"It's trending, now ranked twelfth in real time."
Inside the black car, a man with a DSLR camera on his arm spoke respectfully to Helian Xin in the back seat. Helian Xin frowned as she looked at the trending topics on her tablet.
"Plagiarism? I didn't tell you to use that label, and you just took it upon yourself to do it?"
The man's name was Li Duan. Over forty, he looked older than most entertainment reporters. He adjusted his glasses and spoke humbly:
"No, this message was provided by your collaborating designer, Ms. Wen. I asked Mai for her opinion, and she said it was okay before I distributed it."
Seeing that Helian Xin was still pursing her lips in dissatisfaction, he continued:
"Don't worry, we didn't directly include any plagiarism entries. Even if she wants to sue us, we don't have any direct evidence. We just leaked some rumors about this person and concluded that Mu Yiran plagiarized from netizens. Even if she wants to investigate, she won't find you."
Helian Xin felt a little relieved. She clicked on the relevant post to read the comments, which were already dominated by her fans and bystanders who had been swayed by public opinion.
[My Favorite Xinxin: Who is this designer? I've never even heard of her. The production team gave her a chance to design for our Xinxin, so how dare she say she wants to replace her?!]
[Born to be talented, I'm bound to slack off: Upstairs, you know everything? Did you hear Xinxin tell you she was replaced, or did the director tell you? (Wry smile and squinting eyes 6.jpg)]
[OP: Are you a fan of this designer? You already have fans before filming even started? Could it be that she's not even a designer and is just a trainee from some agency? The pictures are so obvious. Xin Xin went to her studio, and they didn't even see her off, just let her leave. The next day at the gathering, they had a different designer. Isn't it obvious? This designer is just being arrogant! Isn't it because Xin Xin just returned to China and doesn't have many resources? Xin Xin is known for being polite and good-tempered, and yet some shameless person still puts her on airs?!]
[Yes, I'm not mentally unstable: Just a passerby. After looking around, I think the original poster is right. I've never heard of this designer in China. The title of "genius designer" seems more like a persona... And when a celebrity came specifically to see her, she didn't even see her off. Shameful.jpg. It's really quite rude. The female celebrity seems to have a gentle temperament. If she wanted to change designers, why did she have to go to their door herself? I feel like this designer has a bigger problem...]
[Non-Liu: You haven't heard of her because of your limited knowledge and economic situation, which prevents you from recognizing her fame. Saorsa is very popular in high society circles. Her brand's limited editions sell out instantly. She's not well-known in China because she's low-key. She participates in international competitions and was the winner of last year's Andreasen Best High Jewelry Award. Before criticizing someone for selling a persona, you should first understand what kind of persona they're selling. Can this level of persona be bought and sold? But even if you did understand, you probably wouldn't. You only know that you've never heard of her in China.]
[My wife, Xinxin, replied to a non-mainstream Liu: How much does she get paid for posting this, or what award is it? If she's so great, why does she even bother going on TV shows? Isn't she just trying to make money in China? With her attitude and upbringing, she has no manners. So what if she's a genius? Does being a genius mean she can do whatever she wants? Besides, her undergraduate classmates exposed that she plagiarized. A genius in her dreams!]
[Xinxin Global Fan Club Unofficial Account: Who is this?! Gun! Don't try to ride on our Xinxin's coattails, Xinxin is beautiful on her own! Are you desperate for fame?!]
"...."
"This popularity will continue to rise, and Miss Wen will also provide assistance. Please see if there is anything else you are not satisfied with."
Helian Xin glanced at it a few more times, then exited the topic's forum and casually browsed the homepage. Just as she was about to say something, Mai opened the car door, got in, and sat next to her, saying:
"Let's leave it at that for now. You need to keep an eye on things and tell me immediately if anything seems amiss."
Li Duan nodded, then protected his camera as he went downstairs. Mai glanced at it and chuckled.
