When Fan Yanli heard that name, his expression visibly changed, his brows furrowing.

He usually doesn’t follow entertainment news, but he had heard about the rumors between Ning Qiuxui and Zhan Qingyue.

Rumors are one thing—he had even had his own share with Ning Qiuhui, and no one took them seriously.

He hadn’t expected that the two were actually involved.

However, Zhan Qingyue was not someone a small star like Ning Qiuxui could control. Besides, Ning’s family business had reportedly been in dire straits last year and seemed to be hanging on by a thread now.

After a moment, Fan Yanli regained his trademark warm smile.

“Zhan Qingyue, huh? He’s indeed more formidable than I am. But if I’m not mistaken, after his car accident, his brother took over Zhuosen, right? I didn’t expect him to return so quickly. There must have been quite a bit of internal strife.”

At this point, Fan Yanli stood up, paced around the room for a moment, and then stopped in front of Ning Qiuxui. “If he’s capable of dealing with his own brother for profit today, tomorrow he might use other means to deal with you. Qiuxui, you need to think carefully.”

Ning Qiuxui’s hand was wrapped in a bandage. When he came closer, she instinctively took a step back but stopped herself, lifting her head slightly and said, “I appreciate Mr. Fan’s concern. I understand what kind of person he is, so there’s no need for you to worry.”

“Alright,” Fan Yanli nodded and took out a business card from his pocket. “Let’s be friends?”

Ning Qiuxui didn’t take it. “My boyfriend is quite possessive and doesn’t like me being friends with men who have obvious intentions.”

“……” Fan Yanli’s face darkened, clearly surprised by Ning Qiuxui’s bluntness.

As a high-status individual, few dared to be so disrespectful to him.

Standing less than half a meter away, his gaze was intense, exuding a powerful sense of pressure.

Ning Qiuxui was backed by someone powerful and was unafraid, holding his gaze firmly.

“Alright, very well,” Fan Yanli finally smiled, placing the business card on a nearby table. “If you need anything, contact me. My arms are always open for you, Qiuxui.”

With that, without waiting for Ning Qiuxui to respond, he opened the door and left.

Ning Qiuxui: “……”

Only someone like Fan Yanli could make such a grandiose statement about being a backup, as if it were an honor.

And how did he get such a high opinion of himself, making himself out to be a devoted romantic?

Perhaps it’s just that older men think differently. Ning Qiuxui could only think this way.

The plot was powerful—despite almost zero interaction with Fan Yanli, he had already developed an interest in her and even proposed such an absurd idea as marriage.

For someone who didn’t know Fan Yanli’s true nature, this might just be a case of love at first sight.

The original owner loved Zhan Qingyuan deeply, even willing to marry and go into massive debt just to be with him.

Besides the fact that she was truly desperate, a big reason was probably the allure of his refined and elegant appearance.

Ning Qiuxiu had finished reading all 19 chapters of the ABO fanfiction in the super topic.

The author still hadn’t updated, so Ning Qiuxiu was not only bombarding the author’s Weibo with comments demanding updates but also using a QQ secondary account to infiltrate the author’s fan group to urge for updates.

She was so frustrated.

In reality, she could accept the fact that Zhan Qingyue wasn’t available, but even reading fanfiction was being thwarted.

She just wanted to see how the charming Zhan Qingyue would get his comeuppance—why was it so hard?

All she wanted was to spend a night with Zhan Qingyue; such a humble wish!

If her writing skills were better, she would have written it herself.

Time flew by, and all the school scenes for “My School Bully Girlfriend” were completed. Next up were the social scenes.

The transition was set for Qingming Festival.

Originally, they were supposed to have two days off, but due to a script error in a scene, which required a sudden script change and a full day of reshooting, their Qingming break was reduced to one day.

But it was unavoidable.

Filming was always a grueling process, and having any time off was a blessing.

“I was supposed to be able to go home this evening, but with this delay, we have to work night scenes tomorrow night. The day after is Qingming, and I need to go to the cemetery to visit my grandparents. After that, there will be no more break.”

