Yi Wulan clearly hadn’t expected Mu Yanxi to set a trap for her. Her gaze flickered across Mu Yanxi’s face on the screen, as light as a dragonfly skimming water, before she quickly looked away.
The two were quiet for a long time before Mu Yanxi grew impatient.
Her slightly upturned, foxy eyes shifted, staring straight at Yi Wulan’s profile as she sized her up at her leisure.
It was as if she were using her gaze to pressure her.
Even through the screen, Yi Wulan felt the intense gaze and finally, slowly turned her head back. “No need.”
Mu Yanxi was relentless. “That won’t do. Our teachers taught us from a young age to be grateful. You have to accept.”
It was the first time Yi Wulan had encountered such a forceful expression of gratitude. It felt absurd, yet coming from Mu Yanxi, it wasn’t too surprising.
She sighed, meeting Mu Yanxi’s gaze helplessly. “Stop fooling around.”
Yi Wulan appeared calm, but Mu Yanxi’s sharp eyes noticed the unconscious swallow in Yi Wulan’s slender neck, faster than usual.
She was nervous.
Realizing this, Mu Yanxi folded her arms on the table, rested her chin on top, and lounged in her chair as if she had no bones, tilting her head slightly.
If she was told not to fool around, she would do it anyway.
Even through the screen, Mu Yanxi could sense Yi Wulan’s tense shoulders and the deeply defined collarbones that resulted from the tension.
Something was off.
Mu Yanxi asked deliberately, “Yi Wulan, are you nervous?”
Yi Wulan paused for two seconds, quietly lowered her gaze, and said with great difficulty, “No.”
Mu Yanxi raised an eyebrow, suddenly moved the phone a little closer to herself, and smiled slyly. “Are you afraid of me?”
Yi Wulan: “…No.”
Mu Yanxi persisted, trying to find a crack in Yi Wulan’s impassive face. “You’re lying.”
Yi Wulan’s voice deepened. “I don’t lie.”
Yi Wulan was indeed not lying.
She wasn’t afraid of Mu Yanxi, she just found it hard to handle her teasing.
This wasn’t the first time Mu Yanxi had flirted with her, but in the past, they were just two people bound by an engagement, a business marriage in every sense of the word.
Back then, Yi Wulan treated Mu Yanxi more like a friend’s younger sister. As long as they kept their distance, they could coexist respectfully under one roof until Mu Yanxi found someone she liked.
But now, this ‘sister’ had changed. After Mu Yanxi kissed her that drunken night, Yi Wulan could no longer convince herself that this was just a sister.
Mu Yanxi was unrestrained and flamboyant, passionate and lively—a color far too rich and vibrant. It made Yi Wulan feel unfamiliar and equally at a loss.
Yi Wulan was almost thirty, her temperament calm enough not to fall head over heels for Mu Yanxi just because of a kiss, like a teenager in the throes of puberty.
For people in their circle, the entertainment industry was just an investment channel. Rongjia Entertainment had countless handsome men and beautiful women, and she had never wasted any thought on an artist who was being slandered.
The world of capitalists had always been cold and ruthless.
But Yi Wulan had to admit, when Gu Yan reported the matter of the Nansha Charity Gala to her, she didn’t hesitate for a second before telling him to handle it.
Mu Yanxi was long used to Yi Wulan’s terse nature on the phone, using as few words as possible. She just drawled lazily, “Oh—”
The moment Yi Wulan heard that slightly teasing tone, she had a bad feeling, and the thoughts she couldn’t quite figure out in her mind were instantly scattered.
Sure enough, Mu Yanxi’s next words were: “Since you’re not lying, it means you’re not afraid of me. So how about you let me repay you properly when I get back?”
Hearing the word “repay,” and knowing this little ancestor, Yi Wulan was sure it was nothing proper. She felt a headache coming on.
Seeing Mu Yanxi’s determination to pester her, she changed the subject in a cold voice: “You get framed for wearing a knockoff just by buying a dress. It’s enough if you can take care of yourself.”
Like a stern matriarch giving a lecture.
But Mu Yanxi wasn’t afraid of her, retorting lazily, “These days, knockoffs look exactly like the real thing. Even if I said mine was real, no one would believe me. Why should I waste time clarifying it?”
Her tone shifted, and Mu Yanxi began to sincerely recommend herself again: “I admit I can’t compare to the great President Yi when it comes to clarifications, but I have other strengths you can’t match.”
Yi Wulan raised her eyes slightly. “What?”
