Chapter 109: How Would You Answer?

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The luxury cruise ship wasn't just carrying the production crew; there were also several thousand passengers who had originally been on board.

The situation was complicated because not every area had follow-shot cameras.

In certain sensitive areas, live-streaming cameras were not permitted.

Ever since Ye Fangfei and Lu Zhou had entered the concert hall downstairs, their split-screen live stream had been nearly cut off. The director had simply used the static shot of the hall's entrance to cover the gap.

Their microphones had also been cut directly, leaving only the live music picked up by the cameras on site.

Live chat comments—

[Did I lag? Why is it just one frame the whole time?]

[Director, your internet is too bad, it's stuck]

[Idiots, it's not stuck, okay? Can't you hear the music is continuous?]

[So where are Lu Zhou and Ye Fangfei? Lost them?]

[What are they doing? Why can't this be broadcast? I have a very vivid imagination]

[Are they having a secret meeting? Is there something unsuitable for minors?]

...

Meanwhile, in another live split-screen, viewers saw Zhang Chen, Li Jiayan, Qi Jiajia, and Wen Yiming fast asleep on a row of lounge chairs on the top deck.

The music was probably too loud and woke Zhang Chen. He rubbed his eyes as he sat up, and after staring blankly for a moment, realized that both Ye Fangfei and Lu Zhou were gone.

His mind snapped awake instantly. He shot up from the lounger, searched the entire top deck without finding them, then ran downstairs. Finally, at the entrance to the concert hall, he spotted the production crew's cameraman—but the man was stopped at the door and hadn't gone in.

Zhang Chen instantly had a bad feeling. Without a second thought, he too stepped through the concert hall doors.

Live chat—

[??? Zhang Chen's gone too]

[The drama begins]

[Are they going to fight in there?]

[I think the concert hall doesn't allow filming inside]

[Whoever goes in just loses their feed]

...

A few minutes later, Ye Fangfei and Lu Zhou reappeared on camera.

Neither their hairstyles, makeup, nor clothing showed any signs of dishevelment or impropriety. Everything looked perfectly normal.

The netizens in the live chat realized they'd let their imaginations run wild—the two of them had simply been curious about the music, gone in to listen to a concert, and come out when it ended.

What the netizens were curious about, though, was that Zhang Chen hadn't come out with them after going in. No one knew what he was doing in there.

Lu Zhou and Ye Fangfei returned to the lounge chairs on the top deck of the cruise ship.

Ye Fangfei noticed that the entire way out of the concert hall—whether on sections of the route with cameras following them or sections without—Lu Zhou hadn't asked her a single question about the lavish symphony orchestra they'd just seen, or the familiar face they'd encountered inside.

It seemed Lu Zhou was a man who knew his boundaries.

After the two of them returned to the top deck, Zhang Chen showed up not long after, looking somewhat displeased.

Ye Fangfei couldn't be bothered with him. She lay back down and continued resting.

After a voyage of nearly two hours, all the guests arrived at their destination—Black Island.

Chu Yao and Xu Junze rejoined the group.

Zhang Chen couldn't help but gossip about the two of them spending two hours alone together on the sea, asking whether old flames had been rekindled.

Chu Yao gave him a "what do you think?" look.

Xu Junze said they'd spent their time on the ship envying the splendor of the luxury cruise.

Zhang Chen said they'd wasted a perfect romantic opportunity.

Once on the island, after settling into their accommodations, the guests rested briefly, then gathered on the beach in front of the luxury guesthouse for a seaside barbecue.

It was already past nine in the evening, nearly ten.

They had set out from Oregon State that morning, arrived in South State, spent the whole afternoon on the water at Magani Beach, then crossed from that side of the sea to this side, and climbed onto an island whose scenery—beyond the glow of neon lights—was impossible to make out.

They'd been through a grueling day, and everyone's faces showed varying degrees of weariness.

Some carried not just physical exhaustion but a tangle of emotional thoughts as well, all mixed together, testing the limits of human endurance.

As they say, isn't travel the ultimate test of love?

"Let's have a toast? The barbecue's a bit dry."

Lu Zhou picked up a disposable cup, filled it halfway with juice, poured another for his partner of the day, Qi Jiajia, then looked at the others who seemed low on spirits with a smile, raising his cup to start.

"In a single day, all of us here have together completed a journey across states and across the sea. That's no small feat. Come on, clink glasses! A toast to our stamina!"

The others all laughed at that and picked up their cups.

"We really should toast to stamina. I feel like today has challenged the absolute limit of my physical endurance in my entire life." Li Jiayan raised her glass with a wry smile.

Everyone laughed, knowing full well she had the weakest stamina in the group.

