【What did Shen Li just say? Did I hear that right?】
【Did I let you kiss me? Did I let you kiss me? Did I let you kiss me?】
【AHHHHHH what is this beauty taming her dog moment? [faint.jpg][crooked-neck.jpg][knock-myself-dead.jpg]】
“So fierce?”
Qian Xingzhi had just taken a swat, yet his usual cool voice carried a hint of teasing.
Shen Li shot him a sideways glance. “We’re outside.”
“What’s wrong with being outside? Am I some shameful secret?”
“You know damn well.”
Qian Xingzhi: …
As Qian Xingzhi asked, his head unconsciously inched closer again, flirtatious as ever. Shen Li instinctively thought he was going for another kiss and smoothly raised a fist to push that head away.
Smack!
But this time, it didn’t land with quite the same force.
Because Qian Xingzhi had tilted his head aside, deftly dodging most of the slap.
【Where are those people saying Shen Li’s gone soft? Come out! Are you saying our Cat Cat’s punches are soft? [bang-bang-hard.jpg]】
【Qian Xingzhi, you… (hesitating) are you really okay? (teary-eyed worry) Should we get you to a hospital? (starting to sweat)】
【Shen Li didn’t even hit that hard. He won’t break, right? Upstairs is being a bit dramatic.】
【Hahaha, he clearly just forgot the dog-head emoji, and it does sound like Qian Xingzhi has split personality vibes.】
【I didn’t expect Qian Xingzhi to dodge like that…】
【Holy shit! Cat Cat’s about to bolt!】
In the camera feed, Shen Li calmly stood up. Aside from the tips of his ears turning a bit red, he showed no other reaction—as if he were long accustomed to Qian Xingzhi’s antics. He arranged things with serene rationality:
“…It’s too hot outside. I’ll head back first. You come in later.”
“Ah.”
Qian Xingzhi responded flatly, as if that single slap had cured him.
He no longer had that eager, kiss-hungry look from moments ago.
Obedient as a dog.
Moments later, the viewers watched Shen Li’s retreating back leave the frame, only to be picked up by another camera until he returned to the room.
Qian Xingzhi waited until Shen Li was fully inside, then lingered a bit longer before strolling back to the cabin at an unhurried pace.
Five minutes after that, the live stream audience—those avid gossip-mongers—were practically boiling over.
The real-time discussion threads on the forums exploded even more fiercely thanks to that special close-up shot:
【OMG, he runs off after one kiss? Are these two that pure?】
【Damn, they’re so… you know.】
【Feels like a sneaky affair, haha. Coming back to the room one after the other, a step apart [sweating]】
【Doesn’t anyone think this shot feels off? It’s such a short clip, and boom, they’re kissing? Like it was staged on purpose.】
【I feel like he’s got multiple personalities too. This couple’s getting weirder and weirder… Cold one minute, hot the next. Are they hyping their CP? [sweat] Do they even have a script? [sweat]】
【You guys… don’t overthink it [shattered]】
【AHHHH I’m dying from shipping them, how can you start arguing now? They’re just a little couple sharing a kiss—how can you argue over that!? Don’t make me slap someone when I’m this happy!!!】
Shen Li returned to the room and rested for a bit.
After lunch, the housekeeper announced that the daytime mission would start at 3 p.m., leaving them some time to relax.
Zhen Tian tried to wheel his luggage into a room but had no idea which one was his.
The other guests’ earnings were gradually adding up, so they were discussing “buying houses” to lock in rooms for the coming days.
Zhen Tian had originally gotten a hidden mission during lunch that could have earned him some starting funds if completed.
But because of the argument that broke out, he hadn’t done it at all—and thus had no money.
Now, he could only pin his hopes on the afternoon mission, hoping to earn enough to rent a room.
Shen Li looked at the funds he’d just received and debated whether to lend some money to Zhen Tian, keeping the guy in a controllable room.
Or, now that he had money himself, whether to move out and live separately from Qian Xingzhi.
But if he moved out…
Qian Xingzhi would definitely be unhappy, so Shen Li dismissed that second option without further thought.
He tidied up the room, then massaged his legs in the bathroom and washed his face.
Just then, he heard someone swipe a card to enter, followed by the sound of the door closing from outside:
“You in the bathroom?”
“Yeah.”
“Come on down. The activity’s about to start,” Qian Xingzhi said.
“Mm.” Shen Li responded.
Shen Li dried his face, then heard Qian Xingzhi lean against the door. That cool voice sounded from outside again, drawn out as if feigning indifference: “I overheard them talking about rooms. Lin Xu and Ke Jiujiu are apparently going to co-rent and buy out Room 2 together.”
“Let them buy it,” Shen Li replied casually.
His tone made it clear it had nothing to do with him.
Then Qian Xingzhi added, “Jiang Nan’s room is empty. He hasn’t paid rent for two days, so the Program Group’s taking it back. Yang Zhiqi says his room has no bathroom and wants to buy Jiang Nan’s presidential suite. Zhen Tian might end up rooming with him.”
Shen Li: “Oh. Well, then… that’s fine.”
