Time flew by in a flash.

The turn of the year was fast approaching.

It had been nearly a month since the highly anticipated divorce variety show, Why Are You Unhappy, wrapped up its filming on January 20th. Following several days of post-production editing, the grand finale was scheduled to air this Friday at 8:00 PM.

Due to the cable car accident that had occurred abroad at the beginning of the month, the production crew had adjusted the recording schedule. At the same time, they announced to the public their decision to “permanently shut down the livestream channel.” As a result, the subsequent content became an absolute mystery, forcing viewers to migrate from the livestream chat section to other social media platforms to hold their discussions.

Logically speaking, for a variety show to be disrupted this much, it should have drawn public ire and completely flopped long ago. Yet, the reality was quite the opposite.

When the tourist-shot video of the accident first made its way back to the domestic internet, it immediately trended on the hot search list. Not only did numerous marketing accounts scramble to forward it, but official state media outlets also shared and commented on it.

Compared to the sensationalized clickbait titles of the marketing accounts, the official media’s headline and coverage were brief and highly objective:

[V] Observation Daily: #DodanSnowMountainCableCarAccident# It is understood that during the recording of a certain domestic variety show, a cable car cabin stall and collision accident occurred. When we encounter equipment failure, how should we save ourselves and maximize our waiting time for rescue?

The report was accompanied by a video—the exact footage of the incident as it happened.

However, the visuals had undergone secondary editing. Captions were used to display the time and location of the incident. Aside from the occasional gasps of the original filmer, the background audio featured a news anchor delivering a clear, articulate, and objective narration of the accident from beginning to end.

The terrifying moment in the video was circled with a red frame.

The picture quality wasn’t very sharp, and the silhouettes were blurry.

Against a pristine blue sky, the cabin was completely transparent. The two people looked as if they were suspended right in mid-air, connected only by their joined hands. Visually, it possessed a strange, poignant sense of romance. It was only when the wide-angle lens panned to show their actual distance from the ground that the fatal danger behind the romance was laid bare.

It was enough to make the hair on the viewers’ arms stand up.

Following this, various regional fire departments forwarded the post one after another.

Then, a veteran official journalist published an article. While discussing the hidden safety hazards in filming variety shows, the piece also validated the production crew’s original intent to explore emotional issues.

The article concluded with these words:

“Love is mankind’s eternal topic. We look forward to the answer sheet handed in by this show.”

Coincidentally, paparazzi just happened to expose an A-list celebrity cheating after marriage, alongside a popular young idol privately meeting with several fans. Set against these scandals, the divorce show suddenly looked incredibly wholesome, causing the follower count of the Shi-Xie couple super-topic to experience explosive growth.

Remarkably, a massive number of Xie Jinghe’s solo fans had joined the ranks.

【Whether it’s a hidden marriage or a script, you can feast on this immense traffic all you want, as long as you don’t end up divorcing! If a couple can’t make it to the end after living through something like this, the audience is seriously going to develop a phobia of marriage!! [Crying out loud]】

【The absolute pinnacle of real-life CP, who dares to object?】

【Oh my god, there are way too many scandals lately. I came here just to cleanse my eyes.】

【Me too!!】

【The atmosphere has already reached this point. Divorcing now would just be plain rude.】

【…】

Friday night arrived.

The long-awaited grand finale finally made its debut.

In the previous two episodes, the other two pairs of guests had already shifted locations. Throughout different game segments and journeys, they too had erupted into arguments, engaged in cold wars, and lost control of their emotions multiple times—just like any ordinary couple.

The camera captured it all, laying it out bare before the audience.

The style of the final couple, however, was starkly different.

A plane cut through the sky.

Two injured men with mobility issues looked up at it. Enhanced by post-production effects, it created a distinct sensation of being entirely abandoned by the production crew.

The world was vast, yet it felt as though only the two of them were left.