“Warming your bed. If I sleep with you, we can save on air conditioning for one room. And if you need anything at night, you won’t have to bother the auntie.” After saying this, Mu Yanxi thought for a moment and added, “This is all for the sake of taking better care of your health, Yi Wulan.”
She spoke with such earnestness and sincerity, as if she were truly the world’s best wife, concerned only for Yi Wulan’s well-being.
But Yi Wulan didn’t appreciate the sentiment, nor did she dare accept this whim from the little ancestor. “I don’t need anyone to take care of me.”
“It’s fine, I like taking care of people.” As if that wasn’t enough, Mu Yanxi added, “Especially in bed…”
But she’d gone too far with her slip of the tongue. Before she could finish, Yi Wulan hung up the video call.
As if flustered into anger, Mu Yanxi laughed out loud with delight.
And then, as if protesting her innocence too much, Yi Wulan sent a WeChat message: 【I have documents to handle. Good night】
Hmm, what convenient timing for those documents.
Mu Yanxi typed while laughing: 【Okay, good night (pounces and kisses)】
After sending it, Mu Yanxi looked thoughtfully at Yi Wulan’s WeChat profile picture. When she woke up that morning and discovered what she had done while drunk, she had originally wanted to run away from it.
But now she realized that the kiss seemed to have had a greater impact on Yi Wulan?
Mu Yanxi raised an eyebrow. She suddenly wanted to go home sooner, so she could start Yi Wulan’s ability treatment sooner.
By the time Mu Yanxi slowly finished her shower, it was almost dawn. She stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, looking out at the night view. The city’s nights weren’t as bustling as Yuncheng’s, but they were more tranquil.
Her manager’s call suddenly came in. “You’re not asleep yet, are you? Have you seen the hot search? The buzz from the Nansha red carpet has died down, but Chi An and Guan Zhou are still trending.”
Mu Yanxi yawned and drew the curtains. “The red carpet is just for looking at faces. Who wants to watch it a second time? Of course, the gossip is more delicious.”
“You have a point. But this time, I thought you’d be dragged into it again. I didn’t expect that apart from the accusation of you wearing a knockoff, you’d be safe from any follow-up drama.” The manager was surprised. “No, no, I have to go check the calendar.”
Mu Yanxi was confused. “It’s July twelfth. Why are you looking at a calendar?”
The manager said mysteriously, “Isn’t today’s almanac particularly suitable for you? From now on, we should only attend events on days like this.”
Mu Yanxi’s lips twitched. “Sister Ling, it’s the 21st century. We should stay away from feudal superstitions.”
“Hey, I’m just taking a look, just a casual look.” The manager flipped through it, realized she had no talent for metaphysics and couldn’t understand it at all, then gave up and switched her tablet back to the Weibo hot search page, feeling more and more vindicated as she looked.
Actually, her desire to check the almanac wasn’t a whim. After all, since her debut, the harder Mu Yanxi worked, the unluckier she got, as if possessed by a god of misfortune.
But every time she seemed to have faded into an eighteenth-tier celebrity, the frequency with which she appeared on the hot search would give her manager new hope. It was a unique kind of treatment in the entertainment industry.
In the past, if there was any scandal Mu Yanxi could even be remotely connected to, she would inevitably be flamed on the hot search.
A situation like this, where she could escape completely unscathed, had happened only a few times since her debut—you could count them on one hand.
But fortunately, this little ancestor didn’t have much ambition for her career, so she wouldn’t resort to desperate measures like other artists who had been obscure for too long.
She would diligently complete any work arranged for her but would never proactively ask for more gigs. As for her celebrity persona, she was always willful, using her main account to argue with people online whenever she got angry.
Her flame wars were legendary, her obscurity undeniable.
Her track record of tearing down haters was more famous than her actual work.
Mu Yanxi couldn’t relate to her manager’s shock because she knew perfectly well why she hadn’t appeared on the hot search.
A certain someone could secretly get Chanel to vouch for her; what was removing a few negative hot search topics in comparison?
Even if Yi Wulan bought Weibo one day, she wouldn’t be too surprised. Anyway, Yi Wulan had plenty of money, she could spend it however she wanted.
It was better than Yi Jingming spending it, like in that novel.
Seeing it was getting late, the manager said, “Alright, if you’re done, get some sleep. I’ve booked a flight back to Yuncheng for you tomorrow afternoon. Don’t forget.”
Mu Yanxi, who was drinking water, paused. An idea flashed through her mind, and she suddenly asked, “Sister Ling, are there any high-speed trains running now?”
