After the Harem Novel’s Female Lead was Spoiled by the Comments - Chapter 43

The autumn night was bleak. As city lights began to glow, the warm-white ceiling light in the study lit up.

Wen Hebai leaned against the door, smiling as she looked at the person resting with her eyes closed at the computer desk. “Wife, dinner’s ready.”

Yan Qingwen lifted her eyelids. Everything that had happened in the walk-in closet just now surfaced before her eyes again, and the heat in her cheeks and ears could not be suppressed no matter what. She had failed to hold back again. Wen Hebai had easily stirred up her desire, and then she had surrendered in love and lust.

“Wife, is your waist still very sore? How about I massage it for you?” Wen Hebai walked to her side.

If she really let Wen Hebai massage her waist, who knew if they would end up rolling into bed again. Yan Qingwen did not want to spend the entire night in bed without even eating dinner. She turned sideways to avoid Wen Hebai’s hand and said, “I’m fine.”

She hurried downstairs. Aunt Lan was just bringing the soup over and said, “President Yan, the weather is dry and cold. Drink more cordyceps flower pork rib soup. It nourishes yin, moistens dryness, benefits essence, and replenishes blood.”

Yan Qingwen thought Aunt Lan was hinting that she had indulged too much. Feeling guilty and embarrassed, she lost focus for a moment and stumbled, nearly failing to stand firm. Luckily, Wen Hebai caught her around the waist from behind.

“Aiyo!” Aunt Lan was startled. “President Yan, are you all right?”

“I’m fine.” Yan Qingwen held the railing and turned back to glare at Wen Hebai.

Wen Hebai let go of her and revealed an innocent yet ingratiating expression.

Yan Qingwen quickly walked to the dining table and sat down. Looking at the dishes on the table, she casually asked, “Why did you make so many dishes tonight?”

Usually, even when Wen Hebai was home, there would only be four dishes and one soup, with smaller portions. Tonight, there were six whole dishes on the table, and at least three of them were not dishes Aunt Lan would usually make.

Aunt Lan glanced at Wen Hebai and said, “Madam Hebai said if you couldn’t finish them, she’d pack them up as a midnight snack.”

Yan Qingwen thought that since the weather was cold, the food would cool quickly and there was no need. But what came out of her mouth was only a simple “Mm.”

“Hurry and eat. Don’t wait until it gets cold.” Wen Hebai urged her.

Yan Qingwen took a sip of soup to warm her stomach before reaching out with her chopsticks to pick up the di san xian in front of her. Traditional di san xian was stir-fried eggplant, potatoes, and green peppers, but this one had replaced the green peppers with yardlong beans… Compared with green peppers, Yan Qingwen did indeed prefer yardlong beans.

“How is it?” Wen Hebai eagerly asked about the taste.

Yan Qingwen seemed to realize something. “You made this dish?” Otherwise, why would she care so much about how this dish tasted?

Wen Hebai was at a loss for words. Aunt Lan smiled and revealed the answer. “Yes. This di san xian, and the cold dish, were both made by Madam Hebai.”

“I just wanted you to know that my cooking skills have improved.” Wen Hebai looked proud.

Yan Qingwen said nothing. Only after eating another bite of eggplant did she calmly say, “It’s average.”

Wen Hebai was delighted and completely unaffected. If it really were average, would President Yan eat a second bite?

After dinner, Aunt Lan used Yan Qingwen’s lunch box to pack food for Wen Hebai. Wen Hebai looked at the rabbit pattern on the lunch box and said, “Wife actually uses such a cute lunch box?!”

Yan Qingwen’s expression did not change. “I won it in the company annual party lucky draw.”

Her reddened ear tips betrayed her current mood.

“Is your company’s purchasing department okay?” Other people drew year-end bonuses worth over a hundred thousand or large household appliances, but the dignified president of Yan Group only won a lunch box. Wasn’t that way too unlucky? Would President Yan become embarrassed and angry and fire the person who bought the prizes?

Yan Qingwen threw her a look and let her understand the meaning herself.

Wen Hebai smiled and leaned over to kiss the lips she had ravaged not long ago.

“We just finished eating. What are you doing?” Yan Qingwen pushed her away in disdain.

“I wiped my mouth.” Wen Hebai curled her lips and quietly defended herself. “It wasn’t even a French kiss.”

