Wen Tingli lay like a sleeping little bird, quiet and still in Lu Shicheng’s arms.

But her mind was racing. Where did he plan to put her? That same guest room as last time, or his own room?

Judging by the direction, it seemed he meant to carry her upstairs.

Then it must be his own room.

Wait — they’d clearly already reached the staircase landing — why wasn’t he continuing up with her?

Huh, why had they curved around in place? Where were they going?

Suddenly she felt a chill at the tip of her nose, as if a night breeze had brushed lightly against her face — it seemed as though they’d opened a door and gone out to the back garden. She still didn’t dare open her eyes, but sensed Lu Shicheng had carried her a good long way, then heard someone up ahead say: “Young Master Cheng.”

Lu Shicheng gave a hum of acknowledgment.

Wen Tingli felt her body sinking downward, and the next instant she was gently set down onto a cushioned surface with some give to it.

Then, a dull thud — the sound of a car door closing.

They were in a car! Where was he taking her?

This was absolutely not the time to suddenly wake up — she had to keep lying perfectly still. She didn’t know how long she’d been “unconscious” when the car finally stopped.

Lu Shicheng got out from the front, and then the back door was pulled open too, his body leaning in toward her. Wen Tingli secretly steadied her breathing and facial muscles — this was something she’d always been confident in; even in dim lighting like this, let alone bright daylight, it would be hard for anyone to detect anything amiss.

Unexpectedly, Lu Shicheng didn’t intend to study her face at all — he simply lifted her out of the car, closed the door with his knee, and carried her forward.

At this point, Wen Tingli had no choice but to try to confirm her surroundings first.

She quickly cracked her eyes open a sliver, then quickly closed them again.

They’d arrived at her own front door!

The whole way, she’d gritted her teeth and held her breath, and at this moment she nearly broke character.

Based on what she knew of Lu Shicheng, if he’d truly believed she’d fainted, he’d absolutely have kept her at the Lu mansion for Louis to properly examine her. This showed he’d seen through her act from the start — but to save her dignity, he hadn’t exposed her in front of everyone.

Instead, he’d taken her straight home himself.

She found this a little funny inside, but out of some subtle instinct, still refused to open her eyes.

Lu Shicheng said nothing either, carrying her to her front door and pressing the doorbell with his elbow.

The door opened.

“Mr. Lu?! Oh?! Is our Miss—”

“She’s not feeling well. I’ve brought her home.”

“Please, come in. Is our Miss all right?”

Wen Tingli remained a “corpse” throughout — having committed this far to the act, however awkward, she had no choice but to grit her teeth and keep it up.

Lu Shicheng carried her straight into their suite.

The whole way he walked very steadily, but passing through the living room, he seemed to trip over something.

“Watch your step!” Zhou Sao scrambled to tidy up. “Xiao Taozi bought a bunch of toys with her sister this afternoon — piled up, they’re as tall as a little mountain. She’s been playing with them ever since and won’t let me put them away.”

As Wen Tingli listened, she suddenly felt Lu Shicheng’s gaze land on her face — this deadly instinct of hers.

She was quite puzzled — this was the first time Lu Shicheng had stopped to stare at her like this.

Once he resumed carrying her forward, she couldn’t resist cracking her eyelids open a sliver to sneak a peek at the floor.

She saw, in the middle of the living room, a tall wooden toy shelf, with a large sign hanging on it.

On the sign, in flowing, flourishing characters, was written the character “Meng.”

She suddenly remembered — this pile of toys was what Meng Qiguang had paid for. Coming home in the evening, preoccupied with getting to the banquet, she hadn’t had time to help Xiao Taozi organize things before leaving.

Xiao Taozi had probably mistaken it for a display banner, so she’d dragged it to the most prominent spot in the living room.

And Zhou Sao couldn’t read either…

She suddenly felt a bit flustered inside. Fortunately, Lu Shicheng didn’t stare at the pile of toys, quickly moving his gaze away and continuing on toward her bedroom. Zhou Sao helped open the door, but didn’t follow him in, seeming to forget to turn on the light too.

Lu Shicheng looked left and right, and by the faint moonlight seeping in through the window, walked to the bed, laying Wen Tingli down like unloading cargo. As he bent over, his lapel brushed lightly across her forehead.

Wen Tingli’s eyelashes fluttered wildly — should she use this moment to “wake up”?

But Lu Shicheng gave her no chance to build up the moment at all — he didn’t even linger by the bed for long, setting her down and turning to leave immediately.

“Hey—” Wen Tingli finally couldn’t hold out any longer, and abruptly sat up from the bed.

Hearing this corpse-like exclamation, Lu Shicheng didn’t seem the least bit surprised, standing where he was and raising an eyebrow: “Since Miss Wen has ‘woken up,’ then I won’t need to have Louis come by after all. I’ll have someone send your coat back tomorrow morning.”

