CH 13

The following morning, plenty of food was stored in the refrigerator from yesterday’s grocery shopping. The breakfast would naturally be much richer from the variety of ingredients. 

Although Cheng Qing was an excellent cook, she couldn’t do all of the cooking herself so the celebrities assisted her with preparing the dishes.

Even Luo Xi, who had almost no experience with cooking, decided to help as well and walked into the room innocently.

She entered the kitchen and searched the drawers for a small knife since she found it difficult to handle a normal sized knife. 

Grabbing a few vegetables, she started cutting them into messy pieces, but after a few seconds of sloppy chopping, her knife got stuck in the vegetable and she wasn’t able to pull it out.

Cheng Qing noticed her struggle and lightly chuckled at her lack of experience. She ran to Luo Xi’s side to help her, chatting happily as they cooked.

Others couldn’t say a thing, after all, one Cheng Qing could compensate for three, and since she was helping Luo Xi, it would be worth more than two Luo Xi’s cooking in the kitchen! 

When breakfast was finished being prepared, everyone sat at the table to eat. The food was much tastier with Cheng Qing’s guidance, and everybody ate until their bellies were round.

After the hearty meal, the celebrities gathered in the living room. 

The current plan was for them to complete one task per day, with today being the first day of practice, however, the director had other plans in mind.

Kong Mingyan clapped his hands to bring everyone’s attention and announced, “Instead of practicing with your teachers today, I want to play a game with you all!”

Everyone turned their heads in surprise to look at him. 

After so many episodes, they have already played many games. Why are you suddenly wanting to play when we should be practicing today?

Kong Mingyan noticed everyone’s puzzled expressions and just smiled, “Now! Let us reveal the next game that everyone will play. It is…” taking a dramatic step back, he asked the assistant director to uncover the task from the red cloth.

The veil was quickly pulled away, revealing a board with a few large characters written on it——Truth or Dare!!

Everyone: “…”

Kong Mingyan asked with a smile, “How is it???”

Li Mingyao sneered and said, “Don’t you know how old this game is by now?”

“…Ah? Is it not popular to play this? But it’s very fun!”

Luo Xi crossed her arms, “It was popular 10 years ago.”

Kong Mingyan sucked in a breath, feeling as if an arrow had struck his chest. He couldn’t bear the misery of accepting his old age so he asked, “But still…do you really not like playing this game?” 

Feng Qiuyi chuckled, “It’s not very common to play it in this generation.”

Despite what the others said, Kong Mingyan slapped his hands on the table and decided, “Hmph! Regardless, we still have to play it! This is a decision made by the show’s sponsors.” Actually, it was my decision, but the result is the same!

Everyone: “…”

Cheng Qing rested her chin against the coffee table with one hand while drawing shapes on it with the other. She became skeptical when she heard the director wanted to play truth or dare.

This plot seems to be…very important in the novel?

If she recalled correctly, this was the turning point in Ye Lingyun’s relationship with the hero Li Mingyao. The game may appear to be just for fun, but its true purpose was to increase the number of cp fans for Ye Lingyun and Li Mingyao.

Cheng Qing couldn’t remember much of the plot, but she did recall something vaguely. She knew that Kong Mingyan would play tricks in this game.

Could it be that their relationship grew a lot because Ye Lingyun made jokes with Li Mingyao in the supermarket yesterday? Is that why their cp fans are rapidly increasing?

In her original world and even in this world, Cheng Qing didn’t follow celebrities. Strictly speaking, Luo Xi was the only star she had pursued.

In order to get to know her, Cheng Qing followed her super talk, created a fan group, and even learned how to make charts. She became aware that, despite Luo Xi’s temperament, she still had many fans.

Cheng Qing had also been familiar with the idea that cp fans could appear inexplicably. It is even possible to argue that many of them fall into the trap with just one look.

However, they can also boost your popularity, so once people can afford it, many are willing to increase them.

Sure enough, the live broadcast opened right before they played Truth or Dare.

【Ahhh, I’m back!】

【Long live the promise of eternity】

【Qingqing, today is also the day you should pamper Xixi】

【My princess is so cute, she sat beside her obediently today!】

However, Cheng Qing didn’t know that the so-called fans actually belonged to her and Luo Xi.

In her memory of the plot, Ye Lingyun and Li Mingyao’s cp fans have already established a foundation at this time, so the program seemed to be preparing for them.

Kong Mingyang walked around with a bowl full of sticks for everyone to take. Cheng Qing reached out to grab a stick from the bowl while mentally flipping through the novel’s memories in her mind.

She drew one, then took a look.

Number 7? Thankfully, it wasn’t a common number to call.

Given that there is no limit to the number of players in Truth or Dare, even 12 people can play. However, instead of winning a mini-game to determine the king, the king would be decided by drawing lots as it would be inconvenient if everyone were to play a game every round.

Among the 12 bamboo sticks, only one was blank, this meant that the person with the empty stick would be king.

In the first round, Cheng Qing drew the number 7 while Ye Lingyun drew the king. Because this was Ye Lingyun’s first time playing, she was cautious, and only asked number 3 to answer a question.

Liu Suoyu was number 3 and Ye Lingyun asked him if he had any crushes before.

The question was relatively common and Liu Suoyu’s answer was quite satisfactory.

After several rounds of the game had passed, Cheng Qing was grateful not to be called out, but she also didn’t win the king once. She simply sat there and watched everything take place. 

Ye Lingyun and Li Mingyao, on the other hand, were called out twice.

The first time involved daring Li Mingyao to run around while carrying Ye Lingyun on his back, and the second time involved Ye Lingyun confessing her love to Li Mingyao.

