The village was already small, mostly inhabited by elderly people and some unremarkable middle-aged residents.
In earlier years, this place had been bustling, largely due to the coal mines scattered throughout the mountains—no fewer than forty or fifty pits, big and small.
Years of relentless mining had turned vast stretches of once lush green mountains and clear waters into barren, lifeless land. Even though the government had halted operations over a decade ago, the area had yet to recover.
Nie Fuyao lived deep within the village, in a three-room earthen house that was cluttered and chaotic, with hardly any decent furniture to speak of.
"Woof-whine…"
As soon as she stepped into the courtyard, a scrawny mutt came trotting over, circling her feet and wagging its tail so vigorously it resembled a propeller.
Bending down, she picked up the little dog, and the moment she held it, she could tell it was severely underweight—little more than skin and bones.
Then again, it made sense. Nie Fuyao could barely keep herself alive, let alone care for a dog.
In fact, the dog had been given to her by an auntie in the village. After all, since Nie Fuyao lived alone, having something to help guard the house at night wasn’t a bad idea.
Back inside, she rummaged through drawers and cabinets until she found the household register, only then realizing belatedly that the girl didn’t even have an ID card.
Opening the register, she found only one page inside. The head of household was listed simply as "Nie Girl."
Grabbing a cloth bag at random, she stuffed the household register and the little mutt inside, slung it over her shoulder, and headed out.
At the riverbank, Ning Sang and the others were cooling off in the shade of a tree.
Seeing that she had brought almost nothing with her as she prepared to leave with them, Chen Jing was momentarily speechless.
"Aren’t you taking anything?" she asked.
"If we’re a blood match, it’ll depend on their attitude. If we get along well, I’ll stay. Whether I bring anything from here doesn’t matter. If it doesn’t work out, they can just pay me eighteen years of child support, and I’ll come back." Nie Fuyao scratched the little yellow dog under its chin. "If there’s no blood relation, they only need to cover my travel expenses."
The group exchanged glances.
Ning Sang frowned. "Your father might very well be the A-list actor Nie Lingchuan."
"I don’t know him." Though Nie Fuyao claimed not to care, deep down, she felt the blood relation was likely true.
After all, in this world, coincidences were almost nonexistent.
"Let’s go." She yawned, appearing lazy and drowsy, yet somehow exuding an air of bold arrogance.
**
Nie Lingchuan was a national A-list actor with a fanbase of 300 million.
His fans spanned all ages, from eight to eighty, covering both men and women, with a male-to-female ratio of six to four.
According to big data statistics, Nie Lingchuan was the only male actor whose male fan count surpassed his female fan count.
He debuted at sixteen, winning the Golden Lion Award for Best Supporting Actor with his very first film. From then on, awards came to him effortlessly.
He had won all four of the country’s most prestigious awards, not just once but twice.
He was the youngest male actor in the domestic entertainment industry to achieve a grand slam of major awards.
At thirty-five, Nie Lingchuan stepped back from the spotlight and founded Yunhuang Yule, which had since grown into one of the top three entertainment companies.
When news broke in the media that he had a daughter, Weibo instantly crashed.
[I don’t believe it. He’s never even been married—where did this daughter come from?]
[The person above is still living in the last century. Unmarried parenthood is common now—face reality.]
[Has my idol’s image collapsed? Was it a secret affair or a case of love ’em and leave ’em?]
[According to the media, the actor’s daughter is eighteen this year. Doing the math, the actor became a father at twenty-three. Looking back at major events that year, he did have a girlfriend.]
[Let me share some knowledge. The actor did indeed have a girlfriend twenty years ago. She was not from the entertainment industry but a top student from Shengkenstein University in Eagle Country.]
[Shengkenstein… a senior who graduated over a decade before me? Let me dig around and see who it was.]
[Don’t go off-topic. We’re talking about the actor’s biological daughter now. I heard she grew up in a remote village in Qing Province. I’m not discriminating against rural areas, but with that kind of upbringing, she really doesn’t seem to match our actor.]
[Who are you to decide if she’s a match or not? Can blood ties and family bonds be separated by so-called urban-rural divides? You claim you’re not discriminating, but this is blatant prejudice.]
Putting aside the attitudes of fans and casual observers, many within the industry have also been discussing the matter privately.
Nie Lingchuan’s resume is too dazzling; he has completely overshadowed his male peers from the same generation.
The industry has a limited number of good scripts, and the pie is only so big. The more he takes, the more it inevitably harms others’ interests.
As a result, many have secretly invested money and effort into tarnishing Nie Lingchuan’s reputation.
What’s infuriating is that while many men in their thirties are still trying to look young and act in idol dramas, he simply stepped away from the spotlight and transitioned behind the scenes. In just seven years, he built Yunhuang Yule into a top-tier media company in the industry.
It really is maddening how some people just outshine everyone else.
Now, with Nie Lingchuan suddenly having a daughter, many in the industry have caught a whiff of potential buzz and have begun stirring the pot behind the scenes, trying to pull him down from his pedestal.
Nie Fuyao used to own a smartphone, which she had scrimped and saved for over two years of part-time work to buy. Unfortunately, it was destroyed a couple of days ago during a fight.
She was unaware of the various posts and discussions about her online, and even if she knew, she wouldn’t care.
Accompanied by Ning Sang and others, she traveled to Nan City to catch a flight, arriving in the capital around 8 p.m., and by 10 p.m., she was inside a villa.
At that moment, she was sitting face-to-face with a handsome man.
“Kid…” Nie Lingchuan’s heart raced as he looked at the young girl before him, and he seemed restless.
“Fuyao.” Nie Fuyao set the puppy down. “My name is Nie Fuyao.”
Fuyao?
Nie Lingchuan was momentarily taken aback, then smiled. “Fuyao… that’s a good name. Who gave it to you?”
“Myself.” She tucked the puppy between her ankles to prevent the little one from running around and dirtying the carpet. “The woman who gave birth to me was named Fang Yunwu. She died in a car accident when I was three months old.”
“I know about that.” Nie Lingchuan clasped his hands together tightly, seeming to tremble slightly. “You must be tired. Your room is ready. Get some rest tonight.”
Seeing that he wasn’t in the best state emotionally, Nie Fuyao nodded and followed a spirited young man upstairs.
The young man was a trainee agent learning under Ning Sang.
With only Nie Lingchuan and Ning Sang left in the living room, the atmosphere grew somewhat heavy.
Nie Lingchuan leaned back on the sofa, his gaze distant, thinking of the bright and gentle woman from his past.
She was the only woman he had ever loved since he first understood what love was, and to this day, he still loved her. She was his first love.
Unfortunately, their relationship lasted less than two years. Just as their love was at its peak, Nie Lingchuan lost all contact with her.
At first, he thought his lover had fallen for someone else. But two months ago, Nie Lingchuan received a phone call from an elderly woman.
The woman told him that Fang Yunwu had given birth to his child back then and had passed away in a car accident when the child was just three months old.
Nie Lingchuan later hired a private detective to search everywhere for the child's whereabouts and finally received news about the child half a month ago. Unfortunately, the detective's subsequent investigation went beyond his expectations.