QKYJ - 37

Since his debut, Shen He has left a deep impression on people.

He is seen as dominant, free-spirited, elegant, and talented.

Shen Zhi’s image is much more one-dimensional.

Pretty, good-natured, and talented.

She focuses on acting and rarely appears on variety shows or gives interviews. Even when she does, she seldom talks about her private life. She always presents herself as composed, graceful, and magnanimous, and because she can tolerate Shen He, whose public perception is extremely polarized, she has gradually become synonymous with the word “perfect” in the eyes of the public.

There is nothing wrong with this.

No one says there’s anything wrong with it.

Her ambitions are not big, she has a good audience reputation, so her lack of ambition doesn’t have a huge impact.

However.

Accepting the reality show Married Men and Women was not Shen Zhi’s original intention.

But she made the decision to take it seriously.

The difference between a reality show and other types of variety shows is that it shows the down-to-earth and ordinary side of celebrities. The old Shen Zhi was too perfect, too flawless. Apart from her marriage to Shen He, which everyone talked about, everything else was so standardized it was boring.

In Shen He and Shen Zhi’s interactions, people mostly learned about Shen He.

But this time, Shen Zhi’s debut on a reality show revealed a side of her that the audience had never seen before.

She gets sulky.

She is a little bit spoiled.

She is very skilled at lecturing and bossing Shen He around, but she seems to be the one who is completely controlled instead.

Using a popular internet slang term, you could even say she is a bit “high-maintenance.”

But that’s what makes her stand out.

Compared to other types of variety shows, the most prominent point of a reality show is that it directly and clearly caters to the audience’s desire for knowledge and curiosity.

To put it bluntly, it satisfies people’s gossipy nature.

Are reality shows real?

All variety shows are, in the end, just products.

A product’s value is reflected in its sales.

Therefore, whether it is real or not is up to individual interpretation.

This season of Married Men and Women aims to have celebrity couples shed their halos and return to a simpler, more rural life.

Therefore, the problem of eating had to be solved through effort.

The three teams first gathered at the entrance of the village.

Everyone said good morning and asked questions like “Did you rest well?” After some pleasantries, everyone seemed to get along well, and it was precisely because of this that Shen He and Shen Zhi stood out.

There was a certain distance between them.

Although they were still “on,” they clearly didn’t want to interact with each other.

The three teams took different routes to the first destination—the village chief’s house. The production team already had some ideas about the editing and had added to the script. During the journey, the “Cheng-Ji-san” team and the senior couple were guided to talk about the state of the Shen couple.

Ji Luoluo hesitated and stammered, “Did they... have a fight?”

Cheng Ruiyi shook his head: “I don’t think so.”

“It feels so tense,” Ji Luoluo continued.

“Brother Shen is the kind of person who has a lot of his own ideas. To be honest, he’s very individualistic. If you’re not familiar with him, it can be a little intimidating to be around him. But once you get to know him, you’ll realize that he really cares about people,” Cheng Ruiyi analyzed slowly. “As for Shen Zhi, she is always very patient and has a good temper. I believe they wouldn’t have a conflict for no reason.”

On the other side, Wang Ruilan was much more at ease: “They’re a young couple. It’s inevitable to be like this when you’re together.”

Qu Xiao also gave his opinion: “The better the relationship, the more they fight.”

The two couples on this side talked at length about their own relationship experiences, how romantic and happy they were when they were young, which was very much in line with the show’s purpose.

The mode of transportation was decided by drawing lots. Ji Luoluo and Cheng Ruiyi got a motorcycle. Shen He originally drew a sponsor-provided fuel-efficient car, but he took the initiative to communicate with the staff, saying it was too hot for the senior couple to walk, so he swapped with their team.

In the end, they rode the electric tricycle that Shen He had borrowed from a villager the day before in his personal capacity.

Before the official filming, Shen Zhi didn’t wear a sun hat but tied a light-colored silk scarf instead.

She wore sunglasses and covered her hair with the silk scarf. To be honest, this outfit would make anyone else look like a country girl, but on Shen Zhi, she looked beautiful no matter what.

Shen He, however, was merciless, and spoke nonsense to the camera: “...Today, we’re going to the city to get some goods. We’re running a small business to build my wife a new house.”

Shen Zhi, from behind, pointed at Shen He, nodded, and waved her hands repeatedly.

She turned to another camera and said, “This man is an idiot.”

But she couldn’t deny that he was very good-looking.

She suddenly remembered what Ouyang Sheng had said about Shen He in college: “He’s handsome, isn’t he? He traded his IQ for it.”

