After Going on a Dating Show with My Ex

[This is a short story of about 60,000 characters. Readers can start with the extras if they like!]

[Important]: Due to the story's premise, I can no longer continue writing the plot as originally planned. I'll finish the story through first-person extras instead.

[Also important]: I feel that whatever I write reflects my own thoughts and experiences, so I won't change or delete the earlier chapters either. Thank you to the readers who've made it this far for being understanding.

Original blurb:

[Pathetically lovesick, gifted star with an overwhelming possessive streak, top-tier star actor gong x fiercely capable, rational, stunning research genius shou]

Five years after breaking up with his ex, Xia Yu, who grew up in a small county town, is falsely branded the notorious academic seductress of the research community. Shut out from the career of his dreams, he ends up disgraced and infamous.

Just as his classmates sneer at him, he suddenly announces that he is about to appear on a nationally popular dating competition show, paired with the top-tier star actor Chen Sili.

Academics: [What is wrong with him?]

Fans: [Has he lost his mind?]

Onlookers: [How is he so good-looking?]

The three groups launch into a fierce war of words, while the main characters sit in a restaurant enjoying a candlelit dinner.

"The dating show is just a contract. If you don't want to do it, you don't have to."

The heir to one of Yanjing's top families, an entertainment-industry top-tier star actor, and a man with countless titles, this gifted young man who never had to care what anyone thought seems to be lowering himself into the dirt. Every word he says to Xia Yu is carefully chosen, each one tentative and cautious.

"I never meant to force you," he says.

Xia Yu swirls his wineglass. In the dim candlelight, he looks at the actor and thinks:

Does Chen Sili really like him that much?

Even after five years apart, he still can't let him go.

After half a bottle of wine, Xia Yu agrees to the relationship contract. Chen Sili is simply too handsome, and under the influence of his hormones, Xia Yu goes off-script and gives in to an impulsive fling.

But the relationship he establishes with Chen Sili is this:

I'm only pretending to be with you. I can leave at any time.

Like a heartless jerk.

*

Heart-Pounding War is a nationally popular dating competition show. The audience is king, and they get to vote on everything.

At first, everyone pays no attention to Xia Yu, who's been torn to shreds by public opinion, and laughs at him as someone everyone hates.

Then they vote to pair Chen Sili with someone else:

Chen Sili: "Xia Yu really likes this..."

Someone else: "Why would Xia Yu like this? Last time he..."

They vote to pair two other people together:

Person 1: "I wonder what Brother Xia Yu is doing right now..."

Person 2: "If he were here, this task wouldn't be so hard..."

They vote to pair Xia Yu with someone else:

Someone else: "What do you usually like to do, Teacher Xia?"

Xia Yu: "..."

They vote to let Xia Yu shine on his own:

He conquers the escape room, turns the undercover agent to his side, wins the business war, and shows off the profound knowledge and formidable scientific expertise of a research genius.

Audience: [...]

Audience: [Everyone, back off! Who said Xia Yu was hated by everyone? He's my wife! Stop coveting my wife!]

That night, a video is posted online.

At a lavish banquet hosted by a wealthy family business, Xia Yu stands among the crowd in a suit, slender and tall, his features refined and handsome.

All around him are fawning young heirs from prominent families. Their leader, a man who looks respectable enough, wears an expression of deep regret.

"Xia Yu, I was wrong to accuse you of cheating and to force you to give up your spot," the man pleads. "For old times' sake, will you forgive me?"

The youngest leading scholar in the field of holographic technology looks down at him and smiles.

He takes Chen Sili's hand beside him. Their wedding rings glint where their fingers meet, and he says with a smile, "Do I know you? Please get lost. You're bothering me and my husband."

*

About being soft-hearted toward a lovesick ex, somehow ending up doing everything a couple does, and then getting married.

*

"I met someone when I was seventeen. From then on, no matter how hard the wind blew, it always went around my soul."

*

A super-sweet romance, with a lovesick heart and a man everyone hates as the perfect match!

My first try at writing a romance-focused story. I'm a beginner and still testing the waters. I keep revising because my writing is so bad, so I can't promise daily updates, but I'll do my best. Thank you all for being understanding!

The gong and shou have two relationships. The first is a school romance in a small county town. Both of them had already turned eighteen by their second year of high school, and they got together after the college entrance exams. The second is a sweet romance on a dating show.

They both love each other deeply, but the shou has the upper hand in the relationship.

A few personal worldbuilding details:

1) The dating show includes escape rooms, role-playing murder mysteries, and the traditional romance house format. The ranking rules are based on those of idol competition shows. The story will explain the details.

2) The shou is a science and engineering prodigy, but the author is purely a humanities student. I looked up references, couldn't understand a thing, and just made it all up. Please read it for fun.

Theme: Perseverance is the source of victory