Chapter 82
The Heartbeat Cottage has a large terrace, suspended on three sides and surrounded by flowers and trees, making it a great place to cool off on summer nights.
A group of people sat around the barbecue grill, eating and chatting quietly, the air filled with the aroma of food and drinks.
The handsome men and beautiful women chatted and laughed, and not only were the viewers in the observation room and those watching online praising their good looks, but even the filming crew on site couldn't take their eyes off them.
The planner whispered to the team leader, "Although this episode's direction is a bit strange, the guests' looks are absolutely divine."
The team leader nodded in agreement, his gaze lingering on Qin Su for a moment.
Even though I've seen her countless times during the recording, the team leader is still amazed every time he sees her again.
The entertainment industry is the place in the world with no shortage of beauties; there are countless beauties of all styles.
The team leader had seen all sorts of beautiful faces and thought he would never be amazed by anyone again in his life, but he never expected to meet Qin Su during this filming.
If beauty is a rare resource, then beauty to her degree is simply unique and can be called the pinnacle.
The most widely circulated saying about Qin Su online right now is:
Everyone has different aesthetic standards, so the types of beautiful women they like are also different, but Qin Su can unify everyone's aesthetic standards.
The team leader agreed wholeheartedly after reading it and liked the relevant content using a secondary account.
The planner noticed that his gaze was fixed on a certain spot. Following his gaze, they saw Qin Su standing up next to the barbecue grill, seemingly about to grab something. The rest of the group also seemed about to stand up.
Qin Su waved her hand, and everyone sat back down, but it was obvious that their eyes were still following her.
The planner couldn't help but click his tongue and gossip in a low voice: "Before I graduated, I interned at the studio of a top female star. I heard people gossip that because of her outstanding beauty, she could go to any entertainment venue empty-handed, because someone inside would always treat her."
"Back then, I thought that being that beautiful was enough to make people envious. Now I realize that there are always mountains beyond mountains and people beyond people. Top beauties aren't necessarily in the entertainment industry."
The planner smiled, a mixture of admiration and regret.
"Qin Su is truly exceptional, it's just a pity for the others..."
He didn't say what was so pitiful, but the team leader understood his unspoken words.
These guests are all excellent in every way, and any one of them could have been quite a topic of conversation, but now they've all been overshadowed by Qin Su.
With the bright moon hanging high in the sky, who can still notice the starlight?
The planner felt that these people were unlucky to be on the same variety show as Qin Su.
The team leader understood what he said, but disagreed, gently shaking his head: "The person involved may not necessarily think that way."
Perhaps for most of the guests, the biggest significance of participating in this variety show was getting to know Qin Su.
After all, meeting someone like that requires an incredible amount of luck, and it takes a lifetime to remember them.
***
As night deepened, the barbecue came to an end.
Chu Ge took a sip of the liquid in her glass and praised, "It is indeed good wine. Gu Chiyan is actually willing to bring it out."
During a previous chat, Gu Chiyan mentioned that he would bring over some of his family's best wines next time, but no one took it seriously. Unexpectedly, he actually brought them over.
Jin Xiao chuckled twice and chimed in, "Brother Gu is so generous!"
He had only recently come of age and didn't drink much, so he hadn't developed a high tolerance for alcohol. He was already slightly tipsy after only a little bit of alcohol.
Xue Jianxing poured him a glass of warm water and pushed it to his side.
Jin Xiao said "thank you," picked up the cup to drink, and as the water rippled under the light, his thoughts suddenly drifted away, and he became somewhat lost in thought.
Xue Jianxing asked in confusion, "What's wrong? Is the water too hot?"
Jin Xiao paused for a moment, his mind clouded by alcohol, and after a long while he said, "No... I just remembered that Su Su asked me for water one night."
"Oh?" Qin Su turned her head to look at him.
After a moment of recollection, she remembered that it must have been when she first came into this world. She asked Jin Xiao to pour her a cup of hot water under the pretext of feeling unwell, but in fact, she wanted to take the opportunity to reshape the original owner's image.
