The whole trending-topic saga around Liang Yan finally wrapped up once that variety show released some of its outtakes — footage that showed Liang Yan had, in fact, taken good care of the actress who wasn’t feeling well that day. It was just that he had such a smart mouth that the production team had cherry-picked and edited around it, leaving only the smart-mouthed bits, with none of the actual caretaking behavior shown.
With the truth of the matter laid bare, the trolls all shut up at once, and the fans immediately straightened their backs and started sweeping the plaza clean, dragging both the actress and the production team down with them for good measure.
Before the story could resurface a second time, Liang Yan himself leisurely posted a new Weibo post.
@LiangYan_V: Even when we stand on the side of justice, if we never let go, the darkness never truly ends. #YanyunManor#
The accompanying photo was a still of Liang Yan from the show.
This post had a clever double meaning, and combined with the fact that Liang Yan’s own fans had already been thoroughly worn down by him into having no room left for defensiveness, the fandom quickly stood down as a whole.
The whole controversy finally came to a close.
Qiao Qi, having watched the entire thing unfold from the sidelines, came away with a new understanding and appreciation of Liang Yan, seen from a completely different angle.
On set, she sat on some nearby steps waiting for her scene. Today they were filming Zhou Suiyu and Lin Chu’s wrap scene — the general plot being that Miss He, deeply in love with Young Master Ming but unable to have him, finally shed her wealthy-heiress persona and joined the underground resistance alongside him.
On this day, Zhou Suiyu’s character learns that the government has tracked down Young Master Ming; without a second thought, she sacrifices herself completely, and by the time Ming Yan finds out, all that’s left at the scene are the bodies of He Nianyi and Aide Shi, having gone down together.
Ming Yan looks at the young woman’s eyes, stubbornly refusing to close even in death, and for some reason, is reminded of the very first time the two of them met. He holds her gaze for a long while, then slowly reaches out and covers her eyes with his hand.
Then he lifts her into his arms and carries her, step by step, toward the He family’s grand estate.
Old Master He, forced to send off his own child before himself, nearly collapses on the spot; in the end, it’s the He family’s eldest son who reaches out and strikes Ming Yan across the face.
Ming Yan doesn’t dodge the blow at all — instead, as the He family’s gates slam shut, he bows deeply toward the closed door.
With that, Zhou Suiyu and Lin Chu’s roles officially wrap.
Cheng Yueming came jogging over cradling two large bouquets of flowers to give to Zhou Suiyu and Lin Chu; Zhou Suiyu, wiping away tears, said thank you, and Cheng Yueming’s own eyes turned red too, telling Lin Chu, “Good luck, Teacher Lin!”
Lin Chu smiled, the corner of his mouth curving up — compared to the openly emotional Zhou Suiyu, he came across as far more composed and reserved. Taking the flowers, he casually ruffled Cheng Yueming’s hair. “Thanks, Little Yue.”
Cheng Yueming nodded firmly and called for the crew’s cast to come over for the wrap photos.
Liang Yan naturally had to be in the very first shot; his face still bore the slap mark the stylist had painted on, his eyes rimmed red from the deliberately restrained emotion of the scene, and though he himself had already stepped out of character before anyone else, that faint redness still lingered around his eyes.
Zhou Suiyu was actually a little afraid of Liang Yan — with other people she was happy to joke and laugh, but not with him.
It always felt as if Liang Yan could see right through her, somehow.
She took a very proper, well-behaved photo with Liang Yan; in it, neither of them wore any of their usual playful expressions.
But when it came to her photo with Lin Chu, she was hooking one arm through his and even standing on tiptoe to wrap her arms around his neck.
Cheng Yueming seemed to have stepped away for something around this time, so Qiao Qi ended up taking a group photo along with the other actors and Zhou Suiyu.
Less than half an hour after Zhou Suiyu and Lin Chu left the set, Qiao Qi came across Zhou Suiyu’s Weibo post while scrolling.
@ZhouSuiyu_V: Thanks to my two teachers for taking such good care of me, thank you #YanyunManor#! [yay] Took Teacher Lin with me on my way out [doge], and got a princess carry from Teacher Liang for good measure! [laughing hard], so satisfied hahahahahaha [heart].
Qiao Qi tapped into the comment section with a blank expression and saw the top comments were all from Liang Yan’s fans.
【No way, our Mr. Liang can’t carry a girl like that!】
[Hahahahahahahahaha yeah, no way, no way he can lift her!]
【Oh my god, since when does Teacher Liang know how to take care of people?】
[? You fans are about to single-handedly ruin Mr. Liang’s reputation for him!]
Scrolling down, plenty more comments were from Liang Yan’s fans, all pretty much saying the same thing — tearing Liang Yan down.
