He Yan didn’t expect that she would end up on trending searches again the very next day.
The words “Pei Yanchuan Visits He Yan on Set” sat firmly at the top of the trending list.
He Yan was terrified. The impact of this set was far greater than their conversation at the awards ceremony before.
Netizens also exploded, especially Pei Yanchuan’s fans.
[So Mad, so mad! Can He Yan just disappear, arghhh!]
[Visit my foot! Can these gossip accounts stop spreading nonsense? Brother Pei is filming nearby, okay?!]
[Pei Yanchuan’s fans are still struggling? Even if he’s filming nearby, the fact that he visited the set is true. I bet ten packs of spicy sticks, it’s real.]
[Putting everything aside, just looking at their visuals, they actually match quite well. Eating melon.jpg]
[Pfft! Saying they match, are you blind?!]
Lin Jingxi was also furious. Looking at the photos the gossip accounts had posted, she was clearly standing right next to Pei Yanchuan. Didn’t anyone even notice her? Was nobody curious about her relationship with Pei Yanchuan? Couldn’t Pei Yanchuan have been visiting her set?
Fuming with rage, she logged into her burner account and posted a comment:
Oh my, Lin Jingxi and Pei Yanchuan are standing together. Could it be he’s visiting her set?
Soon, a netizen replied to her:
[Piss off! Our Brother Pei’s eyes aren’t that blind yet!]
Lin Jingxi: ??? So I’m not even qualified to be in a rumour with him?!
He Yan had a headache, a really bad headache. She originally didn’t want to meddle in these matters, but she was terrified Jiang Mingcheng would see it, terrified he might misunderstand, and then she wouldn’t get the 100 million.
Helpless, He Yan logged onto Weibo and for the first time posted a clarification:
Stop arguing, it wasn’t to see me. Pei Yanchuan and I have absolutely no relationship! Not even a little! Really! Believe me! I’m so troubled.jpg.
Netizens exploded again!
[This statement is so suggestive. No matter how intense the previous rumors got, He Yan never clarified. Why now? There’s a hidden story!]
[Ahhh, our little princess finally posted! We want selfies, we want selfies! Everyone else go away, being a Yan fan is so hard, wuwuwu.]
[This kind of pretty-faced vase actually has fans?]
[Yan Yan already said they have no relation. Can fans of that other guy stop trying to get attention? Can’t you see Yan Yan doesn’t want anything to do with you guys at all?]
[More publicity! Who is she trying to fool with this pitiful statement? Snake!]
[If it wasn’t to see He Yan, who else could it be? There’s no one else, right?]
Lin Jingxi: Huh? Am I not a person? Didn’t you guys see me following right beside him the whole time?
Lin Jingxi wouldn’t give up. She posted another comment: “If it wasn’t to see He Yan, then it must have been to see Lin Jingxi, right? That young lady is so pretty!”
Soon, a netizen replied to her:
[Haha xswl, brother would have to be blind for it to be for her.]
[Then I’d rather believe brother went to see He Yan. At least He Yan has drop-dead gorgeous looks. Ahhh, why am I thinking like this! I’m tainted, sorry brother.]
Lin Jingxi: “…”
So, heartbreaking.
And at that moment, He Yan, staring at the comments, felt her headache worsen. Not only had she failed to clear up the suspicion, but netizens were even more doubtful now.
Was there something wrong with Pei Yanchuan fans’ thought process? Why did they have to fixate on her? Couldn’t they look at Lin Jingxi? She was standing right next to Pei Yanchuan the whole time!
Helpless, He Yan sent Jiang Mingcheng a text message.
[Have you seen the trending search on Weibo? Pei Yanchuan and I have no relationship. I’m strictly abiding by the agreement, really!]
Jiang Mingcheng looked at the text message, his fingers lightly rubbing against his phone.
Was she explaining this to him? Afraid he would misunderstand?
When he saw the news earlier, there was a slightly strange emotion in his heart, an indescribable feeling of gloom. Looking at the photo of the two of them standing together, he felt like squeezing in between them, prying them apart, putting more distance between them.
However, after seeing He Yan’s text message, that gloomy feeling swept away completely.
His knuckles moved slightly as he replied:
[Want the trending search taken down?]
He Yan: [Huh?]
[Do you want it?]
[Yes!]
[Okay.]
Five minutes later, the trending search disappeared, and all inappropriate posts from gossip accounts were deleted.
He Yan was stunned. Amazing, this was the power of capital at work! Much more effective than her clarification statement!
She quickly sent Jiang Mingcheng a message:
[Thank you! That’s incredible! Happy spinning around.jpg]
Jiang Mingcheng received the message, the corners of his mouth unconsciously curving upwards as he replied:
[What does “Happy spinning around.jpg” mean? Why add “.jpg”?]
[Ahhh, because texts can’t send emoji stickers like WeChat can, so I describe it manually, pretending there’s a picture, hehehe.]
A few seconds later, He Yan received a friend request on WeChat: Jiang Mingcheng.
He Yan’s hand trembled slightly as she quickly accepted the request, then sent a picture of a Teletubby spinning around in a little dress.
[It’s this one!]
Jiang Mingcheng looked at the little spinning figure on his phone and couldn’t help but laugh. He replied:
[Mn.]
He Yan stared at that single “Mn,” guessing that Jiang Mingcheng probably wouldn’t want to waste time on such trivial things, so she consciously stopped replying.
Meanwhile, Jiang Mingcheng stared at the chat window for a long time, waiting until his assistant came to notify him of a meeting, but still no new message from He Yan.
Why hadn’t she replied? Was she very busy?
Jiang Mingcheng put his phone away and continued to immerse himself in work.
At this very moment, Pei Yanchuan had been staring at He Yan’s clarification Weibo post for over ten minutes.
