[Any other sisters secretly slacking off at work to watch this like me? If my boss catches me, there goes my bonus for this month.]
[Sister, that price is kind of steep! But compared with getting to watch Chu Yao, losing a little money is nothing.]
[Are all of you here for Chu Yao? Am I the only one who came to see the domineering CEO?]
[No, I’m pretty sure most people are here for the sugar. Real-life romance is way too depressing. Watching them is much sweeter.]
The production team knew exactly how to stir things up. They sent cars to pick up the three “wives”—Chu Yao, Wen Xu, and Zhao Jing—and take them to the villas first, leaving the three husbands to wait at the hotel for a while.
They had prepared six vacation villas in completely different styles. The three wives would each choose the one they liked best, and afterward their husbands would have to guess which villa their own wife had chosen, testing how well they understood their preferences.
If they guessed wrong, they would have to accept a small punishment.
The livestream began promptly at ten. Chu Yao sat inside a business van, his hair fluffy and casual, dressed in a loose green twill shirt. The fresh color was immediately pleasing to the eye.
This was the style he normally wore in private, and he had not made any special effort to dress up.
Knowing the livestream had begun, he waved at the camera in greeting. “Good morning. Have you eaten yet?”
[We ate, we ate. It’ll practically be lunchtime soon.]
[Big Brother’s way of greeting people really never changes. All he knows how to ask is whether they’ve eaten hhh.]
[Waaah, Baby Yao is still so handsome even with the camera right in his face. I want to crawl through my phone and kiss him.]
[Nope! He already has a husband!]
The director assigned to follow him had not expected him to interact with the viewers. He coughed softly and reminded him in a low voice, “Teacher Chu Yao, from now on, just pretend the camera doesn’t exist. This is a reality show, not an online livestream.”
Right. The show was supposed to reveal what his private life was like.
Chu Yao understood and turned to admire the scenery outside the window.
The business van soon reached its destination. It was a picturesque place of green mountains and clear waters, with an intensely blue sky and clean white clouds. Villas were scattered in graceful order among the surrounding hills; at a glance, the view looked like a computer wallpaper.
The van stopped at the main entrance to the villa district, with lush green lawns stretching along both sides.
Chu Yao was the last to arrive. Wen Xu and Zhao Jing had already been sitting on a bench beside the lawn, chatting for a while.
The moment they saw Chu Yao get out of the van, the two of them immediately stood and walked over.
“Long time no see.” Wen Xu bumped fists with Chu Yao. “Why do I feel like you’ve gotten even paler?”
“I’ll probably get tanned by the sun here in a few days.” After joking, Chu Yao extended a hand toward Zhao Jing. “Hello, Brother Jing.”
“Hello.” Zhao Jing smiled. “I’ve always hoped I’d get a chance to work with you, but it still hasn’t happened.”
“Mm. I’m looking forward to acting opposite you too, Brother Jing.”
Chu Yao and Zhao Jing were not particularly familiar. They had only exchanged greetings at a few events. Around people he still felt some distance from, Chu Yao became noticeably restrained.
“All right, all right. Let’s stop with the formal pleasantries.”
Wen Xu was good at warming up an atmosphere. With one sentence, he immediately narrowed the distance between the three of them.
Chu Yao stood quietly to the side, one hand unconsciously slipping into his pocket, lips pressed together. He no longer knew what to say.
[The atmosphere between the three of them is so nice. It feels like they’ve been friends forever.]
[Why does Baby Yao suddenly seem a little socially anxious? Is this why he doesn’t like reality shows?]
[Online he fights heaven and earth; in real life he’s quiet as a chicken. Brother Yao is literally me acting as myself.]
[Chu Yao, bring out that wild energy you have on your alt account!]
[Don’t rush him. Once Baby Yao gets familiar with everyone, I bet he’ll turn into a runaway horse. He’ll get so wild even he’ll scare himself.]
[Sister, you’re going to kill me laughing. All I can say is I’m looking forward to it.]
The show quickly moved on to the main event. The directing team wheeled over a display wall covered with photos of the surroundings and interior decor of all six villas. The guests could choose whichever one they liked.
If two people happened to want the same villa, the solution was simple: rock-paper-scissors. The winner would get first choice.
The three of them had very different tastes. Chu Yao immediately took a liking to the villa with a bamboo grove outside. Beyond its floor-to-ceiling windows lay a wide expanse of greenery, while the interior leaned toward a simple Chinese style.
There was also a postmodern, industrial-style villa that he liked very much because it had a gaming room. Of the six villas, this seemed to be the only one with one.
But judging from Jin Zhihan’s taste, he probably preferred Chinese-style decor. A villa like the gaming one, with murals painted across the walls, would surely strike him as too gaudy and visually dizzying.
