After My Flash Marriage with the Movie Queen - Chapter 86

Shi Nanbei was famous now—so famous it was practically turning her purple.

After just the first episode of The Story of Wives aired, she shot up onto five trending searches. Her wife, Zhao Xunyin, was pulled along onto the hot searches as well. Even An He basked in her halo and trended twice.

Whether she was in class, eating in the cafeteria, or simply walking across campus, fans who had watched the variety show—and even teachers and students from their own school—would look at Shi Nanbei with noticeable interest.

Anyone else might have felt either extremely uncomfortable or a little smug under such attention. But Shi Nanbei wasn’t like that. She went about her days exactly as usual—no uneasiness, no self-satisfaction. She simply seldom brought up anything about her and Zhao Xunyin unless someone asked. She never actively avoided it either. If someone asked whether she really was “Zhao Xunyin’s wife,” she would readily admit it.

“Yes, I am,” she always answered—calm, open, and at ease.

Sometimes people would even compliment her with a hint of envy:

“You’re way too lucky. How much good karma did you accumulate in your past life to end up marrying a film queen? I’m so jealous.”

Shi Nanbei didn’t get a chance to respond before Wu Lili, who was sitting next to her, exploded.

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean? Our Nanbei isn’t exactly lacking, okay? She’s young, beautiful, has great grades, and is talented. No matter how you look at it, it’s Zhao Xunyin who got the better end of the deal!”

The girl across from them clearly didn’t get along with Wu Lili. After hearing that, she made a snide remark:

“Tch, impressive. Who knows what she relied on to get there.”

That line was way out of line.

Wu Lili nearly shot up from her seat to tear the other girl’s mouth off.

“Did you eat shit for breakfast? Why does your mouth smell so foul? Want me to rinse it with formalin for you?”

Wu Lili was infamous at school for her fierce temper. The other party only had two people with her, and clearly neither thought they could win a fight with Wu Lili. So, after muttering a few complaints, they hurried off.

“Damn it, what trash. Talking like that—what business is it of hers!” Even after the girls walked away, Wu Lili was still cursing, obviously fuming.

Shi Nanbei hugged her books as they headed toward the cafeteria. She spoke casually, “Let her say whatever. You made fun of her idol last time—she probably still remembers.”

Right—this was the same girl who had bad-mouthed Zhao Xunyin in the classroom last time. Wu Lili and Shi Nanbei had nearly torn her apart then. Now that she saw an opening to take a dig, it was honestly expected.

“Tch! And she thinks she has the right to talk crap?” Wu Lili huffed.

Shi Nanbei didn’t respond.

Wu Lili glanced at her expression, suddenly hesitant.

“Nanbei, are you feeling upset?”

She could understand if she was. Shi Nanbei had always been someone who never asked for much—easygoing, content, unbothered. Yet now, because she married Zhao Xunyin, she was standing in the very center of a storm. Many loved her, but just as many disliked her.

After all—this involved Zhao Xunyin. The Zhao Xunyin. A bona fide film queen, the dream girl of countless people. And now she’d suddenly announced her marriage—and after marriage, kept showing public displays of affection no less.

And the person she married was just an unknown university student.

There was no way all her fans and CP shippers would accept that quietly.

The things people said about Shi Nanbei online were truly nasty. Wu Lili, being a hardcore netizen herself, had seen plenty of it.

Her heart was tangled. On one hand, Zhao Xunyin had been her idol for over ten years—feelings like that don’t disappear instantly just because the idol got married.

On the other hand, Shi Nanbei was her best friend—someone she’d lived, studied, and laughed with for nearly four years.

Her idol married her best friend.

Now people were attacking her best friend.

Wu Lili was stuck right in the middle. No matter whom she scolded, it felt wrong.

“Why say that?” Shi Nanbei asked lightly. She was wearing a blue-and-white casual shirt paired with black trousers—fresh, bright, looking effortlessly good. Her features were clean and soothing, never gaudy, never coy—just naturally pleasant to look at.

Wu Lili stammered, “Well, it’s just, you’re really popular now.”

Shi Nanbei turned her head and grinned.

“Hahaha—should I give you a signed photo, then?”

“Go die!”

The two play-fought for a bit. In the midst of their laughter, a voice suddenly called from behind:

“Nanbei!”

Both Shi Nanbei and Wu Lili turned around. Seeing who it was, Shi Nanbei brightened visibly.

“Senior?”

Of course—it was the campus beauty who once invited Shi Nanbei to a movie, only to get rejected because “it was too cold at night to go out.”

Ever since that rejection, the senior hadn’t approached Shi Nanbei for almost an entire semester. Whether she’d been emotionally crushed by Shi Nanbei’s straight-as-an-arrow refusal was anyone’s guess.

They had never said it outright, but everyone in their dorm had long known the campus belle—Senior Han—had once pursued Shi Nanbei. They had even whispered in private that the two of them actually looked quite good together.

