Chapter 7

Fu Zhi ordered a few dishes with a dark expression.

Ning Xi: Delighted.

She couldn’t eat much, but if someone else ordered the food, she had to show some appreciation, right?

Mission accomplished √

However, before Ning Xi could take a bite after the waiter brought the dishes, Jiang Sheshe spun the dishes to the other side of the table.

Ning Xi spun them back, and Jiang Sheshe spun them away again.

Ning Xi: ?

Ning Xi calmly sent Fu Zhi a message.

When Jiang Sheshe tried to spin the dishes away again, Fu Zhi suddenly slapped his hand on the rotating table.

Everyone was startled.

Fu Zhi directly grabbed a handful of vegetable salad and threw it onto Ning Xi’s plate, two seats away.

“Eat! Eat as much as you can!”

Everyone present: ?

Netizens: ?

[So, so domineering]
[I thought Fu Zhi was the normal one, but turns out he’s just as crazy as Ning Xi]
[Fu Zhi is smart, knows to grab cold dishes to avoid burning his hand]
[Mobile Dad, what kind of circle are you dragging me into again]
[This is wild hahaha, how did this show end up with two such legendary people!]

Fu Zhi finally realized what he had just done.

He slowly, very slowly, withdrew his hand, wiped it clean with a napkin, and then slowly closed his eyes.

He wanted to die, but felt someone else deserved it more.

All because of the message Ning Xi had just sent!

Ning Xi looked at the shattered Fu Zhi, then quietly glanced down at the message she’d just sent:

“Princess, my Privilege Card wish is: to eat vegetable salad. If I can’t eat it, my mental illness will flare up instantly (gnawing) (dark juicing madness) (hollowing out my abdomen) (crawling) (slowly turning back) (madly attacking indiscriminately) (gnawing) (dark juicing madness) (hollowing out my abdomen) (crawling) (slowly turning back) (madly attacking indiscriminately)”

Tsk.

She felt her message was pretty normal, couldn’t understand what was wrong.

Ning Xi ate the dish that had finally spun her way, still puzzled.

Ning Mingyue looked at Ning Xi, the only one still able to eat at the table, and tried to ease the atmosphere:

“Xiao Xi seems to really like desserts. Should we order a few more?”

Ning Xi’s eyes lit up instantly.

Sis, confidante, my one and only sister, order, order, order!

Jiang Sheshe snapped out of the shock Fu Zhi had just given her, looked at Ning Xi, seemingly incredulous:

“Ning Xi, do singer-dancers usually eat this much? I’m so jealous. Unlike me, the first thing I do every morning is weigh myself. I don’t even dare drink an extra sip of water.”

Ning Xi shook her head, a faint smile on her lips: “You only see me eating this much, but you haven’t seen me run ten kilometers every morning.”

Everyone was shocked and their impression of Ning Xi changed greatly.

Ning Xi: “Because I’ve actually never run that far.”

Everyone: ?

“Xiao Xi should like this Caramel Sea Salt Mousse, the Berry Crepe looks good too, and this Ice Cream…”

Ning Mingyue choked a little, but continued ordering to smooth things over.

Ning Xi was overjoyed.

Fu Zhi frowned.

“Stop ordering.”

A cold voice suddenly rang out.

Ning Mingyue froze, looking at Shen Yibai, who had just spoken.

This… was the first time Shen Yibai had spoken to her in that tone.

Shen Yibai looked at Ning Mingyue’s dazed expression, pursed his lips, and was about to say something.

Just then, his private phone rang. Shen Yibai frowned, glanced down, his expression changed, and he left the private room to take the call.

The room quieted down.

Ning Mingyue watched Shen Yibai leave.

She felt Shen Yibai’s reaction just now was very strange.

“I’ll go check on Yibai, you all keep chatting.” Ning Mingyue stood up.

Ning Xi watched Ning Mingyue’s departing figure and the unfinished menu: …

She had a friend who was suddenly a little broken, not her, don’t overthink it.

Wuwuwuwuwuwuwuwu.

“Let’s continue our previous topic,” Wei Xuan said with a gentle smile. “Xiao Xi, why did you invite Fu Zhi to join this variety show?”

Ning Xi touched her chin: “Well…”

[I know this one, because Fu Zhi is just as crazy as her, like Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon]

Fu Zhi glared fiercely at Ning Xi, as if he wouldn’t let her off if she said a single wrong word.

Ning Xi was already immune to Fu Zhi’s look. After pondering for a few seconds, she said, “I tend to speak harshly, so I’d better not say.”
Fu Zhi: ?

