Mu Qiu never expected that Cheng Zhirang’s charm was so irresistible that he could run into a runaway Cinderella just by stepping out to take a call.
And it was supposedly a Cinderella under duress.
She walked over, circled around to the front of the woman, and squatted down to take a good look at her.
She didn’t treat her as intentionally causing a scene, nor did she voice her suspicions, but instead seriously asked, "Miss, do you need any help? We may not be able to do much, but we can help you call the police."
The woman kept silent and didn’t look at Cheng Zhirang anymore, just cried softly with her head down, and seemed to edge slightly closer to Cheng Zhirang’s leg as if quite afraid of Mu Qiu.
"Looks like there’s nothing needing help," she stood up and extended a hand toward Cheng Zhirang, "let’s go back and eat."
Cheng Zhirang took her hand to leave when the woman spoke again.
"Brother Cheng, I’m your fan, aren’t you heartless not to help?"
"I’d advise you to be careful with your words," Mu Qiu turned around, shaking the phone in her hand.
"I’ve got the whole thing recorded. If you’re really a fan and you did encounter trouble, we did ask you whether you needed help, but you didn’t answer.
Now we assume you don’t need help, and you use your fan status to pressure him. What, are celebrities not human? Are they supposed to be saviors of the world? Besides, it seems like you don’t really need saving either."
The woman flinched: "Who are you to speak for him?"
"Because he’s my man, mine."
She emphasized the last two words and added, "I’ve seen at least ten different versions of this ’damsel in distress meets wealthy and famous man’ scenario in novels and TV shows. Didn’t expect to see it play out in real life at this level."
This low-level, brainless kind of plot.
"He didn’t judge you by your attire or the truth of your words at first glance; that was courtesy. He was courteous to you, so can’t you be a little more respectful to him and stop harming his eyes with such a worn-out storyline?
If you’ve got hands and feet, why not put them to good use instead of pulling this kind of stunt? He might not say hurtful things, but I can. After you cross this line, we never saw you, and this is the last bit of advice I’ll offer.
Of course, if you truly have an unspeakable predicament and I’m wrong, I apologize here first. My boyfriend has already called the police, and someone will come to help you shortly."
Having said that, she pulled Cheng Zhirang to the private room without looking back at the woman.
Cheng Zhirang squeezed her palm gently and asked softly, "How did you know I was calling the police?"
"Because I made it up."
"..." he chuckled, "To be honest, I didn’t plan on helping. Although I can’t be entirely sure whether she needed help or not, because I’ve encountered similar situations before, I held some prejudice."
"It’s human nature, and not your fault. Wasn’t what I just said cold, badass, and cool?"
She was a bit excited, without a trace of anger at him for the trouble caused by the woman’s sudden appearance.
Cheng Zhirang recalled her powerful "my man" just now, smiled slightly, looked down, and said:
"Yes, very cool."
"I thought so too. No wonder TV series often have these kinds of badass lines; saying them feels great."
They were about to reach the door of the private room when Mu Qiu remembered why she had come out to find him: "Just now we ordered some shrimp cakes, they’re super delicious. I saved you a couple, eat them before they get cold."
"If you like them, I’ll give you one more; we can eat together?"
"Sure! Let me tell you, those shrimp cakes taste the best when you dip them in lime sauce..."
Her voice, growing softer and sweeter, was cut off as they reached the doorway.
This incident didn’t stir up any waves between them.
After the gathering, they got in the car driven by Assistant Liang, bid farewell to Li Yang and the others, and went back to Mu Qiu’s little villa.
Cheng Zhi’s letter was placed in a mailbox on the armrest.
Mu Qiu was quite intrigued by that mailbox, but didn’t retrieve it. As Cheng Zhirang opened the envelope to read the letter, she didn’t sneak a peek but instead started chatting with Zhao Yu on the phone.
Zhao Yu had sent several live stream screenshots, beautifully retouched, accompanied by a single line.
[Oh, you seductive little vixen]
She zoomed in for a closer look; in the picture, Cheng Zhirang held her in his arms, gazing flirtatiously at the camera, stunningly beautiful.
Ah, even I’m swooning over myself.
Enthralled by the photos, she opened Weibo and went to the supertopic of the show to find pictures of herself and Cheng Zhirang.
The netizens were truly skilled, their editing proficiency so high that even dance photos were transformed into something resembling novel covers and wedding photos.
"Brother Cheng, isn’t this picture beautiful?"
She held up her phone and leaned over, opening what she thought was the best picture for him to see.
It was the same pose as the retouched photo with Zhao Yu, yet with an atmospheric touch.
Cheng Zhirang put the fan letters aside, took her phone, looked at it seriously, and nodded in approval: "It looks great. Can you send me a copy?"
"What do you need it for? If you change your Weibo avatar to this, it would cause an earthquake in the fan community."
"I won’t," he looked at her, waited for the picture, and then said, "Can we print the photo and hang it in the hallway at home?"
"... But it’s not a wedding photo."
"And wedding photos can be hung?"
Mu Qiu was further speechless: "Asking this question makes it sound like you already have wedding photos."
Cheng Zhirang chuckled: "Eventually there will be; it’s good to know this right upfront."
She couldn’t really comment on that, so she coughed lightly, tucked her phone away, and sat straight to continue browsing for pictures.
Cheng Zhirang glanced at her, found her looking a bit uncomfortable, and refrained himself from looking further, returning his attention to reading fan letters.
The tangible pressure of his gaze disappeared, and Mu Qiu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. That gaze always made her nervous, almost afraid to meet his eyes directly.
While casually searching for images, she also checked the latest news online about the eighth episode.
This episode topped the trending charts in numerous ways, especially today’s stage performance. Shi Yuhuai and Cheng Zhirang’s names were still prominently featured, but the popularity of the duo’s dance entry was dropping.
She quickly scrolled through, refreshed again, and fixed her eyes on the latest headlines.
#Lin Family exec forces pregnant mistress to resign# and #Lin Family market value plummets# stood out among a series of entertainment news headlines.
And then it was, #Qing Rong and Cheng Zhirang Studio jointly sue rumormongers#.
She couldn’t resist looking at the man next to her; Qing Rong and the studio suing rumormongers together? What were they thinking?
Or perhaps—
"Are you planning to accept that apocalypse script?"
Cheng Zhirang put down the letter, answered directly, ensuring his full attention was on her: "Most likely it’s going to be that script."
"You only select one project a year; are you really deciding to bank on this script for your reputation? Collaborating with Qing Rong will surely bring some troubles, especially when rumors are still flying around."
"Qiuqiu, I’m a person who evaluates based on matters, not people. That script is genuinely good, plus he’s not a threat to us, is he?"
After all, this rival hadn’t even made it to his front door before she had already chopped off the path. Conveniently, he also needed this collaboration to let everyone know they’re doing great together, with no other presence at all.