Shen Li could roughly guess that Qian Xingzhi wanted to remarry him. Otherwise, with Qian Xingzhi’s current level of fame, there was no need for him to appear on this sort of variety show.
But Shen Li was not certain.
Qian Xingzhi had not released a new work in three years. Maybe he had recently stopped making money and wanted to use a variety show to draw attention. Yet Shen Li’s rational mind also knew that this clumsy, forced explanation simply did not hold up—no matter how desperate Qian Xingzhi was for attention, he would not destroy his carefully maintained public image and appear on this kind of program merely to expose his past private life.
And drag Shen Li along with him.
The most likely explanation was exactly what it looked like: Qian Xingzhi genuinely wanted to remarry, and he had actively pushed for this show to happen.
The problem was that Qian Xingzhi’s attitude toward him over the past few years did not look at all like someone who still wanted remarriage. If anything, it resembled the attitude he had during the divorce.
When he called, he had nothing to say.
When he sent a WeChat message, it was three words.
Qian Xingzhi used to be such a chatterbox. Now he acted as if every extra word cost him another fee, wearing an expression as though Shen Li owed him a fortune. It made Shen Li feel conflicted too, so in the end he simply stopped trying to guess what the bastard was doing.
Shen Li did not want to flatter himself and misunderstand the situation.
After all, Shen Li himself had agreed to appear on the show for money.
He had no standing to question what Qian Xingzhi was after. Someone coming on a remarriage show did not necessarily mean they wanted to remarry.
But what Qian Xingzhi had said last night, combined with how he had behaved…
left Shen Li completely unable to sleep.
More precisely, this was one of the extremely rare bouts of insomnia Shen Li had experienced in recent years.
Qian Xingzhi seemed to still like him…
He still liked him, right?
But if he liked Shen Li, why had he divorced him? Why had they gone their separate ways for nearly seven years?
It made no sense.
Shen Li was a staunch materialist. He did not believe love could spontaneously emerge between two people who had no contact with each other.
Back then, Shen Li had been handling a major interprovincial case and had not returned home for half a year when Qian Xingzhi sent him the 《Divorce Agreement》. Shen Li’s first reaction was that his husband was throwing another emotional tantrum at home. He thought he would coax him after the case was over and he returned.
Who could have known that after the case ended and Shen Li came home carrying gifts, he would find half the house emptied out.
The WeChat messages Shen Li sent Qian Xingzhi stopped on the day he received the 《Divorce Agreement》. There were three lines:
【What’s wrong?】
【Be good. I can come home next month. We’ll talk when I’m back.】
【I’m really busy here right now and can’t call you. I’m sorry.】
Qian Xingzhi did not reply with a single word.
He left decisively.
A chill ran down Shen Li’s back. He realized that this time, things might truly be serious.
But Shen Li could not understand it either—mainly because comparison made the pain worse. Why were other people’s spouses understanding and considerate, while his own not only failed to support his work but also created one drama after another every day? Every time Shen Li had leave, coaxing him was more exhausting than going to work. He might as well have stayed on field duty and worked overtime.
Later, Shen Li gradually came to terms with it. People were different from one another, and the intensity of their emotions was not the same either.
He and Qian Xingzhi were fundamentally different people.
Perhaps they had only gotten together back then because they were young and reckless, attracted by appearances. The fact that they had even managed to marry could only be considered a gift of extraordinary luck.
Now, after six years of marriage, the facts had proven that the two of them simply could not live together. That was indisputable.
What else could he do?
Shen Li began thinking more and more practically: Qian Xingzhi was increasingly famous, his assets were growing, and he was nothing like a salaried worker such as Shen Li, who could work himself half to death and still earn only a miserable wage.
So it was perfectly normal for Qian Xingzhi to want a divorce now.
If the feelings between two people were gone and communication was gone too, then there truly was no reason to keep themselves bound together by a marriage certificate. Better for each to walk his own road.
