The recording of this episode of the reality show alone took nearly five hours, from seven in the evening to midnight. The entire production crew was looking forward to them coming out soon, so when Zhou Ziheng opened the door, almost everyone outside the venue was cheering.
Ruan Xiao and Cen Cen followed closely behind him, and when they came out they were also sprayed with colorful ribbons by the staff waiting outside the door.
"So did we win or lose?" Cen Cen, with a ribbon hanging on his head, looked at Ruan Xiao in confusion.
Ruan Xiao smiled and leaned on Cen Cen's shoulder, "We came out second, and our points are very high."
Cen Cen was shocked. "So Ziheng is not a killer?"
Xia Xiqing, who was standing nearby, smiled and joked, "It's me."
Cen Cen looked at Xia Xiqing in shock again. Ruan Xiao pushed Xia Xiqing and said, "Stop teasing Sister Cen Cen."
It didn't matter that he pushed Xia Xiqing into the arms of Zhou Ziheng who was standing behind him. His subconscious reaction made him reach out and grab Xia Xiqing's arm from behind and support him.
The ends of his hair gently brushed across Zhou Ziheng's chin, causing him to feel itchy.
Xia Xiqing had not expected Ruan Xiao to push him down, and when Zhou Ziheng caught him, he turned back to look at him in surprise. After their eyes met, he quickly regained his composure and said softly, "Thank you."
This sentence passed by like an inadvertent hair tip. Xia Xiqing took the initiative to step back a little, and then continued to joke as if nothing had happened, "Ruan Xiao, I really didn't realize that you, who are so weak, are actually a girl with super strength."
"Would I say that I got into Mensa because of my strength?" Ruan Xiao stretched. "I was so nervous when I was in there. Now that I relax, I feel so hungry."
Cen Cen agreed, "Me too, I feel tired and hungry, I didn't feel that way before."
Zhou Ziheng made a rare suggestion, "Let's go have a midnight snack after work."
"Okay." Ruan Xiao grabbed Cen Cen, "Let's go together. I want to eat hot pot."
Everyone was talking enthusiastically about the choice of midnight snack, but Xia Xiqing felt something was wrong. He glanced at the people present, then looked inside the door, and finally asked, "Wait a minute... where's Si Rui?"
"Si Rui..." Ruan Xiao just remembered, "Ah! Si Rui was just calling me from the study..."
The cheers were so loud that they drowned out Shang Sirui's cries for help.
By the time everyone finally arrived at the study, Shang Sirui had already given up asking for help. He leaned his head back on the chair and looked at the ceiling. When he heard the sound of the study door opening, he sat up straight, "You finally remembered me!"
Several people were laughing together. Zhou Ziheng also wanted to laugh, but laughing now would be too inhumane, so he had to hold it in and walked over to help Shang Sirui untie the ropes on his body.
"No, Ziheng, you're taking it too seriously." Shang Sirui, who was sitting on the chair, began to complain to him, "It's fine if you handcuff me, but you also tied me up with ropes."
"This is what it looked like when we first entered the room." Zhou Ziheng rolled up the rope and threw it aside. Looking at the handcuffs on his wrists, he remembered that he didn't have the key. Just as he was about to stand up, he saw a hand handing the key to him.
When Zhou Ziheng raised his hand, he saw Xia Xiqing's clean and innocent smiling face.
She just looks clean and innocent, he denied it again in his heart, and then took the key from Xia Xiqing's hand.
"He wasn't handcuffed when he first came in." Xia Xiqing laughed, "I was the only one who was handcuffed, even worse than you, and my eyes were also covered."
"Wow... It's really hard for you to escape."
Shang Sirui and Xia Xiqing were chatting, and Zhou Ziheng, who was half squatting, uncuffed him without saying a word, which reminded him of how he uncuffed Xia Xiqing before. Shang Sirui's hands were also very beautiful, but to be honest, they were not as long as Xia Xiqing's hands, and they didn't seem to be as white as his.
Why compare
With a click, the handcuffs loosened. Zhou Ziheng came back to his senses.
What is there to compare.
After being untied, Shang Sirui jumped a few times with ease. He put one hand on Xia Xiqing's shoulders and the other hand on Zhou Ziheng's shoulders very reluctantly. "It's finally over." Several staff members came forward to help them take off the microphones. Xia Xiqing felt relieved immediately. He raised his hand to rub his neck. He saw from the side that there was a ribbon on the back of Zhou Ziheng's neck that had not been removed before.
