The Salted Fish And Protagonist A Ended Up Together - Chapter 2

Getting out of the car and entering the company, followed by numerous gazes along the way, Wen Mian shook her body uncomfortably and quickened her pace to take the elevator to the top floor.

In a sunlit office, her manager, Xu Qing, sat on the sofa with a solemn expression. Seeing Wen Mian enter, her face turned sour.

Wen Mian nodded calmly and sat across from her; after years of struggling, she wasn’t someone who could be easily intimidated.

For a moment, neither of them spoke. The room was deathly silent, and the atmosphere was incredibly cold.

Xu Qing was the first to lose patience. She leaned in close to Wen Mian, the veins on her forehead bulging with suppressed anger. “Didn’t you promise me you wouldn’t cause any more trouble?”

Wen Mian felt wronged. This really wasn’t her fault, but who asked her to be the “original owner” in the eyes of outsiders now?

She looked Xu Qing straight in the eye, her expression serious and her tone firm. “Sister Xu, believe me, I really, really won’t do it again! Otherwise… otherwise, let me eat a balanced diet of meat and vegetables for the rest of my life.”

Unable to find a better punishment, Wen Mian thought hard and blurted out a phrase she had seen netizens use.

Xu Qing didn’t react for a moment. It took a few seconds for her to realize what Wen Mian had said, and she was instantly provoked into a cold laugh. “You’re something else.”

Xu Qing had already given up all hope for Wen Mian. If it weren’t for the fact that Wen Mian had connections above her, she would have quit long ago.

Thinking of the two months remaining on the contract, Xu Qing silently told herself to stay calm. After a long while, she said, “Since you’ve already signed the contract, let’s discuss the details.”

Wen Mian nodded, stealing a glance at Xu Qing, wondering if she knew about her marriage to Gu Man yesterday.

Xu Qing opened her tablet. Entering her professional domain, she immediately became serious, seeking the best path for Wen Mian. “The variety show First Heartbeat of Love, you should know its reputation isn’t great. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have come looking for you.”

“They’ve announced five participants for this recording: one civilian, and the other four including you..are from within the industry. There’s Song Xue, an 18th-tier star, Wang Mo, who started as a child actor and the popular singer Su Shiqiu. I heard there’s one more, but I don’t know who it is.”

Wen Mian silently raised her hand and said awkwardly, “Um, Sister Xu, I think I know who it is.”

Xu Qing looked up in confusion. “You know?”

Wen Mian nodded. “It should be Gu Man.”

Xu Qing was amused by her absurd claim. “Gu Man? Impossible. No matter who joins, she would never participate in a dating show.”

Wen Mian looked at Xu Qing with determined eyes, silently signaling: It’s her.

Xu Qing’s laughter stopped abruptly. Her eyes widened in disbelief. “Really?! How do you know?”

Wen Mian organized her thoughts and said succinctly: “I married her yesterday, and the condition was that she accompanies me on the show.”

Xu Qing’s eyes grew even wider, and her mouth stayed open for a long time.

After a long silence in the room, she finally spoke with difficulty. “Why did you two get married?”

Wen Mian had already figured this one out and replied immediately, “Pheromones.”

Yes, in order to make the protagonists end up together, the laws of this world stated that if pheromone compatibility was high, the Empire would mandate a two-month forced marriage. If it really didn’t work out, the engagement would be automatically dissolved.

Xu Qing was even more confused. “Pheromones? Aren’t you a Beta?”

Wen Mian gave an awkward smile. “I just transitioned a couple of days ago.” According to the medical reports she had seen, the original owner had indeed just transitioned into an Omega two days prior.

Xu Qing looked thoughtful, her gaze scanning Wen Mian. “I see. I didn’t expect you to have such high compatibility with Gu Man.”

Wen Mian didn’t expect it either. Logically, shouldn’t the protagonists have high compatibility? What did it have to do with a cannon fodder like her? Who knew what the “world consciousness” was thinking, maybe it wanted Gu Man’s “chasing the wife back” arc to be even more intense?

