Chapter 41
“Sh*t!” Duan Yang’s face turned ashen as he gritted his teeth. “Shen Yan, you’ve got guts! How dare you mess with me! Just you wait!”
He grabbed his phone and was about to call Su Yunzhe.
Duan Yang knew that while the Su family appeared to be straightforward businesspeople on the surface, their connections ran deep and complicated. Provoking Su Yunzhe would never end well for anyone.
If Shen Yan had truly offended Su Yunzhe, the latter would stop at nothing to dig him out of hiding.
Just as Duan Yang was about to make the call, his phone rang. It was an unknown number.
Assuming it was yet another clueless assistant, he answered with a barrage of curses, “You f*cking—”
“It’s me, Shen Yan.”
Duan Yang thought he was hallucinating. Shen Yan had barely escaped and now had the audacity to contact him?
But the voice on the other end unmistakably belonged to Shen Yan, calm and unhurried.
He froze for a moment before roaring, “Shen Yan! Get your *ss back here right now, or do you want me to tell Su Yunzhe your little secret? Let’s see how you handle that!”
“I’d advise you not to cause yourself more trouble,” Shen Yan replied evenly. “Even if you tell him now, what can he do to me? Can he find me? On the contrary, it’ll make him suspicious of your relationship with me. A little digging, and he’ll uncover your secret marriage. I’m guessing your contract with Yun Kong Entertainment has a clause forbidding marriage during the term. It wouldn’t look good if he found out, would it?”
“Shen… Yan!” Duan Yang spat each word as if he wanted to bite through them. “Are you threatening me?”
“Yes.” Shen Yan’s tone remained tranquil. “So, let’s divorce. Otherwise, I’ll expose your secret marriage, infidelity, domestic abuse, and illegal confinement. That would ruin your career in the entertainment industry, wouldn’t it? You’re a talented actor with a promising future. Sacrificing all that just to fight me isn’t worth it.”
Duan Yang’s teeth ground audibly, veins bulging on his forehead as his eyes reddened with fury. The sight made Yu Lin, standing nearby, shudder. Though Yu Lin couldn’t hear what Shen Yan was saying, he was certain that if Shen Yan were in front of Duan Yang now, the latter would have thrown a punch.
Suddenly, Duan Yang exhaled sharply, his anger dissipating in an instant. He curled his lips into a cold smile. “Shen Yan, do you really think you can threaten me? Joining the entertainment industry was just a whim. At worst, I’ll quit. As for your accusations—infidelity, abuse, and confinement—where’s your proof? And let’s not forget, you’ve met Su Yunzhe’s parents, haven’t you? Your own adultery isn’t something you can deny.”
Shen Yan chuckled. “I just don’t understand. You despise me so much; why won’t you agree to a divorce?”
“Cut the crap! If you know what’s good for you, get your *ss back here. Otherwise, when I find you—”
“And what will you do?” Shen Yan interrupted with a cold laugh. “You’re so reluctant to divorce that you’d rather quit the industry. You must have some ulterior motive involving me, right?”
After a pause, Shen Yan continued, “But you might as well give up. I’m determined to end this marriage. If you won’t agree now, you’ll have no choice in two years. Honestly, with our current relationship, do you think I’d help you? Whatever your goal is, I won’t be a part of it. Instead of wasting your time on me, why not divorce and make your little lover happy? Speaking of which, you probably don’t know that Shen Jiaqi has long known about my identity. He’s approached me several times but kept it from you. Any guesses why?”
Shen Yan let out a soft laugh. “Duan Yang, I sincerely suggest you think this through. Don’t end up losing on all fronts. That’s all I’ll say. I’ll prepare the divorce papers soon. I hope you’ll give me a satisfying answer when we next talk.”
With that, the line went dead.
Crash!
Duan Yang hurled his phone, shattering it.
Still feeling unsatisfied, he kicked over the coffee table and stormed out, heading straight for the Shen family home.
He hadn’t expected the seemingly obedient Shen Jiaqi to deceive him!
After being toyed with by Shen Yan for so long and letting him escape, Duan Yang was furious with nowhere to vent. Discovering that someone so close to him had betrayed him was the final straw.
The Shen family was soon thrown into chaos by his rampage.
However, Shen Jiaqi was adept at pacifying him. A few tears and a session in bed were enough to calm Duan Yang down.
“Don’t do this again. You know I can’t divorce him right now,” Duan Yang scolded, his tone gentle as he held Shen Jiaqi.
Tears welled up in Shen Jiaqi’s eyes again as he pouted and snuggled into Duan Yang’s arms. “I’m sorry. I just feel terrible seeing you with him. You know how much I care about you. But I understand now. I’ll listen to you from now on, okay?”