The manager was taken aback but didn’t think much of it. She checked an app. “It’s the weekend, so there’s a rare overnight high-speed train. What’s up?”
“Book a ticket for me now.”
While Mu Yanxi was in high spirits, Chi An’s public relations team was going crazy.
Chi An and Guan Zhou had both failed to appear on the Nansha Gala red carpet, and the topics about her wearing a knockoff and Guan Zhou’s cheating remained high on the hot search.
The marketing accounts were posting one exposé after another, as if trying to meet their entire month’s KPI in one night, leaving Chi An’s team completely overwhelmed.
Chi An only found out later that Guan Zhou had actually bought her a fake knockoff dress. Remembering the strange look on Mu Yanxi’s face when she first saw her in the same outfit, she was furious.
If Chanel’s official account hadn’t come out to claim the dress, it would have been very difficult to tell which of the identical dresses was real and which was fake.
Even the confident analyses from major fashion bloggers were just a string of professional jargon, creating an air of profound mystery, but they had no real proof of whether her dress was authentic or not.
But Chanel’s official account had come out to claim a dress, and they only claimed Mu Yanxi’s.
The official stance was self-evident.
Tonight, after claiming Mu Yanxi’s gown, Chanel also claimed the suits of three other male celebrities and the dresses of two other female celebrities at the Nansha Charity Gala.
Netizens thought the official Chanel Weibo was just having a rare active day, and that the obscure, small-time celebrity Mu Yanxi, who was rarely seen in authentic couture, just happened to get lucky.
But being in the entertainment industry, how could Chi An not understand that Chanel was deliberately giving Mu Yanxi exposure?
Setting aside the matter of Chanel’s official Weibo proactively claiming the dress, just look at the Guan Zhou incident tonight. So many female celebrities in the industry were exposed, yet Mu Yanxi, who had been in a “shipped” couple with him and acted in a drama with him, remained completely uninvolved.
No one would believe that Mu Yanxi didn’t have a backer.
Yet, aside from this one dress, Mu Yanxi’s other resources were pitifully scarce. Even if she paid marketing accounts to post a half-true rumor about her having a sugar daddy, people would probably just laugh at it.
In the past, she had relied on her backing from Rongjia to get many good resources and had suppressed Mu Yanxi for a long time. But she never expected the tables to turn like this one day!
Fame in the entertainment industry was bought with money. Guan Zhou was her last trump card for a comeback, and now that his career was ruined, she had completely lost her chance to become popular again.
On top of that, she no longer had an agency backing her, so her own management team had to cover all expenses.
Chi An paced anxiously, urging her manager, “Haven’t you contacted a marketing company that will take our case yet?”
The manager’s face was ashen. She showed Chi An a chat screen. “I have, but they all say your case is too risky and they need to charge more.”
Chi An was about to break down, shouting, “Then give them the money!”
“Give them money? Easy for you to say.”
The manager put her head in her hands. “We already spent a lot on marketing to promote you and steal the spotlight from Mu Yanxi. After Rongjia terminated your contract, the resources dried up. Where are we going to get the money now? Do you know they’re asking for tens of thousands just to write one post to clean up your image? And then we have to buy a water army and suppress the hot search topics. We can’t afford those expenses at all.”
Chi An’s face fell completely. “Then… is there no other way?”
The manager thought for a moment, sat down in front of Chi An, and suddenly asked, “Chi An, have you offended anyone else recently?”
Tonight, first Guan Zhou’s scandal broke, and then it was Chi An’s turn. The more the manager thought about it, the stranger it seemed.
“Could it be that old woman of Guan Zhou’s?” Chi An said, then quickly denied it. “No, not her. She was exposed too. It makes no sense for her to drag herself down.”
The manager was thoughtful. “No one else? Think harder. Maybe if we go and apologize now, we can still salvage the situation.”
Chi An frowned and thought again. Then an idea flashed in her mind, and she blurted out, “Could it be Mu Yanxi?”
“Mu Yanxi can’t even compete with you for billing order. Where would she get that kind of power?”
“It’s precisely because everyone thinks she’s obscure that no one would suspect her of anything! No one even questioned her wearing a new Chanel haute couture piece. Isn’t that because she’s so obscure that nobody cares?”
The thread of logic in Chi An’s mind suddenly snapped. Her voice trembled. “It’s definitely her. Ever since Rongjia terminated my contract, nothing has gone right for me. But she, on the other hand, has benefited from everything. It must be her.”
