CHAPTER 3: That Hurt

“Pain relief duration: 5 seconds. FYI, the antidote is within a one-meter radius of you.”

Wen Heng ignored the system alert, his face emotionless.

He stood at 6’2”, body honed from years of working out, lean and muscular beneath his clothes.

Let’s be real—even if this box was full of iron, he should’ve been able to move it without breaking a sweat.

He wanted to explain himself. But after Gu Sheng’s so-called “rescue,” any excuse would only sound like… well, an excuse.

Slowly, Wen Heng stood up. His arms hung limp at his sides, aching, the tension pulling at the sharp lines of his face. His thin lips moved, then finally—

“…Yeah.”

Song Qingzhi had definitely not expected that to happen. She scrambled to gloss things over, but Gu Sheng was a beat faster.

With a faint smirk, Gu Sheng turned to her. “Wow, Miss Song, you thought this box was light? Didn’t expect it—you must work out a lot.”

Wen Heng’s brows creased. He instantly got it—and the way he looked at Song Qingzhi shifted to something much colder.

So this little junior wasn’t as sweet and innocent as she liked to pretend.

[Didn’t she just say the box was easy to carry? No wonder my boy got caught off guard and fell!!]
[“I just wanted to make things easier for you, so I used the vacuum and you carried the books~” 🤡]
[Ugh, that’s got passive-aggressive tea all over it.]
[Stop letting Gu Sheng manipulate the narrative!!!]
[Say what you want, but Song Qingzhi is looking a little sus here too.]

The livestream was spiraling. Song Qingzhi had never been in this kind of situation before. She panicked.

She muttered a few hasty excuses—“I really didn’t know”—then bailed, saying Qin Tian was calling her.

She didn’t even try to fight for the vacuum cleaner anymore.

Which left Gu Sheng, calmly lifting a brow, grabbing the vacuum with a little smile, and leisurely starting to clean the floor.

Her sleeves were casually rolled up, revealing slender, fair arms. A few loose strands of hair fell across her face, softening the sharp lines of her beauty. A breeze swept down the corridor, lifting the hem of her shirt slightly. For a second, it looked like a movie scene—somewhere between youthful charm and fierce elegance, perfectly balanced.

The number of viewers slowly dropped back to normal. Wen Heng’s fans followed their idol to the break room to cool off.

But the ones who stayed—

[I came here to watch fluffy romance but now I’m stuck staring at this woman like an idiot… Gu Sheng is gorgeous.]
[Since this stream doesn’t have many hardcore fans right now, can I say something kinda unpopular?]
[Am I the only one who thinks Gu Sheng and Wen Heng’s visuals together are out of this world?]
[YES. Their height difference, the vibe—ugh, it’s killing me.]

…

[LMAO y’all really shipping Gu Sheng and Wen Heng now?? That’s so tragic.]
[I swear, if they actually become a sweet couple, I’ll eat my keyboard on livestream.]
[Screenshotting this.]
[Same. Bookmarking your words.]

….

Meanwhile, Song Qingzhi had gone back to Qin Tian’s side, doing her best to stay cute and on-brand. When the production team finally announced a break, she bolted to the corner to take a call from her agent.

“Song Qingzhi, what the hell are you doing?!” her agent exploded. “You’ve probably pissed off Wen Heng now! His fans were just teaming up with ours to bash Gu Sheng, and now they’ve turned on you!”

Song Qingzhi’s face darkened. “I didn’t think it’d turn out like this!”

“Then stop provoking Gu Sheng! This is a dating show—your job is to sell the CP! Sure, Gu Sheng’s reputation is trash, she’s got no talent or credits to her name, but don’t underestimate her brains. Those rich families? Messy as hell. You think she got with Wen Heng because of love?”

Song Qingzhi’s expression turned cold.

“You’re not the same as Gu Sheng,” the agent softened a little. “You’ve got fans, love, support. No one can beat your couple’s sweetness. Just think—Gu Sheng can only watch from the sidelines while you and Wen Heng act all lovey-dovey. He doesn’t even touch her!”

That finally soothed the frustration burning in her chest. Her tone turned soft and a little smug. “So if Gu Sheng’s hostile toward me, I get it. I mean, she clearly loves Wen Heng, but she gets nothing back. That kind of bitterness would eat anyone alive.”

“Exactly. So let her stew in it. We’ve got the trending hashtags all lined up for you.” The agent gave a few more instructions, then hesitated. “One more thing… don’t stand too close to Gu Sheng, okay?”