So seven years ago, Shen Li sat in the empty house and waited for three days.
No one came.
Only then did he finally confirm that no one was going to come.
He stopped hesitating, signed the 《Divorce Agreement》, sent it back to Qian Xingzhi’s studio, and did not disturb Qian Xingzhi further.
“Does Qian Xingzhi not love me anymore?”
That had once been the question Shen Li thought about most often during the month of their divorce.
Yet even someone as calm as Shen Li could scroll through Qian Xingzhi’s entire Moments feed without finding a definite answer.
The storms and hardships of ten years together seemed to have become unimportant in the face of reality.
Forget it.
He should give Qian Xingzhi his freedom back.
For example, Shen Li could never forget the grievance in Qian Xingzhi’s eyes whenever he got jealous, the sadness he tried desperately to suppress when Shen Li refused to sleep with him, or the look in his eyes on every Valentine’s Day and anniversary when expectation filled them only to fall empty again—
There was no doubt about it.
Shen Li was not a qualified lover.
Or perhaps it was more accurate to say he knew he simply did not know how to love someone.
From their school days until the divorce, Shen Li had always known with absolute clarity that in his relationship with Qian Xingzhi, he was undoubtedly the one who benefited.
Back then, Qian Xingzhi had already put enormous effort merely into pursuing him—accommodating him, coaxing him, pouring out his heart to show Shen Li wholehearted affection. And what had the result been?
Shen Li’s thoughts drifted. Now he felt his head and right leg aching terribly at the same time.
Everything before his eyes turned into a blur of white. He could not see clearly at all, and he could barely hear what the people beside him were saying.
“Uncle Shen? Uncle Shen?” Geng Qiuqiu asked with a face full of worry. “Uncle Shen, are you okay?”
It took Shen Li a moment to react. He looked at Geng Qiuqiu, then at Lin Jie, and said distractedly, “I’m fine. You two go ahead—Xiao Lin, thanks for the trouble. I’ll treat you to dinner later.”
“Hey, Master, saying that is basically slapping me in the face,” Lin Jie said. “But why do you look even sleepier than I do? What bad thing did you get up to last night? Didn’t sleep well?”
At those words, Shen Li sensitively glanced at Geng Qiuqiu, who was holding back laughter, and coughed several times to cover himself.
“Ahem. No. I slept quite well.”
Lin Jie looked at Shen Li’s leg and shook her head. “You. Take it easy. Once you’re on that show, absolutely don’t force yourself.”
Shen Li laughed. “What is there to force myself about on a variety show? It’s not like I can earn first-class merit there—I’ll just play dumb and coast along.”
“All right. Then we’ll go first? Hurry and get yourself ready. Contact us if anything happens.”
“Mm.”
“Bye, Uncle Shen! I’ll call you at eleven-thirty tonight!”
“No. You go to sleep at ten-thirty.”
Geng Qiuqiu looked deeply unwilling.
Shen Li ignored her and lowered his voice to give Lin Jie an extra instruction. “Check whether she still needs anything for daily life. Buy it for her before school starts. I’m a man, so some things are inconvenient for me—after you buy everything, tell me the amount and I’ll transfer the money to you.”
Lin Jie sighed again, helpless, and lowered her own voice. “Master, look at you, born to worry about everyone—relax a hundred times over. You’re leaving the kid with me. How could anything go wrong? Besides, this girl isn’t related to you by blood, and you’re not her father. Whether she spends your money or mine, what difference does it make?”
Shen Li yawned. “Forget it. I’m heading off to enjoy myself for three hundred thousand a day—you, on your salary, could you scrape together three hundred thousand in a year and a half?”
Lin Jie: “Fuck! Is the production team still hiring?! Even if we take ten thousand steps back, don’t they need someone to scrub the toilets?”
After seeing Geng Qiuqiu and Lin Jie off, Shen Li noticed it was only 7:15. He thought he could eat breakfast at the restaurant first, then go knock on Qian Xingzhi’s door.
