Chapter Summaries

After Ye Jin announced that she was leaving acting to work behind the scenes, she reassured fans that the decision was her own and planned to invest in productions. At Fruit Video’s annual party, she turned down acting offers and then spotted Fu Ruiming talking with Xie Haoyu.

• Ye Jin posted that she was leaving acting for personal reasons and returning to behind-the-scenes work.
• When netizens speculated that her wealthy in-laws were forcing her out, Ye Jin clarified that retiring was her own choice and said she hoped to invest in good productions.
• Fans expressed sadness and support, while rival actresses and paid trolls stopped treating Ye Jin as a target.
• At Fruit Video’s annual party, industry figures offered Ye Jin roles, but she declined and said she might invest alongside them in future projects.
• Ye Jin noticed Fu Ruiming and Xie Haoyu talking together just before the annual party began.

At Fruit Video’s annual review, Fu Ruiming tried to humiliate Xu Yan and publicly announced that he would divorce her and marry Ling Xiao Rui. Xu Yan countered by revealing an investigation video that showed Fu Ruiming assaulting Ling Xiao Rui, leaving the audience staring at him in shock.

• Fruit Video recognized “Kunlun Duel” and “Let’s Travel Together” as smash hits, while Xu Yan stood out for leading many of the year’s successful productions.
• Fu Ruiming praised Fruit Video’s departments but singled out Xu Yan for criticism and told her to keep costs down.
• Xu Yan stayed calm as Fu Ruiming announced that he would soon divorce her and marry Ling Xiao Rui.
• Xu Yan told the audience she had investigated Fu Ruiming and played a video showing him violently assaulting Ling Xiao Rui.
• The audience turned toward Fu Ruiming after seeing the footage.

Xu Yan exposed Fu Ruiming’s videos of crimes against women at Fruit Video’s annual party, and the police arrested him. She assured employees and business partners that Fruit Video would continue operating, leaving her poised to take full control of the company.

• Xu Yan revealed evidence that Fu Ruiming had committed crimes against multiple women and said she had reported him to the police.
• Police arrived with an arrest warrant, handcuffed Fu Ruiming, and escorted him away after he threatened Xu Yan.
• Xu Yan reassured Fruit Video’s employees and business partners that projects would continue and there would be no layoffs.
• Xu Yan warned against attempts to take advantage of the company’s troubles, and business partners publicly backed her leadership.
• Xu Yan ended the annual party after making her position clear.

Ye Jin and Xu Yan finalized their collaboration on Fruit Video’s adaptation of the female-led drama The Phoenix First Rises, which Ye Jin decided to produce faithfully. As they prepared to meet the novel’s wary author for approval, Xie Haoyu resolved to find a way to get rid of Ye Jin.

• Xu Yan invited Ye Jin and the others to celebrate her rise to power, while Xie Haoyu watched Ye Jin leave and blamed her for thwarting his plans for Fruit Video and targeting his company.
• Ye Jin and Xu Yan finalized their collaboration, and Ye Jin agreed to pursue The Phoenix First Rises, a drama about Xie Chuhuang’s rise from slave-born soldier to empress.
• Ye Jin read the novel overnight and decided to produce it, respecting its strong female lead and avoiding the romance-heavy changes that had stalled the project.
• Ye Jin and Xu Yan planned to meet the original author, who had reluctantly agreed to see them after repeated delays.
• Ye Jin returned to the Su residence, where she continued living with Lin Xiwen and Su Chenglan despite having her own place.

Ye Jin welcomed Su Chengjing home but worried that his return would force her to divorce him for the sake of his destined soulmate. Su Chengjing revealed he had returned with knowledge of the Su Group’s enemies, only to learn that Ye Jin and his family had already stabilized the situation; he was secretly reborn and had escaped captivity with memories of his past life.

• Ye Jin returned to the Su Family residence and found Su Chengjing back from his kidnapping, then worried that his true love would make her leave the marriage.
• Lin Xiwen welcomed Ye Jin and urged Su Chengjing to appreciate his wife’s support while he was away.
• Su Chengjing thanked Ye Jin and promised to deal with the people targeting the Su Group and the kidnappers.
• Lin Xiwen told Su Chengjing that the family had already found the mastermind and prepared to stop him, and advised her son to rest.
• Su Chengjing realized the Su Family was far calmer than it had been in his previous life, and the narration revealed he had been reborn after dying with resentment.
• Su Chengjing recalled that he had awakened on the kidnappers’ island, escaped using his past-life experience, and hidden his identity until he could return home.

