Chapter 25: Permanent Ban

Although the photo was heavily pixelated, the face was entirely clear and unobstructed—it was undeniably Fan Chi himself! The surge in online traffic from netizens caused Weibo to crash. The top three spots on the trending list were all related to Fan Chi.

Number one: Fan Chi’s affair with Quan Qing’er.
Number two: Quan Qing’er is pregnant.
Number three: Qu Wuyan fainted on set.

The most ironic part was that, before Quan Qing’er’s post, Fan Chi’s most recent Weibo update featured a group photo with both Qu Wuyan and Quan Qing’er, captioned: “The two leading ladies of the new drama—how can both goddesses be so stunningly beautiful?”

Where once the comments under Fan Chi’s post were filled with praise, the moment Quan Qing’er posted, the section was instantly overwhelmed by criticism.

“So this is what they call the legendary man with three or four wives?”
“Isn’t Qu Wuyan supposed to be straightforward and intolerant of injustice? Can she really put up with this?”
“It’s fine to call out the cheating man and the mistress, but leave Sister Yan out of this—she clearly had no idea!”
“Fan Chi and Quan Qing’er, get out of the entertainment industry—permanent blacklist!”

Even Lian Youyou, sitting on her dormitory bed scrolling through Weibo, was laughing so hard that the whole bed was shaking.

“Lian Youyou, could you please be more considerate? You’re laughing so loud, it’s driving us crazy!” Wen Qingqing finally lost her patience and snapped.

“Hm?”

Lian Youyou turned her head toward Wen Qingqing, who felt her heart skip a beat for no reason. She had developed a psychological shadow toward Lian Youyou.

A few days ago, she’d secretly used Lian Youyou’s eye cream, somehow leaving a clue that was discovered. Afterward, Lian Youyou had mixed wasabi into the cream, so when Wen Qingqing tried to steal it again, her eyes burned so badly she thought she might die—only a hospital visit to the ophthalmologist solved the problem. Since she’d used it without permission, she couldn’t even confront Lian Youyou about it, and could only swallow her grievances in silence.

She wondered how things were going with Fan Chi and Qu Wuyan. With that thought, Lian Youyou opened up both Fan Chi and Qu Wuyan’s Weibo accounts.

Fan Chi hadn’t posted anything new, but the comment section of his pinned post was now flooded with insults. Qu Wuyan, on the other hand, had posted ten minutes ago, attaching a vacation photo of their family of three in France, with the caption: “Rumors are silenced by the wise.”

...

“What’s going on, Director Fan!” Fan Chi’s agent Terry was like an ant on a hot pan. “You fell out with Quan Qing’er—couldn’t you at least have given me a heads up? I could’ve started crisis management for you in advance!”

Now, not only was the upcoming New Year’s film in danger of being pulled, but the hit variety show where Fan Chi served as a judge was also in jeopardy. Fan Chi’s expression was grim as he shut off both his phones. Ever since the scandal broke, shares of his Yunyan Media had hit the limit down, and it seemed likely they’d keep dropping for some time. Shareholders were calling non-stop, demanding he resolve the situation quickly.

Before long, Terry, holding his buzzing phone nervously, handed it to Fan Chi. “Director Fan, it’s Sister Yan on the line...”

“I’m not answering,” Fan Chi muttered, massaging his temples.

But Terry had already answered the call.

“You bastard Fan! You’ve got the energy to chase skirts outside, but now you’re silent? Don’t think you can just hide and this will blow over—pick up when I call you!”

Even though Terry hadn’t put her on speaker, Qu Wuyan’s voice was loud enough to fill the room.

“What do you want? Is there any point in yelling at me like this?” Fan Chi snatched the phone, his tone unpleasant.

A cold snort came through the line. “What do I want? The real question is what you want. Ever since you had Quan Qing’er get plastic surgery to look like Lian Meng, I knew something was off. You two really went behind my back and did this—truly, a leopard can’t change its spots!”

“Oh, you suspected something all along? How impressive,” Fan Chi sneered. “But if you’re so sharp, why did you stay silent until now, only to jump out after the fact? That’s not like you at all.”

“Don’t try to use the tricks you used on Lian Meng against me—I won’t fall for them,” Qu Wuyan replied coolly, knowing Fan Chi’s methods better than Lian Meng ever did after twenty years together. “Let’s get to the point—what are you planning to do?”

“Do about what? Leave it to PR, of course. Stories like this aren’t exactly rare. Didn’t Director Zhao also get exposed last month for an affair with a Taiwanese singer? Now everything’s calm again. In a few days, the netizens will forget all about it. Don’t worry.”

There was a brief silence before Qu Wuyan spoke coldly. “That’s it?”

“What more do you want?”