Those few shots from Shen Li can be said to siphon a little traffic away from Qian Xingzhi’s explosively popular trending topics and let some pressure off them.
The show has been airing for only five hours, yet the trending rankings are like spring chives: one crop has not even finished being cut before another grows up.
Geng Qiuqiu is like an animal loose in a melon field. She finishes browsing one topic, swipes away, and immediately discovers a new trending tag—and every single one interests her!
—Does anyone understand this kind of happiness?
Here she is, lying on a folding bed with one leg crossed over the other, both thumbs flying over the keyboard. A strange smile hangs on her face. Carrying several old tags she has already browsed repeatedly and the newly exploding tags about Shen Li, she rapidly posts:
【@ItsGoodQiuqiuNotBadQiuqiu: #QianXingzhiHasDatedOnePerson #ShenLiShooting #ShenLiSoHandsome [drool] Wow wow wow [drool] Does anyone else think Shen Li and Best Actor Qian look super compatible! A feast for face-lovers, right?! Any photo-editing master want to make them a wedding photo?!】
The Weibo post goes out and is quickly buried beneath the real-time trending traffic without receiving a single reply or like.
She does not care at all and continues happily.
After producing several more 【Shen Li × Qian Xingzhi】 shipping posts in the same way, Geng Qiuqiu discovers that although a small number of netizens are still discussing how Qian Xingzhi’s gaze toward Shen Li seemed a little strange, and how his reaction when Shen Li’s injured leg was mentioned looked most like that of an ex-husband, sharp-eyed netizens like these are ultimately a minority. Their comments are drowned in the frantic comment-control efforts of Qian Xingzhi’s girlfriend fans, so scattered that barely a few can be found. Ordinary passersby who originally sensed something ambiguous between the two also become too lazy to post—summed up:
For now, almost nobody is firmly shipping this pair!
But so what!!!
Who is she, Geng Qiuqiu?
She, Geng Qiuqiu, is someone who has seen the big world through a peephole!
Today! Since Best Actor Qian dared to pin her Uncle Shen against the door in the middle of the night, kiss him on one side and lick him on the other!
Tomorrow! She has every reason to believe this married couple’s ship will absolutely produce sugar!
Does it matter that this ship is currently in the Arctic Circle of rarepairs?
It does not!
—Buy stock now, no regrets! Sooner or later it will become the dominant ship!
Does it matter that the ship has no fanworks?
Even less!
The hands of working people were born to produce food!
Who doesn’t know how to cook for a fandom?
Isn’t it just photo editing, drawing, writing fic, and making edits?
Even if she cannot do it now, she can learn! At the very least, it has to be easier than the mathematics section of the college entrance exam, right?
Geng Qiuqiu springs upright like a carp. She checks the time, puts rice in the steamer, washes the side dishes so Aunt Lin can cook as soon as she gets home, then cleans every surface and floor in the house that can be wiped or mopped, while carefully leaving all personal belongings exactly where they were.
After finishing everything, Geng Qiuqiu checks the time and simply opens a photo-editing tutorial on AcFun. She plays the livestream of 《Triggered? Ex-Husband Bro》 on Aunt Lin’s computer while playing an editing tutorial on her own phone, attacking both sides at once and watching happily.
At precisely this moment,
the production team suddenly switches the largest camera feed back to the observation studio, which has been absent for an hour.
The first image in the livestream is Qian Xingzhi’s flawlessly handsome face!
Geng Qiuqiu’s hand trembles. She hurriedly uses the screen-recording function she just learned, planning to save footage for future material, and by sheer luck records Yao Shuang asking Qian Xingzhi for his evaluation of Shen Li’s performance:
“Very dazzling.”
When Qian Xingzhi says those three words, his face is cool and handsome, his expression firm. Yet on closer inspection, his Adam’s apple rolls faintly. His gaze remains fixed on Shen Li on the screen without shifting even for a moment, and the eyes that are normally devoid of warmth reveal a trace of softness. Yao Shuang is just about to respond when Qian Xingzhi, unusually, steals the conversational turn and cannot restrain himself from squeezing out six more words:
“Very beautiful. Very good-looking.”
