After the five people finished breakfast, they followed the program group to their next location. According to the arrangements of the crew, they all took a car to a local private villa to experience the 'aristocratic lifestyle'.
Supposedly this villa was the private property of a certain big boss who had lent it to them for the show.
In fact, Ruan Tian hated this word: 'aristocratic'. After all, she had studied in a high school for those so-called aristocrats, but she had never made any friends and only ever experienced what the media called 'campus bullying' from Qin Yu and the others. So the word didn't conjure up any fond memories.
Once they arrived, Ruan Tian quickly understood some things.
The place that they had come to wasn't a villa, rather, it was obviously a small castle!
It looked like the residence of some noble prince from the Middle Ages.
Before they got off the car, Xu Jing, who hadn't said a word this whole time, suddenly opened his mouth.
He said, "You haven't followed me back on Weibo yet."
Ruan Tian reached up and scratched the back of her head, "Huh, were you following me? Wow! I know it now."
Xu Jing raised an eyebrow, "That's it?"
Ruan Tian said hesitantly: "Then… should I remove you?"
Xu Jing felt he was about to be angered half to death, so he turned around and decided to ignore her.
Ruan Tian muttered to herself in a low voice, "A man's heart is really hard to guess."
Once they got into the castle, they found that all the decorations inside were precious authentic antiques.
Zhao Meng'er instantly turned around and asked the people from the program group if the owner of the castle was also there. After all, she had changed out her backer a few times over the years and she was always eager to climb up even further.
She had long been fed up with her current backer, the bald old man who was more than twenty years her senior.
Zhao Meng'er would be very willing if she could catch a new younger or richer backer this time.
However, sadly for her, the director was very tight-lipped and Zhao Meng'er couldn't pry out any information at all.
Ruan Tian wasn't the type to overthink so much the way Zhao Meng'er did, so she just chose a sunny room to settle herself down in.
Soon after that, a butler arrived and informed all the guests that they would be going to experience the local archery range at 3 p.m.
Ruan Tian wasn't very interested in archery so she decided to return to her room, however, after opening the door, she saw a man sitting on the antique sofa inside.
Six words popped into her mind: What? This ghost is still here!?
Why was this Qin Yu everywhere she went?
It was just like how it was back when she was in high school. Back then, no matter how many times she would change to a different part-time job, Qin Yu would always accurately hunt her down and come to annoy her by ordering dozens of cups of milk tea at the tea shop or creating various difficulties in the convenience store. There had been no stopping him.
Back then, the only days that Ruan Tian could breathe were the days when Qin Yu was too ill and had no time to come bother her.
In fact, even until now, it seemed that Qin Yu's body wasn't in very good condition. After all, if she saw him ten times, probably eight of those times he would look pale and sickly.
Ruan Tian had actually long guessed that the owner of this castle was definitely Qin Yu.
Ruan Tian knew that Qin Yu had a bad temper, so she wanted to avoid him, but before she could do anything he had already slowly stood up. His eyes narrowed and he smiled faintly before saying, "Hello Miss Ruan, my surname is Qin, why don't we take this opportunity to get more acquainted?"
When Ruan Tian saw his current expression, she was suddenly reminded of the day when he had used her crisis to take advantage of her.
The look in his eyes now was exactly the same as it had been then, like a beast looking at its prey.
To this day, Ruan Tian still remembered that kiss.
After she had escaped from that place, she had gone home and cried.
After all, it had been her first kiss, which she had wanted to save for Shen Shu.
Qin Yu had finally moved in front of her, "Why aren't you saying anything?"
Ruan Tian suddenly felt full of resentment.
Back then, why had she ever signed herself to Qin Yu's company?
"I don't have any desire to get further acquainted with you."
"Are you having fun?"
"It's okay."
Qin Yu leaned closer, and he could smell the faint scent of pear blossoms on her body, a light yet intoxicating scent.
He clasped her wrist, leaned down to her ear, and murmured with a smile: "Ruan Tian, I've decided I won't care about your career in the entertainment industry anymore, but you need to listen carefully. You are an artist under Qin Pictures, and all of the artists in my company are in my hands, so you shouldn't dream of striving for a double harvest in both career and romance."
"I handled the matter regarding that college student for you, but you need to see him less in the future…"
Hearing those words, if Ruan Tian hadn't already known Qin Yu for many years, she might really have been scared by his gloomy and terrifying appearance right now and not dared to say anything against him.
But she had known him so long. Why should she listen to him?!
Ruan Tian smiled, "The contract I signed with the company doesn't say anything about this, I can see whoever I want to see. Now, let me go and scram out of here."
She really wanted him to leave. She was annoyed just seeing his face.
Qin Yu suddenly coughed a few times and pressed a fist against his lips to stop it. Then he coldly looked at Ruan Tian's face with an indecipherable expression. He reached out and touched her chin before saying in an odd tone that made it impossible to tell if he was joking or not: "I really want to kiss you again."
Ruan Tian's eyes widened. Damned psycho! ! !
But then Qin Yu turned and started to leave.
As he walked away, Ruan Tian didn't dare to move. Only when she saw that he had finally really scrammed away did her stiff body gradually relax.
—–
After that, the recording for the show went fairly smoothly.
Zhao Meng'er tried to stir up trouble a few more times, but never anything too big. She had already provoked a wave of resentment for herself, so she didn't dare to do anything too crazy again and she had decided that she would delay her plan to destroy Ruan Tian until after they all returned to China.
Then, on the fourth day of recording, Zhao Meng'er suddenly came down with a low-grade fever, and the program group ended filming ahead of schedule and hurriedly booked the earliest plane to send the guests back home so she could be taken to a hospital.
Fortunately, Zhao Meng'er had a strong body and recovered relatively quickly.
After staying in the hospital for seven days, she posted a selfie on Weibo: 【I finally feel alive again. In life, all sufferings will pass. 】
Her photo taken from the hospital made her look haggard and weak, so how could her fans not feel bad for her?
