CH 23.4

Do You Still Hate Her? 13 – You, walking the dog, happened to pass by?

“Ye Lu is a better fit,” Yu Su answered like that, but he didn’t raise his head to look at Xia Yuan. He changed the subject and reminded, “Brother Ling is waiting for you downstairs. He has reminded you several times in the group.”

The smile on Xia Yuan’s face froze slightly.

Then he looked at Shang Lu and said, “Sister Shang Lu, I’ll leave first. I won’t be able to attend the variety show recording this week, but I should be able to make it next week. I’m really looking forward to meeting you then.”

After Xia Yuan left, the awkward atmosphere in the room seemed to finally ease.

Since their last video call with Xia Yuan, Shang Lu had realized that Xia Yuan wasn’t very likable, so she didn’t ask too many questions.

Suddenly, Shang Lu felt a slightly cold sensation on the back of her hand.

She raised her head in confusion and looked at Yu Su beside her, only to see him holding a bottle of hand sanitizer and gently squeezing it twice onto her hand.

Shang Lu didn’t quite understand what he was doing. She was about to ask when she saw Yu Su squeeze some onto Ye Lu’s and his own hands as well.

Shang Lu: “…”

Oh, there’s nothing to ask. Maybe it’s because Yu Su has a cleanliness obsession.

The filming process for the music video was relatively simple because SN’s photographers and equipment were professional enough. With numerous camera angles, the focus was mainly on portraying fragmented emotions, and everything went smoothly.

After a few hours, the shooting successfully concluded, and Shang Lu couldn’t help but sigh, “Why did they invite me to act but not to sing?”

Ye Lu sneered and asked, “Don’t you have any idea? They’re afraid you’ll also mislead Yu Su.”

The two of them were bickering here, while Yu Su helplessly watched and then glanced at the time on her phone, preparing to ask them to go eat.

However, the smile in Yu Su’s eyes faded when he saw the hot trending topic on Weibo, interrupting their argument. She said, “Something seems to have happened to your friend… Lin Yanyan.”

A photo of Lin Yanyan from her high school days was posted online, followed by keywords such as ‘plastic surgery,’ and this topic had already surged to the top of the trending list.

@Phoenix_Entertainment(V) : [Shocking! Everyone knows that Princess Lin Yanyan is beautiful, right? But someone has posted her high school photo, and it’s completely different from her current appearance! (image attachment)(image attachment)]

A marketing account posted two comparison photos. The first one was Lin Yanyan’s high school graduation photo, while the second one was a screenshot from a TV drama she appeared in recently.

The comments were all shocked.

[What?! You’re telling me the first picture is Lin Yanyan? That round face and small eyes, it can’t be, right?]

[Who is Lin Yanyan’s plastic surgeon? This looks so natural, can you recommend them?]

[If the princess introduces me to her plastic surgeon, I’ll become a fan even if I was skeptical before.]

[So the princess actually transformed from Cinderella? That’s inspiring!]

[What transformation? It’s clearly the power of technology.]

…

Shang Lu took out her phone and noticed that she still hadn’t received a reply to the WeChat message she sent to Lin Yanyan in the morning.

Lin Yanyan was quite talkative, bombarding Shang Lu with dozens of WeChat messages every day and would be unhappy if Shang Lu replied late, but this situation where Lin Yanyan didn’t reply to Shang Lu’s message had never occurred before.

Shang Lu quickly called Lin Yanyan.

The situation was better than Shang Lu had imagined. At least Lin Yanyan answered her call, but there was no sound.

Shang Lu directly asked, “Where are you?”

There was silence for about ten seconds, and then Lin Yanyan’s voice came with a sob, “I’m at home.”

Shang Lu glanced at Ye Lu and asked, “Can Ye Lu and I come over to find you? How about having barbecue together?”

Ye Lu also exclaimed, “I know a seasoning! It’s delicious and won’t make you gain weight! Want to try it together?”

Lin Yanyan’s voice sounded somewhat bewildered as she asked, “Shouldn’t you guys comfort me?”

How did the topic suddenly switch to eating barbecue?!

Shang Lu honestly replied, “I’m not very good at comforting people, but I remember you said last time that we should eat barbecue when we meet again.”

Lin Yanyan fell silent for a while.

