These past few days, Shen Xingruo hadn’t been sleeping well. She put on her earplugs and sank into her bed, drifting off into a deep sleep.
Li Ting and another roommate stood by her bed, feeling awkward and shy because of the kiss marks on her body. They didn’t dare to call out to her again. Meanwhile, Shen Xingruo inexplicably had a dream. She dreamt that Lu Xingyan was pressuring her to call him “husband” in bed, which startled her awake.
Suddenly sitting up in bed, Shen Xingruo startled Li Ting, who instinctively took a couple of steps back. “Shen, Shen Xingruo, you’re awake.”
It was just a dream.
The terrible content of the dream perfectly matched what had happened the previous night. Shen Xingruo’s complexion wasn’t great, and she felt a strong urge to call Lu Xingyan and give him a piece of her mind.
Li Ting was still stumbling over her words. “Uh, well, the school… the school leaders are looking for you. They’ve contacted us. There’s a competition program, and the school hopes you’ll participate.”
“Be clearer,” Shen Xingruo frowned.
Li Ting was still lost in her thoughts about the kiss marks, unable to articulate clearly. So she simply handed over the forwarded message to Shen Xingruo.
“Star City TV’s ‘Race Against Time’ Elite School Tour Competition?”
Shen Xingruo quickly scanned through the details in the message and then asked Li Ting to pass her phone over.
As she expected, after turning off airplane mode, her WeChat exploded with messages. Besides friend requests from Lu Xingyan and apologies from acquaintances, the rest were all related to the competition.
Shen Xingruo had watched quite a few episodes of “Race Against Time.” It was an old-school intellectual quiz show on Star City TV. It used to be live but had switched to recordings due to cost constraints. Nevertheless, it still had a loyal audience. While the regular amateur quizzes were generally uneventful, there would be occasional spikes in interest during the Elite School Tour and Celebrity Matches.
The current reigning Triple Crown winner, Ji Tianze, had initially gained fame through this show, establishing himself as the entertainment industry’s brainy heartthrob.
It was customary for university students to participate in the Elite School Tour.
Because rapid-fire questions weren’t conducive to on-the-spot calculations and the questions tended to lean towards the humanities, most of the participants were selected from the schools of literature, law, and business.
Shen Xingruo was from the School of Literature, and being in Star City with exceptional looks and temperament, she was a prime candidate.
As soon as the invitation for this year’s Elite School Tour came in, the school leadership immediately thought of her.
But after reading through it, Shen Xingruo wasn’t particularly interested in participating.
Just as she was contemplating how to decline, a notification popped up in her Weibo special follow list —
The celebrity she followed, Da Mengcheng, had posted a new Weibo.
It’s quite a coincidence that this reminder popped up. She had almost forgotten about this national drama queen.
Da Mengcheng suddenly heard bad news, and he’s changed his major! We’ll have even fewer classes together from now on! Storms of tears!
Da Mengcheng sent me home after tonight’s student union gathering, hahaha! It’s my first time riding in a sports car. This country bumpkin is utterly bewildered!
Shen Xingruo rubbed her temples, not knowing what to say.
Scrolling up, the latest post was from two minutes ago.
Da Mengcheng has hit 100,000 followers! He’s a man of his word! Here’s a treat!
Shen Xingruo clicked on his so-called treat —
It was a high-definition side profile photo of Lu Xingyan wearing a black bomber jacket, leaning back in a chair, and playing on his phone. The photo had a nice atmosphere, with autumn sunlight streaming in from the window, enveloping Lu Xingyan in a halo of light, exuding a sense of serene beauty. Even though only a small portion of his features were visible, judging from his physique, it was clear he was handsome. The photo captured about one-tenth of Lu Xingyan’s charm.
After looking at it for a while, Shen Xingruo zoomed in slightly.
She noticed that the photo was indeed of high quality; even after zooming in a bit, the watch and the couple’s ring on Lu Xingyan’s hand were still clearly visible.
Shen Xingruo wasn’t sure what she was thinking. She saved the original image and took a screenshot of the Weibo post.
