Chapter 21: It Was Love at First Sight

In the end—

Jiang Wan and Jiang Qi both got up Single love variety show: The home girl becomes popular by acting bad the floor, helped Meng Yan to his feet, and then obediently put on their shoe covers before entering the room.

As for why Xie Zhiyi was also there?

Meng Yan explained, “Xie Zhiyi was present during Wei Hao’s audition too. For the sake of fairness, I called him over as well.”

Jiang Wan: “……”

Actually, she just wanted to ask Xie Zhiyi if he would not post that photo he just took.

Forget it—time was tight. That wasn’t the main issue right now.

Meng Yan clearly felt the same way. He told Jiang Qi to start as soon as he was ready—no point wasting time.

He flipped through the script and said, “Let’s go with this scene.”

It was the scene where the male lead falls in love with the female lead at first sight.

All-night review had paid off!

Jiang Wan let out a breath of relief, but she saw Jiang Qi still had his lips tightly pressed together, looking serious. She tried to comfort him: “Don’t be nervous. You’re already here.”

You’re already here.

That’s exactly what Jiang Qi was thinking too.

They had already paid a high price just to get this far. When they returned, they’d still have to deal with rumors about their “relationship” and a pile of online gossip.

If he still couldn’t win this role…

It would truly be a case of losing both the girl and the battle.

Jiang Qi himself didn’t mind.

But if he failed, it would betray Jiang Wan’s trust in him, her all-night help, and it would mean she got dragged into a trending scandal for nothing.

Jiang Qi focused and tried to recall the context of the scene.

The antagonist was questioning the male lead, asking why he stubbornly refused to change his mind—even knowing he was walking into a death trap.

It all went back to when the young general, Mo Sheng, first met the female lead, “Prince” Song Jinghe.

At the time, Song Jinghe had suffered injuries. While being tended to by a loyal maid, the maid discovered her secret—that she was actually a woman.

The maid was shocked at first, but immediately knelt down and swore she would never reveal what she saw.

That night—

Song Jinghe endured her pain and spoke with the maid for a long time. As the “Seventh Prince” adored by all and considered noble in the eyes of others, she patiently listened to the maid’s life story.

The maid was born of a concubine and had suffered all kinds of abuse at home. Only her half-sister, born of the same mother, treated her kindly and was willing to do anything for her.

But because of their low status, and their mother’s resentment toward them as “useless daughters,” the maid considered it a blessing just to enter the palace as a servant—unlike her sister, who, due to their father offending someone, was being forced to marry the son of a sleazy restaurant owner, a man with a notorious reputation, practically a local thug.

As the maid became emotional, tears fell from her eyes. She said if there was any way to trade for her sister’s freedom, she would do anything.

So—

When Song Jinghe stabbed the dagger into the maid’s heart, she said, “I will save your sister.”

The maid froze.

Her hands, which had tried to resist at first, slowly loosened. In the end, she said nothing. She bit her lip hard, not letting a single sound escape.

Her last words were: “……Thank you, Your Highness.”

Was this silencing a witness… or a mutual agreement between two people?

Song Jinghe wasn’t a typical perfect female protagonist.

So when the truth came out, she was harshly criticized by many.

Even after the maid pledged her loyalty, Song Jinghe had still killed her—truly ruthless and cold-blooded, people said.

But in Mo Sheng’s eyes, he admired her intelligence and rationality—how she didn’t let emotions cloud her judgment or leave future threats behind. He also felt heartache for her—after killing the maid with her own hands, Song Jinghe had broken down in silent tears, her wounds bleeding heavily.

To Mo Sheng, his feelings for Song Jinghe were love at first sight.

And this made Jiang Qi remember the night he first met Jiang Wan.

The Jiang household.

It was the young master’s birthday banquet, a grand and lively event.

Countless guests brought expensive gifts, hoping to please the boy and curry favor with the Jiang family—in hopes of gaining benefits in future business deals.

When the little Jiang master got beaten and ran crying to hide behind Jiang Wan’s mother, all the guests naturally took sides, scolding Jiang Wan: How could an older sister bully her little brother like that?

