*

Gu Beiyan served the cooked sour soup noodles to the table. The bright red soup base looked especially beautiful in the small white porcelain bowl, and the steaming heat filled the air with a salty, spicy and savory aroma.

He even took care of Xiao Ba, serving him a few strands of soft white vermicelli, meatballs, beef, and other side dishes on a small plate.

"Try it."

He placed the small bowl in front of Nan Qing, his gaze fixed on her face.

Nan Qing picked up a mouthful of glistening rice noodles with her chopsticks. The bright red sour soup slid down the noodles. She blew on it lightly and then put the noodles into her mouth.

"Gu Beiyan, this is delicious!"

Her eyes lit up, and her voice was full of surprise. Then she picked up a small spoon and scooped some sour soup to drink. It was rich, sour, and fragrant, with a strong tomato flavor, and the spiciness was just right and satisfying.

Although she had never tasted authentic sour soup noodles before, nor had she tasted the pot she had just cooked, she could tell from the smell that, while both were sour, Gu Beiyan's sourness was clearly different from hers...

She then picked up some beef, pork liver, and meatballs to eat. The meatballs were handmade pork meatballs. When you poked them open with chopsticks, you could see many small air pockets inside that held lots of meat juice. They were also chewy and had what looked like tiny pieces of water chestnut inside, making them refreshing and crisp.

Hachiko, too, was wearing its little bib, enthusiastically munching on a piece of beef, getting its fur all wet.

Just as the two were enjoying their meal, footsteps came from the stairs.

"It smells so good."

Lian An, dressed simply in a t-shirt and trousers, slowly descended the stairs. His nostrils twitched slightly, as if he were discerning the scents in the air. Before even reaching the bottom of the stairs, he accurately spoke:

"Red sour soup?"

Nan Qing looked up in surprise and swallowed the tender beef in her mouth.

"With such a sensitive nose, you can tell just by smelling it?"

Lian An chuckled lightly: "I filmed a food documentary before, so I have some research on it."

He went straight to the kitchen, took a sandwich and a bottle of fresh milk from the refrigerator, and sat down at the other end of the table.

"If you like this kind of flavor, besides sour soup noodles, you should also like the mutton offal noodles, intestine and blood noodles, and tofu noodles over there."

"They really like to use red and sour soups over there, which is a food paradise for people who love sour and spicy food."

Nan Qing listened intently, her almond-shaped eyes sparkling. She even forgot about the vermicelli she was holding with her chopsticks. Just as she was about to ask something else, a piece of tender pork liver suddenly fell into her bowl.

Gu Beiyan put away his chopsticks with a smooth and effortless movement, his gaze calm and indifferent.

"Eat quickly, it won't taste good when it's cold."

"Let's go together after the show ends."

Nan Qing looked down at the increasing amount of meat in her bowl, blinked, and gave a faint "Oh".

Lian An raised an eyebrow at the two of them, then suddenly laughed out loud, deliberately saying:

"I was originally going to tell Nanqing where to find the most authentic Changwang noodles~"

"That Changwang Noodles is the most famous in that area. The noodles are springy and chewy, the pork intestines are rich and tender, the blood tofu is tender and crispy, the crispy pork cracklings are crunchy, and the soup base is fresh, fragrant, spicy, and numbing, with a strong flavor that is oily but not greasy."

Lian An's voice was gentle and warm, with a tone reminiscent of a narrator in a food documentary. His voice was slow and his enunciation was clear. Nan Qing's chopsticks stopped in mid-air as she listened to his words, creating vivid images in her mind.

Even Xiao Ba, who was standing to the side, stopped and listened very attentively.

"The blood curd is freshly cut, tender like tofu, and has no fishy smell at all."

"But the best thing is their crispy pork rinds, fried to a golden brown. One bite," he even made a crispy gesture, "and your mouth is filled with the aroma of oil!"

Nan Qing and Xiao Ba swallowed in unison, completely unaware of Gu Beiyan's tense jawline sitting opposite her. He silently poured Nan Qing a glass of water, but she ignored it without a word.

Unable to stop her from talking to others, Gu Beiyan could only coldly pile the meatballs, beef, vegetables, mushrooms, and other things from his own bowl into the heartless Nan Qing's bowl.

When Nanqing and Lian'an finished their conversation, she looked down and saw that her bowl was full of food, almost overflowing.

"Gu Beiyan, I'm not a pig, I can't eat that much!"

She had already eaten two bowls, so how could she possibly eat this much?

Gu Beiyan looked up at her, momentarily captivated, and then said calmly:

"I'll eat what I can't finish."

Lian An chuckled on the other side of the table, earning a cold look from Gu Beiyan in return.

After they finished breakfast, the others gradually got up, and at nine o'clock sharp, the cameramen and crew officially went online.

【First】

【First】

【First】

Everyone claims to be number one, so I'll settle for second.

The early bird catches the worm; reporting for duty.

[Watching something secretly while wearing headphones at work]

What a great way to slack off at work!

Where's Shen Yao? It seems like we're missing him.

[As mentioned earlier, around 2 AM last night, Shen Yao was still posting screenshots of his game stats on his account: 3-7-4. Hilarious!]

Don't laugh, we need to care for children!

Will we be re-paired today?

[No! My two couples, Yan Qing and You Chi, can't be separated!!]

Why do my darling's lips look a little swollen?

【........

Once everyone had arrived, the producer, holding cue cards, cleared his throat, glanced at the eight guests seated on the sofa, and announced:

"Dear teachers, our topic today is—'One-Day Limited Couples'."

Everyone else listened attentively as the producer announced the upcoming rules, but Gu Beiyan felt a slight unease. He picked up his phone and sent a message to the program director, but there was no reply for a long time.

"Our rules for today are as follows: our eight guests will draw lots again and be paired up into four pairs of one-day couples."

"We have set up four dating scenarios to choose from, and each group needs to complete the corresponding dating tasks arranged by the program team."

"Tonight we will hold an online vote for the best couple, and the winning couple will receive a luxurious candlelight dinner~"

At this moment, the staff also pushed up a whiteboard with four pictures on it.

Scene 1: Thrilling high-altitude experience.

Scene 2: A terrifying locked room.

Scene 3: Forest Camp.

Scene 4: 1980s-themed dance hall.

Then, the producer announced:

"We already have the results of last night's food poll. Xie Chi's pan-fried lamb chops won with a total of 4 votes. So, after the draw, Xie Chi's team will have the right to choose their date location first."

Gu Beiyan glanced at Nan Qing, who was looking excited, and silently took her small hand that was resting on the sofa. At the same time, Nan Qing's thoughts were also conveyed to him.

(A terrifying escape room, a terrifying escape room, you must save it for me~~)

The producer took out a box and said that the two people who drew the same pattern slip of paper would be paired up.

Xie Chi was the first to rush forward, followed by Shen Yao, Bai Youyuan, and Nan Qing. Because she was particularly interested in the secret room dating scene, Nan Qing also pulled up Gu Beiyan, who was holding her hand, and they all went to draw the slips of paper together.

During the draw, the two did not let go of each other's hands, showing no intention of avoiding the issue.

However, when they opened the slips of paper, the patterns on the two slips of paper were completely different. Nan Qing's slip of paper contained a red heart, while Gu Beiyan's slip of paper contained a yellow balloon.

At this moment, Shen Yao waved the note in his hand, his smile handsome and sunny.

"Nanqing, we're a couple today~~"