CSGM - Chapter 152
Chapter 152: Extra - Love Reality Show
Two years later.
Peach Video launched a new variety show called Love Cultivation.
Synopsis of the show: Love Cultivation is a reality observation program about intimate relationships, produced by the Chinese video streaming site Peach Video. The show will document the real lives of four celebrity couples in a rural countryside and outdoor travel setting. The program will feature a variety of games and showcase a warm, domestic atmosphere. Each season will share the celebrity couples' coping strategies and sweet moments when facing life's challenges.
Zhang Yuxue, who had been forced to return home to inherit the family business and was gradually taking over from her father, served as the producer for this show. For the first season, she needed to find four married couples to participate.
There weren't many celebrity couples in the entertainment industry. Even fewer had stable, loving relationships, and fewer still dared to expose their private lives in front of the camera.
This difficulty in casting was enough to give Little Boss Zhang a major headache.
The most famous celebrity couples were, for one, busy with other work, and for another, had a heavy public image to maintain. They were afraid that appearing on this show might stir up relationship problems, leading to a flood of negative press about them online.
Frustrated by her inability to find a top-tier celebrity couple who could draw in viewers, Zhang Yuxue thought long and hard before setting her sights on the "ChuChu dong Ren" couple.
After hearing her proposal, the rest of the production team looked so shocked their eyes were about to pop out of their heads.
The production team: "!!!"
Was the young Little Boss Zhang trying to shake up the entertainment industry? She actually dared to invite a same-sex couple onto the show!
But Zhang Yuxue didn't think it was a big deal. Instead, she lifted her head proudly and said:
"What's wrong with it? They have a marriage certificate. They're legal spouses."
Besides, this pair, Teacher and her wife, would bring in more than enough viewers.
For the past two years, fans and netizens had been desperately waiting for them to appear together. If they were invited directly onto a love reality show, wouldn't the reaction be even more explosive?
In any case, Zhang Yuxue held all the power on this show. Her word was final.
As it happened, Chu Xi had recently been feeling dissatisfied that Ren Zhi hadn't been spending enough quality time with her. The invitation to this show came at the perfect moment, playing right into her hands.
Traveling and living with her Baby?
Spending fifteen consecutive days together?
Chu Xi's eyes sparkled as she signed the contract. Then she went to find Ren Zhi, pestering and begging her to go on the show.
"Baby, Baby, this is a type of work, too. Please go. What's the difference what kind of work it is? Just try this one..."
One month later.
Chu Xi and Ren Zhi drove their SUV, loaded with luggage, to the filming location for the first episode of the first season of Love Cultivation.
The location was a small village nestled by the sea. Under the sun, the blue ocean crashed against the beach in white waves, and hermit crabs scuttled left and right in the sand, their shells on their backs.
It was the height of a sweltering summer, and this northern sea had become a refuge from the heat. The air was filled with a gentle humidity.
Looking back from the shore, rows of stately white houses with deep blue glazed tile roofs stood beneath rolling mountains and dense green trees, somewhat resembling a small town from ancient times.
Under the golden sunlight, they were arranged in a scattered yet orderly fashion amidst the heat haze and mist, like ice cubes floating in an orange liqueur.
Chu Xi got out of the car, tilted her head back, and stretched her arms toward the sun.
She was dressed casually today in a white T-shirt tucked into loose-fitting jeans, with a brown leather belt cinching her waist and accentuating her lean, powerful waistline. A silver bracelet, as fair and clean as her skin, adorned her right wrist, while a Richard Mille mechanical watch was on her left.
Ren Zhi got out after her, smiling as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and over her shoulder.
A wine-red dress gave her an exceptionally charming allure. Her high heels, adorned with fine silver sequins, sank into the sand, leaving a small imprint on the ground. Her lips were crimson, her eyes bright and clear, and her long, wavy brown hair cascaded down her back.
She still fully lived up to the fans' praise of "as long as the face is there, the empire stands." In fact, one could say that after turning thirty, she had gained a more mature and sexy charm, making her even more captivating.
