Chapter 52

“Jiujiu, I’m done showering,” Shen Xingzhou happened to step out of the bathroom.
At the angle Wen Jiu was standing, she could see both the handsome guy and Shen Xingzhou.
Shen Xingzhou wore only a bath towel, since the bathrobe was with her, she had forgotten to request an extra one from the hotel front desk.
Water droplets ran down his sculpted skin. His smooth, fair complexion looked like finely carved jade.
One piece… two pieces… eight pieces in total, perfectly.
Not to mention the rises and falls, and the steam.
Shen Xingzhou gradually approached, hugging Wen Jiu from behind, asserting his territory as he glared at the man at the door.
Now Wen Jiu’s back was to him, completely unaware that the usual wet, pitiful puppy eyes had turned into a deep, intimidating stare aimed at the man, exuding dominance.
“Jiujiu, who is he?”
Asking, and breathing in her ear at that!
Shen Xingzhou had just showered, using the body wash Wen Jiu had bought. Sweet, fragrant, but different from the one she used herself.
Maybe because she hadn’t eaten dinner yet, she instinctively swallowed, realizing she still had a stolen rib in her mouth.
Stealing food was small, but with Shen Xingzhou’s aura, it felt like she was stealing from someone else.
Wen Jiu chewed the rib in a few bites, swallowing it, then pressed the leftover bone against her left gum, her left cheek puffed up immediately.
“He’s an actor from the crew.”
“What are you doing here?” Wen Jiu asked the man at the door.
“I… I came to…” he started, awkwardly trying to offer himself.
But before he could finish, Shen Xingzhou gave him a sharp look.
The man quieted, deciding to try his luck another day.
“Nothing, I knocked on the wrong room,” he said, closing the door behind him, leaving himself entirely outside.
Wen Jiu: “……”
She immediately turned to Shen Xingzhou, hands spread, “I didn’t do anything wrong in the Rich Family’s crew, I don’t know what’s going on.”
She believed in honesty in a relationship.
Misunderstandings only pile up, leading to arguments.
So she spoke first.
“Maybe this afternoon he saw me on a call and thought I… had excellent acting skills?”
Shen Xingzhou was momentarily diverted. Even the towel around his waist, intentionally wrapped, didn’t get his next move, he asked, “Why would a phone call require acting?”
Wen Jiu explained her original family situation.
To be precise, it was the original self’s family. Her own life before the transmigration was similar, but the original self’s parents were far more unreasonable.
“Jiujiu.” Shen Xingzhou hugged her, both comforting and showing concern.
Sitting on his lap, falling into his arms, Wen Jiu was deeply moved. Her hand brushed against a patch of exposed skin, slightly cold from lingering moisture.
“You cold?” she asked, adjusting the heater with the remote, then smoothly grabbing a jacket from the sofa to cover him.
Shen Xingzhou, blind to her flirtatious gestures: “……”
He couldn’t understand why his girlfriend went from panicked to calm in seconds.
He hadn’t been like that before his shower.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have chosen to shower first, to clean himself up.
“Oh no!” Wen Jiu slapped her thigh. “The noodles clumped!”
She looked down, fortunately, still edible.
“At this point, let’s just eat.”
Shen Xingzhou: “……”
The man at the door had already left, but the hotel staff hidden in the corner hadn’t noticed, assuming he’d entered the room.
He gripped his phone tightly, hesitating whether to leave. After a while, he exited the corner, skipped the elevator, and ran down the stairs. In the stairwell lights, a plaque briefly reflected, two characters: Yan Xiaoming.
Finally leaving the floor, he relaxed, reviewing the photos he had snapped in a moment of confusion, hesitating whether to sell them.
The hotel treated their staff fairly, room, board, and pay were decent, and the manager was easygoing.
When The Rich Family crew moved in, the manager held a meeting stressing confidentiality, no unauthorized photos.
Haicheng was a big city in Yan Xiaoming’s eyes. Yet after years as a hotel staffer, he had none of the novel-like adventures, like rich daughters noticing him.
His desire for wealth and success outweighed conscience.
Yan Xiaoming found a celebrity reporter account he followed and sent a DM: I have a set of photos of actors in The Rich Family crew acting up in the hotel. Buy them?
The reply came quickly: Which actor?
Yan Xiaoming didn’t know the actors’ names. Except for male lead Xie Junyu, he recognized no one.
Though there was a reality show, he found these actors flashy, not manly at all, just online trolls, so he naturally couldn’t identify them.