"This time, it's all thanks to Lao Li. Someone gave me some good lenses before, they were just sitting there unused. Sending them to your company and getting good shots was a good idea." She smiled, took out an envelope, and patted Li Duan on the shoulder. "The photos are good, just a little blurry. In this industry, the quality of the photos is what matters, right?"
Li Duan's shoulders stiffened, then he obediently took the envelope. "Yes, Sister Mai is right. We should change the camera lens, otherwise we won't be able to get any business."
Mai raised her chin slightly in satisfaction, watching the person get out of the car. Only after the car had driven dozens of meters away did she say to Helian Xin, who was still watching Weibo, "You don't need to watch anymore."
"Small size, it's okay."
"I've arranged everything. The buzz will keep rising at different times in the next day or two. But we can't go too far, or we'll have trouble explaining it to the production team."
Mai found it rather strange:
"Hiss, who exactly has Mu Yiran's goddess been replaced? There's still no news. I heard she has some connections with the higher-ups at Wenxin, so her partner is probably a big shot."
"That's why we need to suppress their momentum."
Helian Xin clicked on the photo of Mu Yiran attending the fashion show. The woman in the photo had a beautiful profile. A cold glint flashed in her eyes. "Since the plagiarism is already a baseless accusation, let's make it happen again and solidify this reputation. Even if she's paired with a celestial beauty, I'll make sure she's tainted by Mu Yiran!"
Mai was startled by the woman's chilling curse. She and Helian Xin had been together for four years, and they had used every trick in the book to climb the ladder in the industry. What surprised her wasn't Helian Xin's ruthlessness, but rather...
"Do you have some old grudge against this Mu Yiran?" Mai asked tentatively.
Helian Xin's eyes narrowed. "No, it's just a precaution. I don't want anyone to be able to get in my way."
Whether it was Mu Yiran or Shi Youxi.
A resolute glint flashed in Helian Xin's eyes.
Mai glanced at her a few more times, and seeing that she couldn't figure anything out, raised an eyebrow. "That's true. But we've been in contact with her studio several times, and we don't know what kind of conditions Mu Yiran offered those designers. Surprisingly, none of them want to leave. They're quite united. Tsk, this is a bit difficult."
Helian Xin, her eyes adorned with flamboyant red makeup, narrowed slightly: "It doesn't necessarily have to be a designer—"
Before they could finish speaking, their attention was interrupted by a phone ringing. Mai took out her personal phone, and when they saw the caller ID, both of them froze.
Mai, a little embarrassed but still softening her tone, said to Helian Xin, "The goods are all ready. We can just deliver them. We won't keep them there overnight..."
Helian Xin clenched her fists and took a deep breath. "I understand."
Mai then got the driver to turn the car around.
On a taxi behind the nanny van.
Li Duan looked ahead and spoke into the phone:
“You were right about Miss Mu, but you guessed the wrong person. It was Helian Xin who came to me, while that Miss Wen has been hiding in the background all along.”
“…”
Mu Yiran paused as she swiped her pen, and the computer screen slowly dimmed, reflecting her equally cold gaze.
"...Miss Mu?"
Mu Yiran snapped out of her daze, picked up her phone, and said, "I understand. Let's continue according to plan."
Li Duan, clutching his DSLR camera at his chest, quickly said, "Then, Miss Mu, that..."
Mu Yiran smiled faintly: "Your daughter's surgery schedule has been finalized. She can have the surgery next week when Professor Zeng returns to China. I've arranged for her to have a private room, 1726, in Guan Yi's ward. You can go and see her."
Li Duan's eyes suddenly welled up with tears, and he awkwardly nodded and bowed to the air, "Thank you! Thank you, Miss Mu! Thank you!"
Li Duan thanked Mu Yiran profusely, repeating the same few words over and over, his voice choked with emotion. Mu Yiran listened silently without showing any impatience.
After hanging up the phone, she called Guan Shiyan again and repeated Li Duan's words to her in a very convincing manner.