“Are you angry?” Wen Tingli said, looking at his back with certainty.

Lu Shicheng paused, and Wen Tingli tugged the corner of her mouth: “You’ve been angry with me all night, from the very start. Dare you admit exactly why you’re angry?”

Just then, Zhou Sao came in carrying a basin of water: “Miss must have caught a chill — a hot towel over the nose and mouth should help. Oh, you’re awake?!”

Looking up, she saw Wen Tingli sitting perfectly fine on the bed, and let out a great sigh of relief, turning with a smile to say to Lu Shicheng: “This child’s just been overworking herself — who told her to be so competitive, insisting on both filming well and keeping up with her studies. Anyone would wear themselves out.”

Lu Shicheng left the bedroom without a word.

Zhou Sao chased after him: “Mr. Lu, you rarely come by — won’t you stay for a late-night snack before you go? There’s ready-made oil tofu vermicelli soup in the kitchen.”

From inside the room, Wen Tingli said crossly: “Zhou Sao! Mr. Lu is very busy, let him go.”

Zhou Sao poked her head back in, winking exaggeratedly at Wen Tingli, who turned her head away.

Lu Shicheng stood silently in the living room for a moment, then said quietly to Zhou Sao: “Thank you, Zhou Sao, but that won’t be necessary.”

Zhou Sao, unable to do anything with the two of them, stamped her foot and chased after him: “Really, thank you so much tonight — Miss’s every word and action has been stirring up outside gossip lately, and you were so worried something might happen that you personally escorted her home. At least have a cup of hot tea before you go—”

The phone suddenly rang, and Zhou Sao had no choice but to turn back to answer it.

“Deputy Director Tan? Our Miss isn’t feeling well. Exteriors? What exteriors, oh dear, she’s sick! What urgent matter needs asking about this late?”

Before she’d finished speaking, Wen Tingli rushed out to take the phone.

“Hello, it’s me. It didn’t work out, they wouldn’t agree!”

Lu Shicheng had already reached the door, but hearing this commotion, he couldn’t help but stop in his tracks.

Wen Tingli, back to the door, said loudly: “It’s nothing serious. First thing tomorrow morning I’ll go with Sister Huang to see Mr. Meng.”

Lu Shicheng lowered his head to listen, paused for a moment, then opened the door and left. Zhou Sao hurried after him: “Let me see you out.”

On the way, Zhou Sao sighed: “Their film crew is always in some kind of fire drill. Miss has been busy morning to night lately, and now she’s dealing with this exterior location business too — something about needing confidentiality, and they couldn’t reach an agreement with several schools. And look, even with Miss sick, they still won’t let up.”

By this point they’d reached the car. Lu Shicheng nodded politely to Zhou Sao: “Please, don’t trouble yourself further.”

He drove off.

By now Wen Tingli had finished her call too. Turning her head, she saw the sign on that toy shelf in the living room, walked over, and absent-mindedly poked at the “Meng” nameplate.

When Zhou Sao came back, she’d curled up on the sofa, knees drawn in, and asked: “He’s gone?”

“Mm.”

“Did he ask you anything — like, trying to fish around about who I’ve been making friends with lately?”

“You went and made the man angry all on your own, and now you’re asking about this?” Zhou Sao said, busy tidying up Xiao Taozi’s toys. After a few seconds’ thought, she suddenly said with great certainty, “Still, Mr. Lu did seem to have something on his mind. He was perfectly fine carrying Miss into the living room earlier, but then he accidentally kicked into these toys, and I saw his face change right away. He never used to be like that.”

Wen Tingli, idly twirling a lock of her hair, suddenly burst out laughing, cupping her own face.

Zhou Sao was utterly baffled: “What’s gotten into you, child — one minute fighting with Mr. Lu, the next minute grinning like a fool to yourself. Are you sure you’re not really sick?”

The next day was Saturday, no classes at school. Wen Tingli woke up remembering the exterior shoot still hadn’t been settled, and early in the morning dug out some business cards from her wallet, calling through them one by one.

Shortly after, Deputy Director Tan called.

“Miss Wen, is there truly no way with Wushi Girls’ Middle School?”

Wen Tingli said happily: “No need to worry about Wushi anymore. I just had Mrs. Pan contact Principal Lin at Chengxin Middle School — turns out Principal Lin was an old acquaintance of the Pan family back in Tianjin, and on top of that, Principal Lin himself is quite fond of my films. The moment Mrs. Pan mentioned it, he agreed on the spot. I’ll head over to Chengxin Middle School shortly to sign the agreement with Principal Lin.”

“Couldn’t be better!” Tan Guiwang was overjoyed. “Though I’d assumed — since Miss Wen went through Mrs. Pan — that it was actually Mr. Meng who’d approached their principal as a favor to Sister Huang.”

