After receiving that hospital report, Ruan Tian had been dumbfounded. It had shocked her that these sorts of dog blood drama-style plot twists kept cropping up between her and Shen Shu.
After the drugged one-night stand, there was suddenly a 'running away with the bun' element to the story.
Ruan Tian had been only twenty years old at the time, so she had been nervous and uncertain about what to do. After shutting herself in her room for half a month, she finally resolved that she would need to tell her nominal husband, Shen Shu, about the pregnancy.
After all, the child wasn't hers alone!
But on the day she managed to muster the resolve, she was coincidentally hit by a car as she was on her way to the company to find Shen Shu.
The driver hadn't been driving very fast, so she wasn't seriously injured and she didn't even feel much pain from the impact, but she had been knocked down and when she reached down to push herself up her hand touched blood on the ground. Seeing that, she was so frightened that she broke down and started crying on the spot.
The driver hurriedly got out of the car and tried to help her up and ask what happened.
Ruan Tian choked out through tears: "My child is gone!"
The driver made a decisive decision and quickly brought her into his car to help her to the hospital.
Ruan Tian cried until she was nearly out of tears and then, with shaking hands, she took out her phone and called Shen Shu time after time.
But the man was like a stone. He was cruel and callous and hung up every call personally as if to tell Ruan Tian that he was ignoring her on purpose.
Ruan Tian remembered that day clearly. She had been hung up on exactly one hundred and thirty nine times, not one more or one less.
While lying on the hospital bed, Ruan Tian felt that she had really become the heroine of a dog blood drama.
She had even thought hypocritically that she would definitely make Shen Shu cry because of this child.
But, in fact, it turned out she had just been thinking too much.
In the end, she had to wake up from her delusions.
After finding out what was going on, the doctor who received her in the emergency room was very speechless, and his face turned a little unpleasant. "What kind of nonsense is this? A little girl gets too scared, so she gets sent to the emergency room with barely a bruise? Are you going to take responsibility if the treatment for other people who actually need it is delayed?"
Ruan Tian couldn't do anything but cry. Eventually, she wiped away her tears and snot and looked up at him with red and swollen eyes to say: "I've had a miscarriage. My child is gone! He was already so big but now he's gone wuwuwu…"
The doctor's face had only gotten uglier and uglier as he listened, "What child? You didn't smash your head, did you? You're not pregnant!"
Ruan Tian's sobs froze, and she stared up at the doctor blankly. "But there was a lot of blood down there…"
The doctor's face continued to be very unpleasant, and he called over a nurse to quickly fill out the necessary paperwork so that Ruan Tian could be discharged. At the same time, he replied tersely: "Your period has arrived."
Ruan Tian had been very confused.
She had just frozen, uncertain whether to keep crying or to stop.
In the end, she was so sad that she couldn't help but want to keep crying.
After some time, she found out that the previous hospital had mixed things up and given her the results for a different woman who was actually pregnant and who happened to have the same name and surname as she did.
In hindsight, the whole experience really seemed a bit funny.
However, although chasing Shen Shu could have always easily been likened to smashing herself into a brick wall, from that day on Ruan Tian could finally be considered to have hit the wall hard enough that her head had cracked and began to bleed.
The feelings she had experienced that day, that kind of helplessness, that feeling of being deliberately abandoned, that feeling that she was surrounded by indifference, it had finally become too much to bear, too suffocating to endure.
She had the realization that if Shen Shu had even the slightest bit of feelings for her, he wouldn't have been willing to hang up on her so many times.
Eventually, back in the present, the taxi arrived and Ruan Tian slowly woke up with a head that felt swollen and painful. She blinked a few times and tried to shake off the sleepiness.
She barely managed to pull herself up to crawl out of the car.
Ruan Tian was wearing a baseball cap and a mask, and had covered herself up tightly to hide her identity. Once she got inside, she went to the lounge where the table read was taking place and took off her mask, revealing her palm-sized face.
One by one the other actors and actresses all began to arrive at the scene.
Ruan Tian recalled that the actor who was playing the male lead this time was called Shao Chengyue. His father was a well-known film director, and his mother was a noble lady from a well-known aristocratic family.
Ruan Tian didn't know if having him on the cast could be considered good or bad luck.
Originally this 'Destined Immortals' was just a web drama that was planned to be produced at a small cost. However, when Shao Chengyue was added to the cast, everything changed. There was a new round of investments that added 30 million yuan and the previous, inexperienced, director was replaced by an experienced director who had frequently worked in the genre.
Shao Chengyue looked very conventionally handsome. His clothes were all personally tailored limited edition brand-names, and he had sword-like eyebrows, eyes that sparkled like stars, a straight nose, dark pupils, and a fair complexion. He projected the frosty and distant aura unique to a noble son of heaven.
After Ruan Tian entered the room and took off her mask, Shao Chengyue glanced over at her indifferently and gave a slight nod. After that, there was no further communication.
However, Ruan Tian actually had a good impression of him because of this. After all, this man who was obviously born nobility didn't show any sort of obvious contempt. Instead, he just gave the feeling that any person in an ordinary colleague kind of relationship might. An attitude that screamed: 'We're cooperating for the moment, and afterwards we'll never see each other again.'
The screenwriter and director at the head of the table asked the actors to all introduce themselves to one another, and when that was done the table reading began.
The heroine in this script, who was going to be played by Ruan Tian, was a Junior Martial Sister who gets picked up by the male lead and then adopted into his sect. After some time, she secretly falls in love with her Senior Martial Brother, the male lead, and dreams that when she grows up she will be able to form a Daoist Couple with him and cultivate together.
However, it turns out she had a rare physique so, on the night of their marriage the male lead digs out her roots and ruins her foundation in order to help another woman reach the Golden Core stage smoothly. After that, she is abandoned while the male lead and that woman go off to fly together.
But even after her roots are dug out, the heroine luckily doesn't die.
She quietly escapes from the sect and begins to furiously cultivate alone.