One of the key reasons Song Qingzhi could pull off the “cute girl” image was because she was barely over 160cm. But Gu Sheng? Easily over 170. On set it didn’t stand out too much, but on camera—side by side—the difference was brutal.

Add in Gu Sheng’s perfect proportions and killer aura? Instant visual domination.

Still, the agent wasn’t too worried. This was a dating show, not a beauty pageant. No matter how stunning Gu Sheng looked, if her own husband didn’t care about her…

She was just a walking punchline.

….

Wen Heng sat in the break room, a glass of water in hand, deep in thought.

The young actor’s side profile looked like it had been carved by a sculptor—flawless angles from his brow bone to his jawline. Even the curve of his lashes cast soft shadows under his eyes. Just sitting there quietly in a corner, he looked like a piece of art on display.

The chat fell silent, like no one wanted to disturb the moment.

But if you looked closely, you’d see it.

His wrist was trembling as he held the water glass.

And the water inside was shaking too.

Wen Heng took a long breath and quietly set the cup down.

The stabbing pain in his stomach hadn’t let up. His wrist was weak and sore.

…And his right knee had just slammed into the floor. It was probably already bruised and swelling.

And this wasn’t the end of it.

Wen Heng stared off into the distance, lost in thought.

It wasn’t like he couldn’t get closer to Gu Sheng. That woman would probably be thrilled if he did.

But the moment he let her in, she’d only want more. Her desire for him would spiral out of control—something he absolutely didn’t want. If she started clinging to him, it would completely derail the reason he joined this show in the first place.

He pressed a hand to his stomach, his face unreadable.

…

“Host, look!”
“His eyes… so melancholic. That lonely silhouette…”

Gu Sheng followed the system’s voice, glancing in his direction. Okay, she had to admit—her husband really was hot.

So hot that even in pain, he looked like he was in a perfume commercial.

Curiosity suddenly got the better of her. “What does level 8 pain actually feel like? Can I try it?”

The system went quiet for a beat—probably stunned by how nuts its host was.
Then finally: “You can. Please prepare yourself. Three… two… one—”

The moment it hit one, Gu Sheng felt like her stomach was being sawed in half. A sharp, gut-wrenching pain twisted through her like someone was slicing her open with a knife.

“Stop! Stop, stop! I get it! That’s enough—!”

The system cut the pain instantly, then asked with a hopeful tone, “You experienced exactly three seconds. Now that you’ve felt what your husband’s going through, do you feel a deeper emotional connection?”

Gu Sheng clutched her stomach, still recovering. “He’s able to endure that?! Is he some kind of masochist?!”

“…”
The system felt personally attacked.

Honestly, the two of you are a match made in hell.

…

The Four Laws of Happiness was a full-weekend, live-streamed variety show—but realistically, no one was glued to the stream 24/7. The production team had strategically scheduled the key activities for when the viewer count was highest. The rest of the time, the guests were left to their own devices.

By evening, when all the guests gathered again, even more viewers had tuned in than earlier.

After all, the most anticipated part of every “roughing it” variety show… was the battle for bedrooms.

[AHHH I’m here!!!]
[Please let QingTian couple get the nice room!]
[ShanLu couple, go go go! We want cuddles!]
[Praying Wen Heng and Gu Sheng get separate rooms🙏]
[I’ve been dreading this since casting was announced. Please, Gu Sheng, leave our Heng alone!]

The director looked around at everyone. “You all worked hard cleaning this afternoon—you must be exhausted, right?”

Yu Shanbei immediately popped up. “That huge shelf upstairs? Had like ten pounds of dust! I swear I scrubbed myself into oblivion.”

Wang He grinned. “So… did you at least get it clean?”

“Nope!” Yu Shanbei answered without hesitation, completely deadpan. “Now I’m just as dusty as the damn shelf!”

Everyone burst out laughing.

Lu Yiyi gave a sheepish smile. “Sorry for embarrassing everyone.”

Gu Sheng watched the two of them with interest. She found them genuinely entertaining. Sure, it was obvious they were a publicity couple here to boost their profiles—but they had good chemistry. The girl even kept sneaking glances her way, thinking Gu Sheng hadn’t noticed.

Lu Yiyi happened to look up and locked eyes with Gu Sheng’s playful, almond-shaped gaze. Her face turned red instantly.

Feeling like her boyfriend had just made her look lame in front of a gorgeous unnie, she gave Yu Shanbei a solid thump on the shoulder.

