49 049

"Does that man know you?"

Ning Shiyue has been working on the set of "Tide Order" these days. Every morning, she starts her makeup routine before dawn and has to memorize her lines for the next day after work. She is so busy that getting six hours of sleep is a luxury.

Ning Shiyue finally finished today early, and since the male lead's scenes will be a little less tomorrow, he opened a game he hadn't played in a long time to relax.

Just as I was about to play a solo game, I saw that Ning Yuxuan had logged on and was playing with someone in a team.

It should be noted that Ning Shiyue originally got Ning Yuxuan into the game, but since he and Ning Yuxuan had a fight a few months ago because of Gu Yunhao, Ning Yuxuan has not logged on again.

Ning Yuxuan was still in the villa where the show was being filmed, and she shouldn't have been using her phone, but she suddenly went online for no apparent reason.

Recalling the trending topic he saw on Weibo while scrolling through dinner—that this episode's guest was an e-sports player—Ning Shiyue's alarm bells immediately went off.

She wouldn't play games with him, but then she met some genius player a few years younger than him and started playing with him?

I sent Ning Yuxuan a private message in the game, but she ignored it.

Ning Shiyue couldn't wait any longer and switched to a WeChat message to Ning Yuxuan.

Five minutes after sending the message, I finally received a reply.

Ning Yuxuan: [Want to join? There are three of us, and we still have two seats left.]

Ning Shiyue frowned.

He would never play games with that skinny kid who hasn't even grown any hair yet!

And she hasn't even answered his question yet: why is she allowed to play on her phone during the recording?

Ning Shiyue typed: Wait, you haven't...

Ning Yuxuan: [Are you coming or not? If not, we'll open for business.]

Ning Shiyue: "..."

【Come. 】

Ning Shiyue quickly logged into the game, thought for a moment, and then invited Zhuang Yiming, another actor from the crew.

Zhuang Yiming plays the third male lead in this drama. The two are good brothers in the drama, and their relationship is also good off-screen.

To put it bluntly, Zhuang Yiming's online traffic is far lower than Ning Shiyue's, and their paths are different, so they don't have much of a competitive relationship for the time being.

In fact, Zhuang Yiming's personality is indeed quite good. He is cheerful, knows how to lighten the mood, and is not too tactless. Ning Shiyue and he get along quite well.

Since joining the crew, the two have become quite familiar with each other.

Ning Shiyue had seen Zhuang Yiming playing games on set and knew that the other party was quite skilled.

Normally, if Ning Yuxuan invited Ning Shiyue to play games together, Ning Shiyue would definitely not invite anyone else.

But this time it's different; Ning Yuxuan has Duan Ziyao on her side.

Ning Shiyue considered himself a good gamer, but Duan Ziyao was, after all, a professional esports player, so what if…

In short, just to be on the safe side, Ning Shiyue invited another friend he thought was good at the game.

In case he doesn't perform well, there's a double insurance policy.

Once all five members were present, the team leader clicked "Start Matchmaking".

On the matchmaking screen, Ning Shiyue squinted as he studied the avatars of his two teammates besides Ning Yuxuan and Zhuang Yiming.

One is a pink rabbit with two strawberries hanging on its head.

After a moment's thought, Ning Shiyue figured that this was probably the actress named Jiang Ning'an from the show.

A few days ago, Ning Yuxuan sent him a message showing off the pink bunny ear pajamas that Jiang Ning'an had given her, and casually mentioned that Jiang Ning'an liked bunnies.

As for the other blue-gray anime avatar...

Ning Shiyue stared at him for a long time and concluded that this guy must be Duan Ziyao.

At the same time the match was successful, there was a knock on Ning Shiyue's hotel room door.

"Brother Shi Yue, it's me!"

Zhuang Yiming is actually two years older than Ning Shiyue, but Ning Shiyue debuted earlier, so Zhuang Yiming is used to calling him that out of respect.

Ning Shiyue got up and opened the door for Zhuang Yiming.

Zhuang Yiming, holding his phone, found a seat and asked, "Brother Shi Yue, why did you suddenly ask me to play games with you? Who are those other people? Their profile pictures are all pink and cute, are they your girlfriends?"

Ning Shiyue rolled her eyes at Zhuang Yiming: "No, I'm just playing with my sister."

Zhuang Yiming's eyes lit up: "Teacher Yuxuan?"

Ning Shiyue frowned: "It's her. Why are you calling her that?"

Zhuang Yiming chuckled: "I'm a fan of Teacher Yuxuan. I watched two episodes of that super popular mom variety show, and Teacher Yuxuan is my favorite! She's beautiful, gentle, and has a really charming personality!"

