Chapter 32

Jiang Qi looked as if he had been struck by a huge blow. Grabbing Xu Shanshan’s shoulders, he shook her forcefully, trying to get the answer he desperately wanted from her.

“Say something!”

“Xu Shanshan, tell me that what they said isn’t true!”

Xu Shanshan’s shoulders ached from his grip. Everything about her was fake, even her beautiful angular shoulders were enhanced, filled with her excess fat.

If too much force was applied, it could cause them to tear.

Xu Shanshan could already feel the pain in her shoulder. She pushed Jiang Qi away with all her strength, but he held onto her firmly, stubbornly demanding an answer.

“Jiang Qi, let go of me, you’re hurting me!”

Jiang Qi didn’t let go. He squeezed harder. “Answer me first!”

“Ah—” Xu Shanshan felt like his hand was going to pierce through her shoulder. She couldn’t stand the pain any longer and shouted, “Yes! They’re all my friends! But the person I love most is you! Otherwise, why would I meet you and be with you?”

“Jiang Qi, can you feel how much I like you now?”

Jiang Qi, who had been angry before, slowly calmed down after hearing her words. His face showed hesitation, as if she had started to sway him.

Seeing this, Xu Shanshan pushed even harder. “Jiang Qi, you said that no matter what I look like, you’d like me. Are you going back on your word now?”

“I…”

Jiang Qi was conflicted and angry.

Jiang Manwen, watching this, was speechless. Her cousin was usually quite sharp, but when it came to emotions, he was so clueless.

Qiao Chuchu had been making things so obvious, yet he still didn’t believe it. If he really accepted a 53-year-old aunt as his girlfriend, his parents would probably kill him.

“Cousin, did you forget what I said?”

“I didn’t forget, but…”

Jiang Qi couldn’t accept it all at once. His girlfriend had turned into a “sea king” who flirted with handsome guys left and right and even became a lover to a big boss. However, this part was still unconfirmed.

Qiao Chuchu was enjoying the drama. She was eating sunflower seeds while flipping through more gossip.

【Xu Shanshan is amazing! Her brainwashing skills are top-notch. Even after all this, she still manages to calm down her legitimate boyfriend. Jiang Qi is too easy to pacify.】

【Tsk tsk tsk, he can’t really believe Xu Shanshan’s lies, can he? The reason she’s being an online girlfriend to Jiang Qi is because she has her eyes on his father and wants to become his stepmother.】

【This fool can’t really think Xu Shanshan loves him, can he? She’s only ever loved his money. If he had no money, she wouldn’t even give him a second glance. And yet, Jiang Qi is still called the “little king of love”? That title must be a joke.】

The crowd: Wow! Xu Shanshan has big ambitions!

Everyone looked at Jiang Qi with sympathetic eyes.

Jiang Qi looked as if he had been struck by lightning. “You… you—actually—”

“Xu Shanshan, let’s break up!”

He threw his sleeves back and walked away.

“Jiang Qi, don’t go, let me explain—” Xu Shanshan hurried forward to stop him, but he shoved her aside, causing her to stumble and crash into a nearby cabinet. Immediately, her nose was crooked.

“Ahhh—”

Xu Shanshan screamed out.

Everyone turned to look at her, including Jiang Qi, who had not yet left. “Shanshan…”

He steeled himself, but ultimately, he didn’t approach her. Instead, he called for someone to come check on Xu Shanshan.

Qiao Chuchu couldn’t help but sigh.

【Looks like Jiang Qi really has feelings for Xu Shanshan. Even after she hurt him like this, he’s still concerned for her. But he’s in for a hard time. The girlfriend he genuinely likes has the real goal of becoming his stepmother. That’s pretty fitting for her age, considering Xu Shanshan is a 53-year-old aunt. She’d actually be quite suited to be Jiang Qi’s mother.】

“Bang—”

A heavy object dropped in the crowd, clearly a result of the shock.

“Ugh—”

53-year-old aunt!

A sound of someone vomiting came from one of the boyfriends.

“You… you—” Tian Ka was furious, trembling as he pointed at her. “I—”

And then, just like that, he fainted from the rage.

“Quick, call a doctor!”

—

What was supposed to be a fun wedding turned into a messy drama between a “sea king” woman and her multiple boyfriends.

In the end, Tian Ka fainted, Xu Shanshan was removed from the scene and sent to the hospital, Jiang Qi was throwing up in the bathroom, and the other two groomsmen were dejected.

— The end.

