Shen An'an?!

While Shen Rui'an and Su Tingbai were heading to the town market, the online controversy over Shen Rui'an's true appearance finally began to spread. The reason was still that everyone who insulted Shen Rui'an had been warned by Su Tingbai, which only sparked the netizens' curiosity.

They did not harbor that much malice. It was simply that the more Shen Rui'an refused to show his face, the more intensely curious they became.

People were like that—the more tightly something was hidden, the stronger their curiosity grew.

Some even started discussion threads to dig into Shen Rui'an's identity, but after comparing everything they could find, they still came up empty-handed. He had hidden himself too well.

Someone even created the topic #SearchingForTheLegendaryShenAnan#.

By comparing videos from Shen Rui'an's account, some people discovered that many of the locations seemed to be beautiful high-end sanatoriums. Photos resembling hospital wards also appeared quite frequently, while the most common were scenes from a certain villa.

The netizens put their various skills to use. Once the topic gained traction, some eventually realized they had seen those places before.

[This looks like the famous sanatorium in Province X. The people living there are either rich or powerful, but it's far from downtown. If I hadn't delivered takeout there once, I wouldn't even have known a place like this existed around here. What an eye-opener.]

[This scenery looks like it's near some private hospital. Treatment there is ridiculously expensive, but there are plenty of top medical experts. I once visited a wealthy relative in the inpatient department, and if nobody had told me it was a hospital, I would've thought it was some luxury villa complex...]

[No wonder he's childhood friends with Su Tingbai. That villa seems to be part of some residential compound. The people inside are either rich or powerful; having money alone doesn't guarantee you can live there. But it looks like Shen An'an's family owns a huge portion of it. His captions are basically all about taking walks at home. So that's his home? I thought it was some kind of park.]

[Young Master Shen, no question about it. So does nobody know Shen An'an's background yet? Is he really that good-looking?]

After the topic fermented for an entire morning, people who knew something finally began to appear.

[If it's that Shen Household, then I know about them. But the Shen family's youngest young master rarely goes out or shows his face. He's incredibly mysterious.]

[...He really is very beautiful.]

More and more people came across the topic. After seeing the whole story, some compared the clues, and a person surfaced in their minds. A bold thought occurred to them.

[Our hospital once had a very special patient. Every time he was admitted, he caused a sensation. It wasn't because his case was unusual, and it wasn't because his status was particularly noble. It was purely because... he was too beautiful!] The instant this comment appeared, it was pushed to the top of the hot comments.

[???? After all these days, has Shen An'an's identity finally been revealed? Is a face reveal still far off? Sis, do you have a picture?]

[No pictures. The hospital doesn't allow photos of patients, but he really was gorgeous. I can't even describe it. Let's put it this way: basically every nurse and doctor in our department would take turns finding excuses to check on him during rounds. If the hospital hadn't restricted the number of people allowed in his room, people from other departments probably would've found excuses to drop by too.]

[I'm getting more and more curious about what Shen An'an looks like.]

[My mom is a caregiver at some sanatorium. She was once hired by an especially generous employer—great pay, barely any work, and most importantly, the patient she cared for was incredibly good-looking. When my mom came home that time, she suddenly found me unbearably unpleasant to look at and thought I was ugly as hell. P.S. I'm actually fairly handsome. Before taking care of that patient, my mom had been especially proud to have given birth to such a fair, handsome son. Ever since she started caring for that mysterious patient, everything changed. Sadly, the rules were strict, so she couldn't take photos. But my mom is obsessed with looks—seriously obsessed. She says that anyone she calls good-looking is usually extraordinarily beautiful! I'm really curious what that person looks like!!]

[Shen An'an? I've heard of him. He's frail and sickly, so he rarely appears in public. The elders in his family who have seen him all say he's adorable. I remember going to the same kindergarten as him when we were little. He was really cute. Everyone fought to be his friend, and our parents even had to get involved. But later, he got sick and attended school on and off, so I rarely saw him again.]

One comment after another drew countless passing netizens into the rabbit hole, making them increasingly curious about just what kind of heavenly beauty Shen Rui'an was.

The more likes the topic received, the wider it was pushed. Uninformed people who stumbled across it thought some newly debuted celebrity had appeared, judging by how massive the discussion was.

Shen Rui'an's fans sent people that screenshot about drinking it diluted for three years, and they immediately fell into the fandom. Another sister had joined the ranks.

A whole crowd gathered beneath Shen Rui'an's videos, eagerly waiting to be fed. They no longer even asked him to post photos—posting Baisui would do. At least they could look at his hand and satisfy their hand fetish.