Yan Qingwen hurriedly looked toward Aunt Lan. Luckily, Aunt Lan had already gone into the kitchen.

She got up and returned to her room. Wen Hebai followed behind her. “Wife, can you send me to the airport tonight?”

“Let the driver send you.”

“He went home to reunite with his wife and daughter. If we suddenly ask him to come out in the middle of the night to send someone off, who knows what his wife might think?”

Wen Hebai could always find many grand and proper reasons for her requests. Perhaps Yan Qingwen was persuaded, or perhaps she was simply too lazy to argue with her about this. So, with the thought of quickly sending her away so that she would stop bothering her, Yan Qingwen still drove her to the airport an hour and a half before the flight took off.

Wen Hebai had come and gone in a hurry. After rushing around all day, she was exhausted enough that she fell asleep in the car while holding the packed meal box. Under the dim lighting of the airport parking lot, there was a faint bluish shadow beneath her eyes. The good spirits she had forced out while at home had been beaten back to their original form, revealing a trace of fatigue.

Yan Qingwen waited in the car for over ten minutes before waking her.

Wen Hebai shook her head, making herself immediately wake up from sleep. She kissed Yan Qingwen’s cheek, thanked her, then said, “Wife, drive carefully on your way back.”

When she came back, she had only brought her phone, ID card, and wallet. When she left, the only extra thing she had was a lunch box. There was no need to check luggage, so even check-in was much faster.

Only after Yan Qingwen received the message Wen Hebai sent from the boarding gate did she drive home.

On the weekend, Yan Qingwen was ultimately summoned back to the manor by her parents’ deadly chain of phone calls.

Yan Aotian got straight to the point and asked her, “What do you think about the Jiang family’s investment? They’ve already convinced several shareholders. Now it depends on you.”

Yan Qingwen looked at these shareholders’ letters of intent and stated her reason for refusal. “I’m optimistic about the new energy vehicle industry, but I’m not optimistic about Jiang Group.”

“Are you still angry because we didn’t say a word to you before preparing to arrange your engagement with Yunhan?”

“Dad, business is business. The Jiang family has already lost credibility in the real estate industry. Cooperating with them will only drag Yan Corporation into the water. I’m preparing to buy a mine in Xishan, and the company’s funds must remain sufficient. We can’t divert another portion to invest in new energy vehicles.”

The father and daughter faced off in a stalemate. At this moment, Xiao Baihua finally said with reddened eyes, “Your father is also doing this for me. I already invested fifty million into the Jiang family. If no more funds are injected and the Jiang family’s new energy vehicle company declares bankruptcy, then my fifty million will be gone.”

Yan Qingwen laughed in anger. She had not expected her parents’ intelligence to drop to this degree.

“Fifty million. That’s only Mom’s five years of dividends from Yan Corporation. It doesn’t matter. If it’s gone, it’s gone. In any case, you don’t lack food or clothing at home. Just treat it as buying a lesson.”

“How are you talking to your mother?” Yan Aotian glared at her.

Xiao Baihua said again, “But your aunt and uncle’s company also invested.”

“Why is their building materials company, with a market value of only a little over one billion, running over to join the fun?” Yan Qingwen was speechless. If Yan Corporation were not under her control now, her parents might really drag all of Yan Corporation into the bottomless pit dug by the Jiang family.

“What about my fifty million?” Xiao Baihua felt heartache. She had saved those dividends for many years. Her daughter simply said to treat it as buying a lesson and then ignored it. She really did not know how to feel sorry for money at all.

Yan Qingwen said, “It would be best if you can get it back. If you can’t, then Mom, handle it yourself!”

It was also time to let her mother clearly see the Jiang family’s true face. Every year, they took hundreds of billions in dividends and lived lives of luxury and decadence, yet the company’s accounts were several hundred billion in debt. Now, the ones most afraid of their bankruptcy were not themselves, but the banks and the homeowners who had been waiting years to receive their homes.

If the Jiang family were smart, they would return the money to her mother and then try to coax more investment from Yan Qingwen. If they were not smart and wanted to use this method to force her to pay for her family’s actions, then they had miscalculated. She, Yan Qingwen, hated being threatened the most.

Yan Qingwen had no intention of caring about Xiao Baihua’s fate, but unfortunately, Yan Liangchen had also spoken. Although Yan Aotian felt sorry for his wife, he could only comfort her. “It’s all right. Even if you can’t get it back, you still have me!”

