174.

If I were a character in a manga, then the frame of this particular moment would be me staring lifelessly at him with my face covered in shadow lines and my mouth agape with a fat, white soul coming out of it.

175.

Playing dumb, I tilted my head, flashing a puzzled, awkward smile while asking, “Hah? What could you possibly mean?”

Although my acting was horrible, I was honestly shocked beyond measure, caught in a state of supreme awkwardness and confusion. A small part of my fragmented soul that belonged to a shipper really did feel like laughing, causing the expression to form naturally on my face.

Upon seeing my reaction, Gu Yiliang was dumbfounded for a minute. Then, he raised his hand to cover his eyes. Mixed with a trace of helplessness, frustration, as well as amusement, he said, “I thought you knew all this while…”

What? Wait, what do I know?! Can you please indulge me with the details?? I’m going to get a heart attack soon!

176.

Without batting an eyelid, I studied his expression and cautiously asked, “…what is it?”

He calmly extinguished the cigarette butt and waved his hand. “Didn’t you sprain your ankle previously? I’ve seen my fans causing a ruckus in the fan group for a long time. Some of them even went to your Weibo to… Anyway, I saw it by chance when I was looking at the feeds. Frankly, I find them to be very senseless at times since we have nothing against each other anyway.”

“The picture you took was too disheartening. Any perspicacious person could tell how serious your injury was and yet they kept going on and on about how fake it looked.” He frowned slightly at this point, before he rubbed his nose with a smile. “Since my manager is breathing down my neck, I can’t say anything to clear things up and I’m not that familiar with you either. Thus, I went on to record a short video and asked a friend to post it. They probably thought that I was upset since I didn’t post anything for the rest of the day, so they quieted down too. Honestly, I never thought that you’d see that video. Actually, even if you did watch it, I guess you probably wouldn’t know what it meant either since I wasn’t too clear myself.”

177.

As waves of shock hit me one after another while I listened, I felt as though my soul had been split in half.

The half that belonged to the shipper was pelted by a ginormous fluffy meteorite until it was rendered speechless, its brain completely overwhelmed by:

Why are you so pro at spreading fluff! How are you so good at it?!

What’s the point in searching for fluff with a high-power microscope? What’s the point in digging for fluff three thousand feet underneath the ground? None of that matters anymore! When a True Master arrives, you can tell with just a sniff! He’s force-feeding me all sorts of giant, sweet fluffs now!

Meanwhile, the half that belonged to Wei Yanzi was caught off-guard by his plain yet bullet-like words, its brain filled with questions like:

He’s the kind that has to post something on Weibo just to mention the fairytale he likes. Why is he doing so much to defend an adversary of his whom he rarely talks to?

Wait, why does he even have to defend an adversary of his to whom he rarely talks to, at all?

He’s so kind-hearted. How can there be a person with such a positive image?

And why do I have a strange feeling in my heart as if it’s full of something? Don’t tell me that I’m having a heart attack from all the fluff!

Gu Yiliang, I seem to find him…a little erotic?

178.

“I thought you already knew what it meant when you asked me just now…”

He laughed as he spoke. There was a momentary pause, then he turned around and looked at me, “By the way, how did you find the video?”

A sudden chill crept up the back of my neck.

179.

Damn it! I was way too indulged in the fluff and all those conflicting thoughts that I’d forgotten to come up with a reason!

180.

Normally, I would have thought of some nonsense to fob him off a long time go. However, my brain had been clogged by all kinds of exclamation marks, question marks, and the strange feeling deep inside me that I could only stare at him in a daze, my face reddening from the strenuous effort to squeeze something out.

181.

Seeing how I instantly blue screened, an understanding spark flashed across his eyes and he suddenly broke into laughter, “Alright, alright, I won’t ask anymore. Let’s hurry up and go back. Don’t we still have lines to go over tonight?”

What happened? Did I pass the level just like that?

“Oh.” Completely at a loss, I forcibly locked all the expressions on my face back into the bottom of my heart and followed after him, my feet stepping on air, as we walked back to the hotel.

182.

We didn’t exchange a single word our way back, but it seemed like he was feeling a lot better. The pressure around him became a lot lighter.

All of these things truly baffled me.

Are all artists as incomprehensible as him, and their moods as equally hard to predict?

183.

We quickly walked up to the hotel’s entrance. A curvy-figured woman with wavy hair and red lips was standing outside the main lobby, watching us from a distance as we approached.

Gu Yiliang paused for a second. Then he turned around and was going to leave right away while dragging me with him when that woman suddenly called out his name and forced him to stop.

My soul was still flying at a place eight hundred kilometers away from my body, refusing to return even at my call, so I had absolutely no idea what was going on. All I knew was his mood, which was somehow lifted a moment ago, somehow fell back again.

I glanced at that woman.

Surprisingly, I’ve met this sister before.

184.

I’ve seen him talk to this woman a few times near the company. They seemed to have a pretty intimate relationship. In fact, someone even managed to get a picture of them once. But since they were only talking in that photo and there wasn’t any out-of-bound movement afterwards, it didn’t cause a big stir.

Now I was finally close enough to see her face. So, Gu Yiliang likes the sexy, alluring type.

She looked a little tacky.

185.

If you ask me why I can be so free of burdens or worries when shipping Niangzi, it’s precisely because I’m aware of the fact that there’s nothing between Gu Yiliang and me. I’m straight, and so is he. Fluff is just a way for me to relieve stress and adjust my mood. That’s all.

Um, it’s just that I still felt a little upset somewhere on the inside.

It’s probably my shipper soul getting stabbed in the heart after seeing my bias’s real girlfriend.

186.

The woman shifted her hair to the front and asked, “Not even a greeting?”

Gu Yiliang’s face looked calm, and his voice sounded indifferent as well. “What’re you doing here?”

The woman gave a short snort. She threw a glance at me, then said to Gu Yiliang, her voice sounding all calm and composed, “Are you not introducing me to your friend?”

Gu Yiliang was silent for a moment. Then he turned his poker face at me and said, “This is my stepmom.”

Tch, so it’s not his girlfriend.

My soul returned to me in an instant. I quickly pulled out the knife that jabbed my heart and nodded politely at the woman as I greeted her,

“Mom.”

187.

Gu Yiliang: “…”

The woman: “…”

Me: “…”