After Assistant Xu made another call, Lou Wuchen arrived quickly.
When he took Su Xilan away, it was like carrying off a little rabbit with red eyes, a trembling body, and barely any life left.
Su Xilan still had tears in his eyes. He looked as though he had endured for a long time and several times wanted to ask Shen Li for his WeChat, but in the end he lowered his head and said nothing more.
As the staff gradually dispersed to handle their own matters, only two people remained in the room: Shen Li and Qian Xingzhi.
On this summer evening, the last light of sunset spilled through the half-closed window. An indescribable, stifling heat hung in the air.
Shen Li stood beside the window with his back to Qian Xingzhi and did not speak for a long time.
Against the sunset, his figure looked especially tall and slender, almost blending into the gradually darkening sky.
Qian Xingzhi sat on a chair to the side. His fingers unconsciously tapped the table with soft “tap, tap” sounds. He coldly watched Shen Li’s back as though looking at a phone and did not break the silence first.
Until the light and shadow seemed to overlap with a summer more than a decade ago, and even the flying insects circled through the same second.
Shen Li finally stopped watching to see whether the car carrying Su Xilan had left. He turned back and looked faintly at Qian Xingzhi.
“Aren’t you supposed to be in the observation room? Why are you here?”
“Mm.” Qian Xingzhi nodded. “I told them I caught a cold and came out to take some medicine.”
“Did you take it?”
Qian Xingzhi gave an amused breath. “…Shouldn’t you be asking why I caught a cold?”
“No need to ask,” Shen Li said calmly and somewhat heartlessly. “If you came to the production team’s low-rise housing at that time last night, there was probably only cold water left—you took a twenty-minute cold shower.”
And took photos.
Qian Xingzhi: …
Shen Li’s analysis was entirely correct and contained not one shred of concern.
Qian Xingzhi only needed to hear half of it to know Shen Li was probably dissatisfied over Su Xilan’s “accident” and had likely extended some responsibility to Qian Xingzhi as an investor.
Qian Xingzhi’s gaze dimmed another degree, partly because of his own oversight and partly because of Shen Li’s extraordinary sense of responsibility.
“He’s an adult and should be responsible for his own behavior. Even if he were still a child, I’m not his guardian.”
Shen Li narrowed his eyes slightly. The scene he had imagined did not occur.
Qian Xingzhi did not ask him for comfort or reveal any hint of acting spoiled. Instead, he remained cold and detached, defining and separating his own relationship with Su Xilan and their respective responsibilities.
Like an unlucky university advisor dragged out of a meeting to clean up some unfortunate student’s mess.
Annoyed, indifferent, but still forced to preserve some dignity.
Shen Li nodded and instinctively took a step backward. His tone remained mild as he asked, “So you had absolutely no idea what Su Xilan planned to do.”
“Of course.”
“Including that speech yesterday?”
“…” Qian Xingzhi gave a cold snort. His long fingers stopped tapping the table and his brows drew deeper. “—Everything he said was what I was going to say. Don’t tell me Captain Shen suspects I arranged all those theatrics for him?”
Shen Li: …
Following ordinary logic, Shen Li truly thought neither direction made sense. But Su Xilan’s extreme behavior and abnormal persistence still made people instinctively wonder whether he had been handed some attention-grabbing script.
Now, after meeting him once and combining it with what Su Xilan had said, Shen Li finally understood the rough cause and effect.
“Weren’t you… coworkers before?”
“Yeah. So what?”
Shen Li ignored Qian Xingzhi’s slightly chilly tone and only caught the logical gap in the situation.
“…If Su Xilan truly wanted to meet me, couldn’t he have gone through you? Why would something like today happen?”
The moment he finished,
Shen Li looked at Qian Xingzhi and saw the man’s brows genuinely drawn heavily together. His dark, lightless eyes seemed filled with adult indifference and unconcern.
“Oh. And?”
The man’s slightly hoarse voice contained irritation. “If he asked, I had to tell him? Then next, should I print your WeChat on business cards and hand them to everyone who has designs on you?”