"MengMeng is suffering wuwuwu. We all love you MengMeng!"
"Ruan Tian, that poisonous woman, why did she have to vent all the grievances from her failed marriage and men who don't love her on you?"
"MengMeng, get well soon. Justice is on your side, so the heavens will surely help you recover."
"We all have to guard poor MengMeng!"
Meanwhile, Ruan Tian wondered if Zhao Menger's way of handling things like this was actually good? Shouldn't actresses like them rely on their own words to speak? ! Rather, wasn't it a big waste for her to use her ingenuity on these little crooked plots? Didn't she feel bad for her fans that she was using?
But after giving it another thought, she felt relieved.
Foolish people were blessed with foolishness.
Being a fool was also a kind of blessing.
Fools were probably happier anyway.
Then, on the day she returned to China, Ruan Tian was surprised to find Haui Mo waiting for her in front of her door.
Huai Mo was wearing a thin black sweater and he had waited in the corridor outside the door for more than two hours. As soon as he saw Ruan Tian, he went up and hugged her tightly, "Jiejie, I missed you so much."
In fact, it was true. When she was gone, he had felt a strange itching in his bones.
But he could only exercise restraint.
Ruan Tian was a little breathless from his hug, and asked: "How did you know that I would be back today?"
Of course, Haui Mo had used his connection to check her flight.
However, he gave an innocent smile that showed his two dimples and said: "I waited for you here every day. I even watched your livestreams, I really envy the guests who were with you."
He really envied them. Both for being able to be near her day and night, and also for being able to eat her cooking.
At the same time, after hugging Ruan Tian, Haui Mo felt a strange sense of calmness that he had never felt before in his life.
All the strange and violent elements in the body, the extreme thoughts, all of it, seemed to have been suppressed and annihilated.
Suddenly, he just wanted to hold her tight forever.
In the end, Ruan Tian invited him inside.
"Are you hungry?"
"Hungry."
"Then I'll cook a bowl of noodles for you."
But just as Ruan Tian was getting ready in the kitchen, Jiang Lili, who was still traveling abroad, called her phone.
Ruan Tian wiped her hands and picked up the phone, "What's up?"
Jiang Lili's tone was anxious, "You're on Weibo right now! Zhao Meng'er, that cheap woman, has made a post about you!"
Ruan Tian sighed. She had been cautious when she went on the program but, in the end, she had taken precautions against the wrong person.
Xu Jing hadn't tried to do anything against her at all.
Instead, it was this Zhao Meng'er, who had popped up out of nowhere, who was creating all sorts of troubles!
Ruan Tian covered the pot, wiped her hands, tapped her Weibo app, and checked to see what Jiang Lili was talking about. She found that Zhao Meng'er had written a long post about her.
To summarize, the post claimed that Zhao Meng'er had suffered terribly on set. She had been treated as a lackey by Ruan Tian, and she had been forced to do all sorts of random chores for Ruan Tian all the time while also suffering from cyber violence from Ruan Tian's fans. She wrote that the experience was painful, exhausting, and had her on the verge of depression.
After Ruan Tian finished reading the post, she was surprised. She really hadn't expected that Zhao Meng'er had such writing skills. The words she wrote were really moving and could almost bring a person to tears.
On top of that, the image of Ruan Tian as an unreasonable shrew had been portrayed very vividly.
Ruan Tian made a reply full of her sincere feelings under Zhao Meng'er's Weibo: 【This novel is well written. 】
Heh, whenever one more cheap woman showed up, that just meant there would be one more cheap woman cleaned up by her.
This TianBaby is super fierce, okay?!
Of course, the netizens on the sidelines only hoped that the two would go at each other even more fiercely.
And Zhao Meng'er didn't disappoint. She was an old hand in the industry, so she was very skillful at acting pitifully while simultaneously stirring up hatred for her opponent. She would just flow in, as smooth as water, and leave a few seemingly innocuous comments that would stir the pot even further before quietly withdrawing, confident in the knowledge that her fans and her PR team could handle the rest.
She was the only artist in her agent's hands so, naturally, all of her agent's attention and resources were devoted to her. On top of that, Zhao Meng'er's agent was a firm subscriber to the theory that "any publicity was good publicity".
In the agent's mind, publicity was publicity and smear jobs were also publicity. After all, what was the use of a good reputation? Could a good reputation be converted into fame or exchanged for resources? Obviously not! What's more, this time they were definitely on the winning end.
With that mentality, the agent spent a lot of money to buy water armies and sway over various entertainment bloggers to have them repost certain inflammatory articles written by paid marketing accounts.
Star Entertainment Gossip: 【According to people in the know about the recently filmed episodes of the variety show 'Gege and Jiejie's Journeys', there is a certain divorced artist who is very powerful, and who has quite the princess temper. According to our sources, the divorced artist found out that a certain other artist would also be participating in the show in advance and decided to dredge up their old contacts to squeeze themselves into the show. Even though this artist has an upright and straightforward persona in public, it turns out that they often bully other young actresses in private. We can all only feel pity for that anonymous young actress, after all, in this industry, people who have no backers can only be bullied. 】
Insider Entertainment Gossip: 【A small travel variety show has been generating heat thanks to two female guests that just couldn't get along. First, we have Ruan Tian, a woman who comes from a wealthy family and is accustomed to always acting in an arrogant and domineering manner. She's not a person who can stand to suffer even the tiniest bit. Everyone, just wait to hear what happened next! The other female guest was viciously suppressed, and her hard earned resources were smashed to nothing! 】
Is This Gossip?: 【Poor Zhao Meng'er is really miserable. She was suppressed on the show overtly and secretly, and even her spot as the heroine of the TV series she was auditioning for was snatched by Ruan Tian. Alas, I don't know how she will be able to survive in the industry anymore. 】
These marketing accounts were all only out to attract views and please the people paying for their headlines, and they didn't care about who was right or wrong at all. They only knew that they needed to do the job they were paid for.
Thus, thanks to this big wave that was riding on a paid smear campaign, Ruan Tian suddenly became a crazy divorced woman who used her few remaining contacts to act big and bully other artists.
