Chapter 79: What Kind of Brazen Words Are These?

“How blue it is!” Ye Fangfei couldn’t help but exclaim as she rode along the lakeside with Lu Zhou.

They got off their bikes and walked over to the water’s edge, quietly taking in the spectacle before them. White clouds reflected on the lake’s surface, making it look, at first glance, like another patch of sky—only this blue was deeper, more pure.

“Why is it so blue?” Ye Fangfei asked, her curiosity piqued.

“It means the water is very clean, with few impurities. Most of the other light gets absorbed, but blue is absorbed the least and gets scattered, so that’s what we see,” Lu Zhou explained, recalling what he’d learned in the past.

“Why is blue absorbed the least?” she pressed.

“Um… I forgot. It’s got something to do with wavelengths, I think? I’ll have to check my physics textbook when we get back,” Lu Zhou laughed.

“Were you a really good student before? You seem to remember all sorts of things from ages ago,” Ye Fangfei glanced at him curiously.

Lu Zhou shrugged. “I just have a good memory.”

“I think I’ve figured out something about you,” Ye Fangfei said with a smile, turning towards the tandem bike.

“What’s that?” Lu Zhou followed her.

“You seem a bit modest.”

As Ye Fangfei was about to get back on the bike, she suddenly noticed a small, fluffy brown creature hopping across a rock up ahead.

“Hey, look!”

She pointed excitedly.

“A chipmunk!”

With that, she skirted around the bike and dashed across the road. Lu Zhou followed her and soon noticed a little blue flag tucked away at the corner of a fork in the road. He raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“Found it!” he called out.

Ye Fangfei looked over at his voice and spotted the flag herself.

“Well, that was easy,” she laughed.

Lu Zhou walked over to remove the task card and saw that the requirement was a photo together, in a style similar to a couple’s photo.

He held up the sample picture. “We need to take this kind of shot.”

Ye Fangfei glanced at the sample and raised her brows. “The production team really went all out with this,” she muttered with a smile.

Lu Zhou: “What?”

“Nothing.” Ye Fangfei’s attention was caught by a chipmunk bouncing nearby, completely unafraid of people and irresistibly cute.

“I want to take a photo with this one,” she said, picking out the chipmunk she thought was cutest.

“What makes it your favorite?” Lu Zhou teased.

“Look at that tuft of fur—different from the others. It’s just too adorable,” Ye Fangfei pointed.

“Well, if it dies, it won’t be cute anymore,” Lu Zhou replied without thinking.

Ye Fangfei shot him a helpless look, laughing. “That’s a pretty cold joke.”

“But you laughed,” Lu Zhou said, grinning.

Ye Fangfei: “…”

Lu Zhou found the best angle for the shot and said, “Come on, let’s take the photo. If you keep staring at it, it’ll run off.”

The photographer got into position. Ye Fangfei stepped up onto a slightly raised spot and leaned in towards Lu Zhou, their faces only a hand’s breadth apart.

It wasn’t the first time today they’d been this close, gazing into each other’s eyes.

“Your eyelashes are pretty long,” Ye Fangfei observed, then broke into a smile.

She looked stunning when she smiled.

Lu Zhou’s gaze drifted over her inviting red lips, then up into her captivating, almond-shaped eyes. In a low voice, he murmured, “Yours aren’t short, either.”

Ye Fangfei found it almost funny—was this some kind of eyelash-length contest?

“What’s so funny?” he asked, noticing the amusement in her eyes and lifting a handsome brow.

“I’m laughing at you.”

“What about me?”

“You’re just funny.”

“Are you trying to do a tongue-twister?”

“Maybe I’m just toying with you.”

“???” What was that supposed to mean?

The livestream audience went wild—

[Ahhh, I can’t take it!]
[Why don’t you two just kiss already and stop torturing me!]
[Babe, did you forget you’re on camera?]
[Wow, these two are pros at flirting.]
…

At that moment, the photographer called out, “Perfect angle—hold it right there.”

The two of them froze, locking eyes, instantly slipping into work mode. In the short time it took to snap the photo, they completed the task smoothly and moved on.

Perhaps because they were entertainers, they had a knack for spotting the hidden photo checkpoints placed by the production team. Soon enough, they found the second blue flag, then the third, finishing the tasks with ease.

After a long ride under the blazing sun, both were hot, thirsty, and tired. As they passed a stone-and-wood cabin, they decided to stop and rest for a while.

By coincidence, they ran into the other three pairs, who were also taking a break there.

“We thought you two would have finished and left already,” someone said as Lu Zhou and Ye Fangfei entered and greeted them.

The moment Zhang Chen saw Ye Fangfei, his previously dull, weary eyes lit up.

But then he realized—wait, how had they caught up so quickly? Weren’t they way behind?

Ye Fangfei found a spot and sat down, pulling a bottle of water from her bag.

“Where’s the fourth photo checkpoint? Did you guys find it?” she asked.

Zhang Chen replied quickly, “No, this lake is huge. I don’t think we’ll even get around it by the end of the day, let alone visit the other spots.”

Qi Jiajia shot Zhang Chen a glance. She noticed that with Ye Fangfei’s arrival, the previously silent and exhausted Zhang Chen suddenly perked up.

Ye Fangfei looked over and laughed. “You look half dead.”

“I’ve never been on such a grueling trip in my life—what do you think?” Zhang Chen sighed.

Honestly, if it were up to him, he’d be driving around a place like this, getting out only when something interesting caught his eye. Who in their right mind bikes around a lake for dozens of kilometers? Madness.

Xu Junze and Li Jiayan were just as worn out, barely saying a word. Li Jiayan hadn’t been much of an athlete, so she tired easily; throughout the ride, she frequently couldn’t pedal anymore, so Xu Junze ended up doing nearly all the work. Now, he was too exhausted to talk.

Wen Yiming and Chu Yao, on the other hand, seemed to be in much better shape. Clearly, Wen Yiming’s muscles from his days as a fitness coach weren’t just for show—he powered through, carrying Chu Yao the whole way.

After a short rest, everyone felt better and set off together to search for the next blue flag. They hadn’t gone far when they spotted it.

By the lakeside road, next to a bare tree that looked like an octopus, a blue flag fluttered in the breeze.

This time, the photo requirement was even more daring than the previous three. The earlier shots involved no physical contact—more like the ambiguous tension before a couple officially gets together. This one, though, was the bold declaration of a couple who had already confirmed their relationship.

In the sample, in front of a bike’s headlights, a girl in a princess dress crouched on the ground, apparently twisting her ankle. The boy, backlit, half-knelt and reached out to caress her cheek.

Everyone stared at the photo, speechless.

Qi Jiajia felt like she was going mad. How could she possibly take such an intimate photo in front of her ex… and in front of the person she actually liked… with a guy she didn’t care for at all? The production team was really stirring the pot.

“Can we skip this one?” she asked, half-laughing and half-crying.

For once, her words echoed Zhang Chen’s own thoughts. He frowned and turned to the staff. “Is that allowed?”

Staff: “Yes, anyone can quit the challenge at any time, but you’ll be marked as having failed today’s travel mission. You won’t receive the next location clue or transportation arrangements from the production team, and you’ll have to find your own way back to the hotel.”

Everyone: “…”

Getting back to the hotel wouldn’t be an issue—if only they had their wallets and phones. But of course, they didn’t!

The livestream audience—

[The directors sure know how to play!]
[You’re on a romance show—stop being shy and just go for it!]
…