14
The lives of wealthy families were far removed from that of ordinary people, and besides, some of the top-tier wealthy families truly aren’t something the media or magazines dare to report on casually.
But who among ordinary people doesn’t watch a little TV?
Three years ago, after Jiang Meng’s big breakout, her national recognition skyrocketed. It was only last year, when she didn’t put out any good dramas, that she fell back to second-tier status. But since the news broke about her collaborating with Director Li on a new film, her public attention had shot up again. Her fans, each more hyped than the last, had been building up her image as a beautiful and accomplished career woman.
Right at that moment, the news of Jiang Meng’s pregnancy exploded, sending her to the peak of online traffic.
The Yan family had then truly come into the public eye for the first time.
Celebrities, wealthy families, affairs, mistresses… Some of the juiciest gossip keywords that the public loves most had all converged in one place. Whether it was scandal or not, Jiang Meng had undeniably stolen the spotlight.
The comments section was filled with fans defending Jiang Meng.
[Mr. Yan’s wife is called Gu Xueyi, right? She was in the news a few years ago. Arrogant and overbearing, emmmm… I wouldn’t put up with her either. Just a regular passerby, no need to label me.]
[Found a photo of Gu Xueyi [image]. Uh, the Yan family seems pretty impressive. Why would they marry her? She’s really not good-looking. Her makeup looks like she’s about to eat someone…]
[How do you media people know Jiang Meng is pregnant? And how do you know the Yan-Gu marriage hasn’t already ended in divorce? Stop stirring up shit. Wait for the studio’s statement, wait for a statement from Yan Corporation…]
[To be honest, J.M. outshines ten Gu Xueyis.]
That line—”J.M. outshines ten Gu Xueyis”—Jiang Meng still remembered it.
She had met Gu Xueyi before.
Beneath that garish, heavy makeup lay a face with features as delicate as a painting.
Jiang Meng felt a twinge of guilt, but also an indescribable, secret thrill.
…And then, at this moment, it all came to a screeching halt.
The comments section was being overrun by more and more netizens flooding in.
[No makeup? Dressed very simply too. But truly, truly, truly a classical beauty, holy crap! Her aura is absolutely unmatched!]
[Where are the people who said their cousin works at Yan Corporation and that President Yan and Gu Xueyi are already divorced? If they’re divorced, why is she still using the title of Madam Yan to invite all the wealthy families to a dinner? “Use your brain” is a good thing.]
[Miss Jiang Meng, who supposedly outshines ten Gu Xueyis, please come out and take a walk—]
[To be fair, G. outshines a hundred J.M.s. Hehe. Please, Jiang Meng, stop playing up this persona of outshining countless female stars on the red carpet!]
Every comment Jiang Meng read gave her a mini heart attack.
Her agent saw her clutching her stomach, looking like she couldn’t breathe, and quickly flipped her phone over.
“Do you want to get so worked up that you have a miscarriage right here? Don’t forget your goal!” the agent said, frustrated.
She had originally thought Jiang Meng would be the one on her roster with the longest career. She was pretty enough, and with the added boost of a “mixed-race” persona, both male and female fans loved her face. Then she got together with President Cao, and the good resources came rolling in… But then she had to get pregnant…
Pregnant or not, Jiang Meng had her ways.
But why, when faced with Gu Xueyi, couldn’t she hold her ground after just one round?
“Going through Gu Xueyi… is out. She won’t even see me. The second and fourth young masters of the Yan family don’t run things either… No one will acknowledge the child in my belly,” Jiang Meng said, gasping for breath a couple of times before barely managing to calm down.
“What you’re saying is…”
“Find Yan Wenshu.”
…
The Yan family villa.
Yan Wenbai hung up another call, his movements subtle.
Yan Wenjia sat across from him, his gaze cold as he looked at him. “So you actually came back.”
That, he really hadn’t expected.
Yan Wenbai reacted quickly, one hand holding his phone as he looked up with a slightly chilly expression. “You heard Gu… Gu Xueyi calling me?”
“Yeah.”
Yan Wenbai’s phone rang again. He didn’t even glance at it before hanging up once more.
“Was that Shi Chengbin and his crew asking you out?”
