Chapter 90

A moment of silence.

Guan Nan asked him, somewhat convinced, "Then where do you sleep?"

Jiang Li looked at her without saying anything.

"Want to sleep on the sofa?" Guan Nan said, "I'll go get you a blanket."

The room was a small two-bedroom apartment, one of which was always locked up. Jiang Li glanced at it when he heard this, and the two of them tacitly refrained from asking or saying anything, until they saw her come out with a blanket.

Jiang Li pulled the blanket around himself and lay down on the living room sofa.

When Guan Nan returned to his room, he thoughtfully turned off the living room lights, but he could be seen curled up on the sofa looking aggrieved.

She leaned against the door, hesitated, but ultimately said nothing.

Guan Nan gently closed the door, lay on the bed wrapped in the blanket, reached for her phone, and suddenly remembered that she had left it outside. She hesitated between taking it and not taking it.

Then she lay down, closed her eyes, but there was a door separating her from that person.

He just lay down and fell asleep on the living room sofa.

Guan Nan couldn't fall asleep no matter what she thought about, and she didn't even dare to turn over too much. She opened her eyes and stared straight at the ceiling.

After a while, rustling sounds came from the living room.

A minute later, there was a knock on the bedroom door. Guan Nan held her breath and closed her eyes tightly.

No one came in.

The door opened, then closed again.

As the footsteps receded into the distance, the car downstairs unlocked and the door closed.

Guan Nan got up and went out, rummaged through her canvas bag for her phone, unplugged the power bank and the screen lit up.

02:59.

Jiang Li is gone.

In the dimly lit room, the faint light from the screen seemed particularly glaring.

She rubbed her eyes, walked over and lay down on the sofa where he had been lying; it was still warm.

The next day, Guan Nan didn't get up until the sun was high in the sky.

Because it was the weekend, a large crowd had gathered downstairs, some taking photos, some making wishes, and some playing games. Guan Nan opened the window, and all these sounds rushed in.

Fortunately, she was on vacation today and wasn't affected much; the mahjong parlor on the first floor was still open.

After washing up, Guan Nan wanted to order takeout for a meal.

When I checked my phone, I saw a message notification for the banner, around 7 o'clock.

I don't know what to say, so I'll just laugh it off: [Something came up, I have to go.]

I don't know what to say, so I'll just laugh it off: [I was in a rush and didn't have time to buy breakfast, so I ordered takeout for you. Remember to eat it.]

Guan Nan didn't expose him, and typed back: 【Okay, thank you.】

She typed "Be careful" into the input box and stared at it for a long time. In the blink of an eye, she deleted it, word by word.

She pretended to be unaware, though she herself didn't know, guessing that perhaps there was something she couldn't say.

After sending it out, Guan Nan got up to open the door and saw the takeout right there.

She bent over halfway to pick it up and found that he had ordered quite a lot. Perhaps he didn't know what she liked to eat, so he selected a variety of items. In the end, he paid the bill and left his phone number.

Guan Nan noticed that the order time was 06:32, and then moved her gaze downwards.

A line of bold, regular script text came into view.

—"Please leave your takeout at the door. Please do not knock or make any noise. Thank you."

Guan Nan took a picture of the takeout food and sent it to him.

Jiang Li, however, did not reply.

The recent proposal is about arranging the date for the live stream. The boss asked us to put it on the agenda as soon as possible at the last meeting. Although I am on vacation, I still can't put down the work of product selection.

On Sunday morning, Guan Nan went to Qingshan Cemetery with her bag on her back.

Years later, she brought the bowl of pomegranate jelly that had been long overdue and slowly placed it in front of the grave.

The tombstone bore a photo of Ran Mingju in her youth, radiating confidence and vitality. She knelt before the grave as if offering a veil of apology, sweeping away the fallen leaves and sitting quietly for a long while.

