Chapter 7: Teaming Up
【Vocal!* I declare I am officially a fan of Lin Huaizhi’s face! Does he have any idea how seductive that pleading expression is?!】 (Translator’s Note: “Vocal” sounds like “Wo Cao” / Holy Sht in slang)*
【Huh? Is it important whether we say it’s okay? Shouldn’t you ask if Huo Chen is willing? The guy looks like he has no interest in you at all, hey!】
【He already said ‘Forced Love,’ so why does it matter if Huo Chen is willing! He has to be willing even if he isn’t! This old lady loves this trope! Hurry up and force it for me to see!】
【Guests come on the show wanting free love, but the program team pulls this forced stuff. It’s truly disgusting!】
……
The room selection soon had results.
Because he was bound to Huo Chen, Lin Huaizhi didn’t need to choose a room at all; he just needed to follow wherever Huo Chen went.
Huo Chen chose Ball Number 3.
Chu Xiaoran and Xu Qiao chose Ball Number 4, Fang Mo and Su Rui got Ball Number 1, and Hu Xiaoxu and Zhou Mi got Ball Number 2.
The director had the guests with the same numbers stand together and announced that their dating partner for this season was each other.
Hu Xiaoxu nodded politely to Zhou Mi.
“Hello.”
Zhou Mi liked sweet girls and hated the type of career woman who seemed elite but was actually critical of everything. He replied with a “Hello,” but anyone could see his lack of interest.
Fang Mo, on the other hand, extended his hand to Su Rui and obediently called out, “Hello, Brother Su. Please take care of me this season.”
“Please take care of me too.” Su Rui shook his hand, then pushed up his glasses. “However, when I came on the show, I looked at the guest profiles. You are twenty-seven this year, two years older than me. It’s inappropriate for you to call me Brother; I should call you Brother instead.”
Fang Mo’s expression stiffened.
Su Rui continued his output: “Brother Fang looks quite young. If I hadn’t looked carefully at the guest data, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you were twenty-seven.”
Fang Mo: “…”
Fang Mo wished he could sew Su Rui’s mouth shut!
【Hahaha! Fang Mo wanted to pretend to be young and tender, but Su Rui exposed him directly!】
On the other side, Xu Qiao’s eyes were sparkling.
“Wow! I actually got grouped with you! I super like that movie Lost City you acted in before! That stammering character was just god-tier!”
Chu Xiaoran’s expression darkened. He suppressed his displeasure and forced a smile. “Thank you for liking it.”
Xu Qiao had a big heart and didn’t realize Chu Xiaoran’s perfunctoriness at all. she kept chatting away. Because it was a livestream, Chu Xiaoran couldn’t tell her to shut up and could only endure the noise with suppressed revulsion.
The director used the headset microphone to interrupt everyone: “Grouping is complete. Next, please proceed to your respective accommodations according to the information provided by the program team.”
This Is Love was a travel romance livestream variety show, and the location for each season was different.
The location for the first season was the bustling Long City.
The location for this season, however, was a famous tourist city that wasn’t economically developed.
Lin Huaizhi considered his luck to be decent. Even if he didn’t pick the best room, he shouldn’t pick the worst one. Of course, Murphy’s Law exists for a reason, so he was mentally prepared.
How bad could it be?
After all, the program team couldn’t possibly make them live in the wilderness.
Lin Huaizhi indeed did not pick the worst room—or rather, he didn’t pick the worst room with his own hands.
Because he was bound to Huo Chen.
The room Huo Chen picked was his room. But Huo Chen, as luck would have it, picked the absolute worst one.
Calling it a room was generous.
It was essentially a shack.
Inside the shack, apart from a square table missing a leg, there was nothing else. Well, not exactly nothing—there was also dust and trash.
Especially the doors and windows.
The door was wooden, and the bottom half was already broken. The window was just a square hole with a rotting frame hanging on it.
Lin Huaizhi: “…”
Just as Lin Huaizhi was about to speak, the wind blew. The hanging frame fell with a clang and smashed into pieces on the ground.
Lin Huaizhi: “…”
Lin Huaizhi turned to look at Huo Chen behind him. “What do you do for work?”
There was a moment of blankness in Huo Chen’s gaze.
“What?”
Lin Huaizhi turned sideways, gesturing to the tragic state of the room. “I simply want to express that if you can hit a one-in-four probability like this, then if you have any success in your career, I believe it certainly doesn’t rely on luck.”
Huo Chen looked bewildered by the sudden “compliment.”
The young man covered his face with his left hand. “Calling this place a ‘room’ is generous; I’m more inclined to call it ruins. And what the two of us have to do now is rebuild a living area on top of these ruins.”
Huo Chen looked at the room, which could be described as a scene of devastation, and also fell into silence.
The audience’s jaws dropped as well.
【Is this confirmed to be a place fit for humans?】
【Even if this season’s location is economically underdeveloped, it’s still a prefectural-level city. So, where on earth did the director find this house that looks like a relic from the cavemen era?】
“It’s one o’clock in the afternoon. Not only do we have to clean up the room before dark, but we also have to fill our stomachs. But the program team…”
Lin Huaizhi raised his hand to check his watch, then looked at the follow cameraman.
“The program team wouldn’t be kind enough to provide us with brooms or feed us, right?”
The cameraman said honestly, “You need to figure out food and accommodation problems on your own. The program team will not provide any help in this regard.”
Lin Huaizhi shrugged, revealing an ‘I knew it’ expression to Huo Chen. “So, what should we do now?”
Huo Chen: “Figure out food first.”
The program team wasn’t insane enough to actually make the guests live in the deep forest. Clearly, all the guests were gathered in a village; it was just that Lin Huaizhi and Huo Chen were located further inside.
The two left their luggage in the shack and walked along the ridge of the field for more than a hundred meters until they saw a wooden house.
This kind of house was usually built on flat ground, using a mortise and tenon structure to interlock the main beams, then constructed with wooden planks. The roof was covered with old-style black tiles.
The house was very old; one could tell it had been there for years.
At this moment, white smoke was rising from the chimney. Lin Huaizhi saw at a glance that the owner was cooking. He turned back and smiled at Huo Chen, “Looks like good luck. Wait here, Brother will go beg for food for you—Ah!”
Lin Huaizhi got too carried away.
It had rained yesterday, and the ridge wasn’t completely dry. He wasn’t watching where he was walking and stepped right into the mud. His foot slipped, and his whole body fell toward the other side of the ridge.
Unfortunately, in his panic, his flailing hand grabbed Huo Chen’s collar. Accompanied by the sound of fabric tearing, both he and Huo Chen rolled down the ridge together.
“Damn…”
Lin Huaizhi rolled until he was dizzy. He felt like his forehead had hit something, and it hurt terribly.
But when his vision focused and he saw Huo Chen lying in the shallow water shoal with his chest pressed down by him, Lin Huaizhi instantly snapped to attention.
Look at those pectoral muscles!
Look at that face carved by knives and axes!
Look at this body he was sitting on!
He said this man was his type! Whether it was the face or the body! It was his ultimate dream type!!
Lin Huaizhi really couldn’t help it. He sincerely asked the question again.
“Want to date?”
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