"Mr. Song…"
Qiu Yan hurriedly stepped forward and scanned the crowd around her. A few seconds later, she suddenly pointed at someone and screeched in fear, "It was Tong Fei! She pushed my grill over! She was going to kill me!"
Every contestant in the area she pointed at promptly moved away, which exposed Tong Fei who had been hiding in the ground.
Tong Fei's face turned pale. "What are you saying, Qiu Yan?"
She then grabbed the arm of a woman standing next to her and barked out in a commanding tone, "I was with you just now, right?"
The woman was one of Tong Fei's followers. She seemed to be in shock over what happened as she said with shifty eyes, "Tong Fei, I…"
She hesitated and stammered for a very long time, tormented by her conscience that made her unable to agree with Tong Fei's claim.
When Tong Fei saw that her follower was refusing to speak, Tong Fei was so angry that she shoved the arm she was holding away while swinging one of her hands high in the air to slap her follower.
However, just before the slap landed, Tong Luo stopped her.
Tong Fei stared at the woman grabbing her wrist in shock before angrily shrieking, "Tong Luo, how dare you…"
"Shut up! Haven't you embarrassed yourself enough?"
Tong Luo had interrupted Tong Fei's shrieking with a look.
Tong Fei stared at Tong Luo in disbelief, shocked that she actually felt like shrinking away from Tong Luo's icy glare.
Silence fell. It was a deathly still silence that was abruptly broken by a series of loud claps.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
Everyone whirled around to find that the person clapping was actually Song Qi.
"I very much regret turning off all the cameras now. What an exciting show we have missed."
There was not a single hint of a smile or a joke on his face as fury simmered in his stern eyes.
The power behind his stare inexplicably terrified Tong Fei.
"I… Qiu Yan is just paranoid and delusional. What does that have to do with me?"
It was clear that her stubbornness was greater than her fear.
Qi Wu who had been silently watching Tong Fei the entire time quietly commented, "Foolish."
Song Qi coldly scoffed at the same time.
"Tong Fei, do you think all of our cameras are idiots? Perhaps you just think that you can do whatever you want because you're from a rich and powerful family?"
Tong Fei was stunned. With a dark look on her face, she snapped her head around to look at the camera hanging on the tree behind Qiu Yan.
Now that she had finally emerged victorious for once, Qiu Yan had a proud look in her eyes as she spat out, "You're done for, Tong Fei!"
Tong Fei whirled around and fiercely barked out, "Just who do you think you are? I…"
"Enough!"
Song Qi abruptly raised his voice and interrupted her before snapping out with icy eyes, "Call the Tong family. Tell them to take her away!"
"What?"
Tong Fei finally snapped back to her senses when she heard that.
As she looked at Tong Luo who was standing in the distance, she muttered to herself, "No. I can't leave."
Then, in a louder, much more forceful voice, she shouted, "That's right. I can't leave yet!"
"That is not up to you."
After saying that, Song Qi closed his eyes. It was clear he did not want to look at this frustrating sight for another second.
"Take her away," he said to the crew members with a wave of his hand.
Two crew members immediately stepped forward to force Tong Fei away from the site.
"Let me go! Do you know who I am?"
When Tong Fei saw that the crew members were not listening to her and insisted on taking her away, she panicked.
With no regard left for her dignity and image, she struggled hard and wildly kicked her feet in the air. She even slammed her fists against the two crew members restraining her.
"I'm ordering you to stop! Do you hear me? I'm going to call… I'll tell my father!"
As Tong Fei was led away, her voice faded into the distance until she could not be heard.
The rest of the contestants all looked at each other.
Song Qi turned to Qu Man and said, "You'll handle it."
"Understood."
Qu Man nodded and walked away with two more crew members.
Song Qi headed back to the production team's zone but halfway through his journey, his eyes met Qi Wu's.
He stopped.
Upon recalling how fast Qi Wu had reacted and how calmly she had put out the fire, Song Qi cleared his throat and said, "You did well."
Qi Wu steadily looked at him with mild confusion shimmering in her eyes. "You seem upset about it."
Song Qi fell silent, filling the air with awkward tension.
How did she know that by just looking at him?
Indeed, he was upset. After all, while he had always been angry at how unambitious Qi Wu was, he was not a man who could not separate right from wrong.
Under Qi Wu's gaze, he suddenly felt pinned and exposed. Thus, he spat out a "you're mistaken" in her direction before hurriedly walking away.
Qi Wu slowly looked away. Before she could head over to Jiang Xuxu and the others, she spotted Qiu Yan walking over to her.
"Thank you for just now."
The pride in Qiu Yan's eyes shined brightly without restraint. "How did you get to me so quickly? Have you been paying attention to me this whole time?"
She scanned Qi Wu up and down before clicking her tongue. "You're not bad, just a little blind since you're with Jiang Xuxu."
Qi Wu silently stared at her.
As the owner of the Eyes of Clarity, Qi Wu had never been called blind before.
"Qiu Yan!"
Jiang Xuxu came into view after her roar echoed through the air. "What do you think you're doing?"
Qiu Yan scurried away while shouting back, "I'm only telling her to stop wasting her time on you!"
"That's it! Come here, Ms. Forever Number Two!"
Jiang Xuxu furiously charged over. As she ran past Qi Wu, she paused and nervously said, "Please don't listen to her, sweetie."
Qi Wu nodded with a faint smile on her lips.
It was only then that Jiang Xuxu stopped worrying and focused on running after Qiu Yan.
Suddenly, Ke Lu appeared behind Qi Wu from wherever she had disappeared to, then she gently tapped Qi Wu on the shoulder.
Qi Wu turned around and silently looked at her.
In response, Ke Lu opened up her hand to reveal a piece of paper-wrapped chocolate.
"What's this?"
Qi Wu curiously examined the chocolate in Ke Lu's hand.
"Chocolate. Try it."
Ke Lu was a woman of few words, but she always made sure to say what she wanted.
Qi Wu's smile deepened. "Thank you."
After tearing the packaging open to reveal the piece of white chocolate hiding within, Ke Lu held it out to her.
Qi Wu glanced up at Ke Lu before taking a careful bite of the chocolate.
Her nose was instantly filled with a thick rich scent of sweet milk. The chocolate melted into a faintly sweet liquid that spread throughout her mouth.
Her eyes widened. "It's good."
Something flashed in Ke Lu's eyes before she blandly grunted in acknowledgement.
When Tong Luo walked over, there was an uncontrollable joy brimming in her eyes. "Mr. Song was so angry. Tong Fei would probably not be back now."
Qi Wu did not respond to that.
As something flashed in her eyes, she glanced at where Qiu Yan was standing.
Tong Luo did not notice anything off about Qi Wu's behavior, however, and happily said, "Let's head back, Qi Wu."
Jiang Xuxu, who had been busy chasing Qiu Yan around, suddenly turned around and called out, "Wait for me! I'm coming too!"