Chapter 18 Skilled in Memory

She had no choice about where to go first.

After all five people were gathered, everyone present received a notification from the production team on their phones.

[Entrance to the ancient town]

That's right, this time the date location was an ancient town on the outskirts of S City, which fits all the stereotypes people have about the water towns of Jiangnan.

Everywhere you look, the scenery is beautiful, with flowing streams. Walking on the old streets paved with bluestone, you can also hear the melodious tunes sung in the local dialect.

If only two people come to this environment, it will definitely be a tranquil and elegant experience.

However, right now—

Mu Jiu turned his head and watched Mo Chuhe methodically explaining the history and culture of the ancient town. Meng Shuning, sitting diagonally behind him, occasionally chimed in with admiration.

Ling Zhao, walking behind her, kept his head down and expressionless. When Mu Jiu looked over, he met her gaze.

Next was Fang Yucheng, whose expression was complicated.

The atmosphere was rather strange just from the five of them simply being together, let alone a date involving three men and two women.

Would most people call this a date?

However, just when Mu Jiu thought the scene was chaotic enough, he and his group met with Deng Minzhou, Guo Zifu, Xiang Wan, and Qi Youxiang.

The production team seems to think that the "battleground" topic can be hyped up even more.

[The girls were supposed to choose their own dates, but now with this group activity, aren't they just letting guys they didn't want get to date?]

Isn't this a terrible mistake made by the production team, with no one daring to choose Fang Yucheng?

No, Shushu and Teacher Fang care about each other, but they're too shy to speak up because they like each other so much!

[Waaaaah, when will my Mengxiang Chengzhen finally be able to honestly ask someone out on a date?]

I feel like there are also fans of Meng Xiangcheng in the production team, which is why they specifically arranged for everyone to be together this time.

[You're overthinking it. They just wanted to ride on Fang Yucheng's popularity, but according to the rules, no female guest chose him, so they changed the segment at the last minute.]

I guess the date guests will be given free time later on.

...

Some people were dissatisfied with this unexpected group activity, while others were satisfied.

The onlookers, drawn in by the spectacle, were hoping for even more chaos, perhaps even a fight.

Just as the comments section was in an uproar, the executive director, dressed as an ancient scholar, arrived in front of everyone in a fishing boat.

He rolled up his sleeves and walked gracefully to the shore, then took out his familiar megaphone: "Having traversed the long river of time, we meet here. This 'Ancient Town Tour' is an immersive experience prepared for all guests."

"By day, stroll along the cobblestone streets, take a leisurely boat ride, and climb the majestic mountains to feel the breath of this land. At night, join the local residents in the annual street parade."

"Before night falls, the female guest has one chance to change her choice, and the male guest also has one chance to take the initiative to invite the female guest out."

Such a scene is not in the novel.

The original owner only chose Fang Yucheng from beginning to end, so there wouldn't be a situation like now, where the top star Fang Yucheng is left alone.

In contrast, Mu Jiu never chose Fang Yucheng from the beginning. Unless it was a blind selection like when they chose gifts last time, any female guest other than Meng Shuning who actively chose Fang Yucheng would be targeted by that group of incredibly powerful CP fans.

No one wants to be the next her.

The actual route then went astray, leading to the digging up of Xiang Wan and Qi Youxiang's past, and the early appearance of Mo Chuhe, the fifth guest responsible for introducing the "catfish effect."

As the novel's plot was affected by the butterfly effect one after another, Mu Jiu subconsciously recalled what was supposed to happen tonight—

Fang Yucheng and Meng Shuning were voted the number one couple by fans in the #MyFavoriteCP# live stream collaboration.

This was originally an opportunity for the two to further clear up their misunderstandings, and afterwards they continued to interact sweetly and their popularity soared to the top five on Weibo.

However, unlike the poll when the trailer was released, this time the fans of the Fang Yucheng and Meng Shuning couple are definitely going all out to grab a spot in the poll.

Therefore, their duo live stream will definitely proceed as scheduled.

Coming to her senses, Mu Jiu heard the executive director continue introducing the next part of the program.

"Next, we will all change into costumes to blend into this quaint little town. Since costumes are limited, we will now play a little game to allocate priority in choosing costumes based on everyone's scores."

"The game is 'Listen to the Song and Identify the Song.' Each song is played for only five seconds, and the song guessing is divided into a boys' group and a girls' group. The two groups compete alternately, and you cannot answer the song for the other group first."

Does anyone still have questions about the rules?

Before he could finish speaking, Deng Minzhou was the first to raise his hand and ask, "No hints? So we're just guessing blindly?"

Playing only five seconds means that only very familiar songs can be identified, and if the scope is not narrowed down, the chance of guessing correctly is extremely low.

Upon hearing this, the executive director smiled mysteriously, as if he had anticipated it: "Don't worry, all the songs are related to everyone."

This statement immediately drew everyone's attention to several guests who had released albums.

"Let's start with a simple warm-up session, we'll play the boys' music first~"

The speaker pressed play and the song started playing. Just three seconds later, Guo Zifu rushed up and said, "I know, this song is Shushu's 'Summer Finale'!"

