Wen Tingxue conceded. How could anyone tell he was handsome at that brightness level?
The lights weren't even on over there.
Due to the conditions, what hit his face was mostly moonlight and the light filtering through the glass.
The resulting image quality was undeniably poor.
But—
Wen Tingxue thought back and admitted he was indeed quite handsome.
After all, he had refined bone structure and superior facial features. Even with poor lighting, he still exuded handsomeness.
It was just that she saw him so often, and had also been watching variety shows recently, so she hadn't paid much attention.
"Oh my gosh, is your boyfriend really Yu Wenli?"
"No wonder you said 'almost as good as my boyfriend' back then. So he *is* your boyfriend!"
"Don't hide him from us! We really, really like him!"
"You have a boyfriend?"
Yu Wenli, catching snippets of this, frowned in displeasure.
Was that a pursuer?
Her tone was so sour.
"Uh," Wen Tingxue took off half of her earphone, explaining helplessly, "Actually, he just looks similar. If you don't believe me, look."
After giving ample hints, Wen Tingxue flipped her phone over and even unplugged the earphone cord.
She had expected Yu Wenli to play along and explain, but instead, he directly said, "Hello everyone, I'm Xiao Xue's boyfriend, Yu Wenli."
Wen Tingxue: "…?" What happened to keeping it a secret???
Was she the clown?
Her female colleagues: "!!!" Holy crap! It's true!
And he's even more handsome in person!
His voice is incredibly attractive too!
And that introduction alone gives off such a sense of security!
With his captivating voice and charm, Yu Wenli looked handsome doing anything!
This was the magic of a good impression.
The expressions of the other male colleagues weren't so good, as they had all harbored feelings for Wen Tingxue.
A young female university student, with a youthful appearance, a gentle personality, and an excellent family background.
Who wouldn't be smitten?
Winning so many hearts, they all vowed to keep it a secret.
Even the male colleagues agreed not to say a word.
The next day, Yu Wenli sent gifts to the company, ranging from simple milk tea, coffee, fruits, and snacks, to expensive handbags, keyboards, lipstick, and headphones. He catered to almost everyone, both male and female.
As the saying goes, one is short of words when accepting gifts.
The colleagues had eaten and received the gifts.
There wasn't much they could say to outsiders now.
At most, they could tease internally.
And then envy Wen Tingxue for finding such a good boyfriend—considerate, thoughtful, handsome, and rich.
It was as if all her good fortune had landed on her.
However, before they could finish their envious remarks, Qiu Rui came out of the office and said to Wen Tingxue, "G company has replied. The proposal is approved, but whether it passes the final review still depends on Chi Zerui's feedback. Coordinate with him, and if there are any issues, tell me quickly so I can bring the team to make adjustments."
"Why does Amber have to communicate? We in Foreign Languages can do it too."
Before Wen Tingxue could respond, a female colleague spoke up.
The other girls chimed in.
Chi Zerui was handsome, slender, and currently a very popular race car driver. Working with such a high-quality handsome guy made the job enjoyable.
Moreover, Wen Tingxue already had Yu Wenli. If she got involved with Chi Zerui too, who was she trying to make envious?
Qiu Rui had left late yesterday and didn't know about Yu Wenli and Wen Tingxue's relationship. At most, she had received a gift today, but didn't know who sent it.
However, in their line of work, gifts were not uncommon, so Qiu Rui didn't think much of it.
She replied, "What do you guys have to communicate about? Amber and Chi Zerui are high school classmates and have each other's contact information. Do you? Do you?"
"You're his high school classmate too?!" the crowd was shocked.
Heavens!
What was this intern's background?
The two most popular top handsome guys right now were actually connected to her!
"Uh…" Wen Tingxue scratched her head awkwardly, "I, I'll try calling him first. I don't know if he's changed his number."
Using this as an excuse, she quickly slipped away.
Qiu Rui didn't understand why everyone was reacting so strongly. She assumed her team members were just amazed that the two knew each other.
Although the explanation felt a bit forced, she didn't dwell on it. After assigning the upcoming tasks, she turned and went into her office.
The moment the door closed, the team erupted.