Later, though, the whole thing just fizzled out. No one knew why. They all assumed the senior had given up, and since Shi Nanbei later had that flash marriage with Zhao Xunyin, none of them ever brought up the school beauty’s old crush again.

Everyone in the dorm agreed on one thing: if no one spelled it out for Shi Nanbei, with that straight-as-steel mindset of hers, she might never figure it out—not even on her deathbed.

It had been so long already. Why on earth would they suddenly run into her today? Wu Lili mulled it over anxiously, wondering whether she should tell her idol—Zhao Xunyin—about this. After all, that senior had always had unconventional feelings for Shi Nanbei.

Hmm, maybe she shouldn’t say anything. A Best Actress ought to feel a little sense of crisis, right? A marriage that’s too peaceful isn’t necessarily a good thing. Besides, Shi Nanbei really was far too lovable.

The biased Wu Lili nodded inwardly at her own reasoning.

“Fancy running into you here.”

Seeing the senior walk over, Shi Nanbei genuinely lit up. Her surname was Han, and her given name was Chaoge.

The first time they met, Shi Nanbei had joked that her name sounded elegant and cultured, something straight out of an ancient poem.

The senior hadn’t minded her teasing at all and simply asked, “What about you then? Why are you called ‘Nanbei’?” The question brought back another memory—how she had painstakingly added Shi Nanbei on WeChat. “And your username—‘Nanbei, the Lone Hero’? What’s that about?”

Yes—back then, in order to get close to Shi Nanbei, Senior Han had actually failed anatomy on purpose and retaken the class just to join Shi Nanbei’s cohort. First, she used the excuse that she struggled with grades, then claimed she didn’t review well. One excuse at a time, she finally managed to get Shi Nanbei’s WeChat. After chatting for more than a month, they became familiar enough for their relationship to warm slightly.

Shi Nanbei gave an embarrassed smile. “It was my mom. When my dad asked her what I should be named, she said, ‘Just pick something random.’ My grandmother got mad and ended up naming me ‘Nanbei.’”

The senior blinked—she absolutely hadn’t expected that. Then she laughed without holding anything back.

“Hahaha—I see. Your family is really something.”

Looking at Shi Nanbei’s slightly flushed cheeks, Senior Han had to restrain herself from reaching out to pinch them.

When the senior smiled, the devoted beauty-lover Shi Nanbei was instantly dazzled. Without even realizing it, she followed with a silly smile of her own. “They’re alright. If there’s a chance, I can bring someone home to meet them.”

The words were spoken casually, but to someone who already liked her, that single sentence made the tips of Senior Han’s ears flush red. She thought Shi Nanbei was hinting at something. After all, being the campus beauty, she’d had more than a few admirers. She’d heard her share of ambiguous suggestions. In the past, such things had annoyed her—but right now, they felt sweet.

“Alright. It’s a promise.”

“Right after class I spotted someone from afar who looked like you. And when I got closer—yep, it really was you. Long time no see.”

The senior was perfectly at ease, as if the months apart hadn’t put any distance between them at all.

There had been a time when she and Shi Nanbei were really close—so close she once thought maybe Shi Nanbei liked her back. Even when she was incredibly busy, she had insisted on attending all four weekly anatomy sessions just to see

her. Even the professor couldn’t hold back from asking why a top-scoring student would deliberately fail and retake the class. Was she bored?

What did she say back then?

Oh—she told him there was someone she wanted to see.

The professor had been young once; he understood immediately. “Didn’t expect our campus belle to chase after someone.”

Truth be told, she hadn’t expected it either.

Back then, they were genuinely close: going to and leaving class together, joining various club events, spending time side by side. Shi Nanbei was incredibly easy to get along with; being around her was relaxed and effortless. Even her roommates joked that Shi Nanbei was her “beauty disaster”—the kind of girl she couldn’t help but fall head-first for.

And she really had fallen—hard.

Maybe she hadn’t liked Shi Nanbei at first. But over time, that girl’s smile, the way she sweetly called her “senior”—all of it quietly took her heart away. Since it was Shi Nanbei, falling for her didn’t feel surprising at all.

Everyone could see she was chasing her. Everyone—except Shi Nanbei.

For an entire semester, she came up with every excuse possible to see her, chat with her, play mobile games with her. Shi Nanbei loved gaming, so she downloaded the same game and played with her whenever she had time.

She was terrible at it, though. Even so, Shi Nanbei carried her all the way up to Diamond rank. Every game was a free win. Their teammates often joked about how indulgent Shi Nanbei was—spoiling “her girlfriend.”

She loved hearing that.

But Shi Nanbei always answered seriously,

“That’s my senior, okay?”

That’s my senior, okay.

Back then, she thought it was the sweetest thing in the world—so tender, so doting.

Only later did she realize.

It was the cruelest sentence she would ever hear.

Because she was only ever just that:

Her senior.

And nothing more.