Meanwhile, Shen Rui'an, the eye of the topic storm, was sitting in Su Tingbai's passenger seat, practically bouncing with excitement. He held Baisui in his arms, the dog already wearing a collar.

"Su Tingbai, is the market big? What do they have there?" Watching the forests and grasslands recede on both sides of the road, Shen Rui'an's heart had long since flown to the market he had never seen before.

Su Tingbai tilted his head to glance at him, a little reluctant to shatter Shen Rui'an's fantasy. "That town market isn't very big. It's only a few streets, and the streets can't compare to the ones in the city. It does look lively, but it might not be like the kind of shopping trip you're imagining."

Most of the villages here were home to elderly people and children left behind, while the young people had gone out to work early and only came back once at the beginning or end of the year. It was a relatively underdeveloped place.

But because of that, every market day was lively and full of earthy charm, unlike the markets in the city. The local mountains and forests were rich in produce, and many people brought vegetables from home to sell specifically on market days to make a living.

Su Tingbai quite liked wandering around there. It felt like opening blind boxes.

After hearing Su Tingbai out, Shen Rui'an was not disappointed at all. Instead, he became even happier. "Really? Then that's great! As long as it's lively, that's enough!"

Seeing that he was still excited, Su Tingbai's lips curled up as well. "We'll buy some things to take back later. Stay close to me and don't get lost."

"Okay!" Shen Rui'an agreed without hesitation.

When they reached the market, it was indeed as lively as Su Tingbai had said. After parking the car, Shen Rui'an let Su Tingbai hold his hand while he led Baisui down the street. There were stalls everywhere, selling all sorts of things. Most of the vendors were elderly, with few young people in sight.

Shen Rui'an looked around curiously, unaware that he himself had become part of the scenery in everyone else's eyes.

It was not unusual for two men to hold hands in the street. But two exceptionally attractive men holding hands while walking a yellow puppy? That was certainly eye-catching.

"Oh my, this young man is so handsome!"

"This old lady has lived most of her life, and this is the first time I've seen anyone this beautiful. He's like a fairy from the heavens!"

"Young man, want some fruit? This old man picked it in the mountains this morning. It's sweet!"

"This little pup is handsome too. He'll definitely grow up looking majestic!"

Shen Rui'an was simply too outstanding-looking. After walking only a short distance, the grandpas, grandmas, uncles, and aunties on both sides of the street insisted on stuffing food into his arms. Shen Rui'an had never encountered anything like this and was so flustered that he did not know what to do. His arms were stuffed with fruit and fresh flowers, and whenever he could not carry any more, he made Su Tingbai take them. By now, they were hauling bags and bundles all the way along.

Even Baisui had a large bone clenched in his mouth and a basket of flowers hanging around his neck.

The two of them truly could not withstand everyone's enthusiasm and fled in disarray. Only after returning to the car did they finally breathe a sigh of relief.

"That was terrifying!" Shen Rui'an still had not quite recovered.

Su Tingbai was shaken too. Luckily, he was big enough to block much of the enthusiasm from the uncles and aunties.

"Do you still want to keep looking around?"

Shen Rui'an hesitated. He did want to, but he did not want to be force-fed again.

Su Tingbai saw through his thoughts and suddenly remembered that there were masks in the car. He took out a black mask for Shen Rui'an, then put a baseball cap on him as well. With that, Shen Rui'an's face was almost completely hidden.

"How about going out like this?"

Shen Rui'an nodded hesitantly and followed Su Tingbai down another street. At first, he was still a little nervous, but later, he realized that aside from some curious glances, nobody was nearly as crazy as before. He finally let out a breath and completely relaxed.

Most of the shops on this street were opened by residents in their own homes, and there were also some stalls selling flowers and plants.

But there was even more food.

Shen Rui'an looked left and right, finding everything new and fascinating. His gaze was drawn to the succulents at a small stall, and he pulled Su Tingbai over.

The stall owner was unusually young. He lounged around scrolling through his phone, and had just yawned when he noticed a shadow overhead. He looked up—and froze.

Holy shit, wasn't that Su Tingbai, the food blogger he followed? He had actually run into him?!

The young man was stunned for a moment before his attention was drawn to the boy beside Su Tingbai. The boy wore a mask and baseball cap, making his face difficult to see clearly, but he wore short sleeves that revealed a stretch of especially pale arms. Most notably, his hands were beautiful, like works of art. The young man was captivated by them.

Then it suddenly hit him. This was Su Tingbai, so the person beside him had to be...

Shen An'an?!