The window in this bedroom faced the door.
Morning light streamed through the glass, illuminating the dust drifting slowly through the air and falling unreservedly over Shen Shuangjian.
Shen Shuangjian slept in nothing but a thin, pure-white shirt and long pants, yet even so, his outfit looked decidedly conservative.
He had clearly covered himself thoroughly, from his arms to his ankles, leaving almost none of his luminous, snow-white skin exposed.
Yet the morning light behind him betrayed him.
The golden light traced his long hair and shone straight through the loose portions of his thin shirt, instantly exposing the curve and dimensions of his waist, half concealed and half revealed, before everyone's eyes.
However conservatively he dressed, however much he concealed, he still could not hide from deliberately probing gazes.
His slender, faintly exposed collarbones, his smooth, delicate, swanlike neck, and every fold in his clothes left people unable to help imagining exactly what position he had lain in on the bed to leave those particular marks.
"Hello, this is a routine interview for the show. What time did you fall asleep last night?"
At those words, Shen Shuangjian's brows drew together slightly, his long lashes, faintly damp with mist, trembling. He seemed both to be fighting his muddled mind to recall and to be exposing the weariness in his eyes as a way of expressing his displeasure.
"I forgot."
Shen Shuangjian could not help closing his eyes for a moment, clearly suffering the headache and dizziness forced upon him by insufficient sleep and being pulled too quickly out of his groggy state.
He raised a hand, his slender fingers passing through his thick, jet-black hair as he gently gathered the loose strands. The shadows cast by his long lashes covered his small, blue-black mole.
"Sorry, I'm not feeling very well. Could you give me a moment to recover?"
When Shen Shuangjian frowned, once that cool, distant air dispersed, what remained was a sickly, tender fragility.
The corners of his eyes were tinged with red, and his voice was low and weak, carrying a frail stubbornness.
"Oh... okay."
In that instant, the staff member seemed to forget his duties and obligations, along with the director's original instructions to ask plenty of questions and film more sensational footage.
He seemed to remember only Shen Shuangjian's earnest yet unforceful request.
And so the dark-colored door closed again, shutting out the camera that was his sole connection to the outside world.
Perhaps that was precisely why the previously sparse bullet comments and messages in the livestream suddenly erupted in a torrent.
[Aaaaaah!]
[His little waist is so slim!]
[I'm such an idiot. I actually thought he'd had his hair and makeup done yesterday, just so expertly that you couldn't tell. Turns out he's this gorgeous bare-faced!]
[Why do I feel like my wife looks even prettier just after waking up than usual? Oh my god, whenever I think about how someone will get to see my wife like this every single day in the future, I can't stand it!]
[Jealous, jealous, I'm about to grind my teeth to pieces!]
[Why? He's dressed so properly and so conservatively, but I still find him so sexy. My brain's even started automatically imagining him looking at me with a beaming smile.]
[Fuck, grow, grow!]
[I give up, Nüwa. Would you look at what you've done?]
[I always thought there was a limit to how good-looking a person could be. With everyone's different tastes, beauty is even in the eye of the beholder. So why does he get to look this fucking incredible? I can't take it!]
[Goddammit, looking this fucking incredible and not even being my wife.]
[Hello, I'm a woman. Did you miss that? Then I'll post it again. Hello, I'm a woman, I'm a woman, I'm a woman.]
[Fuck, don't close the door, please!]
[My wife looks so pale. He really seems unwell.]
[My wife's already being pretty well-mannered. If it were me, and someone woke me up while I was sleeping to ask what time I'd gone to bed last night, I'd curse them to death.]
[Agreed, husband.]
Shen Shuangjian closed the door and pressed his throbbing temple. He did not even want to take the few extra steps back to bed, merely rounding a corner before letting himself fall into the soft sofa.
In fact, for Shen Shuangjian, the period just after waking was when his body felt worst.
Because of his frail health, he always struggled to replenish his energy through rest, so after hearing the knock, it had taken him a full three minutes to prop himself up on his arms and climb out of bed.
Because he actually had no strength at all.
The nights at the manor were too cold, and the room, unoccupied for so long, was colder still. Shen Shuangjian was very sensitive to the cold, and that little fireplace did nothing for him at all.
Still, today was the last day of filming at the manor.
Shen Shuangjian reached out, his pale fingertips fumbling along the edge of the sofa until he found the little blanket he had casually left there yesterday. Only after wrapping it around himself did he stop.
At this time of year, the temperature difference between day and night was considerable, but midday was pleasantly warm.
The midday livestream involved a heavier filming schedule and a larger activity area, so Shen Shuangjian did not forget to take two pills before heading out.
Shen Shuangjian arrived right on time, yet even so, he was actually the last to get there.
"Brother Shuangjian."
"Shuangjian, you look really pale."
"Hello, Shuangjian."
The greetings coming from all sides left Shen Shuangjian somewhat at a loss as to how to respond.
He nodded slightly and offered only a polite reply. "Thank you. Good afternoon."
Before this, Yu Sheng had never really found an opportunity to exchange more than a few words with Shen Shuangjian.
He had acted in a production with Lin Weiluo, so they got along fairly well, and while chatting yesterday, Lin Weiluo had also spoken freely with Shen Shuangjian as the focus of the conversation.
Lin Weiluo kept telling him that Shen Shuangjian smelled wonderful, better than those collector-grade perfumes, yet his scent was not strong at all.
He had been somewhat tempted as he listened, because he had been sitting right beside Shen Shuangjian yesterday. How could he not have smelled it? How could he not have known?
"Brother Shuangjian, there's a chase today. Want to team up with me? I specialized in sports in high school. Whether we're catching or running, I can carry you to victory."
Everyone present could see through Yu Sheng's little intentions.
Young men ran hot and had plenty of thoughts at night, so it was inevitable that he seemed especially attentive during the day.
"I think we could split into teams before the livestream starts. After all, they suddenly changed it from a solo competition to a doubles one. If we sort out the teams in advance, we can save ourselves the fuss once we're live."
Lin Weiluo glanced unobtrusively at Yu Sheng, then patted Song Shi on the shoulder quite naturally.
"Song Shi, we're the perfect team. We both suck but love to play, so let's just lose together."
Song Shi visibly froze for a moment.
"Huh?"
He instinctively glanced at Shen Shuangjian in the middle, then scratched his head. In the end, he did not refuse, much less want to embarrass Lin Weiluo.
"Okay, sis, but nothing's decided yet. What if we're the dark horse?"
At that, Lin Weiluo actually nodded with a fair measure of agreement.
"True. After all, I reckon once the competition really starts, no one's going to pay much attention to us anyway."
She winked playfully, her words seeming to hint at something.