It took Ning Xiaoyu a while to realize that something was up, and it was because the number of people on her livestream started to crazily increase again.

【Anchor, respect!】

【The melon-eating crowd is here.】

【Anchor, you’ve been in the pool with the movie king for so long, what were you two doing in there? Dog head.jpg】

【How do you feel back there? Did you enjoy it? Simper.jpg】

These teasing comments were occasionally mixed with some unfriendly remarks such as ‘scheming’, ‘green tea’, and ‘shameless’.

However, all negative comments were ignored by Ning Xiaoyu.

Seeing the bullet screen, she wasn’t surprised that her visit to the pool was discovered by the viewers. After all, these days, netizens are very observant.

She didn’t bother to speculate how they found out about it.

The camera setup of 《Hi, My Friend》was very confusing. If they didn’t look at the live stream screen, even the guests themselves would not know when they were on air and when they were not.

When there was no camera, the guest’s live stream would be in a black screen state.

In short, the program team strives to show the guests’ most authentic side.

Ning Xiaoyu replied to the last question, “It’s quite enjoyable.”

When the audience heard her words, their intuition told them there was some gossip to be had.

【Quite…… quite enjoyable?】

【I like the anchor’s straightforward personality. Love it.】

The audience pricked up their ears and prepared to listen carefully, only to hear Ning Xiaoyu say with a face like she was reliving the moment, “The massage chairs inside are first-class and there are even delicious snacks.”

【???】

【Is that it? Is that it?】

【I’ve already got my pants down and this is what you’ll tell me?】

Ning Xiaoyu couldn’t help but reminisce about the massage chair.

For that kind of first-class machine that gives its users a memorable experience, the price would definitely be not less than five figures, or maybe above six figures, she’s not sure. Poverty limits imagination.

Anyway, she couldn’t afford one.

Probably guessing her thoughts, the love system despicably said, 【Girl, just do a few more tasks and you’ll be able to get one. Wait until later, then every time you complete a task, you can get more love value.】

Ning Xiaoyu stretched out her hands. “No need.”

Right now one love value is given per one task done. Under what circumstances would the love value increase?

That would only be the case when the difficulty of the task increases. Thanks, but this salted fish doesn’t need it.

During dinner, Ning Xiaoyu exchanged four friendship coins for some fresh fruits.

She had a snack in the afternoon and wasn’t very hungry, so she just ate fruit.

When she was done, she talked to the director and left Friends Lodge alone.

This was part of her agreement with the program team from the beginning. During the month and a half of recording, she needed to leave once a week.

———pr


An hour and a half later, she stood outside a hospital room.

Through the transparent glass, she saw her motionless and unconscious father.

A week had passed and the other party seemed to have aged a lot, as if he had lost a lot of vitality.

Seeing her sleeping father, Ning Xiaoyu was silent for a few seconds before walking into the ward. She sat down on the empty seat beside the bed.

As usual, she began to talk to him softly, telling him about her daily life.

“Dad, I’m currently participating in a variety show and the crew offered a generous payout, enough for you to continue living in this room for another year.

I met that girl in the show. I can see that she’s doing well, so I’m sure Ms. Zhang is the same. You can rest assured.

So, when are you going to wake up?”

Ning Xiaoyu’s voice became quieter and quieter as she spoke.

In fact, Ning Xiaoyu didn’t start off as a salted fish.

She used to have excellent grades and was known to her classmates as the ‘queen of competitions’. She had a bright and brilliant future. Unfortunately, an unforeseen event completely changed her life.

She had always known that Ms. Zhang loved beauty. The other party was vain and liked to wrap herself in beautiful clothing. And the man lying silently on the hospital bed had been desperately trying to give his wife and children a better life.

But sadly, no matter how hard he tried, he wouldn’t be able to give her the life she wanted. He didn’t know that in this world, only the super-rich could satisfy Ms. Zhang’s vanity-loving heart. This was Ning Zhen’s whole life, and no matter how much he adored her, he would never be able to catch up.

In the end, Ms. Zhang got what she wanted. With that delicate and beautiful face of hers, she managed to become the third wife of a wealthy man in the capital and even managed to bring her youngest daughter along.

Ning Xiaoyu had never been close to Ms. Zhang since she was little as she took on more of her father’s appearance. In the current online term— she looked more like an immortal.

She didn’t look like her gorgeous mother, while Ning Yuwei was like a replica of Ms. Zhang and was seventy to eighty percent similar to Ms. Zhang when the latter was young.

Therefore, among the two sisters, Ms. Zhang only liked her youngest daughter.

As for Ning Xiaoyu, all the affection she received came from her father.