And for her part, when Zhao Meng'er saw how things were trending online, she felt very satisfied.
It seemed that her money really hadn't been wasted this time!
In fact, her agent was a greasy middle-aged uncle who looked to be in his 40s or 50s, but his skills were the real deal. He was well-known in the industry because, with his contacts and connections, it was easy for him to smear any artist he pleased.
He had used this same tactic of first spreading rumors and then releasing a concentrated volley from all sorts of gossip news sites to destroy an artist's image many times in the past.
As he watched how things were progressing, he smiled greasily and said: "MengMeng, this time we've really managed to step on Ruan Tian. But you should know that you still can't take things lightly and let up now. You must continue to act pitiful and weak for your fans now and in the future episodes."
"Let everyone get used to seeing Ruan Tian as an evil and heartless woman until that image penetrates deep into their hearts, understood?"
Zhao Meng'er smiled sweetly, "Don't worry Brother Li, I know what to do. Last time Ruan Tian robbed me of the limelight, but this time I definitely won't let her step on my head again."
This 'Brother Li' was actually only working with Zhao Meng'er thanks to the backer behind her, so he had been a bit uncertain about their cooperation at first. However, after interacting with her for a while he found her quite to his tastes. He was fond of smart artists like this and felt that they were definitely the ones who would get ahead in the end. He said, "Don't worry, keep following my instructions and I will definitely lead you to fame."
Thus, the more than eight hundred marketing numbers in Brother Li's hands were all contacted en masse that night.
At the same time, Zhao Meng'er caused a fresh wave of heartbreak among her fans by sending out a selfie of herself with tears running down her face captioned with the words: 【I'm fine, just my eyes are a bit swollen.】
Of course, after she finished taking the selfie, Zhao Meng'er sneered contemptuously, dropped the bottle of eye drops she had used to apply the 'tears' into the trash, and then sat back to enjoy the comments.
"Seeing our MengMeng crying, my heart is broken into pieces. A fairy's tears are diamonds."
"Our MengMeng is so unlucky to have encountered the cancer of the entertainment industry, Ruan Tian."
"No wonder Ruan Tian's ex-husband couldn't stand her. What man would dare to stay with such a poisonous woman?"
"MengMeng looks so miserable after being bullied. I feel suffocated whenever I think that there are still five more episodes to be recorded. MengMeng, you must protect yourself and stay away from Ruan Tian."
"I think Ruan Tian is one of those. You know, the so-called 'psychologically twisted' people that experienced something bad and are now only out for revenge against society and who can't see the good in other people anymore."
Meanwhile, Ruan Tian, who was currently in the center of a storm of criticism and who was practically being roasted over an open fire, was unaware of any of this. After making her one post, she had put down her phone, put on an apron, and began making a bowl of beef noodles for Huai Mo.
Soon the dish was done. Light broth with thin-sliced marinated beef made up the stock while the noodles were cooked with a poached egg.
Ruan Tian brought the bowl of noodles out to Huai Mo and said, "Alright, come and have a taste."
When Huai Mo saw Ruan Tian's cooking, he strangely felt a sense of hunger for the first time in a long while.
In fact, no one had ever treated him so tenderly as Ruan Tian did.
He had grown up watching his parents acting constantly disgusted with each other and fighting one another.
He had received the strictest and harshest education.
He had even seen bloody scenes between his parents from a young age.
Because of all this, his twisted character had been formed since long ago.
He had never lived a single day like a 'normal person'.
Everyone feared him, avoided him, and regarded him as some sort of star of misfortune.
But in Ruan Tian's eyes, Huai Mo only saw gentleness.
In the end, he ate a whole bowl of noodles down to the last drop of soup.
He smiled, and deep inside he felt that he liked Ruan Tian even more.
Ruan Tian looked down and happened to see that there were bruises on his hands. Immediately, her mind jumped to the worst case scenario, and she asked: "Are you being bullied at school?"
Of course, no one would dare to bully Huai Mo.
Rather, the bruises on his hands were inflicted by himself when he lost control of his emotions and lashed out.
But he liked that Ruan Tian seemed to care about him.
It made him feel very good.
After a moment, Huai Mo meekly shook his head and said, "No."
Ruan Tian didn't believe him and thought that he was just too embarrassed to admit it, but she didn't press any further. Instead, she turned around and found some medicine from a first aid kit and deftly bandaged up his hands.
"You have a face that looks easy to bully, so if you are beaten you should just directly call the police. Don't just accept being hit."
Huai Mo made a low sound of agreement.
Ruan Tian continued: "Anyway, it's getting pretty late so I'll send you out now. Next time when you come to see me, be sure to call and tell me in advance, don't just stand in the corridor and wait for me."
After all, it was still very cold outside.
It was a really waste to let this beautiful little brother stand outside and freeze.
The smile at the edges of Huai Mo's lips disappeared. He didn't want to leave, but he couldn't think of any excuse to stay.
After going downstairs, the innocent expression on Huai Mo's face disappeared and his eyes turned cold and hazy.
The bodyguard watching over him felt a little puzzled. Usually, the young master would be in a good mood every time he saw Miss Ruan, so why was he making such an expression this time? Could it be that the young master's identity had been discovered?
The bodyguard had some curious thoughts, but he didn't dare to ask anything.
Huai Mo climbed into the back seat of the big black car, and his two jet-black eyes were like two chips of black ice. Suddenly, he spoke up: "I feel a little unhappy."
The bodyguard quietly lowered his head and waited for the young master's next words.
Huai Mo continued, "I think she just regards me as a younger brother."
The bodyguard began to sweat. Suddenly he didn't dare to tell the truth. After all, according to his observations, Miss Ruan seemed to just treat the young master as an ordinary friend.
But then Huai Mo suddenly smiled, "Well, I just have to let her know that I am also a man."
—
Ruan Tian rested at home for two days. During this time, Jiang Lili finally seemed willing to end her vacation and flew back from abroad.
