Half a year later, the “Shi-Xie” super-topic exploded on social media once again.

The two who had publicly divorced on a reality show were sharing the frame once more—and right at the moment Xie Jinghe won his film award. The instant Shi Linchuan appeared on the big screen, sharp-eyed netizens spotted the matching couple rings wrapped around their left ring fingers.

Not to mention the two of them shaping a heart with their arms in broad daylight, Xie Jinghe dashing straight off the podium like a young swallow diving into a forest, and the man opening his arms slightly, letting him slam into his chest…

Connecting this with Xie Jinghe’s earlier acceptance speech:

“And thanks to the person I love, and who loves me…”

[HOLY CRAP HOLY CRAP THEY ARE DEFINITELY BACK TOGETHER!!]

[Who gets how I feel? My heart is all bittersweet. It feels like going up on stage to accept an award, expecting only colleagues and friends in the audience, only to realize family came too, watching you from the crowd… It makes me inexplicably want to cry…]

[Damn, now that you put it that way, I’m feeling a bit teary too.]

[Gods, is my tragic BE (Bad Ending) couple about to be resurrected?!]

[Resurrection guaranteed!]

In less than a single minute, the footage captured by the camera shocked both the stars in the venue and the online audience watching the livestream. Yet by the time other drama-hungry netizens flocked to the stream, those two had long vanished without a trace.

[AAAAH, missed the livestream! Guess I’ll roll back and watch the screen recordings and screenshots from netizens. Starting my tenth rewatch now!]

[The reactions from the stars in the hall were super interesting too. I bet my bottom dollar many of them watched that divorce variety show. The gossip-hungry looks on their faces couldn’t be hidden—literally identical to mine!]

[Super curious how Xie fans are feeling right now, haha!]

[…I’m a Xie fan.]

[Handing over the microphone.]

[Well… just hope the little couple stays happy and healthy. I bet the variety show’s grand finale dropped a lot of jaws back then. So many Xie fans went back to rewatch the whole series. The more we watched, the more we realized Shi-ge is actually pretty great—just a bit toxic-tongued, a bit pretentious, a bit dishonest with his feelings, and looks a whole lot like a scumbag on the surface…]

[Help, is this even a compliment???]

[This man is just captivatingly toxic!! Who picks divorce every single day and then turns around to tease his divorce partner, checking if he cried his eyes out? A total jerk!]

[I get it! But from those tiny details in his actions and eyes, you can really see his silent care for the Movie King. Especially that pillow fight in the behind-the-scenes footage, I swear…]

[Just pamper him already.]

[And that shout of “Daddy” from the Movie King while washing in the river—back then I thought things got a bit yellow. What kind of kink were these two playing at, even setting up phone location tracking? It was so twisted… But watching till the end, you can really feel that deep, wordless love from the non-celeb brother.]

[During the grand finale, I couldn’t help shedding a few small pearls (tears).]

[Pointing the way to the god-tier creator’s fan edit MV: #ILoveYouInUnseenPlaces#]

[Pointing the way to the top-tier author “Ninety Million”‘s god-tier fic “Hate You to the Bone.” It was incredible. Written while the show was airing, the author captured them so vividly—Love Deficit vs. Anxious Attachment. Had me crying under my blanket late at night.]

[Author hasn’t updated in forever, sob sob!! The CP is back together!!]

[…Still can’t believe this BE couple got a massive overhaul into an HE (Happy Ending)! I’m gonna go tell my mom the good news!!]

Tonight was inherently bustling.

All evening, trending topics popped off like firecrackers. The stunning styling of various stars sparked endless discussion, marketing accounts compiled red-carpet photos to critique them side-by-side, and with the award ceremony hosting a livestream channel, fans from every fandom had entered the chat early to camp out for their favorite stars’ awards.

In short—it was a complex mix of people, full of rival fandoms.

Thus, right as the entire internet was boiling over with discussions of the Shi-Xie couple mending their broken mirror, several malicious search terms climbed to the top of the trending lists at an unnatural speed.

#SoftRiceManShiLinchuan (Moocher Shi Linchuan)#

#VarietyScriptedFakeDivorce#

#CheapestRemarriageInTheEntertainmentIndustry#

The internet conceals no secrets.