[Hahahahaha, what filthy language!]

“Go ahead. I-I don’t mind.” Fu Zhi spoke through gritted teeth.

Ning Xi had a face that said, “You brought this on yourself”: “Because he kept begging and groveling, wagging his tail like a dog, pestering me to take him along. I was so annoyed, I just agreed.”

If she’d known from the start that that dog Fu Zhi planned to embarrass her, she would have punched him off the planet already.

But of course, she only found out after the program started live streaming…

She could only muddle through.

Anyway, when in doubt, sleep; when life’s a mess, hang myself; if disaster comes, just die.

As someone whose role is to be publicly humiliated, being able to keep her sanity for even a second was already impressive.

Ning Xi was very satisfied with her current state.

“Who was begging and groveling, wagging their tail at you?” Fu Zhi gritted his teeth.

“Just answer-did you or didn’t you beg?”

“…”

Ning Xi shrugged: “See? I said it, and you’re still not happy.”

Fu Zhi’s face darkened.

Wei Xuan tried to lighten the mood: “Then why did Fu Zhi take the initiative to ask Xiao Xi to join this variety show? You know, at heart, this is a dating show.”

The moment Fu Zhi heard “dating show,” he lost his cool: “How was I supposed to know! I just thought it was a friendship show-if I’d known it was a dating… a dating show, I definitely wouldn’t have volunteered.”

He even stammered halfway through.

Ning Xi mocked inwardly:

What a stubborn simp.

Just as Ning Xi finished roasting him in her heart, the door to the private room opened.

Shen Yibai and Ning Mingyue had returned.

Whatever the two of them had just talked about, Shen Yibai looked much calmer than before, while Ning Mingyue’s smile became even more gentle and captivating.

Afterward, everyone chatted for a while longer. When the Program Team had gathered all the material they needed, they arranged for the next segment.

Just as everyone was getting ready to leave, Fu Zhi received a message.

“Ah Zhi, is there something between Yibai and Ning Xi that I don’t know about? Why does Yibai’s mood always change so much whenever food comes up? I’m a little worried…”

Ning Mingyue gripped her phone tightly, glancing at Shen Yibai’s profile beside her.

Sensing her gaze, Shen Yibai lowered his eyes slightly: “Hm?”

Ning Mingyue smiled and shook her head: “It’s nothing.”

Meanwhile, her phone lit up with a new message from the contact marked “Ah Zhi.”

“Oh, didn’t Ning Xi and Shen Yibai get kidnapped by human traffickers as kids? After they were rescued, Ning Xi couldn’t eat any raw food, and once she starts eating, she can’t stop-like a bottomless pit. She’s been to the hospital for it several times.”

“Don’t indulge her when it comes to food.”

After sending those two messages, the other side seemed to realize Ning Mingyue was actually asking about Shen Yibai, and quickly sent several more.

“You didn’t know about the kidnapping? Makes sense-you happened to be overseas then, so it’s normal you don’t remember.”

“Just now, I bet Shen Yibai saw Ning Xi binge eating, thought of that incident, and tried to stop her. Don’t overthink it-right now, you’re the only one in his heart.”

“As long as the two of them never bring up what happened as kids again, without those childhood memories, their bond will be completely broken.”

“I’ll help you, too.”

Seeing this barrage of messages, Ning Mingyue felt complicated for a moment.

She remembered that when they were little, Fu Zhi always followed her around, but she only had eyes for Shen Yibai at the time and wasn’t very close to her younger brother, Fu Zhi.

After all these years abroad-because of that incident-she had always avoided getting too entangled with anyone back home.

But Fu Zhi had persisted in contacting her, always hoping she would return.

Especially after Ning Xi and Shen Yibai got engaged, Fu Zhi reached out even more frequently.

Between the lines, he was always urging her to come back and hinting that the Shen Family had originally wanted her to be engaged to Shen Yibai, that Ning Xi was just the adopted daughter who shouldn’t have taken her place.

And after she returned, Fu Zhi really kept his promise-putting her first in everything, and going out of his way to pair her up with Shen Yibai.

…For Fu Zhi to do all this, there’s no way Ning Mingyue wasn’t moved.

It’s just a pity Fu Zhi fell for her too soon.

And since they were little, Shen Yibai had never really paid attention to her-only showing some closeness to Ning Xi, the adopted daughter-which only made Ning Mingyue want to win him over more.

Ning Mingyue sighed inwardly.