"The No Romance Cottage" had long been announced to be highly interactive.
At this moment, netizens were practically buzzing with excitement.
This segment was clearly designed to make real couples reveal their feelings through jealousy.
So naturally, everyone was determined not to let any potential real couples enter the kitchen to cook.
The voting link was quickly posted.
Each person had only one vote, and netizens eagerly participated.
— "Do it?"
— "The kitchen is the perfect place for this!"
— "Love this vibe—netizens uniting as one, turning everything black or white into something scandalous!"
— "I’ve already mobilized my aunts, uncles, and thirteen ex-boyfriends to vote. We must expose the real couples!"
— "Wait, director, aren’t we the core audience? Why can’t we watch what happens in the kitchen?!"
— "I’ll pay for VIP access if I have to! My friend’s got money to spare!"
The time was now 6:30 PM.
In the VIP ward of SS Hospital,
Shen Yihan lay on the hospital bed, his usually cold face pale and drained of color.
He had finally gone through with his hemorrhoid surgery today.
After all, it had to be done sooner or later.
Work had kept him postponing it until now.
Jiang Tang, off duty, arrived with Shen Ji'an to visit him.
She also brought a stack of documents.
The three of them had been watching "The No Romance Cottage" together for a while.
Every time Gu Jingchuan appeared on screen, Shen Ji'an felt an overwhelming frustration at not being able to punch through the screen.
None of them wanted to see Gu Jingchuan and Lin Mo alone together in the kitchen.
Shen Yihan, still recovering from surgery, couldn’t eat solid food yet. After having some liquids, he was weak, his hand adorned with black Buddhist beads still hooked to an IV drip.
He raised his hand weakly and said, "Pass me... my phone."
Jiang Tang handed it over and asked, "Should I forward the voting link to the company group chat?"
Shen Yihan replied, "I’ll do it."
Starlight Group had a massive corporate group chat.
At the moment, some employees were discussing work there.
Suddenly, someone dropped a voting link into the chat.
An admin immediately scolded: [This is a work group, not your family chat! No voting links allowed—delete it now!]
Shen Yihan was slowly typing: [Vote for No. 9.]
To prevent his younger brother from having a meltdown, it was safer to vote for him and their sister.
Shen Yihan, still frail, typed painfully slowly.
Before he could hit send, a notification popped up: [You have been removed from the group by the admin.]
Shen Yihan: "..."
Jiang Tang cast her own vote first, then sent the link to her parents and family group.
When she looked up, she noticed Shen Yihan’s face had turned ashen.
Confused, she asked, "Boss Shen, what’s wrong? Did your wound reopen?"
Shen Yihan’s expression darkened further. Weakly, he said, "No. Add me back to the company group."
Jiang Tang: "But you’re already in it."
Shen Yihan: "Not anymore."
Jiang Tang quickly checked the group and nearly laughed. "Boss, don’t be mad. You’ve never spoken in this group before—the admin didn’t know it was you."
She hastily typed: [The link was posted by the CEO.]
The admin, seeing this message, felt the sky collapse.
The boss, who never speaks in the group, suddenly drops a voting link?!
He threw his phone aside and pretended to be dead.
Others, realizing it was the CEO, immediately clicked the link to vote.
Soon, the chat was flooded with [Voted!] messages.
Someone who’d just seen the message grumbled:
[Another vote? I’m already sick of this job—your kid’s never gonna be a child model!]
A few seconds later: [Message recalled.]
Followed by: [Dammit! My cat was playing with my phone! Voted No. 9 (Rose Rose Rose).]
Jiang Tang added Shen Yihan back to the group.
He proceeded to send dozens of red packets.
The smaller, leader-free company group chats exploded.
[I thought the CEO had a secret kid or something—turns out his sister’s on a dating show!]
[Yeah, I’ve been watching it during my paid bathroom breaks! Xie Guanyan’s there too—so freaking handsome!]
[Who? Our biggest investor, Xie Guanyan? He went there to inspect the project?]
[I voted for No. 3! The sister and Xie Guanyan are a perfect match!]
[Hey, you were the first to say you voted in the main group, and you’ve been snagging all the red packets too! Backstabbing our poor, innocent CEO!]
[Hey, separate matters.]
Meanwhile, Shen Ji'an wasn’t sitting idle either. He sent the voting link to every school group chat he’d joined recently, including the Third High School group.
He even messaged Huang Mao.
Huang Mao, mid-bite into a sweet potato, was shocked. [The fairy sister is on a dating show?! Half of First High won’t sleep tonight!]
Shen Ji'an: [Cut the crap. Vote No. 9.]
