Chapter 37

The next day, an unexpected accident on the set of 《Aspiration For The Throne》 ignited discussions across major online platforms, with various accident-related keywords trending. Among them, one stood out: #Shen Mofeng Injured While Saving Ye Chen#.

This trending topic originated from the early morning interview conducted at the hospital by Jishang Entertainment. Established just six months ago, Jishang Entertainment often makes sensational statements to gain attention, particularly adept at sowing discord. They had previously targeted artists like Ye Chen, solely relying on stirring up controversies to boost their own growth. In the accident report they released early in the morning, they emphasized Shen Mofeng’s “severe shoulder injury,” mentioning restricted movement in his right arm, and questioned whether it would “affect future filming.” Meanwhile, Ye Chen was reported to be “unharmed” and “calm” during the interview… While not crossing the line of rumor-mongering, their wording was clearly aimed at stirring up trouble.

Ye Chen’s haters, along with some who had always accused Shen Mofeng of maliciously riding on the popularity of Ye Chen, immediately seized the opportunity to attack Ye Chen, using the video footage of Ye Chen’s interview at the hospital leaked by Jishang Entertainment. In the video, Ye Chen did indeed appear very calm.

However, being calm didn’t mean he wasn’t grateful. Firstly, Ye Chen had already calmed down on the way to the hospital; as a grown man, he couldn’t still be sobbing like a child two hours after the accident. Secondly, Ye Chen still retained some youthful innocence and sincerely appreciated Shen Mofeng. He felt that while acting a bit during normal times was harmless, it wouldn’t be sincere to pretend to be remorseful or grateful at this moment. Therefore, he just spoke the truth in front of the media without deliberately emphasizing feelings of guilt or gratitude.

As of this early morning, due to the lack of a unified statement from all parties, neither Ye Chen nor Shen Mofeng had posted on Weibo to clarify the situation. This morning, after discussing with their respective agents and the crew’s responsible persons, Ye Chen posted on Weibo to explain the details of the accident and once again express gratitude to Shen Mofeng. Shen Mofeng then retweeted Ye Chen’s Weibo post, stating that it was just a minor injury, a false alarm that wouldn’t affect filming, and graciously accepted Ye Chen’s thanks, effectively putting an end to the incident.

The matter should have ended there, but Jishang Entertainment used their pen like a weapon to exaggerate Ye Chen’s situation. As a result, the rhythm set by Ye Chen was not suppressed by those two somewhat conventional Weibo posts. The onlookers who enjoyed stirring up trouble continued to gossip, while Ye Chen’s haters seized the rare opportunity to unleash all-out attacks, twisting the details of the incident into absurdity. Ye Chen unexpectedly found himself shouldering the blame for “Shen Mofeng’s injury caused by a little white lotus soul in a prosperous era.”

The term “little white lotus” was quite versatile; being gentle was a little white lotus, being calm could also be considered a little white lotus, as could being composed and rational, or even crying and apologizing. Unless one resorted to cursing and venting anger, it all depended on whether the other party wanted to pin the label of “little white lotus” on you.

What the black fans couldn’t predict was that while they were racking their brains to manipulate the situation and smear Ye Chen’s image… Ye Chen was lounging on a five-star hotel bed in a bathrobe, wearing a sleep mask he bought with his money, striking poses.

Hou Cub was riding on Qiongqi Cub’s neck, using a phone to shoot Ye Chen from above.

“Gege, the pose looks great,” Hou Cub said.

“Take another one, quickly, I’m about to fall asleep,” Ye Chen urged, rolling over and embracing the highly effective Winter Velvet HealthCare Pillow, a faint smile playing on his lips, as if he was sleeping soundly.

“It’s all done.” Hou Cub tapped the shutter button a few times with his chubby fingers.

“Let me see.” Ye Chen lifted his eye mask and sat up abruptly, shaking his head that had been hypnotized into drowsiness.

—After the online store was approved a few days ago, Ye Chen took advantage of his spare time on set to sneakily use his laptop in the coffee shop, downloading five free graphic design crash courses, and created some advertising images for the Winter Velvet HealthCare Pillows to hang in his Taobao store. His designs were fairly decent, but the only downside compared to other pillow-selling stores was the lack of photos of models sleeping on the Winter Velvet HealthCare Pillows. Today, coincidentally staying at a five-star hotel, Ye Chen took the opportunity to personally take some model photos for backup.

After all, who knows when he’ll have the chance to stay at a five-star hotel again…

Hou Cub was clever and had selected several shots with excellent angles. Ye Chen deleted the ones that didn’t work and kept only the usable ones.

