If Xia Yuanyuan, who was standing on the outer edge right now, had to describe the state of the live stream chat, she’d pick a super tacky but dead-on word—it’s exploded.
It was blowing up to a downright terrifying degree, leaving Xia Yuanyuan on the verge of tears in an instant.
For this variety show, Qiu Chao’s assistants included Xia Yuanyuan and a dedicated life assistant named Xiao Chen, who usually tagged along for outdoor shoots.
Xiao Chen had just been called back from vacation yesterday. Even after Xia Yuanyuan spent the whole night filling her in on recent events, she still stood off-camera, utterly dumbfounded.
The whole scene had fallen into an eerie silence.
The only sound was Yan Muyu’s alarm finally going off—a frog croaking away, almost mockingly.
【I got chills.】
【Is this scripted? Are they trying to ship Yan Muyu and Qiu Chao???】
【What the hell is there to ship between Yan Muyu and Qiu Chao?! One’s the boss, the other’s A-list royalty.】
【All I know is Yan Muyu’s handling Qiu Chao’s schedule for the next six months… Boss playing manager lmao】
【Y’all might not know this, but Yan Muyu actually has a legit manager’s license…】
【Only one explanation then: Yan Muyu and Qiu Chao hooked up??】
【My house collapsed but like… not really?】
【So quiet… I never pegged Qiu Chao for this type of personality.】
Maybe it was the shocked expressions all around her, but Yan Muyu—who knew better than anyone there was no script—acted like she hadn’t heard a thing. “Miss Qiu Chao, don’t say stuff like that.”
Her pants were tie-dye in a gradient of blue and white, soft and breezy-looking fabric, just a bit too baggy.
Yan Muyu yawned, completely unfazed by the ambiguous remark. She strolled inside to change like it was no big deal.
“Is your mouth really that tight-lipped?”
【Savage.】
【Can these two even get along? I’m already worried.】
【Don’t talk about our Qiu Chao like that!】
【So who bit her anyway?!?!】
The follow-cam tried to trail her, but Yan Muyu pulled the door half-shut and called out. Her voice was still thick with sleep, that clear tone roughened like sandpaper, hitting Qiu Chao’s ears with a gritty edge that set her heart racing, urges bubbling up.
Yan Muyu said, “You guys are gonna follow me in to film? That’s premium content, you know.”
Her shoulder-length hair was a total mess, like it had a mind of its own. Her bangs even stuck up a bit, but even half-hidden, her brows and eyes hinted at killer looks.
【I’d pay for that.】
【She’s so pale…】
【Am I the only one obsessed with her hand on the door? So pretty.】
【As everyone knows, Young Boss Yan’s hands are worth more than her face.】
Bang. Everyone got shut out.
Xia Yuanyuan glanced at her own artist. Now that Qiu Chao was under Yan Muyu’s management, and Xia Yuanyuan was Qiu Chao’s assistant, by extension she fell under Yan Muyu’s purview too.
Suddenly, things felt even worse.
If it had been Mai Chen, Qiu Chao never would have let that girlish, heart-eyes expression slip.
She’d have reminded Qiu Chao to manage her face—can’t let the career-driven persona crumble.
Was this gonna work? Full-day live variety shows were a recipe for disaster. No wonder they couldn’t snag any big names—who’d risk it?
Unable to film Yan Muyu, the crew switched to shooting Qiu Chao.
No matter how you sliced it, Qiu Chao and Yan Muyu were from different worlds.
Yan Muyu favored loose clothes; Qiu Chao went for everything skin-tight, her skirt hugging curves that turned heads.
The director asked, “Are you all set?”
Qiu Chao nodded.
The director added, “I was gonna head to B Block to pick you up first, but your assistant—Young Boss Yan’s assistant—mentioned…”
They were all from the same company, and plenty of the team had battled alongside Yan Muyu for two months on the last variety show. No matter how chill she was, she was still the big boss.
This was a nightmare—filming the boss looking all disheveled.
Qiu Chao said, “No worries. You said eight o’clock, so here I am at eight.”
Her makeup and hair were flawless, ticking every “female star” box. Even lounging casually on the sofa, she radiated dazzling allure.