Ning Shiyue: "..."

Putting aside beauty and personal charm, where did the word "gentle" come from?

Ning Shiyue: "Alright, that taro ball bubble tea girl is my sister. If you're her fan, then do your best to impress her."

It would be best to outdo Duan Ziyao.

Zhuang Yiming readily agreed, "Sure, no problem! What position does she usually play?"

Ning Shi also said: "Archer."

Zhuang Yiming: "That's perfect. I'll go bot lane with her. I... wait? She picked a mage, so she must be going mid lane, right?"

Upon hearing this, Ning Shiyue's eyebrows furrowed again.

When he used to play this game with Ning Yuxuan, Ning Yuxuan never went to the middle lane.

What's going on?

Ning Shiyue recalled that he had just searched Duan Ziyao's Baidu Baike page, and Duan Ziyao seemed to be a professional mid-lane player.

Thinking of this, Ning Shiyue's eyebrows furrowed even deeper, and his whole face almost wrinkled up.

What the heck? Has Ning Yuxuan been assimilated into Duan Ziyao's gaming habits? Or is Duan Ziyao now teaching her how to play games?

Zhuang Yiming was still discussing the hero selection: "This guy called Strawberry Rabbit Cake picked a warrior, and the other one wasn't picked. Yue-ge, why don't you jungle and I'll go bot lane?"

Ning Shiyue hesitated for a second: "Okay."

The jungler has more freedom of movement, and he can also help Ning Yuxuan in the mid lane more.

The game started, and Ning Shiyue began to operate the controls with complete concentration.

If he performs better than Duan Ziyao this time, he can finally hold his head high in front of Ning Yuxuan!

Ning Shiyue had already planned what he would say to Ning Yuxuan after they met—

That so-called genius professional player? You're kidding me. He's not even as good as me at 5v5 mobile games!

However, just over a minute into the game, Ning Shiyue was focused on killing monsters when he heard Zhuang Yiming shout from the side.

Zhuang Yiming: "Wow! Who is this? They play marksman so well?"

Ning Shiyue: "..."

As Zhuang Yiming exclaimed in surprise, the sound effect of the game's first blood rang out.

Duan Ziyao, playing the marksman, secured a kill on the opposing team.

Zhuang Yiming, oblivious to Ning Shiyue's expression, continued to exclaim, "This guy's impressive! He's got something! Don't you think so, Shiyue—"

He turned to look at Ning Shiyue and quickly stopped talking.

Zhuang Yiming asked cautiously, "Brother Shi Yue, who's that guy in the bottom lane? Is he your love rival?"

Ning Shiyue's face darkened: "No."

"That's..." Zhuang Yiming guessed, "Yu Xuan's boyfriend?"

On set, everyone knows that Ning Shiyue values ​​his family the most, especially his sister.

Ning Shiyue has no interest in any of the gossip in the entertainment industry, but whenever Ning Yuxuan makes any move, Ning Shiyue is always the first to jump out.

Isn't Cheng Xiyang a living example?

The only thing that could make Ning Shiyue look so angry is probably his sister.

Sure enough, upon hearing the name "Yu Xuan," Ning Shiyue's face turned ashen: "He's not my sister's boyfriend!"

Denying it wasn't enough to vent his anger, Ning Shiyue paused and then added fiercely, "Him? How could that be!"

Zhuang Yiming became even more curious: "Then who is it? Can you tell me? If you can't, I won't ask anymore."

Ning Shiyue paused for a second: "An annoying guy."

Zhuang Yiming's eyes darted around: "Then how about... I deliberately don't let him use his skills, or I suddenly retreat during the fight and sell him out, to vent your anger?"

Ning Shiyue: "...No need, just play normally."

He wanted to surpass Duan Ziyao fair and square, and lead Ning Yuxuan to success through his own strength, without resorting to underhanded methods.

Besides, Zhuang Yiming was someone he invited. If he acted too convincingly, Ning Yuxuan would notice something was wrong.

Zhuang Yiming: "If you said it, then I'm really going to have a lot of fun!"

Ning Shiyue: "Mm."

Two minutes later, the bottom lane started fighting again.

Ning Shiyue was helping Jiang Ning'an push the lane in the top lane when he noticed that Ning Yuxuan had also gone to the bottom lane to provide support.

Five seconds later, another piece of good news came.

Three kills for zero, Ning Yuxuan got one kill, and Duan Ziyao got two.

