When Brother Li saw that trending topic, his poor little heart nearly jumped out of his chest.
—No way, right?
Could it be that someone from the hospital leaked the information, that Ah Ye and Shen Wanwan went for a paternity test, and it got exposed?
In that instant, a dozen PR plans flashed through his mind.
It wasn’t until he clicked into the trending topic that he realized that it was just a blogger named Jiajia who had posted a family photo, with the caption:
[My exam results weren’t great, but my Brother is Shao Yuye! That’ll show them! (photo.jpg)]
Cold sweat started pouring down his forehead.
This was bad!
Could this be the stepsister Ah Ye had mentioned before?
Even though the photo had cartoon avatars covering the faces and Shao Yuye’s face was pixelated, anyone who knew him could tell that it was him. Why? Because that distinctive custom Ultraman bracelet on his wrist was just too recognizable!
Originally, the internet had just gone through a wave of public opinion reversal, and topics about Shao Yuye and Shen Wanwan were still all over Weibo, highly exposed. If a ‘Little Sister’ were to hit the trending topics at a time like this, it would’ve been icing on the cake.
The problem was…
This ‘Little Sister’ was a half-sister, and Shao Yuye didn’t acknowledge her!
Brother Li kept scrolling down the trending topic.
But unexpectedly…
The fans all seemed to think it was Photoshopped.
The only reason this hashtag had climbed the ranks was because everyone was running with the joke!
[Even though my boss yelled at me at work, my Brother is Shao Yuye! That’ll show them! (photo.jpg)]
[Even though my bestie stole my boyfriend, my husband is Shao Yuye! That’ll show them! (photo.jpg)]
Brother Li : ????
His brain was stuck in PR mode, but why was everyone reacting in such a different way than he expected?
He clicked on a few photos. And honestly? They were all Photoshopped pretty convincingly.
He returned to Jiajia’s homepage. After taking a screenshot, just as he was zooming in to take a closer look, the app suddenly notified him:
—Jiajia had deleted the post.
Even better.
Brother Li did his best to steer the public conversation in that direction.
Once everything was handled, he fell silent again. Looks like in the next few days, he’d have to do some planning—talk to the media, check in with Shao Yuye’s side. If anything really did get exposed, he needed to be ready.
That afternoon, Shen Wanwan’s team was still neck-and-neck with Zhang Yiran’s team in terms of progress.
The cable car brought the four of them to the third stage, where they were greeted by a series of climbing and workout apparatuses.
This place used to be a fitness training camp. After the camp shut down, the equipment remained and became a commonly used training site for local youth sports programs.
There is an ancient story in Mount Zhu. A goddess was trapped in the Temple of Heaven and needed to be rescued by the Five Directions. The Five Directions were originally at odds, but they finally worked together to save the goddess and resolve their differences.
The show had turned this legend into a challenge.
One person would play the role of the ‘divine maiden,’ placed by the show at a 10-meter-high platform;
One person would play the ‘rescuer,’ who must pass through five small obstacle zones symbolizing metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—without a single mistake.
If they failed, the rescuer would return to the starting point and begin again.
The setup was a bit like the show <Takeshi’s Castle1>.
Zhang Yiran pulled Shao Yuye over and raised his brows confidently.
“How about it? Want to have a race?”
At the mention of a challenge, Shao Yuye perked up.
“How do we race?”
Zhang Yiran snapped his fingers with flair.
“Speed, of course.”
“Loser gives the winner 100 Speed Tokens. Deal?”
He’d gotten inspired by Shen Wanwan during lunch, and suddenly saw a ‘business opportunity.’
Who knew when the show would hand out money again?
If they wanted to build up your fortune fast, the quickest way was to win it off their fellow contestants!
Just look at Li Yan, who was willing to fork over 100 Speed Tokens just for a meal. Keep in mind, the maximum prize they could win from the spin was only 20 tokens!
Shao Yuye agreed instantly, slapping hands with Zhang Yiran : “Deal!”
[Brother Ye is too easy to bait. Use a win-or-lose bet, and he falls for it every time!]
[Zhang Yiran, you’re seriously underestimating our Brother Ye, hahaha!]
But since this was a two-person team, Shao Yuye still turned to Shen Wanwan to ask for her opinion.
“Want to give it a shot?”
Shen Wanwan raised an elegant brow. “Sure.”
“But 100 Speed Tokens is too little. Make it 200.”
Shao Yuye hadn’t expected her to throw out such a big number, and froze for a second.
Did she really believe that strongly in his ability to win?
Zhang Yiran was also completely dumbfounded: “This… this is getting serious?”
[LOL, Zhang Yiran: Why did Shen Wanwan suddenly go all-in with a Super Double?!]
[Just stop betting already! If you lose, that’s 200 Speed Tokens, you could skip levels with that!]
Shen Wanwan raised an eyebrow, lips curling into a mocking smile:
“Scared?”
“Of course not!”
Zhang Yiran glanced at Jin Xiaoyu. “Let’s bet then? If I lose, I’ll be your dog!”
Jin Xiaoyu : “……”
So, so exhausted.
