Chapter 104: The Hidden Thoughts Behind It
While the guests were still lounging in the rest area, the livestream had a lull. During that gap, the netizens who had been camping in the room had actually become lively again on domestic media.
By daybreak, on the way to work, it was the perfect time for office workers to scroll on their phones and catch up on gossip.
So new topics related to the program “Exchange? Exes” surged back onto the trending list. Among them, the little clips of the guests surfing were especially hot.
In particular, the gifs of Lu Zhou free-surfing with Ye Fangfei, and the ones of him tandem wake surfing with Qi Jiajia, were being shared everywhere. The topic climbed rapidly.
New shippers began to gather, and quite a few netizens started rooting for Lu Zhou and Qi Jiajia as a pair.
Of course, thanks to the buildup from the previous day, the Ye Fangfei and Lu Zhou fandom was still larger.
At first the momentum was pretty good: each ship’s fans were happily doing their own thing in their own topics, minding their own business.
Unfortunately, out of nowhere came a trending topic: #LuZhouTheHighLevelPlayer#. The discussion around it was intense, and it gradually stirred up a new storm.
[Lu Zhou gives off insane chemistry with whoever he partners with. He’s clearly a master at love. Anyone who believes he’s only had one relationship is an idiot.]
[Betting money Lu Zhou is definitely a regular at clubs.]
[Looks like Wen Yiming is the obvious flirt, with a rather crude technique for keeping women hooked, but Lu Zhou is the hidden player, the kind who wins women over without them even noticing. That’s the high-end game.]
[Yesterday he was hugging and clinging to Ye Fangfei; today he’s doing tandem wake surfing with Qi Jiajia and making her blush and race with excitement. And just look at Li Jiayan’s reaction, she was going crazy with jealousy because of him. Lu Zhou is 666, drifting through a sea of blossoms without a leaf sticking to him. A high-level player.]
[Wen Yiming should learn from Lu Zhou. That’s the real expert.]
...
For a time, public opinion surged violently. More netizens joined the discussion, and the battles between the various shipper factions somehow escalated as well, with everyone arguing endlessly.
Lu Zhou’s fans fought desperately to defend him and clear his name, but they still could not withstand the overwhelming wave of negative comments.
[Laughing my head off. Player? Tell me, which woman liked Lu Zhou at the start? He just got popular all of a sudden; those women threw themselves at him.]
[Only someone truly outstanding will gradually be liked by more people. Since when is being excellent a crime? Lu Zhou was just doing his duty as a partner. How does that make him a player?]
[Never thought Lu Zhou would get haters the moment he became a little famous.]
...
As for the sudden storm of public opinion, Lu Zhou, who was far away in another country and had no phone, knew nothing about it at all.
He had no management team, which left Lu Zhou’s parents so anxious that they took turns using several throwaway accounts to argue with those netizens who were deliberately twisting the truth, trying to clear their son’s name.
Back in the country, Pan Chengyi noticed the uproar in his spare time and immediately felt that something was off. Someone must be trying to target Lu Zhou behind the scenes.
Who was it?
But no matter who it was, Lu Zhou was now directly tied to Pan Chengyi’s own wallet. If Lu Zhou’s reputation were ruined, Pan Chengyi would get nothing out of it.
He still intended to keep working more deeply with Lu Zhou in the future and make serious money. Lu Zhou absolutely could not be damaged halfway through like this.
With that in mind, Pan Chengyi wasted no time and, without being asked, volunteered to act as Lu Zhou’s management team, finding people to handle public relations for him.
...
In the United States.
The brief half hour of rest was over.
The eight participating guests changed into the swimsuits they had previously chosen and assembled again on the beach.
Men and women stood in separate lines facing each other, each wondering whose eyes were sneaking about.
Among the male guests, Wen Yiming’s swimsuit was the most eye-catching, because his upper body was completely uncovered.
Broad shoulders, a narrow waist, well-developed chest and abdominal muscles, all confidently on display before everyone. To be fair, that figure made not only the women unwilling to look away, but even the men couldn’t help glancing over a few times.
When the close-up camera landed on Wen Yiming, the female viewers in the livestream went wild.
[Ahhhh, so handsome! I’m madly licking the screen.]
[Wen Yiming, I really can.]
[Slurp, that figure is incredible.]
...
Zhang Chen studied Wen Yiming’s upper body for a few seconds, then unconsciously straightened his own chest as well. Looks like he would have to step up his training.
Thank goodness he hadn’t shown his upper body muscles, or it would have been too embarrassing.
This guy had such a great figure. After the show ended, hiring him as a personal trainer might not be a bad idea.
As he thought this, Zhang Chen’s gaze subconsciously drifted toward Wen Yiming’s lower body. The leg muscles were well developed, and the power in them was obvious at a glance. No wonder he didn’t get tired even while surfing. Only...
That part didn’t seem all that impressive.
Zhang Chen stood up straighter with confidence. The tight swimsuit highlighted his best features, and an irrepressibly proud smile appeared on his face.
In the livestream—
[Holy crap, Young Master Zhang is huge!]
