Chapter 69: Taking You Shopping

Chapter 69: Taking You Shopping

An Wen stood by and watched them tear at each other. A battle between the strong was indeed intense—too bad there were no melon seeds to snack on here.

After a fierce duel, it ended with Chen Yuwen being torn.

"Chen Yuwen, out!"

Chen Yuwen and Li Baobin hugged each other, patting each other's backs as they said, "Bro!"

Before being led away, Chen Yuwen clapped Li Baobin on the shoulder and said, "She's really strong. Don’t underestimate her."

"Got it!" Li Baobin replied in Chinese.

Having just gone through an intense duel, Li Baobin was exhausted and covered in sweat.

"Take a rest first," An Wen said.

After resting, An Wen and Li Baobin began their duel. Li Baobin was muscular, with great strength and long arms, making his attacks swift and fierce. An Wen, on the other hand, was agile, dodging quickly and adept at finding openings. Most importantly, she was also quite strong.

During the fight, Li Baobin suddenly jumped up to tear An Wen’s name tag, but she seized the opportunity to grab his hand, slipped under his arm, and tore his name tag instead.

Li Baobin froze for a long moment after being eliminated before finally exclaiming in amazement, "You're amazing!" (in N language)

"You're really strong too!" An Wen smiled, giving him a thumbs-up, then bowed and returned his name tag to him.

Afterward, the two headed to the prison, where, following the director’s instructions, they turned around together in front of the other guests.

Li Baobin’s name tag had been torn, while An Wen still had a small name tag on her back.

The winner was An Wen!

The entire audience applauded, followed by the award ceremony.

By the time filming wrapped up, it was already evening. Park Sung and the others offered to treat the guests from Country N to dinner.

"Feeling a bit embarrassed that we tore at each other on our first meeting," Kim Hoon said (in N language).

Park Sung booked a private room, and the group hurried to the BBQ restaurant.

By the time they finished eating, it was midnight. An Wen was frequently toasted, but fortunately, Xia Jin used his status as a minor to help her decline.

The production team had been ruthless, making them carry their luggage while livestreaming on the streets of Country N earlier. When they arrived at the university, they left their luggage in the car, and their managers and assistants later took it to the hotel.

Song Jia called a car, and An Wen waved goodbye to everyone.

Once the car started moving, Song Jia said, "You're trending on Weibo again."

An Wen: "?"

She took out her phone to check and saw that many of the guests had posted photos from the dinner on Weibo and Instagram, frequently mentioning her.

Kim Hoon had secretly snapped a photo of An Wen eating BBQ from the side, with a sorrowful expression on his own face. The caption read: This is the pretty girl who broke my heart today.

Park Sung posted a group photo of the four guests An Wen had torn, along with her, with the caption: You are now surrounded by the Injured Alliance.

Wu Yun-ji and Li Baobin’s Instagram captions also mentioned the Injured Alliance. Though there were group photos, An Wen managed to get another solo shot.

The others who posted on Instagram were more normal, sharing group photos from the dinner and silly pictures, saying how honored they were to meet each other.

Surprisingly, Xia Jin had also posted on Weibo with the caption: Had such a fun dinner! The running siblings trio, never to be separated @An Wen @Tang Ting.

The post included six photos—four group shots and two of just the three of them together.

Given his massive popularity, the post quickly surpassed 400,000 likes.

Because of the morning’s accidental encounter that had trended, Xia Jin and Tang Ting’s fans had been arguing. No one expected Xia Jin to post such a message that night.

Tang Ting reposted and commented on Xia Jin's Weibo post: ["Running siblings trio, never apart, big bro sleep early!"]

Several related topics trended on the Hot Search lists of both China and Country N:

["Running Family and Running Brothers dinner gathering"]

["Injured Alliance"]

["An Wen"]

["Running siblings trio"]

["An Wen's livestream"]

["Xia Jin's livestream"]

...

Netizens commented:

["Did Running Without Limits buy out today's Hot Search?"]

["What kind of magical female artist is An Wen? Her rise is way too fast."]

["It's normal for a beauty to appear on a variety show and share the screen, okay?"]

["Xia Jin is usually so cold, yet he gets along so well with An Wen and Tang Ting!"]

["Why didn't Xiaoxing go? I really wanted to see her on Running."]

["Xiaoxing is at an overseas event right now, probably a scheduling conflict."]

...

Jiang Yiwen recently taught herself photo editing and video clipping. The official An Wen fan club account now posts well-written morning and evening greetings daily, sometimes even sharing videos and stunning photos. Jiang Yiwen single-handedly manages this account.

The Guardian Army has grown steadily, with various fan sites emerging. Copywriters, graphic designers, and video editors from the Guardian Army began creating content, using Qing Sha's scenes from the show to post edited videos on Bilibili. Her ethereal beauty and peerless looks perfectly fit many novel heroines, sparking a trend of Qing Sha edits on Bilibili. For a time, Qing Sha's clips dominated the platform.

The Guardian Army, which initially had only one blue V account, now boasts several red V and numerous yellow V accounts. To counter negativity during trending topics, Jiang Yiwen mobilized the Guardian Army to flood the Hot Search with beautiful photos and videos. Though there were plenty of sour remarks, peerless beauty remains the ultimate fan magnet. An Wen's follower count surged again, and even her official fan club gained more subscribers.

Watching the fan-made videos, An Wen smiled faintly, warmth blooming in her heart. She continued scrolling through Weibo even after reaching the hotel, only commenting on Xia Jin's post after entering her room: ["Running siblings trio, never apart."] After posting, she muttered, "What a silly slogan."

Her phone suddenly rang—Chu Qichen was calling. An Wen answered. "An Wen, why are you in Country N?" His voice was deep and pleasant, yet carried an authoritative undertone, like a parent interrogating a child.

"Mr. Chu, how did you know I'm in Country N?" An Wen asked. To her knowledge, Chu Qichen only followed financial news. "I just saw you at the W Hotel," Chu Qichen replied.

"Mr. Chu, why are you in Country N too? Business trip?" An Wen inquired. "Business trip," Chu Qichen said softly. An Wen sighed in relief, thinking she'd successfully diverted the topic. She was about to offer some polite concern when Chu Qichen spoke first.

"Why are you returning to the hotel so late?" he asked. "Mr. Chu, like you, I'm here on business. The variety show recording just ended, so it ran late," An Wen replied, her voice sweet and deliberately punctuated by a yawn to signal her tiredness.

"Get some rest if you're tired. Staying up late isn't good for a girl. When are you returning home?" His tone softened slightly, though the authority remained undiminished. "Tomorrow's flight," An Wen said.

She had originally planned to meet Ye Xiaoxing tomorrow for shopping and sightseeing in Country N, but now it seemed she'd have to call and apologize.

Whether it was due to the Original Owner's influence or her own feelings, An Wen had no desire to spend time with Chu Qichen at all. Who would want to be constantly controlled by someone?

"Let's postpone it. I'll take you shopping tomorrow," Chu Qichen said, then paused in surprise at his own words. He simply felt that An Wen's voice sounded somewhat unhappy, so he decided to take her shopping to cheer her up.

After all, girls should all enjoy shopping, right?