Mu Qiu finally decided to pick up her phone and carefully examine the message the director sent her.

"Do you remember that year? You were Xuan Turtle and I was White Tiger, enjoying a carefree life. Old friend, I’ll be waiting for you at the old place."

After reading it three times, she looked at Cheng Zhirang with a face full of confusion.

"Forgive my ignorance, but I can’t tell what kind of plot this is. Is this episode about fantasy martial arts?"

Cheng Zhirang shook his head, "Probably not."

"What’s your message? Let me see."

She leaned over to take a peek.

"A gentleman’s promise is worth a thousand horses, but I’m not hard to chase, I’ll be waiting for you at the bridge~"

"?"

What kind of cheesy pick-up line is this?

She looked up at him, "What does this mean? And why does it have a tilde?"

Cheng Zhirang was trapped in the back seat, leaning against it and not daring to move.

"I don’t know either. Maybe they were sent randomly."

She didn’t believe it and said angrily, "Even the director is playing favorites now, the world is so unfair!"

Thinking twice about it, she asked, "We have no idea where we’re going, how do we get there? Where’s the car heading now?"

"Heading towards the southern suburbs; the director said in the group chat that the addresses in the riddles are located at a tourist spot over there."

She lowered her head to check the group messages, "How come I didn’t see that?"

This feeling of being completely in the dark, not knowing the way forward, feels like being blindfolded and sold, making one feel uneasy.

Not knowing when she had opened the group messages, she missed the alert, and the red dot disappeared again.

She scrolled back, seeing Guan Yu and their discussion in the group, and further back, finally saw the message.

"Yuhou Hall? This name sounds nice, it’s not a tourist spot, is it a farmstay type place?"

Cheng Zhirang nodded, "Maybe. I haven’t had a chance to seriously look up this place."

He mainly didn’t have much free time.

Mu Qiu tied her hair back and searched it on Baidu.

"It’s a scenic spot, supposedly great for a vacation, that town’s economy relies on it. So, it seems we’re right on track, just need to find the exact location after we get off the car."

"The director said someone will intercept the car as we get closer to the destination."

"...??? "

As the sunshine grew stronger and the clear sky left marks, the more south they went, the less they saw skyscrapers, and were instead replaced by vast woodlands and shorter mountains, along with tree seedling nurseries and rows upon rows of white plastic greenhouses.

Inside the car, it was quiet. Mu Qiu couldn’t resist, cuddling in Cheng Zhirang’s arms, she took a nap. When they were about two or three kilometers away from the destination, the alarm clock woke her up.

Green hills and clear waters under the sunny sky, the wind stirring the bamboo, butterflies fluttering, this kind of scenery, just seeing it improves one’s mood.

She rolled down the car window, leaning sideways, eyes narrowed, letting the wind blow at her, feeling completely relaxed and carefree.

"Be careful, lean back a bit," Cheng Zhirang reminded her from behind.

She lazily responded, no longer leaning on the car window, but resting against the rear seat door, her head tilted to look at the outside view, yet still keeping her distance from him.

The two were on opposite sides of the car, anyone unaware would probably think they were having a quarrel.

Cheng Zhirang watched her profile, easily feeling her contentment.

He reached over and held her hand.

Mu Qiu looked back at him, "Hmm? What’s up?"

She followed the strength of his pull, reaching out to hold his hand.

"Do you like this kind of place? How about we find some time to come here for a vacation together?"

"Sure!" she replied enthusiastically, "In the spring, watch the forest grow, in summer watch the lotus bloom, in autumn watch the wheat waves, and in winter watch the sunset, this is something I’ve always wanted to do but never had time for. Also, there’s a temple I’ve wanted to see!"

"Temple?" His fingers played with the back of her hand, recalling a place, "There’s a Chasing Cloud Temple over at Half Mountain, it’s quite scenic. If you’re interested, we can stay there for a few days next time."

He didn’t ask why she wanted to go, just readily agreed.

Feeling comfortable, Mu Qiu’s pinky finger drew two circles in his palm, and she turned her head to smile at him.

At this moment, the car suddenly started braking, causing both of them to lean forward due to inertia.

The warm atmosphere just created was broken, Assistant Liang turned around and said, "The show’s crew car has stopped us."

Luckily, the "roadblock" was far enough, leaving plenty of room for braking, avoiding emergency stops where everyone would lurch forward.

Cheng Zhirang put an arm protectively around Mu Qiu and lowered the car window to look at the two cars coming close.

On the car bodies, there were stickers of "Different Variety Show", making them easy to recognize.

Mu Qiu leaned over the car window and poked her head out to look. Not satisfied, she opened the car door, walked to the closest car, and knocked on the window.

"Hello?"

There was no response and no one got out.

She walked back and asked Cheng Zhirang, "What’s going on with them? They won’t even get out... what—what are you doing?! Abducting people in broad daylight is illegal!"

As soon as she turned, not even finishing her sentence, a swarm of people suddenly rushed out of the show’s car, with one group pulling her, another intercepting Cheng Zhirang, dragging them into the cars.

Mu Qiu was bewildered, struggling incessantly, "My luggage is still in the car! My luggage! We’re on the road! Be careful other cars will pass by!"

A staff member’s voice from inside the car answered, "This isn’t the only route, we got permission from the show to use it for half a day! Feel free to go!"

"......" Feel free to go?! Is this a show recording or a roadside attack, ending tragically here?!

She was reluctant to leave, pressing her foot against the car door refusing to get in, looking back for Cheng Zhirang.

"Brother Cheng!"

Cheng Zhirang had just been brought to the front of another car, holding the car door as he looked back at her; the two, separated by a crowd of excited unscrupulous staff, gazed at one another from afar.

Just like a scene where a cowherd and a weaver girl are being torn apart.

And then, the "cowherd" and the "weaver girl" were separately stuffed into different cars, driven in different directions.

Assistant Liang, left standing there, thought for a moment and then drove off, following the car that took Mu Qiu away.

After being "abducted" into the car, the situation quickly spiraled into an incomprehensible frenzy.

Mu Qiu hadn’t even settled when the driver floored it, causing her to fall back. Before she could fall right down, some makeup artists with black masks adjusted her and, before she knew it, makeup brushes were on her face.

Makeovers without a mirror are torturous. She endured it with closed eyes, constantly pleading, "Please, Ma’am, take it easy on me. This episode isn’t some prank show, right? Are we supposed to wear gruesome makeup that even we can’t recognize, then meet others? And the ugliest one gets to pick teammates?"

Muffled laughter echoed in the car.

Someone said, "You’ve got quite the imagination. It won’t be that bad."

"Relax, this episode is different."

"Qiuqiu, don’t move, or your eyebrows will be crooked."

"But your idea is brilliant, maybe we should suggest it to the director, hahaha."

"Get ready, you’re about to ’land.’"