Huai Jian returned home with a large crate of fruit.
When Anna came to pick her up at the airport and saw it, she couldn’t help but tease, “What, you go out for a trip and come back with local specialties?”
As she spoke, Anna leaned in to look and found quite a few dragon fruits and apples inside. They looked freshly picked; even through the paper bags, a fresh fruity aroma wafted out. She said, “I drove all this way to pick you up, shouldn’t you share some?”
Huai Jian gave her a deep, long look. “None for you. There’s a supermarket nearby, go buy your own.”
“No way! You went out for a trip and came back this stingy?”
“Yes. Not even one.” Huai Jian opened the car door and spoke in a very businesslike tone, “I’ve signed a new artist. I brought the contract back with me. When the time comes, I’ll assign her to Da La’s team.”
“Wait, you went out for two days and managed to ‘pick up’ an artist?” The company only signed a limited number of people under very strict requirements; their goal was to elevate every signed artist to their maximum potential.
Huai Jian didn’t answer her directly, only handing over the documents.
Anna looked at them in confusion. “Yun Duoduo?”
As she read the name, it felt more and more familiar. Yun Duoduo? Yun Duoduo! Holy crap, isn’t that the girl who slept in the same bed as her last time? Crap, crap, crap! Don’t tell me they slept their way into a relationship!
Anna’s gossipy heart instantly ignited. She jogged after Huai Jian and asked, “Huai Jian, tell the truth. Have you fallen for that little girl? I remember Yun Duoduo was signed with another company before.”
“She terminated her contract!” Huai Jian crossed her arms. Her expression became guarded the moment she heard the phrase “fallen for.”
Anna got into the driver’s seat, internally scripting a “Domineering Movie Queen Snatches Little Artist” romance drama. “Huai Jian, oh Huai Jian, I used to think you were asexual. I didn’t realize you were actually a closet flirt!”
A closet flirt? Huai Jian exhaled. Did she mean “knowing how to flirt with girls”?
…
A week passed by, sometimes fast, sometimes slow.
The two chatted every day, and their feelings gradually warmed up.
With Huai Jian backing her, the “rich miss” Yun Qianjin didn’t dare to come looking for trouble like before. The variety show filming concluded successfully, and Yun Duoduo brought Ren Tian back home.
After returning, Yun Duoduo first invited Ren Tian over for dinner and told her about signing with Huai Jian’s company. Ren Tian had good news too—she had successfully interviewed with a talent management agency.
It felt like the bitter days were finally over. The two of them went out for a huge feast and drank some alcohol until they were both tipsy, stumbling home while leaning on each other.
Yun Duoduo giggled and said, “If we make more money later, we’ll buy a new house, then go traveling, and finally… fall in love.”
Ren Tian nodded vigorously. “When that happens, you keep singing and holding concerts, and I’ll be your number one fan. Everything will definitely get better!”
After walking a few steps, Yun Duoduo felt a bit dizzy. She hugged a tree and lamented, “A blessing in disguise… When I lost my contract, I thought the sky was falling. Who knew things would turn around? Our future is even wider now.”
“Exactly!” Ren Tian leaned on her back. “Duoduo, I feel like before long, you’ll be famous beyond belief. Contracts will come rolling in!”
“From your mouth to God’s ears!”
The two girls giggled together, unaware that in a corner nearby, someone was holding a camera and capturing their current state.
The person smirked. After following her for days, he finally found something worth filming. He immediately placed a call. “I’ve got the photos you wanted. I’ll send them to your email in a bit. Remember to wire the final payment.”
Clearly, this person was a private investigator who had been following Yun Duoduo since she finished the variety show just to catch something on film.
After Yun Qianjin saw the photos in her inbox, she paid the money with great satisfaction and forwarded them to her manager. “Sister Wu, look at these photos. Can they be used to take down Yun Duoduo?”
Originally, she wanted to ruin Yun Duoduo during filming, but Sister Wu hadn’t dared to act, fearing that if Huai Jian doted on Yun Duoduo, their company would suffer. But now that things had been quiet for a while, they figured that if they avoided Huai Jian and targeted only Yun Duoduo, they could still milk some “hot topic” traffic.
That very night, Yun Duoduo climbed the trending searches.
#Yun Duoduo’s Messy Private Life#
#Yun Duoduo’s Same-Sex Lover#
#Yun Duoduo Kissing on the Street#
Clicking into the topics revealed several dark, blurry photos. However, Yun Duoduo’s face was clear enough, and the shots happened to capture her and Ren Tian in a tight embrace. With a bit of creative writing, a wholesome friendship was twisted into a shameful romance.
Yun Duoduo didn’t have any famous works or many fans. Most people following her were just casual observers from the last trending topic or haters.
As the trending search was bought and boosted, Sister Wu and Yun Qianjin watched closely. Before anyone could react, they used “water armies” (paid trolls) to set the narrative and smear Yun Duoduo.
“Tsk tsk, kissing on the street. I knew it—how could a minor artist have the ability to film such a big variety show? Turns out she sleeps with men and then sleeps with women. Disgusting. No wonder her company dropped her.”
