Chapter 45: Whose Heart Was Stirred

As the night deepened, everyone lingered in the living room, chatting enthusiastically for a while about Lu Zhou’s new song. Gradually, the gathering dispersed. Yet, the small episode of Lu Zhou releasing his song tonight planted different seeds in everyone’s hearts.

Wen Yiming found himself puzzled as he washed up in his room: “Lu Zhou actually wrote a love song just for his ex-girlfriend and released it publicly during the show. Is he trying to play the nostalgia card and win her back? I wonder what his ex thinks. Could she really be moved by this?”

Lying in bed, Xu Junze impulsively began to study Lu Zhou’s DouMusic video data and its conversion rate. After some analysis, he mused, “The retention rate is impressively high; Lu Zhou has great potential as an internet celebrity! I need to find a way to sign him to our company.”

Qi Jiajia returned to her solitary room, removed her makeup, and played Lu Zhou’s freshly released song, “First Love.” By the chorus, she found herself unconsciously humming along. Startled, she stared at her reflection in the mirror. “Wait, I can already sing it?” Was it her growing ability to learn new songs, or did this song possess some special magic? She had to admit, the melody only grew more delightful the more she listened.

Suddenly, she thought it quite romantic to have an ex who could write songs. To have the sweetness of the past immortalized in music, each performance recalling that former “her”—how wonderful! Unlike her own ex, who only ever spoke ill of her to others. What a lousy ex. She still felt jealous over him just yesterday—what on earth was she thinking? The more she pondered, the more exasperated she became, scrubbing her face harder with the cotton pad.

Meanwhile, in the girls’ bedroom, Chu Yao sat on her bed, finishing a craft project she’d left unfinished, while Li Jiayan lay curled up, scrolling on her phone. Each was absorbed in her own thoughts; silence prevailed.

Chu Yao wondered, “I don’t know if Lu Zhou’s big move tonight touched his ex. It’d be good if it did, otherwise everyone will keep focusing on Zhang Chen, which is just troublesome.”

With her back to Chu Yao, headphones on, Li Jiayan kept replaying Lu Zhou’s new song, “First Love.” She listened until tears welled up, though she dared not make a sound lest Chu Yao notice, so she bit her lower lip and quietly wiped her eyes. It was strange—she didn’t know why, but the more she listened, the more she liked it. The immersion deepened with headphones on. Lu Zhou sang with a youthful innocence, truly capturing the flavor of first love. Li Jiayan thought she should stop listening or her eyes would swell, exited the app, paused a moment, then went back to favorite the video.

Outside the main villa, Zhang Chen found himself in a different mood altogether. Was the production team calling him for a private interview? Not at all. He’d gone out to speak with the director directly.

Lin Jiale was in a small meeting with his team. When he finished and came out, he found Zhang Chen waiting for him with a grim face.

“What’s going on? New demands?” Lin Jiale immediately sensed trouble. If Zhang Chen bypassed the PD and came straight to him, it usually meant he was speaking not as a participant but from the perspective of an investor.

Zhang Chen flicked his cigarette butt to the ground and crushed it underfoot. “Actually, yes.”

Lin Jiale thought, Can this ancestor ever give it a rest? They found a private meeting room, sat down, and began.

“Director Lin, is your production team hoping that Ye Fangfei and I won’t get back together?” Zhang Chen started with a bombshell. Lin Jiale was stunned.

“What? Why would you think that?”

“We haven’t scripted anything for you and Ye Fangfei, not at all. Why would we hope you don’t reconcile?” Lin Jiale found the accusation baffling.

“Then how do you explain tonight’s rule that the female guests can’t choose their exes for dates?” Zhang Chen bluntly stated his grievance. “I came here to make up with her, but you cut off our chance to communicate by forbidding her from choosing me. How am I supposed to reconcile with her? The dating rules on your show just don’t make sense.”

Lin Jiale felt a wave of embarrassment. “But we didn’t set that rule for the first round of dating choices, and she still didn’t pick you, did she? Whether you two get back together isn’t really about this little rule.”

“If she actually wanted to reconcile, this new rule might even help you. Think about it: she sees you dating other girls, gets jealous, and then you have an opportunity, right?”

Zhang Chen felt stabbed by these words and protested, “We were only together for three days. Do you really think she’d get jealous seeing me with someone else?”

Lin Jiale fell silent. Honestly, that seemed unlikely. And really, could you not reflect on why your relationship only lasted three days? Maybe you two just aren’t meant to be. Forced love never tastes sweet. Of course, he kept these thoughts to himself.

Zhang Chen pressed on. “My relationship with her is shallow; we need more opportunities to interact. Can your team brainstorm more ways for us to spend time together? Our families are investing in your show. You really should try to match us up. To be frank, this is the wish of both the Zhang and Ye families. Otherwise, do you think we’d be wasting our time playing along with your show?”

“If you’re paid, at least do something worthwhile.”

The tone and words of a true investor.

Lin Jiale listened in silence, his expression growing more serious. “Since you dislike tonight’s rule, we’ll adjust it next time. But the participants for this round of dates are already set—there’s no way to redo the process now. Even if we removed the ‘no-exes’ rule and started over, there’s a good chance Ye Fangfei still wouldn’t choose you…”

Zhang Chen was stung, but couldn’t refute it. He wiped his face. “No need for reshoots, just don’t set up any more obstacles next time.”

“Alright,” Lin Jiale agreed.

“Thanks for your trouble.” Zhang Chen patted Lin Jiale’s shoulder and was about to leave, when something else occurred to him. He stopped and turned back. “One more thing. Can you let Lu Zhou leave the show early?”

Lin Jiale was drinking water and nearly choked when he heard this. “Why?”

“He’s getting a bit close to Ye Fangfei. I feel he’s in my way. If possible, let’s switch him out for someone outside the entertainment industry,” Zhang Chen said.

Lin Jiale was half exasperated, half amused. “Come on, Zhang Shao, this is a dating show… It’s normal for male and female guests to get close. I can’t just remove someone because he’s near Ye Fangfei. Otherwise, there’s no show left. Besides, how close are they, really? I haven’t seen much interaction. Aren’t you being overly sensitive?”

Zhang Chen thought back to the DouMusic video incident tonight, which left him irritated. “Did you see the DouMusic trending topics tonight? They interacted openly.”

Lin Jiale frowned, checked his phone again, and said, “There was no interaction. Ye Fangfei just tagged Lu Zhou, that’s all. A big name from the industry lending a hand to a struggling musician—nothing more than that. You’re reading too much into this.”

He was getting frustrated by Zhang Chen’s jealousy. “Besides, all our show’s couples are paired. If we remove Lu Zhou, his ex would have to leave too. That would affect everyone’s mood. And if Ye Fangfei finds out you were jealous and got someone removed because of it, how do you think that will make you look in her eyes? Mishandle this and you’re planting a landmine in your own relationship.”

“Lu Zhou is just an ordinary guy with some talent. At most, he and Ye Fangfei are professional acquaintances. If you’re thinking about marriage, his background alone wouldn’t pass her parents’ standards. Making him your rival seems…”

Lin Jiale left the last words unsaid, giving Zhang Chen a look to let him draw his own conclusions.

Zhang Chen saw the logic, waved dismissively, and said, “Fine, let him stay.”

Finally, Lin Jiale managed to send off this difficult guest, cursing under his breath. On second thought, perhaps Lu Zhou really did have something special. Otherwise, why would Zhang Chen be so instinctively on guard?

He opened Lu Zhou’s music video from tonight and wondered to himself—could this be a dark horse?