Guan Shiyan was startled when he heard her sobbing, which sounded like a spasm!
He turned around and thanked Mu Yiran with a smile.
If it weren't for the internet connection, the two of them would have knelt down before each other.
Until a voice rang out—"Guan Shiyan! Give me back my clothes!"
“…”
Mu Yiran was taken aback, then realized what was happening and quickly hung up the phone.
She bit her finger awkwardly.
I hope this won't disturb them while they're doing their business...
Little Guan has finally grown up and even knows how to keep a mistress!
She must be a stunning beauty just from that voice!
"It just feels a little familiar..." She frowned and began to recall.
"What sounds familiar?" A voice suddenly came from above. Mu Yiran was startled and looked up to see a jaw with an extremely perfect fold.
Shi Youxi stared at her black-screen phone for a few seconds, then looked down at her.
No double chin...
Mu Yiran couldn't help but glare at Shi Youxi with jealousy.
The man chuckled at her inexplicable, intense gaze. Standing behind the sofa, he bent down, his right hand resting on the armrest next to her. "Why are you looking at me like that, sister?"
His tone was saccharine, and his face rubbed against Mu Yiran's nape.
Mu Yiran couldn't stand it and shrank back, saying irritably, "What's wrong with looking at you? You won't let me see? If you won't let me see, then turn your face away!"
Shi Youxi found her tone most appealing, so he used his strength to lift her off the sofa and place her on the back of the sofa.
Mu Yiran was being carried and moved around by him like a little kid.
The sofa back wasn't very high, but the contact area under her buttocks was small, so she involuntarily leaned forward, subconsciously wanting to hold onto Shi Youxi for a sense of security.
The man glanced at his sleeve that was being held, a smile playing on his lips, and leaned closer. "Sure, you can see, but only for you."
Which one do you want to see?
He held Mu Yiran's hand, which was holding the electric pen, and moved it from the bridge of her nose to her lips, and then to her collarbone.
"This? Or this?"
Mu Yiran's hands were trembling.
She changed the tip of the test pen, and it drew a faint red line on the man's pale skin.
Shi Youxi guided her through a painting session, but when she stopped wanting to continue, he didn't force her. Instead, he took her fingers and guided them to touch the areas where the painting had been done.
"It's like I've been marked by my older sister."
"I love the feeling of you being the only one for me..." the man whispered.
Mu Yiran felt her skin tingling and trembling as her hands touched, a tingling sensation that traveled from her fingertips to her heart.
He guided her hand to his neck and gestured with it. Mu Yiran touched his collarbone, opened her thumb and forefinger, and pressed it against his neck as if she were choking him.
She felt the pulse beating there, and then looked at the man whose nose was brushing against the back of her hand, and the thought of a "dog leash" popped into her head for no reason.
She had this person tied to her without doing anything.
This idea was both perverse and gave her an…uncontrollable sense of satisfaction?
It’s over…
Could she have been assimilated by that pervert Shi Youxi?
Whether out of guilt or excitement, she pulled her hand away, but Shi Youxi clung to her again, his 187cm frame pressing heavily on her shoulder.
Mu Yiran pushed him: "Move aside, I want to get down."
"Mmm..." Shi Youxi murmured, burying his face in her half-tied hair, sniffing a few times before lifting her up by her bottom.
"Hello!"
When Mu Yiran first breathed air at a height of over 180 meters, she was so frightened that she clung tightly to the man's neck, her legs wrapped around him like a koala.
"I want to go down to Shi Youxi! Down! Down!"
"Okay, next time."
Shi Youxi naturally listened to her and bounced the person up a bit.
"ah!"
Mu Yiran suddenly wrapped her arms around his head, pressing her chest against Shi Youxi's face.
Now the man has behaved himself.
"What are you going to do now?!" Mu Yiran said through gritted teeth, knowing that Shi Youxi was doing it on purpose.
I'm hungry...
A tightness in her chest made Mu Yiran realize who Shi Youxi was talking to, and she grabbed his hair and pulled him away.
