CHAPTER 40: CHAPTER 40: TOP STAR... LOVE TRIANGLE?

Lin Banyan went out halfway to the bathroom, unaware that not two minutes after she left, Su Yan also found an excuse to leave.

Then, outside the bathroom, she was directly pulled out from the shadows by a hand.

Su Yan trapped her between the wall and his arms, the lighting was dim, and Lin Banyan lowered her gaze to her clothes, not looking at his expression.

But the two of them were so close, pressed together tightly, their breathing and heartbeats were clear as day, there was no need to see expressions.

"Let go." she said calmly.

Su Yan pressed closer, his nose almost touching her, his breath by her ear, "I won’t."

His voice was deep, surprisingly cold.

Lin Banyan didn’t care what he answered, pushing him directly when he wouldn’t move.

Pushing him away with determined strength.

Su Yan was originally very close, but when she pushed, he was directly pushed away, his eyes intensely focused on her silhouette in the dark.

"Yan Yan."

"Don’t call me that, we’ve already broken up."

"I didn’t agree."

"Since when does a breakup require both parties to sit down and agree before it counts?"

Su Yan’s lips were tightly pressed.

She hadn’t spoken so recklessly and unrestrainedly for a long time, he almost forgot, what he liked back then was the proud princess on the catwalk when they first met.

Lin Banyan was aloof in appearance and temperament, lofty to the point of pride but not annoying; back then, besides Shi Yuhuai, she was the most dazzling existence at Jiali.

When people with emotional entanglements meet, memories always flood their minds from time to time. Lin Banyan hated this feeling and was about to leave.

But Su Yan suddenly became aggressive, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the scenic woods outside.

The strength difference between men and women was still a bit large. No matter how Lin Banyan struggled, she couldn’t break free, and was finally taken all the way to the destination before she couldn’t bear it anymore, "Su Yan, you’re hurting me!"

Su Yan switched hands, holding her arm, his fingers stiffly loosened a bit, then tightened again.

"I’m sorry."

Lin Banyan withdrew her hand, her face cold, "No need."

Su Yan grabbed her hand, refusing to let go, his eyes tightly fixed on her face, the high peak snow from daytime turning into a shadow on the pine, "Why are you participating in this variety show?"

Models participating in variety shows isn’t very common, let alone a destined blockbuster show with a model who hasn’t walked a major catwalk in a long time that no one knows; it doesn’t match. She isn’t someone who is keen on participating in various fame-enhancing activities either.

When friends informed Su Yan, he almost couldn’t react.

Lin Banyan looked at him clearly, watching his still handsome face in the dark, her anger slowly dissipating, she no longer struggled, and just said faintly, "Work requirements."

"Work requirements?"

"I’m a model, this program is something even Brother agreed to participate in..."

Su Yan’s hand tightened, his voice lowered again, "I don’t want to hear you mention him."

"Then let go."

He had a faint intention to let go, and Lin Banyan seized this opportunity to throw his hand off and walk back.

As a result, when turning to the other side of the wooded area, walking to the path leading back to her residence, she saw Shu Ran standing there, looking shocked.

Lin Banyan’s steps paused. Su Yan from behind had already caught up and grabbed her hand again.

Shu Ran’s expression became even stranger, her gaze falling on their hands, as if frightened,

"You, you two..."

At this time, Mu Qiu was sitting on the wooden frame corridor, quickly recording material for writing.

Originally, she just wanted to write a few key sentences, but she couldn’t help but write more and more, increasingly detailed, and had already flipped through two pages of sticky notes. The light was too dim and a bit hard on the eyes, so she turned on her phone’s flashlight.

When she was writing, the surrounding environment needed to be relatively quiet, undisturbed, with her attention focused on this, only then would the plot flow smoothly, and as long as the plot was smooth, she would be more serious and focused, not very responsive to external reactions.

So when Cheng Zhirang’s voice sounded, she didn’t react for a moment.

A pair of white sneakers appeared within the phone’s flashlight range, the person’s voice deliberately low, as if not wanting to startle her.

"Mu Qiu?"

"Sorry, didn’t mean to disturb, I thought someone needed help."

Mu Qiu dropped the last stroke of "secret" on the sticky note and looked up at him.

Under the blurry light and shadow, Cheng Zhirang’s face, which she found astonishingly beautiful, now had an added layer of untouchable mystery, well-defined with overlapping shadows, light cast on his face like a highlighter effect.

Such a person easily reminded her of the sentence she just wrote on the previous page of the sticky note about her feelings for him—

The years bloom in flowers.

She also lowered her voice, shook her head and said, "It’s alright, I’m recording inspiration."

Cheng Zhirang nodded, "It’s not very safe outside alone, go back early."

"Okay, thank you, Brother Cheng."

Cheng Zhirang turned back to the lounge, his tall figure crossing the light, stepping into the darkness.

Mu Qiu’s mind couldn’t calm down, she lowered her head and flipped to a new page of sticky notes, quickly writing down a small inspiration she suddenly thought of.

Setting a gentle person as a villain who deceives everyone, does that seem more intriguing?

Or, bolder, a gentle beauty as the aggressor?

After writing on two more sticky notes, Mu Qiu turned off the phone light, closed her dry eyes, and stood up to head back.

Just past the small corner of the wooden frame corridor, she bumped into Lin Banyan coming from the opposite direction.

"..."

Lin Banyan nodded at her clearly in acknowledgment, her steps only pausing out of politeness for two seconds before moving forward again.

Then Mu Qiu saw Su Yan and Shu Ran walking from behind.

Hmm?

She really didn’t want to know about the top celebrity love triangle gossip.

But when an author is unlucky, they can encounter this kind of secret gossip everywhere, perfect for writing into a book.

In the end, the four of them returned to the dining room one after another, just on time. Inside, Zhu Qi was talking with Cheng Zhirang, while a director was enthusiastically chatting with Shi Yuhuai,

Guan Yu and Li Yang were eating like siblings who hit it off at first sight, their sleeves rolled up past their biceps.

It seemed like no one noticed the strange atmosphere between certain individuals.

Or perhaps everyone noticed, except she was the only one who didn’t understand the entertainment industry’s rules.

The first official episode of "Different Variety Show" aired, immediately sparking several trending topics, maintaining high popularity. From the start to the end of the live stream, the audience more than doubled compared to the pilot episode, screenshots and screen recordings filled the internet halfway through, with various photos and memes flying all over.

Just with one episode, "Different Variety Show" surged to the top of all variety shows in viewership rankings, the clicks and views continuously climbing.

With top star Su Yan, actor Cheng Zhirang, and rising star Li Yang, combined, they drove more than half of the internet’s fans, frantically ranking the show.

What is the ranking for?

[Hoping the show continues to provide benefits for the fans eagerly waiting]

[Wishing my idol is the next to appear on the show]