…
?
Shen Li froze slightly, his brows drawing tighter.
Qian Xingzhi continued in a hoarse, businesslike tone:
“Still, this time I failed to look deeply enough into his intentions before letting him into the observation room. That really was my oversight. It won’t happen again.”
Shen Li only felt that too many things had happened today. Nothing major, yet countless tiny fragments seemed repeatedly sucked into his throat and down into his lungs, making him faintly itchy and chest-tight without anything to cough out.
“Got it. Handle it as you see fit.” Shen Li looked away indifferently.
“Mm.”
Qian Xingzhi answered distractedly. In the end, he still asked quite normally, “Which room are you sleeping in tonight? If you stay in yesterday’s room again, are we still keeping the call connected?”
Shen Li had actually been considering that question since morning, but he did not seem to have many choices. He could hardly share a room with one of the women, and among the remaining three male guests, there were not many people he could choose as a roommate either.
“Probably,” Shen Li said.
Two seconds later, he added, “If you don’t want to stay connected, I can ask Lin Xu. I think his room is…”
“—I never said I didn’t want to.”
Before Shen Li could finish, Qian Xingzhi forcefully cut him off in a hoarse voice, sounding faintly unconcerned. “Of course, if you want to share a room with someone else, I can also not call.”
…?
Shen Li’s brows furrowed deeply. His intuition kept telling him something was wrong with Qian Xingzhi. Otherwise, why did the atmosphere now feel even stranger than before they went to sleep last night?
Qian Xingzhi had suddenly become distant and indifferent, yet it genuinely…
made Shen Li feel awkward and restless.
As though some sticky, invisible adhesive existed in the air and had suddenly sealed the mouth and smeared over the eyes of the vivid, real Qian Xingzhi. The person in front of Shen Li therefore seemed completely inconsistent with himself and uncomfortable in his own skin.
Shen Li felt as though he could barely see him clearly anymore…
Even the features in Shen Li’s memory seemed to be blurring—
There was no way around it.
Time had already pulled them far apart.
Shen Li watched Qian Xingzhi’s calm, deep eyes for only a little while before taking his leave. “We’ll talk tonight, then. Rest a bit.”
Without waiting for Qian Xingzhi to answer, he turned and left directly.
Qian Xingzhi stared at that tall, thin back for a long time. Only after Shen Li’s silhouette disappeared completely did his straight spine slowly relax and his body rise from the broken chair.
The slanting sun spilled over him and gradually dispersed the gloomy atmosphere. Even the corner of his mouth lifted almost imperceptibly.
“…Boss? Are you done?”
—Meaning: had he come out of character?
Qian Xingzhi’s face immediately turned stern again as he continued implementing work in a cold tone. “Did the program’s official account issue the statement? What are viewers saying?”
“Oh. Most viewers are asking what the ‘personal reason’ was. Do we need to help make something up on our side?”
“No.” Qian Xingzhi instructed expressionlessly. “Make Su Xilan invent it himself.”
“Okay,” the assistant continued. “Director Li also asked: now that Su Xilan has withdrawn, who will voice the Butler System tonight? A staff member? Actually, if it weren’t for the later bonus footage, a staff member could act as the butler for half a day…”
“I’ll do it.”
“All right, Boss. And last night’s call recording? They’ve finished editing it. Should it be released now?”
“No need to release it anymore.”
“Oh. Then the extra payment…?”
“Pay it. They already rushed the work.” Qian Xingzhi waved a large hand and transferred money directly to his assistant. “Send them a bonus. Send the recording to me first. I’ll listen to it.”
=
Online Comment Section
[Ahhh this smells so good! Look, doesn’t the person taking Broccoli out of Shen Li’s arms look like Qian Xingzhi?]
[Holy shit! Look at this recording too! Last night Shen Li disappeared at the strawberry garden, suspected private meeting with Qian Xingzhi for forty minutes.]
[He does look a bit similar, but don’t get too shipper-brained. Reality isn’t an idol drama.]