Even riding such a rustic mode of transportation, he was still incredibly dashing. He was definitely the kind of pretty boy every girl in the village would think about. It was truly unfair.

What these two didn’t know was that the production team would soon decide to add a filter and background music from shows like Rural Love Story and Parents’ Love Story to this segment.

They met at the village chief’s house.

The production team gave them a tic-tac-toe board.

Each square represented a task.

They had to complete three tasks in a row, either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, to get the clue for this round.

They started in the order of arrival.

The small tasks were a bit tricky but not too difficult. For example, eating a lemon without changing your expression, arm-wrestling with a staff member, or doing a tongue twister in one go.

Shen He and Shen Zhi drew the task of doing push-ups with one person on their back.

The two of them looked at each other.

It had been quite awkward between them all day.

As he was getting down, Shen He said, “Don’t sit on me too heavily.”

Hearing this, Shen Zhi deliberately rebelled and pulled her knees up.

Everyone laughed.

Qu Xiao even asked directly: “You must have accumulated a lot of resentment, haven’t you?”

Shen He had already started doing push-ups. Shen Zhi, while going up and down with him, hit his back particularly hard and replied with a fake smile, “Yeah, I really have a lot of resentment.”

The second task they drew was threading a needle.

Shen He was not good at it at all but inexplicably got competitive.

Because of this, they were surpassed by the other teams.

Shen Zhi couldn’t stand it anymore, pushed him away, and finished it in a flash.

She also added an impatient “Tsk.”

Shen He said, “If you could do it, you should have done it earlier.”

Shen Zhi said, “It’s because you’ve been hogging the spot.”

Shen He said, “What has been wrong with you since yesterday?”

Shen Zhi said, “I was about to ask you what has been wrong with you?”

It looked like the two of them were really about to start a fight.

At this moment, the production team also deliberately filmed the flustered expressions of the people around them.

Ji Luoluo went up to hold Shen Zhi back: “Sister Shen, don’t be angry...”

Everyone else also went to look at Shen He.

For the last task, they finished it in a tense and hurried manner.

But they were still surpassed by the other teams.

The clue they got was three numbers.

“866.”

The production team then announced that this code was related to a treasure hidden in the show. The person who found the treasure would get the final victory and an unexpected reward.

However, today’s winner had already been decided.

The top two winners could enjoy a meal at the village chief’s house.

The last-place team could only pick some vegetables from the village chief’s garden and cook for themselves.

Facing the village chief, who was looking a little stiff while saying the lines arranged by the production team, Shen Zhi couldn’t help but sigh, “That’s so heartless, isn’t it?” Her voice was very soft and sweet when she said this, and her bitter smile was very beautiful.

The staff immediately gave the instruction: “No acting spoiled.”

“Who’s letting you act spoiled,” Shen He said, pulling Shen Zhi back.

This led to another round of arguments.

Shen Zhi sat in the back of the electric tricycle and refused to get off. Shen He couldn’t be bothered to force her and went to the field himself, asking the camera, “Can we really take as much as we want?”

“Just take enough for your meal,” the cameraman sensed danger.

But Shen He was still very polite.

In his words: “It’s not easy for the village chief to grow vegetables. It’s already great that he’s willing to share them with us. We shouldn’t cause too much trouble.”

There were still a lot of vegetables.

It was just a shame there was no meat.

They rode the electric tricycle back, and unexpectedly ran into the old lady’s grandson from before on the road. He asked them what they were doing. Shen He thought for a moment and suddenly asked him, “Where is your convenience store?”

He then turned to the staff and asked, “Can we go buy some things?”

Shen Zhi, who had been quiet all this time, also looked up: “We’re already so pathetic. It should be okay to go to the convenience store.”

After a discussion, they were allowed to buy things under 100 yuan.

The convenience store in the village was very simple, and there were few things. Fresh food was out of the question, but surprisingly, there was ice cream. Shen He asked Shen Zhi if she wanted some. She didn’t say anything, just took a box of ice cream for herself.

Shen He looked around for a long time and bought some cassava flour, milk, and brown sugar.

After they got back, Shen He started a fire, Shen Zhi washed and cut vegetables, and Shen He did the cooking.

Shen He asked Shen Zhi to get some eggs from the backyard.

Shen Zhi was cutting vegetables and wiping sweat with her arm, and said, “I hate chickens.”

“Then don’t eat them later,” Shen He scoffed.

“I won’t,” Shen Zhi said decisively.

They seemed to be arguing endlessly, but they were actually just bickering over small things, so their words became childish. It was more like kids playing around than a real fight.

And they kept messing with each other’s work.