Then she said, “My house has everything we need. You can come directly, but bring the barbecue sauce Ye Lu mentioned.”

An hour later.

Shang Lu, Ye Lu, and Lin Yanyan successfully gathered together.

Although Ye Lu didn’t know how to cook either, perhaps because he had been a trainee living in a dorm for a few years, he was very skilled at grilling meat.

Every piece of meat was grilled to perfection, flavorful and not burnt, and the secret sauce was also delicious.

Lin Yanyan leaned on Shang Lu’s shoulder, crying for a while but couldn’t help opening her mouth to take a bite of meat, looking pitiful and funny at the same time.

Until the meal was finished, Lin Yanyan finally stopped crying as her tears dried up.

Shang Lu handed Lin Yanyan a tissue and gently wiped her face, then comforted her, saying, “It’s okay, actually, there are still many people who believe in you. We will always believe in you too, so don’t worry too much.”

Ye Lu also nodded and said, “Yeah, there are plenty of haters out there. When it comes to rankings in variety shows, both Shang Lu and I have received our fair share of criticism. People even said I was a transgender person, but you can’t take such things seriously.”

Lin Yanyan looked at him, her eyes red but sincere, and asked, “…So, are you?”

Shang Lu had a hopeful expression on her face and asked, “Are you?”

Ye Lu was so annoyed by their reactions that he slammed the table and said, “What’s wrong with you two? Of course not!”

He had kindly joined Shang Lu in comforting Lin Yanyan, but look at what they were asking? It was humiliating!

And the next second, Lin Yanyan looked up and burst into loud sobs, even scolding Ye Lu, “If you’re not, then why did you say such bullshit, wuwu—”

Ye Lu : “?”

Meanwhile, Shang Lu keenly sensed the key point in Lin Yanyan’s words and asked somewhat incredulously, “Could it be that you really had…?”

With teary eyes, Lin Yanyan looked at her and said, “Yes, I used to be so ugly. Isn’t it obvious?”

Ye Lu : “!”

Shang Lu : “!”

Seeing the shocked expressions on both of their faces, Lin Yanyan froze.

Randomly, she couldn’t help but ask in disbelief, “What expressions do you two have? Can’t you two see it?”

So why did they come over and instead of comforting her, they just kept eating barbecue at her place?!

Shang Lu’s phone screen was back on the hot search list of Weibo. She clicked on Lin Yanyan’s previous photos and enlarged them to examine them carefully. Then she murmured, “She’s quite cute. Why does she look a bit familiar?”

Where had she seen the girl in the photo before?

As Shang Lu looked at Lin Yanyan’s school uniform, some vague memories emerged in her mind. She looked at Lin Yanyan with surprise and uncertainty, saying, “We went to the same high school, right? Oh, I remember now. On Valentine’s Day, did you snatch the last portion of sweet and sour pork ribs from the cafeteria? It was you, right?”

Shang Lu remembered! But she also recalled that Lin Yanyan was very cute and beautiful back then, and Lin Yanyan didn’t seem to have changed much now, right?

Lin Yanyan : “…”

Lin Yanyan never expected that Shang Lu would remember her, but the memory that resurfaced was such a strange thing! It would have been better to forget it!

She didn’t like sweet and sour pork ribs at all! Not even a bit!

That day, she only gathered the courage to go up and talk to Shang Lu! But it was misunderstood, and the point is… Shang Lu actually gave her that portion of sweet and sour pork ribs!

Lin Yanyan tearfully finished the whole portion of sweet and sour pork ribs, gaining the ribs but not gaining friendship.

And at this moment, Ye Lu also nodded in agreement and made a comment, saying, “Apart from being a bit fatter, there’s really no difference now. But it’s normal for there to be a weight difference in our photos before and after our debut.”

Looking at Shang Lu and Ye Lu’s identical expressions of confusion and sincerity, Lin Yanyan took a deep breath and asked, “Honestly, if I didn’t mention it, could you two really not tell that I’ve had done my face at all?”

Shang Lu and Ye Lu both nodded.

Lin Yanyan opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, she couldn’t utter a word.

Because the next second, she started crying even harder.

“Wuwuwu, how is this possible… Can you really not tell at all? It was so painful to have my nose done using rib bones! If you can’t tell, then wasn’t it all for nothing? Wuwuwu, I don’t want to live anymore—”