"I'm so jealous, I'm so jealous again."
"Oh my god, how can she know so many high-quality men? I'm so envious."
"I want to ask if she has any more such high-quality handsome guys around her. I need one!"
"Me too! When she gets back, I'm going to ask!"
The single female colleagues chimed in, and some of the male colleagues joined in the excitement.
Unaware that she was being "targeted," Wen Tingxue was leaning against the marble wall in the corridor, making a call.
The dialing tone continued.
Until it automatically hung up.
"Is he busy?"
Looking at her phone screen, which had returned to the contacts, Wen Tingxue muttered softly.
"Oh, wait, maybe he's sleeping. Sigh, should I call again?"
Wen Tingxue worriedly picked at her scalp.
She didn't know which country Chi Zerui was in or what the time difference was. Calling him repeatedly without knowing wouldn't be appropriate, right?
But the matter here was urgent. If it couldn't be resolved quickly, she'd have to work overtime again…
Thinking this, Wen Tingxue pressed the dial button again.
Meanwhile, in Country M, Ao Cheng.
After a day of racing, Chi Zerui changed out of his racing suit and emerged to a swarm of interview requests. He directly threw on a jacket and got into the car.
He exuded an aura of "do not disturb."
His assistant, seeing the fatigue in his eyes, quickly handed him an eye mask and casually mentioned, "Brother Rui, your phone kept ringing just now."
"Oh."
Chi Zerui thought it was Hao Lu'er and responded perfunctorily. He then put on his jacket, ready to sleep.
He had been busy with the积分赛 (points race) recently, his mind constantly taut, and he was exhausted.
He could fall asleep as soon as his eyes closed.
However, just before he drifted off completely, he vaguely heard his assistant say, "Ah, the note says 'Tingxue Sister.' Are you sure you don't want to take it?"
The assistant was new, having recently hired him because the previous one wasn't to his liking.
Therefore, he assumed it was his sister.
After all, among the many people in his phone contacts, she was the only one he had saved as "sister."
"Who did you say?"
Chi Zerui suddenly pulled off his eye mask, his eyes suddenly bright with alertness as he looked over.
The assistant was stunned for a moment, "Tingxue Siste—"
"That's enough," realizing he wasn't dreaming, Chi Zerui snatched the phone directly.
His joy was palpable.
The assistant: "?"
Who on earth was this?
That could make Brother Rui so happy.
Over here.
Unable to reach him after a long time, Wen Tingxue dejectedly rubbed her head, preparing to go back and report the bad news.
As she took a step, her phone rang.
She swiped to answer, her tone dejected, "Hello?"
"…"
After a second of silence, Chi Zerui teased with complicated emotions, "Why the gloomy tone? Did you call the wrong number?"
She rarely contacted him, and nearly ten missed calls were unprecedented.
But he was still uneasy. He wondered if she had lost a game, which was why she had called him so many times.
Instead of genuinely wanting to call him.
While overthinking, the girl's delighted voice, transmitted through the phone lines, struck his heart directly.
"Ah! You finally picked up!"
A seemingly ordinary sentence, yet it strangely swept away Chi Zerui's fatigue for the day.
"Oh, so it wasn't a wrong number," he paused, then asked, "What is it? Do you need something?"
He was well aware of their relationship.
She didn't have such a deep friendship with him that she would call him repeatedly.
Unless there was something.
"Mhm," the girl replied.
Then she simply explained the work matter.
Although a little disappointed, Chi Zerui was still very happy to be able to meet her.
"No need to look, I trust you."
"You should still look," for the sake of prudence, Wen Tingxue insisted on sending it, "If you have any problems, you can tell me directly, and we'll adjust on our end."
"Alright." It was just a formality anyway.
"Then I'll hang up now?"
Some reluctance evident, Chi Zerui paused for a moment before saying, "Yes, you hang up."
"Okay."
The girl hung up decisively. Hearing the muffled dial tone from the other end, Chi Zerui finally understood how others felt when he hung up on them.
It was… quite unpleasant.
After staring at his phone in a daze for a while, Chi Zerui turned and asked, "There's a G company endorsement, right?"
