Chapter 72 The Power of Happiness: Because of Your Heart, I Believe in Myself...

When Zhou Jinqin woke up thirsty in the middle of the night, she was fortunate enough not to be bothered by a scalding hot land octopus.

In the dimly lit room, only a faint beam of light shone precisely onto Liang Ming and his well-defined triangle area. He was intently staring at his phone, his fingers flying across the keyboard, completely unaware of the person beside him approaching.

"What are you doing sneaking around in the middle of the night?" Zhou Jinqin's sudden closeness startled Liang Minghe.

Seeing that the other person looked pale, Zhou Jinqin smiled and teased him deliberately: "You're so nervous, I seriously suspect that you've been seeing someone behind my back. I'm punishing you by making you hand over your phone for me to check."

Liang Minghe locked the phone on the bedside table, then turned around and pulled the person into his arms, shaking his head and muttering softly, "You bastard, you actually doubted me."

He said, "I don't think you'd want to watch it."

Zhou Jinqin was persistent, her slightly widened eyes fixed on the handsome man in front of her: "I want to see."

The two faced off for a long time, but in the end Liang Minghe was defeated.

It's 2:33 AM now. My unlocked phone is stuck on the comment section of Liang Minghe's voice acting account. The most popular comment has over 200 replies. Apart from a few people who are just there for the late-night fun, half of them are from Liang Minghe, and the other half are from the original poster.

It started with the original poster complaining that Zhou Jinqin was too ordinary and unworthy of Liang Minghe in any way. Liang Minghe disagreed and retorted on the spot. So the two went back and forth for several rounds, which gradually evolved into the following situation:

OP: [Admit it, your wife is terrible.]

Liang Minghe: [You're just jealous. It's normal that you can't see her good points, because she's only good to me, OK? :-I]

OP: [Don't fool yourself, she's just trying to make your wallet happy, right?]

Liang Minghe: [Then why does she only love my money and not other people's? I know you're broke, so get out of here.]

OP: [Tsk tsk tsk, the young and wealthy husband has broken down, is he hiding under the covers and secretly shedding tears by himself?]

Liang Minghe: [Do you think I'm a widower? My wife never fails to hug me.]

...

Liang Minghe wouldn't let her see any more messages. He took the phone and tossed it aside, hugged Zhou Jinqin tighter, and said, "These kinds of people are just having a bad time in real life, so they come online to seek a sense of existence. Don't mind them."

Zhou Jinqin wasn't actually feeling too negative. She smiled and said, "There are still a few comments criticizing you, why haven't I seen you respond?"

She had just glanced at it and saw comments calling Liang Minghe ugly, saying his voice sounded like a frog's croak, and criticizing him for being a vulgar male model. It was almost as if they were using the same rhetoric from the enemy to launch an indiscriminate attack.

Liang Minghe remained noncommittal: "Because what they said was all lies."

He'd never heard anyone say he wasn't good-looking in his entire life. Besides, how could someone who makes money with their voice have an unpleasant voice? As for male models, that was completely fabricated. He didn't take such baseless rumors to heart at all.

Zhou Jinqin deliberately put on a serious face to tease him: "Oh, so you think what they said about me is true."

Liang Ming and X buried their heads in her neck and shoulders, sighed deeply, and said in a muffled voice, "I just don't want them to scold you, even though they don't understand you at all."

The story of Zhou Jinqin being exposed dates back to their first trip after their marriage. Among the group of students they met while watching the sunrise on the mountain were Liang Ming and a player of a voice-over game.

During the controversy surrounding Liang Minghe's public appearance, the relevant video happened to be pushed to a classmate's account. The classmate immediately recognized Liang Minghe as the handsome guy they had watched the sunrise on the mountain with. Taking advantage of the buzz, the classmate quickly posted the video of Liang Minghe playing guitar and singing, along with various trending keywords.

Liang Minghe's singing skills are not particularly outstanding, but he has a superior voice and an exceptionally striking appearance. The combination of these factors makes his musical performance outstanding.

The comments section of that video was mostly full of praise, with some fans jokingly calling him "husband," and even some witty remarks that couldn't pass censorship on Jinjiang Literature City.

This student is very innocent. He immediately posted a statement in the comments section declaring that Liang Minghe is a married man and warning everyone not to mess around. Fearing that netizens might not believe him, he even thoughtfully posted a photo of the two of them together.

Shortly after sending it out, he suddenly realized that it seemed to expose his privacy, so he quickly withdrew it, but it was too late; the information had already been spread.

That group photo is now on Liang Minghe's bedside table. To be fair, Zhou Jinqin does feel that she doesn't look good in the photo.

She hadn't slept long that day; her eyes were dark and her face was swollen, her hair was a mess, and the rising sun made her face look yellowish, making it hard to describe her as pretty.

Moreover, she has a rather plain appearance; her features are harmonious but not particularly outstanding, and such a bland face is difficult to photograph well.

