QTMWSFC Chapter 28.1

The next day, since Xiang Ran and Shen Xichun still hadn’t arrived, everyone continued with free activities.

The X City they were now visiting was close to the sea with particularly beautiful natural scenery. There was also a very unique sea train that could cross over to another city, Y City, on the opposite shore. The journey was very short, and it had now become a famous tourist train line between the two cities.

After doing some quick research, Xu Xinghe took Xia Qingmeng to get something to eat first and then to ride the train.

X City was famous for its variety of snacks. The two of them ate as they walked along, almost forgetting that the cameras were there.

Xia Qingmeng was rarely this carefree about eating. However, Xu Xinghe hadn’t forgotten that she was an actress and couldn’t eat too much. At the very least, she needed to show some restraint in front of the cameras. So he took the snacks away from her.

Xia Qingmeng looked a little pitiful, but after Xu Xinghe gave her a couple of kisses and coaxed her a bit, she was fine.

The melon eaters¹passersby/people who love gossip were getting toothaches from all the sweetness.

The live chat was filled with “so sweet, so sweet” comments, and the pink bubble special effects hardly stopped.

Even the production team was quite surprised.

To be honest, when they initially invited the couple, they had been a bit unscrupulous, intending to continue capitalizing on Xia Qingmeng’s controversial ‘black and red²famous but in a bad way‘ path.

Who would have thought that this couple was real and overwhelmingly sweet? They had been sweet from the moment they filmed the promotional photos all the way until now.

As for Xiang Ran and Shen Xichun, the production team originally hoped to ride the wave of their TV drama-fueled CP hype to attract fans. But instead, reality was full of problems. There was no sweetness at all. Now they had become black and red in a different way.

The two couples were completely the opposite of expectations!

After buying snacks, the two headed to the train station. The train was most beautiful at high tide, and they were lucky enough to catch it just in time.

Xia Qingmeng really enjoyed photography. She snapped photos as they walked. She dragged Xu Xinghe, her high-quality male model, and took a ton of pictures of him.

Xia Qingmeng majored in digital media at college and had always had a lot of creative ideas. Later, when a talent scout discovered her, she chose to become a celebrity. The reason was quite practical: it paid well. Even if she wasn’t that famous yet, she still made a considerable amount.

She had grown up lacking money. As an orphan with no one to rely on, her life had been a constant cycle of applying for various subsidies or working multiple part-time jobs just to survive.

In college, she used money from part-time work to buy her first camera, and then using her photography skills, she started taking portraits for others and earned her first pot of gold.

People usually said that unless you had some family wealth, getting into photography would bankrupt you. This showed that Xia Qingmeng had a natural talent for it.

Xu Xinghe had never been stingy with his praise for her. He praised her so often that Xia Qingmeng seemed more confident than before.

Many viewers were directed to this livestream from Xiang Ran and Shen Xichun’s feed. They simply couldn’t stand the constant arguing anymore. Having heard that this couple was quite sweet, they came over to take a look.

Who didn’t like watching handsome men and beautiful women fall in love?

And so, they ended up shipping this pair.

The main thing was that the sweetness felt natural, not artificial at all. They looked like a perfectly normal young couple. Since Xu Xinghe wasn’t a celebrity and didn’t have many fans, the live chat was generally peaceful. The only ones working hard were Xia Qingmeng’s career-oriented fans, who were trying to promote her work.

There were still some black fans³haters, anti-fans saying she had slept her way to the top or was a mistress, but this was a couples’ show. Attacking her on this point was absurd. Eventually, no one paid attention to the black materials.

It has to be said that Xia Qingmeng had made the right choice by joining this variety show. It brought her a huge wave of attention, and her fan count skyrocketed overnight. Of course, it was also thanks to the livestream next door.

[LOL, anyone else come here from the other livestream?]

[Same here!]

[+10086]

[I had hope for that CP but couldn’t ship it anymore. Didn’t expect to end up shipping this pair instead (crying and laughing)]

[Real couples are just better to ship!]

[The way they compliment each other is so sweet!]

…

Many passersby who had previously followed the rumors without knowing the truth were now not blind after watching the show. Anyone with even a little common sense would know that most of the black materials⁴scandals, dirty information in the past were likely not true.

She was a perfectly nice little girl, yet the toxic online environment had nearly ruined her reputation.

…

After a day of free activities, Xiang Ran and Shen Xichun finally arrived at the destination.

What should have been a quite interesting self-driving trip had been turned into pure torture by Shen Xichun.

After they arrived and took a day to rest, the production team organized the first group picnic, which was an official opportunity for everyone to get to know each other now that all the couples had gathered.

The production team had prepared a lot of self-serve ingredients, including barbecue. Everyone usually had to watch their figure, so they didn’t eat much barbecue. Now, they were all craving it a bit. So the four men went off to handle the grilling, leaving the four women who weren’t very good at cooking to chat.

“Brother, your learning ability is seriously impressive!”

Xiang Ran didn’t have a deep impression of Xu Xinghe and didn’t have much of a sense of who he really was. He only knew that Xu Xinghe was the incredibly powerful chairman of the Xu Group. The Xu Group was serious about research and development, and entertainment industry was just a side hobby. They weren’t even in the same level. If it weren’t for this variety show, Xiang Ran would never have the chance to interact with someone like him.

Today as it happened, Xu Xinghe hadn’t tried barbecuing much before. Xiang Ran seized the rare opportunity to teach him. After all, there was always a strange desire to win between men.

But to his astonishment, Xu Xinghe got the hang of it after only two tries. The control of heat and flavor of his barbecue was excellent. They were on par with Xiang Ran, who had plenty of experience grilling skewers, and even showed signs of surpassing him.

Xiang Ran couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. This was probably the difference between a genius and an ordinary person. The guy learned everything faster than anyone else.

“Hmm… I think it’s passable. As long as Qingmeng doesn’t think it tastes bad, it’s fine.” Xu Xinghe took a bite and felt that he had done a decent job.

“Don’t worry, it’s fine,” Xiang Ran immediately assured him.

As the saying goes, three women make a drama. Four women, then the drama is very lively.

Xia Qingmeng saw her role as someone taking photos, and at most being a listener. Unexpectedly, Deng Yuanli took a liking to her and really enjoyed her photos. She took the initiative to talk to her several times.

Xia Qingmeng was naturally happy that a respected senior would take the initiative to talk to her, and the two soon got into a good chat.

But while some were happy, others were not.

Xia Qingmeng was happy, and Shen Xichun felt uncomfortable. Several times she tried to interject into the conversation but failed.

As expected, the live chat started arguing again.

[What’s wrong with Shen Xichun? Why does she keep butting in when others are talking?]

[Our Chun Chun isn’t butting in! She just wants to join the conversation so that the atmosphere wouldn’t be awkward!]

[No, Qin Xuan has been listening with a smile the whole time and talks even less. I don’t see the atmosphere being awkward at all…]

[Her constant attempts to butt in are what I find awkward…]

[Isn’t that just being rude?]

[Don’t be a black fan pretending to be a passerby, okay?]

[Fine, clearly anyone who says anything slightly negative is a black fan. Passersby don’t count as people these days, huh? Do you have to pin some random title on me?]