CH 5

In this generation of the Wen family, there was only one daughter. With plenty of boys around, no one competed with her for favor. From a young age, she looked down on others, and her grandfather spoiled her to the extreme. Her two uncles were also good to her. Her father didn't meet her often but would frequently call to ask about her well-being. Her younger brother, who always said he disliked her, never dared to defy her.

Calling her a princess might be a bit melodramatic, but she could definitely live up to the title of a female overlord.

She said firmly, "I won't do it."

Then she hung up the phone.

Feeling guilty, she said to Zhang Churui, "If you really want him to go, I can contact President Bai from his company for you. After all, I'm familiar with him."

Zhang Churui's eyelids twitched, and she smirked, "You're not familiar with your husband listed on the household register, but you're quite familiar with his boss."

Speaking of which, Bai Sen couldn't be considered Song Yan's boss. Bai Shi Media, where Song Yan's entertainment contract belonged, was established by Song Yan himself after he terminated his contract with a major domestic entertainment company, Hua Sen Entertainment. Song Yan held 26.18% of the shares and was the second-largest shareholder, but he didn't participate in administrative management. He was like a nominal president, and the real power rested with Bai Sen.

"We were childhood friends."

Bai Sen, the executive president of Bai Shi Media, was her childhood friend. Not many people in the industry knew about this, but Wen Li didn't feel the need to hide it from Zhang Churui.

When she went overseas alone to become a trainee, hiding it from her family, her heartless uncle forcibly brought her back. He paid a large amount of liquidated damages on her behalf and gave her an ultimatum. If she didn't give up her dream of becoming a star, she would have to repay the liquidated damages herself. Regardless of how well she did in the entertainment industry in the future, she couldn't expect any help from her family.

It was Zhang Churui who signed her and paid the liquidated damages for her.

Although she didn't know if Zhang Churui considered her as her sister, she unilaterally regarded her as an older sister.

Wen Li asked again, "Should I contact Bai Sen?"

Zhang Churui looked at her for a long time without speaking, and after a while, she shook her head calmly, "Forget it, let's put this matter aside for now."

"Oh."

"But I advise you to quickly get Song Yan back. What's the point of a couple's variety show if the couple is not together?" Zhang Churui squinted at her, "A little act of being spoiled could solve the problem. I don't understand why you're being stubborn."

Wen Li used her usual excuse, "In my whole life, I've only acted spoiled with my grandfather. I don't know how to act spoiled with others."

Zhang Churui obviously didn't accept this excuse, "He is your husband, not just anyone."

Wen Li fell silent and didn't say anything.

Zhang Churui felt something was off, "How did you two get along in the first place?"

At that time, it was the peak of her career. Although Song Yan didn't rely on popularity, he had quite a number of young female fans. His reputation and public image were stable, and he consistently outperformed other celebrities on various Weibo rankings. It was not an ideal time for him to be in a relationship.

Despite facing immense pressure, they disregarded the objections of their respective management companies and went public with their relationship. Soon after, they announced their marriage, paying such a great price. Two years later, the title of 'Salt Grain couple' became the talk of the town. The Weibo account "@Are Song Yan and Wen Li getting divorced today?" had been counting the days for two years and had over eight hundred thousand followers.

How did they become compatible?

It's hard to say. They each had their own needs. She needed someone to help control public opinion, while Song Yan needed someone to get married to.

Wen Li understood her own reasons for getting married, but she never quite understood Song Yan's reasons for getting married.

At the time, when the CP frenzy had not yet subsided, she was invited to attend a TV festival hosted by a certain satellite TV station.

Song Yan was a film actor who had never appeared in a TV drama. Logically speaking, this TV festival had nothing to do with him, and it was unclear how the organizers managed to invite him as a special guest.

Lu Ming and Zheng Xue walked the red carpet hand in hand, their faces filled with sweet smiles captured by the live cameras.

Under the real-time hot topics on social media, the hashtag #Ming-Zheng CP# trended. Wen Li's anti-fans ridiculed her incessantly, comparing a black-and-white photoshopped picture of her with Lu Ming and Zheng Xue's photo, captioned with the words "The fate of the mistress".