Su Chengjing returned home after nearly six months away and found the Su Family thriving, while his mother, wife, and sister were all doing far better than in his previous life. As he learned how the family had weathered the crisis, he realized they seemed able to prosper even without him.

• Su Chengjing returned to the Su residence and found the household intact, then saw that Lin Xiwen was energetic and the Su Family appeared stable.
• Ye Jin came home, and Lin Xiwen revealed that Ye Jin had helped her stabilize the family’s situation; Su Chengjing also discovered he could hear Ye Jin’s inner thoughts.
• Su Chenglan welcomed Su Chengjing, and he learned she had broken up with Hou Yuanwu and wanted to focus on her career.
• Ye Jin’s thoughts revealed that Hou Yuanwu had a white moonlight, a child bride, and two children, leaving Su Chengjing startled by his wife’s sharp commentary.
• At dinner, Lin Xiwen described the past six months, and Su Chengjing concluded that the Su Family was thriving even better than before his kidnapping.

After returning home, Su Chengjing shared a bed with Ye Jin, who assumed he had another woman and planned to demand a large breakup payment. Lin Xiwen overheard Ye Jin’s thoughts and arranged to investigate Su Chengjing, while he remained unable to correct Ye Jin’s mistaken suspicions.

• Ye Jin followed Su Chengjing to their courtyard after dinner, and they went to bed on opposite sides of their large bed.
• Ye Jin fell asleep quickly, while Su Chengjing stayed awake thinking about her belief that he had a true love before eventually falling asleep.
• Lin Xiwen overheard Ye Jin’s thoughts, worried that Su Chengjing might be injured or seeing someone else, and arranged a medical examination and an investigation.
• Ye Jin went to work feeling confident that Su Chengjing’s return would stabilize the Su Group, and planned to seek a large breakup payment if he had another woman.
• Su Chengjing heard Ye Jin’s plan and inwardly denied having another woman.

Su Chengjing caught a private investigator hired by Lin Xiwen to check whether he was cheating on Ye Jin. He confirmed that Lin Xiwen could hear Ye Jin’s inner voice too, and learned that it had helped her avoid danger.

• Su Chengjing grew suspicious of someone following him, set a trap, and caught a private investigator with a camera.
• The investigator told Su Chengjing that Lin Xiwen had hired him to find out whether Su Chengjing was keeping another woman.
• Su Chengjing called Lin Xiwen, denied cheating, and asked her to meet him at the Su Group after her spa treatment.
• Su Chengjing led Lin Xiwen to a private conference room and tried to ask whether she could hear Ye Jin’s inner voice.
• Lin Xiwen confirmed that she could hear Ye Jin’s thoughts and said they had helped her avoid pitfalls.
• Su Chengjing realized that Lin Xiwen’s gratitude toward Ye Jin and her investigation of him both stemmed from what she had heard.

Su Chengjing learned that his family’s suffering in their previous life had followed a novel’s plot and resolved to take revenge on Xie Haoyu with his mother. Three days later, Ye Jin and Huo Yun met author Song Miao to discuss adapting her novel, and Ye Jin rejected Huo Yun’s suggestion that she return to acting.

• Lin Xiwen reassured Su Chengjing that the plot had changed and urged him to focus on taking revenge on Xie Haoyu.
• Su Chengjing realized that his family had been cast as villains in a novel and felt grateful to Ye Jin for helping change their fate.
• Ye Jin and Huo Yun flew to City B to meet Song Miao, the author of “The Phoenix First Rises.”
• Song Miao approved Ye Jin’s script outline and said she cared more about actors suiting their roles than their fame.
• Song Miao praised Ye Jin’s acting and said she would support Ye Jin playing a role in the adaptation.
• Huo Yun encouraged Ye Jin to return to acting, but Ye Jin refused and promised Song Miao they would cast carefully.

Ye Jin recognized Wan Shiliu as the fake heiress from a novel whose true heiress was Song Miao. After Wan Shiliu taunted Song Miao about her place in the Wan Family, Ye Jin recalled the cruel fate awaiting Song Miao and urged her in thought to stop hoping for the family's affection.

• Ye Jin, Song Miao, and their companion finished discussing the drama and left the restaurant.
• Wan Shiliu approached Song Miao and mocked her for dining at an expensive restaurant.
• Song Miao rejected Wan Shiliu's claim that she was part of the Wan Family and said she did not want to be its eldest daughter.
• Ye Jin recognized Wan Shiliu and Song Miao as the fake and true heiresses from The Fake Heiress Is a Group-Pet Koi.
• Ye Jin recalled that the Wan Family favored Wan Shiliu, who later caused Song Miao's death and took over her author identity.

