CHAPTER 38: CHAPTER 38: IT ALL STARTED WITH THAT BREAKFAST

With the punishment over, the soaking wet Guan Yu wrapped herself in a large towel, still perplexed, insisting on pulling Mu Qiu aside to get to the bottom of what happened.

"I’ve already taken the punishment, but I won’t be able to sleep tonight if I don’t find out what really happened! Come on, tell us how exactly you tricked us!?"

Zhu Qi half-jokingly said, "Li Yang’s eyes were green with curiosity when he looked at you. We all want to know what happened. I’m still completely confused."

Mu Qiu glanced at the director and sighed ahead of time.

"Tsk, the story begins with this morning’s breakfast."

"Breakfast?" Others sounded puzzled. Although there were photographers filming during breakfast for the variety show, it was normal for photographers to film at any time; no one else thought there was anything special about breakfast.

Only Li Yang had a sudden flash of inspiration half a minute later. "Breakfast?! You asked what I had for breakfast first thing this morning. You said you were cramming for the variety show and felt like there must be something fishy about breakfast!"

It was his first time on a show interacting with an unfamiliar girl, squatting like a Northeastern man on the pebble road discussing breakfast... who would have thought others’ breakfast was really different.

The more he thought about it, the more he regretted it. He squatted down, covering his eyes, "I even thought you were a newbie at variety shows too, and you came to trust me right away, so I completely believed you were innocent all along!"

Mu Qiu looked innocent: "I just wanted to ask if I had a partner."

"..." Uncomfortable, eyes hurting.

Shu Ran and Guan Yu quickly leaned forward and asked her, "So, what exactly was different about your breakfast?"

Mu Qiu recollected the special breakfast at six in the morning and deliberated on her wording before saying, "Breakfast was a bowl of porridge and a pack of pickled bamboo shoots, and next to the pickled bamboo shoots was a plush monkey with long legs — it looked just like my team partner."

It seemed her partnership with that plush monkey wasn’t dissolving anytime soon.

"... Such a sloppy breakfast. Was I the only one who had a burger and soy milk combo?" Guan Yu asked with good-natured curiosity.

"Mine was beef noodles."

"Mine was baozi."

"Mine was a sandwich."

"......"

"Alright, let’s stop the comparison here," Mu Qiu called a ruthless halt, "I don’t want to know the extent of my poverty."

Lin Banyan pressed her lips and smiled, curiously asking, "So did you know your identity when you saw that monkey?"

"No, my first reaction to seeing that monkey was, how could the production team break into my room and grab something off my suitcase?"

Director: Please, some guests, don’t overthink it.

"My second reaction was, which episode in my book used a plush monkey as a prop."

"So this episode is the original content from your book?" Shi Yuhuai turned his head, looking down at her with an earnest look that was unusually cute.

Mu Qiu hadn’t had the chance to say no when Li Yang had already perked up, expression excited, "Then I’ll go check out your book when I get back. By becoming familiar with it, I can align with future storylines!"

"You’re overthinking," Mu Qiu said, unable to bear it, "I thought long and hard and found no plush monkey plots in my novel. Then I discovered a note stuck on that plush monkey’s tail, which read — Let you and your partner make the last bit of your remaining contributions."

Guan Yu looked sympathetically, "I can be sure, it’s the director retaliating against you."

Everyone burst into laughter towards the direction of the director.

Su Yan continued to ask, "Then what? Afterwards, did you know you were the god and design the whole story?"

"Of course not," Mu Qiu expressed her self-deprecation relative to the writers’ ability to design melodramatic plotlines, "The identity was already set, and the story direction was also set. My only advantage was probably... like having read the script beforehand, with a little ability to tweak it, knowing who you all were and a bit of what to say, and being able to slightly alter the post-explosion script line. I corrected the most melodramatic part."

"Did you know I was the first and only one demoted to a roaming NPC?" Guan Yu said with a hint of melancholy.

"I didn’t know; character actions are evaluated by the director and instructors. My surprise then was very genuine, believe me."

Guan Yu pursed her lips in sadness.

Cheng Zhirang went through the whole process in his mind, and with his gentle voice, he asked, "Is that it? Everyone’s reactions were different. How did you know in advance what everyone’s reaction would be and steer things in the direction you wanted?"

"Language induction."

"Language induction?" Cheng Zhirang tilted his head, showing that "willing to learn" expression.

Mu Qiu’s gaze passed over his enchanting eyes, stopping at Su Yan’s brows, then finally touched Lin Banyan’s line of sight, and she quickly looked away, replying affirmatively.

"Just like a salesperson pitching products to a customer, using language to induce you to think about the reasons behind this possibility and what outcome there would be if this possibility were true. Coincidentally, there were a few points that could precisely make use of this induction method. I only proposed a ’three days equals three days later’ possibility. Although everyone was reluctant to believe it, they couldn’t help but follow this train of thought. I pretended to conclude that Brother Cheng was the criminal who killed the outsider, and everyone would naturally think this criminal was the god."

This was a small marketing trick she learned in college. Salespeople often highlight that using this product would make life more convenient and easier, and by buying it, you would earn social prestige, though all this might initially be just an illusion. But customers can’t help supplementing with their own imagination, thus increasing the likelihood of purchase to some extent.

By applying the same method to different things, sometimes there will be similar effects.

Su Yan reacted quickly, "So, you brought up that film on purpose?"

"Yes," she said, going over her storyline-like thoughts, and conversing smoothly, even with top celebrities, "I utilized the only godlike skill to change Brother Zhu Qi’s identity. However, it merely resulted in his identity change, I didn’t expect everyone to be so ingenious and throw out the concept of a replica, allowing me to seamlessly connect to the film."

"And then smoothly soak Brother Cheng in water?" Shu Ran gave a thumbs-up, "Your line of thought is really impressive."

Mu Qiu raised a polite and courteous smile, "Just a little cleverness. It’s my only tiny advantage."

Cheng Zhirang slowly shook his head, "You’re amazing, composed throughout, always analyzing, connecting, inducing, but I couldn’t see any trace of nervousness in you."

The others nodded, Su Yan, sporting that High Peak Snow boyish face, assuredly praised her.

"Very impressive."

Mu Qiu bowed to the camera, modestly thanking repeatedly.

Then the corners of her mouth curved upwards.

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Come on, after-sales service is here, if you have anything you want to ask.