Chapter 44: Forty-Four Fires

After that day’s scenes were finished, with tensions at their peak, Yan Duo didn’t dare walk with Ji Ran anymore. She got into Zeng Meng’s car and returned to the hotel with her.

While having dinner at the hotel, Yan Duo received a call from her brother, Yan Yi.

“Duo’er, are you okay?”

At lunch, Yan Yi had learned that Ji Ran had revealed on a program that he was married, causing Weibo’s system to nearly crash. He fully approved of the admission — no matter what, a sister’s marriage shouldn’t be hidden; it would be unfair to her. But when he came home that afternoon, the tide had suddenly turned. He didn’t know where people had crawled out from, insinuating that his sister was a scheming woman, claiming she and Ji Ran were negotiating a divorce, and those clueless netizens went along with it, stirring up trouble without understanding anything. Yan Yi was furious enough to want to hit someone; more than that, he feared his sister would be crushed by the online comments.

Yan Duo felt relatively calm and replied, “It’s nothing, don’t worry, brother.”

Even with Yan Duo saying that, Yan Yi still wasn’t reassured and asked again, “Shall I help you?”

Yan Duo chuckled, “Brother, so how do you plan to help?”

Yan Yi answered immediately, “I’ll spend some money and hire some shills. Those online trolls are obviously organized and targeting you on purpose—if they can find people, so can I!”

Although he had never eaten “pork,” Yan Yi said he’d seen “pig runs”—since his sister enrolled in art school, he’d occasionally followed entertainment news and had seen plenty of those paid smear campaigns. To him, as long as you were willing to spend money, many problems could be solved.

Yan Duo felt a warm glow in her chest and smiled, saying, “Ji Ran will take care of this, don’t worry about it, and tell Mom and Dad not to worry either, okay?”

Yan Yi said he didn’t believe it, “Are you going to handle it? There’s been no news up to now.”

Things have fermented to the point where all the fire is focused on the person suspected to be “Ji Ran’s wife,” while the instigator himself seems to have been forgotten by everyone; despite stirring up such a huge storm, he shows no sign of taking any action.

Yan Duo: “You just go on and focus on teaching your students; I’m doing fine, so don’t worry about me, okay?”

Yan Yi exposed her in an instant. “Spare me. I’m really afraid you’ll suddenly come back and tell us you’ve divorced—one scare like that is enough, understand?”

Yan Yi didn’t believe most of the rumors online were true; only the divorce matter made him worry. Remembering how unhappy his sister had seemed when he last saw her, he was very concerned it might be real.

Yan Duo finally understood they were worried she’d actually get divorced. She heaved a sigh and said, “Don’t worry. If there’s another scare, it’ll be the shock of you becoming an uncle—divorce isn’t going to happen.”

Yan Yi snorted and said huffily, “If that’s the case, then all the better!”

As Yan Yi, the brother, could clearly see that his sister couldn’t possibly let go of Ji Ran. Since that’s the case, it would of course be best if they could stay together for the long haul.

After Yan Duo hung up, Zeng Meng asked casually, “Your brother?”

Yan Duo gave a short affirmative sound. gougouks.com

“Having a brother must be nice,” Zeng Meng, who grew up as an only child, remarked wistfully.

Yan Duo smiled and said, “I think it’s pretty nice too.”

Although she had pulled plenty of tricks on her brother since childhood, he never minded and always took good care of her.

Zeng Meng seemed a bit curious about Yan Yi and asked again, “How many years older is your brother than you?”

Yan Duo glanced at her and smiled suggestively, “Three years older than me, and he doesn’t have a girlfriend yet!”

Zeng Meng shot a look, “What does whether he has a girlfriend have to do with me? My standards are high — he might not be my type!”

Yan Duo smiled without saying anything; Zeng Meng’s behavior felt a bit like the guilty hiding the silver in the wrong place.

After dinner she returned to the room and completely abandoned the idea of going to find Ji Ran. She took a shower and then sat quietly on the sofa to read the script, with no desire at all to check the online comments.

She didn’t know how much time had passed when the door opened and Ji Ran came back in.

“Why are you here again?”

Yan Duo was a bit speechless. They had clearly agreed to keep a low profile for a few days and to meet as little as possible during this special period. They hadn’t even gone half a day without talking, and now he wasn’t keeping his word?

Ji Ran wore a set of light, comfortable clothes—suitable for sleeping—so he skipped changing and, as if by habit, climbed onto Yan Duo’s bed.

“I can’t sleep without you by my side.”

Since he was already there, Yan Duo didn’t feel right sending him away. She checked her phone and realized it was already 11 p.m., so she put away the script and climbed into bed, ready to sleep.

Ji Ran lay on his side, eyes unwavering as he looked at Yan Duo’s face, finally asking, “You haven’t been online?”

Yan Duo shook her head. “What’s wrong? Did something bad happen again?”

As she said that, Yan Duo immediately took out her phone, unlocked it, and opened Weibo. She saw the name of someone close to her at the top of the trending list: #JiRanStatement#.

Yan Duo glanced at Ji Ran and tapped open his Weibo post. Ji Ran: [Love and marriage are sacred and must not be defiled, so I will not marry someone I don’t love. Please stop making excessive guesses and dragging innocent people into this. As for who my beloved is, I will tell you at the right time. For now, please give us some time and space. Mm, that’s it—I’m going to go soothe her.]

Yan Duo finished reading, her face flushed. She thought the words were cloyingly sweet and asked somewhat uncertainly, “If you improvise like that, won’t you just whet everyone’s appetite and make them even more curious about the woman who marries you?”

Yan Duo always felt that Ji Ran had dug a huge pit from the start; she was buried in it and wasn’t even given a chance to climb out.

Ji Ran: “This is fine—give them some time to accept it.”