Immediately after she got off the plane, she rushed over to Ruan Tian's place while still dragging her suitcase behind her.
Jiang Lili was quite upset this time. Her vacation had been going so well, but then Zhao Meng'er had totally ruined it during the last two days.
"That woman is really poisonous, but the 800 marketing accounts in her agent's hands are no joke. They can really point at a deer and call it a horse without even blinking. They really reverse black to white so skillfully."
Ruan Tian was a bit at a loss, "Are they so powerful?"
Jiang Lili reached over and flicked her forehead lightly. "Of course! If you're not careful, your career really might never recover from this."
Even though Jiang Lili was fretting and worried about the situation outside, Ruan Tian wasn't concerned at all. In fact, she still had the mind to think about random things, "Hey, tell me, do you think if that woman and Zhou Xiaoqiao met, who would come out on top?"
Because of Ruan Tian's random whim, Zhou Xiaoqiao was dragged into the topic.
Jiang Lili thought about Ruan Tian's question seriously for a second and then replied: "It should be Zhou Xiaoqiao. After all, she the type where when she makes a move she kills without a trace. What's more, her moves are all killing with a borrowed knife. I mean, just look at that pack of men who have all had their souls hooked away by Zhou Xiaoqiao. Zhao Meng'er still had a ways to go before she reaches that level."
Ruan Tian nodded. She felt what her friend said made sense.
In the field of acting as a white lotus, Zhou Xiaoqiao could be said to have reached the very pinnacle.
After all, even after so many years, she was the only one who had been able to get so close to Shen Shu.
Only with Zhou Xiaoqiao's unparalleled skills could the cold and noble Xu Jing or the violent and unruly young master Qin An be turned into gentle and considerate men.
Ruan Tian rested her chin on her hand and said with an excited expression: "Somehow, I really want to see a wonderful showdown between the two of them."
However, Jiang Lili splashed cold water on her dreams, "If the two of them met, they would probably end up teaming up to deal with you. If that happened, your life would indeed become 'wonderful'."
Ruan Tian: "…"
That evening, Ruan Tian sincerely invited Jiang Lili to stay the night in her apartment.
However, Jiang Lili just frowned and expressed her disgust for the tiny apartment while urging Ruan Tian to quickly move away.
Of course, Ruan Tian also wanted to move, but she really had no money.
She was flat broke.
More than just broke, she was in debt!
After all, back then, she had been defeated tragically after bringing her lawsuit against Qin Yu. In the end, she had failed to terminate her contract and she even had to pay a large amount to Qin Yu for liquidated damages.
It was a huge sum of ten million yuan! ! ! Sometimes she even wondered why Qin Yu hadn't just directly killed her back then? ! !
Thus, even until now, she was still repaying that money to Qin Yu.
—–
At the end of March, 'Obscurity', which Ruan Tian had recently finished working on, officially released its first trailer and announced that it would be screened in theaters at the end of June.
Twenty-four hours after the official blog released the trailer, the number of views reached over 50 million, and the director's name was climbing up the hot search.
At the request of the crew, Ruan Tian made a promotional post on Weibo: 【Hello everyone, I am Cha Cha. 】
And, who knew if something was misfiring in Qin An's brain or what, but he liked her post and even replied: 【Hello Cha Cha, Officer Cheng reporting!】(tl note: If you're confused, these should be the names of their characters in the movie I think)
Ruan Tian looked down at her phone coldly.
Ugh, Young Master Qin, have you already forgotten that your character shoots mine to death in the end! ! ?
But Qin An was always the type to just do whatever he wanted.
Of course, his response caused waves among the fans.
"Wow! Whether it's Qin Yu or Qin An, I'm fine with either CP. Sure enough, it's no loss either way!"
"This is my first time following a CP. You two, I beg you both, please get married tomorrow."
"So cool, so cool."
"Whichever one treats my big sister best, I will kowtow down and support that CP okay? hehehe."
This first trailer was only a minute and a half long.
In the trailer, Ruan Tian actually had twenty seconds of screen time where she stood out on the street in the pouring rain, her voice wavering somewhere between desperate laughter and tears.
In those twenty seconds, her beauty seemed overpowering.
Her eyes were rich with emotion, somehow at once crying and laughing, and just looking at them gripped many people in the audience's hearts.
It was an odd blend of an overbearing beauty who somehow exuded a child-like innocence, and it stunned the viewers.
A well-known film critic wrote: 【Ruan Tian's shots in the trailer shocked me. I never expected that she could act and emote so well. Considering she is a newcomer to film, her scenes are undoubtedly outstanding. Even while acting opposite of Movie Queen Li Dongxiang she doesn't seem inferior in the least. When this movie is released, I will definitely go and watch it.】
Of course, when Zhao Meng'er saw that Ruan Tian seemed to be showing signs of making a comeback in public opinion, she immediately couldn't sit still and once again began engaging in her little tricks to try to get her fans to start throwing dirty water again.
"You Ruan Tian fans, don't get too happy. Have you already forgotten that your Ruan Tian bullied Zhao Meng'er?"
"Ruan Tian probably didn't even have to act, right? Rather, that's her true character, ha ha ha."
"Any actress who has no virtue or morals like Ruan Tian doesn't deserve to survive in the entertainment industry."
—-
Meanwhile, the public relations manager at Qin Pictures had received a summons from the company president. A shiver ran up his spine as he slowly plodded toward the boss' office.
He couldn't understand why a big man like the president suddenly wanted to see him?
When he entered the office, Qin Yu was leaning back in his chair with a lazy expression. When he saw the manager had arrived, he spoke slowly with a faint tone: "If I hadn't seen Manager Liu come here just now, I would have thought that this company had no public relations department."
The manager was pouring cold sweat, "P-president Qin…"
Qin Yu's smile sank, and he tapped his pen against the desk. Each tap was like a hammer on Manager Liu's heart. Eventually, he said, "Ruan Tian's news, deal with it."
Manager Liu was taken aback, but he still responded: "Huh? Er, understood. Yes yes yes."
