……

After that meal, on the way back,

The car drove smoothly. Jin’s father was driving, Lian Shaozi sat in the passenger seat, and Long Qi was in the back seat. The entire journey was particularly quiet, with no conversation.

But upon returning to Langzhu Residence, as soon as the bedroom door closed, she put her phone to her ear. After two rings, Jin Yiken answered, and she immediately asked: “Did you know in advance about tonight’s dinner?”

“What?” His first two words were this response, then he instantly understood and said, “How could I possibly have known in advance that my dad was coming back today?”

From the balcony, she could see Long Er lying by the pool enjoying the cool air. In another part of the yard was a small pond with fish, and Aunt Wu was scattering fish food. She pulled the curtains closed: “Then why did you say I was fortunate?”

“Fortune has arrived?”

“Your mother said she’d take me to see Valango’s show.”

“So your mood improved?” His voice dropped lower and became slightly hoarse, as if entering some relaxed state, full of youthful vigor.

“This wasn’t something you asked for on my behalf, was it?”

“Obviously not. I really can’t control my mom’s actions.”

“Then how did you seem to know in advance?”

“Your husband’s parents have always been generous.” Then he asked, “Did you eat your fill?”

“I spent the second half digesting their conversation,” she sat at the foot of the bed. “Jin Yiken, listen to your mother more during this period. She should really need support right now.”

“What support?”

“All kinds of support. Do you know your mother even resigned from her company position? What a huge blow and how much determination that must have taken. Smoke less too—your mother said you’ve been smoking heavily.”

He laughed, laughed for a long time, then said: “Qi.”

“What?”

“My mom is the type who can bring a room full of directors to force my dad’s hand. Before submitting her resignation, she already took everything she should have taken. Now she can’t wait for my dad to sign the papers so she can open up new horizons and find her second spring. The diamond bachelors pursuing her are no fewer than those pursuing you. Between my dad and my mom, the one who needs so-called support should be my dad.”

“……”

“This meal, whether eaten sooner or later, she was going to extract one final investment from my dad to put into you—time-efficient, effort-saving, and satisfying.”

“That impressive?” After these three words, a long pause, then realizing the key point: “Invest in me?”

“She wants to take you under her wing.”

“What?”

“My mom has had enough of supporting her husband and raising children. Now she’s preparing to make a comeback.”

After processing this for a moment, she replied: “My contract is still with Lao Ping.”

“No problem, I signed Lao Ping.”

“Lao Ping is debuting?”

“I mean I acquired Lao Ping’s studio.”

She sat up: “When did this happen?”

“Just now while you were at dinner. Lao Ping came to see me, we just finished signing the contract. Since you haven’t been working recently, his studio has no money. Crisis management profits are too slow. I fired two-thirds of his team and replaced them with people under my mom’s management.”

“If you acquired Lao Ping’s studio, doesn’t that mean you also signed Xu Yifen?”

Of all things, her focus was on this. Jin Yiken laughed over there: “Lao Ping can continue managing his artists. Only you belong to me.”

“……How much money did you spend to buy me? Lao Ping is particularly shrewd at business negotiations—don’t let him fleece you.”

“But right now you’re a hot potato.”

She remembered—all that pile of bad news about her.

For Jin Yiken to negotiate this deal now showed his own cunning cleverness. He said: “Now I’m not just your boyfriend, I’m also your legal boss. This kind of contractually bound relationship seems a bit more satisfying than a marital relationship.”

This statement was rather interesting. Hearing it made her feel somewhat displeased yet somewhat pleased. She crossed her arms and paced back and forth in the room: “So now, what’s the situation?”

“Study your books as usual, sleep as usual. I’ll arrange everything—you just focus on enjoying the show, buying houses, and being happy.”

At this point, she heard the sound of him turning in his chair: “Do you regret not giving your first kiss to such an amazing husband?”

She could practically visualize him now with his legs crossed, propping his cheek with that “I’m the best” young master expression. She said, Jin Yiken, your life has been so smooth—what’s wrong with having a few regrets?