Wen Tingli paused — she’d forgotten about that angle entirely. If they shot five or six days of exteriors at Chengxin Middle School, her connection to Meng Qiguang might really become impossible to explain away, especially since everyone knew he was on the school board there.

Never mind.

Making the film was the top priority.

She’d just finished getting ready to head out when Tan Guiwang proactively called again.

“Miss Wen, come quick — another school has contacted us. Junyi Middle School.”

“Isn’t that a public school?”

“Yes, but their principal just contacted us on his own, saying he’s a great fan of Sister Huang’s films. Even hearing we’re supposedly shooting a wuxia film, he still has great confidence in us. He said he’d heard somehow that we were worried about finding a location, and he’s willing to lend us the campus for a few days. He agreed readily to signing a confidentiality agreement too. If things go smoothly, we could start filming this morning — hurry over.”

Wen Tingli rushed over to Junyi Middle School, and just as Tan Guiwang said, everything went remarkably smoothly.

They met in the principal’s office.

While Tan Guiwang chatted enthusiastically with the principal, Wen Tingli happened to glance at the bookshelf and noticed a silver plaque with an inscription.

【In commemoration of Chairman Lu of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce, for his donation of 200,000 yuan toward the school building construction fund.】

Just as she was about to look closer, the principal casually stood and blocked the shelf: “Miss Wen, please, have some tea.”

Tan Guiwang turned back, puzzled: “Miss Wen, what are you looking at?”

Then, lowering his voice: “Have you decided? Which school for the exterior shoot? Mrs. Pan’s side is settled, but this principal here is waiting on our answer too.”

Wen Tingli scoffed inwardly — since he’d already backed down, she didn’t feel like pushing further to provoke him. She tilted her head, thought for a moment, and said pleasantly to Tan Guiwang: “Let’s go with this one. I’ll speak to Mrs. Pan myself.”

That evening, the moment Wen Tingli finished work, she went to the hospital to visit Principal Zou.

Principal Zou’s injury wasn’t severe — she’d woken up shortly after being brought in the night before.

Leaning against the hospital bed, she said to Wen Tingli: “A’Xi was introduced to us by Mama Liu — Mama Liu’s been with our family for almost thirty years now, practically family to me. She’s from the same hometown as A’Xi, and knows A’Xi’s parents too. Seeing they knew each other’s backgrounds so well, I agreed to keep A’Xi on — never imagined this person wasn’t the real A’Xi from back home at all. Mama Liu hasn’t been back to her hometown in so long, she never noticed something was wrong.”

At this, Principal Zou sighed deeply: “Yesterday, after she delivered my medicine, she wouldn’t leave, kept finding excuses to linger near Shicheng’s study instead. That’s when I realized something was off with her — since she was someone I’d brought in, I thought I’d quietly follow to see what she was up to, never expecting… I heard from Mr. Kuang that after she attacked me, she also tried to frame you for it?”

“Don’t worry, she didn’t succeed.” Wen Tingli gently tucked in Principal Zou’s blanket. “She’s been caught now — you just focus on recovering. Young Master Lu will handle it properly.”

Principal Zou, however, looked full of shame: “Last time it was Zihe, this time it’s A’Xi again. I really am causing Shicheng so much trouble—”

Wen Tingli hurried to say: “How is this causing trouble? Their target is Mr. Lu, and their methods are so sophisticated — you’re just an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire. I feel for you, having to be dragged into these schemes again and again through no fault of your own.”

Principal Zou sighed: “Truth be told, Shicheng really hasn’t had it easy these past years. Busy all day is one thing, but even at night he has to sleep with one eye open. I’ve noticed he’s gotten thinner again lately — no idea what’s been troubling him.”

Wen Tingli rested her head against Principal Zou’s arm, listening quietly.

The next morning, she wrote out a check and had driver Old Li deliver it to the Meng residence — the exact amount Meng Qiguang had spent buying toys for Xiao Taozi that day. This was a very clear gesture of refusal — though she had no solid proof about that night’s events, in hindsight she couldn’t shake the feeling that Meng Qiguang had deliberately set her up.

As it happened, Meng Qiguang wasn’t home, so Old Li handed the check to the Meng family’s steward instead.

Meng Qiguang was an extremely clever man, and afterward, he didn’t call to ask what this was about.

In the days that followed, filming for Fair Detective progressed with unusual smoothness.

Junyi Middle School kept confidentiality remarkably well — not a whisper leaked to the outside world, and even when Huang Yuanshan decided at the last minute to add another exterior scene, the school cooperated without complaint.

Wen Tingli feigned complete ignorance of all this. Once the exteriors wrapped, the crew moved back to the new studio to shoot the indoor scenes.

During this time, new films from Le Zhiwen, Xiao Diejun, and others were released one after another, all to good reception.

Of course, the most eye-catching box office numbers belonged to Yu Peiling’s Chronicle of a Loyal Heart, whose discussion volume even surpassed that of Belle of the South from before.

