CHAPTER 17 (PART 2)

Schedule clashes were perfectly normal, and Gu Sheng could pretty much guess he was going to discuss Traceback.

So she watched him leave with zero regret, even a bit excited, thinking:
This time, it won’t be like the last “legendary moment” with that duo gif!

—Tonight’s historic scene will be hers and hers alone! (fist pump)

–

Right before the livestream, Song Qingzhi got a call from her agent. She had subtly probed and received a vague but positive signal from Producer Liu of Traceback.

To her, this was huge news!

In this line of work, you had to make sacrifices. If Producer Liu really helped her land the female lead in Traceback, then her meteoric rise was just around the corner—after all, she’d be acting opposite Wen Heng!

She really wanted to know—if Gu Sheng saw her and Wen Heng entering the same crew to film a drama, would she just go mad on the spot?

…

At this moment.

A teahouse hidden in the bustle of the city.

A winding stream flowed peacefully, the sound of a guqin lingered softly in the air. The room was elegantly simple in decor, and a few men sat around the tea table.

Looking closer, these were all well-known directors, producers, and screenwriters in the industry—together, they’d produced countless classic dramas and films. For most actors, getting the chance to have tea with them would take years.

Yet among these older men, there was a single face—cool, youthful, and strikingly handsome—who sat as an equal.

Director Feng Yan chuckled, “In this old men’s tea gathering, Ah Heng is probably the only young one who can sit through it.”

Wen Heng’s position in the industry was different. Beyond being a top-tier award-winning actor, he had solid capital backing him. In recent years, he’d become even more grounded—not only known for his work, but few knew that many blockbuster dramas had investment ties to him behind the scenes—including the highly anticipated IP project they were producing this time, Tracing Back.

“Wasn’t Ah Heng always this calm and restrained, even back in the day?” Producer Liu laughed, then gave Wen Heng a knowing wink. “Though this tea gathering of ours may be a little dull—Old Zheng told me after finishing your reality show, your wife’s acting really left an impression. A total amateur, but quite something. When are you going to bring her out for us to meet?”

Wen Heng smiled faintly.

With the misty steam of the tea rising, he poured tea for the group using a purple clay teapot, and said, “So, let’s talk about Tracing Back.”

As this year’s top-priority IP project, Tracing Back was a hot property many were eyeing. The male lead was already confirmed—Wen Heng’s return to acting after years away from drama work was news in itself. But the female lead still hadn’t been decided.

Producer Liu cleared his throat. “You guys know Song Qingzhi from Yaoying, right? Her company is heavily promoting her. They’ve even held back a drama from airing. If it does well, she might break into the A-list. I think she’s a good fit.”

Everyone here was a seasoned player, and Director Feng immediately chuckled. “Oh? And what exactly makes her a good fit?”

Producer Liu shot him a look. “I’m just suggesting a name—it’s not like we’ve decided anything.”

A screenwriter also chimed in with a suggestion, “There are some good candidates under Huatang Media, part of the Wen Group. One of them has formal training and is quite popular lately.”

Director Feng took the chance to complain, “That’s the thing, right? So-called ‘formal training’—actors these days go through three bottles of eyedrops for one crying scene! They need voice dubbing, green screens, because they can’t even say their lines properly. In the end, everyone sounds exactly the same, like they came out of the same factory line!”

That was, in fact, a common problem among younger actors in the mainland.

The room went quiet for a few seconds before Wen Heng’s cool voice broke the silence: “So, let’s go with auditions.”

Although everyone always said they would audition, those present knew very well—hot IPs like this attracted fierce competition from agencies all trying to force their actors in. In the end, most roles were settled behind closed doors.

But with Wen Heng holding significant investment power, his words carried weight.

Through the swirling steam, the man lifted his gaze, eyes deep like a still lake: “I can join the auditions too.”

“Let the talent speak for itself. Don’t overlook truly good actors.”

…

The live broadcast for the four couple teams officially started at 9 p.m.

Song Qingzhi was already in a great mood because of the Tracing Back news, and when she heard Gu Sheng would be streaming alone—her happiness hit its peak!

As the livestream began, the “Sunny Couple” sat in front of the phone camera, wearing matching outfits, greeting fans:

“Hi, everyone!”

“Long time no see—how’s everyone doing?”

Fans eagerly joined in, flooding the screen with questions.

“Schedule issues? Yeah, you guys know Tian-ge just joined a new crew,” Song Qingzhi answered sweetly, her face full of shyness. “—Actually, he cleared his schedule today just to do this livestream with me. I told him it wasn’t necessary, but Tian-ge was worried I’d be lonely, so he still came.”

