After My Flash Marriage with the Movie Queen - Chapter 23

After a long silence, Zhao Xunyin decided to change the subject.

“Where’s your wife? Still not back yet?”

An He shot her a glance and sneered. “Don’t you have any idea why she hasn’t come home?”

“…” Zhao Xunyin felt a bit awkward. “When I left the company, she told me she’d be back for dinner with you.”

Because she planned to announce her marriage that day, Zhao Xunyin had spent half the afternoon bickering with her agent. In the end, the company boss personally came to hear her out, then clapped her hands and said, ‘Qitian Entertainment isn’t that heartless. If our artist is married, we’re not going to pretend she’s single. Announce it.’

So Zhao Xunyin went public with her marriage, right under her furious agent’s burning gaze.

“Announce it, huh? Please.” An He scoffed. “That woman’s a workaholic. Probably got called away halfway through dinner by her precious company. If I’d known she was so busy when we got married, I’d never have agreed to it. So what if she’s good-looking? What else does she have?”

Her voice rose with irritation. “That lying mouth of hers has never told me the truth once. When we got married, she promised to help make me famous. And look how that turned out! At the peak of my career, I was still a third-rate celebrity. The only time I ever hit number one on Weibo’s trending list was when I married her—and only because of her fame.”

Zhao Xunyin had heard this same rant countless times before.

“Didn’t your boss invest in several blockbuster films for you?” she said carefully.

An He turned her head and gave Zhao Xunyin a pointed look. Zhao froze for a second before remembering those so-called blockbusters.

Right. Every single one had flopped spectacularly.

“If I’d known, I should’ve just married you,” An He sighed dramatically. “At least I’d get a few days of trending headlines out of it.”

She even looked sincere when she said it. “So? Why don’t you get divorced, and we’ll get married instead?”

Zhao Xunyin’s expression stiffened. “…”

Please. Spare me.

The two of them chatted on the sofa for quite a while. Maybe An He had gone too long without someone to vent to—she just wouldn’t stop talking.

“Oh right,” she suddenly said, “who is your wife, anyway? Why are you hiding her like some state secret? I’m not going to eat her. Come on, show me what she looks like!”

Zhao Xunyin leaned back, eyes closed in feigned rest. “She’s just a kid.”

“How young?” An He’s gossip radar immediately lit up.

“Twenty-one.”

“Holy crap.” An He’s tone was full of envy. “So, you’re really the older woman type, huh? Impressive, impressive. How do you even bring yourself to touch someone that young? Tell me, how’d you two meet? Introduce me to one of her friends—someone young and fresh!”

Zhao snorted and mimicked her tone mockingly. “You? Still want a younger one? You’re not afraid your boss will freeze you to death?”

Just hearing the name Qi Yu made An He’s stomach ache. The woman had a face that looked perpetually like everyone owed her three million yuan.

“…” An He fell silent.

Forget it. Not worth the trouble.

“Alright, enough nonsense. How’d you meet your wife anyway? Do you really like her?” An He pressed. It wasn’t just curiosity—she’d known Zhao Xunyin for years, had watched her and Shu Yu break up and get back together over and over again. She’d honestly thought their drama would never end. Yet somehow, Shu Yu got married and now Zhao Xunyin too?

After nearly a decade, the never-ending soap opera of Shanghai Tan’s Unforgettable Love finally had a finale?

“We met on a blind date.” Zhao Xunyin’s expression softened as she spoke of Shi Nanbei. “Of course I like her. She’s adorable—sweet, easygoing. She’s good in every way, really, just a bit too carefree. You should meet her sometime.”

“Sure,” An He said immediately, already rummaging around for a face mask to put on. After a while, she asked casually, “But seriously, about Shu Yu.”

Hearing that name again after so many years, Zhao Xunyin’s expression was unexpectedly calm. So much had happened—love, resentment, everything in between—and now they were both married to someone else.

Maybe that was for the best.

It wasn’t such a bad thing to leave their story frozen in the year when they were still young and reckless.

“My marriage has nothing to do with her,” Zhao said flatly.

An He was quiet for a moment, then forced a laugh. “Yeah, I know. But still, her marriage was arranged by her old man. Everyone knows that was just for show.”

She wanted to say more, but held back.

