I'm in Wuha, and the whole internet is shipping me and Song Yuqi as a couple.

In the room on the second floor of the hotel, the curtains were drawn tightly shut, not even a crack was left.

Deng Chao sat cross-legged on the carpet, holding a hard copy in his hand, biting the end of his pen with a worried expression.

Chen He lay sprawled on the large bed, holding a phone in his hand, the screen filled with bizarre suggestions from netizens.

"Old Deng, netizens suggest you confess during your live stream tonight whether you used Sister Li's ID card when you went to the internet cafe to play games last time."

After reading the screenshot of the comment, Chen He laughed out loud with schadenfreude.

Deng Chao slammed the pen in his hand to the ground, causing the mineral water bottle next to him to shake twice.

"What kind of secret is this! The whole country already knew about it! The Empress made me kneel on durians for two hours that very day!"

"Then tell me about how you hid money from the Empress."

Chen He rolled over, propped his chin up with his hand, and continued to come up with bad ideas.

"Stop trying to scam me!" Deng Chao glared at him. "I finally managed to save up three hundred yuan in the shoebox, and after this livestream, I won't even have those old shoes to wear when I get home!"

The two stared at each other, and the room fell silent for a moment.

The final live stream tonight will be broadcast to 30 million viewers, and that old fox Wu Zheng certainly won't let them off easily.

If this so-called deepest secret is revealed in too little detail, netizens will definitely not buy it.

If we go too far, it might become a trending topic tomorrow.

"It's all your fault." Deng Chao reached out and pulled the pillow under Chen He's head.

"We were hiding perfectly well in the bushes, why did you have to slap your thigh like that!"

"Can't you be reasonable for once?!" Chen He hugged the pillow tightly and wouldn't let go.

"That mosquito was as big as half a palm! If I didn't swat it, it could drain all the blood from my thigh!"

"If you hadn't slapped your thigh, Lao Jiang and Yuqi would have gotten it done last night!"

Deng Chao made a heart-wrenching accusation.

"If they just explain themselves clearly, Wu Zheng will definitely exploit them today, and we won't be the ones being tortured!"

Chen He sat up abruptly from the bed, stroking his chin as he began to ponder.

"What do you think Lao Jiang is planning to do tonight? He holds the final say."

Deng Chao snorted and threw the hard copy onto the bedside table.

"Given Lao Jiang's temper, do you think he'll follow the show's script? I bet he'll pull off something unexpected tonight."

At this point, the two looked at each other and sighed simultaneously.

While others were enjoying their romance on the beach, they were going through a trial in a hotel room.

At the same time, in the corridor on the second floor.

Lu Han walked up the stairs with an empty coffee cup in her hand and bumped into Dilraba, who had just come out of her room.

Dilraba changed into a light sportswear outfit and was holding a white thermos cup, preparing to go downstairs to get hot water from the water dispenser.

"Sister," Lu Han greeted, stopping in her tracks.

Dilraba stopped and glanced at the empty cup in his hand.

"What are you doing, sneaking around here like that?"

Lu Han leaned closer, lowered her voice, and pointed downstairs.

"Sis, why don't you go down to the beach corridor later and check on Song Yuqi? She doesn't seem to be doing well."

Dilraba paused for a moment as she was about to unscrew the lid of the thermos.

"What's wrong with her?"

"I passed by the garden when I went to get coffee and saw her leaning against a pillar, lost in thought."

Lu Han scratched her hair, her tone somewhat worried.

"I was holding a phone, the screen kept turning on and off, I was completely obsessed."

Dilraba looked at Lu Han without saying anything, her gaze fixed on the stair railing.

"I know you two are in competition now," Lu Han quickly added, raising her hand.

"But look at how biased Lao Jiang is, this matter was already a foregone conclusion."

Dilraba tightened the lid of the thermos again, making a crisp plastic scraping sound.

"Lu Han, do you think I have a very good temper?"

Lu Han immediately shut up and took a half step back while holding her coffee cup.

Dilraba didn't get angry; she simply walked past Lu Han and headed towards the stairwell.

"I'm going to get some water and enjoy the breeze."