“OWW!” he cried out dramatically, acting like she’d crushed his soul.

[LMAO this couple is killing me!]
[ShanLu is way too cute!!!]
[Okay but… is Yiyi low-key checking out Gu Sheng? Tall cool girl x sweet baby girl, I’m dying!!]

The whole scene was light and fun. The stream played some cheerful background music, giving everything that chill, feel-good reality show vibe.

Song Qingzhi, ever the camera pro, jumped in with a sweet line: “It’s not so bad. When you’ve got someone you love by your side, even chores feel easy.”

Qin Tian looked at her with doting eyes. “We cleared a little flower bed in the back garden together. Now everyone can look out the window and see flowers.”

[Omg stop, they’re so romantic!]
[Even doing chores looks like a date with them—]
[Okay but… all the others were scrubbing floors and they were out there trimming roses?? Biased much??]

The director smiled like he was about to drop a bombshell. After letting Qingzhi and Qin Tian finish their PDA, he announced, “We noticed how hard you all worked this afternoon, so tonight’s room selection will be based on how much effort you put in!”

Everyone perked up instantly—this was about sleep, after all.

Even Wen Heng, who’d barely said a word all day, looked up at the director.

“We’ve got a large double room with a floor-to-ceiling window as Room 1. Room 2 has two twin beds and a big window. Room 3 has bunk beds and no windows. And Room 4… has a single bed. 1.3 meters wide.”

[WTF is the production team trying to start a war??]
[A single bed??? Are they seriously expecting people to squeeze into that??]
[LMFAO someone probably doesn’t even get to sleep with their hubby at home—guess she’s living her dream on this show.]

“The rooms won’t be chosen randomly,” the director continued. “We tracked how long each couple spent cleaning this afternoon. First place goes to ShanLu couple, with a total of 3 hours and 14 minutes! You guys earned it—go ahead and pick your room first!”

Yu Shanbei and Lu Yiyi were stunned—then jumped up and hugged each other in celebration. But since they were the youngest of the group and still rookies in the industry, they made the clever, crowd-pleasing move of picking Room 2—the twin bed room—earning them a big wave of goodwill from the viewers.

The rest of the guests geared up for the room battle.

The director teased, “Now, can anyone guess who took second place?”

Qin Tian looked confident. “Director Du, stop keeping us in suspense! Just announce it already!”

The director, clearly anticipating the drama that would explode in the livestream comments, grinned and said, “Second place goes to… Wen Heng and Gu Sheng! You clocked in a total of 2 hours and 50 minutes. Great job, both of you~”

Qin Tian froze. Song Qingzhi’s expression twisted with disbelief. Neither of them realized that the time they spent fussing over flowers in the garden didn’t even count toward the cleaning total.

[WTF?! WTF?! My worst fear just came true!!]

[Gu Sheng, have some dignity and pick Room 3! Room 3!!]

[Stay the hell away from my brother!!]

Gu Sheng and Wen Heng exchanged a glance—surprised to find that the other had actually taken the task seriously.

Wen Heng instinctively assumed Gu Sheng would go for Room 1 with the big bed.

It made sense. Gu Sheng was a pampered heiress, and she was deeply in love with him. Sure, she’d kept her distance all day, following the rules—but now that she had a legitimate excuse, Wen Heng didn’t believe for a second she’d pass it up.

But no matter which room she chose, Wen Heng already had a plan. He’d wait until she fell asleep, then sneak in to touch her and relieve his pain.

After suffering all day, he was finally close to relief—and he could barely hold on any longer.

“You can choose Room 1,” Wen Heng said stiffly, face pale but proud. “I won’t object.”

The reluctant tone in his voice made Song Qingzhi smirk in satisfaction—and the livestream chat erupted even louder.

Gu Sheng: “?”

Seriously? This man is faking it again… at me?!

She turned and pointed toward the living room. “I’ll take the couch.”

The entire cast and crew blinked in stunned silence.

Even the wailing chaos in the livestream chat cut off abruptly.

But right then, Wen Heng heard that damned system voice in his ear:

Beep—
03: Neural pain detected. Pain level: 5.

“…” He tried to comfort himself: Level 5. That’s manageable.

All he needed was a few seconds of contact. They didn’t actually have to sleep together.

—Pain relief duration: 5 hours.

Wen Heng: F**.*

So the whole internet saw Wen Heng suddenly reach out and grab Gu Sheng’s wrist just as she turned to walk away.

“Don’t go!” His voice trembled.

…Please. I’m begging you.