Instead, he saw a tall woman with exquisite makeup holding the key card to Qian Xingzhi’s room. She swiped it and walked straight inside.
Click!
The door shut cleanly and crisply.
Shen Li instinctively walked a few steps closer and almost rose onto his toes to peer through the high hallway window.
Then Shen Li’s rational mind clearly and precisely stopped him from doing such a thing.
And what if he saw something?
If she had a key card, she was obviously Qian Xingzhi’s assistant or manager.
Thinking this, Shen Li still did not immediately walk away. He paused for a while outside room 628.
Only when the voices of two people talking came through the door, and he heard the woman reporting Qian Xingzhi’s schedule to him, did Shen Li turn and leave without hesitation. He felt he had truly overthought things to imagine that a star as big as Qian Xingzhi would still need his ex to provide a “wake-up service.”
It did not really count as a blow.
But after this, Shen Li was fully awake. He restrained himself from thinking any more about the drunken nonsense Qian Xingzhi had said and forced himself to recognize reality.
Nine in the morning.
Since the livestream would officially begin at noon, the production team deliberately gathered all the ordinary guests in the hotel conference room early for one general meeting.
There were supposed to be eight guests at the meeting. In reality, only four showed up.
The other three—one man and two women—sat around the round table listening to the field director’s instructions, like examinees hearing test-room rules over a loudspeaker.
At first Shen Li listened carefully. Then he discovered that every single thing the director said had already appeared in the booklet the production team sent beforehand. For example:
Guests may not privately use communication devices;
before “Ex Reveal Day,” guests may not reveal who their ex is;
before “Occupation Reveal Day,” guests may not disclose their occupation or income;
guests may not present a persona that is obviously inconsistent with who they really are, nor deliberately manufacture topics likely to trigger major public controversy for the purpose of hype…
Shen Li had always been quick at memorizing rules and regulations like these. So he closed the booklet, lowered his lashes, and listened only intermittently while casually sizing up the other three people.
Yang Zhiqi, whom he had met in the restaurant yesterday, was absent. Shen Li did not know whether Yang Zhiqi had already learned the meeting content and could not be bothered to come, or whether something had come up at the last minute.
The man beside Shen Li had long legs and broad shoulders. He had probably sprayed cologne, because the expensive scent was a little overpowering. Shen Li could not conveniently stare sideways, but he could vaguely tell the man probably worked out and was around thirty.
Looking straight ahead was easier.
Two female guests sat directly across from him.
One wore a sexy black miniskirt. She was also in her thirties and spent the entire meeting examining her manicure.
Near the end, the beauty complained to the woman beside her:
“So many rules, all just to repeat things for people who didn’t read the booklet—but those lords don’t even bother coming, and the staff don’t do anything about them. Instead, they repeat everything to those of us who follow the rules. Isn’t that completely pointless?”
The girl beside her looked to be only in her early twenties. Her appearance suggested she came from the Guangdong-Guangxi region. Her voice was soft, but the moment she opened her mouth, she started probing into something the production team had forbidden them to ask about:
“Mm… true… Was your last partner the kind of person who didn’t follow rules, big sis?”
“That person was a lunatic. A complete nightmare.”
Shen Li raised an eyebrow, thinking that her ex certainly had something in common with Yang Zhiqi. Could her ex-husband be Yang Zhiqi?
At the time, Shen Li had not yet realized that Yang Zhiqi was far from the only unhinged person on this show.
Then he heard the younger girl say in a sugary voice, “Hehe, then big sis can consider me. I’m very well-behaved~”
The moment she said it, even the chief director, who had been announcing the rules, looked over.
The woman’s voice was extremely coy. Although she had deliberately lowered it, the sentence was still attention-grabbing. At minimum, most of the people in the room had heard it clearly.
Sure enough.
The chief director, interrupted, bristled with irritation, but tried to keep his tone relatively mild as he half-joked and half-warned, “Yes, I know you’re all in a hurry, but don’t be in a hurry—there are fifteen days ahead of you. You’re already flirting now?”
