As the old saying goes.
Three women make a drama.
And that’s just when they’re having a normal conversation.
If there’s actual rivalry between them—love rivals, no less—forget one drama. Three dramas couldn’t contain it!
That’s exactly what’s happening now.
Looking at Xu Xinyuan approaching with a lunchbox in hand.
Chen Qiao’en may not show anything on the surface—no change in expression, nothing unusual.
But in reality, she’s already quietly on guard.
Everyone has vanity.
Especially when competing with someone else—people instinctively start making comparisons.
And it’s fine when you don’t compare.
But once you do, Chen Qiao’en realizes that the threat Xu Xinyuan poses to her is just too great.
In terms of looks, there’s really no saying who’s prettier—you could only say they each have their own charm.
Xu Xinyuan is like a white lotus adorned with morning dew.
Pure and innocent, yet carrying an indescribable allure.
Making people unable to resist the urge to do something they shouldn’t.
Chen Qiao’en, on the other hand, is a plum blossom blooming in the cold wind.
From the inside out, she radiates a powerful sense of strength and vitality.
The key is that their figures aren’t that different either.
Only in terms of star status.
Xu Xinyuan holds a significant lead.
If she really had to compete with her.
It wouldn’t be that she’d have no chance of fighting back—but at the very least, it wouldn’t be easy.
Of course, Chen Qiao’en has another option—just walk away from that playboy Jiang Nian and cut her losses in time.
But…
As the old saying goes.
A man’s most attractive quality has never been how much money he has, how much power he holds, or how handsome he looks.
It’s how much security he can provide.
Clearly, after the incident with the tiger coming down the mountain.
The sense of security Jiang Nian provided has already made Chen Qiao’en fall for him.
She genuinely craves that sense of security from the bottom of her heart.
Which makes it impossible for her to just walk away now.
And just as Chen Qiao’en is mulling this over.
Little does she know, at this very moment, not far away, Xu Xinyuan has also noticed her, her gaze narrowing slightly.
Thanks to a woman’s sixth sense, she can feel that this Chen Qiao’en isn’t exactly friendly toward her.
At first, she couldn’t quite figure out why.
But soon, Xu Xinyuan recalls a rumor she heard when their crew first arrived here, and a look of realization flashes through her eyes.
So she puts on a smile, walks over, and takes the initiative to greet her: “You must be Chen Qiao’en, Teacher Chen, right? Hello, I’m Xu Xinyuan.”
“Uh… hello.”
Seeing Xu Xinyuan greet her first, Chen Qiao’en doesn’t know what she’s up to, but out of politeness, she extends her hand and shakes it, while asking: “Teacher Xu, is there something you need?”
A flicker of amusement passes through Xu Xinyuan’s eyes: “Nothing much. I just heard that before the New Year, Teacher Chen encountered a tiger coming down the mountain here once, right?”
The moment those words are spoken, instantly, not just Chen Qiao’en, but every member of the “Smiling Proud Wanderer” crew present changes expression.
Because this is something that, even now, they still don’t want to bring up!
And now Xu Xinyuan just casually says it out loud.
And right in front of Chen Qiao’en, the victim, no less.
“Miss Xu, what do you mean by that?”
Chen Qiao’en’s expression stiffens.
Are you trying to use this to mock her?
To this, Xu Xinyuan merely smiles faintly:
“Teacher Chen, don’t misunderstand. I don’t mean anything by it. I just heard that it was Teacher Jiang who saved you back then, right?”
“To be honest, that actually makes me a little envious.”
“Because that kind of bond forged through shared hardship is truly precious. I imagine you and Teacher Jiang must be especially close friends, right?”
On the word “friends,” Xu Xinyuan deliberately puts extra emphasis.
Her meaning is unmistakable.
She’s mocking Chen Qiao’en for having that bond, yet letting her get there first.
At the same time, she’s warning Chen Qiao’en that her relationship with Jiang Nian had better be nothing more than friends.
Chen Qiao’en naturally catches the subtext.
This feisty girl can’t take that kind of provocation. She immediately retorts sarcastically: “Yes, I am indeed Teacher Jiang’s good friend. The bond between him and me has been tested and proven—it’s not something any random flirtatious crush can compare to.”
Xu Xinyuan smiles without warmth: “A bad romance is still better than no romance at all.”
“That’s not necessarily true. After all, those closest to the water get the moon first, wouldn’t you agree, Teacher Xu?”
Xu Xinyuan: “…”
After this round of exchanges.
Chen Qiao’en wins with a slight advantage.
