Guan Yu: "......"
She awkwardly stood up and looked at Li Yang beside her, "Looks like it's not possible, we need to exchange something."
"Exchange with what?"
"How should I know?"
Li Yang thought for a moment, squatted down, and asked the aunt, "How much is this radish per piece?"
"Twenty yuan per pound."
Li Yang's eyes widened, and she immediately put the fresh radish back, standing up abruptly, "Auntie, even though I've never bought groceries, I'm not a fool!"
"Pfft."
Mu Qiu looked over, Shu Ran was holding her mouth with one hand, laughing in a ladylike manner.
"Li Yang, the aunt wasn't really..."
The attempt to smooth things over hadn't finished when the aunt suddenly pulled out a folded piece of paper from behind her, opening it mysteriously.
"Congratulations, you've triggered the exchange conditions, you can take the ingredients and clues."
Shu Ran: "......" Isn't this a bit too hasty?
Li Yang froze on the spot, like being dumbfounded by a sudden lottery win, staring incredulously at the aunt's kind smile and the two fresh radishes she handed over.
Mu Qiu bent forward and picked up the hanging piece of paper, unfolded it for a look.
Two seconds later, the words she wanted to say were stuck in her throat, turning silent.
A tall shadow cast over from behind, a well-defined hand stretched out from the right, helping her straighten the paper out.
Then there was another two seconds of silence, "Who is... this?"
Mu Qiu looked at him earnestly, turning her head: "I must be crazy to recognize it."
On the pale yellow paper, a rather crude portrayal of something neither human nor ghost was drawn.
A barely recognizable face.
Meanwhile, the bullet comments were having a prize guessing game.
[This looks like a style matching my three-year-old niece's artwork]
[I'm so stupid, really, I got closer to the computer screen just to admire it, who would've thought...]
[This artwork is so bad it almost makes me blind]
[Let's all guess who this really is, I refuse to believe it if anyone can tell]
[If you can't guess, use the process of elimination, it definitely won't be a girl]
[Do you think I'm blind to eliminate just because it's not a girl?!]
[Short hair, round face, big lips, buck teeth, I count my twenty-something favorites, none look like this]
[Nonsense, if the entertainment circle really had someone that looks like this, they should rename themselves as a plastic surgery clinic front]
[I just hope it's not my favorite celebrity, this art style, even struck by lightning, shouldn't look like this]
The others listening to Mu Qiu's assessment leaned in to look as well, ending up with six bewildered faces.
Guan Yu: "This... drawing technique is a bit rough."
Li Yang: "Is this really a guest? A round face?"
Shi Yuhuai: "Is there anyone in the entertainment circle who looks like this?"
Shu Ran: "You definitely can't tell, the program team did it on purpose, right?"
The six pairs of eyes stared until they almost developed cataracts, yet couldn't see the characteristics of the drawing.
Mu Qiu took charge and packed up the paper, instinctively telling the nearest Cheng Zhirang, "There should be more clues like this, we should try to activate more exchange conditions."
Cheng Zhirang nodded.
Guan Yu: "Then we'll split into teams of three and ask around separately. Mu Qiu, which way are you going?"
Mu Qiu glanced around, pointing to the opposite side, "We'll go that way, there's meat over there."
Li Yang peeked over, "Can I join? I want to eat meat too."
Thus, the group was formed haphazardly, with Guan Yu, Mu Qiu, and Li Yang going to the other side, leaving Cheng Zhirang, Shu Ran, and the quiet Shi Yuhuai at this side of the stall.
Mu Qiu found it rather odd that Li Yang would join them because she and Guan Yu were the least popular here, whereas Li Yang was a current sensation, and the best team setup should have been with Shu Ran and Cheng Zhirang.
But this wasn't something she needed to worry about.
The aunties on this side were slightly more than the uncles, and their shouting was so loud it could burst eardrums.
Guan Yu found an aunt who she claimed looked very reliable, squatted down, and with hopeful eyes, sincerely asked, "Auntie, what do I have to do to trigger the exchange clue conditions?"
The aunt smiled, gave her a look, and then without hesitation turned her head to look at Li Yang standing next.
"This boy is so handsome, if we take a photo, I can give you an 80% discount."
Being ignored, Guan Yu felt her heart breaking: "Auntie, just look at me, though I'm not handsome, I'm cheerful! He might be handsome, but he doesn't make meals!"
The aunt was forthright, directly responding: "I don't need meals, as long as it's pleasing to the eye."
Guan Yu's heart was completely shattered.
Li Yang, however, was smiling as brightly as sunshine, standing happily beside the vendor aunt without a word, "Auntie, are you a fan chaser too?"
Then he called over to Mu Qiu, "Mu Qiu, can you use my phone to take a photo of me with the auntie?"
Mu Qiu glanced at Guan Yu's resentful face, was about to nod, only to see the smiling aunt pulling out a pink polaroid camera from a stand full of greens.
"Use this."
Mu Qiu was momentarily stunned, took the very girly polaroid camera, slowly looked up again at the aunt.
The aunt, keeping up with modern trends.
The polaroid clicked, a small photo slid out, capturing Li Yang striking a 'yay' pose. Li Yang borrowed a pen from the photographer, meticulously signed the photo, and handed it to the aunt.
The aunt received and glanced at it, her expression immediately changed, from smiling to a visibly moving sadness.
She returned the photo to a bewildered Li Yang, gazed skyward at a forty-five degree angle, and suddenly began to recount her moving story.
"I once had a young man I liked very much, he was young and handsome, captivating, many liked him at that time. I thought he would share eternal happiness with me... until my mother tore down the poster."
Mu Qiu opened her mouth, at a loss for words, could only close it again, sincerely applauding for this fruitless "crush."
Clap—Clap—Clap
This plot twist is marvelous.
After all, she was someone with a vivid imagination who had written many such absurd plots, her ability to accept was still decent, while the two beside her, Guan Yu and Li Yang, who had never encountered such situations, could only flip from confusion to speechlessness.
They thought it was a clue about a guest, unexpectedly it was a love story of a vegetable vendor auntie; thought it was a tear-jerking secret crush story, unexpectedly it ended up flipping into an elderly fan chasing dream of youth.
It was still the program team's doing.
Li Yang listened dumbfounded, taking back the "undeliverable" signed photo, trapped in chaos.
Guan Yu watched Mu Qiu applaud, inexplicably followed suit and clapped along.
"Even as a skit performer, I wouldn't dare act like this."
The key was that after the aunt passionately performed her fan chasing story, she directly forgot about Li Yang, who she "loved deeply" just now, sighed to end the beautiful secret crush, then sat back down and continued hawking.
"Vegetables! Vegetables! Everyone has their favorites!"
Mu Qiu peeked sideways, the cameraman had already focused the lens right onto Li Yang's bewildered face.