[Truth requires no argument. [smile] Just wait and see whether Qian Xingzhi really is Shen Li’s ex. [smile]]
[I’m starting to suspect this whole show is a setup. [laughing-crying] Did Qian Xingzhi create it to chase his wife back? [laughing-crying]]
[Ah, looking at it like this, they really do match.]
[I’m going to vote for Qian Xingzhi too.]
[But Qian Xingzhi’s girlfriend fans and the Qian Xingzhi/Su Xilan shippers are starting to go completely insane. [prayer hands]]
[What happened to them?]
[They just joined forces and raided the “Between Xing and Li” supertopic! Huge scene.]
[Such a major Best Actor suddenly getting exposed as having a former sister-in-law… his fans really are pitiful.]
[Pitiful what? Qian never pandered to fans and never marketed a ship with Su Xilan either. If people insisted on dreaming, what exactly is pitiful?]
[Xiao Li kiss kiss, Xiao Li kiss kiss qwq. Shen Kitty, stay far away from all disputes okay qwq. Let’s be beautiful alone qwq]
[Speaking of which… is nobody concerned about why Su Xilan suddenly ran into the cold-storage room? That was so unhinged…]
[It really was confusing. Other people are remarrying and he’s over here singing and dancing. [laughing-crying]]
[The key thing is he doesn’t even get money. If it were for show effect, fine, but now he got removed from the program. What was the point?]
[Either he became obsessed, or it’s a romantic tribulation brought by his luck cycle. I’ll calculate his Eight Characters later.]
[Wonderful, we’re saved. Want to calculate zodiac signs, tarot, and Zi Wei Dou Shu too?]
[It’s over, all of you are over. Arrest every feudal superstition practitioner. [clown]]
[Then what about tonight’s date? Will Shen Li date someone else?]
[The vote doesn’t end until 23:59. Ex-Husband Bro can only enter tomorrow.]
[That’s good too. [thumbs-up] Watch Shen Kitty date someone else right under Ex-Husband Bro’s nose. [thumbs-up]]
[I also want to watch Shen Li sleep in the same room as someone else. [thumbs-up] Just thinking about it feels amazing.]
[Then it really matches the title: Triggered? Ex-Husband Bro.]
=
After dinner, Shen Li returned to his room.
Looking at the ten thousand in virtual currency that had appeared in the iPad System, his brows furrowed. He genuinely could not relax.
Yesterday, he rejected five date invitations and spent three thousand.
Then he paid six thousand in rent, leaving him three thousand in debt. He had already been forced to take out a loan to rent a room.
Although the housing costs here were entirely invented by the program and had nothing to do with real currency or prices,
people from salaried backgrounds like Shen Li had the common problem that watching strings of numbers enter and leave an account felt incredibly real. He still wanted to condemn it with one sentence:
Too expensive.
Whether renting or buying.
The ten thousand earned from today’s daytime activity would soon have six thousand deducted again.
Only four thousand left…
Shen Li was calculating when he heard someone running over outside with rapid tap-tap-tap-tap footsteps, like a whirlwind.
Shen Li looked up. Lin Xu stood in front of him grinning broadly. He was already different from their first meeting, apparently having adapted to the environment and loosened up. He did not even call Shen Li “Brother Shen” anymore. He opened with:
“Shen Li! Can I discuss something with you?”
Shen Li blinked. “Mm.”
“My room is a standard twin room with two beds. Why don’t you sleep with me?”
Shen Li: …
“Okay? Mainly I think my rent is more expensive than everyone else’s now. It’s 4,400 a day, and one whole bed is empty. It’s such a waste.”
Shen Li frowned, thought for a moment, and had not yet answered when Lin Xu added:
“I asked everyone else too, but aside from me, the people getting the worst deal are you and Yunzhi. But Yunzhi’s a woman, so I can only come ask you! Good thing you’re a man!”
Shen Li felt helpless.
“…My ex is also a man.”
