The situation was looking bad, and all the resources that Liu Yilee had been in talks with suddenly withdrew overnight. These advertisers and investors didn't dare to be involved with a person who had caused such a big scandal. Not only that, companies she had worked with previously all began to sue her for compensation.
All she had left were a few fans online vehemently arguing that there was no way the person in the photos could be their Sister Yilee.
However, the industry insiders had already seen which way the wind was blowing and were ruthlessly casting stones down the well.
"Liu Yilee has always been notoriously not easy to get along with for people inside the circle. She has a face that's popular with the audience, and her team knows how to use that to their advantage. They're not vegetarians, and they always open with a killer move. Considering how many other artists she's done in, I can only say she deserves this. I don't know which bigshot she managed to offend this time, but it's awesome to watch."
"You brainless fans, don't try to deny reality. The photos are crystal clear, it's obvious she's the one in them."
"She's also the person who broke the news of Ruan Tian's expulsion recently. Who would have guessed that the boomerang of karma would come back so fast?"
However, Ruan Tian herself currently had no time to care about other people's affairs, because a new storm was brewing on the horizon.
'Obscurity' was mainly a story about the plight of trafficked women, so once filming concluded Director Cheng had reached out to the stars of the movie in the hopes that they would come together and film a short anti-trafficking video.
Of course, Ruan Tian had agreed, and once filming was done she directly took the check she had received for filming and anonymously donated it to her old orphanage.
Meanwhile, the rest of the crew later launched a public charity drive.
Qin An started things with a bang by directly donating two million yuan.
Then the others also began to donate one after another, usually with a minimum of around 500,000 yuan.
And, whenever this charity organization received money, they would always publish the names of the people who donated as well as the amount.
But when the netizens looked this list up and down, they couldn't find a single trace of Ruan Tian's name.
And, although they knew it wasn't right to use social pressure to force Ruan Tian to donate, they couldn't help but quietly feel in their hearts that she was just way too stingy.
The netizens were indignant. She didn't mind swallowing down the dividends passed to her by the filmmakers, didn't mind profiting off kind and honest people who wanted to support the anti-trafficking cause, but she couldn't bear to even donate a dime?
…
All of the stars who had participated in creating the charity video appeared on the list of names of people who had donated – except for Ruan Tian. This discrepancy made her stand out in a bad way.
Once the news broke, a group of moral crusaders appeared to publicly condemn Ruan Tian in what could only be described as an ironic twist.
These crusaders were all filled with indignation, acting as if Ruan Tian should come out and apologize to them personally for not donating her money.
Ruan Tian's detractors had finally scented the scent of a tangible point to criticize her with, so they rushed in from all corners to broadcast the event as far and wide as they could. They came out in droves to try to promote the narrative about what a vicious and stingy person Ruan Tian was among the random passersby.
Meanwhile, many of Ruan Tian's fans also weren't happy with their idol's apparent stinginess, but they still came to her defense: "What are you people making a fuss over? It's not as if there's some mandatory requirement to donate money, right? Why are you guys trying to take Sister Tian hostage using morality? And besides, it's not as if there is only one channel to donate to charity, perhaps she already donated elsewhere."
However, the voices of her detractors were much louder than the voices of the fans. They came out one after another making posts filled with their 'righteous indignation', "Indeed, it's not a mandatory requirement. However, there are certain people who are happy to rake in the dividends generated by public compassion without donating even a single cent, and we call those people bitches."
"Hear hear. From now on, we should call her Ruan Bitch."
"Ruan Tian's fans are also hilarious. Before she can even say anything herself, they are already making excuses for her? Really? Donating through other channels? I'm laughing to death."
"She needs to just obediently take her beatings this time. Who asked her to be such a stingy person?"
As they looked at this deluge of unkind words for Ruan Tian's detractors, although her fans were angry, they had nothing they could use to refute.
They could only unhappily retreat to their private fan group chats and exchange crying emojis.
They all felt terribly wronged in their hearts.
At the same time, these fans assumed that Ruan Tian herself would never lower herself to join their small fan group chat, so they vented their emotions unreservedly.
【Wuwuwu, I'm so angry.】
【That person is insulting me and calling me an idiot and I can't find a retort! 】
【Why are they scolding our TianBaby! Why would they give her such an unkind nickname? I'm really crying. 】
【I'm so sad that I've lost my appetite. I never thought there would be someone who could curse so disgustingly. 】
Unknown to these fans, Ruan Tian herself was actually in the chat too. As a person with dozens of alternate accounts, how could she not have secretly joined her own fan groups on a few of them?
Occasionally, in her free time, she liked to search for her own name on Weibo and see what came up, so some of the screennames of these fans were actually familiar to her.
Today she had seen there was some commotion in the fan group and took a look to see what was going on. As she scrolled through and saw her group of unhappy little sisters, she really didn't feel well at all.
Ruan Tian didn't care what other people said about her, but no one should wrong her little sisters(fans)!
She spent more than half an hour in the fan group before finally managing to figure out the ins and outs of the matter.
After she understood what was going on, Ruan Tian exited Weibo and then went to find the records of the transactions between her the director of the orphanage over the years. In truth, she had kept her bank records from every single transaction in her desk drawer.
Ever since she started making money, she had always been donating directly to her old orphanage. Back then, the director had always been very kind to her, and she knew it hadn't easy for a 60-year-old grandfather to raise up a group of naughty little children.
It was thanks to his efforts that so many people had a place to go as children and a future to look forward to as adults.
Moreover, Ruan Tian remembered from her own time at the orphanage that the entire operation had been funded through a pittance of money they received from the city. As for the money that charities supposedly distributed, she had never heard of it, and had never seen it – which was why she only trusted direct donations.
