Xiao Jingxi

Biodata

Background / History

Xiao Jingxi first met the original Xie Mi in their school cafeteria, where he let her have the last serving of sweet-and-sour ribs. She fell in love with him and pursued him for five years before he agreed to date her. She subsequently entered the entertainment industry to follow him, despite her family’s objections 1 33 34.

Their relationship lasted two years but remained secret. After becoming an award-winning actor, Xiao Jingxi avoided public associations with Xie Mi, who helped conceal their relationship. When his hit drama with Xu Shuangrong led to romantic publicity, a leaked photograph on Xie Mi’s phone wallpaper prompted speculation about his actual girlfriend. His response, “We’re not close,” exposed her to a month of harassment; an extreme fan of his pairing with Xu Shuangrong eventually stabbed her 1.

Later recollections expose the financial imbalance in the relationship. Xie Mi had paid for expensive gifts, Starbucks, and luxury outings, while Xiao Jingxi reciprocated with much cheaper gifts and meals. When he tries to present his acceptance of her gifts as evidence that she was special to him, she counters that hers were the most expensive and demands repayment 257.

He also kept his face out of her relationship videos, allowing him to deny their association if the recordings became public. During their later heart-to-heart, Xie Mi identifies this deliberate concealment—not merely his involvement with Xu Shuangrong—as a fundamental betrayal of their relationship 299.

Childhood Kidnapping

At eight years old, Xiao Jingxi was kidnapped by a murderer who tortured children and held him in a dark, abandoned factory for seven days. In the original novel, he was the massacre’s sole survivor, and the resulting trauma helped explain his attraction to Xu Shuangrong’s apparent resilience 143 144.

The altered history connects him to Shen Yeqing, another child imprisoned in the same factory who was originally supposed to die. Shen later identifies Xiao Jingxi as a fellow survivor and recognizes his resemblance to the concealed figure who had tried to harm him during Xie Mi’s visits to the past 145 486.

Original Novel’s Trajectory

In the original plot, Xiao Jingxi and Xu Shuangrong fall in love on the dating show. He grows disgusted with Xie Mi’s jealous interference and dumps her; on the day the new couple announce their relationship, an extreme shipper fan kills Xie Mi 1.

Xu Shuangrong eventually confesses that she had manipulated others while pursuing professional success. By then, Xiao Jingxi loves her deeply enough to accept her, and they end the novel together with successful careers 29. These events describe the original novel, not the altered course following Xie Mi’s transmigration.

His interest in Xu Shuangrong begins while he is still dating Xie Mi. Finding his girlfriend dull and viewing Xu as resilient and uncorrupted by the industry, he personally asks his company to promote the new pairing. He nevertheless tells Xie Mi that the company arranged it and dismisses her objections as jealousy 50.

During the original dating-show play, he uses his directorial authority to add romantic scenes for himself and Xu Shuangrong. Later, he protects her during a horseback-riding accident caused by Yu Jinche’s scheme, suffering more serious injuries himself; the rescue advances their romance and generates favorable publicity 100 450.

Awakening and Changed Objectives

As Xiao Jingxi departs from the original plot and falls out with Xu Shuangrong, he gradually loses the protection of his male lead halo. Experiences that contradict his expected protagonist status increase his awakening progress, although renewed self-delusion can sharply reduce it 323 326.

After fully awakening, he learns that he is the novel’s male lead, that Xie Mi is regarded as an outsider who changed the story, and that Shen Yeqing was an unnamed character originally destined to die. Rather than accepting Xu Shuangrong’s proposal to restore their shared original ending, he decides that winning Xie Mi back will let him reclaim his own protagonist position with a different female lead 362 370.

He subsequently follows Xu Shuangrong into the past through System L’s ability, intending to murder the younger Shen Yeqing and erase his adult rival from the future. Xie Mi intervenes and forces him to flee their confrontation, though he initially remains in the past and continues seeking an opportunity 371 378 379.

By the third season, his system has been removed following his confrontation with Shen Yeqing. He nevertheless continues pursuing Xie Mi, treating the show’s remaining twenty-eight days—the period before the original novel’s ending—as his last chance to reclaim his intended future 485 521.

Appearance

• Build: Tall and slender 5.
• Face: Handsome, with dark eyes and thin lips 4 6.
• Style: Appears at the show’s opening in a dark suit, projecting an elegant, haughty bearing 5.
• Disguise: Wears a cap and face mask when confronting Xie Mi outside her apartment; initially participates in the show under the masked identity Mr. Fox 2 4.
• Image-enhancing accessories: Wears a hairpiece that Xie Mi repeatedly blows away during a mud relay. For a later sheep-mask disguise, he uses three layers of shoulder pads, height-increasing insoles, and youthful clothing to resemble a sports student 327 367.
• Height-increasing insoles: Four insoles fly from his shoes when he flees Xie Mi during their confrontation in the past 379.
• Musculature: Has well-developed pectoral muscles from years of training; these help him avoid serious injury when Xie Mi accidentally punches him while playing VR 559.

