Chapter 76

Chapter 76

Just as Qi Wei started speaking, another call came in on her phone. She told An Ye to wait a moment before picking up the other call.

An Ye turned on the speakerphone and sat on the floor mat in the living room, patiently finishing the apple she had been nibbling on, until there was nothing left.

She really liked extremely sour or spicy foods. She didn’t often eat sour things, but when she did, they were great for stimulating her appetite. After finishing the apple, she started feeling that insatiable hunger gnawing at her.

Chi Tuo came out after a while, having taken a shower and changed into the colorful sportswear that An Ye had bought for him, with the relatively subdued dark green color from the rainbow dopamine collection she had chosen.

However, An Ye wouldn't have bought pure dark green, so the right sleeve had a half portion of multicolored stripes: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple.

An Ye took a longer look at him.

She realized that she was starting to really appreciate Chi Tuo’s masculine charm. The way he looked in the dark green hoodie, with his hair still damp from the shower, was unexpectedly comfortable—clean, soft, and neat.

It made her want to touch him.

Chi Tuo walked over and noticed the phone was still on the call. He mouthed to her, "What’s going on?"

"I don’t know." An Ye twirled the corner of his hoodie with her fingers, and when Chi Tuo leaned down to look at her, she pulled the hood and gently tugged him down, kissing him. Her expression was completely natural. "This hoodie I bought is pretty cheap, but the quality is actually quite good."

"…Thank you." Chi Tuo didn’t know how to respond immediately and just accepted her compliment.

Anyway, he was still floating, having almost chosen a pink hoodie when getting dressed.

"Chi Tuo’s here," Qi Wei finally finished her call. "Well, that’s good, I don’t have to repeat myself."

"This matter…" Qi Wei seemed to hesitate. "It’s hard to say…"

"Hmm?" An Ye, holding the phone, walked into the kitchen with Chi Tuo, leaning against the wall while watching him tie on his apron again.

"The fish and meat are in the fridge," An Ye told Chi Tuo first.

"Mm." Chi Tuo responded, turning on the stove to start cooking.

The range hood was a little loud, but An Ye couldn’t be bothered to go out. Instead, she spoke to Qi Wei, "We’re in the kitchen, we might need to speak a little louder."

Qi Wei was very cooperative, even asking with interest about the food for the Lantern Festival, making a few clicks before finally getting to the point.

"Didn’t your mom entertain a lot of reporters on New Year’s Eve? Most of them are familiar with Yan Wanxiang. Our media channels aren’t really aligned..." Qi Wei paused for a moment. "When the news about you and Chi Tuo went viral, the reporters on that side smelled something and went to your mom..."

An Ye watched Chi Tuo put the prepared silver cod into the steamer, and then neatly arranged the marinated cowboy ribs in the clay pot, seasoning and turning on the heat to stew them. She gave a soft hum.

Chi Tuo looked up at her, then turned down the heat on the pot of cowboy ribs and gently pulled her out of the kitchen. They went back to the couch, where he sat down and pulled her into his lap.

The scent from earlier when they kissed had disappeared, and now, after his shower, the smell of fresh lime surrounded him.

"I don’t know what Chi Tuo said to your mom last time…" Qi Wei’s voice faltered, "This interview… I’m starting to wonder if she has some powerful people behind her."

"Just send the interview to the group," Chi Tuo grabbed his phone from under Old Bai’s stomach.

Qi Wei agreed, and after a while, both An Ye’s and Chi Tuo’s phones rang.

It was a proper video interview, and Wang Shanshan appeared on screen.

This wasn’t anything surprising—Wang Shanshan had always liked to take over An Ye’s interviews. Previously, when Yan Wanxiang used An Ye’s poor health as an excuse, Wang Shanshan had taken on a large portion of the external work, and she was very experienced at it.

The ten-minute video was, just like Qi Wei’s hesitant attitude, hard to evaluate.

First, Wang Shanshan confirmed that the Chi Tuo An Ye had contacted during the live broadcast was her best friend from childhood. When introducing Chi Tuo, Wang Shanshan emphasized his background, repeatedly stating that Chi Tuo had returned from studying law at a prestigious university abroad and was a very professional and impressive lawyer.An Ye began to zone out as soon as Wang Shanshan entered her meditative state.

Every time Wang Shanshan became so focused, An Ye would zone out too; when she couldn't stop it, she'd simply look away.

Chi Tuo raised his hand and ran it through An Ye’s hair, then brought the phone in front of him, lowering the volume.

An Ye, instead of paying attention to the call, lowered her head and began to play with Chi Tuo’s fingers.

His fingers were beautiful, and they always seemed to be about a finger joint longer than hers. It was strange; it had always been like that. At the moment, on a whim, she placed their palms together, and sure enough, his fingers were exactly one joint longer than hers.

