Ning Qiuxiu wondered why Zhang Qingyue was so determined to compare her to a bamboo rat.

Was her image in his mind really that lowly?

【Ning Qiuxiu: If you keep calling me a bamboo rat, I’ll bite you! (Showing fierce big front teeth)】

On the other side, another voice message came through. “Quixiu, don’t use the word ‘bite’ so easily with men; it might cause misunderstandings.”

Ning Qiuxiu took a moment to realize the meaning of this sentence, and her face immediately turned red.

“Damn it!” Ning Qiuxiu almost jumped up. This old driver, how shameless!

At this moment, she was very grateful she was using earphones.

Otherwise, if Xiao Chi and the driver had heard her, her already crumbling image would have been further destroyed.

“What’s wrong?” Xiao Chi, who had been through a rollercoaster of emotions today and was feeling somewhat mentally exhausted, was startled by Ning Qiuxiu’s exclamation.

Seeing her flushed face, she asked, “Sister Qiuxiu, are you feeling unwell?”

I’m being flirted with…

Ning Qiuxiu had to keep her frustration to herself and replied, “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”

Since the conversation was getting nowhere, Ning Qiuxiu decided to ignore it.

When the car reached the hotel where Ning Qiuxiu was staying, she went back to her room, flopped onto the bed without even taking a shower.

Her body, which was used to pampering, was exhausted from all the recent traveling.

Making money was really tough.

After being poor in the cultivation world for seven years, Ning Qiuxiu had a more profound realization at this moment.

Xiao Chi helped her prepare for a bath, and while Ning Qiuxiu lay there resting, she picked up her phone and saw a new message.

This time, it wasn’t from Zhang Qingyue but from Fang Jinran.

【Fang Jinran: I’m sorry. When we were buying vegetables, I mentioned that you don’t eat okra. I didn’t expect the production team would make a fuss about it. I’m truly sorry for the trouble it caused you.】

Ning Qiuxiu knew this wasn’t Fang Jinran’s fault.

Having spent three months with him on the same crew, she understood his character and knew he wasn’t like that.

But his fans really made her not want to get close to him.

If it weren’t for the powerful image she had created with the strength symbol, diverting attention, she would have been criticized from start to finish on this bamboo rat-themed show.

Even though she hadn’t done anything wrong.

Just as she was reading this, another message from Fang Jinran came through.

Fang Jinran: “I just spoke with the production team. From the next episode on, they won’t pull any more stunts like this. I’m really sorry for the trouble it’s caused you.”

Ning Qiuxiu: “What did the production team say?”

She was genuinely concerned about whether the production team would agree to this.

Ning Qiuxiu wasn’t doubting Fang Jinran, but he was currently powerless about his own situation.

He had little say, and if his incompetent manager wanted this kind of publicity for him, what could he do?

Fang Jinran: “My popularity is high enough that the production team doesn’t dare offend me.”

Fang Jinran: “I spoke to them without my manager knowing.”

The last message carried a lot of sadness.

Ning Qiuxiu felt a bit of her earlier discomfort towards Fang Jinran fade away. After all, he was also a victim in this situation.

Xiao Chi quickly got her toiletries ready and urged her to get ready for bed, reminding her that they’d have to continue fighting the next day.

While taking a shower, Ning Qiuxiu faced a serious issue: Should she recruit Fang Jinran to her company, or not?

She clearly noticed that Zhan Qingyue seemed unhappy today. While she wasn’t sure if jealousy was part of it, she suspected the main reason was that Zhan Qingyue thought her efforts to persuade him to develop a career in entertainment and start an entertainment company were actually meant to benefit Fang Jinran.

This realization made Zhan Qingyue feel used, and anyone would be upset. His not being angry with her was already very restrained.

She worried that this might jeopardize everything.

After her shower, she wanted to send a voice message on WeChat to explain things to him, but when she checked the time, it was already 10 p.m., and Zhan Qingyue, who was still recovering, was probably already resting.

She decided not to disturb him and thought she’d bring him a gift and explain in person when she returned.

Despite the show’s rough edges, Fang Jinran’s participation had brought a huge boost in popularity, and with three trending topics, Ning Qiuxiu unexpectedly gained a lot of fans and a surge in popularity overnight.

However, the unpleasant comments from Fang Jinran’s fans did not go unchallenged.

Qu Hua had the company’s legal team draft a statement addressing the issue.

The statement condemned the online users who distorted facts and insulted Ning Qiuxiu, claiming it caused damage to her reputation and mental well-being.

It demanded that these users stop their behavior immediately and stated that Ning Qiuxiu’s team had engaged a lawyer to investigate and pursue legal action against them.

