In the room next door, Shen Wanwan was chatting with 001 while wearing a face mask.
{What do we do? Today the female lead tried to get close to your Brother, but he coldly shut her down.
{If he can’t even manage to be the second male lead, the light around him will fade even more, and then you’ll have no way to borrow any light from him.}
The little dumpling-like 001 tried to snuggle closer to her, attempting to let her absorb its glow.
But it was simply too small.
The faint light it gave off couldn’t drive away the darkness that enveloped Shen Wanwan.
Suddenly, 001 gasped like it had discovered a new continent : {Hey, wait! There’s a little bit of light on you now!}
On her pinky toe, there was the tiniest glow.
001 excitedly moved closer to examine it : {It’s true! It’s glowing!}
Shen Wanwan’s feet were very pale, her skin delicate and smooth.
She had just painted her toenails with a clove-pink polish on her day off, which made her toes look like flawless white jade.
And now, that little pinky toe emitted a faint glow.
001 muttered in confusion: {Is it because you’ve been spending more time with your Brother and absorbed some of his light?
{But can borrowed light be retained? This might be beyond my knowledge base…}
Shen Wanwan reclined leisurely on a chaise longue in her room and said flatly, “How much longer are you going to rub against my feet? Come here.”
001 reluctantly scooted over.
{It’s really amazing, though. And you’re not even looking at it.}
Shen Wanwan said, “Who’s the system here, you or me? If you don’t even know this stuff, you might as well get laid off.”
001 : {*Sob*!}
It swore it would never sleep through theory class again!
Shen Wanwan didn’t actually care about this ‘light’ stuff.
All the talk sounded mysterious, but the core message was really just one thing: she had to please Bai Ling.
But the more 001 brought it up, the less she felt like doing it.
Meanwhile, Xiao Le had been sending her message after message since early morning.
From the panicked morning message : [Wanwan! Shao Yuye’s fans are saying you bullied him, they’ve flooded our fan square!]
To the ecstatic afternoon update : [Wanwan! What a blessing in disguise! Our fan group trended for the first time ever, I’m crying!!]
[Shao Yuye’s influence is massive! Just piggybacking on it gets us airborne (not joking)]
[Hahaha, Wanwan, I really don’t think you need to quit the industry now. Public opinion is turning around fast!]
From Xiao Le’s descriptions, Shen Wanwan had basically reconstructed the entire chain of events.
At that moment, the trending hashtag #Sorry Shen Wanwan# was still holding a top spot.
And quite a few ‘Yu Yu’s were switching to support her.
[Who can relate? I just wanted to check out some clips of DJ, but ended up binge-watching Shen Wanwan’s web drama—it’s so addictive!!]
[Same here! Now I suddenly find her kinda charming… and the show’s surprisingly good…]
[Shen Wanwan is seriously gorgeous. If she’d tone down the drama, I’d totally stan her!]
The ‘Wan Feng’s took the opportunity to promote her:
[Don’t miss out, join ‘Wan Feng’ today. If you like Shen Wanwan, we’re already friends!]
[Wanwan’s really sweet. She even hosts giveaways sometimes, and the prizes are legit high-end stuff.]
[Stop promoting her, y’all! The fanbase is still small, so my chances of winning are high. If more people join, what am I gonna do? Cry!!!]
By now, Shen Wanwan’s fan count had grown from 30,000 to 100,000.
And it kept increasing by the second.
She skimmed the trending topics—first and second place were dominated by Qi Luozhou and Shao Yuye. Following that were #Zhang Yiran Acting Like A Dog# and #Su Tingxuan And Bai Ling On A Rom-Com#.
Interesting.
Shen Wanwan tapped into the hot search entry.
It was a clip of Su Tingxuan wiping Bai Ling’s face.
The two were extremely close, their gazes locked, emotions flickering between them, all set to a fittingly ambiguous background music. It did give off a romantic vibe.
Shen Wanwan exited the screen expressionlessly.
Then her phone screen lit up. Of course—the person she most didn’t want to see.
—It was a call from Su Tingxuan.
001 leaned in curiously : {What’s he calling you for?}
Shen Wanwan sneered, then asked sweetly, “Wanna watch a rich second-generation loser embarrass himself?”
