This wasn’t the first time Shen Li had faced one of Qian Xingzhi’s “accusations,” and it probably wouldn’t be the last.
His hands and feet were ice-cold. With an expressionless face, he stared at Qian Xingzhi for a moment. He seemed to pat Qian Xingzhi’s head, though Shen Li couldn’t quite remember clearly. Even if he had touched it, it was probably just a fleeting brush. Afterward, he recalled saying, “Sorry.”
It wasn’t until he climbed onto the back seat of the electric scooter that Shen Li hesitated for a second before wrapping one arm around Qian Xingzhi’s waist.
He immediately felt Qian Xingzhi’s soft abdomen tense up—and stay that way the entire ride.
The sun was nearly set, and the breeze brushing their faces carried a chill.
No one spoke.
They arrived back at the cabin at 6:20 p.m. Shen Li and Qian Xingzhi appeared in the cabin’s camera feed one after the other, and the livestream comments—which had been wailing all afternoon—exploded in an instant:
【Damn, I thought the Big Bad Wolf kidnapped them and they’d never come back.】
【If the Big Bad Wolf got them, they’d wrap ’em up and send ’em back safe.】
【No mood for jokes. I listened to the recording, and now I just want to see them throw down and brawl for me.】
【I didn’t drop 88 cents—who’s gonna summarize the recording?】
【That guy’s usually all tough talk, but when he talks to Shen Li, his tongue straightens right out [smile]. Like an old married couple chatting at the head of the bed [smile].】
【TL;DR: Obedient as a dog.】
【Holy shit, then I gotta drop 88 cents! This totally shatters my worldview!】
【Go for it—the program group says all the money from this part goes to kids in the mountains.】
【?! Then I’m opening 10 accounts to buy it 10 times? Let’s go!】
【Aaaah, so what’s tonight’s activity?! The program group strung us along all afternoon and reeled us in with that recording! How did Shen Li vanish from the cameras again?! If I don’t get to see Shen Li’s face tonight, I’m seriously done for.】
【I for one have zero interest in watching those people argue and bawl their eyes out. Ke Jiujiu’s been crying all afternoon—I’m so over it.】
【Someone fix her, or at least move that camera away from her!!】
The moment Shen Li stepped into the cabin, he heard a round of stifled sobs.
Glancing toward the source in the living room, he saw Ke Jiujiu clinging to Little Zhao’s neck, her lips trembling slightly as she tried desperately to suppress her cries. But every now and then, an uncontrollable whimper escaped her throat.
Little Zhao held a box of tissues, pulling them out one after another to hand to her and comfort her.
Ke Jiujiu instinctively crumpled each fresh tissue into a ball, dabbed at her eyes and blew her nose haphazardly, then tossed it aside. It was terribly wasteful. Shen Li watched for a while but still had no idea what she was crying about.
So his gaze swept across the rest of the spacious living room.
Li Weiwei was fumbling chaotically in the kitchen. Lin Xu had his gloves back on and was pounding the punching bag again. Kris sat as far from the camera as possible, hugging her knees with her forehead resting on them.
With Shen Li’s professional instincts for sniffing out conflict, he had a pretty good grasp of the situation—about eighty percent, at least.
On camera, viewers saw his slender back as he walked toward Ke Jiujiu without much hesitation.
He stopped.
“What’s wrong?”
Ke Jiujiu lifted her head in surprise, her crying cutting off abruptly. Her red eyes flicked toward Shen Li, and she shook her head. “It’s nothing. I’ll be fine in a bit.”
【That’s ‘a bit’? You’ve been crying all afternoon!】
【Ah~ Nooo~ He asks and you just say it’s fine? Problem unsolved, and you’ll start bawling again soon.】
Shen Li’s voice was cool and low. “If it’s nothing, then stop crying. Go help with dinner.”
Ke Jiujiu: ???
“…No, Brother Shen, that’s—wahhh,” Ke Jiujiu said, caught somewhere between embarrassment and amusement. “I kinda get why Brother Qian wants a divorce now. Someone’s upset here, you know!”
Seeing her smile, Shen Li continued flatly, “You’ve cooked five meals for everyone in these three days in the cabin. We’ve all seen it, but the audience might not have the full picture.”
“What?” Ke Jiujiu straightened up from Little Zhao’s shoulder, puzzled, and looked at Shen Li.
His gaze was utterly indifferent, yet it followed her every move, warming something in Ke Jiujiu’s chest.
Then Shen Li went on, “The audience will just remember you throwing a tantrum and crying all afternoon. Tonight, when you check your phone, don’t forget to close out your private messages.”
