chapter 15

As a popular actress, Zuo Mingran's Weibo account had always been managed by her team's staff. Whether it was posting Weibo updates, liking posts, or interacting with fans, it was not done by Zuo Mingran herself.

Hearing that she wanted to regain control of her Weibo account, Shi Shuangxia immediately became cautious. "What do you want the account for?"

Zuo Mingran sat on the foot of the bed and crossed her legs. She said, "Of course, I want to release a statement. I can't just let someone spread rumors about me without doing anything, can I?"

"No, you can't," Shi Shuangxia directly chose to refuse. After working together for so many years, others might not understand, but she knew very well that despite Zuo Mingran's usual cooperation with their work, she had a rebellious streak. It was only because they had kept her in check that she hadn't caused any major trouble. Once there was some looseness, she could easily turn things upside down.

If they gave her the Weibo account today, she might create a "accidental" liking incident tomorrow.

Zuo Mingran continued to argue, "I just want to clarify things. I won't do anything else. Xia Jie, after all these years, you're not willing to give me even this little bit of trust?"

Shi Shuangxia coldly said, "No, I'm not willing."

Zuo Mingran sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Xia Jie, all I want to do is post a cute couple photo. They said I was getting a divorce, right? So, there shouldn't be any problem with posting a photo together, right?"

"Then give me the photo, and I'll have the staff post it for you. Don't even think about anything else. Let me tell you, at this critical moment, the company has already approached me several times. If anything happens now, the company won't let this opportunity go."

Zuo Mingran scratched her face and sighed inwardly.

Zuo Mingran had signed an eight-year contract with the company. Shi Shuangxia had rescued her from the streets back then, so Zuo Mingran didn't have much attachment to the company. As for renewing the contract with the company this time, Shi Shuangxia had discussed it with Zuo Mingran long ago.

The current size of the company they are in is not considered large, and over the years, they have only managed to promote one person, Zuo Mingran, who has gained recognition in the entertainment industry.

In the first few years, the company treated Zuo Mingran fairly well, and under Shi Shuangxia's influence, most of the resources were prioritized for her.

However, in the past three to four years, the company's top management, aware of Zuo Mingran's value, started introducing new people and connections to her. Usually, when Zuo Mingran joins a drama, one or two additional characters are added.

Especially in the past two years, as Zuo Mingran's contract is about to end, the company is afraid of losing her and believes that providing her with resources would benefit others. Consequently, they started distributing most of the resources to others, even those that were originally intended for Zuo Mingran.

At first, Shi Shuangxia would negotiate and fight for Zuo Mingran, but she soon realized that it was futile. The company's intentions had clearly shifted, and they even tried to give Shi Shuangxia new people, attempting to take away some of the resources she had for Zuo Mingran.

With these things happening, Shi Shuangxia began to feel resentful. Initially, neither she nor Zuo Mingran had planned to leave the company. When a big company offered them conditions before, they rejected it. However, the company quickly turned against them.

With Zuo Mingran's current qualifications and status, if she announces the termination of her contract with the current company, there will definitely be other companies interested in negotiating with her. However, Shi Shuangxia has a different plan in mind.

After giving Zuo Mingran a final warning, as Shi Shuangxia was about to hang up the phone, she suddenly remembered something and asked, "By the way, why are you so sure that Cheng Xinrui is behind this?"

Zuo Mingran lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling and said, "It may not necessarily be her, but regardless of whether it is or not, someone wants us to believe that it was Cheng Xinrui."

Shi Shuangxia was almost confused by her words. Zuo Mingran briefly explained what had happened earlier, "Given the current situation, Cheng Xinrui believes that we are at the point of no return. It will be difficult for her to harm me directly, so she preemptively struck. But in other words, her actions have cut off her own escape route. Unless I die, she cannot turn the situation around."

Having been in this industry for over a decade, Shi Shuangxia has encountered all kinds of tricks and schemes. She asked, "And what about the other possibility?"

The overhead lights created spots in front of her eyes, and Zuo Mingran closed her eyes and continued, "There is another person who wants to pin the blame on Cheng Xinrui."

