The Heroine's Silver Tongue
Jiang Zhaolie was so furious with Xu Chun that she stormed off without a backward glance. Xu Chun’s eyes tracked her, and in her panic she blurted, “Wait! At least transfer the money to me first!”
Maybe it was her imagination, but after that, the other woman only walked faster. “...”
Xu Chun blinked, rather let down. In the later part of the story, Jiang Zhaolie and Yu Sui'an would join forces to destroy her family and ruin her, so it was absolutely necessary to fleece the two of them a little right now. As long as she had enough savings, even if her family went bankrupt in the end, she wouldn’t end up so broke that she died alone and no one found her for three days.
The book’s ending had gutted her. Xu Chun was quietly panicking with no idea what to do, so she opened the novel He Qingli had sent her and nervously started reading.
And honestly? It was pretty good.
Once she started, she was hooked. She didn’t even notice Jiang Zhaolie leave and come back, or Yu Sui'an finish washing up and walk past her several times. Neither of them let anything show on her face, but both felt something stir inside. The person who used to fuss over them all day and pester them relentlessly was now absorbed in some melodramatic web novel, treating them like thin air. However you looked at it, it didn’t feel good.
Was she really less captivating than some random book?
Under the watch of eight living-room cameras and tens of millions of viewers nationwide, Xu Chun held up *Darkened Younger Woman, Please Punish With Restraint* and read with relish.
【No, seriously, is this trashy novel really that good? She’s been reading for three whole hours! What happened to the threesome? What happened to the love-triangle showdown? Is there anything I, a distinguished vvvip, am not allowed to see?】
【Ten-year veteran reader here. This one’s genuinely good. Total melodrama, but weirdly addictive.】
【I agree with the comment above. ID attached. Xu Chun is so into this book that I’m officially stanning her today on behalf of a thousand people in our group!】
As discussion spread, *Darkened Younger Woman, Please Punish With Restraint* shot into the top five trending searches in record time. Curious netizens clicked in, baffled, expecting to find something that violated content guidelines—only to see people praising the book all over the topic. Two minutes in, they were genuinely confused. What even was this?
With a title that melodramatic, they couldn’t even be bothered to click.
But a small handful of bored fans followed Xu Chun’s recommendation to the website, read for a few minutes, then tore themselves away from the novel and rushed back to declare, 【Absolutely incredible!】
Before the night was even over, word of mouth from Xu Chun had sent the book viral, pushing it back onto the website’s hot recommendations. The original author excitedly logged onto Weibo and posted: “I never thought I’d have a day where I’d break out of my usual circle. Thank you all for your support, and especially thank you to Sister Xu Chun for liking and recommending it. From now on, I’m Sister Xu Chun’s number one brainless fan!”
After the author’s post, book fans who now understood the situation flooded into the livestream to cheer enthusiastically for Xu Chun. The director watched the gifts pour in nonstop, beaming so hard his eyes practically disappeared. He tossed the ad script in his hand to the assistant beside him. “Take this to Xu Chun.”
The assistant was a Yu Sui'an fan. At that, he froze. “But wasn’t it already decided that this would go to Suisui…?”
“Go on, get moving. Since when is this any of your business?”
The director had wanted Xu Chun from the start. Even before joining the show, Xu Chun had brought her own traffic, and her image fit perfectly. It was the assistant director and the others who kept insisting Xu Chun’s reputation was bad and refused to agree no matter what, which was why the director had let it drop. But after tonight, he was determined to override every objection and give the ad to Xu Chun.
He could already imagine how eagerly advertisers would court Xu Chun after this. By then, even if they begged her to cooperate, she might not even want to.
The assistant ducked his head to hide the reluctance in his eyes and had no choice but to comply. On his way over, he made sure to immediately inform Yu Sui'an’s manager and team. He didn’t have much power himself, but Suisui’s management team was formidable; surely they wouldn’t let Suisui suffer, right?
Xu Chun had no idea what was happening online. She was completely immersed in this melodramatic novel, even carrying the book to the bathroom with her, her eyes never leaving the page for even half a moment. Apart from necessary bathroom breaks, she seemed glued to the single sofa and the novel, treating Jiang Zhaolie and Yu Sui'an like air.