A film star reaching such a position seemed to have scaled the highest peak among mountains — the papers heaped endless praise on Yu Peiling, and any article touching on film stars invariably placed her first without exception.

Major department stores rushed to invite Yu Peiling to all kinds of events, and within a single month she’d landed a dozen or so advertising deals.

Chen Maoqing was counting money until his hands went numb.

The outside world gradually forgot the embarrassing episode where Chen Maoqing had once boasted that Lu Shicheng would invite Yu Peiling to shoot the “Xili Pear Juice” ad, only to be mercilessly slapped in the face by the Lu enterprise. Now everyone only saw Chen Maoqing’s superb skill at building stars.

Yu Peiling had been discovered and cultivated entirely by Chen Maoqing, and even now, her acting skills remained rather unremarkable — but Chen Maoqing knew how to play to her strengths and mask her weaknesses, knew how to pick scripts for her, knew how to fight for every advantageous resource for his own people. So the public consensus was that Yu Peiling’s success owed everything to Chen Maoqing’s cultivation.

And with the resounding triumph of Chronicle of a Loyal Heart, Chen Maoqing had also smoothly ousted his own business partner, leaping up to become the big boss of Huamei Film Company.

This news surprised no one — men like Chen Maoqing, to put it kindly, were called “clear about their goals”; to put it unkindly, “unscrupulous.”

But whatever the case, he’d succeeded.

In this world, success trumps everything.

All at once, several actors who’d been struggling at their original companies flocked to jump ship to Chen Maoqing’s banner, including two veteran actors from Golden Studios.

Liu Menglin, seething with envy watching this, made a hard demand of Huang Yuanshan: Fair Detective‘s remaining scenes had to be finished within a month.

Wen Tingli, for her part, also quietly gritted her teeth and put in extra effort — for no other reason than that Chen Maoqing had recently started tripping her up again.

He’d likely guessed by now that she was behind what happened that night, but instead of reflecting on his own shady conduct, he only came to view her as more of a thorn in his side. Combined with his long-standing view of her as Yu Peiling’s rival, he now seemed determined to use every connection he had to suppress Wen Tingli completely.

Not only did the invitations Wen Tingli received drop sharply, but whenever she happened to run into Chen Maoqing and Yu Peiling at public events, she’d inexplicably find herself seated in the most obscure corner.

Chen Maoqing even hinted to businesses: if they wanted Miss Yu Peiling to attend, they’d better not invite Wen Tingli of Golden Studios.

One was a superstar at the height of her career; the other, a newly popular actress not yet fully established. Naturally, businesses knew which to choose.

Once, after Wen Tingli returned from an event, she checked the next day’s paper only to find her photo had been entirely cropped out of the coverage. She called the newspaper to ask about it, and was simply told the photographer had made a mistake — but mistake or not, they refused to reprint a new photo.

All these underhanded tactics left Wen Tingli deeply frustrated.

And as discussion of Belle of the South rapidly cooled, attention toward Wen Tingli from all sides grew increasingly scarce, especially once everyone learned her second film was an unoriginal wuxia picture — no one held much hope for her future.

In years past, there’d been a few newcomer actors like her who’d shot to fame with their debut, but because their follow-up work failed to keep pace, they quickly vanished like sea foam on the shore. In the public eye, Wen Tingli was undoubtedly this year’s fleeting “flash in the pan.” With no confidence in her future, naturally no one took her seriously anymore.

Sometimes, when Wen Tingli discussed specific details with event organizers, they gradually stopped taking her seriously either.

Faced with this string of exclusion and cold shoulders, Wen Tingli carried on as usual outwardly, quietly pouring all her remaining energy into the filming of Fair Detective.

During filming, Chen Maoqing also secretly sent people to snoop for information, but fortunately this time Liu Menglin personally oversaw everything from start to finish, and not a single detail leaked.

After Chen Maoqing and his people confirmed they were indeed shooting a wuxia film, their faces nearly split from smug grinning, and their suppression of Wen Tingli grew ever more blatant. The most recent two issues of Film Companion magazine had no mention of Belle of the South or Wen Tingli whatsoever.

Liu Menglin wasn’t unaware of this situation, but firstly, he was busy juggling the filming of several movies at once and couldn’t spare the manpower. Secondly, he was the type who always calculated costs and benefits carefully, and was reluctant to spend a large sum promoting a film that had already left theaters.

So in the face of Chen Maoqing and company’s underhanded schemes, Golden Studios’ counterattacks inevitably seemed rather feeble, and gradually, Wen Tingli’s name nearly vanished from public view.

Under these dire circumstances, Fair Detective‘s filming kept accelerating — originally planned to take three months, it entered its final stretch in just two, and during the last two scenes, Huang Yuanshan couldn’t stop saying “good,” “excellent,” praising Wen Tingli’s performance without end.

