Ning Qiuxiu, although experienced in three different worlds and having dealt with both humans and ghosts, thought she had been through everything.

But cleaning a man’s body? This was definitely a first for her.

Especially since their relationship was so… ambiguous.

However, once she had spoken, there was no turning back. Chen Yi timely exited the room, leaving the space for the “newlyweds.”

“What am I thinking? Giving up the life of a pampered young lady to show off! Serves me right for showing off!” Ning Qiuxiu muttered to herself, feeling like slapping herself.

In fact, no one else was in the room, and there were no cameras.

If she didn’t clean Zhan Qingyue, no one would know.

But considering that even as a vegetative patient, Zhan Qingyue had always been well cared for, she felt guilty.

She had used him to avoid marrying an old man, so she couldn’t just leave him unkempt.

Fine, I’ll do it. It’s not like I’ll get pregnant from it!

Having made up her mind, Ning Qiuxiu bent down and wrung out the towel.

She started by wiping Zhan Qingyue’s face.

Then… she put the towel down and lifted the thin blanket.

Zhan Qingyue was wearing soft, comfortable cotton pajamas, with the top button undone, revealing his fair collarbone.

Her hand reached for the button.

Her face burned as she tried to break the awkwardness by muttering, “Sorry, Mr. Zhan. I don’t mean to take advantage of you, but I’m forced to do this. Please bear with me.”

She laughed at herself after saying this.

Zhan Qingyue was a vegetative patient, unaware of the outside world.

He wouldn’t even know if she was disrespecting him.

After a while, she undid the buttons, revealing his chest.

She was surprised to see how thin he was, with ribs that could be easily counted and pale skin that almost showed the arteries beneath.

He was so thin.

He had only been lying there for a year, and she could imagine how he would look after several years.

Despite the Zhan family’s wealth and ability to keep him like this indefinitely, no care could stop the body’s decline.

Eventually, he would become unrecognizable, losing the striking appearance he had now.

Feeling a pang of sympathy, Ning Qiuqiu put aside her complicated thoughts and carefully wiped his upper body twice with the towel.

Next was… the lower body.

Her face flushed again.

She first removed his outer pajama pants, cleaning him with a red face. When she reached his underwear, her hand hesitated at the edge for a long time.

Her heart raced, and she psyched herself up several times but still lacked the courage to take them off.

Well… skipping this part for one night won’t matter…

In the end, Ning Qiuxiu gave up on cleaning that area but made sure to clean the rest of him thoroughly and changed him into fresh pajamas.

Doing these tasks wasn’t easy.

Ning Qiuxiu was both embarrassed and exhausted, sweating all over.

By the time she had taken care of Young Master Zhan and re-covered him with the blanket, she felt like she had just run an 800-meter race.

She was completely wiped out.

However… Ning Qiuxiu couldn’t help but think back to what had just happened.

Despite being a bit thin, Zhan Qingyue was indeed very good-looking—almost perfect.

Ahem.

The next day, Ning Qiuxiu had to attend an event for a laundry detergent brand.

She still hadn’t sorted out the mess related to leaving her group, and her publicist, Qu Hua, was too busy with other PR matters to accompany her. Instead, her assistant, Xiao Chi, went with her.

The event was outdoors, and there were some of Ning Qiuxui’s fans present—around a hundred people.

It wasn’t clear if they were genuine fans or if they were hired by the program for the event.

Regardless, the event went smoothly and didn’t lose face.

At the end of the event, the host smiled and said, “Qiuxui, look at all the fans we have here today. They’re very excited to be close to their idol. So, at the end of the program, let’s give away some benefits, shall we?”

Ning Qiuxui’s heart skipped a beat.

This segment wasn’t in the original program outline and was clearly added at the last minute.

However, since the host had already announced it, she couldn’t refuse.

She just smiled and said, “Of course.”

The fans below cheered.

“Our fans are so enthusiastic. So, given the limited time, we’ll pick three representatives to come up and take a photo with Qiuxui and receive a small gift. Additionally—” the host stretched out their voice and raised a finger, “—each representative will also have the chance to ask Qiuxui a small question. How does that sound?”

The fans were, of course, excited about this.

Ning Qiuxiu knew the program team was trying to trap her.

She was currently under a lot of scrutiny and scandal, and everyone wanted to extract something from her.

This segment was clearly set up to make her uncomfortable, with pre-arranged people and sensitive questions that the public was eager to know.

Her manager wasn’t there today, making the situation even more difficult.

After all, it was a free publicity opportunity disguised as a fan benefit.

“So, when you entered, everyone received a number card. We’ll draw numbers now. The three numbers we’re looking for are the event date, which is the 26th; Qiuxui’s birthday, which is the 18th; and the founding date of the ‘Zaobai’ detergent group, which is the 5th. So, the fans with numbers 26, 18, and 5, please come up to the stage.”

Ning Qiuxiu: “…”

This show’s production team is so shameless.

They even arranged the numbers in advance, and didn’t let her pick a number.

No, the host was so quick that she didn’t even get a chance to speak.

The audience started to stir, murmuring among themselves.

This way of selecting numbers was clearly unfair, since the dates only go from 1 to 31, but there were over 100 people in the audience.

This meant that the people at the end had no chance at all.

But she didn’t say anything.

If she spoke up for the fans now, with three people already chosen, there might end up being six people on stage, meaning she would have to answer six questions.

