CHAPTER 18: Tea

Thanks to Wen Heng’s sudden bout of “temporary paraplegia,” Gu Sheng really did become explosively popular.

It was like a horror film suddenly turning into a comedy—no one saw it coming. By the time people realized what had happened, the internet had already gone wild.

That night’s trending topics looked like:

#Ghost in Gu Sheng’s Livestream [Explosive]
#Gu Sheng Run! [Hot]
#Turns Out I’m the Ghost – Wen Heng [Explosive]
#Gu Sheng Give Me Your Hand [Hot]
#Gu Sheng’s Livestream Goes Down in History [Hot]

Gu Sheng single-handedly occupied five trending searches, a feat on par with the biggest top-tier stars.

The Echoes at the scene were ecstatic:
[Sis, you’ve made it!]
[Aaaaah our girl is officially famous!]

Thinking about the “glorious scene” she’d just lost, Gu Sheng muttered to the system, “This golden era… just as you wished.”

Even the CP system didn’t see this coming.

It got its moment, kind of… but not in the way it expected.

So the system went quiet like a chicken.

Still, to stop the incident from spiraling into bizarre and wild rumors, Gu Sheng quickly walked out of the room and closed the door behind her.

“This… a new form of performance art?” she asked Wen Heng.

Honestly, if their positions had been switched, she might have just died on the spot.

Wen Heng took her hand, and as sensation returned to his body, he stood up smoothly. After a second’s pause, he said, “I suppose… that’s one way to see it.”

Though his face was still pale, his mental composure was impressively solid.

…Well, he had no choice—he’d been through this too many times.

People are forced to grow up in their circumstances.

Wen Heng sighed softly.

Because time had been tight, he hadn’t had a chance to check his phone on the way there. By the time he realized he was on camera, it was already too late. The only good news was that the pain wasn’t too intense—he couldn’t feel anything after all, thanks to the “paraplegia.”

The system had randomly assigned him a “high-level spinal injury,” meaning his lower body was numb, but the nerves controlling his arms were still functional.

So at first, Wen Heng had made his way over by bracing against tables and chairs, relying on sheer upper-body strength.

…Only to collapse right outside Gu Sheng’s door because the wall wasn’t stable enough to lean on.

Wen Heng sighed again.

Damn it.

Chang Yan had called him so many times it nearly crashed his phone. The man probably wanted to teleport straight to Huating.

Wen Heng, holding his phone in one hand, typed back two words: “It’s fine.” Then he steadied himself and looked at Gu Sheng. “Still livestreaming?”

“Yeah,” Gu Sheng let go of his hand and nodded. “Want to go back in together?”

The livestream viewers were still waiting for an explanation.

…To be precise, the entire internet was waiting for an explanation.

But the moment she let go, Wen Heng’s body swayed, and he quickly grabbed her hand again.

Level-3 pain was mild, and the pain relief had a long duration—but it still needed an hour to kick in.

When Gu Sheng turned to look at him, Wen Heng gave a light cough and held her hand, leading the way back into the room.

Sure enough, the livestream audience hadn’t dispersed. Viewer numbers were still terrifyingly high.

Now seeing that Wen Heng looked normal again, fans let out a collective breath, assuming he’d been joking or doing some kind of skit. I mean, who just crawls around for no reason?

It must’ve been a prank to scare Gu Sheng! Who knew our icy flower Wen Heng had a sense of humor?

[Hahahahaha oh my god, Wen-ge are you okay?]
[Were you trying to surprise her? That was a fright!]
[Does Wen-ge need a one-way ticket off Earth? I’ll pay!]
[I’m down to crowdfund it!]
[You guys are evil hahaha]

Wen Heng didn’t see the flood of scrolling comments. As he walked in, the crowd also saw the person behind him—and the hands they were holding.

[AAAAAA THEY’RE HOLDING HANDS]
[Ughhh I don’t even know who I’m more jealous of]
[So sweet! I was just scared to death and now I’m healed]
[It’s crazy how just holding hands is sweeter than other couples hugging and kissing]

“Hello, everyone.”

Wen Heng sat down beside Gu Sheng, his long legs folding under the narrow table, his knees gently touching hers.