Liu Menglin was on set that day too, and the moment the scene wrapped, he said: “Little Wen’s getting steadier and steadier. I was worried earlier that your state of mind might be affected lately — looks like I worried for nothing.”

Wen Tingli took the water cup and towel a staff member handed her, wiping her face with a smile, while Huang Yuanshan added from the side: “Ever since I’ve known her, I’ve never once seen her fret over anything not worth the trouble. She’s a natural-born star.”

Liu Menglin, cigar clenched between his teeth, said: “I’ll arrange the film’s pre-release promotion right away. Yuanshan, you and the editing team get the film cut as fast as possible — let’s aim to release it in the shortest time possible.”

Liu Menglin was a man of action — the very next day, Shanghai Spring Daily officially published a large advertisement titled This Year’s Most Anticipated Female Detective Film — “Fair Detective” Wraps Filming, An Announcement to All (note).

It also featured several freshly-printed photos from the set of Fair Detective.

The news caused a citywide sensation.

【This film, produced by renowned director Huang Yuanshan, further stars the formidable rising star Miss Wen Tingli, set against the backdrop of a campus girl detective — pioneering this genre for the first time! To achieve first-rate quality, Director Huang specially chose Junyi Middle School as the film’s real-life shooting location. Stern teachers, amiable foreign professors, students, tea house workers… anyone could be the killer; classrooms, libraries, canteens, trams — everywhere could be where the “true culprit” lurks. The scenes are authentic, the plot bizarre and tense, full of ingenious twists that leave you unable to guess the truth — who is the murderer hidden within this film? Fans, why not follow in the footsteps of this clever detective “Fu Zhenzhen” and seek out the answer together.】

The promotional language was extremely exaggerated, but the promotional effect was immediate.

That day, the phones at Golden Studios’ publicity department nearly rang off the hook — citizens, their curiosity piqued by the newspaper coverage, called in droves asking when the film would release. Several newspaper reporters and workers from cultural organizations around the city even came in person to Golden Studios to ask about the film’s details.

Following this, major newspapers rushed to run advertisements in quick succession, and the response grew ever more enthusiastic. To secure the premiere rights for Fair Detective, both the Wanguo Theatre and the New Central Theatre proactively sent people to negotiate with Liu Menglin, with the New Central Theatre even offering to give up a ten-percent cut.

This turn of events greatly exceeded Liu Menglin’s expectations — Shanghai had over a hundred film companies but only around twenty theaters; faced with the massive volume of films each company churned out yearly, theaters held considerable leverage and power of choice over which films to screen. Yet this time, a theater had proactively offered concessions just to secure the collaboration.

Liu Menglin was thrilled, gleefully calling Wen Tingli his “money-luck star,” while announcing to the public that the film would release within the month, though as for exactly which theater would host the premiere, “still under negotiation, not convenient to disclose for now.”

He also publicly declared: “I have full confidence in this film’s quality and believe it’ll cause a sensation upon release. And I have a major piece of news to share with fans in advance: on premiere night, our lead actress Miss Wen Tingli will personally take the stage to interact with everyone.”

The next day, these remarks of Liu Menglin’s made the papers as news, further stoking public anticipation for the film.

Wen Tingli herself quickly felt the various changes in her life. On one hand, she could once again see enthusiastic discussion of her new film in the papers; on the other, various social organizations began inviting her to events more frequently again, often seating her in a front position rather than tucked away in a corner as before.

One day, she ran into Chen Maoqing at some event, and as he greeted her, he said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes: “Miss Wen sure knows how to keep a secret — filming a girl detective picture while telling everyone it was a wuxia film. Fooled every last one of us without breaking a sweat.”

Someone nearby smoothed things over with a laugh: “That’s hardly something Miss Wen alone would decide — this was clearly Liu Menglin’s idea.”

“But surely Miss Wen herself had to keep her mouth shut too? Such a young thing, yet so deep and calculating — it’s enough to make one wary.”

Back at the studio, Wen Tingli recounted Chen Maoqing’s sour remarks to Huang Yuanshan and the others in vivid detail.

“That’s just him catching a case of the green-eyed sickness,” Huang Yuanshan scoffed. “I’d bet that if he’d found out earlier we were shooting a female detective film, he’d have done everything possible to rush out a copycat. Now that our film’s about to release, it’s too late for him to beat us to it — all he can do is stand by, sour-faced, watching our success. No wonder it eats at him.”

The group sat there laughing for a while, and Tan Guiwang said to Wen Tingli: “Miss Wen, you’ve worked yourself to exhaustion these past while, and there’s still plenty to do before the film releases next week. Take these next few days to rest properly — head home early today.”

Wen Tingli rose happily: “You all rest up too, then.”

