As morning arrived, Li You reached Chu Yueyi's home as usual. Upon opening the door, she was startled by a figure in the living room and a huge whiteboard. The board was covered in dense black text, enough to make anyone with claustrophobia nervous at a glance.
Chu Yueyi sat cross-legged on a swivel chair with her back to Li You, her hair disheveled. She alternated between looking down at the laptop screen on her lap and turning to write more on the whiteboard, resembling a mathematician diligently working on a difficult problem.
Li You navigated around the scattered obstacles on the floor and stacked the clothes on the sofa. After surveying the room, she noticed the person in the chair still hadn't reacted, so she spoke up, "Yueyi, don't tell me you didn't sleep all night?"
When Li You left yesterday, the room was basically in the same state, just with the addition of a large rolling whiteboard.
"If we define night as 6 PM to 5 AM the next morning..." Chu Yueyi glanced at the time on her computer screen and answered with academic precision, "Then yes, I did stay up all night."
Li You's eyebrow twitched, "You dared to pull an all-nighter? Don't you care about your skin?"
"And what's all this?" Li You tapped on the whiteboard, squinting to decipher the writing. "What on earth were you pondering all night?"
Chu Yueyi rubbed her tired eyes and replied flatly, "Information on Shi Guanghua."
Li You was taken aback, "Huh? Is he a Cancer? He doesn't look like it at all. His face screams Capricorn or Scorpio."
Li You pulled out her phone, intending to search for Shi Guanghua's profile online, but the results were surprisingly scarce, almost pitiful in their brevity.
"Don't bother searching. I've already looked at everything you could possibly find online. His profile doesn't list his birthday," Chu Yueyi said as she methodically prepared coffee. She took a sip of the warm, fragrant liquid, finally feeling her body wake up.
Li You asked, "Then how do you know he's a Cancer?"
Chu Yueyi swirled her coffee cup leisurely, "Zou Qian commented on his Weibo years ago, saying 'Bro, let's get together for your birthday in a couple days.' Although Shi Guanghua didn't reply, we can deduce the approximate time frame of his birthday."
Shi Guanghua's Weibo was mostly abandoned, but some clues could still be found. When Zou Qian left that comment, it seemed to be during Shi Guanghua's time as a trainee in Korea.
Li You's eyes widened in disbelief, "That works?"
"And what are all these locations? And the arrows connecting them?" Li You stared at the complex whiteboard, unsure where to focus her gaze, so she just asked about whatever caught her eye.
Chu Yueyi calmly explained, "The locations of scenery photos he's posted, and predictions of his work and life trajectories. I'm familiarizing myself with these countries so I'll have topics to discuss."
Li You felt conflicted, "...You're wasting your talents as an actress. You could make a fortune as a paparazzi."
Li You thought to herself: With such excellent information gathering skills, I won't watch any spy drama that doesn't cast you!
"Now that you've investigated him so thoroughly, are you planning to dominate the next recording?" Li You marveled at Chu Yueyi's dedication, feeling that even Shi Guanghua's fans couldn't achieve this level of research. Indeed, life always pushes working people to new heights.
Chu Yueyi replied, "I won't be in the next recording. According to the script, it's his turn."
Li You asked, "What do you mean?"
The phone on the table suddenly chimed, interrupting Chu Yueyi and Li You's conversation.
Chu Yueyi picked up her phone to check and found it was a reply from Shi Guanghua. His online tone wasn't as cold as in person, and although he didn't use any emojis, his wording was sincere and appropriate.
It was a perfect template response, assuming Chu Yueyi didn't know he had read her message without replying earlier.
Now that Chu Yueyi saw his reply, she felt even more like he had left her hanging overnight, gradually calmed down after waking up, and then decided to engage. However, she didn't mind these details, as she had only messaged him for the show's sake. Neither of them had the right to criticize the other, as long as they maintained face.
Chu Yueyi typed out "Looking forward to the next recording," reread the previous content to ensure there were no flaws, and then hit send. She also sent a cute cat emoji with a straight face, trying not to appear too formal or perfunctory, and to convey genuine emotion.
After replying to her new colleague, Chu Yueyi continued their previous topic: "I performed well enough in the last recording, but he definitely didn't stand out. If we want the audience to ship us, I need at least one reason to admire him on camera. Otherwise, the romance plot will seem too fake."
Li You gently reminded her, "Are you sure he can have a standout moment when he talks so little?"
Chu Yueyi looked up at the whiteboard she had toiled over all night and said lazily, "It doesn't matter. I'm the strongest, after all."
Since Shi Guanghua couldn't shine on his own, she would create opportunities for him to stand out!
The second recording was postponed for a few days, not proceeding immediately as originally planned. Firstly, the production team sensed that the rhythm between the two wasn't quite right and pondered emergency remedial measures. Secondly, Shi Guanghua's team requested a two-day delay, as Shi Guanghua seemed to be feeling unwell.
Of course, Chu Yueyi didn't forget to send caring messages on WeChat, but Shi Guanghua didn't specify the reason for his illness, leading her to wonder if he was actually having conflicts with his team and privately planning to quit the show.
