Reba tore open the wrapper and popped the candy into her mouth.
Liu Lang immediately put on a sincere expression:
“Fifty yuan each. Cash or Feixin (messaging app) transfer?”
“Cough cough!!” Reba choked instantly.
“(￣o￣)” Everyone froze.
“You jerk!” Reba coughed until her cheeks turned red, so angry she almost threw the lollipop in his face.
“They’re just over ten bucks in the store. You’re charging fifty? Are you trying to rob me?!”
“Come on, I travelled all this way. Isn’t it fair for the middleman to make a little profit?”
“Oh my god! You’re not here for the show—you’re here to scalp us!”
Reba’s eyes went wide with disbelief.
Pffft! Yang Mi and the others couldn’t hold back anymore and burst out laughing.
The live chat was also going wild with comments:
“This guy’s a legend! Everyone else came for love, he came looking for a business opportunity!”
“A single lollipop costs more than ten bucks… Is this guy really as broke as he looks?”
“To catch a fish, you gotta use good bait!”
“Exactly! Look—he already reeled in a glutton like Dilraba!”
“This dude’s hilarious. I like him.”
Laughter filled both the set and the screen.
Soon, the show’s PD and staff made their appearance.
A total of four male and four female guests had arrived on set.
Two more were expected to join a few days later due to scheduling conflicts.
Since they didn’t need to wait, the show officially began.
Meanwhile, on the other side of town, a middle-aged couple sat in front of the TV, staring at the screen in disbelief.
“He just went like that?” the man asked in shock.
“This is your fault!” the woman complained.
“Always talking about how boys should be raised tough. You’ve spoiled him for years without caring about appearances. Now this? No allowance, no interference—of course he’s getting looked down on.”
“You don’t understand. Our son must keep a low profile,” the man sighed.
“This might actually be a good thing. At the very least, if he finds someone, it’ll be someone who likes him, not his money.”
“Then why even go on the show? Why not just set up blind dates? Don’t forget, these girls are all celebrities—super picky! You think they’re gonna fall for him ‘cause he looks good riding a shared bike? Or ‘cause he marks up lollipops?”
“He used to be really into celebrities. I figured a show like this might spark some motivation—maybe give him a better shot…”
“More like make him a joke!”
“Sigh… Whether he finds someone or not isn’t the point. What I’m really afraid of is if we keep him locked up any longer, he’ll get sick from the stress.” The man continued,
“Now he’s on a show. For the next two months, he’ll be under the eyes of the staff and millions of viewers, interacting with girls every day. You think he’ll have time to mess around or dwell on bad habits?”
“…That’s true,” the woman murmured thoughtfully.
“And hey, if something does happen, love has the power to change a person—sometimes drastically,” the man said, watching the screen.
“But honestly—are you really okay with this? These girls… their parents are either government officials or artists. Only that girl named Yu has a relatively nice background,” the woman added, eyeing him.
The man waved dismissively.
“It doesn’t matter. To us, they’re all the same. As long as he likes her, they get along, and she helps him become a real man… then it doesn’t matter who she is.”
“Glad you’re finally seeing things clearly!” the woman chuckled.
Back at the show, the producers began explaining the next part of the program.
Liu Tianxian couldn’t help but sneak a few glances at Liu Lang, curiosity growing in her heart.
She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she felt like he was a little like her—like he had come to this show with some kind of mission.
A person can fake things, but not their eyes.
And when he asked Reba for money earlier, his eyes were absolutely sincere.
That convinced her of one thing: Liu Lang definitely wasn’t that person.
Someone who fusses over ten bucks couldn’t possibly be one of those ultra-wealthy heirs—those guys could crash a multi-million-dollar supercar and not even flinch.
Thinking that, Liu Tianxian had a new realization:
If that was the case, this guy might actually be the safest male guest on the show.
As long as she stayed close to him during the show, the others wouldn’t be able to touch her. It’d be the safest way to make it to the end.