Those people would never know that even glamorous celebrities could be deeply hurt by such insults.

She couldn't seek help from her uncle. When they made their agreement, it was understood that if she chose to be an entertainer, she had to bear these grievances on her own.

But Wen Li didn't expect her own resilience to be so weak.

As an entertainer, she was not without resilience, but she felt a huge contrast. At that time, she had just risen to fame, gaining over ten million fans in just a few months. Many new fans confessed their love to her through private messages. However, due to Lu Ming's PR and the media hype, all that love turned into insults.

She had been crying in the makeup room when Song Yan walked into the wrong room.

Feeling embarrassed and angry, she looked terrible while crying, with tears and snot streaming down her face. She used her hands to cover her small face and said while sniffing, "Senior, pretend you didn't see anything."

But this man said, "Looks like that's not possible."

Sigh.

If it were the current Wen Li, who had developed a stronger mentality, she would let them insult her as much as they wanted. If I cry, I lose. There was no need to sign any agreement with Song Yan.

Of course, Wen Li couldn't tell the truth, so she scratched her face and said, "It's love blindness."

She was truly captivated by the other party's appearance and went public without caring about the consequences. It was only after going public that they started to dislike each other.

They were too willful.

Fortunately, they were both top-tier good-looking artists, so even without a romantic spark, they had fans supporting them. The 'Salt Grain' wouldn't cool down for a while.

Zhang Churui rolled her eyes, "You two are something else."

Wen Li cleared her throat. "Anyway, I have to go try on wedding dresses this afternoon. I'll leave first."

"Go ahead."

Once she was downstairs, the driver was already waiting in the parking lot.

After getting in the car, she noticed that Wen Wen was sitting in the back seat, and there was a staff member holding a camera in the front passenger seat.

In unscripted variety shows like this, collecting materials as much as possible was essential to ensure the production of entertaining programs without a script. Therefore, the following shoot was crucial.

Wen Li greeted the cameraman, while Wen Wen handed her a lunch box.

"Sister, we're running short on time this afternoon, and the traffic is bad. I'm sorry you have to eat in the car."

It was a common occurrence, and she was already used to it.

Wen Li opened the lunch box, but her smile quickly faded.

It contained boiled broccoli with mushrooms, corn, and pickled chicken breast.

Because she had indulged in a late-night snack not long ago, her nutritionist immediately started restricting her diet again.

Wen Li asked, "Did you eat, Wen Wen?"

Wen Wen patted her stomach. "Yes, Sister Dan took me to a buffet."

At that moment, she couldn't care about managing her expression and immediately frowned, looking unhappy.

What was so great about being an artist? Artists' fans were numerous, and using food to gain fans was always the most ridiculous thing because eating too much was considered a sin. Every time she thought she could endure it, she would take a picture of her meager meal and post it on Weibo. Fans would say, "Our baby is so thin," while haters would say, "Why are you pretending to be pitiful with just that bowl of rice?"

With sympathy from her fans and mockery from her haters, Wen Li firmly controlled her mouth and moved on.

Any discerning person could tell why she suddenly became unhappy. The cameraman skillfully redirected the topic to something else, "Why isn't Teacher Wen happy? Do you miss Teacher Song?"

Out of habit, as they were the only couple being filmed separately, he had to mention it from time to time; otherwise, they would end up with a solo-living show.

Wen Li instinctively replied, "Who misses him?"

Then she quickly realized that her words might be shown on TV, so she tried to remedy the situation, pursing her lips and speaking with a stiff tone, "Just a little bit."

The cameraman paused for a moment, unable to hold back his laughter.

Wen Li didn't know what the cameraman was laughing about. While eating, she chatted with him and casually asked about the filming situation of the other three couples.

The theme for the first episode was "surprise", and it all depended on the guests' performance. The other three couples had prepared various surprises for their partners, big and small, but Wen Li and Song Yan's filming plan had not started yet.

"What kind of surprise does Teacher Wen want?"

Wen Li replied without any specific demands, "Him being alive in this world is the biggest surprise to me."

