Chapter 10: What Happened to the “Hatred Between the Sexes”?

The moment she saw the chocolate, Jiang Wan was momentarily stunned.

Sure, she really did want to eat it.

But she absolutely couldn’t eat this one. Who knew if there were hidden cameras in the hallway? What if this was a trap?

Jiang Wan picked up the chocolate from the ground, stuffed it into her pocket, and headed downstairs.

---

Breakfast time.

Everyone sat around the long table, eating the simple breakfast provided by the production team.

Jiang Wan took the chocolate out of her pocket and asked, “Does this belong to any of you? It was dropped outside my door.”

Everyone looked at each other.

One after another, they shook their heads and said it wasn’t theirs.

The director chimed in, “Mr. Jiang, didn’t you trade for a piece of chocolate last night? Isn’t that it?”

Sitting across from Jiang Wan, Jiang Qi had a strange, hard-to-describe expression on his face.

He forced out a reply from his throat, “Yeah… I must’ve dropped it by accident,” and reached out to take it back from Jiang Wan.

Jiang Wan felt baffled.

He was sitting right across from her—why had he just been pretending to be mute this whole time?

Could it be that Jiang Qi hated her that much?

He didn’t even want a chocolate she’d touched?

A nameless flame of anger rose in Jiang Wan’s chest.

If she’d known, she wouldn’t have returned it. 🙂

Who would’ve thought that this expensive chocolate belonged to Jiang Qi of all people—this broke guy…

Wait a second.

Jiang Qi was that broke. How did he even have enough points to buy chocolate?

Jiang Wan realized something—and so did everyone else.

One pair of confused eyes after another turned to Jiang Qi.

Shang Gubai spoke thoughtfully, “I was wondering why you were covered in so many clothes this morning when I came downstairs. I thought you were showing off how many outfits you brought.”

Jiang Qi retorted angrily, “Can’t I just want to eat it?”

Even after taking the chocolate back, Jiang Qi still didn’t eat it. Instead, he stuffed it back into his pocket with a sulky expression, like he had something he wanted to say but held back.

Shang Gubai suddenly laughed.

He looked at Jiang Qi, then at Jiang Wan, and clicked his tongue.

A hundred yuan, and instead of buying a blanket, Jiang Qi chose to pile on clothes and sleep like that—just to get chocolate.

And then that hard-won piece of chocolate mysteriously ended up at Jiang Wan’s door.

He seemed to have discovered something juicy.

---

A new day began, and once again, everyone was divided into pairs.

But unlike yesterday, this time, the male guests had to invite female guests to team up—but they couldn’t choose the same partner as the day before.

If only one male guest invited a female guest, she had no right to refuse.

If two male guests invited the same female guest, then the girl could choose between them.

The director explained this was part of the rotation system. Next time, the female guests would get to choose their partners.

【Eh? So they’re forcibly breaking up the pairs now?】

【Actually, I like this—it gives all the guests a chance to interact and get to know each other.】

Following the haunted house rankings from slowest to fastest, the male guests would make their selections in order.

To show their choice, they would hand a rose to the female guest they wanted to team up with.

Jiang Qi was up first.

Yesterday, he had teamed up with Shi Lan, so today he could only choose between Jiang Wan and Song Yanyan.

The live chat exploded with excitement.

【Ooooh, a 50/50 choice? It’s really hard to guess who Jiang Qi will pick!】

【Betting 100 packs of spicy sticks: Jiang Qi has to pick Song Yanyan this time!!!】

【Those two standing together totally give off high school first love vibes… I invested in this ship even before the show aired, hehe】

【Me too! Their faces match so well! Cool campus bad boy + gentle fairy girl! Too bad they didn’t have much interaction yesterday—can we get some sugar today? (sparkly eyes)】

【No interaction? Are you blind? Yesterday when Jiang Qi didn’t have enough points to buy anything, only Song Yanyan was worried about him!】

【Song Yanyan is beautiful and kind-hearted! We all watched her grow up—and she just graduated too! Pure and sweet! @JiangQi, we want her as our sister-in-law!】

As the chat went wild, everyone seemed certain Jiang Qi would choose Song Yanyan.

