QKYJ - 33

Shen He said, “But I hope you do blame me.”

Shen Zhi said, “Why?”

She asked this question without even thinking.

He, however, seemed to have not considered the reason: “... Is there anything you’re dissatisfied with about me?”

“Nothing in particular,” Shen Zhi replied, her voice calm. “You just always pile things up in the living room and block my way... What’s wrong? You’re asking this all of a sudden.”

Then it was quiet on the other end for a while, and Shen He replied, “I see. Then, see you around?”

“See you around.” Shen Zhi couldn’t help but feel relieved.

The call ended. Shen He stared at his phone, lost in thought.

After a long time, he turned around and waved to his assistant, “Let’s call it a day.”

The assistant hesitated at first, but turned back when he reached the stairwell. The hallway lights were off, and he could only see Shen He standing there alone, motionless, as if he had turned into a gray stone statue.

When Xi Xi came in, Shen He was leaning against the window. She quickly walked over and pulled him away, saying, “What are you doing? If you want to get photographed, go streaking downstairs. Don’t be a target here.”

In the face of her sarcasm, Shen He was uncharacteristically unresponsive.

He just slowly walked to his seat and sat down, casually looking for a book on the shelf to pass the time. Looking at him, Xi Xi stood with her hands on her hips and was silent for a while. Finally, she spoke, “I have some good news and some bad news.”

Hearing this, Shen He finally looked up. He looked at her from below.

Xi Xi was forced to use the cliché: “Which one do you want to hear first?”

Shen He seemed to have considered it.

“The good one,” he said.

“Good,” Xi Xi forced a smile. “Director Huang Zhengfei sent you a video message, asking you to audition for his new film.”

Even Shen He’s face flashed with a hint of surprise: “Why—”

“Take a look at this.”

With that, Xi Xi turned the tablet around and showed him the video in her inbox.

In the video, Huang Zhengfei was sitting in a reception room somewhere, looking at the camera with a triumphant expression: “Hey, Shen He. How have you been? I hope you’ve been doing terribly!”

Just hearing that, Shen He was already annoyed.

“This old man...” He couldn’t help but gnash his teeth.

Then, Huang Zhengfei continued: “Are you cursing me already? It’s a shame I can’t hear you. I’ve been swamped with work recently and have been bored every day, which makes me want to jump into the sea. But, at this moment, guess what I saw—”

Shen He’s frown deepened.

“Ta-da!”

Huang Zhengfei showed his phone screen to the camera. On it was the image of Shen He confronting the reporter after the news broke. Shen He was visibly angry, a complete disgrace for a public figure.

Perhaps he was too exhausted to be angry. Shen He turned to his assistant and asked, “What does he want?”

“I know you’ve messed around a lot before and after you became famous, but this time,” Huang Zhengfei tilted the screen as if he were probing for something, and a certain person couldn’t help but hold his breath. Then he heard the person in the video continue, “Is there something different about it?”

Shen He didn’t say anything. He raised his hand to his chin, and his entire face was cast in shadow.

After a meaningful pause, Huang Zhengfei smiled and said, “Alright. In any case, I’m very pleased with how you look. It shows me a lot of what I need.”

Then he mercifully announced that he wanted him to audition.

He also explained some basic requirements.

If it weren’t for the fact that Xi Xi had only bought that tablet at the end of the year, Shen He might have been tempted to smash it directly.

Xi Xi looked at him sideways and asked with a restrained expression, “So, are you going to audition or not?”

Shen He stood facing the wall for no reason, exuding a strong sense of anxiety. “Of course I’ll audition,” he replied quickly, with his back to his manager.

Huang Zhengfei’s provocative and smug expression lingered in his mind. Shen He wondered, What’s wrong with this person?

He couldn’t help but hold his face, and began to think very seriously—

Was it that obvious?

The news about Married Men and Women finally came.

By then, Shen He had already survived for several days on improper foods like coffee, mints, and tofu pudding. Xi Xi had already lost her temper and begged him, and the only thing left was to bag him, beat him up, and tie him down by force. Just as she was about to implement her plan, the invitation to the reality show’s meeting arrived in a timely manner.

“Ding Yaocai sent a message asking if you two want to go together,” Xi Xi said.