In Ji Ran’s view, what he had to do now was draw the media spotlight onto himself—so they wouldn’t speculate wildly or be led astray by those with an agenda; on the other hand, it would also buy Qi Sixian a little time.

The reason makes sense, but Yan Duo looked back at that Weibo post and still frowned. “Why do I feel like, in your tone, I’m just an unreasonable child?”

Why does Yan Duo always feel so childish in Ji Ran’s Weibo posts?

Ji Ran answered with a smile, “I’ve spoiled her into a child—you can understand it that way.”

Yan Duo glared at him, then picked up her phone again to read the comments.

[I never thought that one day Ran would say he loved a woman. Sigh—though I’m jealous of the lucky woman he coddles, I still wish Ran happiness. You must be happy. [crying.jpg]]

[My mouth was stuffed full of PDA, and yet I somehow felt a little touched—what’s going on?]

I am a mundane person; my idol got married—please forgive me for not being able to keep liking them. Goodbye!

[My boss is a responsible, good man—he supports you!]

I suddenly understood why that unnamed “Ji Ran’s wife” didn’t want to be made public—if it were me, I probably couldn’t bear the consequences of everyone’s wild speculations either.

[I’ve liked you for five years and finally can’t anymore. Goodbye.]

I’ve been active in the industry for nearly ten years; the kind of girl I could fall for would surely be exceptional. Suddenly I found myself looking forward to them showering us with more PDA.

……

Yan Duo read through the top twenty most-liked comments and found that although quite a few said they were unfollowing, most were blessings. She drew at the corner of her mouth and asked Ji Ran, “You hired a lot of trolls, didn’t you?”

The comments that had appeared on Weibo earlier weren’t so flattering; Yanduo didn’t believe that the netizens had suddenly come to terms with things in such a short time.

Ji Ran shook his head, “No.”

Yan Duo: “Then it must have been Sister Qi who arranged it.”

Just as she was about to call Qi Sixian to ask, Ji Ran suddenly snatched her phone and tossed it aside.

“Unimportant matters can wait until tomorrow. Now, let’s settle the score!”

Yan Duo, hearing Ji Ran say he wanted to settle accounts with her, practically wanted to put her hands on her hips—of course she did just that. “I haven’t come to settle with you, and yet you come to me first? Let’s talk some sense, okay?”

She’d caused an online uproar and for a moment become a skittish bird; she was the one who should be settling accounts, right?

Ji Ran raised an eyebrow. “Hm? Who wants to talk sense?”

Suddenly clear-headed, Yan Duo remembered she’d already settled this score on set and even avenged it in one stroke. Seeing the dangerous look in Ji Ran’s eyes, she felt a little weak, silently lowering her hands from her waist, extending a leg to test getting off the bed. But before her foot touched the carpet, Ji Ran closed the distance and began to settle the account.

“Tell me, who is the old man?”

Yan Duo immediately caved, “Wha- where is there an old man? I don’t know!”

Ji Ran was pleased with Yan Duo’s compliance, “I’ll give you one more chance, say it again!”

“Say what?”

Ji Ran: “How you call me.”

They’ve been married so long, Yan Duo had never called him those two words. He already called her “wife” on TV—didn’t that mean she should return the favor?

Yan Duo didn’t catch Ji Ran’s meaning. She thought for a moment and, under Ji Ran’s eagerly hopeful gaze, uncertainly spoke: “Little man?”

Ji Ran: “……”

On this side, how Ji Ran “punishes” his beloved wife and forces her to learn to call him husband—I’ll leave that for now (and not say too much, you know why). Over at the Ji household, An Yixin wore a black cheongsam patterned with red flowers, sat upright in the parlor, sipping the rose tea before her in small sips, exuding a faint, solemn air.

Chu Tian came back from outside with a pleased look, but when she opened the door and saw the scene, the smile on her face dimmed slightly.

“Mom, you’re not asleep yet?”

An Yixin set down her teacup and glanced up at her, “No, I’m waiting for you!”

Chu Tian had always known that her in-laws disapproved of her fondness for clubbing. She had even made a point of coming home before midnight tonight because she was happy, but it still put An Yixin in a bad mood.

“Why are you waiting up for me? Staying up late is bad for your health! Don’t wait up for me anymore.”

An Yixin couldn’t be bothered to dance around with her or say meaningless things; she laid it out plainly. “I don’t want you staying up late either, but you, as the eldest daughter-in-law, come home at this hour every night—I really don’t know what else to do.”

Only then did Chu Tian understand that An Yixin had come with hostile intent.

An Yixin still didn’t get up; she sat on the sofa and looked at Chu Tian, her gaze carrying a faint appraisal and displeasure.

“The fact that you come home late and keep me awake at night, I won’t go ask your father how he raised you this way—after all, you’re someone Lang Lang approves of, so I’ll tolerate it.”

“But under no circumstances should you have laid a poisonous hand on Duoduo. Who are you, and what kind of person is she? Can you even compare to her? We both know the answers very well.”

“I’ll warn you once: if you try to interfere and make Ranran and Duoduo’s marriage fall apart, I don’t care what deal you have with Langlang, you can forget about stepping foot through the Ji family’s door again!”

Having said that, An Yixin rose, glanced once at her eldest son on the stair steps, and went straight back to her room.

Ji Lang on the steps frowned, glanced at Chu Tian, and turned to go upstairs.

Chu Tian clenched her fists while standing in the middle of the living room, feeling a mix of worry and puzzlement: How did An Yixin know what she was planning to do tomorrow?

Author’s note: Yan Duo: old man.

Ji Ran: Don’t call me “Old”!

Yan Duo: Little man.

Ji Ran: Don’t use “little” to describe me!

Yan Duo: Being your wife is simply too hard!

Hahaha~