At eleven fifty that morning, staff pushing one bulky piece of equipment after another were admitted onto the private grounds of the Shen Residence.
Many expensive flowers and plants grew around the spacious, elegant courtyard. Neatly dressed servants and gardeners occasionally passed through, and every inch of the residence exuded classical, sumptuous extravagance.
[I'm late! The stream finally started!]
[Thank god there's a preview episode. How else am I supposed to survive without my wife Shuangjian?]
[So did the Shen Family build a house inside a residential complex? How can it be this huge?]
[They walked all that way and only just reached the front door.]
[Fuck this, I might as well stop watching.]
[I fucking showed up all excited and left cursing.]
[Seeing my wife living this well puts my mind at ease.]
Shen Shuangjian had received a message from the production team half an hour in advance and knew roughly when they would arrive, so when he heard them, he went to wait in the entryway.
"Hello, Shuangjian."
The staff recording preview episodes like this had all memorized the script beforehand and already knew the procedure and what questions to ask Shen Shuangjian.
This time, the staff member was a young woman with a very sweet voice. From outside the frame, she studied Shen Shuangjian closely, just like the viewers in the livestream.
"Shuangjian, would you like to say hello to everyone watching the livestream?" Smiling, she guided Shen Shuangjian, who was unfamiliar with the procedure. At the same time, the camera stopped filming their surroundings and settled squarely on him.
There was a light-filled corridor by the Shen Residence's entryway. Neatly arranged panes of irregularly shaped glass gathered a faint, colorful glow, and Shen Shuangjian stood right where light and shadow met.
Shen Shuangjian's loungewear usually followed a very consistent style, mostly light-colored and relaxed.
Today, however, he had made the rare choice of a thin black shirt. His long hair, smooth as silk, was tied up high, its ends falling to his waist and swaying gently with his movements.
"Good afternoon."
When he raised his eyes, he looked straight into the camera for a fleeting instant. Colored light streamed through the windows into his pale, tea-brown eyes, and paired with the faint blue-green tear mole at the corner of his eye, it gave him an almost exquisite beauty.
Shen Shuangjian really was very pale, especially against such a strong contrasting color. Even though his sickly pallor robbed him of some of his color, the fine texture of his skin made him look like a fragile porcelain heirloom with a jade-like finish.
He could dress very conservatively, could cover himself so thoroughly that not even a slender wrist showed, yet under thousands upon thousands of gazes, every fold in his clothes was enough for those eyes alone to strip him bare.
[Wife... hehehe, wife...]
[If he appeared in front of me (thinking)]
[Fuck, seeing Shen Shuangjian like this lights some inexplicable fire in me.]
[Where's this inexplicable fire coming from? Your lower belly?]
[Hello, can you hear me? I'm a pervert. Did you not hear that? Then I'll say it again. I'm a pervert.]
[All right, we know you're a pervert.]
[Fucking hell, how does Shen Shuangjian even look like that? He was sexy in white, but somehow he's even sexier in black.]
[I finally know how guys feel looking at black stockings. Who the fuck could resist this?]
[Looking that gorgeous and still not dating me.]
[His little waist is so slender. I feel like I could wrap both hands right around it.]
[If he were with a pervert like me, and I pinned his waist down hard when we went to bed at night, wouldn't he be completely at my mercy?]
[In my next life, I'm going to be a man, because being a woman limits what I can do.]
[Man or woman, you'd still be a corporate slave, okay? Stand next to our wife and people would think you were begging.]
[...]
[The sharp tongues on netizens these days still haven't let me down.]
[Lick your lips in bed tonight and you'll poison yourself to death.]
Shen Shuangjian led the production team through the entryway and the main hall, then upstairs to his bedroom.
They encountered maids cleaning along the way. Aside from greeting Shen Shuangjian respectfully, none of them showed any intention of chasing the production staff away.
"Please come in."
Shen Shuangjian's bedroom was at the far left of the second floor. It was decorated in soft, pale colors, and a curved, nine-pane floor-to-ceiling window facing the sun let sunlight spill generously into the room, making it warm and bright.
"Have you already started packing, Shuangjian?"
After taking the camera operator on a quick look around, the staff member noticed two large suitcases on the rug at the foot of the bed, already holding quite a few neatly folded clothes.
"Yes. The temperature varies a lot in the desert, so I'm bringing some extra clothes." As Shen Shuangjian spoke, he slowly bent his knees and knelt on the soft shag rug, closing another suitcase that was already full.
"Are there any essentials you absolutely have to bring on this trip to the desert, Shuangjian?" the staff member continued to ask. After she finished, Shen Shuangjian thought carefully for a moment.
Although the desert was unlike the city and there were many things he needed to bring, the production team would certainly prepare plenty of necessities for filming, such as tents and other survival equipment.
Apart from bringing enough personal items, all Shen Shuangjian had left to pack were clothes suitable for the large temperature swings in mountainous areas.
If there was something he absolutely could not do without...
Shen Shuangjian's thick lashes fluttered slightly. He tucked the medicine bottles he had prepared earlier into his suitcase, then answered softly, "Medicine."
His answer inevitably startled the staff member, and she reflexively asked, "Medicine? What kind?"
"..."
There was a brief silence. Only after Shen Shuangjian had put the medicine away did he answer in an ordinary tone.
"My health isn't very good. I have congenital heart disease and a blood-clotting disorder. The desert temperatures fluctuate drastically, so I need to take medicine every day."
When Shen Shuangjian said this, there was not a trace of bitterness or evasion. He was as matter-of-fact as if he were merely describing what he had eaten or done that day.
As the staff member listened, she could not help looking at Shen Shuangjian with pained sympathy.
After all, whether before the show began or while it was airing, Shen Shuangjian had never explained any of this, not even when he was being cyberbullied.
[...Holy shit...]
[Wife... I honestly can't...]
[Heart disease + a clotting disorder. Those buffs are stacked to the max.]
[This seriously isn't a joke. Congenital heart disease definitely requires surgery if it's severe, but our wife has a clotting disorder...]
[He can't even have surgery. This really is a ticking time bomb...]
[Fucking hell, no wonder our wife was hospitalized before the show started and the broadcast got delayed. There were so many negative comments online because of Xie Qingchi back then. It would've been stranger if he hadn't had an episode...]
[You're telling me my wife got so upset after Xie Qingchi publicly humiliated him that he had a heart attack and ended up in the hospital, then got cyberbullied by a bunch of brainless idiots, dragged his sick body onto the show, and still had people spreading rumors about him enjoying being a simp...?]
[A body of glass and a heart of steel. Our wife is so calm. How grounded must he be inside?]
[Our wife definitely has a self-destructive personality. Don't argue. He definitely does.]
[Anyone who insulted Shen Shuangjian isn't allowed to call him their wife.]
[Suddenly I don't want our wife to take part anymore. More than watching the show, I want him to live safe and sound.]
[Waaah, Shen Shuangjian, you have to live to a hundred.]
[Our wife Shuangjian will definitely live to a hundred.]
[Our wife Shuangjian has such a kind face. Kind people will definitely live to a hundred.]
[May Shen Shuangjian live to a hundred.]