Fortunately, it was still early, and after dealing with Xu Shanshan and Tian Ka’s issues, the wedding between Tong Zhichen and Jiang Manwen proceeded as planned.

The only difference was that Xu Shanshan and her boyfriends were missing, but no one paid much attention to the small disruption.

The wedding hall was filled with guests, each chatting with familiar faces and raising glasses. Many of the big shots in business were using the wedding as a networking opportunity.

This was the world of the rich, where no opportunity for mutual benefit and cooperation was wasted.

Elders introduced the younger generation, helping them make connections while the younger generation quietly listened, playing the part of the perfect child.

This was the norm in high society—extremely dull.

Bai Yun didn’t like this atmosphere at all. So today, she wasn’t here representing the Bai family. She was just an invited guest among dear friends.

At last, after a long wait, she finally spotted Qiao Chuchu.

“Chuchu, over here!”

Bai Yun’s zodiac sign conflicted with Jiang Manwen’s, so it would be bad for the bride if she entered the new house. She stayed outside until she saw Tian Ka being carried out, at which point she was shocked and asked someone for an explanation.

But no one could give a clear answer. Fortunately, she saw Qiao Chuchu.

“What happened to Tian Ka? Why is he being carried out?”

Qiao Chuchu briefly explained what happened inside, then said, “He might have been greatly shocked.”

“My gosh!” Bai Yun was stunned. “Xu Shanshan, is that amazing? She has dozens of boyfriends at the same time? Now that’s the real ‘sea king’!”

Qiao Chuchu nodded. “She really is impressive.”

【Even more so than He Xuan, considering Xu Shanshan is a 53-year-old aunt and still active online. She’s truly a talent.】

Bai Yun was shocked. A 53-year-old aunt! Tian Ka must have a strong stomach! She seemed to have missed out on a lot of drama!

—

Tong Zhichen and Jiang Manwen’s wedding was held on a vast lawn, with half of the wealthy and entertainment circles invited to witness their century wedding.

The event was incredibly luxurious, with top-tier arrangements, and the wedding lasted from 11 noon to 3 p.m.

Not only the guests who attended the wedding witnessed their love, but also the fans and followers watching through the live stream.

On the screen:

Everyone was sending their best wishes for the wedding. What else could they do? Their idol, Tong Zhichen, was retiring, and they couldn’t bear it but still wished for his happiness.

After the wedding, this grand century wedding made it to the trending list.

#Tong Zhichen and Jiang Manwen’s Century Wedding# trending

【Wow, are celebrity weddings always this luxurious? This really is a century wedding, wow.】

【How much would this wedding have cost? Wouldn’t it be in the tens of millions? This grand wedding for a wealthy family is just something else!】

【Wuwuwuwu, my favorite idol got married today, and the bride isn’t me. I’m crying my heart out.】

【I was so heartbroken when Tong Zhichen first announced it, and I unfollowed. But I still watched the live stream of their wedding today. The only thing I can say is—shocked. The wedding was incredibly breathtaking, and from it, I can tell that Tong Zhichen truly loves the bride.】

【I’m heartbroken that my idol is getting married, but what can I do? After all, he’s my idol. I’ll just have to bear it. Congratulations to my god!】

—

#Qiao Cen Best Man#

#Dear Us All Attended the Wedding#

#Best Man Group and Bridesmaid Group#

【Hahaha, I can’t believe I saw Qiao Cen. Is he the best man?】

【It really is him! Qiao Cen looks so handsome in a suit, ahh, I want to marry him!】

【And then there’s Tian Ka, Wen Yu, Qiao Chuchu, Ye Yu, Bai Yun… did all the guests from Dear Us attend?】

【The bridesmaid and best man teams are all so impressive, they’re all heavyweight figures!】

【Tong Zhichen really has connections, inviting half of the entertainment industry’s stars. What a big deal!】

—

The variety show Dear Us once again gained attention from Tong Zhichen’s wedding, making it to the local trending list, attracting a large number of viewers, and adding millions of clicks to the show’s viewership.

The variety show had always been the most popular of the season, and with this explosive attention, it naturally triggered competition among stars within the industry. Everyone wanted to fight for a spot as the fourth guest group to ride the wave of such high popularity.

At the moment, major film and television companies were secretly competing for this resource.

—

Three days later, Jiang Manwen and Tong Zhichen returned to Jiang’s family, where everyone greeted them joyfully.

