When a "Sea King" is Bound to a System [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 43

The photo incident continued to escalate. Two days later, a video even emerged.

Jiang Yan looked at her smiling face in the video and was extremely unwilling to admit it was her.

She had never given Yu Shuang a good look, so how could she be smiling so gently?

Qin Yishu was also very displeased, but she never doubted Jiang Yan. She just hugged and nibbled on her whenever she was in a bad mood. After a week of this, Jiang Yan’s exposed skin was covered in overlapping bite marks, impossible to hide.

Qin Yishu’s work gradually got back on track, with a packed schedule that even consumed her sleeping time.

Initially, Jiang Yan was exhausted and could fall asleep standing up. After a few days, she adapted and could remain lively even when Qin Yishu worked late into the night.

Qin Yishu remarked more than once on her youth, her seemingly endless energy, wishing only that her stamina could be a little better.

Jiang Yan just hammered her lightly when she heard this, only to have her ear nibbled in return, refusing to surrender to any further demands.

Qin Yishu seemed to love physical intimacy, but Jiang Yan preferred the spiritual closeness of two people. If their hearts were connected, she could even accept a platonic relationship.

This thought mainly arose after meeting Qin Yishu, because the woman was simply insatiable and outrageous.

Just as Jiang Yan was diligently serving as a little assistant, an uninvited guest showed up at her door.

She was resting at home that day. Zhuo Wei called again, but she hung up immediately and blocked his number. After a satisfying sleep, she went out in the afternoon to take out the trash and ran into the suspicious-looking Zhuo Wei in the complex.

He was wearing a hat, sunglasses, and a mask, making it obvious to everyone that something was unusual about him.

Upon seeing Jiang Yan, he quickly pulled his hat lower and tried to walk away like a stranger. Jiang Yan sensed something was wrong and called out to him.

“You called me this morning, and you don’t recognize me so quickly?”

Zhuo Wei took off his sunglasses and offered a compensatory smile. “It’s Miss Jiang. Please forgive my poor eyesight; I didn’t recognize you.”

Jiang Yan found him very strange, permeated by an odd vibe from head to toe.

He used to call her “Little Jiang.” Why the sudden formality?

“Editor-in-Chief Zhuo, what brings you here? Visiting relatives?”

It wasn’t strange that he could enter the compound, but his attire was unusual. It looked like he was specifically here to stake out gossip, especially since Qin Yishu wasn’t the only artist living in the building.

Zhuo Wei gave two awkward laughs, rubbing his hands. “Just strolling around. I’ll definitely never afford a luxurious compound like this in my lifetime, so I came in to admire it.”

“Really?” Jiang Yan still didn’t believe him.

Zhuo Wei immediately became serious. “Absolutely true. I wouldn’t lie to anyone, especially not you.”

Jiang Yan assessed him. She didn’t believe him, but since she couldn’t get any information by pressing him, she let him go.

She had only taken two steps when she heard Qin Yishu call her name. She turned around to see Qin Yishu walking towards her, brushing past Zhuo Wei.

Jiang Yan felt a little guilty, silently praying that Qin Yishu hadn’t seen her with Zhuo Wei.

She didn’t know why she felt guilty; she hadn’t done anything. Even if Qin Yishu saw them, so what?

Qin Yishu gave Zhuo Wei an imperceptible glance, then quickly walked up to Jiang Yan and ruffled her hair.

“Did you eat obediently?”

“I did. I ordered crawfish.”

Jiang Yan answered obediently, taking a step back before Qin Yishu could make any more intimate moves.

That paparazzi, Zhuo Wei, was still around, so she had to maintain a safe distance.

Qin Yishu frowned slightly but said nothing.

Back home, Jiang Yan naturally faced her punishment from a certain person. The new and old bite marks on her body overlapped, looking quite scary.

Jiang Yan often wondered if Qin Yishu had been a dog in her past life; why else would she be so fond of biting people?

As the people involved refused to respond, the situation began to develop uncontrollably. Yu Shuang’s “wife fans” were chasing Jiang Yan and cursing her, while others offered their blessings. Jiang Yan found the bizarre comments amusing, using their private messages to pass the boring time every day.

Just when the heat was beginning to subside, Yu Shuang suddenly posted an ambiguous Weibo message, tagging Jiang Yan in it.

The topic was immediately reignited, and Jiang Yan once again became the target of public criticism.

To avoid interference from idiots, she immediately deleted her Weibo account. She secretly created a burner account and sent Yu Shuang a private message, politely inquiring about her dysfunctional brain.