As it turned out, she made that move perfectly.
"Yes, that's true," Qin Su said with a smile. "Thanks to you at the time."
Jin Xiao was so amused by her laughter that he felt dizzy.
When people are drunk, they are already prone to speaking without thinking, and when they are in a drunken state, it becomes even more dangerous.
Jin Xiao murmured, "Back then, I didn't really like you... and nobody else really liked you either."
As the air on the terrace grew still, everyone around the barbecue grill turned to look at Jin Xiao.
There was a two-second pause in the comments, and then a massive flood of comments erupted again.
Wow, wow! It really comes down to how young people dare to speak their minds.
[If Jin Xiao hadn't mentioned it, I would have almost forgotten that Qin Su wasn't very likable when she first appeared.]
[That's normal. After all, it was a short time back then, so you couldn't tell anything at first.]
[This is hilarious! Look at Gu Chiyan, his face has turned blue.]
[This has shocked my entire family! Is this the epitome of a straight man? Telling his crush that he initially disliked her, hahaha, that's just unbelievable!]
The other guests' faces clearly said: "Don't drag me into this."
Inside the observation room, the celebrity observers were silent for a few seconds.
Zuo Fei's face twisted slightly, and she chuckled dryly, "Jin Xiao's thought process is really quite unique, huh?"
This is not something an ordinary person could do.
The host, Zhang Wenyan, was also briefly taken aback before trying to smooth things over, saying, "He's had too much to drink, it's obvious he's had too much to drink."
On the terrace, next to the barbecue grill, there was a deathly silence, with only the faint sizzling sound of oil on the hot plate.
Qin Su raised her eyelashes, her tone gentle: "Oh? Why?"
Upon hearing her words, Gu Chiyan froze completely, Xu Shishi bit her chopsticks as if she had been punched in the face, and Xue Jianxing's breathing became erratic before she abruptly held it.
They dared not look at Qin Su, nor at Jin Xiao, who was clearly drunk; they only stared at the plate in front of them, as if flowers were growing from it.
Chu Ge and Ye Yan came later and could only see the edited and played content; they were unaware of the details of the earlier recordings.
Ye Yan glanced at Qin Su, then lowered his eyes again, while Chu Ge looked at everyone's expressions, seemingly sensing something.
Jin Xiao hadn't noticed the awkward atmosphere around him. Seeing that her reaction was normal, he chuckled a few times and said, "Because at the beginning... you seemed pretty pretentious."
"You seem pretty pretentious."
As soon as those words were spoken, the surroundings became even quieter. The grass and trees fell silent, as if even the wind had stopped.
Qin Su nodded calmly and repeated his words: "He was quite pretentious at first... That's an interesting statement."
She suddenly smiled, pushed the plate of shrimp next to her forward, and casually asked, "So what do you think now?"
Jin Xiao was still dizzy, but he subconsciously took the plate and put on gloves to start peeling shrimp.
His movements were natural and completely thoughtless, so his voice didn't pause at all. He chuckled and continued, "It's fine now."
Qin Su lowered her gaze, looked at the shrimp Jin Xiao was peeling, then at his sincere expression, and smiled slightly.
She said nothing, yet it was as if she had said everything.
The celebrities in the observation room exchanged strange glances and shook their heads.
The screen was flooded with comments.
Things are fine now.
Things are fine now.
...
[Asking questions when you don't understand—is this what it means to be ungrateful without realizing it?]
[This is hilarious! He was peeling shrimp for someone while watching them eagerly, and then he said, "You used to be so dramatic, but you're doing great now."]
I understand now. This is the difference between being passive and being proactive. When you're passively doing something, you complain and blame everything; when you're proactive, you do it willingly.
This guy is hopeless; drag him out.
"Su Su..." Xue Jianxing couldn't hold back and called out Qin Su softly, his eyes filled with apology.
Qin Su knew what she wanted to say.
At first, the male and female guests tacitly isolated the original owner. Although Xue Jianxing didn't speak to her like Xu Shishi, she also remained silent. At the time, she didn't think she had done anything wrong, but now that her relationship with Qin Su has improved, she can't help but feel guilty about her actions back then.