[Tsk tsk, did I see that right...]
[Turns out all the good nutrition Zhang got went here.]
...
Beside him, Xu Junze saw Lu Zhou applying sunscreen to his arms and raised a hand to block the sun, smiling. “Thanks for letting me have this swimsuit. You even saved me the trouble of sunscreen.”
Xu Junze was wearing a full-coverage swimsuit. Apart from his hands, feet, and head, he was covered everywhere. He did not exercise often, so his muscle definition was practically nonexistent. If he wore the same type of swimsuit as the others, he would look very disadvantaged, but today’s suit hid his shortcomings, making him feel much more at ease.
“It’s not really that I let you have it. Yours is just too fully covered; it isn’t cool enough,” Lu Zhou said.
As he reached one hand around to apply sunscreen to his back, the muscles in his arm tightened, the lines of them very pleasing to the eye. It was not the heavily gym-sculpted kind of bulk that Wen Yiming had, which could seem a little showy; rather, it was just right, with beautiful contours.
Livestream comments—
[This tank-style swimsuit is truly ugly, but somehow it doesn’t look ugly on Lu Zhou.]
[Is it the clothes that make the man, or the man that makes the clothes?]
[I think Lu Zhou’s muscle definition is the most comfortable kind. Just right. Wen Yiming’s is too exaggerated for my taste.]
[If Xu Junze wore Lu Zhou’s swimsuit, I think I’d laugh all day.]
[I heard this Lu Zhou is a high-level player. I’m here to see.]
[The rabid haters should kindly leave the livestream.]
...
The female guests stood opposite the men.
Qi Jiajia was wearing a light-green swimsuit with wide straps and a deep open back.
She was a little thin and tall, with beautiful shoulder and back lines that clearly showed signs of regular exercise.
Her long, straight legs were fully revealed now that the fabric no longer covered them, white enough to be dazzling, slim and straight, stirring the imagination.
Livestream—
[Qi Jiajia’s legs are way too good!]
[Suddenly I realized she’s gorgeous too.]
[I get what Wen Yiming’s happiness used to be.]
[If she could train her hips a bit rounder and fuller, that would be even better.]
...
The camera then moved to Chu Yao.
Because she had come in last in the surfing rankings, she could only choose from what others had left behind. Chu Yao could only grit her teeth and put on that bright red swimsuit. Even though everyone said it looked great and made her figure stand out, she still felt shy once she left the lounge, so she ran to the staff to borrow a white gauze shawl to drape over herself.
She still could not quite adjust to seeing herself dressed like this.
But Xu Junze, because of Chu Yao’s swimsuit, had eyes that lit up. His gaze kept drifting toward her involuntarily. Truth be told, after dating for so long, he had never seen her wear anything like this before, so it felt very fresh.
Livestream—
[Damn that shawl, blocking my beautiful view.]
[Why cover it? It looks pretty good. This design is actually already a relatively conservative bikini.]
[Yao Yao is the kind of girl who usually likes wearing ancient costumes. Of course she wouldn’t be used to this style.]
...
Ye Fangfei was wearing a black-and-white swimsuit with an H-back and boxer-style bottom. On top, apart from her arms and the infraspinatus and teres muscles exposed along her back, everything else was covered tightly; below, a section of her legs showed beneath the knee-length boxer shorts.
But even with such modest coverage, the fitted swimsuit still could not hide her excellent figure. Whether it was the fullness in front or the curve behind, every line was enough to draw praise.
Even the sliver of back she revealed, with its thin layer of muscle definition, possessed a distinctive beauty.
When the close-up landed on Ye Fangfei, the viewers in the livestream could not help sighing.
[Celebrity is as celebrity does.]
[If she wore Yao Yao’s outfit, I think my blood pressure would hit zero.]
[Even a restrained beauty can be this beautiful. No wonder Ye Fangfei is a true clothes hanger.]
[Is that lifted backside real? Could it be padded?]
[The person above is seriously sour.]
...
The camera turned to the last female guest.
Li Jiayan was wearing a black swimsuit with a faintly princess-like style, designed with a deep V-neck that highlighted her strengths. A little skirt-like hem vaguely covered the shape of her hips, but created a different kind of visual impact. She was naturally a little soft and curvy, but her proportions were still quite good, so she did not look fat.
Wearing this style of swimsuit, she looked especially delicate and charming.
Livestream—
[As expected of my favorite, Yan Yan! Her figure is top-tier!]
[Um... she’s a little on the plump side, not that great.]
[Laughing my head off. With that figure you say it’s not great? Jealousy has made the keyboard warriors’ eyes red.]
[Anyone saying her figure isn’t good is probably a woman.]
[She isn’t fat, okay? It’s just the camera. In real life it would definitely be just right! As a man, I like this softer kind! Feels good to the touch!]
[Get lost. You still want to put your hands on her?]
[To be fair, each has its own merits. It depends on personal preference.]
...
Her partner Wen Yiming had been staring at her the whole time, his gaze intense.
Li Jiayan felt pressured. She subconsciously lifted a hand to smooth her hair, then swept all her long hair forward. Her sleek black hair spilled over her chest, partially blocking the view.