He couldn’t recognize the men, but could a little with the women.
He checked the female lead’s photo on Weibo and saw the girl who opened the door wasn’t her. But she was pretty, living on the top floor, likely high-status in the crew.
He sent: She’s influential in the crew, the guy is handsome. I don’t follow stars, don’t know them. You decide to buy or not. I just happened to snap them; if not, I’ll delete.
Selling photos was already so much trouble?
Impatient as he was, he didn’t want to chat anymore.
Looking at the ceiling camera, his fleeting get-rich-quick thoughts faded. Not returning to conscience, just fear.
If the manager found out he took photos to sell, he’d be fired. He didn’t want to return to his dilapidated village to live with noisy, ugly chickens and ducks.
At the last screen blackout, the celebrity reporter sent a message: Bro, 100,000 to buy outright. Only to you, can’t sell to anyone else.
The other didn’t want to pay so much, but The Rich Family’s popularity was tempting; he wanted a cut.
Moreover, The Rich Family was so popular that discussions blocked paths of crew and insiders. That 100,000 investment could potentially earn 500,000.
Within a minute, the reporter scanned Yan Xiaoming’s profile, saw he was timid, then messaged him with a deliberately enticing price.
Sure enough, this type of person bites at small sums.
Yan Xiaoming: The 100,000 is final, no backing out!
Reporter: You’ll get every cent. Don’t break your promise; if you sell to others, I’ll find you.
The thrill of money turned to fear in Yan Xiaoming’s chest.
He quickly replied yes, then deleted the photos, chats, and transfer records.
Seeing a clean page, he exhaled. Now even if the manager checked his phone, he was safe.
When Wen Jiu finished eating and reached for Shen Xingzhou, the crew’s PR department called.
The ringtone didn’t immediately signal urgency.
Once she picked up,
“General Manager Wen, big trouble!”
Everyone on set tended to speak dramatically.
“Take your time, no rush,” Wen Jiu said, afraid she’d choke on her own words.
“Someone posted your photos online, claiming you ‘slept with Seventeen.’”
Seventeen was the male actor who knocked on her door tonight, his stage name.
Wen Jiu didn’t understand but respected it.
“‘Slept with Seventeen’?” she repeated, then met Shen Xingzhou’s startled gaze.
“General Manager Wen, I can tell from your tone you didn’t do it. I’ll post a clarification immediately!”
There’s a saying: it’s easy to start a rumor, hard to refute.
Even though it was fabricated, one person’s words made it seem like she had been seen “under the bed.”
Wen Jiu skimmed the reporter’s posts and videos, saw their likes and shares on short-video platforms and Weibo, and got furious.
This was the young lady’s most anticipated drama, it couldn’t be ruined.
The PR department contacted the hotel manager to get surveillance. Actual video is always more convincing than text.
Wen Jiu also contacted the legal teams of the Qin and Chu families.
She realized for the first time that someone was so keen on hitting a wall.
Could it be rival companies from the Qin and Chu families?
In her mind, a simple, effective corporate strategy played out hundreds of times. Then the PR called again, they had caught the culprit on surveillance.
Wen Jiu: ?
Faster than she expected.
The online scandal hadn’t even fully spread before the spy was found.
Yan Xiaoming cowered in a corner, even shocking the police.
They really hadn’t forced any decent person!
As soon as Wen Jiu arrived at the surveillance room, she immediately followed the team to the police station.
In her rush to get into the car, she almost left Shen Xingzhou behind, she nearly shut the door on him.
Shen Xingzhou pressed his lips together and quietly sat beside her, neither moving his hands nor his feet, like an accessory that came along with her actions.
In the interrogation room, before the police even took their seats, Yan Xiaoming burst into tears as soon as he sat down, crying so hard he confessed everything.
Wen Jiu and the PR staff hadn’t left yet, so they heard the whole story from start to finish.
Tears streaming, nose running, Yan Xiaoming wailed, “I didn’t know this was illegal! Wuwuwu, please don’t lock me up! I’ve never seen 100,000 yuan in my life, I just wanted to take it back home to marry a wife! Wuwuwu!
The celebrity reporter account I contacted myself, but I didn’t know who the woman in the room was. I just accidentally took a photo. At first, I didn’t even intend to sell it, it’s just that the offer was way too high.
Officer, I didn’t delete the surveillance either. Can you let me go?”
The young officer who had just graduated: ……
Who’s he calling ‘uncle’?
