Chapter 17 Seventeen Fire

What surprised Yan Duo was that the results she found on Weibo were completely different from what she’d imagined.

“Aiya, this little chamber maid looks kind of dumbcute, kinda adorable.”

“I’m so jealous of Biyu. If Ji Ran picked me and wanted to sleep with me, I probably wouldn’t just be clumsy—I doubt my brain would function at all, right?”

“The woman chosen by my husband — I used to be pretty jealous of her, but I heard she had a rough time later, so I won’t insult her anymore.”

“Does anyone else think this little maid is really pretty? Especially those autumn-water, knife-shaped eyes — they’re so beautiful. I just want to eat her looks. Am I the only one?”

“Upstairs, you are not alone; I am with you.”

“I screenshotted it, set it as my wallpaper, ready to admire anytime, haha~”

“Ahhh, she’s a senior at our school — she’s even more beautiful in person!”

……

Yan Duo skimmed it once, then said to Qi Sixian on the other end of the phone with some disbelief, “Sis, how many fake accounts did you hire to get me trending like this?”

It had to be said: Yan Duo let out a huge sigh of relief when she saw that content. Forgive her for being timid — with the first drama airing, she was worried not only about not being accepted by netizens, but even more about being trashed by Ji Ran’s fans. For her, she could offend anyone, but she absolutely did not want to cross Ji Ran’s fans.

Qi Sixian scoffed at that. “You’re overthinking it. Do you think the company is blind and will market you as ‘beautiful’? The worst-case plan would be to market you as ‘dumb,’ but the company’s press release hasn’t even gone out yet and netizens have already made up their minds—sparing them the trouble of a release.”

Although that sounded exaggerated, half of it was true. Yan Duo’s looks need no elaboration—she was beautiful—but the entertainment industry isn’t short on beauties. Once the press release praised her appearance, as a newcomer she was easily mocked online. How could Qi Sixian possibly throw her into the fire? Still, you could only call Yan Duo extremely lucky. Besides being especially photogenic, the character’s personality happened to match her own situation—working with an idol she’d admired for years for the first time, unable to hide her admiration and nerves. Isn’t that similar to a lowly, unknown maid facing the lofty, inexperienced affections of a prince? And Yan Duo had almost no real acting skill

Playing the role instead made the character’s inner life come across more naturally and stand out even more.

Yan Duo:……

“Miss, may I ask what your purpose was in making this call? To mercilessly mock me?” Yan Duo asked, her heart weary.

It seemed only then that Qi Sixian remembered why she had called, and she hurriedly said, “Oh, right, I just remembered—you have that little eunuch ‘old sweetheart’ role in ‘Power Struggles,’ don’t you? His agent contacted me and said they want to hype a CP with you, offering to swap you an endorsement as payment. What do you think?”

“Of course I refuse!” Yan Duo rejected without a second thought. “And anyway, he’s not an ‘old sweetheart,’ just a fellow townsman, okay?”

The eunuch who called himself Little Shunzi was from the same hometown as Biyu; the two helped each other in the palace and kept in occasional contact. Little Shunzi had some feelings for Biyu, but given his circumstances he never voiced them. That trivial affection ultimately became the thing that cost them their lives.

Qi Sixian was not at all surprised by Yan Duo’s decision, but he still warned, “I respect your choice, but you should know your scenes are only in the first ten episodes. Once the character is written out, and without memorable promotion, netizens will forget you quickly.”

Yan Duo didn’t care; netizens were forgetful. She never expected one drama to make her explode overnight. After all, the shows she had already filmed were going to air, and her acting would surely improve in future projects—so she could take her time.

“It’s okay.”

Qi Sixian sighed, feeling Yan Duo was too complacent. If this great opportunity had been in front of any of the others under her, they would have hyped the CP to death by now. Then again, she thought, maybe it was precisely because Yan Duo was so pure-hearted that she was biased toward her. She was still young; later she could give her more juicy roles to tear into.

After the call, it was nearly ten o’clock. Yan Duo planned to watch TV for a bit before going to sleep, but the door was knocked. “Duo’er, it’s Mom. Are you asleep?”

As soon as Yan Duo heard Xu Yarou’s voice, she jumped out of bed to open the door. Xu Yarou stood in the doorway smiling, holding a fruit platter.

“Mom, what’s up?” Yan Duo asked as she took the platter.

Xu Yarou smiled at her daughter, “It’s nothing, I just came to tell you—you acted very well.”

Yan Duo’s face flushed; she instantly realized her mother had watched her show. But she didn’t take her mother’s praise to heart. The silly persona she played on screen couldn’t possibly be “acting very well”—it was just her mother’s encouragement.

