[Ahhhhh, who on earth is Xixi?! If you have the guts to seduce our Male God, you should have the guts to show yourself!]
[What happened to falling asleep the moment you see a book, wu wu wu?!]
[Everyone, look into this! I am absolutely irreconcilable with this little goblin named Xixi!]
[…]
[My Male God said not to investigate anymore. Will Xixi come out and chat herself? I promise we’ll just chat.]
[I’m sour, I’m sour, I’m so sour. So Gu Zhan actually knows how to write love poems! Turns out it’s not that he doesn’t know how to write them, he just doesn’t write them for me]
[Wu wu wu, just thinking about a teenage Gu Zhan writing a love poem full of devotion… To be honest, I want to duel Xixi.]
[Uh, am I the only one who pities Xixi? Gu Zhan is such a dog, how angry did his ex-girlfriend have to be every day?]
[I’m an insider, so I’ll just say one thing. They’re from Lincheng No. 1 High School. Back then, it seems Gu Zhan had to write a self-reflection letter apologizing for sneaking in and turning on the school’s fan switch just because his girlfriend was hot.]
[????]
[I don’t believe it! Did the person above rip this straight out of a novel?! How could Gu Zhan possibly be that considerate!]
The internet was bustling. Shi Yi still hadn’t dared to look at the Weibo trending topics, but she panicked the moment she saw the name “Lincheng No. 1 High School” appear in the live comments.
She couldn’t bring herself to eat the fruit in her mouth anymore. Shi Yi set down the fruit platter and scrolled all the way down with her mouse. She discovered that her photos didn’t seem to have been dug up yet; they only knew a name and some snippets shared by old classmates.
Thank goodness. Thank goodness Lincheng was poor, and not many high school students had mobile phones back then. Hardly anyone had kept photos of them.
Shi Yi breathed a sigh of relief. No need to panic. No matter what, she hadn’t been exposed yet. Netizens only had a three-minute attention span. As long as she didn’t show up, this whole thing would blow over before long.
She snapped out of her daze. From her phone, her plastic best friend had been urging her for who knows how long. “Hello? Hello?” “Shi Yi, say something. Did you go check the comments?” “Don’t play dead. Are my Male God’s abs nice to touch? How did you get so lucky? Tell me about it, I promise I won’t expose you.”
Her voice was bubbling with jealousy. Only a ghost would believe her. Shi Yi screamed silently, but the voice that came out of her mouth was calm and confused. “No? Though I wish I hit the jackpot!”
“…?” “Are you just too scared to admit it? You were in Lincheng back then. Or are you saying your name isn’t Shi Xixi?”
Of course! She had never gone by a nickname like Shi Xixi. Her name was Shi Jianqiang1! Shi Yi’s face scrunched up as if she was extremely annoyed. “Ah! I just realized his ex-girlfriend has the same nickname as me! Why couldn’t it be me?” “To be able to date Gu Zhan, just for his looks alone, would totally be worth it!!”
The sourness in her voice was far too realistic. Xu Meimei grew suspicious. “…It really isn’t you?”
Shi Yi feigned surprise. “I didn’t expect to have such high charm in your eyes! Do I look like the kind of peerless little goblin who could take down Gu Zhan?!”
Plastic best friend: “…” That was absolutely impossible. The plastic best friend squad would never admit that someone else was prettier than themselves.
But for some reason, she still felt that the ex-girlfriend was Shi Yi.
The plastic best friend said faintly, “Forget it, even if it’s not you, your luck is still pretty good. Aren’t you in the Maldives? My Male God is there too. What fate! Maybe you can even get an autograph.”
Gu Zhan was here too?!! Shi Yi’s lounge chair stopped rocking. What kind of ill-fated destiny was this?
She couldn’t help but look back at the coastline. How about sailing back in a few days? Shi Yi covered her face with her sun hat, suppressing her slight guilt. Honestly speaking, it would be best for her and the male lead to never meet again.
…That was probably their mutual dark history.
— On a small island not far from her.
The white sandy beach was soft and fine, and the waves washing ashore created a refreshing and relaxing atmosphere.
Several burly men were carrying cameras on their shoulders, appearing to be in the middle of a shoot.
Surrounded by the cameras were two young couples, one wearing red team uniforms and the other in green.
All of them were highly attractive, but the most eye-catching was the young man in the green uniform. The man managed to wear the green uniform with a refreshing aura. His side profile was handsome; his face was so perfect that adding or subtracting even a fraction would ruin it. Out of ten passersby, one would look at the beauties, one would look at the cameras, and the remaining eight would all be focusing on him.
This was Gu Zhan. Just like his name, clear and bright like the moon.
During a break in filming, his manager called Gu Zhan over under a coconut tree and lowered his voice. “When did you get an ex-girlfriend? Why didn’t you tell me?”
The man standing sideways beneath the tree had a tall and elegant posture. Sunlight filtered through the coconut leaves, casting dappled shadows on his face. His tone was cold and clear. “Is there a problem?”