The one thing Chu Xi and Ren Zhi had in common was the matching rings on their right ring fingers, both glinting in the sunlight.
Two years ago, they had gotten married and obtained a marriage certificate abroad. Since then, they had almost never taken off the various matching rings on their ring fingers. This also deterred others from having any designs on them; everyone knew these two were spoken for and had a stable relationship, leaving no opportunity for anyone to make a move.
Chu Xi closed her eyes for a moment under the sun, then turned and jogged back.
She ducked into the car, grabbed two pairs of sunglasses, and walked over to Ren Zhi to help her put them on.
"Baby, the sun's a bit dazzling. Put these on."
Gently placing the sunglasses on Ren Zhi's nose, Chu Xi looked at her and grinned like a lovestruck fool.
"Baby, you're so beautiful."
Zhang Yuxue, sitting behind the camera, hissed and rubbed her bare arms.
Can't watch, can't watch. Teacher was never like this when she talked to her.
As expected, only when she was with her wife did Teacher act like this-
Talkative, childish, and prone to silly grinning.
In the sunlight, Ren Zhi wrapped her arms around Chu Xi's backlit figure, her hands circling behind her neck. She smiled and said:
"You too, darling. Everyone's watching, so tone it down a bit."
A few minutes later, the remaining three couples also arrived at the meeting point one by one.
The second couple was a forty-year-old female singer and a twenty-two-year-old rookie actor. The eighteen-year age gap was quite astonishing.
When the female singer saw Ren Zhi and Chu Xi standing on the beach, she practically ran over enthusiastically after getting out of the car-even though neither of them had ever worked with her, nor had they socialized privately.
The female singer, however, was immediately familiar with them, greeting them with great eagerness.
"Wow, hello! You got here so early! I'm Jin Xiao. We'll be spending time together from now on, so please take care of me."
Although Jin Xiao wasn't very famous, she took excellent care of herself as a woman. One look at her face and you could tell a lot of money had been spent on it.
-She looked as young as a thirty-year-old woman, but there was a sense of cosmetic work about her. That was Chu Xi's impression.
As for the young husband she brought along, he was timid and seemed unfamiliar with the industry. His face was a little chubby, and his eyes had a dazed look. He only spoke in a low voice after Jin Xiao prompted him.
"Hello, Teachers. My name is Sun Chen. You can just call me Chenchen."
Ren Zhi politely shook hands with Jin Xiao, but Chu Xi only glanced at each of them and gave a nod.
With her sunglasses on, her expression was cold and aloof.
The third couple was a fifty-five-year-old male crosstalk actor and a forty-six-year-old female stage actress. The age gap was also significant, but it paled in comparison to the previous couple.
The man got out of the car holding an open folding fan, which he leisurely fanned in front of his chest. Like his wife, who followed him out carrying a sun hat, he was slightly overweight.
He looked back at his wife and chuckled, "Aiyo, how are you wearing that hat? It's so cute. Here, here, let me help you."
He walked back to help his wife put on her sun hat properly. Only then did the two of them walk over hand-in-hand to greet the other two couples.
This couple was Yu Shen and Bai Mengyun.
The fourth couple's age gap was finally not as large. They were a relatively young couple: a thirty-two-year-old male actor and a thirty-year-old female actress. Although neither was very famous in the entertainment industry, they had the advantage of a positive reputation with almost no negative press or messy relationship scandals.
They also walked over hand-in-hand to say hello and introduce themselves.
When the male actor smiled, his eyes narrowed into slits. He had monolids. "I'm Song Xu."
The actress also had monolids, and when she smiled, they looked just like a married couple. "Hello, Teachers. I'm Tang Rang."
No matter who it was, Chu Xi's way of greeting was always the same: a brief glance and a nod.
Whenever she saw someone she didn't know, she wore that cold, unapproachable expression.
-This family relied entirely on Ren Zhi's effortless social skills to prevent things from getting awkward with the other three couples right from the start.