However, Jiang Manwen noticed that her cousin, Jiang Manrou, didn’t seem to be in a good mood. After everything had wrapped up, she approached her and asked, “Big Sister, what’s wrong? Are you feeling down?”

Jiang Manrou was her uncle’s daughter, the eldest among them, and had always been a gentle and kind older sister.

Since childhood, Jiang Manrou had taken care of Jiang Manwen a lot, so Jiang Manwen was very close to her and would share everything with her.

“No, nothing.” Jiang Manrou shook her head, forcing a smile. “Congratulations. Your childhood dream has come true. How does married life feel?”

“It’s good, just like what I imagined it would be after marriage.” Jiang Manwen smiled brightly. “I’m just glad I can come back and fulfill my childhood wish.”

“You’ve been through a lot, but it’s all behind you now. We’ll all be happy in the future.” Jiang Manrou comforted her.

Jiang Manwen nodded. “Yes, Big Sister. So, how about you and Brother-in-law? Have you not thought about having children yet?”

Jiang Manrou’s expression became a bit unnatural. She paused before answering, “He’s busy with his career. Marrying me is already a big compromise for him, and I can’t keep troubling him with such things. Let things unfold naturally. It will happen in the future.”

“Big Sister, you can’t just let him be. Otherwise, he…” Jiang Manwen furrowed her brow, studying her face, then cautiously said, “I’ve seen several times online that he’s involved in scandals with other actresses. He’s married to you, but he’s still being so reckless, flirting around with others.”

Half a year ago, she had told her Big Sister about Brother-in-law’s behavior, but Big Sister thought it was caused by his work and wasn’t concerned about it. She told Jiang Manwen not to bring it up again.

But Jiang Manwen was really frustrated. What work? Wasn’t he just an actor? If it wasn’t for Big Sister’s investment, he might still be a small-time extra in some film and television sets.

Now, he had become the son-in-law of the Jiang family and even received a dowry worth a hundred million on their wedding day.

After marriage, he wanted to enter the entertainment industry, and Big Sister supported him. She even set up an entertainment company just for him, giving him all the best resources.

In just three years, he went from a small-time extra to a national heartthrob, gaining countless female fans and getting numerous opportunities to work with beautiful actresses.

It was also at that point that the number of scandals with actresses increased, and Jiang Manwen couldn’t tolerate it. But Big Sister always defended him.

She didn’t believe that Brother-in-law didn’t have any secrets. Originally, she wanted to introduce Big Sister to Qiao Chuchu at the wedding, but she didn’t want everyone in the wealthy circle to know about Big Sister’s situation, so she found a chance to chat with her privately.

“Manwen, you can’t say that about him.” Jiang Manrou was very protective of him. “He’s just doing it for work. It’s inevitable that he would get involved in scandals with actresses. These things are normal for an actor.”

She looked at Jiang Manwen, seriously advising her, “Please don’t talk about him in front of me again, okay?”

“Sigh, Big Sister…” Jiang Manwen sighed. “Fine, I won’t say anything.”

She carefully studied her. “But Big Sister, tell me the truth—are you upset today? Did Brother-in-law upset you?”

“……” Jiang Manrou paused for a moment before saying, “He’s busy with work today and couldn’t come back for your welcome home banquet. I hope you won’t be upset with him.”

“Is that it?” Jiang Manwen smiled. “I won’t hold it against him.”

In her heart, she thought: Whether he comes or not doesn’t matter, but if he makes Big Sister upset, then that’s another matter.

She remembered something that Tong Zhichen had mentioned before and suggested, “Big Sister, I think you’ve been very tired because of my wedding recently. By the way, Dear Us is picking guests for their show. Why don’t you and Brother-in-law go on the show together and have some fun? I heard the filming location is on a big grassland—it’s vast and green, very soothing for the mind.”

She had originally planned to introduce Qiao Chuchu to her Big Sister alone, but then she thought again. Brother-in-law and Big Sister had been married for eight years, and his visits home had been fewer and fewer each year. She didn’t believe he had no secrets.

If he dared to make Big Sister sad, then she wouldn’t hesitate to expose his secrets. She hoped his actions wouldn’t disappoint her.

Jiang Manrou’s expression changed. Since their marriage, she and Yang Yuze had only spent a lot of time together during their first year. In the following years, he had been too busy with his career to have time to travel with her.

If she ever had the chance to travel with Yuze, she wanted to seize it.

Jiang Manwen seized the opportunity, “Big Sister, if you want to go, just go! Don’t hesitate. Leave the spot to me, I’ll take care of it!”

