Inspecting suitcases was a custom on this show, everyone at the scene had watched the previous episodes and was psychologically prepared.
They avoided anything that had already been identified as a form of exploitation because it’s not as if they hadn’t seen some ironic items discovered in the first two seasons.
All of them came with a plan in mind.
This isn’t a violation of the rules, they had to be more shrewd considering the many traps the program had planted, otherwise they would be the ones to suffer a loss at the mercy of others.
Qi Mu walked a lap around the suitcase; she already had an idea as to which ones she should prioritize checking first and which ones she should check afterwards.
“Let’s start by inspecting the largest pile.” Qi Mu said, “One, two, three, four, five, a total of five. The amount of luggage that our couple LuMi have brought cannot be considered low. What’s the matter, are you guys intending to host a fashion week for the locals?”
Lu Cheng’an said: “You didn’t say that we aren’t allowed to bring that much, it won’t be a big deal as long as we pay for the shipping fees ourselves.”
Qi Mu lifted one of them and placed it on the raised platform which had long since been set up: “You have a lot of faith in yourselves, it seems like there won’t be any banned items then.”
Lu Cheng’an: “Uh-huh.”
Mi Fei strolled over and helped with unlocking the suitcase by pressing down his fingerprints.
The former two were safe, this couple was particularly observant of the rules, they prepared clothes, towels and so on, without a single prohibited item in sight.
But it was quite a spectacular sight by the time the last three suitcases were unlocked.
The first suitcase was packed with folding fans.
The second suitcase was filled to the brim with lucky knot tassels.
The third suitcase was stuffed with a box of fabric dolls, without any repeating designs.
Everyone formed a circle around the suitcases in astonishment, and Xu Tangzhou said with suspicion: “Are you guys preparing to go out there and publicly promote our Chinese culture?”
Ling Che picked up a fabric doll and inspected it in his hand.
He was tall and had slender fingers, so gripping the doll in just one of his hands was enough for him to fiddle with it using his fingers.
He smiled and directed a statement towards Lu Cheng’an: “Senior is indeed a genius when it comes to money-making.”
Lu Cheng’an remained composed: “You flatter me.”
After finishing his remark, he gave Mi Fei a high-five and Mi Fei planted a kiss on his cheeks while standing on tiptoes.
There’s enough scattered dog food.
Ling Che turned a blind eye to them.
Xia Xing and the others finally came to a realization and shouted, “Oh! I got it! You guys intend to bring these items to Suriram and put them up for auction, right! That’s against the rules! That’s absolutely against the rules!”
The crowd snatched away these suitcases as she was making this statement.
Mi Fei was unwilling to give in: “How can this be considered a violation? It’s not like the show said that you aren’t allowed to bring handcrafted products.”
Xu Tangzhou suddenly realized: “How come I didn’t think of it?”
Ling Che: “……” There’s no doubt that he is a dumbass.
Qi Mu made a final decision amidst the uproar: “That’s enough, stop arguing and hear me out! After consulting with the group of directors, the answer is no.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Oe Jtfcu’jc: “Qf vlvc’a nlbijaf atf geifr.”
Zl Mfl: “Pcvffv! Tbe vlvc’a rjs atlr kjr cba jiibkfv!”
Ktf akb bo atfw kfgf bc atf rjwf qjuf, yea ecobgaecjafis Hl Ze gfwjlcfv eckjnfglcu abkjgvr atflg ajmla jugffwfca, jcv jvvfv: “Yo mbegrf, sbe uesr mjccba yf mbcrlvfgfv jr nlbijalcu atf geifr. Dea rlcmf atfrf lafwr mjc yf qea eq obg jemalbc, la lr fdelnjifca ab sbe mjggslcu mjrt lc vlruelrf, lrc’a la? Ktlr lr ecojlg ab batfg ugbeqr bo uefrar.”
Qi Mu’s vivid tone rang out and her manner of speech was very reasonable.
Mi Fei said: “Then we won’t put them up for sale, it would be fine as long as we send them away as a gift right!”
Qi Mu laughed: “That won’t be allowed. I am deeply sorry, but it’s an obligation for us to throw away these items on the spot.”
The staff dragged over a large empty container before pouring all the items inside, and Mi Fei’s eyes reddened amidst the clattering noises.
Lu Cheng’an strode forward and intercepted the staff: “My apologies, but this won’t be allowed. These fabric dolls were handcrafted by Xiao Mi himself, we only had the intention of gifting them to the local kids of Suriram Islands, and weren’t planning to put them up for sale in the first place.”
