Chapter 142: The Day Before the Confession

The next day.

Following the one-on-one dating experience yesterday, the production team required all guests to head to the beach again early the next morning. This time, the destination was Savis Beach in the City of Angels. The coastline was breathtaking, yet few of the eight guests were in the mood to appreciate the scenery. Every time they looked at the sea, their state of mind was different, and today’s mood felt slightly heavy.

As the eight guests gathered on the sand, a staff member announced the day’s arrangements. "This romantic journey has now officially entered its final countdown. I believe you are all looking forward to the Final Selection Day."

"Today is the second-to-last day of our program's romantic journey."

"I wonder if you still remember your state of mind when you first set out. Has your inner world changed compared to that moment?"

"What kind of choice will you make in the end? Do you have a definite idea yet?"

"Have you really thought this through?"

"Today, we have provided each of you with a private cabin to stay in. We will no longer schedule any activities for you; you are free, and the rest of today belongs to you for reflection."

"Of course, if you feel the need to communicate with one another, you may make your own arrangements."

"Tomorrow is the Final Selection Day. Please cherish today's time for reflection and composure. We look forward to your final choices!"

Once the staff had conveyed the details, each guest was sent to their own exclusive seaside cabin. From then on, it was time for solitude. With the approach of the Final Selection Day, everyone was filled with mixed emotions. At this point in the show, everyone had a basic sense of their own preferred direction.

Some were resolute. Others were anxious.

The anxious ones were mostly unsure if the choices they wanted to make were correct, or if they would get what they hoped for. What mattered more to them? Reputation? Love? Traffic and popularity? These concerns would influence their final decisions in the dating show to varying degrees.

No one was one hundred percent certain about what the future held, and Lu Zhou was no exception. He was unsure if he could change the gears of history, but he would strive to do so.

...

As lunchtime approached, Lu Zhou, looking to pass the time, took the recipe card provided by the production team, fished some ingredients out of the refrigerator, and began to study how to cook. Soft music played from the speakers.

Lu Zhou put on an apron and a pair of food-grade disposable gloves, then started preparing chicken wings. He decided to make himself a plate of Cola Chicken Wings for lunch. Following the recipe step-by-step this time, surely he couldn't go wrong.

Just as he was getting into the swing of things, he heard a "knock, knock, knock" at the door. He took off his gloves and went to open it, surprised to see Chu Yao standing there.

The moment Chu Yao saw him, a smile spread across her lips. "I wanted to drop by for a visit. Is now a good time?"

Lu Zhou smiled at her, opened the door wide, and stepped aside to let her in. "Come on in."

As Chu Yao entered, she noticed the apron on Lu Zhou and raised an eyebrow with a laugh. "Are you cooking for yourself? Didn't they say you could order in?"

Lu Zhou poured her a glass of water, acting like a host welcoming a guest. "I just had a sudden whim to try it." He handed her the water and asked, "Have you eaten?"

Chu Yao took the glass, thanked him, and shook her head. "Not yet." She took a symbolic sip of the water, then glanced toward the kitchen. An idea came to mind, and she smiled. "How about we cook together? And I'll mooch a lunch off you while we're at it. Do you mind?"

"If a master chef is willing to step up, it’s my good fortune." Lu Zhou pointed toward the kitchen and said, "Come on in! I can learn a thing or two from you."

Chu Yao chuckled, set down her glass, and followed Lu Zhou into the kitchen.

"Chicken wings?" Chu Yao scanned the half-prepared ingredients and looked at Lu Zhou. "How were you planning to make them?"

Lu Zhou: "Cola Chicken Wings..."

"OK! Shall I take over?"

Chu Yao grabbed an apron from the side and put it on. She didn't even bother with gloves, diving straight in and deftly scoring the chicken wings with a knife in no time. Once Chu Yao entered the kitchen, Lu Zhou felt instantly redundant. He gave a helpless smile and asked, "What should I do?"

"Go boil a pot of water; we'll need to blanch the wings in a moment." Chu Yao began slicing ginger, her knife skills surprisingly proficient.

Lu Zhou picked up the recipe book that was taking up space and waved it. "Do you need this?"

Chu Yao: "What's that?"

Lu Zhou: "The recipe."

Chu Yao pursed her lips and smiled. "Do you really need a recipe for such a simple dish?"

Lu Zhou: "..."

Before long, the roles in the kitchen had completely reversed. Lu Zhou was reduced to a helper, barely even qualified for prep work... Chu Yao had completely taken over as the master of the kitchen.

"What do you usually like to eat?" Chu Yao started a conversation casually.

"I like anything that tastes good."

As Lu Zhou washed vegetables in the kitchen, he couldn't help but recall the scene of cooking with Ye Fangfei in the camper van. The contrast with his current situation was so stark that he couldn't help but smile. Back then, in front of Ye Fangfei, he could still pretend to be an expert. Now, in front of a culinary pro, he had become a proper apprentice.