First Bai Ling set a pitfall by giving Shen Wanwan the hot spring item card.
Now her pig teammate Zhang Yiran insisted on betting 200 Speed Tokens with Shen Wanwan.
Why did she have such a bad feeling about this?!
Seeing that Jin Xiaoyu didn’t object too strongly, Zhang Yiran turned to Shen Wanwan and raised his voice several notches:
“Deal!”
Since both men were so eager to compete, Shen Wanwan and Jin Xiaoyu naturally became the ‘goddesses awaiting rescue.’
Once they stood on the 10-meter-high platform, they had a full view of the entire area—
And could also enjoy the sight of Shao Yuye and Zhang Yiran rushing toward them.
The surroundings were empty. Besides the tall platform, there was absolutely nothing else.
Shen Wanwan began to cue the production team to bring out the ‘Shop Catalog.’
“Can I keep using the items I buy?”
Director: “As long as they’re not one-time-use items, like clothing and such, yes—you can keep using them.”
Shen Wanwan asked again, “Can the crew store them for me?”
Director : “Yes.”
He said it and immediately felt something was off.
But it was already too late. Shen Wanwan flipped through the catalog, her slender finger lightly tapping along the images.
“I want a sofa. And an afternoon tea platter.”
Director : “……”
She really does know how to enjoy herself, huh?
Jin Xiaoyu stood by watching Shen Wanwan spend money, and her heart nearly jumped out of her chest.
Sofa : 80 tokens. Afternoon tea : 30 tokens. That’s 110 Speed Coins in total!
110 tokens could was more than half the tokens needed to skip a level! And Shen Wanwan didn’t even blink while spending them.
Was she here for a competition or to throw a tea party?
The comment feed was full of sympathetic howls—
[Watching Shen Wanwan spend money like this is actually painful!]
[Seriously, this is ridiculous. She’s burning through Speed Tokens like crazy. I’m nervous just watching, what if she crashes and burns?]
[But she looks so comfy and relaxed right now…]
[Of course she’s comfy! She spent 110 Speed Tokens for that!]
Soon, the staff delivered the sofa and afternoon tea set that Shen Wanwan had requested to the top of the platform.
On-screen, Shen Wanwan lounged peacefully on the sofa, a beautiful three-tiered tea stand at her side with macarons, cakes, and fruit tarts, and a steaming cup of fragrant black tea.
Jin Xiaoyu stood awkwardly beside her, practically reduced to a background prop.
When the director switched to a wide-angle shot, Jin Xiaoyu looked even more like her assistant.
Shen Wanwan was just too distinctive—so distinctive, it was kind of charming.
[Damn it, I was trashing her this morning, and now I think I might be becoming a fan? What’s happening??]
[How does the saying go? Early spenders enjoy early! The contrast between Shen Wanwan and Jin Xiaoyu is way too stark.]
It was Zhang Yiran’s first time seeing a move like that.
At first he was stunned, then he laughed out loud, and when he finally turned his eyes back, he bumped Shao Yuye with a grin:
“Hey, your partner’s a bit of a big spender, huh?”
Shao Yuye didn’t care about the money.
He can always make more.
What he cared about now was winning or losing. He was warming up in preparation for his showdown with Zhang Yiran.
This had the comment section cracking up again:
[Brother Ye : Don’t talk to me!]
[Brother Ye : No woman in my heart, my blade strikes true!]
Up on the platform, Jin Xiaoyu started realizing… she really did look like Shen Wanwan’s personal assistant right now. She awkwardly scooted a few steps forward.
Internally she muttered—seriously, she’d never seen a woman like Shen Wanwan. What did Shao Yuye even see in her to always team up with her? If you asked her, Shen Wanwan had nothing going for her besides her looks. Was Shao Yuye just into her looks? That didn’t seem right… he wasn’t that shallow, was he?
As her inner complaints kept going, she occasionally sneaked a glance at Shen Wanwan, only to unexpectedly meet Shen Wanwan’s cool, emotionless gaze.
Their eyes locked.
Jin Xiaoyu’s ears immediately turned red.
Damn it, she was too thin-skinned! She hadn’t even said anything out loud, why did just meeting Shen Wanwan’s gaze make her feel so guilty?!
Shen Wanwan, of course, didn’t care what Jin Xiaoyu was thinking.
She simply said calmly, “Come sit.”
Jin Xiaoyu : !!!!!!!!
Wait, seriously?!
Okay, to be fair, there was plenty of room on that sofa.
Adding one more person… yeah, it’d still be roomy.
But still…
Ugh!!
On one hand, she could keep standing in the cold wind…
On the other, she could sit on a warm, comfy sofa…
Even an idiot would know what to choose!!!
“Okay, okay!”
She happily plopped down next to Shen Wanwan. “Thanks, Wanwan! You’re actually really nice!”
- <Takeshi’s Castle> is a Japanese game show where contestants attempt to complete a series of physical challenges to reach and storm a castle. The show’s appeal lies in the hilarious failures of contestants as they navigate through ridiculous and often absurd obstacles. ↩︎