All right, his fans didn't understand either.
But confused as they were, people in the comments soon began analyzing it.
[First possibility: I can't stand this guy. Go get him. But knowing my fave, that's probably unlikely.]
[Second possibility: Stop giving him a hard time. But he's never stood up for anyone in all his years in the industry... reserving judgment for now.]
[Third possibility: I've fallen in love. I'm into him. He's never publicly stated his sexual orientation, and he's been single since birth for twenty-seven years... I have to say (in a deep voice), this possibility... is the most likely.]
[Fourth possibility: Just sharing a nice picture. Uh, I'm only saying this to fool myself.]
Half of Shen Qiang's fans were girlfriend fans and half were career fans, and all of them had mixed feelings now.
But whatever they thought of his repost, they were the first to withdraw from the battle against Chi Li.
"Shen Qiang..." Chi Li turned to look at Shen Xunye, who was eating with his head down beside him. "Was that your doing?"
He couldn't be blamed for making that connection. Li Ming simply wasn't capable of pulling that off.
And Shen Qiang just happened to share this rich young master's surname.
"...He's my second brother," Shen Xunye admitted honestly.
"Your second brother?" Chi Li repeated in question.
"Yeah, my second brother..." The question suddenly left Shen Xunye feeling a little guilty.
He had originally planned to go straight to his eldest brother, Shen Yu.
But the thought of all the talking it would take to convince Shen Yu annoyed him.
Shen Qiang happened to be one of those six, and he was much easier to talk to than Shen Yu, so Shen Xunye had changed course and gone to Shen Qiang instead.
People had a herd mentality.
When the fans of all six celebrities were hurling abuse together, once one group withdrew, the other five would naturally follow suit to save face.
"...Thank you." Beyond expressing his thanks, Chi Li didn't know what to say.
His parents had divorced early on and later started families of their own. Other than giving him living expenses, they had barely looked after him.
He had been used to solving problems himself ever since he was little. This was the first time he had met someone other than a coworker who was willing to sort out trouble for him.
Shen Xunye wasn't quite used to Chi Li being so polite. He picked up half a mouthful of plain rice with his chopsticks and said lightly, "...This favor isn't free."
"Tell me, then. How should I repay you?"
Hearing that the favor wasn't free actually made Chi Li feel relieved.
He firmly believed that no one was kind for no reason, so rather than a favor, he would prefer this to be a fair transaction.
Just as he had given his younger cousin Gu Nan a share of the profits when he had asked him for help before.
That made him feel safe.
"I told my second brother I liked you," Shen Xunye promptly dropped a bombshell.
Chi Li: "...?"
"That's why he agreed to help." Shen Xunye paused for a long moment.
"Mm... and then?" Chi Li pressed a hand over his heart, which had inexplicably started beating faster, and asked with his expression unchanged.
"And then..." Shen Xunye reached out and removed a grain of rice stuck to the corner of Chi Li's mouth. "So he'll respect me, could you... pretend to be my boyfriend from now on?"
"...That's it?" Chi Li blinked slowly.
His parents, who had each attached themselves to a minor wealthy family, were never stingy with his living expenses, so he was also used to paying people to help him.
...This was his first time meeting someone who didn't want money.
...Though a rich young master probably didn't need much money anyway.
"What do you mean, 'that's it'? It's really difficult, okay?" Shen Xunye disagreed. "My second brother has a very sharp eye, so... we'll have to make it more convincing. Fooling him won't be easy."
"It's not much different from selling a ship," Chi Li replied offhandedly, then seemed to remember something. "...You're not short of money. Why did you come on this variety show?"
"...Curiosity," Shen Xunye explained without batting an eye. "Besides, I've always loved helping others."
Chi Li: "..."
Thinking of how Shen Qiang had just stepped in, Chi Li believed him.
He couldn't help advising him, "You can't help with absolutely everything, though."
Being indiscriminately kind only led to people walking all over you.
Shen Xunye nodded very obediently. "Mm-hmm, I'll remember."
Chi Li was about to say more when his phone rang.
It was a call from Li Ming.
He answered it in front of Shen Xunye. "Hello?"
There was a moment of silence on the other end before Li Ming's voice came through. "...It's all fine now." His voice was strangely calm. "I didn't expect this to be resolved this way either."
"...Uh-huh." Chi Li was a little dazed.
Normally, shouldn't Li Ming be grilling him about his relationship with Shen Qiang right now?
Why did he seem to have... accepted it as perfectly natural?
"But you still need to give your fans some positive guidance. This kind of... this kind of..." Li Ming hemmed and hawed for a while before finally getting the words out. "This kind of... Shen Qiang taking a liking to you and then stepping in to help is very unlikely to happen. It's a chance occurrence."
Chi Li nearly let out a whistle of shock. "What?!"
"You don't know yet?" Li Ming really didn't know how to put it. "...Go look at Weibo yourself."
Chi Li: "...Oh."
"Also, your livestream feed will be restored in fifteen minutes. Make sure you're ready," Li Ming reminded him.
Chi Li moved his phone away from his ear to check the time. "Mm."
Once the call ended, Chi Li immediately switched to Weibo.
He didn't even have to specifically search for Shen Qiang's Weibo account. His name was already on the trending list.
#Shen Qiang admits he likes Chi Li#
Only after tapping into it did he learn where the trending topic had come from.
-Shen Qiang had liked the comment speculating that the old tree had finally bloomed and he'd taken a liking to the newcomer.
Not only that, he had directly tagged the production team and said: When are you arranging for me to stay there for a couple of days?
Chi Li turned to ask Shen Xunye, "Was this part of your plan?"
Wasn't this a bit too great a sacrifice on Shen Qiang's part?
Shen Xunye forced a smile. "No, he did that on his own."
While Shen Xunye went to the little balcony to have a friendly exchange with Shen Qiang, Chi Li gathered up the trash on the table, preparing to take it downstairs and throw it away.
As he approached the trash cans, he happened to run into Xie Weishui coming back from outside.
He didn't look too good.
"You don't seem to be feeling well. Are you sick? Why didn't you rest for a few more days before coming back?" Chi Li's face was full of concern.
The sight of that face alone made Xie Weishui grit his teeth in anger.
It was bad enough that the money he had spent on paid smear campaigns had gone down the drain, but he had even let Chi Li connect with Shen Qiang without suffering at all.
That was Shen Qiang! Shen Qiang, who had debuted at the very top, winning both Best Newcomer and Best Actor!
What made Chi Li deserve that?
The misery of paving the way for someone else was no different from taking a mouthful of shit.
Not only that, when he came back, Wang Yue had also warned him not to target Chi Li again.
"Thanks for your concern. I'm fine..." Xie Weishui forced a smile.