This was the Long Qi he loved.

Meanwhile online, public opinion hadn’t eased at all despite the passage of a meal’s worth of time.

Lao Ping’s team’s “unreachable” zero-response status created increasingly more speculation and “reasoning.” Those so-called exposé posts mocking her as a little delinquent also took turns trending. Among these, they even dug up voting threads from Beifan University’s campus forum back in the day. The public went crazy, using these rumors and gossip to reconstruct her image. Being frequently absent from class during her freshman year due to filming also became a major crime at this point. Any unfamiliar username could come out and say a word or two about her. Thus, that matter between Ge Yinling and Fu Yu’ao was mixed into these numerous “words or two” and anonymously laid bare—though not in detail, just one sentence: Long Qi is a habitual homewrecker. Her previous rich second-generation ex-boyfriend was stolen from Wu Jiakui. After entering university, she got involved with our department’s heartthrob, even slept with him, but the heartthrob’s girlfriend was some famous director’s niece. The retribution for being a homewrecker is a ruined acting career.

Presented as established fact.

Around one in the morning, Wu Yishan’s Weibo suddenly showed activity. Previously, she would occasionally post photos together, and the followers she gained were almost all Long Qi’s fans. During this incident, her Weibo naturally became a “gossip-watching” check-in location. The comments numbered not tens of thousands but close to nine thousand. Her latest activity was liking that Weibo post calling Long Qi a habitual homewrecker.

……

But Wu Yishan also quickly unliked it within a quarter hour, simultaneously sending Long Qi a WeChat message saying that Nalin had used her phone, Nalin had clicked the like on Weibo, and she canceled it the moment she discovered it, apologizing to her.

After this extremely deliberate manipulation of public opinion, by the middle of the night, almost all netizens began shifting their attention from “AIDS” to “homewrecker.” The entire internet searched for the parties involved. Although Fu Yu’ao hadn’t been exposed yet, perhaps unable to withstand the pressure, at three in the morning he deleted personal life photos from his social media. But at four in the morning, he uploaded a link to his original music and a live performance photo.

Ge Yinling removed her mutual connection with Fu Yu’ao.

This entire night was so damn impossible to sleep through.

The next day she didn’t wake until noon, feeling dizzy and lightheaded as she came downstairs. She didn’t see Jin’s father—he didn’t seem to have stayed the night at home, but Lian Shaozi was there.

At the same time, entering the living room, she saw three unfamiliar busy faces—two women and one man, fashionably dressed. Several gowns covered with dust covers were piled on the living room sofa. Some beauty treatment equipment was set up in the courtyard. When they saw her arrive, they smiled and nodded in greeting, their hands never stopping, quickly coming and going. This setup clearly indicated a styling team. Lian Shaozi was cutting yesterday’s mousse cake. She was dressed smartly, as if just returned from the company. Aunt Wu was plating the cake beside her. Seeing Long Qi arrive, she said, “Oh perfect, come eat cake.”

Only then did Lian Shaozi glance over and continue cutting with lowered head: “Good afternoon.”

“Good afternoon, Auntie.”

This greeting came out rather weakly. Aunt Wu divided the cake while Lian Shaozi poured a cup of warm tea water: “Have some water first when you get up, Qi Qi.”

Taking the cup and drinking water during the pause, she glanced at the clothes on the sofa. Without lifting her head, Lian Shaozi asked which set she liked.

“Hm?”

“I selected these for you this morning. You’ll wear one tonight to the show. I remember you only brought one suitcase.” At this point, Lian Shaozi looked up, giving her a second glance, then said to the stylist, “The child didn’t sleep well last night. Her under-eye circles are a bit heavy. Do a good treatment later to reduce the swelling.”

The stylist was efficient, responding while coming over to replace the tea in her hand with honey water. Long Qi continued drinking, words in her heart, brewing during the gaps in everyone’s busyness. After a long while, she finally spoke, but just as the word “I” came out, Lian Shaozi interrupted: “Help me reply to an email, Qi Qi. The laptop is outside. The content has already been drafted—you just need to send it. I can’t free up my hands.”

