17.

I discovered a new world—beautiful, harmonious, and full of positive energy.
Here,

When I smiled at Gu Yiliang, it felt like a smile carried by a spring breeze.
When I passed by him, it was as if Ihad chosen not to look back.
When we both lowered our heads at the same time, it was an uncontrollable shyness.
When I turned to laugh with someone else in his presence, it meant our hearts were still connected.

Here,

When Gu Yiliang smiled at me, it was as if he wanted to tell me something but hesitated.
When Gu Yiliang passed by me, he seemed to feel a touch of nostalgia.
When Gu Yiliang lowered his head when we were together, he was fighting his feelings of affection.
When Gu Yiliang turned to chat with others, he was trying to avoid any ambiguity.

No matter if we were standing or sitting, moving or still, everything was about emotions.

If we happened to wear accessories from the same brand, it was like openly displaying our affection.
If we happened to wear matching outfits by chance, we’d be doomed. They’d build a sky-piercing Tower of Babel out of their discussions—debating when we got engaged, how many banquet tables we booked, and even how many kids we secretly adopted.

In short, in this strange world, everything was honey, everything was sugar. After watching a few brainwashing videos, I started feeling like I was suffering from the three great diseases (NT: high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and high cholesterol) .

Honestly, if I weren’t me, Wei Yanzi, and if I didn’t know Gu Yiliang, I’d almost believe we were already married.

 

18.

But seriously, the nickname “Niangzi” was just too lame as a ship name.
(Note: Niangzi means “wife” in an old-fashioned, respectful way. It’s a wordplay using the “Liang” from Gu Yiliang and the “Zi” from Wei Yanzi.)

 

19.

One dedicated member of the Niangzi army even wrote a long post with some sort of timeline, coincidence statistics, videos, and fanfictions... The keywords were strung together like pearls; the hyperlinks were listed together and all I had to do was click. Since I had already memorized my lines and was relatively free, I figured it’d be more entertaining than reading negative gossip, so I opened a few videos.

 

20.

Over the next 30 minutes, my thoughts were as follows:

Wow, this MV is really moving!
Wow, this photoshopped image is incredibly realistic!
Wow, this fan art is way too cute!
Wow, this fanfiction...

… It was so inappropriate that I couldn’t even finish reading it.

There was even a brief moment—just for a split second—when I almost shouted in my mind, “Niangzi is Rio!”
(NT: “Rio” means “real” as it sounds similar, written in Latin letters in the original text.)

Thankfully, I managed to suppress that impulse.

 

21.

Think about it—while the whole internet was arguing about a non existent rivalry between you and your competitor, there was a small community that kept believing in non existent feelings between you and your rival. What did that mean?

This was justice and love! It proved that in their hearts, existed only truth, kindness, and beauty!
If everyone shared a bit of love, the world would be a wonderful place!

At last, someone believed that I wasn’t a malicious person constantly trying to steal Gu Yiliang’s resources and set him up!
Even though it seemed a bit exaggerated, I had to admit, I almost cried tears of joy.

22.

I think I was completely thrown off balance by the gossip Xiao Chen sent me for three days straight.

23.

But this ship... I’m all for it.

24.

I didn’t even understand what “the main characters are distributing sugar” meant in the comment section (NT: Internet slang for offering heartwarming scenes or romantic interactions). When I returned to my Weibo page, I found out I had accidentally liked a tweet while researching Gu Yiliang.

It was about the production team of “Lan Jue” (NT: Lán Jué (澜诀), The Song of the Waves) finally revealing mysterious casting of the second male lead: Gu Yiliang.

The rest of the post was full of praise for his acting skills, but I didn’t have the patience to read it all.

25.

I froze.

Wait a minute...

“Lan Jue”... Isn’t that the team I’m currently working with?!

 

26.

Can you believe it? The moment I realized that, my first thought was:

Are the main characters finally going to distribute some sugar?!

27.

Xiao Chen walked into the room with a gloomy expression, his steps heavy, and started massaging my shoulders.
I jumped, startled by his unusual behavior. “What’s wrong?”
“Wei ge…” he said solemnly, his face serious. “Your rival is joining the team…”

I didn’t even have time to tell him I already knew before he leaned in and whispered, “Should I prepare beans, scissors, or pliers?”
“Stop, stop, stop,” I stared at him. “When you shower tonight, don’t forget to wash your brain too. What on earth are you thinking about all day?”
He sighed deeply and replied with utter sincerity, “Fine. In a society ruled by law, hurting someone is illegal.”

28.

I mean, even my assistant thought I was some kind of petty villain with malicious intentions. If I didn’t start supporting this ship to balance out my bad-guy image, how was I supposed to survive?

 

29.

I waved my hand wearily, sending Xiao Chen off to get me a cup of milk tea, then sank back into my chair, unable to resist the urge to watch another fan video.

 

30.

On the screen was the first scene where Gu Yiliang made an appearance in his debut film. His acting was still a bit raw back then, but even so, it was already miles ahead of mine which as edited in the same frame..
My scene had been filmed earlier that year.
Thanks to the editor’s skilled hands, my clumsy performance had been cleverly masked and seamlessly blended in.

I watched Gu Yiliang, dressed in his period costume on screen, and I had to admit—he was truly made for this job. From his looks to his skills, everything was flawless. It wasn’t just luck handed down by his ancestors. No, his ancestors must’ve prepared an entire table of gourmet offerings for him to achieve this level of talent.

 

31.

I watched intently, and suddenly, I realized this was the first time I genuinely appreciated his work.
— In a fan-made video montage.
— In which the other main character was me.

 

32.

There was a knock on the lounge door. Thinking it was Xiao Chen returning, I didn’t bother to look up and simply called out, “Come in.”

 

33.

The door opened, and there was a moment of silence. When I finally looked up, the person I had just been watching on the little screen was now standing right in front of the door, looking at me with a slightly perplexed expression.

 

 

Translator : DarNan