After Entering a Romance Reality Show Disguised as a Man to Win Over All the Female Leads - Chapter 9

Her kiss could no longer be called a kiss. It was practically gnawing.

All the words Mu Shuiqing had not finished saying were swallowed into Rong Yu’s mouth. Rong Yu grasped Mu Shuiqing’s hand in return, slid her fingers between hers, pressed her hand beside her face, and deepened the kiss with force.

The temperature in the cold room suddenly soared.

Rong Yu had originally thought she would be pushed away in the next second. Unexpectedly, Mu Shuiqing actually kept passively enduring it.

When the kiss ended, Mu Shuiqing’s confused eyes were misted with water, and even her thoughts seemed a little dazed. Her chest rose and fell violently, and her breathing was unsteady.

“I-I just… wanted to transfer yang energy to you…”

Rong Yu licked the lipstick that had gotten onto her lips. “I know.”

She hid her expression and looked at Mu Shuiqing innocently. “This way transfers it more thoroughly, doesn’t it?”

Mu Shuiqing froze for an instant, and her face instantly flushed bright red.

She flipped off the bed, pulled the peach-wood sword and the black shadow pinned by it down from the pillar, and rushed out of the room at an unprecedented speed.

The room, which had finally warmed up, became cold and quiet again.

Rong Yu sat on the bed with her head lowered, raising her hand to touch her own lips. Then she carefully licked the corner of her mouth.

She still had not been able to hold back.

As long as she thought that the other person was a part of Lian Langsheng’s consciousness, she simply could not restrain herself.

Rong Yu slowly lay back down where she had been earlier and stared at the ceiling above her, thinking back to Doctor Lin’s words.

Both Doctor Lin and she suspected that Mu Shuiqing, Lin Mengxing, and the other two might all be Lian Langsheng’s main consciousness bodies. Then her next step was to test all four of them as much as possible.

Rong Yu lay there thinking for a while, then could not help starting to regret it.

She had endured for so long in reality and had never dared to confess her feelings, yet just now, all that restraint had been wasted. Mu Shuiqing had simply seen her suffering from sleep paralysis and wanted to transfer yang energy to her, but Rong Yu had turned the tables and kissed her instead.

Rong Yu took a deep breath and covered her face.

Lian Langsheng always seemed to have a way to easily disturb her heart, even when she no longer had consciousness.

For a moment, Rong Yu could not help feeling troubled. She did not know how she could make Mu Shuiqing forget what she had just said.

As she tangled herself in these thoughts, she unknowingly fell asleep. When she woke again, it was already evening. Seeing the sunset sink and the sun go down, it was already time for dinner. Rong Yu braced herself and prepared to go out to cook for the two of them.

But the moment she opened the door, she saw Mu Shuiqing walking over with two bowls of rice porridge.

To be precise, it probably could not be called porridge. It should be called rice water.

Seeing her suddenly open the door, Mu Shuiqing froze for two seconds. Her already wooden face became even stiffer, and she spoke two words at a time.

“Rice porridge. Wards evil. Replenishes qi and blood.”

Rong Yu carefully observed her expression, took her bowl, and drank a sip.

Her eyes instantly widened.

Mu Shuiqing was absolutely one of Lian Langsheng’s consciousness bodies.

The title of head chef of dark cuisine was well deserved. The rice grains were as hard as pebbles, and the soup water had not absorbed even the slightest fragrance of the rice.

In reality, Rong Yu had eaten who knew how many picnic bentos specially made by Lian Langsheng. She had long since trained herself to maintain a straight, supportive face even if Mount Tai collapsed before her.

Her eyes brightened, and she praised from the heart, “Mm! Delicious!”

She held the bowl as if it contained nectar from heaven.

Mu Shuiqing’s tense expression relaxed slightly. Her crimson eyes reflected Rong Yu’s figure, carrying a trace of disbelief.

“Really?”

She lowered her head and leaned close to her own bowl, very ladylike as she took a sip.

In the next moment, even she froze.

“Huh… it actually really isn’t bad?”

Because of their color, her heterochromatic crimson eyes always carried an eerie, gloomy feeling when she looked at people. But right now, because her expression was blank, they looked somewhat dazed.

“……”

Rong Yu suspected that perhaps Mu Shuiqing’s taste really was different from ordinary people’s.

But when she lowered her head again and looked at the bowl of rice soup in her hand, where the rice had not even been cooked through, half-raw grains sinking to the bottom while clear water and white rice separated completely, she was shocked to discover that it had already become sweet, soft, fragrant rice porridge.

