I'm Crushing on Gorgeous Faces in Variety Shows!-Chapter 183: Team-Building Hotpot Gathering

However, given that this dream was too extravagant, even the director couldn’t help but give her a very direct response.

Impossible, stop dreaming.

Guan Yu was so angry she sat back down with a thud.

Finally, it was Shu Ran’s turn to make a guess.

After hesitating for a while, she sheepishly said, "I really can’t guess what kind of identity they would fabricate for me... I don’t act often, and my fans don’t often see my work, so they probably want to see a lot of things, which makes it hard for me to guess."

Not being able to guess is also an answer, so the director didn’t trouble her.

"Alright, then this will be an introductory video before our program goes live. We will edit this video and post it on Weibo tonight as a control group."

"What do you mean?"

"Are you trying to stir things up? Posting it on Weibo for everyone to see?"

"So does this mean our identities on tomorrow’s program will be vastly different from our guesses?"

"It’s also possible that some guesses are correct."

"I feel that since they’re posting it in advance for comparison, the identities on tomorrow’s show definitely won’t match our guesses, otherwise wouldn’t the netizens already know?"

"Seeing the director’s crow’s feet come out as he smiles, you can tell it’s definitely not simple."

"Hey, I want to ask, what if the fans’ ideas don’t pass review?"

"... Sister Guan Yu, you really consider everything, huh?"

"I thought I was the only one who would think of this question, but turns out not only did someone else think of it, they also said it quite bluntly."

"Thanks for the compliment; I think this issue is important."

"Do you think the program team would let the fans’ wild ideas go unchecked? Clearly not."

"So the director’s going to screen them once? Then we probably won’t see Li Yang cross-dressing."

"I absolutely don’t want to cross-dress!"

The bus drove smoothly, with the sound of laughter constantly coming from inside. Outside, a drone buzzed in the air, slicing through the air and following them to the hotel outside the ancient city.

This hotel, unexpectedly, wasn’t very large; it was only three stories high and looked more like a big villa. Moreover, there were two rows of security guards standing at the entrance, checking the credentials of everyone entering.

"This should be arranged by the program team, right?" Shu Ran looked at Cheng Zhirang, "Brother Cheng?"

Cheng Zhirang nodded, "With so much trending, it affects the program team too; this should be Changtong’s doing."

The others finally understood.

Mu Qiu withdrew her gaze from Cheng Zhirang, seeming thoughtful.

It was already past seven in the evening, and the program team had prepared a group dinner for everyone.

A large hot pot sat in the middle of a round table. After freshening up a bit, Mu Qiu and the others came to the first floor, dressed casually, and found a suitable spot to sit down slowly.

Under the lights, the hot pot’s steam swirled around, and Cheng Zhirang pulled out a chair to sit next to Mu Qiu.

The two of them immediately became the focus of the entire table’s attention.

The director appeared briefly and said to them, "This is a gathering of you six permanent guests; there won’t be any cameras, and no one who shouldn’t be here will come in. Everyone, feel free to open up and communicate.

I hope everyone can slowly, truly become a team. Regardless of personality or status, what our program wants to build, is actually this group of yours. You’re the mainstay supporting the program."

The six of them were quite surprised.

Having several individuals from different fields and ranks, mostly popular individuals, freely speak their minds?

Is this testing everyone’s acting skills, or truly about sharing secrets?

Everyone here constantly appears on trending topics, with a mountain of secrets, any of which might crash Weibo if leaked. To suddenly just exchange genuinely like this?

Everyone exchanged glances, keeping their mouths tightly shut.

Each with their own thoughts, but collectively dubious of the situation. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

The director didn’t say much more and left after a few remarks, closing the door, leaving only a bubbling hot pot and six silent individuals.

At this moment, even Guan Yu, who was usually good at managing the atmosphere, didn’t speak up, looking around without intending to be the first to speak.

"How about this," eventually an opening was made by Cheng Zhirang, the highest-status person there, who spoke gently: "Let’s communicate more without touching upon personal privacy. Just like when we first met in college."

"Okay." Guan Yu seized the moment to respond first.

Shu Ran, Cheng Party’s number one supporter, followed with a "Okay."

Then, scattered among the others, the remaining people also agreed.

Mu Qiu, being the only outsider, nodded last, silently agreeing.

Cheng Zhirang: "Alright. I also hope that what’s discussed today will be kept confidential when necessary, since all of you who made it to this program are intelligent enough to handle it."

It sounded a bit like a leader’s speech, and Mu Qiu stared directly at the steamy hot pot, maintaining an unchanged position, her hand under the table reaching out to lightly tap someone’s hand.

Cheng Zhirang paused in his movement to speak again.

With an innocent smile, Mu Qiu broke the silence following the leader-like speech: "Sounds so serious and formal, aren’t we supposed to be chatting over hot pot like friends today?"

Guan Yu reacted swiftly, immediately cooperating with her, laughing as she said: "That’s right, I’m feeling a bit nervous, placing my hands subconsciously on my knees, sitting up straight like there’s a leader here, Brother Cheng."

The solidified atmosphere eased slightly.

Cheng Zhirang smiled at Mu Qiu, "Alright, my bad."

————

Today, after reading a few comments, I thought I could discuss something with everyone.

About the issue of Qiuqiu and Brother Cheng’s relationship progressing too quickly, what I thought back then was— facing a situation where a fan, because of looks and gentleness, falls for a high-up divine-looking celebrity in the entertainment circle, it’s usually unlikely for feelings to escalate in a typical male-female interaction pattern. Unless there’s an opportunity to impulsively speak out, whether Brother Cheng would accept or not, that’s another issue.

What if Brother Cheng doesn’t accept? They’re rational adults; it won’t be like in school where a rejection leads to awkwardly saying nothing; at most, they’d just be more cautious not to mislead the other.

Moreover, their conversation at the time showed that Qiuqiu had considered many issues in a short span, but she knew that some issues couldn’t be resolved by thinking about them, hence she skipped over them.

As for why Brother Cheng accepted immediately? He’s a thirty-year-old man, equally gentle and rational about feelings. He’s not one to extend a period of ambiguity; if he’s moved, he’d give it a shot, at worst ending amicably like Qiuqiu said.

After all, he’s thirty, with no time to spare from initial heart throb to prolonged ambiguity, early stages of love, waiting until it’s unbearable to be together. By then, people would have left; he wouldn’t let it come to that.

Ultimately, perhaps everyone can consider them as an unusual "marriage-before-love"? Feelings can be cultivated, as long as the heart is moved, just seize him/her (this message goes to everyone too).