Hui Mingli was very satisfied. "With this, you don't necessarily have to come tomorrow."
Mingyan nodded. 'Yes! More dates with Yan ge~'
Lily: 'Don't forget about your new album.'
Mingyan: 'Yan ge is my inspiration! So I have to go on lots of dates with him!'
Lily: 'You even call him Yan ge now... Isn't this development too fast?' *speechless*
While Mingyan was contemplating the various places they could visit on their date, Sam was panicking internally.
"She's done? Hui Mingli, aren't you being too slack about this? She's not the number 1 singer, you know? And you're just going to use that one take?" Sam's face darkened, and inside his heart, he felt disappointment. He didn't mind being ignored by the only Chinese person he knew who could fluently speak English, but now he even had to separate from her? Even if they met again in the future, chances were she'd already be taken! It was better to strike while the iron was hot.
Sam could never have imagined that, although it wasn't official, Mingyan was already taken. Before he could act, he had already lost.
Hui Mingli's face wasn't looking too good either. Why was his friend making things so difficult today? He knew Sam was a brat, but it wasn't usually this bad. He wondered if he had made the wrong choice.
He shook those thoughts away. He knew that even with Sam's bratty personality, he was one of the best underground rappers. He could only continue enduring for the sake of his song.
He didn't answer Sam but turned to Mingyan instead. "I'll call you if necessary, so don't schedule anything for now. Wait until the song is done."
Sam didn't like it one bit, and Mingyan was seething in anger.
Mingyan: 'My lovey-dovey time has slipped away!!! All because of this dude! Where's my sword?! I'll slice him to pieces!'
Like a loyal subordinate, Lily was about to open her dimensional storage to take out her sword, but then she stopped. 'That's what you're angry about?'
Mingyan's face didn't reveal even a hint of reaction. She only nodded before leaving without any hesitation, successfully slipping away before Sam could ask for her number, her Weibo, or where she lived. He cursed at himself after seeing her escape. He wanted to chase her, but he still had a recording to do, and Hui Mingli was looking at him with a demonic face that seemed to say, 'I know what you're thinking, but work comes first.' So he worked obediently. That day, he realized he was in the best shape he had ever been.
Mingyan took the elevator down and had already sent a text to Shen Yan.
Mingyan: 'Whatever, I'll capture him at home instead.'
Lily: 'You just really want to play on your date anyway. And don't you think Shen Yan needs a break? Don't you usually, you know... What's the word, ah! Cook him?'
Mingyan: 'Hahaha! Oh, Lily, you're precious~ And yes, that's right~ But this one is different! It's not enough. I gotta add more seasonings~'
Lily seriously prayed for Shen Yan because she thought her master would literally cook him. It can't be helped, her master possessed a cannibal in the past... She shivered when she remembered those sinister scenes.
Ding!
The elevator reached the main floor, and there was a ding before the doors slid open. Mingyan stepped out, ready to wait in the front lounge for Shen Yan, when a commotion in the lobby caught her attention. She was merely going to take a glance when she froze in place.
Enemies really do meet on narrow roads. She had forgotten that Chen Rui was an artist like her, and under Brilliant Stars, no less!
'This Chen Rui has probably heard the original Mingyan sing before, so she wanted to nip it in the bud before it could grow,' Lily said with distaste.
'She killed three birds with one stone—actually, no, maybe four? She took Mingyan's rightful place, won the life-and-death battle with Yang Xi, gained cousin Lu Feng's love and trust, and married a golden thigh,' Mingyan listed, and with each scenario, her eyes grew colder.
'She became a breadwinner in life through one bullet shot, and the only real victim was Mingyan. Mingyan, are you going to handle her?' Lily eagerly asked.
'Why should I?' Mingyan's eyes curved as she pressed her lips together to restrain a smile. 'Mingyan is a coward when it comes to these things. She doesn't need to smear herself with blood. There's Lu Feng and Shen Yan to do the dirty work.' Her cold eyes finally regained warmth when she mentioned Shen Yan.
'What about Yang Xi? Is she not a victim as well?' In Lily's mind, she was thinking about one of the wishes.
Mingyan couldn't help but smile coldly again. 'Yes, she is. She is a victim of the plot. As the rival of the protagonist, she has to keep up with the protagonist whether she likes it or not. The only way she can get out of that cycle is for the protagonist to die—either in the most natural way or by the male lead himself.'
Lily was enlightened. 'Right! Lu Feng should take care of it then!'
Mingyan patted Lily in her mind. 'That's right. So we should just sit back and enjoy the show. We've already pushed the waves—doing more might just be counterproductive.'
Actually, when Mingyan first looked at the original soul's fate and memories, she hadn't seen anything wrong. But there was a part in the memories that had been blurred, and it was only when she fully integrated with the original soul's character that it became clear.
Yang Xi's eyes, whenever she met the original Mingyan, would turn cold and slightly hostile. There was unconcealed jealousy that made the original Mingyan feel uncomfortable. But Mingyan, who was a coward to a fault, didn't do anything about it and, worst of all, even told herself to forget about it.
Mingyan could only sigh helplessly. Despite the deep friendship between Yang Xi and Mingyan, the plot would always stand on top. She had done everything she could; she just hoped it was enough for the wish to be fulfilled.
While this conversation was happening in Mingyan's head, a third world war was about to break out in the lobby.
Chen Rui and Yang Xi were standing across from each other, looking as if they were about to commit murder in broad daylight. Especially Yang Xi, whose engagement had been broken right after the incident.
And because of the plot, she had already forgotten her best friend.
