Chapter Summaries

After a drunken night with his longtime rival Shen Yanci, Song Yunxing woke to discover a painful mark on his neck and viral footage of them kissing. With reporters waiting outside the hotel and fans interpreting the scandal as a romance, he was left unable to remember what had happened.

• Drunk Song Yunxing clung to Shen Yanci, kissed him, and bit his gland before Shen Yanci knocked him unconscious and put him to bed.
• Song Yunxing woke hungover, noticed a sore red mark on his nape, and went to shower.
• Meng Ruo arrived and showed Song Yunxing trending topics claiming he and Shen Yanci had kissed and spent the night together.
• Song Yunxing watched clear footage of himself kissing Shen Yanci in the hotel corridor and tried to flee.
• Meng Ruo stopped Song Yunxing, told him reporters had blocked the hotel exits, and showed him fans reacting positively to the apparent romance.

After a video of Song Yunxing and Shen Yanci sparked dating rumors, Jiang Huaizhi urged Song to join a variety show with Shen rather than issue a clarification. Shen agreed to appear, insisting that Song be his partner because Song still owed him an explanation.

• Song Yunxing confronted Jiang Huaizhi for inviting Shen Yanci to his birthday party and letting paparazzi into the venue.
• Jiang Huaizhi showed Song Yunxing and Meng Ruo the PR analysis and proposed using the dating rumors to promote a variety show.
• Song Yunxing angrily agreed to consider the show after Jiang explained that it could give fans a better explanation than a rushed statement.
• Yin Yuan presented Shen Yanci with the variety-show contract and said the production had already signed Song Yunxing.
• Shen Yanci signed the contract and told Yin Yuan that Song Yunxing had to be his partner.

As rumors linking Song Yunxing and Shen Yanci spread, a young omega accused Song Yunxing of leading him on to damage his reputation. Meng Ruo prepared to expose the full chat history, but Shen Yanci posted a photo of a dating show contract bearing both stars’ signatures and mocked the accuser.

• Fans and gossip accounts fueled the romance rumors about Song Yunxing and Shen Yanci while both agencies stayed silent.
• Meng Ruo warned Song Yunxing that the rumors were growing, but he focused on recording his third solo album.
• A young omega from the New City Dance Troupe livestreamed accusations that Song Yunxing had promised to date him and then abandoned him for Shen Yanci.
• Meng Ruo ordered the PR department to investigate the accusation and release Song Yunxing’s complete chat history.
• Shen Yanci posted a photo of a dating show contract signed by himself and Song Yunxing, calling the accuser a delusional fanboy having a meltdown.

Shen Yanci’s intervention fueled speculation about his relationship with Song Yunxing, and the cast announcement for the dating show sent its popularity soaring. As Song Yunxing prepared to film while facing a possible second differentiation, he and Shen Yanci bickered over WeChat about their past kiss and agreed neither would have an easy time.

• Meng Ruo had the PR team clarify the rumors and blacklisted the company that had spread them, while wondering why Shen Yanci had helped Song Yunxing.
• The True or False Lovers production team announced four celebrity pairs, including Shen Yanci and Song Yunxing, and the show rapidly gained followers and trending attention.
• Song Yunxing learned that filming would involve livestreams and different locations, then bought waterproof gland patches after discovering he had begun differentiating again at twenty-five.
• Meng Ruo warned Song Yunxing to be cautious around the other guests and Shen Yanci, while Xiao Nan prepared to accompany him on the show.
• Shen Yanci told Song Yunxing not to drink, then reminded him that he had kissed Shen first; Song Yunxing called it an accident and vowed neither of them would get off easy.

Song Yunxing and Shen Yanci reunited on camera to travel to the True or False Lovers filming location, where their bickering and flustered reactions fueled rumors about their relationship. When the director asked about their first kiss, Shen Yanci called it a secret and declined to answer.

• Song Yunxing arrived alone, and the director noticed scratches on his neck as viewers speculated about what had happened between him and Shen Yanci.
• During a van interview, Song Yunxing blushed at a question about kissing Shen Yanci before Shen Yanci joined him.
• Song Yunxing and Shen Yanci traded insults about their first impressions, while Shen Yanci teased Song Yunxing with an exaggerated compliment.
• When the director asked when they had first kissed, Shen Yanci said it was a secret and chose not to answer.

