Chapter 122

Chapter 122

Zhu Yao was the first to react.

She had been holding hands with Han Shuang but suddenly let go. Han Shuang was baffled. "Yao Yao, what's wrong...?"

Her mind racing, Zhu Yao replied, "It's nothing, just sweaty palms."

"I have wet wipes. Do you want one, Yao Yao?"

Zhu Yao and Han Shuang had met through a blind date. He worked at a large company with a stable income and was kind-hearted. After a few meetings, they both felt things were going well and became a couple.

Zhu Yao had mild germaphobia, and Han Shuang was always attentive to such details. Since they got together, he always carried wet wipes or sanitizing gel.

Zhu Yao bit her lip, silent. She couldn’t understand how Han Shuang could do such a thing.

Suddenly, it hit her.

They were both consenting adults, and they had been intimate a few times a month. Recently, Han Shuang kept suggesting they take commemorative photos.

Zhu Yao had refused, thinking there was nothing worth commemorating. Now she realized—he had been pushing her limits.

If it was photos now, wouldn’t the next step be pressuring her into agreeing to videos?

But she hadn’t agreed. So the videos...

Had Han Shuang installed hidden cameras at home?

Zhu Yao felt ice run through her veins, her lips pressed so tightly they turned pale.

"Yao Yao, what’s wrong?" Han Shuang asked worriedly as Zhu Yao remained frozen, unresponsive.

Song Hezhu guessed Zhu Yao must've picked up on Lin Tingyue's thoughts too. She said, "It's really sunny today—maybe the glare's bothering her."

Song Hezhu handed her a tissue.

"Ah, right. It’s not even March yet, but it’s already getting hot. The weather’s so unpredictable."

Zhu Yao took it and whispered a thanks to Song Hezhu.

"Good thing I packed an umbrella."

Han Shuang fished one out of his bag. Normally, Zhu Yao would've appreciated such gestures, but now, all she felt was disgust.

Seeing that Zhu Yao had likely come to her senses, Song Hezhu said, "Yue Yue, let’s go."

"Okay."

Lin Tingyue waved at Zhu Yao.

They'd ridden in Song Hezhu's car today. As Song Hezhu walked around to the driver’s seat, she noticed Lin Tingyue texting someone on her phone.

Teasing, Song Hezhu asked, "Are you checking in with your celebrity beau?"

"No way. I was thinking Ms. Zhu seems really nice, so I’m asking Sister Lian for her contact info."

It was obvious Lin Tingyue wanted Zhu Yao’s number to warn her.

Song Hezhu chimed in, "She’s a good person."

Finally finished sending the texts, Lin Tingyue let out a long sigh of relief and put down her phone. "What about me?" she asked.

Song Hezhu tilted her head and looked at her. "You're the nicest."

Lin Tingyue smiled brightly.

Such an adorable Lin Tingyue, stolen by Ying An—so annoying.

Song Hezhu asked again, "Do you really not need to update your celebrity?"

Lin Tingyue thought carefully and was surprised to realize that it seemed Ying An was always the one reporting to her.

She weighed her words. "Mr. Ying doesn’t seem to mind."

Song Hezhu's gaze was meaningful—was it that he didn’t care, or that he claimed not to care but secretly gets jealous?

Song Hezhu didn’t press further. She turned on the engine. "Well, your big star is pretty nice too."

Lin Tingyue quietly added, "And really hot."

Song Hezhu couldn’t help but laugh.

Along the way, she received a call from Huo Hanyun. When she heard Huo Hanyun was at the hospital, she checked with Lin Tingyue, and the two rushed straight there.

After asking the nurse for the room number, they entered and saw Huo Hanyun in work clothes standing by the window, on the phone.

Huo Hanyun hung up and turned around, only to come face-to-face with a sulky Song Hezhu. Huo Hanyun: "?"

"Song Hezhu, what’s wrong with you?"

"You’re injured and still working—do you have to work yourself to death?"