On a pleasant, breezy day, Chu Yueyi finally saw her new colleague again. Today, Shi Guanghua wasn't wearing a mask, and his face showed no signs of illness. He was standing in a corner, talking with his manager Cheng, his dark hair swaying in the wind, cutting a tall and elegant figure.
Sitting in the car, Chu Yueyi watched this scene through the window and couldn't help muttering, "He doesn't seem to have trouble talking to other people."
Shi Guanghua communicated with Cheng without any issues. Although he still maintained his taciturn expression, he was far from being unable to utter a single word. Chu Yueyi had seen him on a show with Zou Qian, where he commented on music with the attitude of a cool guy who was a bit full of himself.
Chu Yueyi thought to herself: He just doesn't want to engage!
Li You stood outside the car, urging, "Yueyi, come out and put on your lavalier microphone."
Chu Yueyi put aside her criticisms and began another fulfilling day as a working professional, with the staff helping her attach the recording equipment.
The filming location was still the lakeside Western restaurant. Compared to the serene lake view at night, the daytime scenery had its own charm. The production team had only filmed a short segment here last time and wouldn't immediately change to a new setting, as it would be too costly.
This time, Chu Yueyi and Shi Guanghua arrived simultaneously, approaching the bridge from different directions and coincidentally meeting at the restaurant entrance.
Upon seeing him, Chu Yueyi reflexively smiled and moved to open the door first, intending to let him enter.
Shi Guanghua looked at her, his eyes flickering slightly. He gently pursed his lips, then stepped aside to hold the restaurant door for her. His gaze drifted slightly towards the distant lake view, not lingering on her.
Observing his evasive and silent attitude, Chu Yueyi thought that he truly hadn't changed his old habits, probably not wanting to get too close to her. At least he was being gentlemanly on the surface this time.
With this in mind, Chu Yueyi's smile became even more gentle and graceful as she said, "Thank you."
Chu Yueyi entered the restaurant first, while Shi Guanghua paused for a few seconds before slowly following her.
The wind chimes at the door tinkled lightly. The interior had been completely redecorated. Many of the ambient lights used at night had been removed, replaced by a spacious and bright atmosphere. In one corner was a performance area with a grand piano, its lid polished to a shine, looking radiant.
Chu Yueyi and Shi Guanghua were seated, and in front of them was a beautiful conch-shaped glass container filled with numerous rolled-up colored paper slips.
"This is the Secret Conch, containing both regular and secret slips. You'll take turns drawing questions. Regular slips have interest-based questions, like favorite flavors or colors. Secret slips allow you to ask the other person anything you want."
Chu Yueyi immediately understood that this was the production team's arrangement for a mutual understanding segment. They had probably also researched Shi Guanghua's background and discovered how little information was available about him online.
Although the show's setup was quite forced, it was indeed the only way to get Shi Guanghua to open up, given his tendency to remain silent.
Chu Yueyi looked at her new colleague and asked with a gentle smile, "Who wants to go first?"
Shi Guanghua replied, "I'm fine either way."
Chu Yueyi thought to herself: As expected of the king of awkward situations, "I'm fine either way" is truly the golden phrase for creating tension in opposite-sex interactions.
Chu Yueyi pondered for a moment, then probed tentatively, "But what if I draw the secret card first? I might ask a tricky question. You won't regret it, will you?"
Shi Guanghua noticed her bright eyes and lowered his gaze, saying, "It's alright."
Whatever she wanted to know, he could answer.
Chu Yueyi thought to herself that he was walking into a trap of his own accord. She casually drew a slip of paper from the conch shell, opened it, and immediately felt confident. Smiling, she turned the paper in her hand to show him the conch pattern on it, raising her eyebrows as she said, "Secret card."
Shi Guanghua waited quietly for her question.
"Why were you always looking at your phone when we first met? Am I not as interesting as your phone?" Her smile was already sweet and soft, and now she sounded both playful and slightly complainingーher gentle tone completely at odds with the sharp question.
Shi Guanghua, who had just thought he could answer anything, now found himself at a loss for words in the face of her radiant smile. He felt a strange sense of suffocation: "..."
What could he possibly say?
Should he admit that he was pretending to look at his phone to ease his anxiety, but due to nervousness, he forgot to remove his mask, causing repeated facial recognition failures, and he was too flustered to figure it out?
He simply couldn't bring himself to say that.
Chu Yueyi had anticipated that he wouldn't be able to answer, but what surprised her was the hint of panic and helplessness in Shi Guanghua's eyes, a much stronger reaction than during their previous recording. Guessing that he was worried about the show's pacing becoming awkward, she skillfully steered the recording back on track, offering a way out: "If you can't answer, shouldn't you punish yourself by playing a song?"
Shi Guanghua followed her gaze and noticed the piano in the corner, understanding the hint in her eyes.
Chu Yueyi said, half-jokingly and half-seriously, "If you can play well, maybe I can perform well too."
Shi Guanghua looked puzzled, "Perform what?"
"Perform an on-the-spot memory loss?" Chu Yueyi said with a beaming smile, "After all, someone who plays the piano beautifully would never look at their phone at the dinner table. It must be my memory that's faulty."
"..."