The Paranoid Film Queen Hooked Me, and I Fell in Love - Chapter 65

Xu Zhiyan didn’t hear the rest of the conversation.

She ended up staying in the hospital for two more days before Shen Buhui finally allowed her to be discharged.

She hadn’t told Lin Ya and the others about what had happened — there was no need to make them worry unnecessarily.

As for the prime suspect, Zeng Yue, they had already arranged for someone to start investigating her.

Perhaps it was the cold water she had been exposed to on the first day of her period — combined with the alcohol she drank — but this time, Xu Zhiyan’s cramps were far more intense than she’d ever experienced.

The roles had completely reversed.

Shen Buhui, using the same massage technique Xu Zhiyan had once used to comfort her, applied all the “secret tricks” she had sneakily learned to Xu Zhiyan’s abdomen.

The warmth on her stomach made Xu Zhiyan drowsy under Shen Buhui’s touch.

“Are you going home for New Year’s this year?” Shen Buhui’s gentle voice came out of nowhere.

Only then did Xu Zhiyan realize — the Lunar New Year was just a few days away.

Technically, she should be heading back. But the thought of leaving Shen Buhui alone in their apartment for New Year’s Eve made her hesitate.

“I’m not going,” Xu Zhiyan murmured, her eyelids heavy. “I’ll spend New Year’s with you.”

Shen Buhui looked pleased, but a second later seemed to remember something.
“What about your parents?”

Xu Zhiyan thought back to the call she’d gotten from Lin Ya the day before.
“They’re not home this year — they went on a trip.”

Lin Ya had called to tell her that she didn’t need to come home for New Year’s Eve. After a long year of work, and knowing that Xu Zhiyan was now in a relationship, they decided to take a vacation and ring in the new year while traveling.

Shen Buhui withdrew her hands and watched Xu Zhiyan sit up.
“Then this year, it’s just the two of us.”

As she said “just the two of us,” a smile tugged at her lips — uncontainably bright.

Xu Zhiyan noticed her smile and finally relaxed a little.

Shen Buhui hadn’t been in the best spirits these past few days due to the incident. And from the progress she and Xie Ye had made investigating the matter, it seemed almost certain that Zeng Yue had been behind it.

Thinking about that, Xu Zhiyan’s fingers froze as she scrolled through her phone, a bit annoyed.
“When will my name stop being tied to Qi Helin’s?”

Pastoral Late Blooming Love had once again updated, and as usual, the main couple was trending sweetly on social media. But just a few swipes down, and there it was again — Qi Helin and Xu Zhiyan’s names, stubbornly linked.

Like a shadow she couldn’t shake off.

Say what you will — Qi Helin’s strategy had worked. He’d actually managed to attract a small group of clueless, overenthusiastic shippers.

Shen Buhui gently took the phone from her hand.
“Don’t worry about him. It’s time for your nap. Just rest for now.”

Although she was clearly healthy, Xu Zhiyan had still been treated like a delicate patient these past few days. She could only chuckle helplessly, then pulled Shen Buhui down into bed with her.

They slept for over an hour.

When Xu Zhiyan woke up, she found several missed calls on her phone.

Rubbing her head, she stared at the screen — a row of missed calls, all from Zhao Yue.

A flicker of guilt passed through her.

Sure enough, the moment she called back, Zhao Yue’s voice rang through the speaker, completely unfiltered:
“Xu Zhiyan! What were you doing? Why didn’t you answer?!”

A body suddenly curled up behind her.

Shen Buhui’s husky voice rose behind her ear as she replied lazily into the phone,
“She was sleeping. What else could we be doing?”

“You—you two—in the middle of the day?!” Zhao Yue choked on her words, clearly stunned.

Xu Zhiyan was a little embarrassed. She took the phone from Shen Buhui and tried to explain,
“Don’t overthink it. We were just napping. A proper nap.”

But knowing how Zhao Yue’s mind worked whenever it came to her and Shen Buhui, Xu Zhiyan realized she was the one who should feel secondhand embarrassment.

Zhao Yue coughed awkwardly, then cleared her throat and said in a serious tone,
“I called because I needed to talk to you.”

“Alright, go ahead,” Xu Zhiyan replied calmly.

Zhao Yue’s voice dropped a notch.
“You haven’t been in contact with Qi Helin privately, have you?”