“Lu Zhou, can I borrow some sunscreen to put on? It’s so sunny, and I feel like I didn’t apply enough,” Li Jiayan asked, turning slightly toward Lu Zhou.
Lu Zhou had already finished applying his. Hearing her, he tossed the sunscreen in his hand over to her.
“Thanks!”
Li Jiayan reached out to catch it, but her grip was unsteady. The sunscreen slipped from her hand and fell onto the sand, and she bent down to pick it up.
With that lean, the cleavage became even more obvious.
Lu Zhou caught sight of it by accident and silently looked away.
She had clearly come in first place. With four swimsuits to choose from, she could have picked any of them with a single word. Yet she chose this one. Did she simply like this style, or did she have some other intention?
Back on the yacht, she had told him that her habits over the years had hardly changed at all, but he felt that there were clearly many things about her that had changed.
For instance, many years ago, when he took her to the beach, her swimsuit had been very modest. Even when it showed skin, it only revealed her legs, and she would never have chosen this kind of cut.
He thought that she must have grown up a lot, and her taste in clothing had changed too.
So how could a person truly remain unchanged?
Even he had changed.
The livestream’s single-person close-up shot made a circuit before pulling back to a wide shot.
Then the staff member’s voice rang out.
“Attention, everyone. We’re now announcing the rules for the new activity.”
As he spoke, the staff member pointed toward the sea in the distance.
“You can see the things floating here and there on the surface, right? Those are money bags. Each bag contains a random number of coins.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the guests’ attention shifted there. The vast surface of the sea really was dotted with many objects of different colors, bobbing up and down with the waves, drifting unpredictably.
Only, they couldn’t quite understand why the production team had stuffed so many money bags into the sea. Were they supposed to fish them out? And what for?
While everyone was still guessing the production team’s intention, the staff member’s voice rang out again, and his arm pointed to the side of the sea nearest the mountains.
“There are many wooden stakes driven into the seabed over there. You can see them, right? Beneath the water, every one of those stakes has a money bag tied to it, with different amounts inside.”
“The coins in those bags are your travel expenses for going to the next destination today.”
At that, all eight guests showed expressions hard to describe. Was this forcing each pair to compete for travel fare?
And clearly, that fare would not be easy to get.
At that moment, the staff member pointed again at the four large floating boards laid out on the beach nearest to the guests.
“These are the tools you’ll use to collect the money bags. One board per pair. Two people must cooperate and see how many money bags you and your partner can get in the end.”
“The more coins you collect, the more money you’ll have for travel.”
“Before 6:30 p.m., you need to take the coins you’ve obtained to a guesthouse called Saint Bory, find the owner, Will, and exchange them for the boat tickets you can afford.”
“If you have enough coins, you can exchange them for tickets on the luxury cruise ship. If you don’t have enough to exchange for luxury cruise tickets, then you can only exchange for the small-boat tickets provided by the guesthouse.”
“Tonight, your sightseeing destination is an independent island called Black Isle. The only way to get there from Magani Beach is by boat. Friendly reminder: the voyage is not short.”
When Ye Fangfei heard that, her brow furrowed.
The words “the voyage is not short” were practically a nightmare for her, since she was prone to seasickness.
She had been participating in this show for so long, always with a laid-back attitude and never fighting for anything, yet this time an intense desire to win unexpectedly rose in her heart.
The small boat would make her far more likely to get seasick. She had to fight for the luxury cruise ticket.
The other guests were thinking the same thing. Everyone wanted to ride the luxury cruise.
“Oh, right, one more thing. If a pair times out without exchanging for a ticket, or doesn’t collect enough coins even to exchange for the guesthouse’s small-boat ticket, we will provide a free ride to Black Isle on the small boat for you all. However...”
The staff member deliberately paused, emphasizing the point.
“There will be a price to pay.”
“After you land on the island, the luxury accommodations for tonight will have nothing to do with you. You’ll need to camp on the beach for the night.”
Everyone: “...”
Indeed, there was no such thing as a free lunch.
And the production team had never been kind. Ye Fangfei was right after all.
Livestream comments—
[Hahaha, the production team is so ruthless. I love it.]
[I thought they were dressed so beautifully because they were about to play some kind of water fight that was basically couple-ish... I underestimated the production team.]
[Laughing my head off. With a task like this, no one’s going to have the mind to admire their swimsuits no matter how pretty they are.]
[Not necessarily. Maybe some people care about different things.]
[That’s when you can really see someone’s character.]
[The point isn’t the swimsuits at all, but the production team made the swimsuit-selection segment so grand, deliberately misleading them and magnifying their little thoughts.]
...
Once the final extra rule was made clear, even those who had not been very eager to win could not help taking it seriously.
“Camping, after all, is just another kind of romance,” the staff member said with a smile.
The guests: “...”
Staff member: “During this journey, what kind of transportation and lodging arrangements you choose will be entirely in the hands of you and your partner. Are your goals aligned? Are you truly in sync? Now, I’ll count down: three, two, one—please begin your new entertainment!”