Chapter 84: The Hated Miss of the Dating Show (33)

Chapter 84: The Dating Show's Least Popular Rich Girl (33)

The face on the screen appeared far too suddenly, with its gruesome and bloody close-up flashing across the feed, startling even the viewers in the live stream.

"Jump scare warning! I almost died!"

"OMG Su Chengwen is such a sweetheart—who else noticed how perfectly timed that hand was? I'm swooning!"

"Hahaha, watch Mi Yang’s face—it’s killing me! I swear his hair’s standing on end!"

"Who was all fearless a second ago? Instant karma!"

Mi Yang was definitely the most dramatic. Out of all the guests, only he had jumped clean out of his seat from fright. If he hadn’t been clinging to his last bit of pride, he would’ve bolted for the door!

Goddammit, I knew we shouldn't have watched this crap!

Still rattled, Mi Yang suddenly noticed someone standing right in front of him.

Xiang Xiuran.

"What do you want?" He tried to calm his racing heart but shot Xiang Xiuran a nasty look and snapped, "What?"

"Yeah, something."

Xiang Xiuran looked just as sour. Moments earlier, An Shenshen had played the scared card to glue herself to him…

And she kept playing dumb about his brush-offs, trying to touch him again and again. That weird skin-ship wore out every ounce of patience he had.

"We’re swapping spots."

Mi Yang was about to refuse—until he caught sight of Su Chengwen shielding Tang Qing with both hands…

That pissed him right off.

Su Chengwen always knew how to swoop in!

The young master eyed the spacing. Xiang Xiuran’s new spot seemed slightly closer to Tang Qing. Reluctantly, he agreed.

"Move." No mercy, no manners. Mi Yang grabbed An Shenshen like a stray chicken and hauled her aside. "Why you here?"

An Shenshen blinked. "Why *you*?"

"Xiang Xiuran traded spots with me."

"He refused to sit here?"

She almost thought she misheard. She never expected Xiang Xiuran to hate her that much. Just a brief accidental touch earlier, and he…

Just walked away?

"Hey, An Shenshen, isn’t it obvious why Xiang Xiuran wouldn’t sit here?" The young master, missing the subtext entirely, shrugged casually. "You're hogging all the room!"

"There's space to spare on your side, yet your ass was halfway on my seat before. Who wants to sit like that?"

"What’s the deal? Is Xie Jinran toxic or something? Why keep so far from him and stick to my side?"

Sprawling out cross-legged, he put some distance between himself and An Shenshen. His eyes stayed locked on the pair chatting ahead—Tang Qing and Su Chengwen, all whispery and smiley…

It was crawling under his skin.

"Hahaha, I’m dying! Mi Yang is totally clueless about An Shenshen…"

"If I were her now, I’d vanish into the floorboards. She straight-up scared Xiang Xiuran off."

"Xiang Xiuran: Don’t touch me!"

Mi Yang was legit clueless about what went down between An Shenshen and Xiang Xiuran. But after he spoke, she was back on the verge of tears.

Crying didn't help—Mi Yang couldn't care less about this whiny princess.

Since moving in, An Shenshen had cried who knows how many times...

The movie was still playing, its scare-timing jolting and tense. Mi Yang gradually calmed down, though his attention wasn’t on the film at all. Instead, he watched Tang Qing and Su Chengwen like a hawk, monitoring their every move.

Su Chengwen must have seen this movie before—every time a scary scene approached, he always managed to block Tang Qing’s view just in time. He was being ridiculously considerate.

As if! Big deal!

If I’d seen it, I could’ve done that too.

Stewing in jealousy, suddenly—

A sinister, cackling laughter echoed through the home theater, spookily identical to the movie's sound effects—but way too close!

Mi Yang even thought the noise had come from right beside his ear!

What the hell?!

Almost instinctively, he whipped his head around—only to find a bone-white creepy claw resting on his shoulder. A hairy blob suddenly appeared in his face!

The damn thing even had a human face! It loomed large right in front of him!

Mi Yang’s pupils dilated instantly. He let out a bloodcurdling scream—

"AHHH—"

Before he could even process what was happening, when he opened his eyes again, he had somehow ended up wrapped around Tang Qing...

He didn’t know how he’d shoved An Shenshen aside, scrambled past the seats, pushed Su Chengwen out of the way, and latched onto Tang Qing.

Staring blankly at the face before him, Mi Yang was completely stunned.

Tang Qing looked back at him with amusement in her eyes. "What?"

"Now you want me to protect you?"

Clutching Tang Qing like a koala, with Su Chengwen pushed off to the side, Mi Yang finally realized just how close they were.

One inch more and his lips would’ve brushed Tang Qing’s cheek...

"I... uh..." He stammered uselessly, trying to explain but not getting a word out.

Suddenly, the room flooded with light—Xiang Xiuran had turned on the lights.

His face like thunder, he glared at Mi Yang and said through clenched teeth: "You can get down now."

Su Chengwen looked just as pissed as he yanked Mi Yang off Tang Qing. "Tang Qing, are you okay?"

Of course she’s fine!

I’m the one who’s traumatized!

Only then did Mi Yang snap back to reality, shooting a venomous glare at the culprit—a jump-scare toy. He hadn’t even noticed someone had placed it behind him.

"What the hell is this?" Mi Yang grabbed the prank device. Its spring-loaded mechanism revealed a blinking red trigger at the bottom.

No doubt the production team put it here to scare the crap out of us.

"You can't blame me for this—anyone who came across something like that would be scared to death!" Still shaken, Mi Yang was genuinely frightened; his mind went blank. "Xiang Xiuran, did you know about this beforehand and deliberately switch seats with me?"

Having lost so much face, Mi Yang started to suspect Xiang Xiuran's real reason for switching seats.

Xiang Xiuran remained expressionless. The usually good-tempered guy had first dealt with An Shenshen's antics, then saw Mi Yang clinging to Tang Qing...

His usual refined and gentle demeanor was gone, replaced by a sharp tone: "If I’d known you’d be that terrified, I definitely shouldn’t have switched seats with you."

That way, you wouldn’t have had the chance to hold Tang Qing…

The thought of their intimate contact just moments ago made Xiang Xiuran’s whole body go cold.

"What’s that supposed to mean?! I had a reason for that!"

Xiang Xiuran replied impassively, "No, strictly speaking, that counts as harassing a female guest for no reason."