My Queen, My Rules - 91
Extra: Jiang Chun (3)
Jiang Chun was, at heart, a very practical girl. She had liked Tang Zhizhou from the beginning, but because he was so far out of her league, she had never believed they could actually be together. That was why, over lunch, she'd simply put on a no-big-deal attitude and said it outright to his face.
But whether Tang Zhizhou had somehow been bewitched or what, he hadn't taken the easy way out. Instead, he'd said that he thought the two of them suited each other and could give it a try.
Jiang Chun stared blankly for two seconds. Then, figuring that even if he'd really been bewitched, she might as well take advantage of the situation for now and at least have something to brag about to her ex-boyfriend later, she agreed without the slightest hesitation.
And just like that, Jiang Chun once again transformed into Tang Zhizhou's girlfriend.
Perhaps because of her last relationship, where she'd given it everything and still ended up spectacularly burned, Jiang Chun was surprisingly carefree after becoming Tang Zhizhou's girlfriend. Who knows how long this would last? So while Tang Zhizhou was still her bona fide boyfriend, she was determined to enjoy all the perks of being his girlfriend while it lasted.
For the first two weeks, she tried to act the part of the refined lady. She agreed when Tang Zhizhou invited her to art exhibitions or arthouse films, and even endured Ji Mingshu's devilish training, desperately trying to transform herself into a hidden pearl ready to dazzle the world.
Two weeks later, the hidden pearl herself officially announced her surrender.
The refined socialite etiquette Ji Mingshu had spent more than twenty years cultivating wasn't something that could simply be crammed into someone in a matter of days.
After some thought, Jiang Chun couldn't be bothered to keep putting on some demure heiress act in front of Tang Zhizhou.
That persona simply wasn't suited to her. She probably was destined to never develop some earth-shattering sense of aesthetics in this lifetime, nor was she ever going to weigh under a hundred pounds in this lifetime.
Besides, she wasn't short. A little over a hundred pounds was actually considered slim for someone of her build. Why torture herself with Ji Mingshu's demonic standards?
On top of that, Tang Zhizhou had been saying he was busy lately. The two of them hadn't seen each other for an entire week, and Jiang Chun began to get the ominous feeling that he'd already had his fill of novelty and was getting ready to dump her. So she completely let herself go. When Tang Zhizhou once again invited her to some highbrow play, she flatly refused.
"I'm sorry, but I'm genuinely not interested. If I go, I'll just sleep through two or three hours of it. What a waste of the ticket money. Also, I don't really like Western food." She thought for a moment before adding, "But the desserts at the Western restaurants you've picked have all been pretty amazing."
After saying that, she hugged her pillow tighter and waited for Tang Zhizhou to respond.
Tang Zhizhou wasn't the type to come right out and say he wanted to break up.
She figured he'd probably apologize first, then use work as an excuse to keep himself busy and suggest they meet another time. Two or three days later, he'd send her a WeChat message, tactfully telling her they weren't suited for each other. A clean, dignified breakup.
Just as she'd expected, Tang Zhizhou was silent for several seconds before apologizing to her. But then the script veered completely off course.
After apologizing, Tang Zhizhou suddenly chuckled. "Actually, I don't care for plays or Western food either. I just thought girls liked these kinds of dates."
Then, with the rigorous attitude of someone conducting academic research, he promptly asked, "So what do you like? Ice skating, skiing, trampolining, archery?"
Jiang Chun could even hear the click of his fountain pen being uncapped on the other end, like he was getting ready to take notes.
She paused. "You can do all those things?"
Tang Zhizhou said, "A little."
No. Based on what little she knew about Tang Zhizhou, anything he said he could do "a little" was probably already at an outstanding level even among serious hobbyists.
When she didn't respond, he continued, "What about haunted houses and escape rooms? Do you like those? One of my graduate students often take his girlfriend to places like that. As for food, I'm fine with anything. We'll eat whatever you like."
After another long silence, Jiang Chun finally muttered, "All of those does sound pretty fun… but this isn’t, like, a ‘break-up meal,’ is it?”
Tang Zhizhou seemed taken aback, then laughed again. "What are you imagining?"
"This is a perfectly reasonable suspicion!"
