It was past three in the morning.

Inside the kitchen, the lights cast a warm, comforting glow.

Shi Linchuan had changed into a set of clean loungewear. His black hair still held a dampness from his shower, the front locks that had been brushed back earlier now slipping free to dangle near his brow, swaying gently with his movements—radiating the casual, effortless charm of a mature man.

Just his back profile alone was handsome enough to draw eyes irresistibly.

The overhead kitchen light was especially bright, illuminating the trail of kiss marks that stretched across his lower earlobe and down his neck with total clarity. It was as if that intimate episode were laid bare under the bright daylight, making the culprit unable to tear his eyes away.

Completely oblivious to the equally shocking marks all over his own body.

Xie Jinghe sat in a dining chair, a square throw pillow swiped from the living room sofa tucked behind his lower back. He wore an oversized outfit; the cuffs of his trousers brushed his ankles, concealing half his insteps as well as the dark marks creeping up from his inner calves.

His upper body was wrapped in a black crewneck sweater made of an exceptionally soft, skin-friendly fabric. The wide collar revealed his straight, prominent collarbones—which, after the previous two rounds, had degenerated into a primary battlefield, thoroughly raided and ravaged.

The moment Shi Linchuan turned around, he tumbled straight into Xie Jinghe’s dazzling, liquid gaze—like Alice dropping into the rabbit hole, thrilling and magical all at once. A scenario that had played out countless times over the past three years.

This guy, Xie Jinghe, really is something else.

Shi Linchuan thought to himself.

No wonder before the two of them went public, marketing accounts and fans were constantly pairing him with other celebrities, attempting to analyze thousands of subtle emotions out of an utterly mundane glance, before asserting with utmost confidence:

“Those two are definitely dating!”

Shi Linchuan would occasionally stumble across those posts. Seeing fans trembling with excitement in the comments, spamming long streams of exclamation marks, he couldn’t help finding it hilarious.

Is that all it takes?

He was almost embarrassed to admit that Xie Jinghe looked at him with that exact same gaze even while buying groceries at the supermarket.

Only when he looked at him…

Shi Linchuan emerged from the kitchen carrying a bowl of beef noodle soup. Plain noodles were submerged in a sweet, savory broth, topped with thin slices of braised beef and bright green chopped scallions—looking thoroughly appetizing.

He leaned down slightly, setting the bowl down in front of Xie Jinghe before pulling out a chair to sit down.

“Eat up.”

Xie Jinghe looked at the man.

“There’s only one bowl. You’re not eating?”

Shi Linchuan sat across from him, arms crossed over his chest. His long, narrow eyes narrowed at him for a quiet moment before he answered slowly, “I’m not like you—one mouth is full, while the other is still hungry.”

A deeply suggestive remark delivered in the casual tone of ordinary chit-chat. Even though Xie Jinghe wasn’t unfamiliar with dirty talk—having uttered his fair share of it—for some reason, a strange, indescribable sensation suddenly rippled through his heart.

…A faint tingle even buzzed at the base of his spine.

He lightly bit his lower lip, silently holding the rim of the bowl with both hands as he ducked his head to take a sip of broth. The steam puffed over his face, flushing his cheeks a few degrees warmer.

A second later.

Shi Linchuan heard Xie Jinghe whisper softly:

“Well, I really was hungry.”

Shi Linchuan had watched Xie Jinghe’s interviews before.

Out in public, this man never spoke like this. During his younger, greener days, he had been as quiet as a clam. Once he grew up and matured, he learned to maintain a polished celebrity image in front of the camera, smoothly dodging tricky questions with a graceful smile.

Every bit the picture of a mature, refined man.

When Shi Linchuan first met Xie Jinghe in a bar, the man had already been around twenty-four or twenty-five. Now he was closing in on thirty. Yet their very first meeting had felt like two apex predators locking eyes and hitting a home run that very night.

The scene had been anything but innocent.

Through three years of this, the man had become entirely seasoned in that department as well.

Yet, Shi Linchuan often felt…

Xie Jinghe was actually remarkably pure.

Especially when he stared at him with that gaze—full of admiration, obsession, craving everything while surrendering everything. Shi Linchuan found himself simultaneously revolted and addicted, wanting to smash it to pieces and burn it down on one hand, while lingering helplessly on the other.

He had a hollowed-out heart, its walls reinforced with solid steel.

Yet Xie Jinghe had managed to drill his way inside anyway.

Shi Linchuan had pushed him away time and time again, but his resistance grew weaker with every attempt, like a dragon putting on a grand show of bravado. In stark contrast, Xie Jinghe was like a brave knight wielding a sword, growing ever more resolute with every setback.

And so, Shi Linchuan suddenly realized…

He seemed to have been backed into a corner.

Honestly speaking, he had never imagined he would lose.

From the very beginning, Shi Linchuan had plotted to shatter Xie Jinghe’s romanticized ideals of marriage and love. But he had never expected that before he could, Xie Jinghe would first reshape his own understanding of love and marriage altogether.

