First Update

Star Sea Satellite TV replayed the first episode again on Saturday night. This time, Zhai's dad and mom couldn't resist watching.

Because of Pei Xu and Huo Cheng's visit to their home, the two of them were now genuinely curious about the participating guests.

One look and—oh, things weren't what they'd expected.

They'd both assumed Zhai Xingchen and Wen Nu, those two handsome regular guys, were just there to fill space.

But watching the whole thing, they found Zhai Xingchen actually got a lot of screen time.

Maybe because they'd met him in person today, Zhai's dad liked Huo Cheng more and more as he watched.

Open, generous, masculine, cheerful and funny, and a self-made big boss—wasn't that exactly the son-in-law type every father-in-law loves?

But that young Pei: "He's actually pretty polite in person, a sweet kid—why is he so cocky on the show? Is it an act?"

Zhai's mom said with great seriousness: "It's possible. I heard with these variety shows, the Production Team gives them all these crafted personas."

But Zhai's mom really liked Pei Xu.

Probably from reading too many novels, she thought Pei Xu had that romance novel vibe—handsome, a bit of an attitude, and he was decent to Zhai Xingchen, even offering to drive him to the Dance School on the first day.

The whole person felt understated, but with a hint of cool, pure innocence.

They liked Hu Ying the least—thought she was too proud. Maybe it was the editing, but the way she looked at Zhai Xingchen felt pretty arrogant.

But Lin Qingning and Duan Yihua, who'd made great impressions in the promos and behind-the-scenes, had pretty low presence in the actual show.

At the end of the episode, there was a shot of Huo Cheng and Zhai Xingchen lying on the sofa—eight people, four pairs, all on screen together, the frame froze, the theme song played, and the couple watching couldn't get enough.

Just as they were about to turn off the TV—two ads had already played after the show ended—the Television Station suddenly aired a promo for The Red and Blue Signal.

It was the kind of personal promo Star Sea Satellite TV often aired, no plot content.

Except this time, it was Zhai Xingchen's.

In this roughly ten-second clip, Zhai Xingchen stood on that famous music stage in South City, and an extremely pleasant male voice called out: "Zhai Xingchen."

Zhai Xingchen, who had been feeding pigeons, turned toward the camera at the sound and gave a small smile. The footage shifted to slow motion, and a romantic, upbeat theme song began to play.

At midnight, Zhai Xingchen received his hundred-thousand-yuan pay.

He was thrilled and immediately went to check Pei Xu's fund.

The stock and fund market had been rough lately, mostly sideways action, with the fourth quarter seeing continuous declines. Many famous stable-return funds couldn't escape the hit—open the comment sections and investors were all cursing.

Only Pei Xu's fund kept standing out alone.

Pei Xu only ran mixed funds—mixed funds, as the name suggests, don't focus on just one sector. Liquor, medical, new energy, military, semis, cyclical stocks—all possible. They test a fund manager's rebalancing skills more than thematic funds do.

Pei Xu currently had three funds, all with annual returns over a hundred percent, beautiful curves, almost a perfect forty-five-degree line. Each had over a million followers and a fund size exceeding twenty billion.

With such massive fund sizes still holding steady in a volatile market, Pei Xu had been deified by investors these past few days.

Open the comments, the top-liked recommendations all said:

[Pei Papa, I shouldn't have called you Loss Young Master!]

[Pei-ge doesn't lose!]

[Proven fact: mixed chicken, Pei-ge YYDS!]

But open the latest comments, and things weren't so optimistic.

'Keep a low profile to make big money—how many funds crash once they get popular? Brother Pei's been on a Love Variety Show lately, so he's about to blow up too. I think we brothers should pull out.'

[It's over, Pei-ge's about to go viral. Time to kill this chicken.]

[Shit, I just found this treasure chicken. Pray Pei-ge doesn't blow up!]

[Just watched episode one. I think we're safe, brothers. Pei-ge has a nasty face, terrible reviews, he won't blow up.]

[Pray The Red and Blue Signal flops, pray Pei-ge doesn't gain fans.]

Made Zhai Xingchen laugh out loud.

These investors were too funny—ditching all principles for their wallets.

Zhai Xingchen felt the thrill of having god's-eye view.

He knew that in the upcoming volatile market, Pei Xu was about to become a god, his performance crushing most thematic funds.

Pei Xu's fund—buy with your eyes closed.

He felt Pei Xu's abilities couldn't really be fully shown on the show. He wasn't like Huo Cheng—everyone could see how capable he was, his company's app was used by tons of young people. He wasn't like Yan Zhi either, an esports star with a huge fanbase—one fierce play and he'd win them over. Their greatness was visible to the naked eye.

But in today's rough market, Pei Xu's badassery was something only seasoned investors truly understood.

These days, buying funds was just hoping to break even. Too many people tried to bottom-fish and ended up getting fished out of house and home.

A cool head, sharp insight, accurate foresight, decisive courage—these qualities you needed for stocks weren't something just anyone had.

It was the charm of the mind.

Zhai Xingchen bought eighty thousand yuan worth of fund, then lay down. His gaze caught the white Down Jacket on the bedside table, and he withdrew twenty thousand from the fund.

Even though it was all Huo Cheng's thoughtfulness, and Huo Cheng wasn't short on cash either, he couldn't just take Huo Cheng's clothes for free—he had to buy something of similar value to give back.