Although Manager Liu had enthusiastically agreed on the outside, in his heart, he was very confused. What was going on? Hadn't Ruan Tian and the president never gotten along? The two had even smashed a table that time!
If not for that incident, of course, the Qin Pictures' public relations department wouldn't have always been so hands-off when it came to Ruan Tian.
But Qin Yu didn't seem to be in a mood to explain. He just smiled coldly and said, "Get lost."
Manager Liu was very anxious to escape, so he was all too happy to oblige. After that, he returned to his department and quickly called an emergency meeting. Very soon, the professional PR department had come up with a plan for Ruan Tian.
Once they actually began to do their job, the strength of the Qin Pictures public relations department really couldn't be underestimated. They quickly coordinated with the legal department to privately send a series of emails to the marketing accounts creating rumors warning them to delete the things they posted. At the same time, they were quickly able to discover that it was actually Zhao Meng'er from Shui Entertainment who was behind everything from the start.
Manager Liu went back and reported this matter to President Qin in order to find out what the boss wanted him to do.
When Qin Yu learned what had happened, he 'kindly' made a call to the boss of Shui Entertainment. When the other party heard what was going on, he was shocked and enraged to discover that his little lover had suddenly poked a hornet's nest out of the blue.
He knew that his company wasn't even an ant in front of Qin Pictures.
And he knew that if he really made Qin Yu unhappy, there wouldn't be any place for him in this industry anymore and he would have no choice but to start eating the Northwest Wind. (tl note: i.e. not eating anything, cos he's broke)
Thus, he humbled like he was Qin Yu's grandson and sincerely apologized while pledging to never let anything like this happen again.
The minute after he hung up the phone, he rushed down to the artist department, kicked open the door of Zhao Meng'er's lounge, and viciously grabbed her by the hair and slapped her twice.
This man had always been a vulgar person, so his words and actions were equally crude. After slapping, he directly shouted: "Do you feel you are living too comfortably!? If you want to die, I won't stop you, but don't drag me down to die with you! The hell are you doing? Still poking out your nose and causing trouble everywhere!"
Zhao Meng'er, who had been suddenly beaten, confusedly covered her face and started to cry on the spot.
Meanwhile, the trainee actresses all crowded around the door to her lounge to watch the fun.
Zhao Meng'er could only cry and hiccup, but was completely unable to speak for a while.
The slaps had caused her face to hurt too much to speak.
Having been beaten in public and in front of her juniors like that, Zhao Meng'er felt like she really lost all face this time. However, no matter how mad she was, she could only swallow down her anger this time. Even though she hated Ruan Tian to death, she didn't dare to make another move.
She reluctantly went online and made a few posts suggesting for her fans to stop clashing with Ruan Tian.
Thus, because Zhao Meng'er was no longer fanning things from behind, the excitement began to calm down.
However, there was always a small number of people who were always online searching for more news.
One such person was one of Ruan Tian's fans, and they had managed to stumble across her old alternate Weibo account. It was an account that she had used mostly during high school.
On this account, there were more than a thousand posts.
And every post was related to Shen Shu.
The fan who discovered the account couldn't help but post:
【I found TianBaby's alternate account and have been looking at it all night. It's like a diary. I really feel sorry for her now, ah. 】
…
Ruan Tian's alternate Weibo account was called 'HelpMeCatchTheStars' and she had used it for a period of about five years.
She hadn't had many friends in her school days, so she had never had anyone to share the feelings in her heart with. In the end, this alternate Weibo account ended up as a sort of diary where she let out all her feelings.
At first, she had used the account a lot and had posted quite frequently. However, gradually, her updates slowed until she would only post once a week or so. It continued on like that until two years ago, around the time when she got married, and then the updates had ceased completely.
'HelpMeCatchTheStars' only followed Shen Shu's account, and had no followers, comments, or likes.
Of course, Ruan Tian had never posted any of her personal information that could have revealed her true identity on her alternate account, but in the end, one of her fans still managed to discover it.
Ruan Tian had once said on a variety show that she had always followed and admired stars, and she had been seen wearing many accessories related to stars.
Thus, this persistent fan investigated the Weibo of many famous female stars that Ruan Tian followed and checked out the fans of those blogs one by one. (tl note: I thought her alt account only followed Shen Shu? Maybe I'm mistranslating something here. Some internet detective stuff happened anyway.)
After four hours of looking the fan finally managed to find Ruan Tian's alternate account.
But after reading the more than a thousand posts made by the account, the little fan couldn't control her emotions and wept loudly against her desk. Suddenly, she felt very distressed for her TianBaby.
What a bitter love.
It was said that a secret love was the most bitter thing in the world.
But why was a love that was pursued so bravely and openly so bitter as well?
How could anyone not like a girl as good as their TianBaby?
Of course, whenever an idol's alternate Weibo account was discovered it would easily excite the curious netizens on the small forum where the fan had first posted.
1L: Has your house collapsed or something? Why don't you tell us what the account is? If you don't provide a link, I will say you are just making things up.
2L: OP, are you sure it's really Ruan Tian's alternate account and not just a fan pretending to be her? Also, why don't you share the link? This is a small forum so there aren't many people here anyway, it won't matter if you share.
OP: It's definitely her on this account. I think her mentality may have been shattered, ah, she really liked that person.
3L: OP, just give us a hint and we will go find it ourselves.
4L: I've already put my melon seeds away. OP, just delete this thread. It's meaningless to tease us like this.
…
89L: After we've discussed for so long, it seems that the OP already ran away. OP wasn't just making things up, right?
90L: +1
91L: +1
93L: I think I've figured out where it is. After following the OPs descriptions, looking at a few possible female celebrities and picking the most likely one, then searching through her fan list one by one, I've finally found what looks like Ruan Tian's alternate account.
94L: Poster above, you really found it? You're so powerful! But what is the account! ! !
The second person who had managed to find Ruan Tian's alternate account posted a screenshot of the account's Weibo homepage.