She held her chin, and unknown whether she was talking to herself or the man on the hospital bed, she asked, “So, what’s the use of trying so hard in the first place? In the end, isn’t it all just in vain?”

His wife ran away and his youngest daughter also seemed to have completely forgotten about him.

He had been unconscious for seven full years and was only able to last this long thanks to the compensation from the driver who caused the accident in the first place.

Without that sum of money, Ning Zhen wouldn’t be able to stay in the hospital.

In the past seven years, those two hadn’t visited him even once.

Instead of trying hard and losing everything, it was better to just be a salted fish. Let nature take its course and make herself more relaxed and happy.

After staying for about half an hour, Ning Xiaoyu left the ward to pay the 40,000 yuan fee.

The four love values she had earned were now completely reduced to zero.

Ning Xiaoyu asked in her mind, “Is there no problem with this money?”

The love system clapped its hands and said with confidence, 【Don’t worry, Girl. What you got is already after-tax money and there’s absolutely no problem with the source.】

Ning Xiaoyu nodded. The system was a product of an interstellar civilization, so it must be capable.

———pr


When Ning Xiaoyu returned to Friends Lodge, only a small dim light was left in the living room and everyone had all returned to their rooms to rest.

She picked up her phone and checked the time, realizing that it was already 11:00 p.m.

She was just about to go back to her room when Shen Yueyue appeared out of nowhere. “You’re back?”

Ning Xiaoyu nodded.

Shen Yueyue pulled her aside and told her, “It’s the movie king’s birthday in a few days so everyone was discussing what to give him. But the gifts can only be purchased with friendship coins. I was worried you wouldn’t know and wouldn’t be able to save coins in advance, so I waited for you to come back.”

Ning Xiaoyu first thanked the other party, and then, she couldn’t help but ask, “Do I have to give him a gift?” Can I not?

Shen Yueyue looked at her like she was talking nonsense. “Everyone will give him a gift. You can’t be the only one who didn’t, right?”

Ning Xiaoyu let out an “Oh”, indicating that she understood. Anyway, she would think about it when the time comes.

Lu Jingdu’s birthday was still days away yet everyone was already preparing gifts for him.

As expected of a winner in life.

After returning to her room, Ning Xiaoyu tossed and turned while thinking about her father who was lying on the hospital bed and who looked increasingly older.

In the beginning, she also resented her father as she couldn’t understand why he would try to keep someone hell-bent on leaving. In the end, not only could he not keep the people, but he also turned himself into a vegetable, leaving her alone in this world.

How old was she then?

But after years passed and she grew older, that kind of resentment gradually faded away and all that remained was longing.

She missed her father. She wanted him to wake up and be able to talk to her again.

Since she couldn’t sleep, Ning Xiaoyu decided to simply stay up.

She put on a coat over her pajamas, ready to go for a walk in the vicinity.

This house was a seaside villa and there’s a large private beach nearby. Except for the staff and guests of the show, no one else could enter, so security was guaranteed.

Otherwise, Ning Xiaoyu wouldn’t dare to go out for a walk alone in the middle of the night.

Ning Xiaoyu had no idea how long she had been walking when she suddenly smelled a very faint aroma of smoke through the breeze. It intermingled with seawater, bringing an unearthly atmosphere.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t too unpleasant.

She instinctively turned her head and glanced in the direction the wind was blowing. As soon as she did, she noticed a dot of scarlet in the night air.

Relying on the keen sense obtained from doing several system tasks, Ning Xiaoyu guessed the identity of the other party just by seeing the beautifully shaped hand holding the cigarette.

Like her, Lu Jingdu was also up, and he was hiding there smoking!!

Stunned, she and the other party’s eyes met.

Through the vast and dense darkness, she could only vaguely see the other party’s indifferent gaze.

And in the silent and deserted night, the two stared at each other for several seconds.

It was as if they had traveled through time and space in order to meet here and now.

If the person right there was Lu Jingdu’s fangirl, she would probably say, “Ah, even Brother’s silhouette is good-looking.”

But it’s a pity the person wasn’t. Instead, it was a total salted fish.

Without bothering to observe more, the salted fish simply turned away and left.

Love System: 【……】

It was just about to assign a task!

Ning Xiaoyu’s feet were flying as if something was chasing after her. She walked briskly and returned to the villa in no time.

When she arrived, she let out a long sigh of relief. She almost had to do a task again, but luckily she slipped away quickly.

She just paid 40,000 yuan today and only wanted to lie down. She didn’t want to do tasks.

However, she didn’t expect that Lu Jingdu, a gentle and elegant man in the eyes of outsiders, actually smokes.