Making a man who liked nothing but cool, clean color palettes spend fifteen days in a visually chaotic house would be asking too much of him.
For a moment, Chu Yao hesitated.
Wen Xu, however, had already made his decision. He liked swimming, so he chose the villa with an open-air pool on the top floor.
Zhao Jing chose next, selecting a cream-colored villa with Japanese-style decor. He and Bai Jishen had fairly similar tastes; both liked warm tones like these.
That left only Chu Yao.
Seeing that the other two had already finished choosing, he quickly raised a hand and pointed at the Chinese-style villa, giving up the gaming room.
The fans in the livestream room were all surprised. They had assumed Chu Yao would choose the gaming room, since the whole internet knew how much he loved gaming.
Wen Xu looked completely confident. Seeing his smile, Zhao Jing could not help asking, “You’re that sure your husband will guess correctly?”
“If he guesses wrong, he can kneel on the TV remote tonight.”
The two of them burst out laughing while Chu Yao walked silently beside them.
He truly had no confidence that Jin Zhihan would guess correctly. Even though he had tried his best to choose based on what Jin Zhihan would like, he still was not sure.
With a mind as sharp as Jin Zhihan’s, surely he could work out that Chu Yao would accommodate him and choose what he liked, right? Wasn’t that how the two of them usually got along in private?
As the three wives headed toward their chosen villas, the livestream abruptly switched over to the husbands.
At that moment, they were packing their luggage at the hotel.
Jin Zhihan packed Chu Yao’s personal items separately into a backpack, slung it over one shoulder, then crouched to zip up the suitcase before heading out first.
Although he was wearing a white shirt and casual trousers today rather than his usual suit and leather shoes, the domineering-CEO aura around him was impossible to hide. Even his stride seemed to stir up wind.
The viewers in the livestream room were overwhelmed by how handsome he was. The comments were practically nothing but drooling noises.
[President Jin’s legs are so long you could hang a swing between them. I can already imagine how much fun Chu Yao usually has.]
[How did we suddenly start driving? Can I get in the car too?]
[Now I finally understand why Chu Yao got married so young. If my husband were that handsome and that rich, I’d lock him down fast too or I’d never feel secure!]
[Believe it or not, even if President Jin were broke, Chu Yao would still keep him as a sugar baby. [raised-brow smirk] Baby Yao is a total face-con.]
[If I were rich, I’d want to keep him too.]
Jin Zhihan was the first to reach the villas. He took one large suitcase and one small one from the trunk and still had a backpack slung over his shoulder, making him look almost like a bodyguard.
The viewers were amused. They had been too busy admiring President Jin’s looks to notice the household hierarchy: Chu Yao was not even carrying a bag. His husband had to carry everything for him.
Fair was fair—President Jin really was an attentive, considerate man.
Jin Zhihan did not wait long before Lu Yiwen and Bai Jishen arrived at the same time, each of them pulling luggage as well.
Both of Lu Yiwen’s suitcases were enormous, three or four times the size of Jin Zhihan’s smaller case.
Jin Zhihan stood there waiting for them to approach, looking like a senior executive who had come to conduct an inspection.
“President Jin.” Lu Yiwen and Bai Jishen greeted him together.
Bai Jishen felt a little awkward. Stellar Entertainment was his former agency and had always treated him very well, but he had not renewed his contract the previous year and had instead established his own personal studio.
Facing his former boss now inevitably made him feel a little guilty.
Jin Zhihan showed no unusual reaction and shook hands with them amicably.
After a few simple pleasantries, the production team wheeled over the display wall again and asked them to guess which villa their own wife had chosen.
“You’re testing our chemistry the second we arrive? The production team really knows how to sow discord. If I get this wrong, won’t I have to kneel on the TV remote tonight?”
Lu Yiwen joked, then immediately added, “But this is way too easy. My wife definitely picked the one with the pool. He loves swimming. If he has nothing else to do, he can swim at home several times a day.”
[I hear the unmistakable sound of a family rich enough to own a big house with a swimming pool. Jealous.]
[As expected of someone who came out of a dating show. He really knows how to keep things lively.]
Bai Jishen was still hesitating. Two of the villas had similar styles, both done in pale, Japanese-inspired designs.
Jin Zhihan, meanwhile, had already made his choice decisively. He picked the gaming villa.
Chu Yao loved gaming so much that he must have noticed that villa at first glance.
“Then I’ll choose this cream-colored one.” Only after hesitating for a moment did Bai Jishen make his careful decision.
Someone had actually gotten it wrong.
The result was something even the director had not expected.
He could not help feeling secretly delighted. The first trending topic of the premiere had just presented itself.
“Next, I’ll reveal the answers.” Standing behind the camera, the director deliberately frowned with a solemn expression. “Unfortunately, among the three of you, one person chose incorrectly.”