【 HelpMeCatchTheStars: The first time I saw him, I already started to like him – 2015/5/16. 】
【 HelpMeCatchTheStars: He ignored me – 2015/5/24】
【 HelpMeCatchTheStars: He made a speech on stage today as our year's top student. He wore a white dress shirt and neat suit pants, and his hair looked wavy and soft. Standing in the sunlight, he stood out brightly against the stage, shining like a star, so beautiful – 2015/6/6. 】
【 HelpMeCatchTheStars: I have decided, I'm going to chase him – 2015/6/14. 】
Social media could preserve a person's memories no matter how much time had passed.
Ruan Tian would never have guessed that one day her love for Shen Shu from back then would be dragged out and exposed to the world because of the posts she had made.
It was a young love, full of youthful sincerity and lingering affection.
From the old posts it was obvious that her eyes were always fixed on him alone, as if she didn't care about anything else in the world, but on the inside her heart was still sensitive and fragile.
She was like a shadow chasing the light.
But in the end, she would never catch Shen Shu.
He was always someone beyond the reach of her hands no matter how she stretched them out.
Her confession and pursuit back then was perhaps the bravest thing that Ruan Tian had ever done in this life.
She had endured the reprimands of her parents and teachers, the mocking glances of her classmates, all just in the desperate hope that she might be able to make Shen Shu take another glance.
At the same time, she had envied Zhou Xiaoqiao for not having to lift a finger but still being able to receive his pampering.
Every morning, she had watched Shen Shu ride his bicycle to the Zhou residence to take Zhou Xiaoqiao to school, but she could only walk the same road alone.
Sometimes she would feel very daring, and she would close her eyes and imagine that maybe one day the girl riding on the back seat of Shen Shu's bicycle would be her.
However, the days slowly went by, one by one.
In the end, none of her beautiful dreams were ever realized.
123L: Is this really Ruan Tian's account? My god, she's so humble.
124L: I'm rushing forward to take a look. I must fight hard to be on the front line of melon-eaters!
125L: More than a thousand Weibo posts? Reading through all this would take several hours. Why is Ruan Tian talking so much? Someone summarize!
126L: The mood of those of us onlookers who have come back after reading is a bit complicated. No wonder her fans feel distressed.
127L: I never knew Ruan Tian is so brave~ It seems that she really loved her ex-husband. The two were still high school classmates when she fell in love at first sight, then went on to marry, tsk tsk.
128L: My curiosity has been piqued, I will immediately rush to read
【 HelpMeCatchTheStars: I saved a huge sum of fifteen thousand yuan this time. I went to the mall first thing in the morning to line up and, using my short little legs, I managed to be the first to run in and buy his favorite sneakers. *happy twirl* – 2016/3/17. 】
【 HelpMeCatchTheStars: I gave the sneakers to him as a birthday present. Hmph, I then saw the box in the trash can. I've decided I won't like him anymore tomorrow, and I will only start liking him again the day after tomorrow – 2016/3/19 . 】
【 HelpMeCatchTheStars: Today he came to the door of our classroom to wait for Zhou Xiaoqiao and take her home after school. He stood outside the classroom and looked in the window and, for a moment, I could imagine that he was looking at me and waiting for me – 2016/4/1. 】
【 HelpMeCatchTheStars: It's really hard work to like him. Why would he refuse to help even though he obviously saw what was happening – 2016/4/12. 】
【 HelpMeCatchTheStars: I don't want to like him this month. I will forgive him next month. I am really angry this time – 2016/4/16. 】
【 HelpMeCatchTheStars: I'm learning how to knit. I'll make a scarf and give it to him when winter comes. My fingers hurt after being pricked by the needle – 2016/5/16.】
Ruan Tian's alternate account ended up exposing a lot of things. Especially when it suddenly when dark for two years after so much Shen Shu related content.
The final Weibo post happened on July 18, 2018.
It was a few short words.
Seeming to echo her miserable heart.
The words were:
Goodbye, my youth, my love.
The rest of the world was already on 5G, but Ruan Tian was still in the 2G era, so she never went online in her free time. Instead, she would watch movies or read scripts. Because of that, she was very surprised when her WeChat suddenly started going crazy. Several people all sent her messages asking some variant of: "Is that really your alternate account? ! !"
When Ruan Tian saw those messages, she began to have a bad feeling.
She quickly logged in to the alternate account she hadn't even thought of in years, and her bad feeling was confirmed.
From zero followers, the account now already had more than 10,000.
The number of views and interactions had been skyrocketing through the night and was still going up.
Ruan Tian was full of confusion. She had no idea how these netizens had discovered this old account. Were they all Holmes or something? Why did they have to dig out her old alternate account? Couldn't they just let a person live?
She briefly skimmed through her own posts from back then and began to feel a bit like vomiting.
Who didn't have a few embarrassing love stories from when they were young?!
Hadn't she already laid this stuff to rest? Why did those netizens have to dig it up and whip the corpse! ! !
Looking at her old posts was an embarrassing reminder for Ruan Tian that she had also strived to be a silly white lotus once.
Jiang Lili messaged her and asked her to delete the account quickly.
But Ruan Tian didn't agree.
There wasn't much point in deleting it now that things were already at this point.
Besides, she had the distinguished status as one of Weibo's annual fee-paying members, which meant that she could just hide the account for half a year without needing to delete it!
Ruan Tian thought for a long time. Eventually, she posted a terse response: 【You guys, don't dig anymore! Stop digging! My face is already gone. 】
Ah, this stuff was all from so long ago.
Damn it.
Netizens really had no heart.
—–
Shen Shu couldn't sleep at all that night.
Even after taking sleep aids, he still couldn't fall asleep.
His chest was tight, and there was a dull and slightly painful throb in his heart that made it impossible for his mood to settle down.
In the end, he got up from his bed in the dead of the night and walked over to the window to smoke two cigarettes one after another. His mind slowly became a bit more sober, and a faint scent of smoke filled the bedroom.