But Jiang Wan didn’t hesitate. She marched right up and yanked down her little brother’s pants.

The boy was already in elementary school, and now, at his birthday banquet, he stood there with his bare legs exposed, being laughed at by all his peers. He clutched his face and wailed in humiliation.

Even that wasn’t enough for Jiang Wan. She gave him another swift kick. Right after that, her stepfather slapped her across the face and yelled, asking if she’d finally gone crazy.

Her mother also questioned her: Why did she keep targeting her little brother? Was she trying to destroy the family?

Jiang Wan sneered and retorted in front of everyone, “Your precious son is a little treasure, but other people’s daughters can just be humiliated at will? If he dares to lift a girl’s skirt today, he’ll do worse tomorrow. As parents, how long are you going to keep coddling him?”

After saying that, she turned and stormed upstairs—unwilling to stay there a moment longer.

Once her figure disappeared, the room, which had gone silent, turned noisy again.

“President Jiang, don’t get angry. Kids do stupid things—it’s totally normal. Your daughter’s just making a big deal out of nothing!”

“Boys are always playful at that age. That’s what makes them cute!”

“It’s nothing serious! No need to blow it out of proportion. We understand.”

“Come, let us toast to you again!”

……

Everyone naturally stood against Jiang Wan.

To them, who was right or wrong didn’t matter. Pleasing President Jiang and his future heir was what truly mattered.

As for morals?

They could argue about that with someone else. They were just businessmen.

At the time, Jiang Qi had just started high school. He wasn’t yet free to avoid these boring social events, and his stepmother had dragged him there.

The Jiang family didn’t need to suck up to the Jiangs. His stepmother was a sensible woman and just shook her head and sighed. “That girl’s too impulsive. Even if her little brother was wrong, she should’ve handled it behind closed doors. Why let so many outsiders laugh at the family?”

But Jiang Qi didn’t agree. Lazily, he countered, “If disciplining behind closed doors worked, her brother wouldn’t have done something like that in public.”

Then—

With full mischief, he strode straight up to the little birthday boy, who had just been comforted by the maids, wiped his tears, and started eating cake again.

Jiang Qi smirked—

And pulled the boy’s pants down again.

Just like that—a second time.

The little boy stood frozen in place. So shocked and confused, he didn’t even pick up his pants or cry.

There was a burst of laughter from the crowd. People couldn’t help it—they’d been holding it in too long.

Jiang Qi’s stepmother was horrified. She rushed forward to apologize on his behalf.

As for the people’s scolding?

Jiang Qi didn’t feel guilty in the slightest. He raised his voice confidently, saying, “I didn’t do anything wrong. Boys are just playful, right? Isn’t that what you all said just now?”

“Why is no one calling me cute… Mom, I’m sorry! Let’s go home, let’s go home! Please don’t hit me in front of everyone!”

“Let’s—let’s do it behind closed doors, okay?! Don’t let outsiders see the joke!”

That day, Jiang Qi got caught by his dad and beaten with the Jiang family’s broom on the spot. He didn’t even make it home before getting punished. It was incredibly embarrassing.

Jiang Qi couldn’t understand—

Why were adults always such hypocrites?

But one thing was clear to him.

That day, he fell for a bold, sharp, and brave girl at first sight.

How deeply did he fall?

So deep that, without even thinking, he copied her actions—just so he could stand proudly in the midst of countless accusing voices and tell the world:

“She didn’t do anything wrong.”

……

At this moment, Jiang Qi finally came back to reality.

His popularity owed a lot to his face—he had charming, flirtatious eyes, the kind people called “peach blossom eyes.” Even now, after nearly pulling an all-nighter, he still exuded a youthful, unruly charm.

Especially those eyes—still bright.

As if they truly carried the moonlight of someone dear to him, he smiled and delivered the only real love confession line in the entire script:

“I ache for her situation. I hate the injustice she’s faced. I want to help her achieve her dreams. So…

I’m willing to become the sword in her hand.”