Jiang Manrou hesitated. “But I’m not sure if your Brother-in-law will have time…”

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it,” Jiang Manwen said. “The people on the show are all nice, especially Chuchu. She helped me a lot when I came back. If you go, you can send my regards to her.”

Jiang Manrou nodded, remembering her words.

—

That evening, Qiao Chuchu received a message from Jiang Manwen, where they exchanged some casual words. At the end, Jiang Manwen introduced her Big Sister, Jiang Manrou.

Qiao Chuchu didn’t understand at first, but when she saw the person Jiang Manwen had mentioned on the variety show, she finally understood.

The day was fast approaching.

After the grand wedding, the third episode of the variety show took place as scheduled. The departure time didn’t change, but the filming location did.

It was at the director’s preferred relaxation spot—the Hahu Grassland.

The reason it was called Hahu Grassland was partly due to the particularly low temperatures there. There’s a huge temperature difference between the morning and evening and midday, and when breathing out, white mist is almost always visible. The older generation named it Hahu Grassland because of this phenomenon.

It’s very cold in the mornings and evenings, but midday temperatures are high, making it perfect for outdoor activities. There are many fun spots here—beautiful scenery and fresh air, making it a great place for a getaway.

No wonder the director chose this location. Once everyone arrived at the grassland, they saw the director, whom they hadn’t seen for half a month.

He had lost a lot of weight. His previously somewhat round stomach had flattened, and his face looked much thinner. It seemed that He Xuan’s impact on him had been quite significant.

Another person in a bad state was Tian Ka. After learning that the woman he had been in an online relationship with for over half a year was actually a 53-year-old aunt, he was completely devastated.

Everyone looked at him sympathetically. It was indeed an unfortunate situation.

Qiao Chuchu sighed: 【Online relationships are a bad idea. You never know if the person on the other side is real or a ghost.】

Qiao Cen nodded in strong agreement. Exactly! I would never date online, and definitely not offline either!

After the incident with He Xuan last time, it became widely known across the internet. Netizens were shocked, and they were eagerly following the gossip between He Xuan and her various boyfriends.

“…” He Xuan’s boyfriends included not just rich second-generation men, directors, singers, hosts, actors, domineering CEOs, and even little “puppy dogs”—her tastes were really broad.

Anyone associated with He Xuan had made it to the trending list, and netizens ridiculed each one of them.

While the heat was there, their reputations were almost ruined. Even people in the same industry would occasionally tease them when they saw them.

After a single young man, whose public persona was that of being single, had such an incident, his public image completely collapsed in front of his fans, leading to a massive loss of followers. He was even warned and suppressed by his company. It could be described as tragic.

With all this happening, it was impossible for He Xuan, the second new guest of the second episode, to participate in the variety show. As a result, the fourth batch of guests was replaced once again.

Qiao Chuchu and the others arrived at the filming location first. Now, they were looking out over the vast, green grassland, which was quite beautiful.

“Welcome everyone to the filming location of the third episode—Hahu Grassland. You’ll be spending three days and two nights here, and we hope that by the end of the filming, everyone will have great memories.”

The director read the lines like a robot, but the guests didn’t respond to him, and he didn’t seem to mind.

“This episode will feature two new friends. One is an actor who has won the Best Actor award, and the other is the Best Actor’s wife.”

“Let’s welcome Yang Yuze and Jiang Manrou, the married couple, to Dear Us. Welcome them!”

The camera panned to a white nanny van parked at a distance. Two people slowly emerged from the car—Best Actor Yang Yuze and his wife Jiang Manrou. After they held hands and walked over, they greeted everyone.

“Hello everyone, I’m Yang Yuze, and this is my wife Jiang Manrou. We’re very happy to meet all of you here.”

Yang Yuze had been famous for eight years, with his fame and recognition even surpassing Tong Zhichen. Many of the movies and TV shows he had starred in were considered models of excellence for others to follow. His Weibo followers had surpassed 100 million, making him one of the few celebrities with that level of influence.

Any celebrity in the entertainment industry would recognize him, and everyone greeted him warmly.

“Hello, Mr. Yang! Hello, Miss Jiang! Welcome, welcome! It’s our honor to be recording this variety show with you.”

Everyone gave Yang Yuze high praise and compliments, and he smiled slightly, clearly enjoying the attention.

But he noticed one person who didn’t greet him—that was Qiao Chuchu.

He couldn’t help but glance at her a few more times. He even intentionally walked toward her with Jiang Manrou.

“Is this your thing?”