Chapter 18: Loop

"Hmm, it's... quite delicious."

Jin Xia's peach-blossom eyes looked around sneakily, then raised a finger to signal: "Teacher Chi, shh!"

"Understood."

Chi Ye nodded, using his hand to seal his mouth: "Little mouth, don't talk."

Jin Xia nodded with satisfaction, just wanted to say a few words to encourage Chi Ye, suddenly her little face changed: "... Hiccup!"

Chi Ye: "..."

Jin Xia hurriedly covered her mouth, trying her best to control the "gas" rushing upward, a charming and white little face visibly turned red.

For a long time, she actually controlled the hiccup!

"... If it really doesn't work, just hit it out, how uncomfortable it is to hold it in."

Chi Ye couldn't watch it anymore, wishing he could hit it for her.

Jin Xia turned red: "You don't understand... *hiccup*!"

Hurriedly covered her little mouth again, buzzing: "You don't understand!"

Chi Ye: "..."

"You turn around, don't look at me!"

Chi Ye was startled: "Are you sure, I'm blocking the camera for you now."

Jin Xia: "... Then you don't leave!"

Chi Ye saw her like a big injustice, covering her mouth all the time, finally, after a while, Jin Xia felt it was okay, and carefully moved her little hand away, dissatisfied: "This cola... why is there so much gas in this thing."

"Normal, Italian spring water has gas."

Chi Ye answered, and had already thrown an intermediate copy scroll at the Empress Dowager.

【You obtained 【Jin Xia's Ballet】 (Intermediate)】

【Jin Xia's Ballet: Jin Xia has learned ballet since she was a child, her body flexibility is excellent, and she can make various high-difficulty dance postures and movements.】

Chi Ye: "..."

He threw out the second scroll.

【You obtained 【Jin Xia's Poop Scooping Technique】 (Intermediate)】

【Jin Xia's Poop Scooping Technique: Jin Xia has a cat at home that likes to defecate, so she has practiced a superb "poop scooping" technique.】

Chi Ye: "???"

No, you are a little fairy who doesn't even hiccup, can't you let the "butler" do this?

Do you need to scoop it yourself?

Why are you so diligent?!

And scooped to intermediate... how much can this cat pull!

My 200,000 favorability points...!!

200,000, died more unjustly than Yang Zi!

Chi Ye closed his eyes in pain.

"Teacher Chi, what happened to you?"

Jin Xia saw Chi Ye's expression changing constantly, thinking it was her "not hiccuping" behavior that hurt him, waved her hand to comfort: "It's okay, human nature."

"Not everyone is like me, never saying dirty words, never touching dirty things."

Chi Ye's throat made a "cluck" sound, as if he were a ghost traveling from the underworld.

Jin Xia was startled: "Teacher Chi, are you okay?!"

"Okay, not yet."

Chi Ye waved his hand, indicating that he was temporarily not dead, no need to worry, and then started to change his strategy.

Can't throw it away like this.

Random random, the skills on this Empress Dowager look so "many," simply more outrageous than Chu Luanyu, he must transform his strategy.

Hmm...

Pad the knife!

Chi Ye had an idea, while talking to the Empress Dowager, he started to throw out primary scrolls in batches.

【You obtained Jin Xia's 【Cat Makeup Technique】 (Primary)】

【You obtained Jin Xia's 【Plant Killing Technique】 (Primary)】

【You obtained...】

After throwing out ten primary scrolls, Chi Ye threw out an intermediate scroll again.

【You obtained 【Jin Xia's Line Foundation】 (Intermediate)】

【Jin Xia's Line Foundation: Because of her naturally spoiled voice, Jin Xia has trained hard in lines for many years,

"I've drawn a specialty skill!"

Chi Ye felt a weight lift from his heart.

Regardless of whether the 'cushioning' (using low-level scrolls to influence RNG) was useful, just as the system said, because of her natural vocal timbre, Jin Xia had worked hard on her lines; she was indeed one of the best among young actors in the domestic entertainment industry.

Intermediate-level line delivery skills were enough for most standard dramas.

Thinking of this, the gaze Chi Ye directed toward the Lao Foye became much kinder.

The Lao Foye just liked putting makeup on cats and scooping their poop; what kind of bad intentions could she possibly have?!

"Teacher Chi, why is your gaze so strange?"

Jin Xia shrank back a little: "You aren't thinking of 'shipping' (creating a fake romantic pairing) with me, are you?"

"I promised Sister Mi that I wouldn't ship in the show..."

Chi Ye didn't continue listening; he turned his head to look at Shi Daifu on the other side.

At this moment, the female boxing champion was sitting in the corner of the sofa, head down, scrolling through her phone. Ever since they finished eating, she hadn't said a few words from start to finish.

Daifu, Daifu, make me cheer!