After eating many hardships in the cultivation world, she finally manages to cultivate until she's at the edge of the God Transformation Stage and kills her way back into the sect. Once she fights her way through she corners the male lead, she points her sword at him with one question on her lips: Does he regret?
However, the male lead is still indifferent to her, and he only replies with two words: No regrets.
In the end, she can't bring herself to kill him and, after being seriously injured, she falls off a cliff. Then just when it seems to be the end for her, the male lead suddenly swoops in and saves her! From there it's revealed that this was all the male lead's desperate plan to let her survive a destined calamity.
In the last episode, the two of them reconcile and live out their days together in seclusion.
After reading the script for the first time, Ruan Tian actually felt very upset.
Why would her character forgive the male lead! ? Just because the things he did were 'for her own good'?
But didn't it hurt when he was digging out her spirit roots?
Didn't it hurt when her foundation was ruined?
This script was bullshit!
Ruan Tian really wanted to pull out her red pen and make a few choice edits!
What was the use of keeping this kind of male lead around? Instead of this garbage, the heroine should have just waited until he was just about to ascend to the God Transformation Stage and then ambushed him and destroyed his golden core so that he could have a little taste of what pain really meant.
Of course, these things could only happen in Ruan Tian's thoughts. In reality, the script had already been finalized and basically couldn't be changed.
On top of that, although this was her first role where she was nominally the heroine, she had to follow strict rules outside.
Basically, Shao Chengyue was number one and Ruan Tian was number two.
Ruan Tian had no opinion on this. She didn't want to fight for fame on the outside anyway.
Moreover, how could she dare to try to rob from Shao Chengyue?
Throughout the morning, they read through three major scenes in the script.
Of course, once Ruan Tian had a script in her hands she would devote all of her feelings to her role until she could practically regard herself as her character.
Because of that devotion, she knew all of her lines and her expressions were spot on. She was confident that even if she had to begin filming now there would be no problem.
And while they were going through the three scenes together, Ruan Tian felt Shao Chengyue taking a few extra glances in her direction.
At first, she thought that maybe there was something on her face, so she secretly took out her pocket mirror to check. However, she found that her face was clean and free from any problems.
After breaking for lunch at noon, the group reconvened to read more of the script.
In the end, they used the whole day and managed to get through six scenes and when the director saw that it was already 5 p.m., he went ahead and sent them all back.
After sitting around the table all day, Ruan Tian's waist was sore and she could hardly stand. Eventually, she managed to clamber up from her seat and then spent a while stretching before picking up her script and heading out to hail a taxi.
Meanwhile, Shao Chengyue was also feeling tired after working all day so he returned to the van prepared by his assistants to rest. Once he sat down inside, he casually said to an assistant, "Ruan Tian isn't as bad as I imagined she would be."
He could tell that her acting skills were pretty good and her line reads were all good as well.
On top of that, he had caught a glimpse of her script and seen the densely jotted notes that she had scrawled all over it.
It showed that she was putting in a lot of effort.
Thinking all this, the disgust Shao Chengyue felt in his heart for Ruan Tian receded a little bit. But, at the same time, he still had no plans to develop a friendship with the woman.
The assistant said: "It's too early to tell. You should wait until filming has officially started to see what she is like."
After all, most people on the outside world all labeled her as a trashy beauty with no skills and a strange temper.
Maybe it was just a coincidence that she had seemed normal today?
When Ruan Tian got home, she was surprised to see Shen Shu's car in her parking lot again. She really had never expected that Shen Shu could act like a stalker.
After all, in the past, she had only ever thought that Shen Shu was like bamboo, growing steadily upward, aloof from the world and arrogantly looking down on the masses, with a natural pride that would never allow him to bow his head.
She walked over to the parked car with an expressionless face, "Could it be that I didn't say it clearly enough this morning?"
But Shen Shu also had his own brand of stubbornness. He raised his eyes and retorted lightly: "Isn't this how you treated me when we were in high school?"
OMG
It was an absolutely lethal blow.
Ruan Tian really couldn't retort to these words.
After all, Shen Shu had also explicitly rejected her back then, hadn't he? He had treated every meeting with her like he was a meeting with a snake or a scorpion, and coldly told her again and again to stop appearing in front of him.
"Then, does this mean you want to chase me now?"
Back in high school, she had acted like that because she had been crazily chasing him.
So what was he doing now, don't tell her he was going to say he was doing the same thing! ?
Shen Shu pursed his lips and said, "I suddenly remembered that I forgot to ask you this morning, but did you receive your ring and necklace?"
Ruan Tian immediately blurted out thoughtlessly: "I received them, then I threw them away in the trash. They should have been burned by now, don't worry."
Shen Shu's face blanched and his eyes became slightly cold. His bloodless face made him look like an ill patient, and he found that he couldn't speak or make a sound, as if his throat were being blocked by something.
He raised his eyes and looked up at the woman in front of him. Her face was tender and pale, and her eyes were clear and calm as they met his own. Looking into those eyes, he felt his heart shudder.
But before he could say anything else, Ruan Tian turned on her heel and headed upstairs alone without caring about him anymore.
After a while, Ruan Tian peered out over her window sill and saw that the black Hummer downstairs had already gone.
—-
Thus, within one day, Ruan Tian and Shen Shu were photographed entering and leaving the same apartment complex twice.
Of course, this led others to make all sorts of guesses.
After all, it seemed normal for a rich couple to separate and then reunite.
Dozens of headlines featuring Ruan Tian and Shen Shu dominated the gossip news.
【Shocking news: The only heir of the powerful Shen family is suspected of reuniting with his ex-wife? 】
【Spring has come, and Ruan Tian's love has blossomed alongside. 】
【The rich and powerful husband secretly met his ex-wife for a whole day. True love is difficult to break. Is the divorce true or false? 】
When Qin Yu saw this, he personally called these gossip sites one after another to force them to withdraw the articles. At the same time, he sneered and screenshotted some of the articles before sending them to Ruan Tian.
Thus Ruan Tian, who had been busy cooking herself a bowl of noodles, came out of the kitchen with her bowl only to find out this strange news from Qin Yu's messages.