Not long after she finished swearing, Yu Shuang called. Her tone was light, and she sounded very happy.

“Little friend, did you enjoy the scolding?”

Jiang Yan: “…” How did she recognize her?

“Silence means yes. Do you hate me that deeply? That really hurts Big Sister’s feelings. I love you so much, yet you’re cursing me to die.”

Jiang Yan thought for a moment. She didn’t think she had said anything like that. She had suggested Yu Shuang get her brain checked and stop acting crazy like a neurotic person all the time.

But that wasn’t a reason for Yu Shuang to tag her without consent!

“Look at the Weibo post you put out! Does it even sound like a human being wrote it?! ‘This is my private business, I hope everyone gives me space and doesn’t bother the little friend, or she will hate me.’ What is that if not misleading your fans?! Please, if you’re sick, go get treated. Stop ruining the flowers of the motherland.”

Yu Shuang burst out laughing and said in her usual enchanting voice, “You see, you’re so cute. It’s really hard for Big Sister not to be interested in you.”

“I’m not cute at all. I’m lazy and gluttonous, I hate bathing, I swear a lot, and I’m a violent maniac. I’m not worthy of your dazzling self. Please look at other young ladies.”

Jiang Yan wanted to get rid of Yu Shuang as much as she wanted to avoid the plague. No, Yu Shuang was even scarier than the plague.

She had never imagined that she, a victorious general who traversed countless worlds without a rival, would be troubled by an NPC in a small world.

“When I set my sights on something, there’s nothing I can’t get.” Yu Shuang’s voice deepened. Even through the phone, Jiang Yan could imagine the look of obsession on her face.

Jiang Yan wished she could flip the coffee table in front of her. What the hell was this Cheng Yaojin (unexpected troublemaker) who suddenly barged in!

“There’s nothing to discuss. Goodbye!”

She hung up, collapsed heavily onto the sofa, and sighed while looking at the ceiling.

She had been resting at home these past few days because her body couldn’t take it, thinking she could have a nice time. Instead, one terrible thing followed another.

If Qin Yishu saw Yu Shuang’s response, she would undoubtedly get angry.

Her old back was going to be ruined again. Sigh.

Jiang Yan prepared herself mentally and even cooked a delicious meal to appease Qin Yishu. However, when Qin Yishu returned, she didn’t mention the issue at all; she simply carried Jiang Yan into the bedroom.

Her actions were more vigorous than ever before. Jiang Yan’s pleas were ignored until she was utterly exhausted and on the verge of fainting, only then did Qin Yishu let her go.

Jiang Yan had a gut feeling that something was wrong, but her throat hurt too much to speak, and she was too tired to open her eyes. She fell asleep before she could question Qin Yishu.

She woke up the next day in a hospital, with only a familiar-looking woman beside her. It was Sheng Ying, Qin Yishu’s other assistant, who mainly handled her work.

Seeing her wake up, Sheng Ying smiled. “Miss Qin went to film. She asked me to look after you here.”

Sheng Ying was aware of their relationship, so Qin Yishu wasn’t hiding anything from her.

But Jiang Yan still felt uncomfortable. She nodded silently and then retreated back under the covers.

It was already embarrassing enough to be hospitalized under those circumstances. Qin Yishu asking someone else to look after her, completely disregarding her feelings, was the worst.

Most importantly, Qin Yishu’s scenes were in the afternoon. What time was it now? Was it necessary for her to go so early?

Sheng Ying found it tedious to stay by herself and left after a while. Jiang Yan poked her head out from under the quilt, picking up her phone and hesitating.

She was debating whether to call Qin Yishu and ask what she was doing.

But she couldn’t bring herself to do it. After all, Qin Yishu was the one who abandoned her first, so Qin Yishu should be the one to call.

Utterly bored, she could only chat uselessly with Oscar, asking why Qin Yishu’s Blackening Value had been stuck at around thirty for so long, neither rising nor falling. She had done everything she could; it shouldn’t be completely stagnant.

Oscar: [Your effort alone isn’t enough. Besides the physical union, methods to deepen a relationship include spiritual compatibility. Can you currently guess one hundred percent of what Qin Yishu is thinking?]

Jiang Yan was struck hard. She quietly exited the chat and stared blankly at Qin Yishu’s newly posted Weibo.

Qin Yishu had posted a group photo with a female co-star from the same set. This was the first time she had ever shared a photo with anyone else.

In her thirteen years since debut, aside from promoting film and television works, she had never posted a group photo with anyone, nor had she ever smiled so gently for anyone, which was why fans called her the “Iceberg Goddess,” and she held a definite position among the cool and restrained goddesses.

