A melodramatic, indulgent story I wrote to lift my spirits. The pairing is undecided. Though the ex really does love him, they may not get back together.
The protagonist stays cool and unruffled, watching everyone else compete with a smile.
Born with a silver spoon and smoothly securing a university professorship, Chen Xuqiu's life had always been plain sailing.
That is, until he met a male student so handsome he took his breath away.
The guy wasn't his student. He had just happened to sit in on one of Chen Xuqiu's public lectures.
After the lecture, the guy made the first move and pursued Chen Xuqiu, a novice at romance.
He was kind, gorgeous, and irresistible.
But for some reason, they still broke up.
And the other guy was the one who ended it.
After the failure of a relationship that had lasted three months, Chen Xuqiu felt a rare sting of defeat.
Seeing how hard the breakup had hit him, his good friend, believing that only love could heal a wound caused by love, secretly signed him up for a dating reality show.
Who would have thought he would actually get picked?
To the viewers, the guest list for this season's dating show looked absolutely star-studded.
The men pursuing partners this season were:
Song Yumu, the popular lead of a campus idol drama;
Geng Yu, a tech tycoon who built his business from scratch;
and Zhuang Yiyi, CEO of a state-owned X Industry company.
The lineup of suitors was already impressive, but the other guests were just as remarkable:
Jiang Lili, the love-song prince whose breakups always inspire hit songs;
Chu Shiqing, an award-winning director with a house full of trophies;
Xi Fengchun, a popular idol-drama lead;
and Chen Xuqiu, the youngest professor at X University, from a family of scholars.
Netizens were stunned that the show had managed to bring together such outstanding figures from so many fields.
As one of the show's only two guests who weren't celebrities, Chen Xuqiu's name was barely announced before netizens dug up everything about him.
"Whoa, a professor at X University? Is that for real?"
"I saw my own advisor's name on the dating show's guest list. Is my life over?"
"Why would he agree to come? Did the production crew hold a knife to his throat?"
It wasn't until the guest list was made public that Chen Xuqiu belatedly learned from his good friend that he'd been selected.
At first, Chen Xuqiu didn't want to go.
But then he spotted a familiar face on the guest list.
Sang Yusong. No, Song Yumu.
A hugely popular superstar, and also the student from another university who had inexplicably dumped him after sitting in on his class.
Wow. Not only was his student identity fake, even his name was fake.
What else about you is real?
Now, even Chen Xuqiu, who had no interest in romance after being hurt, had a reason to go and get to the bottom of things.
Even if he didn't find someone new...
At least making a little trouble for his ex would be fun.
All participants on the dating show are pure and faithful.
The ex had already graduated and didn't attend the same university as the protagonist. The student identity was only a temporary disguise.
Some characters initially listed as pursuing partners will switch to the group being pursued.
Chen Xuqiu's feelings for Sang Yusong aren't particularly deep. He was simply dumped for no apparent reason, and since it was his first love, it left a strong impression.
Song Yumu is a stage name. The name he gave Chen Xuqiu, Sang Yusong, is his real name.
Theme: Love must come from the heart. Love is a combination of sexual desire and respect for another's character. Without the former, love is merely hollow admiration; without the latter, it is nothing but animal lust.