Jiang Zhaolie stared at her absorbed expression and instantly saw red. The person who’d made Suisui cry was clearly her, yet now she was ignoring everything and sitting there reading a novel with such relish. How was that fair?
After walking past Xu Chun one more time, with the other woman still utterly unresponsive to everything around her, Jiang Zhaolie couldn’t take it anymore. She snatched the book from Xu Chun’s hands and, suppressing her anger, demanded, “Are you done reading or not?”
“No, I haven’t even finished a tenth of it.” Xu Chun’s hands were suddenly empty. When she looked up, her eyes were dazed and uncomprehending. She’d been reading so long that her eyes were dry, so when the light stung them, the young girl’s dark pupils immediately welled with a misty sheen—glistening, clear, and alluring.
Jiang Zhaolie froze, an inexplicable fluster rising in her. She instinctively pressed her lips together, silenced for a long moment by Xu Chun’s words. Finally, just as Xu Chun’s patience was about to run out, she shoved the book back into Xu Chun’s hands and turned to walk away.
Jiang Zhaolie had left the ivory pages all messed up. Xu Chun gritted her teeth and stared at her retreating figure, her face full of question marks. “???” What’s wrong with her?
Fuming, she flipped back to where she’d been reading and immersed herself once more in the world of anguished romance. Meanwhile, the livestream comments were unanimous—【It’s already three in the morning. How much longer is she going to read? I’m struggling to stay awake.】
【Xu Chun right now is literally me reading novels. I bet she’s going to pull an all-nighter. Once you open one of these trashy melodramas, you just can’t stop.】
At three-thirty, Xu Chun was still sitting motionless on the sofa. Yu Sui'an put down her phone, opened the door, and quietly walked over. “Sister, aren’t you going to sleep?”
“Mm—huh?” She belatedly pulled her gaze from the book. “What did you say?”
Yu Sui'an was silent for a moment, then took a deep breath. “I said it’s almost four o’clock. Are you really not going to sleep, sister?” She paused, then added with a little more weight, “Are you planning to read all night and completely ignore tomorrow’s shooting schedule?”
Xu Chun opened her mouth to say she could handle it, that one night without sleep wouldn’t affect her. But Yu Sui'an seemed to know what she was thinking. She leaned in slightly, suddenly closing to within a finger’s breadth of Xu Chun. “Sister, if you can’t sleep… I can help you.”
The other woman still had that fragile, delicate white-lotus air about her, but Xu Chun had no doubt whatsoever that if she dared disobey, Yu Sui'an would immediately and mercilessly chop her across the neck in front of the entire nation, then drag her into the room without batting an eye. After picturing that scene, Xu Chun’s mood turned complicated. “...”
Why, exactly, was her nominal ex-girlfriend so terrifying?
Xu Chun reluctantly picked up the book and started to get up, but Yu Sui'an extended a hand toward her. Xu Chun raised her eyes, met her gaze, and played dumb. Yu Sui'an’s fingers twitched. “Give me the book.”
“I won’t read it…” Before she could finish her weak protest, the book was snatched away. Xu Chun stared at her, unconvinced, but then remembered she could still read on her phone, and her heart immediately lifted. Little did she know that barely five seconds after the thought crossed her mind, Yu Sui'an said flatly, “Also, if I catch you on the livestream, secretly staying up to read on your phone behind my back after you go to your room…”
Her tone stretched out, the tail end soft and sweet. “Sister, you know the consequences.”
Xu Chun actually didn’t.
But Yu Sui'an’s tone was too dangerous. Xu Chun thought it over and ultimately didn’t dare cross Yu Sui'an’s bottom line. Yet after she returned to her room, she belatedly realized—why was she afraid of Yu Sui'an? It wasn’t like Yu Sui'an could eat her. Besides, the two of them were already nominal exes. Why should she obey Yu Sui'an’s every word?
Xu Chun shook her head, not noticing the two or three comments drifting through the livestream: 【Why does it feel like Xu Chun is a bit henpecked?】
News that Xu Chun had taken the ad meant for Yu Sui'an quickly reached Yu Sui'an’s team. After an emergency discussion in the middle of the night, negative stories about Xu Chun suddenly flooded the internet.
