggressive only when it came to Bai Baozhu.
While it was true that this female guest Bai Baozhu’s behavior was problematic, they tended to be more lenient towards a young, non-celebrity girl like her.
After all, those of them mixed in the entertainment circle knew all too well how terrifying cyberbullying could be.
“It’s actually quite normal for a pretty young girl like Bai Baozhu to not enjoy this kind of date. After all, Wei Wenbo’s library date was genuinely a bit boring. And most importantly, Bai Baozhu originally had the least interest in Wei Wenbo among the four male guests, so her displaying such an attitude is very normal.”
Professor Tian, the show’s pillar of logic and analysis, spoke up fairly and rationally in Bai Baozhu’s defense.
“And why does Bai Baozhu like Wei Wenbo the least among the four male guests? Isn’t it precisely because Wei Wenbo has the lowest looks among them and has the kind of stable, unexciting job typical of a ‘nice guy’? I think the label ‘Gold Digger’ could probably be slapped on Bai Baozhu too.”
…
The filming for Episode Seven of Love Cottage quickly reached its conclusion amidst the guests’ casual chats and analyses.
The recording had been going smoothly, just like usual. But what no one expected was that the final ‘Romance Connection’ segment would lead all the celebrity observers of Love Cottage to suffer a serious Waterloo!
It was also the first time since the show started filming that every single member guessed a guest’s romance connection wrong.
“Huh?! How could this be?! Bai Baozhu sent her love text message to Wei Wenbo?!”
“No way, there wasn’t much interaction between Bai Baozhu and Wei Wenbo, was there?”
“Professor Tian, you’re an expert in psychology. Can you analyze what’s going on here?”
…
The staff monitoring the program recording watched as the six celebrity observers were completely stumped upon learning Bai Baozhu’s choice. A sense of schadenfreude couldn’t help but rise in all their hearts.
This is just the beginning! Later, you’ll be even less able to figure out who Bai Baozhu will choose! Hell mode is about to begin!
And at this moment, the very person who had thrown the six celebrity observers for a loop, Bai Baozhu, was instead—
Why can women give birth? Why do women have to give birth? Giving birth is so terrifying… so terrifying…
At this moment, Bai Baozhu still hadn’t recovered from the horrific shock of learning that women give birth. (^_^)