Ye Jin defended Song Miao against Wan Shiliu, then encouraged her to make their drama adaptation a success. Song Miao accepted the invitation to join the screenwriting team, hoping to learn more about Ye Jin’s strange inner voice.

• Ye Jin confronted Wan Shiliu and criticized her and the Wan Family while defending Song Miao’s talent and identity as the Wan Family’s real daughter.
• Wan Shiliu insulted Ye Jin, threatened that she would regret her words, and stormed off.
• Song Miao wondered whether she could hear Ye Jin’s inner thoughts and whether her novels had come true.
• Ye Jin promised Song Miao they would work hard to make the drama adaptation a hit and help her prove herself.
• Song Miao thanked Ye Jin and offered to join the screenwriting team despite her lack of experience.

After returning from City B, Ye Jin mistook Su Chengjing’s gifts and attempts to explain his escape for signs that he planned to divorce her or keep a mistress. Su Chengjing failed to convince her and asked Lin Xiwen for help, but she refused and left him to prove his loyalty himself.

• Song Miao joined the drama’s screenwriting team, and the group set a deadline for the first draft.
• Ye Jin and Huo Yun spent two more days in City B before returning to City A.
• Su Chengjing showered Ye Jin with expensive gifts, but she suspected he was preparing to divorce her.
• Su Chengjing explained that an older man from Hua Country had helped him escape, but Ye Jin imagined that the man’s female relative was his confidante.
• Ye Jin accused Su Chengjing inwardly of wanting to keep a wife at home while having other women, then covered herself and turned away from him.
• Su Chengjing asked Lin Xiwen to help convince Ye Jin he had no female confidante, but she refused and told him to prove his loyalty himself.

Ye Jin and Huo Yun made progress on casting and talent recruitment for The Phoenix First Rises, but they still needed to choose the lead actress. Ye Jin arrived at the final auditions, where Lu Shilan seemed like the strongest candidate based on her profile and growing popularity.

• Su Chengjing realized Ye Jin was avoiding him and held back from confronting her at work, hoping to clear up her misunderstanding without making it worse.
• Ye Jin and Huo Yun invited film academy students to audition for supporting roles and signed several promising newcomers.
• Huo Yun focused on managing the new recruits, while Ye Jin considered expanding the company’s talent-management business.
• Ye Jin and the production team struggled to find a suitable lead actress within their budget, then shortlisted Lu Shilan, Jiang Ye, and Xin Yue for final auditions.
• Ye Jin researched Lu Shilan and found online fans praising her acting, career progress, and rising popularity.

Ye Jin researched Lu Shilan, Xin Yue, and Jiang Ye before their auditions for “The Phoenix First Rises,” forming impressions of their careers and public images. When the actresses arrived, Jiang Ye was late, and director Sang Yang rebuked her for wasting everyone’s time.

• Ye Jin found that Lu Shilan had an organized fanbase and dismissed rumors that she had been reborn.
• Ye Jin read that Xin Yue was praised for her acting despite having few followers, while Jiang Ye’s fans resented her retreat from acting to focus on her family.
• Lu Shilan arrived first, greeted the staff, and handed out coffee and snacks, prompting Huo Yun to ask Ye Jin whether their agency could recruit her.
• Xin Yue arrived and quietly read the script after greeting everyone.
• Jiang Ye arrived five minutes late in a creased suit, apologized, and offered to treat everyone to milk tea.
• Director Sang Yang told Jiang Ye that a treat would not erase the time she had wasted.

Ye Jin discovered that Lu Shilan was the reborn protagonist of an entertainment-industry novel and had deliberately steered Jiang Ye away from acting by arranging a romance meant to draw her back into family life. The chapter left Ye Jin recognizing that Lu Shilan’s explanation for Jiang Ye’s lateness echoed the scheme that had previously sabotaged Jiang Ye’s career.

• Lu Shilan defended Jiang Ye’s lateness by pointing out that Jiang Ye was married and had a young child, and Sang Yang let the matter go so filming could begin.
• Ye Jin suspected that Lu Shilan and Jiang Ye were connected to a novel and searched for their names in the system.
• Ye Jin found the novel about Lu Shilan’s rebirth and learned that Lu Shilan had once failed to enter the entertainment industry while Jiang Ye became a successful actress.
• After rebirth, Lu Shilan pursued fame, intercepted Jiang Ye’s opportunities, and arranged for a man to romance Jiang Ye and draw her away from her career.
• In the novel’s plot, Lu Shilan used family matters and her husband’s interference to keep Jiang Ye from auditioning for The Phoenix First Rises, then won the role and rose toward movie-star fame.