"This guy is really..." Zhuang Yiming subconsciously wanted to praise him, but then he changed his mind abruptly, "I mean, this guy's skill level is just average! Basic operations, anyone can do it!"

Ning Shiyue: "..."

Hearing Zhuang Yiming's clearly insincere denigration, he became even angrier.

Ning Shiyue even considered typing in the public chat to yell: "Do you guys even know how to play? You got first blood in less than two minutes, and then got wiped out in less than five minutes. What kind of skill level is this?"

He held back.

The character Ning Shiyue chose has a growth curve that focuses on mid-game power spikes, so he needs to farm more jungle monsters in the early stages.

However, by the time Ning Shiyue had finally managed to farm monsters and level up, Zhuang Yiming and Duan Ziyao's bottom lane duo had already completely crushed the opposing team.

Before Ning Shiyue could even exert his strength, the game was already over.

With a resounding victory, Duan Ziyao unsurprisingly won the MVP award with a score of 12-0.

Zhuang Yiming knew that Ning Shiyue didn't like their marksman, so he said, "This guy just got lucky and got MVP. The enemy's bottom lane is too bad. They don't know how to play at all and keep feeding him kills."

But my body betrayed me by clicking "add friend".

The moment I sent the friend request, I felt a gaze fall upon me.

She raised her head and met Ning Shiyue's icy gaze.

Zhuang Yiming chuckled sheepishly: "Well... I just marked who this guy is. If I run into him on the other side during the next match, I'll definitely give him a good beating!"

Ning Shiyue: "..."

Nobody would believe that.

The verification message Zhuang Yiming sent clearly stated: "Brother, you're awesome! Let's play together again next time?"

Ning Shiyue ignored Zhuang Yiming and privately messaged Ning Yuxuan in the game: 【Want to play another game? Don't you like playing marksman? How about I support you next game?】

Instead of replying in the game, the other person sent him a WeChat message.

Ning Yuxuan: [I'm logging off now! I'm stopping here.]

Ning Shiyue almost couldn't catch his breath.

He's quitting already? He hasn't even had a chance to show off his skills!

Ning Shiyue: [Let's play one more round! It's not easy to play together. What's wrong? Is someone on your side not wanting to play anymore?]

Ning Shiyue: [If you want to play, we can play a game alone. It's fine even if there are one or two fewer people. I can still carry you.]

Could it be that this guy surnamed Duan is too afraid to play, afraid he won't perform as well next time, so he doesn't dare to continue?

Ning Yuxuan: [No, it's the production team saying it's almost time and they're coming to take our phones away.]

Ning Yuxuan: [What's wrong? I've never seen you this addicted to games before. Is it because the feeling of being carried is so exhilarating?]

Ning Shiyue: "???"

He had so much to say, so he typed away furiously.

Ning Yuxuan: [Okay, that's enough chatting, the staff is coming to collect my phone, bye-bye! Good luck with your filming!]

Ning Shiyue: "..."

Ning Shiyue angrily threw her phone on the bed after failing to send any of the words in the input box.

He played a game with Ning Yuxuan and sent her a few messages, and she couldn't wait to say goodbye to him.

Even if the production team takes away the phones, Ning Yuxuan can still celebrate the game victory with Duan Ziyao, and maybe even exchange game tips and chat for another half an hour or an hour!

And who knows if that kid might have some ulterior motive, or chat about other random things?

Ning Shi became increasingly angry the more he thought about it.

Seeing that things were not going well, Zhuang Yiming decided to take the opportunity to slip away: "Brother Shi Yue, I see the team has disbanded, they're not playing anymore, right? Should I go back too? My first scene is tomorrow morning, I need to go to bed early."

Ning Shiyue let Zhuang Yiming go.

After thinking for a moment, he picked up his phone, swiped through WeChat, and found Xie Zhiyan's profile picture.

Ning Shiyue: "..."

After hesitating for a few seconds, I sent a message: [Brother Zhiyan, are you busy? Did my sister contact you today?]

After a moment, Xie Zhiyan replied: [No. What happened? Did something happen to her?]

Ning Shiyue: [No, no, nothing happened. I just suddenly remembered and asked casually!]

Seeing Xie Zhiyan's reply, Ning Shiyue suddenly felt at peace.

At least Ning Yuxuan replied to his message after getting her phone back from the production team, and even invited him to play a game together.

As for Xie Zhiyan, Ning Yuxuan didn't contact him at all!

What does this tell us?

This shows that, at least in Ning Yuxuan's eyes, her younger brother holds a higher position than her boyfriend!

As for that segment, it's just a matter of proximity; once this episode ends, the two probably won't have any further interaction.

