After the Harem Novel’s Female Lead was Spoiled by the Comments - Chapter 30

Once the program recording was finished, Wen Hebai took the earliest available flight back to K City.

Just as she walked out of the arrival gate, she saw a strange woman holding a pickup sign with her name on it.

Lu Tie went over first to inquire: “Excuse me, who are you?”

“I am President Yan’s fifth secretary, my name is Qi Zange. President Yan sent me to pick up Ms. Wen.”

Lu Tie frowned: “Since when did President Yan hire a fifth secretary?”

“Four days ago. This is my employee ID.” Qi Zange calmly presented her credentials.

Wen Hebai didn’t suspect Qi Zange’s identity was fake, but asked: “Why didn’t she come herself?”

They had agreed on a pickup last night (though it was only her unilateral request and Yan Qingwen hadn’t given a direct response). Was she being stood up today? Wen Hebai felt extremely annoyed.

Qi Zange hurriedly said: “President Yan is here! She’s in the car having a video conference, so she sent me to get you first!”

Wen Hebai’s mood turned from cloudy to sunny. She told Lu Tie to wait for the luggage while she followed Qi Zange directly.

Once in the car, before she could even greet her, Yan Qingwen looked at her with a deep gaze and let out a sigh.

Wen Hebai found the reaction interesting and asked: “We haven’t seen each other for a few days; why do you sigh the moment you see me?”

“Where is Lu Tie?” Yan Qingwen asked.

“Getting the luggage.”

Yan Qingwen’s brow furrowed deeper: “You just left Lu Tie behind and walked off with a stranger?”

Wen Hebai reacted, pointing at Qi Zange, who was already in the driver’s seat: “Isn’t she your secretary? How is she a stranger?”

“Had you met her before today? What if this secretary identity was faked by someone else? What if someone found out in advance that I was coming to the airport and arranged for someone to trick you away before I arrived?” Yan Qingwen countered.

Wen Hebai was speechless for a moment. She truly hadn’t considered that someone would impersonate Yan Qingwen’s staff to deceive her.

However, even if Qi Zange weren’t Yan Qingwen’s person but an imposter, as long as the person used Yan Qingwen’s name, she likely would have believed them implicitly.

Yan Qingwen had specifically brought Qi Zange today to test Wen Hebai’s vigilance. To her surprise, this woman had zero sense of caution! She had the nerve to call Su Jinyue naive when she herself was just as bad!

Wen Hebai looked down at her nose, and after a moment, she suddenly caught the drift and asked: “You told me to bring Lu Tie whenever I went out after that bar incident, and now you’re testing me specifically—has something happened?”

“We’ll talk about it when we get back.” Aside from the assistant Xiao Chen, there was also the secretary Qi Zange acting as the driver. Yan Qingwen didn’t feel comfortable letting too many people know about certain matters.

Only after Lu Tie put the luggage in the bodyguards’ car behind them did Qi Zange start the engine.

On the way back, the atmosphere in the car was a bit dull. Xiao Chen kept peeking at the two principals through the rearview mirror. After thinking for a long time, she found a topic to warm up the room: “By the way, President Yan, the dates you specifically asked me to clear have been selected. We just need to see if the Madam’s schedule is compatible.”

Wen Hebai knew immediately they were talking about dates for wedding photos. She took the tablet from Xiao Chen, looked at it, and said: “The second weekend of next month looks suitable. The weather will be good, and there’s enough time for us to pick out wedding dress styles and shooting locations. I’ll have my manager clear those days.”

Once Yan Qingwen nodded, the schedule was set. Xiao Chen dutifully opened an app to help them select a suitable wedding photography studio.

Suddenly, she noticed that couples in wedding photos always wore rings. Looking at the clean, slender fingers of the President and the Best Actress, she had a sudden flash of inspiration and asked: “President Yan, Madam, since you’re taking wedding photos, not having wedding rings seems a bit—” illogical.

Before she could finish, she met Yan Qingwen’s emotionless gaze and immediately fell silent in fear.

Wen Hebai, however, acted as if she had been reminded. She spread her long fingers and cried out with exaggerated drama: “Oh right! I was wondering why my hands, as beautiful as they are, felt like they were missing something—turns out it’s wedding rings!”

Yan Qingwen pressed her hand to her forehead.

She knew exactly what Wen was plotting the moment she opened her mouth, so she said: “I will ask my Aunt to design a pair of wedding rings for us.”

In fact, while Yan Qingwen was browsing Weibo recently, she had seen CP fans wondering why they didn’t wear rings, and only then did she remember the concept of wedding rings. However, she felt it would be a bit strange to bring up rings to Wen Hebai out of the blue, and since she wasn’t used to wearing a band on her finger, she had simply ignored it.

Since Xiao Chen mentioned it today and Wen Hebai had taken it to heart, it wouldn’t be right for her not to state her position.

Wen Hebai: “Mua~ Wifey, you’re the best!”

Wen Hebai’s affected tone made even Qi Zange, who was driving, subconsciously wobble the steering wheel. Yan Qingwen, however, had long since developed immunity to all “toxins”; her expression didn’t even flicker.

Back at home, Xiao Chen and Qi Zange helped Lu Tie move the luggage into the villa and then departed. Auntie Lan was busy cleaning, so Yan Qingwen led Wen Hebai to the study. She then opened the email and informed her about the person using Wen Hebai to threaten her.

Originally, Yan Qingwen hadn’t planned to mention it. But after several days of deep consideration, she decided that keeping the person involved—Wen Hebai—in the dark was unwise. Letting her know she was in danger would allow her to be more cautious.

