Love Variety Show: The despised me exploded in popularity

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What's more annoying is that, for the second round, apart from Pei Muchan and the two challengers from the previous episode, the rest of the five local guests who advanced from the first round seemed to have the privilege to support their performance.

Moving from eight to six looks fairly simple if there are two conditions. First, the strong remain strong, with or without allies, and second, the weak call for reinforcements by directly shaking up people.

Speaking of fairness, it's quite fair. After all, except for the challengers from the first round, those who advanced need to get back on stage and fight even if they win.

The only one who had it a bit unfair was Pei Muchan, who was alone. She went to the challenge with a single song, which was like bringing a stool to the battlefield. How could she fight like that?

In the afternoon, the two began to roam around Jianye.

The area around Confucius Temple was packed like dumplings in a pot, lining up for a table usually started from two hundred tables, and after starving for over two hours, anything could taste like a state banquet.

Walking was terribly tiring; anything they drank seemed like national liquor.

Xu Qingyan, who couldn't bear those pretentious things any longer, bought some beef potstickers and then took Pei Muchan to another place, specially going to Zhujiang Road to eat Xu's duck.

The autumn tiger was still fierce, with the scorching sun blazing. So the two ducked into the shady alleys.

"I don't quite understand why they have to come all the way to Jianye for some trendy snacks," Xu Qingyan said as he walked into the narrow alley paved with green bricks, turning back to Pei Muchan.

Pei Muchan knew he was annoyed by the crowd, and she smiled with her lips pursed.

"Xu Qingyan, I want to eat green dumplings."

"Huh?" He looked at Pei Muchan standing in the cool shadow of the stone stele, cicadas chirping endlessly in the distance, "Then wait here for me for a bit, don't wander off."

A few minutes later, Xu Qingyan came back with two green dumplings.

"How come you're back so soon?" she asked, a little surprised.

"I spent a little money and had someone else buy them." He stuffed the green dumplings into Pei Muchan's hands, "Come on, we have to hurry or we won't make it in time."

During the afternoon, they wandered around Xuanwu Lake. They estimated that with their pace, it may take them about two hours to finish touring the entire park, so they stopped there.

They also went to the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum, where the crowds were so dense they could have flattened the tomb of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang by several centimeters. Pei Muchan preferred tranquility, hence they intentionally moved in the opposite direction of the crowd.
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Somehow they ended up where no one was around, turned back only to feel a heavy sense of gloom. They looked up to see the sunlight was no longer piercing, and after exchanging glances, they quickly retreated several hundred meters.

"Hey, do you think this counts as dancing on someone's grave?" he said casually.

"It's only you who's dancing."

Pei Muchan looked back at the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum, her eyes filled with curiosity, trying to find a sense of antiquity that has survived the ages in the completely commercialized ancient building.

But she saw nothing, and the hot summer was already past.

It wasn't until she turned her head and saw Xu Qingyan standing in front of her, one hand in his pocket, waiting while playing with his phone. Pei Muchan's heart constricted for a moment, with the sound of cicadas thick and incessant.

By the time they left the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum, the sky had already darkened.

In the car, through various food guides, Pei Muchan suggested they make a trip to Suojin Village. Xu Qingyan naturally had no objections, considering they might be eliminated tomorrow and return to Xinghai.

There's an old saying in the Xiahai Kingdom, since we're here.

Driving over to the area near the Jianye Forestry University, they looked around and finally found the place. Coming for its reputation, they ended up satiated after just one bowl of duck blood and vermicelli soup.

"Let's call it quits, I can't eat anymore." he said.

Pei Muchan walked to the corner of the street and then looked back, saying, "It's a pity. Who knows when I'll come to Jianye again."

"A good horse doesn't come back to the same grass, it's enough that we've been here." Xu Qingyan said, "Just give it your all tomorrow, and if all else fails, we can go back to Xinghai, that's where our base is."

Hearing this, Pei Muchan pursed her lips and smiled.

"That's true."

As the car headed towards the hotel, Xu Qingyan occasionally turned to look at Pei Muchan and finally couldn't resist asking.

"Why are you so happy? Have you figured it out?"

"Am I happy?"

"You've been smiling the whole way."

"Oh~ No, I just think you're right." Pei Muchan didn't lift her head and kept her fingers busy swiping on the screen, looking very focused.

