It is the Winter Solstice, which happens to fall on a Saturday.

A seasonal, massive cold front has swept across the country, and snow is already falling in thick flakes in some regions. Under the freezing conditions, many people are too lazy to step outside, choosing instead to stay home all day in warm pajamas, their phones never leaving their hands as they drift through the digital world.

That tiny little screen—what an endless source of entertainment.

Chen Xiaoke is one of the many who have joined the “stay-at-home-and-laze-about” brigade. She just graduated this year with a degree in New Media. With the job market being so difficult, it was only through a relative’s recommendation that she managed to land an internship at a decent local TV station.

Her cousin, Chen Xi, is very capable; despite his young age, he has already been involved in producing several hit variety shows.

Thinking of this, Chen Xiaoke casually tapped into her cousin’s Moments. She discovered that at 6:00 AM today, he had posted an inspirational sentence: “Set off, a new beginning,” accompanied by a photo he had snapped on the fly.

The blue backdrop was dim; the clouds appeared weathered.

The withered branches of a phoenix tree poked into the edge of the photo.

However, right now…

The sky outside the house has turned into a deep, ink-colored sea. The stars have drowned, and the moon shows only a sliver of a crescent, its gentle, bright halo overflowing just a little, looking incredibly faint.

The sky is dark.

Her phone screen displays: 7:55 PM.

In five minutes, it will be time for the pilot episode of a certain divorce variety show to air.

The divorce variety show is titled Why Are You Unhappy? In just one month since its official Weibo account was created, it has accumulated over three million followers. Every now and then, it would release vague bits of information about the guests, leaving netizens filled with curiosity.

Unable to handle the suspense, the itching, anxious netizens couldn’t help but rush to the Weibo accounts of celebrities known to be in public marriages to ask for verification:

“Hello, is it you?”

There were quite a few “victims” of this, leading a well-known director—who has been happily married for many years—to personally post a response: “Sorry, it’s not me [fist bump].”

Immediately following that, a slew of other married celebrities who had been questioned by netizens forwarded the post, half-clarifying and half-joking, instantly triggering a hot search topic:

#Sorry, not me#

Under the search topic, netizens were all laughing.

Of course, there was no shortage of minor celebrities looking to ride the wave of popularity, posting ambiguous essays themselves that seemed to claim the guest spot, and they wouldn’t even deny it when asked by netizens.

The production team was far too good at marketing. They played an open “puzzle-solving game” with the netizens, even revealing that one pair of guests had not previously disclosed their marital status.

The netizens who received this piece of the puzzle immediately erupted into a frenzy.

Good heavens.

To translate: This means secret marriage, right?

Publicizing the marriage only to announce a divorce—which star has the guts to play this big?

Aren’t they afraid of their image collapsing?

Without a doubt, the show was a hit before it even aired. Discussion about it online was intense, but the production team’s secrecy was so impeccable that only after the pilot episode aired would the audience know the true identities of the three divorced pairs.

7:59 PM.

The number of posts and real-time replies in the Weibo “Super Talk” square soared exponentially, and fast-handed netizens started threads counting down.

Three, two, one!

In that second, countless people held up their phones and tapped their thumbs.

A piano melody intro began.

The screen was divided into three parts by vertical lines, filled with empty landscape shots from different times of day: sunrise, midday, and dusk. In the foreground of each shot, black silhouettes of two people appeared, symbolizing the identities of the divorced guests.

At this moment, a mouse cursor appeared on the screen.

The cursor moved slowly to the sunrise frame, landing on the rising red sun. At the same time, a crisp “click” sound came from the phone speakers.

The screen jumped, revealing the identities of the first pair of guests.

Duan Feiwen, a screenwriter, fairly well-known in the industry, coming from a family of scholars.

Xu You, Yancy, originally an underground rock singer, who joined the mainstream last year after participating in a music competition, successfully signing with an agency and rising to a second-tier celebrity.

In the pilot episode, their marriage and romance process were recounted.

They had a whirlwind marriage and a quick divorce. Before marriage, they didn’t have a sufficient understanding of each other’s personalities, living habits, or family backgrounds, which led to many conflicts. Neither side was willing to compromise or change, so they ended up at the point of divorce after only six months of marriage.

The screenwriter looked cultured and refined, while the singer’s demeanor was wild and bohemian. Yet, when they signed the divorce agreement at the Civil Affairs Bureau, both had reddened eyes. This immediately hooked the audience.

[Wow, it’s Yancy! I didn’t know he was married!]

[Is this the “secretly married” pair?]

[No way, Yancy does rock music; he publicly announced it in his fan group a long time ago and even posted photos of the other person. It seems they had a falling out over that, and he deleted the photos later.]

[The show’s production team is a genius. Having them register for divorce in late December, and after the one-month cooling-off period, it will be the Lunar New Year. Good heavens, either they break up for good or they go home together for the New Year, right? Such a wicked heart.]

[But it’s so exciting.]

[The next part is a live stream, even more exciting.]

Amidst the barrage of comments, the segment for the first pair of guests ended. The video screen returned to the original scene, and the mouse cursor appeared again, moving slowly to the sun at midday. Just as the audience expected it to click there…

The cursor suddenly shifted, moving toward the sunset at dusk.

This pair of guests had a significant background.

The man, in his fifties, was a senior veteran actor, Cheng Shuoxing.

The woman, Shao Lin, was of similar age and a leader in her own field, unrivaled in traditional opera, and now a university professor with students everywhere.