And, despite all the years since then, Ruan Tian still kept in contact with the good friends that she had made back then in the orphanage, and they would still try to get together sometimes during the holidays and festivals. Of course, in the end, they hardly saw one another anymore as everyone was trying to lead their own lives make their own livings.
However, her records of all the transactions she had made from back then until now were all intact. From five hundred at the very start, then to a thousand, then gradually to twenty and thirty thousand, all the way up until the largest and most recent deposit of eight hundred thousand.
Of course, that eight hundred thousand was the pay Ruan Tian had received for filming 'Destined Immortals'.
She slowly looked through all these many records, then spread them out on her table and snapped a couple of photos with her phone.
Meanwhile, the netizens were completely in full swing with their hate train. They were giving Ruan Tian one nickname one another, and Ruan Bitch was already one of the least vicious ones.
Because Ruan Tian had relied on her recent movies and variety shows to build an impression of a good and kind person among the netizens, this incident caused them to lash back all the harder.
The screen was full of all sorts of people mocking and ridiculing, and the entertainment forum that had sparked everything hadn't seen such a grand occasion in a long time.
Of course, the moderators and administrators tried to stand up to deal with it, but in the end, they just couldn't suppress the battle between the fans and the anti-fans.
Currently, those anti-fans were overbearingly and overwhelmingly suppressing Ruan Tian's fans until the latter felt stifled and suffocated.
And because there were just too many, to the point that a new thread would pop up for every thread taken down and two new posters would appear for every one they banned, the moderation team had no choice but to close one eye.
There was even a certain thread mocking Ruan Tian which already had nearly 8,000 replies. The people in the thread used the protection of anonymity to unscrupulously insult Ruan Tian to their heart's content, coming up with all kinds of ugly and unkind nicknames.
At the same time, Ruan Tian had just finished applying mosaics over all the instances of her bank numbers and double-checking that the photo wouldn't expose her information. Seeing that everything was concealed properly, she quickly uploaded the photo with the documents that showed her bank transfer records from the past few years, along with the text: 【I've never had any intentions of using my charity activities to generate goodwill for myself, and I don't think that my small donations over the years are worth mentioning. However, I don't like to see my fans being bullied. I've already recorded down the information of all the people making personal attacks and spreading unfounded rumors, and whether I'll forward this information to my lawyers will depend on my mood. If the people who have been shouting the loudest and jumping the highest here don't delete your slanderous posts and make a public apology within half an hour, then I'll have to ask you to spend your holiday over the new year in a detention center. 】
That last sentence was extremely domineering.
You want to post slander? ! Okay, but can you post it from jail? !
The sudden appearance of this official statement from Ruan Tian herself, which was written in a calm and powerful tone, made the eyes of all those fans turn red.
In fact, in the eyes of her fans, Ruan Tian seemed as if she were some distant immortal, untouched by worldly concerns and affairs. After all, she had been on the hot search because of various scandals numerous times, but she had almost never made any sort of personal response.
Thus far, her only official statement was from the time she had released the divorce agreement between her and Shen Shu.
The TianTian Group were suddenly bawling happy tears.
It was as if all the grievances they had suffered over the past days had been wiped out all at once, and everyone in the fan club felt as if they had received a hot shot of chicken blood.
TianBaby had come out and said it personally! She couldn't bear to see them, her fans, being wronged!
Clearly, TianBaby had issued this warning for them, so they also needed to stand up and protect TianBaby as well!
The fans were suddenly united in purpose, determined not to be a trash fan that could only hide and cry after being bullied.
The group of weeping white lotuses suddenly evolved into powerful fighters in an instant.
At the same time, Ruan Tian's words really did carry some deterrence.
Shortly after she released her statement, one of the more prolific creators of the unkind nicknames suddenly deleted all of their posts and also released an apology: 【 RuanTian, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have spread false rumors. 】
After all, while these keyboard warriors were usually brave… what if Ruan Tian really sued them?
Hadn't Ruan Tian already shown that she was a ruthless woman who might do anything? !
If they were really to go to jail over slandering a star, that wouldn't be worth it at all!
Of course, some people were stubborn and refused to apologize or delete their posts.
For instance, the OP of the thread with more than 8,000 replies was completely fearless. Not only did he not delete the thread or his posts, he even changed the title of the thread to: 【Ruan Tian, I will wait for you to sue me.】
Originally, Ruan Tian hadn't wanted to waste money and time on these sorts of people. However, as it happened, ever since she became popular she suddenly had a lot of spare money lying around, and she didn't want to feed the company lawyers for nothing, so she kindly satisfied this person's request and added them to the list of people to be sued!
And Ruan Tian was a very stubborn person who would always make sure to handle her matters thoroughly.
Thus, since she had already decided to sue them, she would definitely make sure to drag them all the way to court and never accept any offers for settlement.
At the same time, a certain fan had finished looking through the bank records Ruan Tian had posted and realized something.
"Wow, TianBaby has been regularly sending money to this orphanage ever since 2015, from five hundred or six hundred yuan a month every month at first to much bigger numbers later on, Some people are really too kind."
"I heard rumors that TianBaby used to work part-time jobs in high school but I never believed it. It seems it was true."
"She insisted on sending money to this orphanage every month from several years back all the way until now. Does this orphanage have anything to do with her?"
This question was like a piece of juicy bait, suddenly capturing the attention and curiosity of all the fans. And a certain male fan who was bored at home slowly began to investigate the orphanage seriously.
