The two returned to the small living room together, and everyone abruptly stopped talking, casting curious glances their way.
"Is the steak ready?" Bai Jinze asked with an innocuous smile.
At that, Pei Muchan, already in a foul mood, let her eyes droop slightly, her face betraying a hint of irritation. Xu Qingyan was vile enough, but the effeminate attitude was even more repugnant.
"Yeah." Xu Qingyan glanced at the camera out of the corner of his eye and dropped the pretense, "I've cooked two steaks; there's more than enough for two people."
"Nian Shuyu."
"Huh?" Nian Shuyu was sharing a table with Bai Jinze and Liu Renzhi. Hearing her name called, she instinctively sat up straight, "Yes, what's up?"
Normally, people, be they acquaintances or not, wouldn't casually call someone by their full name.
Hearing Xu Qingyan call out just a name startled Nian Shuyu, almost triggering her professional reflexes. Suddenly stiffening, she turned her head anxiously to look at him.
"Would you like to come over and try it with us?" Xu Qingyan asked with a smile, offering a small plate. His gaze was locked on Nian Shuyu, "I think you might like it."
With his back to the camera, his wording was polite, yet his gaze was piercing.
Nian Shuyu could feel the intensity of his stare, cutting through the dim half-step of the living room, as if weaving an invisible net that ensnared her guilty conscience.
She didn't want to eat steak, but with the camera on her and Xu Qingyan's gaze fixed on her, it was no longer about whether she wanted the steak or not.
So, what should she choose?
Bai Jinze had been all smiles, the picture of boyish charm with a girlish air. But when he heard Xu Qingyan extend the invitation to Nian Shuyu, his smile froze on the spot.
There were only four female guests present. It was bad enough that Xu Qingyan snatched Pei Muchan, but now he was going after Nian Shuyu, who seemed the easiest to sway among the four?
"She doesn't like steak, right, Shuyu?" Bai Jinze quickly stood up, turning his head to look at Nian Shuyu.
Backstage, the directorial team couldn't help but inhale sharply through the screen.
"Sss~ it's getting heated!"
"The show hasn't even officially started, just recording the promo, and the atmosphere is this tense?" one of the crew members lamented.
"Keep the cameras rolling, we won't be short on highlights."
"Xu is a good comrade indeed!" the director said darkly.
In the living room.
Xu Qingyan couldn't help but laugh upon hearing this, holding the plate in one hand while pointing at Bai Jinze with the other, mimicking the other's joking tone.
"Impressive, you've only just met her and already know she doesn't like steak," he said.
"Well, Shuyu told me herself," Bai Jinze replied with a forced smile, his eyes starting to show a spark of anger, yet he had to maintain a harmonious atmosphere in front of the camera.
Xu Qingyan didn't care about keeping up appearances. He was on this show to make a scene for the money, not to cater to Bai Jinze, the fresh-faced newcomer.
If the challenge was laid down, then he was ready for a direct confrontation.
"Is that so?" Xu Qingyan didn't back down, chuckling, "I envy your good relationships with the ladies, all in sync. Looks like I'll be the last one left out."
Nian Shuyu had been hesitating at first, but upon hearing Xu Qingyan's words, she suddenly stood up.
Indeed, Bai Jinze had too many options. If she did nothing, in the eyes of the other male guests, she would be conceding to Bai Jinze's arrangement, becoming his backup choice.
"You know... I've suddenly become a bit curious about the taste of the steak," said Nian Shuyu, smart enough to know not to follow someone else's lead, as she turned her head to look at Shen Jinyue.
"Jinyue, do you want to try some?"
"Sure!" Shen Jinyue's eyes sparkled with youthful charm, and her innocent face was the very picture of naivete as she puffed out her cheeks, saying, "Hehe! I'm actually a bit curious too, sorry I didn't say so earlier."
So Nian Shuyu and Shen Jinyue went over to join Xu Qingyan at his table. But as there were only two seats per table and Xu Qingyan had nonchalantly taken one,
along with Pei Muchan who was already there, there were three girls but only two seats.
Shen Jinyue exclaimed in surprise, mentioned there weren't enough chairs, and before anyone else could respond, she enthusiastically brought over another chair from next door.
"Steak, hehe!!"
"I got some caviar, how do I eat this?"
Xu Qingyan glanced over and said, "You'd have to ask Bai Jinze about that. For such a high-end ingredient, you might need to say a prayer and bow down before you can taste it."
Bai Jinze's face didn't look too good; it was bad enough having his female guest poached right in front of him, and now he was being mocked in a passive-aggressive manner, his face nearly turning green with annoyance.
Mature brother Liu Renzhi's gaze had never left Pei Muchan, his eyes filled with sadness. He seemed to show little concern for Nian Shuyu's departure.
You Zijun was flabbergasted; he hadn't done anything, and yet the chatty Shen Jinyue had suddenly moved to the other table.
Where's my female guest? Where's my big female guest?
Chen Feiyu was completely in a state of watching the drama unfold, chuckling gleefully. He didn't expect that Song Enya, sitting beside him, would address the forlorn Bai Jinze and Liu Renzhi.
"Do you want to come over to our table?"
In an instant, the smile on Chen Feiyu's face froze.
In the end, the four of them still squeezed into one table: three big men surrounding Song Enya, while over at the other table, three female guests surrounded Xu Qingyan, leaving only You Zijun in the middle with a dumbfounded look on his face.
Behind the scenes, the production team's staff exchanged puzzled looks.
"What's going on here?"
"It was supposed to be couples seated two by two, at most one table with two men and one woman. What kind of masterpiece are we looking at now? Four people at every table!"
"And they're all three fawning over one, Song Enya I get, she's quite popular... but what's going on at Xu Qingyan's table? One pan-fried steak and all the female guests went over to him?"
"You think, maybe that steak is really tasty?"
"Psh! Shut up!"
Before the big screen backstage, the scriptwriters and various staff members were arguing noisily, opinions clashing and no one conceding to another.
"Director Chen, should we make contact with Xu Qingyan and intervene a bit?"
"No need, keep filming," the director waved a hand, "We're working late today, hurry up and cut out the preview, everyone please work hard."
Meanwhile, although there was an air of tension on location, Bai Jinze and the male guests still managed to maintain a basic level of decorum in front of the cameras.
Xu Qingyan waited and waited, not receiving any message from the production crew, and mused to himself that no news must mean they were allowing his little counterattack. That effeminate guy was just asking for trouble with no reason at all.
He really wanted to ask him privately, "Are you also paid to create drama? Or are you just naturally mean?"
Throughout the meal, Pei Muchan kept waiting for Xu Qingyan to ask for her contact information again, but even as everyone dispersed back to the hotels booked by the program group, he didn't bring it up.
Pei Muchan's brows furrowed slightly, and her glances towards Xu Qingyan became more frequent. He seemed utterly oblivious, as if it wasn't him who had asked for her link at all.