She looked at Liu Lang, her eyes glimmering with new interest.
According to the showrunners, all guests would soon be transported to a remote countryside villa called the “Love Cabin.”
The next two months would be spent living together at the villa.
If anyone had business to attend to, they could apply to temporarily leave and return once they were free.
Every day, the show would arrange various activities to help deepen bonds and improve compatibility between guests.
After the introduction, two vehicles designed for the guests pulled up to the set.
The male and female guests pulled their suitcases onto the vehicles and left the set together.
On the way, both cars were relatively quiet.
In the girls’ car, aside from Yang Mi and Reba, who were genuinely close friends, the rest of the girls mostly exchanged polite small talk and didn’t engage much.
In the guys’ car, maybe because they were technically competitors, the atmosphere felt like everyone was putting on a front—fake smiles and surface-level socializing.
As for Liu Lang, he got on the bus and immediately fell asleep.
This scene quickly became a source of teasing and mockery in the livestream chat.
An hour later, the vehicles entered a mountainous area.
After passing through a long tunnel, the view suddenly opened up.
White clouds floated gently overhead, lush green mountains stretched on endlessly, and colourful flowers dotted the forests. In the distance, a deep blue coastline came into view, with seagulls occasionally crying as they flew by.
For a moment, it felt like they had stepped into a peaceful, otherworldly paradise.
“This is beautiful!” Reba couldn’t help but praise.
“Yeah,” a staff member smiled and explained.
“This area is part of a nature reserve. It hasn’t been developed and there are no tourist routes. Aside from a few fishing villages, the scenery is completely untouched.”
As they chatted, the vehicles passed through a village and eventually stopped at the base of a hill by the sea.
Before them stood a courtyard full of pastoral charm and romantic decorations.
Once the cars stopped, staff from both vehicles began explaining the next steps:
“As you can see, within the courtyard there are two ‘Love Cabins’—Building A and Building B.
Each building has three floors. The first floor includes dining and indoor activity areas, the second floor has four suites, and the third floor has two large suites with terraces…”
“We’re not all staying together?” Yang Mi asked, curious.
“That’s right! How you choose where to stay will be up to the guests themselves.”
“……” Liu Tianxian and the others began to ponder.
According to the staff, if you liked someone, you could choose to stay in the same building as them.
If not, you could choose the opposite building—out of sight, out of mind.
Seeing that everyone got the gist, the staff smiled again:
“Next, there will be a test.”
“Oh?” the guests looked intrigued.
“Once the car door opens, only one male guest and one female guest may exit. They will walk together across the bridge in front of the Love Cabins and head to the entry board.
There, they’ll each insert their nameplates into either Building A or B to choose where they’ll be staying.”
“Only one pair at a time?” Reba blinked.
“Exactly. When a male guest volunteers to go first, the female guests can choose whether or not to follow based on who it is.”
“What if we regret our choice after moving in?”
“There will be other activities later that allow for changes,” the staff said, a bit mysteriously.
Hearing this, Yang Mi and the others grew thoughtful.
Meanwhile, the livestream chat started blowing up:
“Whoa, this is interesting! You have to make a decision without knowing much about the other person… testing love at first sight?”
“You’re too naive! If you don’t like someone, you can still follow them off the bus… just to pick the opposite house as soon as you get there.”
“That’s savage. The guys are going to be so embarrassed. If it were me, I’d refuse to go first—why take the risk and get shot down?”
“Calling it now—the least likely to go first is Liu Lang. The guy’s broke, stingy, and made a fuss over one lollipop. Unless the girls are blind, who’d want to room with him?”
“Right?! Let’s see which male guest has the guts to go first…”
“……”
“Wait, that was fast?! The car door opened—someone’s getting out!”
“!!???”
“Holy crap! The first one off the bus is… Liu Lang?!”
“……”
Silence swept through the livestream.
Even the staff and female guests inside the vehicle looked visibly stunned.
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