Chapter 40: Forty Fire

After their intimate moment, Yan Duo suddenly came to her senses, “You’ve been standing here, haven’t you been recognized by anyone?”

At this busy entrance with people coming and going, it would be bad if they were spotted by either netizens or the media.

Ji Ran smiled at her, “Dressed like this, you’re probably the only one who could recognize me in a second.”

At this moment, Ji Ran was wearing an ordinary black short-sleeved shirt, with a baseball cap and a black mask. At least he had been standing in this inconspicuous spot for half an hour without anyone giving him a second glance, except for the petite woman before him who had come over to hug him after just one look.

Yan Duo looked at him, smiled with satisfaction, and then said, “I’ll go up first then, you come find me later.”

Ji Ran sighed, agreed with a “yes,” and watched Yan Duo go in alone.

As Yan Duo walked toward the hotel elevator, Fang Fang suddenly emerged from some corner. She handed the milk tea in her hand to Yan Duo and immediately showed her loyalty: “As soon as Teacher Ji arrived, he had Ma Peng ask me which hotel I was at. I didn’t say anything else.”

Regarding the news that Ji Ran had suddenly followed, Fang Fang was also quite confused. Was Teacher Ji here to claim his territory because he knew Sister Duo had been confessed to, or was it that he couldn’t sleep without Sister Duo for one night?

The first scenario wasn’t very likely, but if it was the latter, Fang Fang felt a bit sour—so melodramatic! (scratched out) Simply so lovey-dovey!

Yan Duo took the milk tea, inserted the straw, and took a sip before saying nonchalantly: “It’s fine, I know you wouldn’t.”

Ji Ran had an event to attend in T City tomorrow, so he arrived in S City a day early to catch a connecting flight, just wanting to spend a little more time with her. However, this “connecting flight” that kept going further and further away was truly something else.

Seeing that she didn’t suspect her, Fang Fang breathed a sigh of relief. She had no other thoughts now, only wanting to regain Yan Duo’s trust and stay by her side for a long, long time.

Not long after Yan Duo returned to her room, Ji Ran pushed his luggage suitcase and knocked before entering. Yan Duo threw her arms around his neck, gave his lips a couple of bites, and only then let go.

“What time is your flight tomorrow morning?”

Ji Ran: “Five o’clock.”

Yan Duo was momentarily at a loss for words. With a 5 AM flight, she would have to be up by 3 AM at the latest.

“Idiot.”

Ji Ran pressed Yan Duo onto the bed, “Then do you like it?”

Yan Duo hugged him, “I only like you!”

The next day, Ji Ran left at 3 AM, while Yan Duo got up at 6 AM and returned to M city by 9 AM. After getting off the plane, she took a taxi directly to the film set.

After finishing the morning’s scenes, Yan Duo had just sat down and hadn’t even had time to swallow a sip of water when she saw Fang Fang walking dejectedly from the doorway, constantly looking back.

Before Yan Duo could understand what it meant, a cool female voice came from behind Fang Fang.

“Yan Duo, you’re quite something!”

Yan Duo saw who was speaking and nearly choked on the water in her mouth. She quickly got up and hugged Qi Sixian’s arm, pleading: “Sis, I was wrong. I’ll accept it if you want to hit or scold me, but please don’t get rough here, okay? After all, I care about my reputation too, you know?”

Qi Sixian looked at Yan Dou’s pitiful appearance and almost couldn’t hold back her laughter. She glanced around the film set and asked her, “Where’s your husband?”

When Qi Sixian so loudly called her “husband,” Yan Duo was so startled that her heart trembled. “Sis, can you keep your voice down? How about I take you to my dressing room, and we can talk there. mijiashe.com”

Qi Sixian looked at her sideways, full of questions but didn’t say anything, following Yan Duo to the dressing room.

As soon as they arrived in the dressing room, Qi Sixian was settled by Yan Duo in the best seat. After taking a glass of orange juice from Fang Fang, she first glared at her before beginning to “interrogate” Yan Duo.

“Talk. When did you two get together? When did you get married? Why are you keeping it a secret? Does your family know about this? And what’s Ji Ran’s attitude?”

Fang Fang stood to one side, and when she heard Qi Sixian hit the nail on the head with a few questions, she felt she shouldn’t stay any longer, so she whispered to Yan Duo, “Sister Duo, there are too many people and gossip outside, how about I go stand guard outside?”

Yan Duo didn’t refuse, saying to Fang Fang, “My sister likes spicy crayfish, order two portions, and get a few bottles of Jiangxiaobai, my sister and I will eat and chat.”

Fang Fang quickly agreed, “Okay, okay, I’ll go order them now.”

