After Appearing On A Marriage Reality Show, The Top Star Cried and Says She Doesn't Want a Divorce - Chapter 10

Yan Mengyi, who rarely expressed her needs, found it difficult to put her feelings into words.

“Do you want to?” Li Tang asked, wrapping her arms around Yan Mengyi’s waist.

She leaned down, closed her eyes, their noses touching, foreheads pressed together.

Yan Mengyi gently wrapped her arms around Li Tang in response.

******

It wasn’t late when they finished.

Yan Mengyi lay on the small bed in the study, covered with a short air-conditioning blanket, exhausted and drifting off to sleep.

Li Tang entered, carrying the steam from her shower, a faintly cool rose scent trailing behind her, dressed in a minimalist bathrobe.

Though it was the most casual, unadorned moment, she exuded an icy beauty.

Yan Mengyi’s eyelids were heavy with sleep, but she forced them open to greet Li Tang.

Li Tang began picking up the scattered clothes from the floor.

Yan Mengyi’s gaze couldn’t help but focus on her hands. With each flex and clench, pale, slender veins pulsed faintly on the back of her hand.

Li Tang glanced up and immediately understood where Yan Mengyi’s attention was fixed.

Yan Mengyi pulled the air-conditioning blanket over her face, refusing to look any longer.

“Go take a shower. You can sleep after.” Li Tang finished picking up the clothes, sat on the edge of the bed, and gently shook Yan Mengyi’s shoulder.

“I’m so sleepy,” Yan Mengyi yawned repeatedly, curled up under the blanket, trying to stall. “I can wash in the morning.”

“You won’t go?” Li Tang gripped a corner of the blanket. “Then I’m taking the blanket away!”

Yan Mengyi, ever reserved, knew Li Tang would actually take the blanket. She quickly rubbed her eyes and sat up, clutching the blanket defensively.

“Why are you still so shy?”

As Li Tang spoke, perhaps remembering that this marriage was nearing its end, and she would never see Yan Mengyi like this again, her voice gradually softened.

“Just go.”

******

Yan Mengyi, exhausted from her shower, stumbled back to the bedroom to find Li Tang already lying down, facing away from her.

She slipped out of her bathrobe, burrowed under the covers, and mumbled a sleepy “Goodnight” as she drifted into a half-awake embrace of Li Tang’s back.

Whether Li Tang responded, Yan Mengyi didn’t hear.

Earlier, they had gotten carried away, playing so wildly it felt like they were back in high school. Only after finishing did they realize how tired they were.

Exhaustion, like lead weights around her waist, dragged her down into the abyss of sleep.

Perhaps the pressure of filming the show tomorrow had gotten to her. For the first time in ages, she had a lucid dream.

In the dream, she was back in her high school classroom. Looking down, she saw she was wearing her school uniform.

It was break time, the room buzzing with chatter, the harsh buzz of cicadas piercing through the open windows.

Looking up, she saw a cold drink on her desk—Li Tang’s gift.

At the time, Li Tang had just transferred to the class a few days earlier. With her short hair and cool demeanor, she seemed aloof and uninterested in socializing, headphones around her neck as if unwilling to talk to anyone.

Earlier, Li Tang had accidentally hit Yan Mengyi with a paper ball. It hadn’t hurt, and Li Tang had apologized, but Yan Mengyi hadn’t thought much of it.

She hadn’t expected Li Tang to still be bothered by it and buy her a drink as an apology.

Before Yan Mengyi could even say thank you, the girl sitting next to her snatched the cold drink and tossed it back to Li Tang.

“She can’t drink cold things right now.”

Her desk partner… that person!

Yan Mengyi turned her head, but the glaring sunlight blurred the person’s features. She couldn’t clearly see their face, but she could feel their obvious disdain for Li Tang.

Why would I dream about this?

Yan Mengyi suddenly plummeted downward in her dream, then jolted awake in bed with a start.

She struggled to sit up, patting her chest. In the corner of the room, the incense stick burned out, its red ember fading into a wisp of blue smoke.

Why would I dream about Yu Zhen?

Yan Mengyi felt a mix of sadness and nostalgia. That aloof and proud transfer student from years ago was now her partner in bed. Time really was the greatest storyteller.

After calming down, Yan Mengyi was about to lie back down when she noticed Li Tang’s phone screen glowing faintly.

The light illuminated Li Tang’s profile, highlighting her striking features. Her eyes were closed, and her eyelashes trembled slightly.

I didn’t realize Li Tang fell asleep while reading her phone.

Yan Mengyi plugged in the phone to charge it, and her gaze inadvertently drifted to the screen, which was frozen on a particular page.

It was the “Class 567 Group Chat,” a WeChat group created after graduation by the class president, Yu Zhen.

Yu Zhen…

Yan Mengyi had never joined the group chat.

The group announcement had asked everyone to change their nicknames, but many hadn’t. Privacy settings on friend lists also made it impossible to match group members with their real identities.

For years, Li Tang had been in the group, but no one had ever realized it.

The group chat had been silent for a long time, but when someone posted a screenshot of a Pillowside Lovers Weibo post, it stirred up a storm.

[I never thought the closest I’d get to a superstar would be when I was still in school.]

[Back then, so many people liked her. I knew someone who planned to confess after graduation, but she just debuted right after graduation, putting her out of reach.]

[Exactly! Before, I could at least catch a glimpse of her in her peripheral vision. Now, with so many people chasing after her, I can’t even get a fraction of her attention.]

[It might not be that out of reach. If what the official account said is true, she’s been married for seven years, from school uniforms to wedding dresses. That means her wife is likely someone from our class, or at least our grade!]

[Oh! Her wife is among us?]