“Okay.”

Walking outside, the laptop was placed on the coffee table beside the rattan chair in the courtyard. She opened it and looked back: “Which one?”

“The first one in the drafts folder.”

The first one was an all-English email. The first line showed Valango’s brand name. She scrolled to the bottom, paused with her mouse before clicking send, her finger not dropping. She scrolled back up to scan the content and discovered it was a letter replying to the other party’s headquarters executives. Lian Shaozi had accepted the position of Asia-Pacific Regional Marketing Director.

“What did you want to say just now, Qi Qi?”

While clicking send, she turned back. Lian Shaozi was focused on watching the stylist make accessory matches for each gown, casually dropping this line. Long Qi replied: “I feel I’m not really suitable to attend events with media present right now.”

“Who said so?”

With these three words, she replaced the diamond necklace on one outfit with a more personality-fitting platinum choker.

“No one said it to my face, but everyone—” She didn’t continue, resting her arm on the chair back.

Lian Shaozi looked over.

“Among all these ‘everyone,’ how many have you met face to face?”

“Total?”

“Total.”

Excluding netizens, she counted familiar faces in class: “Roughly a dozen or so.”

“How many have you spoken with?”

“Seven or eight.”

“How many can affect your daily emotions?”

“Four or five.”

“What about affecting your advancement and undertakings?”

After a pause, her chin rested on her arm.

“Not a single one. They can’t touch me.”

“Can those not included in this dozen or so touch you?”

“They can’t.”

Lian Shaozi glanced up: “Then who are you holding back and shrinking from?”

Good point. Feeling her mind finally turning the corner, Lian Shaozi added another line: “Child, do you know that in one night, the trending keywords about you have cycled through several rounds?”

“You watch Weibo too, Auntie?”

Lian Shaozi tossed aside a bracelet she wasn’t pleased with, picking a new one from the jewelry cabinet, speaking leisurely: “AIDS, delinquent, class absence, homewrecker…… Every time a new hot topic emerges, the previous hot topic’s attention decreases by nineteen point six percent. The human brain automatically updates and overwrites when receiving entertainment information. I don’t want to use empty phrases like ‘stand up when facing setbacks’ or ‘women must have careers’ to cheer you up. I’ll only use real data to ask you one question: what do you want the last piece of information people receive about you to be?”

……

“Definitely not homewrecker.”

Lian Shaozi finally selected a satisfactory bracelet from the jewelry box and smiled: “Then do you want to see the show?”

This question had magic power.

Summer evenings come late. At six o’clock the sky was still quite bright. The Valango show would open at eight sharp.

The venue was at an art gallery in the heart of the city center. Before seven, through live streaming, she could already see the scene star-studded. Besides several famous fashion moguls in the industry, supermodels and socialites, there were also quite a few familiar big names. Xi Jing was one of the celebrity guests watching the show that evening. Her team was currently busily buying smear articles about Long Qi online. She herself appeared like an unworldly fairy, in a white dress, bare makeup and pale lips, not a hint of desire detectable in her eyes. Her skill at concealing herself was even more refined than Wu Jiakui’s. Long Qi thought this person was truly impressive.

Yan Wenjing also came.

Her attendance should be the most heavyweight celebrity guest of this Valango show. She hadn’t appeared at events in media cameras for at least three years. She went with an atmospheric minimalist style, exceptional temperament, very calm, very stable. At that moment, Long Qi was in the back seat of the car, propping her chin while watching the live stream, chewing candy, while Lian Shaozi sat beside her with crossed legs, wearing an extremely simple Valango nude-colored suit set, playing the DoodleJump app game on her phone, composed yet charming, strong yet gentle.

Twenty minutes ago in their chat, she said this was her and Jin Yiken’s favorite little game in the past. Lian Shaozi said she wanted to try playing, and incredibly, she’d been playing until now without losing. Jin Yiken’s record was only four words away from being broken by his own mother: in imminent danger.