The seaside corridor on the first floor of the hotel.

The sea breeze howled through the corridor, blowing the green plants on both sides to the side and making the leaves rustle.

Song Yuqi stood at the end of the corridor, her back against a white Roman column, her hand tightly gripping her phone.

The light blue hem of her skirt was whipped up by the wind, slapping against her calves.

She had no interest in paying attention to any of that.

My mind was filled with the image of Jiang Che's nonchalant and self-righteous demeanor on the third-floor terrace not long ago.

"Then let's wait until tonight."

This sentence played on repeat in her mind hundreds of times, completely disrupting her rationality.

Wait until tonight.

What are we going to talk about tonight?

Song Yuqi angrily kicked a pebble on the ground with her toe.

The pebble rolled away and hit the toe of someone's sneaker.

Song Yuqi looked up and saw Dilraba walking over with a thermos.

There weren't many people in the corridor; the staff were all busy setting up the live broadcast venue on the beach in front.

Dilraba walked over and stopped two steps away from Song Yuqi.

"Be careful not to sneeze during the live stream tonight while you're out in the wind."

Dilraba's voice was calm, unlike her usual sharp tone.

Song Yuqi straightened up and hid her phone behind her back.

"I'll blow on it for a bit and then go back to change my clothes."

Dilraba didn't leave.

She leaned against the wooden railing of the corridor, looking at the beach in the distance where platforms were being erected, and the scaffolding was already taking shape.

"I just ran into Lu Han upstairs. He said you were spacing out here."

Song Yuqi pursed her lips and didn't reply.

She didn't know why Dilraba had come to see her now—was it to declare war? Or to mock her?

The two remained silent for almost a minute.

Only the sound of the sea breeze brushing past my ears.

"Song Yuqi," Dilraba suddenly spoke, turning her head to look at her.

"Are you waiting for Jiang Che to bring it up with you first?"

Song Yuqi's heart skipped a beat, and the phone in her hand became hot from gripping it so tightly that the screen was digging into her palm.

She didn't deny it, because denying it in front of Dilraba would seem too hypocritical.

Dilraba placed her thermos on the railing, her tone conveying a sense of accepting defeat.

"I've known Jiang Che for ten years."

The significance of these ten years is what Song Yuqi cares about most, and what she can't refute the most.

"He may seem like he doesn't care about anything, but deep down he's more assertive than anyone else and knows exactly what he wants."

Dilraba looked into Song Yuqi's eyes and spoke slowly and deliberately.

"He won't give the choice to others, but he needs a clear attitude from the other party."

Song Yuqi stood there, her lips moved, but she didn't make a sound.

"I've been watching this closely these past few days."

Dilraba turned around and faced Song Yuqi.

"He shielded you from water balloons, ate at roadside stalls with you, protected you in front of the three major companies, and turned down all his engagements for you."

"He did everything he could, everything he could show off, and even everything he could break the rules."

Dilraba took a step closer.

"But he just wouldn't say that."

Song Yuqi felt her throat was a little dry, and she instinctively took a half-inch back, her back pressed against the cold pillar again.

Dilraba stood still, delivering the most fatal blow.

"If you're still waiting for him to speak first, then you're really stupid."

These words struck Song Yuqi's heart like a hammer, leaving her mind reeling.

After saying that, Dilraba picked up the thermos cup from the railing and turned to walk towards the lobby.

There was no unnecessary small talk, nor any deliberate attempt to evoke emotion.

After walking a few steps, Dilraba stopped without looking back.

"I'm not trying to help you, I just don't want to lose to a coward who doesn't even dare to admit his own feelings."

Dilraba's figure quickly disappeared around the corner of the corridor.

Song Yuqi stood there, her mind a jumble of thoughts.

The wind blew her long hair onto her face, but she didn't reach out to brush it away.

Dilraba has known Jiang Che for ten years, so she can understand his pace.

Jiang Che did so much, pushing her into the spotlight and making the two of them the universally acknowledged main couple on the internet.

He paved the road and built the steps.

He even confronted her on the terrace, demanding to know why she was doing all this.

He is waiting.

She walked out of the turtle shell on her own.