001 : OvO
{What do you mean?
{Don’t answer him! He was awful to you before, remember?}
Shen Wanwan answered the call.
Su Tingxuan’s voice on the other end sounded especially cautious.
“Wanwan?”
Shen Wanwan curved her lips into a mocking smile. “Mr. Su, I don’t think we’re close enough for first names.”
Su Tingxuan said, “Are you still mad at me?”
001 was shocked.
Wasn’t this guy being super aggressive before, practically breathing fire? And now he’s doing a total 180 like a Sichuan opera face-change1?
Shen Wanwan didn’t even need to ask. She could guess it easily. Her Dad had just withdrawn his support from the Su family, and this second-generation good-for-nothing had immediately caved.
The only thing he had going for him was flexibility. Back when he was trying to win over her Mom, he showed up constantly with new excuses, helped her plant vegetables, and even tilled the soil himself. He earned Shen Mingzhen’s favor, which made her consider him a decent match for her daughter. If it had been based solely on a childhood arranged engagement between the families, it wouldn’t have been nearly enough to make the Shen family like him that much.
“The reason I answered your call is to tell you, there’s no need to call me again in the future.” Shen Wanwan’s tone was calm as she dropped a bombshell: “I already have a new fiancé.”
Su Tingxuan’s eyes widened in shock.
—So fast?!
He almost blurted out, “Who is it?!”
But Shen Wanwan didn’t respond.
She swiftly hung up the phone.
Su Tingxuan stared at his phone, now emitting a busy tone. His heart was a complicated mess of emotions—bitterness, regret, and something sour.
Shen Wanwan already found a new fiancé this quickly?!
No way!
She must be saying that just to get back at him!
Su Tingxuan, who used to be so arrogant, was now humbled by Shen Wanwan—and getting completely shut down. 001 was thrilled.
{Oh my god, this is the first time I’ve seen a reversal like this!}
It was absolutely stunning, exhilarating, and downright delightful!
Shen Wanwan paused for a moment, then asked 001 sincerely: “Are you sure the hosts you’ve guided before really managed to change their fate?”
001 : {Uh…}
From a system completion perspective, yes, they had completed the tasks.
But none of them had been this satisfying.
001 felt like it might be getting brainwashed by Shen Wanwan too.
Like…
They’re all rich young ladies, why should they have to please the female lead?
If…
If no one caters to the female lead anymore, if no one follows the original plot… then is she still the female lead?
001 was startled by its own rebellious thought.
It clutched its little glowing head in distress:
{I’m doomed. I think I’ve been assimilated by you!!!}
So painful.
How was it supposed to guide any future hosts now?!
Shen Wanwan looked at the helpless little ball of light and raised the corners of her mouth.
Didn’t Su Tingxuan want to prove how kind and beautiful Bai Ling was?
They say true feelings are revealed in hardship. She was ready to watch and see.
As night slowly deepened…
Shao Yuye was lounging on the couch, holding his phone and reading the audition script. No doubt about it, <Last Shot> was definitely a great script.
But at the same time, the male lead role in <Last Shot> was extremely demanding in terms of acting skill.
Shao Yuye was completely absorbed when Brother Li’s call came in again.
The script had been sent via email, so after answering the call, he minimized the call screen to the background and kept his eyes glued to the script.
“What is it?”
Brother Li : “I forgot to tell you earlier, the test results are out.”
Today had been one wave of chaos after another, especially with the ‘Yu Yu’s causing an uproar this morning. Brother Li had his hands full watching the livestream all day. He’d reminded himself several times, but still forgot to mention it.
Shao Yuye’s mind was still immersed in the scenes of the script and didn’t immediately register what was said.
After a few seconds of mental lag, he repeated the words silently in his head.
—The test results are out!
What test results?!
The paternity test results!!!!!!
Already?!
The next second, he sprang up from the couch—
“You f*ing only tell me this now?!”
- In Sichuan Opera, face-changing or biàn liǎn, is a dramatic art form where performers rapidly change masks to convey emotions, often accompanied by fire spitting. ↩︎