CHAPTER 17: Climb

[Ding—Congratulations to the host. The 15th pain relief attempt was successful √]

[Random reward drop: one “Classic Scene to Go Down in History”]

Gu Sheng was lying on top of Wen Heng when she heard the system notification.

Calmly, she asked, “You’re telling me this utterly embarrassing moment isn’t enough to go down in history?”

CP System: “It is—it’s so sweet, sob sob sob.”

Gu Sheng: “…”

Under the crystal chandelier, her hair spread out, the deep red hem of her gown tangled with the long legs beneath his black dress pants. The scene wasn’t actually funny—in fact, it had a certain high-class, intimate allure.

At the moment they fell, Wen Heng had instinctively shielded her with his body, clearly seen by everyone present.

In the upper-crust social circle, where every young master and lady fancied themselves precious and untouchable, no one would ever do such a thing. So even though these two were clearly in a contract marriage, and Wen Heng was notoriously indifferent, he clearly felt something… different for this wife.

Gu Sheng’s anger had mostly dissipated, but when she looked down and saw this dog of a man looking like he’d been knocked out cold, she instantly felt humiliated.

“Hey.” She poked his cheek with her pale finger. “Wake up. You’re making it look like I weigh a ton!”

Her hair brushed against his eyelids, and Wen Heng opened his eyes. His gaze landed on her rosy lips, the curve of her jaw, the pale arc of her neck, and beneath the V neckline…

Wen Heng’s eyelashes trembled slightly. He quickly sat up.

Gu Sheng also climbed off him with great dissatisfaction and adjusted her gown.

A waiter arrived just in time to help them both up. “Young Master Wen, Madam, are you alright?”

Gu Sheng glared at Wen Heng, while Wen Heng calmly straightened his collar and cuffs. He glanced over Gu Sheng to make sure she was fine, then said flatly, “—It’s nothing. We were just joking around.”

The waiter, ever professional, smiled and nodded—but in his mind, he was reeling. To them, Young Master Wen was a figure far above reach, always composed and aloof. This was the first time he had ever lost his composure in public—being pinned down by a woman, no less.

“Please follow me. Mr. Wen would like to see you.”

Gu Sheng glanced at Wen Heng. Wen Heng lowered his gaze and offered her his arm. Gu Sheng curled her lip slightly, but placed her hand in the crook of his arm.

They went up to the second floor of the mansion, passed the carved banister, and walked through the entrance hall. Upstairs, several members of the Wen family were seated.

At the center sat the Wen family patriarch, Wen Yuesong—Wen Heng’s father—his expression stern, exuding the coldness of a man used to power. In this sense, Wen Heng did take after him.

The relationship between father and son had always been tense. Having heard the commotion from downstairs, Wen Yuesong lifted his eyelids and said to Wen Heng, “So filial of you—coming to my birthday party just to make a scene.”

He was clearly addressing Wen Heng only, not Gu Sheng. In fact, the original Gu Sheng’s father-in-law had always been relatively kind to her—for a simple reason. Whatever the eldest son liked, he tended to disdain. So anything Wen Heng didn’t like, Wen Yuesong would take special interest in—including the wife he used to resist so much.

Wen Heng didn’t respond, his expression unreadable. The air was about to grow tense when a voice interjected smoothly to break the ice: “It’s been so long since Ah Heng came back to the main house. No wonder things have gotten lively. You must be busy with work these days. I heard from Qingjian that you’re preparing a new blockbuster IP. As expected of the top star—your career’s really booming!”

Gu Sheng lifted her gaze toward the speaker. The man was middle-aged, though still youthful in appearance and dressed with care. In the original novel, Wen Heng’s family relationships weren’t heavily detailed, but based on the context, Gu Sheng guessed this man was Li Muzhe—Wen Heng’s brother-in-law, husband to his older sister Wen Wan.