“But I don’t want people to say I rely on a man.” Xiao Baihua was heartbroken.

Yan Aotian spoke domineeringly. “I absolutely won’t allow anyone to say that about you!”

Yan Qingwen: “…”

She picked up her handbag and took her leave. “Grandpa, Grandma, Dad, Mom, the Liao family has sent representatives to discuss the physical examination project cooperation. I’ll go back and organize the materials.”

Everyone knew this was an excuse, but they had no reason to stop her.

After leaving the manor, Yan Qingwen finally felt that the air was fresher.

She did not immediately get into the car. Instead, she took a walk along the street outside the manor. Suddenly, her phone gave a “ding.” She opened Weibo and discovered that someone she had set as special follow had gone online.

It was still a very business-like advertisement, but Wen Hebai’s side account had updated with a post: “Three days apart, and I miss my wife.”

QingBai CP fans had long since found this side account and were howling to eat food.

Some fans were puzzled. “Three days apart? Did you two meet three days ago?”

At this moment, a fansite admin posted a video from the afternoon three days ago, showing Wen Hebai hurrying to the airport alone without any luggage to take a flight back to K City. Because she had to catch her flight, she was running the whole time. The fansite admin almost could not keep up and could only film her back.

A big fan teased, “She definitely quarreled with President Yan last time, then went back to coax her wife. [slippery.jpg]”

There were also fans asking her, “Did you manage to coax President Yan?”

Then this comment was flipped by the actual person: “Working hard. [dog shaking head.jpg]”

Yan Qingwen had not expected this person to talk nonsense like this. Didn’t Wen Hebai think about it? If Yan Qingwen were still angry, would she have driven her to the airport?

She exited Weibo. Out of sight, out of mind!

After a while, she opened it again and commented underneath: “What birthday gift do you want most?”

This was the first time she had left a comment on Wen Hebai’s social media. She felt a little nervous, a little curious, and hidden within it was a fluttering she herself had not noticed.

She did not expect Wen Hebai to reply either. After all, even if it was only a side account, it had millions of fans. In just a little over ten minutes, there were already over a thousand comments, too many to read. Moreover, her account username looked like that of a paid commenter and did not even have a top fan badge. If sorted by weight, it would probably be pushed far back.

So after commenting, she quickly turned off her phone to calm herself down, then went home to handle a pile of affairs related either to the company or to Zhuang Yi, Jiang Yunhan, and the others.

The Su family collected some evidence of improper competition by Zhongbai Insurance Company, the company jointly established with Baiweixia Insurance Company, and prepared to sue them. Affected by this matter, Zhongbai Insurance Company was also conducting an internal self-investigation. This investigation led them to the major shareholder of Baiweixia.

That major shareholder was named Qiu Fu, an ethnic Chinese from J Country. He had once invested as a foreign businessman. Aside from Zhongbai Insurance Company, he had also invested in several security companies. However, because his shares were too small, he had not drawn anyone’s attention.

Yan Qingwen knew that Qiu Fu was the subordinate Zhuang Yi’s father, Zhuang Xing, had once saved. Although on the surface, he had never contacted Zhuang Xing, Zhuang Mei had already placed him on the suspect list and had also carried out a purge inside Shenji Sect because of this.

Perhaps it was precisely because Qiu Fu was currently too busy protecting himself that Zhuang Yi’s recent attempts to hunt Su Jinyue and Liao Song had repeatedly hit walls.

Moreover, his former male lead halo had already been taken away quite a bit by Jiang Yunhan. Several times when he approached Liao Song, Jiang Yunhan disrupted his plans. Right now, the person he probably hated most was Jiang Yunhan.

Speaking of Liao Song, Yan Qingwen felt that Liao Song’s recent behavior was somewhat hard to grasp. She would still interact with Jiang Yunhan, but in front of Jiang Yunhan, she no longer had the shyness, sweetness, and delicate pride from before.

Especially this time, when Liao Song came as the Liao family’s representative to discuss the Yan-Liao cooperation with her, she indirectly asked whether Yan Qingwen had noticed anything abnormal about Jiang Yunhan.

Yan Qingwen guessed that Liao Song had probably learned from Jiang Yunhan that she was also a “female lead,” so she wanted to know if Yan Qingwen could hear Jiang Yunhan’s inner thoughts like Wang Qihuan.