He stretched out his hand.
"What are you doing?" Zhou Ziheng suddenly felt a chill. He turned around and saw Xia Xiqing's hand reaching for his neck.
It looked like a little tiger with its hair standing up. Xia Xiqing suppressed his laughter and said sorry, then took off the ribbon.
There's nothing to be embarrassed about. He just wanted to touch him while taking the ribbon. He did it on purpose.
She pinched one end of the ribbon with her slender fingers, waved it in front of Zhou Ziheng, then let go, allowing the ribbon to float down slowly like a feather and finally lie at his feet.
The color of the ribbons is very eye-catching, just like the smile on Xia Xiqing's face at this moment.
Zhou Ziheng felt awkward for a long time, but finally said thank you.
"you are welcome."
Why does the ending tone of this person's words always sound so light and fluttery? Like a frivolous cloud floating in the wind, impossible to catch.
The program director came over and said, "We will record a behind-the-scenes video later." He handed one camera to Si Rui and the other to Cen Cen. "There are two cameras here. You can split into two teams to visit this house. Our production team spent two and a half days to build it."
"Don't worry, Director. I just want to go shopping." Shang Sirui took the camera with a smile and pointed it at Zhou Ziheng's face. "It's already open, right?"
"It's on." The director said and walked aside. Shang Sirui saw Zhou Ziheng trying to hide from the camera, so he grabbed him and turned the camera to his own face. He coughed twice, "Hello everyone, I'm today's VJ and host, HighFive member Shang Sirui! Hi~~ Let me introduce you, ding ding ding ding—" He turned the camera to Zhou Ziheng's face, "Zhou Ziheng! Wow, Ziheng, your face looks so good in the camera."
Zhou Ziheng jokingly covered the camera with his palm. Shang Sirui struggled to get the camera out of his clutches. He turned to Xia Xiqing and said, "This is our super smart Xia Xiqing. His performance in the secret room really shocked me. If it weren't for Xiqing, I might have won."
"So you are expressing dissatisfaction?" Xia Xiqing smiled softly, "Your performance also shocked me, okay."
"Hey." Shang Sirui held up the camera and turned it around, aiming it at the entrance of the house. "Let's take a look first."
After the recording was over, Shang Sirui was like a kid who was full of energy. He walked around with the camera. Zhou Ziheng and Xia Xiqing followed behind him and only said a few words when they were cueed by the camera.
When he walked into the study, Shang Sirui was extremely excited. "It was here that I was imprisoned by Ziheng! He handcuffed me and tied me up with ropes!" He turned his camera to Zhou Ziheng, "It was this handsome guy who kidnapped me."
"Pfft." Xia Xiqing couldn't help laughing. Zhou Ziheng, who was shoved in the face by Shang Sirui with the camera, said calmly, "Who told you to lie?"
"That was all forced upon me by the production team. I was so scared, okay?" Shang Sirui was a little curious. "By the way, how did you find the final password? I searched for it for a long time but couldn't find it."
"It's this room." Zhou Ziheng took out a flashlight from his coat pocket. "I found this flashlight on the sofa. There are two key words written on the clue: study and turn off the lights..."
Before Zhou Ziheng finished speaking, Shang Sirui, who reacted too quickly, stretched out his free hand and tried to press the light switch at the door. "Is this a clue that can only be seen after turning off the lights?"
His hand was grabbed.
"Don't turn off the light!"
Xia Xiqing was stunned for a moment, and before he even realized what was going on with the lights, he saw Zhou Ziheng grab Shang Sirui's arm without hesitation, stopping his action.
"What's wrong?" Shang Sirui looked at Zhou Ziheng with confusion.
To be honest, Zhou Ziheng didn't expect that he would actually stop him like this. The words came out almost without any thinking process.
"What he meant was that the camera was taking pictures, so this should not be infrared..." Xia Xiqing calmly grasped Zhou Ziheng's wrist, the part of the wrist bone that was exposed from the cuff, and took his hand down, "Is that right?"
"Yes." Zhou Ziheng quietly pulled his hand away from Xia Xiqing's. "Let me tell you straight away. After turning off the lights, use this flashlight to shine on the four corners of the wall. A digital code will appear. Just crack one of them."
"Is that so..." Shang Sirui nodded, not quite understanding, and then sighed with some regret, "I feel like I'm just missing one clue! Otherwise, I would be the winner. I'm so angry."
