The entertainment industry had been unusually quiet lately. No surprise weddings, no cheating scandals, and definitely no surprise “coming outs.” For gossip-hungry fangirls, it had been a painfully dull stretch—until this afternoon.
A ten-second blurry fan-cam video hit the internet and instantly grabbed everyone’s attention. It soared up the trending chart, eventually landing at number one.
“At the filming site of Fruit Channel’s Brave Challenger—Yan Zhun × Liang Yan. Just watching this hurts for Yan Zhun〒▽〒”
The grainy clip, shot from the audience’s perspective, captured the most intense moment of a game. Liang Yan—dressed like a no-nonsense construction worker—suddenly lost her balance. Her whole body launched forward like an angry little bird. Opposite her, Yan Zhun—styled like a suave CEO—stumbled back two steps in panic, sensing disaster.
But he couldn’t escape in time.
Liang Yan, like a rocket set off with deadly precision, slammed headfirst—bun and all—into the most delicate and unspoken-about region of the teen idol’s body.
Duang! A direct hit.
The fans’ shrieks nearly pierced the heavens.
Both collapsed onto the ground, the very image of mutual destruction.
The video was instantly reposted like wildfire. Comments quickly flooded in, surpassing ten thousand within minutes:
[LMAO holy crap this looks so painful but I can’t stop laughing hahahahahaha]
[Isn’t that Lu Lincheng’s wife, Liang Yan? No wonder he never talks about her—she’s terrifying LOL]
[Today’s headline: YAN. ALL-CAPS. SUFFERING. ZHUN.]
[Can we stop calling her Lu Lincheng’s wife, please? He doesn’t want that association.]
[Umm… just asking… is it really that painful when a guy gets hit there? Looked kind of okay?]
[Not painful at all! Try it on your boyfriend and find out 😉]
[She headbutted Yan Zhun there?! That’s beyond embarrassing…]
[Why hasn’t Liang Yan quit the industry yet? She’s such a mess.]
[Every time this woman appears, it’s humiliating. Wonder what Lu Lincheng thinks seeing this…]
[Relax. He probably doesn’t even remember what she looks like.]
[Is it just me… or do Liang Yan and Yan Zhun actually look kinda cute together? 👀]
[You need to donate your eyes. Immediately.]
……
Most people watched the clip, had a good laugh, maybe winced in sympathy for Yan Zhun, then rolled their eyes at Liang Yan’s desperate attempts to stay relevant.
But among them—especially Yan Zhun’s fans—some were not laughing.
The fitness ball beneath Liang Yan hadn’t exploded—it had leaked. Slowly. So aside from her, no one at the scene really noticed much of a change. And in a blurry ten-second fan-cam video? Even less so.
As a result, not only did Liang Yan hear a sharp “F*** your mom!” from one of Yan Zhun’s fans right there at the scene, the backlash online was even worse:
[She could bend backward like that earlier and still stand—how come she couldn’t keep her balance just leaning forward?]
[Exactly. She did it on purpose. This woman’s disgusting—just trying to get attention.]
[Lu Lincheng ignores her now, so she’s clout-chasing with Yan Zhun? Absolutely no character.]
[According to fans on site, Yan Zhun was in so much pain he couldn’t even stand. And he still held it in. Our Zhun is way too kind 😭]
[Liang Yan dared to hit my Yan Zhun there?! F* you!!]**
[I’ve got Liang Yan right here—like this post to stomp her once.]
[Like +1]
[Like +10086]
[Like + my national ID number]
That night, back in her newly rented apartment, Liang Yan stared at her phone with a twitching expression.
The fact she was being flamed and downvoted didn’t bother her much—she’d long accepted that few people wanted to see her. But any woman would be mortified after accidentally headbutting a man there—and now the entire nation was watching it on loop.
Worse, the clip had already been crowned the #1 Funniest Variety Show Moment of the Year.
It was unbearable.
The most frustrating part? She couldn’t even defend herself.
Every guest on the show had signed a strict confidentiality agreement. No spoilers, no leaks, no commentary about what happened during filming—not until the episode aired.
If she came out now and said the fitness ball had leaked, not only would it be a breach of contract, it’d spoil the drama. What’s more, the sudden viral buzz had brought major attention to the show. Even before airing, it had pulled in a huge potential audience.
The production team had repeatedly warned Liang Yan to keep her mouth shut. If the truth came out now, all those eager gossip-hungry viewers would vanish overnight.
Fortunately, the show’s director had promised that the post-production team would clearly explain the fitness ball leak. Liang Yan waited anxiously for the episode to air. It took more than half a month before Brave Challenger finally premiered on Fruit TV.
Because the infamous “Liang Yan crotch attack” on Yan Zhun had already gone viral beforehand, the show debuted with massive buzz. Liang Yan, who had spent over two weeks being roasted by Yan Zhun’s fans, was dying for the truth to finally come out. She even brought a little stool and sat in front of the TV half an hour early.
The episode started with the celebrity guests choosing their roles. The only part edited out was the scene where Liang Yan repeatedly failed to get through to Lu Lincheng on the phone.
She rubbed her nose, confused as to why that segment had been cut.
Next came the job experience portion. Compared to the other guests, Liang Yan had fewer shots and looked a bit more disheveled, but everything else was fairly normal.
Finally, it was time for the showdown game. The infamous crotch collision between Liang Yan and Yan Zhun was saved for the very end, perfectly baiting all the gossip-hungry viewers—and Liang Yan herself, who sat glued to the screen.