Seeing Yan Duo’s strong desire to survive, calling her “my sister” repeatedly, Qi Sixian’s last bit of displeasure vanished. She took a sip of orange juice, and after Fang Fang left, she said earnestly to Yan Duo, “Although Boss Fan is upset, she has no intention of shelving you, and she told me that she will continue to support you just as she did before.”

Whether it was because Fan Xian had a kind heart or saw that Yan Duo had a promising future with the potential to earn big money, his current actions still made Qi Sixian breathe a sigh of relief. With such a boss, the Fan Group would at least not collapse in the next twenty years.

Yan Duo nodded upon hearing this, saying nothing.

Qi Sixian added, “But I can’t guarantee that his future wife won’t target you.”

The news of Fan Xian’s recent blind date frenzy had spread throughout the company, and the women he was meeting were either from wealthy families or influential families’ daughters—none of them were easy to deal with. Qi Sixian could only hope that his future wife would be reasonable and wouldn’t try to suppress Fan Xian’s “old flame.”

On this point, Yan Duo was quite open-minded, “It’s fine, anyway. If they ruin my career, it’s their family’s money that they’ll lose. I don’t mind.”

When she first signed with Fan’s company, the contract was quite lenient, only for five years. From signing until now, whether it was Qi Sixian or Fan Xian, they had treated her exceptionally well. The company’s best resources were thrown at her without charge. Although Yan Duo couldn’t bring herself to say something ungrateful like “I definitely won’t renew my contract after five years,” if she ever reached a point where she couldn’t move forward, she would inevitably have to make plans for herself. But as long as it didn’t come to that final step, Yan Duo wouldn’t leave easily.

Qi Sixian glared at her sideways, “You think your Sister Qi is a pushover who would let you be completely destroyed?”

Having been an agent for over a decade, while Qi Sixian’s abilities weren’t enough to contend with Fan’s company, she could still protect Yan Duo from being ruined by others.

Yan Duo hugged Qi Sixian emotionally, acting coquettishly. “Sis, you’re truly my real sister. I must have saved the entire galaxy in my past life to meet such a wonderful sister like you!”

Qi Sixian patted Yan Duo’s head and pushed her away, saying: “Now you remember I’m your real sister. How come you forgot when you were lying to me?”

Yan Duo muttered softly, “I told you, but you didn’t believe me!”

Qi Sixian glanced at her, “How would I know Ji Ran would take a liking to you? Tell me, did you play some trick on him?”

Yan Duo thought for a moment. The incident where she faked a pregnancy to trick him into coming back and immediately getting a marriage certificate probably seemed scheming to others. So she told Qi Sixian the whole story exactly as it happened. After finishing, she reiterated once more: “I really didn’t mean to deceive him then. Sister, do you believe me?”

Qi Sixian pinched Yan Duo’s pert nose hard and said, “Do you even have a brain? Getting sold out and still helping the buyer count the money, then feeling guilty that you weren’t sold for enough. Are you stupid or what? Ji Ran has been in the industry for ten years—what kind of person hasn’t he met, what kind of situation hasn’t he encountered? You really think he agreed to marry you just because of a few words from his mother? Simply naive!”

Qi Sixian was frustrated with his lack of progress. What kind of person was Ji Ran? Someone who never dated and never even used relationships for publicity suddenly announcing marriage—there had to be more to it!

Hearing this, Yan D bowed her head shyly and said, “He said he married me because he loves me.”

Qi Sixian rolled his eyes dramatically, “You believe him just because he says he loves you? If he loved you, wouldn’t he make it public? What has he given you if he loves you? I heard his personal net worth is over a billion, with quite a few assets—do you even know about them? And how much did he give you when you got married?”

Yan Duo choked up, holding her neck stiffly as she said, “I was the one who didn’t want it public, it has nothing to do with him. Besides, I didn’t marry him for his money. I don’t care whether he has a lot of money or not.”

Qi Sixian almost wanted to pry open Yan Duo’s head to see if that pretty brain of hers was filled with water. “What do you want me to say? Did I tell you to take his family assets? Whether you want to or not is a completely different matter from knowing about it, understand!”

Yan Duo pouted, stubbornly arguing, “He showed me his assets, I just wasn’t interested.”

At this point, Qi Sixian was completely speechless, “I can now fully understand if I were your mother, I would have severed our mother-daughter relationship long ago and kicked you out of the house.

This statement was somewhat exaggerated, but Qi Sixian could completely understand the daily worries of Yan’s parents. Raising a daughter who only had a pretty face but was useless in every other aspect—they would never be able to rest easy, even until their dying day.

Remembering how her family had secretly slipped her money before she joined the film crew, Yan Duo’s mood sank. Regarding her marriage to Ji Ran, she wasn’t completely foolish—she had her own thoughts and bottom line. But regardless, as a daughter who caused her parents to worry, she had truly not done well in this regard.