Leaving the company, she didn’t head straight home, but went instead to personally deliver premiere tickets to Gao Xiaowen and others one by one. She happened to pass by Lixin Bank and spotted Kuang Zhilin coming out of the bank’s front entrance. Wen Tingli hesitated a moment, then had Old Li stop the car, rolling down the window to call out: “Mr. Kuang.”

“Miss Wen, what a coincidence.” Kuang Zhilin, startled, closed his own car door and walked over with an affable smile.

Wen Tingli smiled at him from inside the car — a beige silk scarf tied at her neck, paired with a black Western-style dress, black Western-style sunglasses perched on her nose — and said with an apologetic laugh: “You must be amused seeing me like this, Mr. Kuang.”

Kuang Zhilin glanced around — quite a few passersby on the street were already looking Wen Tingli’s way — and nodded knowingly: “I read in the papers that Miss Wen’s new film is about to release — they say it’s this year’s most anticipated film. I’ll offer my early congratulations on another success for Miss Wen.”

Wen Tingli happily accepted Kuang Zhilin’s blessing, then, thinking it over, took out a few tickets from her handbag and presented them to Kuang Zhilin: “I was just on my way to deliver tickets to friends, and what luck running into you, Mr. Kuang. These two tickets are for you — if you’d do me the honor of being among the first audience for Fair Detective along with your friends, I’d be truly grateful.”

Kuang Zhilin looked delighted with surprise: “These tickets must be rather hard to come by. Many thanks for Miss Wen’s kindness — I’ll be sure to come support the film when the time comes. What a pity, Young Master Lu hasn’t been in Shanghai these past two weeks — the Guangdong Chamber of Commerce invited him over to discuss a partnership, asked several times, and Young Master Lu set off for Guangzhou just yesterday.”

Wen Tingli waved a hand: “Then I won’t keep you any longer, Mr. Kuang. Be sure to make time for the premiere. See you then.”

“Certainly, certainly.”

The moment Wen Tingli got home, she went straight to bed. Filming was done, and all that remained was to wait calmly for Fair Detective‘s release — so this particular sleep came more soundly than usual.

In her dream, she saw her mother, who hadn’t appeared in her dreams for a long while.

Wen Tingli, overwhelmed with mixed joy and sorrow, threw herself forward: “Mama, why haven’t you come to see me in so long?”

Her mother gently kissed her daughter’s forehead.

Wen Tingli reached back to stroke her mother’s face — the scar on her mother’s right cheek was a lifelong pain for her.

Her heart ached, tears streaming down: “You suffered so much when you were young, and you left before your daughter could properly repay you for it. Your daughter’s doing better and better now — are you happy for me?”

But for some reason, in the dream, her mother’s brow stayed furrowed the whole time, clearly deeply worried about something.

Overwhelmed with grief, Wen Tingli clutched her mother tightly and wept aloud.

Crying and crying, she suddenly jolted awake, her pillow damp all over with tear stains.

Outside the window, the sky was just beginning to lighten. Wen Tingli stared blankly toward the window, her mother’s sorrowful face lingering before her eyes, leaving a faint unease in her heart.

Suddenly, the phone rang. Perhaps because of her already somber mood, the ringing sounded especially sharp, ringing on and on relentlessly like a death knell.

On the phone, Huang Yuanshan’s voice was more agitated than she’d ever heard it: “Go look at the papers right away. But after you read it, don’t panic — come to the company immediately, we’ll figure out a plan together.”

Wen Tingli hurried to the door to fetch the morning paper from the mailbox, unable to wait, reading it right there in the corridor. There, in the most prominent spot of the supplement section, was written:

【A Monstrous Lie — Miss Wen Tingli, Recently Rising to Prominence in Film Circles, Turns Out to Be a Nothing But a Deceitful Socialite!】

Beside the news was, shockingly, a photo of Wen Tingli picking up Xiao Taozi outside the Commercial Press kindergarten.

Wen Tingli’s vision went dark for a moment, but she forced herself to stay composed and kept reading.

The article read: “Ever since Miss Wen Tingli entered the film world, she has presented herself everywhere as an unmarried lady, but little does the public know, this woman conceived out of wedlock a full four years ago and was abandoned before she could marry. She gave birth to an illegitimate daughter, nicknamed Xiao Taozi, who just turned three and a half this year, and whom Miss Wen dotes upon greatly. Back then, Miss Wen’s parents, to cover up this scandalous affair, told everyone that Xiao Taozi was born to Mrs. Wen, but the truth cannot escape the notice of several neighbors in Ping’an Lane…”

The further Wen Tingli read, the more ragged her breathing became.

The article contained numerous seemingly-plausible details — for instance, that Xiao Taozi hadn’t been born in the hospital at all, but on the way there, and the article concluded from this: “Upon investigation, the Wen family has lived in Ping’an Lane for years, and this lane is only about ten minutes from Cixin Hospital — no matter how urgent, there’s no way a birth could have happened on the road. This is clearly yet another lie fabricated by Miss Wen’s parents to cover up their daughter’s disgrace. After all, the woman in labor at the time wasn’t Mrs. Wen at all, but Miss Wen herself — how could an unmarried young girl possibly go to a proper hospital to give birth…” and so on.