The director next to him helplessly made a pause gesture: "This song was performed by the male group, so it didn't count as a score... Please listen carefully to the rules before you act next time."

"What...?"

Guo Zifu knew she had overreacted, but she couldn't help but mutter a few words of dissatisfaction.

It was only when Meng Shuning patted her shoulder with a smile that she took the opportunity to lean on Meng Shuning's shoulder and pretend to cry.

Executive Director: "This time, we won't deduct points for fouls. The first song is invalid, and the game continues."

On the boys' side, the first person to guess correctly was the theme song of the TV series that Xiang Wan debuted as a child star, but the person who guessed the song was not Qi Youxiang, but Deng Minzhou.

"When I was in elementary school, all the boys in my class could sing this song."

Deng Minzhou smiled and said, "I never dreamed that I could participate in the same program as an actor I've liked since I was a child."

[Everyone already knows about this TV series, so Qi Youxiang's failure to react is a huge mistake and detracts from the overall impression.]

Qi Youxiang is really not good; he looked completely dazed for the first few seconds of the song.

But not everyone knows about their ex's job, and we didn't talk about these things when we were together.

Liking someone but knowing nothing about their past is clearly a sign of not loving them.

Before the argument in the comments had subsided, the girls' group's song was played.

Upon hearing the rhythm from the front, Meng Shuning subconsciously glanced at Xiang Wan.

After the music ended, the air fell silent for a moment, and no one spoke.

Guo Zifu looked completely blank and asked without any clue, "What is this? I have absolutely no recollection of it."

Seeing that Meng Shuning did not react, she subconsciously looked at Mu Jiu and Xiang Wan.

In the silence, the executive director's voice came through.

"Nobody wants to answer? Should we listen to the intro again?"

Some of the gazes that met were blank, while others were full of profound meaning.

As the final countdown to the release began, Xiang Wan frowned slightly and reluctantly spoke: "It's 'May We Be Reborn'."

The show's producers are really good at creating drama; all the songs are related to exes. It'll be awkward if anyone guesses them wrong.

[I really feel it's all about interpersonal relationships and social niceties. Shushu would find out about her colleagues' representative works in advance; she had actually guessed it long ago.]

This part really shows who cares more about the other person in the relationship.

Everyone was enjoying the gossip, but there were still some bugs in the song recognition segment. For example, Meng Shuning and Fang Yucheng's songs were very popular, so even if the songs they played weren't their hit songs, they were easy to guess.

Therefore, their songs were more often guessed by other guests, and as time went on, the song guessing segment took more and more time.

The male guests are progressing relatively faster, while the female guests are progressing slower.

Upon hearing the intro to the latest song, almost everyone looked completely bewildered.

Mu Jiu, who hadn't volunteered to answer before, suddenly stepped forward and grabbed the microphone: "No Trace of the Past".

The executive director glanced at the cue cards with feigned nonchalance, then asked again in an uncertain tone, "Are you sure you don't want to change it?"

Mu Jiu: "No change."

"So the result is... a score!"

I initially thought it was just a coincidence, but then two more songs came along that almost completely replicated the scene.

Why is Mu Jiu so skilled at it? He even guessed several songs in just two seconds.

[Didn't you know about the previous posts? They've already been posted in the Chaomu supertopic]

Those songs are all from Ling Zhao's album; one of them was even cut from the audio and is very hard to find online.

[No, this song has absolutely no online presence; it's all based on pure fandom. And it's only the first five seconds. How familiar must someone be with it to know it so well?]

Meanwhile, the boys' group also released a piece of music that was completely unfamiliar to most people.

Mo Chuhe, who had answered the questions multiple times before, was stunned for a moment, her brows furrowing.

Qi Youxiang also frowned: "I have a vague impression, but I can't remember which TV series' theme song it was."

Before the executive director could give any prompts, Fang Yucheng suddenly stepped forward and grabbed the microphone: "A Lifetime of Longing."

Deng Minzhou: "I remember this song..."

He suddenly glanced at Ling Zhao.

[Ling Zhao seemed to have remembered just now, but then stopped moving when Fang Yucheng stepped forward?]

[I asked Baidu and it's back. That song was the theme song for the first TV series Fang Yucheng and Mu Jiu collaborated on.]

I remember that back then, people shipped Mu Jiucheng and Zhen for a while because of this TV series.

Yu Cheng only remembered these songs out of respect for his former colleagues; please don't make a big deal out of it.

Deng Minzhou glanced at Ling Zhao with a complicated expression.

If it were him, he would feel somewhat resentful in such a situation, and might even get carried away and rush to the front to compete with the other person for the song title.

It was as if after he answered her once, Qi Youxiang took the initiative to try out for songs related to Xiang Wan...

He hesitated for a moment, but still walked to Ling Zhao's side.

Why didn't you answer first?

Deng Minzhou said confidently, "You must know the answer, right?"

This TV series was the first collaboration between Fang Yucheng and Mu Jiu, and it was also the source of their initial rumors.

Upon hearing the question, Ling Zhao simply glanced at him in silence.

When another song was played, Fang Yucheng once again accurately answered the song's name.

Deng Minzhou then heard his voice.

Ling Zhao: "Everyone is very good at remembering song titles."