CHAPTER 37 (PART 2)

But as he spoke, Mr. Xiang frowned slightly.

“Back then, we had no choice. But this Miss Jiang… in this day and age, and at such a young age… Why does she carry so much? It seems like she’s been through a lot…”

“She hasn’t been led astray, though. That’s rare, really rare,” Mr. Xiang murmured, his face tinged with sorrow.

Zhao Qiuying couldn’t help but think—yeah.

She was wary, fiercely independent.

It was hard to imagine what she must have gone through.

Mr. Xiang quickly got excited again and said, “I’m going to go back and learn how to use WeChat… I’ll even teach those old folks! Heh, I bet I’ll learn faster than them. I’ve already talked to Jiang Su—next time she needs a friend for a show, she’ll call me! I’ll even give her recommendations!”

Zhao Qiuying didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Wasn’t this just meddling for no reason?

Mrs. Zhao didn’t find out about this until two days later.

Why? Because Mr. Xiang had ended up trending on social media.

Those who regularly followed the entertainment industry inevitably mentioned it to her, which made Mrs. Zhao furious. She even had a big argument at home.

“Xiao Qiu, I can support you going into the entertainment industry, but I can also oppose it.” Mrs. Zhao sat coldly at the table. “Neither you nor your brother has ever given me peace of mind.”

“What did my brother do now?” Zhao Qiuying smoothly redirected the conversation toward Zhao Bo’ang.

Just bringing this up made Mrs. Zhao feel even more irritated.

“The other day, someone from the entertainment industry—her last name is Dong—had the nerve to come up to me and say she was going to marry your brother. I told her to get lost, and she had the audacity to turn around and complain to your brother, making me out to be some kind of evil stepmother. So what if I’m his stepmother? I think your brother is losing his mind. You’d better not follow in his footsteps… Whatever I won’t allow him to do, I won’t allow you to do either. Sooner or later, he’ll realize whether or not I have ulterior motives for him!”

Zhao Qiuying pressed his lips together and said nothing.

Not allow what?

Not allow dating someone from the entertainment industry?

Seeing his silence, Mrs. Zhao’s temper flared up. “Don’t tell me you’re the same as him? What’s so great about the women in this industry? …When are you planning to come back and take care of family matters?”

Zhao Qiuying: “I was already planning to quit.”

Now it was Mrs. Zhao’s turn to be dumbfounded.

So easily… he just agreed to quit?

While the Zhao family was dealing with their internal drama, outsiders knew nothing about it.

Meanwhile, Jiang Su returned to the set to continue filming.

As the third female lead, even with additional scenes, her role wasn’t that heavy, so she didn’t have to stay on set all the time.

At this point, the production team had quickly edited the first teaser trailer and released it to generate some buzz and give fans a little taste.

The moment Xu Dazhi saw the trailer was out, he rushed to Jiang Su. “You need to start being active on Weibo! Look at your account—it’s practically collecting dust.”

Jiang Su’s Weibo still only had three lonely posts.

The first one: “I am Jiang Su. I’m now on Weibo.”

The second was a repost of the show’s official account on the night of the group’s formation.

The third was a repost for the premiere of the group’s variety show.

Jiang Su was skilled in many things, but social media engagement was not one of them.

But she could learn. Hmm.

She pulled out her phone but first noticed a new friend request on WeChat. She tapped to check.

Verification message: “I am Xiang Yu.”

It was Zhao Qiuying’s grandfather—her fan.

Jiang Su moved her fingers and accepted the request. Immediately, her phone vibrated again. She had been pulled into a group chat.

Xiang Yu: [I know how to use WeChat, and I can even create group chats. Impressive, right?]

His profile picture was a formal passport-style photo of himself, and his display name was simply Xiang Yu.

Jiang Su typed: [Very impressive.]

Then, she glanced at the group members. There were six or seven others, sparsely added in.

Every single person had their passport-style photo as their profile picture, and their display names were all their real names—Zhao XX, Liu XX, Guan XX…

Oh wait, there was one exception.

Just one.

This person’s display name was “Wishing You Peace”.

Wishing You Peace: [Dumbass.]

Wishing You Peace: [Who even uses their real name online?]

Then, the others started ganging up on him.

[A little more sincerity wouldn’t hurt, would it?]

[Old Cheng, mind your language.]

[Voice message.]

[Voice message.]

It seemed like some of them weren’t great at typing.