Tang Zhizhou pondered for a moment before answering candidly, "Although we've only been seeing each other for less than a month, I like you very much. And I have no intention of breaking up with you."
When Jiang Chun heard those words, she was sitting cross-legged on her bed, hugging a little Peppa Pig plushie while watching a variety show.
Perhaps she'd accidentally set the air conditioner to the wrong mode, but her face instantly turned the same shade of pink as the pig in her arms.
She stammered out an "Oh," and became increasingly incoherent, as though the signal were breaking up.
Tang Zhizhou, meanwhile, was perfectly calm. He even took the initiative to discuss what time they should meet for their date the next day.
She mumbled her agreement, then said, "Anyway... it's getting late. I'm going to sleep. You should go to bed early too."
"You're going to sleep already?" Tang Zhizhou asked with interest. "I seem to hear that you're still watching a variety show. This episode premiered at eight last night. As it happens, I watched it at double speed while waiting for data with my graduate students. Judging from the dialogue, you're only about a third of the way through. Are you really going to bed?"
"...?"
Jiang Chun slapped the cover of her tablet shut. "I'm really going to sleep. Or should I not hang up and let you listen to me breathe?”
Tang Zhizhou said, "That's not a bad idea."
Jiang Chun: "..."
She'd only said it offhand. Devil!
Tang Zhizhou: “Go on, lie down.”
Without a word, Jiang Chun pulled a steam eye mask from her bedside drawer and put it on. She turned off the light, placed her phone beside her pillow, folded both hands neatly over her stomach, and closed her eyes.
"I'm lying down. I'm going to sleep."
"Mm."
Jiang Chun’s plan was to lie there for ten-odd minutes, then pretend she'd accidentally knocked her phone and disconnected the call while turning over. But the moment she put on the steam eye mask, she somehow really fell asleep without realizing it.
At five-thirty in the morning, Jiang Chun got up to use the bathroom.
When she climbed back into bed, she was surprised to find the call was still connected. Half-asleep and without thinking, she mumbled, "Professor Tang? Tang Zhizhou?"
"Mm. You're awake?"
"..."
"I wasn't awake before. Now I am, thanks to you startling me awake."
Tang Zhizhou laughed.
Jiang Chun pressed one hand over her pounding heart and scooped up her phone with the other. "It's five-thirty. You still haven't slept?"
Tang Zhizhou: “I'm just getting up. Going for a morning run.”
Jiang Chun: "You get up at five-thirty to go running... You're terrifying. Seriously."
Tang Zhizhou: "I'm in very good shape."
"...?"
She suspected he was implying something, but she had no evidence.
Tang Zhizhou went downstairs, then reminded her, "Oh, right. You talk in your sleep at night. That's a sign of poor sleep quality. You should exercise more and stay up less. Try have a glass of warm milk before bed and keep a regular sleep schedule."
"What do I say in my sleep?" Jiang Chun completely missed the point.
Tang Zhizhou thought about it. "Nothing much. You just expressed your admiration for me."
"...?"
"You're talking nonsense!"
Jiang Chun unceremoniously hung up and buried herself under the covers.
Half a minute later, she poked her head back out to breathe and began wondering if she'd really inherited her old habit of swooning over a man in her dreams.
As he finished his run, Tang Zhizhou took a sip of water and glanced at his phone. He found that his little girlfriend had sent him a long message ten minutes earlier, desperately defending herself against whatever she'd supposedly said in her sleep. By the end, perhaps realizing her defense was not only unconvincing but practically an admission of guilt, she'd sent one final emoji of someone lying flat and completely given up on defending herself.
Tang Zhizhou swallowed his water with a suppressed laugh. The thought of his little girlfriend tossing and turning in bed, stewing in regret, was just too endearing.
---
In fact, that family dinner at the Jiang residence, which had essentially been a blind date, wasn't the first time Tang Zhizhou had met Jiang Chun.
The first time he'd seen Jiang Chun was at an interdisciplinary art salon, a while before that blind date.
After returning to China, Tang Zhizhou joined C University’s AI laboratory, where he worked on a medical AI project. Although the research environment at domestic universities was far from ideal, he still had to supervise graduate students and teach some theory-heavy courses unrelated to his main work. For the most part, his circle remained relatively insular.
But he was a member of the Tang family. Once he'd returned to China, it was inevitable that he would have some contact with its elite social circles.
