"...Teacher Xu, could we remind her again? She probably doesn't understand the seriousness of what you said."
It was Yuan Lu who spoke. Looking at Xu Gui and Kuang Ming, she was a little nervous, but still mustered her courage to say, "I know it's wrong of her to deliberately try to ride on Teacher Xu's popularity. Teacher Xu has already reminded her, which is more than enough, but... but..."
"I still think that even if she deserves to be despised by everyone and ruined, it shouldn't be done this way."
Being filmed in bed, having the video spread across the internet, and being seen by countless people... this way is just too humiliating. Moreover, even if it's a video of two people being filmed together, most of the attention will be on the woman, not on the other person involved.
How unfair is that...?
Yuan Lu felt that she wasn't pitying this [Ulala Cola]; she simply felt that for a girl, this ending was truly terrible.
"Teacher Xu..." Yuan Lu looked at Xu Gui expectantly.
Xu Gui thought for a moment and nodded, "What you said makes sense. This ending is indeed too harsh for a girl. Shall we remind her again? But we don't have her contact information. How can we remind her? Kuang Ming, do you have a way?"
Xu Gui looked at Kuang Ming beside him, and Yuan Lu looked over as well.
Kuang Ming: "..."
Facing their expectant eyes, he said helplessly, "If you really want to do this, I can try contacting the people at the Fruit TV app. They should have the contact information for [Cola]."
Xu Gui smiled and said, "Then I'll trouble you, manager."
Kuang Ming sneered and said, "Only now do you remember I'm your manager."
However, although he said that, he still contacted the staff at Fruit TV and got the contact information for [Ulala Cola] from them. However, by the time he got the contact information, it was already the next day.
"Is it still too late?" he asked Xu Gui.
Xu Gui looked at the number, copied it, opened WeChat, and sent a friend request. After doing all this, she looked up and said, "It should still be in time, right? If it's too late..."
She looked at Yuan Lu and said, "We've done everything we can, there's nothing we can do."
Yuan Lu knew what she meant and quickly nodded, "I know, if it really doesn't work, then no one can be blamed."
Xu Gui nodded gently.
Meanwhile, Wu Xue was having dinner with her top friend. When she heard the friend request notification on her phone, she picked it up and glanced at it. Her gaze froze on the screen, and she hesitated.
Perhaps she had been looking at her phone for a while, because Liu Dawei asked her, "What's wrong?"
Wu Xue looked up, said, "Nothing, it's just that a friend..."
As she spoke, she couldn't help but glance at her phone screen again, her expression somewhat strange.
On her screen was a friend request notification. A new friend request had been sent, from an unfamiliar ID and profile picture. Normally, Wu Xue would reject such requests, but this time was different.
The reason for the request was: "[Hello, I'm Xu Gui]
."
Wu Xue silently murmured the name.
She knew Xu Gui; they had even chatted on video last night. But she didn't know why Xu Gui was requesting to add her now. Was he angry because of what happened last night?
Wu Xue was uncertain and a little uneasy.
Just as she was pondering this, her phone vibrated again. Looking down, she saw that Xu Gui had sent her another friend request. This time, the reason was: "[I have something very important to tell you]."
Wu Xue pursed her lips, finally gritted her teeth, and tapped the "accept" button.
"You finally managed to come out for a meal with me, why are you looking at your phone the whole time?" At this moment, a hand reached out and restlessly stroked her thigh. The person complained, seemingly genuinely, "You're making me feel like all the money I spent last night was wasted."
Hearing this, Wu Xue smiled, put down her phone, and turned to say, "Didn't someone just message me?"
Liu Dawei laughed, "I thought it was your boyfriend checking up on me."
Hearing him mention her boyfriend, a hint of sarcasm flashed in Wu Xue's eyes. She said, "He knows I'm here to have dinner with you, why would he check up on me?"
Liu Dawei squeezed her thigh harder and said ambiguously, "After dinner, want to come to my place?"
Wu Xue turned to look at him and asked, "Where's your wife? Isn't she home?"
Liu Dawei said, "My father-in-law is sick, she took my son and daughter to his house, they definitely won't be back for at least ten days or two weeks, so you don't need to worry about her catching you."
"Don't worry, as long as you stick with me, I won't let you suffer… Look, last night you said you wanted to trend on social media, and I spent three million on you without even blinking an eye!"
He leaned closer to Wu Xue, his breath reeking of alcohol, and kissed her cheek, saying, "Only you would make me so generous."
Just then, a customer entered the restaurant and passed by their table. The young girl turned and saw Liu Dawei kissing Wu Xue, her expression showing surprise.
The combination was simply too incongruous. Wu Xue was young and beautiful, fresh as a flower, while Liu Dawei was fat and ugly, exuding a greasy aura. The two perfectly exemplified what it meant to have a beautiful flower stuck in cow dung.
