NWWNL – Chapter 37

With his identity as the well-known president of a large company, Yi Yang had at least seen other leisure social software besides the necessary email and Wechat, but he had never used any of them in depth.

Now he was looking at flashing words on the phone screen: “You can’t post because of the other person’s settings.”

Yi Yang, who had been blocked for the first time, fell silent.

Although he hadn’t seen Weibo much, he could vaguely guess what that sentence meant.

Expressionlessly, he tossed the phone to one side.

It seemed that going on Weibo, which somehow turned large spans of time into the blink of an eye, unexpectedly wasted half an hour of his time.

Twenty minutes later, Xu Xinyi sent a video call request.

Yi Yang glanced at his phone but did not answer it.

Eventually, it stopped ringing.

Five minutes later, Xu Xinyi called a second time.

Yi Yang took another glance but then continued to look at the documents in front of him as if nothing had happened.

Five minutes later, Xu Xinyi called a third time.

Yi Yang slowly shifted his eyes from the computer screen to the phone. While looking at the phone screen, his face softened imperceptibly, and he connected the video call.

Xu Xinyi’s face appeared on the screen.

“Honey, what are you doing today? Did you miss me?”

The moment she got through, Xu Xinyi realized that the account with Yi Yang’s name on Weibo actually belonged to Yi Yang.

The tie in the avatar of that account was the same tie that Yi Yang was wearing.

Yi Yang’s tone was calm, “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing’s the matter. I just wanted to see you. Are you busy right now?”

Yi Yang said succinctly: “Busy.”

Xu Xinyi’s expression seemed a little sad. “Have you seen…”

“No.”

“…I haven’t even said it yet!”

Yi Yang’s expression stiffened. “I meant, I’m so busy today that I don’t have time to focus on anything else. If you don’t have anything important, I’ll hang up.”

“Wait!” Xu Xinyi bit her lip and seemed to find it difficult to continue speaking.

Yi Yang was impatient, “What’s the matter?”

“It’s like this, something happened today. It was rumored on the Internet that I was having an affair with Han Xiao and that I was keeping Jiang Nian. They posted a lot of photos and evidence. But husband, please don’t believe them. You have to believe in me. I love you!”

Xu Xinyi thought that since she said so much Yi Yang would have to ask a few questions, right?

The photos on the internet were not fake. Wouldn’t Yi Yang doubt her? Wouldn’t his heart feel unsettled? Wouldn’t he be angry?

“En, I believe you.”

Xu Xinyi’s face froze on the other end of the video.

Yi Yang used to have no trust in her at all, but now he always believed in her.

What? Was he amusing himself with some emotional game?

“Honey, do you remember Li Hanxing, who used to make things difficult for me on set? She’s the one who did it! She deliberately asked someone to smear me, so you can’t let her off!”

“Alright, ban her.”

The dog man didn’t give her any chance to perform.

But she pushed on. “Thank you, husband. I love you!”

After Xu Xinyi felt that she had laid the groundwork for long enough, she acted like she finally remembered something, “Honey, do you have Weibo?”

Yi Yang’s gaze lifted slowly, his face was so cold and heavy that Xu Xinyi could feel the pressure even from a hundred miles away.

“I have neither the interest nor the time to play with this kind of social software.”

“I thought so too.” Xu Xinyi said, “Today, a Weibo account with your name appeared in my Weibo comments saying ‘You’re welcome.’ but I guessed at that time that it couldn’t be you. It must just be someone pretending to be you, so I blocked him! Don’t you think such people are disgusting? How dare they steal your name!”

“…”

“Darling, it was all thanks to Han Xiao and Jiang Nian helping me clarify things today, otherwise I don’t know how big things could have gotten, so I have to thank them.” Xu Xinyi said, “I will invite Brother Han to dinner later. Jiang Nian is signed with Tianyu right now but Tianyu has blocked him so I want to settle his contract for him. What do you think?”

“Brother Han?” Yi Yang’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Don’t misunderstand, it’s just Brother Han is very nice, just like a big brother.”

Yi Yang hummed coldly, “I didn’t misunderstand.”

Xu Xinyi looked happy. “I’m glad you didn’t misunderstand me, then I’ll hang up first.”

“Wait a minute-” Yi Yang stopped her.

“Is there anything else?”

Yi Yang thought of his blocked Weibo and Xu Xinyi’s ‘thank you’ Weibo.

Anyway, he had already made the phone call, even if it was only the effort of raising his hand for him. Couldn’t Xinyi give him a thank you too?

“If I was the one pretending to be me in your Weibo comments…”

“Husband! Was it really you?” Xu Xinyi pretended to be extremely surprised.