At which point, Liang Yan himself, having quietly leaned in from behind at some point to peek at Qiao Qi’s phone, unbothered, remarked, “So how does one go about revoking someone’s fan status, exactly?”
Startled, Qiao Qi whipped around, hand pressed to her chest, and it took her several seconds before she managed to say, “Do you walk without making any sound at all?”
Liang Yan glanced at her. “You’re the one who’s deaf.”
Qiao Qi: “…”
This man really had zero gentlemanly conduct whatsoever in front of her.
She thought it over, switched her Weibo page to the batch of comments from Liang Yan’s fans claiming he was actually quite the gentleman, then held it up right in front of Liang Yan’s face.
Not sure what Qiao Qi meant by this, Liang Yan instinctively leaned back, then, once his eyes had focused on the screen, asked, “What’s this supposed to mean?”
Qiao Qi said nothing, expressing exactly what she meant with a cold smile instead.
“…” Liang Yan finally caught on, gave an “oh,” and shot back, “Are you a girl?”
Qiao Qi: “…?”
“Aren’t we bros?” Liang Yan asked again.
“Isn’t this just good old socialist brotherhood?” Liang Yan asked a third time.
Qiao Qi had nothing to say to that, and replied with only a faint smile.
—
At some point, Qiao Qi needed to switch her hair and makeup, so she went alone to the makeup room. It was pretty crowded in there, and once she’d finished getting ready, she wanted to escape the packed crowd as quickly as possible.
The set as a whole was always crowded, but there were quieter corners too — spots Qiao Qi liked to go to when studying her script.
Standing in for the grounds of Young Master Ming’s family estate, there was a walled-off square pond tucked in one corner, with a handful of goldfish flicking their tails at one edge. On good-weather days, the water’s surface would shimmer with light, and looking at it put people in an especially good mood.
Qiao Qi gave a slow yawn and pulled out a candy Wu Shuang had just handed her from her pocket — the wrapper was covered in Japanese text, and it was supposedly cherry-blossom flavored, though really it just tasted faintly sweet.
Still, if you paid close attention, you really could taste the difference from artificial sweeteners.
Qiao Qi thought she’d ask Wu Shuang what brand it was some other day, and buy some for Maiya to eat.
Just then, some slight commotion drifted over from not far off; Qiao Qi paused, assuming it was some staff member, and was about to leave when she suddenly heard a familiar voice.
“Hmph, and she wrapped her arms around your neck too!”
It was Cheng Yueming’s voice.
Qiao Qi paused, instinctively looking up, and sure enough, spotted two figures wrapped around each other under a large tree not far off.
The girl was, without a doubt, Cheng Yueming, but the guy… Qiao Qi narrowed her eyes and could only make out that the guy wore a black shirt, a cap on his head, and, quite cautiously, a black mask covering his face — she genuinely couldn’t tell who it was.
Was Cheng Yueming dating someone? Why had she never mentioned it during their usual chats?
“It was just work.” The guy said. “You’re on the crew too, wouldn’t you know that?” “Don’t be upset,” he said. “I was wrong, okay?”
The moment that voice came out, Qiao Qi immediately connected this thoroughly bundled-up man with a face in her memory.
—It was actually Lin Chu.
These two… since when had they been together?
No one had noticed at all.
“Still no!” Cheng Yueming pouted, clearly unhappy about it.
Lin Chu chuckled softly, coaxing her, “Look at you, pouting like that, let me give you a kiss.”
Qiao Qi: “…”
Silently turning her head away, she slowly got up, ready to leave.
Who could have guessed that the moment she stood up, a hand suddenly shot out beside her; startled, Qiao Qi’s eyes went wide, her first instinct being to swing the script in her hand as a weapon.
But this person had large hands and a long reach, and effortlessly blocked her strike, then, in the same motion, clamped a hand over her mouth.
Then, with a firm shove, pinned her against the rough wall beside them.
And, incidentally, wrapped an arm around her waist too.
Qiao Qi’s eyes widened; once she recognized the person as Liang Yan, they widened even further.
Liang Yan clamped his hand tightly over her mouth, eyes narrowed in warning. “Shh.”
Qiao Qi: “…”
Her gaze slowly dropped; Liang Yan followed it down, and the two of them simultaneously landed their attention on Liang Yan’s hand around her waist.
Liang Yan: “…”
He pulled it away without hesitation, his lips mouthing the words silently: “Sorry.”
Qiao Qi reached up and hooked her fingers around his slender wrist, tapping her fingers against it a few times as if playing piano keys; Liang Yan felt a tingling sensation across his skin, lifted his eyelids to meet Qiao Qi’s gaze, and read, clear as day in her dark eyes, two words: Let. Go!