Behind the one-way glass, Yan Xiaoming couldn’t see Wen Jiu, and he continued pleading with the police, “Don’t tell my manager! I still want to work at this hotel. Please help me talk to that woman, I really know I was wrong. Don’t sue me; we can settle this!”
Wen Jiu: “……”
Something about it sounded weird.
It had probably been too long since she’d encountered such a shameless person, more ridiculous even than those male-biased mothers in Nancheng.
Every sentence sounded like an apology, yet none were sincere. Most importantly, what did he mean by “accidentally took a photo”? No one had asked him to take it, nor forced him to sell it.
Wen Jiu told the police, “If he’s willing to appear on camera with his real name, record a video apology, and honestly recount the whole process, I can forgive him.”
The crew’s PR staff froze, quickly interjecting, “General Manager Wen, we shouldn’t forgive someone like him, ”
Wen Jiu blinked at her and put a finger to her lips. “It’s fine. Let’s hear him out first.”
She was the one forgiving; it didn’t mean the Qin and Chu families would forgive Yan Xiaoming.
This was the only production the Chu family’s matriarch cared about, the stakes were enormous.
Once the police told Yan Xiaoming that an apology could earn forgiveness, he resisted fiercely. “No! I will never appear on camera to apologize!
My family has seven older sisters, and I’m the only boy. Officer, you want me to apologize on camera? That’s ruining me! I’m the face of my family!”
He had even told his family he was living the high life in Haicheng. But money here didn’t flow fast enough, every month, his seven sisters and parents sent him living expenses.
He had enjoyed enough of this shallow vanity; he could not appear publicly, letting anyone know.
Outside, Wen Jiu’s temper flared.
She gave Yan Xiaoming no chance to back out, let him deal with the legal teams of the two groups.
She had been rushed when coming, and now left with a storm of anger.
Wen Jiu admitted, she was genuinely irritated.
Why did she always encounter male-biased families like this in the world?
Thinking it over, she felt like beating up the author would almost be justified.
Song Qin was about to start a night scene when she received a message from Wen Jiu the moment she let go of her phone.
Wen Jiu: You’re doomed! Song Qin! I’ve got my eyes on you!!
Song Qin: ???
She had been diligently filming and managing her figure!
Song Qin calmed herself and realized Wen Jiu had discovered her sneaky afternoon indulgence, eating two of Grandpa Ken’s burgers in nine bites.
After a night of worry, and coincidentally filming a silly elite family escape scene, her genuine fear amplified her acting by 300%, delighting Chu Wen behind the monitors.
With only three days until the New Year, Wen Jiu grew even more irritated.
During the holiday season, why did she have to encounter such unlucky nonsense?
On the way back, Shen Xingzhou placed his hand over hers.
A big hand covering a small one.
Suddenly, they turned their heads simultaneously and made eye contact.
Wen Jiu’s nose tingled, and she instinctively flinched.
To avoid being seen by Shen Xingzhou, she tried to dive into his arms, but her hands acted faster than her brain, intercepting him and pulling him into her embrace.
Softness pressed against his firm nose.
Even more embarrassed than Shen Xingzhou was Wen Jiu.
She pushed him back to the passenger seat, flustered, and fumbled through her bag to pull out sunglasses, placing them over his face.
“No peeking.”
Could sunglasses really hide anything?
Wen Jiu realized too late, forcing calm. She silently reminded herself: Safety first, drive carefully, no distractions.
Back at the hotel, she finally understood why she sometimes felt sad, sometimes angry, and sometimes acted strangely, all because her period had arrived.
Haicheng was a big city; anything could be delivered in half an hour. Convenient.
Yet Shen Xingzhou personally grabbed a coat and went to the supermarket to buy her sanitary pads.
Awkward, but slightly sweet, more like a long-married couple feeling comfortable together.
Wen Jiu sat on clean clothes, cupping her face, gazing out the window.
City lights glittered, a romantic glow crafted by steel and concrete.
In a rundown corner of Nancheng.
This was one of the earliest redeveloped apartment complexes, initially meant to bring economic growth.
But half the village’s residents were never satisfied; wanting everything, yet ending with the city abandoning plans overnight, leaving only a dozen seven-story buildings without elevators.
Besides attending the local elementary and middle schools, these houses were mostly for homeowners’ vanity.
Wen Jiu’s parents lived here. During holidays, visiting relatives would see them show off their apartment.
