“Uh, isn’t he interested in just about anyone? Haven’t you had enough of those tabloid stories yet? Bisexual and still not wild enough for you?”
“Sorry, but my brother could fall for anyone—except ugly people. Don’t secretly lose your cool over it.”
“Who’s secretly losing their cool? We just care which son-in-law Tang Tang picks, okay?”
“Please don’t call them sons-in-law; I’m gonna hurl…”
The live chat was on the verge of exploding into another massive argument, blotting out the screen. But Su Tang made the first move.
He shot Cheng Yan a guilty look while “accidentally” dropping a bombshell right in front of the cameras. “Yanyan, when I got into that car accident before, it was Brother Fu who protected me. So I want to give him my card. Is that okay?”
When Su Tang said those words, even the Self-Rescue System, which had been quietly watching the show in Fu Yanzong’s mind, couldn’t help exclaiming, “He actually calls that ‘protection’?”
Fu Yanzong’s lips twitched in amusement. He thought to himself that Su Tang was remarkably tolerant in some ways—being dragged over as a human shield and spinning it as protection was quite the skill.
As he spoke, Su Tang placed the card in Fu Yanzong’s hand. Then, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, he reached out toward what Fu Yanzong was holding and asked with a beaming smile, “Brother Fu, what were you writing earlier? It looks like so much fun.”
Fu Yanzong stood up and blocked the outstretched hand with expert precision, avoiding any physical contact. He quickly set Su Tang’s card aside at the bottom of the pile. Out of politeness, he glanced at the writing on everyone else’s cards, but he didn’t even pretend to look at the one from Su Tang.
Su Tang froze for a moment and turned back, only to meet Cheng Yan’s gaze from his seat. Cheng Yan stared at him expressionlessly for a beat before tilting his head back and politely handing his own card to Fu Yanzong.
“Teacher Fu,” Cheng Yan said softly.
“…”
Fu Yanzong took the card with genuine interest. He flipped it over and found no ambiguous confession—just a single line: “Our goals are aligned.”
Fu Yanzong studied it for a moment before raising an eyebrow with keen curiosity.
In the original story, Cheng Yan had been toyed with like a dog by Su Tang. But from what he could see today, it was obvious who the real fool was.
Cheng Yan’s action sparked a flurry of question marks in the live chat. Su Tang’s fans, however, insisted that the “goals aligned” card was meant for Su Tang—after all, they were teammates, so it made sense. They claimed Cheng Yan was just jealous and making a desperate move to rile up Su Tang.
Though this theory smacked of massive self-importance, no one really refuted it, given how close Su Tang and Cheng Yan had always been.
That left only Fu Yanzong’s card unclaimed. Even the host standing at the front was curious. He smiled and asked, “So, which lucky person will Teacher Fu give his card to?”
Fu Yanzong’s eyes curved at the corners, the mole at the end of one lifting slightly as he narrowed them. His long fingers idly spun the silver-white card by its edge.
His Adam’s apple bobbed as he drawled from his lips, deliberately repeating the question. “Yeah… who should it go to?”
The live chat’s anticipation hit fever pitch. Even though they knew he couldn’t see it, viewers begged him not to tease them anymore. The host, for the sake of the show, started guessing names one by one.
But even after the host ran through a full round, Fu Yanzong showed no reaction.
Instead, he flicked his index finger, sending the card lightly back into his palm.
After a long moment, Fu Yanzong slowly lifted his eyelids and smiled. “Don’t we still have a mystery guest to appear?”
Mystery guests usually showed up later, emerging from inside the villa after the production team gave clues for the others to guess their identity. They skipped the initial card-giving round.
But since Fu Yanzong had brought it up, the host had to improvise. “Looks like Brother Fu did his homework before coming on the show. He’s already interested in our mystery guest, and we haven’t even reached the villa yet! Let’s all guess together. First clue: it’s connected to the villa right in front of us!”
The civilian guests let out excited “whoas” and teased each other in that over-the-top variety show style, joking that the production team had hit the jackpot with a real big-shot CEO this time. They decided to guess their way down from the richest tycoons on the Forbes list.
Meanwhile, Su Tang stood there inwardly cursing Fu Yanzong and Cheng Yan for their jealousy making him look bad. He plastered on a huge smile, ready to shout out the answer he already knew.
“Ah! I got it—is it Lin—”
“Wait, it isn’t our boss, is it?!”