The salon that day had brought together the cream of society. Most of the young heiresses and socialites had shown up. There was the usual polished socializing, the mingling of perfume and silk, and all of it was familiar to him, though he had no interest in it.
At the time, Jiang Chun had been hiding at home for quite a while after being ridiculed over Yan Yu's cheating. This was her first outing since then, and beside her were several of the plastic friends who had once fanned the flames and encouraged her to provoke Ji Mingshu.
Jiang Chun lived up to the “Chun” in her name—pure...and perhaps naively pure.
Although she'd already sensed that Ji Mingshu wasn't the person these girls had made her out to be, she had no idea that they didn't consider her a friend at all. Nor did she know that these so-called friends were merely a small fries on the fringes of the socialite circle, with no real family wealth to speak of. They'd befriended her partly to use her, and partly because they both looked down on and envied her, deliberately egging her on so she would make a fool of herself in front of everyone.
Fresh out of her slump, her fake friends first gave her a long round of consolation, but the moment they spotted Ji Mingshu appearing nearby, they began poisoning her ears again.
"Gee, Ji Mingshu is here too."
"Of course she is. Wherever there's a chance to show off, she appears."
"What's she putting on airs for? Who knows how much she grovels to her husband at home."
Jiang Chun interrupted them. "I don't think Ji Mingshu is anything like what you say."
"Then what is she like?"
"Darling, don't forget how she mocked you before."
"Exactly. When has she ever thought highly of you?"
Jiang Chun interrupted again. "She didn't look down on me. She even helped me."
"Helped you? How?"
Before Jiang Chun could answer, the other two chimed in again.
"Oh, right. Wasn't she the one who spread the news about Yan Yu cheating?"
"Yeah. She was there, wasn't she? Who else could it have been?"
For once, Jiang Chun's mind worked unusually fast. "How do you know she was there?"
The version circulating outside had made no mention of Ji Mingshu whatsoever.
The girl who'd slipped up immediately lost control of her expression. She touched her hair awkwardly, stammering for a long while without managing to produce a coherent explanation.
Something in Jiang Chun's brain seemed to click into place, and her deductive abilities suddenly soaring to a lifetime peak.
A look of dawning realization crossed her face. "You know that other woman, don't you? Last time I saw photos of you at a gathering with her and asked you about it, you said you didn't know her, that she was just a friend's friend who happened to run into each other. You two actually know each other, don't you?"
The girl who’d slipped glanced at the other two for help. But they were equally guilty, and both looked away rather than meet her eyes.
Jiang Chun pressed on. "That thing in Paris was spread by the other woman herself, wasn't it? And you had a hand in it?"
The girl wasunprepared for Jiang Chun's sudden clarity. She wasn't a professional actress, and the guilt on her face became increasingly obvious.
Jiang Chun's anger had reached its limit, and once she started, she couldn't stop.
"You were the one doing something this disgusting, yet you still tried to pin it on Ji Mingshu! Are you just insanely jealous of her? Jealous that she's always the center of attention and always gets to stand above everyone else?"
"Looking back, I really can't believe how stupid I was. You were always there egging me on to pick fights with Ji Mingshu! And you! And you!”
She pointed at the other two girls, then folded her arms across her chest, laughing in sheer exasperation, her expression practically screaming: I've finally seen through all of you.
"It finally makes sense why Ji Mingshu is nothing like the person you described. So you’ve been spending my money, using me as your weapon, and laughing at me behind my back? Did you think I was a total moron and a complete pushover?”
"Let me tell you, if I hear one more bad word about Ji Mingshu from any of you, I'll… beat you to death! And another thing! Give back every bag, dress, and pair of shoes I gave you! Have you no shame?!"
Half a mouthful of red wine caught in Tang Zhizhou's throat, neither going down nor coming back up. He forced himself to cough twice, barely keeping himself from choking outright.
He genuinely hadn't expected that, in a setting like this, he would hear a girl threatening to "beat you to death" in defense of another girl.
He instinctively turned around, just in time to see the exposed girl, furious yet mindful of the setting, hissed a warning, "Jiang Chun! At least look where you're making a scene!"
"Why should I care where? Do you think I'm still afraid of embarrassing myself?"