As if she had prepared her words, she spoke slowly, her eyes gazing unfocusedly at a fixed point in the distance. Knowing she would not receive a response, she still kept her voice very soft, as if worried about disturbing someone: "Mom, I'm married."

Leaves rustled on either side. Guan Nan hugged her knees and said slowly, "He's a very nice person."

"I... I was the one who proposed marriage, and I don't know if I did the right thing. Please don't be angry. If it works out, I'll bring him to see you. If it doesn't, at least I'll have experienced it, and I won't want to think about it anymore." As she spoke, Guan Nan leaned back, as if leaning against someone's embrace, talking to herself: "Do you think Sister Zhen will be angry if she finds out? What Brother Qi Yang said that night was actually quite right. Now that I think about it, do you think I was too selfish, so selfish that I let you down, and I let Sister Zhen down?"

Guan Nan was worried for many days because of this, and she didn't have the courage or the face to come.

She worried that Zhenjie would blame Ran Mingju, and was also afraid that Ran Mingju would blame her for it. As a result, she started having trouble sleeping again lately.

It's not that I regret being reckless, but I'm just worried that I didn't do well, and I didn't discuss it with anyone.

The household registration book has only one page and has been kept by Zhen Xiaoya for many years. She has no guardian, no parents or elders, and she is the head of her own household registration book.

Guan Nan felt somewhat frustrated, and the image of the woman holding up her phone to take pictures couldn't help but reappear in her mind, her smile warm and proud.

She thought that perhaps many years ago, Ran Mingju had looked at her in the same way, holding up her camera.

But she remembers nothing.

Only the videos in the video told her that she was once happy and joyful.

But all of this is now a world away from her.

Guan Nan sat in front of the grave for a long, long time, rambling on about recent interesting things, her new friends, her work and life, and the new changes in Hecangyuan in recent years.

Before leaving, she carefully arranged the candles with the flowers she had brought.

Finally, she knelt on one knee, stroked the photo, and whispered, "Mom, if you want to blame someone, blame me."

After that day, Jiang Li disappeared for a long time.

As October ended and the nationwide celebrations faded, a bombshell dropped at the beginning of November, revealing a problem that was about to be forgotten. In a previously unknown corner, the hashtag "Lulu's academic credentials were faked" quietly climbed to the top of the trending topics list.

Recently, Guan Nan has been busy selecting products for her live streams and promoting her new videos and advertisements, leaving her no time to follow trending topics. She wishes she could stretch 24 hours into 28.

As a beauty blogger, my product selection will temporarily focus on topics such as makeup and skincare.

When Guan Nan suggested that since it was the first time doing a live stream, the safest approach was to start with the basics, detailing everything from the steps to take after waking up to the fit and longevity of the makeup.

Another point is that sometimes it takes a long time, and makeup alone can't sustain it.

So the two hit it off and decided to experiment with half their faces being made up and the other half left untouched, conducting a real-life teaching session via video call.

When the video went viral, Guan Nan was cooperating with Zhang Hong to control the live stream, answering questions on the public screen: "There's a link to the contouring video. If you're interested, you can click on the shopping cart in the bottom right corner to see a replay of the live stream. It's the correct way the host teaches you to use it."

Guan Nan frowned, watching the backend data soar and the number of viewers in the live stream continue to rise.

At this moment, Zhang Hong is explaining to the girl how to use blush.

"I like it swept across the tip of my nose and the fleshy part of my chin, because I think it looks really good and cute, like a little deer." The girl looked dejected, not very happy with what Zhang Hong said.

Zhang Hong patiently said, "But you didn't draw it well, it's not that I won't let you do your makeup."

"Were you watching my previous live stream? If so, you should have heard what I said. The area from the tip of your nose up to your forehead is the T-zone, which is particularly prone to oiliness and absorbs a lot of makeup. If your skincare and foundation aren't done properly, it's easy for your pores to become clogged and you'll get blackheads. Right now, you're in that situation—"

"I take care of my skin." The girl was a bit stubborn.

