Xu Jiawen had never expected this line of reasoning, saying he was wrong felt off, but the man had clearly thought about the show carefully, yet saying he was right also felt off somehow.
This straightforward tough guy was thoroughly confused.
The little Jiang robot didn’t care about Xu Jiawen’s reaction, closed the suitcase, and thought about how to sleep tonight.
Robots didn’t have the concept of sleep, they just found somewhere to shut down.
If this weren’t a tropical rainforest, he could have slept on top of his suitcase for the night, but tropical rainforest climates brought rain year-round, and he worried sudden rainfall would damage his metal body.
So, there was only one option.
His gaze swept across the guests.
“What is Jiang Li looking at?”
“Why is he staring at everyone”
“He’s never once stared at Teacher Duan”
“Now I’m curious”
Jiang Li planned to pick a human to share lodging with. The first person who caught his eye was Qi Hui.
He had a natural fondness for human women, and he’d given her ground-cherry soup that afternoon, if he brought up sharing quarters, she might not refuse.
He put a big question mark after that thought, realizing the two of them were of opposite genders, and in human society, opposite genders weren’t supposed to just sleep together casually.
Jiang Li gave up on this choice and turned his gaze to An Zhiqing instead.
This human was the same gender as him and seemed easy enough to get along with, he probably wouldn’t refuse a homeless little robot, right?
Just as he was about to walk over, he suddenly remembered he liked men himself, so proposing to share quarters wasn’t exactly an innocent request, the chances of An Zhiqing agreeing were slim.
At that thought, he stopped in his tracks. That meant Xu Jiawen and Ruan Yan, also both men, were out too. Looked like he really would have to sleep on his suitcase after all.
As for Duan Zhihan, he hadn’t even considered him, only wanting to stay three meters away from that human.
Jiang Li had already imagined the outcome before even opening his mouth, picturing his precious body rusting from the rain.
What Xu Jiawen saw was the boy’s ice-blue tail of hair drooping dejectedly. He felt a pang of sympathy, but there was nothing he could do.
After all, everyone liked men.
An Zhiqing was happily setting up his floral-print tent, and once done, even had the cameraman take a close-up shot.
Once that was filmed, he strolled around with his hands behind his back, and noticing Jiang Li’s expression, he bravely asked, “What’s wrong?”
“I didn’t bring a tent.”
Jiang Li answered quickly.
He decided to push his luck a bit further, staring intently at An Zhiqing, his gaze practically screaming “come invite me to stay with you already, you know what I mean.”
Under the moonlight, the boy’s skin looked pale, his hair like polar sea ice, resembling an exquisite but lifeless piece of art.
Unnerved by the stare, An Zhiqing followed Jiang Li’s gaze and saw Duan Zhihan diligently setting up his tent.
He suddenly had a moment of realization, must be that the young man was too thin-skinned to bring it up himself!
“Why does An Zhiqing keep looking back there”
“He seems to have suddenly realized something”
“Realized what exactly”
Under the boy’s pleading gaze, An Zhiqing felt a surge of protectiveness and blurted out without thinking, “I get it! Just go stay in little Duan’s tent, he wouldn’t dare object!”
“Little… little Duan?”
“Old An, you’ve really gotten cocky”
“Respect your elders and all, but Teacher Duan’s seniority crushes yours, if it weren’t for your wife, you wouldn’t even have a Hundred Flowers Award”
“She’s his ex-wife now”
An Zhiqing gave himself a start after saying that, he’d actually dared to call him “little Duan.” He glanced nervously at Duan Zhihan, who was setting up his tent.
Duan Zhihan looked at him with an ambiguous smile, but the words had already been said. An Zhiqing had no choice but to force himself to ask Jiang Li, “What do you think?”
“An Zhiqing must be an undercover mole from the production team, always stirring up drama”
“Aren’t you afraid they’ll actually fight?”
“He’s just joking around, Jiang Li would never agree, didn’t you see him give the cold shoulder during dinner?”