Yet, here she was, her hand resting on the other girl’s shoulder, not only smiling but also making a peace sign with the girl, as if deliberately accommodating her.

Jiang Yan realized the truth. She followed the comments to the girl’s Weibo, read her profile, and felt an indescribable mix of emotions.

Nan Yin, twenty years old, a sophomore at the Film Academy, the daughter of the Dahe Group’s chairman. Her family was wealthy, and she was only in the entertainment industry as a hobby.

The investment for this film came from the Dahe Group. It was rumored that Chairman Nan Chengcheng specifically hired a gold-standard screenwriter and director to tailor the film for Qin Yishu and Nan Yin, to fulfill his daughter’s dream of filming with her idol.

No wonder Qin Yishu hadn’t let her follow her since the filming started, claiming it was for her health. She felt foolish for thinking Qin Yishu was being thoughtful; it was all because of this.

Jiang Yan’s heart sank further and further. After a long moment, she gave a self-deprecating smile and murmured, “I was so foolish, truly foolish.”

She had simply thought Qin Yishu had a change of heart, but it turned out to be another of her thousand-layer schemes.

Did she think Jiang Yan was an idiot, so she lied to her like this? Did she think such common knowledge could be hidden from her?

Going to the set so early today must also have been for Nan Yin. They must be having a great time together, smiling much more brightly than she ever did with Jiang Yan.

What did they do when they were together? Most of the time, they were in bed. So, was she just a tool for Qin Yishu to vent her desires?

As she thought about it, Jiang Yan felt sick. Her stomach began to churn, and she held onto a roadside plane tree, dry-heaving.

How did one manage to move seamlessly between two women? It was incomprehensible.

After walking for half the night, Jiang Yan gradually calmed down. She took a taxi back and, the moment she arrived home, called Qin Yishu.

This time, she answered.

“What’s wrong?”

Her tone had become stiff. Before, her first word was always “baby”; she would never have been so direct in questioning her.

It turns out that love and lack of love are all in the details, Jiang Yan curved her lips.

“Are you coming home tonight? It’s raining, and I can’t quite sleep.”

There was a pause on the other end, and then she asked, “Are you still unwell? You sound like you have a stuffy nose.”

At this sign of concern, Jiang Yan’s nose felt sore, but she managed to hold back her tears.

“I’m fine. I might have just woken up. Are you coming back?”

If Qin Yishu came back, she would give her a chance to explain. No matter how absurd the reason, she would believe her.

A faint hope flickered in her heart, but reality doused her with a bucket of cold water.

“You don’t have to wait for me. Go to sleep first. I finished late today, so I’m staying in a nearby hotel.”

The fingers holding Jiang Yan’s phone slowly turned white, and her eyes completely darkened.

“Okay. Then you rest well and don’t work too hard. I’ll wait for you at home.”

Qin Yishu liked her to be obedient and compliant, so she would be obedient and compliant. It was all for the sake of the mission, after all. What did feelings matter?

Sure enough, whether it was from guilt or something else, as soon as Jiang Yan finished speaking, Qin Yishu’s Blackening Value dropped. Although it was still at twenty, compared to the thirty it had been stuck at for a long time, it was a significant improvement.

Excellent. At this rate, Qin Yishu’s Blackening Value should be cleared within a week.

Jiang Yan was about to hang up when she suddenly heard Qin Yishu say, “Baby, no matter what you hear or what you see, don’t believe it. You only need to trust me.”

Her voice was hushed, as if afraid of being overheard by someone.

Jiang Yan paused, then heard the dial tone.

What did those words mean? Could it be that Qin Yishu had a compelling reason for being with Nan Yin?

She immediately found her own thought ridiculous, tossed the phone aside, and stood in front of the French window, looking at the rain curtain outside.

It was beautiful, a beauty that made her heart ache.

For a moment, Jiang Yan was reminded of the melancholic adolescent fiction from her middle-school days. She let out two low laughs, but her eyes wouldn’t synchronize with her mouth, competing with the rain outside.

She didn’t know how long she stood there, until the tears on her face dried automatically. Only then did Jiang Yan remember that she hadn’t slept for two days.

Sleeping wasn’t the issue; the issue was when Qin Yishu would come back.

Her head felt cloudy, and her temples throbbed violently. Jiang Yan walked to the sofa and lay down. Halfway through, she got up, took some medicine, and then resumed her half-sleep, half-wake state.

Nonsense dreams entangled her for an entire day. When she finally opened her eyes, it was already the early hours of the next morning.

Jiang Yan got up and looked at the cold medicine on the table. Great, it had expired a year ago.