The manager looked as if she’d been struck by lightning. She took a deep breath. “If the person behind her also orchestrated tonight’s events, then that person is not someone we can afford to offend. Besides, our history with her is so complicated, and she’s suffered so much because of us before. Apologizing now would be useless, right?”
Chi An obviously realized this too. She closed her eyes in defeat. “Sister, it’s useless. Let’s just forget it.”
In Yuncheng, the July mornings always came early, the air filled with the dewy scent of flowers.
As a few rays of sunlight slipped through the curtains into the room, Yi Wulan slowly woke up. She reached out, picked up the watch from her bedside table, and glanced at the time.
But when she turned on her side, intending to go back to sleep, she felt something behind her and belatedly realized she was pressed against a warm body.
Yi Wulan froze completely, turning her head inch by inch to look.
Sure enough, lying beside her was none other than Mu Yanxi, the very person she had video-called in the early hours of the morning.
Mu Yanxi was wearing the same style of silk pajamas as her. With one hand propping up her head, she was leaning against the bed, her gaze slowly meeting Yi Wulan’s. “You’re awake.”
Yi Wulan met her gaze for only a second before looking away, hastily pushing herself up. “Why are you here?”
Mu Yanxi suddenly pulled up a corner of the blanket, feigning shyness, and said coquettishly, “Aiya, I told you last night I was rushing back to warm your bed.”
After speaking, she gave a coy glance. “You’re so bad. Do you just love hearing me repeat myself?”
Having just woken up to find Mu Yanxi, Yi Wulan was clearly caught completely off guard, too stunned to speak.
She shifted to the side, trying to avoid contact with Mu Yanxi’s body. “If you just got home, you should rest well. I’m getting up.”
Mu Yanxi reached out, gently grabbed Yi Wulan’s wrist, and propped herself up. Like a boneless water sprite, she draped herself over Yi Wulan again, close and intimate.
Pressing against Yi Wulan’s back.
She rested her head on Yi Wulan’s shoulder, their faces close, and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear, “Who gets up this early? Let’s sleep a little longer.”
She had been accumulating her abilities for three whole days, planning to transfer them to Yi Wulan upon meeting. She hadn’t expected Yi Wulan to wake up just after six.
If her abilities were fully charged, not using them would be a waste, and Yi Wulan’s condition was far too serious to allow for any waste.
Yi Wulan said coldly, “Get off.”
“No. I told you, I want to repay you.” Mu Yanxi wheedled with a light laugh, tugging on Yi Wulan’s arm. “I took an overnight high-speed train just for you. Can’t you sleep a little longer with me?”
She spoke with deep affection, her tone gentle, as if her every action was an uncontrollable impulse from the heart.
Yi Wulan still held Mu Yanxi’s wrist coldly, preventing her from moving around.
Mu Yanxi lowered her eyes. “What, we’ve been married for so long, and you won’t even grant me this small request?”
Before Yi Wulan could answer, Mu Yanxi slowly let go of her, looking reluctant and unwilling:
“Fine. Even though I spent all day at the gala in high heels yesterday until my feet were blistered and too sore to walk, and I was flamed on the hot search all night, leaving me utterly dejected and hopeless.
But I know I should be more sensible and not pester and disturb you like this. Don’t worry, I’ll learn to be a proper wife, I absolutely…”
“That’s enough.” Yi Wulan didn’t want to hear any more.
Even though she knew Mu Yanxi’s words were half-true at best, with a ninety-nine percent chance of being fabricated.
Yi Wulan didn’t want to investigate further. She was worried Mu Yanxi would say something even more earth-shattering and dramatic, so she compromised, “I’ll stay with you.”
Mu Yanxi’s expression changed in an instant. She quickly lay back down, patted the space beside her, and gestured with her eyes.
Yi Wulan deliberately left a small gap between herself and Mu Yanxi as she lay down with her back to her.
The next second, Mu Yanxi unceremoniously scooted closer.
Yi Wulan shifted slightly, creating distance again.
Mu Yanxi persisted, leaning in again.
Yi Wulan shifted to the side again.
Mu Yanxi held back a laugh and continued to press closer.
Yi Wulan couldn’t take it anymore. “Are you going to sleep or not? Can you stop moving?”
“I can.” Mu Yanxi hooked a finger around Yi Wulan, coincidentally catching the edge of her pajamas.
Her fingertip lightly brushed against the skin of her waist. The warm touch of skin against skin felt like a jolt of electricity, both tingling and itchy.
Mu Yanxi lowered her voice and slowly, deliberately made her demand in Yi Wulan’s ear: “As long as you take the initiative to kiss me.”
