03.
One day there was a business dinner.
Shen Qianzhan brought Su Zan along.
The other party was a well-known producer and investor in the industry, interested in collaborating with Shen Qianzhan on an epic period drama production. For this, they specially brought along a screenwriter and planner to the meeting.
Shen Qianzhan also placed great importance on this collaboration opportunity. After expressing their mutual interest over drinks, the other party’s tone suddenly changed, inquiring about her wedding date and wedding plans.
Anyone who could reach the big shot position in this industry had real skills.
Upon hearing the subtext, Shen Qianzhan immediately understood that the other party wanted resource exchange. They were either planning to exploit her or wanted to ride her coattails to access Bu Zhong Sui’s fashion resources.
In fact, since Ji Qinghe and Shen Qianzhan went public with their relationship, she had been默认 by the media as the future daughter-in-law of the Ji family. Her personal popularity had also shifted from behind-the-scenes mogul to entertainment industry outsider, occasionally trending on social media.
Ji Qinghe had intervened to suppress it several times, with minimal effect.
Shen Qianzhan herself didn’t mind much. She had opened a company—though it was a production company, having such a top-tier female producer in the industry sitting in charge was like a money tree serving as a living billboard, attracting wealth from all directions. It could both recruit talent and earn daily profits. Who could refuse such happiness?
Thus, when Ji Qinghe visited film sets, netizens knew about it.
When Ji Qinghe purchased luxury properties near certain film cities for Shen Qianzhan to build their love nest, netizens also knew about it.
Even when both sets of parents met and toured Xi’an together, they couldn’t escape netizens’ attention.
Fortunately, out of respect for Bu Zhong Sui, while the media loved reporting news about the couple, they usually did so with goodwill, using it to drive traffic to their platforms without going too far.
Bu Zhong Sui also benefited from their boss lady’s popularity and was extremely cautious in marketing.
Overall, the young couple kept relatively low-profile, but in the era of traffic, popularity reigned supreme.
After Shen Qianzhan detected the other party’s intentions, her enthusiasm for collaboration instantly cooled, and subsequent progress became somewhat lackluster.
Although it was somewhat regrettable that the project fell through, Shen Qianzhan’s value had skyrocketed this year, and she didn’t lack quality projects. After feeling regretful for a few days, she let it go with the wind.
Unexpectedly, the other party felt snubbed and subsequently spread some unpleasant rumors intermittently.
For example: “Shen Qianzhan’s persona is just marketing. She can’t even access Bu Zhong Sui’s resources. If you try to exchange resources with her, she wouldn’t dare even fart.”
Or: “These days there are plenty of contract couples and contract marriages. The upcoming wedding is probably just the woman’s unilateral publicity stunt, right? Have you ever seen the man come out to claim the woman?”
And: “Shen Qianzhan’s reputation wasn’t exactly good in previous years. Now that she’s finally latched onto a wealthy family, she doesn’t dare even breathe loudly. On one hand marketing herself as an independent woman, on the other hand living miserably. You’d think a producer of her level could do anything, but deep down she’s still money-worshipping, just wanting to freeload off a long-term meal ticket without working.”
The content of these rumors was actually harmless, but as they spread, the impact became quite negative.
Even though many people only treated what they heard as after-dinner gossip, those with ulterior motives would exploit the topic.
Within a week, every word of these rumors had reached Ji Qinghe’s ears.
Ji Qinghe was entertaining high-level executives when someone confronted him directly. He raised his eyebrows slightly and glanced at them: “This is the first time I’m hearing about this.”
He didn’t explain much. After ending the dinner, he had Ming Jue investigate while he himself changed his itinerary, driving overnight from Shanghai to Hengdian.
It was a night shoot for the crew.
Shen Qianzhan had just finished meeting with the director of Team A when she looked up to see Ji Qinghe standing at the conference room door. She was slightly surprised.
Both had always maintained a policy of non-interference regarding work. Even when visiting sets, Ji Qinghe would inform her in advance and seek her opinion. Later, when more people were paying attention, they became even more low-key. Their dates and overnight stays weren’t easily detected, and even when occasionally caught by paparazzi, they would pay for PR to suppress it.
After a brief moment of surprise, Shen Qianzhan asked: “Here to check up on me?”
The crew members had all received Ji Qinghe’s favors. Seeing the situation, they all quickly exited the conference room, leaving space for the couple to be alone.
Seeing she was still busy, Ji Qinghe pulled up a chair and sat beside her, saying: “I was worried you might be feeling wronged, so I came to check.”
Shen Qianzhan had also heard about recent rumors concerning herself. Upon hearing his words, she guessed he knew about them. She temporarily set aside the bills in her hands and said: “I’m not wronged.” It wasn’t like she hadn’t heard worse things—she didn’t take it to heart at all. “Where there are many people, there are loose tongues. I probably got in someone’s way recently, so they’re giving me trouble. It’ll be fine after a while.”
Ji Qinghe remained silent. He accompanied Shen Qianzhan through checking accounts, staying until 3 AM, and even went to buy her a bowl of seafood porridge from Ji Chun’er Bay.
He stayed for three days straight.
Before leaving, Shen Qianzhan specially went to his car to see him off.
In front of their car window was the brightly lit film crew, while inside the car, subtle fragrances floated in the air with only ambient lighting glowing softly.
Shen Qianzhan sat in the passenger seat, her gaze fixed on the lights ahead, suddenly smiling: “A long time ago, I asked Song Yan how she endured those malicious attacks that were purely meant to vent anger on her.”
“She said pure malice wasn’t worth caring about because it couldn’t change facts.” That was when the conflict between Fu Yang and her fans was at its worst. She had run her fingers through her hair, raised her eyebrows, and smiled: “He’s mine, and that’s enough.”
“Now I understand.” Shen Qianzhan touched Ji Qinghe’s chin. Recently, she loved touching his chin every morning upon waking. That slightly prickly sensation was like feathers, tickling from her fingertips all the way to her heart.
She squinted, lazily examining the man whose features looked particularly handsome under the ambient lighting: “Ji Qinghe, everything else is fake—only you are real.”
“With you here, I feel very at ease.”
“You don’t need to worry that I’ll be wronged. Besides you, no one else can make me feel wronged.”
She didn’t know if all love was like this.
When apart, the entire world was related to you—any topic or scenery carried your shadow. When together, the whole world became irrelevant to me—you became the most, most, most, most important existence.
Everything else?
Really didn’t matter.