Xu Yarou understood her daughter’s awkwardness. Although in front of Ji Ran her daughter’s acting wasn’t anything special, as a newcomer, the moment their daughter appeared on TV—even as her parents—Xu Yarou and Yan Xuenian felt a pleasant surprise. Her daughter’s performance was eye-catching, so it’s no wonder colleagues told her she was bound to become popular.

“Your brother even sent the TV stills on WeChat—he’s been promoting you since early this morning!”

Thinking of Yan Yi’s continuous days of publicity, Xu Yarou felt that this brother had done pretty well.

Yan Duo was taken aback. She’d been quite busy these past days and hadn’t been checking WeChat, so she had no idea her brother had been promoting her.

Xu Yarou didn’t stay long after speaking; after asking how many episodes her daughter could act in, she returned to her room.

Yan Duo carried the fruit tray back to the room, opened her phone to check the Moments post her brother had sent—sure enough, he’d already started shouting out before his stream, asking everyone to go support him. Warmth filled her chest as she lifted the tray and headed to his room. She hadn’t even stepped inside when her brother’s irritable voice drifted out.

“Get lost, who the hell do you think is your big brother? Call me ‘old man’ again and I’ll block you!”

“Whether she has a boyfriend is none of your business. I’ll support her for life and will never let her be with you—forget about it!”

Yan Yi hung up, irritably raking his hair, muttering to himself, “Damn it, I shouldn’t have posted that on Moments.”

Duo’er was making her first appearance on screen, and it was in a show she did with Ji Ran. Although she didn’t say anything, the whole family could see how nervous she was, so Yan Yi, wanting to help, volunteered to promote her on his Moments, hoping everyone would go support his sister.

At first Yan Yi was cautious and didn’t tell anyone which role his sister played, but after the second episode aired today his phone blew up. Many childhood friends scolded him for being stingy — such a beautiful sister and he never brought her out to introduce to everyone, never invited anyone over, kept her hidden so tightly, and even insisted on calling him “brother” while saying they wanted to be his brother-in-law. Yan Yi was furious, wanting to beat up those people for all their baseless fantasies.

Yan Duo found her brother amusing from outside, lifted her hand to knock, and walked in. wkhydac.com

Yan Yi saw his sister enter, stepped forward to take the fruit plate, and also removed the bag from the armchair so Yan Duo could sit.

The two sat and ate fruit in silence for a while, then Yan Yi glanced at his sister and asked, “Aren’t you two going to take advantage of the drama’s airing to make things public?”

When they filmed that drama, in less than two months, Ji Ran tricked Yan Duo into getting the marriage certificate. Because the registration was rushed, the Yan family thought the decision to marry was too hasty, but since his sister liked Ji Ran so much, no one said anything. Later she told them she wouldn’t hold a wedding for the time being and wouldn’t make it public. That made the Yan family dislike Ji Ran even more. Even though Duo’er said it was her idea, Yan Yi believed it was the result of Ji Ran’s hinting—actually, the decision not to go public was Ji Ran’s.

Yan Duo shook her head, “No. If it’s made public, I’ll definitely get torn apart by Ji Ran’s fans.”

Ji Ran’s fans were always fierce; without absolute certainty, Yan Duo didn’t want her marriage to be cursed by everyone.

Yan Yi raised an eyebrow at her. “That’s his problem. He was a newcomer when he married you; since he married you he should have anticipated this outcome and handled it.”

Though he said that, before she resolved the doubts in her heart and grew stronger herself, she didn’t want to announce anything rashly.

Yan Duo shrugged, “Not making it public was my decision!”

Yan Yi looked at his sister, his eyes full of pain, “You’ve been treated so unfairly.”

No matter the reason, being able to marry the person she’d loved for so long had never made Yan Duo feel wronged; she instead felt she’d gained. She understood her family’s prejudice against Ji Ran, but couldn’t say too much, so she exaggerated slightly and said, “Brother, think about it — if I had announced I was married the moment I debuted, directors wouldn’t cast me in those youthful unmarried roles anymore. Wouldn’t that ruin my career? Only an idiot would make it public!”

Yan Yi had never considered that reason before. Thinking about it from that angle now, it actually made sense. In today’s entertainment industry, many artists have been married for years and even have several children but still don’t dare to reveal it — and that’s not without reason. Besides, marriages in show business are precarious; managing a marriage is often less secure than managing a career. Even if she divorced in the future, his sister wouldn’t be left with nothing.

After thinking it through, Yan Yi’s features relaxed, and he stopped agonizing over whether to make it public.

Having successfully persuaded her brother, Yan Duo returned to her room and was surprised to find that Ji Ran had called her. She called back; although the call connected, she didn’t hear Ji Ran’s voice. After a few seconds, a woman’s voice came through the receiver, and Yan Duo quietly hung up.