“Yun Duoduo is such a scheming bitch. I have a friend in the industry who was on the crew. I heard that while filming, Yun Duoduo was always bullying her younger sister, Yun Qianjin, acting like a ‘white lotus’ at every turn.”
“When will the authorities ban such low-quality artists? No acting skills, ‘white lotus’ act, sleeping her way up, and now messy public displays. Honestly, it’s nauseating. Who is her backer? How blind do you have to be to pick a piece of trash like her?”
…
The online trolls attacked round after round. Yun Duoduo had no idea she was being trampled on the trending list. After returning to her rental and finishing her chores, she collapsed onto her bed to sleep, planning to go to Huai Jian’s company tomorrow.
It was Anna who discovered it while checking the traffic for her own artists. She looked through it carefully and realized it was a standard marketing tactic—someone was clearly blackening Yun Duoduo’s name on purpose. She quickly contacted Huai Jian. “Someone is taking a knife to your little darling. Do you want to look into it?”
Huai Jian was just about to message Yun Duoduo. She frowned as she read the news. “Check which artist’s side is trying to pull her down.”
“Pulling down” (La-Cai) was a common industry tactic—promoting one person by stepping on another.
Anna said, “It’s probably your darling’s half-sister. I saw her smear Duoduo once before. That marketing was very successful; she probably wants to repeat the trick.”
Huai Jian had guessed as much. Yun Duoduo was very warm and sincere; usually, very few people would intentionally target her.
Targeting someone once or twice was one thing, but chasing someone down to bite them was crossing the line—especially when using someone else’s status to step on them.
Huai Jian said, “Follow the company’s PR procedures. She’s coming to our company to sign tomorrow. We’ll clarify everything after she signs.”
Anna clicked her tongue in amazement. “Usually, our company signs people with ‘clean’ backgrounds. This is the first time we’re signing someone who’s ‘black-hot’ (famous for being hated). I’m afraid she might not pass the internal review when she comes!”
Huai Jian replied dominantly, “I have the final say in this company.”
“Ooh-la-la!” Anna couldn’t help but marvel. Look at that—she’s already protecting her so fiercely before they’re even dating. What will it be like later?
“What?” Huai Jian frowned.
“Fine, fine, everything goes your way, Mr. Domineering CEO. By the way, do you want me to personally manage her and turn her into a Movie Queen?”
“No need.” Huai Jian still remembered how Yun Duoduo’s face flushed when she mentioned “Anna.” At the time, she was… jealous.
“I’ll manage her myself.”
“Huh?” Anna thought she had misheard. After a moment of realization, she said, “Love doesn’t just make people blind; it can change a person entirely. Huai Jian, I reckon you’re a goner. I wish you a happy hundred years together!”
“Stop talking nonsense. I just… appreciate her,” Huai Jian insisted stubbornly.
“Appreciate? What kind of appreciation is this?” Although Anna had never been in a relationship, she had seen plenty of others. She said, “Do you know what you look like right now? You guard your phone 24 hours a day. If she sends you one message, you’re dying to send twenty back.”
“Is there something wrong with that?” Huai Jian didn’t understand.
Anna acted like a relationship expert. “If you don’t like someone and have no feelings for them, you wouldn’t be interested at all in what they’re doing or saying.”
Because you don’t want to participate in their future, asking is pointless. Compared to before, her current attitude toward Yun Duoduo was clearly night and day.
Anna added, “Ask your own heart. What is your attitude toward Yun Duoduo? If your feelings are constant and your longing grows wildly, then I’m happy to tell you… well, you’ve fallen for her.”
Over the past few days, Anna had been educating her on emotional matters. At first, Huai Jian would snap back, but later she started listening attentively.
Looking at herself now—was she really waiting for Yun Duoduo’s messages every day? Listening to her talk about filming? If she heard the name “Anna,” she felt uncomfortable.
“What about you? You don’t have this feeling?” Huai Jian asked.
Anna laughed. “I’m a person without feelings. I’ll never fall in love with anyone in this lifetime. Relationships are just accessories. I like to be free!”
Huai Jian: “…”
She used to be like Anna, thinking she had nothing to do with emotions. However, after meeting Yun Duoduo, everything had been completely disrupted, and she had different thoughts.
Feelings… let nature take its course.
After finishing her chat with Anna, she sent a few messages to Yun Duoduo. After waiting a while with no reply, she started to worry. That girl always liked to pretend to be strong but was actually fragile inside.
She feared Yun Duoduo was hiding away somewhere.
A scene involuntarily appeared in Huai Jian’s mind: the girl pitifully hugging her own arms, head buried in her lap.
The thought of her trying to heal her wounds alone… it truly made her heart ache.
She immediately dialed the number, but still, no one answered. After a few minutes, she found her keys. No, I have to go check on her.
Finally, someone picked up.
Yun Duoduo’s voice was raspy, as if she were crying. “Who is it?”
Huai Jian’s heart suddenly constricted with pain. She said, “It’s me. Huai Jian.”