CH 45

"He's so handsome!!"

On the way to the company, Wen Wen exclaimed while holding her phone.

It startled Wen Li, who held her chest and scolded, "As my assistant, you're actually infatuated with other male artists. I'll deduct your salary."

"No, no, it's not other male artists. It's Teacher Song Yan."

"After seeing him so many times, you're still like this? A young girl is always a young girl," Wen Li snorted, leaning back in her seat to continue resting. But a few seconds later, she extended her hand again and said, "Did he shoot a new pictorial? Let me see."

"No, sister, see for yourself."

Wen Wen couldn't explain clearly, so she handed the phone to Wen Li directly.

Wen Li glanced at the hot search and her expression froze. She stared at the official endorsement announcement for more than ten minutes.

At that moment, Wen Wen's phone vibrated in Wen Li's hand as it received a message. Wen Wen quietly reminded her, "Sister, someone messaged me."

"Oh," Wen Li regained her senses and handed the phone back.

It was a WeChat message from a college classmate.

「Fuck, I believed your evil advice not to get addicted to 'Salt Grain CP'. Now everyone around me is addicted to it, making me feel like an outsider. You've ruined my social life! How are you going to compensate me?」

「When the endorsement hot search came out, all the girls in my group chat were screaming, but I was completely clueless!」

「Was the lovey-dovey script devised by the brand or did 'Salt Grain couple' come up with it themselves?」

「Quick, tell me that it was the brand that came up with it, so I can still resist a bit!」

Wen Wen knew about the relationship between Wenli and Song Yan, so when her close university classmate came to gossip with her, she couldn't violate professional ethics by revealing the true situation. But she was also afraid that her friend would get too deeply involved and wouldn't be able to get out of it later, so she could only hint at her friend in a tactful way, advising her not to get too involved.

Ever since they appeared on that couples' variety show, sometimes when she saw her sister with Teacher Song, whether it was their eye contact or conversations, even she herself was confused. Her mouth often unconsciously formed a smile that she wasn't even aware of.

Wen Wen swallowed and tentatively asked, "Sister, did you know about this official announcement in advance?"

"I didn't know."

"Then... did Teacher Song come up with this script?"

Wen Li was puzzled and felt that Wen Wen's question showed a lack of understanding. With a certain tone, she said, "He's the spokesperson, not the scriptwriter."

Wen Wen nodded and quietly told her university friend:「You can still struggle a bit.」

We can all struggle a bit more. Don't fall into the trap of shipping real people CP just because of some sugar-coated bullets.

Because of Wen Wen's naive question, Wen Li started to ponder.

She glanced at the WeChat conversation she had with Song Yan shortly after finishing the program recording.

Wen Li:「[Weibo post]」

It was a discussion about the watch she wore and matched with Xu Xingyue's watch.

Wen Li:「I wore this watch to the offline event a couple of days ago. This person also wore the same one.」

Wen Li:「Vomiting.jpg」

Wen Li:「When we were filming, I intentionally cued this watch. I wanted Sister Dan to find someone to send a press release stating that mine was a customized version.」

Her original plan was to draw attention to the fact that she and Xu Xingyue had similar watches, so she deliberately mentioned it on the show, making it difficult for Xu Xingyue to come out on top.

Song Yan:「Wait, I'm discussing with the brand.」

Then Wen Li waited for more than ten minutes, but Song Yan didn't reply. She wondered if she was being too petty.

Did he think she was being petty, arguing with someone over a watch?

After struggling for a while, Wen Li compromised, thinking about his feelings for once.

Wen Li:「When will your endorsement be officially announced? If it can't be exposed in advance, I'll endure it a little longer.」

At that moment, the man replied.

Song Yan:「If you endure it, won't you become even angrier?」

Wen Li:「This watch was a gift from you. I should consider your feelings too, right?」

Song Yan:「What about your feelings?」

Wen Li wanted to say it didn't matter, but she wasn't the type of person with a broad mind.

So she tried, somewhat stubbornly, to express her dissatisfaction.

Wen Li:「Teacher Song, I'm not happy.」

Her message was written without any exclamations, but it conveyed her coquettish and stubborn thoughts clearly.

Clearly, it was her and Song Yan's couple's watch, but why did Xu Xingyue, that clever girl, have to imitate her and wear the same watch?

Song Yan:「Head pat.jpg」

Song Yan:「I understand.」

Wen Li pondered for a while and didn't understand what he meant by "I understand".

It wasn't until Wen Wen showed her the official Weibo announcement from the brand that she finally understood.

