When Li Tingqin received the call from Butler Li, it was early morning in Country A. In the living room, his secretary was giving him a brief on today’s schedule when his personal assistant brought over the phone.

Raising his hand to pause the secretary, he asked, “What’s the matter?”

The personal assistant handed him the phone, saying, “Mr. Li, it’s Butler Li. He wants to report some family matters.”

He had already asked Butler Li for a preliminary explanation when he answered the call. If it was something he could handle, he would have done so directly, but matters concerning Mr. Li’s family were beyond his authority.

“Uncle Li.”

Li Tingqin answered the phone, only to hear Butler Li’s anguished voice, “Young Master! I’ve failed you! I didn’t take good care of Mr. Gu!”

“A few days ago, Mr. Gu moved to the Songhe Villa. I forgot to assign him a chef, and he was too embarrassed to say anything. He ended up sneaking into the mountains to gather wild vegetables and cook for himself!”

Holding the phone, Li Tingqin walked to the dining table and saw the rich variety of breakfast items laid out.

Uncle Li’s voice was filled with indignation: “Moreover, he’s being bullied by his classmates, even a high school classmate can boss him around. And he’s being mistreated by some TV crew; anyone can casually cut out the content he’s worked so hard to film.”

Li Tingqin didn’t have much of an impression of Gu Chen. He had gone abroad shortly after their arranged marriage. All he knew was that Gu Chen had been sent to a boarding school from a young age and was introverted and timid.

Now, Uncle Li’s words deepened Li Tingqin’s impression of “introverted and timid.” This poor child. If he remembered correctly, young Gu was only 22 years old now.

“I understand, I’ll handle it,” Li Tingqin tapped his fingers on the edge of the table. “But regarding Gu’s participation in the program, you still need to ask about his own wishes.”

Although he could handle it on his behalf, the other person was an independent individual, and interfering in his private matters without consent would be very impolite.

“By the way, what program is Gu participating in?”

Showing some concern and offering help were necessary duties between husband and wife.

“Uh… well…” Butler Li was also taken aback, “Young Master, I’ll need to ask him.”

“Alright,” Li Tingqin responded concisely, “Once you’ve asked, you can contact Assistant Chen directly to handle it.”

Butler Li heard the other end hang up and was about to turn around when he saw Gu Chen leisurely standing under the porch, startling him.

“Mr. Gu?”

Having just finished a call with the Young Master, suddenly seeing Mr. Gu there, he momentarily felt as if the Young Master was present in person. He thought he must be getting old and confused.

Gu Chen smiled slightly, “Uncle Li, about my participation in the program, please inform Mr. Li that there’s no need for him to help. I wouldn’t want my brief stint as an extra to be disrupted.”

Butler Li didn’t know why, but although Mr. Gu’s smile was so friendly, he always felt a strong sense of pressure. He instinctively replied, “Ah, alright…”

It seemed Mr. Gu hadn’t told anyone about his participation in the program, perhaps he wanted to quietly build his career?

After chatting with Butler Li for a few more moments, Gu Chen then persuaded him to go down the mountain.

He washed the dishes, took a walk to aid digestion, and then briefly checked his finances.

The balance showed 【3452.87】.

Gu Chen: “…”

Was this the result of the former Mr. Gu not producing anything?

Recently, however, he had spent quite a bit on items like tea, which he had asked professional buyers to procure for him.

But working?

That was impossible, absolutely impossible. He couldn’t bring himself to do it. As for being rehired after retirement, he respectfully declined.

Suddenly, he remembered that his husband, Mr. Li, hadn’t yet transferred this month’s allowance.

Gu Chen’s fingers hovered over the phone number labeled as Mr. Li’s, and he rested his chin in thought. He was always the one sending money to others, and now that he had to rely on his “husband” for support, it felt a bit awkward.

While he was caught in this dilemma, a text message suddenly popped up:【Your account ending in xxxx has received a transfer of 1,000,000.00 yuan, current balance 1,003,452.87 yuan.】

Gu Chen: “?”

His husband was going to be his money tree from now on, but did this money tree drop money on its own? And just casually drop a million?

It seemed Mr. Li was indeed better than himself as Mr. Gu.

Thus, his professional instincts kicked in, and he “casually” opened the financial report of Li Tingqin’s multinational corporation headquartered overseas.

Hiss, Mr. Li is quite capable. If he were in this role as the professional manager, he wouldn’t have done better.