Three girls quickly came up on stage.

The host, smiling, said, “Let’s start the questions. Come on, first young lady.”

The first girl took the microphone.

She looked very excited and spoke quickly, “Qiuxiu, hello! I’ve liked you for a long time and have been following all your news. Recently, there’s been a rumor online that you’re a rich second-generation. Is that true? Is my idol really that wealthy?”

“I’m not a rich second-generation,” Ning Qiuqiu said.

Seeing the disbelief on everyone’s faces, she smiled and added, “Strictly speaking, I’m a rich third-generation.”

Everyone: “……”

The second girl was calmer and said, “Hello, Qiuxiu. I’d like to know why you suddenly left the Mystery Girl group. Was it related to the company?”

“Oh, that was my personal decision.”

“Can I ask what your plans are for the future? We fans are very concerned about your next steps.” the girl continued.

“Well,” Ning Qiuxiu said, pretending to be mysterious, “My manager told me to keep it a secret.”

The third girl took the microphone and said, “Hello, Qiuxiu. Actually, I’m here with my roommate and got called up suddenly. I didn’t know what to ask. How about I ask something on behalf of the general public? Recently, there’s been a rumor online that during the ‘Mystery Girl’ audition, you took the spot of another talented contestant to rise to the top. Is that true?”

The audience was in an uproar.

Some true fans of Ning Qiuxiu were clearly displeased and started to protest loudly.

The host said, “Wow, that question is a bit out of line.”

Can I skip answering it if it’s out of line?

Ning Qiuqiu thoughts with a cold smile.

This production team is really sneaky, putting up someone who claims to be here for her roommate and not her fan, so they could ask unfriendly questions without her being able to accuse the show of targeting her.

Moreover, these questions had escalated from admitting she was rich to this third question.

If she denied having that kind of influence, it would contradict her earlier answers and no one would believe her.

She gestured for everyone to quiet down and said, “Well, I believe Mr. Zichao and Ms. Xianfei were very fair and impartial.”

Mr. Zichao and Ms. Xianfei were judges for the audition, big names in the music and dance fields.

By implying the question accused these judges of being unfair, it meant risking offending their fans.

The girl wasn’t so easily fooled and said, “But the judges don’t have the final say, right? Many judges get silenced if they don’t comply with the production team’s arrangements.”

Ning Qiuxiu could only manage a stiff smile.

“Oh, this,” Ning Qiuhou continued to smile, “You should ask the program team from Yixing about it. Host, since we’ve answered the three questions, can we move on to the next segment?”

……

After the program ended, Ning Qiuxiu went backstage.

Xiao Chi was arguing with the program director.

Despite being a woman, Xiao Chi was tough and uncompromising.

She was insisting that they had breached the contract and that a lawyer should be called to discuss the matter.

The program director argued that this was a request from the client and that their agreed activity time was one hour.

Adding a little fan benefit before the time was up was just to boost Ning Qiuxui’s fan appeal.

“It’s exceeded by 1 minute and 38 seconds,” Ning Qiuxiu checked her phone, walked up to the program director, and said, “Thank you for your careful consideration of my fans’ favorability—even though I don’t think those three people were actually my fans.”

“Remember to have the client pay us three times the penalty for the overtime,” Ning Qiuxiu told Xiao Chi as the program director was momentarily stunned. “Let’s go.”

“Oh, okay.” Xiao Chi glared at the host before following Ning Qiuxiu, whispering in her ear, “Qiuxui, you were amazing!”

Ning Qiuxiu said, “With people like this, don’t waste your breath. They always have more reasons than you.”

Xiao Chi fumed, “A small, crappy brand, daring to pull such tricks.”

It wasn’t just a small brand; it was backed by powerful connections.

Both the ongoing PR issues and this unexpected brand event clearly had someone trying to make trouble for her.

The only ones she could think of who might be bold enough to challenge the Ning family were from Yixing Entertainment.

Yixing Entertainment was one of the three major giants in the entertainment industry.

Although Ning Qiuxiu had money, her family’s investments were only in her management company and didn’t involve the entertainment industry.

If Yixing Entertainment wanted to ruin her reputation, it could be quite simple.

This was troublesome.

However, just as Ning Qiuxui’s team was struggling with the situation, the people criticizing her on Weibo suddenly disappeared, and the marketing accounts that were stirring up trouble also deleted their posts.

Even the vice president of Zaobai Detergent personally called to apologize, with an attitude that was surprisingly respectful.

Her publicist, Qu Hua, found out through various channels that someone from the Zhan family had intervened.

Ning Qiuxiu was puzzled.

Only Zhan Qingyuan would take such action, but she had just had a falling out with the female lead.

Why would Zhan Qingyuan help her?

While Ning Qiuhou was wondering, she received a WeChat message from Zhan Qingyuan.

[Zhan Little Brother: Grandpa asked me to help you with the PR issues. He told me to let you know that if you encounter difficulties in the future, just say so. You’re the Zhan family’s wife, and outsiders shouldn’t bully you.]

Ning Qiuxiu: “……”

What is this development?

Ning Qiuxiu replied: “Oh, thanks.”

[Zhan Little Brother: No need to thank me. If it weren’t for Grandpa’s instructions, I wouldn’t have helped you.]

[Ning Qiuxiu: Oh, let me rephrase that. Sorry to trouble you, little brother.]

[Zhan Little Brother: ……]