Personality

Xiao Jingxi treats the original Xie Mi’s devotion as something he can take for granted. He orders her around, keeps their relationship hidden, and accuses her of exposing her phone wallpaper to force a public announcement. Even after she is stabbed by a shipper fan, he interrogates her rather than showing concern 1 13.

His confidence repeatedly prevents him from accepting rejection. He interprets Xie Mi’s breakup and interest in other men as attempts to attract his attention. When he offers to end his publicity pairing with Xu Shuangrong, he presents it as a generous concession while blaming Xie Mi for being unreasonable. Even after her explicit rejection, he later assumes she is merely sulking 2 8 25 31.

He carefully manages his public image but loses composure when ignored or challenged. His jealousy of Shen Yeqing leads to interruptions, angry confrontations, and attempts to influence Xie Mi’s dates. He also assumes the women cannot play volleyball because they show no signs of exercising, then resists changing his strategy after it fails 6 10 19 24 41.

His possessiveness persists well beyond the breakup. He declares that Xie Mi cannot be with someone else because he has not agreed to separate, calls her conduct cheating, and tries to drag her away. Even after briefly confronting the possibility that she no longer likes him, he returns to interpreting her behavior as a demand for more of his love 91 300 323.

He uses professional authority to justify personal grievances. While directing the guests’ play, he writes scenes that require Xie Mi’s character to pursue him and Shen Yeqing’s character to receive ten slaps, insisting that these changes are artistically necessary and that his award-winning expertise places him above the others 100.

He habitually shifts responsibility away from himself. After discovering Xu Shuangrong’s deception, he blames her for losing Xie Mi, and later publicly presents their promotional romance as an act of generosity through which he was exploited. Xie Mi’s direct criticism of his secrecy does not immediately overcome his insistence that his feelings were genuine 142 238 299.

Awakening intensifies his entitlement rather than producing lasting self-reflection. He resents being a supporting instrument in Xu Shuangrong’s rise despite also being a protagonist, argues that he already possessed love and professional success before meeting her, and decides that Shen Yeqing can simply be made to disappear. His resulting plans extend to intimidating Xu into time travel and attempting to kill Shen in the past 370 371 378.

His outward behavior becomes unusually composed after his full awakening, leading viewers to speculate that someone is coaching him. This apparent emotional stability accompanies concealed attempts to make contact with Shen Yeqing and gather information, rather than an end to his rivalry 363 364.

Abilities & Skills

Acting and On-Camera Performance

Xiao Jingxi is an award-winning actor whose successful drama with Xu Shuangrong gives their pairing substantial publicity 1.

• Recreates a romantic drama scene with Xu Shuangrong during the show’s opening 5.
• Performs flirtatious exchanges and affectionate gestures as part of their staged pairing 8 15 21.
• Took cooking lessons to prepare for scenes in their drama, although the training does not translate into reliable barbecue skills 44.
• Serves as director and plays the Crown Prince in the guests’ stage production, drawing on his greater acting experience but provoking a revolt through his unilateral script changes 98 99 100.
• Demonstrates genuine professional dedication during an on-set visit: the director and Assistant Director praise his improvisational response, and he voluntarily repeats a wire-assisted jump because he considers the previous take imperfect 412.
• Maintains courteous on-camera hospitality toward Liu Woxing during her workplace visit, introducing her to the crew and instructing his assistant to look after her 413.

Physical Fitness

He regularly works out and is fast enough for the production team to regard him as a suitable seeker in location-sharing hide-and-seek 17.

• Sprints toward Xie Mi’s position after Shen Yeqing offers to choose her as his date 17.
• Tackles Qiu Chengye on a narrow bridge, sending both of them into the water 18.
• Claims proficiency in every ball sport, but his beach-volleyball performance fails to support that claim: he is knocked into the sand and loses points under his own formation 41.
• Overtakes Muscleman A during a mud relay while chasing his displaced hairpiece, reaches the starting line first, and then collapses unconscious 327.
• Instinctively dodges Qiu Chengye’s Mantis Fist attack and knocks him down with a kick 449.
• Avoids serious injury during a later VR mishap because Xie Mi’s punches land on his strongly developed pectoral muscles 559.

His conditioning does not make him an effective wilderness provider. While hunting on the deserted island, he spends ten minutes stalking a chicken, only for it to kick him in the face and escape 335.

Publicity Management

He uses his celebrity status to promote a romantic pairing with Xu Shuangrong, backed by a private publicity contract 29.

