He Yan was actually quite angry. She didn’t really care how Lin Jiajia targeted her with her words, but having her gig stolen was something she truly couldn’t tolerate.
Unfortunately, Lin Jiajia had connections, while He Yan was just a small actress still on the path to rehabilitating her image. There was nothing she could do.
Even during dinner, He Yan sat with her head drooped, feeling utterly dejected.
This was the first endorsement she had picked up since transmigrating here. Sister Jingyi had fought to get it for her—it was a brand with great national recognition.
And now it was gone.
Jiang Mingcheng looked at the young girl sitting across from him with her head down. After a moment’s hesitation, he spoke. “Are you unhappy?”
“Yeah,” He Yan answered honestly.
“Why are you unhappy?”
He Yan pouted. “I was on a variety show for the past two days. There were two guests—one named Lin Jiajia and one named Chu Mu.”
She then looked up at Jiang Mingcheng and suddenly felt that bringing this up with him might not be appropriate.
“Never mind. You probably don’t want to hear about this kind of messy stuff.”
He Yan sighed softly. If only she had connections.
“I don’t mind listening,” Jiang Mingcheng said calmly.
He Yan looked up at him, said nothing, and just pouted.
“Tell me. Maybe I can help,” Jiang Mingcheng said, looking away to avoid her pitiful little gaze.
He Yan immediately sat up straight and began talking nonstop. “So, Lin Jiajia likes Chu Mu. Then she saw that Chu Mu and I were getting along pretty well, and she got upset with me. Then she stole my endorsement! It makes me so mad! You can insult me all you want, but don’t steal my endorsement! Don’t you agree?”
Jiang Mingcheng looked at He Yan’s expectant little eyes, paused, and said, “You and Chu Mu get along pretty well?”
“We’re just ordinary friends! Nothing weird is going on! I haven’t broken our agreement!” He Yan quickly explained.
Only then did Jiang Mingcheng feel reassured. He spoke calmly, “You want the endorsement?”
He Yan couldn’t help but curl her lips into a smile. “You have a way?”
“Do you want a new one or the original one?”
“The original one!” Taking it back would be the only truly satisfying way!
“Alright. Send me the brand information,” Jiang Mingcheng said, glancing at the gradually widening smile at the corner of He Yan’s lips. He curved his own lips almost imperceptibly.
“Can you really do it?” The girl’s eyes had regained their lively spark, her earlier gloom completely swept away.
“Yes,” Jiang Mingcheng nodded.
“Thank you!”
Jiang Mingcheng grunted in acknowledgment. Finally, he felt the need to add a reminder: “This is a perk of being Mrs. Jiang.”
“Huh?” He Yan took two seconds to process this, then asked, “Even fake wives get it?”
Jiang Mingcheng had no choice but to nod. “Yes.”
“That’s so nice. But don’t worry, I won’t bother you too often. I’ll try my best not to offend people.” After all, once they divorce, no one will be looking out for her. She still have to rely on herself.
Jiang Mingcheng gave her a faint glance, then lowered his eyes, no longer looking at her. “It’s not a bother either.”
He Yan happily finished her dinner and went to rest. The next day, she received a message from Sister Jingyi: The chocolate endorsement ad shoot will go ahead as scheduled.
Along with another message: A luxury jewelry brand had sent her an endorsement offer.
He Yan was overjoyed. The brands a celebrity endorses are closely tied to their status. Luxury brands like this were hard to land even for A-list actors, let alone a small actress like her.
Amid Sister Jingyi’s puzzled remark—”But it’s strange. Why would a luxury brand suddenly think of us?”—He Yan hung up the phone.
She sent Jiang Mingcheng a message: [Was the jewelry endorsement from you?]
Jiang Mingcheng looked at the young girl’s message, a hint of amusement appearing in his eyes. He moved his fingers to reply: [Yes, a perk of being Mrs. Jiang.]