After a few seconds of hesitation, she replied to her teacher, agreeing to participate in the competition.
Soon, the “Race Against Time” Elite School Tour Competition began in full swing.
There were a total of twenty teams in this competition, divided into four groups. The first stage was a quarter-final where eight teams advanced to the semi-finals, and then four teams moved on to the finals. Each team consisted of five members, and there were lucrative rewards for the top three teams.
Of course, no one participated in the name of the school just for the rewards; they were all fighting for honor.
The quarter-finals and semi-finals were both recorded, and the timing wasn’t convenient for Lu Xingyan, as he had classes on those days. He wanted to take leave to watch, but Shen Xingruo wouldn’t allow it. She insisted that the finals would be broadcast live on a weekend, so they could watch then.
Believing in her assurance, Lu Xingyan was confident that she would make it through.
As a result, the team Shen Xingruo easily made it to the finals with the highest total points.
Star University also participated in the Elite School Tour this time, with contestants including Lu Xingyan’s roommate, Chen Du. However, Star University’s team performed average and unfortunately stopped at the quarter-finals.
The recording for the quarter-finals and semi-finals was tightly scheduled, and it took just two weeks to complete all the recordings. However, there was still post-production work to be done, and only one episode would be aired on television each week. The live broadcast of the finals wouldn’t happen until November.
After the first two episodes were recorded, Shen Xingruo stopped thinking about it and focused all her limited time on studying and her relationship.
Lu Xingyan had become increasingly uncontrollable, completely consumed by his desires. Whenever he saw her, he couldn’t keep his hands to himself. Moreover, he was especially good at acting like a different person in bed; while he was normally obedient to her, he became overly aggressive in bed.
Shen Xingruo found it difficult to cope with and couldn’t understand where Lu Xingyan got all this energy from.
In early October, the “Race Against Time” Elite School Tour Competition began airing. There were a total of five episodes before the finals, aired in sequence. Initially, it didn’t attract much attention from the public, and there wasn’t much discussion about it.
However, after the broadcast of the quarter-finals where the big teams advanced, posts recommending the show frequently appeared on popular gossip forums. The excitement of the competition was one aspect, and the attractiveness of the handsome men and beautiful women was another.
During the competition, Shen Xingruo and a male student named Yu Si from Nan City University caught everyone’s attention with their remarkable appearance and excellent answering abilities. Some online users even paired them up, saying they had a great chemistry together.
Lu Xingyan eagerly waited for the program to air, and when it did, he only had eyes for Shen Xingruo, thinking to himself how amazing she was. He didn’t think there was anything wrong with it.
But when he searched online, he discovered that during the broadcast, a segment featuring his girlfriend had been titled “Si Ren Ruo Cai Hong” (lit. “As beautiful as a rainbow”). He couldn’t contain his anger and ended up being intimate with Shen Xingruo twice that night.
During the second time, Shen Xingruo was completely exhausted, covered in sweat, and she looked up at Lu Xingyan as he moved over her, forgetting how to feel embarrassed.
After it was all over, Shen Xingruo couldn’t hold on any longer. She didn’t even want to move, so she curled up in Lu Xingyan’s arms and fell asleep.
Her body was a mess, and she felt very uncomfortable sleeping, so she woke up after just half an hour.
When she woke up, she found herself still in the same position, curled up in Lu Xingyan’s arms. He was still holding her, energetically replying to those “Si Ren Ruo Cai Hong” comments on Weibo —
“That dried-up squid is unworthy of Shen Xingruo.”
“Shen Xingruo has a boyfriend now, and her boyfriend is especially handsome, much more handsome than that dried-up squid.”
“Shen Xingruo and her boyfriend have a great relationship, they’ve been together for a long time, don’t make wild guesses.”
Seeing Lu Xingyan’s earnestness, which was comparable to applying screen protectors, Shen Xingruo suddenly felt a strange sense of satisfaction. How lucky she was to have someone she liked who liked her so wholeheartedly.
Lu Xingyan noticed that Shen Xingruo was awake and asked, “Are you feeling unwell? Did I disturb you?”