Both Zhao Xunyin and Shu Yu were strong-willed to the bone. When they were together, it was either fireworks or earthquakes—never peace. As someone who’d seen it all firsthand, An He knew that “incompatible” didn’t even begin to cover it.

“She still chose to give me up, didn’t she?” Zhao said, her voice light, detached. “If she truly didn’t want to, who could’ve forced her?”

“Fair point.”

An He decided not to push further. Whatever existed between those two was long over. Zhao wasn’t impulsive—if she’d chosen to marry someone else, that meant she’d really let go.

That was probably a good thing, An He thought silently. Shu Yu had loved Zhao, sure—but when it came to money and status, her love clearly hadn’t been enough.

They chatted idly for another half hour. Around eleven, the sound of a car pulling up came from outside. An He was the first to react. “Our mighty Boss Qi is home.”

Zhao Xunyin still found it unbelievable that An He and Qi Yu had actually ended up together.

They were complete opposites. Especially Qi Yu—an only child of the Qi family, heirs of the mighty Qitian Group. Sent abroad since childhood, molded by capitalism, and famous upon her return for her ice-cold demeanor.

No one who’d met her ever described her as “easy to get along with.” As An He used to say, “That woman’s destined to die alone. No one can live with her. Just one look at that coffin face, and you’ll lose all interest in sex.”

And An He—well, she was the total opposite. Stunning, loudmouthed, shamelessly flirty. They’d first met during a promo shoot, where An He—being her usual cheeky self—had tried to flirt with Qi Yu.

Apparently, Qi Yu had never encountered anyone bold enough to tease her to her face. Intrigued, she remembered An He’s name. And by the time she realized she’d fallen for her, An He panicked and started avoiding her.

But the great Boss Qi wasn’t one to give up easily. One thing led to another—and somehow, they really did end up together. When Zhao Xunyin first heard about it, she was so stunned she couldn’t form a coherent sentence for half a day.

“Don’t get me wrong,” An He had said back then, “it’s not like I’m drowning in true love or anything. She’s just filthy rich, okay? She said that if I marry her, all her money becomes mine—no prenup.”

Zhao had been speechless for a long time before finally saying, “Then, congratulations?”

An He rolled her eyes. “Please. If she wasn’t gorgeous and loaded, do you think I’d bother?”

Zhao Xunyin: “…”

She said she wasn’t in it for love, yet after all these years, there’d been no talk of divorce.

“Not that I haven’t thought about it,” An He admitted. “But she’s too rich. What if she refuses to give me alimony after we split? That’d be such a loss.”

Zhao didn’t even know how to respond. She’d long accepted that An He had no filter. And honestly, if Qi Yu knew her wife married her for money, she probably didn’t care. One was willing to give, the other willing to take—it worked for them.

Speak of the devil—just as they were discussing married life, the front door opened.

An He was mid-sentence, calculating how much alimony she could get if she divorced Qi Yu, when a tall, long-haired woman strode in with an expression cold enough to freeze air. Sharp features, commanding aura—undeniably the formidable Boss Qi herself.

Unfazed by her wife’s return, An He kept going, “So I was thinking, we’ve been married three, four years now. Judging by Qitian Group’s annual profits, I should at least get, what, ten billion?”

Qi Yu’s heels clicked against the floor as she walked over. She didn’t look particularly surprised—just cold, as usual. Then she opened her mouth and said flatly, “Twenty-one billion.”

An He’s eyes went wide. She slapped her thigh and sat upright, instantly animated. “That much? Can I divorce you now?”

Zhao Xunyin: “…”

Qi Yu’s expression didn’t change—still cool and imperious. Only when her gaze met An He’s did it soften slightly. But even then, there wasn’t much warmth. To an outsider, they could’ve easily passed for enemies instead of spouses.

Without missing a beat, Qi Yu offered another option. “Or you could wait until I die and inherit my estate.”

An He froze, completely blindsided. “How much are we talking about?”

Qi Yu’s red lips curved ever so slightly. “A trillion.”

An He’s eyes lit up instantly, staring at her wife as if she was the God of Wealth herself.

Watching the whole scene unfold, Zhao Xunyin felt indescribable.

At least her little one was well-behaved and had no plans of divorcing her—for money or otherwise.