Chapter 48

Ning Shiyue stared at the reply Xie Zhiyan sent in his phone, his pupils constricting in shock.

Was this really the Zhiyan-ge he knew?

Ning Shiyue almost suspected that Xie Zhiyan had been possessed by some lovesick phantom, allowing him to spot only Ning Yuxuan's words, "I have a boyfriend," amidst this pink, bubble-filled, shipper-style video.

Was this the focus of a normal person?

After thinking it over, Ning Shiyue felt that as Ning Yuxuan's younger brother and Zhiyan-ge's friend, it was still necessary for him to make a tiny contribution to the stability of their relationship.

He typed back, character by character: [Zhiyan-ge, my sister is currently shooting an on-location scene, so her phone should be with her. If you need to, you can take this chance to send her a message and reach her.]

Xie Zhiyan: [No need.]

Looking at these two words, Ning Shiyue suddenly had the word "serves you right" pop up in his mind.

He locked his phone screen and casually tossed it onto the table beside him.

Fine, if there is ever anything similar next time, he will definitely not meddle or bother to remind Xie Zhiyan!

...

Inside the arcade, Jiang Ning'an had also finished her round of the game.

Ning Yuxuan and she completed the high-five they had missed earlier, and took the opportunity to suggest: "I just noticed this machine also has a two-player cooperative mode, want to try it?"

Jiang Ning'an was also in high spirits and immediately agreed upon hearing this: "Sure!"

Then, suddenly remembering something, she turned her head to look at Duan Ziyao: "Little Ziyao, do you want to try too? Or should we swap so you can play with Yuxuan?"

While on set, Jiang Ning'an habitually took care of actors younger than herself, so she naturally looked after Duan Ziyao to some extent on the show as well.

Hearing this, Duan Ziyao glanced at Ning Yuxuan, then quickly averted his gaze: "I suddenly feel a bit thirsty. You guys go ahead and play first, I'll go buy a bottle of water and come back to find you."

With that, he hurried off, as if afraid Jiang Ning'an would ask him to stay.

Jiang Ning'an looked at the young man's retreating back with some confusion, and then shrugged at Ning Yuxuan: "Then let the two of us start a two-player game."

[Eh, why did little Ziyao scamper off? I thought he'd take the chance to join the game.]

[Could he be shy? Not daring to play the two-player mode with Ning Yuxuan, so he simply found an excuse to run away.]

[I actually think this makes it even sweeter! Being too proactive feels greasy, a bit of shyness is just right!]

Ning Yuxuan and Jiang Ning'an started a cooperative game, and their tacit cooperation drew rounds of admiration from the live stream audience.

Just as the game ended, Duan Ziyao returned right after buying the water.

Jiang Ning'an took the half-bottle of juice she had asked him to hold onto from Duan Ziyao's hand: "Thank you."

Besides a bottle of mineral water, Duan Ziyao was holding a bottle of iced red tea and a bottle of sports drink in his hands, all unopened.

"I bought a few extra bottles." Duan Ziyao lowered his eyes slightly, looking very well-behaved, "You guys pick first, the rest can be mine."

Jiang Ning'an shook the half-bottle of juice in her hand: "I'll just drink this first, there's still half left."

Duan Ziyao nodded gently and silently looked toward Ning Yuxuan.

He didn't ask anything.

However, Ning Yuxuan understood his gaze and reached out: "Then I'll take a bottle of iced red tea, thank you."

[Little Ziyao's look just now was just like a little puppy, so cute.]

[Where can I find such a considerate younger brother! I want to date one too!]

[To the person above, anyway Ning Yuxuan has a boyfriend, why don't you go for it yourself, hahaha!]

[I want one too, I want one too, don't fight me for him!]

Duan Ziyao held the bottle by its body and handed the iced red tea to Ning Yuxuan, taking care not to touch her hand.

Ning Yuxuan unscrewed it and took a sip.

The mothers also walked over.

"So the three of you were here!" Su Yun walked over first, "We were at the coin-pusher machine just now, that thing is so frustrating, we pushed for ages and nothing came down."

Ning Fei also came to her daughter's side: "What were you and Ning'an playing? Are you having fun?"

Ning Yuxuan replied: "A rhythm game, Mom, do you want to try it too?"

Ning Fei instinctively waved her hand: "You young people play, I've never played this before, I wouldn't be good at it."

Ning Yuxuan insisted: "It's not hard. This is even simpler than the one we played in the villa earlier, and there's music too. I can help you pick a song you've heard before."

Ning Fei looked somewhat persuaded, though she still hesitated: "Really?"

Ning Yuxuan simply pushed gently on Ning Fei's back, guiding her toward the rhythm game machine: "Really! Come on, I'll teach you right here, it's not hard at all!"

Half-reluctantly, Ning Fei stood in front of the machine.

Ning Yuxuan inserted the coin for her and brought up the tutorial interface.

"Mom, look," Ning Yuxuan said with great patience, "This is the tutorial. You don't have to rush, just follow it slowly."

Ning Fei had never played a similar game, and rather awkwardly placed her finger on the screen: "Like this, Xuanxuan?"

Ning Yuxuan: "Yes, exactly right! Mom, look, aren't you picking it up really fast? Keep going, keep going!"

Encouraged by her daughter, Ning Fei found a bit of confidence and continued tapping the screen according to the instructions of the animation and sound.

Ning Yuxuan acted as a hype woman on the side: "Yes! Hey, perfect! Awesome!"

[Hahaha, Ning Yuxuan is such an enthusiastic cheerleader!]

