This question truly hit a blind spot for Tiantian; she knew nothing about Chen Dongyang, not even how many family members he had. Yet, somehow, he had developed feelings for her in such a muddled way.
As the two of them left, the girl sized Chen Dongyang up again, her face flushed with shyness.
Seeing that she wasn't leaving, Tiantian knew the girl was determined to find a partner and decided to ask Chen Dongyang on her behalf.
"Do you have any brothers? Cousins are fine. This young lady wants you to introduce her to someone."
Chen Dongyang was fortunate he didn't have water in his mouth, or he would have definitely spat it out.
"I only have an older sister, I'm sorry."
"Ah?" The girl was disappointed. "No younger cousins either?"
"They're all in Jincheng, and we haven't been in touch for years. I'm truly sorry."
The girl could only leave dejectedly.
Chen Dongyang took Tiantian to eat. Tiantian asked him, "You have an older sister? How come you've never mentioned her?"
"It's better not to mention it."
"Why?"
"We haven't been in touch for a long time. We had some disagreements, and she doesn't want to associate with me anymore."
Well, it was his family matter, and if he didn't want to talk about it, there was no point in her pestering him. Tiantian stopped asking.
After lunch, the two of them set off again, stopping and starting, and they ended up arriving at their destination in the last wave.
They were greeted by staff and assigned rooms. After putting their luggage away and resting for about ten minutes, the banquet began.
The organizers sent a leader to join them for dinner and to organize an ice-breaking activity, which everyone had to participate in.
Chen Dongyang ushered Tiantian into the conference room. Good heavens, it was indeed the Young Designer Competition. All the contestants were young men and women with high颜值. As soon as they entered, there was a feeling of vibrant energy and refreshing clarity.
Whether it was Tiantian seeing Chen Dongyang through rose-tinted glasses or not, even with so many young people around, she still thought Chen Dongyang was the most handsome.
With only two seats left, they sat down.
The host went on stage and first explained the purpose of the event, offering a vision of everyone's bright future, and then invited the leader to speak.
The leader spoke in a formal, official manner, asking everyone to introduce themselves.
Chen Dongyang was seated closest to the stage, so he went first.
He stated his name, age, and city of residence, and didn't say much more before handing the microphone to Tiantian.
Tiantian was about the same age as him, and they came from the same city. Her introduction was similar. When everyone realized they had come together and looked so well-matched, the host made a joke after she finished.
"Are you two perhaps a couple? What a coincidence. I didn't expect our event, in its second year, to welcome such a young designer couple. It's truly enviable."
Tiantian felt a little embarrassed and instinctively wanted to explain, but Chen Dongyang quietly pinched her hand underneath the table.
Since no one knew each other, it didn't matter if they were misunderstood. They would part ways after this event anyway, so it was of no consequence, and he couldn't be bothered to explain further.
Tiantian thought about it and decided not to explain either.
After everyone introduced themselves, they moved on to the dinner portion.
As everyone headed to the restaurant, several designers from Nancheng spontaneously walked up to Tiantian and Chen Dongyang.
"Hello, we're also from Nancheng. We didn't expect to meet such a good-looking couple at a competition. It's so exciting."
"You two are truly a feast for the eyes, and your relationship seems great. May I ask which company you work for? Is it an office romance?"
Tiantian saw the misunderstanding deepening and, too lazy to explain, threw the question back to Chen Dongyang.
Chen Dongyang didn't mention his company name. Instead, he said,
"It's a pleasure to meet you all. My girlfriend accidentally injured her leg a few days ago, and it's inconvenient for her to move around. You might need to help her a lot over the next few days."
One girl said, "Oh, I see. I was wondering why she was in a wheelchair. No problem at all. I'm very willing to help her."
They exchanged names, chatting and laughing as they headed to the restaurant, naturally sitting at the same table.
Since they were all in the same profession and of similar age, there were no inhibitions during the meal. They ate, drank, and chatted, and time passed pleasantly, quickly reaching nine o'clock in the evening.
The dinner concluded, and Chen Dongyang bid farewell to everyone, saying he needed to take Tiantian back to rest.
A girl tugged at him and said,
"It's only nine o'clock, and you're going back to sleep? Are you too health-conscious? The competition officially starts tomorrow, and I'm so excited. I can't sleep anyway. How about we play some games?"
Play games?
Upon hearing this, everyone's spirits immediately lifted.
"What games shall we play?"
"Truth or Dare, or Werewolf, you choose."
Some suggested Truth or Dare, others suggested Werewolf, so they decided to vote.
Ultimately, to break the ice thoroughly, they decided to play Truth or Dare.
A few other young people from different tables who enjoyed playing games also proposed joining. In a flurry, eleven people gathered around one table.
Each person wrote ten questions they wanted to ask on a piece of paper, and they all put them into an empty box and shook it.
Using the wine they hadn't finished, they took an empty wine bottle and began their ice-breaking journey.
Since it was the girl who proposed the game, they let her be the dealer, and she started the first round.
She casually spun the bottle with her hand, and the bottle slowly began to turn.
It stopped within three rounds, the bottle's mouth pointing at a man wearing glasses.
He chose "Truth," so he went to the box to draw a slip. The first question he pulled out was: "How many relationships have you had so far?"
Tiantian had been a good girl all her life, only ever seeing such scenes in movies and on television. This was her first time experiencing it.
Being asked such a tricky question right at the start, she was immediately dumbfounded.
She quietly whispered to Chen Dongyang, "Truth means prying into other people's privacy? If I had known the game was played like this, I wouldn't have participated."
Chen Dongyang was a little surprised, "You've never played before?"
Tiantian was also a bit surprised, "Have you played before?"
Of course, he had.
Before Chen Dongyang returned to the country, he had also been a playboy who frequented nightlife.
However, a hero doesn't boast of past glories, and there was no need to tell Tiantian about these things.
"It's okay. If you don't want to answer, you can choose Dare later."
As they were talking, the girl acting as dealer clapped her hands forcefully.
"No whispering. Not even for real couples. Respect the players. Come on, let him share his relationship experiences with us."
Everyone started to egg him on. The man smiled indifferently and said, "Three relationships."
"Tch."
Everyone scoffed, disbelieving.
"Scumbag. Sounds like a seasoned scumbag. That's a standard answer copied from the internet. Who would believe it was only three? If you don't tell the truth, this game will be no fun."
The man said, "It's the truth. It just so happened to be three, and I can't help it."
"Whether it's the truth or not, if everyone doesn't believe it, it's a lie. Three drinks as a penalty."