“Don’t you know how Weibo works? That account was not verified, and the nickname was followed by a lot of random numbers. Was it really you? How come you can’t even change your nickname? Also, you would have at least certified the account, right?” Her sudden string of questions seemed a little sarcastic.

Yi Yang decided to forget about it. She was really exasperating!

Yi Yang’s brows furrowed and he said angrily, “It wasn’t me.”

Xu Xinyi had an ‘I knew it’ expression. “I knew it, how could that copy cat be you husband? Husband, you can rest assured that in the future, as long as someone bears your name, I will block him every time I see him, and I will report him!”

“…you treat people so ‘kindly’ on the internet. Blocking them so easily. Even though he didn’t provoke you.”

“He didn’t provoke me? But wasn’t he using your name? No! I just want to block him!”

“Forget it. Whatever makes you happy.”

Xu Xinyi exaggeratedly looked at the time, “Husband, it’s very late, if there’s nothing else I’ll hang up first. You should also rest early. Goodbye.”

The screen suddenly went black.

The video was hung up. Yi Yang was silent for a moment then he dialed the company inside line to call Zhao Bin over.

Assistant Zhao Bin knocked on the door.

With a straight face Yi Yang said, “Open a Weibo account for me.”

Although Yi Yang said just an hour ago that he didn’t need a Weibo account, as a subordinate, Zhao Bin had no right to laugh at his boss.

After all, a person had to eat.

“Do you need official certification?”

Remembering that Xu Xinyi had blocked his account, Yi Yang gave the info for that account to Zhao Bin.

“Certify this account.”

Zhao Bin took the info. He thought that this account his boss gave him looked just like a copycat account but he dared not laugh.

“I’ll do it right away.”

Xu Xinyi, who was hundreds of miles away from Yi Yang, held her cell phone with a complicated face that was near to bursting into tears.

“It’s all over. Yi Yang really did help me. When did his love for me get so deep?”

——————-

Early the next morning, Jiang Nian stood outside Xu Xinyi’s room looking guilty. While waiting for Xu Xinyi to put on her makeup he apologized to her in a low voice from the other side of the door: “Sister Xinyi, I’m sorry, I didn’t expect that what happened that night would have such a great impact on you.”

As soon as Xu Xinyi opened the door, she saw Jiang Nian’s expression of guilt and thought she knew what was going on.

She waved her hand magnanimously, “It’s alright, you don’t have to worry, those marketing accounts charge money to do these things, making black into white like this is their job.”

“You don’t blame me?”

“Why would I blame you?” Xu Xinyi walked towards the elevator and said, “Jiang Nian, when you come to my studio, you must remember not to spoil your mood because of these things on the internet. You should know that those who want to smear you will only be able to say a few words online. While in reality, they are not even qualified to talk to you, so you don’t have to take their words to heart. There is a team behind you at the studio to solve these things for you, remember?”

Jiang Nian was a step behind Xu Xinyi. Hearing those words, he paused and looked at Xu Xinyi’s thin figure that was standing in front of the elevator and he lowered his eyes slightly. “En, I’ll remember.”

People were arriving at the film location one after another, and the crew had already prepared the set.

As soon as he saw her, Director Xu asked, “Xinyi, are you all right?”

Xinyi said with a smile, “I’m fine.”

“As long as you’re fine. Really, you don’t have to worry about it. Just do a good job while filming. When we start to air the show and the audience sees your acting skills, they won’t be able to say anything anymore.”

Xu Xinyi nodded.

Han Xiao as well as his agent and assistants came to the set only a step or two behind Xu Xinyi.

Yesterday, Han Xiao had taken the initiative to help her clarify things so, in principle, she had to thank him.

Xu Xinyi walked over and looked at him with a sincere expression. “Brother Han, thank you for speaking for me yesterday.”

Han Xiao spoke as lightly as ever, as if in his eyes, it didn’t matter at all.

“It’s all right, it was just a little effort.”

Luo Jie, who was standing on the side, looked dissatisfied.

Yesterday, Han Xiao insisted on clarifying for Xu Xinyi, which was tantamount to tying the two of them together. Thanks to him standing out there had been a lot of criticisms about Han Xiao on the internet. Although the matter had subsided, there were still a lot of people making comments about Han Xiao online.

But since he was unable to beat Han Xiao, Luo Jie could only show his dissatisfaction to Xu Xinyi.

Anya caught a glimpse of Han Xiao and walked over behind Xu Xinyi. When Xu Xinyi finished her thanks, she held out her hand to Han Xiao.

“Hello, Teacher Han. I’m Xinyi’s agent. My name is Anya.”

