Transmigrating As The Scummy Ex-Wife Of The Cold And Aloof Tycoon - Chapter 34

Xin Ning arrived even faster than Ye Yichi had anticipated. Almost the moment she put down her phone, the courtyard gate was knocked upon.

A face full of worry, Su Fanxing went to open the door.

Through the gap between Su Fanxing and the door frame, Ye Yichi caught a glimpse: Kitty Cat pajamas, hair half-pinned up, and a sharp intensity in her eyes that clashed with her fluffy attire.

“Have you thought of anyone? Who have you offended lately?” With a slight frown, Xin Ning bypassed Su Fanxing and walked straight up to Ye Yichi. “The trending search was clearly bought. The photos were meticulously cropped to feature only you. I’ve already had the PR department pull the search; it should take effect in ten minutes.”

The clam that usually stayed tightly shut, testing the waters with such caution, was actually quite decisive and swift today.

Ye Yichi pursed her lips and couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle.

“You’re still laughing?” Xin Ning’s dark eyes reflected Ye Yichi’s silhouette. After a moment, the sharpness gradually melted into shimmering ripples. “Can you please take your own affairs a bit more seriously?”

“It’s not like I’m not taking it seriously,” Ye Yichi rubbed the tip of her nose. “They’re just a few groundless photos. If we ignore them, they’ll blow over in a few days.”

“Is that so?” Xin Ning paused for a moment, the ripples in her eyes freezing as her voice sank slightly. “Do you think I’m meddling in things that don’t concern me?”

Ye Yichi looked at Xin Ning silently.

A clam has snow-white flesh and a hard shell, it consumes grains of sand to produce pearls. Everything about it is fine, except that it shouldn’t leave the water for the land. Look at her she finally learned to “speak” human language, but forgot to take the advanced course in “listening.” Tsk.

Still, it was rare to see the “clam” so anxious.

“I didn’t say that.” She touched the back of Xin Ning’s hand.

Standing up, she led Xin Ning toward the dining table. “What I meant is, I’m an actress, not an idol. I won’t have fans screaming about a ‘collapsed house’ over a few photos. There’s no need to rush. You haven’t had dinner yet? Let’s eat together.”

After dinner, Ye Yichi comforted Su Fanxing with a few words before following Xin Ning next door.

The Xin Group’s PR department was reliable, the trending search had already been removed.

During dinner, Ye Yichi had thought it over briefly. Aside from accepting a new drama, she hadn’t done anything else recently. This wave of negative press was likely aimed at the new project.

Was she blocking someone’s path?

This drama wasn’t mentioned in the original novel, so she couldn’t identify the mastermind through memory. She would have to ask around.

Ye Yichi curled up on the sofa and sent a message to the director.

Xin Ning watched Ye Yichi silently for a while before going into the bedroom. When she returned, she was holding a jar transparent, simple in design, and filled with candies wrapped in colorful cellophane.

Ye Yichi looked up after sending her message.

She was a little surprised.

Tsk tsk. No wonder she could always pull candy out of her pockets, she’d bought such a giant jar?

But this “clam” clearly hated sweets.

Originally, Ye Yichi thought Xin Ning carried them because Lin Weilan liked them. Even after the misunderstanding was cleared… why did Xin Ning buy so many candies she disliked? To be fair, they looked quite beautiful piled together, enough to make one’s heart flutter.

“Want some?” Xin Ning sat down next to Ye Yichi, opened the lid, and tucked the entire candy jar into Ye Yichi’s arms.

Ye Yichi scanned the selection and chose one in pink cellophane. She unwrapped it, and the sweet scent of strawberry wafted out. As she popped it into her mouth, the sweetness doubled praise be to sugar for the dopamine.

Xin Ning’s gaze followed Ye Yichi’s movements, slowly drifting upward until it settled on Ye Yichi’s bulging cheek.

“I’m sorry,” Xin Ning said softly.

Ye Yichi: “Huh?”