【Thought A World Starting Anew was Qiu Chao’s last variety gig. Didn’t expect a regular spot—I’m touched.】
【These two have zero chemistry… Feels like the roles are reversed.】
【Yan Muyu’s just some rich girl playing farm life… This is doomed.】
【Qiu Chao’s background… yeah… She’s way tougher than Yan Muyu.】
The crew figured they’d be waiting ages, but Yan Muyu emerged surprisingly quick.
She wheeled out her suitcase, letting it rumble ahead on its own while she half-assed tying her hair—looked totally slapdash.
The director said, “All good?”
Yan Muyu nodded. “Let’s roll.”
The director hesitated. “No makeup?”
Yan Muyu’s face still had drying water droplets. She yawned, her wrist sporting nothing but a watch and a black hair tie, which only made her skin look even fairer.
Framed next to Qiu Chao, she was somehow a shade paler.
Yan Muyu said, “I’m not the celeb here.”
She ended up herding the crew instead. “Hurry up. No live stream in the car, right? I can catch more Z’s.”
【…Can’t argue with that.】
【How is she this nonchalant and still hot?】
【Saw a pic with her and Director Shen on their Weibo before—didn’t seem like a good person… Still doesn’t.】
【Mainly those upturned brows. Smiling’s fine, but stone-faced it’s kinda creepy. How does she mix bright and brooding so well?】
【Can she go back to photography? Wanna be shot by her so bad…】
【Any flying guests on this show?】
She’d been dragging her feet earlier; now she was all hustle.
Yan Muyu’s fresh outfit still screamed pajamas. Lots of folks started doubting that woman in the suit from Qiu Chao’s scandal pics the other day—it had to be a hallucination.
From “total catch” to “meh,” all it took was one live stream.
Yan Muyu headed out on her own and spotted Lou Haiyan waiting outside. She arched a brow.
The follow-cam stuck close as Yan Muyu pulled out her phone, typed, and showed Lou Haiyan: “You coming with?”
Lou Haiyan: …
Xing Wen, standing beside her: If I didn’t know better, I’d think this woman was casting a wide net.
Lou Haiyan shook her head and gave Yan Muyu a smile.
She figured the sooner they shipped off a boss like this, the better.
【Who’s off-screen? Yan Muyu’s smile is actually kinda bright…】
【Why does someone smiling give ye-ye vibes?!】
Yan Muyu had just the one suitcase—pitiful next to Qiu Chao’s three.
Qiu Chao’s bags sat right by the door. Xing Wen held up the cue board, prompting Yan Muyu—
Help Sister Qiu with the luggage.
Yan Muyu glanced over just as Qiu Chao approached.
It wasn’t peak heat yet, but everyone was in short sleeves. Qiu Chao’s skirt was scandalously short.
Yan Muyu asked, “You that hot?”
Qiu Chao gripped her suitcase handle and shook her head. “You worried about me?”
Yan Muyu desperately wanted to look away, but starting today, she was Qiu Chao’s manager.
No manager-artist duo had this kind of dynamic.
Some did, and they ended up married.
But Yan Muyu wasn’t entertaining that.
She took a deep breath and went to grab Qiu Chao’s suitcase.
“Why so much stuff? Aren’t you scared they’ll say none of it’s allowed when we get there?”
The director’s heart skipped a beat.
This show had been in the works forever. Yan Muyu had personally approved it as a guest, but they hadn’t spilled the details.
The director swore Yan Muyu hadn’t read the rules—yet she’d nailed it spot-on.
Yan Muyu sighed. “Don’t come crying to me when it all gets tossed.”
Qiu Chao had zero variety show experience and never watched them. She barely had friends in the industry.
Fellow actresses from her generation kept their distance. At galas, she’d sit primly alone during breaks—no chit-chat.
This might’ve been the least barbed thing Yan Muyu had said.
Qiu Chao paused, then smiled involuntarily. “You’d give it to me, right?”
Yan Muyu thought about it. Yeah, probably.
Managers did everything. And with no assistants allowed, she was basically Qiu Chao’s full-time guardian.
What a drag.
Yan Muyu didn’t answer. “Move it. You’re not sleepy, but I am.”