His face was so dark that even his assistant didn’t dare approach him.
Pei Yanchuan stared fixedly at the words “not even a little relationship,” his fingers slowly clenching.
An indescribable emotion was stuck in his chest, lingering for a long time without being relieved.
Just then, his agent, Brother Xiu, pushed the door open and entered, unable to hide his elated mood. “Haha, He Yan finally clarified. Great, she finally did something right! The trending search is gone too.”
As he spoke, he looked at Pei Yanchuan with a beaming smile, only to meet his iron-black face.
Brother Xiu shuddered. “Pei, Brother Pei?”
“Did you contact her and ask her to make that statement?” His usually gentle voice actually carried a hint of chill.
“No, she posted it herself.” Brother Xiu quickly denied it, unable to gauge Pei Yanchuan’s intentions.
Pei Yanchuan’s face darkened even more.
“Did you take down the trending search?”
“No, that must have been He Yan and her team. It’s strange too, usually they’re the ones buying posts to stir up publicity. This time they actually proactively took down a trending search. It’s really a miracle, hehehe.” Brother Xiu couldn’t conceal his delight.
Pei Yanchuan felt extremely vexed. He looked at the words “not even a little relationship” again and furrowed his brows.
She wasn’t wrong; they really didn’t have any relationship.
Then what exactly was he angry about? What right does he have to be angry?
Pei Yanchuan’s mind flashed to the scene on set, He Yan seriously reading the script, her eyes curved like crescent moons, carrying a smile, under the glow of the lights, she looked like a fairy who had just descended into the mortal world.
And this fairy wasn’t willing to spare him even a single glance.
He Yan finally finished filming. This was the first drama she had acted in since transmigrating. During this time, she had built good relationships with the cast and crew, and many people were genuinely sad to see her go.
He Yan said goodbye to everyone one by one, then picked up her suitcase, ready to return to Jingjiang Villa.
On the way back, He Yan sent Jiang Mingcheng a WeChat message:
[I’ve finished filming. Heading home.]
After a long while, a reply finally came: [Mn.]
He Yan really admired Jiang Mingcheng. He truly wasn’t willing to say even one extra word.
But thinking about it, it made sense. Being saddled with an unwanted wife, who would be happy about that?
At dinner time, He Yan, wearing her fluffy bunny pajamas, hopped down the stairs one step at a time, and happened to run into Jiang Mingcheng, who had just returned.
He Yan had just taken a short nap and was in a great mood. She smiled at Jiang Mingcheng and greeted him, “You’re back?”
Jiang Mingcheng was stunned for a few seconds. This was the first time he felt this home was a little warm.
The young girl, dressed all fluffy, with crescent-shaped eyes, was smiling sweetly at him.
Jiang Mingcheng felt his heart skip a beat, thumping wildly.
But his expression remained calm as ever, his voice deep: “Mn.”
He Yan had already grown accustomed to his economical use of words. After greeting him, she went ahead and sat down on the living room sofa, lounging half-lying down, playing on her phone.
Jiang Mingcheng looked at the young girl’s languid posture, his gaze involuntarily following her.
He truly felt that He Yan was completely different from the person he had seen for the first time.
The first time he saw He Yan was when her parents brought her and her younger brother to the Jiang family’s old residence. The greedy middle-aged couple sized up the furnishings of the old house while talking about how the husband’s father had saved the life of Jiang Mingcheng’s grandfather.
In the end, they finally revealed their true greedy nature, bringing up the child engagement verbally agreed upon by the two elderly men years ago, insisting that He Yan marry into the Jiang family.
And at that time, He Yan had shrunk her shoulders, hiding behind her parents. Her younger brother beside her would occasionally kick or hit her, yet she didn’t dare move.
When her parents got excited about their talk, they roughly grabbed He Yan from behind and rudely pushed her in front of the grandfather. Their words clearly treated her like a commodity: “Look, she’s pretty. We’ll only take three million.”
After saying this, they even glanced at Jiang Mingcheng, their eyes full of fawning.
The grandfather was suffering from cancer and didn’t have much time left. Thinking of his deceased old friend, he felt even more heartbroken. Looking at the child being treated so carelessly by her parents, with her wronged and pitiful appearance, he couldn’t bear it.
After all, she was the most beloved granddaughter of his lifesaver, he couldn’t stand by and watch her continue living in such a family.
In a moment of poor judgment, he agreed to the marriage.
Jiang Mingcheng found it rather ridiculous. He was inexplicably going to have to marry a woman he had only met once, and moreover, a woman he didn’t like.
But his grandfather didn’t have much time left, and his grandmother also advised him to endure it for now. They could just divorce after grandfather passed away.
Jiang Mingcheng had been deeply loved by his grandparents since childhood, so he agreed, thinking of it as repaying a debt of gratitude for his grandfather’s sake.
Although Jiang Mingcheng didn’t like He Yan, he wasn’t heartless. After the divorce, he would naturally give He Yan satisfactory compensation.
But at this moment, Jiang Mingcheng looked at He Yan, who had gradually stretched out completely on the sofa, and suddenly began to doubt himself. Had he really seen that timid, shrinking He Yan who endured beatings and scoldings before?
Jiang Mingcheng stared at He Yan for a long time, until she finally sensed something was wrong. She slowly propped herself up, her fair, slender arm resting on the back of the sofa, her big eyes looking at Jiang Mingcheng innocently: “What’s wrong?”
Jiang Mingcheng felt a bit guilty being caught staring. He averted his gaze, his voice a little low and hoarse: “Nothing. I’m heading upstairs first.”
“Oh, okay.” He Yan watched Jiang Mingcheng go upstairs before slowly lying back down on the sofa.
Was he staring at her just now? So strange.
**