"Jiayan, when this show wraps up, come find me at my fitness club. I'll design a personalized workout plan for you. Guarantee that within a month or two, your stamina will improve by leaps and bounds." Wen Yiming took a sip of juice and said to Li Jiayan.

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"You're quite the businessman, aren't you? Now you're trying to recruit clients from me." Li Jiayan glanced at him and smiled back.

"Come! I'll do it for free! No charge!" Wen Yiming said generously.

Qi Jiajia, hearing this, silently lifted her gaze to take a look at Wen Yiming.

Li Jiayan lowered her head and ate some barbecue, replying tactfully, "Thanks first, I guess. Let's talk about it later. I can't even say for sure whether I'll have the resolve to stick with exercising."

"Lu Zhou, when you two were together back then, was she this lazy about moving too?" Wen Yiming suddenly asked Lu Zhou this question out of nowhere.

For a moment, everyone looked at Lu Zhou with expressions of someone about to watch a good show.

Wen Yiming's words carried more than a hint of provocation—they were almost a clear declaration: I'm very interested in your ex-girlfriend.

Lu Zhou paused slightly, a faint smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "From what I remember, Jiayan wasn't exactly a girl who particularly loved sports, but I wouldn't call her lazy either. Using your level of exercise as the yardstick for her—that's really not fair to her."

That's really not fair to her... That last part somehow carried a double meaning.

On the surface, it described a mismatch in exercise capacity, but it also seemed to give the impression that Lu Zhou was implying Wen Yiming and Li Jiayan weren't suited for each other.

Li Jiayan held her juice cup, bringing it to her lips and sipping it slowly, the tilted rim of the cup hiding the smile forming at the corners of her mouth.

The sweet juice slid smoothly down her throat into her stomach, and a sweetness welled up in her chest—whether from the juice or from Lu Zhou's words just now, she couldn't tell.

A subtle tension rippled through the gathering.

Li Jiayan wasn't the only one who caught the double meaning in Lu Zhou's words. Qi Jiajia felt it too.

Is he jealous? If so, does that mean he still has feelings for Li Jiayan?

Qi Jiajia stole a glance at Lu Zhou but couldn't discern anything unusual in his expression.

On second thought, she figured she was probably overthinking it.

Zhang Chen's dark eyes darted around, sweeping back and forth over Lu Zhou, Qi Jiajia, Li Jiayan, and Wen Yiming. He found the shifting dynamics among the four of them quite entertaining.

Two pairs of exes. Wen Yiming had set his sights on Lu Zhou's ex, Li Jiayan, and even had the guts to ask Lu Zhou about her old habits. Lu Zhou had answered frankly, though who knew what he was really feeling inside. And what about Wen Yiming's own ex, Qi Jiajia? She seemed to have developed a strong interest in Lu Zhou as well.

As for Li Jiayan, faced with Wen Yiming's enthusiasm, she hadn't given a clear answer in front of everyone, but she didn't seem particularly keen either.

And Lu Zhou? Who was he interested in?

Did he still have feelings for his ex? Unknown.

Did he have feelings for Qi Jiajia? Unknown. But watching how well the two of them had worked together today, maybe there was something?

If there was...

Damn, Lu Zhou was a hidden player!

Zhang Chen silently reached that conclusion in his mind.

Yesterday, when paired with Ye Fangfei, Lu Zhou's whole demeanor suggested he was into her, even if he wouldn't admit it to Zhang Chen's face.

Today, with Qi Jiajia as his partner, they'd cooperated beautifully, even having moments that outsiders might find ambiguous. Who knew if sparks had flown between them?

If he really fell for one person a day, Lu Zhou's heart had a pretty big capacity.

Of course, Zhang Chen couldn't exactly criticize him for it—as a fellow man, he'd experienced the same phenomenon in the early stages of the show.

There were so many beautiful women in the world, each with her own charm. Honestly, under this kind of high-intensity dating show atmosphere, falling for someone wasn't strange at all. You had to experience it to understand.

Zhang Chen would be thrilled if Lu Zhou took an interest in as many people as possible—anything was better than him fixating on Ye Fangfei.

Even if Zhang Chen knew that Lu Zhou and Ye Fangfei would ultimately never work out, having his woman constantly on another man's mind wasn't a pleasant feeling. The best outcome would be for every one of them to have some self-awareness and stop eyeing his woman. That would be perfect.

"It's getting late. Let's complete one final activity for today, and then everyone can go rest."

The staff member's voice rang out at that moment.

The moment they heard "final activity," everyone listened with rapt attention—especially those who had hopes for tonight's mysterious "Best Match Connection" award.

Which pair would be tonight's best-matched duo?

All the guests began to speculate inwardly, each silently making their predictions.

Some predicted their own pair. Some felt their pair definitely had no chance. Some had two options in mind. Some hoped for a surprise...

