Chapter 26

The contingency plans the studio had prepared were all aimed at the possibility of someone taking the opportunity to fabricate scandals and criminal rumors about Ji Hanzhang. And as it turned out, that was indeed the case. Forget the internet trolls—those marketing accounts, in pursuit of traffic, would fabricate anything.

Don’t be fooled by just a few trending negative hashtags—there were actually many hands at play behind them. Aside from those who simply wanted to piggyback on the traffic, there were competitors vying for the same resources, long-time rivals, and those just waiting for a chance to kick him while he was down.

But Ji Hanzhang’s team wasn’t to be underestimated. Many of them had been with him from the beginning, from the days he was just an unknown actor in small roles. They had weathered many storms together and were well-versed in crisis management, so they handled things with practiced ease.

However, there was one issue.

The team was composed almost entirely of men, which occasionally led to certain blind spots.

Especially considering that Ji Hanzhang had never really been involved in any romantic scandals before.

The PR team had focused all their efforts on debunking the criminal rumors and didn’t even consider the possibility of a romance scandal.

So when fans started asking questions under the studio’s official statement, the entire team was stunned.

Their Film Emperor Ji, who normally kept an eight-hundred-meter distance from anything female and was known as a scandal-free zone in the industry—who would’ve thought there was actually a woman in the picture?

After pulling up the photos and enlarging them repeatedly for closer inspection—well, what do you know? There really was a woman.

Although, to be fair, it was barely noticeable.

You wouldn’t catch it unless someone shoved the photo in your face and you squinted until you were cross-eyed.

No wonder netizens are all amateur detectives.

Unfortunately, Ji Hanzhang was already resting at the time, and it took half an hour for the team to finally get in touch with Xiao Zhang, who had just finished showering, to get the full story. After some discussion, they replied on Weibo: Just a colleague from the production crew.

But by that time, the hashtag #JiHanzhangMysteryWoman had already made it to the trending list.

Then, a marketing account dropped a so-called “exclusive bombshell.”

The clickbait headline screamed: Shocking! The Mystery Woman Is Actually…

Beneath it was a photo that required payment to view.

Netizens cursed the account for monetizing everything—wishing they’d spend their life buying instant noodles with no seasoning packets—but they still paid up and downloaded the photo.

Upon seeing it, they collectively flooded the comment section with a wall of ellipses.

Because honestly, the feelings were just too complicated.

If you wanted to say it was a “deceptive photo”—well, it did have some substance. It clearly showed Ji Hanzhang with a woman in a hotel corridor, his hands resting on her shoulders in a very intimate pose.

But if you wanted to argue it wasn’t misleading—well, Ji Hanzhang’s face was sharp and clear, but the woman had turned her head just enough that only the back of her head was visible.

And due to the angle, most of her body was blocked by Ji Hanzhang, making even her figure hard to distinguish.

Just a back of the head—how could anyone recognize her, even if they knew her?

Not only were gossip-hungry netizens emotionally deceived, they were financially scammed too.

The problem was, they couldn’t accuse the blogger of fraud.

“No words.”

Ji Hanzhang’s team had initially panicked when they heard about a marketing account releasing an “exclusive scoop.” But when they rushed in, rolled up their sleeves, and spent one yuan to download the photo, they were all left with the same unimpressed expression: That’s it?

Forget it. Time to sleep.

---

Jiang Shuwan woke up to her alarm. After freshening up, she suddenly remembered the photo taken outside the police station yesterday. She picked up her phone, opened the Big Eyed App, and scrolled through the trending topics from top to bottom—surprisingly, there was nothing about Ji Hanzhang.

She let out a breath of relief.

Jiang Shuwan already felt deeply guilty for dragging Ji Hanzhang and the others into danger. If that had also sparked an online scandal, she would’ve felt even more apologetic.

Luckily, things were calm online.

As for other trending tags, like #WhoIsTheMysteryWoman, she had zero interest.

She put her phone away and stepped into the outer room of her suite to eat breakfast.

Ever since Manager Zhou took personal responsibility for her daily needs, the hotel service had become even more attentive. Not only did they prepare her lunch and dinner, even her breakfast was delivered straight to her room according to her preferences.

Jiang Shuwan didn’t particularly care where she ate, but eating in her room was definitely more efficient and time-saving.

Besides, as she spent more time with the crew and met more people, going to the buffet might just invite more trouble.

After finishing breakfast, she took the exclusive elevator from the penthouse suite down to the hotel lobby. Manager Zhou was already there with an insulated lunch box in hand. When he saw her, he immediately smiled warmly, “Good morning, Miss Jiang.”

As she approached, he added, “Mr. Ji is already waiting for you in the car outside.”

Her electric scooter was still at the set, and after dinner last night, Ji Hanzhang had agreed to give her a lift to the shoot this morning.

Jiang Shuwan quickly checked the time.

Good—she wasn’t late.

She had always been punctual, usually arriving ten minutes ahead of schedule. Today was no exception.

Manager Zhou noticed her glance at the time and offered an explanation, “Mr. Ji just arrived as well.”

Looks like Miss Jiang really cares about Mr. Ji. Not sure if their boss, Mr. Han, knows about this.

Manager Zhou couldn’t help but guess that their workaholic CEO Han, who was probably interested in Jiang Shuwan, was too busy to chase her himself—so he was using remote control to send him as a stand-in to curry favor.

