Chapter 37: The Pairing Vote Frenzy

As his words fell, the live stream was flooded with an overwhelming barrage of comments that caused it to lag again.

[???]

[What is the Best Actor saying?!]

[What kind of poison does this show have?

Do I have to frantically type question marks every time I watch it?]

[Is it what I think it is?!

Does Best Actor Yu have feelings for Ren Xiaoqian?!]

[Do these two… know each other?]

[I was just about to wail that I’ve lost my boyfriend, but thinking about it carefully, if it’s Qian Bao, it doesn’t matter.

Wouldn’t my boyfriend and my girlfriend be a perfect match?

A happy one-husband-one-wife situation!]

[WTF “one-husband-one-wife”?…

The camera’s showing a close-up of Ren Xiaoqian’s face.

She looks pretty surprised herself.]

Sang Zhiyi truly hadn’t expected Yu Zilin to say he came on this dating show for her.

Searching through all her memories and information, the only encounter between the two of them had been that one time at Zhu Qing’s home.

Throughout that entire time, she and Yu Zilin might not even have properly laid eyes on each other; it could only be described as a chance encounter.

Sang Zhiyi’s eyes narrowed slightly.

This kind of thing was actually quite common for her.

Even without her actively making the first move, people are drawn to movement, and every action she took could attract those around her.

Back in the real world, Sang Zhiyi had been well aware of her own charm.

It was just that in the three months since she had come to this world, she had been focused on specific tasks, with few situations where she was face-to-face with someone who was completely attracted to her.

Sang Zhiyi seemed a bit shy because of Yu Zilin’s words.

Her cheeks flushed slightly, her eyelids lowered, and her eyelashes fluttered.

Given Yu Zilin’s status and position, having someone like him interested in her was certainly a hundred percent beneficial.

She could use this interest as a stepping stone to gain Yu Zilin’s genuine regard.

The key now was to figure out exactly why Yu Zilin was interested in her, so she could target that reason.

On the set of Love of a Limited Season, someone was far more agitated than Sang Zhiyi herself.

Song Ying immediately took a long stride and inserted himself directly between Sang Zhiyi and Yu Zilin.

Song Ying and Yu Zilin were of similar height, and his positioning perfectly blocked Yu Zilin’s line of sight to Sang Zhiyi.

“Best Actor Yu is interested in the script for Xiaoqian, right?”

Song Ying’s smile was devoid of warmth.

“Why didn’t you say so earlier?

I’ll arrange it later.”

[?!

What script?

Didn’t someone say Director Song was going to collaborate with Xiao Ren?

Is this confirmed?!]

[The man himself has admitted it.

If that’s not confirmation, what is?

Oh my god, given how picky Song Ying is, if he’s going to collaborate with Ren Xiaoqian, who would believe there’s nothing between them?!]

[So the situation now is that Best Actor Yu, Director Song, and Qian Bao might all collaborate together?!

A scene I wouldn’t even dare to dream of is actually happening?!]

[Although I quite like the mermaid sister, isn’t it still a bit of a stretch for her to collaborate with the Best Actor…]

[Maybe Best Actor Yu is just making a guest appearance on the set and won’t have any scenes with Xiao Ren?]

Song Ying successfully diverted the audience’s attention.

He already had Zhongli Hanyu to worry about, and now suddenly Yu Zilin had popped up?!

Regardless of Yu Zilin’s true intentions, Song Ying wanted to nip any possibility in the bud.

Lou Yanchen then spoke coldly.

“Director Song seems to have forgotten that Xiaoqian is Starlight’s artist.

It’s not your place to arrange her work matters.”

After three full months of not being able to find Sang Zhiyi, Lou Yanchen’s attitude toward her had repeatedly softened.

He no longer treated Sang Zhiyi as his possession to command at will, but clumsily tried to understand and support her.

Lou Yanchen had heard the rumors about Song Ying collaborating with Sang Zhiyi.

If Sang Zhiyi wanted to continue acting, Lou Yanchen wouldn’t object.

But he simply couldn’t stand the way Song Ying acted as if he had full authority over Sang Zhiyi.

[Wow?!

Is this, is this the first real love triangle since Limited Season started airing?!]

[All the male guests are competing for Ren Xiaoqian’s affection!