“Before dinner, I didn’t mean to be harsh with you.” Xin Ning looked away, her cool voice laced with a few strands of helplessness. “I was just a little anxious, and a little… afraid that my actions wouldn’t meet your wishes.”

Oh? Is the clam trying to communicate?

Ye Yichi raised an eyebrow, her tongue lightly poking at the candy. “Why would you think that?”

“Maybe because I can’t see what it is you want?” Helplessness welled up in Xin Ning’s eyes, the deep pool of her gaze trembling. “Three years ago, I thought you wanted the company and power. But in those three years, you wanted nothing at all. So I became even more afraid. I can afford to lose the company and power, but I can’t lose my heart. Yichi, I cannot allow myself to repeat my mother’s mistakes.”

The tongue poking the candy went still.

This proud, stubborn plum blossom, capable of standing tall on scorched earth, shouldn’t wear such an expression.

Biting into the candy, Ye Yichi chose her words carefully. “About your mother… I’m very sorry, I..”

Xin Ning shook her head, her fingertips pressing against Ye Yichi’s lips.

The cold touch carried a slight tremor.

“Shh.” Her cool, helpless voice was also shaking. Xin Ning raised her other hand and pointed to her own throat. “I just got a little better, I can’t throw up again.”

The carefully prepared words froze on the tip of Ye Yichi’s tongue, swallowed down along with the crushed bits of candy. Ye Yichi nodded, her lips brushing against Xin Ning’s porcelain-like fingertip. It was soft, with a faint scent of roses lingering at the tip of her nose, like a small feather brushing against her heart.

The original slight tremor gradually turned into a frantic, erratic beat.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Xin Ning bit her lip lightly. “Do I look good?”

Ye Yichi snapped back to reality, realizing her hand was already tilting Xin Ning’s chin.

Xin Ning let her hold it, her gaze like a surging wave pouring entirely onto Ye Yichi’s lips.

“The way you look right now… it’s like you want to kiss me.” Her voice was muffled and slightly hoarse, lacking its usual cool sharpness and her earlier helplessness and grievance.

Beneath the cold stubbornness lay a hidden shyness; the tips of her ears were red as blood.

To be honest, she did want to kiss her.

Ye Yichi could feel her own breathing quicken. Beside her, Xin Ning’s breath was also getting faster by the second.

Beep, beep-beep.

The sound of the phone shattered the already chaotic atmosphere. Ye Yichi snapped fully back to her senses.

She grabbed the phone.

It was the director calling. Having heard about the trending search, she had compiled a list of people who had been in contact regarding the role.

“I’ve sent the list to your phone. There were three or four who came for auditions. Additionally, there were two high-profile veterans who didn’t audition but had face to face meetings. However, they weren’t quite right for the character. Later, someone recommended you; your image and temperament fit perfectly, and your acting is beyond reproach, so I turned down the auditioning actors to come to you.”

The person who bought the trending search was likely on that rejection list.

Ye Yichi hung up the phone and found several unread messages: from Director Li, from Lin Weilan, and from several directors and actors she had worked with before.

They were all concerned about the trending search.

After replying to them one by one, Ye Yichi opened the list. She didn’t recognize a single name.

Not even knowing my own peers, am I a bit too much of a ‘salted fish’ (lazy/unambitious)? After a few seconds of self-reflection, Ye Yichi’s peripheral vision caught Xin Ning.

Her head was slightly lowered, her chest rising and falling rapidly, the blush on her cheeks yet to fade.

It was… a little awkward.

Ye Yichi rubbed the tip of her nose, tentatively searching for something to say: “So, uh… that was the director on the phone just now.”

“Oh,” Xin Ning responded softly. “Was there something wrong?”

“She gave me a list.” Ye Yichi stole a glance at Xin Ning.

The tips of her ears and her cheeks were still flushed, though her chest wasn’t heaving as intensely as before; her emotions had likely stabilized a bit. She didn’t blame Xin Ning for being embarrassed, the situation was inherently… well, for two people who were divorced to almost kiss, to be honest, Ye Yichi felt a bit awkward herself.

