Chapter 3 There were rumors that Wen Tang fell in love every time she filmed a drama, and each boyfriend was a fresh-faced young man younger than her. Moreover, all her rumored partners were co-stars from her productions. The rumors were all true. Over the past few years, Wen Tang had filmed numerous idol dramas, spending almost all her time on set. Her dramas were blockbusters one after another, making her the undisputed queen of television dramas in the industry. However, even the TV drama queen had her little-known troubles. Wen Tang found it difficult to immerse herself when acting in romantic sweet dramas. Watching the television dramas she starred in when she was just over twenty years old, one would notice that her acting and appearance were both excellent, yet something seemed to be missing—particularly in intimate scenes with the male lead, there was always an indescribable awkwardness lingering throughout. Wen Tang entered the entertainment industry at age eight, completely controlled by Liu Meifen. Looking at those once-famous entertainment stars, many were ruined by men and scandals. Since Wen Tang was old enough to understand, Liu Meifen strictly forbade her from dating, and after she turned eighteen, the restrictions became even more severe. Wen Tang had always been an obedient child who listened to her mother. Since childhood, she lived with her grandmother. After her parents divorced when she was three, they each went their separate ways to big cities. Young Wen Tang stayed with her grandmother in the countryside as a left-behind child, and hadn’t seen them for years—her memories of them had already faded. At age eight, Wen Tang was discovered by a director during a school performance and coincidentally starred in a popular drama at the time, becoming a household-name child star. Liu Meifen reappeared as her guardian, and Wen Tang, yearning for a trace of warmth from Liu Meifen, obeyed her in everything. However, no matter how obedient Wen Tang was, it was all in vain. In Liu Meifen’s eyes, there was only profit and calculation. Her only goals were to make Wen Tang famous and then even more famous, because only fame could bring corresponding wealth and status. To achieve this, she enrolled Wen Tang in countless classes, gave her endless work, made her sleep only three hours a day on average, constantly exploiting her. On the surface, everything was for Wen Tang’s benefit, but in reality, it was to satisfy her own insatiable private desires. To Liu Meifen, Wen Tang was merely a perfect tool to achieve all this. There was no familial affection between them whatsoever. It wasn’t until age twenty-two that Wen Tang finally saw through everything clearly. That year, she finally entered her long-delayed rebellious phase. She changed boyfriends one after another. Liu Meifen’s words were no longer law as they once were. The two of them had countless arguments and fights. After breaking free from Liu Meifen’s shackles, Wen Tang completely let loose in the entertainment industry. Then she discovered that the bottleneck she could never break through in her acting seemed to shatter with just a light touch. It turned out that acting in romantic idol dramas was this simple—all she needed to do was have a relationship while filming. — After the opening ceremony, there was a magazine photoshoot in the afternoon and an interview program in the evening. The interview was pre-recorded. Since the intimate photos of Wen Tang and You Yang were exposed this morning and trended together, Liu Meifen worried the program team might set traps for Wen Tang. Before the recording, she communicated with the production team, printed all questions on A4 paper and reviewed them carefully, crossing out any that didn’t pass, and added similar whitewashing and explanatory Q&As beneficial to Wen Tang. After all this back and forth, considerable time was spent. The interview originally scheduled to start at eight was pushed back to nine-thirty. The standard question-and-answer format proceeded, occasionally interspersed with interactive segments. The host held the questions Liu Meifen had edited, with every word and question completely controlled, utterly lacking in novelty. After the interview lasting over an hour ended, it was already eleven at night. After going off air, Yang Yang and Kexin waited downstairs. As soon as Wen Tang came down, they gathered around her. By this time, Liu Meifen was nowhere to be seen. Following Wen Tang all day was already Liu Meifen’s limit; she had many other matters to handle and had already left. Wen Tang’s down jacket was held by Yang Yang. After the magazine shoot in the afternoon and the interview in the evening, the clothes on her body were no longer the same as this morning. She now wore a gradient-colored casual sweater and fitted jeans, looking youthful, her skin appearing fair and delicate, her legs straight and slender. The heating in the studio was turned up high, so there was no need to put on the jacket yet. However, Wen Tang’s phone had been vibrating from the moment she started recording until the end. After she came off the program, Kexin immediately handed it to her with both hands. “…Uncle Wen called all night. It seems he has something urgent to discuss with you,” Kexin said. As she finished speaking and Wen Tang looked up at her, her eyes suddenly turned cold and piercing. Kexin reacted quickly, shrinking her neck. Though the studio was hot enough to make one sweat, she suddenly felt her neck was very cold. Without Wen Tang’s permission, Kexin and Yang Yang were not allowed to casually check Wen Tang’s text messages or answer her calls. Wen Tang looked at her phone and saw seventeen missed calls. If Wen Haifeng was calling her, there was nothing else it could be about except money—always money. Wen Tang’s expression turned cold as she deleted all the missed calls, turned off the screen, and tossed the phone back to Kexin. She took a step forward toward the elevator, and as she passed Kexin, she left a chill in her wake and spoke: “If he calls again in the future, don’t bother telling me. Just delete it.” When getting in the car after leaving the recording studio, she encountered fans waiting at the entrance on this cold winter night. They stood in orderly lines at the door. When they saw Wen Tang come out, they excitedly held up their light sticks and banners high, and those without support items waved enthusiastically. “Tang Tang!!” “Tang Tang, Tang Tang! We love you, keep working hard!” … There were quite a few people, and fearing it might cause chaos, Wen Tang, as usual, walked quickly past without having time to greet the fans who had waited so long. After getting in the car, looking at the crowded people outside the window, Wen Tang turned to Yang Yang and said: “Call the program team and have them send some security to maintain order. Most importantly, make sure every single person at the entrance just now leaves safely.” Yang Yang listened and nodded repeatedly, then took out her phone to contact the program team. The car drove down the road. Wen Tang finally had time to relax. She leaned back against the seat, tilted her head back, and closed her eyes to rest.　　It was only then that Ke Xin quietly slipped up beside Wen Tang. “Tang Tang, Tang Tang~” Once Wen Tang slowly opened her eyes, Ke Xin whispered as if she were up to no good: “Tang Tang, do you remember that guy from the film set today? We’ve already found out everything about him~!”　　Peering around and acting all mysterious, they looked just like some underground organization making a secret contact. Wen Tang had already acted enough in her daily life; she wasn’t in the mood to play along: “If you can’t speak properly, just don’t say anything. Act normal.”　　After being snapped at by Wen Tang, Ke Xin immediately sat up straight, returning to normal in a split second: “Oh.” But she still had to say what needed to be said. Ke Xin continued, “Tang Tang, you asked us to check out that cool guy today—we’ve already dug up all the info on him.””