The livestream chat erupted.
After her performance, Ye Xunzhi turned back and gave her second brother a confident look.
I've spelled it out this clearly. Second Brother should understand what I mean, right? This is where he should jump in and back me up.
No way, no way. Surely Second Brother isn't so clueless that he'd undermine me?
Ye Lan wouldn't go so far as to undermine her, but he genuinely hadn't figured it out yet. "..."
Successfully receiving her signal, he stepped forward and shielded Ye Xunzhi behind him, staring coldly at Bai Zhao.
"How did you get a key to my house? What exactly were you trying to do, breaking into a private home?"
"I..." Bai Zhao opened her mouth, frantically searching for another excuse, when Ye Xunzhi casually added fuel to the fire.
"Brother, could she be trying to stir up dating rumors?"
Her voice wasn't loud, and it might even have been nothing more than a bizarre, spur-of-the-moment guess, but an offhand remark could mean a great deal to those listening.
Ye Lan already had an enormous fan base. Their earlier silence had simply been because they were watching how things unfolded.
At those words, they could no longer sit still and began searching everywhere.
Cold sweat immediately broke out on Bai Zhao. She was done for. To make sure public opinion gained momentum today, she had arranged right before leaving for gossip accounts to release the photos ten minutes later.
Public opinion would originally have needed time to build, leaving her a chance to delete them and pretend none of it had ever happened.
But now, once the netizens went looking, this would become the final nail in her coffin.
The livestream chat-
[Found it. Fuck, it really is a gossip account! The headline says, "Actress suspected of living with award-winning actor." Fuck you!]
[Forget solid evidence. This nails her dead.]
[Guys, I suddenly have a theory. Was Bai Zhao bringing Lin Ranran here today all planned? Was she trying to do something that would mislead us, then release the gossip posts she'd prepared in advance so we'd misunderstand their relationship and start dating rumors?]
[What kind of bullshit analysis is that? So you know everything now? Maybe Ye Lan and Ye Xunzhi teamed up to frame our Zhaozhao and use her as a stepping stone.]
[Did a zombie eat the brain of the person above, or does a dung beetle's eyes light up when it sees your brain? With that logic, is your rectum connected straight to your brain? Look at their status. Do you think they'd need to?]
Against the award-winning actor's formidable fan base, Bai Zhao's fans were beaten back again and again, however unwilling they were to accept it.
But this did nothing to quell their rebellious hearts, and they continued fighting tenaciously.
"At this point, there's nothing left to say. Let's call the police." Having nailed her, law-abiding citizen Ye Xunzhi decided to bring out her secret weapon.
When in doubt, summon the police.
"Okay." Ye Lan took out his phone without objection. Bai Zhao had already been backed into a corner, and at those words, her taut nerves snapped.
"Stop!" Bai Zhao suddenly lunged at him. Ye Lan nimbly dodged, not forgetting to yank Ye Xunzhi away from where she stood.
Bai Zhao screamed herself hoarse. "Ye Lan, do you really not care at all about the bond we used to share?"
Ye Lan said, "Did we ever have a bond?"
Bai Zhao's face turned paper-white. She wanted to say more, but loud police sirens were already sounding outside the courtyard house.
Ye Xunzhi looked at her second brother in shock. "Brother! That was way too fast! What number did you call? The police got here like they were riding a rocket!"
Ye Lan held his phone, utterly bewildered. "I haven't even called yet."
Both of them: Then who called the police?
The commotion caused by the police was so loud that the guests sleeping in their rooms were awakened and came out to see what was happening.
A uniformed officer stepped forward and produced his police ID under Bai Zhao's terrified gaze.
"Ms. Bai Zhao, you're suspected of stealing confidential information from the Ye Group. We have conclusive evidence. Please come with us."
The livestream chat-
[Wait, wait, you've lost me. Wasn't Bai Zhao trespassing? How did this turn into stealing confidential information?]
[Is this the ridiculously powerful Ye Group I'm thinking of?!]
[That went from "it's getting chilly" to "bankrupt them" way too fast.]
[One second I was defending them, and the next the police showed up. My face hurts so much.]
Hearing that it was about stealing confidential information from the Ye Group, Ye Xunzhi understood at once.
It was Eldest Brother! Bai Zhao used Second Brother to steal company documents before. I thought all the evidence had been destroyed. I didn't expect Eldest Brother to actually find it.
Ye Lan froze, then understood too. Before the police took her away, he hurried over and handed them the evidence of her trespassing just now.
He seemed afraid of missing his chance to kick her while she was down.
As for Bai Zhao's resentful gaze behind him, he ignored it completely.
"Eldest Brother." Seeing the figure coming through the entrance, Ye Xunzhi immediately greeted him happily.
At the sight of her, Ye Yunhuai's stern expression softened slightly, only to turn cold again when he saw Ye Lan.
Ye Lan: So your little sister really is a treasure, and your little brother's just a weed, huh?
The eldest Ye brother approached and said to them, "I came to tie up the loose ends. How's filming going for you?"
Ye Xunzhi said, "Aside from having to move, everything's good."
Ye Lan said, "Pretty good."
True, Second Brother really was handsome when he stayed calm this time. Being dependable really is the best beauty treatment a man can get.
His little sister had finally said something nice. The corners of Ye Lan's mouth lifted involuntarily.
Ye Yunhuai raised an eyebrow. Looking at his second brother's face as he smirked smugly at him, why did he find it so irritating?
So, to keep Second Brother from relapsing into his lovesick ways in the future, I should find some time another day to take him to an old Chinese medicine doctor and get him some medicine to sort him out.
I heard being lovesick is actually an illness. It makes you lose yourself and forget yourself completely, and it's actually caused by kidney deficiency. I don't know if that's true, but drinking more herbal medicine would be a good way to treat both his body and mind.
Ye Lan gritted his teeth. You little shit.
Lovesick was one thing, but what the hell was this about kidney deficiency? This was downright alarmist!!!
Eldest Brother Ye couldn't help laughing.
Conclusion: smiles didn't disappear. They simply moved from one person to another.
The cameraman captured the three of them chatting, and the livestream comments condemning Bai Zhao abruptly paused.
Although hearing the name Ye Group had already given the netizens some guesses about Ye Lan and Ye Xunzhi's identities, seeing this scene for themselves still left them shocked.
[So these three really are siblings. I'd heard Ye Lan had powerful backing, but I never imagined it was the Ye Group. I thought they just happened to have the same surname!]
[Who could've expected this? So Little Xun really is a bona fide heiress. What's she doing on a variety show? Experiencing life.]
[My daughter, Mommy's precious baby, mwah~]
[Thank goodness for Little Xun this time. Otherwise, our award-winning actor really might have ended up in dating rumors with that fake-innocent bitch QAQ]
After what had just happened, the viewers had long since forgotten Ye Xunzhi's earlier blunt attitude.
After all, she hadn't lost her temper for no reason. Who could still put on a pleasant face if this kind of bullshit happened to them?
Besides, judging by what the police had just said, Bai Zhao stealing confidential information alone was already an explosive piece of gossip.
In short, not only did this incident have no negative impact on Ye Xunzhi, it even earned her a crowd of fans.
It even shot straight onto the trending searches on the very first night of the show, bringing in a huge wave of traffic.
Director Mi had never dreamed that the little girl who'd said she was just coming to make a token appearance would bring him such a huge surprise.
His only regret was probably that, as he watched Bai Zhao being led away in handcuffs, he shed tears of anguish. T^T
Fuck, she'd landed him in such a huge mess on the very first day. Now he'd have to spend more money on postproduction.
Edit her out! He had to edit her out!
Before you continue