Even Xiang Ziqing, her best friend, admitted that her friend's beauty was more of a soft, gentle quality than a straightforward and obvious display; it was a subtle beauty that was very characteristic of Chinese people.

Although netizens have many suspicions about her based on this photo alone, to be honest, Zhou Jinqin still likes this photo very much, because at that time she had just escaped from the cage and had just confessed her feelings to Liang Minghe. It was full of freedom, love and beauty.

She looked at her bright eyes in the group photo and smiled calmly. She placed her palm above Liang Minghe's heart and said earnestly, "If it were before, I would definitely have been in deep pain because of these comments, but it's different now because your heart has given me the courage to believe in myself."

Besides, she really didn't think these comments would have any negative impact on her life; the audience for these topics was too narrow, and they wouldn't spread very far.

First of all, voice acting is a niche circle, and by the time it gets to Liang Minghe, there isn't much traffic left, and by the time it gets to Zhou Jinqin, there's even less. Unless you specifically search for it or are already in the circle, you simply can't find out about this messy information.

Even if the system pushes the event to people around you because of someone you might know, most people will only glance at it briefly, wondering what it is, and then quickly scroll away, having no interest in understanding the cause and effect of an event they are not interested in.

Zhou Jinqin was in a good mood. She reached out and unbuttoned the top two buttons of Liang Minghe's pajamas to make room for his head to peek out later, and then slipped under the hem of his clothes.

The two were very close, and Zhou Jinqin's warm breath gently patted the man's chin. She said, "Because you're here, I don't feel uncomfortable at all, really."

Liang Minghe held her slender waist and kissed her forehead sincerely. He said with annoyance, "But this is no reason for me to drag you into this. I will never take on this kind of job that requires me to show my face in public again."

Zhou Jinqin lifted herself up slightly, raised her hand to encircle the man's long, fair neck, and chuckled, "Should I be glad? From now on, only I can have all of you."

Liang Minghe laughed at her for becoming as frivolous as he was, and with great satisfaction, he lowered his head to kiss her lips, his voice extremely low: "Hmm, you can... selfishly enjoy me to your heart's content."

The kiss became passionate and somewhat forceful, indicating that the situation was about to escalate to something indescribable.

Taking advantage of a moment of respite, Zhou Jinqin placed her hand on the man's chest, slightly widening the distance between them that seemed glued together, and said breathlessly with a flushed face, "I want some water."

When she was being exploited step by step and was almost turning into a dying fish on the shore, she suddenly remembered that she had been awakened by thirst.

Liang Minghe smiled and agreed, then reached out and fed her the water that had been prepared in advance on the bedside table. She gulped down most of the water.

"Looks like he's really thirsty," Liang Minghe joked with a smile.

"Otherwise what?" Zhou Jinqin glared at him with wide eyes.

“I think I’m thirsty too,” Liang Minghe suddenly said, taking a sip.

It was just a simple request, but it sounded different coming from Liang Minghe's mouth. Zhou Jinqin didn't dare to think about it too much. She sat up and tried to escape: "Um... I'll go get you some water."

She forgot that she had set a trap for herself; she was now locked inside the man's slippery pajamas, with no way to escape.

Liang Minghe smiled at her, his large hands slowly tightening around her trousers. He smiled openly, "No need for all that trouble, isn't there something here?"

...

After a restless night, when Zhou Jinqin struggled to wake up with her eyes feeling like they were covered in glue, Liang Minghe had already made a new decision with a clear mind.

Despite having just promised not to take on any more public appearances, he went back on his word and immediately accepted another show.

Among a host of invitations for variety shows, web dramas, and music, he precisely found an invitation for a certain interview program in the corner of his email and clicked to accept it.

This is a relatively serious interview program, divided by profession, striving to conduct in-depth interviews with practitioners from all walks of life.

Before today, although the number of views was always low, the program had been recorded for more than 100 episodes, and more than 100 practitioners, from cleaners to corporate executives, were interviewed. So far, it had not touched on the voice-over industry.

Liang Minghe did not ask for payment, but made some reasonable requests that could be met. Filming was completed in December and the series was officially broadcast at the end of the month.

He didn't wear any makeup, and under the intense scrutiny of the high-definition cameras, even the old marks on the corners of his eyes from being accidentally scratched by Tuantuan were clearly visible.

The public's aesthetic still leans towards Zhou Jinqin's side, with most people feeling that Liang Minghe looks even more handsome without any disguise.

As with typical interview programs, the host first asked Liang Minghe how he got into the industry.

Liang Minghe said, “It was a complete coincidence. I had just graduated and returned to China that day. When I landed, I happened to meet a celebrity agent. He followed me all the way and asked me if I wanted to become a celebrity and make a lot of money. I found it annoying, so I made up some nonsense and told him that I would only sell my voice and not my body. As a result, he actually took it seriously and recommended me to an advertiser the next day. That’s how I entered the industry in a daze.”

