Chapter 93

Chapter 93

“Ladies first.”

Ning Xi raised her hand, gesturing for Qin Se to go first.

Qin Se looked at the slips of paper, which were clearly color-coded to distinguish between male and female guests, and said indifferently, “I’m fine with anything.”

Ning Xi then turned to Fu Zhi and Xie Lanchen. “Then you two choose.”

Fu Zhi’s eyes flickered. He marked his own slip, Qin Se’s, and Ning Mingyue’s with a blue mark.

Ning Xi was confused.

Using the process of elimination, didn’t that mean Fu Zhi could only be grouped with Jiang Sheshe?

He might as well have just said it directly.

Ning Xi was somewhat speechless at Fu Zhi’s convoluted behavior, but she decided to forgive this rebellious son like a mother indulging her child.

“What about you, Xiao Xie?” Ning Xi looked at Xie Lanchen.

Xie Lanchen curled his lips in a lazy smile and marked his slip, Qin Se’s, and Ning Mingyue’s with purple.

Ning Xi: ?

Forget it, Xiao Xie always has his reasons. Let him be.

Only Fu Zhi looked furious. “Why are you copying me?”

He had originally planned to fish in troubled waters later by pushing Jiang Sheshe’s unmarked slip toward Xie Lanchen.

That way, Xie Lanchen would be paired with Jiang Sheshe. Since Xie Lanchen couldn’t be paired with Qin Se or Ning Mingyue, it would be only natural for him to end up with Ning Xi, right?

Who would have thought Xie Lanchen would dare to mimic him!

Xie Lanchen looked innocent, his crow-feather lashes fluttering as he asked calmly, “Why would I copy you?”

Fu Zhi choked on his words, unable to reveal his true intentions.

“Ah.”

Ning Xi suddenly had an epiphany.

She placed Fu Zhi and Jiang Sheshe’s slips together.

Then she placed Xie Lanchen’s and her own slips together.

Finally, she randomly sorted the remaining four slips. The result was Shen Yibai with Ning Mingyue, and Qin Se with Wei Xuan.

“Alright, everyone should be satisfied now.”

The next second, before Fu Zhi could speak, Ning Xi turned to Director Qin with lightning speed and said, “Village Chief, we’ve finished our discussion.”

Fu Zhi’s “I want to redo it” was stuck in his throat.

He could only glare resentfully at that copycat, Xie Lanchen.

Xie Lanchen arched an eyebrow and looked at Fu Zhi slowly, his gaze filled with a deliberate, feigned confusion that seemed to ask: What’s wrong with you?

The eight guests headed to the houses where they would be staying for the night.

Since they had just played the mud pit game, everyone was in desperate need of a shower.

However, each house had only one bathroom, so who got to go first became an issue.

“Wait, let me go first. The mud in my hair is already starting to dry.”

Jiang Sheshe called out to Fu Zhi, who already had one foot inside the bathroom.

Fu Zhi gave Jiang Sheshe a cold side-eye, let out a sneer, and walked straight in, kicking the door shut behind him.

Jiang Sheshe stared at the closed door in disbelief.

“You jerk, Fu Zhi! Do you even know the meaning of courtesy? You selfish prick, it’s a wonder anyone likes you. Even if someone does pursue you one day, it’ll definitely be for your money, not because they’re attracted to you as a person…”

“So annoying!”

Fu Zhi, seemingly stung by one of her comments, pulled the door open irritably.

“I’m giving you twenty minutes. If you’re not done by then, I’ll kick your head off!”

Jiang Sheshe muttered under her breath about his terrible temper as she quickly slipped into the bathroom.

Then she stayed in there for over an hour.

If Fu Zhi hadn’t gotten so angry that he started blasting videos in the yard of netizens’ compilations of Jiang Sheshe’s most extreme ‘love-brain’ comments, she probably wouldn’t have come out.

Over at Wei Xuan and Qin Se’s, as well as Shen Yibai and Ning Mingyue’s, they had all defaulted to ‘ladies first.’

As for Ning Xi and Xie Lanchen…

Ning Xi followed Xie Lanchen to the newly added House No. 4. As soon as she entered, she was drawn to a puppy at the door.

After playing with the dog for a bit, she asked curiously, “How come this house has a puppy?”

“The landlord lent the house to the Program Team and went out, but the puppy had nowhere to go, so it stayed behind.” Xie Lanchen’s pale lips curved slightly.

He knew she would like this house.