At first, this fan had just wanted to take a look and make sure the orphanage had no accounting problems and that his beloved star wasn't being scammed. After verifying that he couldn't find any issues on that front, he felt relieved, but at the same time, he inadvertently discovered that this orphanage had a practice of taking a group photo in their yard once every year and then posting the photo online.
In one of these photos, there was a thin little girl squatting at the edge of the first row of children who looked suspiciously like a younger Ruan Tian…
This male fan was something of a technical otaku, so it wasn't too hard for him to sift through the orphanage's site and find the various yearly photos.
He easily found pictures of the little girl, ranging from the age of eight or nine all the way until she was fifteen or sixteen.
The girl in the photos was thin and pale, with sallow yellowish hair and worn, patched clothing, but despite all of that she still looked neat and clean.
Her dark eyes were bright as they stared into the lens of the camera year after year and her smile was always sunny and beautiful.
Seeing all this, the fan felt his mentality collapsing.
In a certain dormitory, there was the earth-shaking sound of someone cursing.
How could his favorite star actually have been so pitiful when she was young? Not even any good clothes to wear?
And seeing the smiling face in the photos, he only felt even more uncomfortable.
Wasn't Ruan Tian's family supposed to be rich? ! Her sister was also posting on Weibo, and she was a pure rich-white-pretty through and through, right? If they were sisters, why was Ruan Tian in this state? !
The male fan felt his mind exploding.
In the end, he could only turn his grief and indignation into strength. He posted, "Our TianBaby was so ****ing unlucky when she was a kid! That rich-white-pretty sister, please quickly come out and die! 【Picture】 【Picture】 【Picture】"
Unfortunately, as a male fan with a newly opened account, his followers were only single digits, and they were mostly just small artists trying to promote themselves by following him, not people who actually paid attention to his Weibo.
Thus, two full days went by, but no one touched his Weibo, and no one discovered this shocking news.
After resting at home for a couple of days, Ruan Tian had to leave again to record the second episode of 'Me and My New Roommates'.
As she arrived at the door of the villa, she saw a group of familiar black-suited bodyguards and luxurious black cars, which informed Ruan Tian that the plague god Qin Yu had once again descended.
However, this time he was sitting in his wheelchair and was even going into small coughing fits every now and then. It seemed that his health wasn't doing too good these days.
Of course, everyone from the crew all recognized him and treated him very politely, even dispatching people to follow him around and serve him tea.
Ruan Tian even saw Cen Bei taking the initiative to go over and try to talk to Qin Yu.
However, Cen Bei's attitude seemed a little unsettled and off. Her posture was awkward and a bit strange.
She pinched her palm and tried her best to maintain her composure. She said, "President Qin, it seems you're not in good health. You should take more rest."
Qin Yu's head was lowered and looking down at his fingers that were lazily fiddling with his phone. As if he didn't hear her at all, he didn't say a word of response.
Cen Bei clearly knew she was being ignored, but with so many people looking on she felt like she couldn't just back down now, so she bit the bullet and continued: "President Qin, you should pay more attention to your body."
Qin Yu slowly raised his head and replied in a lazy tone, "Ah? What did you say?"
Cen Bei repeated herself.
Qin Yu smiled and lowered his head again, going back to ignoring her.
Cen Bei looked like she wasn't far from tears.
Seeing this whole interlude, Ruan Tian could only sympathize with Cen Bei from the bottom of her heart. She was so polite to Qin Yu, but look what happened. Why would anyone bother?
It was getting close to the time when they would start filming, but Ruan Tian could still see Qin Yu sitting beside the director, seemingly with no intentions to leave, and her little head was full of question marks.
Qin Yu smiled at her, "What are you looking at me for?"
Ruan Tian replied unceremoniously, "You're still not going to scram away?"
Qin Yu's face darkened a shade: "I still need to look out for this incompetent little brother of mine."
Ruan Tian's retort had escaped her lips before she even had time to think: "I think a disabled person like you is more likely to need looking after, right? After all, you're the one in a wheelchair. Of course, I've been taught to respect the old and loving the young, so should I call you 120 first?"
Director Liu: …
Qin An: …
Xu Jing: …
However, even though things had already been spoken to this point, Qin Yu still didn't seem to have any intention to leave. He merely continued to sit there on the sidelines.
But, as time went on, his coughing fits seemed to become more violent, the veins in his hands and arms stood out starkly against his skin, and his face looked pale and bloodless under the light of the setting sun.
Finally, Qin Yu said to the bodyguard behind him: "Send me back."
As soon as he left, the entire cast and crew all relaxed a few notches.
During the live broadcast, Cen Bei was very enthusiastic and rushed around everywhere to do everything, seemingly eager to implement her idea to work even harder from last time.
And each time she jumped up to volunteer, Qin An would send a contemptuous gaze over at Ruan Tian, as if saying 'Look at how others behave, and then look at you".
Of course, Ruan Tian just rolled her eyes at him so hard that they seemed like they might fly up the sky.
Xu Jing was afraid that the two of them might quarrel, so he told them to sit separately before sitting down next to Ruan Tian himself. After that, the three of them chatted together for a while.
At one point, Qin An muttered that he was thirsty.
Ruan Tian quickly agreed.
Xu Jing got up and then asked them what they wanted to drink.
In unison, Ruan Tian and Qin An responded: Coke!
Xu Jing went and got them two sodas from the refrigerator.
Whenever Qin An had something to eat or drink, his mouth would flow freely. Thus, after taking a sip of his soda, he suddenly said, "Ruan Tian, I still haven't figured out one thing."
"Huh?"
"Why were you willing to let Brother Shen Shu divorce you?"
