Chapter 16

Chapter 16

232.

In my previous life, I probably constructed bridges, paved roads, brought benefits to the entire nation, fought for the citizens’ welfare, devoted my life to the party and the country, and dedicated all my energy to the evolution of mankind — that’s why I could run into a ship with endless surprises like Niangzi in this life.

The first day I shipped them, and by the second day, the couple was already locked. As for the fluff, not only do they have a high concentration of carbohydrates, but there’s even solid evidence. One bias produces and happily doses on his own fluff, while the other manufactures fluff like crazy and shovels them into people’s mouths against their will.

Digging for fluff? Searching for fluff? None of that is necessary! Whether you take it or not, the fluff is right there and it’s not going anywhere.

Just look at them: their feelings run so deep, and their love, ever-strong.

233.

If not for the fact that I’m the person who gobbles up whatever material I churn out, I would charge up to the court of law and protest with my life to force Niangzi to get married now. Right now, at this very instant!

234.

But as luck would have it, I’m not talented and I’m currently one of the protagonists of the ship who clearly knew the real story behind everything…

235.

The Wei Yanzi who was high on fluff was already sent to the ICU for emergency treatment while the sober one was overwhelmed with despair instead.

Obviously, this Gu Yiliang who was a naturally-born straight man definitely didn’t think that much when he uploaded that Weibo post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, how I yearn to shoot myself straight into his room and grasp the collar of his shirt to snap him out of it!

Please, open your eyes and take a good look at your surroundings, won’t you?! Don’t you know that speciously saying stuff like “showing your love” and “true feelings” will blow up in your face one day?!

Let’s forget about the surroundings for now. What if the fans believe it to be real? If they accept it? Give their blessings? What’re we going to do when we have to announce our romantic relationship to the public?!

Wait, no. What I’m trying to say is when we each have to announce our own romantic relationships to the public?!

236.

I unconsciously grabbed my chest while refreshing Gu Yiliang’s Weibo feed incessantly. Then I tapped to see the mirror selfie he took. As I stared blankly at the massive, distinct and vivid autograph peeping through the cracks of his fingers, I knew for sure I was done for deep down in my heart.

237.

The comments in his previous two Weibo posts were still filled with series of gleeful cheers from his team of Gu’s Imperial Consorts. How lively was that? In contrast, there was a blanket of dead silence in the comments section of the two next Weibo posts that followed. Ten minutes passed by, and there were only messages left by two to three-hundred passersby and a couple of porn advertisements.

I could already imagine the mental breakdown and despair they felt as they chanced upon this spiteful face of mine in the unexpected emergence of a group photo, after happily exiting the Weibo post where Gu Yiliang thanked his fans. On top of that, in the very next second, they witnessed their idol post a “treat for the fans”, 100% assuming that it was to console their shattered spirits as they happily pulled up a larger version of the image so they could save it and admire their idol’s pretty face. But they soon saw a name that they had an implacable hatred for in their idol’s hand——

To the fans, Gu Yiliang’s Weibo posts resembled a box of poisonous chocolate. You never knew whether the next one was either crap or fluff.

238.

Ten minutes.

The Gu’s Imperial Consorts who were shitting on Wei Yanzi yesterday were dead silent. The entire situation was too bizarre and too hard to believe.

And the Pretty Yans who were drowning Gu Yiliang in dirt posts yesterday were completely quiet too as they silently bided their time, waiting to see how the incident would unfold.

Even those who came to the fan event were dumbstruck, afraid to cause a scene. Even the Niangzi Army had collectively lost their voice, with no movements to be seen.

239.

When the clock struck 11 minutes, the Niangzi discussion board exploded into a frenzy.

I looked on as my entire screen was filled with finely-edited wedding photos, wedding certificates, and photoshopped on-site wedding photos with remarkable congratulatory blessings for the wedding couple——

——I sucked in and devoured a mouthful of fluff before I switched back to my main personality and continued to wallow in despair.

240.

I closed my eyes and took three deep breaths to calm down my desperateness. Then I reposted that:

#Song of Waves# Which line do you like the best? [Laugh][Laugh] @SongofWaves_ProductionTeam @Author_LiangLiang // @GuYiliang_Liam

And then I saw that the account with the blue V sign reposted my Weibo post and tagged other main actors along with it.

241.

As expected, this attracted a discussion among fans of the original work, consisting of those who answered in all seriousness, including those who praised the production team for the casting as well as those who were skeptical about my acting. This successfully shifted the attention away from what I did earlier.

The fans resurrected one after another as they reposted it, consoling themselves as they sighed, “Ohh, it’s just a publicity stunt by the production team.”

“It’s so obvious that my precious darling had no other choice.” They reassuringly helped the production team build up their popularity while furiously lapping up their own idol’s gorgeous face.

I smiled happily.