Han Xiao looked at the outstretched hand and hesitated. Then, while he was hesitating, Luo Jie stepped forward and greeted Anya. He took the initiative to shake Anya’s hand. “Hello, my name is Luo Jie, Han Xiao’s agent.”

It could be regarded as rescuing Han Xiao from an uncomfortable situation.

Anya smiled awkwardly.

“I’d long heard of Miss Anya’s reputation, meeting you today, it seems really deserved. Why don’t we sit down, add each other on WeChat, and have a good chat?”

“Sorry, I don’t have my cell phone with me.” Anya lied and quickly pulled her hand back.

Luo Jie was a good-looking person, and quite in line with her tastes, but unfortunately, he was gay.

Anya had no interest in gays and never wasted her time on them.

Director Xu on set was calling people to come over.

“You guys talk first. Brother Han and I need to go film now.” Xu Xinyi said.

“Wait a minute,” Anya stopped Xu Xinyi. “Xinyi, I’m relieved that this matter has been settled but I still have something to do back at the studio so I have to go back. You keep doing a good job filming. If anything happens, don’t get excited. Call me.”

What was Anya thinking of? How could Xu Xinyi not know? Her ‘something to do’ was going back to meet up with her harem of fresh meats.

But she didn’t say anything.

“Alright, be safe on your way back.”

Luo Jie patted Han Xiao on the shoulder, looked at the figure of Anya leaving, and said, “So you know what I’m thinking now?”

“What?”

“What should Anya and I name our first baby?”

Han Xiao: “?”

————————

After Li Chengman, who had replaced Li Hanxing, joined the “The Way of the Phoenix” crew, the shooting progress could be described as advancing in leaps and bounds.

But Xu Xinyi was not very happy about it.

Previously, she estimated that the show would have to be filmed for at least another half a year. But at this rate, it would take much less than half a year, and she might even be able to finish filming ahead of time and be home by the Lunar New year.

With the changing seasons, the crew members had all moved from thin jackets to thick cotton-padded clothes. Xu Xinyi was all wrapped up, she had a hot water bag on her knees, and she was holding a mug of warm tea in her hands. She was leading an old ladies life well ahead of time.

Looking at the snow-capped Film City, Xu Xinyi thought it seemed like another world.

From the time she first joined the group until now, she couldn’t believe how it had all gone by in the blink of an eye.

“Sister Xinyi, are you looking forward to going to the hot springs tonight?”

“Hot springs?”

Xiao Yuan smiled mysteriously, “It was specially prepared for you.”

That night, Xu Xinyi understood what Xiao Yuan meant by ‘specially prepared for you’.

They were shooting the passionate bath scene specially prepared for her and Han Xiao.

After joining the crew, she had been in contact with Han Xiao for a long time. And during the few months she spent here Xu Xinyi had adjusted her mood from the excitement and expectation she felt before to the embarrassment and awkwardness she felt now.

Director Xu stood on the edge of the hot spring and said with a smile, “Xinyi, although the hot spring is comfortable, don’t deliberately NG so you can shoot longer. You can soak as much as you want later tonight!”

“Director Xu, you can rest assured we will pass it in one take!”

Having said that, she took a peek at Han Xiao.

Han Xiao’s face was calm but Xu Xinyi didn’t think he really was calm.

She had no choice but to start things off.

Xu Xinyi took off her long cotton-padded coat and handed it over to Jiang Nian who was wearing a gloomy face.

She thought it was the cold that was putting this hapless child into a bad mood so she didn’t care about it.

Then she stretched and walked into the hot spring.

The spring water of the hot spring was extremely warm.

But as soon as she stood up the wind blew and she felt terribly cold by contrast.

Han Xiao also took off his big cotton-padded clothes and went into the water. In the hot spring, both of them were wearing very little, just a thin layer of underwear, especially Han Xiao, the lines of his body were clearly visible after his clothes were soaked in water.

Xu Xinyi blushed slightly and turned away.

“Attention all departments, final equipment check, it’s late so let’s try to do this in one take. Let’s finish work early and go back to the hotel to have a rest.”

At Director Xu’s command the two people in the hot spring also began to enter their roles. 

Han Xiao had always been expressionless. Xu Xinyi tried to think from Han Xiao’s point of view and said in a low voice, “Teacher Han, don’t be nervous. When we act later, you can stay away from me. Anyway, they won’t shoot underwater.”

Han Yan’s eyes deepened and he let out an unintelligible “Um”.