In just a short span of time, netizens had already dug up that the rings on Shi Linchuan and Xie Jinghe’s hands were an old, budget-friendly model from a domestic brand. Compared to the status and wealth displayed by the two on screen, it appeared somewhat ill-matched.

[Lmao, is the love between our Movie King and Big Boss really this cheap?]

[Not a Big Boss anymore. Word is right after the show wrapped, Boss Brother pulled out from NO1. Reasonably suspecting the Movie King connected with Pei Yue beforehand, reached a private deal to jump ship to NO1, and then had Pei Yue hyping up his ex-husband on the variety show to harvest a huge wave of clout.]

[Gosh, real or fake?]

[The previous dirt on Shi Linchuan was probably deleted with money paid by the Movie King, right? Why pretend to be a rich guy after picking up a moocher? And yet you guys are still shipping them to death—really don’t know what you’re thinking…]

[Never seen anything this cheap, yet treating it like treasure, showing off all night. Not even comparing it to Xue Chaojie’s lavish century wedding that rocked the industry, but at least don’t be this shabby, right??]

[Bro, did nobody tell the Movie King that tiny melee diamonds aren’t worth anything?]

Looking at these sarcastic, passive-aggressive taunts, Xie Jinghe’s fans gritted their teeth in fury. This was clearly rival fandoms buying PR articles, stepping on Shi Linchuan’s head to drag Xie Jinghe down with him—dragging two down at once and fanning the flames, causing many clueless bystanders to follow along and mock them.

Some even questioned whether Shi Linchuan and Xie Jinghe going on the divorce show was a fake divorce altogether—purely a publicity stunt to grab eyeballs.

[Get lost! Would your family risk their lives just to grab eyeballs? During that accident in Duodan, anyone with eyes could see how much Shi and Xie cared about each other. Entrusting their lives to one another wasn’t an exaggeration. Measuring the depth of a relationship purely by ring price—is your brain fried?]

[Emm… wait a minute, doesn’t that kinda counter-prove the fake divorce theory? I acknowledge their feelings for each other, but could the finale’s divorce be fake? Did they actually never split up? Was it all marketing?]

[So getting back together is marketing too?]

[…]

Opinions raged online, making for a bloody, chaotic storm.

On the other side, however:

Shi Linchuan had just brought Xie Jinghe back home.

Perhaps because everything that transpired tonight caused an excessive dopamine surge, Xie Jinghe entered the door with eyes curved in a smile. Head held high, chest puffed out, he kicked off his shoes and flopped onto the living room sofa. Clutching the trophy in his arms, he connected the microphone to the home speakers and lazily called out:

“Little Lin, I want some orange juice.”

Looking every bit like a little emperor lording over his domain.

The voice was loud, complete with a touch of reverberation.

Fortunately, their home was a detached villa. For privacy considerations, the walls and glass had undergone custom renovations, making the soundproofing and anti-peeping top-notch.

Shi Linchuan was taking off his suit jacket when he suddenly heard this unprecedented nickname. Unbuttoning his bowtie while shooting a glance at Xie Jinghe—whose soul seemed to be floating on cloud nine—his expression didn’t shift at all. Dragging his slippers, he turned into the kitchen, emerging with a glass of orange juice in hand.

The glass was seven-tenths full, tiny water droplets condensing on its outer wall.

Clack.

Shi Linchuan placed the orange juice on the table, stood straight, and continued removing his tie and unbuttoning his shirt.

With his eyelids half-draped, the man looked exceptionally cold—an ethereal coldness that nonetheless yielded a powerful sense of pressure. Xie Jinghe took small sips of his juice under his gaze, tilting his face up to smile as if playing nice: “I was just calling out casually. What do you want to drink? I’ll pour it for you in a bit…”

Shi Linchuan was generous enough not to argue over such minor details.

“No need.”

Waiting a moment, he snatched the empty glass from Xie Jinghe’s hands and closed in step by step, intent on using practical action to remind him of their respective roles—who was the daddy, and who was the son. Xie Jinghe seemed to have received his signal; lowering his head to fiddle with the microphone switch, looking shy, his legs nonetheless parted quietly…

Revealing a corner of his belt buckle.

Seeing this scene, Shi Linchuan deliberately teased him:

“What are you doing? I just wanted to kiss you.”

Xie Jinghe wasn’t mad. Squinting his eyes, he pursed his lips high and deliberately teased Shi Linchuan back: “Then kiss me! My lips are super soft, and they taste like orange juice—if it’s not sweet, it’s free.”