CrazyQin: 【 】 【 】 【 】
CrazyQin: Change your residence.
Ruan Tian leisurely filled her stomach with the noodles before replying: 【No money. 】
Besides, why was he even sending her articles from these rags?
Did Qin Yu like to read such things? How unrefined!
At the same time, her phone went silent.
Ruan Tian tutted. Just look at this.
Men were such creatures after all.
Just mention the word 'money' and they disappear faster than you can blink!
—
Zhao Meng'er had been withdrawn from the variety show she had been shooting with Ruan Tian because she angered her gold master and, because of this, a newcomer was going to be added to the show.
The second round of filming would soon begin.
Ruan Tian wasn't looking forward to it too much, since the novelty of the show had worn off somewhat.
However, this was actually the first time she would be appearing in front of the public after the whole alternate Weibo account incident, so there were many curious people waiting to see her. In the airport, the film crew all readied their cameras at the director's instructions and waited eagerly.
Back on the day when the matter of Ruan Tian's alternate Weibo account was on the hot search, all sorts of people had crawled out of the woodwork with increasingly more wild speculations and rumors.
【Ruan Tian has been crying at home for several days now. This incident had a great impact on her and the other people in the circle are only watching on like she's a joke. Because of this, she even tried to commit suicide but, fortunately, she was discovered in time and stopped. 】
Some people were even releasing this sort of "breaking news" as if they were sleeping next to Ruan Tian and knew everything that was going on.
【Ruan Tian has severe depression, it's confirmed.】
At first the netizens were skeptical, but after Ruan Tian let so many days go by silently without making any moves, they began to partially believe these wild rumors. In their minds, it slowly became a confirmed fact that Ruan Tian was so ashamed that she fell into depression. Their imaginations went into overdrive and the began to envision an emaciated woman contemplating suicide.
Zhao Meng'er, like many ordinary netizens, was also eagerly waiting for her to appear.
She felt that it would be great if Ruan Tian really did have depression! And it would be even better if she really committed suicide!
These days Zhao Meng'er was so excited that he couldn't sleep. Just the thought that Ruan Tian had been beaten down without any hope of ever getting up, that she was being spurned and humiliated everywhere, brought a smile to Zhao Meng'er's face.
So it was in these circumstances that the second episode of 'Gege and Jiejie's Journeys' began filming.
Everyone was looking forward to it with great anticipation in hopes of seeing a joke.
However, they were all shocked when Ruan Tian appeared on the live broadcast looking radiant and wearing a sweet smile as if nothing were wrong at all!
The Ruan Tian that appeared in front of the camera didn't show even the faintest shadow of depression. Looking at her, a person would think that her mood hadn't been affected at all.
She was as beautiful and lively as ever.
Ruan Tian could vaguely feel that the director and the program crew seemed to be paying special attention to her today. For some reason, the eyes of the crew kept surreptitiously shooting toward her face, while the director openly scanned her up and down. Eventually, the director pulled her aside and whispered: "Ms. Ruan, are you okay?"
Ruan Tian, who suddenly had someone acting concerned about her, acted flattered on the outside while feeling confused on the inside, "I'm alright, why? Is something the matter?"
After the director was sure she wasn't just putting up a strong front he felt relieved and he muttered a reply: "Hmph, the netizens have been saying you have depression. I almost believed it."
Ruan Tian was surprised. Although it was true she had felt a little sad when her alternate account had been dragged out like that, it was far from the level of depression. Did people think it was really such a big deal to her?
She waved her hand dismissively and then made an 'ok' gesture while saying, "Don't worry about me, it was just a small issue."
As the stars began to board the plane, the film crew shut down the live broadcast as usual.
But even though the broadcast was coming to a close, the netizens continued to chatter wildly.
"I'd better quit the internet to protect my IQ. This time I really believed some random gossip accounts."
"I have discovered that the things posted about Ruan Tian online are not accurate at all. I'm speechless."
"Tian Tian was really beautiful today. I think it's a new height of beauty for her hehe. Hey, is she still even human? Are we sure she isn't just a little fairy who has come to play in the mortal realm~"
Who knows if maybe the funding for the show was bigger this time or something, but they had managed to book all of their guests in business class with adjacent seats instead of economy. Coincidentally, Ruan Tian and Xu Jing ended up sitting next to each other.
However, this time, Ruan Tian had come prepared. She had gone ahead and downloaded two movies to her phone ahead of time with the plan to watch them during the five-hour flight.
Thus, after sitting down, she quickly propped her phone up on the seat tray, put on her hat, adjusted her seat back as far as it would go, and then languidly nestled down to watch the movie.
But, in truth, Ruan Tian had just randomly downloaded these two movies from an annual top ten list, so she was shocked when the movie started playing and she found that the star of the movie was actually sitting next to her: it was Xu Jing. The movie seemed to be the big crime thriller that had helped propel him to fame.
In the end, Ruan Tian just attentively watched the movie and didn't communicate with the people around her at all.
Because of this, naturally, she had no idea that Xu Jing's gaze kept straying to her face and lingering there several times over the course of the flight.
As it happened, there were actually many star chasing little sisters in business class with the guests of the show this time. Most of them were Xu Jing's fans who had managed to buy information about what flight he would be on and then found scalpers to buy tickets from so that they could ride on the same flight with him.
And, by coincidence, one of these 'little sisters' had managed to secure a seat diagonally behind the two stars that was close enough for her to secretly take two photos of them during the flight.
Both photos captured Xu Jing looking at Ruan Tian with faint, almost wistful eyes, while Ruan Tian was completely buried in her movie and not communicating with him at all.
Of course, the photo-taker didn't dare to post these photos that were taken inside the plane's cabin to her personal Weibo. She knew that if she posted them under her own name, she would definitely be chased and abused online by the fans of the two stars.
Thus, she waited patiently until the plane landed and she finally found a net connection. After that, she couldn't wait to jump on the forums and post her two photos anonymously with the caption:
【It seems the TianxJing CP got divorced today. 】
1L: Photos from inside the plane? Where did these come from? Which little sister isn't afraid of the law? This can be regarded as stalking you know.
