Chapter 85

Chapter 85

Ning Xi quickly felt a hard card inside the pillow.

She quietly slipped the card into her pocket and continued her charade of searching.

To make it even more convincing, she even turned the tables on Fu Zhi, shooting him a look.

“Strange. Why haven’t we found it after searching this room for so long? Did you find it already and not tell me?”

Fu Zhi watched Ning Xi’s performance, his eyes darting around.

“You haven’t shared any card info with me, so why should I tell you if I’ve found anything? Besides, with my superior search skills, it wouldn’t be surprising if I found it before you, right? Impressed?”

Ning Xi replied, “Heh.”

If she hadn’t already found the card, she might have actually been fooled by Fu Zhi’s posturing.

[The one who found the card is pretending they didn’t, and the one who didn’t is pretending they did. You’re both geniuses.]

[I told you, following these two is like watching a comedy skit.]

Ning Xi put on a dejected, disappointed look and headed for the door. “Whatever. I’ll go check the other rooms.”

Fu Zhi followed. “Then I’ll go look too. Like I said, finding cards is no problem for me. Do you want to collaborate with me…”

The next second, the bridge of his nose slammed hard into the door.

“Ow! Ning Xi!”

Outside the door, Ning Xi had closed and locked it in one fluid motion. She smiled brightly at Fu Zhi through the gap.

“Collaborate? Sorry, I have seven rules for potential partners:

First, I don’t work with the opposite sex. How can we collaborate when our genders are different?

Second, I don’t work with the same sex. Same gender? Boring.

Third, I don’t work with the living. I’m living myself; there’s no need to work with another living person.

Fourth, I don’t work with the dead. I’ve never been dead, so I can’t empathize with them.

Fifth, I don’t work with anyone older than me. Generation gap. Communication is impossible.

Sixth, I don’t work with anyone younger than me. They’re young and inexperienced. Communication is difficult.

Seventh, I don’t work with anyone my own age. No sense of novelty.

In conclusion, how can we collaborate? It’s fundamentally impossible!”

Fu Zhi, locked in the room: “…”

He rattled the door handle; it didn’t budge.

He looked at the room’s window, and after confirming he couldn’t squeeze through, he took a deep breath.

“Let me out!”

Ning Xi tossed the key in her hand. “Fu Zhi, you’re an understanding person.”

Fu Zhi was bewildered. “Understand what?”

Ning Xi clicked her tongue. “If you’re going to put it like that, then we can’t talk like this. I thought you were an understanding person, and an understanding person should understand what I mean by ‘understand,’ so that everyone understands what an understanding person understands.”

Fu Zhi: “…Can you please just speak like a normal human being?”

[She’s actually made Fu Zhi’s tone sound humble.]

Ning Xi acted annoyed. “It seems you aren’t an understanding person after all! I’m leaving!”

The next second…

“Fine! I’ll unilaterally and freely share the card info I’ve collected with you, okay?” Fu Zhi roared in humiliation.

Ning Xi immediately beamed. “Doing understanding things with an understanding person-now that’s understanding!”

She used the key to open the door, only to see Fu Zhi with a dark, brooding expression on his handsome face.

At first glance, it was quite intimidating.

But in Ning Xi’s eyes, at most, Fu Zhi’s expression looked like he had just eaten shit.

“Give it to me,” Ning Xi said, holding out her hand.

Fu Zhi resentfully handed two cards to Ning Xi.

Aside from the one given by Director Qin, there was another one he had found under a flowerpot.

When the two cards were put together, they formed half of a Polaroid photo of a girl wearing a dress.

However, the Polaroid was blurry, and since there was no face in the shot, Fu Zhi-an outsider whose knowledge of the entertainment industry was limited to Ning Xi-had no idea who the new guest was.

“This dress is a new summer release from Brand C. This guest might be their spokesperson, a brand ambassador, or someone who attended their new product launch.”

Ning Xi immediately took out her phone to search.

Eventually, she narrowed the scope down to four young starlets: Lin Leyun, Qin Se, Hu Qin, and Fang Yu.

Seeing Qin Se’s name, Ning Xi was a bit surprised.

“Oh, Qin Se is on the list.”

She then looked at Fu Zhi to give a recommendation. “She and I were in the same group before. She debuted in second place and is an amazing dancer.”

Fu Zhi curled his lip when he heard this.

He had followed Ning Xi’s debut survival show from start to finish back then, even buying truckloads of milk with Shen Yibai to vote for her. How could he not know who Qin Se was?

However…

“Didn’t you see the message Jiang Sheshe sent to the group chat?”

“I saw it. Didn’t she say it was an accidental like?”

Ning Xi didn’t care.

She had been in a group with Qin Se for two years. Although the girl was a bit cold and kept her distance from everyone equally, she wasn’t a bad person.

Wait.

Dance shoes, the number 2, and a new summer dress from Brand C.

Why did this description look more and more like Qin Se?

Ning Xi stopped pretending and pulled her third card out of her pocket. On it was a picture of a guqin, a homophone for the ‘Qin’ in her name.

Good heavens, could it really be Qin Se?

“A guqin? Does that hint at Hu Qin? Or maybe Lin Leyun, since the ‘Yue’ in her name can also mean music, which relates to the guqin?” Fu Zhi guessed.

Ning Xi looked at Fu Zhi appreciatively. “That makes sense.”

Keep guessing, buddy. You’re all wrong.

Ning Xi was just about to go behind Fu Zhi’s back and secretly text Qin Se’s name to the Program Team.

Suddenly, all the guests received a message from the production.

[Youai Village Chief: guest Xie Lanchen has correctly guessed the identity of the new guest. All guests, please come to the courtyard to meet our new guest.]

Ning Xi: ?

She had worked so diligently, sneaking around and swindling for so long, only to have Xiao Xie steal the win at the last second?