She had no particular expectations for Song Yan. After all, their relationship was purely contractual, and she certainly wouldn't use normal 'husband standards' to expect anything from him.

As long as he lived well and they didn't end up divorced, it would be enough for her to avoid becoming a widow in an instant.

The cameraman was once again taken aback.

"What's wrong?" Wen Li thought she might have been too abstract, and her answer was insincere, causing the cameraman to be at a loss for words.

The cameraman smiled and said, "Nothing, I just think you're really good with words, Teacher Wen."

Wen Li: "?"

Little did she know that the cameraman had already come up with the script for this shot in his mind.

He shared this idea with the production team, and that evening, the official Weibo account of [In This World with You] immediately posted a text post.

——"You being alive in this world is the biggest surprise to me."

——A touching statement heard by the cameraman during the filming.

「Wow, the person who said this is really amazing!」

「So, this must be a legendary quote from one of the couples!!」

「The Salt Grains CP fans are sure that it couldn't have been said by Sanli and Beauty. Let's narrow it down to the remaining three couples.」

「@WenLiLitchi @SongYan, look at them!」

「Please stop tagging @WenLiLitchi @SongYan, okay? If you keep tagging @WenLiLitchi @SongYan like this, they will feel inferior. Be good, let's not tag @WenLiLitchi @SongYan anymore. They won't understand.」

Wen Li, who was scrolling through Weibo: "..."

These CP fans looked down on everyone.

This was her, Wen Li's, legendary quote! Although it wasn't the same meaning as what the cameraman understood, it didn't matter. After all, the author was her.

Wen Li wasn't sure if Song Yan had seen the mentions, but the probability was low. In fact, the chances of an artist with a large fan base seeing such mentions were extremely slim.

Not seeing them was just fine, so she wouldn't waste her breath explaining.

——

They filmed the material for three days in a lukewarm manner, and Wen Li's perspective completely shifted to that of a female artist living alone.

Recently, she only had a few business engagements, all in the local Yancheng city or nearby cities. There were a few contracts in Lu Dan's hands that hadn't been finalized yet. Lu Dan was still negotiating with the capital. In the past two years, she had been running around tirelessly for her career, busy like a spinning top, working non-stop on set throughout the year. She didn't dare to claim the title of "ratings queen". It wasn't just her who could boost the viewership ratings among the top-tier actresses. But ever since she stabilized this aspect of "ratings", Wen Li finally welcomed a rare period of rest in the year.

After filming for a few days, Wen Li became acquainted with the cameraman who accompanied her.

Wen Li asked the cameraman to be a bit selective when providing the material later. This way, after the show aired, the viewers' attention would be focused on her beautiful face rather than the chemistry between her and Song Yan.

"..."

The cameraman didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "But, Teacher Wen, I won't be able to select the material for you during tomorrow night's live broadcast. You'll have to handle it yourself."

Only then did Wen Li remember that there was a live broadcast, which was a newly added segment in the second season.

Wen Li had previously visited several live-streaming rooms hosted by product sellers, but in those cases, the hosts were in control. She would sit beside them and handle some jokes, read a few advertising lines, and help with giveaways. She had also participated in live broadcasts promoting collaborative works, where there would be staff members guiding the process.

This so-called live-streaming room was specially arranged by the production team to satisfy the viewers' desire for "real-life experiences". There was no script, and the audience got to witness the most authentic daily life of the guests.

Now, she was starting to get a headache.

By the following afternoon, while shooting an advertisement for a brand in the studio, Wen Li was thinking about the live broadcast. On the way back home in the car, she anxiously pondered how to interact with the audience in the live-streaming room that evening.

The cameraman was not with her in the car. Taking advantage of not being filmed, Wen Li went online and watched a few replays of popular internet celebrities' live streams, hoping to learn something.

These people were truly amazing. They didn't even have a script, yet they could talk continuously for hours without any breaks, completely unbothered by dead air.

No, she couldn't do a solo broadcast. It would be too awkward.

First, she contacted the production team, and they assured her that they wouldn't force the guests to appear in pairs. As long as there was interaction in the live-streaming room, it would be fine.