The 《Aspiration For The Throne》 crew was currently overwhelmed with dealing with the media, negotiating compensation with the staff injured in the accident, and finding temporary replacements for the injured workers. It was estimated that filming wouldn’t resume until tomorrow at the earliest, so Ye Chen had just finished applying the first round of medicine for Shen Mofeng today and was currently idle.

Glancing at the time, Ye Chen saw that it was still a long way until the next meal, so he wasn’t in a hurry to cook soup for Shen Mofeng. Instead, he logged into his WeChat alternate account and systematically entered various groups to advertise for his own Taobao store. These WeChat groups were all ones Zhou Buchu had added him to the day before, totaling six or seven in all, with names like “Health is Wealth,” “Elderly Care Exchange Group,” “The Most Beautiful Sunset Glow”… all set up by Zhou Buchu for the care of Ying Long. It was convenient for bulk purchasing inexpensive elderly products.

To blend in with the group of elderly relatives, Ye Chen changed his nickname to one brimming with middle-aged vibes, and changed his profile picture to a yellow sea of flowers. After logging into his advertising-specific account, Ye Chen quickly got into character, accurately portraying the tone of a middle-aged son who had been taking care of his elderly father for many years.

While the antis were busy tearing Ye Chen apart on Weibo, Ye Chen was happily engaging in lively discussions in the Sunset Glow group…

It was truly the legendary “you can never guess what your opponent is doing.”

Having an Elder at Home Is Like Having a Treasure: “…The Winter Velvet HealthCare Pillow I represent is also used by our family members. It’s specially designed for middle-aged and elderly people with poor sleep quality. It’s filled with special duck down infused with twenty-two types of calming herbs. Its sleep-inducing effects are excellent. Ever since my father started using this pillow, he falls asleep within three minutes every night.”

Beautiful Spring: “Fall asleep in three minutes? Please don’t exaggerate the advertising.”

Having an Elder at Home Is Like Having a Treasure: “I’m not exaggerating the advertising. It’s all based on real experiences of elderly people. We, as their children, wouldn’t dare to make money by deceiving them. We also want to accumulate blessings for our parents. [Giggles]”

Eight Roses: “My mother has bad joints and suffers during rainy days. She has difficulty falling asleep at night. If it’s really effective, I’d like to buy one. [Smiling]”

Having an Elder at Home Is Like Having a Treasure: “My father has been smoking for years and has a strong addiction. After the temperature drops, he coughs severely, often unable to sleep until late at night. It was only after using this Winter Velvet HealthCare Pillow for middle-aged and elderly people that he finally had a peaceful sleep.”

Old Horse and Young Horse: “Ninety-nine yuan for a pillow is too expensive.”

Having an Elder at Home Is Like Having a Treasure: “If our fathers and mothers have raised us with hardships for so many years, it’s really not expensive to repay them with a ninety-nine yuan pillow. Since autumn started, my father has been coughing and unable to sleep. As a son, hearing him cough next door makes me feel like my heart is being squeezed. This kind of discomfort can’t be smoothed out even with multiple ninety-nine yuan pillows.”

Eight Roses: “Well said. [Thumbs up] [Rose]”

Having an Elder at Home Is Like Having a Treasure: “Our agency store just opened, and we’re currently running a promotion. People in our group can get a ten-yuan discount when buying Winter Velvet HealthCare Pillow from our store. Just provide a screenshot of the group name to customer service, and you’re all set. Plus, if the pillow doesn’t improve your sleep within seven days of purchase, you can return it.”

Having an Elder at Home Is Like Having a Treasure: “Let me show everyone the fresh model pictures from our store. [Images]”

He posted the few photos that Hou Cub had just taken for him.

“His face is small, covered by the shading eye mask, which hides a lot. Even his die-hard fans might not recognize him as this model, but just by looking at the delicate chin, lips, and nose, it’s not difficult to estimate the attractiveness of the model in the photo.

Having an Elder at Home Is Like Having a Treasure: “It’s definitely from a legitimate manufacturer, a reputable brand. It used to be sold overseas, otherwise how could they afford such a handsome model? [Giggles]”

Ye Chen’s act as a middle-aged filial son was very successful. He hopped around several family communication groups, and after half an hour, the group members collectively placed five orders. Many others said they were considering it. Ye Chen understood that most people were waiting to see feedback from other group members, so he wasn’t in a hurry. Once these few group members received their pillows, they would naturally become living advertisements for Ye Chen.

