CHAPTER 23: Damn it

Mother, the great one who continues life!

Gu Sheng seriously told the system, “I think you did very well this time.”

Though she had never been a mother, she knew labor was considered the most intense pain humans could feel—supposedly equal to breaking twenty bones at once.

If men could get a chance to experience labor pain, they’d better understand the sacrifices and dedication women make in childbirth. From this perspective, these few seconds actually helped the dog male lead grow.

“Very educational!” Gu Sheng sincerely applauded.

But the CP system had already fangirled stupidly: “Ahhhh what? What educational meaning? Ahhhh ‘I want your life’—”

Gu Sheng: “…Go check your brain, if you have one.”

At this moment, the live platform showed nothing but refreshed thousands of comments every second, all wildly fired up by their over-the-top imaginations.

[What what? Came from trending, heard the top star said some savage words?]

[Me too!! I rushed here without even looking at the next door battle robe show.]

[Why can’t I see anything aaaaah! But I’m so excited.]

[+1 +1]

[+10086]

The real Wen Heng looked like he’d been pulled out of the water, his robe completely soaked. No audience got to see a distant, aloof flower touched by human passions, nor an uncontrollable, unrestrained scene.

Wen Heng took a long moment to recover, pushing his wet hair back behind his neck. His handsome face looked a bit dazed.

“10-second countdown ended, pain relieved successfully.”

“Special note: The Time Vase cannot affect pain above level 10, please be aware.”

Wen Heng was dazed for a while before coming back to himself. His first thought wasn’t that the Time Vase was useless, but—

How incredibly difficult childbirth must be for women, he had deeply felt it now.

Pain relief time was random. Ten seconds wasn’t long, but under such intense agony, every second felt stretched a thousand times.

And real labor pain lasted far longer than ten seconds.

Wen Heng was still breathing heavily. He looked up at Gu Sheng and felt an impulse—he wanted to tell her never to have children.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t say it out loud, and no one knew what he’d just been through.

Gu Sheng didn’t understand his expression, just thought he had been “educated” to feel pain deep in his heart.

She was about to speak when she suddenly remembered Wen Heng had just covered the camera lens, so she went to turn off the microphone as well. Although she was calm and proper, she still felt that all the panting might cause misunderstandings (…).

[Aaaah why turn it off!]

[No, you guys can’t handle this!]

[Sisters, turning it off proves something, it really means hehehehehe]

[Whose life are they taking? Mine, aaaaahhh!]

The whole online audience didn’t know the real situation behind “I want your life.” Although Wen God had never had any scandalous news after so many years, it didn’t mean he lacked sexual appeal—in fact, it was very strong.

Combined with the luxurious sea-view suite atmosphere, the deep red petals, the half-open robe, and Gu Sheng’s stunning, irresistible face—

A line that sounded like he wanted to devour the other alive was enough to make anyone’s blood reverse and heart race wildly!

The production team of The Four Laws of Happiness clutched their heads and cheered, calling Wen Sheng the eternal legend, while outside the show, the management teams for both Wen Heng and Gu Sheng were in total chaos.

Chang Yan: “Holy shit, holy shit!”

Wen Heng hadn’t said a word about coordinating any kind of marketing for “Couples’ Night”, but no one expected that his idea of “going with the flow” would turn out like this!

Beast! Men really are all beasts!

While the Qing Tian couple’s team was still trying to stir up buzz with some so-called traffic formula, one line from top celebrity Wen Heng ended up siphoning away 80% of the attention. “Wen Sheng” dominated the trending search rankings in real-time.

Chang Yan didn’t hesitate: “Use hashtags! Only an idiot would waste free traffic!”

With the team jumping into action, both Wen Heng’s and Gu Sheng’s official accounts gained fans like crazy, and several trending topics soared in engagement. The Wen Sheng CP forum saw a huge spike too, with all kinds of fandom creators jumping in to produce content—it was a genuine breakout moment again.

In Wen Heng’s fan forum, the long-time stans were crying tears of joy. They thought this day would never come—their aloof, untouchable, artwork-like Wen God finally showed signs of human desire. But at the same time… they couldn’t help but blush and feel their hearts race.

Meanwhile, Gu Sheng’s fans, the Little Echoes, were shouting “Let go of our sis, you big jerk!” but also had to admit—looking at the entire entertainment industry, this top-tier husband of Gu Jie really did have the looks and body that matched her best.