Wait until she takes that final step to solidify the relationship.

Song Yuqi felt her eyes were a little swollen.

She had a crush on him for ten years, getting used to watching him from a corner and using various excuses to hide her feelings.

Even though Jiang Che is now openly showing his favoritism, she still instinctively wants to wait for him to say everything clearly in order to ensure her absolute safety.

Jiang Che saw through her timidity.

So he used the phrase "wait until tonight" to force her to give a final answer in front of 30 million viewers.

He had paved the way with all his favoritism, exceptions, and backup plans, leaving only this last door open for her to push open herself.

Song Yuqi leaned against the cold pillar, the sea breeze making her eyes sting.

Dilraba's words were indeed blunt, but they hit the nail on the head.

She looked down at her hand, which was gripping her phone so tightly that her knuckles were protruding.

On the beach outside the hotel, the shouts of the staff could be heard in waves.

"Lights refocused! Final camera position test!"

"Director Wu said that tonight is the final live broadcast, and Camera 1 and Camera 2 will be filming Jiang Che and Song Yuqi the entire time. Anyone who cuts the camera out of turn will be charged and fired tomorrow!"

The script supervisor held up a megaphone, and the sound echoed across the empty beach.

There is less than an hour and a half left until the 7:30 pm live broadcast.

Inside the broadcast van.

Wu Zheng sat in front of a wall full of monitors, holding a half-eaten boxed lunch in his hand.

"Has Jiang Che confirmed it?" He pointed to the screen with his chopsticks and asked the assistant director next to him.

"It's confirmed, it's still on the third-floor terrace." The assistant director brought up the footage.

Where is Song Yuqi?

"I just came back to the dressing room from the seaside corridor. Dilraba went to talk to her for a bit, I don't know what they talked about."

Wu Zheng put down his lunchbox, stroked his chin, and laughed.

"Dilraba, an outsider, is a shrewd one; that was a brilliant assist."

The assistant director leaned closer and lowered his voice.

"Director, are we really going to follow the instructions Lao Jiang just sent you exactly as they were? What if the live broadcast goes wrong..."

"Smash my ass!" Wu Zheng slammed his hand on the control panel, making the mouse jump.

"This is a ratings climax! Thirty million viewers have been waiting all season for this! Keep the camera focused on this, even if it's raining knives tonight, don't cut to the main camera!"

On the seaside promenade.

Song Yuqi straightened up and haphazardly tucked her wind-blown hair behind her ears.

She unlocked the phone screen in her hand.

The WeChat interface was still showing the chat box with Jiang Che.

The last message was from this afternoon when she asked, "Where are you?" and Jiang Che replied, "Third floor."

There was no further communication after that.

Song Yuqi's thumb hovered above the keyboard, pausing for a long time.

The light from the screen shone on her face, reflecting her somewhat conflicted gaze.

She slowly typed a line of text into the input box.

Are you waiting for me to speak first?

After typing those nine words, her heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was going to burst out of her chest.

She stared at the line of text on the screen.

I watched for a full ten seconds.

If those words were sent out on the screen, the facade she had maintained for ten years would truly crumble.

Once you press the send button, there's no turning back.

Not far away, the filming director, A-Jian, walked over from the other end of the corridor carrying a camera.

"Teacher Song, it's time to go to the dressing room. We still have an hour, so we need to go over the blocking beforehand."

Song Yuqi's finger trembled, and her thumb pressed the delete key.

"Da da da da".

The words in the input box disappeared one by one, returning to a blank screen.

She turned off her phone screen and stuffed it directly into her skirt pocket.

"They're here."

Song Yuqi raised her head and walked towards the dressing room, facing the sea breeze.

My pace was much faster than before.

At the same time, on the third-floor terrace.

Jiang Che remained seated in the deck chair, watching the sea gradually darken in the distance.

The phone was placed on the round table next to me, the screen quiet, with no new messages coming in.

He picked up the flat soda bottle next to him and took a sip.

This woman, as expected, still didn't have the guts to send it.

But it's okay.

Jiang Che put down the can and looked down at the beach stage, which was already lit up with bright lights.

She can't escape this game tonight.