Chu Yueyi is finding it increasingly difficult to handle Shi Guanghua.
As they spend more time together, just as Chu Yueyi has come to understand his personality, Shi Guanghua has likewise figured out her thought patterns. Both sides have essentially used up their ultimate moves, and now they're down to basic attacks, knowing full well they can't hurt each other, often leading to a sense of invincibility.
Chu Yueyi often drops her idol facade in front of him, and Shi Guanghua knows he can occasionally talk back to her without consequences.
They maintain the image of a perfect couple in public, but in private, they often engage in small squabbles.
Just like now, Chu Yueyi's eyebrow twitches as she sinks back into her seat, trying to maintain her composure, she asks, "How much?"
Shi Guanghua: "?"
Chu Yueyi: "How much does it cost to unlock special privileges? Yellow diamond, green diamond, or membership? Don't bother with all those fancy terms, just tell me if money can solve it?"
Shi Guanghua: "..."
Chu Yueyi is like an irritated gamer who doesn't understand game events. Listening to him now is like reading some big companies' game descriptions - confusing and missing the point. In the end, all paths lead to spending money, so just charge ahead and be done with it.
Shi Guanghua's answer is identical to some game operators. He calmly says, "Just spending money isn't enough."
Chu Yueyi: "?" Is this a game that requires both grinding and spending?
From then on, no matter how Chu Yueyi tries to dig for information, Shi Guanghua refuses to take the bait.
It's as if he knows he can't outspeak her, so he simply chooses to be mute in the car, playing dead just like some game officials.
When the two appear hand in hand at the New Year's Gala, and have a fleeting interaction during the live broadcast, it instantly creates waves online. Countless viewers are indignant about the limits of "Heart-Fluttering Promise". The male and female guests are holding hands and putting their heads together outside the show, yet the dating reality show is still at an elementary school level, naturally causing great dissatisfaction.
Tang Tang Ya: Hmph, if you don't show me some adult content soon, I'm going to look into membership refund channels!!
Hu Hu: The current program must be a censored version, did you delete scenes for approval?
Red Sun Hanging: Next episode I want to see them kiss, if not, you guys push their heads together, thanks.
Dance Water: Tell us, director, how many new members do we need to see progress? It's just money, let's be straightforward!
Koria: Reflect on why your show can't beat the gala live broadcast!!
Kaka: If it's not convenient, don't edit in the future, let's switch to live broadcast too.
The "Heart-Fluttering Promise" production team feels equally wronged. Who could have imagined that an ordinary live broadcast event would forcibly drag them into industry competition? Because the director frequently cut to Chu Yueyi and Shi Guanghua's shots during the New Year's Gala, some viewers started comparing the live broadcast with the show, believing that the production team wasn't trying hard enough, and that the guests were sweeter off-camera!
After all, Chu Yueyi and Shi Guanghua's interactions off-camera are pure, natural sweetness, but they still have some reservations on the show, lacking that effortless charm. Now, if people want natural sweetness, there's only one good solution - simply make the production team disappear.
Production team: Ridiculous, truly ridiculous, a live broadcast brings about unemployment crisis.
The editing team urgently discussed this and temporarily added a lot of footage to the seventh episode, finally easing the indignant emotions of the viewer-bosses with interactions from the MV set.
When the seventh episode aired, Chu Yueyi actually wanted to watch it. She had been somewhat confused during the MV shooting and urgently needed an outsider's perspective to analyze Shi Guanghua's unusual behavior. She even wanted to use the "Yueyi-Guanghua Science Club" to interpret certain musician's subtext.
Although these viewers might have wild imaginations, they should still be rational and objective, right?
To her disappointment, when she opened the danmaku and comment section, she didn't see any calm comments. Instead, her face was run over by wheels of excitement. Netizens were all enthusiastically spamming "Please break his legs" and "Be more manly" as if they were about to speed onto the highway.
Chu Yueyi: "..."
Chu Yueyi: Good grief, I shouldn't have had expectations for contemporary netizens. I should have had them all arrested in the name of anti-pornography.
At home, Chu Yueyi casually turned off the variety show and pulled out a box from the corner. She had been busy and dizzy lately, and finally had time to check the goods. This was the return gift she picked for Shi Guanghua. The black box looked ordinary, with only a handle for carrying on the outside.
Chu Yueyi carried the box for a few steps and felt it wasn't too heavy, quite convenient to move.
She had received clothes from him last time, so she researched how to give a return gift, just in time to give it to him recently.
The next day, "Heart-Fluttering Promise" welcomed its eighth recording. Because the show had to finish recording before Chu Yueyi started her next project, the recent schedule was extremely tight, with no time for rest. This is the norm for variety show production - each episode looks long, but the concentrated filming days are limited.
Chu Yueyi had countless trivial tasks, and Shi Guanghua was equally busy. After the New Year, the company in the cultural and creative park saw a surge in human traffic, with many new projects pushing forward. Even Cheng was occasionally so busy he was nowhere to be seen.
"Heart-Fluttering Promise" turned out to be their most relaxed work. As long as they interacted, it was fine. At least there were no performance evaluation indicators.
In the studio, Chu Yueyi appeared carrying a medium-sized box. She had already put on the show's sound equipment and casually placed the box on the table. She looked at Shi Guanghua beside her and said seemingly casually, "This is for you."
Shi Guanghua was startled at her words. He stepped over, about to open the box, but was stopped by her.
Chu Yueyi actually didn't want to give gifts in front of the camera, but the production team had been watching too closely lately, and they had no time to meet in their spare time. Facing his confused expression, she simply turned her gaze away and said softly, "Open it in private."