Online was also lively at this moment. The trending keywords for this Valango show interspersed among Long Qi’s several negative trending keywords, with attention rising higher and higher. News that Valango’s new Asia-Pacific Regional Marketing Director was a Chinese woman also spread without delay. The official announcement would be released at seven-thirty, that time slot being exactly Lian Shaozi’s red carpet time, clearly indicating that at this show, she was attending in the capacity of host conducting an inspection.

As lights came on, bright as daylight.

When the car door opened, magnesium lights flashed in sheets. Lian Shaozi happened to surpass Jin Yiken’s record at that critical moment, smiling as she handed the phone to Long Qi, then bent down to exit the car.

At the same time, Valango’s official announcement was released right on schedule. Show director Galina came to greet Lian Shaozi. Long Qi followed behind and got out of the car. She wore a velvet wrap dress with a cinched waist, very thin shoulder straps, very thin heels, long curled hair, dress not past the knees, slender yet gorgeous. The on-site tracking reporters absolutely hadn’t expected her presence. The sound of camera shutters instantly went crazy. When she and Lian Shaozi paused before Valango’s signature board, the magnesium lights illuminated her translucent skin tone.

At that moment the evening breeze blew gently, her curled hair lightly lifting, expression cold and detached, a sense of rebellion ready to burst forth. And Lian Shaozi didn’t suppress this rebellious spirit of hers. Carrying a square metal handbag, one hand at Long Qi’s lower back, she smiled faintly. Two age groups, two completely different spiritual temperaments formed an extremely complementary visual sense, like a fallen heiress who had tasted all the world’s warmth and coldness being cared for and protected by a powerful family head, taken to view the territory that would one day belong to her. All gossip and slander were ground to dust in that moment.

At eight sharp, the Valango show opened.

Her and Lian Shaozi’s seats were in the front row, opposite the runway. Xi Jing was arranged beside Yan Wenjing, also seated in the front row.

Model gauze skirts swayed, lights flowed and turned. Long Qi’s gaze collided with Xi Jing’s across the way two or three times. But after all, ginger is spicier when old. Yan Wenjing and Lian Shaozi had no eye contact whatsoever. As the two highest-status women in the entire venue, they were completely like strangers, concentrating wholeheartedly on appreciating the show.

Xi Jing initially should have been targeting Yan Wenjing.

It was obvious they weren’t close. Though seated together, the disparity in status was very clear. Xi Jing, usually such a person of few desires and words, throughout the entire show actively initiated conversation with Yan Wenjing more than five times. Four times she was dismissed by Yan Wenjing with a simple eye gesture response, completely unlike her proactive friendliness toward Long Qi a few days ago. Only the fifth time did they chat for two or three sentences. Long Qi watched from time to time. Later Xi Jing probably got annoyed at being watched, simply meeting her gaze directly. Long Qi continued looking at her, the subtext of “I have a terrible temper” displayed plainly on her face. Xi Jing withdrew her gaze and ignored her thereafter.

By comparison, Wu Jiakui was really much more adorable.

After the show ended, Yan Wenjing maintained her consistently low-profile style and left early. Lian Shaozi conversed with the chief designer backstage. Long Qi accompanied her for a while. Xi Jing was outside accepting media interviews with some celebrity guests. Later when she and Lian Shaozi were leaving, media swarmed over like a hive. They’d held back for the entire show’s duration and now began pressing with questions about those controversial topics. Lian Shaozi first got in the car under bodyguard protection. Long Qi was slightly slower before getting in. Camera lenses like cannons almost crashed into her shoulder. Sighing, she used five fingers to toss back her long hair, looking toward the reporter in front who was asking questions with the loudest voice.

He was asking if she had contracted AIDS.

“Qi Qi.” Lian Shaozi calmly called her name once from inside the car.

She closed the car door with her other hand, a bang, walked one step toward that reporter. The group that had been tense a moment ago now all stepped back one pace. She said, come here, turn on your recorder, I’m ready to answer you.

Not far away at the brand wall, reporters who had been lingering at Xi Jing’s interview session, seeing the situation here, gradually shifted positions over. In seconds she was surrounded in a large circle. Lian Shaozi didn’t stop her, saying not a word as she waited inside the car.

