Setback

These announcements not only answered the "smoking gun" from the trending searches and blew those black rumors to pieces, they also shoved a mouthful of dog food straight into everyone’s face.

Anyone who had doubted Li Lan and Zhu Qing’s relationship was left disgusted instead.

Li Lan’s fans finally got to breathe again. They were filled with righteous swagger, leaving comments under every work where they had once cursed Li Lan out, one by one asking, "Have you apologized yet?"

The complete reversal sent Li Lan’s popularity soaring; the black-red buzz turned into clean, unblemished red.

The discussion index for the two of them as a couple shot straight to the top by a huge margin.

Zhu Qing turned off her phone, leaned back in her chair, and covered her face with both hands, taking a deep breath.

For Li Lan, laying bare these hidden pieces of the past was like cutting out her own heart and hanging it in the open for everyone to see.

Right now, Li Lan had no idea what to do with herself.

And yet she still did it.

For herself; for Zhu Qing.

Qian Chu asked Zhu Qing, "Public opinion has completely turned around. Are you sure you still want to post the next announcement?"

Zhu Qing said she was sure.

Very soon, Li Lan’s studio released another post.

【Big official announcement! Welcome @Zhu Qing to the family of Unknown to Others, and to the joint appearance of @Li Lan and his wife. Together, let us portray this soul-resonating, fate-entwined, blood-pumping journey!】

The fans were even happier when they saw the announcement. Since the drama promotion dropped alongside it, not only fans but passersby now knew the two of them had a show coming; they got a huge wave of free publicity.

Everyone’s attention shifted to looking forward to the drama.

But at the same time, the people involved were not very happy.

This had been done first and explained afterward; Li Lan had not been consulted in advance. When Li Lan saw the trending topic, she even suspected that Yang Huayi had finally stopped acting like a human being and stolen the studio account.

"I don’t agree with this," Li Lan said, trying to sound firm, but when she faced Zhu Qing, she lacked confidence. "Filming isn’t as simple as you think. You have no acting experience; this is completely unsuitable."

Zhu Qing spoke softly. "But you don’t have any other choice anymore, do you?"

Zhu Qing hit straight at the heart of it.

"Between us, you’re used to carrying everything yourself, making every decision yourself. You clearly like me, but you refuse to say where it all started; you insist on doing the whole agreement thing. You give and give in silence, so selfless, so noble, and yet from start to finish you kept me pushed to the side."

With the trending issue settled, the matters between the two of them naturally came out into the open.

Zhu Qing began settling accounts with Li Lan. "Tell me the truth. If I hadn’t lost my memory, if I hadn’t fallen in love with you all over again and clung to you, what would you have done?"

They were sitting face-to-face. When Li Lan lifted her head, she could see Zhu Qing’s expression; she was clearly hurt, but was forcing herself to stay strong.

Li Lan did not want to hurt Zhu Qing, not one bit. But she knew that if she kept hiding and lying, Zhu Qing would truly be heartbroken.

"I would have," Li Lan said, biting down hard as she forced herself through the pain, "signed that divorce agreement with you and let you go."

Zhu Qing heard the answer she had already expected. So that was how it was.

"Your idea of liking someone is just letting go?" Zhu Qing said in disbelief. She lowered her head and pressed hard at her temple. "I don’t understand, Li Lan. I really don’t understand."

Li Lan opened her mouth. "...After we slept together at the banquet, you disappeared for a while. I couldn’t find you; I thought you didn’t want to take responsibility. Later, when I saw you at the kindergarten, I was afraid that if you left, I’d have no way to repay you, so I rushed to propose a contract marriage... and you agreed."

Zhu Qing countered, "Didn’t we have feelings after we got married?"

