The guests’ expressions varied greatly.
There would be no more eliminations after this episode, but that also meant—
Being paired with someone not so competent would be a total disaster.
Like Su Tingxuan, for example. Basically no one wanted to team up with him.
Of course, the mutual-selection segment still had to be carried out.
They called it, euphemistically: providing ‘reference’ for the guests.
As the last-place duo, Jin Xiaoyu and Su Tingxuan were overwhelmed when they heard the production team wouldn’t eliminate them. On one hand, it felt great to survive another round; on the other, the thought of being teamed with Su Tingxuan again felt worse than death, pure torture…
Meanwhile, Bai Ling was quietly looking forward to it.
She wanted to team up with either Qi Luozhou or Shao Yuye.
Zhang Yiran was the comedic type. He’d throw out a cold joke every now and then during teamwork, but she wasn’t very good at picking up jokes, so their chemistry just wasn’t great. Their livestream views were always on the low side, mostly only fans watching.
This time, it wasn’t by text message anymore. Instead, they would enter a small room and write down their preferred partner on a card.
There were no cameras inside, so the audience in the livestream had no way of knowing who chose whom.
Great. It was once again time for the highly anticipated ‘Guess the Team-Up’ segment.
[Jin Xiaoyu and Su Tingxuan should be the easiest to guess. One will pick Zhang Yiran, the other will pick Bai Ling—no doubt!]
[Hiss… Bai Ling will probably pick Zhang Yiran too, right? She was praising him all morning, calling him ‘China’s Best Teammate.’]
[I feel like Zhang Yiran will pick Jin Xiaoyu. Their bickering is more fun to watch…]
[God Zhou and Jiang Yuan will probably still pick each other.]
[What about Brother Ye and Shen Wanwan?]
[I declare: ‘Petty Revenge Duo’ is always mutual! They’re definitely going to pick each other!! If they don’t, I’ll do a handstand and wash my hair live!!]
[But picking each other is useless! The final teams still depend on the chosen ‘lucky guest.’]
[So who will the lucky guest be?]
Once all the guests finished filling in their choices, the camera cut to the giant spinning wheel.
The names of the four guests were written on it.
The director spun the wheel. It clattered around once and finally stopped on Lin Kexin’s name.
Shao Yuye gave her an unexpected glance. “Your luck’s pretty good, huh?”
Lin Kexin giggled, jogged forward, and bowed to all four sides. Cheerfully, she said, “To be able to stand here today, the first person I want to thank is CCTV, and then my parents…”
Everyone was amused by her hyperactive display.
Zhang Yiran was already begging.
“Kexin, Kexin, please follow your heart.
“Don’t you dare mess me up!”
Lin Kexin made an 👌 gesture at him. “We’ll see, we’ll see!”
Then she entered the small room. The production team showed her everyone’s partner choices.
The camera zoomed in on Lin Kexin’s face. She looked like she had just seen something shocking, her eyes flew wide open.
The livestream chat erupted.
[Ahhhh! What did Lin Kexin just see??]
[That expression is way too suggestive…]
[Director, don’t make us beg—show the card she’s holding!!]
But no matter how the viewers screamed, the livestream didn’t reveal a single detail of the guests’ choices.
In fact, the production team very evilly cut the camera altogether.
A giant message popped up.
[Please look forward to the full version of <Extreme Challenge>]
The viewers were collectively devastated.
[Unbelievable!! They always cut at the most crucial moment!!]
[So what did Lin Kexin see?? That expression contained so much information!!]
[Director team, please be decent for once! I’m gonna cry!!]
Meanwhile, at the recording site, after Lin Kexin put down the choice cards, she began making the adjustments.
She quickly rearranged everyone else.
Finally, her gaze landed on Shen Wanwan and Shao Yuye’s row.
Thinking of Brother Ye’s double standards these past few days, a sudden mischievous boldness rose in her chest—
Silently chanting to herself: “Brother Ye don’t hate me don’t hate me don’t hate me… This is the price of your double standards.”
She quietly picked up Shen Wanwan’s name tag and swapped it with someone from another group…
And thus, the third stop ended perfectly.
This time, Xiao Le received even more invitations.
Times were different now. The invitations being handed toward Shen Wanwan were nothing like before.
Even StarShow magazine sent an invitation, sincerely inviting her to attend a charity gala one month later.