This scene was mainly about the culmination of the relationship between Han Xiao and Xu Xinyi from soul to flesh. When Xu Xinyi remembered the description of this scene in the novel she still blushed a bit in retrospect, but fortunately, Director Xu was the one filming the scene and he blurred the original artistic conception a bit.

The mist of the hot spring was slowly drifting upward. The scene called for Han Xiao to hold onto the edge of the hot spring with one hand and encircle Xu Xinyi in his other arm.

The two were at close distance and there was barely space for a third person between them.

In particular, when she saw Han Xiao’s sculpted muscles Xu Xinyi had only glanced at them before she wanted to look away. But her eyes had nowhere to be placed and she did not know where to look.

“Cut!” Director Xu stood up and said, “Xinyi, what’s the matter with you? Where were you looking? Was that intentional? Do you want to spend more time in the hot spring?”

Xu Xinyi apologized, “I’m sorry, Director Xu, I’ll do it properly next time.”

“Alright, do it again.”

“All departments, ready, action!”

Xu Xinyi was once again encircled by Han Xiao’s arms and the small waves in the water hit her face. Xu Xinyi sighed and slowly looked up, forcing herself to forget about the plot in the novel she had read. It seemed that after ten years of tenacity, she finally earned this moment of tenderness.

The camera slowly pulled away to catch the scene.

The sound of the water in the hot spring was loud and obscured any sounds. The two people’s backs were gradually blurred by the mist of the hot spring, and occasionally a gentle moan or hum would emerge.

“Cut–” Director Xu stood up with a smile, “Pass!”

Han Xiao was slightly stunned when he heard the call to cut. He leaned over to look at Xu Xinyi, whose face was flushed in front of him.

He did not know if it was because the hot spring was too hot, or because the scene was too ambiguous, but her face was dyed crimson up to the tips of her ears.

His Adam’s apple rolled.

“Brother Han, it’s over.” Xu Xinyi smiled awkwardly and reminded him.

Han Xiao looked away from her clear and watery eyes. He bowed his head and was silent for a moment, then he stood up and walked out of the hot spring with a splash. Immediately a staff member came forward to hand him some dry towels.

“You two, take showers and change your clothes first. Don’t catch a cold!”

Xu Xinyi was quickly wrapped up and jostled into a bathroom arranged in advance by the crew.

After changing her clothes and coming out of soaking in the hot spring for half an hour. Xu Xinyi felt warm all over.

“Xinyi, thank you for your hard work today.”

Having said that, after a pause, Director Xu continued: “The shooting progress of the drama is quite good. Thanks to you and Han Xiao, the media will come to visit the set and do interviews in two days. Here are some of the questions they’ll ask.” Director Xu handed a sheet full of questions over to Xu Xinyi.

Xu Xinyi took a look at it. It was just some typical light and humorous questions, nothing special.

“Understood.”

“That’s good. Think about the questions carefully and come up with some answers in advance.”

Xu Xinyi nodded.

—————————-

The media coming to the set was a first for the crew. From the director all the way down to the little supporting roles, no one was spared from the media’s prying eyes.

Of course, the male and female leads were the ones who got the most attention.

“Teacher Han, you have not filmed in any TV series’ before, until now you have always been active in movies. Many fans want to know why you joined Director Xu’s production this time.”

Han Xiao looked over at Director Xu: “I talked to Director Xu before taking this role, and I also studied this screenplay. It’s a really wonderful project. I won’t miss any script that I’m interested in.”

“Before, Teacher Han boasted that Xinyi was a good actress that you were comfortable acting with on set on Weibo. I am a big fan of yours and I remember you have never praised any actress so publicly. So I would like to ask Miss Xu, what do you think of this?”

What else could Xu Xinyi think?

She smiled. “I was also surprised by Teacher Han’s evaluation of me. Teacher Han is one of the actors that I admire most and I have always targeted Teacher Han as my goal as an actress. Since Teacher Han praised me so much, of course, I have to keep working harder in the future.”

The reporter’s just asked these kinds of softball questions, about things both inside and outside of the drama. They were just fishing randomly and if they could dig up some gossip, all the better.

It was just that the people being interviewed were all old foxes who had interacted with the media for a long time. How could they let themselves be tripped up by the reporters?

The interview process on set had been going on for half an hour, and now it was time for the free question session.

The interviewees were allowed to refuse to answer during this section.

“Miss Xu, some time ago there was a rumor on the Internet that you and Teacher Han had been in love with each other for a long time. Could it be true?”

“Of course not. Teacher Han is my idol and I dare not blaspheme him like that.”

“Miss Xu, back when you had just made your debut people always used to compare you to Xu Weiyin and even called you the ‘Little’ Weiyin. Did you know that Xu Weiyin has recently returned to China?”