Su Tang’s voice was cut off again.
Shen Yuan’s shocked cry came from beside him, instantly drawing all the cameras her way. The once bright and bubbly girl now had a look of utter despair in her eyes. “No wonder this place felt familiar… You guys aren’t pulling that ‘boss on-site inspection to check employee performance’ bit from season one again, are you?”
Su Tang could only clamp his mouth shut in fury.
Shen Yuan’s mention brought back memories of that iconic season-one moment—the office romance variety show where workers outsmarted their boss—which had the live chat reminiscing and gasping in awe:
“No way, they actually invited Song Linyu? Isn’t he loaded? Why does he need the hype?”
“I knew having Tang Tang here meant they’d snag anyone. Who doesn’t know how shippable Song Linyu and our Tang Tang are? Can’t wait for the love triangle drama!”
“Love triangle hype +1!”
Su Tang’s fans went wild in the chat the moment Shen Yuan named Song Linyu. Su Tang himself awkwardly shut his mouth and tried to twist his expression into one of shy excitement. Then, feigning boundless energy, he bounded down the bus steps two at a time to steal the spotlight.
“It’s Linyu-ge!” he announced. “I can’t wait to go into the villa and find him—”
But before he could finish, the hand reaching for the van door was stopped by another, with distinct knuckles. Fu Yanzong’s hand curved slightly as he calmly reached past Su Tang and pushed the door open.
And so, another face appeared plainly in front of the cameras.
Song Linyu, who should have been waiting inside the villa, had instead been standing quietly outside the shuttle bus for some time.
He had traded his usual black suit for a light gray linen shirt, collar slightly open to reveal a hint of collarbone, sleeves rolled casually to his forearms, exposing slender white wrists.
Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, casting a soft glow over him.
In that moment, both the guests in front of the cameras and the viewers behind them could clearly sense how different this Song Linyu was from the stern, aloof, even somewhat brooding head of Dongyu they usually saw online or on TV.
Fu Yanzong’s eyes curved again, brimming with mischievous amusement. He feigned mild surprise without much conviction and chuckled softly. “President Song. What a coincidence.”
Song Linyu tilted his face up to meet Fu Yanzong’s gaze. The glaring sunlight made him squint instinctively, and his tea-colored eyes—partly hidden by his bangs—flowed with a natural, melting softness and docility.
He stared at Fu Yanzong’s face for so long that he seemed to lose himself for a moment. His dry, pale lips pressed together unconsciously, gaining a faint flush of pink.
“Meeting you means my Little Fish has found a home, right?”
That was what Fu Yanzong said as he turned back to the camera with a smile.
He was clearly just referring to the cute little doodle fish he’d drawn earlier. But his lazy, contented tone made it sound far too intimate, giving everyone goosebumps.
The dark mole at the corner of his eye made his smile all the more bewitching. As he looked away, the ends of his hair swayed unhurriedly.
Fu Yanzong got off the bus and, under everyone’s gaze, slowly slid the silver-white card into Song Linyu’s shirt pocket. The soft rustle of the fabric was indescribably intimate, making the person standing in the sunlight hold their breath without even thinking.
Song Linyu paused for a beat before gently pulling out the card to look at it. His fingertips pressed lightly against it as he murmured softly, “Bro…”
His voice was so quiet that the mic clipped to his clothes barely picked it up. The audience, glued to the scene, instinctively turned up their volume but caught nothing.
“Can I give my card to Song Linyu?”
Fu Yanzong ignored the faint address he’d just used and innocently directed the question to the production team, as if he hadn’t already slipped the card to Song Linyu without permission.
The host was stunned for a long moment, his mind racing over whether this would affect the current guest rankings. He didn’t respond right away.
But before he could, Song Linyu had already lowered his eyes and stared seriously at the little fish doodle for a while. In a slightly muffled voice, he answered earnestly, “Yes.”
Yes, it could go to Song Linyu.
“Uh… Does Teacher Fu not want to give it to anyone else?”
After hesitating, the host double-checked. “We still have a guest who hasn’t received a card yet, so you could…”
He was referring to Su Tang, still dumbly standing on the bus steps. But before the host could finish, Song Linyu cut him off.
“It’s what I want.” Song Linyu looked at the crowd before him, lifting his chin slightly as he repeated his words with grave seriousness, enunciating each one: “It’s what I want. So, can you leave Fu Yanzong’s card for me?”