Ye Jin reflected on the opportunities Lu Shilan had taken from Jiang Ye as Jiang Ye struggled to balance her audition with caring for her sick daughter. Lu Shilan performed confidently, while Jiang Ye wondered whether she could still compete as an actress.

• Jiang Ye worried about leaving her ill daughter while attending the final audition, and dismissed a strange voice claiming Lu Shilan had arranged her marriage to keep her out of the industry.
• Jiang Ye noticed that only she seemed to hear the voice, then watched Xin Yue finish her audition.
• Sang Yang praised Xin Yue’s acting but said her appearance was not close enough to the female lead’s.
• Lu Shilan checked her makeup and performed, while Jiang Ye recognized how much her acting had improved.
• Jiang Ye worried that her own long absence from acting would leave her unable to match Lu Shilan.

Jiang Ye resisted her husband’s demand that she abandon her audition to care for their daughter and stayed to compete against Lu Shilan. As Jiang Ye began her performance, Ye Jin recognized her talent and wondered whether she, too, had awakened.

• A mysterious voice predicted that Lu Shilan would win and that Jiang Ye’s husband would call her away from the audition.
• Ji Dong called Jiang Ye and demanded she go to the hospital because Yueyue was crying, but Jiang Ye refused and said she would come after auditioning.
• Lu Shilan impressed Sang Yang and Song Miao with her performance and preparation, then was surprised to find Jiang Ye still waiting to audition.
• Jiang Ye noticed Lu Shilan’s astonished, hostile expression and focused on delivering a strong performance.
• Ye Jin wondered whether Jiang Ye had awakened, then watched as Jiang Ye began her audition.

Jiang Ye impressed the audition panel with her performance, but the producers and investors debated whether her troubled circumstances made her too risky to cast. Sang Yang argued for giving Jiang Ye a fair chance, while several investors threatened to withdraw their funding if she became the female lead.

• Jiang Ye delivered a powerful audition that earned applause and praise from Sang Yang, Song Miao, and the others.
• Ye Jin told Jiang Ye, Lu Shilan, and Xin Yue to await the casting decision, which would come in about three business days.
• After the auditionees left, Ye Jin and the production team met to discuss the female lead, and President Zhou opposed casting Jiang Ye because of her reputation and family obligations.
• Sang Yang spoke in Jiang Ye's defense, drawing on her own experience of workplace discrimination after having a child.
• Several male investors rejected Sang Yang's argument and threatened to pull their investment if Jiang Ye was cast.

Ye Jin secured the investors’ agreement to give Jiang Ye the female lead opportunity, subject to a contract, while Jiang Ye discovered that Auntie Zhang was reporting her movements to Ji Dong. When Ji Dong scolded her for attending the audition, Jiang Ye challenged him, and he quickly softened his tone.

• Ye Jin argued that Jiang Ye deserved the role and promised to put her commitment to limit time off during filming into the contract.
• President Zhou warned that he might withdraw his investment if problems arose, but Ye Jin replied confidently, and the female lead decision was left to her negotiations.
• Jiang Ye secretly checked Auntie Zhang’s phone and found that the nanny was reporting her whereabouts to Ji Dong.
• Ji Dong arrived at the hospital and scolded Jiang Ye for leaving their daughter to attend an audition.
• Jiang Ye pointed out that Ji Dong had often been absent and could have stayed with their daughter himself, prompting him to soften his tone and ask what was wrong.

Jiang Ye grew increasingly suspicious of Ji Dong and pretended to remain gentle while he and Lu Shilan plotted to keep her under control. After Ji Dong urged her to have another child, Jiang Ye secretly checked his phone and recognized Lu Shilan’s number.

• Jiang Ye took their sick daughter home and held back from confronting Ji Dong while their child was present.
• Ji Dong remembered Lu Shilan’s threat and, after they got home, contacted her for advice on controlling Jiang Ye.
• Ji Dong tried to reassure Jiang Ye with affection and suggested they have a second child, but she made an excuse to put him off.
• After Ji Dong fell asleep, Jiang Ye unlocked his phone with his fingerprint and recognized Lu Shilan’s number among his calls.