• In the original novel, he asks his company to promote the pairing because of his personal interest in her 50.
• When ending the arrangement, he publicly describes their intimacy as ordinary drama promotion and leaves the private contract unmentioned 28 29.
• His explanation fails to prevent a backlash when Xu Shuangrong’s subsequent tears attract viewers’ sympathy 29 30.
• After his concealed relationship with Xie Mi becomes public, his manager arranges a rain-soaked declaration of love with flowers to construct a devoted-lover image and rehabilitate his reputation 243.
• Admits that his team considered using reconciliation with Xie Mi to repair his image, while insisting that his feelings themselves are real 299.
• Seizes on Xu Shuangrong’s detention to repeat that she deceived and used him, condemns her online, and begins a livestream as public opinion starts shifting in his favor 603.

System L and Novel-World Knowledge

After awakening, Xiao Jingxi binds to System L, a higher-level system that Xu Shuangrong’s system initially cannot detect. According to Xu’s system, higher-level systems possess broader permissions and can choose their own hosts; L selected Xiao Jingxi because it enjoys the challenge of raising an unsuccessful host to the top 370 371.

• Plot awareness: Knows the original protagonists’ trajectory and Shen Yeqing’s intended status as a character who should have died 370.
• Following time travel: System L enables him to follow Xu Shuangrong’s journey into the past. He plans to use this access to kill the younger Shen Yeqing and eliminate his future counterpart 371 378.
• Contact-based scanning: Attempts to obtain Shen Yeqing’s secrets through physical contact. Contact through clothing fails, whereas direct skin contact establishes a scanning connection when he mistakenly grabs Qiu Chengye in the RV 441 442 448.
• Covert coordination: Consults System L internally about his plans. L also negotiates directly with Xu Shuangrong, sometimes ignoring Xiao Jingxi’s objections 378 418.

These capabilities are system-assisted rather than demonstrated innate abilities. By the third season, his system has been inexplicably removed, and he explicitly recognizes that he can no longer rely on it to recover his protagonist position 521.

Power Progression

Relationships

• Xie Mi — Former girlfriend. The original Xie Mi pursued him for five years and dated him for two. After transmigrating, Xie Mi breaks up with him and blocks him; his subsequent attempts to regain her attention are repeatedly rejected 1 24 25. He later refuses to recognize the breakup, attempts to exploit shared memories and her former generosity, and insists that he has always loved her. She exposes his concealment of their relationship and rejects the idea that genuine feelings excuse his treatment of her 91 257 299. After awakening, he regards winning her back as the means to restore his protagonist position; even without System L, he continues pursuing her and uses the show’s mandatory-date rules to secure an outing she does not want 370 521 560.
• Xu Shuangrong — Drama co-star and publicity partner, marketed through the Xiao Rong CP. He ends their promotional romance but later feels guilty after seeing footage suggesting she has genuine feelings for him. By Chapter 50, he says he likes Xie Mi while remaining receptive to Xu Shuangrong 29 47 50. After catching her destroying Liu Woxing’s phone, he condemns her pretense and says he wants nothing further to do with her 142. Their subsequent public arguments expose each other’s misconduct. Awakening initially deepens his resentment of her role in the original plot, but System L later negotiates a temporary alliance with her against Xie Mi and Shen Yeqing 243 370 418. Their cooperation remains bitter and unstable, and he again publicly disavows her after she is detained 451 530 603.
• Shen Yeqing — Rival for Xie Mi’s attention. Shen openly challenges his passive-aggressive remarks and assumptions about women’s sporting ability. Xiao Jingxi repeatedly restrains himself because he cannot afford to offend Shen 10 41. Both were held in the childhood kidnapping factory, though only Xiao Jingxi was supposed to survive in the original novel 143 145 486. After awakening, Xiao Jingxi tries to kill Shen in the past and later repeatedly seeks skin contact to scan his secrets. Shen eventually reveals that he had awakened much earlier and strikes Xiao Jingxi with a brick during their confrontation 378 448 485. Xiao Jingxi nevertheless continues competing with him after losing his system 521.
• Liu Woxing — Fellow guest who questions his volleyball formation. When Xu Shuangrong implies Xie Mi caused the promotional pairing’s collapse, Liu assigns responsibility to Xiao Jingxi instead 29 30 41. She supports Xie Mi’s right to challenge his directorial decisions and supplies the brush and ink used to demonstrate Xie Mi’s painting skill on his face 100 171. During a workplace date, he treats her courteously for the cameras, while she uses the visit to build contacts and gather industry information; their interactions reveal little personal closeness 413.
• Qiu Chengye — Fellow guest who shares his dismissive attitude toward the women during volleyball. Their attempts to receive the ball interfere with one another and cost the team another point 41. Xiao Jingxi later breaks into Qiu’s RV while intending to scan Shen Yeqing, provoking a public scandal and Qiu’s unsuccessful physical retaliation. Qiu subsequently joins the others in criticizing Xiao Jingxi’s wasteful spending and pays Xie Mi to help place him last in a game 448 449 471 530.
• Yu Jinche — Fellow romantic competitor whose schemes sometimes intersect with his own. Yu’s original horseback-rescue scheme unintentionally benefits Xiao Jingxi, while in the altered story Yu mocks his lack of prospects with Xie Mi and stages a novel-protagonist prank that reduces his awakening progress 337 350 450.
• System L — Former system partner. L supplies superior information access, temporal pursuit, and contact-based scanning, while encouraging plans to eliminate Shen Yeqing. Their interests are not identical: L negotiates with Xu Shuangrong over Xiao Jingxi’s objections and presents itself, rather than its host, as her negotiating partner 371 378 418 448. Xiao Jingxi later loses access to the system 521.
• Lai Bingxuan — Fellow guest who openly challenges his excuses. She helps Xie Mi and Shen Yeqing embarrass him into abandoning further contact attempts by accusing him of deliberately approaching Shen, and later criticizes his extravagant spending during the budget trip 442 471.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Fandom and Public Image