He needed to emphasize this point. He’d noticed quite a few people online had their eyes on He Yan, constantly offering to bring the civil affairs bureau to her.
He Yan smiled and replied: [Thank you! Happy spinning in circles.jpg]
He Yan felt that since Jiang Mingcheng had helped her so much, she ought to thank him.
Even though he might simply think that a Mrs. Jiang endorsing low-tier brands was beneath her status, she was still the beneficiary, and she was very grateful.
Besides, by building a good relationship, even if they divorced in the future, they could still be friends, right?
More friends meant more options.
He Yan decided to give Jiang Mingcheng a gift to express her gratitude. Even though he seemed to lack nothing, it was the thought that counted.
He Yan went to the mall that same day, browsed around, and finally bought a tie.
It was dark green, a relatively youthful style.
After dinner that evening, He Yan went upstairs, gift in hand, and knocked on Jiang Mingcheng’s bedroom door.
Jiang Mingcheng found it a bit strange. At this hour, Auntie Qian had already left, and he had never liked people entering his room, so no one usually knocked on his door.
He walked to the door and opened it.
His gaze drifted downward and landed on the young girl standing outside, looking up at him.
He was somewhat surprised.
He Yan looked at Jiang Mingcheng blocking the doorway. He seemed to be about to wash up—his tie was already off, and the top two buttons of his shirt were undone, revealing his elegant collarbones.
He Yan felt attacked by his good looks.
She cleared her throat lightly and handed over the gift bag. “A gift for you. Thank you for helping me get my endorsement back.”
Jiang Mingcheng’s gaze shifted down to the gift bag, and he reached out to take it.
Seeing that he didn’t say anything, He Yan turned to leave. “Well, rest early. Good night.”
By the time He Yan disappeared from the doorway of the adjacent bedroom, Jiang Mingcheng was still standing there, frozen.
He hadn’t expected He Yan to give him a gift. He had only done her a simple favor.
After a pause, Jiang Mingcheng finally curled his lips upward. He looked toward the next door and softly said, “Good night.”
The next morning, when Jiang Mingcheng left for work, He Yan hadn’t woken up yet.
The driver from Jiang Mingcheng’s company came to pick him up. As soon as he saw Jiang Mingcheng, he greeted him with a smile. “Mr. Jiang, your tie today looks really nice. I heard dark green is the trendy color this year.”
Jiang Mingcheng’s lips curled slightly, and his eyes held a hint of a smile. “Yes, my wife gave it to me.”
The driver was a bit surprised. He hadn’t heard that Mr. Jiang was married, but he didn’t ask further. Big shots always valued their privacy.
Still, seeing this, the driver thought that Mr. Jiang and his wife seemed to have a pretty good relationship.
Not long after, He Yan went ahead with the advertisement shoot.
The advertisement shoot wasn’t difficult, and He Yan had acting experience, so the shoot went smoothly. The director was very satisfied.
Unexpectedly, a staff member on set secretly took a photo of her and posted it online.
The caption read: He Yan is shooting an ad.
The photo was taken from a distance, but the brand’s logo was still visible.
[Aaah, my girl got an ad! Is it Qiaorun? I love this brand of chocolate! Buy, buy, buy!]
[So exciting! A beauty like He Yan should be in ads. From now on, I’ll never skip an ad again!]
Then, a chat log surfaced from somewhere and began spreading wildly online.
[The Qiaorun ad was supposed to be shot by Lin Jiajia, right?]
[Really? Can you get me an autograph?]
[No problem, I’ll get it for you.]
A day later:
[I can’t get you the autograph anymore.]
[What’s wrong? Does Jiajia not like signing?]
[No, they changed the person.]
[? Someone stole the endorsement?]
[Yeah.]
As soon as the chat log appeared, netizens exploded. Just a few days earlier, news had broken that the two didn’t get along, and now someone had stolen an endorsement?
