43: You can't play this game.

Gao Xiaofan swallowed his saliva frantically as he watched the mouth-watering delicacies being served one after another.

Braised pork, braised chicken, sweet and sour pork ribs, oil-exploded prawns, steamed fish head with chopped chili, old hen soup... He regretted it.

If he had known the task would be like this, he definitely wouldn't have chosen the third option.

"Come, let's have a toast together. Get some rest early tonight; I have to explain the program's rules to you tomorrow morning, so we won't be drinking alcohol." Qu Lang raised his glass, seeing that everyone had poured their drinks.

After the toast, the atmosphere at the table livened up, with everyone eating and chatting.

At this moment, Qu Lang noticed Gao Xiaofan sitting there without moving his chopsticks, only sipping his drink, and couldn't help but say,

"Xiaofan, eat something. Is it not to your taste?"

Qu Lang's words caught the attention of the others at the table. The director actually knew this person and was so concerned?

Gao Xiaofan gave a bitter smile. "Brother Lang, I want to eat steamed buns."

Qu Lang rolled his eyes and glared at Gao Xiaofan, thinking he was trying to pull some stunt.

Eating steamed buns? You've got to be kidding. You ate fatty meat in the village more enthusiastically than anyone, and now that there's good food, you're telling me you want steamed buns.

But seeing Gao Xiaofan still looking at him, he helplessly called the waiter and ordered a portion of steamed buns.

The people at the table looked at Gao Xiaofan with strange expressions.

Is there something wrong with this guy? Why eat steamed buns when there's all this food?

The few internet celebrity guests at the table also felt they understood something.

It was impossible for someone with only a million followers to participate in a show with those who had tens of millions without some connections. Now it seemed Director Qu Lang's relationship with him was far from ordinary.

After the steamed buns arrived, Gao Xiaofan picked one up with a miserable face, looked at the table full of dishes, and took a big bite.

Just then, Liu Yunning, who was sitting next to him, raised his glass toward him.

"Brother Wo Zi, right? Let's have a drink. We should hang out together if we get the chance in the future."

As one of the first male internet celebrities to become popular singing on TikTok, Liu Yunning had twenty million followers and countless little fangirls. He later tried to transition into the entertainment industry, but it had been a bumpy road, and he was still struggling.

Seeing the famous Director Qu in the industry being so concerned about Gao Xiaofan, he naturally wanted to get to know him.

Unfortunately, Gao Xiaofan didn't want to bother with him. Earlier that afternoon, when the man heard he only had a million followers, his reaction was quite different. Just as Gao Xiaofan raised his glass to give a perfunctory response, a voice rang in his mind.

"nine-turn continuous daily mission: Second task triggered. Since you are both in the internet celebrity camp, cooperation is out of the question, so why give him a good face?"

Gao Xiaofan's hand paused. He swallowed the words he was about to say, reorganized his thoughts, and said,

"Forget about hanging out. You don't know how to play what I play, and I'm not interested in what you play."

After saying that, ignoring the other's sour expression, he finished his drink and continued gnawing on the steamed bun.

As the saying goes, one doesn't hit a smiling face, but he had a task to do. He could only say Liu Yunning was unlucky. No way was he going to give up a task for some actor; that would be ridiculous.

Gao Xiaofan's voice wasn't loud, but it happened to fall during a lull in the conversation, so everyone at the table heard his merciless words.

Everyone at the table had different expressions. Burst Tire Watermelon, who was about to come over, dejectedly put down her glass. Han Han remained aloof and pretentious. Hua Hua had a fake smile. Mi Mi and Reba were thoughtful. As for Qu Lang and Cheng Yan at the head of the table, they exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with joy.

After dinner, everyone returned to their rooms.

Qu Lang and Cheng Yan walked quickly toward the temporary office set up in the hotel.

"Not bad. This point about Xiaofan is very good; being fellow internet celebrities but having a conflict right away."

"Yes, and Brother Lang, did you notice? This kid is unusual. Him eating steamed buns today will also be a point later. Once we release the conflict between him and Liu Yuning and get some attention, we can release the follow-up."

"Impressive, Old Yan. Tell me, did you leak something to Xiaofan?"

"He probably figured it out himself. Besides, which of those celebrities wouldn't know? Look at Han Han and Hua Hua, hmph. Xiaofan's selling points are ultimately just a foot in the door. After causing a conflict and letting the audience get used to it, we can throw out the conflicts between the celebrities. Those are the main event."

The two spoke excitedly. They were originally thinking about how to find a breakthrough, and they hadn't expected Gao Xiaofan to help them accomplish it.

Gao Xiaofan lay on the bed, mechanically chewing half a steamed bun with a miserable look. Finally, unable to eat any more, he put it in a plastic bag to eat later if he got hungry.

He pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and started chatting with the people in his WeChat fan group.

Li Yuer: "Brother Wo Zi doesn't spoil his fans at all! The official news is out: Han Han, Hua Hua, Mi Mi, Reba. We've been waiting for Brother Wo Zi's inside info, but there's still no word."

Online ID: "There's something to this. Even I, who doesn't watch variety shows, have been seeing this show everywhere lately. Is it called Show Water Bright Mountain?"

Zhang Dali: "I can't hold it in anymore. Seeing those people guessing which internet celebrities will participate, I really want to say it's Brother Wo Zi, ahhhh~~~"

Strong Hand Cracks Skull: "I'm just saying, even if you said it, people might not believe you."

Strong Hand Cracks Skull sent an image message.

Gao Xiaofan clicked on it curiously; it was a screenshot of a blogger's video speculating on which internet celebrities would participate and the probability of each.

This video undoubtedly became a trending topic with hundreds of thousands of likes and hundreds of thousands of comments.

In the comment section, countless people were participating in the guessing, and the screenshot Strong Hand Cracks Skull sent was of one person's comment.

Fishing Should Be Like Wo Zi Ge: "I have a feeling Brother Wo Zi is one of the guests. His recent videos are all from Annan City, and I checked—there's a village in Annan called xiushui village. Plus, he hasn't streamed in a long time."

Maybe it was just a casual comment from a fan that even he didn't believe, but unexpectedly, countless people started attacking him below it.

"Brother Wo Zi? What a trashy name. I specifically searched for it; only a million followers, is he even qualified to participate?"

"Who knows how many Xiushui Villages there are in the country. Besides, Show Water Bright Mountain is just the name of the variety show; it didn't say it's in Xiushui Village. I might as well say it's in gift Town. Hilarious."

"Small Streamers nowadays really try to leech off any popularity. Not streaming means he's on a show? You're killing me, sis. Does anyone get this?~"

Fishing Should Be Like Wo Zi Ge was just amusing himself and hadn't taken it seriously, but being humiliated online like that made him furious. He screenshotted his comment and shared it in the fan group.

Strong Hand Cracks Skull saw it and forwarded it to the WeChat die-hard fan group.

In the TikTok fan group, the fans were discussing heatedly. Although everyone felt the probability of Brother Wo Zi participating was low, their brother's words weren't wrong, so what was there to mock?

At that moment, a sentence from the administrator, Intentional Punch, made the fan group completely explode.

"Brothers, just charge. They're freaking insulting us to our faces."