Chi Yan gritted her teeth and pushed through the rest of the routine.
When the performance ended, she bowed to the audience.
“Amazing!” Li Xuebo said after her performance. “Before this afternoon’s rehearsal, we didn’t inform any of them of the program’s arrangements, and yet during rehearsal, each one of them recited their lines perfectly without missing a single word — not even one movement was off.”
“That’s right,” He Min added. “I’m excited to see their performances on screen in the future. They’re all incredibly talented actors.”
After their comments, the hosts read out an advertisement from the sponsor.
Everyone left the stage to rest for a while.
“You all did great just now — much better than during rehearsal,” Li Xuebo encouraged them backstage.
Duan Jing replied, “You just need to get comfortable with variety shows — once you’re familiar, it becomes easier to let go.”
Li Xuebo nodded in agreement.
“Wang Hui, go check in the car and see if there’s any medicine for a sprain,” Chi Yan said quietly to her assistant.
Wang Hui quickly nodded and helped Chi Yan sit down nearby. “I’ll go look right away.”
He had already run out when he suddenly rushed back and asked, “Sis, can you keep going? If not, we can talk to the director.”
“I can still manage.”
Ye Jiawen noticed something was going on and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing. I just slipped a bit on stage — it’s not serious,” Chi Yan said to Wang Hui. “Go quickly and try to get it before the break ends.”
He Min and Li Xuebo were still chatting with Duan Jing and the others, unaware of Chi Yan’s condition. It was a staff member nearby who noticed and informed the director.
“Miss Chi, I’m really sorry,” the director — a young-looking woman — arrived with a medical kit and the show’s on-call doctor. “We’ll delay the recording a bit to check your condition.”
Chi Yan was seated when she called Wang Hui to tell him not to look for medicine anymore.
Then she messaged him to order bubble tea for the team, based on the number of people in the crew.
“It’s a sprain, but nothing too serious. There’s a bit of swelling, so let’s start with an ice pack. Try not to put weight on this leg — sit whenever possible. Also, elevate your foot…” the doctor said while treating her.
Chi Yan felt much better afterward. Seeing the staff gathered around her, she said, “I’m feeling a lot better now. Let’s continue filming. I’m really sorry for the delay.”
“We’ll only continue once the doctor gives the green light,” the director decided firmly.
“Okay.”
The doctor confirmed it was fine for her to go on stage, but recommended that Chi Yan remain seated throughout the rest of the shoot to prevent worsening the injury.
“Alright, then we’ll modify the game segment,” Li Xuebo said. “We’ll pick one that doesn’t require moving around.”
He discussed with He Min, and after deciding on a plan, they got the director’s approval.
Back on stage, Li Xuebo addressed the audience: “We sincerely apologize for the delay — one of our guests sustained a minor injury, which is why there was a longer pause. On behalf of the entire team, He Min, myself, and all the guests want to say sorry.”
All seven of them bowed deeply toward the audience.
The audience immediately reacted with concern and murmurs. Though many were long-time fans of Weekly Delight, quite a few had come specifically for Chi Yan and the others, and they were visibly worried upon hearing about the injury.
“No need to worry, everyone,” He Min added. “The next game we’ll be playing is a simple one — all done while sitting.”
Li Xuebo continued, “Since all our guests are actors, let’s see how well they can act off the screen.”
The staff came up to the stage and arranged chairs for the players.
He Min and Li Xuebo announced in unison, “Let’s play ‘Who is the Spy?’ The game begins now!”
Chi Yan sat in the middle — a seat specially arranged for her convenience. Duan Jing and Qi Kerong sat on either side of her.
He Min also participated in the game, taking the first position.
Once everyone was seated, their individual words appeared on the big screen behind them.
In the first round, He Min started the descriptions.
With a serious face, she said, “This thing tastes really good.”
Next was Yang Yueyi: “It has many segments.”
Duan Jing calmly added, “You have to peel it before eating.”
Chi Yan glanced at the word on her screen: “soccer ball.” She was starting to feel suspicious.
“It’s round on the outside.”
Qi Kerong smiled and said, “It’s quite large.”
Ye Jiawen chimed in, “We had it for dinner.”
After the first round, Chi Yan was fully convinced — she was the spy. Her word didn’t match theirs at all.
Her strategy: get someone else voted out first.
“Alright, it’s time to vote. I’ll count to three, and everyone point to who you suspect,” said Li Xuebo.
The scene turned chaotic as hands pointed in all directions.
Li Xuebo tallied the votes one by one and finally announced, “Yang Yueyi is out!”
“Alright, the game continues!”
When Li Xuebo didn’t announce the end of the game, Yang Yueyi became suspicious. After looking at all the words displayed on the big screen, her expression turned quite strange.
After another round of descriptions, He Min was eliminated, followed shortly by Ye Jiawen.
Ye Jiawen said, “Good thing I got out — I was completely out of things to say. Any more and I would’ve been doomed.”
He glanced at the big screen, let out a surprised “Whoa,” then commented, “Whoever came up with this round is really…”
His reaction made the audience burst into laughter.
In the end, only Chi Yan, Duan Jing, and Qi Kerong remained.