Xia Yue was unconvinced: “No way, it’s handcrafted? Senior is skilled at misleading others, he must believe that these can definitely be put up for sale.”
Xia Xing said: “That’s right, Senior won the title of a film emperor and has superb acting skills, we mustn’t fall for his trap.”
Before the competition had begun, there were already people who were concerned about the outcome.
Mi Fei remained silent, appearing agitated towards the Beta Sisters.
Ling Che unhurriedly spoke up: “I examined them just now, they are indeed handcrafted.”
Under the lens of the camera, Ling Che grabbed the seams on the doll, and pointed out the stitches.
After making this remark, he maintained a neutral attitude without defending either side, and threw the doll to Xu Tangzhou from afar.
Xu Tangzhou was smacked in the face: “……”
He was under the suspicion that Ling Che did it on purpose.
Ling Che said: “Let them have a look.”
“Alright.” Xu Tangzhou willingly complied and showed the dolls to the Beta Sisters with unexpected obedience.
He was getting into character in order to cooperate alongside Ling Che.
Xia Yue and Xia Xing inspected the doll, there were distinct handmade traces on it, but this still couldn’t prove whether it was Mi Fei’s workmanship or not. In front of the camera, they had to apologize to Mi Fei regardless and Qi Mu eased the dispute in a hurry.
“How about this, we will no longer dispose of these handcrafted dolls and let them be sent to the program team, okay?” Qi Mu warmly suggested, “We can assure you that none of them will be stolen. When the time comes, the director’s crew will hand them over to the little kids in Suriram Island on your behalf.”
“Alright.” Mi Fei managed to reveal a smile.
Anyone could tell that Lu Cheng’an was displeased as he planted a kiss on Mi Fei’s forehead and brought him aside for comfort.
Their photographer followed them with a camera and kept taking pictures of their interactions without a moment of rest.
“Considering that the items to be disposed of aren’t listed as a prohibition, we will only get rid of them without inciting a penalty.” Qi Mu said, “Thank you for giving us new inspiration to include in our list of prohibited items for the next season.”
The atmosphere was revitalized once more.
After dealing with five suitcases, there was much more space in the middle of the studio.
The suitcase of the Beta Sisters was to be opened next and each item was removed for inspection. Very soon, under Qi Mu’s poisonous gaze, a large bag which was filled with a messy pile of cans and jars was being taken out one by one.
Xia Yue: “Skincare products and cosmetics, you did not say that we weren’t allowed to bring them.”
Qi Mu: “That much?”
Xia Xing chimed in: “That’s right, the two of us are very difficult to manage and have a constitution that’s vulnerable to allergies, we can only be rest assured by bringing our own products.”
Qi Mu opened a large jar and sniffed it, before obtaining some compressed biscuits which were inside a sealed bag from the bottom of the jar.
Immediately afterwards, chocolates and energy bars hidden elsewhere were discovered as well.
As the facial expressions of the two sisters were becoming increasingly unpleasant, Qi Mu found a wad of cash inside a cosmetic sponge.
Mi Fei was amused.
Xia Xing squatted onto the ground and covered her face as she broke down: “Gosh, are you a hound specialized in sniffing drugs? What a nose……”
Qi Mu was certainly not a drug-sniffing hound in the eyes of the crowd, but a beautiful and elegant host who instantly morphed into a witch lady instead.
The witch lady counted these items which added up to ten or so in total and dusted off her hands before making a declaration: “Our couple XingYue carried prohibited items and made no secret of it, but they cannot escape my scope of vision because after all, they aren’t my opponent! According to the rules set by the program, a total of 1,600 RMB will be deducted as a penalty, which indicates that our couple XingYue is now temporarily falling short with a base fund of 18,400 RMB! Let’s look forward to the performance of our couple LingZhou next!”
Xu Tangzhou arrived at the center and the cameras fixated on him.
As soon as he came into the spotlight, the scene instantly fell into silence under his aura. He was about the same height as Qi Mu, who was an Alpha. His neck was slender, and the way he looked at the luggages with a condescending gaze was akin to a piece of frosty jade, reminding others of the phrase “It can only be admired from afar, and cannot be tampered with up close”.
However, that wasn’t the case as soon as he began talking.
He unlocked the suitcase: “I do not have any prohibited items. In order to be fair, you guys are the ones who ought to give me money instead.”
Qi Mu was nearly led astray by him: “You certainly have a lot of faith in yourself.”
Xu Tangzhou’s faint smile was akin to defrosting ice and snow: “Thank you for the compliment.”
