Qian Xingzhi let out a cold laugh. Shen Li only felt that fluffy head rubbing against the side of his ear unbearably itchy.
So, Shen Li couldn’t hold back either.
He turned his face with an expressionless look and rubbed Qian Xingzhi’s head fairly forcefully. He instinctively let out a sigh.
“Nice acting. No more pretending next time—”
The words had barely left his mouth.
Qian Xingzhi’s irritable yet passionate kiss cut off the rest of the sentence, crashing down violently in an instant.
Even that plundering kiss carried the taste of blood, but Shen Li had to admit that compared to Qian Xingzhi’s clumsy skills in bed, the man really knew how to kiss—even in his most furious, most out-of-control moments.
His tongue tip pried open Shen Li’s teeth, tracing the sensitive spots inside his mouth.
And in the instant Shen Li tilted his head back, trying to lean away, Qian Xingzhi gripped his waist again. He dragged Shen Li toward the edge of the bed and suddenly clamped a hand on his jaw just as it started to close, making it easier for an even more ferocious invasion.
Shen Li started feeling irritable from the kiss, mostly because he couldn’t catch his breath.
His heart seemed to have been yanked up into his throat, hovering there without daring to beat. He even held his breath, reduced to passively taking it all, but Qian Xingzhi apparently wasn’t satisfied. He wanted to deepen it further…
The man had impressive lung capacity.
Even many years later—decades later—when Shen Li looked back on this day, he could still clearly remember the alarmed beeping of the monitors and the warning of low blood oxygen saturation levels. Qian Xingzhi’s eyes had been wide with a hint of panicked fluster.
Qian Xingzhi pulled back half an inch. Pretending to stay calm, he fixed Shen Li with a deathly stare. “…Why aren’t you breathing?”
Shen Li: .
Finally freed from that suffocating embrace, Shen Li’s gray-black pupils darkened. He still remembered the theme of their conversation that day.
Shen Li asked, “You said you were… pretending. What exactly were you pretending about?”
Qian Xingzhi let out another cold laugh and didn’t reply.
Instead, he straightened up and took half a step back. Looming over Shen Li, he looked down at him.
Shen Li’s eyelids drooped. Combining this with Qian Xingzhi’s strange question a few days ago about his “ideal type”…
After a long moment, Shen Li’s calm voice continued. “Not willing to say?”
“Hmph. Say what? What do you want me to say?”
Qian Xingzhi responded lazily. His low, cold voice took on an even more haughty, pretentious edge, but the words that came out weren’t polite at all. “Should I say that I fucking couldn’t stand it a long time ago and had to pretend like I wasn’t interested or happy around you, like I wanted to keep my distance? Or that I fucking couldn’t hold back from wanting to touch you, kiss you, fuck you—but had to put on the most aloof face every single day?”
Shen Li: .
Shen Li took a moment to parse that run-on sentence. His frown deepened. “Who told you to put on an act? Does the entertainment industry have quotas for that kind of thing?”
“Bullshit quotas,” Qian Xingzhi said. He wore that world-weary expression as he sat down on the edge of Shen Li’s bed during the conversation. He stretched out his fluffy head and sniffed at Shen Li. “I thought you liked that type.”
Shen Li: .
Shen Li’s brows knitted tighter and tighter. After pondering for a good while, he said coldly, “I like dogs. Why don’t you pretend to be a dog?”
It sounded like an insult.
But it was undeniable—one person’s lips had curved up just a touch.
–
Meanwhile.
In Yang Zhiqi’s livestream room.
[What? You say Qian Xingzhi was pretending? Pretending what?]
[Obviously the whole thing from the stream just now—rushing to sit next to Shen Li first and snatching that gift card. You guys really think that was Qian Xingzhi being himself?]
[Not himself, so rushing to sit by Shen Li means he gets paid or something?!]
[Qian Xingzhi’s been high-and-mighty and low-key for so many years. You guys aren’t scared now that he’s suddenly like this?]
[And didn’t Yang Zhiqi just say Qian Xingzhi was acting lol]
The official livestream had only just shut down when Yang Zhiqi fired up his personal one.
According to the rules for tonight’s task, any contestant who didn’t receive a gift card would face elimination tomorrow. The audience would vote out the member of the cabins deemed “least likely to find a partner on the show.”
But today, Zhen Tian and Jiang Nan had voted for each other, Kris and Li Weiwei had done the same, and with the two pairs openly wanting to remarry… Yang Zhiqi, who had tossed his vote to Zhou Yulin, had ended up with nothing. Throwing flirtatious glances at a blind man got him zero gift cards—no need for a vote. By noon tomorrow, Yang Zhiqi could pack his bags and head home.
So.
Yang Zhiqi grabbed his phone and started an impromptu late-night personal livestream with zero warning.
In the frame, he sat alone at the cabin bar counter. He poured himself a tall glass of red wine and played the part of a heartbroken soul drowning his sorrows late at night.