“…”
“You’re not going?”
Yan Wenbai finally spoke. “Don’t you have a film set to go to?”
Yan Wenjia tilted his head back and thought for a moment, then realized that he had actually been at the Yan residence for several days now… He hadn’t gone to the set—not that he usually went very often anyway, but he also hadn’t gone anywhere else.
Yan Wenjia slowly gathered his thoughts and turned his gaze back to Yan Wenbai.
He answered quite casually, “Don’t feel like it.”
Yan Wenbai said coldly, “I don’t feel like it either.”
Yan Wenjia sat up straight and let out a soft laugh. His strikingly handsome face, even shrouded in a layer of gloomy darkness, still looked almost demonically beautiful.
“What, afraid Shi Chengbin won’t let you play with them anymore?”
Yan Wenbai’s gaze toward him turned even colder.
The atmosphere in the dining room immediately became tense and confrontational.
It wasn’t just that the Yan household didn’t like Gu Xueyi—the truth was, the young masters and young ladies living in the Yan residence didn’t get along with one another to begin with.
The servants, accustomed to this, simply lowered their heads, pretending they hadn’t seen or heard anything.
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps approached.
Gu Xueyi walked down from upstairs. She had changed into a more comfortable set of loungewear, her belt tied loosely, cinching her slender figure.
“Madam,” a maid said, “dinner is ready.”
The tension in the dining room instantly subsided.
Both of them shut their mouths, as if neither had spoken at all just moments ago.
Gu Xueyi took in the sight of the two of them but said nothing.
It was Yan Wenbai who finally broke the overly quiet atmosphere. “Are you really going to host a banquet?”
“Mm, the invitations have already been sent out.”
No sense of how high the sky is or how deep the earth.
The words rose to his lips, but Yan Wenbai swallowed them back down.
“…Do you even know how many people are going to show up? Can you handle the situation? …Those are minor issues, fine. But have you picked a venue? Have you arranged the catering and the service staff?”
As he spoke, Yan Wenbai grew increasingly agitated.
“Oh, those little things… I left them to Chen Yujin.”
Yan Wenbai choked.
After a long pause, his voice came out again, gritting his teeth, a mix of anger and disbelief: “Chen Yujin actually agreed to let you do this?”
“Mm.”
Was Chen Yujin out of his mind?
Not just Chen Yujin.
Yan Wenjia shot a deep look at Gu Xueyi.
Just then, the ringtone of a phone cut through the air.
Without even glancing at it, Yan Wenbai hung up again.
Hasn’t another one lost his mind here too?
I’ve lost mine as well.
Elsewhere.
A few people gathered together and asked, “Did you get through?”
“What the hell is Fourth Young Master Yan doing?”
“He’s suddenly not coming? Fuck. Without him as our front, are we even getting in?”
They exchanged glances, none of them knowing the answer, their expressions dark.
…
On Weibo, the gossip frenzy continued.
[Am I the only one who went through the banquet guest list and looked up every single name on Baidu? A gathering of giants or rather, a gathering of giants’ families?]
[The Yan family name is seriously impressive. Now I can’t help but suspect that Jiang Meng is just trying to ride their coattails…]
[No way, right? The Yan family really is that impressive. Would Jiang Meng dare to ride their coattails? Madam Yan is the real victim here. She’s the legitimate wife and a great beauty, yet Jiang Meng’s fans mocked her all the way down to the earth’s core!]
[#JiangMengFansApologize #JiangMengApologize She’s just a parasitic empty vase, stop pretending to be a powerful career woman! The biggest joke of the year.]
[Actually, Madam Yan isn’t really that pitiful… (whispering) If President Yan really doesn’t come back, wouldn’t most of the family fortune go to Madam Yan? Considering the Yan family is rich enough to buy a small country…]
[My snacking hand suddenly froze.]
[The sunflower seeds in my mouth don’t taste good anymore…]
[This is what that beautiful woman deserves. Sob sob. Looking that good, what can’t she do?]
Most netizens were focused on the lives of the wealthy and celebrity gossip.
But a larger number of people sensed something different beneath the trending topics.
