The Stand-In Alpha Goes Viral on a Dating Show - Chapter 61

Chi Wan froze for a moment, her voice coming out weakly as her mind spun: Why would An Ran say something like that? Did something else happen?

“You look for yourself!” An Ran was practically dying of embarrassment and indignation. She shook the thin, plain-colored piece of fabric in her hand.

At first, Chi Wan couldn’t make sense of it, her head full of little question marks.

An Ran puffed out her cheeks in anger and with a sharp flick, spread the fabric out completely. “See for yourself! What is this supposed to be?!”

It was riddled with cutouts, with slender straps crisscrossing at the back like some kind of binding. The longer Chi Wan looked, the more it gave off a faint whiff of… S and M.

Chi Wan’s heart skipped guiltily. But I can’t admit that! It really was a total accident, not deliberate at all.

“Uh… honestly, don’t overthink it. It’s just underwear,” she said, trying to downplay it.

An Ran’s snowy cheeks flushed crimson as she glared at her. “I can’t believe you actually like this kind of thing. Hmph! I’ve completely misjudged you!”

“No, I don’t! You’ve got it wrong!” Chi Wan hurried to explain, waving her hands. “I didn’t even unwrap it when I bought it. I just grabbed something plain-looking. It only seems like… well, you know. But if you really wear it, maybe it’s not that—”

“You! You actually want me to wear it?!”

An Ran’s watery eyes rounded in shock, her voice trembling with disbelief. “And you still say it wasn’t on purpose?!”

If it really wasn’t intentional, why insist on her wearing it after realizing it was the wrong one? That’s definitely premeditated!

Chi Wan opened her mouth but couldn’t get a word out. The more she explained, the messier it sounded. In the end, she simply said, “How about… I just buy you another one?”

Now it was An Ran’s turn to hesitate. The incident with the man knocking on their door earlier had already spooked her, and honestly, while the lingerie’s style was certainly unexpected, it wasn’t completely unwearable. After all, it was just for one night.

“Forget it, it’s already paid for,” she muttered reluctantly.

Chi Wan studied her conflicted expression, then asked tentatively, “So… you really don’t mind?”

“I guess not…” An Ran’s fingers tightened around the fabric, her tense grip betraying her inner turmoil.

________________________________________

Meanwhile, Mo Wei’s secretary had tried everything but still couldn’t identify which hotel Chi Wan was staying in from the livestream background. Left with no choice, she reported her failure.

“Got it.” Mo Wei ended the call with just two words, her tone unreadable.

A moment later, restless and uneasy, she gave in to temptation and dialed another number.

“Hello?” Chi Wan answered.

A low, ethereal voice drifted through the receiver. “Chi Wan, do you recognize me?”

Chi Wan frowned, concentrating on the voice. “Mo Wei?”

“Mhm.” The fact that Chi Wan could identify her voice brought Mo Wei a fleeting spark of joy.

“Why are you calling so late? Did something happen?” Chi Wan tried to analyze her purpose, but Mo Wei, after a long pause, suddenly said:

“I watched your livestream. The account that sent you the most gifts—that was me.”

Chi Wan blinked, her mind scrambling. What? Did she call to ask for a refund? Or just to inform me? Or… does she expect me to thank her?

“And then?” she prompted cautiously.

Mo Wei tightened her grip on the phone. “I just want to know… you and An Ran—did you sleep together?”

“What?” Chi Wan was completely blindsided by the question.

“You didn’t hear me? I asked if—” Mo Wei inhaled deeply. The words felt even more shameful spoken aloud at night.

But before she could finish, the phone was smoothly plucked from Chi Wan’s hand by a delicate jade-like one.

A low, slightly hoarse, and sticky voice purred into the line, laced with a smile: “Why is Miss Mo so curious about that? Of course we slept together. In fact, we’re about to do it again.”

It wasn’t just Mo Wei who was stunned—Chi Wan was equally floored. What?! Who am I? Where am I? What does she mean, ‘again’?!

“An Ran?” After a long silence, Mo Wei finally spat out the name, her voice tight with disbelief, almost grinding through her teeth.

“Mhm, it’s me. What’s wrong, Miss Mo? Don’t believe me? Or do you want me to put the call on speaker so you can listen in at the wall?”

An Ran rarely spoke with such barbed sarcasm, and Chi Wan was utterly bewildered.

“…No need.”