Ruan Tian pondered for a moment, feeling that she needed to respond well, in a way that would give herself some face.
Thus, she decided to ruthlessly let loose.
"Please be more careful with your words, it was I who kicked Shen Shu to the curb, ok?"
The chatroom watching the live broadcast suddenly boiled over.
At the same time, among the hundreds of notifications constantly popping up in the lower left corner screen, a certain one stood out:
【Shen Shu just joined the live broadcast room】
The live broadcast chat became even more excited.
"Wow."
"This is amazing."
"I was just squatting in this ordinary live broadcast, but will it now be Shen Shu falling out with his ex-wife?"
"Shen Shu? Are you really here? Come out and fight with your ex-wife for us!"
Shen Shu hadn't been sleeping well recently. He was plagued with dreams and his rest was fretful, and most nights he found himself waking up in a cold sweat.
In the past, he had never been very interested in following the developments of the entertainment industry. He had never had any favorite stars, and he hardly ever watched movies or dramas. Aside from when he had to do so for work, he basically never engaged with the industry at all.
Thus, it was only when he happened to see a secretly snapped photo of Ruan Tian that Qin An had posted to their mutual friend group that he discovered that the two were currently recording a show together.
In the photo, Ruan Tian was sitting on a balcony in a rocking chair. For some reason, she was burying her chin in her collar, with only the upper half of her small face and her mischievous eyes exposed. Her dark and glossy bangs fell down over her face in a fan shape, and her porcelain white skin shone and reflected the golden sunlight that was shining in from beyond the balcony.
Along with the photo, Qin An had posted: 【Just a quick candid shot I took while we were recording the show. Hehe, this post should be invisible to Ruan Tian, so don't tell her! 】
Shen Shu spent a long time just staring at the photo until, eventually, he silently pressed a button and saved it to his phone.
Thanks to his recent bouts of insomnia, these days he was always feeling a faint pain in his temples, along with physical fatigue, and an inexplicable mental weariness. Put together, he was just always in a constant state of exhaustion.
However, after learning this piece of news via Qin An, Shen Shu quickly couldn't hold himself back and went to watch one of the show's live broadcasts.
As soon as he joined the stream, he was greeted with the scene of the guests all playing the song guessing game.
Later, as he listened to Ruan Tian's low singing, Shen Shu realized that he had almost forgotten that Ruan Tian had once sung this same song to him in front of the whole school.
His heart wavered wildly, and the Ruan Tian on the livestream almost overlapped with the one in his memories. However, after watching for a while, he realized that the Ruan Tian now was different from the one back then in high school.
She seemed a lot more beautiful, and there was a certain firmness in her eyes that hadn't been there back then.
And even when Qin An mentioned his name, Ruan Tian's mood didn't seem to fluctuate at all. When she responded, her tone was very 'business as usual', with no trace of the passion it used to hold.
However, Qin An didn't believe Ruan Tian at all. He was thoroughly convinced that she was just bragging and, after taking another swig of his cola, he stood up and interrogated: "Wait, you're saying you dumped him? That you're the one who brought up the divorce? I don't believe that!"
For as long as he could remember this girl had always seemed like she would love Shen Shu until the end of the universe, so wasn't it way more likely that she would try to cling on to him until she died? How could she abruptly decide to divorce instead?
Ruan Tian replied, "Who are you to me? Why would I bother to lie to you?!"
Qin An, seeing the scorn in her eyes, could only shut up.
【I'm laughing to death here. Qin An's dumbfounded face is way too funny. 】
【Gather around everyone, I'm an insider on this situation, and let me tell you that Ruan Tian is definitely just bragging to save face. It was her ex-husband who personally approached her and forced her to sign the divorce agreement, okay? How can she lie so easily without changing her face at all? 】
【Psh, who hasn't seen that alternate Weibo account that she was posting on since high school? She was completely intoxicated by love, right? So how could she be the one to initiate the divorce?】
Meanwhile, Ruan Tian really wanted to shake her head.
She was telling the truth, but no one believed her!
Back then, she really wished that Shen Shu could have appeared to throw a divorce agreement in front of her, because that would have been much easier! But the sad reality was that she had gone all the way across town to try to find Shen Shu in his office to initiate the divorce but had been shut out at the door!
But, of course, the netizens loved to pick up this sort of topic and run with it for as long as possible, so they spent a long time arguing with one another and failing to reach any conclusions.
A certain group of Ruan Tian anti-fans, as if looking for abuse, had all come to watch the livestream this time as well. Thus, when they saw this opportunity, they couldn't help but immediately start leaving disparaging and negative comments. They frantically spammed the chat, saying that Ruan Tian was a crazy woman, that she wouldn't hesitate to throw away all face in the name of 'love', and that she had ultimately been thrown out of the wealthy family she married into because of her crazy behavior.
For a little while, the chatroom was thick with the smell of gunpowder as the fan and anti-fans clashed again and again.
But then, a simple message from Shen Shu appeared: 【I really was dumped by her. 】
An instant later, everyone discovered that there was another prompt: 【User ShenShu has left the chatroom. 】
This faceslap came too hard and too fast, the anti-fans couldn't bear it!
The messages that they had just been posting were still there for all to see, but suddenly Shen Shu himself had appeared to drop six simple words that were like six direct slaps to their faces! The anti-fans felt dizzy as a red hot burning sensation appeared in their cheeks, and they just couldn't bring themselves to type anymore.
A good portion of them turned off their phones and exited the chatroom on the spot. As their screens turned black, their distorted faces were reflected.
Meanwhile, after leaving that one simple message in the chat, Shen Shu had dropped his phone on the table and leaned back in his chair with a tense and uncomfortable expression.