So thrilling!]

[I’m more and more convinced that President Lou really does have feelings for Ren Xiaoqian…

When Ren Xiaoqian had that accident last episode, I remember reports said President Lou was the one who took her to the hospital.

Later, Starlight’s official stance toward that certain surnamed Liu was also extremely tough.

If it wasn’t to get revenge for Ren Xiaoqian, then what else could it be?]

Watching the three male guests in front of her, all vaguely radiating hostility toward each other, Zhong Yueyi gritted her teeth.

Aside from Lou Yanchen, the other two men were not lacking in qualifications, yet not a single one noticed her.

Their eyes were only on Sang Zhiyi!

And what were they all talking about?

Sang Zhiyi was going to collaborate with Song Ying and Yu Zilin?!

She, Zhong Yueyi, was a legitimate first-tier talented actress in the entertainment industry, and she hadn’t even had the opportunity to collaborate with these two big shots!

What made Sang Zhiyi so special?!

Just as the atmosphere in the villa hall was about to reach a tipping point, the production team of Love of a Limited Season announced this episode’s rules for pairing up the guests in pairs, and it instantly ignited all the sparks.

For this episode, the production team was letting the barrage vote to decide the pairings.

Other than the requirement that each pair consist of one male and one female, there were no other hard rules.

The pairings were sorted in descending order by the number of votes.

[Holy shit?!

Those who didn’t watch this episode live really missed out.

This is so engaging!]

[As expected of you, production team.

You never lose when it comes to stirring up trouble.

I love it!]

[Aaaaah, I have decision paralysis.

Which pairing should I vote for?!]

[Seeing that small line of text in the top left corner of the live stream, requiring one male and one female guest per pair, makes me want to laugh.

Afraid the audience will stir up trouble and vote for same-s*x pairings, huh?

Hahaha.]

[Seriously, if voting were completely free, who knows how many people would end up in each pairing [doge]]

[How did you know I wanted to vote for all three male guests to be in a pair with Ren Xiaoqian? [doge][doge][doge] Let the drama begin!]

To make it easier for the audience to vote, the production team of Love of a Limited Season had even assigned numbers to all nine possible pair combinations among the six guests on set.

If the audience wanted to support a particular pairing, they only needed to type the corresponding number in the live stream’s barrage.

Upon hearing this rule, Sang Zhiyi’s thoughts couldn’t help but drift a little.

Ever since she discovered that System Sir had defaulted that whenever she needed to draw anything related to numbers, he would take the initiative to help her get the number “1,” Sang Zhiyi had asked System Sir to revoke that command.

Otherwise, would all the numbers related to her now be “1”?

Her slightly wandering thoughts quickly returned, and Sang Zhiyi, along with the other guests, learned the final voting results from the production team staff.

Probably because Yu Zilin’s popularity was too high, after he actively stated that he had come to Love of a Limited Season for Sang Zhiyi, many viewers were very happy to vote for the pairing of Yu Zilin and Sang Zhiyi.

In the end, nearly forty percent of people voted for this pair, a full sixteen percent more than the second-place pairing of Sang Zhiyi and Song Ying.

The third place was the pairing of Sang Zhiyi and Lou Yanchen, with about twenty percent of the vote, only about four percent less than second place—no obvious gap.

That is to say, the three pairings related to Sang Zhiyi combined accounted for a full eighty-five percent of the vote.

Among the remaining two female guests’ six pairings, the most votes any pairing got was Lou Yanchen and Zhongli Miaomiao, with only six percent.

[Although I knew that pairings involving Ren Xiaoqian would get a lot of votes, I didn’t expect this many!]

[After all, all three male guests have clearly shown feelings for Ren Xiaoqian.

Each pairing has its own highlights.

I’m not sure about Zhong Yueyi, but as for Zhongli Miaomiao, she and Lou Yanchen have that mutual dislike and friction, which is interesting.]

[Looks like everyone watching Limited Season is just here for the drama, hahahaha.]

Based on the voting results, Sang Zhiyi and Yu Zilin became the first pair of this episode.

Next was the second-highest voted pairing, Zhongli Miaomiao and Lou Yanchen.

The remaining two, Zhong Yueyi and Song Ying, naturally became the last pair.

Zhongli Miaomiao let out a wail.