With a beauty in his arms—understanding, soft, and demure—Duan Yang’s anger evaporated as he indulged in another passionate rendezvous.
It wasn’t until nighttime that he remembered he should investigate the phone number Shen Yan had used to call him. He immediately called Yu Lin.
Yu Lin thought to himself, Knowing Shen Yan’s calculated and audacious nature, staying right under their noses for so long without leaving a trace, would he really leave behind a phone number for them to track?
But he didn’t bother explaining this to Duan Yang. Experience had taught him that reasoning with Duan Yang was futile when he was riled up. He might as well look into it.
As expected, the results were a dead end. The number belonged to an elderly sanitation worker. The old man explained that earlier that morning, a young man had claimed he’d lost his phone and borrowed the worker’s phone to make a call. Seeing that the young man didn’t seem suspicious, he lent it to him.
When asked where the young man had gone after the call, the old man simply said, “He walked east,” but had no idea beyond that.
In short, another fruitless effort.
When Yu Lin reported back, Duan Yang flew into another rage.
However, it became clear that this time, Shen Yan had truly escaped.
Where he had gone, no one knew.
Ranting and raging wouldn’t change that.
Three days later, Duan Yang’s anger finally subsided, partly because he noticed that ever since Ling Sicheng left, Duan Songtao hadn’t been obsessively contacting him or spending endless hours consulting with lawyers.
This suggested that the situation Duan Yang had been dreading was unlikely to unfold anytime soon.
Satisfied, he delegated the task of finding Shen Yan to Yu Lin and turned his attention to preparing for a new movie project.
The movie was helmed by a director who had recently gained international acclaim after winning one of the most prestigious awards in the industry.
When the project was announced, it became the most coveted role in the domestic industry, drawing interest from top-tier, highly capable actors.
However, this director was known to have a close relationship with Su Yunzhe. Upon returning to the country, the director’s first project was handed to Yun Kong Entertainment. As Yun Kong’s newest rising star, Duan Yang was naturally offered the lead role.
Despite his earlier claims to Shen Yan that he could leave the entertainment industry at any time, Duan Yang reveled in the spotlight and the adoration that came with it. Leaving was never a real option unless absolutely necessary.
He still dreamed of standing on grander stages, basking in global acclaim.
So, he held high expectations for this film.
But on the very first day he joined the set, he was told that the director had reviewed his past works and found them lacking maturity. The role was being recast.
Duan Yang, who had shot to fame shortly after entering the industry and had since enjoyed smooth sailing, was accustomed to being treated with deference. Who didn’t address him politely as “Brother Yang”?
He had never been humiliated like this.
That same day, the topic “Duan Yang Replaced Due to Poor Acting” dominated the trending charts, refusing to die down.
Even though both the production team and his agency clarified that the replacement wasn’t due to his acting skills, it made little difference. Online trolls and hired critics mocked him relentlessly.
Duan Yang considered this a grave insult. After lashing out at Yu Lin, he stormed into the agency, venting his fury at their incompetence and accusing them of failing to act on his behalf.
Afterward, still fuming, he drove off in a fit of rage.
Blinded by his anger, he sped recklessly, leading to a traffic accident.
The accident wasn’t particularly serious, but Duan Yang rear-ended another car. His attitude after getting out of his car was atrocious, and someone recorded a video of the incident, promptly uploading it online. By the end of the day, Duan Yang once again became the center of public attention. Following the trending topic of his “poor acting leading to being replaced,” his “terrible character” now topped the charts.
Although his agency managed to suppress the controversy through aggressive public relations efforts, the sponsors weren’t as forgiving. Many demanded to terminate their contracts with him, and the resources that had been lined up for him vanished overnight. In the blink of an eye, the once red-hot celebrity found himself without a single gig.
And this was all within a month of Shen Yan’s departure.
Shen Yan typically paid no attention to entertainment gossip, particularly anything involving Duan Yang.
However, that day, Duan Yang’s name was trending alongside Su Yunzhe’s, and Shen Yan couldn’t resist clicking on it.
Despite being the president of Yun Kong Entertainment, Su Yunzhe was known for keeping a low profile, rarely appearing in the media.
This wasn’t even proper news. It was just an up-and-coming media account speculating wildly. The post analyzed Duan Yang’s career trajectory after joining Yun Kong Entertainment, piecing together bits of evidence to suggest that Su Yunzhe had orchestrated Duan Yang’s current downfall.
As for why Su Yunzhe would go to the trouble of signing Duan Yang at an exorbitant price only to sabotage him, the author failed to provide a convincing explanation.