"It's not that you don't take care of your skin, it could be that your cleansing isn't thorough enough, which is why you're prone to breakouts on your cheeks. So now you shouldn't apply blush to your face without any skincare or base."

Seeing that something was wrong, Guan Nan picked up the tablet on the table and wrote a line on it.

——"Giving away products"

The following section will emphasize the words "makeup removal".

Zhang Hong understood immediately, and while promoting the product, he also boosted his public image and goodwill.

The girl, who was initially somewhat reluctant, blushed with embarrassment.

"Remember to send your address to the assistant via private message. Also, for all the ladies who placed orders today, the packages will be shipped out before 4 PM tomorrow." After saying this, Zhang Hong continued to explain the products while preparing for the next live stream.

Just then, Guan Nan stared at the soaring data and felt something was amiss.

She picked up her phone, opened a few apps, and browsed through them.

The source of the problem became clear immediately.

Guan Nan clicked on the most popular post.

The post, titled "I've Been a Fan for Three Days, But Embarrassed for Three Years," began with the blogger's attempt to grab attention with the title, followed by a detailed account of when they became a fan of Li Lulu—before Li Lulu switched accounts, and before Guan Nan had even started supporting her. Every word was written with heartbreaking intensity.

The following comments are even more cutting.

"It's not shameful to have no academic qualifications, it's shameful to forge them."

"If academic credentials are all fake, what in this world is real?"

Following this post, an insider "revealed" that the well-known highly educated internet celebrity Li Lulu dropped out of junior high school, and some even posted evidence to prove that Li Lulu had worked in a factory, served dishes, and washed dishes.

Following this, Li Lulu was subjected to a barrage of attacks, amidst ongoing discussions.

She first disabled comments, and then, unable to tolerate the private message attacks any longer, she hid all the videos on her homepage.

The live stream room wasn't very soundproof, and Guan Nan heard the sound of things being smashed outside. Zhang Hong, who was broadcasting, was unaware of what was happening. Only then did Guan Nan realize that she was still live streaming and couldn't afford to lose her composure.

Guan Nan waved her hand, indicating that everything was fine, and cooperated with the live broadcast by not paying attention to public opinion.

This public opinion also brought them a surge in traffic.

After all, Zhang Hong had previously been forced to have a "dream collaboration" with Li Lulu, which caused his popularity to skyrocket.

A moment later, someone knocked on the door and called Guan Nan out.

The host position has been changed and someone else has taken over.

"What do you think we should do now?" Guan Nan entered the office and saw her boss with a dark face, Li Lulu wiping away tears, and the floor a mess.

Guan Nan answered honestly, "I don't know."

"Weren't you in charge of crisis management over there?" the boss said. "You're in charge of resolving this matter. You gave her the ideas, so you're the one cleaning up her mess."

At her previous company, Guan Nan was like a brick, moved around wherever needed.

But not now.

Guan Nan politely declined, saying, "I haven't dealt with this before, so I don't really know much about it."

"Don't try to fool me," the boss snapped. "Do you think I'm paying you guys to just sit around doing nothing? You don't know this, you can't do that, you're too scared—you're clueless! What am I paying you for?!"

There was a moment of silence.

"Honestly, boss, is there any possibility that we're supporting you?" Guan Nan said without changing her expression. As the air in the office froze, she seemed oblivious and calmly added, "If we have to deal with it, it can only be done quietly."

Li Lulu interrupted, asking, "And then?"

"I'm leaving the entertainment industry," Guan Nan replied.

"—Impossible!" Li Lulu's voice was shrill, her eyes red as she pointed at her, then grabbed at the boss, saying, "It's all your fault, it's all your fault! You're just jealous of me, jealous that I'm popular. Now she wants to ruin me, she wants to destroy me! Say something! Aren't you the boss? Tell her to get out!"

Faced with the out-of-control Li Lulu, Guan Nan merely glanced at her indifferently and said nothing.

The boss seemed to be considering the feasibility of this statement as well.