Moreover, his smoking posture was skilled and unrestrained, with an air of carelessness.

The love system appeared like a person who had been there before. 【One cigarette relieves a thousand worries. Brother is probably in a bad mood again.】

The movie king’s world wasn’t something an invisible actress like Ning Xiaoyu could pry into, and she doesn’t have much curiosity as well. She herself wasn’t in a good mood just now. However, she was very good at self-regulation and now she’s happy again.

The happiness of a salted fish was that simple.

Ning Xiaoyu soon lay down on the bed and this time, there was no more tossing and turning and she fell asleep quickly.

———pr


When she woke up the next day, Ning Xiaoyu remembered that she forgot to send someone a good night message! She was heartbroken to have missed out on a few friendship coins.

She took out her mobile phone and was surprised to find that she had received two messages last night.

They were from Shen Yueyue and Lu Jingdu respectively.

It was after two in the morning when Lu Jingdu sent her the message and should have been shortly after they met at the beach.

Ning Xiaoyu immediately understood the other party’s meaning.

Don’t tell anyone about his smoking. Okay, she understood.

The weary Love System asked, 【You understand? What do you understand?】

With her hand in front of her mouth, Ning Xiaoyu made a gesture of zipping it up.

“I, Ning Xiaoyu, am keeping my mouth shut.”

The love system was very tired.

Does the big shot care if you say it or not?

The big shot doesn’t care at all.

It didn’t bother to explain and could only make its own sugar from some of the moments the two ‘spent’ together.

Buckle up, buckle up, it’s not tired anymore!

Because the sugar was really sweet!

Wuuwuu, it’s ready again! It believe that this CP would definitely be super, super sweet in the future!

Ning Xiaoyu sent good morning messages to both Shen Yueyue and Lu Jingdu.

She quickly received a reply from Shen Yueyue.

As for Lu Jingdu, she hadn’t received a reply and guessed that the other party was still asleep.

But she didn’t care if she didn’t receive any from him. She mainly wanted to reassure the movie king that she knew what to do with last night’s matter.

After washing up, Ning Xiaoyu slowly made her way downstairs.

When she got to the dining room, Ning Xiaoyu, who owned a ‘huge sum’ of seven friendship coins, chose egg fried rice sold for three coins and bought a cup of soy milk for another one coin.

This breakfast was very much to her liking.

When she was done eating and Ning Xiaoyu went to pick up a daily task, she learned from the staff that all of it had already been taken by other guests, and if she really wanted to do one, she could just cooperate with others.

The friendship coins she would receive would be the same as when she was doing a task alone.

Coincidentally, Shen Yueyue was also on the sidelines preparing to take on a task.

Hearing the staff, she pulled Ning Xiaoyu aside and said, “It should be Ning Yuwei’s group who did this.”

As for the reason……

What else could it be? It must be jealousy.

Ning Yuwei was jealous that Ning Xiaoyu managed to run into the movie king alone twice and was even on the hot search several times for it.

Ning Yuwei was probably going crazy with jealousy.

As a third-line actress, Shen Yueyue knew more inside information. However, she had no idea of the relationship between Ning Xiaoyu and Ning Yuwei. She would have never thought the two were sisters.

She told Ning Xiaoyu, “Ning Yuwei’s fate is really good. She followed her mother to the Shen family and became the second young lady. The Shen and Lu family are close friends. I heard that not long before Ning Yuwei arrived, she met Lu Jingdu, and since then can no longer see anyone else in her eyes.”

To be honest, Ning Xiaoyu didn’t really care about Ning Yuwei’s life.

However, Shen Yueyue was clearly into the conversation so Ning Xiaoyu didn’t interrupt her.

“But Ning Yuwei isn’t as great as her mother.

She looks a lot like her mother but it seems she hasn’t inherited her mother’s skills. You must know that CEO Shen’s first two wives were married to him for a very short period. But Ning Yuwei’s mother managed to occupy the position of Mrs. Shen for seven years, and up until now, she still manages to charm CEO Shen. Meanwhile, Ning Yuwei has never even held the movie king’s hand. She clearly isn’t comparable.”

Shen Yueyue sighed. She was about to say something else but closed her mouth when she saw Ning Xiaoyu’s lack of interest.

She instead asked, “Xiao Yu, what daily task are you planning to do?”

Just as Ning Xiaoyu was about to answer, Ning Yuwei’s voice cut in, “Teacher Ning, Teacher Shen, why don’t we do it together?”

Ning Xiaoyu glanced at Ning Yuwei without any expression. “Sure.”

After getting Ning Xiaoyu’s reply, Ning Yuwei breathed a sigh of relief.