Long Qi had held in her bellyful of anger long enough.

That little pigtail had been yanked enough by people kicking her while she was down. Glancing at Xi Jing in the distance, glancing at Ge Yinling, Nalin, Fu Yu’ao and that group who seemed to be staring from behind the live cameras at this moment, standing in several camera lights, facing the wind, she spoke calmly: “The rumors are correct. I do have the possibility of HIV infection. I once had blood contact with an HIV-infected person.”

Immediately a gasp of indrawn breath all around.

……

“But to me it’s not such a big deal. I don’t harm people, I don’t spread it. The only thing I did wrong during this period was being excessively self-deprecating. I’m clearly and properly a victim, yet now I’ve become the person receiving the greatest public condemnation. Whether ordinary people or you all who control communication resources, before making some ill-considered judgments, please first understand common knowledge. The foul-mouthed expressions are really quite ugly, truly. The HIV community also has no reason to be demonized and generalized. I’ll go for blood testing very soon. Whatever the result, I’ll accept it. If you want to follow, follow all you want. I’m not afraid. I also advise those people who are tightly biting and not letting go of me at this juncture.”

She looked in Xi Jing’s direction.

“The rumor about my bad temper is also true, but I’m a person of strong loyalty. If you continue messing with me, I’ll return it to you together with the share from before on my friend’s behalf.”

Xi Jing stood before the brand wall, looking at her.

“I’m done speaking. Go write your articles.”

The car door banged shut, isolating the clamor and brilliant light. She said sorry to Lian Shaozi, saying: “Auntie, I couldn’t hold back. I disrupted your plan.”

Lian Shaozi’s fingers tapped on her knee, turning her head to look at her.

“It’s fine. You’ve started a beautiful public relations battle on a good note.”

The car passed through the crowd of magnesium lights, slowly moving forward.

“There’s no such thing as a disrupted plan. Whether curves or straight lines, they all belong to one point.”

An hour later, Long Qi finally understood these two sentences.

Tonight’s Valango show, her attendance and the post-show “showdown” triggered tsunami-like discussion online. Topics about HIV education also momentarily surpassed numerous gossip keywords to leap onto trending lists. But unlike the usual scene of lying on the chopping block subject to explosive commentary, many mainstream media authority verified accounts that even Lao Ping throwing money at them couldn’t establish connections with, now actually participated one after another. Articles praising Long Qi from various angles and levels appeared like bamboo shoots after rain, completely controlling public opinion direction in just over two hours. Lian Shaozi’s public relations resources were incredible. However, around ten at night, something she didn’t expect was that Yan Wenjing also participated. Having never opened Weibo, she actually opened an account. The first Weibo content she posted was a photo captured by media backstage at the show of their two overlapping shadows—one dignified, one proud and aloof,

An extremely strong sense of succession, with caption: Fortunate to know you, little girl.

Another female star with high topic participation was Wu Jiakui.

The child filming in the mountains managed to get online—not easy. Following the principle that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, this impossibly proud person suddenly broke her consistently non-partisan idle cloud and wild crane spectator posture, liking in succession three posts related to Long Qi. Kui-Qi CP fans celebrated wildly. Xi Jing was probably crying from anger.

That evening’s second boiling point appeared at eleven o’clock.

Two matters. First, Fu Yu’ao’s personal account and photos were exposed.

Jin Yiken was photographed.

He was photographed in a full nine photos, assembled into a nine-grid, posted online by an overseas student. An afternoon private court, his tank top collar soaked with sweat, playing ball with friends, hand lines clear, body shape insanely attractive. One back view photo clearly showed a new tattoo at the nape of his neck. Long Qi enlarged the image and saw below his sweaty back of the head, a blue-green Chinese character: Qi.

Extremely provocative.

Combined with the photo of Long Qi and Lian Shaozi that evening that had been reposted hundreds of thousands of times, the top hot comment, a strong question mark: Which one should I damn well marry in this family????