Chapter 22

Exposure

Lin Qianyou had a restless night, and when she woke up in the morning, her mind was still in turmoil, unable to calm down.

She was about to text Ke Siyu, asking her to go shopping and clear her mind, but then she noticed that Ke Siyu had already called her countless times!

And now, her phone was ringing again.

Lin Qianyou answered, “Hello? Why are you calling me—”

“Lin Qianyou, how dare you fall in love?! Break up right now!!!” Before Lin Qianyou could finish her sentence, Ke Siyu’s furious shout interrupted her.

She was stunned and confused, asking Ke Siyu, “What love? I’m not in love. Break up with who?”

“Stop pretending! The video’s been leaked! Look at what I’m forwarding to you!” Ke Siyu’s sharp tone made Lin Qianyou pull the phone a little further away from her ear.

With doubts in her mind, she opened her WeChat chat with Ke Siyu and scrolled up to find a video that lasted a minute and a half.

The video showed her being embraced by Qi Shanglan.

Before she could finish watching the video, Lin Qianyou quickly exited the chat and explained to Ke Siyu: “You misunderstood. I’m not in a relationship with him. He just fell on me because he was drunk.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

“Ugh…” Ke Siyu fell into silence, then watched the video again. “But this video is so strange. Why did you two suddenly disappear from the street at the end?”

“Huh?” Lin Qianyou hadn’t watched the whole video earlier, so she quickly clicked on it again. Indeed, around the one-minute mark, both of them suddenly disappeared.

She knew exactly why, but she couldn’t tell Ke Siyu. Was she supposed to tell her that she was a earth god with superpowers? What if Ke Siyu called her crazy?

“Uh, I don’t know. Maybe it’s just the angle of the shot?”

“What does the angle have to do with anything?” Ke Siyu teased. “Oh, whatever, the video’s not getting much attention anyway. Your fans don’t believe it, and they’re in the comment section saying it’s an AI-generated fake video. The paparazzi are probably crying by now.” She laughed. “But this guy’s pretty handsome, though. Did he also appear on that variety show?”

“Yeah, you know him, he’s Officer Qi,” Lin Qianyou said, not daring to mention Qi Shanglan by name.

“Wait, what? He’s the one?”

“Yeah, it’s him.” Just mentioning his name made Lin Qianyou anxious, so she quickly changed the subject. “Ke Siyu, come out with me to shop later.”

“Sure, I’ll be downstairs at nine.”

“Okay, bye, I’m hanging up.”

After hanging up the phone, Lin Qianyou immediately received a call from her brother, Lin Bozhi.

“Hello? Brother?” Lin Qianyou was a bit surprised that he was calling her.

“Qianqian, are you in a relationship?”

As expected, he was calling to ask about this.

“No, the video is fake.” She was too lazy to explain it to her brother again.

“Fake? A video can’t be fake. Don’t lie to me, you know that dating in your line of work is a big taboo, right?” He started his usual nagging again, as he did every time he called, which was starting to annoy Lin Qianyou.

“Brother, can’t you care about your sister’s life? Every time you call, you just tell me to work well, isn’t that annoying?” Lin Qianyou pouted a little. Since her brother, Lin Bozhi, got married, he had put all his focus on his little family, and she could feel that his attention towards her had decreased a lot.

“Am I not caring enough about you? From when you were little, which meal didn’t I cook for you? Which clothes weren’t bought by me?”

Here we go again.

“Okay, okay, brother, I’m already tired of hearing this.” Lin Qianyou interrupted him. “Where’s my sister-in-law? Is she about to give birth?”

“Yeah, she’s about to give birth. In a week, I’ll take her to the hospital. Soon, you’ll be an aunt.” Lin Bozhi said with a smile.

“A week?! So soon? But I just took on a new variety show, and I’m afraid I won’t be able to make it back to Ningcheng in time.” Lin Qianyou felt very regretful.

“If you can’t make it back, you can’t make it back. Work is important. I’ll be here with your sister-in-law.”

Work again…

“Alright, then I’ll hang up, brother. I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I’ll chat with sister-in-law later.” She immediately hung up the phone.

—

At eight o’clock, at the Yongning Street Police Station in Yangcheng, Zou Ying pushed open the glass door and immediately saw Zhang Zhijian talking to He Chuanan. They were muttering something while looking at a cellphone.

“Old Zhang.” Zou Ying displeasedly placed her handbag on the front desk. “Was it you who got Shanglan drunk like that yesterday? And even taught him to smoke?” Zou Ying questioned him.

He Chuanan glanced around at the two elders, not daring to say a word.

Zhang Zhijian furrowed his brows. “I didn’t get him drunk. You can watch the video yourself. Stop falsely accusing me.” He gestured for He Chuanan to hand the phone to Zou Ying.

“What video?” Zou Ying took the phone and, at first glance, saw a video of her son holding a girl. Although only half of her face was visible, she could still tell the girl was quite pretty.

“This…” She couldn’t figure out what was going on and asked Zhang Zhijian, “Is this my son’s girlfriend? Why are they hugging?”