【Their vibe is so weird…】
【Yan Muyu’s mouth twitched like three times… Do they actually hate each other?】
【Qiu Chao’s smile was so sweet… Never seen her like that.】
【Does Qiu Chao even have a sweet phase? She’s always been the sultry queen rep.】
The elevator descended into the morning-lit city. The crew’s gear was top-tier, million-dollar cams, plus some subtle promo for the Yan Hotel.
Sunlight flooded the glass elevator. Yan Muyu, in short sleeves layered with a button-up, leaned against a suitcase handle, eyes shut for a nap.
In the lens, one slouched crookedly, the other poised to perfection—worlds apart.
Totally unlike the cozy vibes from the other guest pairs.
Perfect demo of “total strangers.”
Yet both were drop-dead gorgeous, each rocking their own style.
Even rushing that morning, Yan Muyu had taken her sweet time.
Now morning light traced her profile, her freshly dyed black hair making her skin glow snowy white. The studs in her ears were over-the-top, glinting almost blindingly.
Qiu Chao gazed at the city beyond the glass, as if savoring its morning light.
The faint outline of her reflection looked exceptionally gentle. From another angle, her eyes held a depth of affection.
【Even staring at the scenery, she oozes romance! What a infuriating woman!】
【She’s so pretty. No wonder she blew up overnight back in the day.】
【Qiu Chao’s not that big with young folks, huh? I figured she was ancient…】
【Plenty of women her age are still churning out idol dramas. She’s won how many awards?】
【They say she’s got a wild love life, but Baidu only shows Yan Kai as official. The rest are just rumors?】
【Wasn’t there that thing about some Nordic royal chasing her? Total Mary Sue vibes.】
【A girl from some rural village making it this far is already impressive…】
【Am I imagining it, or is she staring at Yan Muyu?】
Qiu Chao was indeed looking at Yan Muyu.
Yan Muyu stood facing the elevator doors, her posture awkward, like someone who hadn’t slept a wink all night.
【How wiped out is this woman?】
【You guys don’t know? She dropped a ton of gifts on that female streamer last night…】
Of course Qiu Chao knew. It was Mai Chen who had told her.
Voice messages from her former manager, who was laid up in bed, flooded the screen. In the dead of night, her roars had nearly summoned the nurses.
All the while, her caregiver girlfriend tried to talk her down in scorching Mandarin.
“How can you not see straight? You know what kind of person she is, right?”
“She just loves pretty girls. Burns through cash like it’s nothing.”
“To put it bluntly, that’s how the Yan Family rolls. Look at Yan Kai—he got divorced too.”
“Yan Muyu’s flighty, promiscuous, superficial, a total no-good!”
“I’ll give her this: she’s got talent. But Qiu Chao, you’ve come so far with so much struggle. You have to understand—you can’t survive another hit like that.”
The first one had come at eighteen: the overnight fame scandal claiming she’d been kept as a mistress until Yan Kai swooped in to pick up the pieces.
In the era of print media, news lagged behind. Qiu Chao hadn’t assembled a team yet, so her clarifications fell on deaf ears.
These years, any mention of Qiu Chao came trailed by whispers of her messy love life.
But no one knew her true despair had struck at seventeen.
That year, she’d already lost her mother and sent her sister away. She scraped by on the dangerous fringes until someone dragged her off, her life frittered away amid the clink of bottles.
And this flighty type—who could nap leaning on her luggage cart—was her savior.
Her embrace always carried that scent, like sea wind: a touch salty, but never fishy.
It was the tears in Qiu Chao’s despairing eyes.
It was the beautiful hand extended by another woman, a slender yet strong embrace.
It was that absurd, tear-jerking rendition of “Happy Birthday.”
“Qiu Chao, you have to get it: lots of people know the score, but coming out publicly? That’s a whole different ballgame.”
“Is Yan Muyu worth risking your career?”
“I know you treasure what you’ve built more than anyone.”
The elevator doors slid open. Yan Muyu dragged her suitcase out.
She saw Qiu Chao still rooted to the spot and called out.
Perhaps it was the redness around Qiu Chao’s eyes, but Yan Muyu simply pulled her along, muttering—
“Didn’t get much sleep either?”
Her hand felt just like it had back then.
Qiu Chao sorrowfully realized her heart was stirring just like back then.
Not some suspension bridge effect.
No, it was her very soul clamoring to claim this woman.
She would never give up.
