NWWNL – Chapter 12

Chapter 12.

“He kissed you?” Anya was holding a glass of red wine, her stunning scarlet fingernails against the crystal glass created a striking image. Seeing her pair of pale and flawless hands carefully cradling the glass, the resulting view was not gaudy but rather it created a glamorous aesthetic feeling.

“Xinyi, take my word for it, he didn’t kiss you because he likes you.”

“If he doesn’t like me, then why would he kiss me?” Xu Xinyi spoke righteously, with a tone that was firm and stubborn. The words “I don’t believe you” were written all over her face and a smile played about her eyes as if she were immersed in some beautiful dream.

Anya looked at her friend and hated that iron would not become steel.* “Don’t laugh now Xu Xinyi. It’s impossible for him to kiss you because he likes you. People say that the IQ of a woman in love is zero and I never believed it before. Only after I saw you today did I start to believe. Could this be the feeling of having my horizons expanded?”

Seeing that Xu Xinyi was still looking absent-minded, Anya spoke seriously, “How about this, I will do you a big favor and help you analyze this situation. You and Yi Yang have already been married for two years. We both know very well how many times you have seen him during that time. I believe you aren’t deluded, so you can clearly see that during these two years he definitely did not like you. And now, how long has it been since Yi Yang returned to the country? Has it been a month? “

“It’s been a month and a half.”

“OK, so a month and a half. Young lady, when I delivered the script and the novel to you two days ago, I saw that Yi Yang still had his usual expressionless face, he would refuse to look in your eyes, and he always kept his distance from you. Does that sound like the behavior of a man who likes you?”

Xu Xinyi thought about it carefully and eventually shook her head.

“So, it’s not that I’m attacking you. It’s just that there must be some other reason. Anyway, it’s definitely not because he likes you.” After pondering for a moment, Anya shook her head. “That man Yi Yang is unfathomable. If you really want him to like you, I’m afraid you’ll end up suffering a lot of grievances. You should listen to me and not get entangled with him any deeper than this.”

I would be so glad if he doesn’t like me, Xu Xinyi thought in her heart.

After Yi Yang snatched her first kiss in the morning, Xu Xinyi really could not understand how a person who obviously hated her so much seemed to have become a different person overnight.

Unlike in the past, when she felt everything was very clear, now she felt the situation had become muddled. She even had the illusion that Yi Yang was plotting to confuse her.

But how could that be possible?

Maybe… that Yi Yang, was he crazy?

She couldn’t figure it out, so she looked to find Anya and asked for her analysis.

“However, this can also be considered an improvement. Anything is better than the indifferent face Yi Yang was always showing you before.”

“What do you mean?”

“Haven’t you always wanted to get Yi Yang’s heart? Before this, he always just turned a blind eye to you, but now, regardless of his real intentions, he kissed you. This is the first step for you to close the distance. I believe after this there will be a second step and then a third step. Following this development,” Anya frowned and seemed to seriously consider before she gave a conclusion, “in my experience, sooner or later, Yi Yang will definitely fall in love with you. “

Xu Xinyi’s expression turned ghastly.

Yi Yang will fall in love with her sooner or later?

Bah! Why would anyone say such unlucky words?!

Is she casting a curse?

“Let me congratulate you ahead of time. It seems you are about to finally get what you always wanted.”

“…really? “

“Of course! My ability to analyze is good! Haven’t I always had a better eye for men than you?”

Xu Xinyi, whose heart was heavy and leaden like she was visiting a grave, was really unwilling to agree with Anya’s analysis.

But when she thought about it, her friend’s words were not without basis.

Even after two years of marriage Yi Yang refused to even share a bed with her. But now, suddenly, he was willing to kiss her.

The qualitative change was really too big.

Finally, after two years of marriage, Yi Yang wanted to kiss her. If things kept progressing like this, after a while, wouldn’t he want to sleep with her?

No! They had to get a divorce as soon as possible. Otherwise, they will end up spending a lot more time together, and then, as Anya said, won’t she be in big trouble if Yi Yang, that dog man, really fell in love with her?

On the table, Anya’s mobile phone screen suddenly lit up and WeChat came along with a voice message.

Ten seconds of speech.

Anya picked up the phone, she listened in her ear for a while, smiled, and sent a reply: “Alright, I know. Baby, I miss you too.”

Anya’s sudden change to a coquettish tone made Xu Xinyi shudder.

Anya had sent the voice message and was about to close WeChat. But then she glanced at Xu Xinyi and her fingers paused. “Xinyi, do you want to meet some new friends?”

She slid her fingers over her phone and a list of handsome guys’ avatars in her contact list appeared.