Liang Yan: “…”
He thought it over and still wasn’t quite convinced; keeping his voice low, he said, “I’ll let go. Just don’t make a sound.”
Qiao Qi blinked.
Only then did Liang Yan let go, relieved — and just as he did, the couple next door had already reached a rather deep point in their kissing, faint, suggestive sounds even drifting over.
Qiao Qi: “…”
Liang Yan: “…”
Qiao Qi: “…………”
Liang Yan: “…………”
The two of them exchanged a perfectly synchronized glance, then, in unison, reached up to cover their ears and shut their eyes.
Some indeterminate amount of time later, once they heard the sound of someone walking away, Qiao Qi and Liang Yan finally opened their eyes, one after the other, and in perfect sync turned to look — only to find Lin Chu alone under the tree now.
Both of them let out a sigh of relief at the same time.
Then Liang Yan raised two fingers and moved them along his own arm, miming the act of walking away.
Then he pointed at Qiao Qi, the gist being: he’d leave first, and Qiao Qi should leave from a different direction.
Qiao Qi didn’t quite get why he was being so extra about it, but figuring the crew had too many eyes and ears around, she nodded and agreed anyway — but right at that moment, Lin Chu suddenly answered a phone call.
“Hey, mm, got it, baby, when have I ever lied to you?”
Qiao Qi and Liang Yan both froze at the same time, exchanging a glance; their inner thoughts had to be perfectly aligned: hm? Two-timing?
The next second, they heard Lin Chu say: “Mm, okay, didn’t I just kiss you a second ago?”
Qiao Qi: “…”
Liang Yan: “…”
Did people in relationships really have to be this saccharine about it? Weren’t they literally just apart for a second?!
Unbelievable!
“What are you two still staring for! Let’s go!” Liang Yan, probably unwilling to stick around a second longer either, turned to leave, but suddenly remembered something, paused, and stopped again.
Then he saw Qiao Qi wearing a deeply thoughtful expression, lost in thought about something. Liang Yan casually snapped his fingers in front of her face, meaning to get her to look up.
As a result, Qiao Qi did look up — and so, at the sound, did Lin Chu, from under the tree next door.
Qiao Qi: “…”
Eyes wide, an utterly speechless expression on her face that read: are you out of your mind?
Belatedly, Liang Yan realized what had just happened, whipped his head around, and came face to face with Lin Chu.
Lin Chu paused for a moment, said a few more words to whoever was on the other end of the call, hung up, nodded at Liang Yan and Qiao Qi, then turned and walked away first.
“…” Qiao Qi had run out of things to say, but still wanted to understand exactly what had just happened, so she asked, “…What were you about to say just now?”
Liang Yan pressed his lips together, at a loss for how to put it. “I wanted to ask you not to spread the news about the two of them dating.”
Qiao Qi nodded. “I won’t say anything. And now, you can go ask Lin Chu whether he’ll keep quiet about us showing up here too.”
Liang Yan: “…What’s wrong with us showing up here? We’re completely innocent!”
“Mm.” Qiao Qi said, perfectly calm. “Care to guess whether that’s what he thinks, too.”
Liang Yan: “…”
Damn it.
Author’s Note: Yesterday was brutal.
Got home and just collapsed straight to sleep. Accidentally slept straight through to this morning.
…Made it up.
Regular update tonight.
And a quick plug while I’m at it!
Gentled by You by Qiao Qisha
A gentle original-illustration artist × a deeply devoted, rakish domineering CEO.
On the eve of her wedding, she’s cheated on by her fiancé.
The “childhood sweethearts” everyone envied, shattered.
In an instant, Wen Zhi becomes the object of everyone’s pity.
Three days later, at a high school reunion.
In a KTV private room, feeling the mix of pity, sympathy, and mockery in her classmates’ eyes, Wen Zhi’s eyes sting despite herself, and she drinks herself halfway to drunk.
Just as she reaches for another drink, a large hand suddenly closes around her wrist.
Her once carefree, indifferent former deskmate — now the young master of the Hengyu Group — is staring at her intently.
The room falls completely silent.
Gu Cheng snatches the bottle from her, his throat working as he swallows the rest of it down in one go, licks a trace of wine from his lips, and sits down right beside her, his long legs spread out with careless ease.
The lighting is dim.
“Getting married?” he asks in a low voice, absently lighting a cigarette.
Wen Zhi freezes for a moment, not sure why even he has to come needle her too, her throat tight and sour; she admits, honestly, “…I got cheated on.”
His dark eyes hold hers quietly for two seconds, then he flicks the ash off his cigarette and lets out a low laugh.
“I meant with me.”
“Getting married?”