Ning Qiuxiu lay on the desk, weakly discussing the dates with Zhan Qingyue. 1551~ She had looked forward to the Qingming break for so long, and now it was ruined.

Zhan Qingyue looked at her forlorn face through the video call and laughed, “You seem so resentful.”

“I miss you and wanted to spend another day with you,” she said.

It felt inhumane to separate right after confirming their relationship.

“……” This statement greatly pleased Zhan Qingyue.

He said, “Be good, endure a little longer. We’ll wrap up soon.”

Ning Qiuxiu sighed, “There’s still a month left. The way time is moving in the crew, it feels like it’s been sold to snails, making the days drag on.”

Zhan Qingyue laughed at her description. “Then I’ll send you some snail-killing medicine to get rid of them and free up the time.”

“You might as well send yourself to me.”

Ning Qiuxiu’s sweet words seemed to delight Zhan Qingyue with each one she said.

Just as Zhan Qingyue was about to comment on how her flirtation might make him lose control, Ning Qiuxiu chuckled and continued, “You, with your wicked and foul heart, when you appear, all those snails will be poisoned.”

Zhan Qingyue: “……”

It seemed that even excessive pampering wasn’t good; she was so floaty that she couldn’t find her bearings.

The night scene the next day was a reshoot of the scene that had a bug before.

By the time they finished filming all the shots, it was almost 11 PM.

The crew officially declared “high school graduation,” and the upcoming scenes would be about the adult lives of the main characters.

With the completion of the high school scenes, many people announced their “graduation” from high school and the wrap-up of filming.

Since everyone had gotten along well over the past two months, the crew specially arranged a cake to celebrate the wrap-up.

Everyone was hungry after filming at such a late hour, and except for a few female artists who had to maintain their weight, everyone eagerly rushed toward the cake.

Ning Qiuxiu carved her way through the crowd, grabbed two pieces, avoided Song Chu’s wandering hands and the other artists’ rush, and breathlessly ran out of the crowd.

She handed a piece to Xiao Chi, saying generously, “Here, for you, eat!”

“……” Xiao Chi took it and saw that the piece in Ning Qiuxiu’s hand was even bigger than the one she had.

She quickly said, “Ah ah ah, Qiuxiu, you can’t eat so much cream, it’s seriously over the calorie limit.”

“Don’t worry, now I don’t have to maintain my weight. Haha!” Ning Qiuhui laughed loudly.

With the high school scenes wrapped up, there was no longer a need to watch her weight.

For someone of her height, gaining up to 90 kilograms was no problem.

“That won’t do. If you eat so much cream, you’ll gain 10 kilograms! Be good and bear with it now so that you can enjoy a few more bites in the future,” came the advice.

Ning Qiuxui: “……”

She was so frustrated.

Reluctantly, Ning Qiuhui scraped off the cream, leaving just the cake core.

After taking just a couple of bites, her phone rang, and it was Small Pool’s phone. Small Pool picked it up and said, “It’s Mr. Zhan calling.”

Hearing Zhan Qingyue’s name, Ning Qiuhui instantly revived with energy.

Holding the cake in one hand, she picked up the phone with the other and said, “Hello?”

“Are you having a midnight snack?” Zhan Qingyue asked, noticing the muffled tone in her voice.

Ning Qiuxui swallowed the piece of cake, almost choking. “Yes, we finished the school scenes today. To celebrate our graduation, the crew bought a cake.”

“Eating cake so late, aren’t you afraid of gaining 10 kilograms?”

“……” Again with this topic, Ning Qiuxui was exasperated.

Why couldn’t he just say 5 kilograms? Gaining 10 kilograms felt like a cursed fate!

So harsh.

With tears in her eyes, Ning Qiuxui handed the cake over to Small Pool.

If she couldn’t eat it, so be it.

Other people’s boyfriends would say, “No matter how much you gain, I won’t mind,” but why did hers always curse her with gaining 10 kilograms just for eating a bit? So sad!

“I ordered a low-fat midnight snack for you,” Zhan Qingyue continued, “The delivery person accidentally filled in my phone number. It’s already at the entrance of the set, so go out and pick it up.”