“How come I’m with that surnamed Lou again?!”

She looked pitiful, leaning close to Sang Zhiyi to complain.

“I’m not coming to the next episode!”

No fun at all!

Sang Zhiyi very skillfully comforted her.

“Okay, then don’t come.”

Nearby staff: “…”

Could these two guests please not so blatantly discuss such matters right in front of them?

The production team quickly announced today’s activity: the guests were to tour the zoo and take a photo together with at least five different animals.

The zoo, as usual, had been booked in advance by the production team.

This time, the distance from the villa was a bit longer, so the production team simply sent the three pairs in three separate cars, opening three live stream split-screens to broadcast each pair’s situation.

[Speaking of which, there’s a question I’ve been wanting to ask for a while.

In all three episodes so far, they’ve split up into pairs at the villa and then gone outdoors.

Does this villa only serve as a meeting point?]

[Right, let me see what’s on the second floor!]

The driver and front passenger seats were occupied by staff members, so the guests could only sit in the back.

Zhongli Miaomiao initially tried to snag the front passenger seat to distance herself from Lou Yanchen, but after being refused, she climbed into the very corner of the back seat, curled herself up as much as possible, and looked utterly gloomy.

Lou Yanchen’s expression wasn’t much better.

After getting in the car, he leaned against the far side seat, with enough space between him and Zhongli Miaomiao to fit two more people.

[I’m dying of laughter.

I knew this pair would be hilarious, hahahaha.]

[The more upset the little princess is, the happier I am, hahahaha.

The Unpleasant Couple is finally back on screen!]

On the Song Ying and Zhong Yueyi side, Song Ying was his usual casual, nonchalant self, with no interaction with Zhong Yueyi.

Zhong Yueyi, not one to misread a room, had initially actively smiled and tried to be friendly, but after receiving no response, she remained polite and distant.

They got in the car together, each taking one side as usual.

[It’s too quiet here.

There’s not even eye contact!]

[Complete strangers meeting…

Forget it, I’ll go check out the other split-screens.]

The live stream with the most viewers was naturally the one for Sang Zhiyi and Yu Zilin.

When getting into the car, Yu Zilin walked ahead, opened the back door, and stepped aside slightly.

Clearly, he was inviting Sang Zhiyi to get in.

Very gentlemanly and thoughtful.

Sang Zhiyi smiled gratefully at Yu Zilin and, not wanting to refuse his kindness, gracefully accepted.

Today, Sang Zhiyi was wearing a long dress.

As she got into the car, she lifted the hem slightly and stepped in lightly, her whole body moving gracefully like a butterfly fluttering aboard.

[Oh my god, Ren Xiaoqian looked so beautiful just then!

So elegant!]

[I remember in the previous two episodes, they didn’t show the guests getting into the car at all in one, and in the other, Ren Xiaoqian wasn’t wearing such a long dress.

What a shame we’re only seeing this now!]

[Qian Bao, could you please wear more long dresses in the future?

I love watching that, boo hoo!]

Yu Zilin watched Sang Zhiyi sit down, his eyes full of appreciation and praise.

After they were both seated, Yu Zilin actively asked, “Miss Ren, have you studied dance?”

Such posture and bearing didn’t come naturally.

Sang Zhiyi nodded and answered obediently, “I’ve studied a little.”

Sang Zhiyi herself was highly proficient in dance.

Consciously or unconsciously integrating her dance habits into daily life not only looked elegant but also often had the effect of pleasantly surprising people.

Just like her unconscious movement just now.

Then, Sang Zhiyi pressed her lips together and said somewhat shyly, “That move just now was actually a bit embarrassing…”

“Mr. Yu, have you seen my mermaid performance in the first episode of Limited Season?

I think I did a bit better in that one.”

The movement of getting into the car just now hadn’t been intentional on Sang Zhiyi’s part, but the fact that Yu Zilin actively used it to start a conversation with her—aside from his inherent gentlemanly nature and willingness to be considerate towards women—also suggested the possibility that he was particularly attentive to such things.

Aside from their chance encounter at Zhu Qing’s home, the only channel Sang Zhiyi could analyze as the most likely way Yu Zilin would have learned about her was through that viral mermaid performance.

So she went along with this topic to probe Yu Zilin.

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