Seeing this, Xu Xinyuan knows full well that if she keeps talking, she’ll be dragged into Chen Qiao’en’s rhythm.
So she smiles faintly and wisely backs off:
“You’re right. That’s why I need to work harder too. Nothing is settled yet—no one can say for sure what the future holds, right?”
“Alright, I’ve taken up enough of everyone’s time today. I’ll stop disturbing you all. Director Huang, when Teacher Jiang comes back, please let me know.”
“I’ll be going now. Goodbye.”
After tossing out those words with a smile.
Xu Xinyuan turns and leaves without looking back.
And almost the instant she’s gone, the smile on Chen Qiao’en’s face can no longer hold, and her expression collapses entirely.
The low pressure emanating from her makes it so no one dares to approach.
“Qiao… Qiao’en-jie, are you okay?”
Yuan Shanshan, the closest to her, is the first to be affected.
She swallows and asks cautiously.
Hearing this, Chen Qiao’en shakes her head: “I’m fine. I’m okay. I just don’t have the mood for anything.”
Then she looks at Huang Junwen: “Sorry, Director Huang. I’m in a bad state right now. I probably can’t shoot today. Can we do it tomorrow instead?”
“Sure, sure, no problem!”
Huang Junwen hastily agrees, not daring to refuse.
After all, with the way things just were—
If there hadn’t been people around, if both women hadn’t been concerned about their image.
Huang Junwen figures that even if Chen Qiao’en and Xu Xinyuan hadn’t come to blows, they’d have at least started screaming at each other.
Now Chen Qiao’en is clearly still fuming.
He definitely needs to let her cool down, in case her emotions boil over and something even bigger happens.
Hearing this, Chen Qiao’en nods, then with a dark expression, turns and leaves.
Seeing this, Huang Junwen finally reaches up and wipes the cold sweat from his forehead, sighing sincerely:
“Holy crap, Teacher Jiang’s destructive power is terrifying. He’s not even here, and he can still make people jealous over him. That’s just insane!”
Next to him, Han Dong looks envious: “Tell me about it. Damn, I’m so jealous. If only someone would get jealous over me like that.”
Huo Jianhua looks at him: “Sure, but the prerequisite is that you can take on a tiger single-handedly, beat it into submission, and ride it as a mount.”
At that, Han Dong’s mouth twitches.
He was just making a casual remark—you guys don’t need to wish him dead!
“Ah—”
“It’s so nice here!”
After dropping off his luggage and walking toward the set, looking at the blue sky and white clouds, feeling the gentle breeze on his face, Jiang Nian stretches and sighs sincerely.
Even though he’d only been gone two days at most.
But the time felt so long, it was like two months had passed.
The reason for that is all the messy crap he had to deal with these past two days—just way too much.
“Forget it, it’s all over now. No point thinking about it.”
“Worst case, I’ll never do another variety show again.”
Jiang Nian pushes all that unpleasant stuff to the back of his mind.
Meanwhile, he arrives at the filming location.
The moment he gets there.
He senses something’s off.
Because the atmosphere around is just too quiet!
No—more precisely, it’s not quiet.
It’s dead silent!
Jiang Nian keenly notices that after he arrives.
The crew, which had been somewhat noisy before, instantly falls completely silent—you could hear a pin drop!
Not only that, but their gazes all land on him at once, their eyes carrying a strange gleam.
What is this…
“Is there something dirty on me?”
Jiang Nian asks Zhang Linyu beside him in a low voice.
Hearing this, Zhang Linyu looks him over and shakes his head: “No, you’re perfectly clean.”
“Then is my hair a mess?”
“No. What’s wrong, Jiang-ge?”
Zhang Linyu looks a bit confused.
Jiang Nian says nothing, just frowns.
Since there’s nothing wrong with his appearance, why is everyone looking at him like that?
Jiang Nian doesn’t get it, so he asks: “Everyone, what’s going on? Did something happen in the crew while I was away?”
Hearing this, people finally snap out of it.
Deng Sha blurts out: “Of course something happened, Teacher Jiang! You have no idea—just now—”
She wants to say that Xu Xinyuan came looking for him to deliver food and even got into an argument with Chen Qiao’en.
But before the words leave her mouth.
Yuan Shanshan next to her covers her mouth, looking at Jiang Nian with an awkward laugh: “No, no, nothing. Nothing happened.”
Jiang Nian doesn’t buy it: “Really? Then why were you all looking at me so strangely just now?”
“Uh… that’s because we were a little surprised. We didn’t expect Teacher Jiang to come back so early, that’s all. Teacher Huo, wouldn’t you agree?”