"Ah, yes," the assistant replied a beat later, "It's scheduled for shooting in a week, and you can rest in Ao Cheng for a few days."
According to the original plan, the next few days were meant for tourism in Ao Cheng.
But now… the assistant felt a change was imminent.
As expected, Chi Zerui commanded without further explanation, "Book tickets now, we're going back to the country."
"Fighting?"
Still groggy, Wen Tingxue caught the keywords.
Then, she instantly woke up.
Picking up her phone from the plush carpet, she opened Weibo. The top trending hashtag was indeed #YuWenliFighting#.
Wen Tingxue's head buzzed. She immediately recalled the fight between Yu Wenli and Shang Ziqian in the alley during high school.
It was bloody and violent.
If it were to be leaked online… the consequences would be unimaginable.
Her fingers trembling, she clicked on the hashtag. Sure enough, it was that video, and it was extremely clear.
One could almost see the ferocity on Yu Wenli's face and the brutality of his actions.
It was a complete contradiction to his cool and detached image on stage.
The backlash from this was immeasurable.
The comments below were all in unison:
"What kind of deep-seated hatred is this? They were beating him to death. The facade has crumbled."
"What is this? A hooligan?"
"The 'cool and abstinent' image was just a persona, wasn't it? The 'hooligan school bully' is the true nature, unbelievable."
"Does this kind of person deserve to debut? Get lost!"
Not wanting to scroll any further, Wen Tingxue exited Weibo and prepared to send Yu Wenli a message.
Lu Youran and Jiao Yutong leaned in from either side, asking cautiously.
"What's going on? What happened at the time?"
They had interacted with Yu Wenli and knew he wasn't like what was shown in the video.
In their daily interactions, his attitude towards people was very good, and they believed he wouldn't act like that without reason.
Jiang Yi asked the same question.
He had gone to Yu Wenli's room early in the morning and chattered on.
Yu Wenli listened with half-closed eyes, leaning against the headboard. After Jiang Yi finished speaking, he rubbed his temples sleepily and said, "It's nothing much, just a small conflict."
"A small conflict?" Jiang Yi deliberately emphasized the word 'small.' "How big of a 'small' conflict was it?"
Yu Wenli remained silent, but his expression had changed significantly.
Jiang Yi, being perceptive, didn't press further, however—
"That's not right. With the matter escalating this much, you're not worried at all. Have you already thought of a solution?"
Jiang Yi realized belatedly that Yu Wenli hadn't seemed surprised when he heard about this, as if he had expected it.
And now, he was acting completely indifferent, making him impossible to figure out.
Upon arriving at the office, the producer didn't offer him a seat or water. He just stated dryly, "I know you're skilled and not without fame. Among dozens of contestants, ranking in the top five is indeed not easy."
"But, some things don't entirely depend on strength. Do you understand what I mean?"
After rambling on, the producer gave Jiang Yi a 'wise man submits to circumstances' look.
Jiang Yi frowned, confused, "What exactly are you trying to say? Can you be more direct?"
"…"
The producer's gaze instantly turned into: "You are uncarved wood!"
"Whether you truly don't understand or are pretending not to, I'll say it plainly: the debut list was decided long ago. You haven't signed with a company, so we can't let you debut."
The producer took out a check from his drawer. "This is compensation from XX Agency for you. We hope you'll withdraw voluntarily, meaning a few mistakes, so people don't think the show is rigged, understand?"
"I don't want it!" Jiang Yi refused with a dark expression. "Why should I!"
"Because you can't bring me profit. Do I have to spell it out so bluntly? Jiang Yi, do you think the entertainment industry is that easy to navigate? Whether you take this check or not, we have ways to eliminate you!
I hope you'll recognize reality and not cause trouble for either side. Otherwise, the consequences of a falling out are not something you can bear!"
With that, he unceremoniously showed Jiang Yi out.
-
With the combined efforts of netizens and the media, Shang Ziqian's location was confirmed three days later.
Sucheng Fire Brigade.
As Shang Ziqian returned from a mission and was washing his face with cold water, a group of media reporters surrounded him.
"Are you Captain Shang Ziqian?"
"Have you seen the trending video online?"
"What explanation do you have for this?"