CHAPTER 19: CHAPTER 18: GU QINGYI

Late at night, Zhou Huaiyi was spending her last night at the hotel with the crew.

Beside her, Liang Lufei was already sound asleep from exhaustion. Zhou Huaiyi was curled up in the blanket, staring at the group photo on her phone wallpaper, unable to fall asleep.

She glanced at the time.

0:21

Opening Kang Xuan’s WeChat chat window, Zhou Huaiyi initially wanted to send her the group photo to show off, but in the end, she restrained herself and didn’t click send.

After all, that would... cause too much jealousy.

She could totally imagine Kang Xuan chasing her down the street with a knife the next time they met, a scene of utter carnage...

So, with a tap of her finger, Zhou Huaiyi instead sent a "Happy Chinese Valentine’s Day" message.

Unexpectedly, the reply came instantly.

[President Kang: It’s been nearly half an hour since Chinese Valentine’s Day ended, what’s the point of saying that now?]

[Zhou Luobu: Why are you still awake?]

[President Kang: Insomnia on nights without Xiang Qichen by my side]

[Zhou Luobu: ...]

[Zhou Luobu: I’m heading back to school tomorrow... have to part with Mr. Xiang T^T]

[President Kang: (Applause.gif) Good riddance, it’s good, it’s really good]

[Zhou Luobu: ... You should stay comfortably on my blacklist]

[President Kang: ...]

After a while, Zhou Huaiyi sighed with mixed feelings and sent another message—

[Zhou Luobu: Old Kang, I can’t imagine Xiang Qichen having a girlfriend in the future...]

Two minutes later, the reply came—

[President Kang: At the rate of his current popularity, he probably won’t have time for a relationship in the next few years]

[Zhou Luobu: His first love and ex-girlfriend is Gu Qingyi, right?]

[President Kang: That was when he just debuted a few years ago. Back then, he and Gu Qingyi were new in the entertainment circle, and it seemed like they developed feelings while acting together. Although Xiang Qichen never directly admitted it, many photos and signs clearly showed they were certainly dating at the time]

[Zhou Luobu: Sigh, I’m not jealous, really, Gu Qingyi is both pretty and has a great personality, I’m not jealous at all QAQ]

[Kang Xuan: ...What else can I say?]

Zhou Huaiyi flipped over on the bed with a pillow in hand, and with a listless expression, replied—

[Zhou Luobu: Xiang Qichen has only dated one girlfriend in seven years since his debut, and it was his first love. You say he’s so pure... could he still be a virgin?]

[President Kang: ... How would I know!]

[Zhou Luobu: (;￣ェ￣)]

[President Kang: Why do you care so much, as long as you’re a virgin!]

Zhou Huaiyi stared at the sudden dialog box, her face turned beet red in an instant. She raised the blanket to cover her mouth, and replied with shame and anger: [......Get lost!]

[President Kang: ......]

——

September, the start of the last year of Zhou Huaiyi’s university life.

The class schedule had very few classes.

Only Tuesday mornings for Film Sound Production 2 and Wednesday mornings for the Thesis Class.

September 15th, only four days left until Xiang Qichen’s birthday event in Yanchuan, but as an unlucky draw candidate, Zhou Huaiyi still hadn’t scored a single ticket.

Same for Kang Xuan.

So at noon, Zhou Huaiyi received a particularly resentful call from Kang Xuan...

Kang Xuan: "Old Zhou! I’ve given up hope on winning a ticket! I’m buying a plane ticket now and flying to Yanchuan the day after tomorrow. On the day of the birthday event, I’ll hang around the venue! There’ll be scalped tickets galore! I refuse to believe I can’t get in! Be ready, the day after tomorrow, be at my service when I land!"

Zhou Huaiyi: "......"

,

In the afternoon, Zhou Huaiyi was in the dormitory, head buried in papers, researching her thesis topic when her phone by her hand made a sudden "ding" sound, startling her.

She glanced at her dormmates who were all taking a nap and quickly set her phone to silent mode. The message was from Kang Xuan, a link to a Weibo post.

Seeing Xiang Qichen’s name brightly on top, Zhou Huaiyi clicked it open with an uneasy feeling.

The post was made by a blogger named "Expose Fun Circle", and Zhou Huaiyi only had to skim it to get the gist—

Another scandal.

[Expose Fun Circle: It’s been reported that a certain fresh face frequently skips work while filming, abuses stand-ins, and within four days of joining a crew, took three days off. All his scenes during this time were played by a stand-in. It’s revealed that this fresh face is the currently popular Xiang Qichen. I ask you, with these actions, Mr. Xiang, are you worthy of the astronomical paychecks you alone are pocketing!]

Below the text were several pictures, including some so-called crew members’ screenshots on Weibo lamenting about the stand-ins, as well as a photo of Xiang Qichen standing shoulder to shoulder with a stand-in during his last film project.

The entire comment section was a unified attack—

"Xiang Qichen."

"Definitely Xiang Qichen."

"No doubt it’s Xiang Qichen."

"Who else could it be but Xiang Qichen?"

"It must be Xiang Qichen, wasn’t his stand-in saying stuff like filming late at night or whatever before?"

"He can’t act anyway, might as well let the stand-in take over!"

"Wasn’t there talk about some skin mold, making it look like him, appearing on screen directly."

...

As Zhou Huaiyi read further, she felt increasingly uneasy. No one had truly called out Xiang Qichen by name, yet all the comments seemed directed at him, wasn’t this deliberately spreading rumors with hired comments?