Love Variety Show: The despised me exploded in popularity

Lin Wanzhou was wearing a mask, following on his right side.

Xu Qingyan, also donning the same mask, mingled among the crowd. It wasn't that he was afraid of being recognized, but rather that the human hustle and bustle of this street market was too damn suffocating.

For some reason, more and more people were entering the night market at the entrance. Perhaps because it was getting late, the staff over there took breaks or went to the toilet.

As a result, there seemed to be no one managing that area, and the crowds that had entered earlier were still debating what to eat at the stalls, while the new wave of visitors, hungry and eager, squeezed their way in.

When people are hungry, they don't just crowd around; they could even finish off the leaves on the trees. The light show itself was rather boring, but it drained energy, slowly pulling visitors from that area.

As more people poured in, for safety's sake,

Xu Qingyan had a feeling something was off, so he protected Lin Wanzhou by pulling her to the front, his posture almost like hugging her waist from behind, wrapping her into his embrace.

"What's wrong?" Lin Wanzhou asked, dazed as she lifted her head, feeling suddenly embraced.

In that moment, the young girl was a bit flustered, her ears turning red. The sensation of being embraced from behind, like a tingling current traveling from her tailbone to the back of her head.

"It's nothing, just that there are too many people, I was afraid you'd get separated," Xu Qingyan didn't mention his own concerns, turning his head to look back at the dense crowd behind them.

Further away, from all directions, even more people started pouring in, the center of the suffocating, crowding flow converging near the streets around the night market.

The night market was at the point of intersection, with an increasingly dense flow of people.

"Okay."

The young girl's entire attention was on the hand around her waist, her heart pounding, and her eyes blinking, utterly unaware of the storm brewing outside the night market.

Xu Qingyan didn't want to be alarmist and scare Lin Wanzhou.

The two continued to walk forward, Xu Qingyan buying two bottles of water and some food from a stall. He looked back now and then, as the crowd in the distance seemed nearly on the verge of collision.

He thought for a moment and pointed to the tissue paper at the vendor's.

"Boss, give me a pack of that tissue paper," he said.

Ding, right after he paid, he met the curious gaze of the young girl.

"What do you need tissue paper for?" she asked.

"Oh, nothing, just ran out of it in the car," replied Xu Qingyan, not answering directly, thinking it shouldn't come to the worst, "There are more and more people, stick close to me."

The movement of people up ahead visibly slowed down; that was by the exit.

A young couple was standing nearby. The girl glanced around and complained.

"Why is it so crowded?" she said.

"Probably just a lot of people, from the square over there too," the guy replied, carrying his girlfriend's small bag on his shoulder and holding a cup of milk tea, "We should've left earlier."

Suddenly, they heard a shout.

"Handsome, you can't go out there!"

The couple turned their heads to see the pair that had been in front of them, who seemed to be making their way toward the back kitchen of a shop in the night market, trying to take a shortcut out.

"What are they doing?" the guy stopped and asked.

"I don't know—ah!" The girl suddenly screamed, "Why is it getting so tight? What's happening?!"

The guy turned hearing her, about to ask the people behind not to push.

"What's with the pushing... Push!

With a thunderous noise, the scene before the guy's eyes made him break out in a cold sweat. Before they knew it, they were squeezed into the middle, surrounded by an impenetrable crowd.
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Almost five or six people crammed into every square meter, with the influx continuing non-stop from the back. More frightening was that the outside of the night market seemed blocked as well, pushing continuously inward.

With a bang! One of the stalls was knocked down. The owner immediately blew his top, cursing the people who had run into his stall and shouting about compensation among other things.

Bang, four or five people were pushed, so they had to tread over the toppled stall. The noise from the crowd grew louder, one person stepping on and crushing a spicy hot pot containing chili oil.

"Fuck your mother!" the stall owner cursed, panicked.

Suddenly, a hand from the crowd pulled in the cursing owner. Without even a chance to scream, he got punched in the face, and more people squeezed him further in.

The throng of people was tight, and cries began to rise.

"The people at the back, stop pushing! Those at the front, move out, what are you dawdling for!"

Bang, bang, bang, with more stalls getting knocked over. Yellow, red, all sorts of food liquids spilled all over the ground, the more astute snack vendors already hiding in the shops along the street.

The night market was a narrow, town-style culinary gathering spot. There's a descending slope leading out from the exit, and one can't see beyond it. A few snack stalls had fallen, blocking the middle.

The crowds that were initially moving slowly now came to a complete standstill. With people continuing to press in from the back, a terrifying stampede occurred in an instant.

Three minutes earlier.

While Xu Qingyan was looking around, he noticed with sharp eyes that there was a door behind the kitchen, which should allow them to exit from the small town of the night market.

A staff member came over and tried to stop them.

"Sorry, handsome, you can't go in here."

"I'm sorry, my girlfriend is pregnant and not feeling well," blurted Xu Qingyan, resorting to a lie that startled the young girl beside him.

"It's too crowded outside; please, we need to get to the hospital," he said.

"This... it's our shop's policy to not allow customers into the kitchen," the staff member was flustered too – how could he block a pregnant woman with a medical emergency.

"Worried about a fine, right? I won't make it difficult for you. Let's have a heart-to-heart," Xu Qingyan said, "I'll send you a red packet for two hundred yuan. Let us pass, please."

After a moment of hesitation, the staff member nodded in agreement.

"No need for the red packet, just keep it down and follow me," he whispered.