Shao Yuye’s vision was briefly blurred, then slowly focused. He finally saw clearly that the person standing in front of him was Shen Wanwan.
His body was still in a somewhat dazed state, but his brain had already reacted first.
—That’s my sister, my sister, my sister, my sister!
Shao Yuye’s raised fist abruptly changed direction mid-air and landed lightly on his own face.
“…What’s going on?”
Everyone around was dumbfounded.
Where was Shao Yuye’s infamous morning temper?!
Back when he and his teammate Fan Lin were on a cohabitation reality show, Fan Lin had followed the crew’s instructions and tried to wake Shao Yuye early in the morning, only to get scolded so badly it was unforgettable.
[Did I see that right? Did Brother Ye just lightly punch himself? That’s some hardcore way to wake up!]
[This feels kinda absurd… Not only did Brother Ye not get mad at Shen Wanwan, he even punched himself. What the hell… what the hell…]
[This feels scripted.]
[Scripted +1. This totally doesn’t fit Brother Ye’s usual style.]
Even after asking the question, Shao Yuye was still in a daze.
He looked at Shen Wanwan, then glanced at the camera behind her. Instinctively, he smoothed down his bedhead and muttered sleepily, “Why is it so early today?”
Shen Wanwan responded with a flat “Mm,” then said sarcastically, “Yeah, really early. Everyone’s waiting for you.”
Shao Yuye : ???
“How’s that possible?”
He always woke up an hour earlier than the call time set by the production crew!
Shen Wanwan couldn’t be bothered to argue. She directly handed her phone to his face.
Displayed clearly was a time fifteen minutes past the scheduled wake-up time.
Shao Yuye instantly jolted upright in bed like a flipping carp.
Holy crap.
He actually overslept!!!
Meanwhile, the live comments began analyzing why Shao Yuye and Shen Wanwan were being so peaceful.
[Something feels off. Shao Yuye has such bad morning temper, he’s even given teammates the cold shoulder before. Why did he let Shen Wanwan off so easily?]
[Definitely scripted. But to be fair, the script this time is pretty clever. Both of them are gaining a lot of fans.]
This sentiment got a lot of agreement.
[When you put it that way, it makes sense. Watching a man and woman fight isn’t exactly fun.]
[Damn, I thought this was kinda fun, but if this is scripted too… that’s wild.]
But at this point, the ‘Yu Yu’s weren’t so easily swayed by those comments anymore.
Scripted or not—
Brother Ye’s attitude was their attitude.
If Brother Ye didn’t dislike Shen Wanwan—
Then neither would they!
In the past few years, Shao Yuye had suffered from extremely poor sleep. His sleep was shallow, constantly skimming the surface of dreams, and he was often jolted awake in the middle of the night by nightmares—drenched in cold sweat, sticky and miserable, forced to get up and take a shower. And after that, whatever little drowsiness remained would be completely gone.
But last night, not only did he go back to his room and fall asleep right away—
He slept very well. Dreamless. Peaceful.
His nerves, which had been tightly wound for years, finally relaxed. All the exhaustion he had been repressing surged up at once.
Which was why he’d overslept.
But now that he was fully awake, he felt surprisingly great. That heavy burden he’d carried for years seemed to have vanished in an instant, and his body felt unbelievably light.
He quickly brushed his teeth and washed his face, then dashed to the gathering point.
At that moment, the group had just finished delivering their ‘battle declarations’ for the day.
Zhang Yiran cued him in, “Everyone just finished their battle declarations. What about your team? Wanna say something?”
Shao Yuye instinctively looked toward Shen Wanwan.
Shen Wanwan signaled for him to speak.
Since she said so, Shao Yuye coolly said:
“Yo, since we’ve already taken first place—
“Y’all can fight over second, okay~”
His deliberate imitation of rap style made the audience burst into laughter.
Hey hey hey—
Brother Ye, there’s still so many days left in the competition. Shouldn’t we be a bit more low-key?
Clearly, Shao Yuye had no idea what ‘low-key’ meant.
As for Shen Wanwan beside him, she was even bolder and more flamboyant.
She openly applauded Shao Yuye.
“Well said!”
Everyone : ???
Only Qi Luozhou quietly curled his lips in a faint smile.
These two, playing off each other like that, managed to stir up the competitive spirit in the other lower-ranked contestants.
“You two, don’t get too cocky, we’re catching up soon!”
Shao Yuye raised a mocking eyebrow.
“Bring it on.”
Since when did Shao Yuye ever back down?
He looked way too good today.
Better than any day before!
Zhang Yiran couldn’t help but ask him, “You’re in a great mood today?”
