After the two finished eating and were walking back, Yan Yifan suddenly saw two familiar figures, and he paused for a moment.
Bai Jiangnan: “What’s wrong?”
Yan Yifan: “Nothing.”
Bai Jiangnan: “I happened to find a really delicious hotpot restaurant these past two days; let’s go eat there together on our day off?”
Yan Yifan looked at him and smiled.
Bai Jiangnan: “What are you laughing at?”
Yan Yifan: “I couldn’t tell, your figure is quite good, and yet you are such a foodie?”
Bai Jiangnan: “Food is the people’s heaven!” [The people regard food as their heaven.]
Back in the room, that familiar figure flashed through Yan Yifan’s mind. Was that Shen Leilei? And who was beside her? Director He Yong, right? He was so drunk, and the two of them were even hugging each other when they got out of the car. No matter how stupid Yan Yifan was, he knew there was something wrong here.
Yan Yifan picked up his phone, considered it for a long time, and opened Shen Leilei’s WeChat. Left on it were their conversations from the past few times, basically once every three to five days; Shen Leilei would send over some Taobao links, and Yan Yifan would pay for them all. Yan Yifan flipped upward and landed on one chat log.
Yan Yifan: “There is a concubine role in the Ruyi An crew, thirty or forty scenes; are you going or not?”
Shen Leilei: “I signed up for an acting class these past few days. I thought about it, and you were quite right; if I don’t have the corresponding acting skills, even if I get on, I will be scolded and ‘blacked’ [slandered]. I’d better think about how to improve my acting skills first, and wait until I can at least handle the camera before talking.”
Yan Yifan: “It’s good that you can think like that.”
Shen Leilei: “Hubby is truly thoughtful, mwah~”
Yan Yifan curled his lips in a mocking smile. [She’s] quite good at telling lies. After thinking for a while, he sent a WeChat message: “Been quite busy these past few days; how are the acting classes going?”
After sending it, predictably, Shen Leilei did not reply.
Yan Yifan threw his phone on the sofa and instantly felt that all of this was quite boring. Before Shen Leilei, he had also dated quite a few girlfriends, and the situation was basically about the same. Yan Yifan basically understood these tactics too.
Shen Leilei is keeping him on the line while looking for the next candidate.
He could guess it in an instant; how boring.
Yan Yifan threw his phone away. For a moment, he didn’t know what to do. He opened his computer document, watched for a while, and then started writing.
If he really had to choose a profession, he would rather choose one he liked.
It was already past twelve o’clock when he finished typing, but he didn’t need to get up early the next day. Taking advantage of the inspiration, Yan Yifan stayed up all night writing.
When the next day dawned, Yan Yifan stretched and yawned, feeling that his whole person was groggy and could fall asleep just by closing his eyes. He sent out everything he wrote last night, and his whole being felt very satisfied. He went to take a shower, washed his face, and fell asleep not long after lying down. The light shone through the gap in the curtains, and a faint smile hung on his face.
When Yan Yifan woke up, it was already two o’clock in the afternoon. Yan Yifan ordered takeout and didn’t want to go out. He opened WeChat; Shen Leilei had not replied. Bai Jiangnan’s little rabbit avatar was jumping up and down: “Really not coming today?” “Still not awake?” “You can really sleep! Tell me when you wake up!” “It’s noon! My god, you can really sleep!” “Were you a pig in your past life? If you don’t reply to me, I’m going to report you as a missing person!”
Yan Yifan replied with a smile: “Woke up, stop howling.”
Not long after, Bai Jiangnan replied: “My god! Finally awake! You didn’t really sleep until now to get up, did you?”
Yan Yifan: “It’s so comfortable not having to get up for work.”
Bai Jiangnan: “O__O “
Yan Yifan: “:-P”
The two talked for a while, and Bai Jiangnan continued to go film.
Yan Yifan ate his takeout while reading his comment section. He updated ten thousand words all at once yesterday, and the entire comment section was lively and festive.
MyLittleHeart: The author has been super diligent these days! Has he been possessed by something?
Floor 1: Please continue to be possessed, don’t come down!
Floor 2: +1, don’t come down!
Floor 3: +2, the author is so diligent lately~
Floor 4: +10086
DearYouFlySlowly: Please, dear author, don’t be careless, fill all the holes [plot holes]!!!
YoungsterYouDontUnderstandLove: Heavens! The updates these past few days are so exciting!
YanLuFansForever: Threw eight little flowers to the author; please don’t be careless and become a writing machine~
Yan Yifan laughed while reading. Sometimes he rolled on the sofa in excitement as if the joy from when he first started posting had returned. He selectively replied to a few and set a flag in the comment section: From today on, daily updates until completion, at least 6000+ per day. PS: I’m so diligent, please don’t be careless and throw flowers at me~
People below replied very quickly, and predictably, a high-rise building [long thread] was built quickly.
However, besides these comments urging for updates and cheering, of course, there were also some sour and negative comments. Yan Yifan chose to ignore them all. To him, these were just “a piece of cake.” Ever since he became a public figure, he had already learned to selectively ignore some “black” [haters].
After three days passed like this, it was the weekend. Bai Jiangnan and Yan Yifan went out to a hotpot restaurant ten kilometers away.
Yan Yifan: “Is it that delicious? It’s so far away; driving has made my legs numb.”
Bai Jiangnan: “Just try it. Anyway, since there’s nothing to do, how many days have you been holed up in the hotel? If you don’t go out and walk around, you’re going to get moldy.”