Jiang Li felt his glare had been wasted. His first instinct was to refuse, but on second thought, there was no need, it would just make him seem petty.
Duan Zhihan wouldn’t agree to it anyway, so it wouldn’t matter if he said yes. The little robot’s mind spun quickly, and he nodded immediately: “Sure.”
“??? Is Jiang Li acting weird or am I the one who’s weird”
“Is Jiang Li possessed too? My brain’s a bit fuzzy right now, these two actually fit living together?”
“It’s fine, Teacher Duan definitely won’t agree”
“What if he does”
“There’s no ‘what if'”
Just as those words left Jiang Li’s mouth, Duan Zhihan raised an eyebrow and said, “Sure.”
Jiang Li: “…” Are you out of your damn mind
“Well fuck, there’s the ‘what if'”
“This is way too exciting! What divorce show dares film this, I’m not sleeping tonight, whoever logs off first is a dog”
“No choice but to share a tent, can’t exactly bunk with another guest either”
“Who could possibly fall asleep right now, Jiang Li’s face has gone dark, probably didn’t expect Teacher Duan to actually agree, hope there’s no bloodshed”
When the guests took their break, the livestream ended temporarily. Even though the livestream fans were reluctant, the show still went off air at eleven, with the viewer count reaching a staggering eight million.
The others went back to their tents to rest, but Jiang Li still stood outside his tent, wrapping his windbreaker tightly around himself.
Duan Zhihan was still setting up his own tent, tying everything meticulously, even hanging a beautiful wind chime decoration outside.
Especially like a male bird building a nest to attract a mate.
The little robot yawned.
The moment the tent was ready, he crawled straight in, not bothering with Duan Zhihan outside. According to interstellar law, the discoverer holds ownership rights over the planet, since he’d moved in, it was now his.
He found a good spot and lay down. Not long after shutting off his visual sensors, he heard the sound of the tent flap being lifted, followed by a rush of cold night air.
Jiang Li opened his eyes.
The tent was pitch black, he couldn’t see anything, only sensing Duan Zhihan lying down beside him.
The tent’s interior space was originally quite large, but since it was a single-person tent, once the man got in, the space was clearly insufficient.
That insufficiency manifested in Duan Zhihan’s body pressing tightly against him. He tried shifting to the side, but every time he moved an inch, the man closed the same distance.
Jiang Li couldn’t hold back a reprimand: “Don’t get so close to me!”
Duan Zhihan replied as if it were the most natural thing in the world: “Not enough space.”
“Then go sleep in someone else’s tent.” Jiang Li said, equally matter-of-fact.
Duan Zhihan rested his chin in the crook of Jiang Li’s neck, like a kitten nursing at its mother, fierce yet clingy, no one else smelled like his wife, and answered lazily.
“I don’t even like them.”
Hearing this, Jiang Li froze.
If he were human, all the blood in his body would have frozen solid in that instant, his hands and feet turning cold involuntarily.
He suddenly understood the reason behind their divorce. He’d never understood before why one moment they’d been in bed together, and the next, the man coldly brought up divorce, sitting alone on the couch for an entire night.
So it really was because he didn’t like him. Because he didn’t like him, he wouldn’t even want to share a tent, and after sleeping together, he’d brought up divorce, meaning he simply couldn’t stand it anymore.
In the darkness, his long lashes slowly lowered.
If it weren’t for saving An Zhiqing’s face, he wouldn’t have agreed to let him into the tent today either.
He’d thought his heart would ache the way it used to, but right now his system stayed calm, only thinking of how to create distance so as not to disgust the man further.
Jiang Li tried hard to inch outward, and just as Duan Zhihan had finally found an excuse to nuzzle Jiang Li, only managing a couple breaths before realizing the person had disappeared, he narrowed his peach-blossom eyes.
The boy, completely unaware, kept edging away. Just as he’d nearly put a full gap between them, a slender hand easily hooked him back.
The man’s arm wrapped around his slim waist, the heat seeping through the fabric onto his skin inch by inch, his voice dropping low near his ear.
“Come here, wifey.”