"Listen, all of you! If you don't give my things back, just wait and see. You know what my dad used to do, don't you?"
Tang Zhizhou looked at the girl's fresh, pretty face. She was fearless and ferocious, yet somehow inexplicably cute at the same time. The corners of his lips curved upward before he even realized it.
Jiang Chun.
Even her name was cute.
The incident eventually ended with Ji Mingshu stepping forward and stand united with Jiang Chun.
Tang Zhizhou knew of Ji Mingshu. She'd been spoiled and willful since childhood, but he'd never heard any outrageous stories about her behavior or social life. She seemed to have a good sense of boundaries, too. Being friends with someone like her didn't seem like a bad thing.
He still had a seminar to attend and couldn't stay long, but in the brief ten-odd minutes before he left, Jiang Chun had left a vivid impression on him.
He was busy with work for several days afterward, and as luck would have it, he had the weekend free. Then his family told him they wanted to arrange another blind date for him.
Since returning to China, his family had arranged over a dozen such meetings for him. Aside from the first two, which he'd been tricked into attending without knowing what they were, he'd barely gone to any of the others. And even when he did, he always found a way to bring the meetings to an extremely swift conclusion.
This time, he'd heard the woman was the daughter of the family who had once saved his grandfather's life in Shenzhen. He'd originally planned to find an excuse to skip the meeting at the last minute, sparing them both the awkwardness of meeting only to turn each other down. But when he happened to learn her surname was Jiang, he changed his mind and went.
Jiang Chun learned all of this while she was eating hot pot with Tang Zhizhou.
Their conversation from the previous night had been going around and around in her head. She was simply too curious. After diligently blanching half a bowl of lettuce for Tang Zhizhou, she finally looked at him expectantly and asked, "Do you really like me? Why do you like me?"
Tang Zhizhou thought for a moment before telling her about the first time they'd met, which she had known nothing about.
After hearing the story, Jiang Chun found it a little baffling. Men really were strange. He could actually find such behavior cute and genuine instead of thinking she was stupid and unruly.
She silently lowered her eyes and continued eating, occasionally taking a sip of Coke, sweat beading across her forehead.
Tang Zhizhou noticed that her lips were bright red from the spice, yet she kept plunging everything into the bubbling red broth, even dipping her food in dry chili powder afterward. Without thinking, he asked the server to bring over a bottle of room-temperature Wangzai milk.
He opened the can and pushed it toward Jiang Chun, then confiscated her Coke. "Don't eat like this. You'll get an upset stomach."
Jiang Chun had her mouth stuffed full of a little crab roe bun. She made two muffled sounds, her delicate brows drawing together, but didn't put up much of a fight.
After swallowing the bun, she returned the favor by blanching a slice of fatty beef in the clear broth, dipping it into the non-spicy sauce, and pushing it over to Tang Zhizhou.
Tang Zhizhou reached for it, but she didn't let go. "One more question."
"Mm?"
"You're such a great catch. You must have had lots of girlfriends before, right?"
Tang Zhizhou nodded without denying it. "I've had girlfriends, but not ‘lots’."
"How many?"
"Two."
Jiang Chun didn't ask any further, but Tang Zhizhou volunteered the details. "One was during my sophomore year. We were in the same department and dated for one semester. The other was during my first year of graduate school. We were in the same research group and dated for about two and a half months. I was the one who got dumped both times."
"...?"
Such long stretches of being single, such short relationships, and he'd still been the one getting dumped? With his qualifications, that didn’t seem scientifically possible.
Tang Zhizhou continued his recollection. "I'm actually not very good at relationships. At the beginning, you might think I'm considerate and attentive, but after spending more time with me, you'll probably find me a little boring. I'm also not particularly good at noticing a girl's feelings, and I have plenty of other flaws. But I'll do my best to work on them."
"So you're saying you're kind of a clueless straight man?" Jiang Chun asked, completely unconcerned.
Tang Zhizhou thought the description was fairly accurate, but he wasn't particularly eager to admit it.
Jiang Chun picked up a slice of potato and gestured for him to open his mouth.
He obediently did so, and Jiang Chun promptly slipped the potato inside. Then she rested her chin in her hands and smiled at him, looking completely pleased with what she saw.
Clueless straight guy? Pfft, minor issue. Totally fixable.