Xu Zhiyan and Shen Buhui exchanged a look.
“Of course not!” she said firmly.

Zhao Yue let out a breath of relief.
“Good. I was worried you might’ve been two-timing behind Shen Buhui’s back.”

“What happened?” Xu Zhiyan asked.

While she was speaking, Shen Buhui had already picked up her own phone. Skipping past Zhao Yue’s string of missed calls, she opened Weibo.

And there it was — a trending topic about Qi Helin, with the red 爆 (explosive) tag beside it.

Nothing unusual — except for the fact that Xu Zhiyan’s name was right next to his.

Zhao Yue said,
“Go check online — word is that some paparazzi and passersby allegedly caught you and Qi Helin on a date, with photos and video footage.”

Xu Zhiyan hung up, her head full of question marks. She and Shen Buhui immediately opened Weibo to investigate.

Right at the top of the trending list was a post from a well-known entertainment paparazzo, featuring both videos and still images.

In the footage, Qi Helin was seen being very affectionate with a girl — they looked extremely close. At one point in the video, the girl pulled down her mask and kissed Qi Helin. The brief glimpse of her profile looked strikingly similar to Xu Zhiyan.

That alone might not have caused a stir.

But then, a marketing account unearthed older paparazzi shots of Qi Helin from a previous trending post. One screenshot included fans speculating whether the woman in the photo was Xu Zhiyan. And then…

The final image made Xu Zhiyan utterly speechless.

It was a side-by-side comparison — a collage of photos from a movie premiere red carpet interview. One image showed Xu Zhiyan with a faint red mark on her neck. The other was a still of Qi Helin with what looked like a kiss mark just visible beneath his collar.

Someone had even helpfully circled the “evidence” in bright red.

—Xu Zhiyan’s neck, and the mark on Qi Helin.

It was made to look like airtight proof.

“This is the most shameless kind of clout-chasing I’ve ever seen,” Xu Zhiyan said, dumbfounded.

What made it worse was that Qi Helin hadn’t even bothered to deny any of it.

On his latest Weibo post, he neither confirmed nor denied anything. Just posted some vague, cryptic statement — and it left Xu Zhiyan stunned.

“Does he think the internet is full of idiots?”

Shen Buhui’s expression was just as grim.
“Some people are actually buying it.”

Comments underneath were divided. Some were denying the rumors, but others — clearly blind to the facts — were already sending “blessings” for a long-lasting relationship.

Xu Zhiyan: “…”

All because she looked a little like Qi Helin’s girlfriend, and now she was being dragged through the mud?

Just as she was reeling from Qi Helin’s outrageous stunt, her phone rang again — another call from Zhao Yue.

“Qi Helin’s manager just called me,” Zhao Yue said calmly, though the sarcasm was barely hidden beneath her tone. “They want to ride the wave and suggested turning you and him into an official ‘work couple’ for publicity.”

Xu Zhiyan: “…”

Now it all made sense.

Qi Helin wanted to date publicly, shift his career direction — but couldn’t risk alienating his fans.

His solution? Use Xu Zhiyan. Her face resembled his actual girlfriend’s just enough. When CP (couple) rumors started flying and Xu Zhiyan refused to play along, he didn’t back off. Instead, he let things spiral, knowing the publicity would heat up.

And now, with the buzz at its peak, they had the nerve to come knocking — suggesting she go along with it. As if she’d hit some kind of jackpot.

The plan was clear: use her status as a rookie actress to spark a trending CP, and once things got big, Qi Helin could control the narrative — perhaps even “break fans’ hearts” to purify his fanbase.
As for Xu Zhiyan? She’d supposedly benefit from the exposure. A “win-win,” so to speak.

Hearing Zhao Yue describe it all, Xu Zhiyan felt a chill run down her spine.

And why not wait until after the movie’s release to start this PR stunt?

Simple. Xu Zhiyan saw the latest photos of him kissing his real girlfriend — the answer was clear.

They couldn’t afford to wait anymore.

“I’m not agreeing to this,” she said coldly. “He’s dreaming. Some people have no shame.”

Then she told Zhao Yue,
“Wait — I’m logging into Weibo now. Time to clear this up.”

She had no idea why she kept getting tangled up with shady people these days.