This man was deeply shrewd and politically savvy. After years at Wen Yuesong’s side, he’d firmly planted himself within the Wen family business. Though he and Wen Wan had never had children, it was clear his brother-in-law’s marriage was in even worse shape. As long as Li Muzhe held on, his descendants would likely inherit the Wen family legacy.

So the praise he offered now, on the surface, was complimenting Wen Heng’s career—but everyone knew Wen Yuesong disapproved of his son’s top-tier status in the entertainment industry. Sure enough, all he gave was a cold snort.

Wen Heng remained impassive, clearly long used to their attitudes.

Because Wen Heng didn’t give him any face, Li Muze was a little embarrassed, so he casually brought up another topic: “That couples variety show you two did is really popular. Ah Wan watches it at home all the time.”

That one sentence instantly shifted everyone’s attention to Gu Sheng, who had been sitting quietly next to Wen Heng.

Li Muze had been paying attention to the commotion downstairs the whole time. When he saw that girl from the Jiang family confront Gu Sheng, he was quite looking forward to the fallout—he never expected that Wen Heng, who had always resisted the arranged marriage, would actually declare publicly that he wouldn’t get a divorce?

And saying it’s Wen Wan who watches every episode… truthfully, it’s him who follows each one closely. Wen Heng had always been distant from even his own sister, but in the last two live episodes, he didn’t reject Gu Sheng at all… even took the initiative to get close to her a few times? But given how Wen Heng used to treat Gu Sheng, how could he suddenly fall for her?

Something major must have happened in between!

When Gu Sheng looked up, she immediately sensed the curiosity in Li Muze’s gaze. But she didn’t let it show, only turned to meet Wen Yuesong’s eyes and called out a bit awkwardly, “Dad.”

Wen Yuesong’s expression softened slightly. He said, “I know about that variety show. Sheng Sheng, a rich girl like you following him around messing about like that…”

As a billionaire tycoon, there was clear disdain in his tone toward the entertainment industry—he clearly looked down on jobs like acting, singing, or dancing. For a moment, Gu Sheng seemed to understand how Wen Heng must have felt—no matter how successful he was in his field, in his father’s eyes, it was all just fooling around.

Gu Sheng’s voice was gentle but her words were clear: “It’s not really fooling around. It’s quite meaningful.”

Wen Heng was slightly stunned.

Wen Yuesong gave her another look and, surprisingly, found this daughter-in-law had become much steadier. He thought for a moment and said, “If you just want to dabble, you can sign under Wen’s company. We’ll prioritize good resources for you.”

It sounded tempting, but Gu Sheng had seen more than her share of storms. She remained completely unmoved.

And no thanks—according to the original novel’s plot, Wen’s company had quite a few troublesome characters under it.

Beside her, Wen Heng frowned and said coldly, “Don’t go around making empty promises.”

Wen Yuesong immediately snorted, “I’m just letting Gu Sheng get a taste of it. But really, in your line of work, you’re all just actors. If Gu Sheng actually pursues this seriously, she might not even be able to afford food one day!”

Back when Wen Heng was just starting out, Wen Yuesong had confidently predicted that he’d end up begging for food in this industry. As the male lead’s father, his so-called “curses” were practically blessings in disguise. From debut till now, Wen Heng had only grown more popular.

Now that he’d said Gu Sheng wouldn’t be able to eat if she stuck with this, Gu Sheng suddenly felt extremely optimistic about her career.

She said sincerely, “Got it, Dad!”

This “Dad” was full of genuine emotion—at least ten times more heartfelt than earlier.

Wen Heng: “?”

After a moment, he seemed to catch on. Seeing the serious look in Gu Sheng’s eyes, he couldn’t hold back a laugh.

…

After meeting Wen Yuesong, Gu Sheng and Wen Heng had basically fulfilled their duty.

As they were leaving, Li Muze was still watching them with that probing look. Gu Sheng rolled her eyes internally.

Sure, she didn’t think much of Wen Heng, that dog of a man, but she liked Li Muze even less—someone who relied purely on scheming to climb his way up.

But let him speculate all he wants. He wasn’t going to figure anything out anyway.

