Chapter 102

Chapter 102 [VIP] Extra 1 (Official Announcement 1)

An Ye slept for twelve days this time due to her narcolepsy.

It had been too long, and since An Ye and Chi Tuo participated in the variety show Opposite Sex Friends, their online popularity had been very high. Huanyue, as one of the largest entertainment companies in the country, once had more than thirty top-tier celebrities during its peak. Now that something had happened, the online buzz had not died down.

Huanyue was a treasure trove; a little digging could bring out a few trending topics.

And the chaotic start to all of this was that An Ye, who was the most explosive point in Opposite Sex Friends, disappeared at this time.

She truly had no chance to appear. After the variety show, she went to Singapore, and after returning, she got her marriage certificate and then fell asleep.

Entertainment reporters searched the world for her, using every possible means to carpet-bomb their way through, until a media outlet known for digging up stories found a social reporter who had long been stationed at the civil affairs bureau for public news. From his photos, they found blurry images of An Ye and Chi Tuo entering and exiting the civil affairs bureau.

Qi Wei, seeing that things could no longer be hidden, and after discussing with the media she had worked with before, officially announced An Ye’s marriage on the fourth day of An Ye’s sleep, around 6 p.m. on Friday.

The announcement was very official. Both of them were not interested in showing off their love in a high-profile way. Qi Wei also felt that An Ye’s status didn’t need such traffic boosts, so the announcement was made in a low-key manner: An Ye and her non-celebrity boyfriend had recently obtained their marriage certificate and would live their lives seriously, and so on.

Since they couldn't take wedding photos at the moment, the photo was one Chi Tuo had hastily taken of the two of them with their rings. While taking the photo, he was even kicked by An Ye, who had been woken up.

The official announcement had only two lines of text, and the photo was a bit out of focus.

The fewer the words, the bigger the deal.

The trending topics were inevitable, and so were all kinds of rumors.

This world was never short of malicious competition. Both An Ye and Chi Tuo had competitors in their respective fields, and there were always those who didn't like to race on the proper track.

At first, fans were stunned. As for Chi Tuo, they had only seen him in two variety show livestreams. In the first, An Ye and Chi Tuo barely interacted. Only a few photos leaked after the livestream showed that An Ye had been very concerned about Lawyer Chi. In the second, although An Ye officially announced her relationship, the focus afterward was on her revealing her condition and the subsequent real-name report by Yan Wan. During this time, there was a storm online, and very few fans supported the CP. There was also very little material in the CP fan forum.

In the two weeks that An Ye was out of the public eye, news about her and Chi Tuo dwindled even further.

So, when it came out, it was another bombshell.

They had gotten their marriage certificate, no big diamond ring, no wedding photos, just one seemingly casually taken out-of-focus photo.

Some fans began to worry whether An Ye was being too impulsive. Although they had known each other since childhood, wasn’t this happening a bit too fast? After all, the previous reports said that Lawyer Chi had only returned to the country last year, and their relationship seemed to have been started due to the contract termination with Huanyue.

The blessings were few, while the question marks and cautious attitudes were the more friendly responses. Others were singing pessimistic tunes, saying things like “Today in a relationship, tomorrow married, the day after divorced. Murderers behind the scenes, indeed, are behind the scenes,” and “So quick to cut ties with emotions,” mocking their feelings.

This response was expected by Qi Wei, so she only reported a few of the worst posts to the authorities and monitored social media to prevent others from spreading rumors or creating conflict. As for the rest, she left it alone.

What she was really worried about was Wang Shanshan causing trouble, but Wang Shanshan had been focused on the Huanyue case recently, trying to find lawyers and people to help her extract herself from these matters. Chi Tuo was keeping a close watch, and Qi Wei felt reassured about him.

At that time, there were so many things going on that everyone had forgotten about An Ye’s estranged father, An Huaimin, who had almost never been in contact.

Or rather, the people around An Ye had forgotten she had a father, except for the unscrupulous competitors. They couldn’t find any useful information about Wang Shanshan, so they remembered An Ye’s father, who had hardly ever appeared in the public eye.

An Huaimin had actually been in the news once.

An Ye rarely talked about her private life, but Wang Shanshan was a sieve. Back when An Ye became famous playing the young Lin Luo, she publicly stated that An Ye was raised by her alone, and that An Ye didn’t have a father.

At first, everyone thought An Ye came from a single-parent family.

Later, relatives of An Huaimin leaked that it wasn’t a single-parent family at all. Wang Shanshan didn’t even have a job—how could she afford to raise a delicate star? It was actually An Huaimin, who lived frugally, who had painstakingly raised the child. But when the child wanted to act, Wang Shanshan divorced him.