Click. Mo Wei hung up decisively, her face clouded.

“Miss, what’s wrong? Where are we heading next?” her bodyguard asked carefully.

“To the bar. I want a drink.” Mo Wei felt a fire raging in her chest. “Call a few friends to join.”

The bodyguard nodded. Remembering the red envelope Tang Qian had once slipped him, he dialed her first.

Tang Qian, though initially displeased at being woken, perked up instantly when she heard the invitation. A bar, with Mo Wei? Her instincts told her this was a golden opportunity to get closer.

At the same time, Gu Lin also got wind of it. Though Mo Wei’s bodyguard hadn’t invited her, she had her own channels. She resolved to show up “by coincidence.” No way was she letting Tang Qian get ahead.

Mingyu, however, declined. She had no interest in drinking tonight. At that very moment, she was at a private boutique with Qu Huan, who served as her quiet, obedient attendant.

The reason she’d brought Qu Huan instead of other friends was simple: the others had been prying into her personal matters, which irritated her. Qu Huan, on the other hand, was easy to handle.

“Strange… why would Mo Wei suddenly want to drink? What got into her?” Mingyu muttered as she set her phone aside.

Qu Huan, pouring her juice, hesitated before saying, “Maybe it’s because of Chi Wan’s livestream. An Ran showed up too… in a bathrobe. And, um—”

She trailed off, the rest unsaid. But judging by Mingyu’s expression, she knew Mingyu had understood perfectly.

Her mind flashed to what her best friend had told her not long ago—that Chi Wan’s livestream chat had been buzzing with comments about how An Ran looked more like a Ming family member than she did.

Ming family, huh? She gave a cold laugh.

Her fingers clenched the fabric of the gown in her hand, wrinkling it with deep creases.

She had once longed to be acknowledged as part of the Ming family. Now, all she wanted was to return to her biological father’s household.

Qu Huan, watching her carefully, whispered, “Honestly, I don’t see what’s so great about Chi Wan. I really don’t get it—why are Mo Wei and the others acting like they’re under some kind of spell?”

Her words shifted Mingyu’s thoughts. Tapping her fingertips, Mingyu mused darkly: Chi Wan is indeed strange. Could she really know some kind of sorcery?

Because aside from her looks, Chi Wan had nothing impressive—unlike Mo Wei.

“At least Mo Wei has money and beauty. No wonder Tang Qian and Gu Lin keep chasing her. But Chi Wan…”

Mingyu sneered, dripping with disdain.

Her words, however, made Qu Huan’s stomach clench. That’s right. Gu Lin openly pursued Mo Wei relentlessly. If Mo Wei’s drinking tonight… Gu Lin will probably show up too. But at this hour—

________________________________________

Meanwhile, at Su Yao’s company, the lights still blazed though it was deep into the night. Everyone was working overtime because their boss was in a foul mood.

And with the boss herself staying late, who dared leave first?

“Hey, you’re close to the boss. What’s going on? How long are we stuck here?”

“Shh! Don’t ask too much. She’s upset because of some livestream she watched. Just be ready to sleep at the office.”

“What? Sleep… here?!”

Though Su Yao appeared to be going through documents, she hadn’t flipped a page in ages. In her mind’s eye, she kept seeing An Ran in that bathrobe on Chi Wan’s livestream. She knew exactly what the feeling was.

Jealousy.

It was jealousy, plain and ugly.

An Ran had already whispered and touched Chi Wan, had even pressed skin to skin with her. But she—Su Yao, who had known Chi Wan first—had nothing.

Through the blinds, her secretary took one look at the boss’s stormy mood and decisively sent a message to the employee group chat created earlier that night:

Give up hope. We’re pulling an all-nighter for sure.

For a while, the company group chat was filled with wails of despair.

——Does anyone know what livestream President Su watched that put her in such a foul mood?

——No clue. But I have a theory—what if it was one of those “the bride isn’t me” heartbreaking plots?

——Hiss! You mean, the person President Su likes went and married someone else?

——That’s brutal!

——Worse than overtime at midnight!

——Wait a second! Isn’t the one President Su likes Chi Wan? What—did Chi Wan get married?!

That last message was like a thunderclap—suddenly everyone understood.

They all rushed to Chi Wan’s livestream. Though it had already ended, the comments were still there, and some viewers had even clipped short videos.