“Oh, oh, I know, I know. You mean you’re gay. But I don’t mind—I know you’re not interested in me anyway, and that questionnaire I filled out was just to be polite. I’m not really into men either.”
Shen Li: …
“Come on, Shen Li. Just stay one night. We’ll both save some money.”
Shen Li drew a deep breath, thought for a moment, and said mildly, “Wait for now. Let me think about it.”
“Okay!” Lin Xu turned cheerfully. “Then I’ll wash myself all nice and clean and warm your bed! You have to come find me, Shen Li!”
Shen Li: .
What kind of psychedelic straight-man line was that…
After Lin Xu left, Shen Li lowered his head and stared at the balance on his iPad for a few more moments, but ultimately narrowed his eyes and closed the page.
The conversation he had with Qian Xingzhi not long ago uncontrollably collided with his thoughts again.
Shen Li was good at analyzing details.
So he could roughly sense that when Qian Xingzhi asked about staying connected tonight, there had been some anticipation. And when Shen Li mentioned sharing a room with Lin Xu, Qian Xingzhi had faintly seemed displeased.
But what exactly had Qian Xingzhi’s inexplicable attitude this afternoon meant?
Why had he suddenly gone strange? What had stimulated him?
Shen Li did not think he was being overly sensitive. He could be considered half an expert at microexpression analysis. Yet even after mobilizing all his knowledge and experience, he still could not see through Qian Xingzhi, this master actor.
Before the divorce, if Shen Li went on a business trip and booked a twin room with Zhao Rong for one night, Qian Xingzhi would insist on checking in by call the entire night and be harder to coax than Maotuan in heat. But now the words “If you want to stay in the same room as someone else, I can also not call” could actually come out of his mouth.
…
Maybe he should really stop calling and see what Qian Xingzhi did?
Shen Li was not sure what Qian Xingzhi’s reaction would be, but he could definitely feel that right now, every intuitive or scientific analysis he was making based on Qian Xingzhi’s every movement and action was honestly a little…
too much.
At minimum, more than an ex-husband should care about.
Not long afterward, Shen Li’s thoughts were interrupted again.
The Butler System’s voice appeared suddenly. Compared with the tone at noon, it sounded as though the sound card had been replaced.
No singing, no theatrics—
only a low, cool male voice flowing through the air with an indescribable magnetism.
Although it had clearly been processed by a machine, it was properly restrained and pleasant to listen to.
Shen Li slowed his breathing and listened for a while. For some reason, he thought the voice sounded a little like Qian Xingzhi.
Then he felt the idea was too absurd and must be completely imaginary.
The next second, the System voice announced tonight’s dating rules:
“Dear guests:
“This dating activity will be divided into three categories:
“[Four people in two pairs may visit the house’s private cinema for a film screening.]
“[Two people in one pair may participate in an escape-room game and solve puzzles.]
“[Two people in one pair may reserve a nighttime couples’ photo shoot.]
“Please choose according to personal interest. First come, first served, until all spaces are filled.
“If, within ten minutes, you have not used the designated channel to confirm your activity and desired partner, the System will automatically assign you according to remaining vacancies. However, the two-thousand-yuan activity fee has already been automatically collected, and participation is mandatory.
“Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.”
The moment it finished,
the cold male voice disappeared automatically.
Shen Li stopped paying attention to the System’s tone and only reviewed what had been announced: watching a movie in the private cinema, playing an escape-room puzzle, taking a nighttime couples’ photo shoot…
First eliminate the couples’ photo shoot. Absolutely impossible to do that.
Second, eliminate the escape-room deduction game. Given that nearly all the trauma from the afternoon activity had come from his teammates, Shen Li genuinely did not want to touch another one.
Then watching a movie…
This one.
Shen Li did not care what other people chose, had not chosen, or planned to choose.
He tapped the private-cinema option and immediately submitted it.
After three days living in this house, if Shen Li still could not see it, he might as well be an idiot:
Among the eight people including him, aside from Lin Xu and Ke Jiujiu, basically nobody had their mind on romance. The only pair showing even a hint of remarriage was those two.
