Chi Yan’s mother watched this episode of the show very seriously and commented, “Not bad at all, it’s more relaxed than that competition of yours.”
“Really?” Chi Yan was surprised. “I thought I was pretty relaxed during the competition too?”
Chi Yan’s mother replied, “No, you still had to compete back then. Your whole demeanor was quite tense. But just now, on this show, you looked much more at ease.”
Chi Yan thought back for a moment but couldn’t recall much.
“Mom, I’m going to check Weibo, I want to see what people are saying.”
This episode of Weekly Joy had gained a lot of traction and was already trending as soon as it aired.
By the time Chi Yan finished watching the full episode and went to check Weibo, several related hashtags from their episode were already trending at the top.
Mentally prepared, she clicked into them one by one.
As expected, many influencers had posted about her, using all sorts of flowery language to praise her.
Some said she was very professional for continuing to film despite being injured; others praised her flawless makeup and how beautiful she looked; some even said she was a little silly during the games, but it made them become fans of hers.
However, the most unexpected thing for Chi Yan were the apologies from He Min and Duan Jing.
Both He Min and Duan Jing had posted long apology messages on Weibo around the same time the episode aired, and both had tagged her account.
They were long-winded, and Chi Yan just skimmed through them quickly before looking away.
Since Wang Ying hadn’t instructed her to respond to either of them, she pretended she hadn’t seen them.
Putting those annoying things aside, Chi Yan turned to her mother and said, “Mom, let’s just eat at home for my birthday this year. Ying-jie said she’ll try not to schedule any work for me so I can celebrate properly.”
“Sure,” her mom smiled at her. “However you want to do it is fine. I’ll go along with whatever you say.”
“I want to eat food cooked by you!”
Chi Yan’s mother laughed and said, “No problem. Want to invite some friends over this year? You’ve made quite a few new friends.”
“Ah, I’ll ask them in a few days,” Chi Yan replied. “They might not be off work and may not have time to come.”
Her mother looked at her, a little worried.
Chi Yan had never been a child who caused worry. She always ranked at the top academically and wasn’t lacking in other activities either. But for some reason, she never brought friends home. Her mother once thought she was being isolated at school, only to later realize it was Chi Yan herself who didn’t want to hang out with her classmates.
Watching her have so much fun during The Actor’s Journey, she thought Chi Yan had finally made some real friends. But from the looks of it now, maybe not.
Unaware of her mother’s thoughts, Chi Yan was seriously looking over her schedule.
Her birthday was on August 20th — at the tail end of Leo season.
Before her birthday, she still had quite a bit of work to finish. To leave her one free day, Wang Ying had packed her schedule fairly tight.
The most important task was finishing the GG Series educational robot commercial for Shen Corporation, which they hadn’t completed last time.
Chi Yan had only filmed two out of the five required videos. Now the rest needed to be done in one day.
Director Zhao had arranged for them to be shot all at once. Fortunately, Chi Yan was already experienced and familiar with the product. Director Zhao had also sent her the scripts in advance — all that remained was to start shooting once she arrived at Shen Corp.
When Chi Yan arrived that day, she saw that Shen Chen was there too.
“The GG ad did really well last time, our product sales were great,” Shen Chen said. “So, for the sake of results, I came to personally supervise this time.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure the shoot goes smoothly,” Chi Yan promised.
Makeup artist Huang Yun had gotten even better this time, recreating the same futuristic, high-tech makeup look that had been praised online.
“Chi Yan, makeup’s done — we’re ready to shoot.”
“Thank you, teacher,” Chi Yan said. “That was much faster than last time.”
With makeup done, it was time to begin filming.
Maybe because Shen Chen was there, Director Zhao seemed tense and out of sorts. He told Chi Yan to begin, but then the camera started having issues.
“Chi Yan, hold on a second — something’s wrong here, go take a break.”
Director Zhao fiddled with it for a while but still couldn’t figure out what was wrong.
He called over his assistant and said, “Go get the backup — this one’s broken.”
“Director Zhao,” the assistant pointed at the camera and said, “I think it’s not turned on.”
After the awkward blunder, Director Zhao still couldn’t get into the right mindset.
“Why hasn’t President Shen left yet?” Chi Yan heard him mutter half an hour later.
After several failed takes, with Zhao still unsettled, Chi Yan decided to address the issue directly.
“Director Zhao, give me a moment. I’ll go ask Shen Chen if he can return to his office.”
With that, she walked over to Shen Chen and asked tentatively, “Aren’t you busy with work today?”
“Not really,” Shen Chen thought she was concerned for him and quickly replied, “I’ve already finished everything.”
Chi Yan glanced back at Director Zhao, who was watching her with hopeful eyes.
“Everyone’s a bit on edge with you here. Maybe you could go back to your office and rest for a bit?”
Shen Chen paused. His gaze swept over to Director Zhao behind her and saw the man’s strained expression.
After a moment’s silence, he said, “I didn’t think of that. I just wanted to ask if we could have a meal together after the shoot.”
“Then just come find us at lunchtime,” Chi Yan whispered to him. “That way Director Zhao won’t stop us from finishing on time.”
Shen Chen chuckled and nodded. “Alright. I actually have something I want to talk to you about during lunch…”
“Can’t you say it now?”