"you--"
Shi Youxi kissed her on the corner of her mouth and then bounced her up: "I'm hungry, let's eat. I bought the cheese chicken from the place my sister likes."
"..."
He swallowed the swear words that were on the tip of his tongue.
Mu Yiran was indeed a little hungry.
At the dining table.
Shi Youxi said he was hungry, but he actually watched Mu Yiran eat the whole time. He would only eat a bite or two when Mu Yiran glanced at him.
It's like when he says he's hungry, he's not hungry in his stomach, but just looking at her makes him feel full.
With a piercing gaze fixed on her, Mu Yiran buried her head in her soup and finished it. As soon as she put down the bowl, the person next to her touched her.
"Are you full?"
Shi Youxi wiped her mouth, sprayed medicine on her face, and took the opportunity to pull her into his arms.
"Let's talk about what just happened. Who did your sister call?"
He heard Mu Yiran answering the phone while he was in the corridor, and he could also hear the voice of the person she was talking to, although it was very soft.
Mu Yiran felt the voice sounded familiar, and coincidentally, he also felt that the man's voice sounded very familiar!
I went through my mind and still couldn't think of anyone.
He stared at the woman's reddened lips, his eyes dark and brooding. The thought of monitoring her resurfaced in his mind, and he wondered when his thin layer of self-control would crumble.
Okay, let's ask her first. If she really won't tell us, then we'll investigate.
Shi Youxi had gone over the methods of murder and robbery he had planned to use after finding out the details several times, but he never expected that Mu Yiran's simple phrase, "Little Guan," would stump him.
Mu Yiran wiped her hands clean, then looked up to meet the stunned expression on the man's face. "Finished asking? Now it's my turn to ask."
"Shi Youxi, something's not right with you today."
"..."
Mu Yiran's gaze swept back and forth across his face. "Where did you go this morning?"
Shi Youxi laughed: "Going to the capital, so why did you secretly call Guan Shiyan, sister?"
Mu Yiran: "I didn't do it secretly, I asked Xiao Guan to—"
Shi Youxi frowned in displeasure: "It is Guan Shiyan."
Mu Yiran was baffled: "..."
“Okay, I’ll ask Guan Shiyan to help me schedule a doctor to see someone else.”
She was throwing the ball back at him, asking, "What were you doing in the capital?"
Before Shi Youxi could even open his mouth, Mu Yiran grabbed his face.
Think carefully before you speak.
"He said it himself, he wouldn't lie to me or hide anything from me."
"..."
Mu Yiran looked at the obvious dark circles under the man's eyes. They weren't there yesterday, but they had formed such dark circles in just half a day. It couldn't have been achieved without staying up all night.
"Did you not sleep last night?"
"What exactly did you go to the capital for?" Mu Yiran couldn't hide her anxiety. "I heard from Uncle Lin that you went to see your parents. Is it because your mother is unwell? Or—"
Although Shi Youxi is already this age, she shouldn't be abused by Shi Yan, but what if—
Mu Yiran became increasingly suspicious and began to physically assault the person in front of her.
He loosened his tie and lifted his collar to look at his back.
Shi Youxi feigned a wail: "Hey, sister, no!"
"Don't move!"
She haphazardly ripped at Shi Youxi's hand until Mu Yiran pressed it against her own. As soon as the sleeve was pushed up, a large patch of bruises came into view. Mu Yiran was shocked, "Your hand!"
"It's alright." Shi Youxi pressed her down, tied her up, and held her in his arms.
Mu Yiran struggled a few times to no avail, and fearing she might touch his wound, she said in exasperation:
"You always know where I go, can you tell me too!" she demanded, holding up her finger.
"Tell me where you're going, tell me where you're coming from, and tell me what you're doing."
"Whom did you meet, what did you do, and what did you say?"
Shi Youxi, unusually, did not answer her immediately. She pressed her chin against the woman's lower abdomen, tilted her head back, and smiled faintly: "What, is sister going to supervise and check up on me?"
