The place they got off was next to a high-speed rail station.
Except... who would believe the high-speed rail station here is as tiny as a subway entrance, and it’s built inside a park, surrounded by trees.
The moment the car drove down, they heard melodious singing, plus a group of grannies and grandpas dancing gracefully to the music.
One of the aunties even spun a few circles with the grandpa’s hand, and just happened to stop right in front of her. A bright red fan with a skirt-like fringe snapped open with a "pa!", scaring Mu Qiu half to death.
Mu Qiu: "......What’s this supposed to mean? This welcome ceremony is... that special?"
The cameraman had already hoisted the camera over, and a whole ring of staff were circling the two of them.
Chen Song and Assistant Liang were still sitting in the car, too scared to get out.
"There’s a sign over there."
Cheng Zhirang took a few steps toward the square-dancing aunties. Next to them stood a bright yellow signboard that said [Please go this way], with an arrow pointing to the left.
Mu Qiu tossed her milk cup into the trash can, shielding her eyes from the harsh rising sun, and looked off to the left.
A quiet, leisurely setting: a flat bridge, a wide road, greenery spreading in all directions, and the rushing sound of a river you could only hear. The torrent crashed against the stone bridge, kicking up a mist, making the place both cool and serene.
Looking farther out, you could see a tall, lacquer-red Ancient City gate.
"This is a perfect place to retire," she looked at the staff and asked, "Are we heading there? Is today another time-travel-to-ancient-times game? It’s reminding me of that Willow Leaf City episode, and the classic segment where Sister Shu Ran wore a qipao and rode on a donkey cart."
Everyone thought of it and had to hold back their laughter.
She called to Cheng Zhirang and lifted her foot, just about to walk away.
The square-dancing aunties, dancing themselves into pure bliss, suddenly spun closer in formation. Their fans snapped open with a "pa!", blocking their way.
"......I get it," as an excellent guest who’s done so many episodes, she calmly guessed, "We must have a task, where we need to cooperate with these uncles and aunties and gather some info from them, right?"
"Could be grouping info, could also be costume/props info." Cheng Zhirang followed the speculation.
"Makes a lot of sense."
Mu Qiu pulled him into the grandpa–grandma squad, casually wiggling along with their moves while asking questions.
"Auntie! How come you’re all here dancing this early in the morning?"
The aunties cooperated perfectly, pointing at the vegetables on the stone table nearby: "We’re retired and have nothing to do, just idling anyway. We buy our veggies and on the way back we come here to dance and have some fun. Whose kid are you?"
Mu Qiu smiled sweetly and started talking nonsense without missing a beat: "Old Wang’s kid from next door, we live just across the way."
Cheng Zhirang: "......"
Across the way is a river.
But unexpectedly, such a flimsy lie was easily believed. The auntie even stopped dancing, said she was tired and wanted to sit and rest, and asked her to help dance for a bit.
"You—you want me to help you dance square dance?" She accepted the bright red fan, her expression bitter to the core. "Th–this, my dancing skills are really bad. How about..."
She looked at Cheng Zhirang: "How about I let my boyfriend dance in my place?"
Cheng Zhirang’s whole body went stiff, and even his refusal sounded weak.
"No need, right? We shouldn’t have to sacrifice that much just to find clues..."
Mu Qiu stayed dead serious: "But what everyone probably really wants is just to see you dance, the clues are kind of not that important."
"......Qiuqiu."
"Okay okay, you don’t have to dance," she pulled back the fan, imitated the grandpas and aunties, and snapped it open with a "pa!". Her gaze froze on it. "Huh? There are numbers on this."
On the bright red fan surface, there was a sticker with the number 9 written on it.
"This has to be useful. Hurry and borrow a fan from some grandpa and check."
Cheng Zhirang agreed, stepped into the square-dancing line, and after great effort avoiding all the fans people were purposely or accidentally poking at him with, he picked a kind-faced grandpa and politely asked if he could borrow his fan.
The grandpa sized him up from head to toe, eyes full of appreciation: "Young man, you’re really handsome. Got a girlfriend?"
Cheng Zhirang froze for a second, then nodded: "Yeah, over there."
He even pointed her out.
The grandpa sighed regretfully: "I was thinking of introducing my granddaughter Ruhua to you."
"......Your granddaughter will have better options. Uncle, can I borrow your fan?"
"Sure, take it and fan yourself."
He opened the fan and held it up in front of Mu Qiu: "It’s the number 1."
"I just peeked at the fan of the uncle dancing with this auntie, his number is 3. So every fan has a different number?"
Mu Qiu rubbed her chin, thinking: "If these numbers mean something, then what does each one correspond to?"
"Maybe......."
Before he finished, a voice popped up from the front of the park, familiar to the point of pain.
"Oh my! Isn’t this my specialty, square dance? Aunties, wait for me, I’m joining right now!"
Mu Qiu & Cheng Zhirang: "......"
As soon as Guan Yu joined, the square dance turned into a mess. She dragged off a grandpa’s dance partner and insisted on dancing cha-cha with the auntie, shouting the counts at full volume.
"Yeah that’s it! Come on, left foot forward, de-de, right foot forward, de-de, spin around! Hold my hand and spin back!"
Mu Qiu covered her eyes, raised her fan to block herself, and pulled Cheng Zhirang off to the side.
She was terrified Guan Yu would notice her and force her up as a dance partner.
Luckily, more people were coming out from the high-speed rail station.
Li Yang was lurking behind a monument in the park, peeking around all sneaky-like, creeping closer like a thief.
Then he stared dumbfounded at the conspicuous woman in black in the square-dancing crowd.
"Sister Guan Yu, what are you doing? Why are you crashing a public square dance this early in the morning?"
Could this be some sort of password to clear the level?
He stood by to watch, very diligently memorizing Guan Yu’s steps and the auntie’s moves.
Guan Yu yanked him into the group, then ran out herself.
"If you want the grouping clues, you’ve got to dance with the uncles and aunties first. I’m done dancing, you hurry up."
She could really talk nonsense—she was even more full of it than Mu Qiu.
Mu Qiu hid off to the side silently roasting her, then said to Cheng Zhirang, "Li Yang is definitely going to fall for it."
Sure enough, Li Yang hesitated for two seconds, then happily joined the square-dance team, doing a special no-contact dance with a grandpa.
Guan Yu stood to the side playing with an auntie’s fan, watching how completely unbothered he looked, clicking her tongue twice: "Seeing you dance this happily, why don’t you stay and team up with Uncle and roam every square in the country?"
"What are you guys... doing?"
Another one showed up.
Shu Ran got out of the car and immediately saw Li Yang in the middle of a group of grandpas and aunties, blending in like a fish in water. The game hadn’t even started and her brows were already creasing.
Guan Yu chuckled inwardly, fanned herself, and pretended she’d been dancing for so long she was hot: "This episode’s grouping relies on square dance. See if you want to be in a group with me or with Li Yang—pick an auntie and dance a song with her."
Shu Ran’s expression cracked.
She knew it! Any place with an Ancient City in it is never normal!