He plays Feng Yuxiu, and his girlfriend is a fairy-like beauty.

Chapter 43 Tearing Name Tags!

Filming Running Man was more tiring than Ye Mo had imagined.

It's not the kind of exhaustion you get from filming.

Filming is a mentally intensive process. If you can't get a take right, you have to do it again. You can only catch your breath when the director yells "cut".

Running Man is different – it runs non-stop from the moment filming starts at 7:30 in the morning.

Seven cameras are chasing you, and even after rolling around in the mud and getting out, you still have to manage your facial expressions.

The first game is a relay race using pressure plates.

When Ye Mo took off his shoes and stepped on it, the stinging pain in his feet made him grit his teeth.

Wang Baoqiang, standing nearby, gloated, "Ouch, right? My first time was the same!" Then he stepped on it himself, his face immediately contorting in pain. "—It still hurts!"

As Ye Mo carried an adult across the acupressure mat track, Deng Chao exclaimed from the side, "Feng Yuxiu truly lives up to his name—perfect facial expression control! It's just that the veins on his forehead are a bit too prominent!"

Ye Mo put down his teammate on his back and wiped his sweat: "Brother Chao, that's called a physiological reaction."

"I don't care about your reaction—this speed breaks our production team's record!" Deng Chao turned to the camera, "Viewers, this is the new record for the first season of Running Man's acupressure mat! It comes from someone who wouldn't utter a sound even when he was in a mud pit!"

The mud pit stage is the second one.

Everyone was stuck in knee-deep mud, scrambling to grab the flag.

Ye Mo rushed to the flagpole in three steps, and just as he was about to reach out, his ankle was grabbed.

Looking back, he saw Wang Zulan hanging on his lap, her face flushed red.

"I won't let go—I'm the most agile obstacle on Running Man—"

Ye Mo looked down at him and smiled.

Then he bent down, scooped Wang Zulan out of the mud with one hand, carried her on his shoulder, and continued walking forward.

Wang Zulan shouted on his shoulder, "Help! I've been kidnapped! Feng Yuxiu has kidnapped me!"

The whole audience burst into laughter.

Ye Mo carried a person to the flagpole, gently placed Wang Zulan into the mud, and then reached out to pull up the flag.

The movements were completed in one smooth motion.

Li Chen stood at the edge of the mud pit, crossed his arms, and shook his head: "I'll avoid him when I'm playing the name tag ripping game."

Chen He pushed up his glasses: "Big Black Bull chickened out."

"It's not cowardice," Li Chen said seriously, "it's a strategic retreat."

---

The name tag ripping game was the grand finale.

The production team gave Ye Mo a special identity—he had two name tags. The first layer was torn off, leaving a blank space underneath. Only by tearing off the second layer could he be eliminated.

It's like having an extra life.

But what the production team didn't tell him was that Deng Chao and Li Chen also had special identities.

Deng Chao is an undercover agent, and Li Chen is the pursuer.

The scene became chaotic for a time.

When Zheng Kai's name tag was torn off, he was still arguing with Angelababy, debating who touched whom first. The referee reviewed the replay for five minutes.

Wang Baoqiang chased Chen He back and forth three times until they both collapsed on the ground, panting. They pointed at each other's name tags and then unanimously decided to rest for five minutes before tearing them off.

Later, they both forgot about it.

Wang Zulan hid behind a trash can and squatted there for twenty minutes.

Ye Mo passed by three times, pretending not to see it.

The most exciting part was the confrontation between Ye Mo and Liu Yifei.

The rules state that in the final thirty minutes, all survivors must face off in a designated area.

Ye Mo and Liu Yifei were assigned to the same group.

The two stood facing each other.

Liu Yifei looked into his eyes. Ye Mo also looked into her eyes.

Then Liu Yifei took a step forward.

Ye Mo took a step back.

Liu Yifei has taken another step.

Ye Mo took another step back.

Angelababy shouted from outside the venue: "Ye Mo, tear her apart! She's a girl, what are you afraid of!"

Ye Mo's expression was complicated.

He's not afraid of girls.

He was afraid of a specific girl.

Liu Yifei pursed her lips, a hint of smugness hidden in her eyes that only Ye Mo could understand.

She continued walking forward, while Ye Mo continued walking backward until his back hit the wall.

There is no way to retreat.

Liu Yifei reached out her hand—and then gently patted him on the shoulder.

"You're eliminated," she said.

Ye Mo was taken aback.

Then he looked down at his name tag—it was still neatly pasted on his back.

The referee, struggling to suppress his laughter, said, "Mr. Liu Yifei, patting someone on the shoulder doesn't count as tearing off a name tag."