Then, right before the big moment, the camera zoomed in on the fitness ball beneath her feet letting out a soft “pffft” as it deflated. And then came the much-loved, endlessly-replayed, laugh-until-you-cry crotch-smash scene.
Watching that close-up of the leaking fitness ball, Liang Yan was moved to tears.
Finally.
She was vindicated.
She didn’t mean to do it.
She wasn’t some crazed beast.
It was the props team’s fault—not hers! 😭😭😭
By the time the episode ended, it was already 11 PM. Liang Yan checked Weibo and saw that Yan Zhun’s rabid fans—who’d been spamming her comments for days—had finally gone quiet.
Satisfied, she went to bed with a light heart.
The premiere of Brave Challenger was a massive ratings success. While Liang Yan was solely focused on the leaked fitness ball clip, elsewhere online, a new screenshot from the episode was quietly making the rounds among fans.
It was taken during the final outdoor challenge. The guests were standing in a line. Liang Yan, in her construction vest and helmet, looked like an earnest little migrant worker staring hopefully into the distance. Beside her stood Yan Zhun, styled like a cold and aloof CEO—but his head was slightly tilted toward her.
He was smiling. And his eyes were soft.
A rugged, dirt-smudged girl next to a polished, well-dressed man. Two people who looked like they belonged to entirely different worlds—but somehow, they looked oddly right standing together.
Fans quickly slapped a filter on the image and started sharing it:
[WTF is going on—why does Yan Zhun look so soft in this shot??]
[What is Liang Yan even looking at? I can’t stand her, but I have to admit—she really is pretty.]
[When is this woman going to let Lu Lincheng go? I’m sick of seeing her.]
[Help! Dirty-work girl × aloof CEO… this is giving serious idol drama vibes. Why is this so cute?? Am I actually starting to ship this?? 😭😭😭]
[This… isn’t okay, right? Liang Yan’s still married…]
[Yeah, Lu Lincheng’s totally gonna be pissed.]
[Wait… is he, though?]
[Pissed my ass. At last year’s awards ceremony, both he and Liang Yan were there. He didn’t even look at her the whole night—acted like she was a piece of gum stuck to his shoe. I check in daily at #DidLuLinchengGetDivorcedToday.]
…
That night, a fan video editor sprang into action. She clipped together all the footage of Liang Yan hauling bricks at the construction site and Yan Zhun doing his CEO act, added some dramatic background music, and created a 3.5-minute MV that told the story of a romance between a tough-as-nails working girl and a brooding, overbearing CEO.
The final shot froze on Liang Yan’s hopeful face as she gazed into the distance, while Yan Zhun looked at her with indulgent affection. The caption read: “Love at first sight, a lifetime of devotion.”
Originally, the video was just a fun little edit made by a small group of fans secretly shipping the two. But then, a popular influencer with hundreds of thousands of followers reposted it. Once that happened, the clip exploded.
Netizens, long tired of soft, dainty “independent” female leads who still rely entirely on the male protagonist, were stunned to find a heroine who could carry actual bricks all day without breaking a sweat.
Suddenly, people found this “raw and real” pairing surprisingly refreshing. Even Liang Yan—usually disliked—looked kind of… likable when she was grimy and working hard on the job site.
The next morning, Liang Yan was rudely awakened by a phone call.
On the other end, Jiang Mu sounded frantic: “Yan, quick! Go watch the video—you’re on the trending list again!”
Liang Yan was still groggy, rubbing her eyes. As soon as she heard the word video, she snapped awake, assuming the worst.
“What? But they already explained on the show that the fitness ball deflated! I didn’t do it on purpose!”
Jiang Mu: “No, not that video—ugh, I can’t explain, just go look!”
Liang Yan hung up and skeptically opened Weibo. She scrolled through the trending list from top to bottom—no mention of her name anywhere.
Expressionless, she figured Jiang Mu must’ve dreamt the whole thing. She yawned and randomly clicked on the top trending hashtag, something that sounded like the name of a romcom: “She Moved His Heart.”
The top post had over 20,000 shares.
“Fan-made edit: Brick-carrying girl × domineering CEO. She didn’t just move bricks—she moved his heart.”
She was on Wi-Fi, so the video auto-played.
At first, Liang Yan just looked confused. But as the video went on, her expression morphed into complete disbelief.
That final “love at first sight” screenshot? The one where she was supposedly gazing at Yan Zhun with admiration?
She had actually been looking longingly at the crowd of Yan Zhun’s screaming fans on the other side!
And as for Yan Zhun himself—please. The guy had permanent bedroom eyes. He could make eye contact with a lamp and still look infatuated.
She opened the comment section:
[OMG this edit is TOO GOOD. I’m shipping them so hard!!]
[The editor’s a genius.]
[So many bricks… Liang Yan must be seriously strong.]
[Liang Yan, please let Lu Lincheng go. Give him back to us. You look better with someone else. I’m begging you.]
[Yeah, just give Lu Lincheng back.]
[Please. Give. Lu Lincheng. Back.]
That last comment seemed to trigger something in the crowd, and suddenly dozens more echoed the same sentiment.
It was becoming clear: While fans couldn’t accept the idea of the lofty, untouchable Lu Lincheng being “tainted” by Liang Yan, they were more than happy to ship her with the newly-popular Yan Zhun.
And if sacrificing one Yan Zhun meant “saving” Lu Lincheng? Well, the majority was absolutely on board.
***