He spoke in a light tone, lacking the seriousness expected of previous episodes, which could easily be misinterpreted as boasting, arrogance, or conceit. However, Liang Minghe didn't care and continued the interview as casually as if he were chatting with an ordinary friend.

The subsequent developments were similar to other programs. After learning about some of the work processes and asking about some personal insights, the program was nearing its end.

The final part of the show is a Q&A session between viewers and guests. Usually, ordinary people are asked questions related to their careers. However, when it comes to public figures with a certain fan base, such as hosts, singers, and stand-up comedians, the questions will be guided by the fans. But the show will definitely control this and avoid asking less controversial questions.

But it's not like that with Liang Minghe.

After answering a few normal questions, the host, at Liang Minghe's prompting, asked the last, somewhat tricky question: "Some people say that your wife looks ordinary and doesn't seem to be a good match for you. How do you respond to this?"

Liang Minghe put away his casualness and became more serious: "I think you have misunderstood. Actually, the one who is not good enough for me is me."

He pinpointed the camera, smiled, and continued, "She has a PhD, while I'm just an ordinary undergraduate. I often wonder if I need to go back and pursue further studies to be worthy of my wonderful wife."

“She is ambitious, kind, and thoughtful. I, on the other hand, am lazy and used to comfort. No matter how you look at it, I am the one who has the absolute advantage, so everyone should speak up for her.”

Just a few hours after the program aired, Liang Zongqiang reposted the clip using his company's official account, along with the following text:

Over a decade ago, because of some irreversible choices I made, Xiaoming broke free from my protection and became an independent child. Under the care of his grandparents and his mother in heaven, he grew into an excellent and kind boy. He didn't need to rely on anyone and always did well in every aspect—work and marriage.

He seemed to have incredible luck when it came to finding a partner. She was an exceptionally talented girl who always exuded a gentle, spring-like aura. She was incredibly tolerant and patient, and getting close to her was the best way to understand her, rather than relying on a static image from a photograph.

Liu Xiaoyue then shared her story with Zhou Jinqin on her own account.

Her luck has been good lately; her account has seen a slight improvement and has already surpassed 10,000 followers. Her husband also died in the factory due to aging equipment. Because she had no relatives, she and her child received 400,000 yuan in compensation. Now, the mother and child are free from the torment of domestic violence and have moved to a county town with relatively low cost of living to live independently.

After the video was released, Zhou Jinqin's image became more three-dimensional, and those one-sided judgments based on her appearance gradually shifted.

Subsequently, a video posted by an anonymous account went viral. It contained a report of interviews after the mudslide disaster, and because Jia Yang intentionally mentioned it at the time, Zhou Jinqin made a brief appearance in this interview.

In a few seconds, she smiled shyly in the shot, her not-so-big eyes sparkling and watery, like a mimosa covered in morning dew, exuding a lively yet subtle and gentle charm.

#Meiwa#Meiwa Ugly Monster#Meiwa Cow Mooing...

Looking at the various Liang Ming and related entries under the video, Zhou Jinqin smiled helplessly, guessing that Jia Yang was behind it all.

Beyond this, there were also student representatives like Xiang Ziqing who participated in guiding the discussion in the comments section, gradually piecing together Zhou Jinqin's image as an excellent student in both character and academics.

At this point, the public opinion in the comments section shifted towards Liang Ming. Those who were criticizing him continued to do so, but there was virtually no more criticism of Zhou Jinqin.

[No, Minghe, you think you can get close to my sister just because of your looks?]

"I'm enough as long as I'm your husband in this house. You can leave now."

I feel like I'm not good enough for my wife even though I'm a graduate student. Doesn't your wife think you're an idiot?

How dare you be so carefree, expecting me to get up and study just by mooing once?

[Sister, don't be so strict about gender. Look at me, okay? I'm 1.81 meters tall, a PhD candidate in Materials Science at FDU...]

[Silly boy, still grinning like an idiot? Be careful, your wife is already many men's wives.]

[...]

Zhou Jinqin was both amused and exasperated by these bizarre comments. She asked Liang Minghe, "Are you really not the one paying to be the mastermind behind this?"

Liang Minghe put his arm around her shoulder and said with disdain, "If I paid for it, Liang Zongqiang could only send out the second paragraph at most."

That day, when he saw Liang Zongqiang's sentimental words praising him, his face turned as black as charcoal. Regardless of what time it was in the early morning, he immediately called the other party to scold him and demand that he delete it. As a result, Liang Zongqiang, who was nearly sixty years old, was still playing the rebellious card and immediately spent money to buy another wave of promotion.

Liang Minghe asked her with some concern, "Don't you feel uncomfortable being the center of attention?"

Zhou Jinqin leaned close to his warm chest, shook her head and smiled happily: "No, it may seem a bit frivolous and vain, but when I suddenly realize that many people love me, I feel that happiness occupies a higher place in my heart."

-----------------------

Author's Note: These moments often mean the ending is not far off. [cat emoji]