After a while, he gathered himself and went downstairs to open a bottle of red wine for himself.
Mother Shen looked at him quietly from the top of the stairs. Eventually, she asked in a gentle voice, "You can't sleep again?"
Shen Shu made a vague sound of agreement and then pressed his wine glass to his thin lips to take a sip.
Mother Shen came down and poured herself a glass as well. She murmured: "You've been the same way ever since you were a child. Whenever you've had something you obviously liked you would never express it. Even if it was snatched away by another child, you wouldn't cry to an adult about it."
"And even now, you're still the same way. It's clear who you like in your heart, but you still don't want to admit it."
Shen Shu's fingers tightened on his wine glass and his handsome face turned a bit wintery.
Mother Shen continued: "I never disliked that child, Ruan Tian. Back then, it was obvious that you were the only one in her heart, and everything she did was for you. Even back when you were celebrating your eighteenth birthday and you didn't invite her…"
"She still eagerly ran over here and stretched her neck to look through a gap in the fence. When I went out to see what was going on, she hurriedly passed me the gift in her hands and asked me to send it to you."
"Back then, I felt she seemed pretty pitiful."
Shen Shu felt a burst of dizzying pain in his brain.
Everyone had always said he was a perfect gentleman, but in reality that wasn't the case.
He had a dark side.
Back then, Shen Shu had known she had wanted to come, but he deliberately didn't invite her.
He had let her stay out by the gate just to trample her sincerity.
Shen Shu responded in a low and hoarse voice, "What happened to that gift?"
Mother Shen smiled, "Have you forgotten? I gave it to you, and you threw it away…"
A loud buzzing started to ring in Shen Shu's ears, drowning out whatever his mother said next.
A hazy cloud seemed to rise up in front of him, clouding his eyes.
His whole body was overtaken by a strange and weary feeling, as if he had been sapped of strength all at once.
Shen Shu's arm trembled weakly, and even the light wine glass suddenly felt as if it weighed a thousand pounds.
A deep feeling of suffocation swept through his chest.
It was like there was a huge and heavy stone pressing down on his head and his heart.
—–
After Ruan Tian and Qin An finished arguing, they sat down together and started playing a recently popular arena-based shooting game.
Qin An had thought she would be a novice, but unexpectedly while he was still fumbling around and trying to land, she had already picked up a gun and killed a few other players.
His eyes were practically popping out. With this kind of accuracy and efficiency, why didn't she just go and be a professional gamer?!
Meanwhile, Xu Jing silently re-entered the room and sat down in a way that 'coincidentally' separated them. After that, he joined their team and 'inadvertently' ran Qin An's character over, instantly killing him. He looked up and 'sincerely' apologized: "I'm sorry, I didn't see you there."
On the other side, Ruan Tian collapsed and started rolling around on the sofa while laughing hysterically.
After they played a few rounds, Ruan Tian managed to get a "Winner Winner Chicken Dinner" and became the person with the best K/D ratio on the entire server that night.
Cen Bei continued to take the initiative to handle most of the cooking and cleaning. At the same time, she also seemed to be continuing her efforts to intentionally imitating Ruan Tian's style through her words and actions. However, she really wasn't subtle about it at all and everyone could clearly see what she was doing.
Of course Ruan Tian, who could be considered a little bit dim, didn't notice Cen Bei's small little ploys at all.
But when Cen Bei took out a bunch of bamboo strips and said that she wanted to weave some baskets for everyone, Ruan Tian finally reacted. Of course, she could put her hand on her heart and swear to the heavens that she was really just joking around, but it still sounded a bit brutal when she suddenly burst out with: "Oh my gosh! BeiBei, are you trying to copy me?! To go this far, you're really too diligent!"
Having her scheme suddenly loudly pointed out in front of everyone, Cen Bei's blood surged to her head and her face turned white with shame.
Ruan Tian's words seemed to strike directly at her weak point, and the hands holding the bamboo strips trembled and almost lost their strength.
Eventually, Cen Bei opened her mouth to reply. Her voice wasn't stable at all, and as she spoke there were audible tremors, "I…I'm not copying…"
Ruan Tian said, "You obviously are! So shameless!"
Of course, in fairness…
This was how Ruan Tian would usually speak with Jiang Lili when they were joking around, so she was used to communicating in this straight-forward sort of way.
She really wasn't deliberately targeting Cen Bei or anything.
On the side, Qin An snorted with amusement. He really would never have guessed that even Ruan Tian's dull brain could see through Cen Bei's tricks.
Of course, Qin An, as a person who was confident he could identify a fake white lotus 90% of the time, felt he was a pretty accurate judge when it came to this sort of thing.
Plus Cen Bei's little trick of deliberately imitating Ruan Tian's style was really not subtle at all.
Cen Bei stammered and bit and couldn't force out a retort. Eventually, she managed to plaster on a thin smile and, while barely keeping her face calm, she said: "I suddenly feel a bit thirsty, I'm going to drink some water."
【Tell me, in the whole entertainment industry is it possible to find another person as daring as Ruan Tian? 】
【Holy ****. I'm laughing so hard I'm dying. I took a screencap of Cen Bei's expression just now. When Ruan Tian said 'You obviously are' Cen Bei's eyes almost popped out of her head, it's so funny. 】
【Students, today Ruan Tian face slapped quite heroically hahahaha 】
【It seems that not everyone in the industry is a schemer. There are still people like Ruan Tian around. 】
【In Qin An's relieved eyes, I can see a trace of love for Ruan Tian. 】
After this little intermission, it was time for this episode's game session.