Li Lan said with difficulty, "Yes. I thought we did have feelings, that it would be an arranged marriage turning into love, but later I realized you weren’t happy at all. You always treated yourself as the less important one, putting all your effort into taking care of Xiao Bao, like a nanny I hired... I didn’t want you to live like that, exhausted all the time. Besides, in the last few months your condition was very bad. You took the initiative to say you wanted a divorce; what right did I have to stop you?"

In the end, it still came down to not being honest enough with each other, which was why they had hidden things.

Li Lan had taken the wrong step from the very beginning. She never should have proposed the agreement. She was too lacking in confidence, too afraid Zhu Qing would reject her, so she chose such a second-rate solution.

And Zhu Qing, standing before someone like Li Lan, found it even harder to be confident. Not to mention that from her perspective, she had merely signed a contract and cooperated in playing the role of a wife; what standing did she have, what confidence did she have, to be honest?

Two people who were both insecure because they loved too deeply; their love story was bound to be hampered at every turn. Their love was deep, and clumsy. They tried to consider each other’s feelings, yet in the end they circled around and hurt each other instead.

"I’m not some canary you keep in a gilded cage," Zhu Qing said tiredly as she lifted her eyes. "I asked you before if there was anything else you hadn’t told me, and you chose to hide it. Next, I’m going to see for myself what kind of person you really are, and how far I should go."

Before Li Lan could answer, Zhu Qing stood up and said, "I’m definitely going to try this drama. You say I’m unsuitable; then we’ll wait and see when filming starts. As long as I can do it, I’ll stay."

Their love for each other was real, but so was the rift between them; that could not be ignored.

In many situations, Zhu Qing could anticipate Li Lan’s behavior, but she still could not understand her one hundred percent.

Maybe it was because the gap in their upbringing had been too great from the very beginning. Li Lan also had flaws in her personality, only those flaws had been worn smooth by age; they were wrapped in what seemed like gentleness.

What kind of person could devote her heart to someone just because of one act of help?

And what kind of person, when afraid of being rejected, would coldly propose a contract marriage?

Perhaps Li Lan’s inner self was not as calm, powerful, steady, and composed as she appeared on the surface.

Zhu Qing wanted to step into her life again and see her clearly at last.

Li Lan could no longer find a reason to refuse, and could only let Zhu Qing join the production team and film with her from then on.

The two of them stayed on the hot searches for nearly half a week. Over those days, nearly every trending topic revolved around them. Some people even suspected that Li Lan had staged the whole thing herself, for the purpose of promoting the film and boosting her popularity.

But very soon, an act that could almost be called revenge shattered that claim.

It was a recording from before the variety show began filming; it had been taken when Qi Yao and Li Lan shot a magazine together. In the studio, because of his poor performance, Qi Yao held a grudge over Li Lan’s demonstration and cursed at Li Lan and the staff with every filthy word imaginable.

In the video, Qi Yao was no longer that proper, delicate young lead actor. Stripped of that attractive skin, he became sharp-faced and detestable. His mouth spewed profanity so filthy that it made people want to take a brush to him and scrub him clean.

The account that posted the video belonged to one of Li Lan’s biggest fans. On the surface it seemed unrelated to Li Lan, but anyone with a clear eye knew this came with the main star’s tacit approval.

Everyone had another scandal to feast on. Qi Yao was the biggest fraud of all; in front of the camera he acted polite and gentle, but behind it he transformed into a foul-mouthed mess, disrespecting his seniors and insulting women.

That line about "some woman in her thirties who still isn’t wanted, ordering me around and pointing fingers; what the hell is she supposed to be?" not only enraged his own fans, it also enraged every woman who happened to see it.

【I was wondering why Qi Yao reposted that Weibo post smearing Li Lan. So he was the one who did this.】

【I remember he even posted a story that day, talking all coy and insinuating that he’d been 'educated'; so that was the kind of education it was. Ugh, disgusting.】

【Throwing a stone and smashing his own foot. I didn’t expect Li Lan to be the one holding the real evidence.】

【When will that disgusting lowlife get out of the entertainment industry? I’m really sick of this man-centered world. This kind of person has neither acting skills nor character; why are so many fans still propping up his filthy ass?】

But how could there only be one piece of concrete evidence?