When An Ran appeared in a bathrobe, the Su Corporation staff instantly understood why their boss was in such a bad mood.

To make matters worse, the comment section was full of remarks saying An Ran’s looks resembled those of the Ming family.

And wasn’t Miss Mingyu the person their boss had once liked?

Hiss! Talk about heartache.

Meanwhile, Lu Xin unexpectedly went live again late at night.

——Lu Xin’s been so diligent lately! What’s this stream about?

“Nothing special, just streaming out of boredom,” she said, holding a bottle of liquor. Skewers of barbecue covered the table in front of her—a scene full of smoky, down-to-earth charm. But her expression was dark, the heat rising from the food barely concealing it.

——Lu Xin, loneliness is one thing, but drinking alone in the middle of the night isn’t the answer!

——Go home, Lu Xin! Don’t do anything reckless just because Chi Wan upset you!

Viewers kept persuading her to stop, fully aware of why she had suddenly gone live.

——That’s not liquor she’s drinking—it’s her sorrow.

——And where’s Chi Wan now? Curled up with her beauty, forgetting Lu Xin’s out here drowning her loneliness! Makes me want to storm Chi Wan’s room, drag An Ran out, and put Lu Xin in her place!

Seeing that comment, Lu Xin suddenly laughed, even giving a big thumbs-up to the camera.

As for An Ran—after trying on the lingerie, she regretted it immediately. It wasn’t just the style; the designs were crafted to target all her most sensitive spots.

The moment she put it on, her whole body felt like it was on fire.

There was simply no way she could wear it.

So that night, she kept on a bathrobe instead. The room had two beds—she and Chi Wan each took one. Even though the night was stiflingly hot, she had no choice but to cinch the sash tightly. After all, there was only one sash on that robe… and she hadn’t told Chi Wan that she wasn’t wearing anything underneath.

The night passed without incident. The next morning, however, she had no choice but to put on the two impossibly provocative pieces.

Within minutes, her cheeks were burning red.

“Is it really that hot in here?”

Chi Wan checked the room temperature, her words making An Ran itch to scratch her to pieces.

Over the next few days, Chi Wan streamed a few more times in the original host’s style. Riding the current wave of popularity, she raked in several months’ worth of income in just days and promptly wired the money to cover Mother Chi’s medical bills.

Right after that, filming for the romance reality show began.

Chi Wan and An Ran arrived at the set right on time.

First on the agenda was revealing the results of the “heartbreak messgae” mutual selections. Only two pairs had successfully matched: Chi Wan with An Ran, and Mingyu with Qu Huan.

The rest had to draw lots, except Xia Meng, who—having won the earlier challenge—earned the right to pick her partner directly.

Her choice? Lu Xin.

After the draw, the new pairings were announced:

Shi Yi and Su Yao.

Gu Lin and Mo Wei.

Tang Qian and Ruan Xiao.

Unexpectedly, Tang Qian seemed off that day—distracted and absent-minded. Even though she hadn’t been paired with Mo Wei, she didn’t seem too upset.

Gu Lin also looked pensive, as though weighed down with unspoken troubles.

And then there was Qu Huan—something about her demeanor seemed… wrong.

Mingyu cast her a single glance, laced with unspoken warning. Qu Huan stiffened immediately, quickly lowering her head.

Clutching the hem of her clothes, she heard Mingyu’s cool voice in her ear: “I won’t ask where you went that night, but the least you can do is act as if nothing happened.”

“To deepen bonds between guests,” the host Chu Rou announced, “let’s begin a shopping trip together!”

Xia Meng tilted her head in confusion. “But we don’t have money. How are we supposed to buy anything?”

The show had forbidden guests from bringing much cash, and now they were being told to shop. Suspicious, to say the least.

“You can still buy,” Chu Rou replied with a smile. “As long as you clear the challenges set by the merchants.”

“Oh, so basically product placement,” Ruan Xiao muttered, catching on immediately.

Soon after, the cast boarded a bus and headed for a bustling shopping street. As luck would have it, the area was hosting some kind of event, and the atmosphere was lively and festive.

“Is this a comic convention or something? Everyone’s dressed so uniquely.”

“Now, it’s your turn—go join them.”

Chu Rou gave them a mysterious smile and turned to leave.

Chi Wan was walking hand in hand with An Ran when suddenly a glamorous woman strode over and hooked her arm around Chi Wan’s wrist.

“Darling, I finally found you.”