9: Chapter 9: The Scene of Beef Shreds Protecting Their Food

The seating arrangement in the lounge area had been shuffled.

Qi Wanyin leaned against the floor-to-ceiling window. Yin Ruoying occupied the center spot without moving. Fang Ruowei sat next to Han Xubai. Wen Ditang curled up in a corner, nibbling on a biscuit. Gu Zeyan stood guard diagonally opposite, separated by the distance of a coffee table, facing the side where Jiang Rumu was sitting.

Jiang Rumu scanned the area.

There were empty seats in all four directions.

She sat back down next to Li Li.

For the second time.

A comment drifted across the wall-mounted screen: "Sister Mu is sitting next to the non-celebrity again. What kind of confusing behavior is this?"

Less than half a minute after sitting down.

Shen Jue was in the middle, gesturing wildly as he recounted the embarrassing story of snapping a wire during his last film. Fang Ruowei laughed along, and Han Xubai interjected with a legal risk analysis on the side.

In the gaps of the noise, a sound emerged.

It wasn't loud.

But the high-sensitivity microphone in the live broadcast room caught it perfectly.

Growl—

Jiang Rumu froze on the sofa.

Facing forward, she didn't move an inch, her chin tensed, maintaining that icy expression perfectly.

The comments went wild.

"?? Stomach growling? Is that Sister Mu? Hahahaha"

"My heart aches! Did she not eat breakfast? What is her team doing!"

"@Jiang Rumu Studio, are you guys useless? Oh wait, you didn't even give Sister Mu a meal."

Shen Jue's wire-snapping story was cut short.

Fang Ruowei was talking and laughing opposite them. Wen Ditang looked down, biting her biscuit. Yin Ruoying crossed her legs, scrolling through her phone. Qi Wanyin gazed out the window.

No one handed her anything.

Gu Zeyan, sitting diagonally opposite, opened his mouth, likely searching his brain for a template of caring remarks.

He was too slow.

Li Li moved.

He didn't speak. He didn't look at Jiang Rumu.

His left hand fished something out of his pants pocket.

Shredded beef jerky.

Out of the two packs the system had given him, he had eaten one yesterday at the entrance of Dinghe Building, and he had kept the remaining pack in his pocket ever since.

The aluminum foil bag was held between two fingers, extended from the side of the sofa armrest, at just the right height, reaching her hand perfectly.

The movement was as natural as handing a document to a colleague at the next desk.

There was no unnecessary eye contact.

No solicitous inquiries.

Once the beef jerky was delivered, he pulled his hand back and rested it on the armrest again.

Jiang Rumu glanced down at the aluminum foil bag. The words "Shredded Beef Jerky" were printed on the front, the packaging so plain it lacked any design.

She turned her head to glance at Li Li.

Li Li didn't look back. He was staring at a comment someone had posted on the wall-mounted screen, reading it intently.

Jiang Rumu picked up the beef jerky.

She tore open the seal.

She pinched a piece and popped it into her mouth.

She chewed twice.

Her brows furrowed for a moment, then relaxed, and her mouth paused for half a second.

Then she continued chewing.

The speed increased.

Another piece.

And another.

The A-list actress with 32.16 million followers was sitting in the T3 terminal VIP Hall, crunching away on a bag of shredded beef jerky that looked like it cost two-fifty.

The comments flooded the screen in white.

"Her expression change is so cute, ahhhhh!"

"Wait, did that non-celebrity give it to her?? I replayed it three times!"

Shen Jue witnessed the whole thing from the side.

His brain might be slow, but his eyes weren't blind.

He clasped his hands together, fingers interlaced, pressing down hard, trying to shove the words about to spill out back down his throat.

He failed.

He turned around, facing Cen Ye, his lips moving silently.

Cen Ye glanced at him.

Shen Jue's lip-reading— "I'm shipping them."

Cen Ye raised his phone to block his face.

Wen Ditang had looked up at some point.

She had bitten off half a biscuit. She put the biscuit down, leaned forward, her voice soft.

"Sister Mu, what are you eating? It smells so good... Can I have a taste?"

Her smile was clean, innocent, and non-aggressive.

Jiang Rumu was still chewing, holding the foil bag in her hand, and turned to look at Wen Ditang.

Before she could speak.

Li Li spoke up.

"Did you eat breakfast?"

Wen Ditang blinked.

"I did, I had bread at the hotel."

"That's fine then."

Li Li tilted his chin toward Jiang Rumu.

"She hasn't eaten anything. Let her eat it, this is the only bag left."

His tone was as flat as reporting on construction progress.

No polite words of refusal. No "sorry."

Just a dry statement of fact—there isn't much, she needs it more than you do. Done.

Wen Ditang's smile paused for a beat.

"Okay, okay, then Sister Mu, you eat more!"

Her voice remained soft and sweet; she sat back and picked up her biscuit to continue nibbling.

Obedient. Tactful.

