CH 77

"What's with that expression? You asked me to tell the truth."

"Yes, you're right."

"Tch."

The two of them lay in bed and randomly chatted about this and that. It was already late at night. They had to wake up early the next day for a recording, yet they weren't tired at all.

Wen Li hadn't finished speaking, she had so many questions she wanted to ask him.

For example, when Song Yan dropped out of school to act in movies, was it because of her?

Had Song Yan never forgotten about her all these years, or did he plan to start a new relationship until they reunited two years ago on the red carpet because their youthful love wasn't too burdensome?

The marriage proposal Song Yan made back then, he actually didn't need it at all. The so-called gay rumors were just excuses. So was it all for her?

He patiently answered one by one.

"En."

"You were so charming, I couldn't forget."

"Although it's a bit far-fetched, luckily you're foolish enough to believe it."

This seemed like a teasing remark to him. Wen Li glared at Song Yan with a fierce expression.

Song Yan shut his mouth, but his lips still curved upwards.

Wen Li didn't argue with him and continued, "I still have more questions."

She was even more talkative today compared to the previous time when she was drunk.

But now her heart seemed to be floating in the air, dizzy, almost similar to being drunk.

"Ask your questions."

Wen Li had never planned to ask him these things in her entire life.

For example, during the year she was practicing overseas, she silently followed the news about Song Yan in China. What about him?

Later, when she returned to China, she found that Song Yan had already fulfilled his dream ahead of her. So with a competitive and chasing mentality, she also became an actress. Did he know?

She watched every movie of Song Yan, including those in which he only had a cameo and appeared for a few minutes. Did he ever watch her TV dramas?

Song Yan stared at her blankly.

Wen Li dodged his gaze and said with a sulky tone, "Just to clarify, I'm just asking randomly. I'm not really eager to know, you know."

The sheets rustled as Song Yan leaned over and kissed the corner of her lips.

As he smiled, his eyes became moist again.

It turned out that the sadness of youth could also be so gentle and sweet, making one feel a mix of envy and heartache, yet still smile.

"...Go on with your questions."

"I want to make you happier," Wen Li said vaguely, hesitantly, "Even if you used to be a big block of ice, I don't dislike you."

It was he who initially treated her indifferently, so she raised her status accordingly.

Wen Li thought he was really excellent. As long as he worked hard at something, he would surely succeed.

Be it in academics or acting.

Although she was arrogant, she would never deny someone else's excellence.

Song Yan was the "excellence" she personally locked onto.

"How about it? Are you happier now?" Wen Li turned her head to look at him, then froze, "What's wrong with you today? Did you possess the spirit of Daiyu..."

She wasn't Baoyu's brother, so she couldn't console Daiyu.

Wen Li hurriedly wiped away his tears and clumsily comforted him.

But his answer infected her as well, making her eyes and nose feel sour.

During the year she was abroad, Song Yan often visited foreign websites and checked the list of trainees on the overseas agency's webpage to see if her name was on it.

Song Yan took her dream as his own, wanting to stand under the spotlight she longed for, so he became an actor. He watched her works, every single one, witnessing her growth and progress in front of the camera.

—"You stand on a bridge and admire the scenery, while the person on the building looks at you. The bright moon adorns your window, while you adorn someone else's dream."

They were both the people on the building, unknowingly adorning each other's dreams.

Now, two clusters of light finally embraced each other.

They talked all night until the sky started to brighten. Finally feeling too tired to continue, they reluctantly closed their eyes, falling asleep in each other's arms.

——

Last night, there was a continuous exchange of physical intimacy in the early half of the night, followed by a deep emotional connection in the later half of the night, which resulted in neither of them being awakened by the alarm clock on the final day of filming.

It was the assistant who came to knock on the door to wake them up.

Lily, the chief makeup artist of Wen Li's team, had been in the industry for many years and was one of the best in terms of professional skills. More importantly, she knew how to apply makeup in a way that maximized the artist's facial features. Many of Wen Li's outstanding makeup looks were created by her.

With the rise of reality shows, artists no longer pursued intricate and glamorous makeup. Under the scrutiny of the reality show cameras, they wanted a natural look that concealed even the slightest pore, as if their cheeks were naturally flawless. This was a common request from female artists to their makeup artists.

Wen Li was no exception, and she also knew that no matter how expensive the foundation was, it couldn't compare to naturally good skin. So she took extra care of her skin in her daily life.