242.

As for the mirror selfie, this question was too difficult so I gave up on answering it since I couldn’t find a good excuse to use. I’ll let fate decide how my little fragile life will go.

I smiled misty-eyed.

243.

I had a restless sleep, dreaming about my phone constantly vibrating non-stop. And when I tapped on it to look, I discovered that every message I received was a reminder that Gu Yiliang had made a new Weibo post.

This woke me up with a jolt for a total of five times.

244.

I lifelessly sat down in the beauty room and allowed the makeup artist to do her magic on my face. Every time my phone vibrated, it gave me quite a start.

“Sister Man is asking why you didn’t reply to her message on Wechat.” Little Chen sat behind me, fanning me with one hand and holding the cell phone in the other as he read on, “She said that the company agreed to cooperate with one of the streaming platforms. They’ve announced that you and Brother Gu will be streaming for an hour starting at nine tonight to interact with the fans, advertise the new drama, build up your character image, and sell…”

Puzzled, he showed his phone to me, “How do you sell ‘bromance’? Per pound?”

245.

God has answered! He’s saved me from this misery!

I snatched his phone at once, scaring my makeup assistant so badly that she almost drew my brows into my hairline.

246.

My interactions with Gu Yiliang on Weibo became popular for a short while. The #Song of Waves# tag even appeared on the trending list. After the company took a whiff of the traffic rate, they made quick arrangements for it.

This is awesome!

With the boost of support from the company’s marketing strategy in selling the ship so blatantly, everyone knew very well that this was just a gimmick and it was a win-win situation for both the company and fans as they leeched off their needs from each other. With this, nothing could go wrong.

I could even pin the blame on the cell phone cases yesterday on the company.

And I can lap up all the fluff I made myself without any burdens.

It’s perfect!

247.

After passionately filming in high spirits for an entire day, even the director eyed me with a bewildered look on his face. He praised me for my enthusiasm and told me to keep it up.

Look! This is what you call a win-win situation.

248.

It was almost nine. When I was done with my hair and makeup and went to meet Gu Yiliang, he had already opened the streaming app and was adjusting the filters.

Dressed in leisure wear, his hair went through a little styling and the entire look made him look super casual and an eye candy to look at. Upon seeing that I had arrived, he turned to flash me a smile.

It was a sort of intimate smile with a lot of gentleness, and ninety-percent of it was filled with tender feelings.

Ah! Even though I knew he was just putting on an act, it still made stir and feel a bit embarrassed.

I was definitely not shy.

249.

I composed myself and sat down next to him, leaning over to take a glimpse of his phone screen. “You went overboard with your filters.”

He looked at me before he took another look at my projection on his phone. After comparing both of my faces for a while, he suddenly turned the big, round eyes filter down a notch. “How about now?”

“Looks good,” I nodded, “but won’t this filter look overexposed?”

“I’ll change it then.” He switched between a few different filters and decided on one when he saw me nod again.

I was a little confused by his attitude in heeding my every beck and call.

Is he…going for the pampering type?

250.

There was still some time till nine o’clock. He fixed the cell phone onto the coffee table and chatted with me casually while trying to find an angle so that both of us would fit into the camera frame, “What did you have for dinner?”

“Isn’t it the same for the whole production team?” I lazily leaned back against the sofa, toying at my hair while facing the camera. “The last act ended a bit late. I haven’t had time to eat yet.”

He glanced at me and slightly frowned, “You can adjust the angle. I’ll go grab something for you to eat.”

“Wait…” I failed to stop him in time and watched as he ran out. A minute later, he returned with two sandwiches and threw them to me.

“Thank you! Thank you!” I caught the two sandwiches and placed them on the coffee table.

He sat back down next to me, then shoveled the sandwiches into my hand. “Eat.”

I stared at him, completely stupefied, “But the live broadcast is starting in five minutes…”

His voice sounded so decisive and non-negotiable, “Then eat it as we broadcast.”

Is he…going for the tyrannical president type this time?

251.

Whatever type he likes, he’s got good spirit. Keep it up.

252.

The broadcast was scheduled to start at nine o’clock sharp. The audience immediately crowded into the broadcast channel. Gu’s Imperial Consorts [1], the Pretty Yans, and the Niangzi Army gathered under one roof in harmony, flooding the comments section with their greetings and confessions.

I was nibbling on my sandwich and left the opening speech to Gu Yiliang.

He welcomed the fans with a smile, then wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

Ay? Are we going to be this straightforward right from the beginning?

Thinking about how I had to control the scene and tread a fine line later, I smiled at the screen while biting the sandwich and continued to listen to him, “— Here’s my buddy, my bro, Wei Yanzi.”

253.

I choked on a chunk of my sandwich.

254.

Is this how you interpret the “bromance” that the company requested?! Huh?!