Maybe next time Mr. Han called, he should subtly drop a reminder?

After all, love can’t be solved just by throwing money at it—especially when that Mr. Ji didn’t seem to be lacking in money either.

Though he mentally doubted his boss’s chances, Manager Zhou showed nothing on his face. He personally escorted Jiang Shuwan to the car and smiled as he watched her get in. Then he handed over the lunch box. “Miss Jiang, best of luck with your shoot.”

Anyone who didn’t know better would think Jiang Shuwan was starring in some huge blockbuster.

But Jiang Shuwan had always been a bit oblivious about these things and didn’t notice anything unusual. She took the lunch box and sincerely said, “Thank you.”

Xiao Zhang, noticing the box, was surprised. “The hotel offers lunchbox service now?”

Manager Zhou paused for a moment, then kept his polite smile. “If Miss Jiang’s friends need it as well, they can contact the front desk directly.”

Xiao Zhang had no idea about the deeper meaning behind Manager Zhou’s words. Instead, he cheerfully said, “That’s great! Our Teacher Ji has a sensitive stomach, and the crew’s boxed meals are too greasy. If the hotel can prepare lunchboxes, that would be perfect.”

Manager Zhou smiled. “Of course.”

He just didn’t know whether President Han would mind his own hotel preparing lunchboxes for a romantic rival.

Thousands of miles away, Han Jinzhou, who was already in an early morning meeting, suddenly sneezed.

*

After bidding farewell to the warm and attentive Manager Zhou, the car started and headed toward the film set.

Xiao Zhang sighed deeply. “As expected of a hotel under a top wealthy family. This level of service—no wonder they make money!”

Sitting in the backseat, Ji Hanzhang glanced at his assistant and rubbed his forehead, feeling a bit worried about his assistant’s intelligence.

Jiang Shuwan didn’t respond. After greeting Ji Hanzhang politely, she quietly opened WeChat and pretended to be busy.

But upon opening it, she realized there were actually a few unread messages.

The first was from Assistant Lin early that morning, informing her that the vehicle had been ordered and would arrive at the film city in about a week. Jiang Shuwan replied with a quick thank you.

Then came her professor’s daily message: “When are you coming back to school?”

Jiang Shuwan thought for a moment and replied: “In a little while.”

Although her original plan for a romance had failed, after acquiring the Gossip System, she found that life in the film city was incredibly lively and enjoyable—she was actually having a great time.

Besides, since she had already become a background actress, she wanted to learn to act properly.

Of course, the main reason was that she didn’t consider herself particularly gifted academically. Whether she studied one more year or one less didn’t make much of a difference.

It was fine to play around outside for a while before returning to school.

Scrolling further, she saw a message from Xin Li.

Xin Li, ever persistent, continued sending her photos of Ji Hanzhang daily, trying to tempt her into “jumping ships.”

Jiang Shuwan never responded directly, nor did she try to stop her. She simply admired the photos silently each day, downloading and saving them one by one to her phone.

All gain, no effort.

Xin Li had no idea she’d become someone’s photo-collecting tool. She continued her diligent daily effort without rest.

Jiang Shuwan thought today’s message would be another Ji Hanzhang photo. She sneaked a glance at him—he was resting with his eyes closed—then confidently opened Xin Li’s message.

But to her surprise, the message had been sent in the middle of the night, and it wasn’t just Ji Hanzhang’s photo… well, not just his.

The first dozen or so images were all from outside the police station yesterday. They were very similar, mostly shots of Ji Hanzhang getting into the car, with only slight differences in his actions.

Put together, the photos could almost become a stop-motion animation of Ji Hanzhang getting into the car.

As Jiang Shuwan browsed through them, she suddenly noticed that each photo had a small red circle in the corner. Looking more closely, her eyes widened—belated realization dawning: the blurry silhouette inside the red circle was her!

Wait, was Xin Li confronting her for knowing Ji Hanzhang?

She quickly scrolled further and found a photo that truly shocked her.

Clearly, it showed her and Ji Hanzhang.

But when had she ever been that close to him?

Jiang Shuwan examined the photo carefully and remembered—it was the day Xia Xiangyang invited her for a meal. Liang Hao’s incident had happened that day. When she was watching the commotion, Liang Hao, in his panic, nearly ran into her. Ji Hanzhang had pulled her out of the way.

They’d still had some distance between them at the time, but perhaps due to the camera angle, the photo looked surprisingly intimate.

Her heartbeat suddenly quickened.

Jiang Shuwan instinctively glanced at Ji Hanzhang. Seeing that he still had his eyes closed, she quietly let out a sigh of relief.

A strange sense of guilt crept in, as though she’d done something bad and feared being caught.

In the photo, she was once again circled.

There was no doubt—Xin Li had recognized her.

Jiang Shuwan kept scrolling and finally reached Xin Li’s string of text messages.

Lilian: Jiang Assistant! I need to know everything about this woman in one second!

Lilian: Who is she, who is she, who is she? Who exactly is this mysterious woman?!

Lilian: I solemnly swear I’ll eat thirty extra pounds of meat over the next month in exchange for soul-swapping into this woman for just three minutes!

Lilian: Sis, this is a photo I bought for a precious one yuan! I’m now sharing this valuable treasure with you.

Jiang Shuwan: “……”

Some people have questionable mental states.

Some people have questionable intelligence.

Xin Li had both.