Yet Lin Xu seemed a little interested in Kris too, though that was uncertain now.
As for everyone else, completely hopeless. If there were any lingering ties with their exes, they were more likely financial or debt issues.
With people other than their exes? There was not even a spark.
Probably only after the audience vote ended, once middle-aged men with extremely negative sexual appeal like Yang Zhiqi were sent out and replaced by some higher-quality fresh blood, could this dead pool gain any life.
So right now, he did not need to worry about preserving some dating opportunity for any pair.
Unnecessary.
Before long, the iPad displayed a notification: “All eight guests successfully matched.”
Following the prompt, Shen Li went with Lin Xu, Kris, and Ke Jiujiu to the private cinema in the basement.
They opened the door.
Inside were two joined cinema loungers that looked like two enormous beds.
Perhaps for atmosphere, each row had a circle of cute cat-and-dog plush toys placed around it. At the front was a massive movie screen…
Shen Li entered a half-dead state and resignedly yawned.
Lin Xu turned around. His first reaction was to glance at Kris, then he shifted his eyes toward Ke Jiujiu and hesitantly licked his lips.
Yet the next second, Lin Xu turned back, flashed his big grin, and lunged toward Shen Li.
“Heyyy, Shen Li. Let’s sit together.”
Shen Li: .
Hearing this, Kris grabbed Ke Jiujiu’s wrist. “Jiujiu, I’ll sit on the very outside.”
So the three settled in. Lin Xu and Ke Jiujiu sat in the more central seats with an aisle between them.
Shen Li walked toward the last empty seat and sat down expressionlessly.
As though completely unable to feel the awkwardness in the air, he stared blankly at the big screen. It was an artsy romance film with four protagonists: he loved her, she loved her, she loved him, he loved him.
Extremely complicated.
Shen Li watched silently with a frown for a while and only felt a little dizzy. Just as he was about to narrow his eyes and nap, someone beside him patted him.
Lin Xu leaned over with a grin. “Shen Li, want some candy?”
Probably candy he had taken from the coffee table in the house.
“No.”
Lin Xu produced a bottle of cola as if by magic. “Then want some happy-fat-person water?”
“No.”
“Oh. Have you decided yet? Do you want to split the rent with me?”
Shen Li was so bothered his brain started aching. “No.”
Lin Xu: ?
“Why?”
Shen Li answered concisely. “I like being alone.”
When Lin Xu was unfamiliar, he was fine. Once familiar, he became noisy.
Better to spend money buying peace and quiet.
After receiving Shen Li’s refusal, Lin Xu suffered a slight blow.
But he quickly rallied, thought up several more advantages of sharing a room, and leaned near Shen Li’s ear, whispering one after another.
What Shen Li found strange was that every time Lin Xu leaned close, he felt as though someone behind them were watching…
Yet every time he turned around expectantly, there was nobody beside the brightly lit little projection-room window.
Completely empty.
Shen Li paused for a while, then stood to go to the restroom.
And the instant he stepped one leg out of the private cinema, he saw that there really was a very tall figure behind the small window where the projector sat.
It hid around the corner.
But the figure was too tall.
It did not look much like a cameraman or director.
…
Shen Li narrowed his eyes and walked over in several steps.
There was nothing there.
But there was a door in the nearby passage that had definitely been opened not long ago.
Shen Li lowered his eyes with a cold face and stood thinking for a moment, but no longer wanted to chase after whoever it was to investigate.
After using the restroom and returning to his seat, he watched the movie screen for a while longer and still felt something was strange.
Cool-colored light reflected across his face, coating him in a faint silver glow.
Just as the protagonists onscreen began kissing…
Shen Li absentmindedly looked back again.
This time, a pitch-black shadow sat motionless above the palm-sized window of the projection room.
A lonely head stuck there.
As though saying: I will keep watching you forever and ever.
Shen Li focused carefully.
It was a lonely, scruffy little dog plush toy.