As they were finishing the hotpot, they started talking about going to an amusement park next time. Tang Zhizhou checked his schedule and said he was free Thursday. Jiang Chun happily agreed and began cleaning out the remaining plate of crispy pork.
Seeing his schedule reminded Tang Zhizhou of the previous public lecture. He asked casually, "By the way, when you came to my public lecture last time, you were obviously already downstairs. Why did you say you’d need another fifteen minutes?”
Jiang Chun nearly choked. She took the bottle of Wangzai from him and drank almost half of it before finally getting her breath back.
Tang Zhizhou realized what he'd done and coughed apologetically. "Did I ask something I shouldn't have?"
Jiang Chun wiped her lips and said expressionlessly, "I was just trying to act a little demure. I didn't want you to think I cared so much that I'd left home first thing in the morning just to see you."
Then she added,"I'm starting to see why you got dumped now."
Tang Zhizhou paused, then smiled. "You really are adorable.”
Jiang Chun, still expressionless, stuffed a piece of crispy pork into his mouth. "Don't call me adorable! Call me beautiful!"
"Mm. Beautiful."
---
Although they had gotten together quickly, they hadn't had much time to get to know each other, as a result, they were often polite but somewhat distant.
After they'd talked everything through, they grew noticeably closer and started acting more like a real couple.
Jiang Chun affectionately saved Tang Zhizhou in her phone as "Professor Zhouzhou," and even watched him change her contact name to "Chun-bao" with her own eyes. She would also occasionally show up at C University and curl up in his office to watch variety shows.
Tang Zhizhou's graduate students were astonished at first. Their professor, who had always seemed impervious to feminine charms, had somehow acquired a girlfriend. But within a week, they'd all gotten used to it and warmly began calling Jiang Chun "Master’s wife."
Jiang Chun didn't mind that the title made her sound old. She often brought them fun snacks and treats, and whenever Tang Zhizhou was about to give them a hard time, she would help distract him.
These graduate students, none of whom were more than two years younger than her, all became thoroughly devoted to her. They willingly served as the Master’s wife eyes and ears, tirelessly spreading the news around campus that Tang Zhizhou was officially taken, while also faithfully reporting every move he made.
Tang Zhizhou didn't mind in the least. Everything Jiang Chun did was open and honest. Before doing anything, she would clearly tell him what she planned to do, how she planned to do it, and why. She was so straightforward that there was simply nothing for him to get angry about.
Being with Jiang Chun made him feel much happier than he ever had.
---
That weekend, the two of them had plans to go to an escape room. Jiang Chun was relatively fearless. She could watch The Grudge or The Ring without batting an eye while eating instant noodles, then sleep soundly afterward with a full stomach. So she directly chose for the hardest and scariest option, an underground morgue.
But Tang Zhizhou was unaware of this.
She'd originally planned to take advantage of his ignorance and show him her vulnerable side. But the moment they entered the room, Tang Zhizhou began critically evaluating everything with academic precision.
"The blood looks far too fake. It's not even animal blood. I read online this place only opened three months ago, so it should be recently renovated. I can still smell paint. Let's hurry through it. If the renovation materials don't meet standards, they're bad for your health."
Jiang Chun: "..."
Fine. Timw to change tactics, give up on acting vulnerable, and switch to acting worshipful instead.
But she didn't even see how Tang Zhizhou solved the first room! Before she knew it, she was following him in a daze and somehow they'd already reached the third room.
At the end of the room, Tang Zhizhou went to the number puzzle and entered several digits. Click, click, click. The door opened, revealing another room.
She finally managed to get a word in. "What was that? How did you do it so fast?"
"A grille cipher. Very simple."
Cipher what now?
Jiang Chun looped her arm through Tang Zhizhou's and said with genuine admiration, "Professor Zhouzhou, you're amazing!"
Tang Zhizhou rubbed her head, amusement in his eyes, but said nothing.
By the time they reached the final room, the solution was obvious. They simply had to find the numbers that appeared along several correct paths through the maze, identify the pattern, arrange the numbers correctly, open the chest, and retrieve the key that would let them leave the final room.
Yet Tang Zhizhou stood in front of the maze without moving for a long time.
Jiang Chun silently found one of the routes and asked curiously, "Is it too easy? You don’t want to do it?”