Chi Ye had previous experience, so this time he used the remaining three primary-level scrolls to cushion first; regardless of whether it was useful, he had to try.

The result... the feedback the boxing champion gave him was even greater than the Lao Foye's.

【You have obtained (Shi Daifu's "Butterfly Step") (Martial · Primary)】

【Shi Daifu's "Butterfly Step": Shi Daifu discovered the Butterfly Step was popular while scrolling through TikTok and learned it out of curiosity for five minutes.】

【You have obtained (Shi Daifu's Small Self-Encouragement Technique) (Primary)】

【Shi Daifu's Small Self-Encouragement Technique: Every day before going out, Shi Daifu speaks a few words of encouragement to the mirror, using psychological suggestion to make herself more confident and brave.】

Chi Ye: "..."

Good heavens, are you really a "martial arts practitioner"?!

Also... what the heck is this daily mirror-talk encouragement thing?

Chi Ye looked at Shi Daifu, thinking to himself that although the boxing champion looked introverted, who would have thought it had reached such a serious degree.

He didn't know if it was because of that original blacklisting incident.

"Hmm?"

Shi Daifu, who was looking down at her phone, raised her head. Her almond eyes looked at Chi Ye, and after discovering the other party was also looking at her, she immediately lowered her head.

He didn't know if it was psychological, but Chi Ye felt her body movements stiffen quite a bit.

He paused, didn't go over to disturb her, and just threw the last intermediate-level scroll from a distance.

【You have obtained (Shi Daifu's Dumpling-Wrapping Skill) (Intermediate)】

【Shi Daifu's Dumpling-Wrapping Skill: Let's wrap dumplings together!】

Wrap your horse.

Chi Ye rubbed his wrists. To be honest, Dumpling (a nickname for Shi Daifu) was a decent person in reality, but she really wasn't as good as his sister-in-law.

He felt a bit discouraged, but it was within expectations.

After all, he had cushioned ten times on Jin Xia's side before drawing the line-delivery skill; it was understandable that he only cushioned three times here.

No rush, no rush; he felt his current rate of favor-value increase was much faster than before he came to "See You."

Let's accumulate slowly.

Chi Ye glanced at the favor-value he had squandered away and was quite satisfied with this blind box opening.

Chu Luanyu's basic acting + Jin Xia's line-delivery skill.

If he hadn't had the confidence to call himself an actor before, could he barely count as one now?

"Teacher Chi." A corner of his clothes was tugged, and Jin Xia's sweet voice rang out: "We can go back and rest now."

"Oh? Is it time?" Chi Ye came back to his senses and realized it was already 11:00 PM; the production team "notified" everyone that they could return to their rooms to rest.

Shi Daifu had already stood up as if granted amnesty and hurried back to her room without looking back.

"The production team said there's no mandatory requirement for us to be in the living room."

"That's true, there isn't."

Chi Ye nodded and glanced at Yang Zi, who had already closed his eyes, snoring and blowing snot bubbles: "But the production team forces us to 'create content' in the middle of the night; look at how sleepy Teacher Yang Zi is, he's even snoring with special effects."

"Cough, cough...!"

Jin Xia almost spat out her cola upon hearing that.

"Let's go, let's go back and rest."

Chi Ye and Jin Xia stood up and passed by the thunderously snoring Yang Zi.

Yang Zi opened his eyes in a daze, looking at the backs of the "golden boy and jade girl." The confusion in his eyes vanished instantly, revealing a thirst for popularity.

"I'll see how long you two can stay 'sticky'!"

Like an eighty-year-old empty-nester, he muttered to himself while walking toward his room.

12:00, lights out officially.

At this point, although the live stream was still on, most guests had already voluntarily turned off the cameras in their rooms.

After Chi Ye finished washing up, he turned off the camera, then dug out the script Ke Ke had packed for him today, preparing to continue selecting a project.

The improvement in intermediate-level lines had already given him the qualifications to act.

While variety shows were an indispensable channel for gaining favor-value, a breakout drama would clearly help his career more.

When all is said and done, it's about the work, the work, and the work.

Lacking works had always been a shortcoming of "his"... now it could even be called the floor, hmm, a shortcoming that leaked into hell.

"Not an ethics-themed script..."

Chi Ye opened the script and saw two big characters—"Loop."

"Loop?"

"What kind of theme is this? Why does it sound like a puzzle-solving script... but does the domestic entertainment industry even have this kind of theme?"

Chi Ye was surprised; he carefully read the first few pages, and his expression suddenly became strange.

This script...

Why did it look more familiar the more he read?

This plot, these characters, the main storyline...

Isn't this just "Reset" from Earth?

Chi Ye perked up, turned over, turned on the bedside lamp, and began to read carefully.

One hour later.

