Chapter 137
Xie Mi looked at Shen Yiqing.
There was tenderness in his eyes, focused and sincere.
Her gaze drifted downward, landing on his hands smoothing her dress. His fingertips moved gently, yet there was an almost restrained restraint in his touch.
Xie Mi pondered for a moment, vaguely confirming the suspicions in her heart.
This scene—the century-defining gaze between Xie Mi and Shen Yiqing, the perfect combination of a white shirt and green chiffon dress—shot straight to the top of trending searches.
#ShenYiqingXieMiEpicGaze#
#XieMiLooksStunningTonight#
#You, the dating show, are truly the real deal#
The trending hashtags kept bombarding the internet. Photos of the man crouching down to adjust the wheelchair-bound girl’s dress, meeting her gaze at eye level, went viral across short-video platforms.
[Holding My Breath]: Dating show, how dare you not tease me?
[DivorcedWithTwoCats]: I can’t believe I shipped a couple in this crazy show—is this even allowed?
[AAAOverbearingCEO]: Ahhhh, I’m dying from the sweetness! What a stunning love story, now the male and female leads have faces!
[AwakeGreatGatsby]: No wonder time felt slow recently—oh, the leads are finally moving in the plot. This NPC is laughing out of frustration.
The CP (couple pairing) fans, previously fixated on Shen Yiqing’s “first love” from the afternoon Q&A, finally felt relieved.
[That look in his eyes—isn’t that love? Everyone has a first love, but it doesn’t stop Old Shen from loving Xie now!]
[Plus, Old Shen seemed distracted all afternoon; now he’s smiling at Sister Xie, and everyone gets it!!]
[Seeing this, I can finally relax—my CP won’t get a bad ending!!!]
The garden party was brilliantly lit, with lanterns hanging everywhere. Their glow mingled with the night sky, illuminating the darkness.
Xie Mi navigated her wheelchair along the central path, eagerly glancing at both sides. The variety of exquisite stalls made her eyes spin.
“Whoa! Milk tea!”
“Whoa! Takoyaki!”
“Whoa! Grilled squid tentacles too!”
Unsurprisingly, Xie Mi’s attention was drawn first to the food. Her eyes practically drooling, she looked excitedly at Shen Yiqing.
“Shall we start?”
The corner of Shen Yiqing’s lips curved lazily. “Sure, let’s start.”
So the two of them, one turtle and one girl, enthusiastically began exploring the food stalls. Soon they had gathered plenty and sat on a bench under a streetlamp to enjoy their feast.
After finishing, Xie Mi turned to Shen Yiqing.
“So, what were you doing all afternoon in the study? Writing a thesis for real?”
“Hm… thinking.”
Shen Yiqing looked at the swaying lanterns in the distance, his ink-dark eyes reflecting the glow. “Thinking about whether I said something wrong.”
Xie Mi paused mid-throw of a tangerine, as if discovering a new world.
“You… have moments of sentimentality too?”
In her impression, Shen Yiqing always seemed relaxed, carefree, as if nothing in the world concerned him. It was hard to imagine him brooding over a single misstep in speech, pondering it in the study all afternoon.
Could he really be… human?
“Yes.”
A faint smile in his eyes, his thoughts drifting far away before returning to Xie Mi. “A long time ago, often.”
“So you used to be a sensitive, introverted boy?” Xie Mi propped her chin, curious.
Shen Yiqing naturally picked up a tangerine she had placed nearby and slowly began peeling it.
“Not exactly sensitive or introverted. I just had the habit of repeatedly contemplating the same matter, and that matter often concerned a specific person.”
“A specific person?”
Xie Mi lightly tapped her cheek with her fingers, thoughtful for a moment, then asked, “Was it me?”
Shen Yiqing paused mid-peel, seemingly surprised by her directness. “Hm?”
Xie Mi stared straight into his eyes and asked again, unabashed.
“I mean… that specific person, was it me?”
The question immediately stirred waves in the live stream comments.
[Hmmmmm? What? They knew each other before the show?!]
[Did I miss something? Do they have a history?]
[Then could Old Shen’s “first love” actually be Teacher Xie?!]
[Impossible! I’ve been a fan of ShenYiqingXieMi forever. In episode one, their first meeting was clearly just meeting for the first time!]
[This twist! I’m so excited! So did they know each other before or not?!]
Fans speculated wildly, examining past episodes for clues, turning into detectives, desperate to uncover their history.
Yet tracing their past timelines yielded no evidence of prior acquaintance.
For the first time, viewers felt helpless due to their own poor reasoning.
At the garden party, Shen Yiqing thought for a few seconds, then lightly chuckled.
“Teacher Xie, you didn’t know me before.”
He said “you didn’t know me before,” not “we didn’t know each other before.”
Xie Mi seized the subtle wording, considered it carefully, and said seriously:
“But I feel like you knew me.”
Shen Yiqing’s brows lifted slightly; he didn’t answer directly.
Xie Mi continued.
“It’s a strange feeling. Everything you say feels unfamiliar. I’m certain I don’t have that memory, nor have I experienced amnesia. But I just feel that the person you’re talking about… is me.”
She narrowed her eyes, gazing sharply at him, trying to detect any hint from his expression.
Shen Yiqing’s face remained natural as he continued peeling the tangerine, giving no direct answer—but the corner of his lips curved ever so slightly.
[Old Shen is secretly smiling!!]
[He didn’t deny it, he didn’t deny it, family!!]
[I get it! Old Shen had a crush on Xie Mi all along. Xie didn’t know him, but he recognized her from TV. So his “first love” might be the day he saw Xie in the dessert shop from TV!!]
[Wait, Xie didn’t debut that early, did she?]
[Fun fact: Xie appeared on TV before debut. Early TV stations interviewed her school. She went viral for her beautiful “ordinary girl” look!!]
[Ahhh, so Old Shen has always liked Xie. Is that it? Is that it? Is that it!!]
[As expected of my CP, the brief BE feeling is just to make the sweetness even better!]
Xie Mi, not getting an outright answer, didn’t get annoyed. Like Sherlock, she propped her chin and confidently declared:
“You don’t dare answer directly. You’re guilty. Then I’m right—you’re talking about me.”
“Yes, yes, Teacher Xie, you’re correct.”
Shen Yiqing broke off a segment of tangerine and fed it to Xie Mi, smiling indulgently yet helplessly.
His gaze was suddenly drawn to the distance, and he raised his brow.
“Teacher Xie, shall we try that?”
“Hm?”
Xie Mi, savoring the sweetness of the tangerine, turned her head and saw a mysterious purple tent with a sign:
[Love Tarot · Find Your Fated Person ❤]
Love Tarot…
Xie Mi fell into thought.
Previously, she would have had zero interest. Instead of discovering a fated person, she cared more about fated wealth.
But now—perhaps influenced by the atmosphere, or by a strong curiosity about the man before her—she unexpectedly agreed.
“Sure, it’s free anyway.”