Upon learning of this, Wen Hebai couldn’t help but laugh: “Why would someone use me to threaten you?”

Yan Qingwen said flatly: “Yes, in the past everyone knew our relationship was poor, so naturally no one would be so foolish as to use you to threaten me. But now that we are married and frequently appearing together as a pair, we’ve created a facade of being a very loving couple. For them, using one of us to threaten the other is now perfectly appropriate.”

Wen Hebai stopped laughing. Clearly, she realized the truth of this as well.

“I think, for the sake of our respective safety, it’s better to do fewer public ‘business operations’,” Yan Qingwen said.

Wen Hebai let out a cold, unhappy snort and said: “I don’t recall performing ‘business operations’ with you in public.”

“Does that time we watched a movie not count?”

Wen Hebai’s gaze darkened. she said: “I truly wanted to go to the movies with you, yet you think I was just doing it for show! Yan Qingwen, can your heart get any colder?” After a moment, she turned her face away. “Forget it, it’s not like I don’t know what kind of person you are.”

Yan Qingwen frowned, feeling her own heart being tugged by Wen Hebai’s emotions, becoming somewhat restless and uneasy.

The silent standoff didn’t last long before Wen Hebai changed the subject: “Do you have any idea who would use me to threaten you?”

“I have a few guesses, but nothing certain. The only lead so far is that the party likely has influence abroad.”

“Then the wealthy families in our K City can basically be ruled out.” Wen Hebai knew well which K City families had access to foreign influence. “Although there are many people with motives in K City, aside from your Yan family, which owns mines globally, only the Liao family has collaborations with medical institutions abroad.”

Yan Qingwen’s thoughts aligned with Wen Hebai’s, but she never suspected her own family. As for the Liao family, they could also be ruled out because there was no grievance between the Yans and the Liaos. If the Liao family wanted to strike at the Yans, they would certainly choose a field they were expert in; there was no need to hire foreign hackers and use such a circuitous method to threaten her.

She leaned toward three possibilities. First, Zhuang Yi and the power behind him were up to something.

Zhuang Yi had appeared at the Yi Qi bar almost at the same time as Wen Hebai that night. He might not have left immediately, so he had the opportunity to take photos of Wen Hebai and then use his overseas connections to send them to her.

She also wondered if her investigation into Zhuang Yi’s connection to families in City C had caught their attention, and they were using this to warn her.

The remaining possibility was that the power behind Jiang Yunhan was at work. Since it could make “female leads” hear his thoughts, it could certainly use some means to take such photos and send them.

She couldn’t share these guesses with Wen Hebai.

However, Wen Hebai didn’t seem particularly nervous. She even had the mood to joke: “It’s also possible it wasn’t a threat, but just a way to let you know that your new bride was openly frequenting bars while you were away. in many people’s eyes, bars and nightclubs are ‘indecent’ places, and people who frequent them are ‘indecent.’ So… perhaps the other party just wanted to tell you that I am an indecent person.”

Yan Qingwen: “…”

Is that even logical?

Thinking about it, it actually made some sense. Normally, if someone wanted to threaten another, they wouldn’t just send a few photos; they would usually add some bloody content to achieve an intimidating effect.

So, had she been so prepared only to guard against… nothing?

“If that’s the case, the other party is doing something superfluous—I already knew you were an ‘indecent’ person,” Yan Qingwen said.

Wen Hebai complained: “How am I not a decent person?!”

“What decent person buys a bunch of ‘mobile accessories’?” Yan Qingwen shot her a look.

Wen Hebai leaned against the back of the sofa in a relaxed, leisurely posture, her eyelashes curling slightly: “Buying adult products is not something to be ashamed of. Where did my dear wifey put them?”

“Regardless, we must remain vigilant.” Yan Qingwen withdrew her gaze and focused it back on the computer screen, dignified and serious. “I have work to do.”

Wen Hebai stretched, pulled over a footstool to prop up her legs, and said: “You do your thing. I’m tired and need a break.”

Seeing she intended to rest here, Yan Qingwen issued an eviction notice: “Go back to your room to sleep.”

“Unless you accompany me.”

Yan Qingwen: “…”

It’s broad daylight; what kind of dream are you having?

The corners of Wen Hebai’s mouth tilted up as she closed her eyes and tilted her head to feign sleep.

Yan Qingwen couldn’t be bothered to drive her out. She pushed aside all distractions and began to focus on work.

The sky outside the window gradually grew dark. The clouds looked as though they had been splashed with ink, and before long, an autumn rain began to pitter-patter down.

The autumn wind, carrying wisps of rain, blew in through the open French window, bringing a chill. The indoor temperature dropped, and Yan Qingwen, wearing only a silk shirt, felt the cold.

She rose to close the window and glanced at Wen Hebai, who was fast asleep on the sofa. The latter seemed to sense the cold, wrapping her arms around herself in her sleep.

Yan Qingwen looked down and pondered what Wen Hebai meant by “truly wanting to watch a movie” with her, but she disliked guessing other people’s intentions. It was as meaningless and draining as wondering whether someone loved you or not while in a relationship.

After a round of thinking with no conclusion, she stopped.

She took a thin blanket from the cabinet, draped it over Wen Hebai, and then left the study to call her aunt, Yan Su, to discuss the design of the wedding rings.

Author’s Note:

Wen the Mutt-dog’s Progress:

Marriage Certificate √

Wedding Photos √

Wedding Rings √

Wedding Ceremony ×