Chi Tuo glanced at her, his fingers slipping through hers as he interlocked them.

The video was still playing.

After Wang Shanshan praised Chi Tuo, the reporter also joined in with a few compliments, saying it was no wonder he could even answer questions on agricultural topics.

An Ye let out a soft sneer.

Chi Tuo also chuckled lightly.

The atmosphere didn’t become as serious as An Ye had expected.

Then, it got to the part that Qi Wei had a hard time explaining.

"This lawyer Chi has a deep connection with our family; he's like my son," Wang Shanshan said.

…

The couple, who had just confirmed their relationship yesterday and were now holding hands and sitting in a close embrace, both froze.

Entertainment reporters, with their high sensitivity, immediately laughed: "No wonder they're so close; I thought they were a couple."

"Impossible," Wang Shanshan waved her hand, "That’s not it. He used to call me 'Mom' when he was little."

"It’s just that the two kids have a good relationship. An Ye is simple-minded, and she’s always relied on Lawyer Chi to make decisions since she was a child. Even now that she’s grown up, it’s still the same." Wang Shanshan laughed, casually making a joke, "Sometimes I feel like Lawyer Chi could sell An Ye off with just one sentence."

The reporter laughed.

Wang Shanshan laughed too, and in the video, she eagerly showed the reporter photos from their childhood. They were family portraits taken when their two families were still harmonious, where both children and both families had been separately arranged to take a family photo at the studio.

Of course, Chi Tuo, being a private person, had his face blurred out in the photo.

But it certainly looked like a family.

The video ended.

Neither Qi Wei, An Ye, nor Chi Tuo spoke.

In the end, it was Qi Wei, as the manager, who reluctantly spoke up: "I’ve been trying to control the media outlets on your mom's side, but it's hard to stop her from giving out information. Unless she starts rejecting media interviews, it will be difficult to stop this sort of thing."

"And now… the trending topic about your hidden marriage has actually gone down because of your mom's interview. The remaining topics are about whether there's true friendship between men and women, and whether your phone call was a live-streaming accident. Those two are still in the top twenty," Qi Wei continued. "The live-streaming accident has been pulled back, it was initially guided by Huànzhòu, and now the heat is dropping every hour. The true friendship one is a solid discussion topic, and I don’t dare to touch it right now. Huànzhòu’s attitude is very strange, they keep steering the narrative that you and Lawyer Chi are actually family."

"I’m starting to suspect Huànzhòu knows about your relationship now..."

"If they know, then this is… Wang Shanshan’s words were very subtle. In the video, when she mentioned 'family,' saying An Ye is innocent and easy to be sold, if the news breaks that An Ye and you have signed a guardian agreement and then canceled it, plus your dating status—it’s all explosive. Wang Shanshan has already pulled the trigger, now it’s just a matter of when it’ll explode."

Chi Tuo thought back to the meeting when he and Guan Shengyu exchanged looks, then thoughtfully added, "Guan Shengyu should know I like An Ye."

An Ye raised her head. "Huh?"Qi Wei was shocked. "What?"

Chi Tuo spoke without any fluctuation in his tone. "We had an exchange of glances at the end of the meeting last time."

An Ye: "?"

Qi Wei didn't hold back, sighing, "You really aren't low-key, huh."

Chi Tuo smiled, glanced at the time, and got up to go to the kitchen to prepare the seasoning for the steamed silver cod.

An Ye followed him into the kitchen with her phone.

Another call came in for Qi Wei, so An Ye just leaned against the wall, watching Chi Tuo work.

"Hand me a lemon," Chi Tuo said, his hands smelling like scallions, not wanting to open the fridge.

An Ye picked a lemon and handed it to him. "Aren’t you going to explain Guan Shengyu?"

"Explain what?" Chi Tuo said seriously while washing the lemon. "He was staring around, just doesn't seem like a good person."

An Ye: "…"

The aroma from the cowboy ribs simmering in the clay pot began to waft through the air. Chi Tuo added more seasoning and then placed a layer of king oyster mushrooms on top.

An Ye, holding the still active phone, watched as Chi Tuo cut a small piece of beef with clean scissors. He used chopsticks to test the seasoning, letting it cool for a moment before handing it to her. "Taste the saltiness."

An Ye bared her teeth and bit the piece of meat, chewing a few times and nodding. "Mm, but it could cook a bit longer, not soft enough."

After feeding her, Chi Tuo naturally turned around to slice the mushrooms.

It felt like they had done this countless times before.

But in reality, when they were younger, the most they did together were easy-to-make foods like noodles and wontons. They never had the leisure to make these kinds of braised and stewed dishes.