—Loving someone isn’t so terrible.

—Tying the knot with a certain person isn’t entirely a bad thing.

Shi Linchuan didn’t want to admit it, but facts spoke louder than words.

He had lost to Xie Jinghe.

Shi Linchuan had assumed his total defeat would come amid a dramatic, shattering roar—grand, chaotic, and loud. He hadn’t expected this day to arrive so peacefully, with nothing extraordinary happening, looking no different from any of their ordinary days.

They made love, ate, slept, and chatted.

Outside, the rain kept falling.

Xie Jinghe was slurping his noodles, then eagerly picked up a slice of beef with his chopsticks and held it out to Shi Linchuan’s lips. His other hand hovered underneath to catch any falling drips and keep the table clean—looking every bit like a attentive, obedient treasure.

Shi Linchuan chewed a few times and swallowed.

Out of nowhere, he recalled that bedtime story Xie Jinghe had altered beyond recognition.

A few beats passed.

Shi Linchuan finally lowered his arms, which he habitually kept crossed over his chest. The sense of choking difficulty he had anticipated in his throat never materialized. A sentence spilled out, completely naturally.

He said,

“Jinghe.”

“Not friends, and not friends-with-benefits.”

“—Let’s date.”

Having said it, Shi Linchuan’s face remained as calm and unruffled as a clear sky. Yet the fingers resting against his side brushed nervously against the seam of his trousers before quickly letting go—a fleeting trace of fluster that he kept well-hidden.

Except this time, there was no so-called roleplay mission to serve as a shield. Shi Linchuan had to force himself to keep his eyes locked onto the person opposite him, refusing to look away first.

And so, he caught the instant Xie Jinghe’s expression went completely blank.

A second later.

Whether because he was too full or too stunned, Xie Jinghe suddenly let out a loud hiccup.

Shi Linchuan: “…”

He silently handed over a tissue.

Xie Jinghe silently took it, wiped his mouth twice, and couldn’t resist folding the tissue into a thin strip to cover his eyes. His lips had turned a vivid red while eating, yet he kept biting down hard on them with his teeth, trying desperately to suppress the corners of his mouth from soaring skyward.

Shi Linchuan couldn’t help letting out a soft chuckle too.

It was just that he was better at controlling his emotions. He reined in his expression immediately, reverting to his original calm composure before Xie Jinghe could notice. Reaching out, he grabbed Xie Jinghe’s wrist, pulling down the hand obstructing his eyes while adopting an annoyed tone:

“Usually you can’t take your eyes off me. What’s this supposed to mean now?”

Shi Linchuan tugged, but couldn’t pull it away.

“Tsk.”

Xie Jinghe resisted stubbornly, keeping his head lowered as he explained in a small voice, “I don’t dare look. I’m afraid if I look one more time, I’ll want to go another three hundred rounds with you. But we just did it so many times earlier—I really can’t handle any more. My waist is sore, my legs are weak, and I can barely sit straight.”

Shi Linchuan: “…”

Xie Jinghe suddenly let out a soft hehe giggle.

Shi Linchuan found it pretty amusing too. Just a few days ago, he and this guy had announced their divorce on a reality show. Right now, a massive crowd of viewers online was still weeping and wailing, genuinely calling them the ‘Heartbreak Couple of the Year’—and yet, here they were, pulling a complete 180…

Becoming a pair of divorced boyfriends.

Not only was it amusing, it sounded downright infuriating.

If this ever got exposed, people across the entire country would probably point at the two of them and yell, “Wait, are you two completely insane?!”

…At least one of them probably was, Shi Linchuan thought after a moment of silence.

Xie Jinghe giggled to himself for a long time, nearly rubbing the fine tissue paper into pulp before finally lowering his mischievous hands. Opening his dark, bright, deep eyes, he stared at Shi Linchuan, parted his lips, and suddenly blurted out:

“I really want to have a baby with you.”

Shi Linchuan plucked the ruined tissue paper from his hands and replied offhandedly, “You don’t have the biological equipment for that.”

Xie Jinghe pursed his lips and clarified:

“I mean, I really want to be… you-know-whatted by you.”

Shi Linchuan looked at him, suddenly wishing he could retract his previous thought.

Pure, my foot!

By the time the two laid back down in bed, it was already four-thirty in the morning.

Unlike Xie Jinghe, Shi Linchuan hadn’t slept through the entire day. Taking advantage of his improving health, he had spent several hours on his laptop in the living room handling work files, casually whipped up a meal, and then expended a massive amount of energy on Xie Jinghe during the night.

The moment he hit the bed, he practically passed out.

Clutched in his arms was a human-sized, constant-temperature body pillow named ‘Xie Jinghe’.

Xie Jinghe didn’t feel sleepy, yet he stayed motionless with his eyes closed. Once the man drifted off to sleep, he slowly reached out his hand, grabbing his phone and Bluetooth earphones. With a few quick taps, he opened the show page for Why Aren’t You Happy? and began watching the divorce show he had starred in.

