Chapter 26.2
But hadn’t Doctor Lin said that the protagonist of the brain world would usually serve as the main character in their own brain world?
If the fifth consciousness body was her, then it did not feel as if she were the protagonist.
Or perhaps Ruan Mingyu had already appeared in some important shots around Rong Yu before, and Rong Yu simply had not noticed.
Rong Yu rapidly thought this over in her heart, while her face remained unchanged.
She quietly watched as Zhang Yong’an beside her turned slightly away from the camera, carefully read the content on his phone screen, then visibly let out a breath of relief. He put away his phone and smiled at everyone in the livestream room.
“After discussion between the program team’s general director and the sponsors, we have decided to open another overtime round.”
“This overtime round will determine victory completely according to the male guest and the program team’s previous rules. The final hand-holding partner for the male guest, as well as the most popular CP combination, will still be decided based on the guests’ vote counts.”
Zhang Yong’an coughed lightly and said, “Since the previous round was an individual side-script to cultivate feelings, in order to ensure fairness for the program, the overtime match in our third segment will be changed into a script where all guests appear at the same time. Viewers in the livestream, from now on, you may continue voting individually for your favorite CP combination.”
The moment he finished speaking, the progress bars on the livestream screen, which had originally been marked “locked,” returned to normal.
Some viewers tentatively threw in two “Little Flowers” gifts. The livestream CP support-vote progress bars immediately began changing and scrolling in real time. A new round of voting began at once.
Zhang Yong’an’s phone vibrated again. He took out his phone and looked at the content on the screen, undisguised surprise appearing on his face.
But when he raised his head again, his expression had already returned to normal.
Zhang Yong’an smiled at the camera and continued, “However, because this situation happened suddenly, the program team did not anticipate the possibility of a tied vote. We previously invited only four extras, and we are still missing one. In order for the program to proceed on time, the only woman currently on our program team—Director Ruan—will cooperate with us to complete the third-round script transition.”
The moment he finished speaking, the comments immediately began cheering.
[Good, good, good!!! A third round! I can do this!]
[Okay, okay. I also don’t want it to end like this. It wasn’t easy finding a variety show I like.]
[For filming to continue, even the director is personally stepping in. Looks like I have no choice but to send this little gift.]
Some people noticed one detail.
[Director Ruan? Is it the Director Ruan I’m thinking of???]
[Who? Who are you talking about?]
[Ruan Mingyu. Don’t you know? The one who debuted at twenty-three and won Asia’s Best Director with her debut suspense-horror film. She’s now one of the top three horror-film directors in the world. Didn’t she present an award to the Best Actor at the Bai Ling Awards last year?]
[Holy crap, it’s actually her?! I remember she’s very beautiful.]
In the comments, the popularity of this “Director Ruan” remained high.
For a moment, Rong Yu could not help growing somewhat curious too.
In her original novel, she had never described this Director Ruan Mingyu’s appearance. She had only briefly summarized her achievements in film.
She did not know what Ruan Mingyu actually looked like.
As Rong Yu thought this, she inexplicably remembered the gentle woman in the bluish-green qipao she had seen in the taxi before.
If Ruan Mingyu really was as Rong Yu had described in the original novel, a gentle woman who combined beauty and talent, then perhaps she would resemble that qipao woman she had seen last time, graceful and charming, with alluring eyes.
The moment this thought arose in Rong Yu’s mind, she saw a woman in a dark red qipao with gold patterns walking gracefully toward them.
Her slender figure was shaped perfectly by the qipao, revealing a pair of full, fair, beautiful legs. Her brown wavy curls were adorned only with a gold-thread filigree branch-shaped hairpin by her ear.
The glaring sunlight around her seemed to be stretched and slowed down, side-lighting her bright features and making her eyes look even more watery, her glances flowing with light.
For a person with this appearance and temperament, the praise of others was probably already like sparse rain that did not require an umbrella.
She merely walked closer with a smile at the corners of her lips, yet she had already become a stunning vision in everyone’s eyes.
She was like a fully blooming Baiyujin flower, faintly revealing its fragrance.
If the host had not personally said so just now, who could have imagined that this woman was the general director of this dating variety show?
With just that face and her aura, she looked exactly like the top star of the current film industry.
Her voice was graceful and charming, even the ending notes carrying the intellectual sensuality of a mature woman.
“Hello.”
She did not walk close to the crowd, but politely stood at the edge. Yet those bright eyes, like autumn water, looked straight at Rong Yu.