The manager choked. Even if there was, he wouldn’t dare say it. If he dared to nod, the very next second this heartless capitalist would fire him without hesitation.
The manager smiled, bowing his head to money. “Of course there’s no problem. I’m just asking what your thoughts are?” “Hm?” “Your ex-girlfriend.” “I’m not thinking about her.” The man retorted in a low voice—his knack for zeroing in on that specific point made it look exactly like the classic “three hundred taels of silver buried here” scenario—a clumsy attempt to hide the truth that only drew more attention to it.
Yu Wensheng: “…” Love really does lower a person’s IQ. He coughed, considerately glossing over it. “I mean, do you know your ex-girlfriend’s current situation? The internet is in an uproar right now, and it’s full of news about you two. How do you want to handle this?”
This would determine the direction in which he’d guide public opinion next.
The negative public opinion online this time was mainly divided into two points. First, many of Gu Zhan’s fans couldn’t accept that he had written love letters to someone else. Most of the online storm was caused by them throwing a fit. Second, bystanders felt that Gu Zhan’s behavior on the variety show was too toxic. Writing a love letter didn’t match his actions, causing many to question if he was just putting on a fake persona.
But Yu Wensheng had weathered many great storms; turning public opinion around wouldn’t be difficult for him. The problem was what Gu Zhan wanted to do. What if he still hadn’t forgotten his old feelings and hoped his ex-girlfriend would reach out to him? If he handled it too absolutely, wouldn’t that ruin everything?
Gu Zhan understood what he meant. Wanting to have a future with Shi Yi was one approach; having already moved on was another.
The man wanted to open his mouth to tell his manager not to mind it, but he couldn’t say the words.
The waves crashed against the white beach, bringing a gust of slightly salty sea breeze that made the man narrow his eyes. He tossed the beverage in his hand into the air, casually catching it again and again. “She probably won’t get back together with me.”
“…” As a shrewd man, Yu Wensheng understood the moment he heard it. By avoiding a direct answer and only talking about his ex-girlfriend rather than himself, it meant that he himself still wanted to get back together.
Some staff members walked past them. Yu Wensheng snapped back to reality and couldn’t help returning a smile. “Alright, I understand.” Great, so even you have a day like this! Then they’d use the cold treatment. Along the way, they could steer the narrative towards how sweet the two of them were back then, something about childhood sweethearts and a fairy-tale romance… Wait!
The manager was suddenly startled. “Your ex-girlfriend doesn’t have a boyfriend now, right?” If she had a boyfriend, handling it this way would cause a massive problem.
“Impossible.” The man said without hesitation.
The manager’s heart violently skipped a beat. Under the gaze of those dark, heavy eyes, his scalp went numb. After taking a moment to recover, he said dryly, “Uh, that’s good then.”
The two relaxed for a couple of minutes before the atmosphere returned to normal.
The man saw that he didn’t believe him, but he didn’t explain much, staying as composed as usual. “I know she doesn’t.” Shi Yi was a face-con, she wouldn’t even look twice at anyone else.
The manager pushed up his glasses, thinking to himself that this guy sure was confident. He smiled and changed the subject. “What kind of person is your ex-girlfriend?” What kind of person could make him dwell on her for so many years and even write childish acrostic love poems?
As everyone knows, most of the “entertainment industry insiders” online were actually the alt accounts of various managers. Rather than letting others blindly lead the narrative, it was better to leak it themselves.
Gu Zhan’s hand paused. The coconut tree he was leaning against felt a bit rough against his back. What kind of person was Shi Yi?
—A liar. That’s right, this was the first word that popped into his head. Shi Yi was a little liar utterly obsessed with looks.
He and Shi Yi got together in high school; Shi Yi chased him first. When she was chasing him, she was cute, clingy, and completely obedient. He told her he was too busy and probably wouldn’t be able to learn how to date. Shi Yi replied that it was okay, she didn’t need him to learn anything, she just liked him for who he was.
Later on… of course, it was all fake! He was forced to learn how to write love poems, how to take photos that made his girlfriend look slim with long legs, how to blindly praise his girlfriend even when she was a total noob, and he also learned how to peel shrimp, cook, do makeup, coax someone to sleep, and wake someone up… Because if he didn’t do it well, she would cry!
Oh right. He looked at the beverage bottle in his hand. Shi Yi couldn’t even unscrew bottle caps. Every time she wanted a drink, she needed him to unscrew it for her. “…” Yet when they broke up, he watched helplessly as she cried “wu wu” while simultaneously lifting her electric scooter with one hand—
Gu Zhan: …What a liar!
Yu Wensheng: “What did you think of? Why is your expression so weird?”
The man reined in his expression. “I didn’t think of anything! I suddenly realized I’ve completely forgotten all about her long ago!”
Yu Wensheng: ??? Do you think he’d believe that?
Translator’s note:
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