After dinner, one of the program staff couldn’t help but remind Gu Chen, “Uh… Mr. Gu, it’s evening now. Shouldn’t you… follow the process?”

How could a married couple go a whole day without contacting each other? Did the program team really have to help them build their relationship? The staff member was nearly in tears.

“Hmm, I understand,” Gu Chen nodded. “But it’s still early.”

As dusk fell, the program team set up a bonfire in the courtyard, intending to hold a bonfire party. Everyone was praising and encouraging each other to showcase their talents, as tonight was the segment where the stars or participants would perform on camera.

Gu Chen chose a corner seat again. In the middle, the actress Jiang Shuli was pushed by everyone to perform a classical dance, accompanied by the artist from H country playing a Tang flute.

The spring night breeze was gentle. Accompanied by song and dance, Gu Chen felt increasingly relaxed and at ease.

After the beautiful and classically elegant dance ended, Gu Chen raised his hand to applaud her. The others also clapped and cheered. During the transition, amid the lively atmosphere, Gu Chen finally followed the program’s request and made another video call to Li Tingqin.

“Good morning, Mr. Li.” It was 8 a.m. over there, and the sun was shining brightly.

Li Tingqin seemed to be sitting in a car, listening to his secretary’s report. Gu Chen’s call made him raise his hand to silence the secretary.

“Good evening,” he said, trying to listen attentively to the noise around Gu Chen. It seemed very lively, yet Gu Chen, despite being among the guests, exuded a serene aura.

He asked, “Are you having some kind of event over there?” The young man had beautiful eyes, but in the two video calls Li Tingqin had with him, he noticed a certain loneliness in those eyes. Was he feeling lonely, calling from the crowd at night?

Gu Chen replied, “Yes, they are performing. It’s very lively.”

Since coming here, Gu Chen felt a certain solitude amid the leisure, but it wasn’t that he envied the liveliness of others as a mere bystander; rather, he felt like a bystander to the whole world.

They silently stared at each other through the screen and across twelve time zones for a few seconds. Gu Chen thought the man on the other side truly had a penetrating gaze.

Du Ruiqing, with sharp eyes, saw Gu Chen on a video call and quickly walked over, saying, “Xiao Gu, do you want to perform something? You haven’t had much screen time today…” He was itching to solve the mystery of who Gu Chen’s husband was.

Moreover, back in high school, Gu Chen couldn’t do anything well. He would get nervous and blush even when the teacher called on him to answer a question. If he were to perform now, who knows how embarrassing it would be.

Li Tingqin heard Du Ruiqing’s voice and asked, “Are you going to perform on stage?”

Gu Chen smiled, “Of course not. I’m just an audience member.”

He had retired; was he still supposed to perform for the audience? Having experienced numerous fast-paced worlds in the entertainment industry, he was sick of being a star.

He glanced at Du Ruiqing, who had come closer, and turned off the camera, switching to a voice call. Then he sighed and frankly told Du Ruiqing, “No need, Xiao Du. I can’t do anything. You all perform just fine.”

Seeing Gu Chen’s phone screen, Du Ruiqing froze. Who would refer to their husband as “Mr. Li” in their contacts? And Gu Chen admitted so calmly that he couldn’t do anything? Wouldn’t he be ridiculed for being a useless parasite who married into a wealthy family.

On the other end, Li Tingqin heard Gu Chen’s words and instead offered comfort, “Hmm, don’t force yourself.”

Indeed, Xiao Gu was socially anxious, unwilling to show his face on programs, let alone perform. Li Tingqin worried that Xiao Gu might be bullied on the show. For instance, the words of the person next to him made Li Tingqin frown deeply.

Thinking about this, he added, “If you’re not enjoying yourself, it’s fine to leave the show.”

Du Ruiqing: “?” Are you two really not concerned about the breach of contract penalties?

Gu Chen chuckled, “I’m quite happy.”

Playing the role of a bystander on the show and getting to watch performances, how culd he not be happy?

Seeing Gu Chen hang up the phone, Du Ruiqing lost interest. He was busy showcasing his talents to impress the audience and gain followers and didn’t have time to bother Gu Chen afterward.

Du Ruiqing sang a song, Lin Yisu played a casual piece on the pipa, Lu Qingyue performed a street dance, and Yu Xingzhou played the guitar and sang an original song. Mu Yunting…

Gu Chen sat quietly on the side sofa, serving as a background figure, occasionally raising his eyes to applaud their performances. Enjoying a day without having to jump on stage was truly delightful.

Finally, the day’s recording ended, and everyone went back to their rooms to rest, with no further live broadcast footage for the night.

Capitalizing on the buzz, the production team managed to edit and release a condensed version of the day’s live content by around 11 PM.

Du Ruiqing watched the edited version briefly and thought it was just as well that Gu Chen hadn’t embarrassed himself on stage. There was no need to give him any screen time.

