Trending Topic

Yu Mao looked like a total wreck right now.

The hair at her temples and along her cheeks was damp with water. Her face was pale, her eyes were rimmed red, and she looked utterly drained.

Even though the blood on her face and hands had been washed away, there were still streaks left on her clothes.

She had pushed up one sleeve partway, revealing scratch marks on her forearm where the skin had broken and was still bleeding. Against her fair skin, they were especially shocking.

Seeing a group of people blocking the doorway, Yu Mao flinched and stepped back into the bathroom. She looked as if she wanted to be wary, but she had no strength left; in the end, she only silently tugged her sleeve back down.

One of the medical staff hurriedly asked, “How are you feeling now? What happened? Was it stomach pain?”

Yu Mao lowered her eyes dully, nodded, then shook her head. “Don’t worry about me.”

Sensing her resistance, the staff member grew a little anxious. “That won’t do. You’re participating in our program; we have to be responsible for your health and safety.”

If something happened, they would have to take the blame.

“I’m fine.”

Too exhausted to keep arguing, Yu Mao lifted her eyelids and looked at them with empty eyes. In a flat voice, she said, “I won’t die here.”

“...”

The staff’s expressions twitched. After holding it in for a while, one of them said awkwardly, “What kind of thing is that to say...”

Driven by professional instinct, the medical staff took over. “Are you absolutely sure you’re really okay? We know you just threw up. Does your stomach still hurt? Do you need to take any medicine?”

“No.”

Yu Mao walked around them, intending to head upstairs and back to the dorm.

The others had no choice but to watch her go, since they still hadn’t received any instructions from the director.

In the control room, the director was frowning, one hand resting on her chin as she thought.

Right now, the barrage was full of demands that the production team check on Yu Mao’s condition; even the hot searches were climbing, and countless people were tagging the official account to put pressure on them.

It wasn’t just public pressure. She herself was also worried that this money tree might really run into some kind of accident. She might be ruthless, but when it came to someone’s safety, she absolutely could not afford to be careless.

But Yu Mao was so resistant. She couldn’t just drag the girl off for an examination. With so many cameras pointed at them and the whole thing being streamed live, if that happened, the production team would be the ones getting cursed out.

After thinking it over, her eyes suddenly lit up. A wicked idea surfaced, and she instructed the person beside her, “Go buy a trending topic. The hashtag should be #Nan Changgeng Made Her Fan Cry Until She Threw Up#. Put up the full backstory, then take it to Nan Changgeng. She definitely won’t be able to resist going to persuade her.”

The staff member immediately went to carry it out.

“Good idea!” The assistant director slapped the table and let out a long breath, grinning smugly as he relaxed. “That kid only cares about her idol, doesn’t she? Once Nan Changgeng goes over there personally to talk to her, I don’t believe she’ll still refuse.”

Another assistant director couldn’t help praising it too. “That title is pretty good. Eye-catching. Anyone who sees it would have to click and take a look.”

At this moment, the two trending topics involving Nan Changgeng and Yu Mao were both at the top of the charts in succession, and Nan Changgeng even had several entries. Most of the traffic was genuine; the production team had only pushed it a little.

#Nan Changgeng’s Family Background#，#Nan Changgeng Marriage Alliance#，#The Truth About Nan Changgeng Back Then#；and then there was #Yu Mao Had an Incident#.

The director scrolled through the hot searches on her phone. After waiting a few minutes, the new trending topic suddenly shot upward, overtaking everything else and taking first place by a landslide, with the discussion still surging.

Countless passersby were drawn in and rushed into the show’s livestream room; the live viewer count shot straight to the highest peak since the broadcast began.

[This hot search title is f**king ridiculous. Even more ridiculous is that it’s actually true...]

[That’s too much, isn’t it? Even if she’s a fan, this is still a bit... A few words and a few tears can’t really make someone throw up like that, can it? If you didn’t know better, you’d think a family member had died.]

[Actually, it’s not that bad. I feel like Yu Mao’s reaction was basically the real reaction of Nan Changgeng’s fans back then. Her fans were already crying themselves half to death. Yu Mao probably mainly got sick from being too emotionally worked up, which made it look especially scary.]

[It really is scary, especially with that tiny body. I was honestly afraid she’d just keel over in my phone.]

Seeing the show’s steadily rising popularity, the director’s face bloomed like a chrysanthemum as she laughed. “A lucky star. Yu Mao is a lucky star for our program!”

“Stop grinning like an idiot and hurry up and go find Nan Changgeng.” The assistant director swatted her. “If something really does happen, let’s see whether you’ll still be laughing.”

“Fine, fine, I’m going. I’ll go myself.”

The director slapped the armrest, stood up, and left with her phone in hand.

Meanwhile, in Nan Changgeng’s dorm room, Yirui An had completely forgotten her original purpose. She sat down in a chair and started chatting with the others.

Nan Changgeng didn’t seem to need comforting. After wiping away her tears, she was as calm as ever. Instead, the other three had all been affected by the mood and kept sighing.

In particular, Lin Baiyu, who had long since become a fan, was holding herself together only by sheer willpower and still hadn’t burst into tears on the spot after hearing that Nan Changgeng could no longer play the cello.

In the end, Nan Changgeng was the one comforting them instead.

“That was years ago. If I can’t play the cello, then I won’t play it. It doesn’t affect me continuing to make music. Now that I write songs, I don’t even have to think about matching them to the cello, and I’m actually much more efficient than before. The content is richer too.”

Yirui An asked curiously, “Then do you still keep in touch with your family now?”

“Mm, I haven’t been in contact with them for many years.”

Her hatred never lessened. She was afraid that seeing her father living too well would only make her feel worse, so she deliberately avoided all news related to them and didn’t even know much about how they were doing now.