“I didn’t cry all afternoon! Just one hour!” Ke Jiujiu shot back.
“Does it make a difference?” Shen Li saw her mood stabilizing and leaned back slightly against the sofa to ease the strain on his legs. His voice came out calm and cool, carrying a nonjudgmental inclusiveness. “So, what exactly are you crying about?”
【Whoa, she really stopped crying. Teacher Shen has such a unique way of comforting people.】
【Not really comforting, but damn, he’s good at it.】
【OMG, Little Li Cat Cat!!! How do you pull off being this suave and savage at the same time?!】
【KJJ, spill it quick. I’m ready to play internet judge. FML, she’s cried all afternoon, and all I got was that it’s something to do with Lin Xu and Kris.】
“Um,” Ke Jiujiu swallowed, glancing at Lin Xu. Hitting a sore spot, her crying voice bubbled up again, laced with accusation. “This afternoon, sob, didn’t we pick physical and intellectual tasks? Cough cough, my original idea was that we could all split them up together. Even though rewards are individual, we’ve been living together so long—helping each other out is normal, right? I never said I’d only cook for myself every morning.”
“Mm, and then?” Shen Li prompted, guiding her on.
Just then, Qian Xingzhi walked up behind him, poured a glass of water, and reached out to hand it over.
Ke Jiujiu reached for it. “Then—”
Before she could finish, Qian Xingzhi yanked the glass back and extended it more clearly toward Shen Li.
【Holy crap, Qian Xingzhi, you really…】
【Here comes that show-off who can’t read the room again, about to catch an eyeroll from the wifey [shrug].】
Sure enough, as the viewers expected, Shen Li frowned slightly in displeasure at Qian Xingzhi, his expression turning cold.
Still, he took the glass and held it without drinking or passing it to Ke Jiujiu.
Instead, he turned back to her with remarkable patience. “—And then?”
Ke Jiujiu pursed her lips, eyeing the glass awkwardly.
But Shen Li had already smoothed things over for her. Clearing her throat, she continued, “So I just said that, and Lin Xu wouldn’t even help me catch the chickens—that was fine, but then he called me lazy and a freeloader. I was already pissed, but I didn’t want to fight, so I swallowed it and did it myself.
“But then he went too far. I finally caught the chickens and got to Task B—ugh, I really can’t do calculus. I asked Lin Xu to help, and he said he couldn’t either. But what happens? He turns around and teams up with Kris. They help each other out!”
【Damn, that’s kinda messed up! Aren’t Ke Lin exes or something?】
【Is Lin Xu trying to switch partners?】
Shen Li’s eyes sharpened as he looked toward Lin Xu, who was still throwing punches at the bag. “Lin Xu, come here.”
Lin Xu had always respected Shen Li after these few days together. He was already stewing with his own frustration and eager to vent, so he bit down on his glove, jogged over in a few strides, and started defending himself. “I already explained it to her. The question she got was calculus, and Kris got Chinese idiom fill-in-the-blanks. I’m not an idiot—if Kris wants to swap questions with me, of course I swap with Kris!”
“Oh.” Shen Li raised a brow, thinking for a moment before asking, “But aren’t you a star grad from UC Berkeley Haas School of Business? Can’t do calculus?”
Lin Xu froze.
He even looked dumbfounded, staring at Shen Li in disbelief as he lapsed into thought.
He’d only mentioned offhand during that dinner chat with Brother Jiang where his master’s was from—and Ke Jiujiu hadn’t remembered it after three years…
Didn’t Shen Li say he’d only had nine years of compulsory education?!
Had he looked it up in detail before? Or did he have instant memory, rattling off that whole school name flawlessly?
Meanwhile, the comments filled with question marks:
【Wait, what?! No way?!】
【Aaaah, Shen Li speaking English sounds so good qaq OMG, can we replay? I need to hear it again!】
【Requesting a switch to the peasant channel!!!】
【Oh no, is Shen Li betraying the peasant organization? QAQ】
Lin Xu frowned. “…Bro, wait—you didn’t study abroad too, did you?”
“No.” Shen Li shook his head. “Never left the country, but compulsory ed includes English. Don’t dodge—keep going. Finance master’s can’t handle calculus?”
Lin Xu scratched his head, looking a bit green around the gills as he explained, “It’s been too long; I forgot. With a hundred buildings back home, why the hell would I bother with integrals? Am I crazy?”
Ke Jiujiu started tearing up again at that. She grabbed Shen Li’s arm and burst into sudden sobs. “He’s just making excuses! He didn’t want to help me and went to help Kris on purpose…”
Before she finished, Ke Jiujiu felt someone yank the back of her hoodie, forcing her face away from Shen Li’s arm.