The edited version turned out quite well. Gu Chen didn’t appear even once, not even during the evening bonfire party. The only footage of him was a brief shot of his lower half sitting on the sofa clapping. If you didn’t look closely, you wouldn’t even notice someone was sitting there. Just like in high school, he had no presence, was silent, aloof, and not very sociable. But after watching for a while, Du Ruiqing found it odd. He had invited Gu Chen onto the show to make a fool of him and let everyone gossip about how he “married up.” It was true that Gu Chen’s husband wasn’t accompanying him on the show, but Du Ruiqing couldn’t feel any of Gu Chen’s supposed misery or loneliness.

Oh well, Gu Chen’s presence was just too low. You couldn’t expect a bystander to evoke strong emotions from the audience, right?

After pondering for a while, Du Ruiqing considered pushing the narrative that Gu Chen was socially awkward and out of place. Maybe he should even hire some online trolls to stir things up?

Before he could come up with a concrete plan, the next post he saw made his eyes go dark:

【Today, Mr. Gu only had 1 minute and 57 seconds of screen time! But deep diving into this 1:57, I find him even more mysterious!】

Du Ruiqing: “?”

He couldn’t resist clicking on it, and saw the blogger’s analysis:

【First, Mr. Gu and Mr. Li had a video call this morning. Despite only video chatting, it’s clear this is a marriage of equals in the business world. They obviously don’t take the show seriously.】

【Second, in the half-second when Mr. Gu passed by Lu Qingyue and Yu Xingzhou, yes, just half a second, his cup was knocked over, and he casually picked it up and walked away. Seriously, this half-second alone is legendary.】

【Third, Lu Qingyue is usually so arrogant that he doesn’t even respect his own boss. Yet, he was enthusiastically pouring tea for Mr. Gu? It’s hard to imagine what kind of status Mr. Gu holds in the circle.】

【Fourth, Lu Qingyue and Yu Xingzhou aren’t small names, and they were rejected by the show before. Yet, Mr. Gu’s partner doesn’t need to appear, and he doesn’t even have to show his face. The show crew, who usually fuss over guests, didn’t dare say a word.】

【Fifth, during the evening performances, aside from the superficially courteous but actually tactless Du Ruiqing who tried to drag Mr. Gu onto the stage, did you see anyone else dare to ask him to perform? Mr. Gu sat below, like a sponsor watching a cultural performance. Really, which big boss would go up and sing and dance in such a show?】

【Your imagined big boss: performs and amazes everyone. The real big boss: What is this cultural performance? It’s awful. Mr. Gu didn’t even bother clapping.】

Du Ruiqing felt a wave of frustration. Instead of exposing Gu Chen as awkward and out of place, this post was turning him into some sort of enigmatic and powerful figure. This was not the outcome Du Ruiqing had anticipated at all.

Du Ruiqing felt that these statements seemed very reasonable, and he couldn’t find any flaws when he looked at them himself.

Suddenly, he realized something was wrong! Was this his little follower, Gu Chen?!

He was so angry that he almost crushed his phone!!!

Qiao Kunping, seeing his expression, came over, took his phone, glanced at it, and said, “Are you looking at Gu Chen’s messages again? I’ve told you, if you like him, go and flirt with him. You know, the three of us could have a lot of fun.”

He was even more furious for a moment.

On the internet, there was still discussion about Gu Chen’s actions, but compared to before, there was less attention, and it was already fermenting in a small circle:

【When it comes to Mr. Gu, he really has good taste. The ranking of the program in his mind is actually exactly the same as what you fans argued.】

Tonight, there were many fans paying attention to the impromptu performances, and they even came up with rankings for the performance levels.

【Wait a minute, are you a tapeworm living in Mr. Gu’s heart? Do you even know the ranking in his mind?】

【Look, Mr. Gu clapped 13 times for the actress’s pipa performance, 10 times for Jiang Shuli’s dance, and 8 times for Yu Xingzhou’s folk song… His number of claps matches perfectly with the ranking you all came up with. If you don’t believe it, count for yourself. So, is Mr. Gu’s appreciation ability top-notch?】

【??? Are you guys crazy? You can count this kind of thing?】

【1 minute and 57 seconds, one second less than last time, but there really isn’t a single wasted second? Impressive.】

【Hahaha, elegant, truly elegant. But have you forgotten that this is a dating reality show, haha.】

【I don’t care what kind of show it is, just tell me, is Mr. Gu a mysterious big shot hidden within the production team?】

【Hahaha, which Gu’s group should come and claim your president~】

After the live broadcast ended, Gu Chen heated a cup of milk in the villa kitchen’s microwave and carried it back to his room. On the way, he ran into Lu Qingyue.

Lu Qingyue enthusiastically said, “Mr. Gu, what is your Weibo ID? Let’s follow each other.”

Gu Chen replied, “I’m sorry, Xiao Lu, I don’t have Weibo.”

Seeing Lu Qingyue looking eagerly at him, he patiently explained, “I’m not just brushing you off, it’s true that there’s too much information on social media nowadays, which can disturb my rest.”

Lu Qingyue felt disappointed as he had wanted to interact with Gu Chen on Weibo, but he said, “Alright, then let’s exchange WeChat.”

After handling Lu Qingyue, Gu Chen returned to his room, closed the door, and felt content.

The live broadcast of the day went smoothly without any surprises, and no one paid attention to him. It seemed like today was another day of smoothly blending in as an ordinary person.