It was calculated; they waited until the child turned eighteen before signing the acting contract.

Wang Shanshan, of course, didn’t accept this and began to fire back publicly.This farce was brought to light by An Ye herself, who revealed that her parents had divorced due to a long period of separation and a broken relationship. Before the divorce, her father had another woman in a different city, with whom he fathered a son.

She didn’t try to use this situation for sympathy; she just spoke the truth.

For a while, the news was the topic of discussion. Since An Ye had been very direct, there was no further point to the story, and given that she was just an up-and-coming star, the malicious rumors eventually stopped.

Afterward, An Ye never mentioned her father, An Huaimin, in any interviews. Nearly nine years had passed, and no one expected that when she suddenly announced her marriage, people would start bringing up An Huaimin again.

An Huaimin had already been married three times.

He wasn’t bad-looking and had a stable job. After his second wife gave birth to a son, he found a younger woman. A few years later, he divorced his second wife, taking the son with him.

This divorce went smoother than his divorce with Wang Shanshan. His second wife had been a middle-aged, uneducated woman who came to the big city to work. The house was bought before their marriage, and since the child was only four years old and the woman had no stable job, she signed the divorce agreement after a few threats from An Huaimin, even without fighting for custody.

An Huaimin’s third wife was somewhat similar to Wang Shanshan, a sharp and beautiful young woman. They had been married for several years but didn’t have any children, raising the son from the second marriage as the apple of their eye.

Their life wasn’t bad, but it couldn’t be considered good either.

After all, An Huaimin was getting older, and his third wife, who was only eight years older than An Ye, was only thirty when they got married. She wasn’t the type to stay home and take care of an old man.

So, things were chaotic, and their son was raised in a messy situation.

An Ye, fearing that this ticking time bomb would cause trouble sooner or later, had kept her father's contact details. Over the years, she had received several calls from him, each time asking for money or for help finding an elite school for his son.

Every time, An Ye would listen to his request and then silently hang up.

An Huaimin had even come to White Harbor to find An Ye, but by then, she was a celebrity with people following her everywhere. If she didn’t want to meet him, An Huaimin wouldn’t be able to find a way to see her.

He was smarter than Wang Shanshan and calmer as well. He didn’t make a scene to seem like an unreasonable father. Instead, he positioned himself as a father who still cared about his daughter.

He was very clear: as long as the father-daughter bond was intact, An Ye would never be able to cut ties with him.

So, when someone came to ask him for his thoughts on An Ye’s marriage, he took a few puffs of his cigarette, looked at the visitor, squinted, and muttered something ambiguous: “This Chi Tuo, I know him, I watched him grow up. His family is quite something; he’s not an easy person to deal with.”

An Huaimin didn’t completely shut down the conversation. After taking the interview red envelope from the visitor, he called An Ye again.

This time, Chi Tuo answered the phone.

At that moment, An Ye was lying in his arms, fast asleep. The phone was charging on the nightstand beside Chi Tuo. When he saw the incoming call, his fingers paused on the laptop keyboard.

He glanced at An Ye, stood up, and left the bedroom before answering the phone.

Chi Tuo and An Huaimin had always had a strained relationship since they were young. He disliked men who drank and boasted loudly at home, so he had very little interaction with An Huaimin.

An Huaimin remained calm as always. He didn’t care whether An Ye answered the phone herself. His main goal was to let them know that he had information that could make things difficult for them.

He used both kindness and threats.

He said, “Your mother is mentally unstable. She relied on her rich uncle to take you both abroad, leaving your father behind. He got into debt and was hit by a car. It was a tragic death, and no one even attended his funeral.”

He continued, “Tell me, how much could I get from the reporters if I tell them all this?”

Then he added, “After all, I am that girl’s father. I can’t do anything too drastic, but I still care about family. You can’t be heartless, either. We should keep in touch. Blood ties can’t be severed.”

In the first call, An Huaimin didn’t immediately say what he wanted, only disgust and threats.

Chi Tuo’s voice was calm and polite as he responded, “Alright, note down my phone number. You can contact me directly if you need anything in the future.”An Huaimin was rarely able to get a response from An Ye, so he was in a good mood as he jotted down Chi Tuo’s contact details.

After Chi Tuo hung up the phone, he stood on the balcony, letting the cold sweat on his body dry in the breeze. He went back into the bedroom and resumed the position he had been in earlier, allowing An Ye to hug him as he continued typing away on his laptop.

It seemed like nothing had changed.