2L: Tsk, this cold and alienated appearance, just looking at it you can tell that there's nothing between the two of them.
3L: I feel that Tian Tian's CP changes every day.
4L: One day she divorces because of disputes over property, then the next day she finds true love? This CP was always too good to be true.
5L: These photos are really sweet~ Xu Jing stares at her longingly from the side with a deep affection that can't be conveyed with words. If this isn't true love, what is?
6L: Xu Jing's face is cold but his eyes are affectionate. Doesn't he look jealous that Ruan Tian is just watching a movie and not caring about him at all? It's just like the common 'doting man feeling jealous' scene often seen in dramas.
7L: Some people here have been brainwashed. A picture of two people who are obviously unfamiliar with one another can even be interpreted as true love.
In the photos, the screen of Ruan Tian's phone on top of the small seat tray was also in the picture so everyone could see that Ruan Tian was watching a movie starring Xu Jing.
The onlookers on the forum were going wild and had already dreamed up an elaborate scenario where a doting Xu Jing was being ignored by Ruan Tian and feeling jealous.
Meanwhile, the little sister who had posted the pictures in the first place was feeling very speechless as she saw all these crazy ideas dreamed up by the netizens.
She was the one who was on the plane, so she saw it better than anyone else!
Xu Jing never paid any attention to Ruan Tian from beginning to end, okay? He just happened to take a few glances in her direction!
The second episode of 'Gege and Jiejie's Journeys' was being recorded in a small country in Northern Europe. When they arrived the weather was good and the sky was clear.
Without Zhao Meng'er there to stir things up, the five guests got along harmoniously after getting off the plane and all agreed to take a taxi to their lodgings.
The rules for this episode were also a little different from the rules of the previous episode.
This time the program crew had rented them a Chinese-style teahouse that was on the verge of shutting down, and the challenge was for them to bring in more than a hundred guests within three days while also achieving a profit of at least one thousand euros.
Among the five guests, only Ruan Tian was a woman, and she was also the only one who could cook.
Thus, after the director finished reading the rules to them, the eyes of the four male guests all turned to her in unison.
Ruan Tian: "…"
The director quickly coughed and said: "There's actually already a chef in the teahouse, so you all only need to focus on bringing in guests and decorating the interior."
Ruan Tian's eyes roamed around the room as he spoke and seriously inspected the interior of the teahouse. Currently, it was laid out with an odd combination of Chinese and Western styles which gave off an awkward feeling. She felt that rearranging it so the style was more cohesive and pleasing to the eye wouldn't be too difficult.
Ruan Tian had done all kinds of work before, including working part time for an interior design shop and learning bamboo weaving from a kind old grandpa at the orphanage.
After some consideration, Ruan Tian said to Xu Jing: "Hm, how about you go to the door and receive guests and I will re-do the decorations in here?" (tl note: The words she uses could be a euphemistic "receiving guests")
Xu Jing swept his frosty gaze over toward Ruan Tian and she wilted immediately.
She quickly corrected, "Tsk, it was just a slip of the tongue. Why don't you go invite guests into the restaurant?"
Xu Jing's eyes swept over her thin arms and legs and he raised an eyebrow questioningly, "Can you even move the tables and chairs?"
"Yes. "
"Are you sure you won't need any help?"
"I'll be fine, just focus on using your beauty to attract more customers."
Xu Jing didn't speak, but his eyes seemed to say: Isn't this girl overestimating herself? He seemed to have no trust at all in her ability to do this kind of manual labor.
However, he could also see that her eyes were very firm, so he didn't bother saying anything more. He thought that whenever she couldn't stand it anymore, she would naturally come and find him for help.
After dividing up the labor force thus, Ruan Tian knew she would need to use tonight to replace all of the Western-style chairs in the teahouse. In order to replace them, she wandered the market for half a day trying to find some bamboo furniture, but in the end, she couldn't find any at all. Eventually, she just gave up and bought some pieces of bamboo and resolved to fashion the furniture herself.
She had learned this craft from the gatekeeper at her old orphanage. The other children at the orphanage never had her patience so, in the end, she was the only one who had stuck through to inherit his skills.
From her experience, so long as she worked fast, she would be able to make four chairs a day.
The program crew and the other guests all watched with curious expressions when she came back from the market with a bunch of pieces of bamboo. Eventually, the cold-faced Xu Jing asked, "What are you planning to do with all that?"
Ruan Tian casually replied: "The chairs in the teashop are no good, they're too western and don't match the rest of the decor, so I need to make some new chairs."
But looking at everyone's faces…
No one believed her!
These kinds of craftsmanship skills that only existed in legends, how could they be found so easily in a little girl! ?
Xu Jing just thought she was being whimsical.
Most of the viewers in the chatroom were a bunch of city kids as well, so they hadn't even seen a traditional bamboo chair before, much less thought of making one. In their eyes, making a bamboo chair might as well be as difficult as directly ascending to the heavens!
"Holy shit, she's bragging again?"
"She said she would make bamboo furniture like it was as simple as eating or drinking. Is it really so easy? Can someone who understands comment?"
"What is this Ruan Tian trying to do? Is she deliberately saying random nonsense to try to drum up heat for herself?"
Meanwhile, Ruan Tian had finished looking around and determined that the teahouse would need eight bamboo chairs. Thus, she was preparing to work hard through the night to get them all done.
She went to the backyard, found a small bench, sat down, tied her hair back, set a piece of clean cloth on her knee, then lowered her head and concentrated on her weaving.
At the same time, a cameraman set himself up directly opposite of Ruan Tian. Whenever she finished, that was when the live broadcast would also finish.
Ruan Tian's fingers were flexible and her movements were flowing and neat. She seemed to really know what she was doing.
It only took two hours before Ruan Tian finished making the first brand new bamboo chair.
The director was taken aback when he saw Ruan Tian actually build a chair. He walked over and ran a hand over the bamboo chair to check it out. He was shocked. Ruan Tian hadn't even used a single nail, but the chair had been completed so smoothly? On top of that, didn't it look and feel very sturdy?