There was only the sound of Shi Shuangxia's breathing on the other end of the phone. Zuo Mingran continued, "If that's the case, let's assume that Cheng Xinrui is responsible for this. We don't need to say anything, but if we're wrong, it won't be us who starts the fight, but the dogs fighting each other."

Shi Shuangxia sighed, feeling a sense of relief that her naive child had finally grown up. "You actually know how to use your brain sometimes."

Zuo Mingran: "..."

After giving some instructions, Shi Shuangxia hung up the phone and went to a meeting with her colleagues in the PR department. Meanwhile, Zuo Mingran lay on the bed, absentmindedly staring into space.

There were two knocks on the door, and she lazily rolled over and got up from the bed, putting on her slippers before going to open the door.

Yan Yunyang called her downstairs for dinner. Zuo Mingran checked the time and realized it was already evening. "Let me put down my phone, and I'll come down."

Just as she was about to leave, Yan Yunyang glanced at her hand and said calmly, "Wash your hands."

Zuo Mingran replied with an "Oh" and obediently washed her hands before heading downstairs.

Dinner was not particularly sumptuous, mostly consisting of home-cooked dishes with a mild flavor.

Zuo Mingran thought for a moment and said to Yan Yunyang, "Can I take a photo?"

Having seen many female colleagues taking pictures one by one after the dishes were served during company dinners, as if it were some kind of ritual, Yan Yunyang didn't ask further and simply nodded, moving aside to avoid blocking the camera angle.

Zuo Mingran thanked him, opened the camera app on her phone, and gestured for a while. Then her gaze shifted to Yan Yunyang. "Um, can you sit there? Don't worry, your face won't be in the shot."

"Are you going to post on Weibo?" After all, having married a female celebrity, Yan Yunyang had some knowledge of their usual work methods.

Zuo Mingran nodded hesitantly, "Can I? If it will cause trouble, it's okay if we don't do it."

"It's not a problem." Yan Yunyang replied readily. He sat down on a chair and asked, "Do I need to pose in a certain way?"

Zuo Mingran waved her hand quickly. "No need, just be natural. Just like how you usually are, without any sense of posing."

Yan Yunyang seemed to understand, but not quite. Zuo Mingran adjusted the angle and was about to press the shutter button when Yan Yunyang suddenly stood up.

"What's wrong?" Zuo Mingran asked.

Yan Yunyang said, "I forgot something."

Zuo Mingran didn't understand, so Yan Yunyang shook his left hand in front of her. "The ring."

Zuo Mingran suddenly understood. She touched her left hand and realized it was bare, without any accessories.

In the short time she took to realize, Yan Yunyang had also come downstairs and sat back in his chair at the dining table. "Now it's okay."

Snapping out of her daze, Zuo Mingran quickly took several photos. She didn't care about the outcome as she knew that post-production could work wonders, and the photos would turn out like a professional shoot.

While urgently discussing with the PR department, Shi Shuang Xia received a message and was stunned for a moment before instinctively replying, "Can you cook?"

As far as she knew, Zuo Ming Ran was completely useless in the kitchen. He couldn't even make a meal, let alone avoid causing an explosion in the kitchen.

Zuo Ming Ran proudly replied with a smiley face, "It's not me, it's Yan Yun Yang."

Shi Shuang Xia replied with a string of ellipses, "Who? Mr. Yan? Are you on medication?"

Sitting across from her, Yan Yun Yang glanced up at her. Zuo Ming Ran quickly replied with a few words and put down his phone to eat.

On the other side, Shi Shuang Xia looked at the few words Zuo Ming Ran sent and fell into deep thought. The staff next to her saw her looking disturbed and approached, asking, "What's wrong, Xia Sister?"

Shi Shuang Xia handed her phone over and wiped her face, saying, "Issue a statement first, and then send this out."

The staff member took the phone and looked at it, "What's this? 'It's my turn to wash the dishes today'? Is this from Ran Sister's family?"

Shi Shuang Xia nodded and said, "Have you contacted the lawyer? Draft the statement first, discuss the matter of posting on Weibo, and have the photos processed first."

The staff member acted quickly. Twenty minutes later, just as netizens were crazily discussing the authenticity of the chat records, Zuo Ming Ran's Weibo account posted a statement image. It denied the online rumors without any creativity and then mentioned the consequences for spreading rumors.