Yan Yifan didn’t care. Although these past few days had been hard, they were also quite happy because his updates had changed from his past lazy monthly updates to today’s high-effort daily updates. And because the updates contained no “water” [filler], they still inherited his past style of humor and amazing twists. Very many readers left comments under the text, encouraging him and praising him in every way. Sometimes, their discussions about the plot’s development made Yan Yifan read with great interest. In the end, all of this made Yan Yifan’s bad mood disappear completely.
The two arrived at the hotpot restaurant, pushed open the door, and sure enough, saw many people inside.
Seeing people come in, a few people glanced over here casually and then couldn’t look away. Whispering started in the lobby.
“Such handsome guys! Ahhhhh!”
“Although wearing masks, that person is Young Master Yan, right?”
“Click! Click! I’m also someone who ate with Young Master Yan! Wuwuwu, so touched!”
Although these comments weren’t loud, some still reached the ears of the two. Yan Yifan smiled faintly and gave Bai Jiangnan a provocative glance, as if saying: Everyone says I’m handsome, hahahahaha!
Bai Jiangnan smiled helplessly.
The two came to a corner table reserved by Bai Jiangnan. Just after sitting down, a tall and thin waitress came over.
The waitress handed over the menu. Bai Jiangnan asked: “Eat spicy or not?”
“Of course! Eating hotpot without being spicy, how can that even be called eating hotpot?” Yan Yifan said.
Bai Jiangnan drew a check on the menu, “Then let’s have a yuan-yang [half-spicy, half-plain] pot. I can’t eat too spicy; I’ve been suffering from internal heat these past two days.”
Bai Jiangnan: “What do you want to eat? Beef rolls? Duck blood? Duck intestines?”
Yan Yifan looked at it while leaning over, and yelled “Ah ah ah”: “This! And this! How can there be no frozen tofu when eating hotpot! And pig brains!”
The waitress watched with flushed cheeks, screaming in her heart: Ah ah ah ah ah! Young Master Yan and Bai Jiangnan! Truly the “official couple” [OTP]! I’ll ship them for a lifetime!
Bai Jiangnan: “Alright, just these.” While saying this, he handed the menu to the waitress.
The waitress was stunned for a moment, came back to her senses, and took the menu with a blush, asking: “No drinks?”
Yan Yifan: “Do you have pineapple beer?”
Waitress: “If you need it and the consumption exceeds 200, we can go to the supermarket next door to buy it for you.”
Yan Yifan: “Then bring two bottles of pineapple beer! And a pot of osmanthus wine.”
“Alright.” The waitress went down.
Yan Yifan gave Bai Jiangnan a wink.
Bai Jiangnan: “What?”
Yan Yifan: “That waitress had flushed cheeks just now; it must be because I look more handsome.”
Bai Jiangnan: …
Yan Yifan: “Aiya, I look so handsome, what should I do? Actually, I don’t have any intentions toward them.”
Bai Jiangnan: “First time noticing, you are quiet… narcissistic.”
Yan Yifan: “Am I so handsome that I look like a narcissus? Thank you~”
Bai Jiangnan held back laughter: “You’re welcome.”
Yan Yifan smiled and said: “Don’t be too discouraged either. You became famous after filming only one web drama; your luck is already good enough. Now it’s just that the web drama was taken down and the heat has faded. As long as you act in a few more and your fame increases a bit, soon someone will come to ask for your autograph on the street!”
Bai Jiangnan: “I’m still thinking about eating hotpot a few more times here!”
Yan Yifan: “If you think like this, it’s fine! Don’t be like me, even if I wear a mask, there are still many people who recognize me~”
Just as they were talking, that waitress came back. She had a small notebook in her hand and said: “Can you give me an autograph?” She was talking to Bai Jiangnan.
Yan Yifan knew what it meant as soon as he saw her come over and was just preparing to receive it—the result was, she looked for Bai Jiangnan.
Yan Yifan: …
Bai Jiangnan: “Pfft!”
Yan Yifan kicked him under the table.
Waitress: “Can you help me sign this?” She brought up a picture. Bai Jiangnan was looking at it, and his whole hand shook for a second.
The waitress asked a bit shyly: “Can’t you sign it?”
Bai Jiangnan stifled laughter: “It’s okay.” After he signed it, he handed the notebook and pen to the waitress. The waitress looked at the unhappy Yan Yifan and asked timidly: “Can you help me sign an autograph?”
If she had looked for Yan Yifan to sign first, Yan Yifan would have surely swung his pen with a flourish. Now, after finishing with Bai Jiangnan and then looking for him, and, looking at her hesitant appearance just now, it seemed like looking for him to sign was just to fill a number; Yan Yifan was very unhappy.
Bai Jiangnan: “Hurry up and sign it, the soup base and everything will be up in a moment.”
Yan Yifan glared at Bai Jiangnan. Need you to play the hero saving the beauty! He took the pen and paper from the waitress. The waitress said: “Sign here.”
Yan Yifan: “Why behind his?”
The waitress blinked her big eyes, “Young Master Yan, please help me sign it? I like you so much!”
Yan Yifan: “Alright.”
He signed it on the waitress’s request.
Waitress: “Finally, draw a [heart symbol] on this.”
Yan Yifan blinked his eyes a bit strangely and drew a [heart symbol].
The waitress took the paper and pen, looked at the signature on it, and was full of happiness, “Thanks!”