But today was a special occasion.

Wen Li proactively suggested, "Give me more concealer. It's also okay if the makeup feels heavier. After all, the post-production will add filters."

Lily sounded concerned, "Did you not get enough rest last night?"

A female star's face was precious. Lily couldn't help but feel sorry for Wen Li when she saw her complexion looking so poor.

Wen Li's tone was cheerful, "No, I slept really well."

"Then what time did you go to sleep?"

"Around five, I think." Wen Li wasn't sure and turned her head to ask Song Yan, "Was it around five?"

Song Yan had finished preparing faster than her and was currently sitting on the side, waiting for her makeup to be done.

He nodded, "Close to five."

Then no one else spoke as their thoughts wandered in unknown directions. Only Wen Li's assistant, Wen Wen, took a moment to react and innocently asked, "You slept at five? What were you and Teacher Song doing before five?"

As soon as the words left her mouth, she immediately received a glare from Lily.

Wen Wen instantly understood and reacted.

She glanced at her sister secretly and noticed that Wen Li was yawning again. Then she looked at Teacher Song, who unexpectedly yawned as well.

Hehe.

Wen Wen chuckled to herself.

It wasn't until Wen Li finished her makeup, ready to go downstairs and join the production crew for the final day of filming, that she called out to Wen Wen and asked her to help with her bag. Only then did the naive assistant snap out of her daze.

On the last day of filming, since Wen Li, Song Yan, Qiu Hong, and Chen Zitong were all in the same city, the script had arranged for them to film together. They were tasked with completing the game missions set up by the production crew at a designated location on the campus.

Wen Li had borrowed Chen Zitong's school uniform the previous day. Because the uniform skirt had been lifted up throughout the night, it remained clean. However, due to the highly indescribable nature of the process, she felt embarrassed to return the school uniform.

Chen Zitong didn't mind; it was just a school uniform.

Two nights ago, Wen Li suddenly went to her room and said she wanted to borrow Mingfeng's school uniform. At first, Chen Zitong was puzzled.

It wasn't until the staff told her that Wen Li had worn Mingfeng's school uniform last night and prepared a surprise for Teacher Song at the Fireworks Square in Yingde.

So all that effort was for a surprise.

"It's alright. The production crew has prepared several sets for me. I can wear a new one. I'll let you have that set," Chen Zitong blinked and said with a meaningful tone, "If Song Yan likes it, you can wear it for him at home in the future. Oh, remember to turn off the camera."

Wen Li: "..."

From just hearing that, it was clear that Chen Zitong and her husband were clearly more experienced in this regard than she and Song Yan. Whenever they felt that they couldn't let the production crew film at home, they never forgot to turn off the camera.

——

After a day of joint recording, the two couples agreed to meet again during the next outdoor shooting and then went their separate ways.

Before Chen Zitong entered university, her grades in a certain cultural subject were not very good. So her family specifically found an old teacher to help her with tutoring, guiding her step by step to improve her grades. Now that the teacher had already retired and no longer taught, living in the school staff quarters with her husband, Chen Zitong didn't want to disturb the teacher. So it wasn't until the program was finished that she bought some gifts and went to visit the teacher with Qiu Hong.

In order to give the teacher a surprise, she didn't inform the teacher in advance and planned for a sudden attack.

Unfortunately, it wasn't a good timing. The teacher had gone on a trip with her old girlfriends, and only her husband was at home.

"I said we should have called in advance," Qiu Hong sighed.

Chen Zitong had no words in response. She had come up with the idea on a whim. If she hadn't returned to her alma mater to film the show, she wouldn't have chosen this time to visit the teacher.

But since someone was home, it wasn't a wasted trip as long as the gifts arrived. She would come back to visit the teacher when she had time next.

The teacher's husband poured them a glass of water and said helplessly, "I just sent a student off, and unexpectedly, another student came. My wife's luck is unbelievable."

Curious, Chen Zitong asked, "Besides me, there were other students visiting the teacher today?"

"Yes, another female celebrity," the teacher's husband said, "But I don't watch much TV, so I can't remember her name."

As he said that, the old man turned on the TV.

"I remember they've been airing a TV drama she acted in these past few days..."

Now it was summer break. The popular dramas from previous years would be replayed repeatedly to earn ratings. The drama currently playing on TV was a costume drama that had been a big hit a few years ago.

"Hey, it's this female celebrity," the old man pointed and showed them.

