Chapter 30

There’s a very high concentration of night owls among internet users. Even though it was already the middle of the night, under the trending topic #DiggingIntoWhoClaimedToBeThe“MysteriousWoman”, there were still quite a few people enthusiastically combing through the list of suspects.

It hadn’t even been that long since the incident, but already a surprising number of people had tried, through various overt and covert ways, to suggest they were the “mysterious woman.” Among them were quite a few minor internet celebrities and D-list influencers taking advantage of the chaos, as well as several well-known female stars from the entertainment industry.

Unforgiving netizens dragged each of them out and paraded them online. The one being mocked the most was none other than Ding Fengjiao, who had just recently managed to suppress the heat surrounding her.

“I’m dying—this one female celeb tried to market herself as a femme fatale and ended up clinging onto Film Emperor Ji. I don’t even know whether her team is bold or just plain stupid.”

“Did they really think we wouldn’t notice those whiny posts were from paid trolls? Hah, bet they didn’t expect the authorities to issue a public clarification right after they tried to latch onto the mysterious woman.”

“Also dying here—this slap in the face must have left her completely dazed!”

“From all the clues, it’s pretty much confirmed that the good Samaritan Ms. Jiang is the mysterious woman. So here comes the real question: Who exactly is Ms. Jiang?”

“We already know that Film Emperor Ji’s studio said the mysterious woman is someone from the production team. Since Ms. Jiang is the mysterious woman, then Ms. Jiang must be part of the Regent Prince production crew.”

And so, all the gossip-hungry netizens rushed to the Regent Prince drama’s official Weibo to leave comments and inquire.

Overnight, the drama’s official account gained hundreds of thousands of new followers.

---

The next morning, Jiang Shuwan woke up to the sound of her alarm. She instinctively grabbed her phone and opened Weibo.

She originally just wanted to check if there were any updates about Ding Fengjiao trying to latch onto Ji Hanzhang, but as soon as she opened the trending topics, she was met with a long list:

• #GoodSamaritanMsJiangEarnsPointsAgain
• #GoodSamaritanMsJiang MysteriousWoman
• #DiggingIntoWhoClaimedToBeThe“MysteriousWoman”
• #RegentPrince MsJiang

Jiang Shuwan: “?”

Back when the situation with Xia Xiangyang happened, netizens had already dubbed her “Good Samaritan Ms. Jiang.” Then, when she appeared on the hot search with Film Emperor Ji, she got another label—“Mysterious Woman.” These trending tags—Good Samaritan Ms. Jiang and Mysterious Woman—surely… they couldn’t be referring to her, right?

She silently clicked into the hashtags to have a look.

Yep, they really were talking about her.

But aside from a few people, the public didn’t actually know that Good Samaritan Ms. Jiang was her.

And netizens definitely had no clue.

Jiang Shuwan calmly put away her phone, got out of bed to wash up, eat, and head out.

The weather was getting colder. When she stepped out, she was bundled up tightly—mask, scarf, gloves, hat—nothing was missing.

Manager Zhou was still personally waiting for her in the hotel lobby. As he handed her the insulated lunchbox, he subtly mentioned that the hotel had also prepared meals for Mr. Ji and Mr. Xia.

Manager Zhou smiled, “President Han specifically instructed us that anyone who’s your friend is a VIP of Wan Zhou.”

His boss only knew how to throw money at women he liked, so Manager Zhou felt it was his duty to help make a good impression on Jiang Shuwan.

Jiang Shuwan nodded and casually asked, “Won’t this trouble you too much?”

Manager Zhou maintained his polite smile, “Not at all. The hotel restaurant prepares meals anyway.”

Of course, they didn’t normally offer takeout lunchbox service.

Jiang Shuwan thought for a moment and said, “Tell Han Jinzhou to give you all bonuses.”

No matter what, the hotel had gone out of their way to provide these extra meals. Also, even though she’d already told Manager Zhou that he could just leave the lunchbox at the front desk, he still waited for her here every single day without fail. Jiang Shuwan felt a little bad about it.

She was planning to tell Han Jinzhou not to give her any “allowance” next month and instead hand it over as bonuses to Manager Zhou and the hotel chef.

For a moment, Manager Zhou’s smile faltered in surprise, but he quickly recovered, “Thank you very much, Miss Jiang.”