The viewers seemed to mostly be paying attention to the two of them, but Cheng Qing was convinced that the director had planted tricks in the game.

As the celebrities waited to see who would answer a question or do a dare, everyone became nervous at the possibility of being called out.

For the last time, Cheng Qing picked the number 9.

‘I’m a little worried that this number… is not very safe! Up until this point, I don’t think the number 9 has been called.’

Suddenly, Liu Suoyu burst into a maniacal laughter as he raised the empty stick in his hand, “Hahaha! this time I am the king!”

Cheng Qing: ‘Why does he sound like he’s about to say something ridiculous?’

Just as Cheng Qing finished her thought, she heard him say, “I want number 9 and number 4 to kiss each other.”

Cheng Qing’s breath stagnated as she lowered her head to confirm her number.

No doubt, it was number 9!

Wait, can TV stations and live studios even record this in such a game?

Besides, who is number 4? Cheng Qing turned her head and looked around while everyone also did the same.

Liu Suoyu was still laughing as he said, “Come out numbers 9 and 4!”

Cheng Qing was about to raise her hand when suddenly, Luo Xi fiercely threw her bamboo stick onto the table. 

She stood up, looked around the room, and declared arrogantly, “I’m not playing this game anymore!”

Cheng Qing looked at the bamboo stick she threw down, it was indeed number 4.

“But this is the request of the program’s sponsors.” Kong Minyang was not angry and only crossed his arms.

Cheng Qing suddenly remembered that on the path to Luo Xi’s terrible misfortune in the novel, she did not cooperate with the program’s request, and since no one liked uncooperative people, this made her unpopular with the crew. 

Cheng Qing didn’t want this to happen to her and extended her hand to hold her wrist, “Wait, Luo Xi!”

Luo Xi stopped moving and frowned back at her, Cheng Qing could only smile lightly and say, “Luo Xi, it’s okay, it’s just a kiss.”

Luo Xi looked at her, feeling offended by her words. The rims of her eyes turned bright red as she stared at Cheng Qing, “You…”

But before Luo Xi could finish her sentence, Cheng Qing threw the stick she was holding onto the table, making a resounding ‘clack’ noise. Everyone turned to look at the stick and realized that Cheng Qing was number 9.

The tears in Luo Xi’s eyes were quickly blinked back as she stared at the stick in shock.

Cheng Qing stood up, approached Luo Xi until she was within reach, and whispered, “You can get through this, it’ll be quick, I promise.” 

Cheng Qing brought her hand up to hold the side of Luo Xi’s face as she stared at her soft lips.

Luo Xi’s breathing became increasingly heavier when Cheng Qing started to move closer. Even though they hadn’t kissed yet, she could clearly feel the loud thumps of her heart and her lips that became so hot. Luo Xi even suspected that Cheng Qing could hear her heartbeats.

The comments were shocked and started screaming by this sudden reversal!

【I’m dead, I’m dead, I’m dead!!!】

【Where is my insulin????】

【Move the Civil Affairs Bureau here!!!】

In contrast to the screaming comments, the area around Cheng Qing and Luo Xi was completely silent. To be honest, this requirement was a little extreme. 

After all, everyone here was considered successful, so why would they want to do things that went beyond their bottom line?

Kissing like this, even when filming, should be informed in advance. That was why the requests had been normal…until now. Only Liu Suoyu dared to propose such an embarrassing thing.

But no one could resist watching the show! 

Everyone’s eyes widened as they observed the two beauties getting closer, and for some reason, their hearts also started to beat faster.

This is probably what it means to have good chemistry!

As Cheng Qing approached closer, the tiny space between the two could not prevent the feeling of every breath they let out.

Luo Xi drowned everything else out as she solely focused on Cheng Qing’s breathing. Every time she exhaled, Luo Xi’s neck would feel the warm dampness of it, even the shower gel on Cheng Qing’s body smelled particularly clear.

Luo Xi was close enough to see the soft fuzz that delicately hid her porcelain skin, her cherry-colored lips that seemed as if they were the sweet fruit itself, and…her eyes. 

Those gentle and caring eyes that made her feel at ease.

A feeling came over Luo Xi as she kept staring at Cheng Qing’s smooth lips. She closed her eyes and moved her head forward to accept the kiss. 

When suddenly, she felt a warm, soft peck between her eyebrows. The pleasant sensation lasted for only a brief second as it left in an instant.

Cheng Qing let go of Luo Xi’s face and turned to Liu Suoyu with a smirk, “You just said to kiss but you didn’t say where right?”

Liu Suoyu almost spat out a mouthful of blood and managed to smile bitterly, “Haha…hahaha, you’re right.”

Cheng Qing smiled and helped Luo Xi sit down. 

Luo Xi, on the other hand, raised her hand to touch the spot where she had been kissed as she stared blankly at Cheng Qing.  

Cheng Qing noticed her reaction and realized Luo Xi was upset, so she smiled apologetically and whispered into her ear, “When we return to the room, I will apologize to you, so please don’t be angry with me, okay?”

Luo Xi continued to touch the place where she was kissed and turned her reddened face away, “Who wants you to make an apology? I had also acted out earlier so I will apologize instead.”

Cheng Qing smiled warmly at her and said, “Thank you, for not being angry,” as she reached out to hold Luo Xi’s hand while gently bringing it down.

Luo Xi gave Cheng Qing a quick glance before returning her gaze to the front, hands neatly placed on her lap. She appeared to be in a daze, staring into space, and lost in her thoughts.

Kong Mingyan smiled thoughtfully as he watched Luo Xi’s reaction, while everybody in the comment section had completely covered the entire screen with screams.

Kong Mingyan felt satisfied with the effect, but he also believed that Luo Xi’s agent would be very pleased with this as well.