As the young girl passed by, Wu Xue seemed to hear her mutter, "…What a beauty and the beast combination! This girl really doesn't know how to choose."
Hearing this, a hint of embarrassment flashed in Wu Xue's eyes, and her breathing quickened, but she quickly regained her composure.
She knew very well that there was no such thing as a free lunch. What you want to gain, you have to give. Since she wanted Liu Dawei's support, enduring some grievances and tolerating his fat and ugly appearance was only fair.
—If you've already acted like a prostitute, there's no need to pretend to be virtuous.
She told herself to just endure it a little longer; once she became famous, she wouldn't have to suffer like this anymore.
Thinking about how she gained hundreds of thousands of followers overnight after trending on social media last night, Wu Xue took a breath.
When Liu Dawei looked up, her expression had returned to normal, with a gentle smile, looking young and beautiful.
After they finished eating, she went to Liu Dawei's house.
Liu Dawei was very rich; he owned a factory with an annual turnover of tens of millions, and assets exceeding 100 million. While his wealth might not seem like much to truly wealthy people, for Wu Xue, he was currently the only wealthy person she could contact who was willing to spend money on her.
Therefore, if she wanted to become famous, she had to seize the opportunity.
As soon as they entered the house, Liu Dawei hugged Wu Xue and kissed her a few times. After finishing, he blew her a greasy kiss and said, "Baby, I'm going to take a shower first. Wait for me here!"
Wu Xue smiled and watched him walk into the bathroom. Once he was out of sight, her expression immediately fell. She vigorously wiped the drool off her face, her expression one of utter disgust.
Only then did she have time to check her phone—it had been vibrating in her pocket, indicating that someone had been sending her messages. However, she hadn't dared to take it out in front of Liu Dawei.
When Wu Xue finally took out her phone, she discovered that the person who had sent her messages was Xu Gui. He had sent her nine messages in a row, for reasons unknown.
Looking at the bright red "9" in the message list, Wu Xue clicked on it with a puzzled expression. However, after reading all of Xu Gui's messages, she felt a chill creep up from the soles of her feet, and this chill quickly spread throughout her entire body.
Wu Xue suddenly shivered, then abruptly turned to look at the desk in her bedroom.
There, a black laptop sat quietly, its screen black, next to a mouse, seemingly not turned on.
Wu Xue looked at it and slowly walked over—in those few short steps, her breath caught in her throat until her hand gripped the mouse.
The mouse touched, and the previously black screen suddenly lit up, the bright light illuminating Wu Xue's face, making her pale as snow.
On the screen was a live stream, and the subject of the stream… was none other than Wu Xue's own bedroom. As Wu Xue approached, the live stream showed her face magnified several times over. Seeing
her face in the live stream, Wu Xue took several steps back in fear.
At that moment, the chat was scrolling rapidly, with comments like, "Why hasn't it started yet?", "This woman has a hot body!", and "Hehehe, I'm ready to record!" constantly appearing before Wu Xue's eyes.
In the upper right corner of the live stream, the number of viewers was displayed as 20,000.
[What Xu Gui said was actually true…]
Only this thought remained in Wu Xue's mind.
Looking at the Liu family's bedroom now, she felt as if it were a monstrous beast that would devour people… A hint of fear crossed Wu Xue's face. Without thinking, she turned and rushed out of the Liu family's house.
"Baby, I'm done showering! Huh, where is everyone?"
When Liu Dawei finished showering and came out, he was stunned to find the living room empty.
…
After leaving the Liu family's house, Wu Xue didn't dare stop. Her phone started vibrating incessantly in her pocket. Looking at the caller ID, "Top Rank 1," she silenced the phone and put it back in her pocket.
She didn't know how much time had passed before the phone stopped ringing. Liu Dawei stopped trying to call her and instead sent her a message.
"Wu Xue, you're really something! Are you playing me? Do you think I'm a sucker?" Liu Dawei messaged. "Don't even think about me spending another penny on you!"
Wu Xue looked at the message, her usually calm face twitching slightly.
For a moment, she felt an urge to smash her phone, but after raising it, she stopped. A few seconds later, she slowly squatted down, hugging her knees and burying her head in them.
That night, Wu Xue stayed out for a long time, wandering the streets like a lost soul until midnight before finally returning to her lodgings.
She shared a one-bedroom apartment with Xiang Wei; they ate, slept, and even did their live streams there. When she got home, the lights were still on, but instead of her boyfriend's concern, she was met with his accusations.
"Wu Xue, where have you been? Why are you back so late?" Xiang Wei stood in the living room, looking at her impatiently, and asked, "What happened between you and Liu Dawei? Why did he message you saying he'd never contact you again?"