She rarely avoided looking at him directly, her long eyelashes fluttering as her gaze wandered strangely.
Shi Guanghua noticed her embarrassment. Amid his surprise, his eyes softened. He stopped opening the box and replied, "Okay."
Both of them tacitly fell silent. Shi Guanghua picked up the box from the table, intending to put it away for now.
At this moment, the director, facing the couple's underground-style signaling, decisively spoke up: "No."
Both of them were startled simultaneously. They looked at the director in surprise, not expecting him to suddenly interject. Generally, the director rarely speaks during recording, let alone arbitrarily interrupting the shooting.
The director looked sternly at Chu Yueyi and said righteously, "Yueyi, this is where you're wrong. You shouldn't always make small moves in private, keeping us silly ones in the dark."
"Have you considered our feelings? No, you only think about yourselves!"
Faced with this complaint, Chu Yueyi was immediately bewildered: "?" What's going on now?
The director said with deep pain, "Why are you so natural on the live broadcast? But now you're hiding things from us. Is there anything you can't show on the program!?"
Chu Yueyi and Shi Guanghua: "..."
The chief director felt deeply sorrowful at this moment. He was the one who initially brought them together by coincidence, yet they were gradually drifting away from the production team, even speaking in riddles and wanting to keep many things off-camera.
Chief Director: Is live broadcasting that good? I've been watching so closely, and you still want to do things in private!
Chu Yueyi didn't know a live broadcast could push the director to this state. She explained dryly, "It's just a small thing, there's really no need to film it..."
The director said earnestly, "We want to record every little moment between you two!"
Chu Yueyi: "..." What kind of male mother tone is this?
She was now in a dilemma, just about to find an excuse when someone walked into the room.
Cheng strode into the studio confidently, witnessing the chief director talking with the two, mistakenly thinking they weren't filming. He saw the box in Shi Guanghua's hand and couldn't help but tsk, "Buying equipment again? Are you really going to burn through your savings?"
The chief director was busy talking with the guests and didn't carefully examine the box. Cheng, with his extensive knowledge, recognized the material of the box at a glance and could roughly guess that the contents were related to equipment.
Shi Guanghua was at a loss for words. He stood stiffly with Chu Yueyi, now facing the dissatisfied director, like students being called out for criticism.
Under Cheng's reminder, the chief director's eyes blazed with even more suspicion, "Small thing?"
Chu Yueyi's forehead broke out in sweat as she mumbled, "This should just be a small thing..."
Cheng didn't know the box was a gift from Chu Yueyi. He thought Shi Guanghua had bought it, so he sarcastically remarked, "Well, it's just a few thousand dollars, a small thing, right?"
Chu Yueyi, for the first time, felt the urge to assassinate Cheng on the spot: "..."
The executive producer, upon hearing this, decided with a straight face, "We're going to watch this, and we're going to film it."
Moments later, Shi Guanghua was forced to host the unboxing ceremony in front of the camera. Chu Yueyi desperately wanted to flee the studio in a second, but was blocked by the surrounding staff. She could only awkwardly shrink into a corner, really not wanting to be on camera at this moment.
She wasn't used to gift recipients opening presents in front of her, which was why she had said to let him look at it privately. She had felt that just the gift wasn't good enough, so she had specially written a greeting card and put it inside. Now she wished she had skipped that step, though at least the card's content was positive and uplifting.
Shi Guanghua, having handled many equipment cases, skillfully opened the outer latches and then looked towards Chu Yueyi, who was facing away from everyone in the corner, withdrawing into herself. He didn't immediately open the box, but instead tentatively asked, "Do you really want me to open it and look?"
Chu Yueyi didn't turn around. At this moment, she was collapsing, holding her head in her hands. She decided to go all in and said, "Go ahead, look. Just get it over with."
Let her die in one blow, rather than being publicly tortured.
Shi Guanghua slowly lifted the lid. Cheng had just gotten a clear look at the contents when he felt like cursing out loud. Inwardly, he was jealous enough to bleed, and sourly said, "I was too hasty. It's worth more than just a few thousand."
Cheng thought to himself: Why? Why? He doesn't deserve it! He doesn't deserve it!
Cheng even wanted to send Chu Yueyi to the hospital. What kind of love potion had Shi Guanghua given her? Why was she spending money on him?
Inside the box, a flowing black microphone lay quietly on the padding. Its color was steady and low-key, yet under the light, it shimmered with myriad colors. With just a slight change in angle, the play of light would change, as if a river of stars was flowing in the night sky.
There was distorted engraving on the microphone. At first glance, it looked like a beautiful blooming pattern, but it was actually subtly the character for "Shi".
Shi Guanghua was slightly stunned. He indeed had countless pieces of equipment for music production, but not many microphones.
He always worked behind the scenes and didn't often sing in front of others.
Next to the custom microphone was a small greeting card, equally rustic and fresh.
He opened the card, which contained graceful handwriting. The content wasn't complicated.
[Hope to hear more of your songs, and to have the chance to be your audience again.]
These weren't particularly ambiguous or intimate words, and they even sounded a bit formal and polite when read. Yet they made his face heat up instantly.
Shi Guanghua pressed his lips together tightly. In his memory, he had only sung for her once, when he was playing the piano in the coffee shop, and it was a love song at that.
She had once considered quitting the show, and that was his last subtle attempt to persuade her to stay, which could be considered quite a bold move.
Thinking of the past, Shi Guanghua now felt as if his whole body was on fire. He suddenly understood her embarrassment and felt equally dizzy, wishing he could join her in facing the wall in the corner!