The director gave her a thumbs up, "Teacher Ruan, I didn't expect you to be so skillful."
Ruan Tian narrowed her eyes and replied with a smile, "Heh, this is still the simplest kind. If we weren't so pressed for time I could show you the deluxe plus version."
The director laughed dryly, only thinking that this Ruan Tian could really joke around.
Ruan Tian continued to work silently. As she worked, her fingers were rubbed red and her palms began to throb painfully. However, she ignored the pain and continued to work steadily.
From 3 p.m. that afternoon until 5 a.m. of the morning of the next day, Ruan Tian worked without rest. By the end of it, her eyes were red and swollen and she was continuously yawning.
Finally, she finished weaving the last bamboo chair. After that, she barely managed to drag herself upright and began to put the chairs into the teahouse one by one. Once she finished, she was so tired that her eyes were barely open, but she still remembered to say a few words to her colleagues on the camera crew who had stayed up late to accompany her: "Thank you all. Anyway, I'm going to bed now."
Ruan Tian went to her room, kicked off her shoes, and directly dropped onto the bed.
—
When Xu Jing came out that morning and saw all the brand-new chairs, he could hardly believe his eyes. Did Ruan Tian really make these?
For some reason, Xu Jing was suddenly reminded of high school.
Back then, they had all been studying in their aristocratic high school peacefully when, one day, Ruan Tian had appeared and begun sticking out like a sore thumb.
She had gone around collecting the old plastic bottles that the other students didn't want and stuffed them into a big nylon bag. Then, after classes ended on Fridays, she would heft the big bag on her shoulders and take them away to sell them all together. Also, her seat had always been by the window, and the window sill near her seat had always been lined with some weird handmade crafts of hers.
Xu Jing remembered bumping into her when she was working at a milk tea shop, then again at the convenience store, and again at a pet shop, a restaurant, an internet cafe, etc… Back then she had always gone around wearing simple and loose clothes with her head drooping from exhaustion, her hair tied back, always looking sweaty and tired.
It was as if she was very short of money and had no choice but to work everywhere to earn.
Xu Jing had always been puzzled whenever he saw that. He knew that the Zhou family definitely wouldn't let Ruan Tian go without food and drink and that they also gave her pocket money.
Thus, he had always maliciously speculated that it was all just an act. He had concluded that she was just pretending to be pitiful and hardworking to attract Shen Shu's attention and win sympathy from the people around her.
Back in the present, once the guests began waking up and getting out of bed for the day, the live broadcast resumed.
The number of viewers had soared from two million during the last episode to four million now.
"I just woke up, did I miss any exciting events?"
"I am typing with my eyes almost closed right now. I'm so sleepy. Ruan Tian is really a vicious woman. Because of her, I stayed up all night last night watching her making chairs!"
"****! How is that woman so capable? Compared with her, aren't I basically a cripple?"
"So she really had the skills? She wasn't just bragging?"
"I watched it all, but I'm still confused. She must be an ancient girl who fell into the modern era."
The number of people in the chatroom kept climbing and climbing. At the same time, the program group had decided to take advantage of the trend and push the 'TianxJing CP' that was so popular with the netizens in an effort to rake in even more viewers.
At the same time, editing masters from among the masses had emerged and were gradually producing various materials based on the show. These video editors didn't care about the content of the show at all, they just cut out all the frames of video that contained both Ruan Tian and Xu Jing, strung them together, threw in a Japanese love song in as BGM, and produced "proof" of the TianxJing CP.
In fact, this sort of thing was quite normal. The netizens would often pull out a CP among the guests whenever there was such a popular variety show.
Like this, the second episode of 'Gege and Jiejie's Journeys' was being pushed to the peak of popularity and set off a ratings frenzy. The executives behind the show couldn't stop themselves from grinning when they saw this news. After all, the station hadn't had any expectations for this show, but now it was on fire!
The executives had all assumed that 'Gege and Jiejie's Journeys' would end up just like most other variety shows and quietly fade into obscurity, and there would be no need to do any follow-up after releasing the episodes.
But who could have expected the show would get so big? And while it was still only on the second episode?
Seeing the show get so popular, the number of sponsors even jumped from one to five.
The executives were nearly superstitious at this point, thinking this was all Ruan Tian's luck, and they began to try to think of ways to broadcast more shows featuring Ruan Tian. After all, although this level of popularity was still a far cry from those massive megastars, it was definitely a good amount.
As for Ruan Tian herself, she didn't even get up again until 2 p.m. that afternoon, and she only woke up because of hunger. She pulled herself out of bed while still feeling groggy and sleepy.
After stumbling into the kitchen Ruan Tian found some food leftover from this morning's breakfast that she put into the microwave to heat up. After throwing in some random condiments to make it more to her tastes, she quickly ate all of the food and finally felt a bit full.
Ruan Tian stayed in the kitchen for a little while after that until she felt she had fully woken up, and then she began to work again. She went around and replaced some of the Western-style decorations of the walls with some traditional Chinese nature paintings. Once she was done, the teahouse almost seemed completely new, with a whole different temperament and style when compared to before.
It now looked a little more like an authentic Chinese teahouse.
There were a few more guests in the teahouse today compared to the day before.
Xu Jing was outside the door "advertising" by standing motionless at the door and treasuring his words like gold as usual. It seemed that he couldn't put down his noble young master temperament to do this kind of work at all.
Ruan Tian couldn't bear to see Xu Jing acting this way. After all, she wanted to bring in more guests! ! !
Therefore, she went up and patted Xu Jing on the shoulder, "You… can you open that golden mouth of yours?"
Xu Jing just frowned and said nothing.
Just then, a foreign person happened to arrive, and Ruan Tian got excited thinking that it was a customer.
However, the result was: the other party had lost their wallet and wanted to ask to borrow ten euros.
Xu Jing agreed, but just as he took his wallet out of his pocket, the other person suddenly stretched out his hand and vigorously snatched the wallet away before turning on his heel and sprinting away.
Ruan Tian and Xu Jing both froze for a second, but then started chasing in unison.