"You like anything that tastes good? That answer... is a bit broad, don't you think?" Chu Yao was amused by Lu Zhou.

"It really is true, but because I have to manage my figure, there are many delicious things I dare not eat too much of, even if I love them," Lu Zhou replied, coming back to his senses. "The more I'm restricted from eating something, the more incredibly delicious I find it. Over time, I’ve found that many foods you might consider average, I find exceptionally tasty."

Mentioning this perspective inadvertently brought back the image of Ye Fangfei craving a bucket of fried chicken yesterday. Perhaps that was why she was so hungry for it?

"Is that so?"

Chu Yao found it fascinating. She was usually very relaxed about her figure, the type who ate whatever she wanted to her heart's content, and she was often exposed to all kinds of gourmet food, so she couldn't relate to Lu Zhou's experience.

"They say food is the priority of the people. For the sake of your figure, haven't you lost out on many of the joys of being an ordinary person?" she laughed.

Lu Zhou: "That's unavoidable. However, as long as you don't care about your image, the problem is solved."

Chu Yao chuckled and continued to focus on cutting vegetables. "Then would you ever stop caring about your image?"

Lu Zhou drained the water from the vegetables, placed them next to Chu Yao, and replied, "At the moment, I definitely have to care about body management. After all, my 'life's major event' hasn't been settled yet."

Chu Yao burst into laughter.

In truth, she knew it was quite difficult for an artist to avoid body management. They would look rounder on camera, and to please the audience and look good on screen, they had to manage their figures—unless they lacked self-discipline, had already earned enough not to care, or were truly gifted by the heavens with a body that stayed fit regardless of what they ate.

Yet, Lu Zhou's answer was clever. He used "my life's major event hasn't been settled" to reply to her. The topic naturally returned to the theme of the dating show, making her transition to the next subject feel less abrupt. She suddenly understood why other female guests seemed to have such great chemistry when traveling with Lu Zhou. He had high emotional intelligence, making people feel comfortable and natural in his company.

"Speaking of life's major events..." Chu Yao continued along his train of thought. "So? Have you met any girls here you'd like to continue seeing after the show ends?"

She asked with a smile, in the tone of a close friend chatting about everyday life.

Lu Zhou rested his hands on the counter, his gaze fixed on the boiling water in the pot. His Adam's apple bobbed as he smiled. "There must be some."

"In this vast crowd, it's fate that we were able to meet. After spending so many days together, we're familiar friends now. We can't just stop talking to each other after the show ends, right?" He opened the lid of the pot, and steaming white vapor poured out.

Chu Yao hadn't expected such an answer, and she suddenly felt that Lu Zhou was quite a shrewd person. She subconsciously raised her hand to playfully swat him, but ultimately decided the gesture was too intimate and withdrew her hand halfway. She smiled and said, "You're so bad. You know that's not what I meant."

Lu Zhou smiled without a word and pointed at the chicken wings, signaling it was time to blanch them. Chu Yao shook her head with a smile and dropped the ginger slices and the wings into the pot. In reality, she had already received the information she wanted from Lu Zhou's words.

While the two were joking, they didn't notice a figure peeking in through the door they had forgotten to close.

Qi Jiajia had spent a long time working on her own mindset in her cabin and had finally decided to muster the courage to find Lu Zhou for a serious talk. Consequently, she had left without eating. She tracked him down to his cabin and discovered the door was ajar, with faint laughter coming from inside—a woman's voice!

Driven by curiosity, Qi Jiajia didn't bother knocking and leaned in to take a peek. That was when she saw the cozy scene of Chu Yao and Lu Zhou laughing and cooking together in the kitchen.

Qi Jiajia was instantly stunned. "???"

Why was Chu Yao here?! Was she also interested in Lu Zhou?!

Learning this, Qi Jiajia felt quite surprised. She had always thought Chu Yao was the least likely person to become a rival, yet was she also quietly setting her sights on Lu Zhou? She only wanted to talk to Lu Zhou alone, but with a third person present, it was clearly inconvenient to intrude.

Qi Jiajia quietly retreated from the house.

As it turned out, not long after she left, she ran into Li Jiayan on the path back to her own cabin, who was clearly heading in the direction of Lu Zhou's place.

How incredibly awkward...

The viewers in the livestream were excited—

[Oh ho!]
[Exciting!]
[Damn!]
[Classic moment]
...

Qi Jiajia’s slightly stiff lips slowly curled into a smile, and she greeted Li Jiayan, "Have you eaten?"

"Not yet. You?"

Li Jiayan glanced at Qi Jiajia, then her gaze landed on the cabin not far behind her. She knew instantly that Qi Jiajia must have gone to look for Lu Zhou. A wave of jealousy surged in her heart, and her expression became uncomfortable.

