Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
After the other three had left, An Xiaoning grabbed Fang Erlan’s hand and said, “There must be an uproar on the internet right now. We must hurry and try to salvage your reputation, no matter what it takes. We’ll give you a portion of the 50 million dollars, according to the percentages that were agreed upon in the artist contract.”
“Sis, 10 million dollars is enough for me. I know that they only agreed to compensate us with 50 million dollars on account of your connections and authority. I’m already content enough to have my innocence be proven. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have been able to afford an apartment that costs more than three million dollars. Sis Xiaoning, I wouldn’t be where I am today without you. I’ll accept the good and the bad that comes with this career choice. So, 10 million dollars is really more than enough for me.”
“The very fact that you’re grateful just goes to show that I wasn’t wrong about you. However, what’s yours is yours. Yangyang and I are not going to be greedy and shortchange you.” She paused and continued, “I’m afraid Xiao Chenyang is definitely going to hit the roof. Try and placate him. He should be arriving at the hotel soon.”
“Sis Xiaoning, did you contact him?”
“No.”
“How did you know that he’s almost here, then?” Fang Erlan asked in puzzlement.
An Xiaoning patted her hand and said, “He probably already found out about it when he arrived in A City, so I’m guessing that he must be reaching the hotel soon. You’re extremely important to him. Although he didn’t mention anything when you were whipped previously, I can tell that he felt really sorry for you.”
Filled with perplexion and a mix of emotions, Fang Erlan said, “I don’t get it. Why did Yu Caiwei hack my Weibo account and announce my relationship to the world when she’s so bent on getting back together with Yan Ge?”
“Why don’t you get it? She probably thought about it carefully and realized that it’s really impossible between her and Yan Ge. Hence, it’s not that strange for her to expose your relationship in such a manner. Her ultimate goal is to make Yan Ge’s fans berate you, since you were the one who exposed it first. After all, you’re nowhere as famous as Yan Ge. On top of that, she had probably been devising a plan to frame you for stealing for a really long time. Actually, 50 million dollars is not that much to her. To my knowledge, Yu Caiwei was paid more than 50 million dollars for each television series that she had starred in in the past two years.” An Xiaoning continued in a gentle voice, “Get your feelings sorted out. It’s alright, it’s all over now.”
The door was swung open forcefully. Upon the sight of Xiao Chenyang, An Xiaoning stood up and said to Fang Erlan, “I’ll go out to settle the rest of this matter. You talk to him about it.”
Fang Erlan nodded and watched An Xiaoning leave. After the door was closed, she shifted her gaze onto him.
“Weren’t you returning to A City to handle some matters?” she asked, despite knowing that he probably didn’t get his things done.
“Have you guys found out who the culprit is?”
“It’s… Yu Caiwei.”
Xiao Chenyang turned around to leave while Fang Erlan stopped him immediately. “Where are you going? Sis Xiaoning has already settled this issue. Yu Caiwei is going to compensate us with 50 million dollars.”
Noticing the fear and worry in her eyes, he answered, “I’m not going to do anything. I’m just going to go have a chat with her. She clearly said that she’s not going to do anything funny to you again, yet she’s still so unrepentant.”
Fang Erlan pulled him toward the bed and said, “Don’t. We’ll just leave things as they are now. After all, we still have to continue acting alongside each other and I’ll be seeing her very often. I doubt she’d dare to do anything to me again.”
“Why do things always happen to you once I’m away? Seems like I must bring you with me everywhere, just to be safe.”
Thinking that he was just joking, Fang Erlan said, “What do you take me for? Your shadow?”
He ignored her and said, “Yes… it’s decided, then. You shall follow me wherever I go.”
Seeing that he was serious about it, she frantically said, “No, that can’t do. I won’t have my freedom anymore in that case.”
An austere expression formed on Xiao Chenyang’s face and he said sternly, “This time, you’re not allowed to have a say.”
Fang Erlan said, “What am I supposed to do if you’re returning to A City today? I still have work to do here…”
“I won’t be going back today.”
“I have a full day of work tomorrow too…”
“How about the day after tomorrow?”
“Ditto… it’s going to be the case for a very long time…”
“We’ll return to A City when you’re free, then.”
“…”
The headlines soon became news articles published by various media companies, with the purpose of clearing Fang Erlan’s name.
However, it had little effect on the number of malicious comments directed at Fang Erlan on her Weibo page.
Fang Erlan had never expected herself to become viral and a household name amongst netizens, even before the television series was broadcast.
It was not the kind of fame that she was hoping to achieve.
At this point, she seemed to have become the common enemy of fans of the entertainment industry.
She was greatly boycotted by angry fans who demanded that she quit showbiz.
There were also numerous netizens who commented that they disliked her and found her revolting, despite it being proven that she was innocent of stealing, and that they wanted to berate her nonetheless.
Fang Erlan’s spirits were greatly dampened after reading all the comments.
However, she continued to tell herself again and again that that was just the way the entertainment industry was. She reassured herself that everything would be fine once she got used to it. It’s not like I haven’t been slammed before, it’s normal.
She continued to put up a strong front against the netizens and told them with a smile that she did not have a care in this world for their opinions and that she was never upset about it.
However, she knew clearly whether or not she was actually upset.
At such a difficult time, she simply wanted to hide in a hole where no one could find her and just be alone quietly.
Xiao Chenyang returned her mobile phone to Fang Erlan, who was lying down in bed with a deadpan expression on her face. He said, “Your parents called.”
She answered the call and switched on the speaker mode.
“Hello.”
“Erlan, you’re so shameful and embarrassing. All our family and friends now know that you had stolen someone else’s necklace. You’ve really disgraced us!”
“I didn’t steal…”
Before she could even finish, the exasperated Mrs. Fang interrupted, “There’s no point telling me this now. Your brother has read all the articles and forums about the incident online. Everyone is castigating you and they’ve even dragged us in as well. They also found our address and leaked it, you’ve become notorious…”
Fang Erlan ended the call immediately and burst into tears.
Xiao Chenyang bent forward to look at her, and she quickly covered her eyes with her hands.
Yet, he guffawed.
Upon hearing his laughter, Fang Erlan stared at him with reddened eyes and said, “Can’t you see that I’m crying? You’re actually still in the mood to laugh…”
He began smiling even more widely.
Fang Erlan humphed and closed her eyes while lying motionless, completely ignoring him.
Xiao Chenyang found her mannerisms to be extremely adorable. Unable to resist his urges, he lowered his head to kiss her, giving her a great shock. Fang Erlan quickly pushed him away.
He pinned her down beneath him, not allowing her to resist at all. He began sticking his tongue into her mouth tyrannically. Fang Erlan was flabbergasted.