Wen Li had no other choice but to contact Song Yan. If he could buy a plane ticket and rush back from Shanghai now, there might still be time to save the situation.

Afraid that he might not see her messages on WeChat, Wen Li dialed the phone directly.

As soon as he answered, she went straight to the point, "Teacher Song, are you really planning to leave me to do the live broadcast alone tonight?"

Song Yan's voice sounded quite calm, "Sorry, I have an urgent notice here that I have to rush for. I really can't come back."

Wen Li clenched her fist.

"Fine, do as you please."

She hung up the phone with cold words, completely unaware that Song Yan had put the call on speakerphone.

Inside the hotel suite, Song Yan was in the process of recording the pre-shooting segment, and he didn't seem angry. However, the several staff members surrounding him involuntarily gasped in surprise.

The assistant director scratched his head, somewhat troubled, "Is Wen Li really angry this time?"

Song Yan put away his phone, "Seems like it."

"Is Song Teacher worried that the surprise will turn into a shock?"

He smiled, "A bit."

The man's words were understated. His naturally recessed eye sockets, coupled with his lowered eyelashes, cast a shadow over his eyes.

With his striking appearance and cold temperament, dedicated and patient in his approach to the filming work, even when his wife got angry, he didn't blame the program planners. The assistant director swallowed his saliva and suddenly began to blame the planners himself. He knew very well that the situation between these two was different from the other three couples, yet they arranged such a segment!

The script for the first episode clearly stated the theme as "surprise", and the production team responsible for accompanying Wen Li had inquired about what kind of surprise she wanted. The result was quite artistic.

Just be alive.

The production team couldn't possibly arrange for Song Yan to fake his death and then resurrect in front of Wen Li.

So the production team could only arrange for this scenario: when Wen Li's live broadcast reached the halfway mark, her husband, who had been out, would suddenly return home. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and the effect would undoubtedly be explosive.

This is already the creative limit of the production team.

"The last question," said the assistant director holding the paper, "What kind of surprise does Teacher Song want from Wen Li?"

The surprise that Song Yan wants to give to Wen Li is already on its way, and the cameraman responsible for filming Wen Li has been called for a last-minute meeting with the director's team to discuss how the script should be arranged and what kind of surprise Wen Li should give to Song Yan.

Song Yan cooperatively responded, "I'm somewhat curious about what she looks like when she acts cute."

The assistant director was surprised, "Has Wen Li never acted cute towards you?"

He shook his head, "She prefers to handle things she can solve on her own and dislikes bothering others."

Just like two years ago when there was an agreement that would have been beneficial to her, she hesitated for a long time.

In the dressing room, Wen Li, who was crying with teary eyes, tightly clenched the hem of her dress, her eyebrows scattered. She asked him softly and cautiously, "Are you single?"

This girl had been severely deceived by her previous hype, so she had an instinctual lack of trust towards men.

She was like a wary cat, all her thorns standing up, afraid of being deceived. Fortunately, Song Yan had a good reputation in the industry, and she had some trust in him.

"If I wasn't single, would there be a need for me to find someone of the opposite sex to cooperate and clarify the rumors that I'm not gay?"

"Oh, that's good then," She nodded.

However, trust was still trust, but they still remained distant. She remained cautious. She set clear boundaries.

"I won't bother you."

"I won't take advantage of your resources. After it's made public, we'll go our separate ways. Don't worry."

The director's team showed him the footage she had recorded alone in Yancheng. When he saw her suppress the brilliance in her eyes and managed to show a hint of timidity, saying "just a little bit" with great stiffness, or when she said, "Him being alive in this world is the biggest surprise to me," Song Yan understood that she didn't mean it that way; she was just putting on a show for the camera.

She was quite good at acting, even if it was fake, it still made it hard for people to resist.

The man sighed lightly, his deep voice filled with helplessness, "Let's end the interview here, or I won't be able to catch the plane back to Yancheng tonight. If that happens, I'll end up having to go home and wash clothes on a washboard."

Wen Li was completely unaware of this. When the director's team sent the "OK" signal in the evening, she bravely started the live broadcast alone.

"Hello, everyone! Today, Teacher Song isn't at home, so let's have some fun!"