I Swear I Don’t Want to Be Everyone’s Favorite - Chapter 34

Under the dim, oppressive lighting, the smell of disinfectant was particularly pungent. The moment the elevator doors slid open, Jiang Yu strode hurriedly into the corridor. Even when she occasionally bumped into passersby, it was her assistant, Lu Yin, following closely behind, who offered apologetic smiles.

Having worked by Jiang Yu’s side for years, Lu Yin had never seen her lose her composure,until Jiang Lianyan’s incident. Even though she had already learned from trending searches that Jiang Lianyan’s injuries weren’t serious, Jiang Yu still chose to abandon an important meeting and rush back overnight.

Lu Yin couldn’t understand her decision, but she dutifully contacted various PR platforms, fabricating scandals about Jiang Luoyue from every possible angle.

Just as she was mentally exhausted, endlessly retracing the chain of events, Jiang Yu had already pushed open the door.

It was late at night, and Jiang Lianyan was alone in the hospital room. Dressed in an oversized patient gown, her eyes swollen perhaps from crying for too long, she was watching a ballet performance. The dancer spun round and round on stage, the audience’s applause echoing in the room. A flicker of longing shone in her eyes, but moments later, her gaze dropped to her bandaged knee.

Only when she saw Jiang Yu did Jiang Lianyan seem to snap out of her daze, forcing a faint smile as she affectionately called out, “Sister.”

But her voice still carried a listless tone. Jiang Yu’s heart ached with pity. Scanning the room, she frowned deeply. “Where’s Zhou Ruonian? Is this how she takes care of you?”

A few days ago, Zhou Ruonian had confidently claimed that Jiang Lianyan had excellent potential but lacked exposure. Under this premise, she recommended the live-streamed variety show Hate Me. Seeing the show’s outstanding data and high discussion rates, Jiang Yu hadn’t refused.

Who could have predicted that the show would be so exclusionary? The thought of Jiang Lianyan being ignored by the others made Jiang Yu’s chest tighten.

“Sister Zhou went to rest,” Jiang Lianyan said softly. “She’s been taking care of me all day.”

At this, her voice suddenly trembled with tears again. “The dance troupe contacted me to schedule rehearsals, but now I.”

Jiang Yu sneered coldly. If not for Zhou Ruonian, would Jiang Lianyan have ended up like this? Furious but careful not to show it for fear of frightening Jiang Lianyan, she suppressed her emotions and comforted her, “The dance troupe won’t continue the tour until you’re fully recovered. I’ll handle this.”

Lu Yin adjusted her glasses, knowing this task would likely fall to her, and tactfully stepped out of the room.

Once they were alone, Jiang Lianyan sniffled and reached out her hand. It was a gesture Jiang Yu knew well, whenever Jiang Lianyan felt wronged, she would seek comfort in her embrace.

Even now, Jiang Yu found it hard to believe that the little girl who used to trail behind her had grown into the person before her. She gently stroked Jiang Lianyan’s back, murmuring soothing words.

Only when Jiang Lianyan had cried herself out did Jiang Yu wipe away her tears, offering her first genuine smile of the day. Just as she was about to say something comforting, her phone abruptly rang with a sharp, unfamiliar number. As soon as she answered, a torrent of aggressive curses flooded toward them.

“If it weren’t for you, would Jiang Luoyue be criticized like this?”

“How dare you play the victim? Why isn’t it your leg that’s broken?”

For a dancer, being cursed to break a leg is no different from being directly cursed to die. Jiang Lianyan instantly turned pale and subconsciously hung up, but the harassing calls from unknown numbers kept flooding in.

She bit her lip, her body trembling. Before she could react more intensely, Jiang Yu turned off the phone.

In the deathly silent atmosphere, Jiang Yu forced a smile. “Get some rest.”

Jiang Lianyan didn’t respond, watching with tear-filled eyes as Jiang Yu left the ward. Only when the sound of Jiang Yu and Lu Yin’s conversation faded into the distance did she coldly dial Zhou Ruonian’s number.

“Lianyan,” Zhou Ruonian said. It was her first time doing something like this, and even though all the lines had been prepared by Jiang Lianyan, she still felt uneasy, afraid that Jiang Yu would notice something amiss.

Only after receiving Jiang Lianyan’s confirmation did she tentatively ask, “Then, will President Jiang.”

“Big Sister is busy,” Jiang Lianyan chuckled lightly. “She won’t have time to trouble you before dealing with Jiang Luoyue. You can rest assured.”

Zhou Ruonian finally relaxed. In the past, she might have tried to engage Jiang Lianyan in more conversation to curry favor. But after today’s events, she suddenly realized that no matter how innocent and harmless Jiang Lianyan appeared on the surface, she was still a member of the Jiang family and held power.

Someone like her was never someone Zhou Ruonian could easily win over.

As Zhou Ruonian reflected on this, Jiang Lianyan added, “Remember to post my contact information online. If we don’t go all the way, Big Sister won’t believe it.”