Shen Li had been about to say more about Zhen Tian’s room situation, but with cameras outside, it clearly wasn’t appropriate. So he kept it brief and vague.
But Qian Xingzhi’s voice stayed cool as he continued relaying intel:
“Little Zhao was originally rooming with Ke Jiujiu, but now Ke Jiujiu’s ‘buying a house’ with Lin Xu, leaving Little Zhao solo. She wants to buy out Room 1 herself.”
Shen Li: “Mm, let her buy it.”
Qian Xingzhi: “Kris and Li Weiwei want to co-rent too.”
Shen Li: “Oh.”
Qian Xingzhi was just about to say, Aren’t you done yet? Mind if I come in to talk?
But the bathroom door creaked open with a tug. Shen Li, carrying the faint, soothing scent of Dabao, poked his pale, pretty face out, brows half-furrowed: “What are you trying to say, exactly?”
Qian Xingzhi: …
Shen Li’s clear, phoenix eyes flicked over, his measuring gaze sharp as a ruler:
“Are you trying to buy a room too? Or switch?”
But Qian Xingzhi’s eyes were glued to Shen Li’s freshly dried, still-dewy face. The irritation on his expression didn’t look feigned.
“I thought you were thinking about it,” Qian Xingzhi said. “Are you switching? There are plenty of empty rooms left.”
“Doesn’t matter to me if I switch or not,” Shen Li replied.
Qian Xingzhi said coolly, “Then it doesn’t matter to me either.”
Shen Li lowered his eyes, seeming annoyed by the hassle as he gave Qian Xingzhi’s chest a push. The soft pecs yielded under his palm but tensed the instant he touched them. Shen Li acted oblivious, his face impassive:
“Move. Step back.”
Qian Xingzhi’s throat bobbed as he took a step to the side.
Thus, as Shen Li brushed past him indifferently on his way out of the bathroom, the camera caught it:
Qian Xingzhi’s Adam’s apple rolled unconsciously. Faint blue veins stood out on his neck, which was a shade darker than the back of Shen Li’s hand. Their difference in build was especially stark on screen, as if silently compressing the air thick with unspoken tension.
【Hiss ha hiss ha, I’m thirsty】
【No need to say more… They’re truly divine… I wanna see them go at it… They’d be so intense. Qian Xingzhi looks like the type who’d satisfy his wife completely… Cat Cat says east, he wouldn’t dare go west…】
【So the question is: Is the bickering real-couple mode or acted-couple mode?】
【AHHH I’m not asking for the moon! I just wanna know how many years they dated, married, divorced, kissed, and fucked—I’m not being unreasonable, right!?】
【Judging from that marriage certificate photo Qian Xingzhi exposed, they’ve been divorced a long time, at least. The pic looks old, like some naive college kid snapped it.】
【College students: Offended】
【If they married young, maybe they divorced young too? Flash marriage, flash divorce?】
【But look at them… Do they seem long-divorced?】
【It’s acting, duh. Don’t forget Qian Xingzhi’s a five-time award-winning actor—no fluff in his resume.】
【But what’s he getting out of acting this? And the character setup’s too unstable. If it’s for CP hype, shouldn’t it be consistent from start to finish?】
【Can I say something? Whether it’s that bush shot or their current convo, it reeks of scripting.】
【Yeah, yeah, this angle’s weirdly inserted too. Maybe it was premeditated—they knew there’d be a camera there~】
【How’d the vibe turn suspicious all of a sudden… Why’s there always conspiracy theories?】
【Normal. No conspiracies, no internet.】
Before long, a new discussion thread on the forums shot up in popularity, crawling out from the cracks.
Most were posts about Shen Li building his persona or Qian Xingzhi helping Shen Li build his—stuff like that.
One anonymous netizen claiming to be a pure passerby posted a skeptical rant: Shen Li was faking his genius-academic-high-IQ persona to debut and scam money, Qian Xingzhi was hyping and selling off his ex-wife like a product, and their CP script was sloppily written.
In an instant,
ShenLiHighIQAcademicPersona#
QianXingzhiProgramSegmentSetup#
QianXingzhiShenLiCPVibes#
Three hashtags crash-landed on the hot search.
Actually, ever since the second day of the show—not counting launch day—the Program Group had been deliberately controlling the daily hot search topics and buzz, spending to yank down over 50% of them. All to avoid too much heat turning off casual viewers.
Yet “accidents” kept popping up one after another. Luckily, the Program Group’s PR was top-notch, handling each one with lightning speed.
But this time, as the skepticism amplified, no one came forward to clarify or respond right away.
The show rolled on.
Neither Qian Xingzhi’s Weibo nor the Program Group’s official account showed any sign of addressing it.
After all, inside the cabin, Qian Xingzhi had no clue what was brewing outside.
On camera, Qian Xingzhi and Shen Li headed downstairs together at a leisurely pace, then took seats side by side on two angled single sofas—one left, one right.
Arms crossed, long legs stretched out straight.
Matching calm expressions, matching blank faces, matching silence as they stared at the screen displaying the afternoon activity intro.
They’d come down a bit late; the system announcement had been up for a while.
