03 First Encounter with Fan Chen: Covered in Filth  

At the foot of the mountain, at the entrance, there was a wooden sign.  

Shen Nanqiao raised a hand to shield her eyes from the wild and unrestrained sunlight of the countryside. Frowning, she read the carved words on the sign, one word at a time: “No renting, thanks?”  

She rolled her eyes so hard they nearly reached the sky. “Tch—what kind of nonsense is this?”  

Putting her sunglasses back on, she turned to look at Yang Xiaodong, who was busy packing bags in front of the SUV’s trunk. Pointing at the sign, Shen Nanqiao loudly ordered, “Yang-jie, take it down for me!”  

“Huh?” Yang Xiaodong lifted his head from the trunk and glanced at Shen Nanqiao, who was wearing a black strapless dress paired with sneakers—a sudden shift in style. He closed the trunk, pulled out a sun umbrella from the bag, and strode over.  

Shielding the celebrity from the sun was one of his most common tasks as an assistant.  

The wooden sign stood tall beside the stone steps at the foot of the mountain, visible as soon as one entered. Seeing it, Yang Xiaodong scratched his head. “Nan-jie, I don’t have any tools on hand. Should I dismantle it bare-handed?”  

Shen Nanqiao’s brows furrowed slightly. With a wave of her hand, Yang Xiaodong instinctively shrank his neck and immediately smiled obsequiously, changing his tone: “I’ll take it down! I’ll take it down!”  

Before working as Shen Nanqiao’s assistant, he never imagined the job would include dismantling a wooden sign in the deep mountains.  

On the day he applied for the assistant position, Yang Xiaodong met the outgoing assistant who was resigning. Before leaving, the person asked him, “Do you know what kind of mindset you need to have to be her assistant?”  

“Huh? What?”  

The person patted his shoulder, their smile practically dripping with schadenfreude: “That is—you must not think of yourself as a celebrity assistant. You need to imagine yourself as a personal eunuch.”  

At the time, Yang Xiaodong felt insulted.  

Later, he truly became Shen Nanqiao’s servant for over half a year. Always on call, always fulfilling requests. Under the celebrity’s relentless demands, he successfully lost over ten pounds.  

What heartbreak couldn’t achieve, Shen Nanqiao did.  

While Yang Xiaodong huffed and puffed, struggling with the sign, Shen Nanqiao lounged on the folding chair he had set up for her. Humming a tune, she took selfies from various indulgent angles using the default camera app.  

The massive sun umbrella shielded her completely, leaving no room for UV rays to invade.  

She casually snapped forty or fifty photos, picked two, and posted them on Weibo with the caption: “The mountain air is as sweet as my mood today.”  

In just one minute, thousands of comments flooded in:  

“This angle! Absolutely stunning!”  

“Baby girl looks so gorgeous today! Is this on set? Remember to rest and don’t overwork yourself!”  

“Eyelash queen! Ahhh! Amazing! The sweetest thing isn’t the air—it’s you!”  

“Mama loves you! Mwah mwah!”  

Shen Nanqiao turned over, lying on her side, lazily propping her head up with one hand as she casually scrolled through the comments. When she looked up and saw Yang Xiaodong still struggling with the sign, she immediately grew impatient: “Hey! Not done yet?”  

To be fair, it wasn’t Yang Xiaodong’s fault. The sign was as sturdy as a stone tablet, refusing to budge no matter how he tried to dismantle it. After ten minutes of effort, drenched in sweat, he wanted to complain about Shen Nanqiao’s easy criticism from her lounging position. But when he turned and saw her alluring pose, he couldn’t bring himself to say a word.  

Beautiful people are just so easily forgiven.  

Yang Xiaodong slumped to the ground, panting heavily. “Nan-jie, I really can’t do it. It’s buried too deep!”  

“Fine, fine!” Shen Nanqiao sprang up from her chair in frustration, furrowing her brows as she pondered for a few seconds. Suddenly, she asked, “Where are the car keys?”  

“What do you need the car keys for?”  

“Give them to me!”  

“Oh…”  

Taking the keys, Shen Nanqiao stared directly at the offending sign and approached it, muttering under her breath, “I refuse to believe this…”  

Before long, the carved words on the sign were scratched beyond recognition. She added a few crooked characters: “Welcome.”  

Casually tossing the keychain back to her assistant, Shen Nanqiao clapped her hands and admired her handiwork with satisfaction.  