In the entertainment industry, such statements appeared almost every few days. Zuo Ming Ran had always been a controversial figure, and from his debut to now, he had probably released countless similar statements. Therefore, aside from his fans, not many people believed them.

Thirty minutes after the statement was posted, Zuo Ming Ran, who usually rarely updated his Weibo, posted another Weibo. It was a short sentence with nine pictures, forming a grid.

At 9 o'clock in the evening, Weibo traffic was at its peak. This kind of Weibo, posted at such a time, quickly became popular and climbed up the trending topics, reaching the top three.

After dinner, Zuo Ming Ran logged into his alternate account and casually browsed through his gossip. He was stunned when he saw more than 20,000 comments under his Weibo, but then he clicked to take a look.

"Stop! I've already had dinner. Please take away this dog food!"

"I'm jealous. Lemons are surrounding me."

"666, face slapped at lightning speed. By the way, who made dinner? It looks delicious."

"Confirmed, Ran Sister is useless in the kitchen, and she said it was her turn to wash the dishes tonight, but dinner was made by Mr. Yan."

"AWSL, what kind of fairy-tale love is this?"

"Hehe, wasn't it said that marrying into a wealthy family means no need for a nanny and cooking by oneself?"

"This Weibo post is so awkward, it's hilarious."

...

There are various comments, mostly from fans. Some even dug up a wedding photo of Zhou Mingyan from a year ago, and it's undeniable that the man in the picture wearing the wedding ring is indeed Yan Yunyang.

However, just like the polarized comments, those who believe will naturally believe, and those who don't believe won't be swayed by anything. It's like those so-called chat screenshot images, which were proven to be photoshopped shortly after being posted, but some people still insist on their own beliefs, thinking that they are the only ones who see the truth.

After watching for a while, Zhou Mingyan suddenly remembered something and typed Chen Rui's name in the search bar, found the account, and clicked on it.

Translation to English:

"AWSL, what kind of fairy-tale love is this?"

"Hehe, wasn't it said that marrying into a wealthy family means no need for a nanny and cooking by oneself?"

"This Weibo post is so awkward, it's hilarious."

...

There are various comments, mostly from fans. Some even dug up a wedding photo of Zhou Mingyan from a year ago, and it's undeniable that the man in the picture wearing the wedding ring is indeed Yan Yunyang.

However, just like the polarized comments, those who believe will naturally believe, and those who don't believe won't be swayed by anything. It's like those so-called chat screenshot images, which were proven to be photoshopped shortly after being posted, but some people still insist on their own beliefs, thinking that they are the only ones who see the truth.

After watching for a while, Zhou Mingyan suddenly remembered something and typed Chen Rui's name in the search bar, found the account, and clicked on it.

Unlike Zhou Mingyan's Weibo, Chen Rui's posts are relatively frequent, with almost one selfie per day. The tone and accompanying pictures give off a young girl vibe, making it hard to imagine that she is actually someone like that in private.

Closing her phone, Zhou Mingyan opens her computer, intending to finish the pen name registration that she didn't complete in the afternoon when a new message suddenly pops up.

Zhou Mingyan lowers her head to check and sees that the message is from Liu Qinghe. They added each other on WeChat after having lunch in the afternoon, and Zhou Mingyan also took a look at her Moments.

After all, she is her mother-in-law, so Zhou Mingyan picks up her phone and opens the message.

Liu Qinghe: "Do you have time tomorrow? Let's go shopping together."

Translation to English:

Unlike Zhou Mingyan's Weibo, Chen Rui's posts are relatively frequent, with almost one selfie per day. The tone and accompanying pictures give off a young girl vibe, making it hard to imagine that she is actually someone like that in private.

Closing her phone, Zhou Mingyan opens her computer, intending to finish the pen name registration that she didn't complete in the afternoon when a new message suddenly pops up.

Zhou Mingyan lowers her head to check and sees that the message is from Liu Qinghe. They added each other on WeChat after having lunch in the afternoon, and Zhou Mingyan also took a look at her Moments.

After all, she is her mother-in-law, so Zhou Mingyan picks up her phone and opens the message.

Liu Qinghe: "Do you have time tomorrow? Let's go shopping together."