Lunch breaks were always limited. Cheng Luo still felt a lingering sense of trepidation as she opened the door; only after scanning the area to ensure no one was around did she feel safe enough to step out.
Once back on the set, she dedicated herself to her work, strictly following her manager’s golden rule: stay away from men and stay away from women!
“Hey, Cheng Luo, why are you standing so far away from me? Do I smell or something?” Jiang Wei asked, sounding dissatisfied.
For every step Jiang Wei took forward, Cheng Luo took a step back, maintaining a strict one-meter distance. Cheng Luo shook her head and replied, “My manager said no scandals, not even with women.”
Jiang Wei let out a knowing smile. “Oh, I see. I did not realize you were secretly following ‘Together Landing’ too. It is a bit embarrassing to say out loud, is it not?”
Cheng Luo looked at the blushing woman in front of her with total confusion. “What is ‘Together Landing’? And why on earth is your face turning red?”
Jiang Wei froze for a second, looking surprised. “You do not know? ‘Together Landing’ is our couple name. There are tens of thousands of ‘Parachutes’ in our community already.”
Cheng Luo was speechless. When did this even happen? With an ashen face, Cheng Luo looked at the “Together Landing” community on Jiang Wei’s phone.
[Parachute 99]: These two are a perfect match. They look so cute standing together!
[Born to be a Parachute]: Director, please give our two girls more scripts. As long as they are both in it, I will support it!
[Newbie Parachute]: I am new to the fandom. Just asking politely, who is the ‘Top’ and who is the ‘Bottom’?
Seeing that last post, Cheng Luo had a bad feeling. Her hand moved uncontrollably to tap on the comment section.
1L: It is a known fact that Cheng Luo is two centimeters taller than Jiang Wei, so Cheng Luo is the Top.
2L: Youth is invincible; Jiang Wei is the Top.
3L: Do not be so limited. Switching is clearly the cutest; both scenarios can happen.
4L: Trust me! There is photo evidence! In the behind-the-scenes footage of In Clouds and Rain, Jiang Wei went to Cheng Luo’s room multiple times and only left late at night, so it means something.
Cheng Luo exited the app with a grim expression before finishing the comment. However, she accidentally tapped on “Latest Posts,” and a thread that clearly did not belong to the couple fans popped up.
[Anonymous]: You guys are so behind. Welcome to the Cheng Luo and Zhai Qing ship! Even though the leads have zero interaction on the surface, we can just make up the romance ourselves. No photos, no facts, just pure imagination! The female celebrity and the female CEO trope is the best. Come and chat!
Cheng Luo could not quite describe her feelings upon seeing that post. She tapped the user’s black profile icon, only for a notification to pop up.
This account has been banned for inciting conflict; following the profile is prohibited.
Actually, she had almost forgotten about the whole situation with Zhai Qing. She had even told her manager to keep it under control last time. But compared to the scale of her pairing with Jiang Wei, that ship was practically negligible, fragile, and not even worth mentioning.
“What is with that face?” Jiang Wei asked, looking a bit heartbroken. From Cheng Luo’s expression, it was obvious she had never paid attention to these things. Their fans worked so hard, yet the other lead was completely clueless. It was truly disheartening!
“Did you know about this all along?” Cheng Luo asked.
Jiang Wei nodded.
“Did your company not step in to stop it? Will this not affect you?” Cheng Luo frowned slightly. She knew some actors used “bundled marketing” for business, but while it worked temporarily, the fallout of “unbundling” was painful.
“Of course they do not stop it. This way, we both get publicity,” Jiang Wei explained, knowing how old-fashioned Cheng Luo could be. Cheng Luo was the type to just bury her head in filming and ignore everything else. She comforted her, “Do not worry too much about it. Once we finish this drama and go our separate ways, people will forget after a while.”
Seeing Cheng Luo still looking worried, Jiang Wei acted nonchalant. “Once this couple dies down, I will go find some other handsome guy or pretty girl to trend with. By then, it will not even be your turn!”
Cheng Luo finally relaxed. “Fine. If the company has not said anything, I will ignore it. But do we really have chemistry?”
Jiang Wei looked into her inquisitive eyes and said shamelessly, “I have a versatile vibe. I could have chemistry with a pig, let alone you.”
Cheng Luo looked away and rolled her eyes elegantly.
That Night
Cheng Luo curled up on the sofa with her legs tucked against her chest. The television was playing the drama Zhai Qing had wanted to watch that day. Over the past few days, she had unconsciously watched over a dozen episodes. Sometimes she did not even watch it; she just left it on so the quiet house would have some background noise.
She watched the television with her head tilted and her phone resting on her knees. As the protagonists in the drama cleared up a misunderstanding and reconciled for the sixth time, she felt a strange impulse. She tapped her finger on the screen and entered that “sinful” interface.
[The Green Orange Love Community]
Cheng Luo’s first thought was that the name was not too weird. She sighed while scrolling down with a secret sense of curiosity.