All four couples for the first season of Love Cultivation had now assembled.
The production team had done their background research, and it was now very clear that the four couples barely knew each other.
In the first episode, the production team's job was to help the guests quickly break the ice and get the couples to familiarize themselves with one another as soon as possible.
And so, after all four couples had gathered, the production team prepared an interactive game for them-
The Partner Chemistry Challenge.
Challenge details: Each couple will decide amongst themselves who will be Player A and who will be Player B. Player A will choose one item from a selection of 50 different items prepared by the production team and place it in a designated area. After all four Player A's have made their selections, Player B must find the item placed by their partner from a set of 10 items (including decoys) in the designated area. The successful couple will get to stay in a luxurious private villa.
It sounded like a very difficult game. After reading the rules, everyone's minds immediately started racing.
Just as everyone was about to whisper to each other to establish some basic strategy, the production team, one step ahead, quickly separated the two members of each couple before they could communicate.
"Quick, tell us who's Player A! You have ten seconds to decide!"
Zhang Yuxue, who had snatched the director's megaphone, looked strict, her tone as harsh as a kidnapper demanding a ransom.
Little Boss Zhang's heart was filled with a sense of justice; she wouldn't allow anyone to cheat in the game.
The four couples quickly decided on their Player A's: Ren Zhi, Jin Xiao, Bai Mengyun, and Tang Rang-all the women.
And the four Player B's were: Chu Xi, Sun Chen, Yu Shen, and Song Xu.
Just now, Chu Xi had overheard Song Xu discussing with Tang Rang:
"My mind works a bit faster than yours. You go pick, and I'll do the guessing. The success rate will be higher."
Chu Xi: "???"
So confident, and putting down his partner at the same time. She couldn't believe how Song Xu, with an IQ of 103, could have such a delusion in front of Tang Rang, whose IQ was 108.
What was even more absurd was that Tang Rang had nodded obediently, "Okay, we'll do as you say."
Chu Xi shook her head, looked away, and clicked her tongue.
The four Player A's were first taken to the game area by the production team's dune buggy. Ten minutes later, the buggy returned to pick up the remaining four Player B's.
On this wide, uneven stretch of sand, there were over forty unrelated items on one side-bouquets, tablets, soybean milk powder, badminton rackets, and so on. The other side was similar, with ten scattered small objects. Anyone who didn't know better would think someone was setting up a ring toss game.
However, the production team had already told the four Player B's that their partners had chosen an item they liked and placed it among the ten items on the left.
Now, they needed to find the item their partner had chosen.
-This was a true test of chemistry.
All the items were ordinary, everyday objects with no special meaning. This required the couples to have enough chemistry and be on the same wavelength to find the one correct answer out of ten.
The four Player A's were now sitting to one side, hugging their knees. The production team had forbidden them from speaking, so they could only smile and wave at their bewildered partners.
They silently sent encouraging looks that said, "Good luck, you can do it!"
Chu Xi looked at Ren Zhi. She was sitting calmly in the middle of the group with a faint smile, showing no worry for Chu Xi-or rather, she was very confident in her.
It had been inconvenient to run around on the sand earlier, so she had taken off her high heels. Now, the shoes were placed to the side, and her fair feet rested on the warm, soft sand. The sunlight cast a smooth arc across the top of her feet.
Chu Xi's heart stirred at the sight. She raised her hand and made an "OK" sign, signaling for her not to worry.
Leave it to me, no problem.
Baby is so cute.
Zhang Yuxue coughed into the megaphone, "No hand signals, or it will be considered a violation."
Chu Xi turned around, turning her hand as well. "Look closely, this is 'OK'."
Zhang Yuxue: "..." Teacher was so fierce with her, how could she dare to say anything?
She handed the megaphone back to the director, who announced:
"The four Player B guests will now begin the challenge. You have ten minutes. The timer starts now!"
As soon as they heard the word "start," the three male guests were about to run toward the pile of items on the left, but Chu Xi stepped in front and held out a hand to stop them.