…At last, he was free from the nightmare of being “paralyzed at a young age.”

Even after such a dramatic disaster, the top star still managed to take control of the situation calmly and coolly. Things gradually settled down.

The phone screen was small, and fitting two perfect faces into the frame was honestly overwhelming. Some fans were so mesmerized by their visuals they couldn’t even hear what they were saying.

All they could think was: They look so good together! Too pretty! Sob sob sob!

For a while, it was a joyful mess of face-worshipping fans and CP shippers high on sugar.

The CP system was watching with great satisfaction: “Wuwuwu this is what love looks like——”

Because of the unexpected events during the livestream, Wen Heng and Gu Sheng ended up spending more time with the fans, and the buzz never died down.

The production team of The Four Laws of Happiness basically got carried to the top—completely exceeding the sponsor’s original expectations for viewership. The entire team was on the verge of tears from joy.

When it came time to tease the next episode, they simply used WenSheng as the headline to drive traffic, and the audience responded enthusiastically.

“Livestream mayhem, a sea of joy—Want to see more exciting moments from the WenSheng couple? Tune in to episode 3 of The Four Laws of Happiness, exclusively on Yuzu TV next Friday at 8:00 PM. Let’s ‘create romance’ together~”

[I’m starting to wait from this very second!]
[Romance!! My CP must stay sweet!!!]
[Can’t wait can’t wait can’t wait just air it already]
…

After his “recovery” from the high-level paralysis, Wen Heng spent the whole night lying in bed.

Once he got up, he quietly intensified his workout routine.

The pain reminded him that life was precious and having a strong, healthy body was an incredible blessing. As long as he could move, he needed to keep improving his physical condition.

Meanwhile, after this explosive exposure, Gu Sheng’s social media index shot up. Her follower count surged by a million, and her traffic was now solidly high. The entertainment industry revolves around traffic, and naturally, this brought in more new job offers.

With only a few days left before the third episode’s shoot, it was time to settle the official agency contract and team support.

Du Yanzhi officially reached out on behalf of Jialai Media to talk about signing her. Coincidentally, Fu Shan—the artistic talent working with Qi Qingjian on the V project—was also with Jialai.

Gu Sheng agreed, thinking she could knock out both meetings in one trip.

She didn’t avoid Wen Heng while talking on the phone in the living room—he could hear everything.

He still hadn’t told Gu Sheng about the audition for Tracing Back. He didn’t want to use it as leverage to lure her into signing with Bu Wen. Gu Sheng was someone with ideals and principles—she deserved the freedom to choose on her own.

“Alright, see you tomorrow then.”

Gu Sheng finalized the meeting time, smiling as she hung up the call.

“Going to Jialai?” Wen Heng had faintly recognized Du Yanzhi’s voice earlier.

Gu Sheng nodded, very straightforward: “Going to check out their company, and also meet the singer.”

Wen Heng nodded too. He looked like he wanted to say something, hesitating a bit: “I…”

But right then, Gu Sheng glanced down and saw a new post on her feed—it was the official Weibo from the Four Laws of Happiness team, releasing the “Keyword Cloud” from the couple’s livestream event.

“Hey, did you see this—” She opened it up, intrigued.

The word cloud was based on keyword search frequency—the more the audience searched or mentioned something, the bigger the word appeared.

In the graphic released by the program team, the words “Gu Sheng” were the largest, and right next to them, equally big, was “Wen Heng.” These two terms together took up almost a third of the entire cloud.

“WenSheng” and “Shanlu” were also prominently visible. “Qingtian,” however, was tucked away in the bottom right corner, barely noticeable.

Having been a top-tier celeb for so many years, Wen Heng was long past caring about this kind of data.

He was still mulling over how to tell Gu Sheng he could go with her to Jialai tomorrow.

But then Gu Sheng suddenly burst into laughter while looking at the word cloud: “Hahaha—look at the big word next to your name!”

Right now, she was very relaxed at home, her hair casually tied up in a messy bun, just a ridiculously pretty girl. Her attitude toward him was neither as fervent as before, nor cold and antagonistic like it occasionally had been.