Tang Zhizhou hummed, then said, "I want to spend a little more time with you. Aren’t you going on that trip with your best friends tomorrow?”
Jiang Chun's face flushed. She stole a glance at Tang Zhizhou, then quickly leaned over and planted a kiss on his lips.
Tang Zhizhou paused. He touched his lower lip with the pad of his ring finger, then tightened his arm around Jiang Chun's waist and lowered his head to kiss her deeply.
The staff member sitting in front of the surveillance monitors had been laughing at the players in the other rooms who were trembling in fear. When his gaze shifted to the underground morgue, he could only stare as an unexpected serving of dog-food landed right in front of him, and felt a bit wronged.
The staff member playing a corpse in the underground morgue, however, felt more than a little wronged. The couple had bulldozed their way through the entire game, solving the previous puzzle without ever triggering the clue in his morgue.
Now he sat in his corner of the morgue, fanning himself as he watched the young couple with their backs to him. He'd planned to wait until they turned around and give them a good scare. Instead, not only did neither of them seem remotely interested in turning around, they actually started kissing as though no one else was there! The corpse felt deeply humiliated.
---
Jiang Chun and Tang Zhizhou's relationship progressed smoothly. They went on dates every few days, with Tang Zhizhou responsible for finding fun places to go and Jiang Chun responsible for finding good food. During a long weekend, Tang Zhizhou even drove her to a neighboring city to go hiking.
During the New Year holiday, Tang Zhizhou took her home to meet his parents and grandparents. At first, she was extremely nervous, afraid his parents wouldn't approve of her. His mother was an education bureau official and his father a vice chairman of the Writers Association, their job title alone already intimidated her. She'd been terrified of essay writing when she was a child.
But his parents were far from what she’d imagined. They were warm and easygoing in private and showed no sign of looking down on her less-than-scholarly background.
His mother even asked her for advice on how to use all the popular short-video apps these days and if she could recommend any good cooking bloggers. Overall, the atmosphere in the Tang family was comfortable and welcoming.
Tang Zhizhou also went with her to visit the Jiang family. Jiang Hongtao, needless to say, was absolutely delighted with him. After a couple of drinks went to his head, he even stopped calling him Tang Zhizhou and started calling him his son-in-law.
Both families had now met and approved of the relationship, which effectively meant they had their blessing.
Once the New Year passed, the Tang family took the initiative to arrange a meeting to discuss the engagement. While they were at it, the two sets of parents secretly went ahead and discussed the wedding date too.
The wedding was set for May of the following year. The wedding dress and rings would need to be custom-made, while the venue arrangements and countless other tedious details would all require time.
Near the end of that year, a notable event happened in the capital. Yan Heavy Industry, the primary source of the Yan family's wealth, officially declared bankruptcy.
Even a starving camel was still bigger than a horse. The Yan family had transferred some of its assets and completed immigration procedures well in advance, eventually moving the entire family to Canada.
However, Yan Yu, saddled with debts he had no intention of paying, was placed on the national list of debt defaulters. Though he had fled the country, the Yan family was effectively erased from the capital’s circle of elite families.
Jiang Chun had long since lost any feelings for Yan Yu. When she heard the news, she didn't even feel the satisfaction of seeing karma catch up with him. She simply didn't care anymore, so whether anything happened to him or not could no longer stir up the slightest emotional response in her.
Much later, she heard from Ji Mingshu that the final blow to Yan Heavy Industry was delivered jointly by the Tang family and her father, Jiang Hongtao.
Her father really was something. Before burying the Yan family, he'd made sure to squeeze every last drop of profit from them, then dealt them a thorough blow that left them with nowhere to turn.
Jiang Chun finally understood how her father had managed to swallow his humiliation when Yan Yu had arrogantly called off their engagement and made the Jiang family lose so much face. A shrewd businessman's revenge is a dish best served cold.
Yan Yu walked away as carefree as if he'd simply dusted off his hands.
But the little white lotus he'd left behind wasn't nearly so lucky.
The little white lotus went by the stage name Song Zirou, which suited her pure, innocent image rather well. After getting together with Yan Yu, she'd repeatedly released publicity pieces, both openly and covertly, emphasizing how powerful her backing was and how impressive her boyfriend's family background was.