The young woman in a pink dress clasped her hands together. The bow on top of her head trembled with the movement, and she sweetly tried to charm her way out of it. “Sorry, Director. I’ll remember that after we enter the house, we’re supposed to pretend none of us have ever met before—but I really like this big sister. I just wanted to say hello first~”
Same-sex marriage had been legal in the country for thirty years, and society was generally more accepting. Although individuals naturally still had clear gender preferences, the production team had probably deliberately selected several mostly bisexual couples for the sake of the show, making games and partner matching easier.
Otherwise, someone like Shen Li, who had married a man, would stand out as extremely unusual in a group of exclusively heterosexual people.
That was why Shen Li had checked the guest gender ratio. There were four ordinary male guests and four ordinary female guests. Add Qian Xingzhi and another studio guest of currently unknown gender, and the male-to-female ratio would be either 5+1:4 or 5:4+1. However one calculated it, it did not feel as though there would be many exclusively lesbian participants.
The director laughed. “Oh, give it a rest, Ke Jiujiu. Only you and one other man checked ‘not bisexual’ on the questionnaire, and you’re the only person who said you couldn’t accept dating someone of the same sex. So what are you doing seducing another woman here?—A straight girl pretending to be queer deserves to be struck by lightning.”
Ke Jiujiu smiled ingratiatingly. “Hehe. When I filled out that form, wasn’t I just showing loyalty to my ex-husband bro?”
As Ke Jiujiu chatted with the director, Shen Li’s brain also started turning:
Only one man and one woman had checked “not bisexual.”
Yet only Ke Jiujiu had said she “did not want to date someone of the same sex.”
Then the man who had also chosen “not bisexual” could only be a gay man who had selected “cannot accept dating someone of the opposite sex.”
What Shen Li mainly did not know was whether Qian Xingzhi had been given this questionnaire. If Qian Xingzhi had participated, then it was entirely possible the other person was Qian Xingzhi. That would allow Shen Li to basically determine the sexual-orientation distribution among the guests.
But just as Shen Li followed his professional habits and analyzed the situation this far, he suddenly stopped—
Was there any need?
He was participating in a variety show, not profiling criminal suspects.
Shen Li immediately shut off his brain and stopped thinking. He sighed and narrowed his eyes as though entering meditation, when in reality he was nearly asleep.
After dozing for about twenty minutes, the director announced, “All right. We’ve gone over the rules again. Now, please go to the post-interview rooms for your pre-interviews. The production team has prepared some questions for later promotional materials—Xiao Cai, take Ke Jiujiu; Liu Chuan, take Li Weiwei; Xiao Sun, take Jiang Nan; Xiao Chen, you still take Shen Li.”
After listening to the chief director rattle on for ages, Shen Li’s temples felt swollen. He thought work was work no matter where one worked, and this was much easier than his old job. He could sit in a soft, comfortable sofa under cool air-conditioning, answer a few questions from the director, let the camera operator film him for a bit, and make two hundred thousand a day.
So Shen Li stood up cheerfully and followed Xiao Chen to the pre-interview room, generously saying, “Relax. Ask whatever you want.”
Xiao Chen was the field director who had taken his promotional photos before, the same young woman Yang Zhiqi had made things difficult for yesterday.
Seeing Shen Li, the young woman indeed smiled more and relaxed considerably. “All right, Mr. Shen. Then we’ll begin.”
After that,
Shen Li sat properly in front of the camera.
His cool, refined brows and eyes and resolute gaze were breathtakingly beautiful through the lens, while his expression looked as solemn as if he were about to join the Party.
But the very first question Xiao Chen asked nearly made Shen Li freeze solid:
“Mr. Shen, your ex wrote on his questionnaire that he believes ‘sexual incompatibility’ was the main reason for your divorce, accounting for more than fifty percent. Do you agree?”