Song Yunxing and Shen Yanci arrived at the village for the variety show, where their teasing friendship and Shen Yanci’s pointed defense of Song drew attention. Lu Yiyi’s attempt to needle Song with a dating rumor backfired, while her jealousy grew as Shen Yanci openly hinted at his feelings for him.

• Shen Yanci offered Song Yunxing his favorite chocolate, and Song accepted while insisting he would repay him another day.
• Song Yunxing and Shen Yanci met fellow guests Luo An and Lu Yiyi at the village entrance.
• Lu Yiyi brought up a rumor that Song Yunxing might have joined the show with a boy-band member, prompting hostile livestream comments.
• Shen Yanci challenged Lu Yiyi’s implication that Song would choose the other man over him, and Song refused to smooth over her awkward apology.
• Shen Yanci told Song Yunxing he would like him whether he was young or old, leaving Song uncomfortable and Lu Yiyi jealous.

Song Yunxing and Shen Yanci joined the other guests for the first filming day of True or False Lovers, where the production team confiscated their phones and money and revealed the couples’ compatibility scores. Their low score and conspicuous distance left viewers questioning whether they were pretending to barely know each other.

• Lu Ran reunited with Song Yunxing and hugged him, but Gu Nianzhi pulled her away and introduced himself before Song Yunxing introduced Shen Yanci.
• Yu Wan and Shi Jinyan arrived, completing the group of eight guests.
• Director Guo explained that the guests would spend two days earning points for necessities and required them to hand over their phones and cash.
• Director Guo announced that Luo An and Lu Yiyi scored 96 points, Yu Wan and Shi Jinyan scored 82, Lu Ran and Gu Nianzhi scored 60, and Shen Yanci and Song Yunxing scored 35.
• The other couples acted close after the scores were announced, while Shen Yanci and Song Yunxing kept their distance and prompted viewers to speculate about their relationship.

Song Yunxing and Shen Yanci joined the other guests in picking oranges to earn points for accommodation and food. After Song Yunxing filled his basket, Shen Yanci carried it off, claiming he would take Song Yunxing’s oranges.

• Director Guo announced that guests had to spend points on lodging and ingredients, then offered orange picking as a way to earn more.
• Song Yunxing rented tools and hurried toward the orchard, where Shen Yanci followed him and said they were on the same team.
• Song Yunxing and Shen Yanci picked oranges quickly, while Lu Ran and Gu Nianzhi shared an orange and Yu Wan posed for photos taken by Shi Jinyan.
• Song Yunxing filled his basket but hesitated to lift it because of an old back injury.
• Shen Yanci tricked Song Yunxing into checking his hoodie for a bug, then took both his own basket and Song Yunxing’s oranges.

The guests worked through the blazing afternoon picking mandarins, then learned that food and drinks cost points. As they took a break, Director Guo sent them to the makeup room to touch up and apply sunscreen.

• Song Yunxing confronted Shen Yanci for tricking him, but Shen handed him the vouchers they had earned, and Song returned some before resuming work.
• The exhausted guests asked to rest, and Director Guo revealed that refreshments and meals had to be bought with points.
• Lu Yiyi stayed in the shade and sent Luo An to buy food, then showed her frustration as the heat ruined her appearance.
• Song Yunxing chose to spend points only on water, while Shen Yanci spoke with Director Guo.
• Director Guo announced that all guests could take a short break to touch up their makeup and put on sunscreen.

Song Yunxing and Shen Yanci chose an expensive villa room, then turned it into a bargain by persuading the other guests to buy rooms from them. As Yu Wan hinted that Shen Yanci was jealous of their closeness, Song Yunxing remained confused.

• Shen Yanci noticed Song Yunxing's sunburn and told him to reapply sunscreen, then gave him a rice ball before the afternoon work began.
• Song Yunxing and Shen Yanci pooled ninety points and chose the first accommodation option, a country villa.
• Shen Yanci took over Director Guo's tablet and microphone while Song Yunxing advertised villa rooms for forty points each.
• Lu Ran and Gu Nianzhi bought a room, followed shortly by Shi Jinyan and Yu Wan.
• Yu Wan ruffled Song Yunxing's hair, then teased him that someone was jealous of how close he was to Shen Yanci.

Song Yunxing and Shen Yanci sold the villa’s guest rooms to the other guests, provoking Lu Yiyi’s objections, which Director Guo dismissed. The group settled into the villa, while a locked first-floor room and the director’s secretive camera preparations hinted at a surprise.

