The Chu Wei fan group exploded with rage.
“Why is Running Lighthouse still in our fandom? That idiot! Kick him out already!”
A younger fan choked back tears. “Help, how are we supposed to kick him? He’s the owner of our combat group chat. Unless he dissolves the group himself…”
Under Running Lighthouse’s leadership, and brainwashing, many members of his group had quietly become Shen Fu fans and gradually started shipping Shen Fu and Jiang Shu.
On the surface: “Yes, yes, getting back together after a breakup is the best!”
Behind the scenes: “Tsk, did Shen Fu ever really like Chu Wei? It doesn’t even feel one-tenth as real as Refusing to Admit Defeat.”
Of course, there were still some diehard holdouts.
But Running Lighthouse simply kicked them out of the group.
Chu Wei’s fans were furious. Unable to swallow this humiliation, they reported him nonstop, trying to remove this toxic influence.
Meanwhile, the spectators in the comments were laughing themselves to death.【I’m dying. Is this a live demonstration of an anti-fan turning into a fan?】
Many netizens even came specifically to check in on Running Lighthouse’s Weibo: “Teacher Lighthouse, having a lone wolf like you in fandom culture is truly remarkable!”
Over on Rong Xiaozhen’s side, Shen Fu’s fans were also laughing helplessly while gossiping in their group chat. “This guy is unbelievable.”
Xiao Zhen said: “There’s gossip that the uploader who made that several-million-view ‘simp compilation’ video on Bilibili was also him. At first he was just a Chu Wei fan who migrated over and had a favorable impression of Shen Fu. Then after making that video, a bunch of Chu Wei fans attacked him for not using beauty filters on the other people. He got so rebellious that he completely switched sides and became a diehard Refusing to Admit Defeat shipper and loyal Shen Fu fan.”
One fan, watching the drama unfold, laughed. “And lately whenever our fandom gets into fights, he’s charging into battle at the frontlines while still using Chu Wei’s profile picture.”
“Hahaha, isn’t that guy unbelievably savage?”
By the time feeling had returned to Shen Fu’s foot, she left the pool area with a dark expression before Jiang Shu even came back with the medicine.
Watching her departing figure, Chu Wei felt a little disappointed.
But after checking the time, he realized that he had sat alone with her on the same bench for a full five minutes.
That had to be the biggest breakthrough since joining the show, right?
Progress was progress.
The other male guests were still lingering at the starting line.
Jiang Shu obtained the medicine from the production crew and returned to the pool area.
Shen Fu wasn’t there.
Instead, he found only that idiot Chu Wei sitting there alone, staring at the pool and wallowing in melancholy.
Jiang Shu: “…”
What bad luck.
There wasn’t as much water in the swimming pool as there was in that idiot’s head, yet he was still dreaming about getting back together after a breakup.
Jiang Shu looked around but couldn’t find Shen Fu in the chaotic living room, so he took the medicine and headed straight toward the bedroom hallway.
No matter what Jiang Shu did, he was undoubtedly the center of attention.
First, he was tall, handsome, and naturally carried the aura of a wealthy young master. Second, he changed the sunglasses perched on his high nose every day like a princess from a dress-up game changing outfits, making people unable to resist taking another look. Third, all his romantic rivals were constantly watching him, afraid he might once again gain a head start.
When they saw him heading toward Shen Fu’s room, all the men in the living room quietly turned their attention in that direction.
They had been debating whether to interfere, but then they saw Jiang Shu knock twice on Shen Fu’s door.
Ha. He actually dared to knock on Shen Fu’s door?
Wasn’t he afraid of having the door slammed in his face?
Other than Gu Zhidao, Xiang Lingyun, who was eating a late-night snack at the dining table, Wen Zhenghan, who was reading on the terrace, and Chu Wei, who had just come out of the pool area, all instinctively exchanged a look of lingering trauma that only they could understand.
It was coming.
That familiar bang was about to happen.
The three of them couldn’t help secretly looking forward to it.
What goes around comes around.
Yet the very next moment, before Jiang Shu had even knocked more than a few times, Shen Fu opened the door.
The three men: “…”
They watched as she poked her head out and glanced at Jiang Shu.
The two exchanged a few words. Jiang Shu handed her two boxes of something, and Shen Fu accepted them and lowered her head to look.
Only after Jiang Shu left did she close the door.
The three men: “…”
Their expressions didn’t visibly change, but Gu Zhidao could practically hear the sound of three things shattering. Unable to resist, he looked up and glanced at the three of them in confusion.
The three met his gaze and stiffened.
Xiang Lingyun quickly lowered his head and continued eating noodles.
Wen Zhenghan resumed reading his script.
Chu Wei continued walking toward the kitchen, glancing at the other two as he went.
…What was going on?
Where was the expected door slam?
