The Guide to Rising to Power: The Ultimate Schemes of a Green Tea Beauty

Qixi Festival Special Project: Romance Through Transfers

This is a purely parallel IF (what if) scenario, and it has nothing to do with the main plot of the story!

_

Parallel worlds, where love and hate are rekindled.

When exes are forced to live together after breaking up, this dating reality show is destined to be extraordinary.

You can date new people without any burden, or you can openly "harass" your ex.

A mix of excitement and awkwardness, of tentative exploration and reminiscence. Who will choose a new companion at the crossroads? And who will secretly gaze at that most familiar figure in the dead of night?

This Qixi Festival, love has no first come, first served; it's all about reshuffling the deck.

[Studio Interior]

The camera slowly zooms in.

Meng Luo crossed his legs, twirled his pen, and read from the teleprompter without any emotion:

"Welcome to the Qixi Festival special of 'Love Through Transfers,' exclusively sponsored by 'Meng Luo Doesn't Work Overtime.' I'm Meng Luo, the host of the observation team."

She looked away from the teleprompter: "Simply put, it's a show that puts your ex and your potential current partner in the same room and watches them stare at each other."

The director was frantically gesturing off-camera:

"Say something sweet!"

Meng Luo added expressionlessly, "Happy Qixi Festival to everyone. May all lovers in the world be united in marriage, and may those who are single find their other half soon."

She put down her pen: "Next is the guest appearance segment."

_

[Villa - Exterior View - Dusk]

The first black car stopped in front of the villa.

The car door opened, and first a hand with distinct knuckles rested on the door frame, the knuckles exerting slight force, before the person stood up.

Fang Yunci.

He was wearing a light gray thin knit sweater today, with the sleeves casually rolled up to his forearms, revealing his clean-lined wrists.

The men didn't seem to be there to participate in a dating reality show; they looked more like they had just finished a negotiation and were just dropping by.

He stood at the doorway, his gaze calmly sweeping over the exterior of the villa. Vines climbed over half of the white wall, and a grapefruit tree that never bore fruit stood in the yard. The evening breeze billowed the curtains.

Fang Yunci's lips curved slightly.

"predecessor?"

He repeated the word to the camera, as if savoring its weight: "I heard that my ex and my ex's ex are here today."

He smiled and didn't say anything more.

The second car was parked half a step further away.

Xue Huaiqing opened the car door, dressed casually.

Wearing a black T-shirt and dark trousers, her hair was unkempt, as if she had just come from a long highway and hadn't had time to make herself look "photogenic".

He stood at the villa entrance, his gaze briefly meeting Fang Yunci's before looking away.

Fang Yunci: "You were also invited?"

Xue Huaiqing: "Mm."

Fang Yunci: "Is your ex here?"

Xue Huaiqing paused for two seconds, then said, "Yes."

Fang Yunci: "It's her too?"

Xue Huaiqing: "...That's true."

Fang Yunci smiled:

"Looks like she still loves to have fun."

Xue Huaiqing remained silent.

The third car stopped almost touching the rear of the car in front. The brakes kicked up a wisp of smoke, carrying a certain emotion.

Xiang Yuchuan pushed open the car door, first peeking out half his face, glancing around at the two people at the door, before nimbly standing up.

He wore a dark blue bomber jacket over a white T-shirt, sunglasses around his neck, and a black earring in his left ear.

He didn't look like he was there to record a show; he looked more like he had just left an afterparty at a music festival.

"Hello everyone."

He nodded to Fang Yunci and Xue Huaiqing, then his gaze passed over them and landed on a window on the second floor of the villa:

Has she arrived?

Fang Yunci: "I don't know."

Xiang Yuchuan said "Oh," stood by the car door, glanced down at his phone, and the screen lit up briefly before going dark again.

He put his phone back in his pocket and tapped his index finger twice on the seam of his pants.

When the fourth car stopped, before the door was even opened, a muffled cough was heard.

Zhou Jingyan got out of the car.

A light gray suit jacket was draped over his arm, the collar slightly open, revealing a section of the shirt collar above his collarbone. He was carrying an insulated bag, the opening neatly tied.

The man paused slightly when he saw the person standing at the door, then casually raised the insulated bag:

"I brought some food, in case the recording takes a long time."

Fang Yunci looked at him: "Do you always bring food when you record a show?"

Zhou Jingyan: "Just bring it to her."

Xiang Yuchuan leaned against the car door: "She hasn't arrived yet."

Zhou Jingyan nodded: "Then we'll talk about it when she arrives."

He switched the insulated bag to his other hand and stood in the shade of the porch.

Xiao Weilin was the fifth to arrive.

He got out of the car in an unusual way; the roof of the car was brushed against him as he got out.

The man got out of the car, muttered something under his breath, then stood up straight and glanced at the row of people at the door.

"...Why are there so many people?"

He counted four in total: "You are all my ex-girlfriend's exes?"

Fang Yunci: "Which number are you?"

Xiao Weilin: "...Damn it, the order doesn't matter."

With the camera in front of him, he couldn't bring himself to hit someone.