After filming the last room, the three of them came to the underground passage that connected to the eliminated seats. This passage was directly connected to the external recording preparation area. The passage was very narrow, and Zhou Ziheng walked with difficulty, crouching down.
Fortunately there was a light, otherwise he would have just fallen down...
Not bad? Why is it not bad
Zhou Ziheng felt extremely strange. He was becoming more and more confused about himself. It was as if a little person had forced himself into his head, saying strange things all day long, making him a little mentally disturbed.
Shang Sirui walked in front alone, walking very fast, speaking the closing remarks of the behind-the-scenes footage to the camera. Xia Xiqing followed behind Zhou Ziheng, getting very close.
The long and narrow corridor compressed the space along with the breath, and the air around the body seemed to turn into tiny particles suspended around the body, floating like plankton.
Suddenly, Zhou Ziheng felt his clothes being grabbed from behind, and he turned slightly to the side. Xia Xiqing had not expected that this difficult guy would turn around so obediently. The moment he grabbed the hem of his clothes, he took a step closer and wanted to speak.
Just like that, the distance was drastically compressed again.
In his field of vision, the small mole on the tip of his nose suddenly enlarged, moved closer, briefly touched the corner of Zhou Ziheng's lips, then slid past like a meteor and moved away.
The tiny particles that had been floating like glowing jellyfish suddenly stopped.
Air condensation.
In the dim corridor, Shang Sirui's childish words seemed to fade away in the background, while another voice gradually became stronger.
thumping-
thump-thump
Zhou Ziheng came back to his senses in a panic and just wanted to retreat quickly, but he forgot that this place was so narrow that he couldn't move around freely at a height of 193 cm.
"Hey, be careful." Xia Xiqing watched Zhou Ziheng's head hit the upper end of the passage, and tried to grab him but failed. In panic, Zhou Ziheng's feet slipped again, and he fell to the ground.
Those tiny particles that were originally so tense that they were still and invisible to others also began to fall rapidly, like a large can of pearl sugar falling from the sky, clanging and hitting Zhou Ziheng's body.
Zhou Ziheng shook his head, trying to get rid of the illusion in front of him.
It was really embarrassing.
Hearing the noise coming from behind, Shang Sirui shouted towards this end, "What's wrong with you?"
Xia Xiqing responded immediately, "It's okay, Ziheng accidentally fell. You go up first."
After saying that, he extended a hand towards Zhou Ziheng.
Zhou Ziheng didn't even look at the hands. He stood up and brushed off the dust on his body awkwardly. When he turned around, he felt a pain in his coccyx and had to walk slowly while holding onto the wall.
"Are you okay?"
"fine."
"Pfft." Another chuckle.
Zhou Ziheng felt uncomfortable, as if he was looked down upon. He wanted to get rid of this awkward atmosphere as soon as possible and change the topic. So he coughed twice and turned his back to Xia Xiqing and asked, "You...what did you want to say just now?"
"You still remember." Xia Xiqing's tone was the same as always, gentle and frivolous like the wind, capable of stirring up people's hearts and making them unable to calm down.
"Are you going to tell me or not?"
His tone was quite fierce, and the tips of his ears were clearly red.
"I just want to ask... how did you recognize me." Xia Xiqing followed Zhou Ziheng's path step by step, following his shadow, "It was after I entered the study room with the lights turned off."
Zhou Ziheng suddenly stopped talking and was about to go out. He walked up the stairs in silence.
As a veteran in the love field, Xia Xiqing is well aware of the necessary skills in terms of conversation when teasing. If the other party does not speak, he can always prevent the topic from becoming awkward.
"I guess... it's because of the perfume?" Xia Xiqing laughed and followed him up the stairs. "So you're so sensitive to smells?"
Zhou Ziheng still didn't speak.
He climbed the last step and the air became noisy again. The staff members thanked each other for their hard work and celebrated the success of the first recording. There were also the sounds of Shang Sirui and Cen Cen complaining to each other, Ruan Xiao's sweet laughter, and many other mixed sounds.
Mixed in with it is Zhou Ziheng's low voice.
"I subconsciously thought it was you."
It was only when I got closer to you and grabbed your hand that I smelled the perfume on you, and I became more certain of it.
Xia Xiqing's last step paused in the air for a second, and his paused brain was in a daze.
Subconsciously…
He landed on the last step. Xia Xiqing looked up at Zhou Ziheng's back. This man himself probably didn't even know about this unconscious ambiguity.
How lethal it is.