Beneath the ribbon at the ends of her hair, her right hand retracted to her knee, her fingernails scratching a faint white mark on the fabric of her sweatpants.

It didn't fade until three seconds later.

The comments were no longer a waterfall.

"Damn, this non-celebrity is too direct. The beef jerky food-guarding behavior, I'm dead."

"But isn't this way of speaking too blunt?"

"?? He's an honest person, are you really going to nitpick an honest person for their conversational skills?"

Shen Jue couldn't sit still anymore.

He leaned forward, hands propped on his knees, his comma-shaped bangs falling down to poke his eyebrows.

Then, extremely unprofessionally, in the live broadcast with 1.7 million people watching, he blurted out in a volume he couldn't control at all— "Damn. So sweet."

Cen Ye threw a cushion that smacked him on the back of the head.

"Shut up."

Jiang Rumu held the last piece of beef jerky in her hand, pausing for a beat.

She didn't look at Li Li.

She popped it into her mouth.

Chewed it up.

She folded the foil bag twice and placed it on the sofa armrest.

She leaned back against the chair, continuing to stare at the fire sprinkler on the ceiling.

The curve of her lips was different from five minutes ago.

Li Li caught it in his peripheral vision.

She was smiling.

—

The frosted glass door of the VIP Hall was pushed open.

Director Pei Zhao entered.

He didn't shake hands, didn't make small talk, and didn't give anyone time to warm up or buffer.

He walked to the side of the wall-mounted screen, turned around, and faced everyone.

"Hello, guests. I am the general director for this season of 'Dating in Travel', Director Pei Zhao. I won't waste time with pleasantries."

He pulled a card from his suit's inner pocket.

"The method for forming teams for our first destination, Dubai, is not a random draw."

He held up the card.

"It is mutual selection."

The VIP Hall was silent for a full three seconds.

"Male guests will write down the name of one female guest. Female guests will write down the name of one male guest. Those who are mutually selected will form a team directly."

He smiled.

"For one-way selections—well, that will be a good show."

Shen Jue was the first to jump up. "Wait a minute, Director Pei—we have to write it now? Not giving us some time to get to know each other?"

"You have already spent forty-seven minutes together in the VIP Hall. That is enough."

Cen Ye's Sichuan-Chongqing accent drawled out: "Forty-seven minutes is enough for nothing. I haven't even remembered everyone's names yet."

"Then rely on your intuition." Director Pei Zhao's speaking pace was unhurried. "Intuition is often more honest than thinking."

Han Xubai picked up the marker and spun it around. "Director Pei, will the selection results be made public?"

"Public. Revealed on the spot."

The comments on the wall-mounted screen exploded.

"Mutual selection!!! This is exciting!!!"

"Gu Zeyan will definitely write Sister Mu"

"Please, non-celebrity, write Sister Mu"

Director Pei Zhao clapped his hands.

"Three minutes. Begin."

The cards were distributed. Everyone drew one. There was only one marker, starting from Shen Jue.

Shen Jue gripped the pen, his face flushed red. The tip of the pen hovered for five seconds before he lowered it to write two characters, then closed it.

He passed it to Cen Ye. Finished writing in three seconds. Slap, closed.

Passed to Han Xubai. The pen tip didn't hesitate, but before closing the card, he looked up and glanced at Fang Ruowei. Closed.

Passed to Gu Zeyan. His pen-holding posture was standard; his strokes were slow as he wrote, his gaze didn't wander. After writing, he closed it, his smile as steady as if it were welded on.

Passed to Li Li.

Li Li took the marker.

The pen barrel still held the warmth of the previous four people.

He looked down at the palm-sized white card.

32.16 million. Main task. The plane twenty-one hours later, that sky currently burning.

The system said—make her willing to form a team with you.

Said—don't mess it up.

He gripped the pen.

The tip of the pen landed on the card.

Jiang Rumu.

Closed.

The marker was placed on the coffee table and passed to the female guests.

Yin Ruoying was the first to take the pen, her phoenix eyes scanning the room, her bright red lips curving slightly. She wrote. Closed.

Fang Ruowei smiled while writing. Wen Ditang looked down to write, her ribbon covering the card. Qi Wanyin calmly wrote a name, her action of closing the card like turning a page.

Finally.

Jiang Rumu.

She picked up the pen.

The tip of the pen hovered above the card.

The number of online viewers on the wall-mounted screen jumped past two million.

She tilted her head slightly.

Extremely lightly and extremely quickly, she glanced with her peripheral vision to her right.

The hand Li Li had resting on the armrest. Thin calluses on the knuckles.

The pen descended.

Three seconds.

Closed.

Director Pei Zhao walked to the coffee table and collected the ten cards.

The ten face-down white cards were spread out on the table.

His bright red nails rested on the edge of the first one.

"Then I'll flip it."

In the VIP Hall, everyone's breathing stopped.

On the wall-mounted screen, 2.03 million people stared at the screen.

Director Pei Zhao's fingertips pinched the corner of the card.

Flip—