Yes.
The way they stood together, they were simply too well-matched.
Especially as Li Qianfan rapidly matured (aged), the scandal empress miraculously reversed her aging. Even a blind person seeing this photo would praise them both as a match made in heaven.
Su Ziyu had already looked at this photo many times in private.
Each time she looked, her heart ached.
Originally, she and Li Qianfan were the destined pair!
"Ziyu."
Mo Hongti held her hand again, a ferocity appearing in her brows: "As long as you nod now, I can kill her regardless of the cost."
Seeing her current state, Mo Hongti felt immense sympathy.
Unable to control the impulse in her heart any longer, she spoke these words.
Mo Hongti was certainly not exaggerating when she said this.
She could find a plausible excuse at any moment to visit the Su family and get close to that woman.
And when the scandal empress was caught off guard, she could use a poisoned needle or something similar to kill her!
Furthermore, after the incident, Mo Hongti would take full responsibility.
She would never implicate Su Ziyu or cause any negative impact on her!!
"Ah?"
Su Ziyu, who was lost in thought, trembled with fright when she heard Mo Hongti's words and hastily said, "Sister Hongti, what are you talking about?"
"I'm not talking nonsense."
Mo Hongti's eyes gleamed: "I believe that to force the author (209) to change the increasingly obvious dual-female-lead plot into one that still revolves around your own heroine, she must die! Perhaps this is the only reason the author arranged for me to come to your side and become your good sister."
"Sister Hongti, please don't have such dangerous thoughts."
Su Ziyu clasped her hand again, saying urgently, "Let alone the power to advance the story rests with the author (209). You and I, Qianfan and her, and Chu Yazhi, we are all just characters in the author's (209) writing. We have no other choice but to move forward according to the author's will. Even if we did."
She paused.
Su Ziyu softly asked, "Sister Hongti, what reason do you and I have to plot against a woman who helps Qianfan conquer territories outside?"
Mo Hongti's lips moved, leaving her speechless.
"If she were really to be ambushed, who among you, me, and Chu Yazhi would replace her to assist Qianfan in fighting abroad? To take a step back, if you really were to ambush her, you would certainly have to atone with your life, right?"
Su Ziyu added, "Without you, who would help me? What would Qianfan and Longxu think of me? More importantly, I can't very well kill Chu Yazhi and the others, can I? From my perspective, what's the difference between her and Chu Yazhi?"
Mo Hongti stared at her blankly, not speaking for a long time.
Because Su Ziyu's words were very accurate.
"Sister Hongti, what we need to consider now is,"
Su Ziyu continued, "Do we like living in Longxu? If we don't, it means we don't like being with Qianfan. Then there's no need to stay in Longxu or by Qianfan's side. I might as well get a divorce and return to Qingyun to live as I did before. There's really no need to harm someone who can help Qianfan build his career because of this."
Did Mo Hongti like living in Longxu at the moment?
Yes.
She liked it immensely!
If it weren't for helping Su Ziyu reclaim the single-female-lead setting, anyone who dared make Mo Hongti leave Longxu would be fought to the death by her!!
"Since we like living in Longxu, and Qianfan has us in his heart, then why don't we just live the life we like, and why should we care about dual or single female leads?"
Su Ziyu said softly, "Longxu becoming Longxu isn't just due to my father-in-law and Lu Ziqi. Even everyone around him, including Ji Ya, who has already turned to ashes, is indispensable. Similarly, for Qianfan to smoothly take over Longxu, it's far from enough for just the two of us to assist him. Everyone who appears by his side also plays an indispensable role for him."
"Ziyu."
Mo Hongti suddenly asked, "If there were no Qianfan in your remaining life, what would you do?"
Su Ziyu answered without hesitation, "My life must have Qianfan! I waited for him bitterly for 26 years for this. From the moment I first hugged him and kissed him, I knew I couldn't live without him."
Sigh.
Mo Hongti sighed, "Then it can only be a dual-female-lead situation."
Su Ziyu smiled, "More importantly, judging by that phone call from my mother-in-law, the scandal empress plays a key role in whether Qianfan can curb aging. Perhaps this is a special skill the author created specifically for her to cultivate the dual-female-lead plot?"
"Damn author (209. Definitely not Sunshine)! May he die exhausted on women's bellies sooner or later."
Mo Hongti cursed hatefully.
But curses aside, Mo Hongti felt much more relaxed.
At least she could see that after Su Ziyu spoke these words, she seemed to have shed a heavy burden.
