Chapter Twenty: Your Name

Yan Ningsi turned her head toward the camera, squinting slightly as she smiled. “Don’t include this part in the final cut, okay?”

[Beauty filter overload!]
[Little Sisi is just too gorgeous!]
[Wuwu, I really was born just to make up the numbers.]

“Alright, back to business now.” Yan Ningsi no longer looked at the camera, pulling Sang Yijia along as she continued, “Have you thought it through?”

“Yes.” Sang Yijia nodded. “I wrote my answer long ago.”

She showed the answer on her letter paper to Yan Ningsi, then leaned over to block the camera. “Don’t tell anyone else.”

“Mm-hmm!” Yan Ningsi made an ‘OK’ gesture. “Don’t worry, it’s safe with me.” Then she wrote down her own name as well.

Lan Qing, watching their laughter and conversation from the side, suddenly felt left out. Looking down at her blank letter, she hesitated, then wrote her name.

The three female guests had all prepared their answers. The production team collected them but didn’t rush things. “This little activity is over. The answers will be announced after the lunch break.”

“Please be patient, everyone.”

The following period was free time, with no scheduled events.

Yan Ningsi stretched and yawned. “I’ll wash my face and nap for a bit.”

“We’re meeting at three, right? I’ll set an alarm for two thirty.” Yan Ningsi searched for her phone, then said, “Jiajia, if I don’t wake up, could you call me?”

“Should we exchange numbers?”

“Let’s add each other as friends.” Yan Ningsi naturally added everyone as friends.

Sang Yijia’s phone was new, just arrived yesterday, with only part of her contacts loaded and the rest not transferred yet. QQ and WeChat friends were the same, but the chat history was gone.

This absence of old messages spared Sang Yijia any guilt about invading the original owner’s privacy.

“Let’s all add each other.” Bian He took out her phone, and everyone scanned the QR codes, becoming friends.

Bian He then created a group chat. “We can talk in the group later.”

[I’m so jealous, I want to scan and join too!]
[Why did they block the QR code? I was ready to scan!]
[Me too!]
[Crying, crying.]

“Did you add Shen Jin as a friend?” Yan Ningsi returned with her phone, glancing down at Sang Yijia’s device, its theme a little black cat with a green background.

“It’s pretty cute.” Yan Ningsi looked twice. “I’ll see if I can adopt a black cat when I get home.”

Sang Yijia’s mouth twitched. “It’s from a Chinese animation. Want to watch?”

“I’ll send you the name.”

“Sure!” Yan Ningsi agreed readily. “I didn’t expect you’d like animation.”

Sang Yijia said nothing, set the group to ‘Do Not Disturb’ mode, then glanced at Lu Wenchuan’s profile. His name was simply ‘Lu,’ and his avatar was a blank white square—simple, indeed.

—

At exactly three o’clock, all the guests arrived.

The production team brought out a bright red box. “The card-drawing activity begins now.”

Last season, romantic pairings were left to the guests’ discretion, and ratings had been great. But this time, the program arranged the matches.

With new twists, the audience was eager.

[Absolutely can’t let Sang Yijia pair up with her brother!]
[She can’t be with Hehe either!]
[Let her be with the ordinary guy—he likes her looks anyway.]
[Sang Yijia isn’t that pretty, okay? The prettiest is definitely our Qingqing.]
[The previous comment is definitely a troll trying to stir up trouble for Qingqing!]

The comments scrolled by, faster than the production team could read.

Now, the draw began, with the girls first.

Yan Ningsi stepped up first. Lan Qing and Sang Yijia yielded to each other, so Yan Ningsi helped Sang Yijia pick a card, leaving Lan Qing to take the last one.

Next came the male guests.

Bian He immediately opened his card—it was yellow. He asked, “Who has the yellow card?”

Yan Ningsi glanced at her own card peeking out and clicked her tongue. “That’s me.”

“Eh, I didn’t expect it to really be you.” Bian He was surprised, but quickly accepted it.

“What’s up?” Yan Ningsi took her card and went over to Bian He.

Sang Yijia already knew her partner was Lu Wenchuan; without any expectations, she opened her card to reveal a pale green card—not the red one mentioned in the book.

“Looks like we’re paired together,” Lu Wenchuan said, holding a matching pale green card. He looked at Sang Yijia, his brow arching. “You don’t seem too pleased?”

“No,” Sang Yijia denied. “Just curious why it’s green.”

“Perhaps they thought we needed a little more green above our heads,” Lu Wenchuan replied coolly.

Sang Yijia couldn’t help but twitch her mouth, feeling he was making a pointed remark.

Elsewhere, Lan Qing’s card was blue, same as Shen Jin’s.

Seeing the pairs formed, the production team spoke up: “Now, let’s announce whose name everyone wrote as their crush, shall we?”

[Wow, brother and Qingqing ended up together!]
[Why does it feel strange?]
[Seems orchestrated.]
[No, Sang Yijia’s card was drawn by Yan Ningsi—everyone saw it clearly.]
[During lunch, the production team made the process public—no cheating!]
[If they’d cheated, Sang Yijia would definitely be paired with Shen Jin.]
[The program said it was fair and transparent.]

“Whose name did you write?” Lu Wenchuan stood beside Sang Yijia, asking quietly, “Shen Jin?”

The fresh scent of pine drifted over again. Sang Yijia closed her eyes for a deep breath. “No.”

“I wrote your name.”

“Ningsi said you wrote mine,” Sang Yijia exhaled, lifting her gaze to meet Lu Wenchuan’s eyes—deep and dark.

Lu Wenchuan made a sound of acknowledgment. “What if it wasn’t?”

“???” Sang Yijia frowned. “It wasn’t?”

“Did you write Lan Qing’s name then?” He considered, thinking it possible. Sang Yijia nodded. “It wouldn’t matter.”

Lu Wenchuan, seeing she truly didn’t care, furrowed his brow but said nothing.

The production team handed out the envelopes containing the crushes’ names, distributing them to the matched couples. “Now you can open them and see whose name your partner wrote.”

“You’re not going to look?” Lu Wenchuan opened Sang Yijia’s envelope, and sure enough, it was his own name.

Her handwriting wasn’t the delicate script he imagined, but bold and powerful, each stroke brimming with unstoppable momentum and resolve.

This surprised Lu Wenchuan.

Sang Yijia didn’t open hers. “Since I know the answer, why bother?”

“Besides, I’m not interested in invading others’ privacy.” She handed the envelope back to Lu Wenchuan. “Now, it’s Lan Qing and Shen Jin who are a couple. If I opened it, Lan Qing would be embarrassed.”

With an expression that said, “See how thoughtful I am,” Sang Yijia saw Lu Wenchuan let out a quiet laugh, the corners of his lips curling as he opened the envelope for her to see. “Only your name.”

“No one else’s.”

Sang Yijia tilted her head in confusion. Was he angry?