The article concluded with:

【In order to whitewash her image of purity, Miss Wen has repeatedly deceived the public with lies — her heart is truly detestable! If we allow such a morally corrupt actress to run rampant in the film world, it will have a corrupting influence on the entire fabric of society. Fans so often worship their idols — if our children all grow up to have children out of wedlock and tell lies as a matter of course, will society not descend into chaos?! This matter carries grave implications — ladies, gentlemen, teachers of conscience, we must take action to boycott this actress devoid of virtue!】

Wen Tingli’s fury blazed. She rushed back to her room, washed up as fast as she could, and headed out to the company. Huang Yuanshan and Liu Menglin had already arrived early too, every one of them as if facing a great enemy.

The phone on the desk rang incessantly, Liu Menglin already frazzled, repeatedly assuring different callers that the article was slander.

What Wen Tingli never expected was that the very first thing Liu Menglin said after hanging up the phone was: “Is what the paper says true or not? Wen Tingli, we’ve reached the point where you need to tell us the truth!”

Wen Tingli was so furious she laughed instead: “Wonderful. No matter what wild rumors the outside world cooks up about me, Boss Liu’s just going to believe them at face value?”

Liu Menglin, utterly exhausted, slumped back on the sofa: “It’s not that I don’t believe you — it’s just that this profession has all sorts, good and bad alike. We’ve learned this lesson the hard way before — there was an actress who also hid certain things from us, and before long the tabloids exposed her true background, leaving the company in quite an embarrassing spot for a while. The photo in the morning paper is you and your sister, isn’t it? The age gap really is rather large…”

Huang Yuanshan said angrily: “The photo’s real, but the content is pure fabrication. This is clearly a vicious scheme cooked up by Chen Maoqing and his people to preemptively suppress Fair Detective — if something happens to the lead actress, the box office will naturally take a huge hit. Wen Tingli, your most urgent task right now is to dig up your sister’s birth certificate and household registration. We’ll issue a formal statement in the papers — as long as the crew responds promptly, it might even work as promotion for the film instead.”

Wen Tingli shook her head: “I can’t produce it.”

“What?” Huang Yuanshan and Liu Menglin both jolted at once.

“Xiao Taozi doesn’t have a proper birth certificate. She really was born on the way to the hospital, on my mother’s trip there. My parents at the time not only didn’t think it was a bad thing, they even considered it fortunate. When taking Xiao Taozi out for sun on ordinary days, they’d often joke that this child was born on the road — plenty of neighbors know about this.”

This was exactly where the scheme was most vicious — the other side had clearly anticipated she wouldn’t be able to produce proof her sister was born in a hospital.

“Then—” Huang Yuanshan thought anxiously, “surely there was a midwife who delivered her? If we can just find the midwife, wouldn’t that prove Xiao Taozi was born to Mrs. Wen?”

“We could find her, this midwife’s surname is Peng, she used to live near Ping’an Lane, but—” Wen Tingli turned the question back on Huang Yuanshan, “It’s the other side spreading lies — why should I be the one to find proof? If proof’s needed, let them provide it. I’ll just gather evidence of their slander, and we’ll see them in court!”

Liu Menglin grew anxious.

“This is no time to be stubborn. Don’t you understand the saying about repeated rumors turning to truth?! Public opinion has enough destructive power to turn even the hottest star into a public enemy overnight. If your reputation really gets ruined by these people this time, it’ll be near impossible to recover. Go find this midwife surnamed Peng right away — Yuanshan, go with her.”

Wen Tingli felt a sense of foreboding, as if she already knew what was coming. The two of them rushed back to Ping’an Lane to make inquiries, and sure enough, the midwife surnamed Peng had passed away from illness at the end of last year.

The only witness who could prove Xiao Taozi was born to Mrs. Wen was gone.

By rights, this was the moment to seek out old neighbors from Ping’an Lane to testify, but Wen Tingli knew all too well — while most people in Ping’an Lane were good people, it was also a fact that this rumor had originated from that very place. She had no time right now to sort out who was loyal and who wasn’t, and to avoid complications, she could only pull Huang Yuanshan away from this troubled ground.

Since Wen Tingli had yet to issue any response, the papers seemed to have already concluded yesterday’s article was fact, and overnight, the rumors grew even more rampant.

By early morning, at least five tabloids had reprinted yesterday’s photo, all captioned with 【Popular Film Star Suspected of Bearing Child Out of Wedlock.】

Two papers even publicly called for “Miss Wen to immediately provide a reasonable explanation, or the public will strongly boycott the release of her starring film, Fair Detective.”