• Xiao Rong CP: His pairing with Xu Shuangrong initially dominates the show’s romantic publicity. Its fans attack Xie Mi as a supposed homewrecker despite her being his actual, undisclosed girlfriend 1 5 13.
• Rumor reassessment: After the three-legged race, viewers revisit the allegations against Xie Mi and find that claims of fantasizing and romantic interference had been extrapolated from her leaked phone wallpaper 14.
• Xiao Family Army: His solo fandom defends him after the publicity split, emphasizing the exposure and career benefits Xu Shuangrong gained from their pairing 30.
• Post-split backlash: Many former Xiao Rong shippers become Xu-only supporters and condemn him for supposedly leading her on; one former fan-site photographer releases unflattering, unedited photographs 29 30.
• Public rupture with Xu: His harsh remarks against Xu make the former pairing’s collapse unmistakable and direct his large fanbase’s attention toward her misconduct 165.
• Painting-accusation backlash: Viewers condemn him after Xie Mi’s demonstration disproves his claim that she cannot paint 171.
• Exposure of the real relationship: Viewers reexamine the leaked wallpaper, his visit to Xie Mi’s apartment, and matching IP locations. The reconstruction undermines his earlier denials and prompts criticism of his use of “work” and publicity promotion to excuse intimacy with Xu while dating Xie Mi 239 240.
• Devoted-lover image campaign: His rain-soaked confession is staged with his manager’s approval as a reputation-repair tactic. He later acknowledges that his team considered using Xie Mi to rehabilitate his image 243 299.
• Cheapskate reputation: The viral handcuffed-date footage exposes the disparity between Xie Mi’s expensive spending on him and his cheap reciprocation. Liu Woxing posts that he dated Xie Mi for free Starbucks 257.
• Try-Hard Bro: The nickname reflects viewers’ perception of his conspicuous posing and image management. During a cooking task, elaborate plating and tiny portions draw comments that he prioritizes appearances over substance 311.
• Embarrassing early-career photograph: A photograph of him eating sheep droppings while costumed as a refugee extra undermines his polished, aloof image and becomes a major object of online mockery 397 398.
• Professional respect despite personal criticism: Viewers acknowledge his acting dedication when he voluntarily repeats a dangerous-looking wire-assisted shot, distinguishing his professional work from his behavior on the dating show 412.
• Supposed Shen pairing: Xie Mi and Shen deliberately recast his suspicious contact attempts as an effort to promote a romantic pairing with Shen. Crew speculation and suggestive reactions embarrass him into keeping his distance 442.
• RV scandal: Secretly filmed footage of him entering Qiu Chengye’s RV and approaching his bed spreads across Weibo’s Hot Search. His side insists that he was sleepwalking, while his intended scan of Shen remains concealed from the public 448 449.
• Budget-trip ridicule: His account of losing a thousand yuan to inflated prices and unnecessary expenses produces trending topics about his susceptibility to being fleeced 471.
• Unconfirmed smear-campaign suspicion: When a paparazzi outlet identifies an anonymous male source behind misleading photographs of Xie Mi, some netizens suspect Xiao Jingxi and Xu Shuangrong. Xiao responds with a question mark; the reported suspicion does not establish that he supplied the photographs 509.
• Partial rehabilitation after Xu’s downfall: Xu’s detention makes his longstanding claim of having been deceived seem more plausible to some viewers. He immediately exploits the change in public sentiment through online condemnation and a livestream, rather than the context establishing that his account has been fully vindicated 603.

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