Because of how starkly this contrasted with Wen Heng’s usual cold and distant persona, the whole entertainment circle heard about it fast. Xu Ziling, who had worked on The Four Laws of Happiness and shot the VOL dual cover featuring Wen Heng and Gu Sheng, slapped his thigh and exclaimed: “I knew it! Their chemistry is unreal! Who wouldn’t ship them?!”

He could already predict that once the September issue hit the shelves, they’d definitely dominate all the sales charts.

Word even reached the Wen household. Wen Yuesong, who hardly ever went online, heard it from the butler.

“Hah, that brat actually managed to surprise me,” he squinted.

Li Muze happened to be nearby. His eyes flashed as he smiled and said, “Maybe Heng is finally ready to settle down.”

During the past two days of filming, his people had been quietly observing Wen Heng. Based on the reports, Wen Heng and Gu Sheng didn’t actually do anything overly intimate—certainly not like the other couples. But Wen Heng’s behavior on Couples’ Night… really caught him off guard.

Could it be that someone as emotionally distant as Wen Heng… had actually fallen for that airheaded daughter of the Gu family?

“Settle down?” Wen Yuesong gave a cold snort. “Making such a big show of it—he better give us a kid while he’s at it!”

Li Muze’s brow twitched. A sharp sense of danger rose in his chest. If Wen Heng and Gu Sheng got all lovey-dovey and actually had a child, not only would the contract marriage remain intact, the Wen family’s future would still end up in Wen Heng’s hands.

He didn’t show it on his face and changed the topic. “By the way, Dad, I heard Traceback was changed to open auditions on Heng’s orders. I don’t really mind, but if he ends up picking some no-name actor and the ratings can’t hold up later…”

Wen Yuesong frowned. IP-based productions had become a hot commodity for investors in recent years. While Wen Heng’s investment in Traceback was a personal one, the Wen family’s massive shadow was still behind it.

“That’s just how he is—headstrong,” Wen Yuesong said, taking off his glasses and tossing them aside. “If he made the choice, so be it. It’s not like we’re going to go bankrupt over it.”

Li Muze sneered inwardly.

Wen Yuesong might act like he had a strained relationship with his eldest son, but when it came down to it, wasn’t the whole Wen family still backing Wen Heng unconditionally?

It looked like it was really time to act. If Wen Heng wasn’t going to divorce, then he’d just have to give things a push…

Leaving the Wen family estate, he didn’t return to the home he shared with Wen Wan, but instead went to a highly private apartment in the city center.

As soon as he walked in, a playful voice greeted him: “Took you long enough. Did you talk to them about that role in Traceback for me~?”

“Yeah,” Li Muze brushed her off, wrapping his arm around her waist. “You said you know Gu Sheng’s ex-boyfriend?”

“Mhm, a small-time celeb. He told me himself. Pretty irrelevant guy.”

Li Muze smiled. “Oh? Tell me more.”

…

Each couple on The Four Laws of Happiness had a different kind of night.

Their respective PR teams fought tooth and nail overnight, and the show’s popularity stayed sky-high, crushing all other variety shows airing at the same time. The directors were overjoyed, convinced this year they’d be sweeping the Variety Show Summit awards!

When Wen Heng woke up, he’d already pulled himself out of the shadow of the 12-level pain.

Gu Sheng was still asleep, hugging her pillow, her long lashes dark and thick, her lips slightly parted, sleeping like she had no worries at all. Based on her behavior last night, Wen Heng could basically confirm that she didn’t think much of her “husband” at the moment.

He subconsciously rubbed his fingertips.

Just as he was spacing out, he suddenly heard a “ding—” in his ear.

Wen Heng instinctively tensed, but thankfully, the system wasn’t delivering another pain warning. Any pain above level 10 triggered a cool-down period, and since 12 was the max level, he’d be able to rest for a while.

“Congratulations. You’ve completed the level 12 pain experience. Through your intense willpower and the system’s counterforce mechanism, you’ve received a Transfer Card.”

Wen Heng paused. “Transfer Card?”

“Yes. This card allows you to transfer the pain to a person of your choosing. However, the method of relief does not change—you’ll still need to touch your antidote and meet the required relief time.”