Under the siege of major newspapers, some businesses and theaters who’d remained neutral yesterday began to waver, with several even calling to request the cancellation of their partnership on Fair Detective.

“It’s not that we’re just going along with rumors, it’s that we businessmen can’t afford the risk — we’ve put in so much capital this time, and if Miss Wen’s new film gets a terrible response, or can’t even be released at all, we’ll lose everything.”

Liu Menglin, who’d been waiting for Wen Tingli to produce evidence herself, found he had no choice but to mobilize every social connection available to handle this crisis. Soon, a series of counterattack articles appeared in the papers.

But since these articles lacked solid physical or witness evidence, they not only failed to have a positive effect but instead stirred up strong public backlash.

Amid this storm of criticism, Wen Tingli didn’t simply sit and wait for disaster either, methodically arranging countermeasures of her own.

That evening, Principal Zou Zhiping of Wushi Girls’ Middle School came forward with a solemn public statement, declaring: Miss Wen had studied diligently and lived a simple, upright life during her time at the school — all faculty and students of Wushi Girls’ Middle School could vouch for this, and Zou herself would stake her own reputation on it; Miss Wen was a student of excellent character and academic achievement, and the news published in a certain paper the other day was pure malicious slander!

Zou Zhiping enjoyed tremendous prestige in educational circles, and this statement carried more weight than the dozen-odd articles Liu Menglin had commissioned combined.

That same day, several papers changed their tune. One senior film critic wrote: “Society today holds all sorts of distorted views toward actresses — either ruthlessly digging into female stars’ private lives, or fabricating outrageous rumors about them. The latest farce, framing a photo of two sisters as mother and daughter, is truly a disgrace to the press! One can only assume that, finding nothing else to attack in Miss Wen, they’ve resorted to ‘this last-ditch tactic’ — which only proves Miss Wen’s character is beyond reproach.”

This article, published in the widely-circulated Jiang Bao, spread far and wide, and in an instant, public sentiment toward Wen Tingli shifted from suspicion to sympathy.

Meanwhile, Miss Dong Qinfang of Xinxin Department Store, Chairwoman Gao Xiaowen of Aoshuang Company, and faculty and students of Hujiang University’s English department all stepped forward to back Wen Tingli.

Just as public opinion seemed to be turning the tide, another reporter jumped out to say: “Principal Zou’s endorsement certainly has some reference value, but by the time Wen Tingli transferred to Wushi Girls’ Middle School, she was already in her final year of middle school. As for Wen Tingli’s history before that, Principal Zou was likely kept in the dark as well, so her statement doesn’t prove anything.”

Wen Tingli felt a chill run through her. If she followed this reporter’s logic, her next step would have to be seeking out the principal of Xiude Girls’ Middle School to speak on her behalf.

But upon investigating her own history, it wasn’t hard to guess that she’d transferred to Wushi precisely because of an unpleasant falling-out with the Xiude school administration — and the largest board member of Xiude Middle School was none other than the Qiao family. Mrs. Qiao hated her so much — how could she possibly step forward to help her?

As long as she couldn’t respond on this front, the public would simply assume she didn’t dare go back to Xiude for a statement — and why wouldn’t she dare? Obviously, because she had a guilty conscience.

They’d achieved their goal.

At this point, Wen Tingli finally understood just how much preparation Chen Maoqing had put into destroying her — even her old grievance with Mrs. Qiao had been factored into his scheme.

No — she couldn’t just sit and wait for disaster. But short of resurrecting the midwife Peng, she couldn’t think of any single decisive counterattack for the moment.

In desperation, she even considered going to the hospital for a gynecological examination — if she produced her own physical examination report, the rumors would collapse on their own.

Huang Yuanshan strongly opposed this idea: “Have you lost your mind with worry? Why would you put your own privacy on public display just because of some vile woman’s slander — do you really think the public is after the truth? Most people are just here for the spectacle. A star needs to maintain some mystery. Even if this convinces some people, you’d still have lost this round completely — from now on, whenever people mention you, it’ll always come with ‘oh, that’s the actress who had to produce a gynecological report in public.’ Where would your star power be then? This is exactly what Chen Maoqing is aiming for.”

This time, Liu Menglin, uncharacteristically, didn’t argue against Huang Yuanshan: “Listen to Yuanshan. He’s been in this film industry for years and seen all sorts of strange situations. Especially at a time like this, you can’t let your opponent lead you by the nose. Besides, the moment you release that report, Chen Maoqing will certainly have another move ready, and then you’ll be even more on the defensive — so unless it’s an absolute last resort, we can’t use this method.”

Just as everyone was racking their brains for a solution, an even more unexpected development arrived — at noon, Zhou Sao rushed in holding a freshly delivered newspaper, her voice trembling as she said to Wen Tingli: “Miss, look at this — isn’t this a photo of your mother?!”