The article didn’t gain much traction, and the few comments it did receive mostly mocked the author for making baseless claims to attract attention. Nobody believed Su Yunzhe would sabotage his own business interests.
But Shen Yan was deeply unsettled.
While he hadn’t paid close attention to Su Yunzhe’s arc in the original novel, he was very familiar with Duan Yang’s.
In the book, Duan Yang did experience a series of misfortunes after joining Yun Kong Entertainment: being replaced in a major role, losing countless job offers, and even getting into a minor car accident.
At that point in the story, Duan Yang and the original host of Shen Yan’s body had slightly reconciled. Duan Yang confided in the original host, claiming that Su Yunzhe was behind his misfortunes. He insisted that Su Yunzhe had lured him into Yun Kong Entertainment with enticing promises, only to ruin him deliberately.
Given that Su Yunzhe was portrayed as a thorough villain in the novel, Duan Yang’s claims didn’t seem far-fetched.
But what about now?
Could Su Yunzhe truly be targeting Duan Yang?
Shen Yan wasn’t concerned about Duan Yang’s fate. He couldn’t care less whether Duan Yang prospered or perished. What worried him was the possibility that events were aligning with the novel’s original plot.
Su Yunzhe in real life was nothing like the character in the book. The more Shen Yan interacted with him, the more he realized how easygoing and reasonable Su Yunzhe could be. Shen Yan had never detected any hostility from Su Yunzhe toward Duan Yang. Combined with the fact that his own trajectory had diverged significantly from the original storyline, Shen Yan had assumed the novel’s plot was no longer in play.
But now, he wasn’t so sure.
At least in the case of the Su Yunzhe–Duan Yang storyline, things seemed to be sticking to the script.
And that meant… would Su Yunzhe end up in prison like he did in the book? For someone as despicable as Duan Yang?
Su Yunzhe couldn’t be that foolish… could he?
That being said, perhaps there really was some grudge between Su Yunzhe and Duan Yang. Su Yunzhe wouldn’t have targeted Duan Yang for no reason.
But no matter the reason, taking things too far over a personal vendetta comes with consequences.
Su Yunzhe, Duan Yang isn’t worth it. Please don’t do anything reckless!
Shen Yan clenched his phone tightly, an uncomfortable knot forming in his chest as worry consumed him.
“Here comes something tasty.”
A warm, cheerful voice came from behind him just then. The speaker walked over, took a seat on the chair next to him, and handed him a plate of freshly fried sweet potato balls. “Grandma just made these. They’re best when eaten hot.”
Shen Yan accepted the plate but felt no appetite. He mumbled a quiet, “Thanks, Brother Ling.”
Ling Sicheng noticed his gloominess and grew concerned. “What’s wrong? You were fine just a moment ago. Did someone bully you while you were out?”
Shen Yan chuckled softly. “How could they? The neighbors all know me now, and they’re very kind. I even helped Grandpa Zhou from next door carry two buckets of mountain spring water to his house earlier. He was so thankful he almost insisted I stay for dinner.”
“Then why do you look so upset?” Ling Sicheng asked, his tone full of care.
Shen Yan handed him his phone, the screen still showing the article he had just read.
Ling Sicheng glanced at it briefly, then casually exited the page and tossed the phone aside. “Didn’t you say you left the city this time to cut ties with those people? If that’s the case, don’t concern yourself with this anymore. Come on, since you have so much energy to help Grandpa Zhou carry water, put it to use for me. My family doesn’t keep freeloaders!”
Shen Yan got up and followed him outside, his heart carrying a hint of envy for Ling Sicheng. For Qin Mofeng’s sake, Ling Sicheng had truly let go of the past.
It was fascinating how fate worked between people.
To Shen Yan, Ling Sicheng was merely Qin Mofeng’s… special someone.
The two of them hadn’t had any direct interaction.
Yet after leaving H City, Shen Yan unexpectedly stumbled into Ling Sicheng’s hometown.
At the time, Shen Yan hadn’t even known where he was heading. He’d simply gone to the station, boarded the first departing bus, and repeated this aimless process for several days. Eventually, he disembarked at a small town he’d never even heard of before.
Just as he was contemplating renting a room from a local, a bicycle stopped beside him. The rider turned out to be none other than Ling Sicheng.
“Hey, what a coincidence!” Ling Sicheng greeted him with a smile.
Shen Yan instinctively raised his hand to return the greeting but suddenly remembered his current appearance—completely male. Why wasn’t Ling Sicheng surprised?
Ling Sicheng noticed his confusion and chuckled. “Actually, I figured it out the first time I met you. But don’t worry; your disguise is convincing enough. Qin Mofeng definitely wouldn’t notice.”