Everyone was waiting for the staff to announce the live chat viewers' voting results for "Best Match Connection," since that was how it had worked last night.

Instead, the staff member walked over with several sheets of A4 paper and handed one to each of them.

"Here, one for each of you. There are a few questions you'll need to answer individually. We've prepared separate writing spaces for you over there."

As he spoke, he gestured to eight desks and chairs that had been set up on the beach at a distance, each separated by about two meters.

The guests looked bewildered. What new trick was the production team pulling now???

"There are seven interview questions on the paper. A very simple little survey. Please complete your own answers independently, and do not discuss them with your partner. You have 15 minutes. Please proceed to the answer area."

The staff member's voice rang out again.

The eight participating guests followed the instructions, taking the answer sheets handed to them and walking over to the so-called individual answer area.

Once all the guests were seated in the answer area, each live split-screen gave a close-up of the questions on the guests' papers.

Live chat viewers—

[Yesterday the audience voted on how in sync they were, but today it changed—they're deciding for themselves. Gotta say, the show really knows how to stir things up]

[This method is way more brutal than audience voting. If they lost an audience vote, they could blame the audience. If they lose this, it just proves they really aren't in sync]

[If they end up revealing everyone's answers, that'll be even more fun]

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[Exhilarating]

...

Meanwhile, in the answer area.

There were only seven questions on the paper. Lu Zhou glanced over them, and once he understood what was being asked, a faint smile formed at the corner of his mouth.

This production team really knew how to cause trouble, coming up with new schemes to torment them every single day.

He picked up the black gel pen on the desk and looked at the first question.

[1. Did you have fun today?]

[A. Very much so; B. Yes; C. So-so; D. No; E. Not at all]

Without overthinking it, Lu Zhou wrote down a B in the blank answer space, then looked at the next question.

[2. Do you think there were any disagreements between you and your partner during today's trip?]

[A. Yes; B. No]

Disagreements? Lu Zhou thought back over today's journey. It seemed that his communication with Qi Jiajia had gone quite smoothly. He couldn't recall any point of disagreement between them, so he filled in B without hesitation.

[3. If there were disagreements, do you think they were ultimately resolved?]

[A. Resolved; B. Not resolved]

No disagreements, no need to answer. Lu Zhou skipped this question directly and moved on to the fourth one—

[4. If you were to rate your satisfaction with today's travel partner, what would you choose?]

[A. Very dissatisfied; B. Dissatisfied; C. So-so; D. Satisfied; E. Very satisfied]

His gaze paused on this question. Lu Zhou frowned slightly, suddenly curious whether everyone else would answer this one honestly according to what they really felt.

He crisply marked down D.

[5. What satisfaction rating do you think your partner will give your performance today?]

[A. Very dissatisfied; B. Dissatisfied; C. So-so; D. Satisfied; E. Very satisfied]

This question... was rather subtle.

What rating would Qi Jiajia give him?

Overall, today had been pleasant enough, hadn't it? He didn't feel there had been any unpleasant moments himself. He felt his own performance hadn't been lacking in any way worth criticizing, so surely the other person would graciously give a "satisfied" at least, right?

With that thought, Lu Zhou filled in D.

The live chat viewers saw this and couldn't help but laugh.

[Pretty confident, aren't you]

[So sure of yourself?]

...

[6. Would you be willing to have today's partner as your travel companion again tomorrow? How willing are you?]

[A. Very unwilling; B. Unwilling; C. So-so; D. Willing; E. Very willing]

This question was quite devious of the production team. They'd dug a pit for every guest, and it was up to each of them how they'd jump in.

If someone's original intention was to win the Best Match award, there was no way they'd fill in "dissatisfied"—because obviously, choosing an unsatisfied option meant the Best Match award was essentially out of reach. So would some people fill it in against their true feelings?

Fortunately, Lu Zhou felt this question required no agonizing on his part. He could simply answer according to his heart.

Because in today's collaborative travel experience, there wasn't anything unpleasant between him and Qi Jiajia. So for this question, he still chose D.

The CP fans in the live chat went wild—

[Ahhhh! He's willing!]

[The couple I ship is feeding me sugar again]

[Have you forgotten Ye Fangfei?]

[There's no reason to choose unwilling, right? There were no conflicts. I'd be willing too]

[Do you think he filled it in deliberately to win the Best Match award?]

...

Lu Zhou easily turned to the final question.

[7. If you had the chance to switch to a new partner tomorrow, is there anyone you want to partner with more?]

[A. Yes; B. No]

Lu Zhou, who had always answered questions quickly without hesitation, hesitated on this one.

Thanks to Muxue Suanbai for the 500 Qidian points tip.

(End of chapter)