[Green Orange No. 1]: Poor writing and heavy character deviation. Please read with caution.
Curious, Cheng Luo tapped the post. However, she backed out with a racing heart and a red face after reading just the first line. Only two thoughts remained in her mind: How did this pass censorship? Is this still a legitimate platform?
That first post had dealt a massive blow to her innocent soul. She had to pace around the room twice before gathering enough courage to continue reading.
[Green Orange No. 2]: Poor drawing skills, please go easy on me. Image in the comments.
Cheng Luo, who did not spend much time on social media, stared at the last two letters for a long time, unsure of what they meant. Just as she was about to open the comment section to find the answer, she was hit with another sudden blow.
“Poor drawing skills” was a lie. In the drawing, even the strands of the woman’s hair were visible. Naturally, the scene of the two women kissing was also incredibly clear, right down to the vivid blush on the shorter woman’s face.
That was not even the most important part. What mattered was why, even in fan creations, she was always the one being pursued. She stubbornly scrolled through hundreds of posts, and not a single person suggested she was the dominant one. There were a few “reverse” posts, but the results were worse than if they had not bothered.
By the time Cheng Luo finally put her phone down, her face was hot enough to boil an egg. Truly, there were no photos or facts, just pure imagination.
As she was drinking her third glass of ice water, her phone rang. She rushed back to the sofa, only to find that in her agitation, she had dropped the phone into the sofa crack. It took a massive effort to fish it out. When the call finally connected, two pairs of narrow eyes, one large and one small, were staring at her from the screen.
“Mommy, why is your face so red? Are you sick?”
“Ah! Is it? I was just running for a bit. I am a little hot.” She fanned herself with her hand for effect.
“Are the windows closed? Do not catch a draft, and do not drink ice water, or you will get a cold.” This time it was Zhai Qing speaking, and her tone was very serious.
But Cheng Luo could not handle any of Zhai Qing’s actions right now, because she kept associating them with the content of that online community. “Um, you must be very busy. You do not need to supervise Nono. I will tell her to go to sleep when it is time.”
“I am not busy.”
“Oh, does the company have no business lately?” Cheng Luo asked, her mind still a bit fuzzy.
It was not that there was no business. Zhai Qing had been so busy these past few days that her feet had hardly touched the ground. Hearing that Nono wanted to call Cheng Luo, she had specifically set aside her work to come over.
“She is very busy. Mommy was working just now.” Nono was small but clever. At this moment, she defended her mother’s busy status. In her simple logic, if her mother is busy, she has money; if she has money, her mommy might like her more and eventually come home. So, it was better to be busy.
Zhai Qing was thus labeled a busy person and sent away by the united mother and daughter.
“Mommy, I miss you. When can you come back?” Now that Zhai Qing was gone, no one was there to hold the laptop for Nono. After holding it herself for a while, she got tired and placed it on the bed. She lay down on her stomach and kicked her small feet.
With only her daughter there, Cheng Luo felt much more at ease. “Did we not agree? In a little while, I will take some time off from the crew and take you to the amusement park.”
Nono rested her chin on her hands. “Just the two of us? Can Mama go too?”
“Her? She is probably very busy.”
Nono blinked her eyes, acting like a little rascal. “If you let her come along, she will definitely be free. We also need someone to carry our bags, so just let Mama go. We can trust our own people!”
Hearing Nono’s elaborate reasoning, Cheng Luo could not help but laugh. “Where did you learn to say such things? Your little mouth is so clever!”
“From the television, of course. I watch Mommy’s dramas every day,” Nono said matter-of-factly.
Cheng Luo became a bit worried. She did not film children’s shows. Was it okay for Nono to watch them at such a young age? She asked casually, “Do you understand what they mean? What is Mommy’s job every day?”
Nono answered honestly, “Sometimes I understand, and sometimes I do not. But Mama watches with me too. If there is something I do not understand, I ask her. She knows everything. She is so amazing!” When Nono spoke of Zhai Qing, her expression was full of unmistakable admiration and pride.
“What? Your Mama watches them too?” Cheng Luo was genuinely shocked. Over her years as an actor, she had grown accustomed to being watched by the public, but the thought of her cold, indifferent ex-wife watching her made her skin crawl. Was she secretly mocking her?
Hoping to gain some favor for her mother, Nono said enthusiastically, “Of course! Mama watches every day. She has even watched one-episode dozens of times!”
“Which episode?”
“The one where Mommy kicks out her fiancé. It was so heart-warming!”
“Sweetheart, the phrase is ‘so heart-warming’.” She remembered that drama; it had been released last year.
“Oh, Mommy, I get them mixed up sometimes. Hehe.” Nono giggled, showing her teeth bashfully.
But why did Zhai Qing watch it so many times? Did she look ugly in that episode? Or was some action inappropriate? Her heart felt like it was being tickled by a feather. Why on earth did she watch it so many times?