He pointed behind her. “If we delay any longer, Director Zhao might panic. You go ahead and shoot first.”
“Alright.” Seeing he wasn’t ready to talk, Chi Yan gave in.
Once Shen Chen left, Director Zhao immediately became more stable and the shoot began running smoothly.
By noon, Shen Chen returned downstairs.
When Director Zhao saw him, he was visibly startled.
“President Shen, why are you back?”
Shen Chen pointed to the wall clock and said, “It’s lunchtime. I came to invite everyone to eat. I’ve booked a big private room at a nearby restaurant. Bring the whole team over.”
Director Zhao looked around awkwardly before finally saying, “Alright, let’s wrap it up here for now.”
He turned to the staff and announced, “President Shen is treating us today. Let’s pack up and go eat.”
Chi Yan was among the last to leave since she had to change back into her regular clothes.
She thought no one but her assistant and makeup artist would wait for her — to her surprise, Shen Chen was still there.
When she came out and saw him, she asked in surprise, “You haven’t gone over yet? Are you eating at the company instead?”
“I’m waiting for you. Since your schedule got leaked, a lot of employees want your autograph. If I go with you, they won’t dare to bother you,” Shen Chen said with a frown.
“I see,” Chi Yan said. “After I finish filming the GG series, can I borrow your office for a bit? I’ll try to sign more for them — just treat my autographs as a company perk.”
“You’ll be tired after filming. Won’t signing be too much for you?”
“It’s fine, just a few minutes,” Chi Yan said. “Oh right, what was it you wanted to talk about this morning?”
“I heard from your agent that your birthday is coming up. Have you decided how to spend it?”
Chi Yan replied, “Ying-jie helped clear my schedule. I’ll probably spend it at home with my mom.”
“You’re not going out with friends?” Shen Chen asked.
Chi Yan thought for a moment and asked, “Do you want to go out with me?”
“Can I spend your birthday with you?”
She replied, “I’ll tell you after we finish eating.”
That one sentence left Shen Chen completely distracted during the meal. He kept shifting in his seat, muttering several times, “Why aren’t we done eating yet?”
“This dish is really good.” Seeing Shen Chen not touching his food, Chi Yan thought he didn’t like the dishes and tried to recommend something.
Shen Chen gave a distracted “mm” and absentmindedly took a bite.
Realizing he wasn’t in high spirits, Chi Yan figured it was work-related and didn’t disturb him further.
Finally, the meal came to an end — or at least it felt like forever for Shen Chen.
Under everyone’s gaze, Shen Chen said, “You all head out first.”
Director Zhao didn’t understand his intention, but obediently led the staff out the door first.
Chi Yan also stood up.
“Wait, earlier you said after we eat…”
“Oh, that,” Chi Yan invited, “Can you come over to my place that day?”
Shen Chen was overjoyed, though he answered with a reserved nod and agreed.
At first, Chi Yan had never publicly shared her birthday, so her fans didn’t know it was approaching.
But after she finished shooting the fashion magazine cover that Chi Hongzheng had promised her, she accidentally let it slip while being surrounded by reporters.
A female reporter squeezed to the front and asked, “Chi Yan, you look really happy. Is something good happening?”
“Yes,” Chi Yan said with a smile, “My birthday’s coming up, and I’ve just finished most of my work, so I feel a lot more relaxed.”
The reporter clearly hadn’t expected that answer. She paused for a few seconds before asking, “There are rumors that the original cover model for this magazine shoot was Yang Yueyi. Can you comment on that?”
Chi Yan had already guessed that Yang Yueyi wouldn’t let this go easily. There had been no online activity, and now she realized this was Yang Yueyi’s trap.
“That’s not true. I was the confirmed model from the start,” Chi Yan said. “If you don’t believe me, go ask the person who leaked it — ask them if the model chosen was Chi Hongzheng’s daughter.”
At the mention of “Chi Hongzheng,” the reporter hesitated, then realized that Chi Yan also had the surname Chi. She quickly switched topics.
“You haven’t auditioned for anything recently. Is your company still positioning you as an actress?”
Chi Yan nodded and said, “I haven’t auditioned because there aren’t any suitable crews at the moment. If there’s any update, the company, my agent, or I will post on Weibo and let the Yanhuo know.”
The female reporter finally stepped back after a series of questions. When other reporters took over, they all spoke at lightning speed.
Chi Yan helplessly asked multiple times, “Could you please repeat the question? You’re speaking too fast; I didn’t catch it.”
Only then did the reporters slow down, and the interview continued smoothly in a Q&A format.
When Chi Yan’s fans found out, they decided to celebrate her birthday properly.
“We only found out about her birthday from a live interview — what kind of useless fans are we?”
“I had to hear it from a gossip blogger?! I don’t deserve to be her fan.”
“It’s the first birthday we get to spend with her — we want to be part of it.”
As comments from the fans grew more intense, a few big fan accounts from the fan club approached the company.
Wang Ying had no choice but to ask Chi Yan to do a livestream for an hour.
“Your fans are really passionate. They just want to see more of you. Just stream for a bit — it doesn’t have to be long, just an hour.”
“Alright.”
