No Time

Chapter 77: Di Li Feng's Matchmaking Show!

Today was the big day!

Film day!

Of my very own show!

Well, I wasn't the main actor, just the producer, but it was still very exciting!

Last night, Ying Xuan(My one and only~) planned a surprise for me and we had a great night(no further explanation!). He said sorry that he couldn't be there to watch me but he hoped for me to succeed and that he would advertise it around.

I woke up extra early today!

I had heard from Shui Jing that Shui Yu usually woke up at 6 AM.

So, I made the crew get up earlier!

We arranged ourselves together, rubbing our sleepy eyes open, and arrived at the Shui family mansion at 5 AM.

The camera pointed towards the grand mansion as we inched closer.

Then it focused on my phone and my long fingers as I texted Shui Lai to open the door quietly for us.

I whispered into the film mic, "We're going to go find our first main character for this season!"

One of the double doors opened and Shui Lai was still rubbing his eyes and wearing pajamas.

"Hi... Umm, if you wanted to find my sleepy brother, you've missed it already."

"?!!!" was added for the caption.

"You mean... Shui Yu's already awake???"

"Yeah... these days, he has to days off so he gets up fairly early to catch up on missed out training..."

"Fairly early?! Can this even be called fairly early?!" I complained and cameraman #2 swerved around his camera to show the pained looks on the crews' faces. Some of them acted exaggeratedly, holding up their coffee or shoving their watches onto the screen. The more extreme ones collapsed onto the ground and cried out, "Can't compare to the great chief..."

"Anyways, I'll take you to the training room."

Without any choice, we dragged our tired bodies downstairs and marveled at the incredible interior of the mansion.

I've been here several times, but this house was amazing as always, and Shui Yu liked to change around the place sometimes, so there was always a fresh look that wowed me when he did so.

Before we were even close to the training room, we could hear loud thumps.

The whole place seemed to tremble with each loud noise.

Honestly, it was terrifying.

"Don't worry, that's just Yu Ge."

"It feels like the ceilings will collapse!" I exclaimed.

"The place is pretty well made, but if it does collapse, we can remake it anytime, no worries."

That's not the point... 

...At least the captions were coming along well.

When we got to the training room, Shui Yu warned us to not go in and rather wait outside the room and observe from the zombie-proof glass window.

"Why zombie-proof?" I asked.

"It doesn't break as often as tempered glass or bulletproof glass," was all we got.

Camera #1 shot a clear scene of the event happening inside.

There was a huge lump of... a metal, rock, wood mix-mash?

Shui Yu explained, "Yu Ge's training his control so that he doesn't accidentally squish stuff unless he chooses to. He's hitting rock right now. Oh, and he's analyzing the volume of rock so that he can get rid of it all without damaging other materials. He also should be trying to land the rubble in a particular order."

Certainly, it was a strange method of training but it looked like an action movie or an animation.

The gallant hero pushing against the ground and walls to strike at the obstacle quickly and making gales as he flew around... how cool!

If Shui Yu hadn't cut his hair, it would have looked even cooler. Long hair trailing behind and cutting through the air... how cool!

"I'm going to blare an airhorn now, so cover your ears," warned Shui Yu.

BIUBIUBIUUUUUUUUU------

Shui Yu who was in the air landed gracefully as we all covered our ears and cringed.

Shui Yu saw us, smiled and give an OK sign.

"He's going to wash up and change, do you guys want to go in now?"

My crew headed in to see what was left of the mix-mash obstacle.

Cries of awe rang out as we got to see and touch the huge mass in person.

It was also amazing and surprising to see the word, "(Welcome)" spelled out with the rocks that were kicked out from the obstacle.

"W-were we being expected?" a crew member carefully asked.

"I don't know what Yu Ge's thinking either. Ah, but one of his random abilities is to predict the future or seeing a possibility. But I don't think he used it, because his side effects aren't showing."

"Side effects?"

"He turns into a kid, like that, you know, the old anime? Detective Cone?"

"You mean Detective Conan?"

"Yeah, that one."

While Shui Lai introduced us facts about Shui Yu, Shui Yu had already washed up and come out.