Yuan Shanshan nudges Huo Jianhua beside her with her elbow.
Huo Jianhua nods repeatedly: “Right, Teacher Jiang. Didn’t you say you went to film a variety show? How come you’re back so soon?”
Seeing that they’re deliberately hiding something, Jiang Nian doesn’t push further. He answers casually:
“Yeah, variety shows are boring anyway. Once I finished filming, I came back.”
“Director Huang, what are we shooting next? Is there anything with me?”
Hearing Jiang Nian suddenly bring the topic to him.
Huang Junwen snaps back to attention and hastily says: “Yes, yes! Let me check the script right now. One moment.”
“Mm!”
Jiang Nian nods, then finds a chair and sits down, unhurriedly drinking water while he waits.
At this point, Deng Sha also pulls Yuan Shanshan’s hand away, looking displeased: “Shanshan-jie, what are you doing? Why did you cover my mouth for no reason?”
“You know why.”
Yuan Shanshan rolls her eyes irritably.
Are you blind, Deng Sha?
Did you really not see what just happened?
Those two were going head-to-head like they were about to throw down any second.
It’s already chaotic enough.
If you go and tell Jiang Nian about it.
Wouldn’t that just flip the whole world upside down?
And even setting aside the consequences—
“This is between Jiang Nian and those two women. What are you sticking your nose in for?”
“If you go running your mouth now and something goes wrong, they’ll all come looking for you. Then what?”
Yuan Shanshan says fiercely.
Deng Sha shrinks her neck: “It can’t be that serious, surely.”
“If you think it’s not serious, then go ahead and tell him. I’m not stopping you,” Yuan Shanshan says.
She’s already warned her. If Deng Sha insists on courting death, there’s nothing she can do.
Hearing this, Deng Sha says nothing, just lowers her head, not knowing what she’s thinking.
Meanwhile, Jiang Nian sits off to the side, brows slightly furrowed.
As a first-rate martial artist, his senses are enhanced.
The conversation between the two women naturally doesn’t escape his ears.
It’s just that…
“Two people?”
Jiang Nian murmurs inwardly.
Although because there’s too little information, he doesn’t even know if the two people Yuan Shanshan mentioned are men or women.
But from their tone.
Jiang Nian generally understands that someone seems to have gotten into an argument because of him, and in the end, it ended badly.
So he scans the crew, looking to see who’s in a bad mood right now, or who’s missing.
And with that search, Jiang Nian quickly discovers that Chen Qiao’en is nowhere to be seen.
“Could it be her?”
“But who could she have argued with?”
The more Jiang Nian thinks about it, the more confused he gets.
But after pondering for a while, he gives up thinking about it.
Whatever.
He and her are completely innocent—nothing happened.
Although he doesn’t know why Chen Qiao’en would argue with someone over him.
But judging from people’s reactions, the problem probably isn’t that big.
At most, it’ll just be a little trouble for him.
And how much trouble could it be—could it be more trouble than that bastard Huang Lei?
This is nothing!
Having been through the baptism of “Back to the Fields” and witnessed the diversity of human nature, Jiang Nian declares that he’s now completely calm. In the short term, basically nothing can stir up any ripples in his heart anymore.
And just as he’s thinking this.
“Teacher Jiang, this is your scene for today. Take a look.”
Huang Junwen comes over and hands the script to Jiang Nian.
Jiang Nian opens it and his eyes immediately light up.
Because the scene Huang Junwen brought him is exactly the part where Lin Pingzhi, after mastering the “Evil-Warding Sword Art,” leaves the mountain to seek revenge.
Needless to say, Jiang Nian loves this section!
The character Lin Pingzhi is just too pitiful.
Before learning the “Evil-Warding Sword Art,” he was basically a useless good-for-nothing who couldn’t even truss a chicken!
His parents died, and he couldn’t avenge them.
At the Medicine King Valley, his beloved was nearly violated, and he could only watch helplessly from the sidelines.
And because he carried the “Evil-Warding Sword Art,” he became an “item” that everyone in the martial world coveted and wanted to snatch.
Never mind Lin Pingzhi—just Jiang Nian alone felt awful acting it out.
Now, Lin Pingzhi’s character is finally going to turn things around, and Jiang Nian can finally act to his heart’s content. How could he not be happy?
So he immediately stands up: “Director, wait here. I’ll go change into my costume right now.”
With that, he hurries toward the makeup room.
Seeing this, Huang Junwen is slightly taken aback. The “we’ll shoot in the afternoon” that was on the tip of his tongue gets swallowed back down.
Seriously, it’s just filming a scene—do you really need to be this excited?