“How are you a mother? You don’t even know what your son has been up to lately?” Zhang Zhijian snatched the phone back and handed it to He Chuanan. “Shanglan recently took on a variety show, and the girl in the video is also participating. Their team had a dinner gathering yesterday, and they probably drank then.”

“That’s still your fault.” Zhang Zhijian’s sharp words made Zou Ying unwilling to back down. “But is this girl named Lin Qianyou? Are they dating?”

“Did Auntie see the news?” He Chuanan dared to interject when gossip was mentioned.

“What news?”

“Huh? Auntie doesn’t know? It’s the video, it’s all over the internet, everyone’s saying they’re in a relationship, a secret one. Brother Shanglan didn’t want me to tell anyone.” The second half was something He Chuanan added on his own.

“Is it true?” Zou Ying still found it hard to believe.

“Yes!” He Chuanan, enjoying the gossip, nodded eagerly. “Auntie, Brother Shanglan didn’t even tell you?”

Hearing this, Zou Ying gave an awkward laugh, “Ha, I just came to ask you all to confirm it.” She patted He Chuanan on the shoulder and added, “Xiao He, from now on, you keep an eye on Shanglan for me. If anything happens, tell me, okay?”

“Got it, Auntie! I’m really close with Brother Shanglan, he tells me everything.” He Chuanan started exaggerating again.

“Alright then, next time you’re free, come to Auntie’s house for dinner. I’ll cook for you myself.” Zou Ying smiled, and He Chuanan nodded politely, thanking her.

Zou Ying turned back to Zhang Zhijian. “Well, Old Zhang, I’ll head off now. Also, please give Shanglan a day off. He’s completely out of it from drinking, and I want him to rest at home.”

Zhang Zhijian had no reason to disagree. He and Zou Ying’s family were close friends, and Shanglan had grown up under his care. He waved his hand in agreement and reminded Zou Ying to check in on Shanglan and ask him to look after himself more often.

Zou Ying nodded, grabbed her bag, and walked off, deep in thought.

Her son, in a relationship and hiding it from her?

Just as she exited the police station, she ran into Qi Shanglan, who was walking toward her.

“Mom?” Qi Shanglan called out to her. “What are you doing here?”

Zou Ying’s thoughts were interrupted by his voice. “Shanglan? Why are you up so early? Didn’t I tell you to rest at home today? Didn’t your dad tell you?”

Zou Ying walked closer and gave him a once-over. Despite being so drunk last night, he was surprisingly energetic today.

“Come here, I need to ask you something.” She pulled Qi Shanglan to the corner of the wall, her tone very serious. “Are you in a relationship? Why didn’t you tell me? Are you still holding a grudge against your dad and me?”

Qi Shanglan was caught off guard by Zou Ying’s three questions and looked confused. He glanced toward the police station, then said, “Did He Chuanan just tell you that? Don’t listen to his nonsense, I’m not in a relationship.”

“If you’re not in a relationship, then why did you hug her? The video’s already been posted online, and you still want to hide it from your mom? Do you think I’m blind?” Zou Ying shot him a dissatisfied look. “Xiao He already told me she’s a celebrity, and it can’t be exposed—understandable. But why are you hiding it from your parents?”

“Mom, what are you talking about? What video? What exposure?” Qi Shanglan realized something wasn’t right, took out his phone, and opened Weibo. The related posts were all about Lin Qianyou, and it was the same one-and-a-half-minute video. Qi Shanglan immediately understood what Zou Ying was talking about.

“Here’s the proof in the video. Don’t try to hide it from me anymore. When she has time, bring her to our house to sit down. Your dad and I want to meet her.” Zou Ying saw that Qi Shanglan was still watching the video, so she nudged him. “Shanglan? Did you hear me? How about tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow? I didn’t even have a relationship with her,” Qi Shanglan turned off his phone screen.

“If you didn’t have a relationship, then why are you calling her name in the middle of the night?” Zou Ying was getting impatient. Even now, he was still trying to hide things from her. “We’re the men in this situation, we need to take responsibility, you understand?”

Qi Shanglan was momentarily speechless. Calling Lin Qianyou’s name in the middle of the night? Was that really a thing? He only remembered collapsing into bed after getting home, and he didn’t recall anything else.

“Mom, I do take responsibility,” Qi Shanglan said helplessly. “That’s why I’m pursuing her, but she hasn’t agreed yet.”

“Huh?” Zou Ying was surprised. “Pursuing her? She hasn’t agreed to you yet? My son is this outstanding, and she still hasn’t agreed?”

Qi Shanglan: “…”

“Alright, mom, you should go home now. I’m going inside.” Qi Shanglan turned to leave. Zou Ying didn’t stop him, so she could only shout after his retreating figure, “When you win her over, remember to tell mom!”

“Got it,” he lazily replied.

In the hall, as soon as He Chuanan saw Qi Shanglan approaching, he immediately hid behind Zhang Zhijian. Qi Shanglan, with a blank expression, pushed open the glass door and coldly called out his name: “He Chuanan!”

“Damn it! Brother Shanglan, I didn’t say anything!”