Qin Su glanced at her, picked up her cup, and gently clinked it against hers: "I understand."
I understand that it's easy to add flowers to brocade but difficult to provide charcoal in the snow; I understand that it's hard for introverted people to do anything extraordinary; and I understand that most ordinary people act according to their emotions, so there's no reason for them to remain calm, objective, and objective in life.
She doesn't demand perfection from others, but she's not the original owner of this body, and she won't decide for the original owner whether to forgive the past.
All she could say was that she understood.
Xue Jianxing didn't understand what Qin Su had specifically figured out, but seeing that her expression was normal and thinking about how pleasant their time together had been, he couldn't help but feel relieved.
Jin Xiao had already skillfully peeled more than a dozen shrimp. It was hard to believe that his mind was a bit muddled, but his hands moved very quickly. He arranged the bright red shrimp meat on a porcelain plate and pushed it in front of Qin Su.
"You eat." His previous words had changed the atmosphere at the dinner table, but he didn't seem to notice, and just smiled sheepishly. "I'll peel it for you after you finish eating."
Xu Shishi felt extremely guilty when the old story was brought up. Seeing this, she quickly tried to take off his gloves, saying, "You've had too much to drink, stop taking them off."
Before anyone could wonder why she suddenly cared about Jin Xiao, Xu Shishi quickly threw away Jin Xiao's disposable gloves, found a new pair for herself, and put them on. Without hesitation, she continued, "I'm not drunk, I'll peel them!"
Everyone: "..."
Qin Su glanced at her with a half-smile, while Xu Shishi gave a fawning smile.
[That bend was so sharp, I almost flew off.]
[Tsk tsk, I can't bear to look, they're all such simps.]
[I suddenly remembered what Jin Xiaogang just said. Looking at it this way, the terrace is truly a magical place; it witnessed the entire process of this dating reality show going astray.]
What does this mean? Did I miss something in the edited version I watched later?
Some viewers who were confused immediately explained it to her.
When the guests first met, the others didn't have a good impression of Qin Su. Once, everyone was chatting on the terrace, but Qin Su didn't go. Jin Xiao poured her a glass of hot water in the living room. After that, the whole variety show gradually became "Qin Su's fishpond".
Today, everyone gathered on the terrace for a barbecue, and two new guests were added. Tomorrow is the date to start the date. Everyone can foresee that the relationships between the group will undergo new changes, and the variety show is very likely to turn into a battleground.
The audience knows this fact, the celebrity observers know it, and the parties involved know it even better.
If there was a thin layer of paper separating us before, then everything will be laid bare afterward.
The moon was high in the sky, the chirping of insects had ceased, and all around was quiet except for their place, which was still brightly lit.
Chu Ge raised his head from his wine glass and squinted at everyone.
Jin Xiao was drunk and talking nonsense, shouting that he wanted to win the world championship. Xu Shishi was staring blankly with her face in her hands, blinking only once every few minutes. Gu Chiyan frowned and rubbed his temples. Cheng Fubai looked dazed. Xue Jianxing was a few beats slower to react. Ye Yan was drinking in silence, preoccupied with his own thoughts.
Chu Ge chuckled and turned to stare at Qin Su, expecting to see the beautiful woman act silly after drinking, but he was disappointed.
Qin Suming had clearly drunk a lot of alcohol, but she didn't seem drunk at all; her cheeks were slightly flushed and her eyes looked a little moist.
"It's unreasonable that she's so good-looking and can drink so much," Chu Ge muttered. She got up, picked up the last bottle of wine, poured it for everyone, and stood up first, saying, "Come on, let's all have a final toast."
Everyone was stunned for a moment before they realized what was happening, and they all stood up unsteadily.
The glasses clinked together, making a crisp sound. Chu Ge laughed heartily and said, "To this wonderful gathering, to the fate that brought us together in the vast sea of people, to this brief but wonderful encounter in life—cheers!"
"cheers!"
Cheers!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com