Chapter 75

That day, Xu Chun set her phone to silent and slept soundly. At first she'd meant to sleep until the world turned upside down and recover all the sleep she'd lost, but the biological clock she'd built up over the past few months betrayed her. Her eyes popped open at five or six in the morning, and sleep refused to return.

She stared lifelessly at the ceiling for ages, then finally dragged herself out of bed, tidied up briefly, and started on fasted cardio.

Partway through, she noticed Xu Wei had arrived, but she ignored her. So Xu Wei found a seat nearby, sat idly watching Xu Chun for a while, then lowered her head and played on her phone.

About an hour later, Xu Chun finished exercising. She grabbed the towel off the rack, wiped her sweat as she turned around, and asked Xu Wei, who had looked up the moment the music stopped and was now staring at her without blinking, “What is it?”

"Um..." Xu Wei stood up nervously, clutching at her pajamas, and apologized in a voice barely above a whisper: "Sis, I was wrong before. I'm sorry."

She spoke so quietly that Xu Chun didn't catch a word of it and had to patiently ask again. But Xu Chun's reaction made Xu Wei think she was still angry, and at that point she cast aside all shyness and embarrassment, raised her voice, and said anxiously: "I was in the wrong before, and I'm apologizing to you. Sis, please don't be mad at me anymore, okay?"

"I really do know I was wrong."

She was genuinely tormented inside.

Xu Chun was now practically at the pinnacle of the entertainment industry. She had the popularity, the beauty, and the buzz. In today’s entertainment circle, you couldn’t find a second female star more sought-after than Xu Chun.

Meanwhile, Yu Sui’an, whom she’d once stubbornly and deeply adored, had long since sunk into the gutter, her name wiped from memory. Not only that, people had pointed and sneered at Yu Sui’an even as she bowed out of her own accord. Comparing the two, Xu Wei once again felt deeply ashamed of her own blindness and horrified by how chilling her words and actions had once been.

Especially yesterday, when she and Jiang Zhaolie, whom she despised and loathed, had been openly and unceremoniously rejected by Xu Chun. It had left her lost and panicked, and she’d spent the whole night tossing and turning over it, unable to sleep at all.

After the sleepless night, her head splitting, she'd gotten up to drink some hot water when she noticed the light on in Xu Chun's room. She'd hesitated over whether to seek the other out and apologize sincerely one more time, so that the two sisters wouldn't end up estranged because of Yu Sui'an.

In her view, letting Yu Sui'an drive such a wedge between them was completely unworth it.

So after much painful reflection, Xu Wei steeled herself, took a deep breath, grabbed the door handle, and stepped out. The worst she could get was a beating with a belt. She could handle that.

If a beating could vent Xu Chun's anger, she'd welcome it.

With that firm conviction, Xu Wei found Xu Chun exercising and didn't interrupt, silently waiting until the other was done before daring to speak up and ask for forgiveness.

"Whether you hit me or yell at me, as long as you get it off your chest and stop holding a grudge against me, I'll take anything," she said, urgent.

Xu Chun couldn't help but look baffled. "Why would I hit you or yell at you?"

She asked Xu Wei in disbelief: "Isn't all that already in the past?"

Her words instantly stunned Xu Wei, who stared at her blankly and repeated mechanically: "Already in the past?" When Xu Chun nodded, Xu Wei jolted as if waking from a dream, then suppressed her wild joy and said: "So you're not mad at me anymore?!"

Xu Chun nodded and said irritably: "Why would I be mad at you?"

"But yesterday..." She hesitated, then couldn't help asking, "Yesterday you specifically emphasized that."

Xu Chun was rendered speechless for a moment, then looked seriously at the sister of the body she now inhabited and said: "Xu Wei, you should know that anything I can say lightly isn't a big deal. Have you ever heard me relentlessly scold you?"

"No." She shook her head, then studied Xu Chun's expression for a while. Seeing that she truly wasn't angry or bothered, she let out a long sigh of relief. "If you've really forgiven me and won't hold it against me, that's wonderful!"

"It wasn't for nothing that I worked so hard to join forces with others and drive Yu Sui'an completely out of the entertainment industry!" she muttered.

Xu Chun only caught the gist, but piecing the words together, she roughly guessed Xu Wei's meaning. She raised an eyebrow, a little surprised. "You're the one who joined forces with other big fans to boycott Yu Sui'an and leave her with no foothold in the industry?"

“That’s right.” Not being scolded by Xu Chun put Xu Wei in a great mood, and she couldn’t help forgetting herself, lifting her chin proudly. “At first they weren’t willing. They said they were worried that acting on their own would give their idols a bad reputation. It took me talking until my mouth ran dry, and going to enormous trouble, before I finally persuaded them to agree.”