It was… a comfortable dynamic, even a bit intimate.

Watching the smile on her lips, Wen Heng’s voice softened unconsciously: “What word?”

Gu Sheng turned her phone toward him.

“A huge ‘ghost’!”

Wen Heng: “…”

—

The next day, Gu Sheng got ready to head out for her meetings.

Since it was a formal occasion, she put on proper makeup—her features looked stunningly sharp. She wore a casual blazer, with a pair of long, slender legs below—totally giving off that bold and beautiful big-sister vibe.

She still didn’t have a team and hadn’t borrowed a driver from Chang Yan’s crew, so she planned to just call a ride to Jialai. It was all in the same city anyway, not a big deal.

Just before she left, though, she got a message from Fu Shan on WeChat saying that Director Du had something come up last-minute and asked her to first meet Fu Shan at Jialai’s in-house café to discuss the V project.

Gu Sheng didn’t mind—she was planning to see him anyway.

But just as she was about to leave, she saw Wen Heng also getting ready to head out. This damn man really was unfairly good-looking—with his 188cm frame, even casual clothes looked striking on him.

“You’re going out too?” Gu Sheng asked.

Wen Heng’s gaze briefly paused on her perfectly done lip makeup and he gave a slight nod. “I’m going with you to Jialai.”

Gu Sheng raised an eyebrow. “With me?”

The system popped out, chirping:
「Host, he doesn’t want to let you go alone! He’s asserting dominance in front of another man! Ahhhh!」

Gu Sheng thought: Tch, this damn man just doesn’t trust me, huh!

As if she didn’t know? What if she suddenly triggered a pain point while discussing work? If it was mild, fine—but what if it hit a level 10? Wouldn’t Wen Heng be done for?

She refused to believe this cold-blooded guy was being sweet for her sake!

But as if to rebut her, the system stayed dead silent after that—completely quiet, not a single beep.

Wen Heng noticed the surprise on her face, and his fingers curled slightly at his side. He offered a legitimate reason: “I’m going to… scope out the competition. So I can win you over.”

“……”

Gu Sheng had to admit—her vanity was shamefully satisfied.

—She was still just an unknown right now, and already this in-demand? Once she actually released something, wouldn’t all the industry giants fight over her until their heads bled?

“Aiya, stop fighting, stop fighting!”

Gu Sheng was secretly quite pleased, but her face remained serious. “Oh—alright then.”

Conveniently, Wen Heng could drive, so—driver secured. √

The system silently thought: probably only its host could get a top-tier celebrity to play chauffeur.

It was about a thirty-minute drive from Hua Ting to Jialai Media. Wen Heng had been there before, so he found a parking spot easily.

Before coming, Gu Sheng had already notified Du Yanzhi, so she could enter the company with just her appointment.

But as soon as they walked through the main doors, she realized—the man behind her was more effective than any appointment. Even with sunglasses on, only half his face visible, that sharp jawline was enough to be instantly recognized.

“—Wen… Wen Shen!”

The receptionist at Jialai might’ve been a Wen Heng fan. The person she’d just seen in a livestream not long ago was now right in front of her. She nearly fainted and only remembered after a beat that it was Gu Sheng who had the appointment. “Oh, oh, Miss Gu, the café is this way! I’ll take you—”

After leading them to the café and watching the two sit down, the receptionist turned around excitedly and posted in the company group chat:

[Wen Shen is at the office! Holy crap, he’s even more handsome in person!]

[And he brought his wife. She’s stunning too, ahhh!]

As soon as the messages dropped, the Jialai company chat exploded.

People in the entertainment industry usually followed celebrities to some extent. Plenty of people in the company were fans of the movie king, and there were even some who shipped the two of them. For a moment, everyone was fired up, dying to go downstairs and sneak a peek.

When Fu Shan came downstairs, he saw a crowd loitering outside the café, peeking in furtively.

“Excuse me,” he said with a smile.

He pushed open the glass door and immediately spotted Gu Sheng. His eyes lit up.

She was even prettier than on TV.

Gu Sheng was looking down at her phone, but she sensed someone stop at the table.

She looked up and met the smiling face of a young man.

The first thing he said was “Jiejie.”