He took a while to decide.

He said “Okay,” but his face didn’t show that he thought it was “okay.”

After learning that Shen He would come to pick her up, Shen Zhi changed her clothes, tied her hair up, and then hesitated while choosing a perfume, wondering why she was being so thorough.

Then she thought again, It’s not for anyone. It’s just about maintaining my image.

She rested for a while longer.

Shen He sent her a short message with two words: “Downstairs.”

So Shen Zhi got up. Shen He hadn’t arrived yet when he sent the message. Shen Zhi simply followed her own pace, systematically used an AI to confirm the safety of the water and electricity, and switched her bag before going downstairs.

Not a minute too early or too late, as if everything was within his estimation, Shen He parked the car in front of the house.

They met, and there was no awkwardness in the atmosphere that floated between them.

“Have you eaten?” He leaned over, opened the door for her, and asked casually.

“No,” she said as she got in. “I want to eat hot pot.”

Shen He raised an eyebrow and didn’t say anything, just changed the destination. They went to eat hot pot.

This hot pot restaurant was the same place where a producer had once invited them to dinner and asked Shen He to bring his family.

Whether they were facing politicians or celebrities, whether they were greeting famous people or rich commoners, the waiters were unfazed.

After confirming the order, the third person left, and there were only Shen He and Shen Zhi left in the booth. Shen Zhi slowly drank her tea, and Shen He was looking at his phone. When the ingredients were brought out, Shen Zhi first pushed the osmanthus sugar cake toward him and said, “I’m on a diet recently.”

Shen He nodded perfunctorily and then began to use the serving chopsticks to cook the meat. When it was fully cooked, he put it on Shen Zhi’s plate.

Shen Zhi just ate.

After eating for a while, Shen Zhi finally looked up and took a sip of water to moisten her throat.

She didn’t say anything, but he knew what she wanted to ask.

Shen He said, “I don’t have an appetite.”

Putting their relationship as a couple aside, they were at least roommates and physical partners for so many years. It was impossible for her not to know about his situation.

Shen Zhi’s eyes widened, and she glared at Shen He like a Ragdoll cat. She didn’t care if he was really not hungry and just picked up a slice of lotus root and put it into Shen He’s mouth.

Shen He subconsciously cooperated, but his gaze was stuck on Shen Zhi’s face and he couldn’t pull it away, causing his chopsticks to tilt and dirty his cheek.

“Can you be more careful?” he complained while chewing.

She retorted and handed him a tissue: “You’re the one who wasn’t careful.”

Once he ate the first bite, the rest followed naturally. Shen He and Shen Zhi ate and chatted.

It was Shen He who brought up work first: “Are you being bullied a little too much recently?”

His team should have been paying attention to all the trends in the entertainment industry, and news about his partner was not to be missed. There were press releases everywhere about Ji Luoluo starring in Not Kind at All, and marketing accounts even started polls on who was more suitable for the female lead role, her or Shen Zhi. Shen Zhi’s fans were mostly not the type to care about data, so they were naturally at a disadvantage at a time like this.

However, Shen Zhi didn’t mind much.

She nodded and unhurriedly dipped her food in vinegar. She actually wanted to eat sesame paste, but considering the calories, she couldn’t bring herself to eat it.

“Isn’t she also participating? Married Men and Women,” Shen He said as he browsed the information.

The guests on Married Men and Women weren’t all married couples.

“Yes,” Shen Zhi had known for a long time, so she wasn’t surprised. “And guess who her partner is?”

“Who?”

There was no more tea in the cup. Shen Zhi quietly took Shen He’s cup. She took a sip and then replied, “It’s Cheng Ruiyi.”

Shen He was stunned.

For some reason, the first thing he thought of wasn’t that his talk show had been stood up, but what Shen Zhi had said the first time she mentioned this person to him: “You’ll definitely like him.” To this day, he had even cooked a meal for him, but Shen He’s impression of Cheng Ruiyi was still neither bad nor great.

Why was she so sure he would like Cheng Ruiyi? Was it because she liked him too?

“What’s wrong? You don’t want to see him?” Shen Zhi said.

“No,” Shen He replied a little too quickly.