Qi Mu indeed felt that he was too adorable and snapped back: “Blabbermouth.”
As a result, Xu Tangzhou truly did not bring any prohibited items, which left Qi Mu, who was determined to make discovery, a little disappointed.
“How could this be?” Qi Mu refused to give up searching, “Why are you so honest?”
Xu Tangzhou allowed her to search at will.
Aside from clothes, as the only Omega among the groups of guests, Xu Tangzhou also had items such as chokers and pheromone suppression sprays inside his luggage, which were relatively private items that are reasonably unsuitable for Alphas to come in contact with——- Even Qi Mu wore gloves out of courtesy.
“That’s because he has always been well-behaved.”
This remark was made by Ling Che.
Ling Che placed his own suitcase on the high platform, and closed the lid of Xu Tangzhou’s suitcase while ignoring his trepidation: “He’s the sort of obedient individual who would abide by the rules.”
The atmosphere was a bit heated and everyone was rousing up a disturbance, it was incredibly rare to witness Ling Che with such an attitude.
However, this wasn’t what Ling Che wanted to emphasize and said: “All right, it’s time to check mine. Qi-jie, this session is taking up way too much time. I am sorry for the trouble, but we are all in a hurry.”
Qi Mu was both provoked and amused at the same time: “It’s not your turn yet, are you eager to pay for the penalty?”
But Ling Che wasn’t looking at her and made a gesture at Xu Tangzhou before saying: “Not leaving? Are you waiting to become a laughingstock?”
Xu Tangzhou: “No, no way.”
Everyone at the scene burst out laughing.
Xu Tangzhou sat down in his seat only to hear Qi Mu say on stage: “God Che is overprotective, I haven’t done anything yet! It’s not as if I am such an irresponsible Alpha!”
Xu Tangzhou couldn’t make any sense of the matter, and he thought that Ling Che was eager to see him make a fool out of himself.
However, it seemed that Ling Che merely had no intentions of inciting trouble as well.
That being said, how did Ling Che know that he was….. very obedient. No, very rule-abiding?
He looked up at the stage, Ling Che was ignoring Qi Mu’s question while urging her to hustle.
“But you are an irresponsible host. Are you receiving the fine for the penalties or not?”
Sure enough, it turned out that he had no prohibited items as well, much less violations.
Their group was indeed refreshingly out of the ordinary.
Qi Mu was utterly disappointed, but she refused to allow Ling Che to leave.
Qi Mu said to Xu Tangzhou in a whisper: “To be honest, when I saw that Ling Che followed you on Flow yesterday, I assumed that the two of you were only cooperating with each other, but didn’t expect you guys to actually be friends, please forgive me ah.”
“Of course we are……” Xu Tangzhou paused, “Huh? Did you just say that he followed…… Me?”
He had been incredibly busy since yesterday and didn’t even have time to check his phone at all.
Mi Fei said: “That’s right, he only became your follower, I envy you so much.”
After recording this session, Xu Tangzhou couldn’t resist the urge to open up Flow during the break and received a system prompt as expected.
Flow Assistant: Congrats! Xu Tangzhouzz, LingChe45361 followed you back, and you became the first one to be followed by him. Hurry up and say hello to the other party!”
Xu Tangzhou: “!!!”
No way!
Even if it’s for the sake of cooperating with each other, there’s no need to follow only him on purpose!
There was an option underneath this prompt:【Got it】
Xu Tangzhou selected on【Got it】
Who knew that Flow would send out a dumb DM which appeared in his chat dialogue.
Xu Tangzhouzz V: I must be the most special person to you! Thank you for allowing me to become your first and only, one in a million.【Heart】
Xu Tangzhou: “???”
Such an old-fashioned way of wording had the vibe of the nineteenth century.
The critical part was that the message couldn’t be revoked.
Not far away, Ling Che, who was surrounded by potential fans of the show, glanced at his phone.
The dialogue box indicated that the other party was currently typing.
Xu Tangzhou: “……”
Flow, your system has issues!
Edited by: Amanagawa and Huixuan
Flow – the unofficial matchmaking system ~
I really like Flow assistance. Really dun like the Beta sisters
Thanks for the chapter
Lol, little TangTang is super unlucky!!
Thank you for your translation 💙💙💙
Bahahahah the secondhand embarrassment is killing me 🤣
Thank You for the new chapter ♡(˃͈ દ ˂͈ ༶ )
Thanks for the update 🤣❤️
Thanks for the chapter ❤️❤️