At that moment, Zhai Xingchen actually missed them all quite a bit—the domineering, passionate Huo Cheng, the cold but simple Pei Xu, the endlessly charming Yan Zhi, the poised, mature Duan Yihua, the fiery-beautiful Hu Ying, the cute Wen Nu, and the gentle, quiet Lin Qingning.

They were all really good—all kind, thoughtful, gentle.

Zhai Xingchen felt that genuine feeling and goodwill in this world were the most unbetrayable things. Whether from a lover, family and friends, or readers, viewers, netizens, strangers he'd never met.

He sincerely hoped all these wonderful people could be together, that in the journey ahead, they'd find their love.

Sunday morning, the ratings for episode one of The Red and Blue Signal came out.

Direct break 2.

TV stations had been on the decline these past two years, with online platforms growing stronger. That was why The Red and Blue Signal had moved to Live Streaming online for the past two seasons. These days, a drama breaking 1 was already impressive—good enough for an annual channel champion. Variety shows ran a bit higher, but breaking 2 was still rare. Breaking 2 on the premiere—that was already a pretty bright result.

The Red and Blue Signal sent out the good news, and that evening Guo Bing treated the whole Production Team to dinner.

"Great start on the premiere, everyone's worked hard. Keep it up—let's break last season's record!"

"Director, isn't that asking a bit much?"

Last season's The Red and Blue Signal 3 had peaked at 5 points—that was an absolute runaway hit back then, let alone two years later.

Guo Bing laughed: "A man's gotta have dreams."

Actually, he wasn't expecting to match season three. Times were different now—breaking 3 would already satisfy him completely.

Breaking 3 would definitely make it a hit variety show.

Guo Bing drank a lot that night.

Actually, he'd been under enormous pressure this season.

Star Sea Satellite TV, the country's premier channel, had been on a steep decline the past two years. Their station chief and all the leadership had high hopes for him—the pressure was crushing. That was one of the big reasons The Red and Blue Signal season four had waited a year before starting.

This season had the highest-profile guest lineup, the biggest investment, record-breaking promotional spending—he'd bet nearly everything he had on it.

These past two days he'd been holed up in the editing room with Liu Screenwriter and the others, cutting the main episodes based on the CP lines they'd set up. Before, he couldn't watch all the footage twenty-four seven. Now that they'd trimmed it down, the shots the staff had picked out were all packed with detail—Pei Xu's casual glances at Zhai Xingchen, Yan Zhi's aversion to physical contact with others in the kitchen but his subtle touches with Zhai Xingchen, the unassuming Wen Nu's pursed-lip glances at the footage of Zhai Xingchen and Hu Ying, Hu Ying suddenly kissing the pink rabbit Zhai Xingchen had given her.

Ah, a thirty-something-year-old man wanted to scream like a groundhog.

Whether his show could blow up mostly depended on Zhai Xingchen.

Guo Bing, drunk, couldn't help but video-call Zhai Xingchen.

The moment it connected, he saw Director Guo Bing's bright red face, dazed eyes, face practically pressed against the screen.

"Xingchen." Guo Bing called. "Xingchen."

Zhai Xingchen kept responding, asking: "Director, have you been drinking?"

Guo Bing laughed: "Xingchen."

Liu Screenwriter beside him smiled: "Did you watch our first episode? The response was great."

Zhai Xingchen smiled: "Didn't watch. Too embarrassed to. I'll watch it when I have the courage someday."

He'd watched a lot of interviews with romance show guests before—they always said the edited version and reality were way off. Sometimes they'd be looking at A, but the edit would cut it to look like they were looking at B, all to manufacture drama and romantic bubbles.

He didn't know if The Red and Blue Signal was like that.

"Not watching is fine too. Just film with peace of mind, watch it all when it's over," Liu Screenwriter said. "Are you out?"

Zhai Xingchen "mm"ed, said: "I'm taking a walk by the Beach."

While he was still a complete nobody, he wanted to enjoy this freedom to wander around freely.

After saying that, he pointed the camera at the Beach.

Vast starry sky, moonlight shimmering on the sea.

But none of it compared to Zhai Xingchen's young, bright face.

He suddenly saw Guo Bing lean in again, drunk, saying: "Xingchen. Xingchen."

Zhai Xingchen pointed the camera at himself, smiled and answered: "I'm here."

When he smiled, it was bright—skin glowing white, looking so sweet.

Really too good-looking. How could anyone not like a boy like this?

Guo Bing couldn't help saying: "Xingchen, open your heart. Fall in love on our show. While you're in your prime."

Zhai Xingchen froze for a moment, then laughed.

After hanging up the video, Zhai Xingchen stood by the sea for a while, the wind tangling his hair.

Tomorrow he'd set off for North City.

North City was too far from South City—leave in the morning, arrive around sunset.

He stood by the sea a while, then walked home along the coastline. When he reached Changping Village North-South Road, he suddenly saw a motorcycle pass by him, then suddenly do a U-turn and stop in front of him.

The other person took off their helmet and stared at him.

The sea wind had tangled that person's hair.

It was Yan Zhi.

He wasn't wearing a suit, no glasses either—just a biker outfit, features striking, brows and eyes sharp and unfamiliar.