She was going crazy trying to come up with ideas to reconcile with Lu Feng. Her parents had warned her to cease her efforts because their companies were being destroyed one by one until only two remained. But Yang Xi persisted in believing that Lu Feng still harbored feelings for her because he hadn't even had her sent to jail. She failed to realize that her family was no longer part of high society, now only having two companies barely standing.
The plot had long enslaved her.
Chen Rui also had it rough. For some reason, her songs were being rejected no matter what she did. She tried to ask Lu Feng for help, but she couldn't even contact him because he had blocked her number. Blocked! She didn't understand what had happened for him to change overnight. Shouldn't it be the other way around?! Now that Yang Xi was no longer his fiancée, he should be publicly expressing his love to her, kneeling on the ground and proposing marriage. Yet, she was blocked!
Chen Rui originally didn't want to waste her time getting into a catfight with Yang Xi because Lu Feng's cold treatment was a more pressing issue. But Yang Xi had started it, and with no one else to vent her repressed anger to, she was planning to make Yang Xi lose all her face.
Her face paled, and she shivered. She looked like a terrified animal. "S-sister Yang Xi..."
"Who's your sister?!" Yang Xi immediately retorted.
Chen Rui's eyes reddened, but she didn't cry. The crowd watching felt pity for the docile-looking girl and frowned at Yang Xi's outburst. It would have been fine if Chen Rui cried, but not crying and holding it in instead made the bystanders' hearts ache.
Yang Xi noticed the crowd's gaze, but she didn't care. "You slut! Because of you, my engagement is gone!! You took away my future! Are you happy?!" If Chen Rui could make the crowd pity her because of her tears, then Yang Xi could do the same. She looked aggrieved, like a wife confronting a scheming mistress.
The onlookers gasped in surprise. What? What was this live-action confrontation, straight out of a drama?? So, this girl was the mistress, and that girl was the wife? No, wait, that's not right. The battle was between the fiancée and the lover! Some of the people in the crowd had stopped what they were doing and crossed their arms to watch the good show. A few had even secretly taken out their phones and started recording. The two girls didn't notice.
Chen Rui paled. "S-Sister Yang Xi, he said he didn't love me anymore." The 'he,' of course, was Lu Feng. Suddenly, the ball was tossed back to Yang Xi.
Oooh! So, this was the case of the previous lovers breaking up because of an arranged marriage? The crowd nodded their heads in understanding, and their pity for Chen Rui rose up again. Ah, this is the problem with prestigious families!
Yang Xi had taken the bait and was playing the villain again, nearly exploding, but she held it in. "Then explain to me why I found your clothes in his closet!"
Chen Rui was struck dumb. This is blatant lying!! Her already red eyes deepened, not because of sadness but because of anger. How shameless! Lying in broad daylight and even in front of so many people!
"How is that possible! How do you even know they were mine?!" Chen Rui could feel the disgust in the crowd's eyes.
Yang Xi's face twisted with disgust. "Your panty had a name on it. How else would I know?"
Mingyan, who was drinking water as she watched the spectacle, spurted it out. What?!
Now everybody was struck dumb. So, this battle was really about the fiancée versus the mistress?! The females in the crowd were even more terrifying than the males. They stared at Chen Rui with piercing gazes. Nobody wanted to find an unknown panty in their boyfriend's closet, let alone their fiancé's! No matter if it was an arranged marriage, this was still simply frowned upon by society.
Chen Rui's face went ghastly pale as she finally remembered some truth to what Yang Xi had said. Yes, Yang Xi wasn't lying. There was a part of her memory that confirmed she had stayed at Lu Feng's house after getting drenched in the rain. It was the typical "saving a damsel in distress" scenario! But the damsel was actually a fox, scheming her way into Lu Feng's bed! She remembered that the clothes Lu Feng had given her were all brand new. She had even wanted to stay the day after that, but Lu Feng drove her away. Are you telling me that I forgot my clothes?! She couldn't believe she made such a simple mistake.
Yang Xi actually knew that nothing had happened, but she wanted to rip Chen Rui's face off no matter what.
Seeing that Chen Rui had grown silent, her face paler with each passing second, the crowd burst into disbelief. So it's true?! Wow, how shameless! Is her face even real?
Yang Xi noticed the crowd was moving to her rhythm, so she decided to add more fuel to the fire. "You bitch! I know it was you who sent me that Photoshopped image of Lu Feng kissing you! You wanted to get me riled up!" She grabbed a stack of papers from her purse and threw it at Chen Rui's face.
Afterward, her face darkened as she suddenly remembered that she had shot her best friend.
'What the fuck have I been doing?' She got angry at herself.
Mingyan had her glass of water at her lips, glancing at the girls from time to time. She had no choice, because Mingyan wasn't really a gossiper. She could only make herself appear as if she was contemplating whether she should confront her two ex-friends. But since Mingyan didn't have the courage, her internal debate about whether to step in or not seemed to last an eternity.
This was the scene Shen Yan arrived to. Mingyan glanced back and forth between the crowd and her glass. Her lips were pressed thin, and her back straight, exuding caution and nervousness. Shen Yan couldn't stand it. He immediately went to pull her into his embrace, softly patting her hair. "What's wrong?"
Mingyan was suddenly enveloped in a warm hug. When she looked up, she found it was Shen Yan. Her previously tense shoulders relaxed. She shook her head and hugged him back, no longer interested in intervening since her Yan gege was already here.
Shen Yan's heart skipped a beat. 'Un, this feeling isn't bad.' His eyes narrowed as he continued to pat Mingyan's head.