Thinking back on those days spent simultaneously debating dozens or even hundreds of fan club presidents and other fan leaders, Xu Wei still felt her fingers ache.

Those fan club presidents and leaders were old foxes; they weren't about to do anything without some benefit. Xu Wei racked her brains before finally hitting their sore spot, forcing them to pick a side immediately.

Fortunately, while everyone else was still watching from the sidelines, He Qingli's fans were the first to take a stand, which gradually drew the others in. Otherwise Xu Wei probably would have typed her keyboard until it sparked just to convince one or two of them.

Thinking of her great achievements, Xu Wei was immensely proud. "Sis, look, I got revenge for you. However badly Yu Sui'an bullied you before, her ending now is that much more miserable." She straightened her back smugly, as if waiting for Xu Chun's praise. "My sister isn't someone just anyone can bully."

Xu Chun knew that after being stabbed in the back by Yu Sui’an’s fans, Xu Wei had been lying low in the fan groups, waiting for her chance. But she’d never imagined Xu Wei would be so fearless, striking while the enemy was down and kicking Yu Sui’an clean out of any hope of a comeback.

At that moment Xu Chun's feelings were complicated. Who would have thought that Xu Wei, once Yu Sui'an's biggest fan leader, would now personally and mercilessly destroy Yu Sui'an's star career?

She looked at Xu Wei's shining eyes waiting for praise, and her mouth twitched. "Well done." Don't do it again next time. If anyone found out, she worried Xu Wei would be set upon by the mob and beaten to death, dying young.

Fortunately, Yu Sui'an's fans were no longer a threat and couldn't endanger her life.

Praise from her own sister made Xu Wei even happier, and she couldn't help chattering on: "Yu Sui'an still has some fans hiding out, plotting a comeback, but don't worry, Sis. As long as I'm around, they'll never amount to anything."

"Not only that, while I was lying low and gathering information, I also turned some fan leaders of other stars to our side, and tricked—no, I mean, I used your charm to win them over, to leave the darkness for the light and start liking you instead." Xu Wei's tone was especially innocent and chirpy.

Xu Chun's eyelid twitched violently several times. Great, now she had to worry not only about Xu Wei's safety but her own as well.

She couldn't help asking Xu Wei with a complicated expression: "...Who taught you to poach people like that?"

Xu Wei froze, then squirmed and hemmed and hawed: "I learned it online. There are people who charge money specifically to teach this stuff."

Xu Chun: "..." Good poaching. Don't do it again.

In the span of a single morning, Xu Chun's mood had risen and fallen like a roller coaster. She rubbed her aching head, shooed Xu Wei back to her room to rest, then stood alone by the window and mused: it wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

At least now the whole Xu family was of one mind and wouldn't be broken apart from within by enemies.

As long as the Xu family was airtight and enemies couldn’t find a crack, the family’s final tragic ending might be changed. Thinking further about her parents’ recent expanding social circle, filled with big names and important people, the taut string in Xu Chun’s heart finally relaxed.

Things were, after all, different from the original plot.

She let out a long breath. All her daily jumping around and working herself to the bone like a drama queen hadn't been for nothing.

She turned into the bathroom, washed her hair and body again, and only went downstairs for breakfast once she was properly put together. Tang Shiyu and Xu Chun's father both had to stop by the company first, so Xu Chun saw them for barely two minutes before they got in the car and left.

Qin Yao's mahjong game was set for the afternoon. Xu Chun checked the time, then booked herself a full-body treatment, and when the time came, got ready and headed out.

She'd spent the past few months deep in the mountains with crude living conditions. Though she'd used all the big-name skincare products sparingly, it had still been rough on her.

When the full-body treatment was done, Xu Chun was glowing again, so radiant people couldn’t look away. Amid the chorus of praise from the young women at the beauty salon, Xu Chun walked out the door grinning so wide her mouth nearly wouldn’t close, then went on a shopping spree in the mall. Quite a few fans ran into her, took photos with her, and got her autograph. The posts they shared earned a wave of envy and jealousy across the platforms.

Because she'd just had the treatment, Xu Chun's skin was now translucent and bright, with hardly a pore in sight. The topic #XuChunBareFace# quickly climbed the trending list, adding another brick to her beauty marketing and sparking no small amount of discussion.