Consequently, when the two finally appeared on screen with their limbs fully intact and functional, the viewers couldn’t help but marvel in unison:

【Not easy, not easy at all! They’re finally no longer the Purple Sweet Potato Spirit and Iron Crutch Xie!! Looking sharp!】

【Hahaha, where are your manners!!】

【Huh??? The crew is actually being this generous?】

In the video, the snow was falling softly.

The person walking backward was being led by the man. Just as he was about to collide with a pillar behind him, the man pulled back his hand, effortlessly reeling him back in.

Right at that moment, the camera zoomed in. A hand entered the frame from the edge, handing over a coffee-brown leather wallet. It was stuffed to the brim with exchanged paper currency, looking entirely bloated.

The follow-up director’s voice then rang out, “Teacher Shi, Teacher Xie, you can move around freely for these two days until all the money is spent.”

【Wooo, why does this feel like eating a last meal on death row?】

【It’s so lavish that it’s making me a little scared.】

Through post-production editing, the entire two days of footage was compressed into the duration of a single song.

The intro was a duet of acoustic guitar and piano. Soon after, the drumbeats began to pulse, synchronized with the hurried footsteps of the two on screen. The moment they accepted the wallet, they set off without bringing a single personal belonging.

The camera shook, cutting rapidly.

It looked like a piece of recorded footage right before the destruction of the world.

The heavy snow blew wildly, burying their footprints anew.

The two raced against time, weaving through foreign streets. Neither of them looked back, even leaving the night behind them. Using the last remaining bills in the wallet, they bought two ferry tickets. Leaning against each other on the deck of the sightseeing cruise ship, they braved the freezing wind, until finally, at the break of dawn, they successfully witnessed a massive whale breaching the ocean surface, sending water splashing everywhere.

The sky was so cold it looked faded.

The crimson light of the sunrise was obscured by a heavy layer of clouds.

But very soon, a rift was torn through the clouds, and the morning light poured out, enveloping the transparent water droplets in a crystalline glow.

The sky regained its color.

Two-thirds of the song had played out.

The drumbeat grew increasingly restless and intense.

The person dressed in the white padded coat looked as if he had gone completely wild with joy. He wrapped one arm tightly around his partner’s waist to steady himself on the swaying deck, then turned to the camera with a flushed, excited face and shouted, “Did you catch it!”

“It’s a whale!”

The other tourists on the cruise deck cheered and screamed along.

In the corner of the frame, a couple was kissing.

The white padded coat clearly caught sight of it. He subconsciously raised his eyes to look up at the man who stood a good head taller than him.

Their eyes locked.

The man, dressed entirely in black, stood firm like a stabilizing pillar.

The wind on the sea was howling loudly, and the audio recording equipment wasn’t performing very well. No one knew what silent exchange they shared with their eyes, but the man suddenly turned his head to glance at the camera behind them.

The next second.

The camera abruptly cut to a distant shot captured by a drone.

【???】

【Wait, I think I heard a ‘mwah’ sound!】

【Did they kiss?】

【They definitely kissed, their eyes were practically overflowing with chemistry.】

【My god, did this pair join the wrong variety show? They should be on a dating show! To be fair, none of the dating shows I’ve watched have been this sweet.】

【The absolute gold standard of being legally married.】

Soon, the song came to an end.

As the music faded out, the moisture in the air almost leaked through the screen. For some unknown reason, the audience felt a lingering reluctance to let go.

But the time within the video had already arrived at the evening of January 18th.

The two stepped off the cruise ship and walked side by side through the snow. Using a few coins dug out from the wallet, they managed to scrape together enough for a single piece of street food, casually sharing it bite for bite right there on the street.

Subsequently, silence began to spread.

The white padded coat suddenly pulled the wallet out of his pocket, appearing as though he wanted to rummage through it for a bit more money—even a coin of the smallest denomination.

But the money was entirely gone.

【Screw you, production crew, this is making me tear up.】

【The sadness is on a countdown…】

【This editing is legendary, the emotional resonance is way too strong!】

After a long pause, the man took the wallet from his hands and sharply unzipped the inner compartment. His knuckles curved slightly as he silently pulled out two rectangular, paper-like objects from within.

They were two return flight tickets.