Shen Xingruo shook her head, snatched his phone, casually stuffed it under the pillow, and then wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’m not feeling well, carry me to the shower.”
“Yes, ma’am!” Lu Xingyan responded enthusiastically. Without further ado, he pulled back the covers and carried her to the bathroom.
The last few times he suggested taking a bath together, Shen Xingruo always refused. It wasn’t until a few days ago when she couldn’t move after what he did to her, that he forcefully bathed her. She was angry afterward.
Now that Shen Xingruo brought up this good idea herself, he didn’t care about any nonsense. Having fun in the water was the priority.
In November, Star City quietly entered early winter, with most of the golden leaves of the ginkgo trees falling. The final of “Race Against Time” finally arrived as scheduled.
Shen Xingruo had been to the program recording before, so she knew that the heating at the venue was not very adequate. However, some girls weren’t afraid of the cold and wore pretty dresses with bare arms and legs.
Shen Xingruo couldn’t stand the cold, especially since she didn’t want her neck to be exposed, so she wore a khaki-colored turtleneck sweater. The sweater was a loose-knit, oversized style, and it looked good even when worn alone.
Before going, Lu Xingyan wanted to wear matching outfits with Shen Xingruo to assert his dominance. But Shen Xingruo refused and simply picked out a black bomber jacket for him.
He wasn’t happy about it. “Why wear this for watching the show? What if the camera catches me? Besides, how will others know we’re a couple like this?”
Shen Xingruo helped him zip up his jacket and put on his watch. After putting it on, she touched his ring. “Don’t we still have a couple rings?”
“The ring is so small, who’s going to notice?”
Lu Xingyan felt gloomy. He should have customized a pair of eight-star, eight-diamond sparrow couple rings.
But Shen Xingruo was confident. “People will notice.”
Whether people could notice the rings or not, Lu Xingyan didn’t know. But at the beginning of the program, he hoped that the whole world wouldn’t notice that he was Shen Xingruo’s boyfriend.
Li Chengfan and Zhao Langming, these two pests, insisted on joining in the fun, saying they wanted to cheer for Shen Xingruo and boost morale. Lu Xingyan didn’t mind at first, thinking it would just be a couple of “Shen Xingruo, go for it!” shouts, nothing embarrassing.
But he never expected that these two, who usually acted like plastic buddies, would suddenly be so concerned about their bro’s main consort status when they saw the “Shen Xingruo Rainbow” trend online. They were furious. They secretly plotted and brought in two LED boards wrapped in sweaters.
At exactly 7:00 p.m., the program started broadcasting. The host delivered the opening lines, along with replaying highlights from previous episodes on the screen. Then, it was officially announced that the final of “Race Against Time” was underway.
The order of appearance was based on previous points rankings. Shen Xingruo’s team took the stage in the fifth minute of the show. By the eighth minute, it was Shen Xingruo’s turn to introduce herself.
As she stepped forward, a few scattered LED boards with “Shen Xingruo Rainbow” lit up in the audience. Whether they were brought in by the program team or genuine fans impressed by her looks and talent, it was hard to say. These two strangers who hardly spoke three sentences in the show suddenly had such passionate fans.
Seeing the opportunity, Li Chengfan and Zhao Langming exchanged glances and, without Lu Xingyan’s knowledge, suddenly pulled out LED boards with the word “Star” on them. They prepared themselves, counted down three, two, one, and then shouted, “Double stars, double stars, two shots, one star! Rainbow fades, still watching the double stars! Sister-in-law, go for it! You’re the best!”
Lu Xingyan was completely bewildered at that moment. Words couldn’t describe the shock he felt.
He didn’t know what he did wrong to make these two sacrifice their dignity like this.
By the time Li Chengfan and Zhao Langming shouted for the third time, the director had already cut away from them.
Lu Xingyan snapped out of it, instinctively pulling his jacket collar up high and burying half of his face in it. Then he pretended to play with his phone, silently praying in his mind, “I don’t know them, I don’t know them, please don’t film me, I have some dignity left!!”