Knowing the final guest was Gu Man, Xu Qing’s heart, which had just settled, raced again. Her eyes snapped back to Wen Mian. She almost forgot, the person in front of her was Gu Man’s most obsessive fan.

For a moment, she wanted to decline the show immediately. Don’t go! You can’t go!

But thinking of the exorbitant contract breach fee, Xu Qing deflated. She weakly instructed, “I’m warning you one more time: Do not get too close to Gu Man!”

Wen Mian nodded in agreement. “I know, Sister Xu. Don’t worry.”

Don’t worry? You’re the one I’m most worried about! Xu Qing felt like grabbing Wen Mian and shaking her until all the “water” in her brain came out.

After leaving the company, Wen Mian went back to pack her bags.

Two days passed in a flash. Wen Mian turned back to look at her “castle” reluctantly, truly not wanting to leave.

Once on the plane with her phone turned off, Wen Mian missed a “battle of the century” online.

The production team of First Heartbeat of Love released the name of the final guest, instantly causing a sensation.

Fans began speaking out immediately:

• [How could my goddess join a dating show? Spreading rumors is illegal!]
• [Exactly! Man-man doesn’t even do regular variety shows, let alone a dating show!]

Until a fan weakly commented:

• [It seems to be true. Man-man’s studio posted it too.]
• [What?! No way! I’m going to check for myself.]

After checking, the fans fell into a silent shock and quickly searched for the other guests of this season.

• [Wen Mian? Her again?]
• [I just don’t get it. Will she die if she stops stalking our Man-man? Why is she always lingering like a ghost?]
• [Wuwu, our Man-man must have been forced into this by her.]
• [Wait, Wen Mian shouldn’t be able to force Man-man into anything, right?]
• [I don’t care. Man-man, stay away from that Wen Mian! Don’t get caught in her web again!]
• [Agreed. If Wen Mian pesters Man-man again, don’t blame us “Man Lights” for getting nasty.]
• [Yes, yes. I hope she knows her place.]

While fans were anxious for their idol, for neutral netizens, it meant there was drama to watch.

Countless marketing accounts drafted articles within minutes, seizing the trending topic to analyze why Gu Man was joining: Was she forced by Wen Mian? Did she personally want to date? Or was it for a future role…

More passersby were drawn in, and the show’s popularity skyrocketed.

Behind the scenes, the director, Wang Qiang, was laughing his head off, his eyes glued to the continuously growing traffic.

Wang Qiang’s eyes squinted into slits as he marveled at how right he was to invite Wen Mian.

At first, when Wen Mian told him she could get Gu Man to join, he didn’t believe her. Now, Wang Qiang wanted to slap his past self for even hesitating to take such massive traffic!

Getting off the plane, Wen Mian looked around but didn’t see the production crew.

She opened her phone and sent a message: Hello Director, Wen Mian has arrived. Where is the address? She sounded exactly like a weary office worker.

Wang Qiang replied quickly: I’ll send someone to pick you up. Wen Mian: Okay.

She waited quietly. After a few minutes, a girl in a work jacket ran over and stopped in front of Wen Mian.

“Teacher Wen, is that you?”

Wen Mian nodded. “It’s me.”

The girl bowed quickly. “Great. Because Teacher Gu is also coming, we were afraid the airport would be too crowded, so we changed the location last minute. I’m so sorry for the delay.”

Wen Mian gave a nonchalant “Mhm” and proactively picked up her luggage. “It’s fine. Let’s go.”

The girl’s eyes widened slightly as she hurried to follow. “Teacher Wen, let me take your luggage.”

Wen Mian shook her head. “No need. You’re working hard too. It’s not heavy; I can do it myself.”

As she spoke, she signaled for the girl to lead the way. “Right now, you only have one mission: get me to the right place safely.”

The staff member nodded meekly and walked beside Wen Mian, her mind a bit dazed. She kept stealing glances at Wen Mian. Wasn’t she supposed to be very difficult to get along with? But she felt… quite nice.