"Look at the group chat, he suddenly left. Now the fans in the group are all speculating about what happened between you and him. Several of the big spenders on your leaderboard have left the group!"
"...Didn't I tell you to try to please him? Why didn't you listen? At this rate, when will you ever become famous?"
Wu Xue, listening to his complaining words, finally couldn't hold back and slapped him across the face. This time, Xiang Wei stopped talking, staring at Xu Gui with disbelief on his face.
"What are you doing?" Xiang Wei was furious.
"What am I supposed to do?" Wu Xue laughed, but the smile was more like a grimace. She murmured, "I'd like to ask you, what are you trying to do? Your girlfriend was invited out to dinner by an ugly, fat man, and she's only just come back. You don't care if something bad happened to her, or if anything happened between her and that man, but instead you're here questioning her..."
"Questioning her why she broke up with another man..."
Wu Xue looked at Xiang Wei, and under his guilty gaze, she softly asked, "Xiang Wei, do you really love me? Do you really consider me your girlfriend? Do you even remember that I'm your girlfriend?"
Xiang Wei looked guilty. He reached out and awkwardly grabbed Wu Xue's arm, saying, "Xiao Xue, of course I like you, and I haven't forgotten that you're my girlfriend, but...
"But have you forgotten our dream? Didn't you say you wanted to become the number one singing and dancing blogger on Hunan TV? But without someone throwing money at you, providing resources and gifts, do you think you can achieve that dream?" "
He put on a painstakingly earnest tone, saying, 'Look at all those singing and dancing bloggers on Fruit Station now, none of them are as talented as you! But it's because you lack resources, no one is throwing money at you, that's why you've remained unknown!'
'Xiaoxue, I'm doing this for your dream! Besides, we've both worked so hard for so long, do you really want to give up now?'
'I know you must have been wronged by Liu Dawei,' he reached out and hugged Wu Xue, whispering, 'How about this, you get some rest tonight, calm down, and we'll talk it over properly tomorrow, okay?' Hearing
him use the same familiar rhetoric, Wu Xue couldn't help but feel a self-deprecating smile.
'There's no tomorrow,' she said.
Xiang Wei: 'What?'
Wu Xue pushed him away, looked up at him, and said, 'I said, there's no tomorrow for us.'
She said each word slowly and deliberately, her tone icy, 'Xiang Wei, I want to break up with you!'
Xiang Wei's eyes widened, and the words of objection blurted out: 'No way!' " "I don't want to break up with you... Xiaoxue, don't be impulsive, listen to me..."
He took a step forward, wanting to get closer to Wu Xue, but Wu Xue took another step back.
"There's nothing more to say between us," Wu Xue wiped away her tears, she said, "Actually, I should have broken up with you a long time ago, when you made me go to dinner with Liu Dawei, when you repeatedly made me abandon my self-respect and endure Liu Dawei's harassment... I should have broken up with you then."
If she had broken up with Xiang Wei earlier, and hadn't listened to his nonsense, maybe she wouldn't be in this situation today... Wu Xue gave a self-deprecating smile.
Xiang Wei: "I won't allow it! I won't break up with you!"
Seeing his agitated state, Wu Xue sighed, "Why are you doing this? You don't really love me that much; you just want to make me famous and earn more money..."
Xiang Wei retorted, embarrassed and angry, "Xiao Xue, how can you think of me like that? Is that how you see me?"
Wu Xue felt exhausted, both mentally and physically. Listening to Xiang Wei's rebuttal, she suddenly blurted out, "I slept with Liu Dawei."
"..." Xiang Wei's voice trailed off, and he stared blankly at Wu Xue.
Wu Xue was amused by his expression. She said, "What kind of reaction is this? Didn't you already think of this? A lone man and a woman, a lustful old man... Do you think nothing happened between us?" "
You, you..." Xiang Wei's face turned red. Suddenly, "Slap!"
He slapped Wu Xue across the face, glaring at her hatefully, and cursed, "Shameless!"
Wu Xue's face turned to the side from the slap. She covered her burning cheek, turned her head slightly, and looked at Xiang Wei coldly. The next second, she slapped Xiang Wei back with all her might.
After being slapped, Xiang Wei stared at her in disbelief. "You dare to hit me?"
"If you dare to hit me, why wouldn't I dare to hit you?" Wu Xue retorted, lowering her hand, her palm slightly numb. She looked at Xiang Wei mockingly and said, "Why are you pretending not to know anything now? Ask yourself honestly, do you really know nothing about what happened between me and Liu Dawei?"
The anger on Xiang Wei's face gradually turned into guilt, and he was somewhat afraid to look at Wu Xue's sharp, mocking eyes.
Seeing his reaction, even though Wu Xue already knew he knew everything, her heart turned cold. Tears streamed down her face. She blinked hard, took a breath, and said, "So, let's just part ways amicably. I don't want things to get too ugly."
