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Chapter 005: “Nation’s Male God”
Jian Han, deep in thought, went upstairs and collapsed onto the sofa, exhausted and unmoving. After a long while, she picked up her phone and swiped her thumb across the screen, unlocking it. Her contacts list was pitifully short, with only Fang Hui’s name listed at the top.
Her WeChat contacts, however, were quite numerous: Loyal to Chen, Chen Fan Forever, Chen is My Soul, and others. Jian Han’s gaze swept across them until she saw her own username—Forever Loving Chen. Her face instantly darkened, and she quickly changed it to Chen is My Little Brother.
A sense of intellectual superiority washed over her as she finished editing her name. Glancing at the constant stream of notifications, she clicked on one: “Today, our male god was a judge again! Waiting for the video update!”
A long string of replies followed: “+1,” “+2,” “+10086,” “+phone number,” “+ID number.”
Jian Han rolled her eyes and casually tossed her phone aside. Her gaze wandered aimlessly around the room. Without Han Chen’s posters plastered everywhere, the walls now covered in cream-colored wallpaper paired with the light green sofa gave the whole room a fresh and clean feeling.
Amid the soft colors, the bright red laptop on the coffee table stood out. Jian Han’s heart stirred—perhaps she should search the internet and see if any celebrities had been in an accident recently.
Once the thought occurred to her, she leaned forward slightly, turned on the laptop, and hurriedly connected to the internet as soon as the startup screen disappeared. She opened the browser and typed “entertainment news” into the search bar, pressing enter. Instantly, the entire page was filled with the same headline:
“Popular Actress Han Xiang Dies in Accident While Rushing to a Job; Resuscitation Failed, Passed Away Early Yesterday Morning.”
“Han Xiang—”
Jian Han murmured the name twice, feeling as if it was familiar. Her brows furrowed slightly as she looked at the picture of the smiling beauty on the screen. Could she be this actress named Han Xiang?
Yet, as she stared at the gentle, captivating face, she felt like it wasn’t her own.
She pressed the backspace key, deleting “entertainment news” from the search bar, and re-entered the name “Han Xiang.”
This time, mixed in with the news of actress Han Xiang’s tragic death, another name flooded the screen:
“Actress Han Xiang’s Memorial to Be Held on Sunday; Rumored Boyfriend Fang Qinghan Confirmed to Attend.”
“Fang Qinghan Spotted at the Airport in Dark Glasses, Solemn and Mournful.”
“Fang Qinghan—”
Those three simple words lingered on her tongue, sinking into her heart as if they were blossoming into a fragrant flower deep within her soul.
Without thinking, Jian Han typed “Fang Qinghan” into the search bar. Along with titles like Two-Time Best Actor, Nation’s Male God, and The Actor Everyone Wants to Have Babies With, came a close-up photo.
The man in the picture sat alone in an outdoor café, the collar of his black trench coat raised, giving him a melancholic air. His perfectly sculpted profile, with eyes cast down, seemed to be gazing thoughtfully into the aromatic coffee in front of him.
Jian Han’s hand froze, an indescribable emotion welling up from within. It felt as though just looking at this half-profile of Fang Qinghan brought her a deep sense of peace.
Taking a deep breath, she rapidly clicked through the images. One after another, Fang Qinghan’s face appeared—sometimes melancholic, sometimes with a faint smile—each one strikingly familiar, as if they had just said “Good morning” to each other that very day.
If she had been only 50% doubtful about whether she was Han Xiang before, now she was 80% sure—Fang Qinghan seemed so familiar. It felt as if he was either her brother or her boyfriend.
Having come to this conclusion, Jian Han’s gaze returned to the topmost news story: “Actress Han Xiang’s Memorial to Be Held on Sunday; Rumored Boyfriend Fang Qinghan Confirmed to Attend.”
Sunday, in this very city. If she attended the memorial, she could see Fang Qinghan and confirm whether that sense of familiarity was real.
Her phone suddenly rang, jolting her back to reality. The ringtone was a song about the pain of loneliness: “Late at night, drunk and entwined by loneliness, your hair and mine tangled together, parting ways at dawn, who still remembers whose face…”
It took Jian Han a moment to react. She fumbled to grab her phone from the other end of the sofa. The caller ID was just a string of numbers. After a brief hesitation, she answered, and a timid female voice came through: “Han Han?”
Jian Han responded vaguely. The woman on the other end paused before speaking again, still cautious: “Your second brother—”
She hesitated for a moment, then quickly added, “That’s Zicong. He’s back, and the family wants to have a gathering. Will you come?”
Second brother?
Jian Han’s mind went blank. As far as she knew, she had always lived alone. Wasn’t she an orphan? Where did this second brother come from?
She blurted out instinctively, “Who else will be there?”
There was a noticeable gasp on the other end of the line, as if the caller was shocked by Jian Han’s response. Her previously gentle voice rose with excitement: “Your big brother, Grandpa, and Grandma, too—”
A second brother, a big brother, and grandparents. The identity of the person on the phone became clear. Jian Han raised an eyebrow and tentatively asked, “Mom?”
The woman on the other end let out a surprised cry, followed by a voice filled with overwhelming joy: “Han Han, you—you haven’t called me ‘Mom’ in so long!”
Jian Han: “…”
As if afraid Jian Han would change her mind, the woman quickly added, speaking in a rush: “Alright, it’s settled then. I’ll ask your big brother to pick you up on Saturday morning!”
Listening to the buzzing tone in the phone as the call ended, Jian Han felt extremely conflicted. A big brother, a second brother, grandparents, and a mom and dad.
Fortunately, the family gathering was on Saturday, which left Sunday free for the memorial.
Jian Han pursed her lips and paced back and forth in the room. She straightened the cute bear figurine on the fridge and adjusted the sheep-shaped cushion on the sofa. Unable to contain herself any longer, she dashed back to her laptop, opened Taobao, and started typing furiously in the search bar: “Gifts for family members.”
On the northern highway, a row of over a dozen luxury cars lined up bumper to bumper. Fang Hui was leaning against a red Ferrari, dressed in a burgundy velvet shirt with the collar slightly open, revealing a thin platinum chain with a half-wing pendant hanging from it.
His hair, which had been meticulously groomed during the day, was deliberately tousled, and he had taken off his gold-rimmed glasses, revealing a pair of beautiful almond-shaped eyes. A diamond earring glittered on his ear. He stubbed out his cigarette on the car door and casually tossed it to the ground. “No need to book any more gigs for her this month.”
The man standing next to him was handsome, wearing a simple white shirt with the sleeves rolled up, revealing a portion of his toned forearm. His understated and composed demeanor matched the black Maybach parked beside him. Upon hearing Fang Hui’s words, he raised an eyebrow. “Why? Did she get eliminated after all, still stuck at the bottom?”