Then she gestured in a circle around the area. "You guys go around the outside."
The three of them had no idea what she meant. But after a moment's hesitation, they all did as she said. It was a short distance anyway, so taking a curved path was just a few extra steps. No big deal.
Among the ten items were a knitted hat, a bottle of alcohol, a book, and a can of cat food...
The three men stared at them for a long time, but they couldn't make any connection. Which one could their wife have possibly placed there?
Soon, after wasting a minute with no leads, their attention shifted to the famously intelligent Chu Xi, hoping to get some help from her.
They looked around and realized Chu Xi hadn't even come over yet. She was still on the path ahead, bent over and observing something.
Her hands were clasped behind her back, and her sunglasses were clipped to her collar. Her clear, bright eyes were fixed on the ground, deep in thought.
A few seconds later, everyone watched as she walked to the middle of the area she had told the three men to avoid, crouched down, and stared at the ground as if lost in thought.
The three men walked over one by one to learn from her, asking what she was looking at.
Without looking up, Chu Xi said, "I'm looking at my wife's footprints."
"???"
Song Xu's small eyes were filled with great confusion. "Footprints? You can look at footprints?"
Yu Shen, on the other hand, asked humbly, "May I ask what you're looking at them for?"
Chu Xi pointed from the items on the right to the items on the left.
"They had to take an item from the right and move it to the left, so they all walked this path. The sand will have their footprints."
She pointed to a small, slight depression. "That one is my wife's."
Song Xu stared at it, blinking. "Are you sure that's a footprint?"
It didn't look like a footprint at all. That was because the sand here was shallow and the wind was blowing, so by the time they arrived, the footprints were mostly gone, leaving only small indentations.
"If you use your imagination to fill it in, it's a footprint."
Chu Xi said with a hint of disdain, thinking to herself, Can't you use a little imagination and think for a second?
"..." Song Xu was silent for a moment.
Brother Yu Shen first nodded slowly, then continued to ask humbly, "I can sort of see the outline. After filling it in, how do you determine whose footprint it is?"
Chu Xi answered him as if she had just heard the most bizarre thing.
"You can see its length, size, outline, and characteristic shape. How can you not identify it? Don't tell me you can't even recognize your own wife's footprints?"
The "can't even..." and "your own..." combined with her tone made the atmosphere of their conversation suddenly a bit awkward.
Even the humble and polite Brother Yu couldn't help but stare at her dumbfounded for three seconds.
Why did Chu Xi's tone make them sound like unfaithful husbands?
Sun Chen, who hadn't dared to speak, couldn't help but let out an "Uh..." He looked dazed and silently backed away.
I'm innocent! I still love my wife! I'm just a little slow!
Who knew that Chu Xi would then mutter, "Even if you're distant in other things, it shouldn't be this bad..."
Yu Shen, Song Xu, Sun Chen: "..."
No wonder their friends had warned them to be careful when talking to Chu Xi after hearing they were coming on this show!
Ren Zhi, sitting over there, gritted her teeth and let out a frustrated laugh, pressing her temple as if she'd given up all hope.
She had told Chu Xi to be more polite to others when they were out, but this was one thing she just couldn't seem to teach her!
The main point was, Chu Xi never thought her blunt honesty was offensive to others, and she didn't even know which of her words were out of line. That was the fatal reason she never learned.
Ren Zhi gave the three wives beside her an awkward but polite smile, trying to smooth things over for her.
"If she didn't need to use her original voice for filming, I'd often be tempted to give her some medicine to make her mute. She just goes around offending people everywhere she goes."
But the three wives didn't feel offended at all. Instead, they shook their heads, told her it was fine, and looked at her with envy.
"She's so good to you. If my husband were ever that observant, I'd think the sun had risen in the west."
"That's not it. She just has a high IQ and speaks her mind. I've seen a lot of her shows, and I quite like her. I wish our Old Yu had half her intelligence," said Bai Mengyun.