The official stream had just ended, so plenty of viewers flooded in, eager for more entertainment.
A tidal wave of traffic poured in, and Yang Zhiqi couldn’t suppress the grin tugging at his lips.
He took a sip of wine and sighed.
“Zhou Yulin didn’t pick me. I’m actually pretty bummed about it.” Yang Zhiqi wiped at his crocodile tears and sniffled. “But it’s fine. I wish them all the best.”
[…]
[No one told me this show was this hilarious]
Yang Zhiqi swiped away his nonexistent tears and eyed his skyrocketing follower count. He cleared his throat. “Brothers who haven’t followed yet, hit that follow button for your host. Got any questions? Fire ’em in the chat. I’ll answer what I can. What I can’t say, I really can’t say.”
[What can’t you say?]
“Stuff covered by the NDA.”
[Then isn’t streaming now breaking the NDA?]
Yang Zhiqi put up his hands in innocence. “Nah, it doesn’t violate anything. The agreement doesn’t cover this. It only says you can’t use your phone during restricted times. Now that Director Cao’s gone, we can use them all we want—hey hey hey? Easy on the chat, don’t get too nasty. I’m out tomorrow for sure, so I’m just seizing my last chance to drop some fan service. How’s that riding coattails?”
[So what did you mean about Qian Xingzhi pretending?]
[You’re handing out welfare and dragging others into it?]
[Yeah, are you even close with Qian Xingzhi? Probably not. Did you get his okay to say that?]
Yang Zhiqi watched as “Qian Xingzhi” lit up the chat. It only confirmed what he thought—
Sure enough, riding the wave of someone like Qian Xingzhi, who already pulled massive traffic, was the way to go with his leaks. He’d tested the waters earlier with Zhen Tian’s personal quirks and privacy—apart from the hate calling him [disgusting], barely anyone cared.
So, Yang Zhiqi locked in his angle.
He cleared his throat lightly and took a sip of wine.
“You guys didn’t watch the official stream? I won’t say much else. Any old Qian Xingzhi fans in chat? Tell me—have you ever seen him act like that?”
[…]
[Never have lol shattered]
“Haha, see? These days, the doting husband persona is all the rage. Nobody wants aloof ice king anymore.” Yang Zhiqi spoke meaningfully. “Let me tell you, Qian Xingzhi’s got some performance in him on this show—remember The Strongest Brain? Want the inside scoop on that one?”
[! What inside scoop?!]
[Did Shen Li pick the right number because he already knew the answer?]
[…I always thought that show was kinda off. The director flipping sides was weird too. And what was up with those two girls’ eyes?]
Yang Zhiqi said, “I thought it was weird at the time too. I looked into it later. Guess what?”
[?]
Yang Zhiqi drained his glass. “It was all scripted ahead of time. But haha, Zhen Tian guessed wrong. It wasn’t just to prop up Shen Li as the smart guy. It was to show off Qian Xingzhi doting on his partner—see, whatever Shen Li’s into, Qian Xingzhi’s got it ready.
“It was supposed to be revealed on day ten of the show—but hey, no harm in spilling now. That show’s a bust anyway, script’s scrapped. Just a little tea for everyone, yeah?
“I’m out tomorrow anyway. No one’s off-limits, haha.”
Once Yang Zhiqi finished, the chat erupted in a frenzy of outrage.
Most of it swirled around Qian Xingzhi’s “doting husband persona” and him “acting up” on his own variety show.
Plenty bought it.
Those believers were mostly Yang Zhiqi’s male fans in the stream anyway—guys who already sneered at reality show antics and were itching to poke holes.
Yang Zhiqi had given them the opening, so they jumped in, spewing venom right back at the skeptics who dismissed it as one-sided bullshit.
As the debate raged, waves of Yang Zhiqi fans started blasting the show’s format. They even dragged those two pairs of eyes into it.
[Those kids’ eyes as child actors? …Hiss, scripted some sob story? Where’d Qian Xingzhi dig up those two?]
[He slept with ’em, haha]
[The industry’s full of rent boys. Probably Qian Mou’s personal stash]
The internet’s long-suppressed trolls finally had a playground to vent. The mods stood by idly, only banning the most blatant potty mouths.
For a moment, riding that wave of heat…
Yang Zhiqi’s stream shot up the regional popularity rankings.
Before long.
His name started climbing Weibo’s hot search trends.
…
By the time Shen Li learned of the fiasco, it was the next morning.
He unlocked his phone, and there were already 99+ notifications.
Shen Li’s brows lifted slightly. He tapped open Guan Ning’s chat first:
[Guan Ning]: [Didn’t you see that Yang guy this morning?]
[Guan Ning]: [Tell him]
[Guan Ning]: [Let him keep jumping for one more day, or I’ll eat my name backwards]
Shen Li was baffled and fired off a question mark.
He had just hit send when he spotted the hot searches.
Qian Xingzhi Doting Husband Persona#
Qian Xingzhi Suspected of Sleeping with New Actors#