The two officially began their visit to the hermit’s abode.

“By the way, where’s the information I asked you to gather?”  

“All sorted!” Yang Xiaodong quickly pulled out a tablet from his bag and opened the files he had spent all night compiling.  

Shen Nanqiao flipped through the photos while Yang Xiaodong held the sun umbrella for her.  

“Fan Chen, born in 1986, a local of S City. Height: 172 cm. Weight: 55 kg. Scorpio. Graduated from S University. Her parents are university professors. She used to work as a photographer and co-founded a studio with someone. It has a great reputation. Also, her online photography courses sell well and have excellent reviews.”  

The first few photos were of the photography studio. When she swiped to a portrait of a curly-haired woman, Shen Nanqiao clicked her tongue twice, looking disdainful: “This is Fan Chen? She looks so manipulative. No wonder Director Feng couldn’t handle her.”  

Yang Xiaodong froze, marveling, “Women’s intuition is terrifying...”  

“Hm?”  

“This is someone she photographed—her studio partner Zhang-jie, who’s also her ex-girlfriend.”  

Shen Nanqiao paused, then burst into laughter: “She’s gay?”  

Yang Xiaodong didn’t understand what amused her but nodded. “Yeah, small world. I have a classmate who happens to be Zhang-jie’s assistant.”  

“You’re an assistant, your classmate is an assistant—does your school have an assistant major?”  

“...”  

“By the way, you said she’s manipulative. What do you mean?”  

“You said that,” he muttered under his breath, earning a glare from Shen Nanqiao. He quickly returned to the topic: “Ahem, Zhang-jie secretly got married last year behind Fan Chen’s back. Fan Chen crashed the wedding, and someone filmed it and posted it online… In short, Zhang-jie really messed her up. I guess that’s what you women call manipulative?”  

“Such drama?” Shen Nanqiao excitedly flipped through the photos until she found the wedding-crashing video Yang Xiaodong mentioned.  

On stage, the bride and groom were exchanging rings when suddenly, a tall, slender woman rushed up, seemingly holding a cup, and smashed it on the groom’s head. Everyone, including Shen Nanqiao, couldn’t help but gasp.  

The groom ended up with two bloody streaks on his face, and the two began to wrestle.  

Shen Nanqiao had never seen such an exciting wedding scene. She replayed the clip of Fan Chen attacking the groom, saying she’d believe it was a movie.  

Turning to Yang Xiaodong, her eyes sparkled: “No wonder she’s called a wild woman. She’s wild enough.”  

Yang Xiaodong chuckled awkwardly: “She’s definitely tough. A single woman, apparently, went alone… If the security guards hadn’t stopped her, who knows how bad it could’ve gotten.”  

As the video neared its end, Shen Nanqiao finally saw her face. It was a look of extreme pain, sadness, and anger, as if she were pouring all her strength into venting and resisting.  

Shen Nanqiao replayed the last few seconds of the video repeatedly, finally catching Fan Chen’s hysterical scream amidst the chaotic background noise: “You liar!”  

Seeing her dazed, Yang Xiaodong called out, “Nan-jie?”  

Shen Nanqiao snapped back to reality, stared at him for a moment, shoved the tablet back into his hands, and strode forward.  

“No wonder she’s hiding in the deep mountains. If I did something so embarrassing and got filmed and posted online, I’d rather find a crooked tree and hang myself!”  

Yang Xiaodong murmured, “She actually did try to die once...”  

“What? Suicide? Failed? This auntie really turned her life into a tragic drama heroine?” Shen Nanqiao shivered.  

“Anyway, her current situation must be tied to heartbreak. Oh, and I heard she gave all her studio shares to Zhang-jie before leaving...”  

Shen Nanqiao noticed his hesitant expression and snapped, “What? Do you think we’re disturbing her peace, ruining her sanctuary for nursing heartbreak? Is she the only one in the world who deserves pity?”  

“Nan-jie, that’s not what I meant. I just think she doesn’t seem like someone who cares much about money. It probably isn’t about the crew’s offered price...”  

Shen Nanqiao thought it over. “That’s true. Well, whatever! Let’s go in and take a look first!”  

Climbing the last set of stone steps, a small, low house came into view in the distance. The sign at the front read: “Shui Yun Jian.”  

“I’m exhausted… Whew—” Shen Nanqiao stretched out a hand. “Shoes!”  

