#Xiao Jingxi has lost it#
#Xiao Rong CP was just promoting a drama#
#Your ship is fake#
With a single sentence, Xiao Jingxi unleashed a storm.
Three trending topics in one minute were only the beginning. The livestream's viewership skyrocketed, and the comments flooding the screen were even crazier.
The Love Watch staff were collectively dumbfounded.
The Xiao Rong CP, hailed as the internet's most likely couple to make things official, the ship people swore by with "if they aren't real, then neither am I," was heading for a bad ending?!!
And one of the stars had personally sunk it?!!
[??????????]
[Hahahaha so this isn't a dating show, it's a lunatic show hahahaha Director Niu, fuck your grandma]
[Got it, it's all scripted, Director Niu is stirring shit up hahaha that has to be it]
[Director♪Niu♪go♪fuck♪yourself♪oh♪Director♪Niu♪go♪fuck♪yourself♪]
[Fuck, I can't take it anymore, I'm punching the planet to pieces! His grandma's eggs, his sixth uncle's cantaloupe, his sister's giant squash, his grandpa's huge chicken drumstick, his auntie's big grapes, his mom's cucumber salad, his dad's giant loaf of bread, kill kill kill!!]
The bystanders who had come over from Weibo to watch the drama: "?"
So everyone had lost their minds!
On the livestream, Xiao Jingxi's handsome face showed not a trace of affection.
"We've been interacting a lot lately to help promote the drama, and its ratings have gone up too. That should have been a good thing."
"But more and more people started shipping us, and everyone even misunderstood our relationship. I didn't expect that."
"If this continues, it'll affect both of us, so I think it's better to clear things up."
"Since we're both on a dating show, we should spend more time getting to know the other guests. That's the whole point of coming on one, don't you think?"
Xiao Jingxi was clever. He concealed the fact that they had deliberately marketed themselves as a couple and explained everything away as interactions to promote their drama.
The fans had gotten carried away with shipping them only because they had misunderstood. The two of them had merely been promoting their drama as usual.
He certainly washed his hands of it neatly.
He said nothing about the publicity contract they had signed in private.
Still, Xu Shuangrong should have understood what he meant.
"Mm, I understand."
Fortunately, Xu Shuangrong knew how to play along. She smiled and agreed with him. "I am about to join a new production. You've been very thoughtful, so let's stop promoting the drama together."
Xiao Jingxi breathed a sigh of relief.
This was why, despite never getting involved in dating rumors, he had been willing to promote a ship with Xu Shuangrong. She was a smart, hardworking girl, and he was willing to use his popularity to help her.
Now that he no longer wanted to continue, she hadn't made an unreasonable fuss either.
"Let's leave it at that, then. I'll head inside," Xiao Jingxi said, relieved.
"Mm-hmm."
Throughout their conversation, Xu Shuangrong behaved impeccably, as though none of it bothered her.
But the moment Xiao Jingxi turned and left, her expression dimmed.
She bit her lower lip gently, her eyes clouding with tears.
A beautiful woman in tears inspired pity.
[Aaaaah baby, don't cry, seeing you cry makes me want to cry too]
[Xiao Jingxi is such a scumbag. What drama promotion? Would promoting a drama require them to be that intimate? He clearly used it as an excuse to flirt with Shuangshuang on purpose. Shuangshuang took it seriously, and now he just says he's done]
[Shuangshuang has acted in so many dramas and never got all intimate with her male costars to promote them. That proves she never cared about promotion. She was serious aaaaah]
[Waaah my Shuangshuang]
[Beautiful queen, shine on your own!!]
Xu Shuangrong's performance of staying strong in front of him only to cry behind his back instantly branded Xiao Jingxi as a man who had led her on and abandoned her.
Up on the roof, Xie Mi watched with relish, a stalk of foxtail grass between her lips.
No wonder she was a future award-winning actress.
In the original novel, Xu Shuangrong hadn't developed feelings for Xiao Jingxi until the show was almost over. In other words, at this early stage of the show, she felt nothing for him.
By putting on this act now, she not only established herself as understanding and considerate in Xiao Jingxi's eyes, but also quietly stabbed him in the back.
While Xiao Jingxi got called a scumbag, she would earn the viewers' sympathy.
She had never been someone to mess with.
One thing worth mentioning: this was actually a novel about a powerful heroine's rise to the top.
The heroine, Xu Shuangrong, had been born into poverty and suffered endlessly as a child. She had resolved to become a top star and award-winning actress, crushing everyone who had ever bullied her beneath her feet.
Along the way, her heart had long since turned to stone. She had no feelings, cared nothing for morals, and would stop at nothing to achieve her goals.
After debuting and appearing in several dramas that made no splash whatsoever, she set her sights on award-winning actor Xiao Jingxi.
Her first move was to find every possible way to get close to Xiao Jingxi and market herself as his romantic partner, despite knowing that he had a girlfriend.
Later, on the dating show, she used You Hongxuan, used Qiu Chengye, used Liu Woxing... she used everyone she could and successfully reached the pinnacle of life.
The only thing that went wrong was that she genuinely fell in love with Xiao Jingxi afterward.
At the end of the book, she confessed everything to Xiao Jingxi. By then, he was already deeply in love with her. Even knowing she wasn't some sweet, innocent girl, he chose to be with her without hesitation.
And so the two ended up together, finding success in both their careers and their love life.
They had merely sacrificed a few stepping stones along the way.
The original owner of this body was one of them.
Xu Shuangrong returned to her room from the garden without a word and didn't come out for a long time.
After a while, Liu Woxing went to the room to look for Xu Shuangrong, but she was nowhere to be seen. Liu Woxing found that a little odd.
The bathroom door stood ajar, and faint sobbing seemed to be coming from inside.
Liu Woxing carefully pushed the door open. Xu Shuangrong's microphone lay on the sink, while she sat on the floor with her knees hugged to her chest, sobbing softly.
"You..." Liu Woxing was about to speak when she remembered she was wearing a microphone too. She hurriedly took it off and placed it on the sink.
Then she walked over to Xu Shuangrong and asked softly, "Are you okay?"
"Woxing..."
Xu Shuangrong raised her head, her eyes as red as a rabbit's. "I wanted to pretend I was fine, but I... (choked up)"
"I know." Liu Woxing couldn't bear to see her like this and comforted her. "You must have really fallen for him. It's all his fault."
"No, he's wonderful. I'm the problem."
Xu Shuangrong shook her head. "Before we came on this show, everything was fine. I don't know where things went wrong. Suddenly, he started acting that way toward Xie Mi... Maybe I just wasn't good enough to hold on to his heart."
Liu Woxing paused and said nothing.
Xu Shuangrong tugged lightly at her sleeve. "Woxing, there's something I really can't keep bottled up anymore. Please don't tell anyone."
"Actually... Jingxi and Xie Mi met privately in the middle of the night. I saw them. I don't know what they talked about. I didn't have the courage to go over and ask. Maybe everything changed starting that day..."
With that, she buried her face in her knees again, her shoulders trembling slightly.
But no one answered, and the silence stretched on for a long time.
Long enough that she couldn't help raising her head to see Liu Woxing's reaction.
After a moment's hesitation, Liu Woxing said firmly, "No, this is Xiao Jingxi's fault. It has nothing to do with Xie Mi."
Before you continue