“Come on, Sister Mi, bottoms up!”
Inside a lavish villa in the capital city of Blue Star.
With two soft pfft pfft sounds, Jiang Nian popped open two bottles of beer, casually handed one to Yang Mi, then tilted his head back and downed his in one go.
The amber liquid slid straight down his throat, pooling warm in his stomach.
As the distinctive fermented scent of malt rose from his gullet, Jiang Nian let out a satisfied “Ha!” Then, with a solid thunk, he placed the empty bottle on the table.
Grabbing a fistful of fried peas, he looked at Yang Mi, munching as he spoke: “I won’t ramble on. I just gotta say what’s fair. Brother-in-law? That guy didn’t do right by you. Fooling around before marriage is one thing, but after tying the knot? Shouldn’t he have settled down by now? And the worst part—getting caught. Look at this mess he’s made. He straight-up dragged you through the mud.”
Hearing this, Yang Mi said nothing. She just drank in silence.
After emptying her own bottle, she let out a long breath and looked at Jiang Nian, her tone unreadable. “He’s still my husband. And you’re sitting right here, badmouthing him to my face. Do you think that’s appropriate?”
Anyone else would have shut their mouth right then.
But Jiang Nian remained completely unfazed. He planted his foot on the beer crate, poured the crispy peas directly into his mouth, dusted the salt from his fingers, and shot back, “So what? When you mess up, you take the heat. When you get hit, you stand straight and take it. Sis, don’t tell me you’re going soft and thinking about forgiving him?”
“Go soft, my ass! I could kill him!”
Yang Mi erupted in fury.
Sure, the entertainment industry’s morals were loose, and fooling around was the norm.
But seeing her husband—in name only—actually caught cheating, and with photographic proof splashed across the tabloids? Yang Mi couldn’t help the surge of pure rage boiling inside her.
“There you go, then,” Jiang Nian said, spreading his hands.
He popped open two more beers, passed one to Yang Mi, and grumbled under his breath, “Honestly. You called me over here specifically so I could use my big mouth to tear him a new one for you. The moment I start talking, you get all prickly about it.”
Yang Mi snatched the beer and glared daggers at him, snapping, “Mind your own business!”
Jiang Nian immediately raised his hands in surrender. “Alright, alright. I’ll mind my own. I’m just some nameless extra. How dare I try to manage a top-tier A-list celebrity like you?” He straightened up, lifted his bottle, and plastered a ridiculously fawning grin on his face. “Hey, big star, do me the honor? Let your humble underling toast you?”
Seeing this, Yang Mi rolled her eyes. “Knock it off.”
If it were anyone else, she might have believed they were genuinely cowed by her authority.
But Jiang Nian? This punk had gotten so familiar with her that he’d started dropping lines like “That’s my husband.”
Forget treating her like a star—Yang Mi sometimes wondered if this kid even saw her as a person. He seemed completely unconcerned that his antics might actually piss her off. Or maybe, he just didn’t care.
And that, ironically, was exactly why Yang Mi had called Jiang Nian over tonight to drink away her sorrows.
Jiang Nian, seeing her reaction, immediately slipped back into his usual irreverent attitude. He tilted his head back and gulped his beer, glug glug glug.
The matter of Yang Mi’s husband cheating? It didn’t surprise him at all. It had happened in his previous life, too. A rather predictable, almost cliché, turn of events.
Jiang Nian was a transmigrator. Twenty years ago, he’d crossed from a place called Earth into this parallel world known as Blue Star, reborn as a wailing infant. At first, entering showbiz hadn’t been his plan. Back on Earth, his years online had filled his head with countless get-rich-quick schemes. If he’d followed through on any of them, he’d have been set for life.
Then, he saw that the national soccer team had actually made it to the World Cup. Steam had been bought out by WeGame. And after Counter-Strike 1.6, they’d skipped Global Offensive entirely and gone straight to CrossFire. Jiang Nian remembered sitting in silence for an entire morning after that.
Some time later, disaster struck his family, a bolt from the blue that plunged their ordinary household into hardship. That’s when Jiang Nian decisively set his sights on the entertainment industry. So, right after finishing high school, he left his hometown in Dongbei and headed for Hengdian World Studios, determined to make a name for himself through hard work, become a star, and rake in millions per day.
But the gulf between imagination and reality was vast. The entertainment circle was swarming with hopefuls, more numerous than fish in a river. Without connections or backing, breaking through was nearly impossible.
Fortunately, Jiang Nian had some natural advantages. While he lacked the… versatile asset some actresses used to attract endless resources, he possessed looks that rivaled Hu Ge or Daniel Wu. With that, and a bit of luck, after two years he’d managed to land a role as a eunuch in a historical drama. Otherwise, he might have seriously considered switching careers to become an internet personality.