"Who’s injured…" Huo Hanyun paused, then caught on. Smiling, she asked, "Miss Song, did you hear wrong?"

"What?" Song Hezhu was rarely this clueless.

"I said my assistant accidentally twisted her ankle on the stairs."

"Really?"

Song Hezhu turned to look at the assistant lying on the hospital bed.

Assistant: "Uh, hello?"

Song Hezhu: "..."

She glanced at Lin Tingyue and said gloomily, "Why didn’t you remind me?"

"I thought you and Hanyun-jie’s assistant were good friends."

The assistant’s eyes lit up—talk about lucky! Spraining her foot, having her boss personally accompany her to the hospital, and even being friends with her boss’s friends? Life doesn’t get better than this.

Huo Hanyun: "Don’t overdo it. Your mom’s on her way, and I’ll hire a caregiver for you."

The assistant almost cried from gratitude, feeling like she could jump up and work ten more years.

"Goddammit, I swear I'll fight you lucky bastards with good bosses!"

Huo Hanyun and Song Hezhu looked at each other. Huo Hanyun said, "How about I buy you lunch as an apology for your misunderstanding?"

Song Hezhu raised an eyebrow. "No need to throw shade at me."

"I just genuinely enjoy treating people to meals."

"Haha."

Cue awkward silence.

But Lin Tingyue successfully mooched herself a free meal.

"Seriously? You're that mad about buying us food? You’ve been making that face this whole time."

"Could you laugh after reading these messages?"

Huo Hanyun handed her phone to Song Hezhu.

After reading, Song Hezhu and Lin Tingyue felt sick to their stomachs.

Song Hezhu returned the phone. "The marriage pressure is next-level insane. I don’t remember your parents being like this before."

"When I chose to take over the company, they fully supported me. But lately, maybe because they’re getting older—and with my second uncle causing drama—they keep telling my parents that girls can't be trusted and that I should marry someone dependable soon to pass the company to some guy."

Song Hezhu: "?"

"Even without a throne, they’ll create one for a man."

Song Hezhu sighed. Big mood.

Song Hezhu asked, "So what’s your plan?"

"Handing over the company is out of the question. I’m thinking of hiring a fake girlfriend to take home."

Rent a... girlfriend?

That's... a thing?

Just from those nagging texts, it was clear Huo Hanyun’s parents were very traditional. If she actually brought a girlfriend home... yikes.

Song Hezhu thought, *Good luck to Uncle and Auntie—Huo Hanyun’s rebellious streak runs deep.*

The rebellious Huo Hanyun looked out the window, looking slightly surprised. Song Hezhu asked, "What’s wrong? See someone you know?"

Huo Hanyun pointed. "That looks like my cousin."

"Talk about bad luck..."

Song Hezhu followed her gaze. Outside the glass window, two girls walked arm in arm, super close.

Huo Hanyun waved it off. "Probably just out with a bestie."

"Nah nah nah, not a bestie—a girlfriend."

OMG, girlfriend?

The next second, the two outside the window kissed like nobody was watching.

Huo Hanyun: "..."

Her girlfriend was rented, but her second uncle's daughter's girlfriend was real.

Huo Ningfu also spotted Huo Hanyun sitting inside. Panicked, she shoved her girlfriend away.

The girlfriend asked in confusion, "What happened?"

Huo Ningfu bit her lip without answering. What's wrong? She was most afraid of this cousin. Now that she'd been caught, she would surely report it to her parents.

This was bad. Really bad.

Why did she choose today of all days to go on a date?

And even making out in public... Huo Ningfu, since when did you get so bold?

Her girlfriend caught on and asked, "Did you see someone you know?"

Huo Ningfu nodded weakly, "My cousin."

"Don’t worry, it’s fine," the girlfriend shielded Huo Ningfu. "Just say it was all my fault."

Huo Ningfu pouted, "Yeah, like anyone would buy that."

Still, she relaxed a little.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. Huo Ningfu received a message from Huo Hanyun, who told her she wouldn't say a word about what she saw today.