Xu Chun’s reputation had already been improving thanks to that melodramatic novel, but the smear posts that surged up overnight instantly knocked her back to square one—or rather, trampled her even lower. Xu Chun was woken by her manager’s repeated calls. After listening to the other woman analyze her current situation and predicament, her brain still hadn’t caught up.
She sat on the bed half-asleep for a long while, then finally couldn’t help interrupting her manager. “Sister Yang, I think you’re worrying a bit too much. First, everything I’ve achieved comes from my own ability, not connections or backing. Second, as long as I don’t care, online opinion can’t affect me at all. Third, netizens have short memories. Maybe in another month or two… no, maybe in just half a month, everyone will have forgotten all this moldy old crap about me.”
“Finally, Sister Yang, instead of reflecting on ourselves, we’d be better off blaming others more. They’re the ones who dragged me through the mud—I’m the victim here!” After delivering this earnest lecture to her manager, Xu Chun changed tack. “Oh, by the way, Sister Yang, I stayed up a bit last night, so I’m going back to sleep now.”
Manager: “...” How are you even able to sleep?
The manager couldn’t help thinking that what Yu Sui'an had done last night was absolutely right. If she hadn’t confiscated Xu Chun’s melodramatic novel, Xu Chun might really have set the show aside and pulled an all-nighter for real. For a moment, the manager’s feelings toward Yu Sui'an became complicated.
Xu Chun seemed obedient on the surface, but she was actually quite hard to manage. She was stubborn and fixated on her own reasoning, inflexible. In small matters like this, the manager had never been able to control her. In all the time the manager had known Xu Chun, Yu Sui'an was the only one who could.
But unfortunately, Yu Sui'an’s motives for approaching Xu Chun were anything but pure, and her previous behavior had only confirmed the manager’s suspicions.
The manager couldn’t help sighing, secretly wishing there were a second or third person in the world who could keep Xu Chun in line, so Yu Sui'an couldn’t use Xu Chun as a stepping stone anymore. But she knew these were just fantasies, so she didn’t hold out much hope.
The ad incident made its way all the way to Yu Sui'an herself. Jiang Zhaolie pricked up her ears and eavesdropped for a few moments, then called out to the person she saw as utterly guilt-ridden, who was trying to slip away with a mouthwash cup in hand. “Xu Chun, you stop right there.”
Half-asleep, Xu Chun heard someone order her to stop, and her feet instinctively halted. Her gaze turned blankly toward the source of the voice. When she saw it was Jiang Zhaolie giving the orders, she frowned without even trying to hide it, her face full of impatience. “If you’ve got something to say, say it fast; if you’ve got to fart, let it out.”
Jiang Zhaolie choked. “...”
Taking a deep breath, Jiang Zhaolie suppressed the fire in her heart and spoke as if interrogating her. “Why did you steal Suisui’s resources? Didn’t you say you liked Suisui and would treat her well for a lifetime?”
Jiang Zhaolie hadn’t turned her back to the cameras, nor had she deliberately lowered her voice, so the viewers heard every word clearly. Netizens entering the livestream perked up. The three-way melodrama was finally starting! Truly, the early bird gets the gossip! For a moment, everyone’s eyes focused on the lazy, languid figure in pajamas at the top of the screen.
Xu Chun had a bit of morning grumpiness. She stared at Jiang Zhaolie without moving, inwardly blazing with fury. Jiang Zhaolie felt a little uneasy under her gaze, inexplicably guilty for a moment. Then, from who knows where, she found her confidence again and straightened her back. She hadn’t said anything wrong. The ad was always meant for Suisui; was Xu Chun justified in stealing from her?
Jiang Zhaolie thought to herself: only Suisui is kind enough to still be unwilling to make things too difficult for the other woman.
Xu Chun was so angry she laughed, and once she started, she somehow couldn’t stop. She looked at Jiang Zhaolie with a dark, ominous gaze, her tone gentle as could be. “Who said that?”
“Who said I like Suisui?”
“Obviously I like both of you, you little fool.”