As for how he’d gotten involved with Yang Mi? That story went back six months, to an incident during his extra work. The details weren’t worth rehashing. The end result was that he and Yang Mi had become friends. Tonight was just coincidence—Jiang Nian, craving a drink, had sent out a mass text looking for company, and Yang Mi had been the one to call him out.
“Come to think of it, with such a big scandal, Brother-in-law must be on his way back. When I got here, I saw on Weibo he was waiting at the airport.”
Finishing his beer, Jiang Nian recalled what he’d seen online.
Yang Mi let out a cold snort. “So what if he’s coming back? Does he think I’m a three-year-old he can just pacify? I am not done with him over this!”
She picked up her beer and drank.
Perhaps it was the alcohol, or maybe something else. After draining her bottle, Yang Mi let out a small burp and looked at Jiang Nian with unfocused eyes. She asked a rather strange question: “Jiang Nian, you’ve been in the business for two years now, right?”
“Yep.” Jiang Nian nodded. “What about it?”
A mischievous grin spread across Yang Mi’s face. She opened two more beers, handed one to Jiang Nian, and asked, “Be honest with your sister here. How many starlets have you slept with?”
Jiang Nian grabbed a couple bites of food with his chopsticks, looking at her. “Would you believe me if I said seven or eight?”
“Not a chance. You don’t even have access to them. How would you manage?” Yang Mi retorted instantly.
“Then why the hell are you asking?” Jiang Nian rolled his eyes. “Always talking nonsense about nothing.”
“Hehe, just a random thought, had to ask! Look at you getting all riled up.” Yang Mi laughed, her body shaking with mirth.
Jiang Nian ignored her. He just picked up a pack of Marlboro Reds from the table, slid out a cigarette, and lit it, holding it between his lips.
As the unique aroma of burning Reds—a peculiar blend of tree bark and that characteristic acrid note—filled his mouth and lungs, Jiang Nian exhaled slowly, turning back toward Yang Mi, ready to say something.
But he inhaled sharply instead.
Yang Mi had sprawled across the sofa. Her already long legs seemed impossibly longer, sheathed in black stockings. Her jacket had ridden up to her stomach, and a hint of white lace seemed ready to burst free from the dark nylon. And as for her most prominent assets? They were currently under considerable strain, combined with the pitiable, flushed look on her face from drinking.
“Whoa!” Jiang Nian’s mind reeled. He was a twenty-year-old guy—how was he supposed to withstand this kind of test? He suddenly felt a powerful urge to emulate Elon Musk and launch a rocket.
Yang Mi, sharp-eyed even tipsy, noticed his state. She giggled, then seemed to think of something. “Jiang Nian, are all men so easily tempted?”
Jiang Nian played coy, eyes darting. “Tempted by what?”
Yang Mi rolled her eyes again. “That kind of temptation, obviously.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Jiang Nian feigned ignorance.
“Still pretending! I saw it!” Yang Mi chided.
Jiang Nian put on an innocent face. “But I really don’t know what you mean. Maybe… you could show me?”
“Ha! So that’s what you were angling for!”
Yang Mi scrambled up from the sofa, grabbed a cushion, and hurled it at him.
Jiang Nian caught it easily and straightened his expression. “Ah, you misunderstand, Sister Mi. See, I’m just a country boy, not worldly-wise at all. You asking if I can withstand temptation isn’t really asking about me. You’re asking about Brother-in-law, aren’t you? What you really want to know is whether he could resist.”
“…Yeah, exactly.”
“Well, to understand what goes through his head, I need to have a similar experience to empathize, right? Otherwise, I’m just giving you my feelings, and that’s not very convincing, is it?”
“Is that really how this works? No way! So just to figure out what Liu Kaiwei was thinking, I have to be the one taking the loss?”
“Tsk, Sister Mi, that’s narrow-minded thinking. It’s a fair trade! Plus, you gain insight into his psyche. A total win for you!” Jiang Nian coaxed persuasively.
Hearing this, Yang Mi fell silent, whether from the haze of alcohol or actually considering his words. The quiet stretched on.
Seeing his chance, Jiang Nian decided to push his luck. He made his move, leaning in closer.
Yang Mi’s mind went blank for a second before she shoved him back, flustered. “Wait, wait, wait! What about my husband? Didn’t you say he’d be back soon? This…”
“Isn’t that even more exciting?” Jiang Nian grinned roguishly. Sensing the moment was ripe, he stood up and bolted the security door, looking at Yang Mi. “Sis, marriage is a two-way street. He treated you one way, you treat him the same. Seems perfectly fair, don’t you think?”
His words hit her like a brick. Yang Mi froze.
Seeing her hesitate, Jiang Nian pressed his advantage.
Truly, it was a scene of flushed cheeks yielding to stolen kisses, tangled limbs like jade rings intertwined—a puzzle no one could easily unravel.
[Ding—]
[Congratulations, user, for entering the Entertainment Industry.]
[The ‘Emperor of Film and Television 1.0’ System has been bound.]