She couldn’t believe it. Today, with Ning Xiaoyu under her nose at all times, she would like to see if she could still spend time with Lu Jingdu in private!

Ning Yuwei still picked the garden task.

Flowers and plants do not need to be watered every day, so their errand today was a leisurely one. They only needed to water specific pots of relatively rare flowers.

The program team had no intention of making things difficult for the guests. After all, the show aimed to let them find a close friend or even a true love.

Doing work wasn’t the point. It was just a means to bring the guests closer.

Ning Yuwei might have become obsessed with the garden as she had taken this task twice in a row.

Once they were there, Ning Yuwei kept a firm eye on Ning Xiaoyu, and wherever Ning Xiaoyu went, she followed.

Ning Xiaoyu knew she was being followed but didn’t care.

Even when Ning Xiaoyu went to the restroom, Ning Yuwei was behind her. Although, she didn’t go in and just waited outside the door.

The salted fish didn’t care. Anyway, there was a door separating them.

After washing her hands and leaving the restroom, Ning Xiaoyu randomly found a big tree and planned to lean against it to rest for a while.

Ning Yuwei quickly followed. “Teacher Ning, you’re resting here? I’ll join you.”

Not long after, Xu Cheng, Shen Yueyue, Mu Jiajia, and Ling Zige also came over.

Under the big tree, six people gathered around, including a top star, a starlet, a young actor, and an unknown actress.

These few guests lazily basked in the sun, chatting occasionally.

The camera in the garden had already been repaired so this scene fell straight into the eyes of the live audience.

【As expected of celebrities, this image is really pleasing to the eyes!】

【It’s a pity that there’s an 18^th-line actress. What an eyesore.】

After more than a day of live streaming, Ning Xiaoyu has also accumulated some fans.

Upon seeing the last comment, someone immediately jumped out and said, 【Where is the 18^th-line actress? According to Xiao Yu’s Weibo fans and the number of her livestream viewers, she should be on the 16th line now, okay?】

【Laughing to death. What’s the difference between the 16th and 18th lines?】

【How is it no different? Now its 16^th line, later it will be the 6^th line, and in the future, it may be 1^st line.】

【Wash up and sleep, Brother. It’s all in your dream.】

Ning Xiaoyu didn’t know that the live audience was arguing because of her.

At the moment, she was at ease.

The love system couldn’t possibly assign her a task at a time like this, right?

She never expected that just as she thought so, a ding sounded, and the cheerful voice of the love system rang in her ears, 【Girl, the movie king is approaching. He likes to be alone and has no idea that there are many people here.

Now is the time to show that you’re the right one for him! Not only that, you can also use this opportunity to inform him in advance that there are people here. You can——

A: Loudly show off to Ning Yuwei that you have a private photo of the movie king.

B: Tell them that you had a chance encounter with the movie king by the beach last night.

C: Praise the movie king out loud in front of everyone.】

Ning Xiaoyu: “……”

All she wanted to do now was go back to a minute ago and beat herself— who thought that the love system wouldn’t assign a task— to death.

Ning Xiaoyu couldn’t help reasoning with the love system again, “What private photo? Where did I get Lu Jingdu’s private photo? System, being honest is important, you know?”

The love system poked its imaginary fingers together. 【But that’s an exclusive photo that only you have. Since it’s exclusive, it’s private.】

Can it be explained this way?

But in fact, it’s nothing more than a picture of the back of his head.

A passerby would never recognize who the person in the photo was.

Ning Xiaoyu knew she couldn’t talk clearly with the childish system that was bent on eating sugar, so she simply gave up struggling and completely lay flat.

The love system happily suggested, 【Host, you can choose any of these three options. No matter which one, it’s all sweet.】

From the love system’s point of view, if Ning Xiaoyu chose A, then she could instantly become the focus of the audience and the envy of others.

That’s a private photo.

Except for her, who else has it? Just ask, who else?

There’s no one. So what if Ning Yuwei had a lot of tricks up her sleeve? So what if Ning Yuwei followed Ning Xiaoyu the whole day? The most special one, wasn’t it just Ning Xiaoyu?

If Ning Xiaoyu chose B, then others would know more clearly how predestined Ning Xiaoyu and Lu Jingdu were.

The two would meet every now and then.

This was definitely not arranged by the love system.

It was obviously fate.

If Ning Xiaoyu chose C, in the heart of the love system, it was also an excellent option.

The movie king was slowly approaching and the distance was just right. The group couldn’t spot him and he couldn’t see them either. However, he would be able to hear Ning Xiaoyu’s voice.

As one knows, all stories start with—— “Oh? You caught my attention!”