Shen Shu turned on his phone and began to read through those more than 1,000 Weibo posts again. His heart was full of discomfort, but somehow he felt he had to keep reading.
He was reminded of the day when his secretary finished gathering the information about Ruan Tian's childhood and handed them to him. Back then he had looked at the photos of the small and thin girl on the side of the road and felt a stabbing pain in his heart, but he had insisted on reading everything.
No matter how big or small it was, he had finished reading every bit.
Ruan Tian had been lost at the age of three and then abandoned by her adoptive parents at the age of five, and she stayed on the streets for a while until she was sent to an orphanage.
Shen Shu's fingertips gently touched the screen, his eyes were lowered, and his expression was difficult to distinguish.
【 HelpMeCatchTheStars: We are finally married. There is no wedding dress and no wedding, but even just the marriage certificate is better than a dream – 2018/5/19. 】
【 HelpMeCatchTheStars: Ah~ he still doesn't love me. – 2018/6/22. 】
【 HelpMeCatchTheStars: Goodbye, my youth, my love – 2018/7/18. 】
Shen Shu frowned, trying to remember what had happened on July 18th that year. It seemed to be just another irrelevant day in his memory.
'Ah.' He suddenly remembered something.
Ruan Tian had acted uncharacteristically that day and had called him many times.
Because their relationship had been founded on a dirty trick that involved drugs and culminated in forcing them to marry, Shen Shu had never been willing to answer her phone calls. He remembered that he even had a vague thought of taking revenge when he had hung up those calls one after another that day. An idea that he wanted to break her heart.
Shen Shu's instincts told him that something important must have happened that day, but he had no idea what it was.
At the same time, the sky outside his window was showing the faintest signs of growing lighter. Finally, at 4 a.m., Shen Shu dressed himself, got in his car, and drove out alone.
He still clearly remembered where Ruan Tian lived.
His black Hummer galloped along the empty early-morning streets and, within half an hour, Shen Shu arrived at the residential area where Ruan Tian was renting. He wanted to go in, but he realized the sky was still dark, so he sat in the car and impatiently waited for dawn.
A few hours later the Hummer's ashtray was full of cigarette butts, and Shen Shu was wreathed in a pungent and unpleasant smell of smoke.
Seeing that the sun had finally barely begun to rise, Shen Shu got out of the car. As he stepped out, the cool breeze dissipated the smell of smoke a little bit, and he raised his arm to look at his watch. He found that it was 7 a.m.
Shen Shu knew that Ruan Tian probably still hadn't woken up this early.
But he felt that really couldn't wait.
Shen Shu's head felt swollen and painful from the lack of sleep, and his chest felt tight and uncomfortable. Whenever he thought of that day the tightness would get worse until he felt breathless, so he felt he had to go now.
A moment later, he stood in front of the door to Ruan Tian's house, raised his hand, and knocked.
Three firm knocks.
Ruan Tian was sleeping soundly when a distant 'Thud' 'Thud' 'Thud' rang through her apartment and roused her from her slumber. She rolled over unhappily, covered her head with her quilt, and immediately went back to sleep.
However, the thudding sound didn't stop. Like a ghost that wouldn't let her go, it continued to echo in the apartment and nag at her ears.
Eventually, Ruan Tian couldn't bear it. She threw off her quilt, sat up irritably, put on her shoes, stalked over to the door, and then angrily yanked it open.
Shen Shu was standing outside. His face looked pale, as if he had come down with some serious illness, and he immediately said: "I have something to ask you."
Ruan Tian turned around to look at the clock on the wall. When she saw the time, she tightly shut her eyes for a moment before slowly opening them again.
She tried to endure, she really tired, but after a moment: "Are you crazy!"
"It's already seven in the morning." Shen Shu muttered.
"Is there no internet where you live? Couldn't you just use your phone and call or send a message?"
Ruan Tian was still wearing her pajamas. Her hair was disheveled hair and her face was red, so it was obvious at a glance that she had just woken up.
Shen Shu stared at her face and said, "You won't pick up my calls."
Ruan Tian's hands tightened into fists. She desperately used all of her willpower to restrain the urge to hit him and growled. "I was sleeping."
Shen Shu replied in a low voice, "Sorry."
Ruan Tian felt irritable, but she decided to stop arguing. She yawned and asked: "Anyway, what happened? What did you want to ask?"
Shen Shu fell silent for a moment before saying, "That day two years ago you called me so many times… what happened?"
This time it was Ruan Tian's turn to fall silent.
Her chaotic brain suddenly sobered up because of Shen Shu's words.
She lowered her head until her eyes were on her toes and she replied in a small voice that was almost a whisper, "Nothing happened."
Shen Shu slowly walked forward step by step. On normal days he seemed very mild and almost distant, but the aura exuding from his body right now seemed quite overbearing. He asked again, "What the hell happened?"
As she considered this odd change in Shen Shu, Ruan Tian finally managed to guess something.
"You saw my Weibo?"
"Yes."
Ah.
Suddenly she felt embarrassed.
Ruan Tian felt very uncomfortable. It was as if the contents of her heart had been laid bare and the embarrassing contents revealed. She scratched her head and muttered, "It was just some nonsense I wrote when I was young and ignorant, don't take it to heart. You should just forget it. I've already long forgotten."
Shen Shu spat out his next words one word at a time: "It's just some nonsense? You were young and ignorant?"
Ruan Tian, very good!
"Anyway, there's no reason for you to come here and ask questions and try to dig out exactly what happened two years ago. You didn't care back then, but now you come here acting like you care…" Ruan Tian paused, as if considering her next words carefully, "…doesn't it seem a bit… fake?"
Shen Shu suddenly felt he couldn't say anything.
It wasn't like he could force this point.
In the past, he had always assumed Ruan Tian would always love him. He had always been confident that she would never really leave.
He had taken for granted that her pure and sincere love, which seemed to have no bottom line, would never disappear.
But in the end, the little girl who had been chasing him for all that time had eventually stopped. She had said she would leave without looking back, and then she had done just that.