[I suddenly thought of the scene this morning where teacher Ning Fei taught Ning Yuxuan how to kick a shuttlecock, now the roles are reversed.]

[Ning Yuxuan is so great. I reflected on myself—if it were me and my mom, I would have given up the first time she refused.]

[Teacher Ning is also very brave in trying new things and didn't dampen her daughter's enthusiasm, so feelings are actually mutual.]

After going through the tutorial once, Ning Fei's movements were already much more proficient.

Entering the song selection interface, Ning Yuxuan helped her mother choose an old song: "How about this one, *My Heart Always Belongs to You*? I remember you used to always sing it at KTV."

Ning Fei nodded: "Alright, I'll listen to you."

As the countdown of "3, 2, 1" ended, notes of different shapes began to appear on the machine's screen.

The tutorial and the official start were still somewhat different; in the tutorial mode, the game would pause if you pressed the wrong note, but it wouldn't do that once the game officially started.

Ning Fei was somewhat flustered at first: "Hey, Xuanxuan, why did this suddenly speed up? Or you should just help me—"

"Mom, don't panic," Ning Yuxuan said softly. "Listen to the rhythm, just go slowly with the song's rhythm. It doesn't matter if you miss a few."

Soothed by her daughter, Ning Fei gradually caught up with the rhythm, her movements transitioning from being half a beat slow at the beginning to hitting her stride.

This song was a lyrical piece set to an easy difficulty, and the notes did not appear quickly.

By the second half of the song, Ning Fei was completely able to keep up with the rhythm and even racked up a combo of several dozens.

When the song ended, Ning Fei received an "A" grade rating.

Ning Yuxuan cheered: "Mom, you are simply amazing!"

Before Ning Fei could react, the next second she was pulled into a full embrace by her daughter.

Although this wasn't the first time she had been ambushed by her daughter, this was the first time she was hugged by her during a live broadcast, with plenty of people watching nearby.

Ning Fei felt somewhat embarrassed: "Hey, Xuanxuan... everyone is here."

Unrelenting, Ning Yuxuan rubbed affectionately against Ning Fei's shoulder before finally letting go of her mother: "Hehe, Mom, you're so cool! You learned it so fast."

Beside them, Qin Man watched this scene with an expression impossibly tender, her eyes full of smiles and even a hint of envy.

After this variety show started airing, the relationship between Qin Man and her daughter had improved dramatically, and the two had begun expressing their emotions to each other.

However, to be like Ning Yuxuan and Ning Fei, Qin Man asked herself that she still couldn't do it.

Of course, Qin Man also understood that everyone's personality was different, and their ways of getting along were also distinct.

Now that she could often have heart-to-heart talks with her daughter, and her daughter would frequently share her work and life perplexities with her, Qin Man was already very satisfied.

Upon seeing this, Su Yun gave her son's back a heavy slap: "Son, look at Xiao Xuan, how close she is with her mom! When will you learn from Xiao Xuan too, it would make me so happy I could die!"

Duan Ziyao remained silent, not saying a word.

[Hahaha, Auntie Su, your expectations are probably a bit too high; your son and Ning Yuxuan don't have the same personality.]

[Auntie, you should compare Duan Ziyao with Ning Shiyue, that way you might find some balance in your heart. Ning Shiyue probably wouldn't hug his mom either.]

[Still, I can understand Auntie Su's thoughts. I'm also so envious of the bond between Ning Yuxuan and Teacher Ning!]

Ning Yuxuan pulled Ning Fei to play a second round.

This time, she still helped Ning Fei choose an easy-difficulty old song that she had heard before.

With the experience of the first round, Ning Fei caught up with the rhythm right from the start, missing only a few notes throughout the entire song, and finally scored an "S" rating.

This time Ning Yuxuan didn't hug Ning Fei, but instead gave her a firm high-five to celebrate.

[Teacher Ning is so awesome! An outstanding person can truly do anything well!]

[And Teacher Ning had never touched a similar game before, the gold content of this score is definitely very high!]

With Ning Fei setting the example, Qin Man and Su Yun each tried out the rhythm game machine as well.

There were many songs available to choose from in the machine, and many of the easy-difficulty ones were decades-old songs with soothing rhythms, very suitable for beginners.

As off-court instructors, Jiang Ning'an and Duan Ziyao helped the two mothers get familiar with the gameplay.

In the end, during the second round, Qin Man and Su Yun scored an "S" and an "A" respectively.

Having had their fill of the rhythm game, the group wandered around other areas of the arcade.

When dinner time arrived, the program team announced that everyone would be going to a restaurant together for dinner tonight.

Everyone was visibly happy.

On this show, the guests practically had to cook for themselves every time; this time, they could finally fully enjoy themselves and eat out at a restaurant.

The guests boarded the program team's vehicles and arrived at a nearby restaurant.

After everyone was seated, the waiter failed to appear for a long time, and no one brought out a menu for them to order.

Exchanging glances, they all sensed that something was a bit off.

Sure enough, a staff member of the program team stepped out to announce the rules—

The guests had to answer questions prepared by the program team, and for each question they answered correctly, they would earn the right to order one dish.

Everyone had two chances, meaning they could order up to twelve dishes in total, but in an extreme scenario, it was also possible they might not get a single dish to eat.

After the rules were announced, Su Yun was the first to voice her opinion: "What kind of variety show is this, really knowing how to torture people. You don't even let people eat in peace, we have to take a test first. I haven't taken a test in over twenty years; if you're going to test me on physics and chemistry or something, wouldn't that mean I won't get to eat anything at all?"