Ning Qiuxiu’s sudden elevation from “Quixui Jie” to “Quixiu Ye” was a hilarious twist.

The change wasn’t just in title but in gender, leaving her baffled.

Ning Qiuxiu: “……”

Why did she agree to this silly show?

Today, she was supposed to shoot an endorsement ad for eye drops.

The script was simple: she would wear a glamorous dress, walk the red carpet gracefully, flirt with the audience, and then film a shot holding their eye drops, saying, “I use xx, confident and shining.”

The shoot was scheduled to be completed in the morning, and after that, Ning Qiuxiu planned to buy gifts for Zhang Qingyue and the others at home, catching a flight back in the afternoon at 3 PM.

However, when she arrived at the location, fully made up, she was told that the dress was still on the way and would take another half an hour to arrive.

Given the half-hour estimate, it would likely be closer to an hour.

The production team was on the brink of desperation: “Do you guys not prepare the dresses in advance?”

How could they be more unprofessional?

“Something went wrong, and I’m very sorry,” Miss Chen, the person in charge, apologized sincerely. “I’m really sorry for delaying Sister Ning’s time.”

With such a polite attitude, Ning Qiuxiu didn’t want to say anything negative.

She responded kindly, “It’s okay, no problem.”

After waiting for half an hour, Ning Qiuxiu remained patient, but the director in charge of the shoot was getting frustrated. “Did they say how much longer it will be? If not, let’s just try the outfit we have ready and see how it looks.”

Miss Chen called again to hurry them up, looked displeased as she hung up, and then signaled the assistant to bring out the prepared outfit.

When Ning Qiuxiu saw the new outfit, she realized it was quite stunning—a light pink dress with a strong youthful vibe, featuring delicate 3D pink flowers and a waist with a cutout design that added a touch of sensuality.

Given her sweet appearance, the dress highlighted her youthful charm perfectly, making Ning Qiuxiu wonder why they wanted to change it in the first place.

Was it perhaps a knockoff of some high-fashion brand?

Miss Chen entered, and when she saw Ning Qiuxiu in the dress, her eyes lit up. “It looks great!”

She quickly walked over in her high heels and scrutinized Ning Qiuxiu’s slender, smooth arms and the cutout at her waist with excitement. “No way, it’s really not there!”

“……” Ning Qiuxiu felt a chill from being stared at like that and touched her arm. “What’s not there?”

Miss Chen, looking a bit embarrassed, explained, “Don’t be mad, but after watching yesterday’s show, we saw that you… well, you had such strength that we thought you might have visible muscles on your arms and abdomen. We figured it might be tricky to edit later, so… we decided to switch the dress.”

Ning Qiuxiu: “???”

Ning Qiuxiu nearly cried from the shock.

Apparently, the bamboo rat show had completely changed people’s perceptions of her, to the point where they were expecting her to have visible muscles.

Was she now being seen as a strong woman with abs?

But she couldn’t blame them too much.

She hadn’t made many public appearances recently, and with the winter clothes, plus the show where she carried bamboo and later hauled two large buckets of water by hand due to a broken kitchen, her arm strength seemed impressive.

She decided she needed to have Qu Hua arrange a red carpet appearance soon to showcase her delicate, feminine side and clarify that she really didn’t have any muscles!

Ning Qiuxiu finished the ad shoot with mixed feelings and then went shopping for a gift to “bribe” Zhan Qingyue.

Actually, Zhan Qingyue didn’t lack for anything, and Ning Qiuxiu didn’t have much experience in choosing gifts for men.

It seemed that buying ties or cufflinks would be unoriginal and might not suit him.

— Who knows how long it will take for him to stand up again, put on a high-end suit, and return to his former powerful self?

Moreover, during his rehabilitation… Although Zhan Qingyue distracted her with a few words that day, she knew that since he was seeing a psychologist, he must be facing significant psychological issues.

She wondered if Dr. Pan could help him and if there would be any side effects.

She couldn’t be of much help, so… why not buy him some stress-relief gadgets?

This idea was a good one!

So, Ning Qiuxiu went to a store and bought several stress-relief items.

She tried them herself and found them quite soothing and refreshing.

Carrying a pile of stuff, Ning Qiuxiu boarded the flight to G City.

This trip would last 11 days, the longest she had been away from home since Zhan Qingyue woke up.

With a little excitement, Ning Qiuxiu arrived at their rented villa.

The first one to rush out of the house was actually the silly dog, Miaomiao.

Previously, Miaomiao had been very afraid of her because of some severe methods used by Xiaoqin, but it hadn’t been long, and since it didn’t have a strong memory, it had forgotten how scared it used to be of Ning Qiuxiu.

“Get away, Miaomiao, don’t bite my skirt!”