Ren Zhi immediately picked up on this topic. "Sister Yun, how old is your second son?"
Bai Mengyun: "Our second son is fifteen this year. He's in high school, but he just can't get into his studies. He wants to learn crosstalk from his grandfather, but he doesn't have the talent for it. We want him to get into a good university."
Ren Zhi said with a beaming smile, "Then let's add each other on WeChat. Have her add your son, too. It's no problem for her to help him with some homework when she's free. She's experienced with that."
"Really? Won't that be too much trouble for her?"
"Not at all. She solves problems very quickly. It only takes a few minutes."
"Then I have to thank you in advance! Haha, you two really complement each other so well. I wasn't sure how to talk to her today..."
On this side, it seemed the ice among the four couples was gradually breaking.
Zhang Yuxue, sitting behind the camera, couldn't help but marvel at how gracious teacher's wife was. She was already scoring major points for the show's first episode!
As for Teacher... she was still making people cringe left and right, participating in the reality show as her true, blunt self.
The three men around Chu Xi were silent for a while, but she was completely unaffected by the awkward atmosphere. After examining the footprints on the sand, she returned to the ten items.
The three followed her back and saw her crouching there, observing something again.
Her confident expression made Yu Shen set aside his earlier awkwardness and ask softly again.
"Xiao Chu, may I ask again what you're looking at this for?"
Chu Xi answered casually, "Process of elimination."
Yu Shen scratched his head. "Huh...?"
Suddenly, Chu Xi stopped in front of a box of mahjong tiles. She pointed at it, looked up, and smiled.
"Found it. This is the one my wife put here."
At that moment, there were still five minutes left on the challenge countdown.
The director asked, "Are you sure?"
Chu Xi: "I'm sure."
The director: "Alright, Couple Number One's choice is locked in. The answer will be revealed after the challenge ends."
Yu Shen held out his hand. "Hey, hey, no, wait... I was suspecting my wife put that one there."
Across from them, Bai Mengyun buried her face in her hands, praying silently: Old Yu, please don't pick that one. Can't you be a little smarter, like Xiao Chu?
Chu Xi spoke up, refuting him. "She didn't put this one here."
In fact, she had also figured out what the other three had chosen.
Yu Shen asked her, "How are you so sure this is the one your wife chose, and not mine?"
Song Xu crouched down beside her, smiling. "Please teach us, please teach us."
Chu Xi said, "It's simple."
Sun Chen nodded silently in the back. Right, right, everything is simple for you. Sigh.
Chu Xi pointed to three items: a fishbowl, a can of cat food, and a porcelain cup.
"The items your wives chose are among these three. Look at the sand underneath them; it's different from the other six. The sand displaced by newly placed items is wetter. But for the decoys placed by the production team earlier, the displaced sand around them has been exposed to the sun longer, so its composition is drier. Therefore, you only need to look for the items chosen by the Player A's among these four." Chu Xi finally tapped the mahjong box.
Following her explanation, the three men widened their eyes and looked at the sand near the base of the ten items-
"..."
Damn it, we can't see a thing!
The production staff also: "..."
That works too?!
Another miscalculation. If they had known Chu Xi had this trick up her sleeve, they shouldn't have chosen the beach.
Sun Chen muttered to himself, "I can't tell..."
Chu Xi patted his shoulder and said only, "Trust me."
Visually distinguishing the difference between individual grains of sand was a bit difficult for ordinary people. This time, Chu Xi's tone was quite considerate of them.
Trust her, they had to trust her. Chu Xi had spoken with such certainty, and her reputation preceded her. How could the three of them not believe her?
Just like that, the difficulty of the original problem was instantly cut in half. Chu Xi had helped them narrow down the one-in-ten probability to one-in-three.
They began to try hard to get on the same wavelength as their partners...
As Yu Shen was guessing, his mind accidentally wandered for a moment, and he suddenly thought of something-
"Hey, Xiao Chu, you still haven't told me what you were looking at the footprints for earlier."
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