Shao Yuye touched his face. “Huh? Am I?”
Zhang Yiran nodded. “Your smile is practically reaching your ears.”
Shao Yuye dropped his hand.
Oh.
“Well, then let it reach my ears.
“I am happy.”
[Hahaha, Brother Ye really does look different today!]
[Feels like something great happened~]
[Hehe, hope Brother Ye stays this cheerful every day~]
And it turns out, Shao Yuye’s state was truly unstoppable today.
In just one morning, he and Shen Wanwan had already reached Level 15.
That was 3 levels ahead of the second-place team, Zhang Yiran’s team.
That’s a wild lead!
Bai Ling and Su Tingxuan were in dead last, just having cleared Level 5.
Seeing how far behind they were—ten whole levels—Bai Ling started to panic.
Su Tingxuan’s performance in the challenges really wasn’t good.
Typical of a rich young master—can’t lift with his shoulders, can’t carry with his hands.
No matter how composed Bai Ling acted, she was getting anxious too.
The last team would be eliminated!
The more anxious she got, the better her luck seemed.
The pointer on the lucky draw wheel landed on the ‘Opportunity Item Card’ section, and the director handed her a box to draw from.
Bai Ling drew a ‘Partner Swap Card.’
It was a SSS-level god-tier card.
Like the hot spring card from the first station, it came with a bonus of skipping two levels.
[Bai Ling’s luck is insane!]
[She’s a human koi! Making a wish, please let me pass my October exams!]
Su Tingxuan’s eyes lit up. He immediately suggested, “Why don’t we use this partner swap card and switch you with Shen Wanwan? Their team’s in first place right now, and then you won’t have to be eliminated.”
Bai Ling asked with concern, “But what about you? We’re in last place. If you pair with Shen Wanwan, the two of you might…”
In truth, Su Tingxuan’s proposal was very tempting to Bai Ling.
In the past two episodes, she’d teamed with Jin Xiaoyu and Su Tingxuan.
No exaggeration, they were both pretty useless. Practically ‘pig teammates.’
But Shao Yuye was different.
He was athletic and popular.
Honestly, she wanted to team up with Shao Yuye too.
Su Tingxuan said, “I’ve been the one dragging you down, and so has Shen Wanwan. Without her, Shao Yuye might even go through the levels faster. He’s so obsessed with winning, he might actually be grateful to us.”
Bai Ling restrained her excitement. “Alright then!”
The two of them reached a mutual agreement, each with their own ulterior motives.
Su Tingxuan handed the card to the director. “Director, I want to use the item card!”
Meanwhile, Shao Yuye was furiously leading his sister through the challenges, doing everything he could to show off to Shen Wanwan just how amazing he was.
But just before the afternoon round began, the production team delivered a brutal announcement—
“Bai Ling and Su Tingxuan have used the partner swap card. The swap is between Bai Ling and Shen Wanwan!”
This was the first time a partner swap occurred during a non-selection round.
No way.
If Shen Wanwan was teamed up with Su Tingxuan, she was guaranteed to be eliminated!
Everyone present was stunned and turned to look at Shen Wanwan.
…Only to find her completely unfazed, as if nothing had happened.
In contrast, Shao Yuye was utterly confused. “What does that mean?”
Zhang Yiran, who had already figured it out, explained to him:
“It means you’re swapping with Su Tingxuan. You’re now teamed with Bai Ling, and Su Tingxuan is teamed with Shen Wanwan.”
“Wait, wait, Director, how’s the progress going to work after the swap?”
Director : “The progress stays as it was for the original teams, unchanged.”
Which meant…
Bai Ling instantly ascended to level 15 with Shao Yuye.
While Shen Wanwan dropped all the way to level 5.
It was like a bolt from the blue. Shao Yuye was left completely stunned, inside and out.
What kind of BS is this!!!
While he fumed, Shen Wanwan calmly stood beside him, instantly seeing through Su Tingxuan and Bai Ling’s little scheme.
001 was furious : {How can the female lead be like this?!}
Shen Wanwan replied with interest, “Why don’t you say the female lead now has a chance to get closer to my brother?”
The little light orb, caught off guard, put its hands on its hips with pride : {Hmph! I’m not the same me from back then!}
Good.
Shen Wanwan was very pleased.
Bai Ling cheerfully walked up to Shao Yuye and greeted him. “I believe we’ll make a great team.”
Shao Yuye just stood there with a cold face, completely ignoring her.
He and his sister had just reunited. He hadn’t even had time to properly reconnect with her, and now these people wanted to swap her out?
Not! Gonna! Happen!