Moreover, the current production volume of Winter Velvet HealthCare Pillows was not high. If they suddenly sold out, he wouldn’t be able to meet the demand. Last week, he invested four hundred yuan to buy twenty pillow cores and spent two hundred yuan to customize twenty sets of packaging, each including a large sealed plastic bag, a flannel pillow storage bag, and a tag printed with “Chen Chen Health and Wellness Shop.” After the packaging was done, Ye Chen filled the twenty pillow cores with the Winter Velvet Flowers picked by his spirit beast cubs.

In fact, there were still plenty of Winter Velvet Flowers left, but Ye Chen wanted to test the waters first. He didn’t want to invest all over a thousand yuan in one go. There were still enough Winter Velvet Flowers left to make about twenty more pillows.

With five orders in the store, Ye Chen immediately called for express delivery and wrapped the pillows back in the courtyard wearing a coat. He was in the middle of packing when his phone suddenly beeped.

—”Pulei Cub^[1]Pu Lei(snail) – Citation from 《Classics of Mountains and Seas》: “Ten miles to the east is the Qingyao Mountain, which is indeed the secret capital of the Emperor. Looking north from the … Continue reading has awakened and needs immediate care.”

“So soon?” It’s like they knew exactly what I needed! Ye Chen’s eyes lit up, and he quickly walked into the separate space in the east wing to greet the newly hatched Pulei Cub.

The newly hatched Pulei Cub, was only the size of Ye Chen’s fist, with a spiral-shaped snail shell on its back. The shell was lustrous green, with fluid flowing inside, resembling a half-melted piece of jade. At the top of the snail shell, there was a naturally formed small round cover that looked like it could be opened.

Under the spiral shell, Pulei Cub’s body was not like a snail. It was a chubby little round ball, almost translucently white, resembling a ball of white dough. It had two antennae on top, two pairs of short arms and legs so short they were almost negligible, and beneath its two black bean eyes were two round red cheeks. When Ye Chen arrived, it was desperately trying to drag the heavy snail shell forward with its soft short legs.

Seeing someone approaching, Pulei Cub slowly raised its arms, each less than a centimeter long, and made a coquettish sound like a whimper, “Bo… Jiji…”

“Bo Jiji,” Ye Chen playfully imitated its cry, “Bo Bo Jiji?”

Pulei Cub: “…”

“I’m the new owner of the Mountain and Sea Realm, my name is Ye Chen…” Ye Chen stopped fooling around, cleared his throat, and began to introduce himself. Seeing that Pulei Cub’s black bean eyes were always staring at his fingers, he reached out and poked Pulei Cub’s little white belly.

Pulei Cub hugged Ye Chen’s finger with its two small arms and slowly spit out a sticky bubble on top, “Bo… Jiji…”

Ye Chen’s index finger had a shallow scratch like a vegetable knife, and it had already scabbed over. The bubble Pulei Cub spit out burst open on the scratch, and the tiny scab fell off with a sound, revealing the skin underneath that was as good as new.

The author has something to say:

【Helping out a buddy with some promotion for their new story~[doge]】

“Agreed to Divorce from the Beginning” by Mr. Stone

Synopsis:

Gu Changji and He Zhang agreed to divorce a year later.

But when the time came, someone started to hesitate and was unwilling.

▽

【Mini Theatre 1: Not Fond of this Straight Guy】

Gu Changji liked to go shirtless at home during the summer, and his habits didn’t change after getting married.

He Zhang couldn’t stand it and complained about his poor straight guy physique every day.

Yet he couldn’t help but take a few more glances.

▽

【Mini Theatre 2: Divorce Agreement】

He Zhang: “Just sign it.”

Gu Changji: “Why don’t you stop hiding the pen then?”

【Own Mini Theatre】

Antifan #1: Always riding on Shen Ge’s popularity day by day. This time he finally got what he wanted, right? Just sitting back and enjoying the attention.

Antifan #2: Who knows how this accident happened? Why did Shen Mofeng happen to save him instead of someone else?

Antifan #3: Ye Chen come out and got beaten! Causing our Shen Ge to get injured!

Ye Qiongqiong: Actually, our family’s autumn pear paste works very well too. My father smokes half a pack of cigarettes a day, and his coughing is severe. No matter how many cough suppressants he takes, it doesn’t improve. It’s all thanks to this autumn pear paste, which clears the lungs and moistens the throat. Now, the frequency of his coughing has noticeably decreased every day. I’ll notify everyone when the new batch is available in the store.

Simple Ye Qiongqiong and his antis seem to be living in two different worlds…

A new Pulei Cub has appeared~ Its original form was a snail cub from a brainstorm on Weibo, but I noticed that some buddies dislike snails, so I made some adjustments to Pulei Cub’s physique. Its shell shape resembles a snail, but underneath is a little round ball with small red cheeks and tiny hands and feet~