Shi Linchuan took a step back, visibly repulsed by his goofy face.

Just as the two were as sweet as honey, kissing and bickering at the same time, Xie Jinghe’s phone rang, spoiling the mood completely. Le Yan was on the other end, reminding them to check the trending searches before explaining the whole situation from start to finish, her tone exceptionally furious:

“So many people are fanning the flames, saying super nasty things!”

Hanging up the phone.

Xie Jinghe logged onto Weibo to skim through it. Holding him, Shi Linchuan rested his chin on his shoulder, getting a clear view of the screen’s contents as well.

Silence hung in the air for a few seconds.

Staring at a certain hashtag, Xie Jinghe said softly, “None of these are true.”

Just as Shi Linchuan thought he was bothered by the online chatter, he heard Xie Jinghe say in a slightly resentful tone: “You didn’t eat off my soft rice at all…”

Shi Linchuan reached up to tilt his chin over, breaking into a snort:

“I’ve never eaten off anyone’s soft rice—don’t you know that by now?”

Certain things had long been clear between the two of them.

Seeing Xie Jinghe about to register an alternate account right then and there to fight three hundred rounds against the bots insulting Shi Linchuan, Shi Linchuan hastily snatched his phone away, dragging him upstairs. From the safe where Xie Jinghe stored his treasures, he pulled out those two brand-new divorce certificates, then pulled him close…

Click.

Two minutes later.

The crowd surfing the internet at high intensity, arguing fiercely with no end in sight, suddenly saw Xie Jinghe post a Weibo update. The text was brief—just nine words:

[ [V] Xie Jinghe: No script, really divorced, currently dating. ]

Attached below was a photo.

A selfie.

In the picture:

Two men dressed formally in suits. One of them was missing his bowtie, two buttons undone to reveal sharp collarbones. Positioned sideways to the camera and facing each other, each held a divorce certificate in hand, covering the lower half of their faces as they pressed close together.

[AAAAAAAH, at this distance they definitely kissed!!]

[Is there anything we’re not allowed to see?!]

[Bro, flexing your romance by showing off divorce certificates—you guys are unbelievable [Thumbs Up]]

[Awesome, awesome! What else do the haters have to say now?!!]

There actually was.

[Not a hater, pure passerby. What does this prove? It only proves they didn’t fake the divorce, right? But Shi Linchuan being a moocher was dug up with hard evidence, wasn’t it? Just take the L and accept the mockery, thanks.]

Seeing this, Xie Jinghe puffed his cheeks in anger, about to use his main account to fire back at the haters. Having typed out half a sentence, his phone was snatched away by the man again and tossed directly onto the bed.

Shi Linchuan tilted his head, shooting him a glance:

“Can’t stand seeing me get insulted?”

Xie Jinghe nodded heavily.

Shi Linchuan reached up to scratch his chin, then gave Xie Jinghe’s hair two firm rubs. Pulling out his own phone, his thumbs tapped away rapidly on the keyboard. When Xie Jinghe tried to lean over and look, he wouldn’t let him.

A moment later.

He tossed his phone away as well, saying offhandedly, “Done.”

Xie Jinghe looked utterly confused: “What’s done?”

Shi Linchuan unbuttoned his shirt rather roughly:

“The clarification is done.”

The two phones lay quietly on the bed while the two made a racket in the room. Shi Linchuan was determined to “eat” Xie Jinghe’s soft rice tonight to see just how soft he really was, while the internet outside had already been blown to smithereens by his post.

For no other reason than this:

Several big bosses with household names in the financial sector logged onto Weibo in unison, posting the exact same message: [I prove that Shi Linchuan is not a soft rice man.]

As time went on, the number of such Weibo posts continued to rise. The people posting made netizens rub their eyes, wondering if they were seeing things.

[HOLY SHIT?!! WHO AM I LOOKING AT??]

[They’re all big bosses you can only see on TV…]

[Crazy! What’s the situation?!]

The situation was…

Magpies chirped on the branches as Xie Jinghe called Shi Linchuan “Daddy,” crying and whimpering endlessly under a massive blanket, completely ignoring the wind and rain raging outside.

The bedtime story would have to be told.

After sleeping first.

__

Author’s Note:

Scooting away on my kick scooter~