In the pause at a red light, he sneaked a peek and discovered she was watching a dance video.

"What did I say?"

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"Xinghai is our core base, not here," Pei Muchan carefully removed the word "us" from her original statement, her expression unchanged.

Her little cleverness went unnoticed, as Xu Qingyan was the type who would speak and then forget immediately, taking a moment before reacting.

"Oh, I thought it was something else," he said as he put the car in drive and slowly accelerated through the intersection, "What's being the 'King of Singers' anyway?"

"If you ask me, the world is just one big, shoddy troupe. You see those self-proclaimed top influencers, divas, and kings of singers, but in reality, they're not that unattainable," she said.

"We're just getting started, we're still so young, there's so much we can do. The win or loss for a singer isn't decided by the production team; get past this hurdle, and you're the winner."

Pei Muchan's eyelashes trembled slightly, she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and gave a light hum.

She envied people like Xu Qingyan, with hearts like steel, burning hot as soon as the sun shone on them. It seemed as if such people were born for challenges, conquering every mountain and field with invincibility.

In comparison, Pei Muchan felt herself fragile and weak, a little bit of despair enough to crush her. Fortunately, there was someone to light her way, so she wouldn't wander aimlessly.

Returning to the hotel, they each entered their rooms to rest.

Xu Qingyan originally planned to take a shower; he had already taken off his pants when Lin Wanzhou sent a message. The young girl was probably timing it, cautiously asking if he was free.

"Hmm?"

He had stripped down to just his underwear, scratched his face, and replied.

"I am, what's up?"

This man, when facing his benefactors, always had one principle: to be obliging. Time was like a sponge, always there when you squeezed it, always surging when touched.

"Ting Ting's asleep; I want to go out and get something to eat," she said.

"No problem, I'll take you out," Xu Qingyan, although puzzled as to why Qi Ting would go to sleep at eight, quickly replied, "Send me your location."

The hotel where Pei Muchan was staying and the one where the show's guests resided were not the same; as a one-time expense, there was emphasis on differential treatment.

He got dressed, sneaked out the door, took the elevator down, and drove off.

In the elevator, he received a screenshot from Zhou Mian and a series of hearty laughing emoticons with smiling yellow faces.

"Bro, your hot search ranking has been shaken by Chen Feiyu," it read.

Xu Qingyan hadn't even looked closely at the image; he first sent back an emoticon.

"You're such a fucking shrimp head!"

The elevator continued its swift descent as he casually opened the Weibo screenshot. Basically, Chen Feiyu had written a lengthy 800-word post to clarify (whitewash) that he wasn't two-timing anyone.

At the end, Chen Feiyu included a photo of a blue island.

"Loved the sea, loved you too."

The comment section below blew up, with vehement voices of condemnation. The momentum was too strong to suppress. The insults were all-encompassing, going back eighteen generations.

Xu Qingyan didn't look closely; he simply glanced and exited.

He picked up Lin Wanzhou in his car; the young girl had just sat down in the passenger seat and hadn't even fastened her seatbelt when her delicate nostrils twitched, and she turned her head, staring at him in a daze.

"...Did you guys go out this afternoon?"

Upon hearing this, Xu Qingyan's back was instantly covered in sweat.

Damn, does this girl have a dog's nose or what? She could smell that? Officer Mouri sure messed up getting Takagi as an assistant; he'd be outclassed by her by now if he had chosen her instead of Conan.

"No, it's the show's car, I just borrowed it in the afternoon," Xu Qingyan said.

"Oh," Lin Wanzhou buckled her seatbelt, turned to glance at him, her eyes blinking, "I didn't mean the car smelled, it's on you."

Xu: "?????"

Really?

If Lin Wanzhou weren't present, he would've definitely bent down to sniff hard. Now, he could only cough awkwardly and quickly come up with an excuse to dodge the subject.

"It might be because of sharing the same car, what did you say about eating again?"

"Oh, let me check." Lin Wanzhou took out her phone, swiped through it, and then looked up, "I heard the duck blood soup with vermicelli at Suojin Village is delicious, let's go there."

Shit, he had just come back from there.

"Really?" Xu Qingyan started the car, his eyelids twitching, "Let's go now, then."

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