Chapter 50

The Xilan Flower shippers were building a skyscraper out of nothing.

Originally, this ship was just something netizens casually toyed with, but in that moment just now, they truly felt the weight of mutual favoritism.

Regardless of Xie Lanchen’s status, Ning Xi was only willing to perform romantic scenes with him.

And Xie Lanchen would never refuse, belittle, or mock Ning Xi.

He clearly wasn’t good at acting, yet he still worked hard to play along with Ning Xi’s antics.

He had even managed to say lines like, “From this day forth, I shall be Your Ladyship’s support, the sharpest blade in Your Ladyship’s hand.”

Some big fans with video editing experience immediately clipped the scene of Ning Xi and Xie Lanchen’s interaction into a video.

They captioned it:

“Sit purely upon your high platform, and let me brush the dust from the tips of your shoes.”

The video quickly reached tens of thousands of reposts and shot up the trending searches.

[The all-powerful, scheming Eunuch Director x the spoiled, dramatic Imperial Consort]

[The best part about this pair is how the one in power clearly holds all the cards, yet still desperately begs for a sliver of the other’s affection.]

[It’s also great when applied to reality; Ning Xi likes to cause trouble, and Xie Lanchen is willing to play along with her.]

The Xilan Flower ship rapidly became the most popular pairing of the Program Team, showing an almost unstoppable momentum.

Meanwhile, in the livestream.

Having finished her dramatic outburst, Ning Xi returned to her serious self and explained to Xie Lanchen, “I was just joking earlier.”

“I know.”

A shimmering smile reached the depths of Xie Lanchen’s eyes as he looked at Ning Xi. “But what I said wasn’t a joke.”

Ning Xi was stunned. “Huh?”

“From now on, Teacher Ning, I’ve got your back. Got it?” Xie Lanchen mimicked Ning Xi’s earlier tone.

Ning Xi: “…”

Good grief, how did Xie Lanchen manage to say such chuunibyou lines with such a serious expression?

If she weren’t so thick-skinned, she really would have felt a bit embarrassed.

“As expected, people are better when you first meet them. Everyone is hypocritically enthusiastic, generous, and polite, instead of teasing me like this,” Ning Xi lamented gloomily.

Xie Lanchen laughed again.

“Does Feynman usually laugh this much?” Jiang Sheshe murmured softly.

When Xie Lanchen first arrived at the villa yesterday, she thought he would be the type of person who was difficult to approach.

But looking at him now, it seemed Xie Lanchen actually enjoyed laughing quite a bit.

Ning Mingyue was standing right next to Jiang Sheshe. Hearing those words, her eyes dimmed slightly.

“I think we shouldn’t act like that. The plot is too disjointed. Xiao Xi, you should still try to interact with Fu Zhi more. After all, the two of you are friends and understand each other better. If anything unexpected happens, you’ll definitely be able to play off each other’s acting.”

Ning Mingyue suddenly spoke up.

Out of everyone, only Ning Mingyue had acting experience, so Ning Xi didn’t argue.

“Alright…”

“No!”

Fu Zhi spoke coldly.

“I don’t want to act with Ning Xi. Since she likes being with Xie Lanchen so much, let the two of them film together.”

As he spoke, Fu Zhi began to strip off his costume.

Everyone was stunned.

Those who were observant-such as Wei Xuan, Ning Mingyue, Shen Yibai, and Xie Lanchen-could all see that Fu Zhi was currently acting out of spite and saying the opposite of what he felt.

But everyone’s reaction was different.

Jiang Sheshe had no idea why Fu Zhi was suddenly throwing a fit and complained with a frown, “Why are you being so difficult? You can’t just quit whenever you feel like it.”

[The pot calling the kettle black! Weren’t you the one who didn’t want to do the mission earlier and insisted that Ning Xi coax you? Hahahahaha!]

[Jiang Sheshe has actually become the sensible one.]

Ning Xi didn’t overthink it at all. She looked directly at Ning Mingyue-
“Since Fu Zhi doesn’t want to act anymore, let Xie Lanchen and me improvise.”

Xie Lanchen played along. “Sure.”

Shen Yibai remained silent as usual.

Wei Xuan stayed out of it as always, though his gaze drifted toward Jiang Sheshe from time to time.

In short, no one was giving Fu Zhi a way out of the situation.

Of course, Fu Zhi didn’t care about these people at all.

He only cared about one person’s reaction.

But that person seemed completely unaware that he was throwing a tantrum, feeling wronged, and using his outbursts to beg for her attention and concern.

“Ning Xi!”

Fu Zhi called out her name resentfully.

Ning Xi was getting genuinely annoyed.

“What exactly do you want?”

She looked at Fu Zhi flatly, then paused.

Because Fu Zhi’s eyes were actually turning a faint shade of red.

No matter how much of a fit Fu Zhi had thrown in the past, even when she’d roasted him into silence, his eyes had never turned red. Today…

“Did you get dust in your eyes?” Ning Xi asked hesitantly.

Fu Zhi: …

“Yes, exactly!” Fu Zhi stiffened his neck. “So when we’re acting later, you’d better pay more attention, or my eyes will start hurting again.”

This was his way of explaining why he’d suddenly thrown a fit and said he wouldn’t act.

[As expected, he gave himself his own way out, hahahahaha!]

[I told you, every time the Princess throws a tantrum, as long as Ning Xi acknowledges him or even just looks at him, he manages to soothe himself.]

Since Fu Zhi had said that, everyone ignored the little episode.

It was then tacitly accepted that Ning Xi and Fu Zhi would perform the scene together.

“So what are we acting out? Like you said, me giving you a shoulder massage?” Ning Xi pondered the plot.

A flash of secret joy crossed Fu Zhi’s eyes.

“-Of course, that’s definitely not happening!” Ning Xi quickly shot it down.

“It’s not like I couldn’t give you a shoulder massage instead,” Fu Zhi said bashfully.

Ning Xi looked at him suspiciously. “Are you up to something again? Planning to get revenge while massaging my shoulders?”

“Ning Xi, are you crazy…” Fu Zhi started getting angry again.

Standing beside them, Xie Lanchen watched their bickering and suddenly spoke softly, “So the saying is true: the crying child gets the candy.”

His voice was very low, but Ning Xi still heard him.

She looked at Xie Lanchen.

At this moment, Xie Lanchen stood there alone, tall and elegant, yet somehow shrouded in a sense of loneliness and desolation.

Ning Xi’s vision suddenly blurred for a moment.

For some reason, this version of Xie Lanchen felt somewhat familiar to her.

As if she had seen him somewhere a long time ago.

But Ning Xi truly had no memory of it.

Her memory was excellent.

Except for the time she was kidnapped with Shen Yibai as a child; she’d had a persistent high fever after being rescued and couldn’t quite remember the details of the kidnapping.

Everything else, every single event, big or small, she remembered clearly.

Ning Xi shook her head, thinking she was overthinking things.

“Don’t worry, I’ll definitely help you come up with plenty of scenes so the audience notices you,” Ning Xi comforted him.

She thought Xie Lanchen was disappointed about losing the chance to perform.

Xie Lanchen chuckled, knowing Ning Xi had misunderstood him, but he still replied, “Sure.”

The crying child gets the candy, but he didn’t want to make things difficult for Teacher Ning.

So, being a quiet shadow by Teacher Ning’s side like this was also quite nice.