Yu Hang is the sixth.

He was wearing a white hooded sweatshirt, with the hood pulled down low, covering most of his face.

After getting off the bus, I stood there, feeling like I'd wandered onto the wrong movie set.

The boy looked up at the villa, then at the five men at the door, his gaze sweeping over each of their faces before finally settling on his shoes.

He muttered to himself, "...If my senior were here, I would send myself the text message that made me so excited."

I won't vote for anyone else. And I don't want to vote for her either.

This woman flirted with him and then ran away.

Lu Xiuting is the seventh.

The motorcycle stopped in front of the villa, the engine's aftershocks still humming in the air.

The man took off his helmet and casually hung it on the handlebars, revealing a face slightly reddened by the wind.

He glanced at the six people under the porch and scoffed.

—Damn it. After being cheated on, she still dares to invite him to this kind of variety show? Does Shen Yao think she can just get back together whenever she wants?

How many relationships did she actually have?

Lu Xiuting picked up the helmet again, buttoned it back up, then took it off and buttoned it back up again.

The staff member called out into the earpiece, "Teacher Lu, we've arrived, we've arrived, please come in."

[Studio Interior]

Meng Luo handed a task card from the control room. She tried to maintain a smile, but her lips trembled slightly.

"Haha, let's welcome our special guest today and watch the live broadcast with him."

"Young Master Liang—"

She flipped the task card over.

"You are the younger brother of our popular female guest, Ms. Shen Yao. This is the first time on the show that all the male guests are the same female guest's ex-boyfriend. In your opinion, who is most likely to get back together with your sister?"

Liang Xiheng stared at the screen in front of him with a forced smile. He said quietly, "My sister doesn't like going back to an ex."

A brief pause.

"...You'd be better off with me."

"May I propose?"

The cameraman's hand trembled, and the scene was abruptly cut to black.

"Cough, cough..."

Meng Luo peeked out from behind the screen that had lit up again, his professional smile steady for a moment before brightening up again.

"There was a slight mishap just now. Let's welcome our other special guest—Mr. Fang's cousin, Mr. Xie!"

Xie Yunzhou sat upright on the other side, his expression as cold as frost, but his face was even colder than frost.

Meng Luo asked, "What do you think will be the relationship between your cousin and our female guest, Ms. Shen, on the show?"

Xie Yunzhou didn't even lift his eyelashes, and said calmly, "Has no one told you that my sister-in-law and I are having an affair?"

The camera screen went black again.

[Villa · Living Room · Night]

The living room was quiet for a while.

Each of the seven people held a pen and remained silent while looking at the card.

The lights were a warm yellow, casting varying shades of light and shadow on everyone's faces.

There were seven glasses of water on the table that hadn't been touched much, and a fine layer of water droplets had condensed on the walls of one of the glasses.

No one made the first move.

Meng Luo's voice came from the speakers, carrying a slight static: "Thirty seconds left. If you don't write, it will be considered a forfeit."

Xiao Weilin was the first to lower his head, his pen tracing a single character on the card—clever, crisp, and without hesitation. Then he folded it up and placed it on the table.

Xiang Yuchuan is the second one.

Yu Hang wrote for a long time. The pen tip hovered above the paper as he pondered something repeatedly, even tapping the table with the cap of the pen.

His ears turned slightly red when he put the card down.

Zhou Jingyan wrote the shortest one.

He didn't glance at the card after writing it down, but pushed it to the center of the table, his finger lingering on the paper for an extra second.

Xue Huaiqing's card was the first to be placed down, faster than anyone else's. He didn't hesitate, as if he already knew the answer before he came.

His gaze was calm as he put down the card.

Fang Yunci was the last to put it down. He folded the card and glanced around at the neatly folded cards on the table.

[Broadcast Interlude: Observation Room - Night]

Meng Luo sat in a separate room and yawned at the camera.

"The director said that we need to explain the rules for this part."

She glanced at the script in her hand:

"Simply put: the male guests first send a text message expressing their interest, then they vote among themselves. The person with the most votes gets to have a meal alone with the female guest tomorrow. The person with the fewest votes has to make breakfast for the whole group tomorrow."

She thought for a moment, then added, "Guess who will be the one making breakfast?"

The camera zooms in on her face.

Meng Luo said earnestly to the camera, "I bet it's Xiao Weilin. He seems to be the worst cook, and he's been giving the other male guests the cold shoulder all day."

[Subtitles - Night]

Tonight, the seven doors closed one by one, and the seven men were each taken into their own space.

The lights at the end of the corridor stayed on late, quietly guarding those unsettled thoughts.

No one knows for sure whose name was on that folded card.

The vote count is a secret, as is the handwriting.

But the same girl's name was written seven times.

Some people solemnly wrote down her full name, stroke by stroke; some wrote down her nickname, carrying the intimacy of the past; and some left only a single letter, swallowing their words back down their throats.

[The screen gradually fades to black]

"She will arrive tomorrow."

"And this time—it's their turn to walk towards her."

"Miss Shen Yao, please choose the person you are interested in."