Xiang Wei: "...Xiao Xue."
"Don't you mind that I slept with Liu Dawei?" Wu Xue retorted. "If you don't mind, it's not impossible for us to stay together..."
As she spoke, she took a step forward and said, "Xiang Wei, actually, I still really want to be with you."
Hearing this, Xiang Wei subconsciously took a step back. Only when he saw the mockery on Wu Xue's face did he realize what he had done, and his face immediately burned.
"Fine, since you insist on breaking up, there's nothing I can do..." he said. "Although I rented the place, I don't have much stuff, so I can move out. As for tonight, I can sleep on the sofa outside."
The man who had just said he didn't want to break up was now going in and out of the bedroom, taking a blanket and starting to sleep on the living room sofa, as if his earlier reluctance and entanglement were all fake.
Ah, it was all fake all along, all pretense. Didn't she already know that? Wu Xue thought with a self-deprecating laugh.
After Xiang Wei left the bedroom, she closed the door, leaned against it, and slowly slid down to sit on the floor. She hugged her knees, staring blankly at a point in the air.
Suddenly, she remembered something, picked up her phone from the floor, and sent a message.
"
Wu Xue wants to meet you?" Kuang Ming's voice was surprised. He was on the phone with Xu Gui. "What does she want to meet you for?"
Xu Gui replied, "Probably because of what happened yesterday, she wants to thank me."
"Okay..." Kuang Ming said, not saying anything more about it. He felt that Xu Gui definitely knew better than he did about this, so there was no need for him to say more.
Rather than this, he would rather give Xu Gui a few more instructions about work.
"By the way, He Yuan's filming should be finished soon, she should be back in the next couple of days, she should have told you, right?" Kuang Ming suddenly asked.
Xu Gui nodded: "Yes, she told me she'll be back tomorrow."
He Yuan wasn't in City A; "The Acting Competition" was filmed in Province K, so she was naturally in Province K now. Now that the first episode was finished, she would naturally be coming back. During that time, she and Xu Gui had been in contact, and she was still on the phone with Xu Gui yesterday, saying she would bring him some local specialties from Province K.
Kuang Ming, in a good mood, said, "He Yuan's acting is really good. The mentors on the 'Acting Competition' program are all asking me where I found this gem."
They told him that He Yuan has a face that tells a story; just looking at her makes you want to imagine countless tales. What's even more remarkable is that He Yuan, with such a face, is also an exceptionally good actress.
"She's no worse than veteran actors, and even more talented than many veteran actors..." This was the comment of that mentor, who is also a famous director in China.
He contacted Kuang Ming and expressed his desire to collaborate with He Yuan again... This surprised and delighted Kuang Ming, giving him even more confidence in Xu Gui's earlier prediction that He Yuan would become famous.
"Since you and she are friends, if you have any problems with acting, you should ask her for advice," Kuang Ming said, which was also the purpose of his call with Xu Gui.
Compared to the skillful acting of He Yuan, he was actually more worried about Xu Gui's acting, and soon Xu Gui would be joining the crew to film her first scene.
Kuang Ming: What should I do if I'm a little nervous?
Xu Gui responded to his words with pride, "Then don't worry, He Yuan already said she'll definitely give me good acting guidance, you don't need to worry about me at all!"
Kuang Ming: ...But I am a little worried.
Sigh.
After finishing her call with Kuang Ming, Xu Gui had lunch with everyone at the orphanage before going to meet Wu Xue. They agreed to meet at a coffee shop. When Xu Gui arrived, Wu Xue was already there, sitting in a booth, staring blankly out the window.
Seeing Xu Gui come in, she quickly stood up and waited for Xu Gui to sit down before sitting down herself, then asked Xu Gui, "What would you like to drink, Miss Xu?"
A coffee shop, of course, meant coffee. Xu Gui thought of the coffee she had at Lu Baiyi's house in H Province. Although the taste wasn't quite to her liking, it was really fragrant.
Xu Gui was a little tempted, so she ordered an iced Americano recommended by the waiter.
After ordering, she looked up at Wu Xue.
Wu Xue had been wearing a mask, but after Xu Gui sat down, she quietly removed it, revealing a somewhat haggard face. Upon closer inspection, her eyes were red and swollen, as if she had been crying.
"Thank you for telling me about yesterday," she thanked Xu Gui, then said self-deprecatingly, "Otherwise, I really would have become a viral sensation online..."
Thinking of the prophecy Xu Gui had given her during the live stream, she couldn't help but ask, "But if you tell me about this, then what you predicted for me during the live stream won't come true, right? Won't that be bad for you?"
"Won't people think you're just a fraud and made a mistake?"
she worried for Xu Gui.
Hearing this, Xu Gui glanced at her, then suddenly laughed.