He was wearing a white t-shirt and layered a Blue striped shirt over it. For the bottom, he wore pale blue overalls and converse shoes. His accessories were small black crystal studs, two silver necklaces, and a watch.

In fact, although this look seemed comfortable and easy, I recognized the brands and wasn't shocked to find out the expensive total price of the whole outfit.

Shui Yu, looking casual with his half ponytail and relaxed smile, felt too shiny for us.

"May we get a self-introduction from our main character?"

"Yes, hello everyone, I'm Shui Yu, the Chief of this base."

"You can't give us just that! Tell us your age, birthday, favorite food, etc.!"

"I'm 18, my birthday is June 4th, and my favorite food is chocolate, I have 3 siblings and one niece."

As we still had a lot of time over, Shui Yu let us rest in the living room and served us tea. We dwindled around for about an hour and explained the concept of the program, what type of events would happen, and what to watch out for. Actually, Shui Yu probably didn't have to watch out for anything, seeing how strong he is...

"Alright! We're all set! Let's head to the first arena where we will meet our contestants!"

It took a 10-minute drive to get to the "Arena".

There weren't many cars, people usually rode the high-speed rail or walked. Students were seen with bikes or skateboards.

Yes, I said students!

Students were already arriving in school and I could already see some of the participants as they had on different uniforms.

We hid in our van until the first bell and then sneakily headed towards the broadcasting room.

When we got to the broadcasting room, we interviewed Shui Yu.

"We are now at OOO high school where all our contestants will fight for your hand! How do you feel?"

"Well, I feel... quite excited. It's my first time doing something not work or training related in such a long time."

"Uh, any comments about what you hope will happen?"

"I hope I do at least find people I can be friends with. Oh, there is a friend who is participating."

"Yes, there indeed is, and the audience will find out who that mysterious person is later! But you should be hoping to find love! Looooove~ ...Ehem, to sum it up, there are 32 participants. This first round, we'll eliminate half of them."

I continued, "Some are students and some are adults, but they are still in the range of 15 to 27 in age. Shui Yu, do you prefer mature people or immature people?"

"Hm, I like the idea of being spoiled, but I'm not used to it, I'd like to do the spoiling," Shui Yu answered with a half-moon smile.

"Then, which do you prefer? Men or women?"

"Well, as long as I like them and they like me, I'm ok with anyone."

"Well, we'll see! There are a lot of people vying for you, but we've picked the top of the cream!"

"There was already a selection?"

"Yes, of course!"

It took a lot of nucleus points to have a variety show, drama, or movie made. They were rarely made and would only be created when someone sponsored with a tremendous amount of points. Crowdfunding did work but was nothing compared to investments made by sponsors. 

So as soon as a new show, drama, movie was announced, lots of people applied for casting.

Especially celebrities who weren't as famous.

In this base, only the most famous, good looking, and talented people were celebrities.

At first, there was an influx of celebrities since the base had let a lot of famous people in, but because of that, there was fierce competition.

The basics for celebrities became tougher and many could not continue with their previous jobs due to bad attitudes for one. That's one good thing that happened.

Celebrities who weren't famous or were only trainees didn't have much of a chance to show off, so many applied to shows like mine.

As the MC, I auditioned everyone, whether or not they were celebrities. Besides letting Shui Yu's housemate Xia Jiayi in through the backdoor, everyone else was picked from more than 500 auditionees.

But really, many of the auditionees applied with just saying "Shui Yu". These people like him way too much...

But Xia Jiayi would've made it in even with an audition though, he looks good, he has a distinct personality, and he's extremely intelligent. He said he entered for fun, but I suspect he likes Shui Yu!

He has the qualities for an actor and is somehow still naive enough, creating a contrast that the audience would love.

Anyways, enough about how the entertainment industry works.

"There are 32 contestants, some students, some workers, some celebrities, and they are all interested in you! But really, it's your choice, so we prepared many events to narrow down to the best of the best!"

Shui Yu smiled gently and replied, "I'll look forward to it."

"But first, we'll introduce our contestants!"

I motioned for the first person to step forward and exaggeratedly announced, "Contestant #1 is..."

Hehe, to be continued~