Rong Yu drank another sip and was immediately amazed by the fragrant rice grains filling her mouth.

The rice grains that had originally been impossible to chew were now smooth, fragrant, and soft to just the right degree. When she bit down, it was as if rich soup burst out. It carried the purest and simplest aroma of grain.

The taste was so refined and mellow it seemed like a state banquet dish.

Rong Yu stared at the dinner in her hands, which had transformed from rice water into rice porridge, shocked by how it had changed in only a moment.

Could it be just because she had said, “Delicious”?

Mu Shuiqing visibly breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s my first time cooking. Good thing it didn’t fail.”

Rong Yu knew that Mu Shuiqing was taking the initiative to move past the earlier matter of “transferring yang energy,” so she did not expose her. Instead, she followed her words and nodded.

“As expected of Shuiqing. You’re even talented at cooking.”

Mu Shuiqing’s hand tightened slightly around the porcelain bowl. She pressed her lips together and raised them into a very faint smile.

The rice porridge that had suddenly mutated really was too delicious. It was clearly only a bowl of plain white porridge, yet Rong Yu ate it with relish and did not find it boring at all.

After finishing dinner, she took a shower and then went to bed.

Rong Yu had originally thought that because she had slept all afternoon, she might not be able to sleep tonight. Unexpectedly, the moment she closed her eyes, she sank into dreamland.

Early the next morning, just after Rong Yu and Mu Shuiqing finished washing up, the main gate was knocked on.

It was the program team coming to pick them up and bring them to today’s filming location.

When the program team came to welcome the guests, they drove one car over and also found a driver to drive back the car that had originally been given to Rong Yu and Mu Shuiqing for their use, so that they could use it for the return trip later today.

When Rong Yu and Mu Shuiqing followed the program staff to the filming location, it was only just past eight.

She had thought that she and Mu Shuiqing were already quite fast, but she had not expected the others to be even faster.

Their destination for filming this time was a Chinese-style garden in a valley. On the plaque above the entrance, four large characters were written in standard script:

Qinghe Mountain Villa.

It was a suburban Chinese-style hotel operating partly as a resort.

As soon as the two got out of the program team’s car, Rong Yu saw the other guests.

He Jiao had originally been standing facing her direction. The two met eyes, and He Jiao was the first to turn away coldly.

Lin Mengxing beside her raised a brow and nodded in greeting. On the other side, He Huaiting was boredly playing with a sword.

Yes, a three-foot-long sword.

The long sword had been sharpened. Its blade gleamed silver, and its sword hum was like a phoenix cry. When she swung it, it was like a silver snake dancing wildly, leaving streaks of cold light in the air. Swinging the sword, forming a sword flower, hanging the sword, sheathing the sword—every move flowed like moving clouds and running water, clean and precise. Each form carried killing intent that seemed to seep into bone.

He Huaiting wore the simplest fitted athletic tank top and a pair of loose earthy-brown cargo pants. But when she held the sword, she seemed like a god of slaughter descending from the heavens, even her golden eyes condensed with chill.

The warm spring breeze blew past her, and Rong Yu seemed to faintly smell blood.

Mu Shuiqing was metaphysics flow. Lin Mengxing was ABO transmigration flow. He Jiao was rebirth flow. Then what about He Huaiting?

The other three female guests all had heroine settings from different novels, so He Huaiting should also be a heroine. And He Huaiting’s personality was cold and proud. She did not actively communicate with others, so she probably was not the heroine of a system novel. Rong Yu had also never written a cold romance-flow sweet-text heroine. That left only one type of setting—

Infinite-flow heroine.

Rong Yu thought back to the first time she saw He Huaiting. The huge sucker-covered tentacle that had stretched out from the ground seemed somewhat like the monster boss from the Red Octopus instance she had written in her infinite-flow novel.

Moreover, in the end, that octopus seemed to have been dismembered by the heroine, which matched He Huaiting’s actions yesterday morning.

He Huaiting had been the coolest older-sister type in the original setting. Now, with the infinite-flow heroine setting added to her, just standing expressionlessly with a long sword in hand gave her the aura of an immortal swordswoman. Even though her clothes were simple and practical, the large screen set up by the program team beside them had already begun filling with comments about He Huaiting.

[Ahhhhh, Sister is so cool, I love her so much!!!]

[Wife, stop embarrassing yourself here. Hurry and come home with me.]

[Person above, your abacus beads hit my face.]

Host Zhang Yong’an waved at everyone. The guests gathered together and listened as he spoke again.

