Chapter 4: Four Fires

With an informant by her side, Yan Duo considered asking her to dig into the rumors about last night’s incident. However, she realized that since no one seemed to know about it, inquiries might inadvertently draw attention and make people curious. So she dismissed the idea and searched online again, finding no updates. Adopting the mindset that “no news is good news,” she suppressed her curiosity.

When Zeng Meng and Zhou Yingmeng finished work and returned, Yan Duo invited them both for a late-night snack, also taking the opportunity to formally introduce Fang Fang to everyone. Naturally, Zeng Meng and Zhou Yingmeng didn’t refuse, and the group headed out of the hotel under the cover of night.

Among the three, only Zeng Meng, who had debuted earlier, had an assistant, and her assistant happened to be Fang Fang’s roommate. Yan Duo suggested she bring her assistant along, and in the end, the two assistants ended up hanging out together.

The late-night snack spot was a hot pot restaurant. After ordering various side dishes, the group sat around casually chatting.

Zeng Meng glanced around the lively dining tables, noticing that no one was paying them any attention, and sighed, “When will we ever reach the level of popularity like Ji Ran, where just stepping outside means running into fans asking for photos and autographs?”

Ji Ran could be considered the hottest star in the country right now—massive popularity, solid acting skills, and unparalleled influence. Whenever he’s photographed wearing something, it becomes a bestseller on Taobao the next day. His movies generate box office projections in the hundreds of millions—take his upcoming film, for example, which has already presold several hundred million tickets, recouping its production costs.

Currently, all three of them are just small-time unknowns. Zeng Meng is still the best off because her family has connections—she previously starred as the female lead in two web dramas, but they made no splash at all, leaving her still indistinguishable from the crowd in the industry.

Yan Duo said with a smile, “I think things are fine as they are now. Later, when you get so famous that people recognize you even when you’re wearing a mask, we won’t be able to sit here and eat leisurely like this.”

Zeng Meng imagined the scenario Yan Duo described and laughed heartily, “When I get famous, I won’t even bother eating with a nobody like you—I’ll block you the first chance I get!”

Yan Duo joked, “Then I’ll take some compromising photos of you in advance and sell them at a high price to Zhang Wei, making you instantly infamous.”

Zeng Meng shouted, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!”

After laughing and joking for a while, Zeng Meng glanced at Fang Fang, who was chatting enthusiastically with her assistant, and asked Yan Duo, “Hey, how did you suddenly get an assistant?”

Yan Duo shrugged and replied, “The company assigned one uniformly.”

Zeng Meng grinned, “Such a good deal?”

Is there really an entertainment company that uniformly assigns assistants? Zeng Meng was quite surprised. Like her own assistant, the person was selected by her agent, but the salary was paid by herself—the company didn’t cover any of the costs.

Yan Duo smiled without saying a word. She had just learned about such a good deal herself, reportedly a newly implemented regulation.

Zeng Meng turned to Zhou Yingmeng and jokingly asked, “Doesn’t your company distribute people?”

Zhou Yingmeng didn’t respond for a long time. Yan Duo looked at her curiously and noticed her gaze fixed outside the window. Following her line of sight, Yan Duo saw a tall man walking past the transparent floor-to-ceiling window, holding a petite woman in his arms.

Yan Duo glanced over and turned to ask Zhou Yingmeng, “What’s wrong?”

Zhou Yingmeng withdrew her gaze and lowered her head to drink water. “Nothing.”

Zeng Meng also looked out the window and said curiously, “That man looks so familiar. He seems to be the one who played the young marquis in that hit drama recently and gained some fame, right? His surname is Mu, isn’t it?”

Hearing the surname “Mu,” Yan Duo’s gaze shifted back to Zhou Yingmeng’s face. If she remembered correctly, Fang Fang had mentioned that Zhou Yingmeng’s boyfriend’s surname was Mu…

After finishing supper and returning to the hotel, Yan Duo took a shower and sat on the bed scrolling through Weibo. When she saw the news that Ji Ran had taken a flight back to T City, a faint sense of loss crept into her heart. She wondered how long it would be before she could see him again—would she have to wait another month?

Yan Duo opened the WeChat interface, intending to send a message to Ji Ran, but ultimately dismissed the idea. She pulled out the secretly taken photos to admire them, but before she could finish looking, Zhou Yingmeng’s barely suppressed roar came from the direction of the bathroom.

“Did I have to catch you in the act before you’d admit to cheating? I, Zhou Yingmeng, don’t just take in any trash. Consider this your official notice—you’re dumped!”

