It’s Okay to Divorce - Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Chen Sheng wasn’t into chasing celebrities, but when he saw the headline about Mu Mian, he clicked on it out of reflex.

The headline featured a video.

The blurry video revealed the general outline: Mu Mian was lying on the sofa with her belly protruding, while Zou Tingshen massaged her, looking every bit like a devoted husband.

Chen Sheng gripped his phone and frowned.

So, could Mr. Yun Haodong’s words be trusted? Would Mu Mian really become his wife in the seventh year?

He dialed Mu Mian’s number, but it kept saying unavailable, so he hung up and left her a WeChat message, saying he’d wait for her in the VIP private room at the hotel’s seventh-floor restaurant.

He took a sip of coffee, set it down, and spread out the recent entertainment newspaper, skimming it roughly before finding the news about Mu Mian and reading it carefully.

After finishing the paper, he opened his phone to check the latest gossip.

When Mu Mian opened her eyes that morning, Ming Wei shoved the iPad into her arms.

She glanced over it roughly and sighed. “Last night, based on my sharp intuition, I had a feeling something would go wrong, and sure enough…”

She paused, thinking of something, and turned to ask Ming Wei, “Do you think this could be Zou Tingshen deliberately getting someone to record it and post it online to hype things up?”

Ming Wei thought about it and couldn’t rule out the possibility. After all, the Film Emperor had agreed to marry her and offered such great terms—it just didn’t add up. He must want something from Mu Mian.

Or perhaps… he wanted to unearth something from her that no one else had seen.

If Zou Tingshen was trying to “dig up” Mu Mian, turning their enemies-to-lovers hype into a real CP, once the transformation succeeded, long-term bundled marketing would benefit both of them immensely. At that point, Mu Mian wouldn’t be able to refuse Zou Tingshen’s “gracious invitation.”

But this headline was too abrupt, not even giving fans any buffer time.

Yesterday, they were still mortal enemies, and today they were suddenly a loving couple—fans were having trouble accepting it.

In the comments under the Weibo headline, the comment section was exploding, with fans from both sides already starting to fight.

Normally, when a celebrity couple’s relationship is exposed in the entertainment industry, it should be a cause for celebration. But Zou Tingshen and Mu Mian had always hyped their enemies’ personas, so suddenly becoming a couple made fans feel uneasy.

Because the two had given netizens an impression of being evenly matched rivals online, in fans’ eyes, only a cute and bubbly girl could match the aloof and unapproachable male god, and only a warm and gentle guy could match the cool imperial-sister Film Empress.

Logically, fans should be thrilled about the two announcing their relationship—after all, the male god and goddess were together.

But they weren’t thrilled…

There were tons of fan art of the two online that people loved, where artists drew them with personalities opposite to reality. In the comics, Mu Mian’s image was that of a cool queen, but her personality was soft and cute; while Zou Tingshen had the aloof male god look, but was actually a homey, good-natured guy. Because of the contrast with reality, everyone adored the “loving” and “sweet” interactions in the fan art.

Fans knew that if the two really became a couple, it would be terrifying…

They’d never see their bickering again, and given their personalities, they definitely wouldn’t show off their affection. Without the daily bickering on Weibo, artists would lose inspiration for those contrasting cute sweet comics…

Whimper… that was too scary!

The top comment on Weibo, with six thousand likes: “No way, impossible! How could my male god actually be with Empress Mu??? Totally impossible! Aren’t they like oil and water? Argh, I can’t accept them really being together… I prefer them together in 2D, wah wah…”

Fans below echoed the sentiment.

The more they read, the more heartbreaking it was… They didn’t want the two to really be together!

Unless Empress Mu and the Film Emperor turned into their comic versions, bickering while showing affection and being sweet! But that was obviously impossible.

Reply comment: “In reality, they don’t match at all… I prefer watching them bicker in 3D and being cute and sweet in 2D. If they really get together… probably no more bickering, and artists won’t have inspiration for comics! Whimper, feels like I just got dumped.”

“Waiting for the male god to speak. I don’t believe it, I don’t believe he’d be with Mu Mian! He likes the soft, cute bunny type, okay!!”

“…Oh my god, Mars and Mars together? Unbelievable.”

“I don’t believe it either. The video is clearly taken out of context. Let’s see what the parties say. If it’s real, I’ll have to unfollow.”

The news from a few days ago about Mu Mian allegedly bullying Yun Pei hadn’t died down yet, and now there was suspicion of her announcing a relationship with Zou Tingshen, pushing her back to the top trends.

Mu Mian had been in the headlines one after another lately, making people suspect she was resorting to anything for hype and traffic. For celebrities, good or bad, traffic is king—being blacklisted isn’t scary—being obscure is.

Some started attacking Mu Mian: “Old woman, take a look in the mirror at your own face, okay? What makes you think our Tingshen would like you? Heh heh, disgusting woman, actually making the male god massage you—don’t you have hands?”