"Is my sister trying to control me?"
"..."
Just like before.
Pay attention to him at all times, remind him, keep an eye on his every move, care about him and discipline him.
The person who constantly worried her and caused her endless anxiety was Shi Youxi in the past, but what she wanted was to continue to be that person in the future, for the rest of her life.
"..."
Mu Yiran silently met his gaze, her eyes pausing briefly as they passed over the wristwatch he was wearing before noticing the rubber band he had tied behind it.
That was for tying her hair, since she's always so forgetful.
Sometimes it was during meals, and sometimes it was while helping her wash up after she had fallen into a deep sleep.
She had to choose all the clothes he wore, and she also made all the accessories for him.
He had to report every little thing to Mu Yiran every day, even asking her to decide which elevator to take after get off work.
As Shi Youxi said.
His world seemed to revolve solely around her.
He was covered in her marks.
Shi Youxi was completely marked by her.
Blinking, Mu Yiran met Shi Youxi's gaze again:
"...What if I want to intervene?"
"..." Shi Youxi's faint smile froze.
"Aren't you allowed to interfere?"
Shi Youxi stared intently at her, "Sister, do you know what you're saying? Don't joke with me like that, or I'll start overthinking."
The man's gaze became conflicted and obsessive, as if he were controlling something.
"If you keep saying things like that without taking responsibility, then I..."
Mu Yiran looked him straight in the eye: "If you're not going to take responsibility, then what are you going to do?"
Shi Youxi frowned. He wanted to say something threatening, but then he sneered, "What else can I do?"
"Whether I lock you up or not, it doesn't matter." Shi Youxi rubbed her lips.
“If you can’t fall in love with me, I have ways to prevent you from falling in love with anyone else.” He smiled, leaned closer to Mu Yiran, their noses rubbing together as if to kiss, and deliberately spoke near her lips: “So whether you’re joking or not, I’ll take it seriously.”
Mu Yiran felt the pulse pounding faster in her wrist and said softly, "...Shi Youxi, how can you be so narcissistic?"
Shi Youxi said with a nonchalant laugh, "I can't help but be narcissistic when it comes to you."
"Only in this way will I feel that you love me."
“…”
It's not like no one has ever said anything about him. Guan Shiyan would complain about him, saying that he was a second-generation rich kid with top-notch family background, status, and looks. How pathetic must he be to have to put on a show for himself and deceive himself when it comes to dating?
Of course, after being shut down by Shi Youxi's remark, "You don't even have the capital to direct and act in your own drama," he became obedient.
A mocking smile played on his lips as he raised an eyebrow at Mu Yiran's dazed eyes: "Sister, are you looking at me like that again, pitying me?"
Mu Yiran twitched her chin a few times, “…Hmm, she is quite pitiful.”
This feeling is a bit inexplicable, but it's quite unpleasant.
It's like a person lacking warmth reaching out to touch a stove and getting burned – a truly painful experience.
The pain is like a moth drawn to a flame.
Shi Youxi snorted and leaned in to bite the woman's round earlobe. "Then do me a favor."
"good."
"?"
Shi Youxi was stunned and stared at her blankly. He had never seen her so cheerful since he confessed his feelings. Whenever this topic came up, he would usually get a "get lost" from her.
But at this moment.
Shi Youxi keenly sensed that Mu Yiran treated him differently.
He dared not think too much, yet he couldn't help but think too much.
"...Sister, you?"
Mu Yiran held his face, her cheeks flushed an unnatural blush, but her eyes were earnest and burning.
She had never looked at him like that before.
As if sensing something, Shi Youxi's mind went blank, and he stared at her blankly.
I saw a mouth opening and closing, and heard a sound a few seconds later—
"How can I give you charity? To give you the confidence to be narcissistic... is that alright?"
"..."
"Or let me tell you, sometimes... you're not actually acting out a scene."
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