She was covered in cold sweat, feeling sticky and uncomfortable. She forced herself to take a shower and then bundled herself into the thick quilt.

During this time, Qin Yishu’s Blackening Value dropped by another ten points.

Jiang Yan fabricated a long list of scenarios, ultimately attributing the drop to Qin Yishu’s guilt towards her.

As for why she was guilty, what else could it be in the middle of the night?

She thought she had become numb, yet she was still tormented by this baseless speculation.

“Jiang Yan, you really have no backbone.”

It was another sleepless night. When the sun came out during the day, Jiang Yan’s cold miraculously disappeared.

She acted the same as before, sending warm greetings to Qin Yishu on WeChat, even more so than usual, but the sentiment behind the messages was completely different.

At seven in the evening, Jiang Yan received a text message from Qin Yishu asking her to come to the same hotel as last time, where she would explain everything in person.

Jiang Yan hesitated for a while, but ultimately decided to go. Perhaps she still held a glimmer of hope for Qin Yishu; otherwise, she wouldn’t have delayed leaving.

Upon arrival, a server was waiting for her at the entrance. He led her directly to the twenty-eighth floor and then left.

Jiang Yan walked closer and found the door ajar. She pushed it open slightly and heard people talking inside.

“Didn’t you have a little assistant who was inseparable from you? How come I haven’t seen her recently?”

“I don’t need her for anything. Bringing her along would just be a burden.”

Jiang Yan’s steps froze, and her hand slowly clenched.

“How could she be a burden? I’ve heard quite a bit of gossip about you two. I heard you doted on her quite a bit, and you were even living together.”

“She’s just a convenient tool. It’s not as exaggerated as you make it sound.”

Nan Yin “giggled,” hinting with her words: “I wonder if your little assistant would be heartbroken if she heard that.”

Jiang Yan sneered. It would just be one more time her heart died. What was there to care about? But she would absolutely not let the scumbag woman get away with it.

She walked in and saw Nan Yin leaning on Qin Yishu’s shoulder, smiling purely, and Qin Yishu’s suddenly panicked eyes.

“Yan Yan, why are you here?!”

Jiang Yan smiled faintly, her tone flat and distant: “What, did I interrupt Film Empress Qin’s fun?”

Qin Yishu shot up from the sofa and walked over to Jiang Yan. Her lips moved, but she said nothing.

Nan Yin stepped forward and hooked her arm through Qin Yishu’s, resting her head on her shoulder in an intimate gesture.

“This must be your little assistant. She’s very pretty.”

Jiang Yan took off the bracelet Qin Yishu had given her and tossed it into her arms. “I’m not anymore. Film Empress Qin can go play with whichever young lady she wants now, without having to be sneaky like this. Aren’t you happy?”

Panic flashed across Qin Yishu’s eyes. She grabbed Jiang Yan’s arm and said, “Stop messing around. Be good and let’s go home first.”

Jiang Yan shook off her arm, her lips curving into a sarcastic arc. “Relationships are supposed to be consensual. If you like someone, you get together. If you don’t, you break up. If you had been straightforward, I might have even thought you were a responsible person. But now, I just feel disgusted. I find you disgusting.”

Qin Yishu’s face changed drastically, and the hand gripping Jiang Yan’s arm slowly loosened.

Jiang Yan swept her gaze over both of them, her voice heavy: “I wish you two a long and happy life together. The scumbag woman and the green tea deserve to be locked down together. And, Miss Nan, I am not the hotel service staff.”

Having said her piece, she turned and left without looking back, slamming the door shut and isolating herself from Qin Yishu.

The thought of breathing the same air as her made her feel sick.

She had originally thought she had outsmarted Qin Yishu, using her little tricks to hook her. But the person who got hooked was her. Qin Yishu was the true predator.

The clown turned out to be herself!

Not long after Jiang Yan left the hotel, her mother’s call came in. The first question was whether she had finished playing around.

Jiang Yan, whose emotions had been relatively stable, broke down when she heard this and began to sob uncontrollably.

Shangguan Yi heard her daughter’s crying and felt a pang of heartache. She quickly said, “My darling, who bullied you? Tell Mom, and Mom will help you get back at them.”

She couldn’t get back at them. How could the feelings she had given so easily be retracted?

“Mom, I’m fine. I just miss home.”

“What’s there to cry about? I’ll send the private jet to pick you up tomorrow.” Shangguan Yi’s gentle voice provided great comfort to Jiang Yan.

“Okay, I’ll come back tomorrow.” She wouldn’t stay in this sad place any longer.