Then again, Jiang Shu had delivered medicine.
Maybe Shen Fu only hadn’t shut him out because he was bringing medicine.
If it had been anything else, Shen Fu definitely would have kept her distance.
She definitely would have gone bang and shut the door on him.
The three comforted themselves with this explanation.
Since Gu Zhidao had only watched transcripts before joining the show, he wasn’t as quick to understand what was happening.
He glanced at the three men again and thought it over before finally realizing what that look between them had meant.
All three of them had previously had doors shut in their faces by Shen Fu.
So that was it.
A subtle sense of superiority immediately appeared on Gu Zhidao’s face.
He had never been turned away by Shen Fu either.
It seemed that the strongest contenders now were Jiang Shu and himself.
Watching the men silently exchange glances across the room, as if swords had already clashed a thousand times in an instant, the livestream comments felt there was some profound mystery they couldn’t decipher.【…What are these guys looking at?】
【No idea, but I suddenly realized something, they still don’t know Shen Fu has feelings for D, do they?】
【Holy cr*p, you’re right. The slipper incident, the private bike ride, and the photo incident between Shen Fu and Jiang Shu, none of the other guests know about those. In other words, the Crown Prince is practically handing in his exam paper already, while they still think the exam has just started.】
Fans of the various contestants looked at those comments with tears in their eyes, wishing they could jump through the screen and shake their idols by the shoulders.
At a time like this, they still thought they had the upper hand?!
If they didn’t start making moves soon, the other couple would practically have children already!
Their phones had already been confiscated.
During the next seven days, there was no way the guests would know what fandom discussions had taken place or what topics had trended online.
…
The next day, the production team and guests used the airport’s VIP passage.
Although the crowd had been dispersed in advance, a lineup like this might not be seen again for another ten years. As a result, countless fans and professional fan photographers still camped out for over ten hours just to see them arrive and depart.
Setting aside all the open rivalry and silent warfare on the show, the nine of them were incredibly attractive. They looked like a group of supermodel phantom thieves straight out of a AAA video game, the kind who could be slightly restyled and sent straight to film a blockbuster movie.
Among them, Jiang Shu and Shen Fu stood out by an overwhelming margin.
Because of Jiang Shu, the other male guests had all abandoned sunglasses as an accessory. Tall, handsome, dressed entirely in black, and wearing black sunglasses, he stood out dramatically from the crowd, evoking images of The Matrix.
As for Shen Fu, she had recently been appearing on trending searches constantly. Although she was dressed very conservatively, with her baseball cap practically pulled down to her chin, the small stretch of pale neck visible beneath it still sparked endless imagination. On top of that, while every other female guest carried at least a small bag, she was the only one walking with both hands in her pockets and no luggage at all.
Jiang Shu pushed a luggage cart with both of their suitcases stacked on it. With a cool expression, he strode ahead, clearing the way for Shen Fu.
The fans who had come to see them off snapped countless photos, and the shipper community once again celebrated as if it were a holiday.
“Pushing through the crowd to lead you forward, finding you in a sea of people. Shen Fu looks so tiny when the Crown Prince protects her from behind, ahhh!”
“And she’s always looking at Jiang Shu! Her eyes instinctively go to him first every time, ahhh!”
If Shen Fu could see those comments, she would only want to say:
What crowded airport?
What sea of people?
There was no such thing, okay?
Jiang Shu had outright snatched away her suitcase and bag. The only reason she was following behind him was because she had to keep an eye on her luggage.
She had just bought that suitcase and was worried that this dog of a man would simply hurl it onto the conveyor belt with brute force.
And she wasn’t staring at Jiang Shu either.
With her baseball cap on, her field of vision was tiny.
Even if the bald director had been walking in front of her instead, she would have stared at him just as closely to avoid getting lost.
Before departure, when Chu Wei and Gu Zhidao saw Jiang Shu snatch Shen Fu’s luggage, they had intended to seize the opportunity to show off their gentlemanly manners as well.
However, before either of them could even take a step forward, one suddenly found Xu Tiaotiao stuffing her suitcase into his hands, while the other ended up carrying the luggage of both Zuo Mei and Gu Qingshuang.
Xu Tiaotiao and Zuo Mei seemed to have started competing with each other again.
Knowing that Gu Zhidao was Gu Qingshuang’s older brother, Xu Tiaotiao adopted the attitude of “if I can’t work Gu Zhidao to death, it doesn’t count.” She stuffed as many things as possible into her suitcase and then handed everything over to Gu Zhidao, the “team leader.”
As for Gu Qingshuang and Zuo Mei, they naturally fought back. Knowing that Chu Wei and Xu Tiaotiao had once been friends, they pushed all their luggage onto Chu Wei as well.
“…”
Gu Zhidao wasn’t too bad off. He only had to carry his own suitcase and Xu Tiaotiao’s.