But suddenly, An Ye, who was deeply asleep, stretched out her hand and pinched his palm, still with her eyes closed.

Chi Tuo: “…What’s wrong?”

An Ye, still half-asleep, didn’t answer his question. She simply patted his back in a comforting way and mumbled, “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, I’m here.”

Chi Tuo: “…”

It felt very strange.

Why had he once thought that An Ye didn’t like him, at least not in the romantic sense?

When he was younger, he was too anxious and insecure, feeling like he couldn’t grasp anything. As a result, he had consciously ignored a lot of things.

For example, An Ye, even when she was in a state of deep sleep, could still quickly sense his emotions, while his mother, Zhang Rou, had never truly understood him, not even to this day.

He gently patted An Ye’s hand and replied, “Okay.”

She was here, so he truly had nothing to fear.

An Huaimin’s ambiguous words only increased the doubts online about Chi Tuo.

Everyone loves a conspiracy theory, especially when it comes to celebrities who usually keep a low profile and are surrounded by mystery. Many entertainment companies took the opportunity to join the conversation and stir things up. There were more and more rumors, like An Ye being love-struck, being manipulated, and that this marriage might end in financial ruin. Some even absurdly claimed that the entire company, Huanzhao, was being controlled by An Ye’s husband and that there must be capital behind it.

Qi Wei had originally planned to clarify things but was stopped by Chi Tuo.

Chi Tuo didn’t care about the rumors that painted him as a lackey for some big capitalist. He specifically singled out the ones calling An Ye love-struck and brainless, using the same old tactics, sending out lawyer’s letters for defamation one by one.

Because of his one-sided approach, the online narrative soon became unified, with rumors spreading that An Ye was coerced into marriage, manipulated, and that Chi Tuo was behind the downfall of Huanzhao.

This marriage announcement didn’t receive much blessing, and Chi Tuo’s mind was no longer on what was happening online.

He wanted to deal with An Huaimin before An Ye woke up.

It was clear that An Huaimin was trying to blackmail them with the information he had. Being blackmailed by a relative could be a tricky situation, especially since An Huaimin, now that he was An Ye’s legal husband, was connected to Chi Tuo through family ties, which could complicate matters.

An Huaimin was also cunning. He knew from the start that Chi Tuo was a lawyer, so after several conversations, his words became very careful.

Thus, Chi Tuo started to take an unconventional approach.

He obtained evidence of An Huaimin’s affair during his third marriage, as well as evidence of his negligence towards his second wife. He even contacted a women’s support organization to reach out to the second wife and ask if she still wanted to fight for custody of their child.

At first, Chi Tuo only wanted to treat An Huaimin as a stranger.

But unfortunately, An Huaimin wasn’t willing to do that, and he was in a hurry.

He privately contacted Chi Tuo twice, and by the third time, he requested to meet in person.

Chi Tuo had always shown a reasonable amount of resistance and cooperation, but after meeting twice, An Huaimin’s wariness toward him had lessened a lot.

During the third meeting, Chi Tuo mentioned that they were planning to buy a house, and for the first time, An Huaimin shared that his current family wanted to settle in White Harbor, but he didn’t have the money. Chi Tuo didn’t immediately respond; instead, he looked troubled.Greed opened a gap, and it couldn’t be closed.

An Huaimin tried to borrow money from Chi Tuo under the pretext of showing respect to his elders, but Chi Tuo refused. After that, An Huaimin began threatening Chi Tuo with his family matters, saying that now that Chi Tuo was a semi-public figure, he had a stain on his reputation, and An Ye would have one too.

Chi Tuo seemed to hesitate.

Then, An Huaimin, using the excuse of silencing him, demanded one million from Chi Tuo.

Chi Tuo transferred the amount in a lump sum.

From then on, An Huaimin became like a fish on the chopping block. He couldn’t even use the excuse of family ties, because Chi Tuo had cut off all his escape routes. His third wife, second son, his work unit, and even his social status were all in Chi Tuo’s hands.

On the twelfth day, An Ye woke up. After a long silence in Qi Wei’s lengthy report, she picked up her phone and posted a tweet.

She re-shared Chi Tuo’s fan account.

She said, "Everything else can be proven by time, but there is one thing I don’t want to stay silent about. The person I just re-shared is my husband, and he is the person who loves me the most and the person I love the most in this world. All the other people speaking up in this matter are strangers to me."

Author’s note:

Ah, I didn’t finish writing!! I’ll continue tomorrow!

For now, I just wanted to get this troublesome part out of the way...

The extras will have a bit more content, but they may not be daily updates, probably until around the 18th!

Red envelopes for the first 800 comments, hey!