The Foolish Wife Turned Scheming After Her Recovery - Chapter 28

Chapter 28: Who’s Your Wife? It’s Yu Yao

The moment Lu Zhili spoke, everyone nearby was instantly struck speechless.

And to give credit where it’s due—Chu Jiayan did prove himself to be someone who could understand Lu Zhili’s wavelength and not think she was dumb. The second she said the word “wife,” he immediately realized who she was referring to.

Who else could it be?

If not Yu Yao, he couldn’t think of a second option!

Too underhanded! She went and made a unilateral public announcement!

Chu Jiayan was so mad he bared his teeth. Even though he didn’t stand a chance anymore, he didn’t want his goddess to go around publicly declaring someone else just like that!

The photographer froze, then reflexively asked, “Your wife is…?”

Lu Zhili beamed proudly and was just about to answer when Chu Jiayan abruptly cut in.

He forced himself to smile, though it was more painful than crying. His voice was dry and awkward as he said, “Haha, Louis, don’t listen to her nonsense. She’s just joking.”

The photographer—called Louis—nodded and waved it off like it wasn’t a big deal. “Doesn’t matter. As long as pretty kids hang out with other pretty kids, it’s all good.” He smiled brightly, thinking the three women with model-like looks were newcomers Chu Jiayan had brought to shoot.

“Sorry, I think you may be mistaken,” Yu Yao stepped forward, calmly placing herself between Lu Zhili and Louis, her eyes filled with unmistakable protectiveness. “I’m Chu Jiayan’s partner on this collaboration. These two are friends I brought along.”

Louis was taken aback, then suddenly caught on. He patted Yu Yao’s shoulder reassuringly. “Relax, relax. I’ve got no intentions toward the ladies—I actually prefer guys like Chu Jiayan.” As he spoke, he clung to Chu Jiayan’s arm.

Louis and Chu Jiayan had been friends for years. He also knew this guy had a bad habit of constantly getting handsy. Chu Jiayan pulled his arm back and smacked Louis on the hand with a loud slap.

“Zhao Guozhu! Get a grip!”

“Aaahhh! Chu Jiayan!” Louis shrieked dramatically. “I’ve told you a hundred times—don’t call me that!!!”

The two started their usual roughhousing, which didn’t surprise the surrounding staff one bit. A nearby assistant quietly came over to guide the three women to a resting area.

“Miss Yu, the photographer is ready on his end. We just need the model to arrive and we can begin.”

Yu Yao nodded, took the opened water bottle that Lu Zhili handed her, and took a sip. Checking the time, she asked, “How much longer until the model arrives?”

The assistant stiffened slightly and replied, “Teacher Lin’s team says they’re stuck in traffic. It’ll be about 20 minutes.”

“Twenty minutes?” Qin Yue let out a light laugh, not bothering to say more. She occasionally took commercial shoots back in Beijing and had seen all kinds of “unexpected delays” with higher-tier celebrities—traffic, accidents, you name it.

Still, she hadn’t expected this artist to be bold enough to delay even for someone like Chu Jiayan, the big boss.

Yu Yao understood the game behind the scenes, but since the artist was under Chu Jiayan’s agency, she couldn’t say much. She simply nodded, her face growing colder.

Lu Zhili quietly listened nearby. When she saw Yu Yao checking over the jewelry for the shoot, she got up and walked over to Chu Jiayan.

She patted his shoulder. “Hey.”

Chu Jiayan turned around. “What’s up?”

“Your employee’s gonna be 20 minutes late,” she said bluntly without any setup, tossing the problem directly into Chu Jiayan’s lap.

No one was allowed to bully the princess!

“What?” Chu Jiayan froze, then took two seconds to realize who she was talking about. He immediately frowned and instinctively looked toward the resting area. There he saw Yu Yao frowning at her watch, clearly upset.

“I got it. I’ll handle it.” Despite being a spoiled young master running his entertainment agency mostly for fun, Chu Jiayan didn’t tolerate sloppiness from his team. He walked off to the corner and angrily called Lin Yao’s agent.

Having ratted someone out, Lu Zhili strolled back over with a smug grin and happily plopped down next to Yu Yao.

Qin Yue, watching her go and come back, more or less guessed what she’d done. She hadn’t expected her cousin Xie Yanqing to be this protective.

She leaned over and whispered, “Zhili-jie, earlier you said you had a wife. Who’s your wife?”

Even though she whispered, Yu Yao—seated right next to them—heard her loud and clear.

Yu Yao’s hand froze mid-motion while packing up the jewelry, her teeth lightly biting her lower lip as if waiting for the answer.

“Yu Yao,” Lu Zhili replied.