After hanging up, Jiang Lianyan opened the trending topics related to herself and skimmed through the posts insulting Jiang Luoyue. She scoffed lightly and used a secondary account to like them one by one.

By now, what Jiang Lianyan wanted was no longer simply to elevate herself by stepping on Jiang Luoyue to gain public attention. Instead, she wanted Jiang Luoyue to become the target of public criticism, to be utterly disgraced under immense pressure.

Jiang Lianyan casually turned off her phone, imagining the fate that awaited Jiang Luoyue. Finally, the anxiety that had been building up inside her for so long eased slightly. As she drifted into sleep, the hospital room door, which had been pushed open a crack ten minutes earlier, was quietly closed.

Lu Yin stared at the two-minute-long recording on her phone, unsure whether to marvel at her own professionalism, instinctively starting the recording the moment Jiang Lianyan spoke or at how deeply Jiang Lianyan had hidden her true self, managing to ingrain her image as fragile, helpless, and easily broken into the hearts of the Jiang family.

She was supposed to leave the hospital with Jiang Yu but had been assigned to “keep watch” overnight because Jiang Yu was worried someone might harm Jiang Lianyan in the middle of the night.

Thinking of Jiang Yu’s concerned expression, Lu Yin made a backup of the recording and deleted the original. Whether Jiang Lianyan was two-faced and hypocritical had nothing to do with the Jiang family’s affection for her. Lu Yin only needed to focus on her own tasks.

At the hotel, Jiang Yu, worried about Jiang Lianyan, only managed to fall asleep in the early hours of the morning. But her sleep was far from peaceful. She kept dreaming fragmented memories sometimes of Jiang Lianyan as a child, sometimes of her mother handling official duties. Then, the scene shifted to the Jiang family’s old mansion.

Ten years ago, they had moved away due to changes in the Jiang Corporation’s focus. Apart from gathering there during holidays to celebrate, they rarely returned.

She thought she was dreaming of the past, but her own face in the dream was exactly as it was now. It was deep winter, and the glass windows bore no festive paper cuttings. It wasn’t the New Year, yet the old mansion was hosting a banquet.

Amidst the bustling crowd of guests, Jiang Lianyan made her entrance, holding her mother Jing Lan’s arm. Her smile was sweet, as if she were the star of the banquet. Jiang Yu, thinking this was Jiang Lianyan’s “victory celebration,” felt a sudden sense of relief when she saw her dream-self stride past Jiang Lianyan and look toward the corner.

The girl’s face was blurred, but her attire was no less striking than Jiang Lianyan’s. To steal the spotlight from the host was an extremely rude act, and Jiang Yu didn’t believe the guests invited by the Jiang family would be unaware of this.

The girl quietly watched Jiang Lianyan until she noticed Jiang Yu’s gaze, then approached and handed over a gift box. “I hope you like it,” she said.

She seemed nervous, her voice trembling slightly. A few seconds later, she cautiously added, “Sister.”

Jiang Yu’s gaze dropped, and she recognized it as the latest model of the watch accessory she often wore. It wasn’t expensive, but it catered to her tastes, under normal circumstances, she wouldn’t refuse it.

In the dream, her dream-self indeed reached out to take it. The girl seemed to take this as approval and began to express her thanks, but the hand holding the gift box suddenly let go.

The watch fell to the floor, its face cracking like a spiderweb. The expensive timepiece was ruined in an instant, drawing everyone’s attention.

Jiang Yu heard herself speak in a voice full of disdain, “Jiang Luoyue, don’t try to win me over.”

“No matter how hard you try, in my eyes, you’re not even worth one of Lianyan’s fingers.”

Jiang Luoyue? Wasn’t that one of the guests? Why was she at the old residence, and why did she call her.

Sister?

Jiang Yu was stunned, still tangled in the confusing relationship and address, unable to make sense of it. Then, the blurred figure in her dream finally became clear. She saw a face not much older than Jiang Lianyan’s, pale and tense, lips bitten. As the girl lowered her eyes, tears began to fall but were quickly wiped away by her fingertips.

Around them, scattered mocking remarks arose, most echoing Jiang Yu’s sentiments. They ridiculed the girl for trying to compete for the family fortune and warned Jiang Lianyan to be cautious. Jiang Luoyue seemed not to hear, standing still in place.

It wasn’t until Jiang Yu joined in the mockery that she finally seemed to realize something. She bent down to pick up the shattered watch.

Jiang Yu wanted to question her, but her voice went unheard by anyone else. Her heart felt as if it were being twisted by an invisible hand, and in a mix of anger and overwhelming bitterness, she abruptly woke up.

The sky was beginning to lighten with the dawn, but her face was ashen. She immediately dialed Lu Yin.

“Investigate Jiang Luoyue’s background,” Jiang Yu said. “Her parents, upbringing, environment.”

Was Jiang Yu planning to retaliate by exposing Jiang Luoyue’s privacy? Lu Yin was about to remind her that this was illegal when her employer hung up.

Jiang Yu’s head throbbed with pain, and she had no desire to rest any longer. Thinking of Jiang Luoyue in the dream and that word “sister” an absurd idea suddenly took root in her mind.