Hearing Zhan Qingyue’s thoughtfulness, Ning Qiuhui felt happy again. “Okay, I’ll have Small Pool go get it.”

“Besides the midnight snack, I also prepared a small surprise. It might be a bit heavy, so Small Pool might not be able to carry it.”

“Oh?” Ning Qiuxui was instantly intrigued. “What’s the small surprise?”

With a smile, Zhan Qingyue said mysteriously, “You’ll find out when you go outside.”

As he was speaking, Ning Qiuxui couldn’t contain her excitement, and quickly ran outside with her phone in hand.

She was thrilled to see a tall delivery person standing at the door.

Ning Qiuxui hurried over but was disappointed to find… it wasn’t Zhan Qingyue himself.

Reluctantly, she looked at a small cardboard box beside the delivery person. It didn’t seem big enough to fit a person.

Ah, she thought Zhan Qingyue might have tricked her into coming out under the pretense that he was there.

In reality, she had over-romanticized things.

Damn man!

“You must be Miss Ning,” the delivery person said, “Here’s your delivery, and this too. Please sign for it.”

“I’ll sign for it now.” Ning Qiuhui replied to the person on the other end of the line, then put her phone in her pants pocket and signed for the delivery.

Xiao Chi ran over and saw the items Ning Qiuxiu had received.

She asked, “Are these all from Mr. Zhan? Should we check them for any issues?”

“Not necessary.” Ning Qiuxiu said, handing over the takeout box and then picking up the small cardboard box next to her.

Zhan Qingyue had mentioned it was heavy, but when Ning Qiuxiu lifted it, it was so light she nearly hurt her back from overexertion.

“……” What the heck, wasn’t it supposed to be heavy? Did the delivery person switch it out or something?

Ning Qiuxiu quickly took out her phone to ask Zhan Qingyue what was going on.

“It’s probably because the gift itself wanted to get inside but failed,” Zhan Qingyue laughed over the phone, and she heard his voice not just on the phone but also in reality, coming from the shadowy area behind her.

Ning Qiuxiu: “!!!”

Zhan Qingyue hung up and walked out from under the shade, saying, “Surprised, Mrs. Zhan?”

“……” Ning Qiuxiu rushed over to hug him, then couldn’t help but punch him lightly, “You’re so bad!”

Where’s the surprise in this?

What a schemer! He must have enjoyed seeing her disappointed earlier and probably laughed about it in his mind.

“You’re such a jerk!”

Zhan Qingyue let her punch him a couple of times, then kissed her hand, saying, “There’s no surprise, where would the joy come from?”

After hugging for a while, Zhan Qingyue asked, “Is the shoot finished?”

“Yes, it’s done. Wait for me a moment, I’ll go inside and say goodbye to everyone, then we can leave.”

Zhan Qingyue nodded and patted her on the head, signaling her to go.

Since the shoot was finished and the cake had been cut, Ning Qiuxiu went inside to say goodbye to the crew members who were finishing up, took some photos with them, then grabbed her things and left the set.

She got into Zhan Qingyue’s car, and they headed back to the hotel.

Since Zhan Qingyue came on short notice and didn’t book a room, when they arrived at the hotel, the front desk clerk informed them there were no rooms available.

“Hmm, but there are still a lot of empty rooms,” Ning Qiuxiu asked.

The hotel was booked by their crew, and half a floor was left vacant, so there shouldn’t be no rooms.

The front desk clerk replied, “Since you’ve finished the school portion of the shoot, many agents of the actors have come to pick them up, leading to an increase in guests and thus no available rooms.”

Ning Qiuxiu: “……”

That’s a thing?!

“Well, we can only inconvenience Miss Ning.” Zhan Qingyue said, concealing his amusement with a troubled expression.

Though Mr. Zhan might be unavailable, sharing a bed, well, that’s quite pleasing.

Ning Qiuxiu pretended to be reserved and nodded, then added with a particularly cold tone, “But you mustn’t be hands-on!”

Actually, in her heart, she was shouting: You definitely should be hands-on!

Zhan Qingyue, ever the gentleman, nodded, “Alright.”