Before she could figure out who it was, a throw pillow was shoved in front of her, completely blocking Shen Li’s arm from her face.
A cold, forceful voice drifted down from above, chill as a winter draft: “Hug this and cry.”
Ke Jiujiu looked up to see Qian Xingzhi’s ridiculously handsome face twisted into something straight out of hell—like a demon from the underworld.
【Hahaha holy shit】
【Qian Xingzhi, you really… whatever [smile]】
【Hello? Anyone there? Is the heartbroken Money Jar watching?】
【Don’t even—heartbroken Money Jar’s already off scrubbing #Three Minutes of Qian Xingzhi#】
By now, Shen Li had the gist.
What a trivial mess.
Not even worth an eye roll.
Glancing at Lin Xu’s flushed face, Ke Jiujiu’s sniffling, and Kris huddled off to the side like a mushroom, he thought: Let’s wrap this up quick, get everyone sorted for dinner. They still had work tonight anyway.
A peek at the clock—6:30. Half an hour left for the remaining questions. Not sure if it’d be enough.
If they didn’t finish, Ke Jiujiu would lose double the reward value in funds. With low viewer satisfaction too, she’d probably be the first voted out in a few days.
Come to think of it, when Ke Jiujiu picked her questions, she’d deliberately chosen ones she couldn’t do but figured Lin Xu could—hoping for more time together with him.
…
Shen Li side-eyed Qian Xingzhi before turning to Ke Jiujiu. “—How many questions do you have left? Need anyone to help?”
Ke Jiujiu was pretty stubborn too. “Anyway, I don’t want Lin Xu to do it for me. I just asked Brother Yang, and he said he had to use the bathroom. Hmph, it’s been half an hour and he still hasn’t come out.”
[Hahaha, classic toilet escape!]
[Turns out Brother Yang, who knows everything under the heavens and masters every skill imaginable, caaan’t do thiiiis either~]
Shen Li’s calm voice didn’t change as he offered a new idea. “Then have someone else write it for you. But you’d have to give them three-quarters of the earnings. You willing to do that?”
“Huh?”
Ke Jiujiu blinked, her tear-swollen eyes narrowing into slits that now brimmed only with confusion.
Truth be told, she’d originally just hoped to avoid getting docked pay amid all this chaos. But now the real question was, who else could even help her with it?
Shen Li?
Or Qian Xingzhi?
In any case, Shen Li’s olive branch felt like a godsend. She glanced at him uncertainly.
“Sure, that’s fine. I just don’t know who else could do it…”
But to her surprise, Shen Li didn’t suggest himself or his ex. Instead, his gaze shifted toward Kris. Only then did Ke Jiujiu remember that Kris was a PhD in engineering too.
And at some point, the girl had quietly sidled over. Now she poked her head in, chiming in with an awkward smile. “Can I do it? I know calculus.”
Ke Jiujiu: …
Ke Jiujiu pursed her lips awkwardly for a moment. Then she grabbed Kris’s hand, pulled her down onto the empty spot on the sofa beside her, and took the easy out, wheedling in a saccharine voice. “Okay then! Kris sis can write it for me. Honestly, anyone can do it. I’m happy to give them the whole commission—as long as I don’t get double-docked…”
“No need, no need. I’ll write it for you.”
“You have to take it. Otherwise, someone’ll say I’m lazy and freeloading again.”
Shen Li saw that Ke Jiujiu had stopped crying and was ready to make his exit. But first, he glanced over at where Qian Xingzhi had been standing behind him.
The spot was empty. Qian Xingzhi, who’d been hovering there the whole time, had vanished again without a trace.
Shen Li didn’t think much of it. He submitted his own B-tier task first, then headed toward the cabin’s kitchen.
He hadn’t helped with cooking or dishes these past few days, so he did have a bit of a “freeloading lazybones” vibe going. Today was his chance— the kitchen was short-staffed, no one else fighting over cooking duty. The guy sponging meals could finally contribute a little. From what he’d glimpsed earlier, Li Weiwei seemed to be the only one there.
The cabin kitchen was partitioned off from the Xitulan Ya Restaurant.
Half of it featured semitransparent glass panels; the other half hid behind a small door.
But before Shen Li got too close, he heard voices chatting inside.
It was Qian Xingzhi and Li Weiwei.
“I never figured you for the cooking type, Mr. Qian. Don’t tell me you were the one handling meals at home before.”
