After serious consideration, Mu Qiu, who "put the big picture first," couldn’t resist Brother Cheng’s charms and agreed to temporarily form an alliance with him, setting aside past grievances.
Guan Yu and Shi Yuhuai were in the lowest scoring groups. With Guan Yu’s momentum of making a comeback against the odds and scheming against others, the fire was sure to reach them.
Moreover, Shi Yuhuai hadn’t even started making moves, and already Shu Ran had fallen victim. There’s no guarantee they wouldn’t end up alone, becoming the next Shu Ran.
So, to form an alliance, the more allies the safer.
Five moths, carrying mattress wings, reached a consensus and made a simple vow.
"Aim at Chuchu, end the game quickly, no betrayal allowed, help each other in times of trouble. Whoever breaks the rules must imitate pig noises on camera for three minutes and give thirty points to be split among everyone else."
"Come on, everyone, shout the slogan!"
"One, two, three, Moth Alliance must win, must win, must win!"
Five hands pressed down, and the unique alliance of this episode was established just like that.
Cheng Zhirang released his hand from Mu Qiu’s and gave a speech about the alliance: "Everyone wants to end the game quickly, right?"
"Yes!"
"Then let’s set our sights on Chuchu, the lowest in points, and use the current robbers to get Chuchu eliminated as soon as possible. Can everyone do that?"
"Yes!"
"Alright, now let’s split into two groups, one to find Shu Ran, the other to find Chuchu..."
Before he could finish, an electronic voice delivered the latest news.
"Shi Yuhuai has been caught, replacing Zhang Li as the robber. The robbery countdown begins!"
"Guan Yu has been caught, replacing Shu Ran as the robber. The robbery countdown begins!"
The news wasn’t unexpected, but Mu Qiu suddenly had another idea.
Cheng Zhirang looked at her spinning eyes, deep in thought, and asked in a low voice, "What are you thinking?"
"I think besides having other team’s robbers catch Chuchu, there’s another way. Now Brother Huai has become a robber, leaving only Jiang Zhufeng alone in their team. If Jiang Zhufeng hibernates..."
Unless someone kindly rescues her, she can only wait for her fate, because her only teammate has become a robber and no longer has the power to rescue anyone else.
Cheng Zhirang instantly understood: "Make her fall to the lowest score, equal with Chuchu, and that opens up another path to quickly end the game? It’s indeed a good idea, but if you really want speed, you still have to find Chuchu and eliminate her directly."
She nodded: "It’s just a thought. Let’s go, we can’t go looking for Sister Shu Ran now, we have to find Brother Huai."
Bai Shu: "We can also find Li Yang."
Mu Qiu rare silence, her expression awkward.
Xu Cheng and Lin Lian glanced at her expression, holding back laughter as much as they could.
Cheng Zhirang and Bai Shu, not knowing what happened between them, curiously asked, "What happened? Did you trick him again?"
"What do you mean trick him again," Mu Qiu pouted, "I just let him use his points advantage to help out."
Her words were vague and sounded untruthful.
Cheng Zhirang, who knew her working style and implications quite well, raised his eyebrows but didn’t express belief or disbelief, just said:
"Then I suspect Li Yang wouldn’t want to cooperate with us, we really can only look for Shi Yuhuai. Are you going or am I going?"
He said "you and me," not "you and us." Others didn’t dare to speak much, only Mu Qiu answered him:
"I’ll go find Chuchu, you go find Brother Huai. Your physique can pin him down, I can’t."
Moreover, she didn’t want Chuchu to have any physical contact with him.
He obeyed the arrangement, taking Xu Cheng and Bai Shu, and parted ways with Mu Qiu and the others.
After taking a few steps, Mu Qiu called him back: "Oh, right Brother Cheng, don’t tell Brother Huai we’ve allied yet."
Otherwise, her reputation would make it harder to win over Shi Yuhuai. Although saying this makes her feel bad, it’s the truth, and she has to reluctantly admit it.
Cheng Zhirang pursed his lips and smiled, indicating he had planned so all along.
After parting ways, Mu Qiu and Lin Lian returned along the previous route towards the shell house.
She walked leisurely, touching flowers and peeking at the grass along the way, standing by the lake enjoying the cool breeze with her eyes closed.
She didn’t seem like someone on a mission.
Lin Lian instinctively felt she had a new idea and asked curiously, "Sister Mu Qiu, shouldn’t we hurry to find Chuchu?"
"No need to rush."
She waved her hand and said, "Anyone with brains is looking for Chuchu now, maybe we won’t even need to act, someone will take care of him. Also, Brother Huai won’t be easy to find right away, even if we catch Chuchu it’s useless."
"Then if someone else catches Chuchu, it’s useless too. Is it possible Brother Huai or Brother Li Yang will actively resolve Chuchu?"
She patiently answered, "That’s a possibility, and a more aggressive method is for someone with quite a few points to let the current robbers catch them, turning them into a robber, and then go catch Chuchu."
It sounds radical, but compared to Guan Yu’s comeback under adverse conditions plan, this is just so-so, not hard to think of.
But in any case, she wasn’t planning to act actively in this alliance, just wanted to tread the bottom line of the agreement.
Lin Lian figured it out and looked at Mu Qiu thoughtfully.
Before coming on the show, the agent who signed him up said to listen, watch, learn, and speak more when in Mu Qiu’s team, but don’t get too close or have too much contact.
Mu Qiu and Guan Yu managed to climb to become the most popular and camera-loved people on the show despite having the smallest fan base — surely, they have their uniqueness.
For example, Mu Qiu’s analytical and storytelling ability, Guan Yu’s comedic ability. Audience watches variety for fun and excitement, a good show.
If it were only Li Yang’s built-in popularity, Shu Ran’s fan base, and Cheng Zhirang’s face, the show wouldn’t be popular every episode.
Popular figures have things worth learning, and those who are well-received without popularity are worth learning from too. Everyone in the circle is his learning target, the upper management said when they first saw him, because Cheng Zhirang came this far the same way.
Mu Qiu didn’t know what he was thinking.
She just leisurely poked the flowers and grass by the roadside, squeezing the little pig turtle in her hand, wondering what Cheng Zhirang was up to at the moment.
And sometimes ponder over where Chuchu might be now.
To be honest, having a stunningly handsome young man following alongside indeed slightly distracted her from thinking.
Can’t get too close, afraid of being labeled as having designs on the male guests — not unheard of, last time there was a rumor spreading that she and Li Yang had a thing going on.
Can’t be too distant, afraid of being said to ignore the new guest.
Besides, there’s Cheng Zhirang to think about. She didn’t want him to think she’d go after a good-looking face at the first sign of fancy, so she had to intentionally keep some distance.
Very complicated, like in a cultivation novel, having a disciple and fearing being criticized for a master-disciple romance.
She was distracted and accidentally poked off a plump gardenia flower while touching flowers.
She picked up the flower, looked at it for a while, and turned to ask Lin Lian, "What do you think, does this flower look good on Brother Cheng’s ear?"
Lin Lian: "......"