“One day has passed. I’m sure everyone has already started adapting to the rhythm of our program, and has already had a happy process of getting to know the partner beside them.”

As soon as he said this, three of the four groups looked rather unhappy.

Comments:

[Hahahahaha, Zhang Yong’an, do you believe what you’re saying yourself???]

[I’m dying.]

[Say that while looking at Seven’s face if you have the guts, hhhh.]

Zhang Yong’an coughed lightly twice. “Starting today, our filming time will officially be fixed from eight in the morning to eight in the evening. During this period, if guests return to their own lodging midway, filming will continue there. However, it will be maintained by the cameras installed at the lodging rather than by real people following you.”

He continued, “I’m sure everyone has heard this saying before: if you want to capture your lover’s heart, you must first capture their stomach! Yesterday, we did not arrange lunch or dinner for the guests. Some guests may already have revealed their cooking abilities, but clearly many guests simply made do and filled their stomachs. So this morning’s task is—to specially prepare a sumptuous lunch for your partner! The location is right behind us, Qinghe Mountain Villa!”

“However, aside from kitchenware such as pots, bowls, ladles, and basins, as well as various seasonings, scallions, ginger, garlic, and chili peppers, all cooking ingredients needed by the guests must be prepared by the players themselves.”

Zhang Yong’an chuckled and looked at the cue card in his hands. “Most importantly—you may not use the guests’ existing money, or liquid assets such as stocks and funds that can be quickly converted to cash, to purchase ingredients. You can only develop your imagination and seek ingredients through various methods.”

Comments:

[Huh? If they can’t spend their own money, do they have to go beg on the street???]

[It’s okay, it’s okay, Wenwen, don’t be afraid. We’ll go deliver vegetables to you right now!]

[Baby Yu, Qingqing, I’m coming!!! I’ll go buy groceries for you right now!]

Zhang Yong’an said, “You also cannot obtain them through fan gifts or similar methods.”

The livestream instantly filled with question marks.

[????]

[My god???]

[It’s over. Doesn’t that mean they have to earn money first?]

[He Jiao’s parents seem to be financial geniuses. She should know how to make money, right? So her group with Sheng Ming should be fine. Qin Wenhan is a domineering CEO, so earning money should also be easy. Seven can sing. If he’s willing to busk, he should be okay…? It seems only Little Brother Rong Yu’s group might have a hard time.]

[It’s over. I feel like Baby Yu and the others are going to have a difficult time again.]

[Sister, you have to have confidence in Rongrong and the others!! Wasn’t the haunted house last time good proof?]

The livestream viewers discussed how the guests would buy ingredients, each adding their own thoughts. The comment count in the livestream room, which had been quiet for an entire night, gradually began warming up again.

While they were discussing how to buy ingredients, the male and female guests had already begun splitting up according to their groups and preparing to find cars to go buy ingredients.

The originally single main livestream camera switched again into individual livestream rooms.

Qin Wenhan’s cold brows and eyes wore an expression of certain victory, as if he were in a business war negotiation. He said to Lin Mengxing, “Take my cufflinks and pawn them. It’ll be enough to buy the ingredients you need for cooking.”

Lin Mengxing wore an expression that said, “What delusion are you having?”

“Did you forget? I don’t know how to cook.”

Qin Wenhan: “……”

Comments:

[Pfft.]

[What was I expecting?]

[Zhang Yong’an: If you want to capture your lover’s heart, you must first capture their stomach. Lin Mengxing: Thanks for the invitation. I won’t capture anything. I don’t know how to cook.]

On the other side, Sheng Ming gently discussed with He Jiao, “Let’s go find somewhere to do part-time work now. Two hours should be enough to earn money for groceries.”

He Jiao gave him a strange look, then stepped forward and walked directly through the entrance of Qinghe Mountain Villa.

Sheng Ming hurried forward to pull her back. “What are you doing?”

He sighed, his expression like that of someone facing a disobedient student. “Stop being willful. We should hurry and find a job now. That will save the most time.”

He Jiao pulled her arm back. “I have a way.”

Sheng Ming turned slightly to the side, just facing the camera. His face carried an expression of helplessness yet reluctance to criticize. The livestream viewers could not help arguing again.

[Speechless, hh. Other people’s CPs have CP chemistry. This livestream room always feels like a dean of discipline bringing a student around.]

[+1. One is paternalistic, the other refuses to be disciplined. covers mouth]

[Hahahahaha, really! But I feel like Sheng Ming really controls too much. If it were me, I’d be annoyed too. If he likes managing people so much, he should keep being a teacher. shrug.jpg]

He Jiao could not be bothered to argue with him and strode into the villa.