Right after that, another fan account from Zhu Qing’s side released a related video, and it was even more explosive than the first.

In the video, Qi Yao was smoking and drinking, his mind foggy and his expression blissful, as though he were drunk. He was dancing wildly with someone in the middle of the dance floor.

By the middle of the clip, nearly all his clothes were gone. He was left in only a pair of underwear, hanging loose on his hips and exposing half of his pale, bare butt.

Anyone paying attention could see the detail on the table: there was a substance there that was legal abroad but absolutely not legal in China.

A celebrity involved in drugs; a black stain enough to get him banned, crushing down on him like the Mountain of Five Fingers.

The trending searches exploded again, but this time they had nothing to do with Li Lan anymore.

In a small villa on the outskirts of the city, Qi Yao clutched his phone, his mind in a daze. Hearing the front door open, he rushed to it at once.

"Ms. Qi, save me. The video isn’t real. They’re framing me!"

Qi Yao’s name had been on the hot search all night.

It was obvious Li Lan and Zhu Qing were furious; they had deliberately chosen the weekend, when everyone had time to eat up the gossip, to release the evidence.

Ms. Qi did not come in. After closing the door, she stood in the entryway and looked down at Qi Yao, who was panicking like a heap of rotten meat at her feet. She asked only one question.

"Were those things really something you smoked yourself?"

Every bit of flesh on Qi Yao’s face was trembling. At last he was afraid; he grabbed the leg of Ms. Qi’s trousers and begged for mercy.

"No, no, I didn’t want to do it myself. They— it was them. They saw I was getting popular, they saw I had money, and they deliberately led me to that kind of place. Once or twice, they took the initiative and gave it to me, saying they were treating me to something good. I wasn’t thinking that way. I didn’t want to do it myself."

Qi Yao’s words came out all over the place, but Ms. Qi understood.

"Save me, please. You’re my aunt— no, my great-aunt. When I was little, you even held me. You won’t ignore me, right?"

Ms. Qi curled her foot slightly and shook off his hand.

Her tone held not a shred of feeling.

"A thirty-year-old woman who isn’t married is trash, is that what you said?"

Qi Yao froze. He almost kowtowed on the spot. "No, no, no, I’m the trash, I’m the trash; I said the wrong thing, I was wrong..."

"No," Ms. Qi looked around with a trace of regret, but more than that, disgust. "I was the one who was wrong. I brought trash like you into the company, and I even pushed you this far."

"You don’t think your popularity came from your own merit, do you?"

Sensing the other woman’s change in attitude, Qi Yao was so scared his soul nearly left his body.

"I’m the most useless one, I’m useless; it was all thanks to Ms. Qi. I was wrong, forgive me this once, give me another chance."

Ms. Qi turned and opened the door. Behind her, several bodyguards stepped forward and pinned Qi Yao down as he struggled on the floor.

"Send him to the public security bureau. At the same time, contact the media and say that my MeiYu Media firmly opposes employees’ involvement with drugs."

Qi Yao froze, then began to scream and struggle.

"You’re actually sending me to the police? Why, why are you doing this?!"

Ms. Qi did not even look at him. She turned and left, never again willing to say another word to this kind of person.

Why?

Because he was simply too stupid, too disgusting.

He already had a body full of scandals; she could not cover them up for him no matter what, and he still wanted to go and provoke other people.

Even if he provoked them, fine; even if he had a few small scandals, they could still be suppressed. But he was stupid enough to get involved with that kind of thing.

Then he might as well go die.

Ms. Qi thought coldly. She opened her phone and called Yang Huayi.

"We need to talk."

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[Up-ears rabbit head][Up-ears rabbit head] Just Yu Ling is left; clean things up and get ready for the New Year!