Someone posted a graduation photo of the grade to the class group: [Look and see who looks like the shadow in the video?]

The photo was a little blurry, and the fashion trends from a few years ago when we were teenagers were definitely outdated. Many people couldn’t even bear to look at their own photos.

Only Li Tang could withstand the scrutiny of time.

In the group photo, she stood out the most.

She was in the back row, with a neat short haircut and wearing the school uniform, devoid of any extra adornments, yet she immediately caught the eye.

As if even the sunlight favored her, a beam of light pierced through the foliage and illuminated her, making her hair shimmer and her calm face glow. Her gaze was fixed on the distance, a hint of melancholy in her expression.

Looking at her, one couldn’t help but think of the wind rustling through leaves, the soft rustling of foliage, the buzzing of cicadas, and the skirts fluttering on the playground.

Yan Mengyi couldn’t resist zooming in on the photo, her gaze focusing solely on Li Tang.

In the class group chat, classmates continued to speculate, guessing various candidates one by one, only to be shot down.

[Who was she close to in school? I can’t remember anyone.]

[She never seemed particularly close to anyone.]

[She was always busy with music theory classes and performances, hardly ever around.]

[I’ll never forget how she played the guitar at the graduation ceremony. She was so dazzling—what kind of person could she possibly fall for?]

[Forget guessing. We’ll find out when the show airs next Friday.]

Yan Mengyi turned off Li Tang’s phone.

She turned back to glance at Li Tang, who was sleeping restlessly.

Li Tang had never been interested in gossip, but today she had been so engrossed in her phone that she fell asleep.

Was she afraid of something?

*****

It was a little past ten in the morning, and Li Tang had been woken up by the alarm looking terrible.

Wan Cuirong turned to Yan Mengyi and said, “Xiao Yi, I feel much more at ease knowing you’ll be participating in the show with her. Make sure Li Tang keeps her mouth shut.”

“I’ll do my best,” Yan Mengyi replied.

“I know she looks down on IGP’s singing ability…” Wan Cuirong began.

Li Tang, who was halfway through washing up, poked her head out of the bathroom. “It’s not just their singing ability I look down on. I look down on everything about them.”

“I don’t care if they make bubblegum pop or whatever. While you’re on the show, stop judging other people’s work. Not everyone has your level of musical sense and talent. They’re already working so hard,” Wan Cuirong said. “All I ask is this: don’t be rude and maintain a positive image.”

Li Tang retreated to the bathroom to finish washing up, leaving it unclear whether she was taking Wan Cuirong’s words to heart.

Wan Cuirong picked up her phone to check the temperature in Sanya, letting out a soft sigh.

“Filming a show in such a sweltering place during the height of summer? The director’s team must be out of their minds,” she muttered.

According to the contract, they weren’t allowed to bring an assistant.

Wan Cuirong took Li Tang and Yan Mengyi to the airport and then went back.

The two women had a simple lunch on the plane and slept for about four hours before landing.

At the airport, staff greeted them, took their luggage, and drove them to the dressing room at the studio, asking them to rest a little.

Li Tang went to the restroom, leaving Yan Mengyi sitting alone on a stool, lost in thought.

Just then, a stylist walked in and met Yan Mengyi’s gaze.

To make the trip easier, Li Tang and Yan Mengyi were both dressed simply in white T-shirts, jeans, and wearing hats and masks.

The stylist, seeing Yan Mengyi’s clear eyes, greeted her.

“Why aren’t you wearing the intern badge?”

Before Yan Mengyi could explain, the stylist gestured for her to follow. “Good, I saw you. Come with me to get your costume.”

Yan Mengyi thought helping out was no big deal, just a small favor, so she followed the stylist to the wardrobe room.

“How long have you been here?”

“Just arrived.”

“Who brought you here? How did you end up in the dressing room? That dressing room is reserved for Li Tang, and she has a terrible temper. If she sees any unauthorized people in there, she’ll probably lose her temper.”

Yan Mengyi looked surprised. “No way, her temper is actually really good.”

“Li Tang is a difficult person to deal with. Most people only see her on screen, like you. You don’t understand. Oh right, can you help me with this?” The stylist looked conflicted. “Do you think this top will look good with these pants on her?”

Yan Mengyi shook her head. “I don’t think she’d like that style.”

The stylist had asked for Yan Mengyi’s opinion not because she actually wanted her input, but because she wanted to hear praise for her own work. She hadn’t expected Yan Mengyi to be so tactless.

Having been publicly corrected by an “intern,” the stylist’s expression turned cold, and she asked awkwardly, “Then what do you think she would like?”

Yan Mengyi glanced at the sponsor-provided outfits, took two pieces from the rack, and held them up against herself. “This outfit might work better.”

When the stylist first saw Yan Mengyi holding the two outfits, she looked at them with disdain. The clothes had rather garish patterns and had always been relegated to the corner.

But when Yan Mengyi paired them together, they somehow felt… indescribably right.

“Seems like there’s something to them. Put them in. Let’s push the hangers over and see which one Li Tang picks when she comes.”

The two pushed the hangers into the dressing room. The stylist then received a phone call and beckoned Yan Mengyi over to help move some items.

“We’ve got a new shipment of props, but we’re short-handed. You’ll have to come with me and help carry them. They’re valuable, so don’t drop them!”

The stylist walked ahead, carrying a case, with Yan Mengyi following behind.

As they passed a glass wall, the stylist suddenly realized that she wasn’t being followed by one person, but two. She turned around.

She saw Li Tang, the top-tier celebrity whose guitar-playing hands were insured for millions, carrying the case.

Meanwhile, the “intern” stood to the side with his hands in his pockets, letting Li Tang do all the work!

The stylist’s vision went dark, every pore on her body screaming in horror.

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