Unfortunately, the thief ran fast and was very familiar with the local roads, so they soon nearly lost sight of him. Ruan Tian reached up and tugged Xu Jing's arm before saying, "Let's call the police."
Xu Jing was in a bad mood and he shook his arm to throw her hand off before, between panted breaths, saying coldly: "That wallet is very important to me."
In the few seconds while they were stopped, the thief ran even further away.
Ruan Tian narrowed her eyes, then gritted her teeth and ran after the thief again.
After that, she didn't know how long she chased him for. Her eyes were fixed on the foreign man in front of her until she could hardly see the rest of the world, and she kept running even as her breaths became heavy and her lungs began to sting. Before long, she could taste copper in her throat and her chest felt like she was suffocating, but her feet never stopped.
This time she was really convinced. This thief was definitely something.
She chased, chased, and ****ing chased some more.
She felt that if she kept running like this, she might run all the way to her death.
But in the end, the thief finally couldn't run anymore and collapsed on the side of the road. Seeing that, Ruan Tian pounced forward and pressed a knee on his neck. Then, panting, she spat: "Give the wallet to this grandma here!"
The thief cried out and then quickly returned the wallet.
But Ruan Tian didn't let up there. She quickly called the local police and then stayed there pressing down on the thief's throat until the police arrived. She frowned.
She was…
just too…
damned soft-hearted!
After all, she knew that everyone had things that were important to them. Whether it was a memento left by a loved one or a meaningful photo or whatever, everyone had something.
Thus, even if it was Xu Jing, one of the people she hated, she couldn't just let him lose such a thing in front of her.
When in a foreign country they, fellow countrymen, should unite, set aside their prejudices, and help each other!
Seeing how anxious and upset Xu Jing had been, this wallet probably contained a very important photo. In all likelihood, it would be a photo of the person Xu Jing had a crush on. Probably it was a hard won and rare photo that he had only acquired after much difficulty.
Ruan Tian understood everything clearly. She sighed. Who let her be so nice?
After that, she began to walk back. After walking for over ten minutes, Ruan Tian finally saw the teahouse in the distance and her hand unconsciously loosened. The wallet slipped out of her fingers and fell on the ground, where it flipped open.
When she looked down at the now open wallet, she saw there was indeed a picture inside.
It was a big group photo Zhou Xiaoqiao and them had taken after graduating from high school.
Shen Shu and Xu Jing were standing on either side of Zhou Xiaoqiao while Qin Yu was standing a little further out. The sun was shining and the breeze was just right to ruffle their hair in a picture-perfect way.
It was the perfect encapsulation of a certain Mary Su.
You could also say that it was the heroine and her heroes.
A certain thought crossed Ruan Tian's mind: What a fool~
****, what a pain.
Ruan Tian finally went back and returned the wallet to Xu Jing with a sullen expression. After running for so long, she really had no energy and no mood to talk to him.
However, Xu Jing caught her by the arm and said, "I'm sorry."
Ruan Tian's face remained expressionless.
Xu Jing was sincere in his apology. He hadn't meant to throw her hand off so roughly back then, he had just been too anxious.
"It was my mistake just now. Are you alright?"
Ruan Tian almost wanted to say that she wasn't alright at all. She had just suffered a heavy blow just now, both physically and mentally.
To think another photo of Zhou Xiaoqiao's would unexpectedly cast such a shadow.
It turned out men were all the same.
Shen Shu had also been very fierce with her because of a photo of Zhou Xiaoqiao.
The situation was so similar. Was it fate?
Fortunately, she didn't care about any of this anymore!
Ruan Tian silently pulled her arm out of his and said seriously: "I'm fine, don't mention it, it's annoying."
Meanwhile, seeing Ruan Tian chase a thief had the netizens very excited. The film crew only managed to follow halfway before the two running people were just two blurry figures in the distance. But then the cameraman had run quickly to catch up and finally managed to film the heroic scene of Ruan Tian pressing the opponent to the ground by his throat.
This small episode raised the show's popularity to new heights.
"This is amazing. Ruan Tian is really a blessing as a variety star."
"No way. I just want to laugh when I see her now hahahahaha."
"She's really too terrible to offend. She just suddenly sprinted off along so many different roads. Her look when she's chasing down her prey really scares me to death."
"Too strong, too strong, I really worship her now."
"Thanks to Sister Tian Tian I see hope for the TianxJing CP again. The Big Brother lost his wallet and the pretty sister must help him get it back at all costs, isn't this love?!"
However, Ruan Tian's current mood was: regret, regret, and more regret.
But, as it turned out, the way she chased down the thief ended up on the local news and, as a result, there were many more customers in the teahouse the next day. Thanks to that, Ruan Tian was too busy tending to the guests to think about anything else for a while.
Thus, three days later, the teahouse had miraculously achieved a great amount of profit and even exceeded the goal set by the program group at the beginning.
The number of people in the live broadcast room had also finally stabilized, and all the regular viewers were watching with excitement to see what new surprises Ruan Tian could bring.
On the last day of filming, the program group opened up the channel for donations and announced that all the money raised from the stream would be donated to domestic charities.
Xu Jing's fans quickly swept in and set off rockets one after another as if they didn't need money, quickly securing the top spot on the donor list.
Not to be outdone, the CP Fans also began to donate until they also occupied a spot in the top ten.
Suddenly, a familiar user appeared in the live broadcast room.
" QinPicturesOfficial sent a sports car."
" QinPicturesOfficial sent a flying sword."
" QinPicturesOfficial sent a plane."
The Qin Pictures official Weibo continued to donate for half an hour straight until they firmly and unshakably occupied the top spot on the list.
Some fans calculated it and found that the amount donated exceeded one million.
"Is this the legendary 'king showing his sovereignty'?"
"The person behind the account just now was the president himself, right? Using company assets for private use?!"
"Even President Qin couldn't sit still anymore and came out to declare his sovereignty. It seems that our TianxJing CP must be real!
"23333333, Qin Pictures really pulls out all the stops to hype the artists under its banner, huh?"