After that, the bathroom remained quiet for a few minutes, followed by the faint sound of water from the showerhead splashing onto the floor.

Fifteen minutes later, Zhou Yingmeng emerged wearing a bathrobe. Yan Duo glanced up at her and noticed that apart from slightly red eyes, there were no other visible issues on her face.

“Are you okay?”

Zhou Yingmeng shook her head, a self-deprecating smile on her face. “It’s fine. Everyone meets a few scumbags in their life.”

Yan Duo smiled along but didn’t say anything.

Zhou Yingmeng seemed quite moved tonight, speaking more than usual as she lay in bed, chatting with Yan Duo yet also murmuring to herself.

“I should have guessed it long ago—how could an unequal relationship last, with two people who go ten days or even half a month without contact, and don’t even say they miss each other after a month apart?”

……

The next morning, when the two got up, Zhou Yingmeng was full of energy—clearly, venting her thoughts the night before had lifted her spirits. In contrast, Yan Duo, who had been the listener, had eyes swollen like light bulbs.

Zhou Yingmeng felt quite embarrassed, “Did I keep you up last night by talking too much?”

Yan Duo waved her hand, signaling her not to blame herself. “Don’t overthink it. I just drank too much water before bed last night.”

As she spoke, Yan Duo walked straight to the bathroom, her back turned to Zhou Yingmeng, a trace of exhaustion flashing across her face. In her dreams, she kept seeing Ji Ran lying in bed with another woman—she was so furious she could hardly breathe, let alone sleep well.

**

Ji Ran rushed back from City N to City T overnight. When he arrived at the parking lot via the VIP lane, Shi Lei walked over with a grave expression and whispered, “Someone found out about you visiting Yan Duo yesterday.”

He couldn’t go with them due to other commitments, and in just one day, Ji Ran nearly caused a huge scandal. Shi Lei couldn’t help feeling somewhat resentful—Ji Ran was currently in a crucial phase of his career rise, where casually revealing his marriage and having a wife could spell disaster. He genuinely couldn’t comprehend why Ji Ran had married Yan Duo in the first place, let alone understood the reason behind Ji Ran’s reckless decision to visit her last night.

Ji Ran paused in his steps, “And then?”

Shi Lei: “Fortunately, it was discovered early and intercepted.”

Ji Ran casually responded with an “Mmm” and continued walking forward.

Shi Lei looked at Ji Ran’s indifferent attitude and felt a bit annoyed. He had gone to great lengths to secure this.

It took him considerable effort and a lot of money to suppress the news, yet Ji Ran managed to brush it off so easily! Shi Lei didn’t dare say anything to Ji Ran’s face, but others were a different story.

“The news wasn’t leaked by paparazzi—someone tipped it off… Who knows if someone might be upset now for missing their chance to go viral.”

After the hotel housekeeper discovered used condoms in Ji Ran’s room, certain individuals actually went to check the surveillance footage. Fortunately, the cameras didn’t capture Yan Duo’s face, and she hadn’t stayed overnight in the room. If this ever blew up later, there were plenty of excuses to smooth things over. But that didn’t stop Shi Lei, who had never liked Yan Duo, from insinuating that she deliberately leaked the news to ride on Ji Ran’s fame and boost her own popularity—after all, even infamy could make someone famous.

Ji Ran caught Shi Lei’s implication and turned to glance at him. Though he said nothing, the warning in his eyes was unmistakable.

Shi Lei watched Ji Ran get into the car, knowing he had angered him, and didn’t dare say anything more. He got into the driver’s seat to take Ji Ran home.

When Ji Ran woke up at 11 a.m., his phone showed several missed call notifications and a single WeChat message.

Those who knew Ji Ran were aware he didn’t use WeChat, so no one ever contacted him there—except for one person. She rarely called, only sent messages, even though he never replied. Yet she persisted.

Ignoring the missed calls, Ji Ran opened the WeChat page. Sure enough, the sender was her.

Yan Xiaoduo: Ji Ran, you can’t cheat on me, not even in dreams. I’ll be furious!

Ji Ran glanced at the message timestamp again—03:10. No wonder.

The woman who usually addressed him respectfully as “Teacher Ji” suddenly called him by his full name and sternly forbade him from cheating, clearly still fuming from her dream.

Author’s Note: Author: How do you feel about your wife calling you “Teacher” instead of “Husband”?

After pondering for a moment, Ji Ran uttered two words—thrilling!

Hahaha~

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