Fortunately, having grown up navigating the streets and alleys, she was thick-skinned.

“The person who leaked the info should be on this list. I plan to check them out one by one,” Ye Yichi said.

Xin Ning’s gaze fell on Ye Yichi’s phone. “Forward it to me. I’ll have someone investigate.”

The next morning, shortly after 8:00 AM, Xin Ning sent over the investigation results.

The whistleblower was a rising starlet with some family background. She had originally intended to join the production as an investor actress, but upon hearing that the director planned to cast Ye Yichi, she flew into a rage and hired someone to stalk and sneak photos of her.

I have already notified the industry to blacklist her.

Quite the boss move, Ye Yichi thought, staring at the line of text and licking her canine tooth.

A moment later, a second message arrived.

Are you awake? I’d like to invite you for breakfast. Also, if you have time this afternoon, shall we have afternoon tea together?

Oh? She really did switch to a way humans can understand?

Unfortunately, the Mobius strip was inescapable. Ye Yichi gave a lazy yawn and tapped the screen.

Thanks, but no need. I’m heading to the set tomorrow, so I have to pack today.

The phone went silent for a few minutes and the screen dimmed. Did she give up? Ye Yichi rolled over, intending to return to her dreams.

Downstairs, the courtyard gate creaked.

Grandma Su opened the door and shouted excitedly toward the second floor: “Yueyue, get up! ‘Three Inches of Snow’ is here with delicious food for you!”

By the time they had finished breakfast, lunch, and afternoon tea, it was past 4:00 PM. Only then did Xin Ning return to the house next door.

Ye Yichi stared at the chickens running around under the tree and let out a silent sigh.

Before dinner, Su Fanxing returned. She burst through the door, shouting exultantly, “Sister! Sister! The trending search has flipped! The mastermind who bought the search to expose you was caught, and netizens are absolutely roasting her.”

“Really? That’s good then.” Ye Yichi smiled. “Go wash your hands. I’ll tell Grandma to start dinner.”

Since Xin Ning had handled both the investigation and the fallout, Ye Yichi truly didn’t know exactly how far the progress had gone.

After dinner, they watched the usual two episode update. The TV drama was nearing its finale the mystery was being unraveled, and the two leads were pouring their hearts out to one another. Su Fanxing watched with tears welling in her eyes, clutching Ye Yichi’s arm repeatedly.

“Sis, what should I do? Even I want to fall in love now.”

“Reality is different from TV dramas,” Ye Yichi replied perfunctorily.

“How is it different? I think you and your ex-wife are doing great.” Su Fanxing wiped her face and pointed at the phone screen. “Look, here you two are at the press conference with her arm around your waist, here you are cuddling in the sports car, and you even went to the hospital to accompany your ex-wife for a check-up. Oh, and this one, they say it’s a leaked screenshot from the set on a rainy day, your ex-wife was waiting for you with a longing gaze.”

The waist hugging at the press conference, the cuddling in the car, and the hospital visit she understood, but what was this “longing gaze on a rainy day”?

Ye Yichi took the phone.

Oh. It turned out to be from a while back when she was filming the scene lying in a coffin in the mountains, and Xin Ning had been holding the Hermès wool blanket.

“I really didn’t expect it. In just one day, Sis, you’ve staged a total counterattack? I was so worried yesterday, but look at the situation now.”

“The ‘deeply devoted lover’ persona is firmly established. Other people hesitate and stress over making an official announcement for fear of losing fans or being scolded, but in your case, it just happened naturally. When the fans see it, they think: ‘Man, being devoted is way better than being a playboy.’ They’re following, following, and following you more. You’ve even gained a wave of ‘CP fans’ (shippers). It’s literally a blessing in disguise.”

At a quick glance, what Su Fanxing said seemed correct in every way.

But if you thought about it carefully, it was wrong in every way.

“Did you forget something?” Ye Yichi shot her a sideways glance. “Xin Ning and I are already divorced.”