• Song Yunxing sold villa guest rooms to Luo An and the other guests, but Lu Yiyi objected that the arrangement broke the show’s rules.
• Song Yunxing defended the guests’ choice, and Director Guo confirmed that the villa owners could sell access to its guest rooms.
• Shen Yanci coldly warned Lu Yiyi to watch her words, then followed Song Yunxing and the others away.
• Luo An comforted Lu Yiyi and played along with their couple act, while privately remaining indifferent to her.
• Song Yunxing led the group into the villa, where the guests explored and praised the accommodations as staff installed cameras.
• Lu Ran found a locked door near the stairs and quickly gave up trying to open it.

Song Yunxing and Shen Yanci discovered their master bedroom had one suggestive round bed and settled the sleeping arrangements with rock, paper, scissors. Meanwhile, Lu Yiyi and Luo An arrived at their shabby house and began arguing over their choice of accommodation.

• Shen Yanci carried Song Yunxing's suitcase upstairs, where they found the master bedroom's single round bed and transparent bathtub.
• Song Yunxing refused to share the bed and challenged Shen Yanci to rock, paper, scissors for the bed and sofa.
• Shen Yanci repeatedly beat Song Yunxing, leaving Song Yunxing to wail in defeat.
• Lu Yiyi and Luo An reached a small, moldy red-brick house, and Lu Yiyi complained that it was unfit to live in.
• Luo An reminded Lu Yiyi that she had chosen the house, then coldly told her she could stay with the others if she disliked it.

At the first dinner of the dating show, the guests discussed the next day’s plans while viewers debated whether the Yi-An CP and Mutual-Dislike CP were real. Shen Yanci and Song Yunxing continued to snipe at each other, leaving Lu Ran and Gu Nianzhi wondering if their hostility concealed a relationship.

• Lu Yiyi and Luo An resumed their affectionate act on camera, prompting viewers to argue over their relationship and the Mutual-Dislike CP.
• Song Yunxing reluctantly sat beside Lu Ran across from Shen Yanci, and the two avoided each other’s gaze.
• Director Guo told the guests they would browse a market the next day and said they could spend the evening freely until the livestream ended at nine.
• Yu Wan opened a bottle of wine, while Shen Yanci explained that Song Yunxing was preparing for an album and called his eating manner sloppy.
• Lu Ran privately asked Gu Nianzhi whether Shen Yanci and Song Yunxing were a real couple, and Gu Nianzhi said their eyes might reveal more than their words.

Song Yunxing and Shen Yanci’s school history sparked rumors that they had once been rivals in love, while their charged encounter in the villa bedroom hinted at Song Yunxing’s lingering attraction. The chapter left Shen Yanci pleased that Song Yunxing was not entirely indifferent to him.

• Shen Yanci left the dining room, and Lu Ran asked Song Yunxing about his relationship with him; Song Yunxing denied that anything was going on between them.
• A former Xinyue Secondary School student posted that Song Yunxing and Shen Yanci had been popular classmates and that they supposedly fought over a girl before Song Yunxing left to train abroad.
• The school-rival rumors spread across Weibo and pushed the topic onto the trending list.
• Song Yunxing grew sleepy during the card game, and Lu Ran sent him upstairs to rest.
• Song Yunxing returned to the bedroom and found Shen Yanci fresh from a shower; after they traded teasing remarks, Song Yunxing blushed and retreated into the bathroom.
• Shen Yanci smiled to himself, deciding Song Yunxing was not completely uninterested in him.

Song Yunxing and Shen Yanci spent the night in the same room, where Shen Yanci quietly cared for him while hiding news of Ren Le’s engagement. After Song Yunxing fell asleep on the sofa, he wandered into Shen Yanci’s bed, leaving Shen Yanci overwhelmed by his presence.

• Shen Yanci learned from a phone call that Ren Le was getting engaged and agreed not to tell Song Yunxing about the invitation.
• Shen Yanci gave Song Yunxing a hair dryer, and Song Yunxing dried his hair before settling down on the sofa.
• Song Yunxing browsed online, watched a clip of Shen Yanci acting, and remembered how Shen Yanci’s fame had encouraged him during his early career in Kimchi Country.
• After Song Yunxing fell asleep on the sofa, Shen Yanci remained awake in bed.
• Song Yunxing got up in his sleep and climbed into bed beside Shen Yanci, who stroked his hair and cheek.

The production team’s dawn livestream revealed that Shen Yanci had slept beside Song Yunxing, prompting Shen to shield him from the cameras. Meanwhile, Lu Yiyi staged an intimate-looking scene with Luo An, who woke up shocked to find her beside him.