Lin Baiyu pressed a hand to her chest, her eyes reddening. “I’m honestly a little relieved now that your dad didn’t force you into marriage.”

“Maybe it was because he was too confident.” Nan Changgeng gave a light laugh, the corners of her lips lifting faintly. “I always used to listen to my family. He didn’t expect me to refuse without leaving any room for negotiation, and then run off right away. He had nowhere to catch me.”

At the very least, she was a public figure. Once she was out of the area he could control, he wouldn’t dare make a huge scene about it.

She lowered her eyes and silently sighed.

Actually, the day of the funeral had been a good opportunity, but he still couldn’t shed the arrogance in his bones. He didn’t forcibly take her away; instead, he made agreeing to the marriage alliance the condition for letting her attend the funeral.

He must never have imagined that even then, she would still refuse to compromise, give up on going in to see her mother one last time, and turn around to leave.

It completely overturned the image others had of her as gentle, weak, and sentimental.

And to be fair, she really had been too obedient before. No matter what request he made, she would agree to it; even something like not giving her any reason at all... forbidding her from dating.

Back then, she had been confused for a while, but life was too busy for her to have any room to stir up romantic feelings, so she put it out of her mind. Only later did she understand that he had simply been telling her to keep herself guarded for the marriage alliance.

A cold businessman like her father, with his eyes and heart fixed only on profit, perhaps would never understand why she had changed so completely.

In truth, from start to finish, she had never been a weak or indecisive person. Her willingness to compromise again and again was only because she cared about them and wanted to receive more of their love.

From childhood, her mother had taught her to make her father happy, to be obedient and well-behaved; she had accepted that as the way to earn love.

And later, when all the lies were torn apart, as a pitiful worm that had been used as a tool... why should she keep compromising?

Her father had lost the ability to offer anything in return; he no longer had the right to make her endure.

Especially since, back then, she had still been in the middle of breaking down and hadn’t yet understood the reason behind her mother’s suicide. She had taken that suicide note as the truth, so there was no way she would turn back and jump into the abyss again, betraying the “freedom” her mother had given her with her death.

Chen Xia frowned slightly. “You ruined his plans, so he must have been furious. Did he ever take revenge on you back then?”

“He couldn’t get to me. If he wanted revenge, he could only start with my career, but at that time I...”

Nan Changgeng gave a bitter smile, leaving the rest unsaid; but everyone understood.

Her career had already been brought to a complete halt. What else was left to retaliate against?

A figure drifted silently past outside the dorm room.

But the others were all focused on the conversation and nobody looked outside.

Yu Mao successfully returned to her dorm and went straight into the bathroom to change clothes.

She took off the class uniform stained with blood and changed into her own plain, fleece-lined sportswear. She put the dirty clothes into a basin and scrubbed at them.

The blood had to be washed out right away, or it would be hard to get out later.

While she was spacing out and mechanically scrubbing the clothes, the unscrupulous director hurried into Nan Changgeng’s dorm with her phone in hand.

This was the first time the director had shown her face since the show started filming, and everyone in the dorm looked at her in surprise.

They were about to greet her, but the director waved them off directly. “No more nonsense; I’ve got something important to talk to Changgeng about.”

She walked over to Nan Changgeng and neatly handed her the phone; the screen was paused on the trending topic page.

Nan Changgeng raised an eyebrow in confusion as she took the phone, instinctively saying, “Wouldn’t that break the rules?” but the next second, her gaze locked onto the text on the screen.

Her brows slowly drew together in confusion, and her eyes widened in shock.

“This...”

What the hell was this.

What did they mean, she had made her fan throw up from crying? Was that even human language?

“Open the video,” the director said a little anxiously. As she spoke, she reached over and tapped the screen herself to play it.

Because time was tight, the editing was somewhat rough; it directly synced and combined the content from the two livestream rooms, making it very easy to see every reaction Yu Mao had in parallel with the conversation happening inside.

The other three heads also leaned in. After glancing at the director and seeing that she didn’t object, they began watching openly.

When Yirui An realized Yu Mao was secretly listening outside, her expression changed drastically. She held back and held back, barely stopping herself from gasping out loud.

After the video finished playing, all four of them wore the same expressions of surprise and complexity.

Lin Baiyu muttered, “That title... it’s ridiculous, but weirdly accurate.”

“What happened to her? Is she okay?” Yirui An was extremely worried.

The director shook her head. “I don’t know. She won’t cooperate with an examination.”

Nan Changgeng said nothing. One hand pressed against the chair armrest, she seemed to gather strength to stand up, but in the end she didn’t move; there was a hint of restless unease in her posture.

The director studied her expression. “So I came to ask Changgeng for help and have her cooperate a little. Otherwise, it really is hard not to worry... I think she’ll probably listen to you.”

“Okay.” Nan Changgeng took a breath and agreed at once.

She handed the phone back and asked, “Where is Yu Mao now?”

“She’s back in the dorm.”

The director finally relaxed, tucked her phone back into her pocket, and smiled at her while making a fist in encouragement. “Then I’ll head out first. I trust you.”

With that, she turned around and slipped away.

Nan Changgeng also stood up, ignoring the three of them looking at her with keen, gossipy anticipation. “I’ll go take a look and see what’s going on.”

Yirui An immediately stood up too, clearly wanting to follow, but Lin Baiyu grabbed her with one hand and smiled brightly at Nan Changgeng as she waved. “Tell us about it when you come back.”

Once she left, Yirui An pouted in dissatisfaction. “Why did you stop me?”

Lin Baiyu let go of her. “It’s their business. What are you running in to get involved for?”

“But I’m the one who caused this, and I feel really guilty.” Yirui An sighed, but she also knew it wasn’t appropriate to follow, so she sat back down again dejectedly.