Chu Wei, on the other hand, was miserable, trailing behind the group like a pack mule.
At this moment, however, aside from Chu Wei’s fans feeling sorry for him, all the other viewers were completely absorbed in the visual feast of this superstar group traveling together.
…
After a series of twists and turns, the plane landed.
After putting down their luggage, the production crew spent the afternoon filming the guests exploring Gulangyu Island, having dinner, and then returning to their guesthouse.
The entire guesthouse had been rented out by the production team.
The scenery was more distinctive than the villa’s, featuring a Japanese-style tatami and kimono aesthetic. However, the rooms were much smaller than the villa’s.
The guests sat on outdoor benches in the courtyard as the production team announced the rules.
“These seven days of travel each have a theme. Today is called ‘A Day of Exciting Group Lodging.’ This means the guests will experience what it’s like to stay in shared sleeping quarters during a school trip. There are only two large rooms for all nine guests, one room for five people and one room for four. Room assignments will be decided by drawing lots.”
As soon as the rules were announced, Shen Fu exchanged a look with Xu Tiaotiao beside her.
“…”
Looks like getting a good night’s sleep was out of the question.
How did the production team keep coming up with so many new ways to torment them without repeating themselves? Were they going to sleep on floor bedding tonight? Thankfully, according to the introduction to the seven-day trip, the group lodging arrangement would only last for one night.
Several of the male guests instinctively glanced toward Shen Fu.
With cameras everywhere, there was naturally no concern that whichever male guest ended up in the same room as Shen Fu would do anything inappropriate. But spending an entire night in the same space, in an intimate atmosphere, could change many things.
Maybe it could even change the entire romantic landscape.
Jiang Shu wanted nothing more than to punch each of these idiots who kept looking around at one another.
The dark, hostile aura radiating from him was so strong that even Zuo Mei, seated in front of him, sensed it and couldn’t help turning around to look at him.
Other people joined dating shows. Mr. Jiang looked like he was participating in a carrot-defense war.
While the guests were all secretly plotting, the livestream comments were ecstatic.
【AAAAH! How did the production team know this was exactly what I wanted to see? Everyone’s had private rooms until now, I was being deprived!】
“Besides that, all guests must also leave behind a voice recording tonight.”
The production team began handing everyone a small voice recorder.
“Tonight is already Day Twenty-One of Limited-Time Heartbeat. You may record your current feelings, your level of affection toward the opposite sex, or questions you’d like to ask someone.”
“You may only record once. There are no do-overs and no deleting.”
“After recording, hand it to the production team. We won’t open them immediately. Instead, after the final decision night concludes, we’ll open them like a time capsule.”
Shen Fu accepted the recorder.
She could already guess what the production team was thinking.
If two guests liked each other, they would naturally mention one another in the recording.
Then, if they successfully became a couple after the show ended, listening to those recordings later and discovering that the feelings had been mutual long ago would be incredibly romantic.
But there was no way she would actually follow the rules and leave behind something embarrassing in a recording.
Wasn’t that stupid?
After everyone put away their recorders, it was time to draw lots for room assignments.
Shen Fu thought to herself that the four-person room might actually be better. Less crowded.
Unfortunately, her luck was terrible. She drew the five-person room.
Five-person room: Shen Fu, Xu Tiaotiao, Chu Wei, Gu Zhidao, Jiang Shu.
Four-person room: Gu Qingshuang, Zuo Mei, Wen Zhenghan, Xiang Lingyun.
When Jiang Shu saw that he and Shen Fu were assigned to the same room, he quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
But then he noticed that Chu Wei and Gu Zhidao looked relieved too.
His face immediately darkened.
“…”
It was already after eight in the evening.
The production team first led the guests to inspect their rooms.
The five-person group followed a staff member through the courtyard to a Japanese-style building.
They removed their shoes, climbed the wooden steps, pushed open the door, and entered.
Shen Fu discovered that the room was actually quite spacious.
Forget five people, even ten people could have fit comfortably.
Five fluffy, soft futons were stacked neatly in the alcove, and the guests were expected to choose their own sleeping spots and make their beds.
Shen Fu looked around. Her plan was to wait until the others had picked their spots before finding a corner for herself.
Unexpectedly, she didn’t move and Jiang Shu, wearing sunglasses, hands in his pockets, and an icy expression, also stood motionless.
What if he picked a spot first and those two shameless b*stards immediately laid their bedding next to Shen Fu?
Since Jiang Shu wasn’t moving, neither Chu Wei nor Gu Zhidao moved either.
The one they most needed to guard against was this unpredictable Crown Prince Jiang.
Who knew what kind of person he really was?
What if those stories online about him taking whatever he wanted by force were true?
For a while, although nobody spoke, the room felt as though blades were flashing everywhere.
All four of them stood there like statues.