The fact that Gu Xueyi had once clamored to marry Yan Zhao against his will was well known in high society, and even the financial circles had heard about it.
How deeply Gu Xueyi adored Yan Zhao had been thoroughly proven time and again.
The fact that she could go shopping happily couldn’t possibly mean she was about to inherit Yan Zhao’s estate. After all, she hadn’t been skipping out joyfully a few days ago, and Yan Zhao hadn’t just gone missing today. The most likely explanation now was that Yan Zhao was safe and sound…
At once, some stock investors rejoiced, some finance professionals breathed sighs of relief, and, of course, quite a few felt a twinge of regret…
Jian Changming folded the newspaper in his hands.
It was a stack of financial newspapers.
His secretary knocked and entered, carrying another pile of reports.
But Jian Changming didn’t open them right away. Instead, he looked at Jian Rui, who sat upright on the sofa. “You’ve been sitting here for an hour. Spit it out—what’s the matter?”
Jian Rui felt a little embarrassed.
Even though she was twenty-nine, hardly young anymore, and usually wielded a firm hand, she turned back into a little girl in front of Jian Changming.
“It’s about Cao Jiaye…”
“Mm, which actress is he having a fling with this time?” Jian Changming’s tone was flat, clearly used to it.
“…No.”
“No?”
“It’s just… a suspicion. I don’t think I’m wrong, but…” Jian Rui stood up and walked over to Jian Changming, handing him her phone.
On the phone’s small screen, what suddenly caught Jian Changming’s eye was a candid photo.
Jian Rui explained, “This actress is called Jiang Meng. Uncle, since you don’t watch TV, you probably don’t know her. She was a popular actress a few years ago. She works at Cao Jiaye’s company. I’ve been hearing vague rumors since last year… She’s very alluring and exactly Cao Jiaye’s type…”
Jian Rui’s fragmented voice seemed to fade into background noise.
Jian Changming looked at the young woman in the photo. She wore a light apricot dress, a white shawl draped over her shoulders, and carried a small LV bag in her hand.
Her figure was slender and tall, her skin as white as snow, her features painted like ink. Her dark hair casually cascaded down, and she exuded a serene aura. She tilted her head slightly, saying something to the person beside her, her expression cool and indifferent. But the light softened the lines of her profile, her brows luminous like autumn waters.
Sunlight fell behind her as she walked against the light, as if a figure from a painting had stepped gracefully out.
There was a quiet but commanding beauty to her that outshone everyone else.
Anyone who shared a frame with her would instantly be overshadowed.
Even though Jian Changming had seen her transformation that day at the Yan Corporation building, it was still less striking than this candid photo.
Her elegant figure, captured in that moment, broke into the view of everyone who saw it with an irresistible force.
“But now I’m confused too. Could it be that the information I received was wrong? Uncle, look… right now, the news is everywhere—they’re all saying she’s pregnant with President Yan’s child… This woman Jiang Meng has some skills. If we let her slip through the cracks, she might become a big problem…”
Jiang Meng…
Only now did Jian Changming realize that this actress’s photo had been placed ahead of Gu Xueyi’s.
Jian Changming said, “You said it’s all over the news?”
“Yes,” Jian Rui nodded. “That’s why I thought I might have made a mistake…”
Before Jian Rui could finish, Jian Changming suddenly brought up another matter. “Do you know why Gu Xueyi is hosting this banquet?”
Jian Rui was taken aback.
Jian Changming continued calmly, “It’s to openly let more people know about the Yan family’s current situation—to turn passivity into action and achieve her own goals.”
It took Jian Rui a few seconds to process this. “And all that news coverage is also meant to reach more people…”
“If you want to know the truth, why not just go ask Gu Xueyi directly? That is, if Jiang Meng really does have something to do with Yan Zhao.”
Jian Rui paused for a moment, then nodded. “I understand.”
Jian Changming suddenly spoke again. “That day when you stayed at the Yan residence, what kind of person did you think Gu Xueyi was?”
Jian Rui wasn’t quite sure what he was getting at. She hesitated for more than ten seconds before carefully answering, “She’s…”
“Someone completely different from the rumors.”
“The seventeenth is coming up soon,” Jian Changming said.
**