Chi Ye put down the script; he could basically confirm that "Loop" was indeed "Reset" from Earth.

But... a beggar's version.

The details in the parallel world and on Earth were different; "Reset" had an original novel on Earth, but in this world, it didn't.

This was a script written by a rookie director, and the theme and plot could only be said to be 60-70% similar to "Reset," with the details and ending being completely different.

Hmm... the really bad kind.

Sure enough, even if it wasn't an ethics theme, Yue Na wouldn't give him any good opportunities.

However...

"Finally saw a decent-looking resource."

Chi Ye wrote down the name "Loop" with a pen and was very interested in this script.

As for the script being different from "Reset"...

Just kidding, he was "royalty" (a favored industry insider)!

You, Yue Na, set up this persona for me yourself; you shouldn't have any objections if I act like royalty, right?

From the various situations since his rebirth, Chi Ye realized a truth—when others say you are royalty, you had better really be.

If you're supposed to act like royalty, you must!

He believed Ge Shuang wouldn't tear her face off with him over such a small matter.

"It's almost two o'clock... hmm... I'll make the call tomorrow."

Chi Ye glanced at the time and found it was already 2:00 AM, so he decided to learn more about this project tomorrow.

"See You" was different from "Jian Ren"; the recording location was in a busy downtown area.

During the cohabitation process, it was inevitable that guests would have work matters to handle, so as long as they weren't gone for long, they could go out.

Of course, they had to return every night, and once they exceeded the "vacation" stipulated in the contract, the production team had the right to sue.

Chi Ye put the notebook into his bag, turned over, turned off the lights, and went to sleep.

The night passed without incident.

The next day, 6:00 AM.

Knock, knock, knock!

"Teacher Chi, Teacher Chi, are you up?"

Early in the morning, Chi Ye was still sleepwalking when he was woken up by the knocking on the door outside.

He opened his eyes in a daze, checked the time, and couldn't help but be furious: "Who is it, so lacking in virtue, knocking at 6:00 AM?!"

"...... Teacher Chi, the soundproofing isn't good, I heard that."

Jin Xia's muffled voice came from outside.

Chi Ye: "..."

He put on his clothes simply, stepped into his slippers, and opened the door: "What's wrong, so early in the morning, something up?"

Jin Xia's beautiful peach-blossom eyes had dark circles, but her expression was very excited: "There's something good to see, come over and look quickly!"

Chi Ye: "?"

He was made a bit curious by Jin Xia, because according to his current understanding of her, the Lao Foye should also be a professional at sleeping in; she wouldn't get up unless it was something unusual.

"What is it, exactly?"

He washed his face and followed Jin Xia out.

"Shishi... hmm, that's Shi Daifu, she's practicing boxing!"

Jin Xia's eyes sparkled: "Very cool boxing!"

"Practicing boxing?" Chi Ye was puzzled: "Isn't it normal for a boxing champion to practice boxing?"

"No, it's that kind of practice... you haven't seen it, thank me after you see it!"

Chi Ye shook his head upon hearing this.

He knew yesterday that the boxing champion really understood some martial arts.

What was there to be so surprised about?

Thinking this, when Chi Ye actually arrived outside the small courtyard, under a certain wall, he was still shocked by the scene before him.

6:00 AM in the capital, let alone the sun, the sky was still in a state of not having woken up, dim and hazy, with very poor visibility.

But in the poor visibility, a girl wearing a white practice suit with a slender figure was currently standing in a standard-to-the-extreme horse stance, moving and shifting in a secluded open space.

The wind of her punches whistled, and the wind of her kicks was sharp.

Still as a virgin, moving like a rabbit.

Even though they were far apart, Chi Ye could actually hear very crisp and loud sonic booms from the whistling wind of her punches!

Yes, that's right, the kind of sonic booms from martial arts movies!

Chi Ye himself was stunned for two seconds.

——They were a full ten-plus meters away from where Shi Daifu was practicing!

No... sister, I called you a boxing champion, are you really a boxing champion?!

Chi Ye came to his senses, and then suddenly realized something was wrong.

He looked back at his surroundings and found that a bunch of people had gathered in this corner.

The production team, Li Dao, Yang Zi, Jin Xia, and him...

"Why are you all sneaking a peek here, why not go over and watch up close?"

Chi Ye asked subconsciously.

"Can't go." Li Dao hurriedly stopped him: "Teacher Shi came down at 5:00 AM; she wasn't practicing here at first, but we had a colleague pass by, and she changed locations before they even got close."

"If we go out, she'll definitely go back to her room."

Chi Ye: "..."

"...... A young girl like that, I really couldn't tell yesterday."

Yang Zi, who had been watching from the side, hugged his shoulders tightly and said with a slightly trembling voice.

It must be shivering from the cold...

Chi Ye thought.