The two had known each other since youth and dated for many years. Although they married quite late, they had been together for sixteen years, but they never had children. The breaking point for their divorce lay here as well.

After signing the divorce agreement, both were left speechless and filled with regret.

[No way, this couple is divorcing too???]

[My dad is an opera fan and a fan of Shao Lin. I’m going to call him over to watch!]

[What a coincidence, my mom is a fan of Uncle Cheng. He was the number one “cream-faced” heartthrob of the entertainment industry back in the day. My mom is a super fan, so I’m calling her over to watch too!]

[You guys are really “filial.”]

[Case solved. It seems the “secretly married” ones are the pair that was just skipped. So they’ve been keeping us in suspense, right? Dashing the netizens’ hopes for a month wasn’t enough, right? The show’s production team, you really deserve a chicken leg for this! [Gritting teeth]]

[Add a handful of croton beans.]

[Stick a knife in.]

[So, who on earth is it?!]

[I don’t know, is this person planning to not work in the industry anymore? Just being exposed for a secret marriage is enough to get someone in a lot of trouble. If they didn’t pick a good time to go public and properly appease their fans, that’s one thing, but to go on a divorce variety show directly? I respect this person for being a tough guy [Thumbs up].]

[Haha, going directly onto a divorce show might actually be the best time.]

[It’s better to be divorced; get divorced and have a good New Year!]

The total duration of the pilot episode was about 90 minutes, with each pair of guests having roughly equal screen time. Thus, when the progress bar reached two-thirds, the silhouettes of the final pair, whose identities had been hidden, finally revealed their true selves.

The opening of the video was a building with a clear logo.

「NO1」

[No way, why is it here??]

[I have an idol who is an artist under NO1, and now I’m completely stunned.]

[So nervous. If my idol walks out of that building in a moment, I will cry.]

[Who is your idol?]

[Of course it’s Jing Hehe, I’m a “Crab Pastry” fan!]

[Oh, the movie star. I like his films.]

[It shouldn’t be the movie star. His record in recent years has been super strong; he maintains one high-quality drama or movie every year. Whether it’s his box office pull or his acting skills, he is rock-solid. Plus, he rarely participates in variety shows; he rarely even makes guest appearances, let alone a live-streamed reality show.]

[He once said that recording a variety show is very different from filming; it feels unnatural.]

[That’s right, so it can’t be Jing Hehe.]

[Fellow fan, sister. I also don’t think it could be Xie-ge!]

[What if?]

[Ahhhhh, get out of here! Absolutely impossible!]

Fortunately, the netizens’ prediction did not come true.

As the lens zoomed in, the screen cut to a close-up.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

A pair of leather shoes entered the frame first. The camera gradually moved upward and pulled back, yet it still couldn’t fit those long legs wrapped in suit pants. The cut of the long, double-breasted trench coat was exceptionally fluid, carving out a sharp arc due to the movement of his stride.

Two or three seconds later, the camera finally pushed to the man’s shoulders and above.

At the same time, a small box appeared next to his face, filled with brief identity information.

[Civilian / NO1 Staff / Shi Linchuan]

The sky outside was very dark.

The man walked out of the glass door, moving beyond the reach of the overhead lights inside the building. His face immediately sank into a hazy shadow, yet his entire form was outlined by the harsh light behind him.

The next instant, he looked toward the camera’s direction inadvertently. A flash of white light glided across his glasses, and the chain flickered incessantly. However, the audience’s attention was entirely captured by those long, narrow eyes, which were filled with a cold, “don’t come near me” aura, inexplicably making people…

[Holy crap, this guy is a “civilian”? I almost wanted to kneel down and call him Daddy!]

[Master level, the alpha of alphas.]

[I have the feeling of seeing my boss; my butt just clenched.]

[The car interview is starting.]

[Wait, “NO1 staff, position: CEO”—this is the boss!! I knew my “boss radar” had never been wrong! That’s why I’ve never been caught slacking off!]

[So, all the artists under NO1 could be his other half?]

[I did a quick mental check of recent news regarding NO1 and its artists. So, that means… the movie star…]

[It wouldn’t be Jing Hehe. How long has he been signed to NO1? If his secret other half was the NO1 boss, how could he have just terminated his contract with that garbage “Fu Guang” last month? That doesn’t make sense!]

[Phew, the logic chain is complete. I’m relieved.]

In the lens, the man was undergoing an interview inside the car.

There was only him in the frame.

The man was looking at the scenery outside the window alone, his side profile’s lines fluid and sharp, exceptionally photogenic. The voice-over from the production team followed, and he answered without hesitation, his voice cold and crisp.

“May I ask, Mr. Shi, how long have you and your partner been married?”

“Three years.”

“Who started this relationship first?”

“Me.”

“And who was it that took the lead in moving to the next stage of life?”

“Me.”

They asked several more questions in between, each one more sharp and painful than the last.

And the final question was:

“Mr. Shi, if your partner could see this interview, what would you like to say to him?”

As soon as the words fell, the man suddenly turned his head to look at the lens. His expression showed no waves, and the tone of his voice was ice-cold. “What I say isn’t important; what’s important is…”

“…”

After a short silence, the man’s voice sounded again.

He gently called out a name:

“Xie Jinghe.”

In the next second, the camera cut sharply.

A door was pulled open.

Someone walked out of the door.

White cotton-padded jacket, fisherman’s hat.

A black mask covered the lower half of his face, revealing only a pair of highly recognizable, affectionate eyes.

The eye sockets were deep, and the corners of his eyes slanted slightly downward.

[Why is no one talking?]