Huo Ningfu gripped her phone tightly. Was her cousin actually this understanding?

Since her cousin had said so, she would trust her. Maybe she should return the favor?

...

"Whoa, planted in front of the TV this early? Since when do you do this, President Lin?"

Lin Chengyan handed a box of cosmetics to Lin Tingyue.

Lin Tingyue: "For me?"

Lin Chengyan scoffed, "Who else? Sent by the brand. Tried it myself—not bad. One for you, one for Xia Wan, and one for Mom."

Gift in hand, Lin Tingyue decided not to argue. She smiled and said, "Thanks, bro."

"Yeah, whatever."

For once, they got along.

"Is this... Ying An's variety show?"

"Yeah, Mr. Ying is only guesting for this episode." Lin Tingyue sat cross-legged on the sofa, crunching on chips while her eyes were locked on the screen.

To be precise, the second Ying An showed up, she couldn’t look away.

Lin Chengyan: "?"

He was baffled. "If you want to see Ying An, just ring him up."

"Mr. Ying’s back on set."

"What's the big deal?"

If Ying An could make time from his busy schedule to surprise Lin Tingyue and rush over from the set, Lin Chengyan still believed he could do it.

Lin Tingyue was annoyed. "Second Brother, just watch the show properly."

Lin Chengyan: "..."

Was this her way of telling him to shut up?

During the commercial break, Sister Lian called Lin Tingyue to say she had successfully passed the interview.

Lin Tingyue congratulated her, then made small talk.

Sister Lian mentioned that Zhu Yao had broken up with her boyfriend, apparently over something really personal, and Zhu Yao’s brother had even beaten up her boyfriend.

Sister Lian hadn’t known what a normal romantic relationship looked like before and thought it was pretty wild—turns out you can hit men too if they did something wrong.

Lin Tingyue told her there were many more novel things in the world waiting for her.

By the time the variety show wrapped up, it was already 8:30 p.m. Lin Tingyue had gone to eat and looked at the sewing machine Bai Yaxin had just bought.

Bai Yaxin had bought it specially as a gift for Lin Xiawan.

Next week, Lin Xiawan was debuting her first solo exhibition, with Bai Yaxin, Lin Tingyue, and herself as the models for this collection.

After the show, Lin Tingyue went upstairs, where Lin Xiawan measured her.

It felt kind of surreal.

The original female lead she had admired in the book was now standing right in front of her, without going through all that hardship and still shining brightly.

"Ting Yue, what’s wrong?"

Lin Tingyue placed both hands on Lin Xiawan’s shoulders and said earnestly, "Sis, I’m proud of you. You earned this, and you’ll definitely go on to even bigger stages in the future."

Lin Xiawan stroked her hair. "If Ting Yue says so, then it must be true."

Lin Tingyue nodded firmly. "Yeah!"

……

For Lin Xiawan’s exhibition, both the Lin Group’s official account and Lin Chengyan reposted the announcement. Lin Tingyue logged into her dusty Weibo account, planning to share it as well, and was surprised to find she had tens of thousands of followers.

Lin Tingyue: "o.0"

Where did these even come from?

After reading the comments, she realized they were from that dating show. The show had aired a few episodes before being suspended—no one knew what Director Zhu was up to—but even those few episodes had been endlessly dissected by netizens.

When a show got huge, even randos like Lin Tingyue got swept up in the hype.

Truthfully, she kind of missed being on the show—mostly the money.

She hit share, and an hour later, Ying An shared it too.

Lin Xiawan’s exhibition shot to #1 on the hot searches. As Lin Tingyue scrolled through the posts, netizens were all praising Lin Xiawan’s designs. "Gold will always shine!"

Lin Tingyue put down her phone, satisfied, and went to the conference room for a meeting.

Right after the meeting ended, she got a call from Lin Yuhuan.

Since Lin Yuhuan rarely called, Ting Yue was surprised.

"Yuhuan, what's wrong?"

"Ting Yue, are you busy? People are saying Xia Wan copied her designs!"