As Gu Sheng and Wen Heng walked down from the second floor, they were about to leave when they ran into a man with slicked-back hair who, despite being dressed sharply in a suit, still looked completely unserious.

The moment he saw them, his eyes lit up. “Oh hey, Brother Wen! Sister-in-law!—”

Wen Heng clearly wanted to ignore him, but since Gu Sheng was present, he reluctantly introduced him, “Qi Qingjian.”

Gu Sheng raised an eyebrow slightly. Li Muze had mentioned this person earlier—he was Wen Heng’s cousin, a music producer signed under Wen’s company, and the only one among the Wen family who actually worked with Wen Heng professionally.

Gu Sheng gave a small wave and smiled lightly. “Nice to meet you.”

Qi Qingjian winked exaggeratedly at her. “Sister-in-law looks even better in person than on TV! That little clip you two acted in—it had me crying, boohoo!”

His flamboyant, flashy personality was the complete opposite of Wen Heng’s. In just a few sentences, he acted as if he and Gu Sheng were already close.

Wen Heng frowned, voice cool: “If you’ve got something to say, say it.”

Gu Sheng took the chance to say, “You guys talk, I’ll go to the restroom.”

Once Gu Sheng walked away, Qi Qingjian pulled back his gaze and turned to Wen Heng. “You’re thinking about signing Sister-in-law?”

Wen Heng glanced at him and nodded. “Yeah.”

Qi Qingjian tugged at his hair and nodded too. “Understandable. With looks like that, it’d be hard not to want to keep her close.” She was insanely beautiful in person, damn.

Wen Heng frowned. “I value her ability.”

Qi Qingjian: “Oh come on, bro. How many people have you signed in all these years? And anyone you sign gets priority treatment anyway. Actually, speaking of that—Fu Shan needs a female lead for his new MV. Someone with strong acting skills, not too well-known, and of course, pretty—” He winked. “You get what I mean. It’s a melancholic theme. Needs someone who can really act out ‘pain.’ Sister-in-law’s crying scenes are amazing.”

Wen Heng gave a cold laugh.

Pain?

How painful?

“Filming time is short too. Just one or two days with me and it’ll be done…” Qi Qingjian kept babbling. Seeing Wen Heng stay quiet, he teased, “What? Can’t bear to part with her? It’s just a few days of working apart, what’s the big deal?”

“…” Wen Heng paused for two seconds, then said bluntly, “I could die.”

Literally, die.

Qi Qingjian nearly spit out his drink.

Wh—what the hell!?

His brother was actually… this deep in???

For a moment, he… actually shipped them a little.

…

But Wen Heng wouldn’t let his personal feelings get in the way of Gu Sheng’s choices.

Later that day, after leaving the Wen family’s estate and getting into the car, he relayed Qi Qingjian’s offer to her word for word.

Gu Sheng had heard of Fu Shan before. Some of the OSTs in the dramas she watched were his work—he was a genius in the industry.

For Gu Sheng, filming a V drama was actually beneficial. The production cycle was short, and the success rate was high. Since she still had no completed work in this world, it was a great opportunity.

However, Gu Sheng didn’t agree right away. After all, this was a resource brought in by Wen Heng’s side, and since she hadn’t officially decided which agency to sign with, she didn’t want to appear greedy.

“Thank you, I’ll think about it carefully.”

Wen Heng could tell that Gu Sheng wasn’t just messing around in the entertainment industry, planning to dip her toes in and leave once she’d had enough of the glamor. Her decisions were cautious, and she hadn’t impulsively chosen to sign with Bu Wen.

In fact, Wen Heng wasn’t even sure if Gu Sheng would choose to come to him.

…After all, he was the one who needed her now.

Maybe it was the suffocating atmosphere earlier at the Wen household, or maybe it was the unwavering way she had said something was “meaningful”—

For the first time, Wen Heng asked Gu Sheng seriously, “Do you like acting?”