This time Director Liu had found a fairly normal game, which he had shamelessly "borrowed" from other variety shows.
He cleared his throat and began speaking: 【The game for this episode is a bit simpler than the game from last time. Everyone just has to call their boss and talk about their shortcomings on speakerphone for one minute. Anyone who fails to make the one-minute call will be punished, and anyone can choose to accept punishment instead of making the call.】
Ruan Tian: There's actually such a good thing in this world? !
Don't even mention one minute…
If it was insulting Qin Yu, she could definitely do it for an hour straight without needing to stop for breath!
Qin An was the first person up and he immediately chose punishment.
It wasn't like he didn't want to live anymore, okay? How could he dare to call his brother and scold him for a minute?
After that, Cen Bei also immediately choose the punishment. Cen Bei's agency was affiliated with Huanshi Entertainment, so Shen Shu could be considered her big boss. She wasn't so bored as to be willing to offend such a character over a trifling variety show game.
Xu Jing put his hands in his pockets and said indifferently: "Well, I don't mind playing the game and making the call."
Then when it was her turn Ruan Tian put on a show of pondering for a while, as if it were a difficult decision, before finally also saying: "I also don't mind playing along."
On the side, Director Liu didn't fall for Ruan Tian's tricks at all, but he just quietly watched her pretend.
Ruan Tian pulled out her phone and dug through the trash can to find Qin Yu's number. After three rings, Qin Yu answered the phone.
Before he could say anything, Ruan Tian blurted, "Qin Yu, there's something I've never told you before…"
Hearing who it was, Qin Yu's hand tightened on his phone. He coughed and, after a long pause, he said slowly, "Go ahead."
Ruan Tian said. "I've always felt that you, even as a black-hearted capitalist, are really too much of a skinflint! Too stingy, too miserly, too bad-tempered, too crazy, and just generally too inexplicable and hard to understand."
Qin Yu: "…"
Using her one breath, Ruan Tian tried to force in every complaint she could think of before the other party had a chance to retaliate.
Finally, she gave a cheeky smile and said, "Ah, sorry about this, it's actually just for a game. Don't take it to heart."
Then, with a click, Ruan Tian hung up the phone decisively before Qin Yu could reply.
Director Liu swallowed nervously, "This… Ruan Tian… in fact, the punishment option isn't anything much."
It was just a game, okay? There was no need to be so serious about it…
Director Liu was really a bit afraid that after that little show Ruan Tian might end up being quietly buried by Qin Yu. (tl note: buried as in 'deprived of resources' not 'murdered' mind.)
"Ah, it's okay, Qin Yu always likes it when his employees give him feedback." Ruan Tian replied casually.
Qin An, who was sitting on the side: As if!
From Qin An's expression, you could practically see the words: "Ruan Tian, you are dead." and "You don't know it, but your body is already cold."
But then he had a realization!
Actually… wasn't the person his brother liked Ruan Tian? Did that mean she would be fine?
【According to how Ruan Tian really dares to talk to Qin Yu like this, I will bet my non-existent boyfriend that there is definitely something between them. 】
【Mr. Qin and TianBaby are already too at odds, the CP will never happen. It's much better to match our cute and upright Qin An with the natural TianBaby who has a poisonous tongue. 】
【Person above, they really are too at odds, I can't see it at all. Rather than believing Qin Yu has a chance, I might as well just wait for that ex-husband to try to reform the broken mirror. 】
【I'm on team ex-husband! ShenXRuan is the only real CP. 】
Meanwhile, Cen Bei and Qin An were listening to the director as he explained the punishment game.
To jump rope on top of an acupressure mat ten times.
Of course, when he was made to jump on the mat Qin An's pained expression was terrifying, and his ghostly wailing almost lifted the roof.
Ruan Tian tried to hold back her laughter, but in the end, she couldn't manage to do it and lowered her head to giggle wildly.
However, at the same time, she noticed that her phone had been vibrating in her pocket constantly. Taking advantage of a free moment, she pulled it out to take a look and found that she had dozens of missed calls, all of which were from Shen Shu.
Ruan Tian frowned for a moment, and only ten words ran through her mind: "So a day like this can come for you too!"
Then another seven words, "It really ****ing came for you too!"
Meanwhile, her phone kept vibrating nonstop.
But there was only one word that was written all over Ruan Tian's face: Whatever.
Even if she was a person who loved to fight, she really couldn't muster up any desire to pick up this call.
But then, halfway through the punishment games, the people from the director's crew all suddenly became agitated.
And then, a few moments later, Ruan Tian heard gasps of surprise and hushed whispers.
"Why is Shen Shu here?"
"Cen Bei is an artist from his Huanshi Entertainment, did he come because of her?"
Hearing that, Ruan Tian had only one word to say: ****.
Shen Shu's arrival on set was too sudden and unexpected, so everyone from the crew was confused and gossiping with one another.
This eldest young master of the Shen family was a low-key person who rarely showed his face in public. Although he was the president of Huanshi Entertainment, he hardly ever involved himself with matters regarding the entertainment industry.
At first, everyone could only think of Cen Bei, who worked for his company, but after some contemplation people began to realize that his ex-wife, Ruan Tian, also happened to be here as well.
It was still the early part of the summer, and Shen Shu was only wearing a plain white dress shirt with the cuffs carefully rolled up, exposing his delicate white wrists. More noticeably, his whole body gave off a faint smell of alcohol.
His brows were slightly furrowed, but his handsome face was mostly expressionless aside from his slightly reddened eyes.
He directly approached the director and asked in a low and hoarse voice, "Where is Ruan Tian?"