Qiu Hong was stunned for a moment and hesitantly asked, "Isn't this Wen Li?"

The teacher's husband suddenly realized, "So her name is Wen Li."

Chen Zitong looked at the familiar face on the TV drama. Just today, they had filmed the variety show together in the morning.

Yesterday, Wen Li had specifically asked her to borrow Mingfeng's school uniform to prepare a surprise for Song Yan. She had thought that Wen Li found Mingfeng's school uniform more attractive, so she asked to borrow it.

Based on their age, Wen Li should be two grades below Song Yan. When Song Yan was in his third year of high school, Wen Li had just entered her first year.

If Wen Li really attended high school abroad, she wouldn't need to come back to China specifically to find a teacher for tutoring in the cultural subjects required for the college entrance examination.

This industry was susceptible to rumors, and the higher an artist's popularity, the easier it was for their privacy to be exposed. Even on Chen Zitong's own encyclopedia page, certain experiences had been intentionally erased or altered.

……

Chen Zitong: "Old Qiu."

Qiu Hong: "What's wrong?"

"I think I've discovered some explosive information about Song Yan and Wen Li," Chen Zitong said with a serious tone.

Qiu Hong was startled by her tone and swallowed nervously, "How... how explosive?"

"If we sell it as an exclusive scoop, we might earn this amount," she gestured with her hand, indicating a number, "As a bonus, Weibo would also be crashed."

Qiu Hong widened his eyes in astonishment and immediately reached out to hold his wife's hand.

"Did one of them cheat?!"

"..."

In the span of a few short minutes, Qiu Hong wrestled between money and conscience. In the end, he struggled to say, "Wife, calm down. They have too many fans, and the more fans they have, the more shippers they have. If we confront them, our fans will definitely lose to theirs, and we'll be heavily criticized."

"..."

That wasn't necessarily true. If her hypothesis was correct, Salt Grain CP fans might even thank her when the time came.

——

While Qiu Hong and his wife were contemplating, a whole week had passed, and the eighth episode of the program was airing. At this time, Song Yan and Wen Li were completely unaware that Qiu Hong and his wife had already discovered something.

Director Yan had already greeted them, saying that after the eighth episode aired, they would do a charity livestream. The content wasn't important; they were just asked to react to it.

Audiences nowadays enjoy watching artists' reactions. Some artists have a good sense of variety shows, with lots of jokes and words. Just them sitting there making comments can entertain the audience. Wen Li was a typical example.

The livestream was scheduled for Saturday evening at 7:30, half an hour after the main episode aired. The purpose of this half-hour was mainly for preheating, to hype up the atmosphere in the livestream room.

The staff adjusted the equipment and made an "OK" gesture. Wen Li quickly put on a smiling face and greeted the camera.

"Good evening, I'm here with Teacher Song again. In half an hour, we'll watch the eighth episode together."

「Good evening.」

「Wen Li, my precious daughter-in-law, kiss-kiss!」

「Why aren't you wearing a school uniform for the livestream! I want to see the school uniform version of Salt Grain Couple!」

「The school uniform in the preview is amazing. I've already imagined a campus sweet story for two days.」

Most of the barrage comments were about the preview. Wen Li had been busy recording a talent show this week and hadn't had time to watch the preview. But the previous episodes were all recorded on location, without any indoor scenes, so there shouldn't be any accidents.

Wen Li was curious and asked, "Why are you all talking about the preview? Is it good?"

「Could the preview of Salt Grain Couple be anything but good? It's a joke if it doesn't trend every week.」

「If it's not good in just thirty seconds, I'd unfollow immediately.」

「It's good, but too short.」

「The few seconds of the fireworks in the square are so beautiful.  There are still twenty-five minutes until the main episode. I really want to watch the complete version.」

Wen Li looked at the staff outside the camera and said, "Should we show the preview now?"

Before the staff could respond, the barrage started flooding again.

「Instead of watching the preview, let's watch Mrs. Grass's fan-edit video.」

「Yeah, let's watch Mrs. Grass's video!」

「I'll bleed for that video.」

「Thousands of people will bleed!!! Please go watch it, Mrs. Grass really deserves it!!!」

The fans in the barrage forcibly recommended a certain video to the couple. Some fans were worried that the barrage was scrolling too fast for them to see, so they changed their ID names to send gifts.