Who doesn’t want to? Xu Xinyi was crying inside.

But even if she thought that in her heart, on the surface she could never say it.

Suppressing her reluctance, she flatly refused. “No, I’m fine.”

Anya squinted at her and asked doubtfully, “Really?”

“Yes, really.”

Anya raised her eyebrows. “I know you don’t want to meet new friends but you won’t mind if I ask some of my friends to come over and have a few drinks, will you?”

Xu Xinyi opened her mouth and wanted to disagree but Anya quickly sent out a mass message directly, saying “Are you there?” 

Five seconds later her WeChat notifications started to blow up.

What was the saying?

As long as you’re good-looking, you can just say ‘Jump’ and there will be a line of people responding ‘How high?’.

But even so, wasn’t this too many people jumping?

This woman was just too strong.

Anya scanned the message list, carefully selected three, chatted for a moment, then sent an address and turned off her cell phone.

“They’ll be here in a minute. Don’t worry, the people I know are all very reliable and won’t spread nonsense outside.”

It was less than a minute for the whole process. Xu Xinyi was amazed.

The owner of this private club they were in was also one of Anya’s ex-lovers. God only knew how she could handle her relationships so well that she could break up without creating resentment and even still be friends afterward. And now, when she came to this club to privately meet with other men, she even got a 50% discount.

Xu Xinyi waited anxiously for half an hour before the door to their private room was pushed open.

The lighting in the room was dim, and three handsome guys dressed casually walked in, creating a strong contrast against the light. They were all tall and handsome, with sunny faces and youthful smiles like they had just stepped off some college campus.

Was this just some guys coming over? No! It’s youth!

“Sister Anya.”** The guys said hello one after another.

“Let me introduce you, this is Xu Xinyi. You should all have heard of her.”

“Of course I have.” One of the guys replied excitedly. “We’ve all seen every one of Sister Xinyi’s works. Before, we even had a teacher explain her acting skills to us with clips from Sister Xinyi’s drama. I always thought I would love to meet you if I had a chance. I didn’t expect to meet you like this!”

Just listen, these guys and Yi Yang were both human beings, but why were the words they say so different?

Praised by such a good-looking guy in public, Xu Xinyi’s heart was pounding and she was about to say a few words.

Host, please don’t break your “deep love” character setting.

“…I know! You can rest assured! I am a professional. Before I divorce Yi Yang I will respect our marriage.”

Xu Xinyi cursed in her heart.

“Thank you, for appreciating my acting.” To the guy, Xu Xinyi put on a haughty air and gave a cool nod.

The guy was slightly stupefied. He didn’t expect to have been treated so coldly. A moment of embarrassment flashed by.

Anya was not surprised. She just asked the guys to sit down.

The few guys were good-looking and talkative. They drank and played dice while cracking jokes to make Anya laugh.

“Xinyi, why are you sitting so far away? Come and play together.”

Xu Xinyi felt miserable but still refused, “No, you guys can play. I’m not interested.”

Anya put the down dice and gave two of the guys a look. The two men got up and sat down on both sides of Xu Xinyi.

Xu Xinyi felt like she could almost smell the sunshine coming off them.

“Sister Xinyi, I have been hearing about you ever since I was at school. I have seen so many of your leading roles on TV. When we met just now I almost couldn’t recognize you. You are much prettier than on TV.”

“Sister Xinyi, I am still studying at the Beijing Film Academy. I know that you also graduated from the Beijing Film Academy. So that would make you my senior sister. I really hope I will have the opportunity to act with you in the future.”

These two young fresh meats were sunny and handsome. They were exceptional looking, even in the entertainment industry. At such a young age, they both had such perfect features. Xu Xinyi had always thought that Anya must have been annoyed by being pestered by so many men every day. Although she looked happy on the outside, she must have been irritated and vexed by their constant pursuit. But now it seemed that she had been narrow-minded. Anya’s happiness was beyond her imagination.

“Sister Xinyi, you have been in the entertainment industry for so long, has anything interesting happened recently?”

“There must have been,” said the other fresh meat. “Wasn’t there something blowing up just a while ago?”

At first, Xu Xinyi thought the fresh meat was talking about Yi Yang and Zuo Rong.

“What happened?”

“Recently, Han Xiao bought an apartment in the city center.”

“What’s wrong with buying an apartment?”

“Buying an apartment is nothing but the cost of Han Xiao’s apartment is comparable to a whole building in the center of the city.”

“What? Why was it so expensive?” The other guy sounded shocked.

“What else could it be? If you look at all of City A, only the first-class units in Lanting*** developed by the Yi Group dares to be so expensive.”