The comments section instantly exploded:
[Qin Tian spoils Zhi so much][Ahhh this is too sweet I’m dying!]

Fans started sending her gifts, filling the screen with pink hearts, making the whole livestream feel like a sugar rush of love.

But soon, some smug fans started making sarcastic comments.

[Someone’s livestreaming alone, how sad]
[If you want real chemistry, Sunny Couple is the way to go!]
[So pitiful, lol]

Song Qingzhi quickly waved her hand. “Let’s focus on ourselves, guys. No need to pay attention to others.”

But with her subtle and ambiguous guidance, plenty of fans still ran off to the neighboring livestream room to watch the “show.”

…

At Huating.

Gu Sheng, dressed in cozy loungewear, sat in front of a small screen. She’d already gotten used to livestreaming.

—It was just chatting with fans, after all. She loved doing this kind of thing.

“Yeah, yeah, hi everyone—asking what I usually do at home?” Gu Sheng read a comment from the screen and replied, “I like watching movies and dramas. If you have any favorites, feel free to recommend them!”

“Do I stay up late? Of course I do! If I don’t stay up late, I feel like I lose so much time!”

The audience wasn’t just made up of her Echoes—Wen Heng’s fans, the Hengstars, were here too. Even without the top celebrity present, her online viewer count was still higher than the other couples.

Facing millions of viewers, Gu Sheng showed no stage fright. Her focused, squinting eyes as she read the comments were incredibly cute.

[Waaah, I’m calling her wife first]
[Wife is sooo pretty, give me a kiss, kiss, kiss!]
[Move over, let me have her!!]

Of course, the comment section was also full of mentions of Wen Heng. At one point, Gu Sheng read a particular question:

“—What did it feel like acting opposite Wen God that day, when he had the scene where he coughed up blood?” Gu Sheng read it out loud, then suddenly burst out laughing.

So funny. No one knew that Wen Heng actually did cough up real blood.

—I’m the only one keeping this secret. It’s such a burden!!

Her face was already close to the phone camera, and with that smile—neatly aligned teeth, those crescent-shaped peach blossom eyes, and pupils glimmering like stars—the up-close beauty attack was absolutely breathtaking.

[Holy crap, stop smiling ahhhhhh]

[My HP just hit zero, who else feels this??]

[Mom asked why I collapsed—because this woman just killed me with her face!]

While most fans were going crazy over Gu Sheng’s beauty, plastering the screen with their admiration, the CP fans saw something even more thrilling—she smiled when Wen Heng was mentioned!

What’s this? This is candy! Sweet, sweet candy ahhhhhh—

[Wuwuwu I really hope you two collaborate more in the future!]

[Please please please appear together more often!!]

Soon, fans began flooding the chat, asking her to perform while Wen-ge wasn’t around—sing, dance, even a mukbang, anything!

Gu Sheng was raring to go—

This has to be it! My iconic moment is coming!!

Tremble, my darlings!

She cleared her throat and casually said, “Tell me what you wanna hear, or see. You name it!” She could do so much!

The comment section instantly exploded with requests. The energy was through the roof, everyone shouting different things at once.

But just then, strange comments started creeping into the stream.

[Huh? Why is she live by herself?]

[So pitiful, supposed to be a couple stream but she’s flying solo]

[LMAO living in such a big house but still basically a widow huh]

Chang Yan had been monitoring the stream closely. Everything on Gu Sheng’s side had been going great—he even thought she could totally hold her own without Wen-ge, and was excited to see her perform—until the trolls and haters barged in.

Among the couples on The Four Laws of Happiness, Wang He and his wife weren’t a big deal, pretty low-key. The Mountain Road couple had a different style than Gu Sheng’s, and they actually got along well.

So the only ones who’d pull a stunt like this… had to be Song Qingzhi’s camp. Chang Yan’s attitude toward Gu Sheng had changed long ago; now, she was firmly under his “mama bear protection program.”

So he immediately contacted the short video platform admins to ban the troll accounts, while also instructing the team to steer comments in a positive direction.

Finally, he shot Wen Heng a WeChat message: [Wen-ge, are you done with your meeting? If you are, get back here. Fast.]

Over at the teahouse, they had just finalized the audition arrangements.

“This is a huge IP, we can’t let it flop in our hands,” Director Feng sighed. “If the actor doesn’t cut it, we’ll be the ones roasted online.”
“—Let’s go with Wen Heng’s idea: open auditions.”

