"Huh?" Qin Ming and Jiang Jingwen turned around together, only to see the three people in the back row holding their phones in unison, their expressions more terrified than the last.
"What do you mean?" Jiang Jingwen asked, her eyes wide with confusion.
Ning Shi: "...The villa manager initiated a video call in the WeChat group. The production team has given us a last-minute task!"
"...Huh?!" Jiang Jingwen was dumbfounded. "Then, what should we do? You two absolutely cannot appear in the same video!"
"Run!" Zhu Jinzhao suddenly stood up from the sofa and started running upstairs.
Ning Shi and Shi Jing paused for a second, then started running after them.
Qin Ming and Jiang Jingwen were in charge of the command.
Jiang Jingwen: "Ning Shi! Ning Shi, you don't need to run! Just stay in the movie theater, you don't need to go anywhere!"
Qin Ming: "Shi Jing, go find a corner in the yard and squat down! Don't stay in the house!"
Jiang Jingwen: "Chaochao, you... Hey? Where's Chaochao? Where did Chaochao go?"
Qin Ming rubbed his forehead: "Jinzhao has already run away."
"Chao Chao, where are you going?" Shi Jing had just run into the living room when Zhu Jinchao had already hopped up the stairs to the third floor.
Zhu Jinchao is still climbing upstairs: "I'm going to the rooftop terrace!!"
Shi Jing: "The door to the terrace has a password, and the password is 0!"
Zhu Jinzhao: "Got it!"
The Shi family villa has six floors. Zhu Jinzhao climbed to the top floor in one go and almost exhausted himself.
"0..." She entered the password Shi Jing had given her on the door lock, and after hearing a "beep" sound, she quickly pushed open the door and ran out, then found a chair to sit down at random.
The video call had already started, and the other four guests answered the video call immediately, while Zhu Jinzhao and the other two joined at the very end.
"The three absentees have arrived!"
The moment the three of them appeared in the video, the assistant director cheerfully announced it to the media.
"Hi." Ning Shi waved at the camera and was the first to greet the camera.
"Good evening, everyone." Zhu Jinzhao followed closely behind, panting heavily.
"Good evening," Shi Jing said, slightly out of breath, as he spoke last.
"What's wrong with you today? Why are you breathing so heavily as soon as you go on the microphone?" Fang Lei asked with a wry smile, lying on the bed like a salted fish.
"I...I just went for a run..." Zhu Jinzhao said, patting her chest to calm her breathing. "I gained three pounds after playing on Flower Island for a few days! So, I decided to go for a night run to lose weight."
"My goodness..." Fang Lei said with envy, "You're working way too hard!"
"It's alright." Zhu Jinzhao grinned, but his smile was a little stiff. "Why is Brother Lei lying down? Aren't you on a diet?"
Fang Lei: "I'm losing weight."
"You're trying to lose weight while lying down?" Ning Shi asked with a skeptical look.
Zhu Mingyue laughed and explained for Fang Lei: "Brother Lei gained five pounds. He was dragged to the gym by his manager as soon as he got off the plane. The devilish trainer at the gym tortured him for several hours and didn't give him anything to eat. He's lying on the bed now, feeling utterly hopeless, just to save his energy."
"My goodness..." Zhu Jinzhao teased him, using Fang Lei's words from earlier, "How come you're even more hardworking than me?"
Fang Lei smiled and closed his eyes: "Do you think I wanted this?"
"Hahahaha!" The people in the video were laughing loudly.
Looking at the background behind Zhu Jinzhao, Li Weiwan asked curiously, "Jinzhao, are you on the rooftop?"
"..." Zhu Jinzhao's smile froze for a moment, and her brain quickly made up a little lie for herself, "Yes, I'm on the roof of that guesthouse. It's windy on the roof, and it's very comfortable."
“It’s quite comfortable,” Zhu Mingyue replied promptly. “I just went up and had some of that air too.”
“That’s great.” Ning Shi chimed in, “That Xiao Feng looks very comfortable.”
“…Yes!” Zhu Jinzhao nodded vigorously, her eyes full of admiration for the two of them.
"Hahahaha!" The assistant director chuckled awkwardly twice before getting to the main topic of the video call.
"It's almost midnight. To make everyone less bored on our first night apart, the production team has specially organized this online chat session. The chat session will end at midnight, and everyone can speak freely during this time."
"Will this chat be broadcast live?" Su Ying asked a crucial question.
The assistant director in the video suddenly switched the camera to reveal a computer that was broadcasting live: "Hehe, it's already on."
Everyone: "..."
Netizens burst into laughter:
[Hahahaha! I'm really impressed by this bald guy, Lao Liu. He always pulls something whenever he shows his face!]
[Guest: Why didn't you wait until the chat was over to tell us?]
[Hahaha, luckily everyone was dressed reasonably well, otherwise the bald guy would definitely have been assassinated!]
I thought the production team had learned their lesson after last night's incident. (Heart emoji)
[Program team: They've already behaved, but they won't change, and they'll deliberately retaliate next time. (Heart emoji)]
There were no other tasks set for the evening chat; it was just a pure chat session.
Several people were chatting idly in the video, saying some pointless and nonsensical things.
"Hahahaha!" Zhu Jinzhao kept laughing at Fang Lei's antics, and her cheeks started to ache from laughing for so long.
"Click—"
Just then, a plate of washed fruit suddenly appeared on the table in front of her.
"..."
She turned her head stiffly and saw Shi Fei standing to the side with a big smile on his face.
“…Uncle.” She didn’t dare to speak, only mouthing the words to Shi Fei.
Shi Fei nodded, understandingly remaining silent. He simply pointed to the fruit on the table, indicating that she should eat it, before turning and tiptoeing away.
"What are you doing today?" Li Weiwan asked, looking at her video frame.
She slowly turned her head and replied with a smile, "I'm eating fruit. Mingyue just had someone bring me a plate of fruit."
Zhu Mingyue received her signal and immediately replied, "Is the fruit delicious? It was all sent by the sponsors."
"Delicious!" Zhu Jinzhao picked an imported Shine Muscat grape and popped it into her mouth in front of everyone. "Free fruit is the best!"
"Huh? Why is Shi Jing eating too?" Fang Lei stared at the screen longingly, swallowing hard.
Upon hearing this, the other guests all turned their gazes toward the time mirror.
At this moment, Shi Jing was squatting in the garden of the yard, holding her phone, watching Zhu Jinzhao in a video while eating some Sunshine Roses from a plate at her feet.
Li Weiwan: "I'm eating Shine Muscat grapes today, and you're eating Shine Muscat grapes too. What a coincidence!"
"Yes!" Shi Jing blurted out, "It's such a coincidence! I just squatted down in the yard and found a plate of wild Sunshine Roses on the ground! Wild ones, of course, we have to eat them to our hearts' content!"
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