Inside the villa stood hotel service staff. Seeing He Jiao, a female employee smiled and nodded. “Hello, may I ask what assistance you need?”

Sheng Ming was just about to wave and say there was no need.

He Jiao had already spoken loudly. “I want to see your boss.”

[??? What is He Jiao doing?]

[Don’t be too ridiculous. Kind of pretentious.]

[Although Sheng Ming is so controlling he’s like an old nanny, He Jiao is even more annoying. Why does she have so many issues? Wouldn’t it be fine to just listen to the man?]

[The person above is sick. Confirmed idiot.]

Sheng Ming also froze. For the first time, he called He Jiao’s name, as if educating a disobedient child.

“Jiaojiao, what are you doing? I already told you the appropriate method. Why won’t you listen?”

He Jiao frowned at the sound. “I’m not familiar with you. Don’t call me that.”

After saying that, she turned to look at the staff member. The other party had clearly received professional service training. When He Jiao said she wanted to see the boss, the staff member did not ask much. She nodded and gestured for He Jiao to follow.

On the other side, because of the fight yesterday afternoon, neither He Huaiting nor Seven paid any attention to the other. Seven’s expression was even colder than ice, and he pressed his lips together without saying a word.

He Huaiting also had no intention of communicating with him. She turned to leave, but was stopped by Rong Yu, who suddenly appeared.

The cold young woman with white hair and golden eyes looked sideways at the young person in front of her.

Rong Yu spread her hands, her face innocent. “Miss Huaiting, can we cooperate for a bit?”

Hearing this, He Huaiting turned to glance at Mu Shuiqing. Mu Shuiqing shook her head blankly, indicating that she did not know either.

The three of them looked at one another. Rong Yu tactfully said, “Here’s the thing. I’d like you to help me hunt some ingredients.”

He Huaiting: “What?”

Mu Shuiqing was also stunned. Her crimson eyes looked a little dazed.

“I saw your skills earlier, so I’d like to ask you to help me catch some wild delicacies,” Rong Yu said honestly. “In exchange, I can help you cook. How about it? The host didn’t seem to say just now that we couldn’t ask someone to help cook.”

He Huaiting stared at her and remained silent for a long while.

“Fine.”

Just like that, the two groups of three people formed an alliance.

Seven, who had been excluded, looked completely out of place. Originally, he had no intention of taking the initiative to talk to He Huaiting at all. But seeing that the other party really had no intention of apologizing to him and had even turned to leave with Rong Yu and the others, he immediately could not stand it anymore and quickly walked over.

He wanted to grab He Huaiting’s arm, but suddenly remembered how cleanly and efficiently she had beaten him yesterday. He quickly shrank back and withdrew his hand, then raised his neck and asked loudly, “Where are you going with them? Are you not doing the task?”

He Huaiting did not speak and coldly glanced at him.

He Huaiting was not as tall as Seven, but the way she looked at him was as if she were gazing down from above. Seven inexplicably felt a chill run down his back, and even his breathing grew guilty.

Rong Yu stepped forward and smiled, interrupting their cold war. “I asked her to help me find some ingredients. We can definitely complete the task. You can just wait here for us to come back.”

She was basically the only male guest in the program team who would take the initiative to speak to Seven. Seven glared at He Huaiting, then looked at her. The expression on his face eased slightly, and he barely nodded.

“Then you go.”

Mu Shuiqing beside them quietly spoke. “I’m not going either.”

She looked at Rong Yu and softly said, “I’ll stay here and help prepare the seasonings. I can cut some aromatics. That’ll save time.”

Mu Shuiqing’s voice was slow and gentle. Because of her wooden manner, her enunciation sounded somewhat stiff, but it instead added a cuteness that others did not have.

The more Rong Yu looked at her, the more she resembled young Lian Langsheng, who had not been good with words and had stayed alone after being isolated by others.

Rong Yu could not help reaching out and rubbing her head.

Mu Shuiqing instinctively narrowed her eyes slightly and rubbed against Rong Yu’s palm along with the motion.

As soon as the movement happened, both of them froze.

The comments in the livestream became even more excited.

[Rare treasure. The only CP in this dating show, wuwuwu, I’m crying.]

[Only after seeing this did I remember that we’re watching a dating show. Help.]

[Ahhhhh, I want to pat Qingqing too!]

Mu Shuiqing turned her head away, the tips of her ears somewhat red.