As Wen Heng was thinking it over, Gu Sheng suddenly opened her eyes.

Their eyes met, catching him off guard. For a second, Wen Heng almost thought she’d heard the system notification too.

“Ding—”

“Congrats, host~ You’ve also unlocked a random reward: [Super Guidance]~”

Gu Sheng blinked.

Even in her groggy, just-woken-up state, she instinctively kept her expression in check under Wen Heng’s gaze.

This random reward had arrived later than usual—“Super Guidance” probably referred to an influential figure who could help her in her career. In her previous world, before she became famous, she had received guidance from a veteran actor and a top director. After that awakening, her rise had been meteoric.

——But what’s with the system’s wording, “this time, you too”? So it wasn’t planning to give it in the first place?

Gu Sheng didn’t respond to the system. She narrowed her peach blossom eyes and looked at Wen Heng: “What are you doing?”

She had just woken up from a night’s sleep. Her voice was a little hoarse, unintentional but still husky, and even though her expression was calm, it sounded lingering and affectionate.

Wen Heng’s fingers curled slightly where they rested on his knee, and he answered honestly, “I’m… thinking about the candidate.”

Transferring pain like that—it really tested a person’s humanity.

But Gu Sheng blinked and snapped fully awake.

After last night’s “education,” Wen Heng was already speechless toward her and had started thinking about the next marriage candidate?

Tsk tsk tsk, the level of awareness is pretty high.

Gu Sheng got out of bed and patted him on the shoulder. “Think carefully.”

Although the original book’s main storyline was vague and mostly career-focused, Gu Sheng didn’t know who the female lead was. But Wen Heng, being the male lead, definitely had a romantic arc of his own.

Now that the “Love’s 99 Pains” progress had hit 22, if they worked a little harder, maybe he could finish suffering before they got divorced?

Full of motivation, Gu Sheng got out of bed and got to work—before that, she had to make something of herself too.

At the very least, when this divorced couple met again in the industry one day, she couldn’t be trailing too far behind Wen Heng, the top star.

Yes!

…

The third episode’s filming was basically at the wrap-up stage. After a night of fermenting online buzz, the couples once again stood in front of the live broadcast cameras, under the magnified scrutiny of the audience’s gaze.

[What’s with the awkward tension between the mountain trail couple!]

[There’s a hickey on Zhi Zi’s neck ahhh]

[Qin Tian has had his arm around Zhi Zi this whole time!]

Of course, aside from that, the barrage that dominated the screen was still mostly about Wen Heng and Gu Sheng—practically everywhere you looked.

[What on earth did Wen God do last night!]

[He wanted Gu Jie’s life nooo [crazy][crazy]]

[Why do both of them look not tired at all? Wen Ge are you okay or not!]

[I stayed up all night crying and saw nothing]

This kind of sugar that you didn’t really get, but kind of did, drove the audience mad with frustration and hunger, desperate enough to write fan content with their own blood just to get one good hit.

This was exactly the kind of dangling excitement the production team wanted. The director smiled as he gave his closing remarks for this episode: “We believe that each guest has gained a lot during this journey and developed a deeper understanding of what happiness means~ In the full cut, we’ll edit each couple’s footage individually, creating your very own romantic memories!”

The comments section was full of things like “We don’t understand enough” and “We want to deeply ♂ understand too,” and the director took the chance to drop the teaser for the next episode:

“In our next episode, the theme is ‘Seeing True Hearts’. The guests will travel together to a mountainous region in the southwest, experiencing real nature and embarking on a tense and thrilling survival adventure~ How will the couples face challenges, support each other, and overcome difficulties together? Stay tuned for The Four Laws of Happiness~!!”

[LOL the production team should just say they’re sending them out to suffer]

[This kind of shoot is tough, I hope my brother and sister are prepared and won’t get hurt during filming!]

[It’s mean, but them suffering means we get more sugar heehee]

[Can’t wait for the next episode!]

…

The plane landed in A City, and Chang Yan once again came to pick the two of them up, wearing an expression full of nuance.

But the two stars were as calm as ever. Gu Sheng smiled brightly and greeted the fans at the airport when they came out, even chatted with them for a bit. After that, she buried herself in her phone the whole ride, completely ignoring Wen Heng.

Chang Yan couldn’t hold back his curiosity and leaned over to ask, “What are you doing?”