Liu Yifei blinked: "Oh, I see."

She turned to look at Ye Mo, her eyes full of smiles.

Ye Mo coughed.

In the final melee, Li Chen managed to sneak up behind Ye Mo.

Ye Mo dodged to the side and reached back to tear Li Chen's clothes—but out of the corner of his eye, he saw Deng Chao approaching Liu Yifei.

A hesitation of a fraction of a second.

Li Chen's hand was already on his name tag.

tear-

Ye Mo's first name tag fell off with a thud. Below it was blank.

Li Chen was taken aback: "There's another floor?"

Then, taking advantage of his momentary daze, Ye Mo turned around and went behind him, swiftly tearing off Li Chen's name tag.

Big Black Bull was eliminated.

But on Deng Chao's side—Liu Yifei's name tag has already been torn off.

She stood at the edge of the field, holding her torn name tag, and shrugged at Ye Mo.

Ye Mo looked at her.

She mouthed three words.

Nobody noticed.

Ye tacitly agreed.

—It's okay.

---

It was already dark when the recording ended.

Deng Chao took the initiative to add Ye Mo on WeChat: "You did a great job this time, come play more often in the future." Li Chen nodded in agreement: "You were too fierce in the name tag ripping game. Bao Qiang said you are like Feng Yuxiu—I don't think you are. Feng Yuxiu is crazy. You are the kind of person who will rip your name tag off without making a sound. You are even more frightening."

Chen He added Ye Mo to a group chat.

The group name is Running Man Season 1 Battle Group.

Wang Baoqiang sent eight voice messages in the group, all conveying the same message: Let's have dinner together again next time.

Wong Cho-lan: "Don't carry me next time, I'm a senior, after all."

Angelababy handed him a bottle of water: "You didn't seem like a newbie when you were tearing off name tags, really, your aura—I'd believe you if you said you were a regular MC."

Ye Mo took the water bottle: "Thank you, I learned a lot from you all today."

"What are you studying?" Angelababy laughed. "I can already picture you carrying Wang Zulan on your back."

Zheng Kai popped up from the side: "What I admire most is not your name tag ripping, but the way you carried people across the acupressure mat—you didn't even flinch once from beginning to end. I screamed when I stepped on it last time."

Ye Mo smiled but didn't say anything.

I've made a mental note of it.

The Running Man cast members are all very nice.

It wasn't the kind of friendly treatment you get when recording a show; it was genuinely treating him like family.

---

When most of the people had left, Ye Mo found Liu Yifei by the parking lot behind the hotel.

She changed into casual clothes, a white T-shirt and jeans, and her hair was tied in a ponytail.

Leaning against the wall, he twirled a torn name tag in his hand.

Her mother didn't come.

Only the assistant waited in the car some distance away.

Ye Mo walked over and stood next to her against the wall, with about half a person's distance between them.

"You patted me on the shoulder today," Ye Mo said.

"Are you disappointed? Did you think I was going to tear you apart?"

"Not disappointed. But that gesture of patting my shoulder—"

"It was intentional." Liu Yifei flipped the name tag over, looking at the name he had written on it. "Anyway, the referee won't eliminate me. I just wanted to see your face—the one that looked both nervous and afraid to dodge."

Ye Mo didn't speak.

Liu Yifei turned her head to look at him.

The parking lot was dimly lit, but bright enough to see a single person.

"You got along really well with the Running Man cast today."

"They're nice people."

"Deng Chao added you on WeChat?"

"add."

"If he organizes a dinner party later, invite me."

"Didn't you want to keep your distance?"

"You don't need to maintain a certain level of formality when eating out. My mom doesn't look at her friends' social media posts about gatherings—she only watches her work schedules." She paused, "Besides, it's good to get to know them well; it's not easy to have a few true friends in the industry."

Ye Mo turned to look at her.

Did you enjoy recording today?

Liu Yifei thought for a moment.

"I'm happy," she said. "When I climbed out of the mud, Angelababy pulled me up, and Wang Baoqiang cheered me on from the side. It felt like I wasn't filming a TV show, but like going on a school trip with my classmates when I was a kid."

She looked at him and smiled.

"Thank you for persuading me to come."

Ye Mo wanted to reach out and ruffle her hair.

I raised my hand halfway, and a car light flashed briefly at the parking lot exit.

Both of them took a step back at the same time.

The distance between them has widened again.

Social distancing in a businesslike manner.

Liu Yifei lowered his head and straightened the hem of his T-shirt, saying in a voice only he could hear, "I'm going back to the hotel."

"Um."

Are you going back to Hong Kong tomorrow?

"Um."

"Call me when you arrive."