Once filming was done, the program group and the guests all took the last flight of the day back to China.
Ruan Tian continued to ignore Xu Jing to the best of her abilities, lamenting the fact that this feeling of being deeply humiliated by her own stupidity was really uncomfortable to experience.
In an uncharacteristic move, Xu Jing sent his agent over to ask Ruan Tian if she wanted to upgrade to first class.
Ruan Tian snorted and told the agent to get lost.
After finally getting off the plane, she flagged down a taxi and headed home.
However, when she opened the door to her apartment, Ruan Tian was shocked to find that it looked as if a horde of locusts had descended inside and taken everything away. Her first thought was that she had been robbed.
Her second thought was that the person who robbed her was definitely Qin Yu.
He had asked her to move last week, but she hadn't agreed.
And, according to her understanding of Qin Yu's temperament, it would be impossible for him to nicely help her move, but he could definitely make a move like this.
But just when Ruan Tian was about to take out her phone to call Qin Yu, the lights suddenly snapped on.
Mother Zhou stood in front of her, and she said in an uncomfortable tone like she had a headache, "Ruan Tian."
"You should move back home."
"Your sister has been so worried about you that she can't eat or sleep, and she's lost a lot of weight already."
"You've already made so much trouble, what else do you want?"
"Back when you snatched Shen Shu from your sister, she never blamed you for it, right? So why must you be so petty with her now?"
Ruan Tian suddenly felt like she might be the most even-tempered person in the world.
Without letting her expression waver an iota, she calmly and composedly took out her phone, dialed a certain number that was engraved in her heart, and then pressed the speakerphone button…
After a few rings, there was the sound of the call connecting, and a man's low and hoarse voice came over the line: "Ruan Tian, why would you call me?"
Ruan Tian's face was flat and expressionless and she asked, "Shen Shu, would you say that I snatched you from Zhou Xiaoqiao?"
"No, I never had anything to do with her."
"Would you say we divorced because of Zhou Xiaoqiao?"
"No."
After getting the answers she wanted, Ruan Tian hung up without another word and stared at Mother Zhou flatly. She said in a bored voice, "If Zhou Xiaoqiao wants to create drama by herself, that's her business, but it's useless for you to ask me to go back to that house."
Zhou Xiaoqiao, the drama queen.
It seemed she still wanted to trick Ruan Tian back into her clutches so she could bully her some more.
What a good dream! But it would never be a reality.
However, even while she was thinking so, Ruan Tian was also feeling very surprised inside by Shen Shu's flat denials over the phone just now.
Mother Zhou had a difficult time when giving birth to her two daughters. The older daughter had come out smoothly but while giving birth to the younger one Mother Zhou had begun to bleed and nearly lost her life. (tl note: I guess they're twins after all, just ZXQ is 'older' by a couple of minutes)
And then after that, when Ruan Tian had been kidnapped by traffickers and sold away when she was three, Mother Zhou's mother-in-law began treating her very coldly for losing the child. It was only when her mother-in-law finally passed away and there was no one left to oppress her in the house that Mother Zhou felt she could breathe again.
Perhaps these memories were the reason she could so naturally become angry with her younger daughter and push her unreasonable expectations on her. As if she were always asking why the girl couldn't just stay at home obediently? Why couldn't she just learn to be a little smarter?
At the same time, Mother Zhou always had nothing but love and compassion for her elder daughter. After all, Zhou Xiaoqiao had always had a good temper and had been obedient and sensible since she was a small child. She was such a good child, but she was also born with a sickly constitution which caused her to have to take many medicines and undergo many operations which cause Mother Zhou to have to always stick by her side. Always looking after her like this, Mother Zhou naturally developed a partiality to her elder daughter.
So now when Mother Zhou saw Ruan Tian call Shen Shu up and say things out so plainly like that, it caused her to practically tremble with anger.
In the past, Mother Zhou's reaction might have made Ruan Tian sad, but by now she could calmly accept the woman's prejudice. Ever since the day she had moved out, she had no more expectations for the Zhou family.
She knew that there were some things in life that couldn't be forced.
Life was like that, ah. Who could be blamed? Why was her lot so humble~
"Please go back." Ruan Tian calmly opened the door, "When you look at me you feel annoyed, and when I look at you I feel irritated, so why should we bother each other?"
The Ruan Tian in Mother Zhou's memories was a quiet girl who didn't talk much, a girl so silent that she barely had any sense of existence.
However, in the past, Mother Zhou had been able to feel that Ruan Tian had always looked at her with a certain eagerness. It had been the familiar look of a daughter looking for her mother's warmth and embrace.
Back then, she had never imagined that such a girl would ever speak to her in such a cold tone, but the reality was before her. She didn't know when it happened, but at some point, things had changed.
It seemed that Ruan Tian really had no plans to return home. Probably, if Mother Zhou hadn't come to find her first, the girl would have just kept treating herself as someone not from the Zhou family, maybe forever.
"Huh, first you were angry with your sister, but now you're angry with me?" Mother Zhou's legs suddenly felt weak, and she took an uncertain step backward before barely managing to keep her feet by grabbing a nearby chair.
Meanwhile, Ruan Tian felt a little thirsty. She walked over to the refrigerator and took out a bottle of mineral water. As she unscrewed the cap, she shook her head and said, "I'm not angry with anyone."
Then she faced Mother Zhou and her round black eyes met the eyes of her 'mother' directly. Looking into those eyes, Mother Zhou couldn't see any trace of a lie as Ruan Tian said: "It's actually very simple. You don't like me as a daughter, and I also don't like you as a mother."
"I can't get along with Zhou Xiaoqiao." She said flatly. Then she quietly added: "No, rather than that, I can't get along with any of you from the Zhou family."
These were Ruan Tian's true feelings. After being separated for ten years, it was pointless to try to get along.
Just a bit of blood between them couldn't salvage the damage done by so many years of separation.
Even if she was a little dull Ruan Tian would have noticed the sense of estrangement and uncomfortableness her biological parents had around her, even back when she was in high school. As if she were somehow unpresentable.