Even after all these years, Shen Shu could honestly say that he was pretty sure that he had never liked her.
However, when looking back, it seemed that the details of her existence had already been firmly ingrained in his mind.
While Shen Shu was distracted by his thoughts, Ruan Tian began to speak again. Her words were blunt. After all, she felt that there was no need to show any sort of hypocritical pretense in front of this man.
"Anyway, I'll send you off now." She gave a dry smile, "Actually, I don't want to see you at all."
Whenever she saw him, she was reminded of her past stupidity.
And the wounds that she had suffered.
Shen Shu's already pale face turned a shade more pale and his whole body stiffened, but in the end, he managed to maintain his composure and project a facsimile of his usual dignified appearance.
"Alright. I'm leaving now." He said stiffly.
Before she closed the door, Ruan Tian didn't forget to add, "Shen Shu, don't come here anymore."
"I haven't been picking up your calls, so I hope you understand that I really have no desire to return to you."
"You like my sister and not me, so having you calling and coming around really causes me a bit of distress."
"Last time I told you that our divorce was a good end for us, and those are my sincere feelings, I didn't lie."
Shen Shu's footsteps paused, and his throat seemed choked with a breath he couldn't spit out.
A faint and dull pain spread from his heart.
The indescribable sense of loss that had been following him lately seemed to grow deeper and deeper.
—
After Ruan Tian dismissed Shen Shu, she went back to her room and fell back asleep. She was still very tired after staying up so late playing games the night before.
It was only by clinging tightly to her last remaining shred of reason that she had been able to refrain from going to the kitchen and finding a shovel to kill the dog man who had disturbed her sleep.
Meanwhile, as Ruan Tian was falling back asleep, her fans were all coming out to comfort her online.
"TianBaby, in the future we can just be emotionless machines that don't feel love anymore. We can face the world like that together!"
"Mommy will find you some little fresh meats, okay? Is five too few? Maybe ten will be enough? Whatever, you can just spoil the obedient ones."
"Ah, TianBaby, the road to love is really bumpy."
"Big sister is so sincere and true to her feelings. It seems she really loved him."
"I really envy a girl like TianBaby who loves so bravely! I only dare to secretly have a crush in my heart but never dare to say it out."
"Big sister, I'll never support the CP with your ex-husband anymore. The world is big, and he's not worth it!"
By this time, Ruan Tian was considered to be one of the currently-small celebrities that were on the verge of blowing up, so the entertainment news had already begun to take note of her.
Also, the security in her small apartment complex wasn't very good, with people free to more or less come and go as they pleased.
Thus, pictures of the scene of Shen Shu driving away from the apartment appeared almost immediately.
In fact, Ruan Tian was still a small star, so these photos didn't come from professional paparazzi. Rather, they came from amazed residents of the apartment complex itself. One posted: 【I have never seen such a good car and such a handsome man in our complex before. 】
The attached photo was very clear, with both the car's license plate and Shen Shu's face captured.
No one recognized Shen Shu's identity at the beginning.
There was even a popular blogger who didn't recognize him at all and only regarded him as a pretty face who posted: 【So handsome! ! ! Big brother, come to me! ! ! I have already figured out how many children we should have! 】
But one after another, the fans began to recognize who it was. Wasn't that Ruan Tian's husband?
No, wasn't it Ruan Tian's ex-husband?
And, taking another look, wasn't that the apartment complex where Ruan Tian lived?
In fact, this apartment complex had already showed up on variety shows twice thanks to Ruan Tian so, even though it looked plain and common, the fans all had accurate memories and recognized it immediately.
"Wait, he was driving away early in the morning? So he stayed overnight at Ruan Tian's house? Those two got back together so soon? Were Ruan Tian's previous words just a fart!?"
"Broken mirror made whole / Big CEO chasing his wife / Ex-wife ran away with the bun… I'm on fire this time."
"Above poster, there are too many cliches in your story."
"You were born to be a literary magnate, quick, take my pen and write an ending for us all to see!"
However, since there were only photos of Shen Shu's car driving away, the netizens felt it was too early to conclude that the two had gotten back together.
All of a sudden, the rumors surrounding Ruan Tian and Shen Shu's became more confusing.
However, Ruan Tian's fans all refused to let the TianBaby in their hearts be ruined by Shen Shu again!
The fans were all online furiously posting refutations. What remarriage?! Reconciliation my ass!
Tell him to go to hell!
Some of the newer fans asked humbly: But what if Shen Shu had decided to be good to TianBaby in the future?
But the long time fans didn't calm down at all, they directly responded that, even then, he should still just go die!
Their TianBaby was a beautiful star who was shining in the entertainment industry just fine on her own.
Men were not important!
But there were also some people who were excited to hear these rumors and hoped that the remarriage was real. For instance, Xu Jing's fans were all overjoyed and saw this as an opportunity to finally get rid of Ruan Tian forever.
After all, if Ruan Tian were married, then the house that the TianxJing CP fans had built would collapse until even the beams were gone from this world!
Then their Big Brother Jing could finally be rid of Ruan Tian, this vixen that loved hooking up!
" ShenShu, Don't put on airs, hurry up and take back your ex-wife."
" RuanTian, Remarry! Remarry! Go back to being the petite little wife of the big man!"
Meanwhile, Ruan Tian, who was at the center of the storm, had just woken up and was preparing for a table read that was happening later in the day.
The script being discussed at the table read this time was for an ancient costume fantasy drama and, more importantly, she was going to be the heroine!
Ruan Tian could almost taste the fame in her future.
…
After a while, Ruan Tian got into a taxi to head toward the job location but then dozed off while riding in the car. She dreamed that Shen Shu appeared again, but this time he grabbed her by the throat and demanded to know what happened two years ago.
In fact, what happened back then wasn't something small, but also not something big.
Back then, she had missed her period for two months in a row so, thinking that something might be wrong with her body, she had anxiously gone to the hospital for an examination.
What she got in return was a piece of paper with one big glaring word: Pregnant.