However, in the next second, he met Ning Xi’s suspicious gaze. “How do you know that?”
Xie Lanchen’s smile faltered. Looking into Ning Xi’s clear, bright eyes, he found himself momentarily speechless.

How could he tell her that he knew she loved pets? He knew everything she liked, which was why he had specifically arranged for this house.

Fortunately, Ning Xi’s attention was entirely on the puppy, and she didn’t seem to care whether Xie Lanchen answered or not.

Ning Xi had a habit: when she encountered something she liked, she had to get her fill of it before moving on to the next thing.

Thus, she told Xie Lanchen to go shower and change first while she played with the puppy.

It wasn’t until Xie Lanchen finished his shower that Ning Xi reluctantly gave the puppy a final pat and went to wash up herself.

However, the moment Ning Xi stepped out of the bathroom, she was completely captivated by a delicious aroma.

“Smells so good.”

Ning Xi followed the scent to the kitchen.

There, she saw Xie Lanchen cooking.

His black hair fell loosely over his forehead, highlighting the superior lines of his profile. His long lashes were slightly lowered, giving him a cold yet calm aura.

As he lifted the pan to pour the food onto a plate, his loose sleeves were rolled up, revealing long, well-defined fingers and the faint trace of veins on the back of his hand.

He exuded an indescribable sense of sexual tension.

[A man who can cook-one hundred points! One hundred points!]

[This damn ‘ultimate husband’ vibe…]

[I feel like Xie Lanchen is the type of man who would have a very strong service mindset (not really).]

[I was originally fuming after a fight with my boyfriend, but looking at Xie Lanchen, my anger suddenly vanished.]

At that moment, Xie Lanchen looked toward the door as if by accident.

Upon seeing Ning Xi, a faint smile played on his lips, and a brilliant, sparkling light filled his eyes.

Ning Xi blinked slowly.

She didn’t know how to describe that smile, but she could feel that Xie Lanchen’s joy came from the heart, which made her feel happy in spite of herself.

“Let me help you.”

Although Ning Xi wasn’t much of a cook, she was perfectly fine with helping out as a kitchen hand.

To her surprise, Xie Lanchen turned her down for the first time. “No need.”

Ning Xi was puzzled.

Xie Lanchen curved his lips. “Kitchen fumes are heavy; they’re not good for your skin.”

“Besides, I enjoy cooking for my friends. Don’t try to take this away from me, Teacher Ning.”

Ning Xi was stunned. The “it’s fine” she had prepared to say in response to the skin concern died in her throat.

Fine then. Her cooking wasn’t as good as Xiao Xie’s anyway.

Over the past few days, she had been thinking about the taste of the breakfast Xie Lanchen had made back at the villa.

“Alright, you carry on then. I’ll go to Sister Xiaohua’s shop to buy some cold drinks and snacks so we can eat them together later.”

Xie Lanchen nodded with a smile.

While Ning Xi was eating a mung bean popsicle and carrying a bag of items back home, she ran into Jiang Sheshe, who was peering around the roadside suspiciously.

“What? The rider spilled the mung bean soup?”

“How much longer do I have to wait? Send another portion in fifteen minutes. I’ll pay double-no, ten times the price, okay? I’m in a hurry!”

“At least twenty minutes? Fine.”

Jiang Sheshe pouted and hung up the phone, looking absolutely livid.

Brother Xuan had sent a message earlier asking her to join him and Qin Se for dinner tonight. In her excitement, she had impulsively claimed she would cook some mung bean soup to bring along so Brother Xuan could taste her handiwork.

In the end, she had tried twice, and both times it ended up burnt.

So, she had secretly ordered takeout, only for the delivery rider to spill it halfway. It would take at least twenty minutes for the shop to redeliver.

“I’ve been curious about something since I was a kid…”

Jiang Sheshe jumped when someone suddenly draped an arm over her shoulder.

When she turned and saw that the person speaking was Ning Xi, she asked crossly, “What does a question from your childhood have to do with me?”

Ning Xi didn’t mind. She held the mung bean popsicle up in front of Jiang Sheshe.

“Tell me, once a mung bean popsicle melts, is it mung bean soup?”

Jiang Sheshe was dismissive at first, then she frowned in deep thought, and finally, it clicked.

“Of course it is! And it’s ice-cold, so it’s even better for beating the heat!”

Jiang Sheshe looked at Ning Xi and exclaimed in disbelief:

“Are you some kind of genius?”