Since Lin Mo’s official age at school was 29, many admired her from afar, but few dared to pursue her.
Huang Mao immediately voted and forwarded the link to dozens of Beijing snack stall groups, rallying everyone to vote No. 9.
The Third High group had been discussing the show for a while.
The voting link sent the chat into chaos.
Even though Shen Ji'an had transferred schools, many still saw him as their leader.
His call was met with overwhelming support.
Over at First High, discussions were also lively.
Aside from the top students who never touched their phones during school hours, most others occasionally browsed social media.
A high school senior joining a dating show would normally raise eyebrows—but Lin Mo was the school’s top scorer and already 29.
Still, Shen Ji'an’s link in the First High group got little traction.
Then Zhao Zixin posted: [Vote No. 3.]
The response was instant.
Zhang Shuo: [Voted!]
Fang Shu: [Voted No. 3 and forwarded to 50 groups!]
Zhao Zixin had never imagined who could be worthy of her goddess.
But back at the Huo Residence, when Xie Guanyan arrived with bodyguards and even caught Lin Mo, she found them oddly perfect together.
Shen Ji'an, seeing the unfavorable trend, added Zhao Zixin on WeChat.
Her profile picture was unmistakable—a photo of her, Lin Mo, and her sister.
Zhao Zixin, blushing at Shen Ji'an’s friend request, accepted.
His profile picture was just as recognizable—a photo with his sister.
Shen Ji'an: [Can you get everyone to vote No. 9?]
Zhao Zixin, surprised by the request: [No way!]
Her ship had to sail!
Shen Ji'an frowned at his phone.
His brother was a public figure—he couldn’t reveal his condition to Zhao Zixin.
After a pause, he typed: [What will it take for you to switch votes?]
While Shen Ji'an skipped evening study to be at the hospital, First High’s students were in their first night class.
Zhao Zixin suddenly giggled at her desk.
The whole class turned to look—except Xu Yan.
He rarely used his phone, but now he was glued to it, watching a livestream.
No wonder he hadn’t seen Lin Mo at lunch.
She was on a show—and Xie Guanyan had followed her.
The lean boy lifted his head, resting his chin on his hand as he gazed out the window, his calm eyes flickering with something unreadable.
Gu Jingzhou, also in night class, was fuming at the livestream.
So this was why Lin Mo hadn’t come to school today.
Was she really that into his brother?
His older brother is already so old, stingy, balding, and now even tanned—what’s there to like about him?
Clicking the voting link, he cast his vote for Contestant No. 4.
Let his brother and that rumored girlfriend stay locked together forever!
Gu Jingzhou didn’t forward the link.
If his mother found out he was still playing with his phone at school, she’d definitely be furious.
Zhao Ziling had also been keeping up with the livestream.
Meanwhile, someone tossed the voting link into all the elite socialite group chats of Beijing’s high society.
[Vote for No. 3! Screenshot your vote and get an invite to my next villa party—featuring male models!]
Every upper-crust socialite in Beijing, whether they followed the entertainment industry or not,
now knew that Xie Guanyan had joined a dating show.
The incident at Xu Yali’s birthday banquet had also made the rounds in elite circles.
Everyone knew exactly who he’d gone there for.
[LMAO Xie Guanyan got smacked so hard his glasses flew off—I laughed so hard my period came in waves!]
[The comments are all saying he loves drama and is down-to-earth, but from my omniscient POV, Xie Guanyan is the type to literally step around a flipped table at a banquet without even glancing at it!]
[An old house on fire really goes all out, huh?]
[Sorry, but the only thing I’m interested in is that male model party!]
[I’d advise against it—last time I went to one of those, I came out deaf. My husband told me not to go, but I couldn’t even hear him.]
Jin Yang was also pulling strings.
He blasted the link across all the company group chats: [Vote for No. 3! Forwarding counts toward your performance metrics!]
But seeing the livestream viewer count already surpassing 10 million,
he wondered—would his measly vote-pulling even make a difference?
Maybe he should just hire someone to write a bot and rig the votes?
He’d been with Xie Guanyan since their tech company days.
He still had the contacts of several top-tier programmers on speed dial.
Stuff like vote manipulation would be child’s play.
He stroked his chin, deep in thought for a few seconds.
Nah. Boss Xie was a principled man—he’d definitely despise this kind of underhanded tactic.
This was No Romance Villa’s first-ever vote, but its reach was practically limitless.
The voting link crashed multiple times from traffic.
The director had never expected the show to blow up like this!
Fortunately, the tech team fixed it quickly.
Five minutes passed in a flash.
When the director got the results, his eyes nearly popped out of his head.