Meanwhile.

In a cramped room, the curtains were tightly drawn, allowing only a sliver of light to seep through. The pale glow of the screen illuminated the face of the sleeping girl. After a while, Jiang Luoyue struggled to open her eyes, urged by the ringing of an incoming call.

Caller: Yu Jingtang.

She checked the time 9 a.m.

Why was Yu Jingtang awake so early? Jiang Luoyue remembered that before she fell asleep, Yu Jingtang had posted her music demo on social media.

Bewildered, she answered the call. Yu Jingtang quickly said, “Good morning.”

From the tone of the other person, Yu Jingtang seemed to be in a good mood today. Jiang Luoyue nodded drowsily, only realizing after a moment that Yu Jingtang wasn’t facing her directly, so the other person couldn’t see her gesture.

The sudden embarrassment quickly snapped Jiang Luoyue awake. “What’s up?”

“We’re going to record a song today,” Yu Jingtang said. “Do you want to come with me?”

Jiang Luoyue blinked. People are always curious about places they’ve never been to, and the recording studio was exactly that kind of place for her. Besides, she really wanted to see what Yu Jingtang was like while recording.

Still, she asked with restraint, “Would I be bothering you?”

“No,” Yu Jingtang replied.

After a moment, she added, “You can tell me if I’m not doing well somewhere, criticize me.”

Jiang Luoyue teased, “Even someone like me, who’s never set foot in a recording studio, is honored enough to critique Teacher Yu now?”

Yu Jingtang: “You can praise me too.”

A few seconds later, she asked, “What did you just call me?”

Having spent years in the entertainment industry, Jiang Luoyue had developed the habit of addressing everyone as “teacher” except during the first episode when everyone was particularly aggressive, like a group of animals ready to fight, making it impossible for her to use the term.

Otherwise, she might have called everyone “teacher” from the very first meeting.

Looking back now, she was glad she hadn’t otherwise, she would have been relentlessly teased.

But in front of Yu Jingtang, while there was teasing, it was never excessive. Jiang Luoyue felt at ease and said without hesitation, “Teacher Yu? Teacher Jingtang? Teacher Xiaotang?”

Yu Jingtang fell abruptly silent. Thinking she might be embarrassed, Jiang Luoyue turned off her microphone and began washing up with a smile.

Squinting at her reflection in the mirror, her face covered in cleanser foam, she thought of the dream she’d had the night before. Perhaps it was because she hadn’t seen Jiang Yu in so long that Jiang Luoyue had dreamed for the first time of the scene at the family recognition banquet where Jiang Yu had humiliated her.

Years had passed, and those memories had long faded. Aside from Jiang Yu’s harsh words, Jiang Luoyue couldn’t recall anything else about her. In the dream, she had kept a stern face the entire time, impatiently wishing she could fast-forward through it.

Fortunately, in the latter half of the dream, she dreamed of the cast of I Hate Me.

During the second episode’s rainforest survival challenge, Ning Fuguang had used a forced exchange card to swap her into the team with Yu Jingtang. Sleeping with a woman on either side had been particularly awkward. Fu Yunqing had blamed Xiang Fan for “losing” her, creating a chaotic scene of shifting blame that turned the rainforest upside down.

Thinking of that scene, Jiang Luoyue’s eyes curved into a smile, and she found herself genuinely hoping that I Hate Me would introduce such a mechanism. The only change needed was that the one being exchanged couldn’t be “Jiang Luoyue,” but someone else.

But upon further thought, aside from her, would any of the other four actually take the initiative to rescue a teammate? They all seemed to relish the idea of their teammates being eliminated.

Lost in her wandering thoughts, Jiang Luoyue finished washing up and only then realized the call hadn’t been disconnected yet.

Just as she was about to poke Yu Jingtang through the air to find the missing Xiaotang, the doorbell suddenly rang.

Jiang Luoyue peered through the peephole and saw Yu Jingtang standing there with a stern face, speaking something with utmost seriousness.

As her lips parted, the phone’s speaker simultaneously played the words: “Teacher Yueyue, open the door.”

The word “teacher” was emphasized with a heavy tone.

Jiang Luoyue: “…” How can you be so vindictive?

She let out a soft, breathless laugh. Just as she opened the door, Yu Jingtang had already slipped into the entryway, standing face to face with her. Tall in stature, he seemed particularly imposing, yet his expression was entirely innocent. Under Jiang Luoyue’s gaze, he even extended his hand first.

“Hmm?” Jiang Luoyue hesitated, then shook his hand. “Good morning?”

Yu Jingtang frowned slightly but didn’t refuse. A few seconds later, he suddenly leaned in and wrapped his arms around her waist.

He seemed as though he wanted to bury his face in her shoulder but held back. Before Jiang Luoyue could fully process it, Yu Jingtang spoke first: “I missed you.”

Jiang Luoyue chuckled softly. “We haven’t even been apart for a day.”

Yu Jingtang replied, “Half a day is still too long.”

Half a day, a few hours it all felt too long. Without seeing her, even a minute felt endless.