Her pupils were slightly larger than most people’s. Looking at her eyes alone, she was like a wet-eyed little deer. Whoever she looked at would have the illusion of being loved and watched intently.
Rong Yu felt the same.
The pounding palpitation in her heart almost openly told her that this was Lian Langsheng’s new main consciousness body.
The gentle feeling when speaking to her, completely different from how she treated others, was truly too much like the real-world Lian Langsheng.
If Lin Mengxing was the other side of Lian Langsheng that should have been reckless and wanton; if He Jiao was Lian Langsheng before her family accident; if He Huaiting resembled Lian Langsheng after university, gradually revealing sharpness and brilliance; and if Mu Shuiqing was like Lian Langsheng when her parents had just died in childhood—
Then Ruan Mingyu was what Lian Langsheng had looked like when facing Rong Yu before the accident in reality.
Gentle, mild, not showing her sharpness. When facing Rong Yu, she carried a tenderness completely different from how she treated others.
She was the most mature and steady period.
Rong Yu could not help spacing out.
Only when Lin Mengxing, who stood between them, stepped half a step forward to block their line of sight did Rong Yu suddenly wake up and withdraw her gaze, not noticing that the expressions of the other three beside her were not very good either.
Seeing Ruan Mingyu appear, the livestream comments flooded the screen with information about Director Ruan.
Aside from Ruan Mingyu’s rich directing experience and career achievements, there was endless praise for her appearance.
[Goodness, a director is this beautiful? Don’t the stars who acted in her films feel psychological pressure?]
[I watched the award ceremony before and actually didn’t recognize Director Ruan. Ahhhhh, I really deserve punishment.]
[Beautiful. Just one word: beautiful.]
Four extras the program team had previously hired clearly followed behind Ruan Mingyu, but under her crane-among-chickens presence, no one noticed the extras behind her at all.
The comments discussed her in full swing, almost every sentence carrying Ruan Mingyu’s name.
Host Zhang Yong’an waited for the livestream viewers to calm down slightly before speaking again.
“After the last single-person route selection scripts, many viewers felt that scripts chosen that way carried too much personal color and were not very friendly to some viewers who like a pure-love style. So this time, we will use an entirely new script organization method, allowing every viewer and guest to feel more immersed.”
Zhang Yong’an coughed lightly and took out his phone. A bit of embarrassment appeared on his face.
The script settings Ruan Mingyu had just sent were too many. He had not memorized them and could only frequently check his phone.
In the past, there had also been times when he needed to look at his phone, but back then, he would avoid the screen as much as possible so viewers would not notice.
This time, however, the director was standing directly on his right. There was nowhere to hide. Zhang Yong’an’s voice even became somewhat nervous.
“This time’s script will be set by every viewer currently in the livestream.”
As soon as Zhang Yong’an finished speaking, everyone saw a square blue box pop up on the program team’s livestream screen.
Above the blue box were ten names. In the center of the blue box were five dense groups of ten completely different Chinese phrases.
Identity: 1. Minister of Internal Affairs; 2. Little King; 3. Commoner; 4. Pope… 10. Guard
Setting 1: 1. Woman Disguised as a Man; 2. High-Ranking and Powerful; 3. Harboring Hatred; 4. Two-Faced…
Setting 2: …
Setting 3: …
Setting 4: …
Zhang Yong’an said, “Our male and female guests, plus the five extras, make ten people in total. Right now, every viewer’s account backpack contains a free ‘Catnip’ gift automatically given by Fat Cat Internet Video Platform. After everyone sends the gift to each guest, the vote count will begin.”
Zhang Yong’an emphasized, “Please note: every viewer must vote for every guest, but the number of votes is up to you.”
“After the thirty-second countdown ends, we will use the digits in the ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, and ten-thousands places of each guest’s vote count to find the corresponding phrases and piece together their character setting.”
“And every guest whose character setting is determined must strictly follow their character setting once today’s script begins. If they break character, they will face severe punishment or be asked to leave the program.”
Comments:
[Whoa, this setting is so novel.]
[Although, but, I somehow feel like strange settings will appear.]
[Who cares how strange it is? We’re here for the thrill!]
As soon as he finished speaking, a “30s” countdown appeared on everyone’s livestream screen.
The viewers had no time to comment and quickly began voting.
There were ten guests present in total. For the vote to take effect, each viewer had to vote for every guest.
The viewers could only quickly calculate and estimate their vote counts, then seize the time to keep sending “Catnip” gifts.
For once, the livestream comment section was silent.
When thirty seconds passed, vote counts of six digits or more appeared after all ten names above the blue box.