[He Yan looks harmless, but she’s scheming behind the scenes. Eating popcorn.jpg]
[He Yan is such an actress. I was starting to like her from the variety show, but she shows her true colors in just two days?]
[Is this chat log even real? Could it be fake?]
[It doesn’t look fake to me. It spans two days, clearly from someone who didn’t know ahead of time.]
[Oh man, this is a fresh, hot scandal. How can He Yan steal an endorsement? Didn’t people say Lin Jiajia has connections?]
[Those were all fake! Jiajia is just a newly debuted starlet. She doesn’t have any backing!]
Netizens were discussing the matter heatedly.
When the news reached the brand, the person in charge panicked. He had heard that He Yan was connected to the boss of Shengfeng Group. Although he didn’t know the exact relationship, he absolutely couldn’t afford to offend her again.
He immediately reported the matter to the group and began investigating the relevant staff members to find out who had leaked the information.
Lin Jiajia looked at the online buzz and smirked coldly.
She had obtained the chat log from a young fan. The fan had excitedly sent her a private message, saying they were furious that her endorsement had been stolen.
Lin Jiajia asked how they knew, and the fan sent her the chat log.
Lin Jiajia immediately bought bots to spread the chat log online.
So, what if you took the endorsement back? She’ll ruin her reputation. With this kind of image, what good brand would dare to work with her in the future?
Lin Jiajia didn’t care how He Yan had managed to take the endorsement back. She just wanted to make her miserable.
Although there was a lot of online discussion, many people still doubted the authenticity of the chat log. After all, it was just a private conversation between two unrelated people, which could easily be fabricated.
Lin Jiajia’s eyes shifted, and she opened her Weibo private messages.
Sure enough, many fans had already messaged her asking for the truth.
[Jiajia, did He Yan really steal your endorsement? Wuwuwu, my heart aches for you.]
Lin Jiajia curved her lips into a smile and replied to the private message:
“It’s okay. There will be other endorsements in the future. Don’t be sad.”
A few minutes later, just as Lin Jiajia had expected, a screenshot of this private chat was shared to fan groups, and from there, it spread further outward.
[Oh my god, this is solid proof that He Yan stole the endorsement, right? I never thought she was this kind of person!]
[My heart aches for Jiajia. She’s so innocent and straightforward. On the show, He Yan deliberately provoked her into getting upset, making the audience misunderstand her. And now she’s stabbing her in the back behind the scenes. He Yan is so calculating.]
[Jiajia is too pure. Even after having her endorsement stolen, she’s still comforting her fans. It’s so heartbreaking.]
[He Yan, get out of the entertainment industry. You’re stirring up trouble. Who knows what dirty deals are happening behind the scenes?]
The comments grew increasingly harsh, and the topic gained more and more traction. He Yan’s company kept trying to bring down the trending topic, but the heat only rose faster.
Clearly, someone was continuously buying bots.
When the head of the brand learned about this, he was so furious that he slammed his hand on the table. “Don’t you know to clarify this? Do you have to come ask me how to handle it? That’s the person connected to the head of Shengfeng Group. Didn’t I already remind you?”
The advertising manager replied nervously, “But there’s Lin Jiajia’s side to consider… And besides, Lin Jiajia really was in the running at one point.”
“Who cares about Lin Jiajia? Clarify it! Clarify it right now! Just release the news that He Yan was the one we decided on from the beginning. Let the netizens guess about all the twists and turns in between.”
The advertising manager nervously agreed and immediately arranged to post a screenshot of the internal email confirming He Yan’s endorsement, using the official brand Weibo account, with the caption:
Two weeks ago, we had already begun discussing cooperation with He Yan. The collaboration has gone very smoothly. Thank you to He Yan for her cooperation.
They didn’t directly respond to the matter involving Lin Jiajia, but it completely cleared He Yan of any allegation of stealing the endorsement.
Netizens looked at the email screenshot and began a new round of speculation.
**