She had never imagined she would have moments like this, eating regular meals, sneaking bites of meat in the kitchen with the excuse of tasting the seasoning before the meal.

An Ye had played such a role before, though the character's parents had died shortly after.

She clearly remembered a line from that film: parents spoil their children by secretly letting them taste all the dishes before they even hit the table.

An Ye didn’t have such experiences in her childhood.

It seemed like this was the first time.

Chi Tuo’s black pepper had a strong flavor, and the spicy kick made An Ye, while Chi Tuo was busy slicing mushrooms, reach for the chopsticks that were still resting in the small bowl, wanting to lick the sauce on them.

Chi Tuo clicked his tongue, opened the lid, and gave her a whole piece of cowboy ribs, placing it in her bowl and handing it to her. "Don’t lick your chopsticks during a festival!"

"Superstitious!" An Ye dragged a chair from the dining room, sat back down, and slowly began eating the cowboy ribs.

Finally, Qi Wei finished her call, and the first thing she heard when she tuned in was An Ye, with food in her mouth, mumbling in complaint, "Still not tender enough, the soft bones can’t be bitten."

"You’re already so eager you’re licking your chopsticks, don’t complain about the cooking time," Chi Tuo retorted.

Qi Wei went silent for two seconds.

For some reason, she suddenly felt like she shouldn’t be disturbing them at such a moment.

But…"Teacher An?" Qi Wei finally spoke, her voice tough. "Shall we continue?"

"Mm, sure." An Ye responded quickly.

"I just got a call from Huan Zhou's side," Qi Wei said. "Now we can be sure, Huan Zhou does know about Teacher An and Chi Tuo's relationship. Even if they don't know you're already together, they definitely know you’re in an ambiguous situation."

An Ye paused, then hummed softly.

She actually wanted to ask if her mother knew.

But she didn't ask.

Some answers were too obvious. Her mother had always been on the opposite side of her, as if only by doing so could she hold the authority of an elder, as if she had to be the one who was always wrong, just to fit her mother’s life script.

"They sent me a few variety show invitations—twelve of them, and ten of them involve going to remote places with huge insurance costs," Qi Wei sighed. "The participants are all rookies, and they don't have the budget to invite someone like Teacher An, so it's just filling up space."

"Such a big company, and they can't even bother with face-saving. It's so shameless," Qi Wei clicked her tongue.

Chi Tuo turned the cowboy ribs that An Ye complained weren't tender enough to medium heat to continue simmering. On another burner, he started stir-frying some vegetables and mushrooms.

"The remaining two variety shows..." Qi Wei swallowed when she heard the sound of cooking. "One of them is a real-life dating observation variety show. The show itself is fine, but the host working with Teacher An is Qing Ze..."

Chi Tuo's movements paused, and he glanced at An Ye.

An Ye didn't show any emotion.

This person had been chewing on the cowboy ribs just minutes ago, showing his little tiger teeth, but now his expression was calm, with a mysterious, unreadable look.

Chi Tuo thought she was zoning out, so he waved the spatula in front of her.

Sure enough, she jumped.

Chi Tuo: "..."

"Another variety show?" Chi Tuo decided to help Qi Wei keep the conversation going.

"There's another one..." Qi Wei looked at the email on her computer. "You know the director and scriptwriter, the same team that invited you and Qing Ze for the escape room variety show before. It's considered an ace team, and the platform is great—streaming media with live broadcast, plus a premium version for TV editing."

"The variety show is called 'Opposite-Sex Friends.' The theme is a celebrity bringing along a non-celebrity opposite-sex friend for a four-day, three-night trip. There’s a host, and I've seen the script—it's all about process, no set character roles. They're planning to invite five celebrities and five non-celebrities."

Qi Wei tapped the keyboard quickly. "I'll send you the details."

"I originally wanted to reject this variety show. You told me before that you weren't keen on shows without set character roles, worried that you wouldn't be likable on the spot," Qi Wei continued. "But I looked at the celebrity lineup, and one of the stars they’re promoting next is Diao Tong, and the non-celebrity friend she’s bringing is Guan Shengyu."

Chi Tuo: "..."

An Ye was also stunned. "What does that mean?"

Guan Shengyu is going to join the variety show?

"It means that if you, Teacher An, join this variety show, they will likely take the opportunity to expose the fact that you and Chi Tuo are in an ambiguous relationship, and that Chi Tuo is manipulating you with a high-cost contract termination," Qi Wei explained.

In the same variety show, they will take down An Ye and push Diao Tong.

"So..." Qi Wei's tone became uncharacteristically serious. "I want to ask, Teacher An, what’s your plan and stance moving forward? For our An Ye studio, do we face these issues head-on, or like before, handle it coldly and avoid the spotlight?"