Meanwhile, Mother Zhou had never felt that she didn't have any feelings for Ruan Tian. At most, she would just think that she was a little more partial to her eldest daughter.
Thus, even though Mother Zhou didn't like Ruan Tian that much, hearing her daughter say such cold words to her caused her heart to fluctuate unevenly and for uncomfortable feelings of sadness to bloom.
"You can't get along with the Zhou family? Are you refusing to recognize us?" Mother Zhou's emotions were agitated and she blurted: "But don't forget, who do you think it was that brought you to the capital? Who do you think paid for your schooling?!"
Ruan Tian blinked and said indifferently, "Whether or not I recognize you as my mother, it's nothing to do with you, right?"
Mother Zhou was choked with unfamiliar emotions and could hardly speak. Her soft words had been ignored and her usual strong and stern style had also just bounced off Ruan Tian like nothing. Whether it was hard or soft methods, Ruan Tian seemed completely unswayed.
"Anyway, regarding the things in your house, I've already had some people come and move them away. You're coming back to the Zhou residence today no matter what." Mother Zhou then felt that her tone had been a bit too cold, so she followed up in a softer voice. "After you come home, you can get along with your sister again. We're all one family."
Ruan Tian pursed her lips and fell silent for a long moment. Eventually, she pulled out her phone and directly dialed 110 in front of Mother Zhou. (tl note: like 911)
She said, "Is this the police station? My house has been robbed."
Seeing that Ruan Tian had really called the police, Mother Zhou was so angry that her face turned white and then blue. She raised her hand and pointed a shaking finger at Ruan Tian and sputtered "You… you… you…" but couldn't squeeze any more words out in her rage.
Meanwhile, having received Ruan Tian's call, the police station sent someone to her house promptly.
When Mother Zhou saw that a man in a police uniform had really arrived, her vision swayed and she saw black splotches everywhere, and she nearly fainted right there in front of Ruan Tian.
She was so angry that she looked like she might spit fire or smoke might start coming out of her ears.
In fact, Ruan Tian hadn't wanted to completely burn this bridge and tear off all face between them like this.
She had been content to let them walk their road while she walked her own.
However, this time, Mother Zhou was the one who had come to her looking for trouble.
In order to prevent Mother Zhou from really fainting out of anger, Ruan Tian poured her a cup of warm water and said politely: "Please send all of my furniture back intact within one hour, otherwise, I will have to trouble the policeman here to go and fetch it for me."
Mother Zhou finally staggered away and climbed into her car.
And, before an hour had passed, all of Ruan Tian's furniture was sent back.
A bit later, a barefoot Ruan Tian leaned back in her sofa with a muddled expression on her face.
She really hadn't expected how happy angering Mother Zhou this time had made her.
It felt almost as good as when she saw Zhou Xiaoqiao facing big setbacks publicly.
—–
First Shen Shu, then her mother, they had both showed up at her house one after another recently, which prompted Ruan Tian to begin seriously consider moving.
By now, she finally had a small amount of money in her hands, probably enough to move to a better neighborhood and rent a better apartment.
So she reached out to Jiang Lili for help, and in response, her friend sent her many links with suggestions, but all of them were high-end communities.
"TianBaby, you're already a third or fourth tier star now, you can't live in such a slum anymore. Treat yourself a little better, okay?"
Ruan Tian scratched her head and said awkwardly: "I'm afraid that I just don't have enough money."
Jiang Lili realized that this was a big problem. She thought about it for a long time with a serious expression before finally saying, "I know! You should just go find that Shen Shu. Rich people need face too, he can't really divorce you and not give you even a penny."
Jiang Lili gritted her teeth and growled: "You should suck him dry! Drink his blood, eat his meat, and gnaw his bones! Spend all of his money!"
Ruan Tian began to think seriously about the feasibility of this matter.
While on the one hand, she did have a desire for more money, on the other hand, her desire to never see Shen Shu's face again was much bigger!
"I'll think about it." She replied noncommittally.
After that, Jiang Lili spent the rest of the afternoon brainwashing her, telling her all about how important it was to live in a good place.
Eventually, Ruan Tian felt moved by her brainwashing.
Thus, she quickly found a new place in a high-end community, signed the contract, paid the deposit, and then used Jiang Lili's car to move all of her belongings over.
However, Ruan Tian should have remembered that she was still the vicious secondary female lead that was unfavored by the author.
Because of that, her life was fated to be full of storms.
When Ruan Tian knocked on her next door neighbor's door and unexpectedly saw Qin Yu's face after the door opened, there was only one thought in her mind:
One of them was definitely going to die today.
Ruan Tian clutched the food box in her hands and suddenly felt a bit powerless, "You live here?"
Qin Yu raised an eyebrow, but there wasn't a single trace of surprise on his face, as if he had expected this development.
"En."
He was wearing casual clothes and he put his hands in his pockets as he leaned against the doorframe lazily. Looking like this, his usual aura of coldness seemed slightly reduced. He looked at the food that Ruan Tian was holding and asked slowly: "Is that for me?"
Ruan Tian quickly blurted out, "No."
Then she turned around without hesitation, ran into her apartment, and slammed the door shut behind her.
Ruan Tian set down the food and thought of the tens of thousands she had just spent on renting this place. Keeping her focus on the money, she was able to endure the strong desire to move away again immediately.
This wasn't a big problem!
She would be fine!
However, Ruan Tian didn't sleep well that night, and her dreams were haunted by nightmares.
In fact, of the psychological shadows she had accumulated in high school, the one left by Qin Yu was the deepest.
Back then, she had always suspected that Qin Yu liked to make things difficult for her all the time because of his own poor health.
She assumed his psychological distortion stemmed from his sickly body.
Of course, she had tried many times to run away or to fight back but, in the end, she was never able to completely shake Qin Yu away.
She had also cursed him viciously many times. She had told him that she hoped that he would fall ill one day and then never get better, his condition worsening and worsening until he could never escape from the hospital.
Unfortunately, after they had all graduated from high school, the sickly young master's body seemed to have gradually recovered.