Wen Li and Song Yan had clear roles in the livestream. Wen Li was in charge of the variety show vibes, while Song Yan was a newcomer to variety shows and couldn't speak well, so he was in charge of reading the list of fans who sent gifts.

"Thank you for sending 15 submarines, 'Go watch your latest CP fan-edit video'. That's a long name," Song Yan finished reading the ID names and chuckled.

He read several more fan IDs, and following the fans' wishes, Wen Li nodded and asked, "Then let's watch it. Which video is it?"

The barrage once again flooded the screen with long web page links.

An array of English and numbers in the links overwhelmed Wen Li.

"Just tell me which app to watch it on and what to search for. I'll have the staff find it for me."

The barrage started collectively suggesting app names because the video title was long, and the fans were too lazy to type it, so they suggested searching for the blogger's name directly.

「Just search for Mrs. Grass's name.」

「Her name is Beauty Grass Sanli.」

「Mrs. Grass, are you watching the livestream? Your video is being recommended!」

「It's probably every fan fiction writer's dream to have their work seen by the main character. Mrs. Grass, you've fulfilled it!!」

"Teacher Wen," the staff responsible for searching on the computer couldn't see the barrage and asked, "What's the blogger's name?"

"Beauty..." Wen Li paused for a moment and said, "Cao (cǎo) Sanli."

「Isn't it pronounced with the fourth tone, not the third?」

「It's a homophone. Cao (草) means 'grass', thank you.」

「Forget it, read it again! Correctly reading fans' ID names is the basic respect for fans, okay?」

Wen Li's temper flared up, and she started arguing with the fans, "Can't you guys be a little less overboard? Talking about homophones, as if I've never taken a Chinese class?"

「Lu Xun: I suspect you're mocking me.」

「Warning: Unfollowing.」

「Are you arguing with fans again? #WenLiIsIlliterate# Let's get her on trending!!」

At this moment, Song Yan calmly read out a gift that a fan had just sent.

"Thank you to the 'Beauty Grass (草) Sanli. 'Cao' is pronounced with the fourth tone, which means 'grass'. It sounds a bit similar to 'cǎo' (操), so we request Beauty to educate your uneducated wife'. Thank you for sending 20 skyscrapers."

Wen Li: "..."

Wen Li wondered what kind of livestream platform this was where IDs could be so long. She questioned if there could be some standardization regarding the length of IDs.

「We don't love you anymore. CP family, let's have Beauty pronounce it with the third tone.」

「Do you not know the character 'cāo'1?」

「As a man, how can you not know the character 'cāo'! Song Yan, I'm disappointed in you!」

Wen Li silently criticized in her mind. How could he not know? He knew it all too well and was also proficient in it in certain situations.

"I know," Song Yan calmly explained himself, "But this character is not suitable to be said in public. It's only appropriate for private conversations. Please understand."

「Was he talking dirty just now?」

「"? Where and with whom would you have a private conversation? Clarify your words.」

「In bed, right?」

「I suddenly feel like a tractor just ran over my face.」

Song Yan glanced at the barrage but remained silent, raising an eyebrow.

「He raised his eyebrow!! Damn, he's so naughty!! He knows!! He's being suggestive!!!」

「He's giving us sugar!! And it's spicy hot sugar!!!」

「He only says 'cāo' to Sanli in bed. I'm going crazy!!」

「@Moderator @Moderator @Moderator」

「Thank you, thank you. I've already imagined it.」

「Dirty-minded people, start writing fanfiction! Make Song Yan say 'cāo' to Sanli a hundred times in the story!!」

The barrage erupted with excited screams. Wen Li couldn't bear to watch, but luckily, at that moment, the staff had already brought up the video and started projecting it onto the big screen.

The livestream room was now divided into two sections: one for the live broadcast and one for the edited video.

Real and genuine reaction scenes.

At the top of the video, there was a glaring title.

「【Salt Grain School ABO】Gorgeous School Beauty Alpha x Cold School Hunk Alpha (AA Power Couple with Explicit Scenes)」

Wen Li: "..."

Song Yan: "..."

「Hahahaha, they are really watching it!!! Sisters, we're the number one pranksters!」

「They're watching their own fan-edit explicit video, hehehe.」

「Oh god, I'm already feeling embarrassed for them.」

「Let them be embarrassed! Let's make it trend on Weibo!」

「Wow, if the livestream room gets banned today, not a single innocent sister here will have a pen to sign with!」