Director Liu was a bit caught off guard by this question, but he quickly gestured for his camera crew to shift the live broadcast somewhere else and then answered carefully: "She should be in the living room, Mr. Shen. Were you looking for her?"
Shen Shu made a faint sound of agreement.
Director Liu felt very embarrassed, "Our recording for today will be over soon, can you wait?"
Shen Shu's eyes closed for a moment and then opened again. Some of the redness seemed to fade away and he replied, "Okay. "
Director Liu quickly asked his assistant to arrange a chair for him. After all, this was a big boss here so, despite his confusion, his only options were to be polite or to be very polite. However, he was a bit shocked internally. This Shen Shu was somewhat different than what he had expected, without much resemblance to the rumored gentle and kind 'perfect gentleman'.
Meanwhile, the fans who were squatting in the live broadcast chatroom were no fools. For a moment, the cameraman had seemed to freeze and then they had all been able to vaguely hear Shen Shu's name being spoken from somewhere off-screen. Although the crew was quick to cut away and move to the camera in the living room, that didn't do much to hinder their analysis.
【I heard Shen Shu's name just now. I'm not the only one, right? 】
【So he exited this chatroom, not because he didn't want to watch anymore, but because he wanted to rush over to the set so he could see his ex-wife? What kind of magical relationship is this? 】
【It's all over. Mr. Shen has already won. 】
【Yep, I called it before. I've been saying since the beginning that the ShenxRuan is the only real CP, you know, the kind that have already kissed and rolled in bed! Today, my foresight is proven once again. 】
【What kind of magical powers does Ruan Tian have? I'm really starting to feel like I just don't understand this world. 】
At the same time, Cen Bei was gritting her teeth to get her portion of the punishment game over with. Jumping up and down on the acupressure mat caused continuous bolts of pain to shoot up from the soles of her feet, but she stubbornly endured it. After all, since she was trying to imitate Ruan Tian, she had to imitate everything, including the other woman's attitude that would never let her give up halfway.
Thus, when she finally stepped off the acupressure mat, she was sweating profusely, her face was pale, and she was in so much pain that she could hardly speak.
And, with her game over with, the recording for the second episode was complete.
When Shen Shu saw they seemed to be wrapping up, he looked over at Director Liu and asked: "You're done now, right?"
"Eh, y-yes."
With that confirmation, Shen Shu stood up and began to walk over. As he approached, his eyes locked with Ruan Tian's. Looking into her eyes, he could practically see the emotion contained inside: Embarrassment.
And Ruan Tian, with the entire crew sending curious gazes at her and Shen Shu, really was feeling so embarrassed that if there were a hole in the ground before her she would definitely dive right in.
On the side, Qin An's eyes went to Shen Shu, then to Ruan Tian, and then back again a few times.
Ruan Tian didn't actually feel any special emotions after seeing Shen Shu again. Mostly, she just felt uncomfortable being stared at from all around by so many people with so many different kinds of gazes.
Shen Shu moved in front of her and stopped. He stared at her face and, after a long pause, she heard him ask: "May I invite you to accompany me to watch a movie?"
Ruan Tian lowered her head and fixed her eyes on her toes. There was a long silence as she pondered, but finally, she raised her head and said: "Yes."
In a sense, Ruan Tian felt that she and Shen Shu were the same types of people.
Stubborn, bull-headed, never willing to admit a mistake, and, most of all, extremely unwilling to ever look back.
Back when they were still in high school, Ruan Tian had discovered personally that, underneath his handsome exterior and his personas of 'excellent student' and 'perfect gentleman', the man in front of her was actually quite cold-blooded.
Back then, she had often seen him wearing his school uniform and working as a supervisory committee member who had to stand at the school gate and deal with the late arriving students. On those days, his perfect facade would sometimes slip a little and some of his frosty impatience would shine through. Of course, back then, seeing that side of him had only made her love him all the more.
After all, seeing through his secretly frosty temperament had made him seem a little more human and like they were a little closer together for sharing a secret.
Back in the present, even until now, Ruan Tian still couldn't really understand why he had been looking for her again and again in the recent days.
Her best guess was that he might be treating it as some sort of pastime to while away the hours whenever he felt bored.
And she had agreed to his invitation only after a great deal of consideration. Of course, she didn't really have any desire to go see a movie with him, but she also knew that if she didn't agree, Shen Shu definitely had more than a hundred ways to deal with her.
Watching them leave together, everyone left behind on set all looked dumbfounded. Director Liu was so confused that he touched the back of his neck and murmured, "Does this mean that those two are going to get back together?"
Qin An, who had a surprisingly accurate intuition for once, felt that there was no way that would happen.
He responded: "I think that they are probably going to be completely finished this time."
His words were full of ominous premonition.
Of course, since things had happened so publicly, on set for a variety show no less, the news spread out very quickly.
MigrantWorkersAtTheBottomOf TheMediaCircle: Recently, at the set where an indoor variety show was recording, Shen Shu personally came over to find his ex-wife. As soon as recording was finished, the two of them left together to see a movie. Many photos of this event were taken, and they have been confirmed to be real.
Seeing this big news, melon-eaters from all walks of life appeared to watch on from the sidelines.
There were several anti-fans who had been complaining about Ruan Tian for a long time due to her historical affiliations with various other men in the industry. Seeing this news and finally feeling vindicated, they began to make posts heavily colored by their own personal emotions like:
"This couple is a model of what a scum man and a bitch woman looks like in real life, it makes me vomit."
"This wife who already has a husband, please don't come out and show your face anymore. It's disgusting how you take advantage of the excuse of working together to harass other male stars. Thanks in advance for your cooperation."