The couple proudly told relatives: “City apartments look like this; our building is a high-rise, top floor. From here, you can see peanuts drying on two-story houses below. This place is valuable; one day we’ll sell and move to a newer city apartment.”
Some relatives were genuinely impressed, some knew the truth but kept silent.
Especially the latter, if not for seeing their child enter a prestigious university in the north city and work there, they would have cut ties.
Just after Wen Jiu’s mom hung up, relatives who came for Wen Jiu eagerly asked, “Sister-in-law, will Jiujiu work until New Year’s Eve? Should I have someone drive to pick her up?”
Wen Jiu’s mom smiled stiffly and waved, “No, no need.”
Back in her room, she muttered angrily, “That girl, not coming home for New Year, isn’t she disrespecting me? And her sister-in-law… such a loss-making daughter, and she’s so proud!
She must have stolen her brother’s luck and academic talent as a child, otherwise he’d be at Nancheng University. And even at twenty-something, he hasn’t found a man, he’ll never marry.”
She cursed while trying to call Wen Jiu again.
Annoyed to find her own number blocked, she had to borrow a phone.
When the door opened, the youngest girl in the living room stood up, phone raised, shouting, “Sister Jiujiu is on TV!”
The little girl had a star obsession. She was ignored at home, and her only hope was the glamorous stars, dreaming of one day shining herself, making her family beg her to return home.
“What?” Wen Jiu’s mom snatched the phone.
But she couldn’t operate it, barely recognizing the words, and handed it back to the girl with a scolding, “Show me the video! So many words, messy, who knows what it says?”
The girl’s phone had been passed down from her brother to her dad, then from her dad to her mom, and finally given to her.
After ten years of use, opening the video apps caused the screen to glitch.
A boy on the sofa laughed and helped her search the short-video app for Wen Jiu’s mom to watch.
On the phone played photos of Wen Jiu and Seventeen in the hotel, no video, but subtitles and background audio.
“Reportedly, The Rich Family producer Ms. Wen engaged in illicit activities with the male stars at night. The so-called 100-actor talent show wasn’t serving the crew or audience, but this producer.
The editor speculates: a hundred days of filming, just enough for Ms. Wen to share a pillow with 100 male actors…”
Wen Jiu’s mom didn’t understand “producer” or “illicit,” but she understood “Ms. Wen” and “male actor.”
She was shocked, delighted, and angry.
Wen Jiu appearing on TV meant she was extraordinary, and clearly wealthy, surprise.
Rich, naturally supporting the family and brother, joy.
Anger came from Wen Jiu lying about struggling and being in debt.
She had earned so much, didn’t come home, and blocked the whole family, anger at her defiance.
Her mom immediately used the boy’s phone to call Wen Jiu.
When the call connected, thinking of all that money waving at her, her tone softened, she didn’t immediately scold.
Anyway, once Wen Jiu returned, the door locked, the money taken, and then she was sent off to exchange it for a 1.2 million bride price, it wouldn’t have been in vain for her giving birth to her.
“Jiujiu girl, you-”
Wen Jiu instantly hung up.
By the time her mom tried to call again after exiting the call page, she was blocked once more.
The boy also realized that the video from earlier had been deleted, and the entire account was even banned.
Sure, he might not excel at studying, but he was quite savvy when it came to entertainment content.
“Auntie, my cousin must have someone backing her up, the so-called online ‘gold masters’ are powerful enough to get accounts banned,” the boy said, making baseless claims without thinking his cousin could actually have that ability.
He only knew that capital could ban accounts, not that accounts breaking the law would also be shut down. In his mind, maybe breaking rules on marketing accounts wasn’t a big deal.
Wen Jiu’s mom didn’t understand “producer,” but she understood “gold master.”
She suddenly shouted, “How can this be? If that girl has already been with someone, how can I marry her off? If the bride price is cut in half, what about my son’s marriage house!
Is there any way to make your cousin come home voluntarily?” Wen Jiu’s mom had truly had enough of having her number blocked every time she called.
Wen Jiu’s younger brother was munching fried chicken legs from the kitchen, grease running from his mouth, and when he heard his mom speak, he ran out, “This is easy! We get a reporter to expose her, say she’s rich but doesn’t support you!”
“Even if she really doesn’t come back, the so-called ‘gold masters’ and her company behind her wouldn’t want her anyway. Mom, haven’t you read novels? In novels, people like her end up humiliated.”
“Oh, mom, this chicken leg is so good. Fry me a few more. Anyway, when sis comes back, we’ll take her money, we can buy so much with it.”