Rong Yu immediately withdrew her hand. “Then we’ll go first.”

Mu Shuiqing did not turn back and only nodded while looking to the side.

Ten minutes later, Rong Yu drove the car borrowed from the program team and brought He Huaiting and the cameraman following Rong Yu to the lakeside closest to Qinghe Mountain Villa.

The cameraman originally following He Huaiting and Seven had switched to following Seven and Mu Shuiqing. So now the group consisted of only Rong Yu, He Huaiting, and the cameraman originally assigned to Rong Yu and Mu Shuiqing: three people in total.

It was currently midday. The blazing sun scattered a layer of golden floating light over the water. The surface of the lake was calm and waveless, its color deep green, making it seem bottomless.

This had always been Qinghe Mountain Villa’s water supply point. There was no algae or trash on the water’s surface, so it looked very clean.

There were also wooden boats and oars specially parked by the lake, available for people to row across the water.

Rong Yu could not swim, so she only dared to stand far from the shore and stretch her head to look.

He Huaiting’s expression remained normal. She strode to the lakeside, reached behind herself, and pulled a dagger from the side of her backpack. Removing the sheath, she flicked it through the air, and the dagger instantly stretched into a three-foot blade. It was exactly the extendable sword she had been practicing with earlier.

He Huaiting held the sword and formed a sword flower in the air, then looked sideways at Rong Yu.

“What ingredients do you want?”

For a moment, Rong Yu had no idea.

He Huaiting fixed her gaze on her. “Seafood?”

Rong Yu nodded. “Anything is fine.”

As soon as she finished speaking, she saw He Huaiting bend her arm and use the dark bracer on it to wipe the long sword in an extremely dashing manner. Then, with a downward thrust, she stabbed the blade into the water.

When she drew it back out, the sword tip had already pierced a lively grass carp the length of a forearm. Rong Yu had not even seen when she had aimed at the fish.

The livestream comments were full of the audience’s amazement.

[Wow, so cool!]

[My god, she’s this skilled??]

[Amazing ahhhhh!]

Rong Yu quickly took out the plastic water bucket she had prepared in advance to receive the fish from her sword. The plump grass carp thrashed wildly inside the bucket, splashing water from its tail onto Rong Yu’s body and jaw.

She quickly covered the bucket.

Suddenly, she felt a chill on her chin. He Huaiting’s fingertips touched her jaw and gently wiped away the droplets on her face.

Rong Yu froze.

He Huaiting’s face still showed not the slightest expression. She withdrew her hand and continued holding the sword.

“Do you need anything else?”

Her voice was flat and without waves. If not for the veins bulging on the hand holding the sword, one might really think she was as calm as her face appeared.

Rong Yu thought for two seconds, then smiled lightly. “What do you like to eat?”

Mu Shuiqing had the same tastes as Lian Langsheng. She wanted to see He Huaiting’s tastes.

Then she heard the other person think briefly before answering without hesitation, “Barbecue.”

He Huaiting lowered her eyes and looked at the fish in the basin. “When carrying out missions, barbecue is the most convenient method. It can also drive away beast packs.”

Just like Mu Shuiqing, He Huaiting did not care at all that she was being filmed by the livestream camera. She answered with no pressure whatsoever. Rong Yu was afraid she might say something too bloody and violent, so she quickly stopped asking further questions.

But even though Rong Yu did not speak, He Huaiting actually took the initiative to ask, “What dish do you want to make?”

Rong Yu thought about it. “Any recommendations?”

She had originally meant what ingredients He Huaiting wanted to grill, but she had not expected the other person to ponder briefly and then seriously provide a reference.

He Huaiting said, “Venison is actually not bad, but deer are protected animals. Lamb and pork are not easy to process in the wild. This is a small lake, with a small area and few aquatic creatures. If eating seafood, there won’t be much variety. Human flesh, on the other hand, is too loose and not tasty. Comparatively speaking, Cthulhu meat has a firm outer layer and soft interior. When barbecued, it becomes charred outside and tender inside. Its meat quality is the most delicious.”

She calmly finished speaking.

The entire scene fell silent.

The cameraman beside them began trembling uncontrollably. The trembling gradually grew wider, until even the camera started shaking.

The livestream viewers all froze.

A full ten seconds passed before someone remembered to send comments.

[H-human flesh?]

[Cthulhu???]

[Is… is it the Cthulhu I’m thinking of…?]

---

Author’s Note:

[Will anyone go to Weibo to look at the character design images? rubs hands]