He felt that he might have underestimated her. For someone to so naturally say, “Tell Han Jinzhou to give you bonuses,” with that kind of ease and closeness, she didn’t seem like someone in a vague relationship or just being pursued—it sounded more like… a girlfriend?

Manager Zhou suddenly had a realization.

No wonder his boss’s method of courtship had seemed so one-sided. No matter how thoughtful he was, if he didn’t even show up himself, what was the point?

But if she were already the girlfriend, that’d be a different story.

If they were in a stable relationship, then long-distance or temporarily living apart because of their careers would be totally normal.

Only… if she was President Han’s girlfriend, why was she starting out as a background actress?

Watching Jiang Shuwan’s back as she walked away, Manager Zhou fell into a new spiral of confusion.

---

Carrying the insulated lunchbox, Jiang Shuwan walked to the hotel entrance. Not far away, a group of paparazzi in windbreakers and carrying cameras immediately snapped their heads around with alert expressions.

Jiang Shuwan glanced at them calmly, then walked over to a small electric scooter parked near the right side of the entrance. She carefully placed the lunchbox inside, straddled the scooter, and twisted the handle.

Under the watchful eyes of the paparazzi, the little scooter chugged along against the wind and drifted slowly away.

From behind her, she could hear their voices in the wind:

“Bundled up like that, I thought she was some big star, but she’s riding a little electric scooter?”

“Pfft, it’s freezing—who wouldn’t bundle up riding that thing? But seriously, this hotel’s security is insane, they won’t even let us breathe near the place, yet somehow an electric scooter gets to park at the entrance?”

“You’re worried about that? I just want to know if we can catch Ji Hanzhang or that mysterious woman. Who is the mysterious woman anyway? If I can get a shot of her, I’ll hit my monthly KPI on the spot…”

Jiang Shuwan quietly sped up.

---

As for last night’s incident, the Regent Prince production crew could be considered the unexpected winner. They caught a wave of popularity for free—the name “Regent Prince” was still trending, and the crew’s official account had doubled its followers overnight. The entire crew, especially the publicity team, was overjoyed, and even the rest of the members were in high spirits.

But not everyone was celebrating.

Ding Fengjiao’s entire team had been walking around with gloomy faces all day.

Only Ding Fengjiao, truly worthy of being the woman of a bigshot, had an excellent mental state. She remained calm and composed, wearing a gentle smile the whole time. During a break, she even took the initiative to approach Ji Hanzhang and speak to him. Her tone implied that she hadn’t expected that a casually promotional Weibo post she made would be so misinterpreted by netizens, which caused Ji Hanzhang to get dragged into trending topics. She said she felt really sorry about it.

And then—

She said that because of this, she wanted to treat Ji Hanzhang to a meal to make amends. If Ji Hanzhang didn’t agree, it would mean he refused to forgive her for an unintentional mistake.

When Ding Fengjiao said those words, Jiang Shuwan, who played the role of Ye, was standing behind Ji Hanzhang. Her eyebrows practically flew off her face in surprise.

Jiang Shuwan deeply felt that her past life experiences had been far too simple. Ever since coming to the film city, she had truly begun to understand what the diversity of life forms meant from an entirely new angle.

It was clearly Ding Fengjiao who wanted to ride Ji Hanzhang’s popularity wave, but the way she spun it, it sounded like she had accidentally brought Ji Hanzhang into the trending spotlight.

It was clearly Ding Fengjiao who had done something inappropriate, yet now she was using moral coercion to force Ji Hanzhang into having a meal with her.

It was easy to imagine that if Ji Hanzhang actually agreed to the meal, her team would definitely milk the incident even further.

Jiang Shuwan looked at Ji Hanzhang with sympathy and thought:

[Poor imperial little brother, being entangled by a demoness.]

Hearing the voice behind him, Ji Hanzhang lightly cleared his throat. A trace of helplessness and amusement flashed through his deep eyes. But when he turned to look at Ding Fengjiao, the faint smile disappeared. His tone was calm but ruthless:
“Making a mistake means correcting it promptly. The last thing needed is asking for forgiveness.”

Ding Fengjiao’s smile froze instantly. She hadn’t expected Ji Hanzhang to be so blunt. A few seconds later, she forced an awkward laugh and said, “Emperor Ji is right.”