“Uh.” Yao Shuang smiles ambiguously, not forgetting to keep acting and tease Qian Xingzhi. “I know my ex-husband is good-looking. What, you like him too?”
“Hmph.”
Qian Xingzhi lifts his chin slightly. An inexplicable pleasure appears in his proud eyes, and his incomparably handsome features can no longer assemble the solemn expression of someone determined to join the Party.
His gaze never leaves Shen Li as he says as if it were self-evident, “No one would dislike Shen Li unless they were blind.”
As soon as Qian Xingzhi says this, the other observation-studio guests also begin praising Shen Li’s outstanding appearance and shooting ability, one after another. At the same time, however, considerable unrest breaks out among Qian Xingzhi’s fans.
Has Qian Xingzhi ever praised anyone?
According to incomplete statistics, there is no recorded case in domestic entertainment.
Qian Xingzhi has always been a man of few words, his face cold as ice, and ever since becoming famous he has disliked speaking even more. Fans who followed all his variety appearances and watched every leaked set clip have the most authority to say so.
Forget praising someone—there are very few people Qian Xingzhi even deigns to hold in his eyes.
Often, after finishing a production, Qian Xingzhi remembers only the character name of his scene partner and not the actor’s real name.
Put positively, he focuses on the work and disdains playing social games.
Put negatively, he looks down on everyone and is excessively self-centered.
But the man has extraordinary achievements to speak for him and his family background behind him. With that cold, detached temperament, Qian Xingzhi can genuinely run rampant through the entertainment industry.
So in all these years of interview footage, who has ever heard Qian Xingzhi say someone was “very dazzling”?
No one.
Qian Xingzhi only looks at himself in the mirror.
Has anyone ever heard him call someone “very good-looking” or “very beautiful”?
No one.
Whenever the media asks him things like how attractive a scene partner is or which style of actress he prefers, Qian Xingzhi habitually stands beneath the glow of the red flag, gaze as determined as though he is about to join the Party, and says:
“I’m face-blind.”
“They all look about the same.”
So ordinary passersby may not think anything of Qian Xingzhi saying another person is good-looking. People who do not know Qian Xingzhi would simply assume he admires this male guest and casually gave a compliment. Everyone admires strength and beauty, after all, and Shen Li really is impressive.
But Qian Xingzhi’s own veteran fan-site admins are genuinely close to losing it.
They understand Qian Xingzhi best! Did Qian Xingzhi get his brain crushed by a door???
Why did he suddenly look like a dead tree meeting spring or an iron tree finally blooming, showing that disgusting gaze and saying things completely contrary to his personality?!?
Not long afterward.
The 【Love Qian Support Club】 fan group.
As the show grows hotter and hotter, a wave of condemnation against the production team silently erupts:
【Fuck, they definitely gave my brother a script, right? Otherwise why has he acted like there’s something wrong with his brain all afternoon???】
【He’s getting gayer and gayer. Maybe he really should drink some Chinese medicine and regulate himself.】
【Based on my many years watching variety shows, there’s definitely a script. Ironclad script.】
【Exactly. Why panic? Sisters, don’t panic.】
【+1! Those of you who became fans later don’t have experience. As an old fan, let me say this: I’ve attended every film premiere he’s ever held. He’s simply extremely professional. Since he signed the contract, he’ll definitely perform whatever the script requires. [rose]】
【Sisters, hearing you say that makes me feel relieved. You have no idea—I was so scared when he said those four ones that I almost unfollowed him.】
【Ah~ sister~ if your psychological endurance is this weak, I don’t recommend loving Qian~ After all, he is the celebrity least likely to care what fans think.】
【He never sells products, never adds commercial endorsements, and doesn’t need fans to manufacture buzz for him. So honestly, even if he really got married, I’d understand and support him. He never asked people to become girlfriend fans in the first place.】
【What kind of nonsense is this? Don’t let outsiders lead you astray. He’s just participating in a normal variety show. There’s no way he really got married and divorced. The production team is just creating effects.】
【Then I have one question. This variety show has nothing to do with acting. So why did he participate and accept a script like this? You all know his personality. If he didn’t want to do it, who could force him?】
……
The lively fan group suddenly falls silent.
Fifteen seconds.
Thirty seconds.