Li Weiwei’s sultry alto carried a hint of teasing mockery. And in the next breath, Shen Li heard Qian Xingzhi stick to the truth without a lie.
“Nope. Learned after the divorce.”
“Oh? So did the two of you take turns before?”
“I did. Whenever he came home.”
“Shen did the cooking?”
“Yeah.”
“Is he good?”
“Very.”
Qian Xingzhi lapsed back into his usual terse mode. Shen Li felt secondhand embarrassment and wondered what Li Weiwei made of it.
Just as Shen Li was about to push open the door and offer a hand, Qian Xingzhi’s voice drifted out again.
“I’ve gotten to where I can match his flavors now.”
“Uh, so you’re planning a surprise for Teacher Shen?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh. Has anyone tried your cooking yet?”
Shen Li eyed the ajar door, then turned and walked away without going in.
The moment he left, Qian Xingzhi lifted his chin slightly. Half his face caught through the glass window, gazing languidly after Shen Li’s retreating back. With an air of lofty arrogance, he glanced coolly at the kitchen and answered Li Weiwei’s earlier question.
“No. Just me.”
The barrage and comments went feral:
[Damn, who gets it? [Shatters] Why am I kinda jealous?]
[Shen Li’s so gentle, that effortless kind of gentle.]
[I wanna be Shen Li’s dog too!!! I want him to coax me like that aaaah QAQ]
[Qian Dog: Didn’t know dog was such a hot job—someone stealing my gig? [Smirk]]
[Did y’all see that side-profile tilt from Qian Xingzhi? Bet he noticed Shen Li show up and leave, then said that on purpose???]
[Green tea dog, gag—total tea stench.]
[Wahhh I refuse to believe it. My bro’s a total ice block. He’s such a pro actor, this has gotta be an act.]
[Ice king? Yeah, icing out his own wife lol [Heart]]
[Here’s a thought: What if Qian Xingzhi predicted Shen Li would come help in the kitchen, felt bad about his leg, beat him to it… and dropped those teasy lines just to shoo hubby away?]
[6/10, quit that 3k/mo gig upstairs. Hit up Qian Xingzhi’s studio tomorrow. When the lovebirds fight, just shove you in the middle as their mouthpiece.]
[What?? Can y’all stop headcanoning so much?! My bro’s just got loose screws rattling in his skull—he tilted to swirl ’em. No need for all that fanfic??]
[Hahaha, without Money Jar, who’s gonna crack me up? [Sob-laugh]]
By the time Qian Xingzhi headed to the kitchen, he truly didn’t care whether he was happy or what mood he was in.
Shen Li was a busybody—that much he’d known since high school.
But Shen Li was always a touch nicer to outsiders than to “his own people.” Qian Xingzhi had only realized that after dating him.
Once someone entered Shen Li’s “inner circle,” Shen Li stopped prioritizing their needs first.
And dead last came Shen Li himself.
So unless Qian Xingzhi stepped up, Shen Li would’ve wrapped up out there, then come join Li Weiwei for dinner prep—standing another full hour at least.
Now, though, replaying the day’s interactions with Shen Li in his mind…
Too many slip-ups. Too many boundary pushes. Too impulsive with words.
No professional actor would hold up under a live stream replay frame-by-frame.
Especially not those words he’d flung at Shen Li back in Room 219…
Annoying.
Qian Xingzhi plated the specially sourced, fragrant tomato-egg stir-fry from the wok. He gave the pan a quick rinse with practiced efficiency and fired up the next dish Shen Li loved: stir-fried pork with green peppers.
Li Weiwei, more versed in bland white-people fare and low-cal health meals, was already assisting him.
“Never pegged you for picking such homey dishes.”
“Yeah.”
These were all the ones Shen Li cooked most often—the ones he ate best.
Back in school, Shen Li would head home for holidays, face a spread of lavish banquets and rich meats, and end up barely eating.
Unbeknownst to the die-hard solo fans who’d never glimpsed Qian Xingzhi’s private life before, this kitchen convo was about to send them into a rage:
[My bro’s got such a refined palate—Shen Li feeds him this crap?!]
[Can’t stand it, total cheapskate vibes.]
[Huge class gap—better divorce. Kinda too embarrassing to bring out, no??]
[TBH I liked Shen Li okay a few days ago. But after today? They’re mismatched. Not against my bro dating, but why pick a broke gimpy rube…?]
[Fuck, good call dissolving that Fan Support Group.]
[Don’t be so salty, jarhead. Maybe your sis-in-law hates high society—might dump your bro anytime [Shrug].]
[High society? You couldn’t buy your way in. Sis-in-law? Might not wanna stay once she’s there.]