Thinking this way, Ning Shiyue suddenly felt much better.

After thinking for a moment, Ning Shiyue sent Xie Zhiyan another message: [Brother Zhiyan, do you usually play Glory of Kings?]

Xie Zhiyan: [I'm not playing. Why?]

Ning Shiyue: [It's nothing, I just played a game with my sister. Besides my sister and me, there was one of my friends and two other people from my sister's group.]

Ning Shiyue: [I was thinking if you played too, I could invite you next time. No problem, no problem, I won't bother you anymore, Zhiyan-ge, you're busy!]

After sending these two messages, Ning Shiyue locked her phone screen with satisfaction.

Anyway, if that guy surnamed Duan really has feelings for Ning Yuxuan, the one who should be most worried is not his younger brother!

...

In the villa in Beicheng, the production team let a few people relax with their phones for less than an hour before taking the phones away.

Duan Ziyao is just like he is in the post-match voice chat when he plays games; he doesn't talk much, only occasionally mentioning a skill or his position.

Even though he won by overwhelming force in the end, Duan Ziyao looked very calm, with only a barely perceptible smile on his lips.

He didn't embarrass himself in these two games, so Ning Yuxuan should believe in his skills as a professional player now, right?

Before their phones were taken away, the group added each other as game friends.

Ning Yuxuan and Jiang Ning'an celebrated with laughter.

Duan Ziyao, however, was unusually composed for a boy his age: "Then I'll go back upstairs first."

"Mmm!" After playing these two games, Jiang Ning'an had an even better impression of Duan Ziyao. "Little brother Ziyao, you should go back and rest. Don't make your mother worry."

Duan Ziyao nodded: "Then... you guys should get some rest too, see you tomorrow."

Jiang Ning'an waved goodbye to him gracefully: "Okay, bye-bye!"

Ning Yuxuan also waved to Duan Ziyao.

Duan Ziyao's ears burned slightly. He nodded and walked away hurriedly.

After Duan Ziyao went upstairs, Jiang Ning'an said to Ning Yuxuan, "This younger brother is really a good person. Although he doesn't talk much, he is perceptive and polite. Most importantly, he is so good at games!"

Ning Yuxuan laughed and joked, "After all that you've said, I think the last sentence is the most important!"

Jiang Ning'an laughed too: "You hit the nail on the head. You have no idea how hard it is to find good teammates in games. When I team up with other people, I basically have to rely on my own performance."

Ning Yuxuan asked curiously, "Aren't they all as good as you?"

Jiang Ning'an smiled somewhat embarrassedly: "Pretty much, there aren't many of my friends who are more capable than me."

Then she remembered something else: "But speaking of which, I think your brother's skills are pretty good too! He plays jungle well, but in the last game, his power spike ended before he could even get a chance to shine."

Ning Yuxuan curved her lips into a smile: "It's a pity he can't hear what you said, otherwise he would probably be in a better mood."

Jiang Ning'an didn't quite understand, and raised her eyebrows to ask, "What's wrong? Is your brother in a bad mood?"

Ning Yuxuan shook her head: "He's not just in a bad mood, he was probably furious when he saw Ziyao win the MVP award."

Jiang Ning'an didn't understand: "Why? Isn't it great to be carried by someone?"

Ning Yuxuan smiled and said, "It might be true for others, but it certainly isn't true for Ning Shiyue."

Since childhood, Ning Shiyue has had a particular trait: whenever Ning Yuxuan praises any boy her age in front of Ning Shiyue, Ning Shiyue will inevitably make a few sarcastic remarks about that person.

It's like having a possessive desire for her praise.

Ning Yuxuan had already noticed this, and sometimes she would tease him on purpose, such as deliberately praising a boy's good looks in front of Ning Shiyue.

Duan Ziyao stole the show while playing games this time, and even if she didn't praise him, she could guess that Ning Shiyue would definitely be awkward for a while.

Unfortunately, the production team took away her phone so quickly, not giving her a chance to tease Ning Shiyue a few more times.

Ning Yuxuan and Jiang Ning'an chatted for a while before going upstairs to rest.

The live stream started again on Sunday morning.

The second day's segment continued with "games" as the theme, and in the morning, the program team took everyone back to childhood games.

This time it's rolling iron hoops and hopscotch.

Many mothers played these games when they were young, and this experience has brought back those memories.

The program still uses a points system, but this time there are no rewards or punishments. The team that wins first place will receive a small trophy made by the program as a souvenir.

The reward was simple, but no one wanted to lose.

