Second Take On Romance - The A-List Actor Wants Me
Chapter 91 : Reconnecting To The Outside World

Chapter 91: Chapter 91 : Reconnecting To The Outside World

Attached to the letter was a conspicuous metal box.

"Congratulations on surviving the first week in the farming village! As a reward, you are allowed to use your phones for a full day. Phones will be collected by the crew in exactly 24 hours."

"Ahhhhh...!!!"

Upon reading the message to the end, everyone started fighting fiercely for the box.

As per "3, 2, 1... Action!" custom, all participants were granted a full day to reconnect to the outside world.

"Oh, heavens have mercy!" Feng Jietang cried out in ecstasy. "Everyone, lunch and dinner on me! Just WeChat me whatever you want, I will have the food delivered to our doorstep!"

After thanking God Feng profusely for his boundless generosity, everyone scattered around the house to focus on their phones.

In cultivation lingo, it was akin to entering a closed-door seclusion.

Shen Jingwei, the mere mortal, was naturally included.

The man in question took his phone, a bottle of water, and disappeared into the backyard on his own.

The first thing he did after turning on his phone was check his WeChat messages.

He had around 20 messages from Zhu Dongyi, and 100 messages from the Shen family’s chat group.

He did not reply to them on the spot because he needed to check something else first.

"3, 2, 1... Action!" was broadcast a day after the recording.

This meant that the popularity ranking lists, both official and unofficial, had been online for a few days already.

The reality TV show’s official website had the official popularity list pasted conspicuously across the front page.

As expected, Yan Renzhong ranked first in the individual list.

Feng Jietang ranked second, with only 100k votes difference, followed by Ye Lingxia and Lin Ruoye.

Shen Jingwei ranked fifth, and Lang Yuxuan ranked sixth.

Shen Jingwei sighed inwardly.

He already did his best, but it was still not enough. He probably needed to be more active, more outspoken...

After checking the individual popularity list, Shen Jingwei checked the show’s Weibo page.

The post detailing the vote count for each couple was prominently displayed at the top of the page, just as it had been in the previous years.

Shen Jingwei chose that moment to take a sip of water. It was a huge mistake.

"Pffffttt...!!!"

Shen Jingwei doubled over in a coughing fit, expelling the water he had just drunk.

The pairing who gained most votes was #RenWei, followed by #JieWei and then #Renxuan.

As in, Yan Renzhong and Shen Jingwei.

While landing on the first place with Yan Renzhong was shocking enough as it was, the comments under the post almost made Shen Jingwei vomit blood on the spot.

Little_White_Moonlight : "I stan #RenWei interactions. It’s giving hot and sexy."

20M likes.

AngelHeart : "I like how #RenWei treats each other. So mindful, so thoughtful, so demure (⁠๑⁠♡⁠⌓⁠♡⁠๑⁠)."

25M likes, 20K re-posts.

Sweet_AuTuMn : "Did you guys see that hug on their first night together??? I almost had a nosebleed right then and there, no cap."

15M likes.

InnocentLamb : "Iykyk."

With a GIF of two men making out with each other.

19M likes.

"..."

Shen Jingwei facepalmed.

He was not sure whether to laugh or cry.

To his greatest relief, no one tried pairing him up with Lang Yuxuan.

To his greatest dismay, other than #JieWei, there was also a #LingWei, indicating that the audience saw Ye Lingxia as the superior one to him.

How did that even make sense?

But then Shen Jingwei recalled that Ye Lingxia played Wu Shenxia in the drama, an alpha just like Zhang Fengxi and Jiang Muchen.

Maybe that’s why the tag was styled as #LingWei and not #JingXia.

...

The readers had eyes for detail, didn’t they?

Oh well.

There was also a #JingYe for him and Lin Ruoye.

Apparently their interaction during the flower-selling competition won quite a number of hearts.

Unfortunately, this pairing scored the lowest number of votes in the list.

Shen Jingwei calmly took another sip of water.

Well, individually, he was unable to impress, but thankfully he made an excellent bottom for the tops in the group.

In a way, that could be counted as an achievement in its own right.

Sigh.

Shen Jingwei was in the middle of typing something into the Shen family chat group when a call came in.

It was from Shang Ruohai.

"A very good morning to the both of you!" The seasoned actor and son of CNC Studio’s CEO greeted them with a cheerful voice.

The both of them?

What?

Only then did Shen Jingwei notice that it was a conference call with Shang Ruohai and Yan Renzhong.

"I gather that you have seen the lists."

"Yes," both Shen Jingwei and Yan Renzhong answered at the same time.

"First of all, very good job Yan Renzhong for making it to the top of both lists, and Shen Jingwei for the great display of much-needed chemisty between you two.

Thanks to the both of you, ’Dance Of The Dragons’ is trending on Weibo, and a healthy number of fans are looking forward to its release at the end of this year."

The moment the accolades were bestowed, the undercurrent of demands surfaced.

"And now we need more."

Shen Jingwei could feel heat rising to his cheeks.

"More, as in, what? Are you telling us to make out in front of the camera?"

Shang Ruohai scoffed into the phone.

"God, no. But one kiss couldn’t harm."

"..."

"..."

"Need I remind you that your characters got married and gave birth to children in the novel...? Kissing is the very least you can do."

"..."

Shen Jingwei was unable to see Yan Renzhong’s face through the call. He imagined that Yan Renzhong must be feeling rather conflicted.

Kissing someone in a drama was not the same as kissing someone in a reality TV show.

A single kiss off the script could easily ruin even a marriage.

"And don’t make the deception too obvious," Shang Ruohai warned them. "Our audience is not stupid."

With that one last instruction, he ended the call, leaving Shen Jingwei and Yan Renzhong on the line.

"I won’t do it if you don’t want to," Yan Renzhong said.

"I also won’t demand it if you don’t want to," Shen Jingwei pointed out.

To be very clear, Shen Jingwei had nothing to lose from this one kiss.

Yan Renzhong did.