Many people got into the industry for money or for awards. Very few could understand why Wen Heng gave up the Wen family to start from scratch in entertainment.

But he had made that decision a long time ago. What he didn’t expect was that Gu Sheng might be someone just like him.

“—I do,” Gu Sheng answered with certainty. “I like using my emotions to stir other people’s emotions. I want the audience to laugh with me, cry with me.”

Even if she couldn’t get good scripts for now, it didn’t matter. She still wanted to create characters with soul.

Wen Heng stared at her for a long moment.

Then, after a pause, he spoke softly: “I see.”

–

After the system’s 15th dramatic demand, things finally calmed down for a while.

In the end, Wen Heng completed the “Heart-to-Heart” mission at the cost of multiple bruises on his back, and earned himself some precious breathing room—finally able to work normally again.

Gu Sheng noticed that he drank herbal tea every day, kept a regular schedule, and spent more time at the gym than before.

Once, she happened to catch sight of Wen Heng in workout clothes, sweat on his temples, lean muscles well-defined, and she thought: I get it, I get it. Man’s just trying to survive!

Meanwhile, the second official episode of The Four Laws of Happiness—titled “You Are Like Breathing”—finally went live.

As the hottest, most viral variety show of its season, fans of Four Laws had been going crazy with anticipation. As soon as Yuzu TV uploaded it, viewer numbers exploded.

[Fi!nal!ly! Here! Aaaah I’ve waited forever]
[Even the title is shippable sob sob WenSheng let’s gooo]
[Wen Heng Wen Heng Wen Heng Wen Heng Wen Heng]
[Gu Sheng! Your echo is here!!!]

That night, Gu Sheng kept wondering where her reward—“Historic CP Moment”—would appear. Maybe it was her With You Again remake going viral again?

But after watching the entire episode, although her crying scene was pretty amazing, she didn’t see any highlight-worthy, history-making moment…

Instead, she got hit with the behind-the-scenes footage of her and Wen Heng bickering like kindergarteners!

She hadn’t thought much of it while filming, too busy arguing. But now, watching it from a third-person view—it was ridiculous.

“You pull me.”

“You’re so heavy, how am I supposed to pull you?!”

“Control your weight when we get home.”

“awsl” (lit. I’m dead from cuteness)—Gu Sheng’s good mood from watching her stunning drama scenes evaporated instantly. Face burning, she slapped the TV off.

What she didn’t know was: viewers were eating it up.

[Aaaah help me, they’re so sweet!]
[Love really makes you dumb, even top stars can’t escape!]
[Two gorgeous people doing dumb kid stuff hhhhhh]

CP fans quickly collected all the sweet moments from the last two episodes and made a mega fan edit:
“When you think your CP is doi-ing off camera, but in reality they’re—”

Fighting! Bickering! Driving each other crazy!

But at the same time, he holds her softly at night. Corners her against the wall. Gets jealous to the point of trembling. And in front of millions, says:
“I can’t breathe without you.”

This CP—damn—is just so shippable!

[Ahhh thank you fan godmother for this feast, I’m full]
[This is a top star and his wife?! I’m in!!]
[Sob sob sob I’m dying of fluff overload]

In real-time search rankings, it was almost all Wen Heng and Gu Sheng. “WenSheng Couple” had officially become the hottest tag under The Four Laws of Happiness.

While netizens were still buzzing, the production team dropped a promo for their upcoming livestream event on short video platforms. It was partly for sponsor placement, but also to let fans get a closer look at the couples.

“Four couples, live at the same time—viewers, choose your favorite~ Stay tuned~!”

Still so sneaky, this show. Obviously setting the stage for another epic online battle.

Gu Sheng thought of how the livestream would have both of them squeezed into one little screen and sighed—what a hassle.

And what if her “historic moment” ended up happening during the livestream?

Instantly, she felt like having a top star as her other half was just extra baggage.

Luckily, on the day of the livestream, Wen Heng had an important meeting to attend. He even made sure to explain it to Gu Sheng beforehand.