Xu Xinyi was shocked, “What? Xu Weiyin returned to China?”

“You didn’t know? Two days ago, the media took some pictures of Xu Weiyin returning to China at the airport.”

The shock on Xu Xinyi’s face was very obvious.

Han Xiao frowned slightly and said something to rescue her. “Are there any other questions?”

The reporter’s eyes immediately turned to Han Xiao, “Teacher Han, you have worked with Xu Weiyin before. Do you have anything to say about Xu Weiyin?”

Han Ying’s eyes were cold and he refused to answer the question. “Next question.”

During the following period of the free question session, Xu Xinyi was obviously absent-minded and never answered any of the reporter’s questions properly.

Back at the hotel, Xiao Yuan appeased Xu Xinyi, “Sister Xinyi, don’t worry. Xu Weiyin has been abroad for so many years, the audience has long forgotten her. Now she is nowhere near as famous as you.”

Xu Xinyi was worried but she still smiled reluctantly. “I’m all right. It’s late. You go home early and have a rest. I want to be alone.”

Xiao Yuan wanted to say more but she was stopped by Jiang Nian.

The two left the room.

“Who is Xu Weiyin?” While they were walking to the elevator, Jiang Nian asked Xiao Yuan.

“Xu Weiyin was a very popular actress four years ago. When Sister Xinyi made her debut, people called her Little Xu Weiyin because she looked a bit like her.”

Jiang Nian pulled up a picture of Xu Weiyin on his phone.

What came into view was the photo of Xu Weiyin arriving at the airport.

She did look a bit like Xu Xinyi.

“It’s Xu Weiyin who looks like Sister Xinyi.” Jiang Nien turned off his cell phone with a heavy expression.

In Xu Xinyi’s room, after Jiang Nian and Xiao Yuan left, she couldn’t wait to open Weibo to search for ‘Xu Weiyin’.

Sure enough, there had been an uproar at the airport.

After four years, even though Xu Weiyin came back with a low profile, she still could not escape the eyes of the paparazzi.

But in the photo Xu Weiyin was holding a child in her arms that looked three or four years old.

There were a few photos where the media had captured the child’s face but it had been politely mosaiced.

She sent a message asking Anya, “Xu Weiyin is back? Are we sure? Do you have a first-hand high-definition front photo?”

How could Anya not have it? She sent the photo to Xu Xinyi immediately and at the same time told her not to worry about it.

Xu Xinyi looked at the high-definition photo and enlarged the picture of the child in Xu Weiyin’s arms.

She was finally back.

That was Xu Xinyi’s first reaction.

As the heroine of the novel, Xu Weiyin was indomitable and unstoppable in the entertainment industry, disregarding the fact that she was out of the country for four years, or now that she had returned with such a low profile. Soon she would be able to take her pick of any scripts and men would swarm around her like bees to honey.

The biggest mystery from the novel was who the father of Xu Weiyin’s child was.

But unfortunately, Xu Weiyin never revealed that information, nor did she ever do a paternity test.

All the men who dated Xu Weiyin would think that the child was theirs.

Of course, that also included the dog man called Yi Yang!

It was a pity for him that the dog man did not have the halo of a male lead, and ultimately the beauty was taken away by the real male lead.

The male lead also thought that the child was his own, and after Xu Weiyin tacitly agreed with his assumption, he simply did not do a paternity test.

Such a pure love. A real love stronger than gold. So moving.

But Xu Xinyi thought the child looked a lot like Yi Yang. He had a pair of beautiful eyes, a well-formed nose, and small delicate features. Xu Xinyi thought he looked just like a tiny Yi Yang.

She thought there was no need for a paternity test, that was definitely Yi Yang’s child!

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Tl note: wew the female lead of the novel finally showed up, how exciting. Xu Weiyin’s(许微茵) name shares characters with Xu Xinyi’s(许辛夷) name so I assume they’re sisters or something. Looking forward to finding out!

Also, I know it’s a ridiculous double standard to leave Xu Xinyi’s assistant as ‘Xiao Yuan’ but then translate the nickname the netizens had for Xu Xinyi as ‘Little Xu Weiyin’ since they both use the same ‘小’ (xiao) character buuuut whatever I’m doing it anyway! If you feel strongly it would be better one way or the other let me know and I’ll think about it.

Also, sorry everyone for missing yesterday’s update. I had to go to the dentist and the whole trip was not very pleasant. With all this corona stuff I ended up waiting for almost an hour and a half and after that the visit itself was painful. No cavities! But still just generally unpleasant. So at the end of the day I didn’t get much translation done.