“Oh!” Yang Xiaodong immediately pulled out an exquisite shoe box from the bag. Opening it revealed a pair of twelve-centimeter-high heels studded with black crystals.  

Yang Xiaodong crouched down, offering his shoulder for support.  

“Let’s go.”  

Dressed to the nines, anyone unfamiliar with the situation might’ve thought she was heading to a fashion show.  

The bamboo fence creaked open, and the chickens raised by Fan Chen scattered across the yard at the sight of the visitors. Yang Xiaodong got playful and tried to tease the chickens but accidentally stepped into some chicken poop.  

Shen Nanqiao burst into laughter and quickly grabbed the sun umbrella from his hand, pinching her nose. “Put the things down and stay away from me!”  

“Nan-jie—” Yang Xiaodong grimaced, scanning the yard until he spotted a water well in the far corner. He sighed, “Fine, wait here. I’ll go wash up.”  

Shen Nanqiao ignored him and continued walking inside. “Anyone home?”  

She curiously examined the yard’s scenery and found it far more charming than expected. Locust trees, swallow nests, swing vines, wooden rocking chairs—all arranged with a fresh and elegant touch.  

Complexity within simplicity, simplicity within complexity—it was evident the designer had poured a lot of thought into it. It barely deserved the description of “paradise on Earth.”  

She called out two or three more times, receiving no response. Shen Nanqiao stepped under the eaves and leaned against the window to peer inside. “Fan Chen—”  

“Miss Fan?”  

“Fan Auntie—”  

“Who’s your auntie?”  

The sudden cold voice behind her startled Shen Nanqiao, and as she turned, her foot slipped, causing her to stumble. Fan Chen reached out to steady her but quickly let go as if shocked, her smile awkward: “Sorry—just finished farm work and haven’t had time to wash my hands.”  

Her sweat-drenched appearance confirmed her words—she truly looked like someone who had just finished farm work. Shen Nanqiao scrutinized her from head to toe: a straw hat on her head, cotton-linen pants rolled up to her knees, revealing two slender legs—like a rural woman through and through! She couldn’t reconcile the person in front of her with the bold wedding crasher in the video.  

Glancing at the mud-stained arm, Shen Nanqiao suddenly felt short of breath, though she hadn’t even begun to vent her anger. Before she could say anything, Fan Chen casually grabbed her wrist and began walking.  

“You, you, you! What are you doing? Let go of me!”  

Fan Chen released her grip, clearly unimpressed by her exaggerated reaction, and said indifferently, “Taking you to clean up.”  

Hearing the commotion, Yang Xiaodong hurried over, taking a look at the straw-hatted woman before noticing the mess on Shen Nanqiao’s arm. “Nan-jie, are you okay?” he asked anxiously.  

Shen Nanqiao had experienced countless moments of being stopped for autographs or photos by passersby, but she’d never encountered someone who smeared mud on her arm during their first meeting. She mulled it over and realized the sunglasses must have obscured her face enough that Fan Chen didn’t recognize her.  

If the woman knew who she was, this attitude would surely be different.  

Shen Nanqiao removed her sunglasses, revealing her highly recognizable face. Raising an eyebrow and lifting her chin, she cleared her throat and adopted her signature celebrity tone: “Yang-jie, don’t give her such an intimidating look. We wouldn’t want to scare Miss Fan, would we?”  

She turned to Fan Chen with a sweet smile, blinking charmingly: “Miss Fan, I’m so sorry. Yang-jie didn’t mean any harm.”  

Yang Xiaodong was baffled, touching his face to confirm he wasn’t making any inappropriate expressions. “Intimidating look?”  

Fan Chen wasn’t interested in engaging with this drama queen. Noticing that Yang Xiaodong had come from the direction of the water well, she glanced at them and remarked, “Since you know where to fetch water, help yourselves. I’m going to take a bath.”  

And with that, she turned and walked away.  

She turned and walked away.  

Walked away.  

Shen Nanqiao was certain Fan Chen had seen her face—they’d even exchanged a glance. Yet, the woman’s gaze had merely swept past her without any reaction, and then she walked right past her?!  

What was going on?  

Shen Nanqiao felt her face flush from her neck to her ears. Hastily putting her sunglasses back on, she turned to find Yang Xiaodong still staring after Fan Chen. Furious, she snapped, “What are you staring at? Hurry up and take me to wash my hands!”

On Shen Nanqiao’s pale, slender arm was a glaring black muddy handprint.

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