“Deliberately setting a trap, huh? Heh heh heh, scheming b1tch, popularity dipping so you’re here to leech heat? Auntie, we’re not interested! Stay away from our male god!”

“Some Film Emperor fans really have no class. Does our Empress Mu need to leech heat??? Leave some mouth virtue, ok?”

“…”

The discussions went on endlessly.

After wrapping a scene,

Director Feng Weijian pulled Zou Tingshen aside and scolded him: “What are you two up to? Rehearsing lines is fine, but couldn’t you be more careful? Now you’ve caused this mess? It’s not time yet for you two to hype as a CP couple—you need to give fans a buffer period, a gradual process. Doing it like this is like a rollercoaster; how can fans handle it? Bickering two days ago, and now ‘inseparable’, announcing a relationship? This isn’t right, even I can’t accept it.”

Feng Weijian had seen the morning news too. From the video, the two really didn’t look like… they were dating. It was obviously rehearsed.

From what he knew of Zou Tingshen, he wouldn’t patiently and gently massage a woman like that.

From what he knew of Mu Mian, she definitely wouldn’t act like an obedient little bunny… sticking out her big belly, kneeling on the sofa, looking Zou Tingshen in the eye while talking.

That scene was more like the later plot where the female lead softens up to win back the male lead’s favor.

Soon, Mu Mian’s management company started PR measures.

A well-known marketing account reposted, clearing Mu Mian’s name: “Nothing wrong here, they were just rehearsing, but it got twisted into a relationship reveal? This scene in the video matches the script exactly. [Image]”

Then they posted a photo of the script content.

In the photo segment, the strong woman Ren Li, to win back her husband’s favor, followed a friend’s advice and softens up to him.

A strong woman softening up had an indescribable contrasting cuteness. With the marketing account’s explanation, fans started to “savor” the video carefully.

So it really was rehearsing…

In the video, the Film Empress even had her belly out—if it wasn’t rehearsing, why would she do that in the middle of the night?

If they were really dating, why wouldn’t a lone man and woman touch butts or chests—instead, they’re massaging? Does the Film Emperor have issues?

The video quality wasn’t great, but the Film Empress kneeling on the sofa, looking the Emperor in the eye… really gave off contrasting cuteness. Totally unlike her usual cool image!

With that nudge, fans gradually relaxed—so they still had a chance to keep following the Movie Emperor and Empress’s bickering routine…

So artists could still draw inspiration and continue making those bickering-yet-sweet fan comics.

Fans who had been led astray turned around, filled with righteous anger, and started cursing the paparazzo Zhuo Dawei.

—

Yun Pei, due to a sudden illness, looked unwell on set. Seeing the news, she used a side account to curse Mu Mian as an old woman under her Weibo, and also mocked her for seducing older men.

Mu Mian happened to be scrolling Weibo, saw the comment, and clicked in. The person’s latest post was a rant: “Ahhhh, met a doctor who’s so handsome! Oh my god, I’m gonna faint, wanna flirt with him. \(≧▽≦)/”

The post’s location was actually their filming site.

She flipped through the album and found a little yellow duck water bottle identical to Yun Pei’s.

Mu Mian smiled. Just how much resentment did Miss Yun have toward her? Sometimes she really wanted to talk to her like an elder, but then again… she was still a baby herself, no way she wanted to be someone’s auntie. ╭(╯^╰)╮

If Yun Pei called her auntie, she’d break down…

When Yun Haodong found out about Yun Pei going to the hospital, he was already abroad, so he could only ask Mu Mian via text to help take care of her.

Mu Mian received Yun Haodong’s message, gripped her phone, and rolled her eyes. “You sure, Little Princess Yun will accept my care?”

Yun Haodong sent a pleading emoji: “You’re her aunt, the kid’s sick, just indulge her a bit, consider it done, ok?”

Mu Mian turned her head, glancing at the little girl sitting under the tree’s shade, head down, reading the script—her face looked bad.

Mu Mian decided not to hold it against the kid, lowered her head to check WeChat, and happened to see Chen Sheng’s message.

This guy was back in the country? Waiting for her at her hotel?

She checked the message time—it was 7 AM, and now it was already 2 PM.

It wasn’t convenient for Mu Mian to call, so she sent a WeChat asking what was up.

Chen Sheng told her he’d already waited a whole morning at the hotel restaurant.

Mu Mian facepalmed. “So why didn’t you just call me?”

“No one answered.”

Mu Mian checked her phone—sure enough, a few missed calls.

Argh… she felt bad for Chen Sheng.

Chen Sheng sighed and asked her: “Free tonight? Let’s talk?”

“Hm? About what?” Mu Mian reminded: “Not really convenient for me to go out at night, on the hot seat, you know.”

Chen Sheng’s voice was soft, and even over the phone, his warm, gentle tone was palpable: “Talk about… how I’ve been thinking of you these past three hundred-plus days since I left.”