They were all puzzled by the audience’s reactions, and their expressions looked quite serious.
Duan Jing said, “I’m going to be very clear this round — my teammates, please don’t vote me out.”
“People who say that are usually the spy,” Chi Yan countered.
Qi Kerong agreed with her logic and both of them voted for Duan Jing.
Li Xuebo announced the result: “Unfortunately, the civilians lose. The spy wins! Congratulations, Chi Yan!”
“No way!” Qi Kerong said in shock. She turned to look at the big screen and exclaimed, “It really was like that? The production team is way too sneaky!”
The audience erupted in laughter.
It turned out that on the screen, there were five blank cards and one card with the word soccer ball.
Everyone who drew a blank card mistakenly believed they were the spy — including Chi Yan.
In this round, both the real spy and the civilians thought they were the spy and were focused on getting others voted out. This unexpected twist led to Chi Yan’s victory.
“Alright, let’s move on to the next game,” Li Xuebo said.
He Min added, “You take part in this round. I’ll host for a bit — their acting was too good, I couldn’t tell at all.”
After playing three more rounds of “Who’s the Spy?”, they took another break.
The doctor had advised Chi Yan not to move, so she stayed on stage.
Wang Hui came up and handed her a bottle of water. “Sis, do you need anything else?”
“No, I’m good for now.”
After a short break, He Min announced the next segment: Truth or Dare.
This version was a bit different from the usual game. The host first picked a forbidden word — whoever said it would have to face a truth or dare chosen by the others.
In the first round, the forbidden word was “game.” Ye Jiawen slipped up.
He looked at the others pleadingly and said, “Go easy on me!”
“Alright,” Li Xuebo said with a dramatic wave of his hand, “he has to princess-carry a female guest of his choice on stage!”
The audience instantly got excited, shouting, “Chi Yan! Chi Yan!”
Indeed, Ye Jiawen and Chi Yan had the closest relationship among the guests, and the audience loved seeing them interact.
Chi Yan, however, didn’t want to feed into the CP (couple pairing) hype. Ever since she noticed her pairing with Ye Jiawen getting more and more attention online, she was even more determined not to fan the flames.
“Sorry, everyone, but I injured my foot today. The doctor warned me not to move around too much — if I make it worse, that’d be bad,” Chi Yan explained, turning to Ye Jiawen. “It’s not that I don’t want to help you. I just can’t.”
Ye Jiawen smiled and said, “Alright, let’s not trouble the injured. Duan Jing, we’re classmates after all — help a buddy out?”
“Sure.” Duan Jing readily agreed and looked at Ye Jiawen expectantly.
A few more rounds followed, and almost everyone got caught — some even twice.
Yang Yueyi said, “Chi Yan’s luck is insane. She hasn’t lost even once. We have to make her lose next!”
Then, He Min declared the new forbidden word: fireworks — which also happened to be Chi Yan’s fanbase name.
Everyone began to target Chi Yan for the sake of the show’s entertainment.
Chi Yan managed to avoid the trap for several rounds. But when Yang Yueyi asked her to say her fanbase’s name, she didn’t hesitate: “Fireworks.”
Since she said it voluntarily, Li Xuebo didn’t punish her too harshly.
“We all know your undergraduate major was journalism, but you chose to become an actor. What made you join The Actor’s Path?” someone asked.
“Joining The Actor’s Path was one of the most important decisions of my life. Honestly, my family didn’t understand why I insisted on entering this industry. I kept telling them it’s because I love acting. And today, I’ll tell you all the same thing — I really love acting. Being an actor is fascinating.”
“Why do you find acting so fascinating?” Ye Jiawen asked.
“Because you get to experience all kinds of lives and emotions — it’s like living multiple lifetimes. You even discover new interests about yourself along the way. I think that’s amazing.”
He Min asked, “That dance you performed during the finals was really memorable. Was that a newly learned skill, or did you already have some foundation?”
“I had a bit of a foundation. I learned a lot of things when I was little, but I didn’t stick with many of them. Looking back now, it feels like a pity.”
When Chi Yan mentioned “when I was little,” Yang Yueyi’s expression turned a bit stiff. She barely held it together and avoided showing more emotion.
Chi Yan noticed it and thought to herself, How does she still have the nerve to act like that?
“I think we’re all the same in that regard — especially you, right, Yang Yueyi?”
He Min and Li Xuebo, who had heard about the million-dollar bet between them, grew curious when Chi Yan directly addressed Yang Yueyi.
“I saw a live broadcast before and thought you two didn’t get along,” Li Xuebo said. “But now, it looks completely different from what the internet says.”
“Oh, our families know each other, but we’re not close,” Chi Yan said.
Yang Yueyi nodded awkwardly. “Yeah, we’re really not close.”
With that, the Truth or Dare segment ended.
After the games, there was still a bit of time left. He Min and Duan Jing followed the planned program and sang a song.
Finally, Li Xuebo delivered the closing remarks.
“This week’s Weekly Delight has successfully wrapped up. Thank you all!”
Chi Yan, supported by Ye Jiawen, stood at the center of the stage. The group lined up with the hosts and bowed toward the audience.