As… as what?

Gu Chen immediately closed the laptop. His hands were too mischievous.Isn’t being Mr. Li’s husband good enough? Earning a million a day.

As Butler Li was driving down the mountain, he suddenly remembered—what was he here for?

So, what program is Mr. Gu participating in?

He seemed to have forgotten to ask anything!

…

The next morning, Du Ruiqing, by coaxing his wealthy boyfriend, had already obtained the final cut of the program that the crew had edited overnight.

Two minutes, not a second more. In fact, it was even two seconds short of the promised time, with only 1 minute and 58 seconds, excluding the transitions with sponsor and program logos.

He had long known that Gu Chen’s husband wouldn’t participate, so that wasn’t surprising. He was mainly interested in the content. The editor had been obedient, and indeed, Gu Chen didn’t appear for even a second, just some shots of his hands and a few casual conversations with the cameraman.

When Du Ruiqing saw the watch on Gu Chen’s wrist while he was making tea, he burst out laughing.

It turned out to be a sports watch, and not even an Apple Watch, but a domestic brand worth only a few hundred yuan.

As the saying goes, “The rich play with watches, the poor play with cars.” Even when he was unknown, Du Ruiqing knew to borrow a good watch to make an impression. Yet Gu Chen, who “married into a wealthy family,” didn’t pay attention to such details. At least the cameraman did a good job, capturing these unconscious details of Gu Chen.

Du Ruiqing shook his head and sighed. Gu Chen married into the Li family, who didn’t love him and were so stingy with him. How pitiful.

Although Gu Chen, as an unknown participant, wasn’t the focus of the show and wouldn’t attract much attention, Du Ruiqing felt immensely satisfied. He even hired some online trolls to stir up trouble, ensuring that viewers would notice these details.

Since the cameraman was so good at capturing moments and the editor so skilled at cutting, Du Ruiqing looked forward to the show’s broadcast.

“Love Tutoring,” this unique marriage and dating show, featured four married couples and four unmarried lovers. The idea was for the unmarried couples to “learn” from the married ones, aiming to boost relationship development and marriage rates, hence the name “Tutoring.”

The first season was a huge hit, creating numerous memes and funny moments. Ironically, instead of increasing marriage rates, it boosted divorce rates.

Unmarried couples helped married ones get divorced, and married couples helped unmarried ones break up.

Thus, the second season, soon to be released, was highly anticipated even before its broadcast.

The second season retained the format of the first, filming the daily lives of the eight participating couples in the first episode. Audience votes after the broadcast would decide which unmarried couple would join which married couple in the “tutoring” sessions, leading to the filming of the second and third episodes.

This season, due to its increased popularity, featured not only actress Lin Yisu and her young boyfriend but also two top stars, known for being rivals turned lovers, forced by their company to participate.

At 8 PM, when the show premiered, it immediately went viral. Bullet comments flew across the screen, and the memes were off the charts.

Until they saw the two-minute segment inserted in the middle, which had a completely different vibe.

【???】

【???】

For a moment, the bullet comments were filled with question marks.

【What era is this? Why is there a two-minute segment in a variety show?】

【Is this a public service announcement? The shots are quite beautiful.】

【Tea advertisement, perhaps.】

【Isn’t it an ad for a fitness tracker?】

【I mean, is it possible that this is also a couple? Maybe it’s the wealthy couple the show announced earlier.】

The bullet comments were now filled with even more question marks.

When the show initially announced the participants, they categorized them by type. Gu Chen and his partner were labeled as a wealthy couple. While there was curiosity about the life of a wealthy gay couple, this segment not only failed to meet expectations but also seemed entirely unrelated.

【What are the cameraman and editor even doing? Can’t they capture what the person looks like even for a moment? They’re just showing a bunch of empty shots and useless footage.】

【And why is there only one person? Weren’t they supposed to be a couple? Is this some kind of scam?】

【This is really boring, I’m falling asleep…】

At this moment, Du Ruiqing’s hired online trolls took the opportunity to stir things up.