It was already very late at night.
The two women had no intention of sleeping and continued to talk there.
However, their subsequent conversation entirely revolved around how to find Lan Fenghuang.
Both instinctively avoided the mysterious and enigmatic 209.
"Perhaps, 209 is Qianfan. From the moment Qianfan was born, he represented the mysterious 209. Everything, everyone who appeared by his side, was arranged by him before he came to this world. When he grew up, these people, arranged by him in advance, were like ripe peaches, patiently waiting for him to pick them one by one."
This was a strange thought that both Su Ziyu and Mo Hongti had simultaneously just before they finally lay down and closed their eyes to sleep as dawn was breaking.
Day broke.
It darkened again.
Day broke once more.
And then darkened again—
In the following week, with the full assistance of Cui Linzhi, Su Ziyu and Mo Hongti were constantly traveling between cities in Hancheng, searching for that Lan Fenghuang.
However.
Let alone Lan Fenghuang, even Lan Hai, who brought her to Hancheng, was still nowhere to be found.
On the contrary, Tang Xiaoni's exposure in Hancheng meant that Su Ziyu could see news of her every time she opened her phone.
Forced by the immense pressure from countless Hancheng fans and having to be "specially treated" by Hancheng, Tang Xiaoni, after receiving a substantial amount of compensation for emotional distress from her boss; would not only hold her promised concert tour but also quickly join a mega-budget film.
She would have a relatively important guest role in this film titled "Evil of the Han River."
The general plot of "Evil of the Han River" was about a businesswoman who rose to prominence and became a new power player in the business world.
Many people admired this businesswoman named Quan Xianzhi, calling her the Miracle Queen.
However, they did not know that Quan Xianzhi was actually a devout follower of a great demon king from an evil cult in private.
Every three years, she had to sacrifice a certain number of people in waters designated by the great demon king on specific dates to maintain her superior status in the business world.
Otherwise, Quan Xianzhi would suffer the great demon king's backlash!
Not only would her business empire collapse, but Quan Xianzhi herself would die a terrible death.
Tang Xiaoni's invited guest role in this film was a significant, albeit secondary, female role nicknamed "Doll" (the screenwriter forcibly changed the character's setting to fit her image).
At the end of the film, Doll, along with many classmates, would be tricked by Quan Xianzhi into boarding a yacht under a plausible excuse, taking them to the mouth of the Han River; as the great demon king appeared, mist would shroud the water, and the yacht would sink!
Doll and others would be taken by the great demon king as sacrifices and drowned at the mouth of the Han River.
But Doll possessed a rather unscientific special ability.
That was, she could hold her breath underwater for extended periods!
Before the yacht sank, Doll learned of all of Quan Xianzhi's schemes.
After the yacht sank, Doll, who everyone thought was certainly dead, appeared before Quan Xianzhi one day and publicly announced her terrifying conspiracy of making deals with the devil.
In short.
This film was a horror-fantasy movie with a high probability of becoming a box office hit.
The reason the film company invited Tang Xiaoni—
Because her isolation incident had made her a global sensation (limited to the entertainment industry) and she received capital's favor; the film company seized this opportunity, even firing the original actor, and urgently invited her to guest star in a role.
Tang Xiaoni, of course, would not miss out on this windfall, especially an opportunity to gain international recognition.
She readily agreed.
And received a large sum of film remuneration.
The happy Doll immediately called Brother Qianfan that night.
Taking advantage of the late hour, the sexually suggestive Doll insisted on "chatting" with Brother Qianfan for at least three hours.
This led to the empress, who was supposed to wake him up for work the next morning, being so startled to see him still asleep that she fled in panic.
As she fled, she hit her forehead on the doorframe, leaving a large bump.
This matter—
Lin Xiuyan, the First Lady of Hancheng, was of course unaware of this.
However, she knew that her opportunity for revenge against Su Ziyu had arrived (Su Ziyu caused her to be slapped by her husband, and she didn't dare retaliate against Su Ziyu, so she made Tang Xiaoni a substitute for Su Ziyu).
Lin Xiuyan planned to use Tang Xiaoni's movie filming opportunity to meticulously arrange a shocking conspiracy targeting Tang Xiaoni on that yacht!
"That woman is actually trying to seduce Cui Linzhi."
In a coffee shop, Lin Xiuyan, wearing sunglasses and a large mask even at night, said to her two trusted confidantes from her maiden family, "She must die!"