Xu Tiaotiao looked at one, then another, completely unable to figure out where she should sleep.
Shen Fu was so exasperated she laughed. “Are you guys really not going to choose your spots? The person sleeping closest to the door is going to have it worst. Someone might get up in the middle of the night and accidentally step on his face.”
Xu Tiaotiao folded her arms and glanced at the three men.
“Surely you don’t expect us girls to sleep nearest the door.”
“Forget it. If they’re not choosing, let’s choose first.” Shen Fu pulled down a futon and handed it to Xu Tiaotiao. “How about this? You take the innermost spot against the wall.”
After helping Xu Tiaotiao spread out her bedding, Shen Fu laid out another futon beside hers.
Before she had even finished, Jiang Shu suddenly sprang into action. In a panic, he hauled over the room’s low table, cabinets, and every movable piece of furniture he could find, stacking them beside Shen Fu’s bedding to form a short wall.
“Perfect.” He nodded in satisfaction. “You sleep here. Be careful when you roll over at night. Don’t roll out.”
Taking advantage of the moment Jiang Shu was busy stacking up furniture to separate the female guests from the male guests, Gu Zhidao and Chu Wei both moved quickly despite appearing calm on the surface. Each grabbed a futon, trying to claim spots closer to Shen Fu.
Seeing this, Jiang Shu picked up the tea from the low table and splashed it onto the floor.
Then he shoved Gu Zhidao and Chu Wei toward the doorway and sneered, “Still trying to compete? Now you can’t. Get over by the door and sleep there.”
Everyone else: “…”
Xu Tiaotiao rubbed her forehead. “Let them fight for a while. Let’s go record our messages first.”
Shen Fu: “…Okay.”
The two girls left the room and went to opposite corners of the courtyard to make their recordings.
Shen Fu sat down beneath a pergola and took out the recorder. “Day twenty-one…”
She got through the opening line and then stalled.
She wasn’t someone who liked expressing her feelings, and she hadn’t really developed deep emotions for any of the other guests on the show. She genuinely had no idea what to say.
Maybe she should just fake it a little.
Anyway, this segment didn’t earn any points.
Speaking of points, Shen Fu did some calculations in her head. She didn’t have much time left, just over a month. But even adding together her previous savings, Wen Zhenghan’s fifty million, and the prize money she’d won from the show, she still hadn’t reached even half of the required amount.
She couldn’t delay any longer. Once the show ended, she’d have to borrow money from her company.
Just as she was thinking that, the system suddenly came online. “You don’t have your phone, right? Wow, you already have enough money.”
Shen Fu blinked. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m not totally sure what’s going on either, but I can see your incoming payment records on my side. A very large dividend payment came in yesterday and today. Added to your previous savings, it’s completely enough.”
“What dividend?” Shen Fu immediately suspected fraud. She did have money, but it was money she’d prepared as a last resort to save her parents’ lives. She never dared make high-risk investments.
The system said, “It seems to be stock dividends from an investment in .”
Since the show began airing, its popularity had skyrocketed. The investors had already made a fortune.
“But when did I invest in it?” Shen Fu was completely confused. “Telecom scam?”
“No,” the system replied firmly. “I can see that you did sign an investment intent agreement. The investment funds didn’t come from your account, though. The contract was signed by you personally at the same time you signed the agreement to join the show. You probably didn’t read it carefully.”
To receive dividends this large, the original investment definitely hadn’t been a small amount.
Shen Fu wanted to call Liang Xiaochun and ask what was going on, but without her phone, that wasn’t possible right now.
She asked, “If it didn’t come from my account, whose account did it come from?”
The system sounded puzzled. “Jiang Shu’s personal account.”
Shen Fu: ?
What??
For a long moment, Shen Fu couldn’t process the answer.
Ten billion was enough. This meant she had completed her mission. When the time came, she could bring her parents home.
But because it had happened so easily, she didn’t even have time to feel joy. Her mind was full of question marks instead.
Everyone knew she needed money.
But why would Jiang Shu help her like this?
Their old friendship from their teenage years didn’t seem like enough to explain it.
After the humiliating experience she’d had at eighteen, Shen Fu desperately didn’t want to flatter herself again.
But even if she wasn’t obsessed with money, she would never spend this much to help someone. Investing two hundred million in someone else’s name was not a small sum.
At this point, it wasn’t that she wanted to be narcissistic. Jiang Shu’s behavior was simply too suspicious.
“You think…” Shen Fu suddenly felt nervous. And when she got nervous, she forgot she was supposed to communicate mentally with the system and spoke aloud instead.
“Jiang Shu… this time, could it be real? Does he finally like me?”
The moment she finished speaking, the system fell silent.
Shen Fu: “?”
Then the system said faintly in her mind, “Shen Fu, your recorder is still on.”