Seeing her discomfort, Qi Sixian couldn’t bear to say anything harsh. When the takeout arrived, they ate together and didn’t mention Ji Ran again. Of course, although the liquor had a low alcohol content, Qi Sixian didn’t let her drink any. After all, showing up to the set reeking of alcohol would not only draw criticism from the director but also gossip from the crew members.

After the two finished their meal, it was time for Yan Duo’s filming. Qi Sixian stood not far away, watching Yan Duo act with meticulous precision, and sighed inwardly. Regardless of whether Yan Duo genuinely considered her a sister, she truly regarded Yan Duo as her own younger sister. Now that her “clueless” younger sister couldn’t see clearly, she, as the older sister, had no choice but to play the villain.

Thinking of this, Qi Sixian pulled Fang Fang to a corner, looked down at her for two minutes, watching Fang Fang tremble, before slowly speaking.

“I don’t care if you’re Ji Ran’s person. Since Duo Duo isn’t making a big deal of it, I won’t investigate further. But I warn you, if you do anything to betray Duo Duo, whether it’s you or Ma Peng, I have plenty of ways to deal with you both, understood?”

The relationship between Yan Duo and Ji Ran was kept so secret that Qi Sixian’s first suspicion was Fang Fang by Yan Duo’s side. Later, after a careful investigation, she indeed discovered that Fang Fang had come out of Ji Ran’s studio and was in a relationship with his assistant. She couldn’t easily shake Ji Ran’s position, but Qi Sixian believed she still had the ability to deal with two small fries.

Qi Sixian didn’t treat others with the same warmth she showed Yan Duo. Usually, she was like a disciplinary dean from school days—the kind that would make you不敢 play video games for three days with just one look. Fang Fang had always been quite intimidated by her. Hearing her words now, Fang Fang hurriedly said, “Sister Qi, don’t worry, I swear to heaven, I would absolutely never do anything to harm Sister Duo. You can rest assured!”

The men and women protecting Yan Duo were each more intimidating than the last, like a group of demons. How could Fang Fang dare to entertain any other thoughts?

Qi Sixian’s expression remained blank, making it impossible to tell whether she believed Fang Fang’s words. She spoke again, “Tell me Ji Ran’s return flight.”

Fang Fang was about to say she didn’t know, but then remembered that Qi Sixian had just mentioned Ma Peng. Realizing that Qi Sixian must already know about her relationship with Ma Peng, she didn’t hesitate. She picked up her phone and sent a message to Ma Peng. After a moment, she said to Qi Sixian, “Teacher Ji’s flight is at 7:20 PM, departing from T City East Airport and arriving at M City Airport at 9:10 PM.”

Hearing this, Qi Sixian said nothing, turned around and went back to Yan Duo’s rest area. When Yan Duo was resting, she told her that she was going back.

Although Yan Duo was reluctant to see Qi Sixian leave so soon, she understood that Qi Sixian had many matters to attend to. After saying many things to Qi Sixian with deep reluctance, she finally arranged for Fang Fang to take her to the airport.

After leaving the TV station, Ji Ran didn’t have time for dinner and took Ma Peng straight to the airport. They finally arrived at the gate an hour early, but before he could enter, he heard someone calling his name. He turned around and saw Qi Sixian walking toward him from nearby.

“Ji Ran, I’ve heard so much about you. I’m Qi Sixian.”

Ji Ran looked at Qi Sixian before him, who was clearly up to no good, and nodded slightly, “Hello.”

Before ten o’clock, when Ji Ran returned to the hotel suite with his luggage, Yan Duo was feeding a parrot in the room. Seeing Ji Ran come back, she immediately threw down the bird food and ran over barefoot, “You’re back!”

Ji Ran looked at her joyful expression, like a child welcoming their father home. He couldn’t help but think that it was probably this rare, pure innocence that made everyone like her and want to protect her.

Lowering his head to peck her pouting red lips, Ji Ran asked her: “Did you miss me?”

Yan Duo nodded honestly, “Yes.”

Ji Ran dropped his luggage, bent down to pick her up, and wrapped her legs around his waist, “Then let me check and see if you really ‘want’ it.”

Yan Duo wrapped her arms around his neck and saluted solemnly: “Ready for your inspection, Captain.”

After saying that, he burst out laughing.

Ji Ran carried her straight to the bedroom. When they reached the door, he suddenly glanced at the two parrots and threatened, “If you make another sound, I’ll kill you and make soup out of you.”

Two parrots stared at Ji Ran with their silly, cute eyes, seemingly not understanding what he meant. Yan Duo, however, saw Ji Ran casually close the bedroom door and leaned against his shoulder, laughing uncontrollably.