【As expected of Sister Xu. Sister Xu is just an ordinary chosen one who turns the tide and rises against the odds. Who else can match Sister Xu’s popularity and beauty?】

【Popularity and beauty are bullshit! Acting skill and real ability are what matter!】

【??? Sister Xu has anti-fans now? No way, no way. Looks like Sister Xu has really made it!】

【Actually Sister Xu has always been enviable. It's just that Yu Sui'an was always on top before, so everyone didn't have the spare time to attack Sister Xu. Now that Yu Sui'an has fallen, Sister Xu immediately becomes a thorn in some people's eyes, and they can't wait to get rid of her.】

【What's there to be afraid of? Sister Xu still has us fans!】

【More fame, more trouble. Sister Xu has attackers now. That’s a good thing! It proves Sister Xu is famous!】

【...Why do I feel like Xu Chun's fans are all a little unhinged?】

【Doesn't matter. Us old fans have been through wind and rain with Sister Xu all the way. I don't believe these people will be harder to deal with than Yu Sui'an's fans.】

【Right. They'd better be able to fly, or else they'd better not let us catch them slipping—because the first one we catch, we'll make an example of to warn the rest.】

Amid such talk, some sharp-eyed people sensed that Xu Chun's fans were even more fanatical and hard to deal with than Yu Sui'an's. Recalling the terror of being dominated by Yu Sui'an's fans, some clever ones immediately decided not to provoke them.

Yu Sui'an's fans were generally young and childish in style, but Xu Chun's fans were mostly mature adults with some social experience. Their level and tactics were probably far above Yu Sui'an's fans—if it came to a confrontation... whether they could come out ahead was really a question.

Regardless of the storms online, Xu Chun had already made her escape, driving home.

She tidied up briefly without dressing up much. She wore a simple white top with no patterns and fitted water-blue jeans that cinched her slender waist, wrapped her gracefully curved hips, and set off her straight, slender legs. Her figure was incomparably superb.

She swept her long black hair back into a low bun, strands held a little messily by the hair tie, giving her a lazy, casual air with no aggression at all. Xu Chun studied herself in the mirror for a while, then picked up the lip balm on her vanity and dabbed it on casually before heading out.

Hearing the commotion, Xu Wei poked her head out. "Sis, where are you going?"

"Playing mahjong," Xu Chun said offhandedly, then suddenly thought of something and stopped, looking at her seriously. "You're about to graduate, aren't you? Are your grades good enough? Have you found an internship? Decided which company you'll work for after graduation?"

A barrage of questions, and Xu Wei immediately pulled her head back in. "...I'll go study right now."

Xu Chun nodded in satisfaction. "I'll bring you back some snacks tonight."

That one sentence wiped away all of Xu Wei's inner disappointment, and she threw open her books like she'd been injected with chicken blood, furiously studying and grinding her scores.

The mahjong venue was a high-end private club not far from the city center. Xu Chun got the address from Qin Yao, forwarded it to Jiang Banxia, and asked: 【I'm heading over now. Where are you?】

Jiang Banxia glanced at the location: 【Nearby.】

【Okay, see you in a bit.】

After replying, Xu Chun set her phone aside and slowly started the car. Qin Yao, Zhao Ciying, and Zheng Jinchan all had money to burn. If she could win a few hands off them today, wouldn’t that be like taking on another drama role?

At the thought, Xu Chun's blood ran hot—your wallets are fat, but the money inside will soon be mine.

Just thinking about it made her happy beyond measure. She never once considered the possibility of losing.

After driving to the destination, Xu Chun followed the attendant's directions and quickly found the suite. It was empty; she was the first to arrive. She thought for a moment and decided to go out and look around, but the moment she turned, she ran into Jiang Banxia and Zheng Yanran, who had arrived right on her heels.

Seeing the two standing together like conjoined twins, Xu Chun's gossipy gaze landed on Zheng Yanran. Zheng Yanran's face immediately turned pitiful, and she looked ready to pounce on Xu Chun and demand a hug. "You have no idea how hard work is! I get up earlier than the chickens and go to bed later than the dogs, working myself to death, and the salary I get isn't even enough to buy a bag..."

She spread her arms to hug Xu Chun, but at that very moment, a chill suddenly came over Zheng Yanran's scalp.

She froze mid-motion and reflexively turned to look behind her. Xu Chun, influenced by her, also instinctively looked up. And no sooner had they looked than the two of them nearly jumped out of their skins.

Qin Yao and Zhao Ciying had arrived at some unknown point. They were both tall, dressed in black, with their hair exquisitely pinned up. Their crisp, sharp bearing radiated a familiar, intense pressure that made one’s heart quail and want to retreat three steps.

Under the baptism of those two gazes, like living Yama kings, Zheng Yanran and Xu Chun immediately backed up and jumped apart in unison, as if afraid that a moment's delay would get them dealt with on the spot.

Once they’d put some distance between them, Xu Chun and Zheng Yanran both had the righteous look of people silently protesting, “I didn’t do it. It wasn’t me. I’m not close to her!”

Don't misunderstand!