For the remaining scenes, Ding Fengjiao NG’d a few times, but each time she maintained a good attitude, took the initiative to admit her mistakes, and quickly adjusted herself for the retake. Her acting was still commendable.

Jiang Shuwan had long since memorized the entire script. Comparing the lines in her mind with Ding Fengjiao’s performance, she analyzed it seriously and felt she was learning a lot.

Soon, it was lunchtime.

Jiang Shuwan found a corner, took out her thermal lunchbox, and began eating.

She was actually a bit picky with food. When she had to eat boxed meals on set and encountered dishes she didn’t like, she would just force them down. Now that she was bringing her own meals, and they were all things she liked, her happiness index had indeed increased significantly.

Jiang Shuwan happily enjoyed her food. When she glanced up, she noticed that not far away, Ji Hanzhang and Xia Xiangyang had the exact same kind of thermal lunchbox in front of them.

Uh… did Manager Zhou buy these lunchboxes in bulk?

Just as she was thinking that, a commotion suddenly came from the other side. Curious, Jiang Shuwan looked over and found that it was Ding Fengjiao’s personal assistant, Xiao Tian, arguing with the staff handing out meals.

The staffer repeated helplessly in a drawn-out tone:
“These are the only boxed meals available, seriously. The director eats the same thing. Everyone gets the same!”

Xiao Tian’s expression turned a bit dark. She sneered and pointed in the direction of Ji Hanzhang and Xia Xiangyang, asking:
“Then why do Teacher Ji and Teacher Xia have those? I’m not trying to make trouble here, and our Teacher Ding has always had a good temper and isn’t picky about food, but this blatant favoritism is just too much, isn’t it?”

The staffer glanced back and said with a speechless look:
“Teacher Ji and the others brought their own meals. The hotel made those lunchboxes. If you want meals like that, go talk to the hotel yourself later. The ones the crew is handing out are just these!”

Xiao Tian was half convinced. Then her eyes swept to Jiang Shuwan sitting in the corner and her voice suddenly rose:
“What about hers? Did the hotel prepare hers too? A minor extra like her—is she staying at Wanzhou too?”

This question really did stump the staffer.

Jiang Shuwan wasn’t one of the crew’s regular extras, so her lodging wasn’t the crew’s responsibility. The staff really didn’t know where she was staying.

In theory, a small-time extra definitely couldn’t afford to stay at the Wanzhou Hotel.

Besides, the hotel was entirely booked out by their production.

But that wasn’t his business to worry about. The staffer wasn’t some pushover. He lived by the workplace survival rule of mind your own business. Rolling his eyes, he said directly:
“How would I know? Maybe she’s just rich? A second-gen rich kid playing at being an extra isn’t all that rare these days.”

Xiao Tian: “……”

Not quick enough on the tongue, she could only accept defeat with hatred in her heart. She grabbed a few boxed meals and left resentfully.

On a winter noon, the sun was warm and cozy. Nearly everyone in the production sat outside eating their lunchboxes under the sun. Only Ding Fengjiao stayed inside the makeup room to eat.

Not long after Xiao Tian brought the lunch into the room, a sudden sharp scream came from inside, making everyone look over in curiosity. The door was closed, and a few minutes later, Ding Fengjiao’s makeup artist came out with a cup of water and smiled as she explained:
“A cockroach jumped out in the corner and startled her.”

Jiang Shuwan curiously glanced at the makeup artist and thought,
There’s already a kettle inside the room—why come out just to get water?
It felt more like she came out just to offer an explanation.

Almost simultaneously, the mechanical voice of the gossip system sounded in her ear:

[Congratulations, Host. You guessed right. Actually, Ding Fengjiao was throwing a tantrum inside. She slapped Xiao Tian twice, and that’s why Xiao Tian screamed.]

[Don’t be fooled by how Ding Fengjiao always smiles sweetly in public. In private, she has a nasty temper. But she’s also generous with money, so even if her team gets cursed or hit, they’re still willing to follow her.]

[However—]

[This Xiao Tian is different. She’s proud and holds grudges. After getting slapped by Ding Fengjiao, she’s been harboring hatred and waiting for a chance to strike back. You could say Ding Fengjiao’s downfall began with those two slaps.]

Jiang Shuwan: “???”

You systems really don’t believe in making small talk, huh? The moment you appear, it’s straight-up explosive intel.

Are all systems this unrestrained?