The familiar voice sounded right beside Yu Yao. As soon as she heard the answer, her heart skipped a beat. It was exactly what she’d hoped for, the answer she wanted most.

And yet, in that moment, what she felt wasn’t joy or sweetness—but fear.

She frantically compared herself to Lu Zhili in her head—family background, personality, looks, even health conditions. And the conclusion she came to was—They didn’t match.

Yu Yao’s face instantly went pale, her expression growing distant. She pursed her lips and began packing up the jewelry again, over and over.

Qin Yue noticed her actions from the corner of her eye and frowned, confused.

That didn’t make sense. She’d clearly heard the answer. Why would she react this way—completely unmoved, even looking worse?

Just then, Chu Jiayan returned with a dark expression, still holding his phone. He looked so angry even a single cowlick on top of his head was trembling with each breath.

Qin Yue’s fingers itched to grab a pair of scissors and cut that annoying strand off.

Yu Yao looked up, her tone cold. “What happened?”

Chu Jiayan thought she was upset about Lin Yao being late and, feeling both angry and guilty, replied, “I just called her agent. They said she hasn’t even left yet…”

Qin Yue let out an incredulous laugh. As a fellow photographer, she could completely empathize. “Hey, young master Chu, how can you be a boss and not even manage your people?”

Chu Jiayan had no way to argue, so he just hung his head in defeat—even that cowlick drooped.

Yu Yao didn’t say much. She was mad, sure, but she had a good idea of what Lin Yao was thinking.

The actress was currently riding a wave of popularity, constantly booked. Why would she want to waste time on a jewelry brand with no name recognition in the industry?

“Let’s just head back to the hotel for now,” Chu Jiayan sighed. “I’ll take you all out to relax a bit since work’s a no-go today.”

He planned to deal with Lin Yao later—right now, his priority was to smooth things over with Yu Yao.

Yu Yao said nothing and quietly packed the display jewelry back into the case, locking each piece in place.

Lu Zhili stood by, fuming. “You don’t act like a boss at all.”

Chu Jiayan couldn’t argue and just kept his head down.

Qin Yue looked over at the photo setup—the lights already in place, even the usually lazy Louis was carefully testing angles. As a fellow photographer, she really felt for the crew who’d put in all this effort for nothing.

“What about those people?” she asked, arms crossed. “We can leave, but all their work would be for nothing.”

Chu Jiayan glanced over and met Louis’ eyes. Louis smiled excitedly, unaware of what was going on.

Louis took his work seriously. Every shutter press, every shoot—he gave it his all.

Chu Jiayan sighed and rubbed his forehead. He really didn’t know how to break the news to Louis. “What else can we do? Just compensate them. The other artists have gigs today—they can’t make it.”

Qin Yue raised an eyebrow, then suddenly smiled. “You look like a little puppy, sulking like that.”

“What?”

She glanced at the jewelry Yu Yao hadn’t packed away yet, then at Lu Zhili, who was watching Yu Yao with a worried look.

Qin Yue said softly, “Artists are hard to get, but models? Not so much.”

“Zhili-jie, I think you’re a perfect match for Yu Yao’s brand.”

Lu Zhili blinked, not quite understanding. “Then I’ll buy a set later!”

Qin Yue laughed. “That’s not what I meant.”

The others all looked up at her. Qin Yue didn’t flinch, calmly pushing her glasses up.

“Zhili-jie, since the original model’s not coming—why don’t you give it a shot? You’re even prettier.”

Yu Yao and Chu Jiayan both turned to look at Lu Zhili, their eyes lighting up with excitement.

Yu Yao stammered, “I—I…”

“I can?!” Lu Zhili looked at Qin Yue in disbelief, then turned to Yu Yao. “A-Yao, can I really?!”

“…Would you be willing?” Yu Yao asked.

“I’d love to!”

Lu Zhili instantly grabbed Yu Yao’s hand, squeezing it tight. “This is great! I finally get to help you!”

At this point, Chu Jiayan didn’t even have time to be jealous. He was instantly hyped, too. “I’ll go tell Louis! I’ll have the assistant take you both to the makeup room.”

Yu Yao led Lu Zhili off with the assistant, leaving the jewelry case in Qin Yue’s care.

Watching the two girls walk away hand in hand, Qin Yue smiled subtly, her work now done—like a hero slipping off into the shadows.

Makeup room, huh? After makeup, they’d need to change outfits. Dressing rooms were always full of potential.

And considering how complicated those outfits could be for someone like Lu Zhili…

Behind her lenses, Qin Yue’s eyes gleamed mischievously.

What might happen in there?

Now that was something worth looking forward to.