Chapter 147
Chapter 147
After dinner, everyone began making their final preparations.
Qin Se had run into a small issue with her music and was communicating with the director and the Program Team, while Ning Mingyue, Wei Xuan, and Shen Yibai each stayed in their rooms to get their styling done.
Once Ning Xi finished with hair and makeup, she hugged Watermelon again and sat in the courtyard, reading through her script.
“Teacher Ning, after tonight’s performance, do you want to go out for dinner?”
After Ning Xi had, for the nth time, glanced at Xie Lanchen without meaning to, his low, cool voice suddenly sounded.
Ning Xi blinked, then openly lifted her head from the script. “You mean a group dinner with everyone?”
If it was a meal paid for by the production, then she absolutely, definitely, without question had to join in on the fun, hahahahahaha…
“No.” Xie Lanchen shook his head.
Dusk was falling. The rosy glow of sunset landed on Xie Lanchen’s lashes, softening his aloof brows and eyes with a faint, lingering tenderness.
His dark eyes rested steadily on Ning Xi.
“Just the two of us. Is that okay?”
The wild laughter in Ning Xi’s heart came to an abrupt stop.
She looked at Xie Lanchen. A breeze swept past, carrying away all the noise around her and leaving only the sound that trembled and echoed deep in her chest.
Once again, Ning Xi heard her own heartbeat racing at an unbelievable speed.
She withdrew her gaze from Xie Lanchen and let it fall on the script in her hands. Her tone carried a deliberate trace of indifference and careless ease. “Of course. You’re treating me anyway. What’s the big deal, hahaha…”
Halfway through her laugh, Ning Xi suddenly stopped.
She really couldn’t take this anymore!
It wasn’t as if she were actually made of wood. How could she not overthink all these ambiguous things Xiao Xie said and did?
What kind of normal friend invited someone to dinner and specifically emphasized, “Just the two of us. Is that okay?”
“Xie Lanchen! You…”
Ning Xi shot to her feet, intending to lay everything out clearly with Xiao Xie once and for all. Her tone was heavier than usual.
Xie Lanchen looked over, his beautiful brows and eyes seeming to be wreathed in ink-wash mist.
Even the simple motion of tilting his head looked smooth and effortless when he did it, carrying a careless, completely at-ease sense of control.
“Hm?”
Ning Xi instantly sat back down. “…You have to pick a good restaurant. Preferably the kind with high ratings and lots of repeat customers.”
“…All right.” Xie Lanchen seemed not to notice Ning Xi’s sudden swerve and nodded in agreement.
Ning Xi quietly let out a breath of relief.
Anyway, the recording would be over in a few hours. She could always ask Xiao Xie privately afterward.
After all, they were still live right now. If she said something she shouldn’t, the netizens might misunderstand.
Ning Xi found herself a perfectly good excuse and even nodded, affirming that she had done the right thing.
The netizens, however, were not buying it. In the comments section, they collectively lost their minds.
[Why do you have to wait until the variety show finishes recording before going to dinner? What are you eating? Is there something I’m not allowed to know? Or do you think I’m not allowed to know? Is the relationship between the three of us that insignificant in your eyes? Then what do you think the three of us are? I’m actually broken! Why is Leopard-Cat CP abandoning me?]
[You won’t let me watch you two go on a dinner date? Hahahahaha, damn it, I’m going to shove a hair dryer up my ass and switch between cold air and hot air so I get hemorrhoids and diarrhea hahahaha, then I’m going to yank out my intestines and tie them into a Chinese knot hahahaha]
[You ask me how I’m supposed to get through the time when I can’t watch Ning Xi and Xie Lanchen go on a date? I’ll skip it, miss it, excuse-me-past it, grieve over it, love through it, endure it, slide through it, faint through it, suffer through it, sleep through it. I’ll reflect behind closed doors, just muddle through, laugh it off, brush past it. I’ll miss it right in front of my face. I’m a magnanimous person who doesn’t hold grudges. The rain darkens by Green Grass Lake as time goes by; the day grows long by the fence where no one passes by. Even the Yellow Crane cannot fly past; beside a sunken ship, a thousand sails pass!]