“Han Xiao unexpectedly bought an apartment there. I heard that the units there are all calculated by the hundreds of millions.”

“That’s why there was so much noise online that it even became a hot search. Sister Xinyi, after being in the entertainment industry for so many years have you ever met Han Xiao?”

Anya laughed. “During the next drama Xinyi will be working on, she’ll be cooperating with Han Xiao. So what do you think?”

“Is that Han Xiao really so rich?”

Anya casually put in, “After so many years in the entertainment industry, Han Xiao can be called a poster boy of the whole film industry. He has won numerous awards and just his name can carry the box office. Do you think he is lacking in money?”

“Actually, this really isn’t a big deal. Han Xiao bought only one room. On the other hand, Yi Group is the developer of Lanting. How many buildings are there in Lanting total? I can’t even imagine how rich the Yi Group CEO is. I’ve heard that CEO Yi is less than 30 years old, and an authentic rich second generation that has been clean for many years. I wonder who CEO Yi’s wife will be in the future. “

Anya winked at Xu Xinyi and smiled. “She will definitely be a peerless beauty.”

Xu Xinyi glared at her.

“Don’t you know that CEO Yi is already married?” The fresh meat sitting next to Anya opened his mouth.

“Already married?”

“After the news of Han Xiao’s purchase of an apartment  broke out, someone picked out all the details about Yi Yang, the owner of Lanting, and among those details was the fact that he was married.”

“Married? Who is the wife then?”

“It seems to be a star.”

“A star? How is it possible that someone at that level would marry a little starlet?”

The fresh meat sitting next to Anya took out his mobile phone directly and found the Weibo that “exposed” the information about Yi Yang. “What is said in this Weibo is reasonable, if you don’t believe it, just read for yourself.”

Anya took it, looked at it, smiled, and then handed the phone to Xu Xinyi.

Xu Xinyi took the phone doubtfully.

In fact, this long Weibo really did not say specifically who Yi Yang married, but it was revealed that Yi Yang had been secretly married to a star in the circle for many years.

Of course, the comments under a Weibo were generally more interesting than Weibo itself.

“The boss of Lanting, do you know how much he is worth? Would he marry a starlet? Is the blogger kidding me?”

“I believe the blogger, what do you think of when you think of a starlet? Beautiful! Which of today’s men is not lecherous?”

“My only concern is that there is an apartment that is equal to a building? Is a unit in Lanting so expensive? “

“One apartment is worth one building, seems like it’s easy to make money in the entertainment industry.”

“I calculated that with my current salary, if I want to buy an apartment in Lanting, and if I don’t eat or drink, I only have to save money starting from the Stone Age.”

“I’m afraid the blogger already forgot that Yi Yang slapped Zuo Rong in the face not long ago. You dare to spread such rumors at this juncture? Are you not afraid that Yi Yang will send you a letter from a lawyer?”

“Even if a person like Yi Yang marries, he will still marry a famous socialite, won’t he? How could he possibly find a wife in the entertainment industry? The blogger really just says whatever he wants!

“Asking for more info! Who is the chosen daughter of the heavens who can take down a big man like Yi Yang? Yi Yang is the ideal type! Rich and clean, he’s practically a son of heaven! I have to worship her like crazy!”

“After hiding it for so long, it seems it has been discovered. So I’ll just tell you all bluntly. I am Yi Yang’s wife who he has been secretly married to for many years.”

Xu Xinyi: “…”

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*“hating iron for not becoming steel” is an idiom that I assume most people who read c-novels recognize, if you don’t, it basically means that she feels resentful toward the other person for failing to live up to expectations, like a blacksmith would “hate iron for not becoming steel”

**we all know the song and dance about the various forms of address people have for each other in Chinese. Different translators have different ways of handling it. Obviously, this guy isn’t Anya’s brother but I’m just gonna translate it like this for my own convenience – I assume people won’t be too confused

***this is a proper noun “品兰亭” so I had to just wing it. I’ll just keep translating the Yi Group’s high-class apartment complex as “Lanting” even though is definitely not 100% accurate

Another brief note about “品兰亭”. I actually started re-translating chapters 1-3 in the past couple days in a fit of pique and discovered that “品兰亭” was actually also mentioned in chapter 1 – the apartment Xu Xinyi was haggling over back then was a part of “Lanting” – so having it show up again in this chapter is actually something of a callback. Not super important or anything but if you recognized the name from chapter 1 you would now know that the apartment MC wanted back in ch1 was worth a ton of money (in case you couldn’t guess lol)

I’ll probably have my versions of chapters 1-3 up in a day or two but don’t worry I won’t delay my daily releases of new chapters.