He tried to cover up something by drinking water, but he clearly didn’t notice that the teacup had already been taken away—the container he picked up was the oil dish.

Shen He, who had just taken a mouthful of vinegar, started coughing.

As a bystander, Shen Zhi handed him the water cup with a mix of amusement and helplessness.

When the two of them went out to eat, it was sometimes a 50/50 split, and sometimes they would take turns paying. In short, they tried to be as equal as possible.

There was still some distance to the TV station. On the way, Shen Zhi saw a bakery and unconsciously rested her head against the car window, and said naturally, “When you’re on a diet, you want to eat everything. Is there anything you like to eat normally?”

Shen He thought about it and glanced in the rearview mirror: “...Teriyaki beef rice?”

Their tastes had always been difficult to align.

Shen Zhi, who wanted to eat kimchi pork rice, sighed.

Xi Xi and Ding Yaocai had already arrived. Their seemingly harmonious but actually sparks-flying way of getting along was exactly the same as the artists they managed.

Everyone gradually took their seats.

The three pairs of guests for the first season of Married Men and Women were all present.

Besides Shen He and Shen Zhi, who were one a silver screen icon and one a TV screen icon, there were two other pairs.

The first was a big-shot in the industry. The man was a veteran actor who had won numerous awards, and any work he had done was a classic. The woman was a singer with some background. They were both around forty years old. They rarely participated in variety shows, let alone reality shows.

The second pair was Ji Luoluo and Cheng Ruiyi. They were a duo specifically set up for a younger audience. Both of them were in the stage of wanting to transition from relying on popularity to relying on their skills. The variety show Married Men and Women was both a challenge and an opportunity. All in all, after some consideration, they chose to participate.

The first pair was positioned as the “standard answer” and “textbook example” of the pairs, while Cheng Ruiyi and Ji Luoluo’s pair and the Shen couple were positioned as “fake marriage” and “real marriage,” respectively.

Married Men and Women was a reality show with elements of competition and romance.

The production team was very honest and said, “We’re a little greedy. We want to create conflict, but we also hope to show everyone’s more authentic lives. So in this regard, we might have to trouble you, teachers, to consider it. But as long as you follow the pace of our filming and participate actively, we believe there won’t be any problems.”

Shen Zhi was looking through the materials that were handed out.

The first episode was in the mountains.

She read a few pages, and there was also a list of livestock that the production team had prepared.

Suddenly, Shen He pushed his set of materials toward her. On the page that was laid out, Shen He had written with a ballpoint pen: “Don’t you think this variety show is a little difficult?”

“A little,” Shen Zhi took it and wrote below. “But it would be good if it brings in ratings.”

“You have to be self-sufficient and also participate in competitions. Isn’t that too physically demanding?”

“They’ll probably incorporate the competition into the self-sufficiency process.”

“Should we learn how to cook beforehand? With the little bit we know,” he wrote calmly.

She replied in her handwriting: “I can’t.”

Shen Zhi covered her face with her hand, secretly tilting her head to see what Shen He was going to write. Just by looking at his expression, Shen He showed no flaws at all. He would stop and write, looking very serious.

They were having this back-and-forth conversation.

Both of them were so good at pretending to be paying attention that no one noticed, except for their managers who knew them better than their own children.

Xi Xi kicked Shen He under the table.

Shen He looked up and was met with a warning expression.

Ding Yaocai tapped Shen Zhi’s arm with her pen. Shen Zhi, who was a model student, immediately stopped and wrote on the paper, “Pay attention.” Shen He replied, “Why are you being so obedient?” and then turned his head and deliberately stared at her.

Shen Zhi was so uncomfortable from his staring that she gave the back of his hand a hard pinch under the table.

Shen He quickly pulled his hand away.

The two of them looked at each other with guilty expressions, wanting to complain to the other but also feeling amused. What they overlooked was that everyone else was also looking at them.

Fortunately, the meeting had come to an end.

The important matters had been settled, and everyone else began to chat or pack up to leave.

“The two Mr. and Mrs. Shen,” the staff all had a knowing and kind look on their faces. They were all rooting for the couple, which made Shen He and Shen Zhi feel a chill down their spines. “You two have such a good relationship.”