Because of the sudden announcement, the production team moved the meeting point from outdoors to indoors. Everyone entered at different times to observe their chemical reactions.

When Wen Mian entered, there was already one person in the room, sitting with her legs pressed together, nervously looking around and rubbing her hands on her thighs.

Seeing Wen Mian enter, she stood up quickly, bowed, and reached out her hand, speaking very fast. “Hello, hello!”

Wen Mian shook her hand gently. “Hello, I’m Wen Mian. ‘Wen’ as in warm, ‘Mian’ as in sleep.”

The person across from her finally realized she hadn’t introduced herself. “Zhang Yunxi! You can just call me Xixi, like ‘Xixi Haha’ (the sound of laughter).”

Wen Mian’s eyes curved into a smile. “Your name is very interesting.”

Zhang Yunxi laughed happily. “Hehe, thank you, Mianmian! I like your name too.”

After the polite exchange, the two sat awkwardly on the sofa, and the room fell silent again.

However, the livestream chat was becoming more and more lively. Yes, to attract more traffic, the production team had changed the show from pre-recorded to a livestream.

• [Xixi is so cute! Shy but not timid. I like her.]
• [Good eye. I said she’d be popular the moment she sat down. As expected.]
• [Even though she’s a Beta, you can’t tell at all. The production team knows how to pick people, I thought she was an Omega at first.]
• [Eh? She’s a Beta? I thought she was an O too.]
• [Is no one paying attention to Wen Mian? Is she usually this polite?]
• [Who knows if she’s faking it. Her credibility with me is already at minus 10,000 points.]
• [True. The entertainment industry is full of fake stuff. She’s probably acting.]
• [Acting is fine, I just hope she keeps acting and doesn’t harass our Man-man.]
• [Plus one! I don’t care if it’s an act, as long as she doesn’t try to clout-chase.]

After discussing for a bit, everyone continued watching the stream, guessing who the next guest would be.

Wen Mian didn’t care about any of that. She took out her phone and quietly read a novel to kill time.

Influenced by her relaxed attitude, Zhang Yunxi beside her wasn’t as nervous as before. She casually picked up a book and started flipping through it.

The livestream chat grew even more heated:

• [Haha, this is killing me. Their way of dealing with nerves is looking at their phones.]
• [I have to say, it works. I do the same thing.]
• [Wait, don’t you guys think this is disrespectful to the guests coming in later?]
• [It’s fine. They can put the phones down when they hear someone coming. I think it’s okay.]
• [I also think it’s a bit disrespectful. Let’s see how they act later.]

Just as the comment was posted, the sound of luggage wheels rolling came from the door. Wen Mian immediately looked up and stood, clearing her throat lightly to remind Zhang Yunxi, who was absorbed in her book.

Zhang Yunxi looked around in a panic and stood up, following Wen Mian to the door.

At the door stood the actress Xu Qing had mentioned, Wang Mo. She stood tall, wearing a set of loungewear that looked very comfortable.

The moment she saw Wen Mian, her expression froze slightly.

Wen Mian noticed it immediately. Not wanting to make things awkward, she offered a quiet greeting, “Hello, Sister Wang Mo,” and then stood to the side.

Wang Mo’s eyes showed a flash of surprise. She declined Zhang Yunxi’s offer to help with the luggage. “Hello everyone, I’m Wang Mo. Just call me Momo.”

Zhang Yunxi shyly followed Wen Mian’s lead. “Hello, Sister Wang Mo. I’m Zhang Yunxi, just call me Xixi.”

The atmosphere turned cold again. Wen Mian went back to her phone, while Zhang Yunxi pretended to read, though her eyes kept darting between the two.

Wang Mo scratched her head, feeling a bit restless. She took the initiative to suggest, “How about we go check out the house first?”

Zhang Yunxi looked at Wen Mian, and Wen Mian nodded. “Sure, let’s take a look around and then come back.”