Wen Heng curled his lips into a smile and lifted his teacup. “A toast to you all.”

Everyone graciously took a sip.

With the big stuff settled, the older men started chitchatting with Wen Heng.

Wen Heng smiled and responded politely.

But the moment they steered the conversation toward his wife again, a ding suddenly rang in Wen Heng’s ear—the system.

His back went rigid in an instant.

“You will experience the 16th wave of pain in 20 minutes. Please prepare accordingly.”

Wen Heng: “!”

The group saw him suddenly stand up and were startled. “Hey, Wen Heng, what’s wrong?”

Without hesitation, Wen Heng got up and said his goodbyes: “I… need to get home to see my wife.”

“Oho!”

“Good man, wow—”

The old guys all got hit square in the face with that public display of affection.

They weren’t out of touch, either—once Wen Heng hurried off, they opened Weibo and quickly understood.

He’s rushing home to livestream with his wife, huh.

“Netizens are asking why Gu Sheng is streaming alone.”

“He’s going back to hold the fort, clearly—”

Meanwhile, Gu Sheng’s livestream was still a battlefield.

Faced with outside threats, Hengxing and Echo (the fanbases) united like never before, ganging up to fight off the haters.

[Are you stupid or just desperate for attention, barging into someone else’s stream?]

[Go crawl back to your own idol!]

[Calling my girl “pitiful”? Yeah, totally, living in a massive luxury apartment, bathtub bigger than your entire house, drop-dead gorgeous and married to a hot husband. Super tragic, boohoo~]

[Even if Wen-ge doesn’t show up, we’d still happily watch our beauty! Jealous much?]

By now, Wen Heng had already arrived at the basement parking of Huating.

He had cut the drive time down to the bare minimum while staying within safe limits. From teahouse to underground garage, it took him exactly 18 minutes and 12 seconds.

He finally let out a breath. The closer he got to a certain someone, the more his sense of security returned.

He got out of the car, walked toward the elevator, pressed the button, and waited as the elevator slowly climbed.

And just as the elevator doors opened—

Ding——

“Congratulations. This time’s pain level: Level 3.”

Wen Heng finally exhaled.

At the same time, in the livestream, Gu Sheng also received a system notification.

—“The 16th Pain of Love: Complete Paralysis.”

Gu Sheng: Huh???

Wen Heng: “……”

…Shit.

Back in the stream, the earlier argument had mostly blown over.

[LOL, so it’s just jealousy over our popularity, huh?]

[Even if your fave had ten clones, they still couldn’t beat WenSheng. Face it.]

[Not even worth the energy to argue. Just scram so we can enjoy our queen in peace.]

[Sis, sing something! Please sing!]

[Aaaaah we can’t wait!]

Thanks to the combined efforts of fans and Chang Yan’s team, the troll comments were drowned out by positivity. Fans flooded the chat urging Gu Sheng not to let it get to her, and to continue performing.

Gu Sheng really wasn’t affected—plus, her fanbases were an absolute powerhouse together. Now that things were calm again, she cleared her throat and said, “Okay, I’ll perform something for everyone—”

But before she could finish, the comments abruptly took a turn.

Fans started panicking in the chat:

[Sis, there’s a ghost in your house!!!]

[Turn around—no, wait, don’t turn around, ahhhhhhh!!!]

[AAAAAH did anyone else see that hand behind her?!]

At the same time, tens of thousands of viewers watched as a pale, bloodless hand lifted off the ground and reached toward Gu Sheng, trembling slightly—as if a ghost were crawling toward her!

The heat of Gu Sheng’s livestream instantly exploded, skyrocketing like a rocket. Millions of users across the internet gathered in her stream, staring wide-eyed at what seemed to be a supernatural event.

[Sister! Run!!!]
[Aaaaah I’m gonna cry from fear!]
[WTF are we witnessing history?? A ghost caught on livestream?!]

But just then, that hand struggled to shift slightly to the side, revealing half of Wen Heng’s pale face.

“Gu Sheng,” Wen Heng said, “…give me your hand.”

Millions of viewers collectively felt like someone had clutched their throats.

[???]
[……???]
[………Huh???]

Only Gu Sheng stared blankly at the scene before her.

Behind her, trending searches, live feeds, hot topics, and major forums were all exploding over this once-in-a-lifetime moment.

Gu Sheng now understood what her “scene that would go down in history” was.

“…What the hell,” she said.

…

Later—

There were widespread rumors about top star Wen Heng.

——That he liked crawling around the house.

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