The Zeng Yue mess hadn’t even been resolved yet — and now here came Qi Helin with this nonsense.

Without delay, Xu Zhiyan fired off a post on Weibo:

@XuZhiyan:
No boyfriend. Just happened to look alike. The mark? Mosquito bite.

Attached: a selfie and a photo of mosquito repellent spray.

A blunt, direct response that wiped out every point of gossip in one go.

Moments later, Shen Buhui swiftly reposted it:

@ShenBuhui:
I can confirm — there really are mosquitoes in the dead of winter.
//@XuZhiyan: No boyfriend. Just happened to look alike. The mark? Mosquito bite.

Attached: a fresh mosquito bite on her own wrist.

Xu Zhiyan glanced at the photo, then looked down at the repellent in her hand and muttered,
“This brand doesn’t work. I’ll go buy a better one downstairs tomorrow.”

When Xu Zhiyan checked Weibo again, her comment section had already been overtaken — by CP fans.

Her own fans — the openly supportive Straight Talk CP shippers.

Reading through the flood of comments like:
“Thanks for the clarification! She doesn’t have a boyfriend — only a girlfriend 😎”,
Xu Zhiyan couldn’t help but smile.

Over on Shen Buhui’s Weibo, the replies were equally playful:
“Got it~ You were bitten by a mosquito too!”

Well… her fans were truly adorable!

The best way to repay that kind of love was, of course, to never ever disappoint them.

Shen Buhui took the insect spray out of Xu Zhiyan’s hands.
“Now’s not the time to be worrying about bug spray. We need to start prepping for the New Year.”

As for the Qi Helin situation, Xu Zhiyan had done what she needed to do. The rest could be left in Zhao Yue’s capable hands.

Qi Helin had probably never imagined that the favor he thought he was graciously offering — assuming Xu Zhiyan would obediently go along — would be so publicly and thoroughly rejected right in front of millions of netizens.

But Xu Zhiyan didn’t care at all.

For her, this ridiculous hot topic had actually given her the perfect excuse to cut ties with Qi Helin once and for all.

He had already thrown away any sense of shame — so even if she had to completely burn that bridge, it was worth it.

“Exactly,” Xu Zhiyan perked up. “Shall we head out now?”

Shen Buhui nodded.
“The earlier we buy, the better we can prepare.”

Neither of them had any real experience shopping for New Year’s goods. This would be their first Spring Festival spent entirely on their own, and naturally, they wanted it to be meaningful — and a little extravagant.

By the time they returned from the mall, Xu Zhiyan was sweating all over.

She and Shen Buhui checked their purchases item by item to make sure they hadn’t forgotten anything. Finally satisfied, they both let out a breath of relief.

Collapsing onto the couch, Xu Zhiyan looked over at the pile of items on the table — and suddenly realized something.

“Jie… I think we forgot to buy couplets!”

Shen Buhui paused mid-unpacking.
“We can get them tomorrow. No rush.”

With absolutely zero experience between them, the two excited amateurs had practically emptied out the shopping center in their enthusiasm. They’d wanted to get everything done in one trip.

Xu Zhiyan pouted and lightly tapped her cheek.
“Alright then.”

She stood and walked a slow circle around the apartment. Watching the lights flicker outside the windows, she suddenly asked,
“Jie, before you moved in… where were you living?”

“Do you want to go back there for New Year’s?”

It dawned on her then — this apartment was likely rented so they could live together more conveniently. Shen Buhui must’ve had a place of her own before this.

They had been living together for so long that Xu Zhiyan had already started seeing this place as their home — she’d completely forgotten to ask about Shen Buhui’s past.

But Shen Buhui simply shook her head.
“This is just fine.”

She glanced around the space and said quietly,
“This is my home, too. And besides… this place holds so many of our memories. That makes it feel more like home than anywhere else.”

Her voice softened.
“But if you want, I can take you to see the other place sometime. After you graduate, we can think about where to live next.”

Hearing her talk about their future plans, Xu Zhiyan shook her head with a grin.
“Nope. After I graduate, it’s my turn to make money, buy a house, and take care of my baby.”

Shen Buhui: “…You’re calling me that again?”

Xu Zhiyan giggled.
“Of course! You are my baby. Besides, after I graduate, don’t you want to marry me? Then we can just move into our wedding home. Wouldn’t that be perfect?”

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