Finally someone throws in a link to change the subject:
【Link: 《The Script in “Triggered? Ex-Husband Bro” Is Way Too Obvious! Problems Everywhere on Day One! Entertainment Shuttle Counts Down the Script Holes in “Triggered? Ex-Husband Bro”!》】
So at around six that evening, the two words #Scripted# suddenly explode and are pushed onto the trending rankings without warning.
—
Shen Li, being inside the situation, notices none of it.
He only feels that his leg hurts.
Objectively speaking, Shen Li’s day has been fairly comfortable. He took two paid naps, woke up and got to touch a gun, then hit the target with all eight rounds. Within the allowed time he produced 69 kilograms of prey, which counts as a modest show-off moment. Since leaving the unit, he truly has not felt this kind of exhilarating accomplishment or the blood-deep fierceness surging through him so strongly.
The pleasure a gun gives Shen Li still cannot be matched by anything else.
But the price is equally clear.
His leg hurts badly.
“Shen Li! You were way too amazing~ Thank you for saving our dinner!” Ke Jiujiu bounces over, the bow on her head bobbing like a lively rabbit. Her voice is sweet too. “If it weren’t for you, we might not even have been able to go on dates tonight~”
Shen Li barely pulls the corner of his lips into a smile. “You should thank Li Weiwei too.”
“Oh, right,” Ke Jiujiu says. “I wonder whether she’ll still get paid after you two switched like that. If she doesn’t, whoever has the most money among us can give her some.”
Shen Li: “?”
Indeed, Shen Li had already planned to split some of the money with Li Weiwei and Zhao Yunzhi, but hearing Ke Jiujiu say it like that makes a streak of rebellion rise in him instead. He is just about to speak when a male voice says:
“Just shut your mouth. Useless and talkative.”
It is Lin Xu, walking behind Ke Jiujiu while carrying two guns.
Ke Jiujiu puts her hands on her hips. “What~? You’re so mean!”
Lin Xu says in disgust, “If someone has more money, they have to give it away? What gives you the right to demand things from other people? I could say you contributed nothing. Does that mean you should be the one paying?”
Ke Jiujiu is stumped. She pouts, grabs Shen Li’s arm, and presses herself against him. “Teacher Shen~ Look at this person! He’s so aggressive~ Can’t he say things nicely? Not gentle at all~”
Expressionless, Shen Li pulls his arm free and pushes Ke Jiujiu a little farther away. “Really? I think he’s quite gentle.”
Ke Jiujiu: “??”
Shen Li’s sparse lashes tremble. He is basically certain Ke Jiujiu and Lin Xu used to be a couple, so he points out, “He even carried your gun for you.”
Yet Ke Jiujiu seems not to sense Shen Li’s coldness at all and presses close again without much sense of boundaries. “Mm, but I like Teacher Shen’s type better~”
Shen Li: “……”
What kind of logic is going on in this person’s head?
Then Ke Jiujiu invites him: “—Teacher Shen, how about you go on a date with me tonight?”
Shen Li refuses without the slightest hesitation. “No.”
Ke Jiujiu is fairly attractive, an eight-out-of-ten beauty, and her personality is outgoing. Whenever she has proactively approached a man before, none has directly rejected her.
So although she had imagined Shen Li might not like her type and might tactfully turn her down, she never expected him to refuse this decisively in front of the camera, leaving her practically no face at all.
“Aiya~ Teacher Shen, you’ll make me sad if you act like this. I admire you so much—you’re way better than my ex. I mean it~”
No man dislikes praise. As the saying goes, you do not slap a smiling face.
So Ke Jiujiu deliberately praises Shen Li with a hint of flirtation right in front of Lin Xu, who failed to hunt anything, intending to needle Lin Xu a little too.
Who would have thought Shen Li would only cast Lin Xu a flat glance, suppress his irritation and pain, then look at Ke Jiujiu again with a slight frown and say coldly:
“But I think you’re better suited to Yang Zhiqi.”
That is an angle Ke Jiujiu has never imagined.
“Huh?” Ke Jiujiu looks confused, her large eyes blinking. In a sweet, ingratiating voice, she humbly asks, “Why? Why Brother Yang?”
Shen Li says, “You both talk a lot. You can talk at each other.”