But Jiang Qi himself felt his steps growing strangely heavy.

He slowly shuffled forward until he reached the point where he had to make his decision.

Logic told him he should choose Song Yanyan.

Teaming up with a sweet and gentle girl like her meant she wouldn’t glare at him with a deadpan face, nor would she say anything to make him upset.

But…

Jiang Qi took a deep breath.

He closed his eyes and hardened his resolve—then shoved the rose into Jiang Wan’s hand.

Anyway, if someone else chose Jiang Wan too, she wouldn’t pick him, so it didn’t matter.

If no one else chose Jiang Wan, they’d probably get grouped together by default—so why not just get it over with?

More importantly…

Jiang Wan definitely wouldn’t want to team up with him, so this would be the perfect way to annoy her!

Yes.

That’s right.

He gave the rose to Jiang Wan just to piss her off!

Finally finding a justifiable excuse, Jiang Qi’s dark cloud of gloom vanished.

Jiang Wan was startled by Jiang Qi’s aggressive attitude.

He handed her the rose like he was going to die—what, was there a bomb inside or something?

With the rose now in her hands…

Jiang Wan’s heart was full of anxiety.

She tried to calm herself down.

Haha, don’t overthink it.

There are cameras, after all. Jiang Qi wouldn’t be dumb enough to try anything shady on a livestream.

Seeing Jiang Wan take the rose, Jiang Qi finally let out a breath of relief and turned to leave, his whole posture visibly relaxed.

Shang Gubai suddenly chuckled and spoke on behalf of everyone: “Wow, didn’t expect that choice.”

【Thank you, Shang Gubai, for saying what we’re all thinking!】

【Seriously, I don’t get it—what is Jiang Qi’s deal?!】

【That’s two times in a row he’s picked Jiang Wan, right? What’s his reason this time?】

【Weren’t they supposed to be in the “mutual hatred between sexes” group? Is my ship crumbling? (jk)】

Everyone stared at him.

Especially Jiang Wan, who looked utterly confused.

Jiang Qi realized he had to come up with a proper explanation.

Saying it was to annoy her wouldn’t cut it.

He coughed twice, pulled out that same chocolate from earlier, and said solemnly, “To thank Jiang Wan for returning my chocolate—I couldn’t bear to see her go unchosen.”

Live chat: “……”

【Jiang Qi, do you really like that chocolate that much???】

【Longtime fans are confused—wasn’t that dark chocolate? Jiang Qi hates bitter stuff…】

【He gave up a blanket just to get that chocolate—must really love it, right?】

Others weren’t convinced.

【Then why hasn’t he eaten it yet?!】

To prove he really loved that chocolate—so much that he was grateful enough to choose Jiang Wan as his “crush” partner—Jiang Qi immediately tore open the wrapper, broke off a piece, and stuffed it into his mouth—

And instantly scrunched his face like he’d swallowed poison.

Still, he forced himself to say through clenched teeth, “D-delicious… I really like it.”

Jiang Wan had no idea what kind of mental illness Jiang Qi was suffering from.

But she did like pouring oil on the fire.

Especially since it was obvious Jiang Qi was messing with her—she had to make sure he knew she wasn’t that easy to provoke.

So Jiang Wan turned to the director, looking sweet: “Director, I still have thirty leftover points from yesterday. Can I use them now?”

Rules were fixed—but people weren’t.

The director’s instincts told him this was going to be good, so he nodded.

Soon enough…

A cup of extra strong, no-sugar, no-milk iced Americano was brought out by the staff.

Jiang Wan smiled and handed it to Jiang Qi.

Jiang Wan: “This chocolate goes great with Americano. Since you clearly love bitter flavors, give it a try!”

Jiang Qi: “……”

H-help.