But it was not quite accurate to say that this behavior came from care and possessiveness toward Jiang Yunhan, because compared with Jiang Yunhan himself, she seemed more curious about what “female lead” and “Jiang Yunhan’s inner thoughts” were about.

Although Yan Qingwen could not determine why Liao Song had sobered up, she guessed it was probably because a plot point that should originally have happened had changed again. As for the most crucial change, it was probably the time she met Wang Qihuan.

If Wang Qihuan had not come to Liao Song at that time to talk about Jiang Yunhan, Liao Song would not have been curious enough to chase after her and ask questions, nor would she have learned that she was not the only one who could hear Jiang Yunhan’s inner thoughts. Her focus also would not have shifted from Jiang Yunhan himself to the matter of being able to hear “inner thoughts.”

Could the key person who changed the plot be Wang Qihuan?

But last time, the key plot involving Su Jinyue changed because of Wen Hebai…

A thought suddenly flashed through Yan Qingwen’s mind: back then, in the hotel buffet restaurant, although Wang Qihuan had been looking for Liao Song, her gaze had fallen on Wen Hebai. In other words, Wang Qihuan had deliberately complained to Wen Hebai about Jiang Yunhan fantasizing about her in his heart. Unfortunately, Wen Hebai had not understood her feelings at all and had only treated her as funny.

Going even further back to the banquet that day, although Yan Qingwen had opposed the engagement by her own will, if the person she had confessed to back then had not been Wen Hebai, but anyone else present, the result might not have been satisfactory. It was precisely because Wen Hebai responded to her confession, acted with her, and went with her to get their certificates that she was able to completely extricate herself from that plot.

Why was it Wen Hebai?

Were Jiang Yunhan’s inner thoughts related to Wen Hebai?

Very soon, Yan Qingwen realized that this guess was somewhat absurd. Unable to sort out any other line of thought, she simply set the matter aside.

When she picked up her phone, she discovered that there was new activity on Weibo. Wen Hebai’s side account had replied to her.

When she realized this, her heart thumped several times. She was even a little suspicious whether this was some anti-fan using Wen Hebai’s profile picture and display name to deceive people everywhere. When she had first started using Weibo, she had seen many accounts like “Tianwen Hebai V” and “Tianwen_Hebai V,” and only after searching for a long time had she found the real account, “Tianwen-Hebai V.”

Ah Bai Never Comes Home All Day V: “What I want can only be given by my wife. [shy.jpg]”

Yan Qingwen: “…”

Then say what you want!

Because of the actual person’s reply, this comment was quickly pushed up. Everyone was tagging Yan Group’s official account and shouting to her from afar.

Yan Qingwen wanted to stop them. If this matter was passed to her through the group’s official account, how embarrassing would that be? Luckily, no one knew this was her account. Otherwise, she would socially die.

She lowered her head and recalled the birthday gifts she had given Wen Hebai in the past—before she and Wen Hebai became enemies, she would carefully choose a birthday gift for Wen Hebai.

When they were little, Wen Hebai watched Animal World and said she wanted to raise a bird, so Yan Qingwen gave her a parrot. Later, that parrot escaped.

Wen Hebai watched cartoons and said she wanted to be a princess, so Yan Qingwen gave her a crown with a sapphire worth over a million. Later, the crown was donated by the Wen family to a charity organization.

Wen Hebai watched Korean dramas and said she wanted a scarf Yan Qingwen had knitted by hand, so Yan Qingwen squeezed time out of her heavy studies to watch tutorials while spending almost half a month knitting a one-meter-long scarf. Later, when Wen Hebai went to participate in a talent show, the scarf got caught in the conveyor shaft of the airport security machine. The threads came loose, and it became a ball of ruined yarn.

…

Thinking about it now, she had really been too free back then. Otherwise, why had she not spent that time studying instead of wasting it knitting a scarf for her?

Maybe she should just do the same as the past few years and casually have Chen Zhien pick out something valuable to send over?

Instant Noodles deeply understands the scarf getting caught in the conveyor belt. Back then, after passing security and going to get my luggage, I noticed a scarf seemed to be stuck, so Instant Noodles went over to watch the excitement. Only when I got closer did I realize, huh, this scarf looks familiar… In the end, damn it, it was my scarf!