• The follow director and camera operator found Song Yunxing asleep in the big bed and discovered signs that Shen Yanci had slept beside him.
• Shen Yanci emerged from the bathroom and ordered the crew to leave while Song Yunxing woke up.
• Shen Yanci blocked the camera’s view of Song Yunxing’s loose robe before the crew left, and Song Yunxing noticed the rumpled bedding on Shen’s side of the bed.
• The production team woke the other guests and captured their sleepy interactions on camera.
• Lu Yiyi applied makeup, then pretended to wake beside Luo An and nestled into his arms.
• Luo An woke, saw Lu Yiyi beside him, and shouted in shock.

Luo An and Lu Yiyi concealed their awkward morning mishap during the live broadcast, while Song Yunxing and Shen Yanci prepared to sell the citrus they had picked. As the couples headed toward the market, Shen Yanci wiped a crumb from Song Yunxing’s lips in a moment the cameras caught.

• Luo An startled awake and shoved Lu Yiyi, then apologized and pretended he had mistaken her for someone in a nightmare.
• Lu Yiyi and Luo An acted affectionate for the cameras as viewers noticed a foundation mark on his pajamas and argued about her makeup.
• Song Yunxing panicked after realizing he had shared a bed with Shen Yanci, then blushed and fled when Shen teased him.
• Song Yunxing gave Shen Yanci sandwiches and read the task card requiring them to sell their truckload of citrus before they could leave.
• Song Yunxing pulled Shen Yanci toward the courtyard gate, where Shen used a tissue to wipe Song Yunxing’s lips as the livestream watched.

Song Yunxing and Shen Yanci tried to sell a truckload of mandarins at a poorly placed market stall, where Shen Yanci drew customers with his looks and Song Yunxing became frustrated at being overlooked. The other guests arrived, and Lu Yiyi and Luo An’s stall quickly attracted a much larger crowd.

• Song Yunxing and Shen Yanci arrived at the last stall in the row and learned they had to sell the mandarins themselves at the market’s set prices.
• Song Yunxing struggled to attract customers, while Shen Yanci drew a crowd of women who bought mandarins and tried to matchmake for him.
• After seeing women ignore him while flocking to Shen Yanci, Song Yunxing grew jealous and resolved to outshine him once he differentiated into an Alpha.
• Song Yunxing and Shen Yanci sold mandarins to the women, and Song Yunxing begrudgingly kept working while Shen Yanci asked him to share a mandarin.
• The other guests arrived, and Lu Yiyi and Luo An were immediately surrounded by customers at their stall.

Lu Yiyi’s attitude drove customers away from Luo An’s stall, while Lu Ran used origami animals to draw shoppers to her team. Song Yunxing took over selling oranges from Shen Yanci and used a clip of Shen’s acting to scare away the matchmaking aunties, leaving Shen curious about why Song had the video saved.

• Lu Yiyi basked in the crowd’s attention while Luo An urged her to help sell their oranges, and her rude demand that people buy the unripe fruit drove customers away.
• Lu Ran poached customers by offering children origami animals made by her “world-class designer” Alpha, drawing shoppers toward her team’s oranges.
• Song Yunxing returned with a speaker and microphone and found Shen Yanci fending off matchmaking aunties while trying to sell oranges.
• Song Yunxing pulled Shen Yanci aside and warned the aunties that he was strange, then showed them a clip of Shen playing a psychiatric patient until they fled.
• Song Yunxing smugly told Shen Yanci he was not son-in-law material either, while Shen wondered how Song had a saved copy of the film clip on the production crew’s phone.

Song Yunxing set up a speaker to help sell the farmers’ mandarins and teased Shen Yanci, who flirted with him until he was flustered. Song Yunxing then sang for the gathered crowd, leaving Shen Yanci captivated as their eyes met.

• Song Yunxing connected a speaker and microphone, and Shen Yanci teased him about being jealous.
• Song Yunxing denied being jealous, but Shen Yanci caught him when he stumbled, making him blush and accuse Shen Yanci of assaulting him.
• Song Yunxing asked the crowd to buy the mandarins and offered to sing for them.
• Song Yunxing sang “My Secret,” quieting the crowd and drawing Shen Yanci’s rapt attention.
• Song Yunxing and Shen Yanci met each other’s eyes during the song, and Song Yunxing looked away first.