Zhang Yong’an pointed at the number after Rong Yu’s name, which ranked first, and read it loudly.
“Mr. Rong’s total votes are 1,021,397. Connected together, that is…”
Facing the small words in the center of the blue box, he read out the corresponding content—
“A woman-disguised-as-a-man, beautiful, idiot, useless, fatuous little king.”
Rong Yu, who had been waiting for the result, suddenly widened her eyes and blankly looked toward the camera.
She seriously suspected that this was Lian Langsheng’s personal consciousness doing it on purpose!
Comments:
[Hahahahahahahahaha, damn, I’m dying.]
[Beautiful idiot useless thing. One word: perfect, hahahaha. Look at Rongrong’s expression.]
[Such an idiot character setting, placed in such a high position of power… cough cough, is this hinting for someone to usurp the throne?]
[Sister upstairs, are you saying “usurp the throne,” or are you saying “commit insubordination from below”?]
[It has to be “commit insubordination from below.”]
[Don’t leave, people in front. Explain “insubordination from below” in detail!!]
On the large screen provided at the scene for the guests to view, the livestream comment section was just blocked by the blue box of phrases, so Rong Yu could not see it.
But just looking at her final character setting was already enough to leave her speechless.
Why was she a “beautiful idiot”?
At the very least, she should be some high-IQ talent.
Zhang Yong’an seriously reminded everyone from the side, “I will repeat this again. Every guest whose character setting is determined must strictly follow their character setting once today’s script begins. If they break character, they will face severe punishment or be asked to leave the program.”
He used Rong Yu’s character setting as an example.
“For example, Rong Yu’s character setting is a woman-disguised-as-a-man, beautiful, idiot, useless, fatuous little king. He must pretend to work hard to hide the fact that he is actually a girl and cannot show any behavior that reveals intelligence. Although he is not intellectually disabled, he cannot say anything too smart.”
The livestream viewers were almost laughing themselves out of breath.
[Hahahahaha, kill me! I’m laughing until I crow.]
[Old Zhang, what do you mean, “cannot say anything too smart”? Just say he has to be firmly controlled by the other guests and be done with it.]
[Wuwuwu, Little Brother Rongrong is so cute. Little Brother Rongrong is wronged, hahahaha.]
Everyone present except Rong Yu was laughing.
Rong Yu even heard He Huaiting’s cold, suppressed low laugh behind her.
Even He Jiao on her left, who was usually quiet and silent, raised her hand to cover her mouth.
Rong Yu: “……”
Zhang Yong’an then began looking up the corresponding phrases based on the other guests’ vote counts.
In the end, the character settings determined for everyone were:
Ruan Mingyu: The beautiful, meticulous Minister of Internal Affairs who controls state affairs and holds all power alone.
Lin Mengxing: The two-faced, heart-manipulating, beloved vampire Pope.
He Huaiting: The two-faced, coldly beautiful, maid-dressed, loyal Guard.
Mu Shuiqing: The poor commoner whose parents are both dead, who bears hatred and detests authority.
He Jiao: The two-faced, pure as ice and jade, gentle and kind neighboring-country princess allied to the royal family by marriage.
The remaining four extras were all ordinary commoners or hunters.
But each was either unmatched in wisdom and courage or brave and agile. By comparison, this made Rong Yu look even more useless.
Moreover, her tag was “cannot say anything too smart,” making it obvious that she was meant to play a vase.
Originally, Rong Yu had planned to follow Doctor Lin’s method and work hard during the next period of time to make Lian Langsheng’s main consciousness bodies angry and jealous.
But…
But she remembered that Lian Langsheng disliked foolish people the most.
Every time she met brainless leaders from other companies, Lian Langsheng would come back with an extremely ugly expression.
With Rong Yu’s current character setting, would Lian Langsheng really like her?
Compared to Rong Yu’s unease, everyone else except her was very happy.
The livestream comments flew wildly. Even Zhang Yong’an almost could not hold back his laughter.
“These are truly ten very interesting character settings.”
He glanced at Rong Yu beside him and comforted her, “Especially the little king who looks very easy to bully.”
The “little king who looks very easy to bully,” Rong Yu: “……”
Author’s Note:
A pretty little useless thing with low emotional intelligence, secretly in love for so many years without realizing it was mutual. The idiot vase was originally your character setting, right, Baby Yu?
[All right, the groundwork is laid. Next chapter starts the big move.]
[I really like plots where someone beautiful, innocent, and unable to refuse a beloved person with “ulterior motives” wants to ask the other party for help and therefore has no choice but to physically pay a little—crossed out—little price.]
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