Earlier, he hadn’t dared to watch a single frame.

As for now?

He skipped straight to the parts where Shi Linchuan appeared on screen. The bullet-chat comments were overflowing; some were rather unpleasant, while others were emotional outbursts from viewers rewatching the episodes.

【Having seen the ending and rewatching from the start, I just realized how many foreshadowing clues were dropped earlier… 😭】

【Non-celeb bro, seriously! Whenever no one was looking, your eyes were always on him! 😭😭】

【Does this mean the rumors about the Movie Star cheating were true?? Otherwise, why was Non-celeb bro so determined to get a divorce? I feel like a lot of key footage was edited out for this couple, and the core issues were never shown on screen!!】

【Don’t spread rumors! Those were just brainless hater posts.】

【NO1 stepped in online—the trending topics were wiped long ago, legal notices were issued, and the marketing accounts that leaked the rumors have already backed down, deleted their posts, and issued public apologies.】

【Non-celeb bro has now evolved into Ex-husband bro. 😼】

【Please stop hitting me with angst! The lingering impact of this couple is way too strong! My name clearly wasn’t anywhere on their marriage certificate, so why am I the one who can’t move on after their divorce?!!】

【…】

Xie Jinghe watched a segment, then took a brief pause.

The lingering impact was hit hard on him, too.

Because the two of them had suffered an accident right after arriving in Dodan, their itinerary had diverged from the other two guest couples, resulting in relatively limited screentime in the main episodes. Moreover, their hospital follow-ups took up a chunk of that time.

In the hospital footage, the show crew had preserved a solo shot of Shi Linchuan.

Based on the man’s outfit, Xie Jinghe quickly recalled that it must have been mid-January. At the time, he was inside the consultation room getting the recovery of his bone fracture checked, as well as having the bandages changed on his stitched palm…

Shi Linchuan was standing alone beneath the ground-floor corridor.

Right at that moment.

Another foreign elderly gentleman standing in the corridor initiated a conversation with him, babbling a string of foreign words that Xie Jinghe couldn’t understand, forcing him to rely on the show’s post-production subtitles.

The old man was speaking French.

It turned out he was also a tourist visiting Dodan. Recognizing the man in front of him as one of the victims from the recent accident, he couldn’t help striking up a conversation.

Immediately after, Xie Jinghe heard the man in the video open his mouth and speak back in equally fluent French, conversing effortlessly with the old man. His level of fluency was so high that the elderly gentleman praised his pronunciation for being so accurate he sounded like a native speaker.

The elderly gentleman was a piano teacher. During their chat, he happened to bring up classical music, and Shi Linchuan was able to converse with him on the topic with ease, demonstrating a deep, impressive understanding of it.

The bullet chats flooded the screen:

【French Major Level 8 here—Non-celeb bro is amazing, his pronunciation is so spot on!】

【His speech and demeanor are so polished! He completely fits my exact image of an upper-class gentleman.】

【Lmao, at first I thought he was some dark, creepy control freak. Later I thought he was sharp-tongued but had real guts. Now I think he’s insanely classy and handsome—so handsome I can’t even bring myself to trash-talk him anymore. Guys, have I been brainwashed?】

【Accurate, precise, hitting the nail right on the head.】

【…What a mesmerizing man.】

【No wonder the Movie Star loves him so deeply! Anyone can see this isn’t a sugar-daddy arrangement! Those marketing accounts making up rumors about a transactional marriage are going to have terrible luck in the new year!】

【What “sugar daddy”? I saw people in the super-topic digging up the timeline and background—Non-celeb bro seems to come from a top-tier wealthy family! He founded NO1 only after marrying the Movie Star. He just never made public appearances before. Yeah, read into that what you will.】

【Sister, your tea is outdated.】

【What “top-tier wealthy family”? Someone dropped a leak two hours ago saying Non-celeb bro and the Movie Star have known each other since childhood and grew up in the same orphanage! Non-celeb bro supposedly wasn’t adopted by a new family because he was too old, and a few years ago he was working as a low-level manager at some securities firm…】

【Is that real or fake???】

【My tea is Version 3.0: rumor has it Non-celeb bro was a kept man during his college days. 🤯】

【Is that real or fake???】

【Do you even hear what you’re saying? Are these descriptions even talking about the same person?!】

【If you don’t believe it, go check the trending searches. The chain of evidence is rock solid—there are even photos!】

【…Holy crap!】

__

Author’s Note:

Here it is! This arc is getting close to its wrap-up phase. There are still a few plot points to wrap up, including the most important point regarding Little Landmine (Dilei)! It’ll probably take about another week of writing (estimated).

Preview: The next arc will be 【Xianxia / Cultivation】. Because the “feudal old-timer” character in my concept is also quite complex, if I write him right back-to-back with Little Landmine, my little brain might evolve into a bald vulture, if you catch my drift.

For the Xianxia arc, let’s leave it to a ruthless host who talks little and acts decisively!

System-bro’s suffering arc (not really).