"I've been following Ruan Tian's news for a while now. The result? It's always the same news over and over again: her trying to hook up with other actors. She really has skills. ."
Meanwhile, The TianTian Group naturally refused to recognize this kind of news. After all, their disgust towards Shen Shu had already reached the level of being his anti-fans.
Whenever they thought of that dog man, who had not only hurt their TianBaby, but who also delayed her during the best years of her life, all they could feel was rage!
"Who is actually dumb enough to believe what these marketing accounts say? If a marketing account told you that I am your father, does that mean I'm really your father?"
"Some people who only know how to make rumors to try to step on other people's heads will never get anywhere in life."
"Don't put our TianBaby's name together with that Shen Shu, thanks!"
—
As they approached the theater, Ruan Tian consciously slipped on a mask.
And, when they walked up to the front desk, she was suddenly able to grasp what Shen Shu was trying to do.
It was currently the hot period for summer blockbusters, so there were several excellent films to choose from, but Shen Shu immediately bought two tickets for the movie 'Obscurity'.
Maybe because it was a late-night screening, the two of them were the only audience members in the theater.
Of course, Ruan Tian had already watched her own movie several times.
She knew the details of the movie, the twists in the story, and the dialogue backward and forward.
Because of that, when the movie started, Ruan Tian's mind began to drift. She suddenly recalled how back then their school had once had them all watch some long and boring educational film with a strict seating arrangement. After a lot of effort, she had managed to secure a seat next to Shen Shu.
And not long after that, Shen Shu changed seats.
And then, around a year ago, she had been weak from donating blood to Zhou Xiaoqiao. Taking advantage of her sympathetic situation, she had invited Shen Shu to come and watch a movie together.
At that time, Ruan Tian had more or less expected to be rejected, but who knew that Shen Shu would agree?
On the scheduled day she had spent several hours choosing clothes and dressing herself as beautifully as she could.
However, in the end, Shen Shu never showed up.
He completely missed their appointment.
On top of that, he didn't even bother to give her any sort of excuse…
Back in the present, the movie's opening had finished, and Ruan Tian was starting to feel very sleepy.
Ever since they had entered the theater, Shen Shu's eyes hadn't once gone to the screen. Instead, he was completely focused on the profile of the woman beside him. Finally, he said, "The first time I saw you, I actually didn't like you at all."
"Back then, you always seemed to be so unfettered. Maybe I envied you for your freedom."
"After that, I always thought I hated your endless infatuation. Hated your loud and overboard love, which I always felt was too cheap. But in the end, I never dared to face your feelings directly. Instead, I always put on a ridiculous posture and unscrupulously trampled over your sincerity. Really, I was ridiculous."
"I never intentionally wanted to hurt you, but it's undeniable that you have injuries I have caused. I'm sorry that I can't go back and change the past, but I want to say, I…"
Shen Shu's voice choked, and he found he couldn't continue.
Meanwhile, Ruan Tian had been feeling sleepy.
As the movie went on, she was only getting more and more sleepy, and Shen Shu's voice in her ear was like a hypnotic lullaby.
Before long, Ruan Tian was so drowsy that she could barely lift her eyelids and she felt like she might fall asleep on the spot even without a bed or a pillow.
However, some of those words seemed to register, and Ruan Tian's eyelashes fluttered tiredly a couple of times before she responded, "Ah, well, I really don't care."
After blurting that out, she didn't know why, but Ruan Tian somehow felt that Shen Shu's eyes had reddened considerably. They looked red and fierce and somehow terrible.
What was even more frightening was that she seemed to have the illusion that Shen Shu's eyes were also somewhat moist and damp.
Ruan Tian looked over and saw a bleak smile on Shen Shu's face, which she felt was a little weird.
In fact, when she had agreed to accompany Shen Shu to the movies today, she actually had a plan in mind.
She wanted to show him that she really didn't care anymore, that she really wasn't still stubbornly clinging on.
She wanted to act in a way that would send a clear message. That would tell him: 'Look, I can even get along with you calmly now', 'In my eyes, you are the same as any other person', 'I have already put down our past grudges', 'See how generous I am?' and so on and so forth.
After all, the broken mirror coming together and once more being made whole was something that only existed in fairy tales.
When Ruan Tian liked Shen Shu back then, all she had ever received in return was insult and injury again and again.
They had been young, and she had loved him but he hadn't reciprocated the feeling. It was what it was. There was nothing to complain about.
But now he was in front of her again, seemingly determined to get back together and stop her from leaving.
On top of that, he was making such a sad and lifeless face.
As she thought to this point, those feelings of love from back then were already a distant afterthought, and all Ruan Tian could see was a funny joke.
After all, she had already walked out of that youthful time that had been full of nothing but Shen Shu. And, from what she could recall, she had been able to move on and wave goodbye to the past very quickly.
Meanwhile, for some reason, Shen Shu ended up being the one reluctant to give up.
It was hilarious indeed.
"Do you still want to watch the movie?" Ruan Tian's brows furrowed, "I'm already very sleepy."
Shen Shu's voice was stuck in his throat, failing to break free even after countless attempts to speak. As he looked into the two indifferent eyes staring back at him, it was as if his throat were being strangled. He just couldn't manage to form those next words: 'I seem to like you'. Rather, there was a coppery taste in his mouth, as if his throat were blocked up by a mouthful of blood.
Shen Shu had wanted to trap her with the past, naively thinking that if he could just compensate her for the wrongs he had done in past and beckon her over gently, then she would definitely come back.
It was only now that Shen Shu finally understood.
The woman in front of him had already long bid farewell to the past.
The only person who was still trapped back then was himself.