Even Ning Fei, who appears gentle and elegant, and Qin Man, who seems aloof and intellectual, gave their all in every game.

The atmosphere at the scene was very joyful.

[Teacher Ning and Teacher Qin certainly didn't expect that their competition after so many years would be a hopscotch contest!]

[Haha, and both actresses really put in their best effort, even more so than when they were competing for Best Actress!]

[It's clear everyone really wants to win! I've never seen either of the teachers work so hard; even Teacher Qin is sweating!]

In the end, Qin Man and Jiang Ning'an's team came out on top and won the small trophy awarded by the program team.

Everyone took a group photo, which was then hung on the photo wall on the first floor of the villa.

After the morning activities concluded, the production team brought out many game consoles that were popular in the past in the afternoon.

For example, the Tetris machine or the Little Tyrant game console from many years ago.

Honestly, I really admire the prop master of this show. Where did they find all these antiques?

[And yesterday's fighting game arcade machine—it looked about my age!]

After a full day of games, everyone had a great time.

Ning Yuxuan took a liking to the Tetris machine: "Do you sell this? How much? Oh, and that one next to it, can we buy it together?"

[Haha, Ning Yuxuan, are you here to buy more? You bought arcade machines before and now you want to buy this too.]

I want to buy it after seeing it! This thing looks really fun!

【None of you will work, I've already placed an order on Taobao!】

[Haha, I was just about to say that the production team definitely didn't expect this episode to actually have a sales-driving effect.]

When the live broadcast ended at 4 p.m., both the guests and the audience felt a little reluctant to leave.

[I declare that Ziyao and Aunt Su are my favorite guest stars! Can they come again next time?!]

[It's probably not going to work out, sob. The production team said each pair of guest stars will only appear for one episode, even though I really like them both.]

[I don't mind! As long as Teacher Ning and Teacher Qin, those two mother-daughter pairs, are here, I'll watch it no matter who else comes!]

Goodbye everyone, see you next week!

After the live broadcast ended, the program staff said goodbye to all the guests.

Su Yun, Qin Man, and Ning Fei held hands and said goodbye: "Teacher Qin, Teacher Ning, it's our good fortune to be able to record a program with you. We wish you all the best in your future careers and that you stay beautiful forever!"

Then Su Yun pulled Ning Yuxuan aside and said, "Yuxuan, Auntie really likes you a lot. Well... cough, anyway, I wish you and your boyfriend a long and happy life together!"

Ning Yuxuan smiled and nodded: "Thank you, Aunt Su."

The car from Qin Man's studio arrived at the villa first, and the driver came to pick up Qin Man and Jiang Ning'an to go back.

Ning Yuxuan said goodbye to the two of them and promised to see them again next week.

A short while later, a bronze Bentley slowly drove into the recording area.

Ning Yuxuan and Ning Fei exchanged a glance.

Ning Fei asked in confusion, "You sent Zhiyan to pick us up? Why didn't you tell Mom beforehand?"

Ning Yuxuan blinked: "No, I thought you were the one who contacted him."

Ning Fei smiled and said, "It seems that Zhi Yan missed you and wanted to give you a surprise."

The car slowly came to a stop, and Xie Zhiyan got out of the car with a small bunch of bean paste-colored roses in his hand.

Under the curious gazes of the staff on site, Xie Zhiyan handed the flowers to Ning Yuxuan.

"Aunt Ning, Xuanxuan," Xie Zhiyan said with a faint smile, "Why don't you get in the car first? We can talk about the other cars later."

Ning Fei glanced at her daughter holding the flowers, smiled and nodded: "Okay."

Ning Yuxuan examined the small bouquet of roses Xie Zhiyan had given her: "Why aren't they red this time?"

Xie Zhiyan's voice was gentle: "I'm afraid you'll get tired of seeing the same thing every time."

Ning Yuxuan played with the flowers in her hand as she got into the back seat of the car.

Xie Zhiyan was the last to board the bus.

The man's gaze casually swept over the staff on site, lingering for a second longer on the face of the tall, thin boy in a dark short-sleeved shirt.

After a brief eye contact, he made no comment, turned around and got into the car.

Xie Zhiyan's aura was so powerful that even the usually talkative Su Yun was stunned for several seconds before she remembered to ask Duan Ziyao, "Son, did that man just now know you? Did he glance at you?"

Duan Ziyao: "..."

After a moment, the boy shook his head: "I don't know him."

The other person's gaze was calm and unwavering, as if it were merely a casual glance.

But he could still vaguely sense why the man was looking at him.

Based on intuition.

[Author's Note]

Someone may seem as steady as a rock, but in reality...