Jiang Su thought for a moment but didn’t join in the conversation. Instead, she turned to Weibo.

She scrolled through the comment section and started replying one by one.

[Baby girl, what are you up to?]

[Watching dance videos, preparing for the new MV.]

[Baby, I love you.]

Jiang Su paused. She wasn’t used to such direct expressions of affection. She slowly typed: [Mm, thank you.]

[My manager was in the office today and it hurt so bad. Click here to watch the video, add me for details…]

Jiang Su: [?]

She thought for a moment and typed a reply: [Then punch him three times so he hurts too.]

Replying one by one turned out to be exhausting.

It felt like the comments were never-ending.

Jiang Su rubbed her wrist, put down her phone, and turned to grab her iPad to continue watching dance videos.

Meanwhile, Weibo exploded.

[Aaaah! Jiang Susu, why are you so cute? You’re replying to every single comment!]

[Baby, you must be so tired. Stop replying and go rest.]

[I’m crying! She noticed me!]

The initial reactions were fairly normal.

Then, the chaos began.

[WTF, why does a scam bot account have such high engagement?! It’s so high up in the comments! And my baby girl actually replied to it!]

[Must be a hacked account.]

[Hahaha, poor Jiang Su, but also so adorable and hilarious.]

[Thank you, I’m laughing so hard I feel sick. She actually told them to punch their manager three times to make them hurt too. LOL.]

[This is so Jiang Su. By the way, does anyone know if Jiang Su can throw a punch?]

Right at that moment, Xu Dazhi walked over and asked, “Did you do some engagement?”

Jiang Su: “Mm. I did.”

Xu Dazhi quickly pulled out his phone and checked. “…You didn’t post a new Weibo?” He muttered internally, wondering if he should personally teach her how to handle social media properly next time.

Jiang Su: “No, I just replied to comments.”

Xu Dazhi sighed. Well, that worked too, though a new post would have been better.

Xu Dazhi refreshed the page and immediately saw that Jiang Su was trending again.

Clicking in, he finished consuming the latest gossip.

“…Forget it, let’s just accept this as the norm.”

The name “Jiang Su” seemed to carry some kind of magic, always surrounded by an endless stream of discussion.

After finishing her dance video review, Jiang Su immediately resumed filming.

At this time, Cheng Yue had just finished dealing with his tasks. Sitting down, he opened his inbox, where his secretary had compiled and sent him all available videos and information related to “Jiang Su.”

He started from the first episode, watching at double speed.

Whenever Jiang Su appeared, he would slow it down to normal speed.

The final video was an advertisement.

As he watched Jiang Su drive downhill at full speed, it felt as if she was charging straight toward him.

Cheng Yue’s heart clenched tightly in that instant, only to relax the moment he saw the car land smoothly.

Instead of closing his laptop, he replayed the fan-made edits his secretary had sent—again and again.

She was definitely not the original Jiang Su. But she wasn’t unfamiliar with the name either.

That meant she had been called Jiang Su in the past as well.

She was exquisite and beautiful, cold and indifferent, sharp and rational. She possessed many skills—enough to allow her to look down on everything without hesitation.

Yet, she still retained a sliver of youthful innocence.

That innocence made her easy to satisfy, but it didn’t make her foolish.

Was she possessed by a ghost?

But if she were a ghost…

That would mean… she had died?

Only in death would she have ended up in this Jiang Su’s body.

Or perhaps this was simply two versions of Jiang Su from parallel timelines, each walking a different storyline?

Regardless of the truth, one thing was certain—

Cheng Yue closed his laptop with a soft snap.

She was not an ingrate.

Cheng Yue dialed Jiang Su’s number.

At that moment, Jiang Su was sending a message in a WeChat group: [Hello everyone, I’m Jiang Su.]

Xiang Yu: [Everyone, get to know each other. This is my idol!]

[Hello, young comrade.]

[Hello, Xiao Jiang.]

[Are you all talking nonsense? Do you think we’re in the last century?]

[If my granddaughter calls her an idol, does that mean we should call her big sister?]

[Shameless. You’re already an old fart, and you still want to call her big sister?]

Jiang Su wasn’t particularly good at participating in such conversations.

Most of what she had learned about social interaction revolved around deception and murder.

She hesitated briefly before answering the call. “Hello.”

“What do you want to eat tomorrow?” Cheng Yue asked.

He was even taking the initiative to ask now?

A good little lapdog.