【Wealthy couple? Does a wealthy person wear this kind of watch?】

【Even the tea cup looks modern; this “wealthy couple” seems so fake.】

【He participates in a marriage show and his husband doesn’t even show up? It’s clear there’s no love there, not even a hint of respect.】

【This shows that marrying into wealth can still be very poor; if your husband doesn’t provide money, you can only wear a few hundred watches.】

As a result, the audience was no longer buying it: 【Can the production team find some genuine actors? Is this really a wealthy couple?】

【Is this another “take you shopping at Meitek X Bangwei” kind of wealthy couple? Hilarious.】

【Maybe the production team should consider replacing them right after the show starts.】

【Everyone else comes in pairs, but he’s alone; it’s really pitiful.】

Photographer Xiao Liu was also watching the show’s premiere. He saw the negative comments and his hands trembled with anger. He couldn’t help but post a comment: 【You haven’t seen Mr. Gu in person! You’ll be completely captivated once you meet him!】

Someone replied: 【That’s funny. How can you see him in person if his face isn’t even shown?】

Xiao Liu was even more annoyed. It was because someone had greeted Mr. Gu and cut out all the scenes showing his face.

Just as the audience was mocking the fake wealthy family, a professional tea art blogger reposted a clip of Gu Chen from this episode: 【Holy crap! This photographer is wasting a treasure!!! He drank Tai Ping Hou Kui on the first day, Lan Tian Yu Ye on the second, and Wuyi Mountain Da Hong Pao on the third! Each sip costs tens of thousands of yuan, and he just drinks them casually! Mr. Gu has so many other teas on his shelf that can only be found at auctions, I want to jump into the screen and taste them!!!】

His fans, all tea lovers, were instantly flooded with question marks. Who is so powerful that they can collect so many top-tier teas? But when they clicked on the original video, they found that everyone was saying Mr. Gu was poor???

They couldn’t help but explain: 【This “Lan Tian Yu Ye” was sold at an auction for 745,000 yuan per kilogram. This “Tai Ping Hou Kui” sold for 200,000 yuan for just 100 grams. Wuyi Mountain Da Hong Pao… forget it, it must be ordinary like Mr. Gu casually said, after all, the ones from the mother tree cost 1,040,000 yuan per kilogram, they’ve already become antiques.】

Xiao Liu’s hands were trembling with anger, but when he scrolled through the new comments that appeared later, his hands trembled even more. This is Mr. Gu’s casual drinking??? You know, this is tea that costs tens of thousands of yuan per sip.

Xiao Liu hadn’t even finished being shocked when a calligraphy blogger who followed the tea art blogger also expressed his shock: 【Holy crap! He wrote ‘Xuan Mi Ta Bei’ on the first day, ‘Shi Men Song’ on the second, and ‘Song Feng Ge Shi’ on the third??? And he writes so perfectly, is he human? Is he human?! Where did this mysterious calligraphy master come from?!】

You know, “Xuan Mi Ta Bei” is a piece of regular script by Liu Gongquan, “Shi Men Song” is a piece of clerical script by Wang Rong, and “Song Feng Ge Shi” is a piece of semi-cursive script by Huang Tingjian. To be able to write all these styles so perfectly, you’d have to be schizophrenic, yet someone is just casually writing so perfectly on some romance variety show. He didn’t show his face, but he seems to be only in his twenties, is he human? Is he human?!

The calligraphy blogger was still going crazy with jealousy when a disciple of a ceramic master timidly came forward to claim the “modern craft” everyone was mocking: 【That… my teacher’s work is actually quite cheap. The set of teacups Mr. Gu is using, they only went for 500,000 yuan at an auction…】

Previously, Xiao Liu, who used to casually serve tea, now trembled even more when refreshing the comments.

Now everyone finally turned back to carefully scrutinize this video: 【Photographer, editor, I apologize for blaming you. In this short 1 minute and 58 seconds, not a single second is wasted!】

【Damn! They can find something in every single second! I’m going to download it and analyze it frame by frame…】

【Am I the only one obsessing over his hands? Mr. Gu’s hand resting on the armrest looks so charismatic and sexy. And that wedding ring on his ring finger adds a touch of restraint.】

【To be honest, that sports wristband is really useful. But… *sobs* He has such a perfect body and long legs, and he exercises every day!】

【*sobs* Mr. Gu is so mysterious. The more you watch, the more mysterious he becomes in just 1 minute and 58 seconds.】

【Production team, tell me, who exactly is this big shot that even you dare not show their face!】

Gu Chen’s mood was very pleasant. Before the show started, no external forces affected the decision to cut his face. It shouldn’t cause any butterfly effects.

He warmed a glass of milk, leisurely read a book, and prepared to sleep early. There was too much information on social media platforms like Weibo, so he decided not to check them