Chapter 1160: I Want to Make You Stay (38)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“How do you plan to settle this?”
Fang Erlan folded her arms and answered, “I don’t really plan to settle it. You’re the co-director, and yet you used those photos to blackmail me into offering you some benefits. I’m well aware that if I don’t concede to your requests, you’re going to use my relations.h.i.+p with Yan Ge as a publicity stunt. It’s a sure bet for you.”
A sullen expression formed on Co-director Li’s face as soon as he heard her words. “Since you’ve already said that, there’s nothing left for me to say.”
Just as he was about to leave, Xiao Chenyang stopped him.
“Delete those photos,” he said coldly.
“Why would I delete it just because you said so?” he retorted. He tried to shrug Xiao Chenyang’s hand away, only to have the latter pin him onto the ground.
“Delete them.”
“No!”
Xiao Chenyang s.n.a.t.c.hed Co-director Li’s mobile phone away from him forcefully and opened the camera alb.u.m to delete the photos immediately.
That was not all.
He knew that deleted photos could still be recovered.
Hence, he smashed the mobile phone onto the ground and crushed it beneath his feet. He then whipped out a wad of hundred-dollar bills and threw it against Co-director Li’s face. “Go buy a new mobile phone. Take this as a compensation.”
Co-director Li flew into a rage as he got up from the ground. Pointing at Xiao Chenyang, he barked, “You’re not allowed to step foot inside the film set from now on!”
“It’s not up to you to decide.”
Co-director Li stormed out of the room in a huff, absolutely regretful about the fact that he did not keep a spare copy of the photos.
He slammed the door shut.
Fang Erlan lay down in bed again while Xiao Chenyang went to the balcony. She sent Yan Ge a text message to inform him about what happened.
Yan Ge did not reply, perhaps because he was still sleeping.
Her eyes were dry and uncomfortable after having slept for only a few hours. However, she could not fall asleep anymore.
A silence filled the room.
After enjoying the breeze for a while, Xiao Chenyang returned inside the room and lay down beside her. He held her hand, which was much warmer compared to his. His hand was clammy and icy cold.
Although it clearly wasn’t wintertime, she felt like his temperature was extremely cold.
“I’ve always wanted to know something. However, neither you nor Sis Xiaoning would answer me. Just why did you show up in my life all of a sudden?” she asked from the bottom of her heart.
“I’ll tell you when you fall in love me.”
“What if I never do?”
“If that’s the case, there’ll be no need for you to find out. If it’s destined that you won’t fall in love with me, telling you would only burden you unnecessarily. Don’t you have to go filming this afternoon? Try and catch some sleep,” he said, still holding her hand.
Fang Erlan had a hunch that he was keeping a secret about herself.
Just what is it?
She desperately wanted to find out.
“h.e.l.lo, h.e.l.lo, you have a text message.”
Since he was holding her right hand, Fang Erlan had no choice but to pick up her mobile phone using her left hand. It was a text message from Yan Ge.
He replied: “Got it, don’t worry about this anymore. Get more rest.”
She replied: “Okay.” She then threw her mobile phone aside.
….
After packing her belongings, Fang Erlan, Xiao Chenyang, and Xiao Yue headed to the hotel lobby to meet the rest of the crew members at two o’clock in the afternoon.
The directors and main cast boarded a plane while the rest of the crew members, a.s.sistants, and bodyguards boarded a coach bus to G City.
Xiao Chenyang immediately booked two first-cla.s.s air tickets and said to Xiao Yue, “When we board the plane later, you shall take Erlan’s seat.”
Xiao Yue nodded profusely, thrilled to be boarding the plane. She could not care less about whether it was a first-cla.s.s ticket or not, for it was already a privilege to be traveling by plane instead of the coach bus.
The plane landed in the airport of G City where there was a ma.s.sive number of fans waiting for Yan Ge and Yu Caiwei to make an appearance. Since Fang Erlan did not have any fans, she had no choice but to wait for them in the car for twenty minutes.
“Oh my G.o.d, Yan Ge, you and Fang Erlan have made it onto the news. Turns out you two are really dating,” Yu Caiwei exclaimed in astonishment, pretending to be clueless.
Everyone in the car hurriedly whipped out their mobile phones to check for the latest news.
Fang Erlan followed suit. The news article was t.i.tled: “Fang Erlan self-declares that she’s dating Yan Ge!”
Self-declares?
I exposed it myself!?!
“Erlan, is it true that you and Yan Ge are dating? I really couldn’t tell. Congrats!” Director Gao said, smiling.
Everyone chimed in as soon as she spoke.
Fang Erlan took a deep breath and ignored Director Gao. The first thing that came to her mind was that Co-director Li must have contacted the media.
However, she discovered that there was a screenshot of her Weibo page attached to the article.
The photo was captioned: “I’m dating Yan Ge now. I hope to receive all your blessings.”
Fang Erlan frantically logged into her Weibo account, only to receive a notification that claimed that someone had logged into her account overseas. She was also told that her pa.s.sword had been leaked and was advised to reset her pa.s.sword as soon as possible.
“My Weibo account has been hacked,” she mouthed while staring at Yan Ge.
Yan Ge immediately stood up and walked toward her seat, only to discover that it was indeed so…
He said softly, “Change the pa.s.swords of your Weibo and email accounts. Secure it with your mobile number too.”
“Okay.” Fang Erlan immediately reset her pa.s.swords. However, she contemplated if she should delete the post on Weibo…
“Yan Ge, tell us the truth, are you dating Erlan or not?” Director Gao probed, desperately wanting to know what happened.
Yan Ge answered, “It’s true. I’ll give you guys some wedding vandy another day.”
Everyone in the car broke into fanfare while Yu Caiwei remained seated quietly. She s.h.i.+fted her gaze onto Xiao Chenyang and took a few glances before looking away.
Fang Erlan stopped worrying about the post after hearing Yan Ge’s response.
She thought that Mei Yangyang would call her to enquire about the situation. To her surprise, the latter did not.
Sis Yangyang must be thinking that I decided to announce it after having that conversation with her this morning.
“Yan Ge, are you reposting it? I shall repost it to congratulate you guys too, then,” Director Gao said while staring at her phone.
Fang Erlan opened Weibo to see that Yan Ge had indeed reposted it, along with the caption: “I initially wanted to post the announcement first, but she insisted on vying with me. Hence, I decided to give in, because ‘ladies first.’ Yes, we’ve begun dating a while ago, and I sincerely hope that everyone will allow us some privacy.”
She knew that he was sparing a thought for her.
After all, female celebrities were bound to be berated by fans if they were to take the initiative to announce their relations.h.i.+p with a fellow male celebrity.
But of course, she would be berated regardless of who had announced their relations.h.i.+p first.
While her number of fans began to increase, the number of hateful comments she received on her Weibo post increased as well.
The netizens were often relentless and harsh in their criticism toward netizens.
“You’re such a plain jane. Yan Ge must have been blind to have fallen for you. You’re so ugly, you don’t deserve Yan Ge at all. I don’t wish the best for you guys!”