Shen He wanted to make a potato stew, but Shen Zhi deliberately cut the potatoes into shreds. Shen He wanted to boil eggs, but Shen Zhi cracked them open and stirred them.

With sound effects and music, it was funny and had great comedic effect.

But it had to be said that the cooking tips Shen He had his assistant forward to him beforehand were useful. His cooking was more decent than it was at home, and even Shen Zhi secretly thought to herself, He’s been secretly improving.

To be captivating, a show must have conflict.

The production team was aware of this.

Taking advantage of the time, the staff instructed them to separate. So Shen He went to the backyard to saw wood, and Shen Zhi stayed in the house.

Shen He said to the camera: “How else are you going to mess with us? Tell me, because before you guys kill me, she’ll probably kill me.”

Shen Zhi said to the camera: “It must be hard, right? Do you want to use the fan for a bit? It’s really tough for you guys to be with our team.”

Then she generously turned the fan toward the staff.

Shen He said to the camera: “She’s like this sometimes. I can’t even be bothered to deal with her.”

Shen Zhi said to the camera: “Be honest. Don’t you think he’s wrong? You’ve only known him for a few days, and I’ve been married to him for so many years.”

The two of them each had a long rant.

The production team was ecstatic. They had more content to edit.

Ji Luoluo finally got to her break time.

It was also her first time as a regular cast member on a variety show.

Her manager happened to come visit.

“How is it going?” Her company was not a big one. It had few employees, and everything revolved around Ji Luoluo, but in recent years, they also had to cultivate up-and-coming talents. The capable ones had more work, so the manager was quite busy.

“It’s good,” Ji Luoluo said, thinking about their team’s stable ranking.

The manager said: “It’s good to have someone you trust as your assistant, but your relative is not in this line of work after all. Every time I want to know what’s going on, she knows nothing. Let’s find a new one next time—”

Ji Luoluo was reluctant: “She hasn’t caused any trouble.”

The manager let out a sigh of relief.

Then Ji Luoluo suddenly remembered something.

“Speaking of which, let me tell you something strange. Didn’t everyone say that Shen He and Shen Zhi had a good relationship?” Ji Luoluo said. “I didn’t expect—”

“What’s wrong?” The manager was very sharp.

“They had a fight,” Ji Luoluo said.

“They had a fight?”

“Yeah,” she described it in detail. “It was quite tense. I don’t understand. After all, everyone is watching, and the cameras are filming. This is too careless...”

Unexpectedly, the manager’s face sank, and she lowered her voice: “...They’re not careless. They’re not the careless ones. Luoluo, you’re too naive!

“They are stealing your airtime.”

The sentence exploded like a thunderclap.

For a variety show, there are many definitions of “good.” People don’t just like to watch good content; they also like abnormal content. It’s like bad publicity is still publicity, as long as the means of clearing their name are solid and reliable.

Ji Luoluo was stunned.

At first, when she saw Shen He and Shen Zhi fighting, Cheng Ruiyi, who was closest to her, was also a little panicked. But not long after, he didn’t seem so surprised anymore, and he became more and more active in the filming. Did he also realize this?

In the middle of the night, Shen Zhi woke up in unbearable pain.

She felt dizzy and weak, and her breathing was abnormally hot. Slowly, she fumbled for her phone. A short while later, her assistant, Xiao Qiu, who had seen her message, came in from outside.

“Sister...” Xiao Qiu walked closer and was immediately shocked. Shen Zhi’s face was unnaturally red, and when she put her hand on her forehead, she could feel a burning heat. “You have a fever.”

Maybe it was because she had been sweating during the day and had been in front of the fan for too long, or maybe it was because she shouldn’t have eaten the ice cream that was frozen in the freezer with hairtail and beef at the convenience store. In any case, Shen Zhi knew she was sick.

“No, we can’t film tomorrow’s show. I’m going to call a doctor and then contact Sister Cai right now.”

With that, the assistant got up.

However, Shen Zhi suddenly grabbed her.

She stopped her and said word by word: “Xiao Qiu, listen to me.”

The feeling in her body was spreading indefinitely. To what extent she was sick, how long her body could hold on, when she would probably get better, and whether she needed a shot—these questions flashed through her mind.

What did “work hard” mean?

As an actor, it means giving it your all, immersing yourself in the role, becoming the character itself, and doing it for the sake of the performance.

Shen Zhi said: “Go and inform the staff of the production team first. Go ahead... Or you can just call Shen He over directly.”

The assistant asked uncertainly: “Is it okay to just call Brother Shen over?”

“Yes,” Shen Zhi replied with a smile. “He knows what I want to do. He’ll definitely understand.”