Wen Li:「I saw the hot search.」

Wen Li:「How much does JL pay for their copywriter? I want to poach him and have him write press releases for me.」

She carefully considered her wording to make sure her tone didn't seem too delighted.

Song Yan:「So, how much salary are you planning to offer me? If it's too little, I won't do it.」

At that moment, Wen Li thought to herself, it's over.

Recently, her feelings towards him had been strange. She instinctively avoided the development of these feelings because she didn't want to have a relationship with her contract husband beyond the agreement and physical needs.

The contract was written in black and white, physical needs were the instincts of adults. The former had legal effects, constraining them mutually, while the latter was fulfilled by both of them. Neither of them was at a loss.

Since her mother passed away, her father didn't often return to Yancheng. He left his children behind and traveled around the world, drinking and making friends. It seemed carefree and unrestrained, but he would often disregard the time difference and call her and Xu Li, crying and saying how much he missed their mother.

Her grandpa and her uncle also often thought about their mother, but they had more important things to do—work, life. No matter how much they missed the departed, they still had to continue with their own lives.

The difference was that her father and mother were lovers; they loved each other.

Emotions were something that couldn't be calculated in terms of gains and losses.

Once fallen in love, there was no turning back. Whatever suffering followed was her own fault.

Originally, her heart was carefree, living a glorious life for over twenty years. Many people loved her, so she lacked neither love nor money. She had family and friends. It was enough to enjoy the feeling of being loved by others. Love, that hurtful thing, was truly unnecessary. Why did she, unintentionally, become the person who gave her heart away?

She couldn't control the uncontrollable heartbeat, and she felt resentful, but there was nothing she could do. Once fallen, you stay fallen.

——

Wen Li:「Too expensive, I can't afford it.」

Song Yan:「It's not expensive.」

Sending those words seemed like she was being too eager.

But withdrawing the message would make her seem unable to take a joke.

Forget it, she would just leave it like that.

In the President's office of Bai Shi Entertainment, Bai Sen opened a bottle of red wine and was about to pour it for Song Yan. However, the man put down his phone and lightly covered the top of the cup with his hand.

"I'm going home tonight, so I can't drink."

"Why can't you drink when you go home?" Bai Sen paused here and suddenly remembered, "Oh, I forgot, there are cameras installed in your house now."

Song Yan raised an eyebrow in agreement.

Bai Sen could only drink alone in frustration.

"Just yesterday, your agent was still negotiating with JL for a better deal, trying to get more benefits. But then you swooped in and finished the conversation. Now, they have announced it officially on Weibo," Bai Sen took a sip of his wine, sighed, and spoke as if he was working for nothing, "Did they also pay you for copywriting?"

Song Yan didn't think it was a pity, "The endorsement fee was more than enough, so consider it a gift."

Bai Sen joked, "Hey, our stingy teacher Song Yan suddenly became so generous? Before, you were acting, studying business, and wanted to earn all the money in this lifetime. But today, you even gave away the copy you personally came up with to the brand?"

"It's not a giveaway. I still have the copyright for the text."

"...Tsk, you are even more cunning than me," Bai Sen squinted at him, suddenly narrowing his fox-like eyes and carefully examining the person in front of him, "Is it for Wen Li, that girl?"

Song Yan didn't deny it, "I helped her vent some frustration."

Bai Sen pursed his lips and while tasting the wine, he also tasted something else.

"It's strange. Two years ago, when that girl was involved in a public scandal, her uncle gave an order, forbidding any of us, her childhood friends, from helping her, and yet, you casually married her. That female celebrity surnamed Zheng wanted to snatch her resources, so you casually took on this variety show. Now that her watch matched with someone else's watch, you casually wrote a copy for her. Ah Yan, what do all these connections mean?"

Saying this, Bai Sen curled his lips, looking at Song Yan with a smile that was not quite a smile.

Song Yan looked at him from the corner of his eye, his deep eyes resembling a turbulent sea, concealing his emotions.

"Why are you being so cryptic?"

"We're both men, pretending to be ignorant is not fun. You like that girl, right? As an expert in love, you can't fool me."

Song Yan smiled calmly, his tone even, "I only realized it now. It seems your reputation as an expert in love is just a facade."

Bai Sen widened his eyes, "Hey, you're trying to trick me!" He paused for a moment, then explained for himself, "I had already seen through it a long time ago, okay? Otherwise, why would a perfectly fine single man willingly step into the grave of marriage? But back in high school, didn't you hate her?"

Every time Bai Sen teased Wen Li, often saying in front of others that she was his childhood sweetheart and fiancee. Gradually, whenever people saw Wen Li coming over to play, they couldn't remember her name, but they remembered her as Bai Sen's childhood sweetheart and fiancee.