"I was just about to head back to eat. Want to join me?" It was truly awkward, but Qi Jiajia still subconsciously asked out of politeness.

"No, I'm not very hungry right now," Li Jiayan refused with a smile.

Qi Jiajia: "Alright then, I'll head back."

Li Jiayan nodded faintly.

The two didn't continue the conversation and brushed past each other. Qi Jiajia walked a few steps, hesitated for a moment, and finally turned around to call out to Li Jiayan.

"Lu Zhou, he..." she hesitated, "there's someone else in his room right now."

Li Jiayan heard this, her brows furrowing slightly. She was stunned for a moment before it registered. So, Qi Jiajia hadn't just finished talking with Lu Zhou, but had instead run into someone else when she went to find him, and had turned back without actually speaking to him?

"Who is in his room?" Li Jiayan subconsciously probed. In fact, the moment she heard Qi Jiajia say that, the name "Ye Fangfei" had instantly surfaced in her mind.

Qi Jiajia smiled but didn't answer who it was specifically. "If you're really curious, you should go see for yourself."

After saying that, Qi Jiajia walked away.

Why didn't she tell her? How strange. Li Jiayan stood there for a long time, feeling caught in a dilemma. She wanted to see who was in Lu Zhou's room, but her reason told her not to. Since she already knew someone was there, why go and intrude? Even if she knew who it was, she wouldn't feel any better, and it would only make her look desperate.

In the end, after struggling with herself, she suppressed the urge to go and chose to return the way she came.

Meanwhile, inside Lu Zhou's house, the two had no idea what had happened outside and continued to cook their lunch in a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere. With Chu Yao there, a fragrant and delicious meal was ready in no time.

The two sat at opposite ends of the dining table, eating elegantly. Lu Zhou picked up a piece of Cola Chicken Wing, took a bite, and gave Chu Yao a thumbs up.

"Lu Zhou, do you know why I specifically came to find you today?" Chu Yao swallowed her food, covered her mouth slightly with her hand, and asked with a smile.

"I know, didn't you say it in the phone booth yesterday?" Lu Zhou kept picking at his food, eating with great relish. "Is there another reason?"

Chu Yao laughed out loud. "There really isn't any other reason."

"The show is almost over, isn't it? I feel that since I'm here, I should finish the things I want to do. I don't really want to leave any regrets."

"To be honest, at the beginning of the show, I didn't pay much attention to you. But later, it was magical; I slowly discovered that you had many attractive qualities, and then I wondered, should I try to get to know you better? Maybe we'd be a good fit?"

Chu Yao confessed openly.

Hearing this, Lu Zhou paused with his chopsticks, looked up at her, and waited for her to continue.

Chu Yao: "It's a pity we never had a chance to hang out together. I guess this is what they call a lack of fate?"

Lu Zhou smiled at this and continued to listen silently.

Chu Yao: "I originally wanted to let it go, but the shining points about you would inadvertently keep attracting my attention. So I thought about it and felt I should find a chance to be alone with you before the show ends, otherwise I might regret it after leaving. So, I came to find you."

Lu Zhou understood perfectly and asked, "And now? We've been alone, we've cooked and eaten together. Have you gained any special feelings for me?"

Chu Yao pursed her lips, and a smile gradually appeared at the corners of her mouth. "It doesn't seem like there are any special feelings..."

Lu Zhou nodded, spread his hands, and laughed. "That's exactly right."

Chu Yao changed the subject: "Even though there are no special feelings, it's actually quite comfortable to be with you. This meal today might be the most relaxed I've felt since joining the show. There's no pressure when communicating with you, and that's a good feeling."

Lu Zhou: "That's the feeling of friends getting along."

He picked up his glass of water and gestured for a toast. Chu Yao picked up her glass, and they clinked them together.

"To a long-lasting friendship," he said.

Livestream chat—
[???]
[Chu Yao, why exactly did you come on this show?]
[Chu Yao: Expanding my friend list]
...

Chu Yao smiled, feeling completely relieved. There are some people you like very much, but they are only meant to be friends.

"So, who do you actually like? Can you reveal that?" After clarifying their status as friends, Chu Yao suddenly became boldly gossipy.

"If I reveal it to you, will you go back and tip off the other girls?" Lu Zhou joked as he ate.

"Pfft, am I that kind of person?" Chu Yao laughed and hummed, saying, "Actually, even if you don't say it, I've already guessed most of it."

Lu Zhou: "So impressive. I'll call you 'Master Chu' from now on."

Chu Yao: "..."

The two had a meal filled with laughter and then parted ways. Meanwhile, Li Jiayan sat in her own room, feeling restless and uneasy.

(End of chapter)