And in truth, for a young actress in the entertainment industry, having someone like Yan Yu as a backer really did count as having powerful connections.
Yan Yu had been completely bewitched by her. When news and video of Ji Mingshu slapping her in defense of Jiang Chun at Zhang Lin’s birthday party was leaked, Yan Yu flew into a rage on behalf of his beloved and issued a statement declaring that the two of them were in a legitimate relationship, effectively confirming her status as his girlfriend.
But Yan Yu was Yan Yu, and the Yan family was the Yan family.
The Yan family needed a powerful marriage alliance to strengthen its position. No matter how many tricks Song Zirou used to keep Yan Yu tied to her, the Yan family never spared her so much as a glance.
When the family fell, everyone scattered. Song Zirou was the first to issue a breakup statement distancing herself from Yan Yu, while conveniently taking advantage of the publicity.
Even so, her first television drama to air on a major satellite network still bombed spectacularly, leaving a ratings crater in its wake.
Her competitors naturally wasted no effort piling on, churning out smear pieces and buying trending searches, eager to drag the actress who had been so arrogant and aggressive about snatching resources through the mud.
The last time Jiang Chun saw Song Zirou was at a certain brand’s Fall/Winter launch event. By then, she'd already found herself a new sugar daddy, although the quality of her new benefactor couldn't compare to Yan Yu. He was much older, already had a wife, and both sides knew perfectly well that it was just a transactional fling.
By coincidence, Song Zirou was seated at the same table as Jiang Chun. She sweetly congratulated Jiang Chun on her upcoming marriage, then casually implied that she and Tang Zhizhou weren't well matched and that Jiang Chun should be careful.
Jiang Chun rolled her eyes and couldn't be bothered to respond.
But Song Zirou's friend kept the conversation going, mentioning how they’d recently been to the United States and happened to run into Tang Zhizhou's ex-girlfriend. How his ex had delicate features, elegant poise, spoke several languages fluently, and was thriving at a well-known tech company in Silicon Valley.
Jiang Chun laughed and didn't bother being polite. "Miss Song, what are doing in the United States that you just happened to run into a Silicon Valley elite? Escort services? I thought only low-class influencers and internet celebrities on the fringes did that sort of work. I never imagined the once-rising actress who nearly became the Yan family's daughter-in-law would stoop so low. Gee, Miss Song seems awfully interested in my fiancé's ex-girlfriend. Did you happen to swing by Canada to check on my ex-boyfriend too?"
Jiang Chun put particular emphasis on four phrases: “Yan family's daughter-in-law,” “rising actress,” “stoop so low,” and “ex-boyfriend.” Each landed like another twist of the knife.
Song Zirou's expression instantly cycled through every imaginable shade of embarrassment.
Jiang Chun stood up and smiled sweetly as she gave the huge diamond ring on her finger a little shake. "Hopefully, the next time I see you, Miss Song, it won't be on the trending searches for getting beaten up by someone's wife. Goodbye."
---
Although Jiang Chun hadn't shown the slightest sign of weakness while tearing Song Zirou apart, afterward, she couldn't help searching online for Tang Zhizhou's ex-girlfriend.
Judging from her Facebook posts, Tang Zhizhou's ex-girlfriend had settled permanently in the United States and was already engaged to her boyfriend, living a happy and fulfilling life. But Song Zirou hadn't been wrong about one thing. She really was incredibly accomplished.
The next day, while Jiang Chun was trying on wedding dresses, she was still feeling somewhat down.
When she came out of the fitting room, she couldn't hold it in any longer. She tugged at Tang Zhizhou's clothes and rambled on to him for quite a while before finally asking, "Why did you stop liking someone as amazing as your ex-girlfriend and come to like me instead? I don't feel like I have any good qualities at all."
Tang Zhizhou took her hand in his and kissed it. "You have plenty of good qualities. You just don't consider them as such yourself. And besides, when you like someone, you like them. There's no why."
Jiang Chun looked up at him. After a long moment, she finally smiled. "Professor Zhouzhou, I'll be a good wife to you from now on."
She lifted the hem of her wedding dress and spun around in front of him. "Do I look beautiful?"
Tang Zhizhou looked at her with warmth in his eyes and answered sincerely, "Beautiful.”
---
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