[…]
For a moment, all the netizens started team-building in the Danmaku area, strongly demanding that the Program Team extend the livestream time.
If they hadn’t known Ning Xi and Xie Lanchen were having dinner alone tonight, that would have been one thing. But now that they knew, how could they possibly miss out on the spectacle?
Director Qin watched the Danmaku stream fly by. “Hey, I have an idea…”
The assistant director said, “I know exactly what you’re thinking…”
The two gazed deeply into each other’s eyes, then let out a sigh in unison.
Forget it. They couldn’t afford to provoke Xie Lanchen, their major investor.
Besides, after this variety show ended, they were still hoping to stay on good terms with Xie Lanchen and Luo Ze so they could invest in their future shows.
Forget a friendship reality dating show-if they needed it later, they could arrange a married-couple variety show, a parenting variety show, a divorce variety show, a remarriage variety show… anything at all!
…
Ever since You Are My Blessing began airing, it had been a regular fixture on the trending searches, and its view count was far ahead of every other variety show.
Its popularity was so high that nearly every reaction from the guests would be magnified and dissected across social media.
Ning Mingyue’s previous act of throwing the dog had already been dragged once. Later, when the dog’s owner came to demand an explanation and she hid in the back without saying a word, that scene was put on trial all over again.
[What the hell? Ning Mingyue is acting like this has nothing to do with her.]
[Even if she didn’t mean to drop the dog back then, now that the dog’s owner came over, the least she could do is apologize, right?]
[Apologize? You people clearly have no idea how powerful Ning Mingyue’s backing is. Insider gossip: Shengshi’s actors’ department currently has only one actress, Ning Mingyue. The whole department was even created because of her. How dare you ask Empress Dowager Ning to apologize to commoners like you!]
[I still remember when Empress Dowager Ning deliberately wore the same outfit as my idol, then released all kinds of press releases to step on her. Disgusting.]
[I remember that! When Ning Mingyue first debuted, she even pushed articles calling herself “Little Song Ran.” Please, our Song Ran isn’t even that old. She became the Nation’s Best Actress at thirty. She doesn’t need some substitute with worse acting skills and a more average face, thanks.]
[Ning Mingyue hasn’t been debuted for that long, but she’s already leeched off and stepped on quite a few people.]
Starting from this tip of the iceberg, netizens dug deeper. Not only did they discover that Ning Mingyue had leeched off and dragged down over a dozen female celebrities since her debut, they also found, to their shock, that the role in Ning Mingyue’s debut work had actually been stolen!
The actress whose role had been stolen had already joined the production and filmed for over two months, only to be kicked out of the crew in the middle of the night.
She had publicly questioned the production team on social media, but because she had no backing, not only was she shadow-banned across the internet, she was also chased and cursed by Ning Mingyue’s fans. It even affected her family’s jobs. In the end, she had no choice but to leave the industry.
Even more interestingly, the role had originally only been a supporting female character with a relatively large amount of screen time. But after Ning Mingyue took it, she was directly turned into the female lead.
Leeching off others, stepping on them, stealing roles, indulging her fans as they cyberbullied an innocent actress until she was forced out of the industry…
Someone like that had immense capital and connections behind her, enjoyed every privilege and benefit, yet still insisted on squeezing the living space of ordinary young actors.
Ning Mingyue’s pure, innocent little-white-flower image completely collapsed.
Of course, Ning Mingyue herself knew nothing about it at the moment.
She was still anxious over whether Shen Yibai knew about her past with Wei Xuan.
Jiang Sheshe knew better than anyone how important Shen Yibai was to her. If Jiang Sheshe wanted revenge and deliberately told Shen Yibai about this…
After thinking it over again and again, Ning Mingyue went to Shen Yibai’s room.
She needed to seize the initiative and confess to Shen Yibai herself.
But when she arrived at Shen Yibai’s room, she found his door wide open. There was no one inside.
[I just saw Shen Yibai take a phone call, then rush out in a hurry. He even forgot to close the door.]
[This is the first time I’ve seen such a big change in Shen Yibai’s expression. Interesting.]
[Huh? Why did Ning Mingyue go straight into Shen Yibai’s room? There aren’t any cameras in that room!!!]