Although Wen Li resisted Bai Sen's teasing, the more she got angry, the more energetic Bai Sen became. Later, she came up with a trick. When introducing Bai Sen to others, she no longer referred to him as her elder brother. Instead, she said he was her unmarried fiance.

In the eyes of others, it was a perfect flirtatious banter.

Song Yan, as Bai Sen's friend, took it all in.

Wen Li was slow to react and turned a blind eye to the misunderstandings of others. After all, they were just teasing, no one would dare say it to her face. But Song Yan was well aware of Bai Sen's reaction at that time.

As they continued to tease each other, it seemed like they had teased away the heart of their youth.

During a casual chat with Song Yan, Bai Sen shared his thoughts. He had always seen Wen Li as a little sister. At first, when their parents talked about the arranged marriage between them, both he and Wen Li resisted, thinking it was incestuous to be together. But gradually, he started to feel that it wouldn't be bad to spend a lifetime with this beautiful and outspoken girl, always bickering and being happy enemies.

However, the girl didn't understand, or rather, she understood but didn't want to understand.

She only wanted to be friends, siblings, childhood sweethearts, with Bai Sen. She resisted developing any other kind of relationship with him from the bottom of her heart. So when Bai Sen occasionally joked and said, "Why don't you just accept your fate," she immediately cursed him with a hurtful response.

And with that, Bai Sen's foolish little idea was completely extinguished. He thought it would be so much better to date other girls who were gentle and considerate, unlike this girl who had a beautiful face but was like a little powder keg. Every boy who had pursued her had been insulted with phrases like "Take a look at yourself in the mirror first".

"If you like her, try to hide it a bit. It's good that she doesn't notice your feelings because if she does and she's not interested, then prepare to have your dignity trampled upon," Bai Sen later advised other men who only judged by appearance.

Seeing his good friend's unfortunate stumble in this arranged marriage, Bai Sen felt genuinely heartbroken.

"Ah Yan, you're almost thirty, yet your immunity is worse than when you were eighteen. Back then, you were so aloof even Wen Li couldn't even get a glance from you," Bai Sen thought for a moment, finding a reason for him, "Or is it that she hadn't blossomed before, so you could resist, but now that she has, your soul has been lured away? Tsk, she's a disaster, an absolute disaster created by God specifically to torment us men."

In truth, Wen Li's personality wasn't particularly likable, and those who disliked her couldn't bring themselves to like her.

But those who liked her couldn't let go, no matter what.

She was too unique. Once she captured someone's gaze, they couldn't move away.

Bai Sen asked, "Why don't you let this love expert give you some advice?"

"Don't meddle. Have less contact with her if there's nothing important," Song Yan glanced at him, his tone indifferent, "Former fiancé."

Bai Sen shrugged, dissatisfied, "I haven't even blamed you for stealing my former fiancée, but you're already being petty."

Suddenly, Song Yan spoke softly, "She was supposed to be my fiancée."

Bosen chuckled and nonchalantly said, "You transferred to Yancheng in the second year of high school. Before that, you were a young master in Aocheng. Who are you fooling?"

Song Yan didn't say anything further.

Apart from work, he often appeared lazy, with droopy eyelids, not bothering to interact with anyone.

Bai Sen and he became friends precisely because Bai Sen was a chatterbox, complementing Song Yan's quiet nature.

"I had dinner with the CEO of Lice Media recently. His company collaborated with a TV station to create a talent show. For the final episode, they want to invite you as a guest performer. I saw their list of tributes. Your movie is there, that girl's TV drama is there too. That girl is as emotionally dense as a millennium tortoise, but she's actually quite talented in acting. How about you both appear on that show and ignite some on-screen chemistry?"

Song Yan raised an eyebrow, seemingly considering the proposal.

Bai Sen was waiting for his response when Song Yan's phone on the table started vibrating.

Song Yan wanted to pick it up, but Bai Sen leaned over and snatched it, "You keep thinking. I already verbally agreed, so let me take the call for you."

Looking at the incoming call display, it said "Teacher Wen".

Oh, his former fiancée, the little powder keg, Wen Li.

Song Yan asked, "Who is it?"

"Unknown number," Bai Sen casually replied, intentionally answering the call.

"Teacher Song," a sweet voice came from the other end. It sounded rather awkward and clingy, "When are you coming home?"

Bai Sen's eyes widened instantly.

Song Yan, noticing Bai Sen's strange expression, frowned. "Who called?"

Bai Sen murmured, "Oh my, the little powder keg has turned into a little vixen."