Because of her outstanding performance on <Extreme Challenge>, Shen Wanwan had gained a lot of fans.
Her online fan count had already shot up to the level of a second-tier female artist. Not only was she personally charismatic, but her being teammates with top star Shao Yuye was wildly popular and constantly trending.
StarShow was known for chasing heat. It invited whoever was hottest.
There was an unspoken rule in the industry: if you want to know whether your artist is currently hot, just check whether StarShow invited them to their charity gala.
And the red carpet before the gala was always a major spectacle.
Xiao Le held the invitation, practically drooling with envy.
“This is StarShow, you know…”
The red invitation card with gold embossing had a tacky color scheme, yet it didn’t look tacky at all. It felt weighty in the hand, high-quality, and even carried a faint pleasant scent.
If any other female celebrity received an invitation from this place, she would probably be too excited to sleep for an entire night.
But Shen Wanwan only glanced at it lightly before looking away.
Xiao Le’s mouth twitched. “You’re rejecting this one too?”
In her heart she screamed again : This is StarShow!!
Shen Wanwan was reading the comments on Weibo.
When fans previously learned that she was thinking about quitting the industry, they all wailed, begging her not to leave.
Especially the long-time fans.
[Wanwan, please don’t quit! Or I’ll seriously cry for you!]
[Don’t quit don’t quit don’t quit! Ugh, the show has already recorded three stops. If Wanwan really quits, we’ll have fewer and fewer episodes to watch… I can’t bear it…]
[If you really must quit, maybe consider doing some livestreams TAT]
Shen Wanwan turned off her phone and said calmly:
“No. Why wouldn’t I go?”
Other actresses would rack their brains trying to borrow haute couture gowns from luxury brands, while she had piles and piles of couture dresses she could pick from at will.
“These kinds of events that don’t require much effort can be considered.”
Xiao Le: “…”
Only Wanwan would think a red-carpet event is effortless.
Any other star would start preparing right now for that red carpet…
On the other side, Shao Yuye and the nine boys who had formed a group recently were recording <Friday Fun>.
This was his first appearance since going through that scandalous exposé.
Once the variety show ended, he was immediately surrounded by swarms of reporters.
These past few days, news about his background had been trending nonstop. Everyone wanted to dig deeper, hoping to find something new.
The first reporter held out a microphone: “May I ask if you know about Hongyuan Group’s bankruptcy?”
Shao Yuye raised a brow. “I know now.”
The reporter asked again, “How do you feel about it?”
“No feelings.” Shao Yuye countered, “Some stranger went bankrupt, how do you feel?”
The reporter choked and couldn’t answer.
At this moment, a second reporter squeezed forward.
The moment he opened his mouth, Shao Yuye knew he didn’t come with good intentions.
“As a public figure, you’re so careless about your image that you defame people around you and make them suffer from cyberbullying. Do you think that’s the right thing to do?”
The reporter was a man in his early thirties, wearing black-rimmed glasses. His expression was stern, and his tone was aggressive and accusatory.
Shao Yuye lifted his chin arrogantly.
“Defamation?
“Come on, tell me, which of my words was defamatory? I’ll listen.”
The man grew more intense. “Do you know that your stepsister, Shao Jia, has already been ostracized by her classmates to the point of dropping out? She’s only sixteen. She posted those photos because of vanity, yes, but what she said was true. No one can deny that she is your sister. Don’t you think the punishment she’s facing now is too heavy?”
Shao Yuye’s temper ignited instantly.
Countless cameras were aimed at him, waiting for his reply.
If he slipped even a little, black PR articles about him would flood the entire internet.
The reporter even tried to shove the microphone closer.
Shao Yuye looked at him with a blank expression, his voice filled with irritation.
“Did I post the photos?
“Did I hold her head down and force her to post them?”
The reporter’s heart leapt with delight.
It looked like Shao Yuye was on the verge of exploding…
He would erupt any second—rage, lose control, go wild—
But Shao Yuye suddenly reined in his emotions and spoke calmly:
“Everyone is responsible for their own actions.
“The outcome now is something she brought upon herself. It has nothing to do with me.”
The reporter froze, not expecting this kind of answer.
But no matter.
He still had an even more explosive question.
“Since you already severed ties with the Shao family long ago, then why did you take that family portrait with them?”
Happy new year!
Thank you for Translating this!