"..."
It would have been better not to make that joke at all; Su Ying's expression clearly soured several degrees after it was made.
"!!!!" The four guests standing nearby widened their eyes in unison, quite startled by Zhu Jinzhao's sudden change in demeanor.
"Zhaochao?" Zhu Mingyue frowned, reached out and touched Zhu Jinchao's arm, her eyes clearly questioning.
Zhu Jinzhao turned to look at her, and smiled somewhat guiltily: "What's wrong?"
"..." There were too many outsiders here, so Zhu Mingyue couldn't ask her any questions.
"I know I said the wrong thing today, please don't be angry with me, okay?"
As expected of a top influencer, Su Ying composed herself in less than a minute. She took two steps forward, took Zhu Jinchao's hand, and swayed it from side to side in a coquettish manner, saying to Zhu Jinchao in a charmingly naive tone, "Jinchao, don't be angry. I really know I was wrong. If there's a next live stream, I'll definitely talk to these fans properly."
"Please forgive me today, if you forgive me I'll give you a face mask."
"Ignore her." Shi Jing was afraid that Zhu Jinzhao wouldn't be able to handle Su Ying's change of expression, so she quickly instructed her next move.
I hope you understand today and will do as instructed immediately.
"No need." She pulled her hand away, looked away from Su Ying, and said, "I don't need any face masks."
"..."
Su Ying's attempt to make amends, which she had swallowed her pride to do, was met with a harsh rejection from Zhu Jinzhao. She clenched her fists, and her eyes immediately turned cold.
Shi Jing was both giving bad advice and playing the good guy. Seeing that Su Ying was about to lose her temper, he quickly spoke up to ease the tension.
"Alright, alright, the fact that she can still joke around today proves that she's completely fine. It's getting late, let's all go back to our rooms and rest."
"Okay, I'm going back to rest." Fang Lei yawned and stretched, patting Zhu Jinzhao's shoulder as he lowered his arm.
"It's okay today. Being an artist means you can't avoid being criticized. Don't be fooled by my good reputation now. When I first started out, I was criticized terribly. The overwhelming criticism was so bad that I almost lost my mother."
“Me too, me too.” Ning Shi squeezed next to Zhu Jinzhao and walked upstairs with her. “Korean netizens are notorious for their love of bullying Chinese people. When I first became the team leader, I was almost driven to despair and quit the industry by all the criticism.”
Li Weiwan: "That's how this industry is. Even if you don't do anything, those people can still find reasons to criticize you. You'll get used to it, and once you get used to it, you'll be immune."
“We don’t want to get used to it today.” As soon as Li Weiwan spoke, Shi Jing began to feel annoyed. “Since we haven’t done anything wrong, we shouldn’t be scolded by anyone.”
Li Weiwan shook her head, her smile tinged with helplessness: "This isn't something we can decide."
Shi Jing retorted, "What you say may not count, but what I say must count! We cannot be criticized by anyone today!"
“Sigh…” Li Weiwan sighed, unaware of Shi Jing’s hostility. In his view, Shi Jing certainly had the right to be arrogant.
Shiyun Group is the leading enterprise in the capital, and Shi Jing is known as the Crown Prince of the capital. If he wants to protect someone and block out all the criticism from the outside world, he really can do it.
Fang Lei: "Shi Jing, why don't you calculate it for me too? I really don't want to be scolded by netizens anymore..."
Shi Jing chuckled: "I'll do my best."
Fang Lei turned to look at him: "How much effort can you put in?"
Shi Jing: "Um... I can help you report Xiao Heizi's account."
"...I can report it myself."
Hahahaha!
Of the seven guests, five were chatting and laughing happily. The remaining two lagged behind in silence, their expressions increasingly cold.
Su Ying was cold because Zhu Jinzhao repeatedly embarrassed her and even publicly implied that she was cultivating a good persona.
Zhu Mingyue felt cold because she sensed that Zhu Jinzhao was not close to her.
She was the only person Zhu Jinchao knew on the show, yet Zhu Jinchao preferred to confide in Shi Jing rather than come to her when she felt wronged. She even lowered her pride to take the initiative to care for Zhu Jinchao, but Zhu Jinchao always maintained a distant and aloof attitude towards her.
This made her feel like an outsider, an outsider who was not even as good as Shi Jing.
But they're clearly family! Zhu Jinzhao even said she wanted to please her...
The turmoil of the night has finally come to an end, and the seven guests returned to their rooms upstairs in a seemingly harmonious manner.
The cameraman stood in the living room, filming a video of the guests comforting Zhu Jinzhao. Half an hour later, the official Weibo account of "Let's Make Friends Season 2" posted the video, which even became a minor trending topic.
Finally, fans of other guests spoke up for Zhu Jinzhao on the trending topics page.
[I have to say, those crazy netizens are really enough. This is her first day debuting, and you've bullied her like this. Even as a fan of Leizi's (Lei Zi's) abstract art style, I feel heartbroken.]
[Stap! Staple! Chaochao is my brother Li's destiny, none of you are allowed to bully her!]
Good grief, even Zhu Mingyue is speaking up for Jinzhao, yet those idiot netizens insist that Zhu Mingyue is being suppressed by Jinzhao. Are their brains made of rat poison?
[You start by belittling female celebrities and then immediately start harping on male celebrities; frankly, you're just misogynists.]
The person upstairs is right, this world is a giant piss. (Sending love)
...
The next day, the live recording of "Let's Make Friends Season 2" started two hours earlier.
On the east coast of Flower Island, seven guests walked towards the sea, chatting and laughing as the sky began to lighten.
The sea breeze was a bit strong early in the morning, so Zhu Jinchao pulled her coat tighter around her and buried her head in her forehead to block the wind.
Seeing this, Shi Jing silently walked to Zhu Jinzhao's right front and stood shoulder to shoulder with Zhu Mingyue.
Zhu Mingyue felt annoyed just looking at him, so she secretly rolled her eyes while flipping her hair.
The beach wasn't far away, and the seven of them dawdled along, stopping at the best spot to watch the sunrise in less than ten minutes.
"Waaah—"
Fang Lei opened his arms and embraced the clear sea breeze.
Viewers who had just entered the live stream were startled by him.
[Weren't we supposed to be watching the sunrise? Why are some guests acting like they've reverted to their ancestral ways as soon as they walk in?]
[Malao! Wild macaques spotted on the beach!]
[Hahaha, Lei almost hit Ning Shi on the head when he raised his hand.]
"The weather forecast estimates sunrise at 6:20. We still have half an hour to wait. Let's find a place to sit down," Ning Shi suggested.
Fang Lei was the first to agree: "Sure."
There happened to be a concrete staircase behind them, and all seven of them turned around at the same time, ran up the staircase, and sat down to wait for the sunrise.
The actual sunrise time was ten minutes earlier than expected.
Just after 6:10, a round, orange-red sun slowly rose from the sea, instantly dyeing half the sky red.
A golden light was projected onto the sea surface, creating ripples as the rolling waves churned it up, resembling a piece of brocade undulating in the wind.
On the brocade cloth, several small boats were embroidered, swaying gently. It's a pity the boats were too far away to see clearly.
"Wow……"
The seven people exclaimed in surprise at the same time, almost fainting from the beauty of the sunrise before them.
"Is it beautiful?" Shi Jing didn't look at the sunrise, only at Zhu Jinchao.
A gentle fire burned in Zhu Jinzhao's eyes as she smiled and nodded, "Beautiful!"
Upon hearing this, Ning Shi turned her head and looked at Zhu Jinzhao with envy in her eyes. After a moment, her gaze shifted slightly to Shi Jing, and then turned to deep regret.
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