After the Harem Novel’s Female Lead was Spoiled by the Comments - Chapter 7

Wen Hebai’s question was clearly not within the scope of Yan Qingwen’s considerations. Previously, Yan Qingwen had thought about both of their reputations and the interests of their two families, but she had happened to overlook physical needs. As a result, she froze at that moment and did not know how to answer.

After a moment, Yan Qingwen gave her reply. “Whatever you did to solve it before, you can keep solving it that way in the future. However, please be careful. Don’t let anyone photograph you.”

In that instant, an indescribable emotion flashed through Wen Hebai’s eyes. She tugged at the corners of her lips, put on a lazy expression, and said, “I was just teasing you. I’m a public figure. If I fool around outside and get photographed, both my image and career will be ruined.”

For so many years, she had always maintained the image of being single and had never hyped up any scandals. Perhaps it was precisely because of this that when someone posted about Yan Qingwen confessing to her online, her fans believed so firmly that it was all fake.

However, her fans had not expected to be “backstabbed” by her. After she posted the marriage photo, her comment section fell completely.

Some fans sincerely sent their blessings, some wailed in heartbreak as though they had fallen out of love, some questioned whether it was a family-arranged marriage, and some unfollowed her and turned against her, joining the haters in their carnival.

Marketing accounts also jumped in one after another to ride the popularity. They dug up her past scandals, and some even released rumors of her and Yan Qingwen not getting along, adding some evidence to the “marriage alliance” theory.

Wen Hebai’s manager could not get in touch with her and was so anxious she was almost losing her mind. Fortunately, Wen Hegu was still holding down the fort at the company. She used every method available to guide public opinion in a positive direction and quickly stabilized the situation.

Yan Qingwen’s mood did not become any lighter because of Wen Hebai’s words. She went directly to the study and made a phone call. “Help me investigate the background of Zhuang Yi, the man who appeared at today’s banquet.”

She paused, then added, “Also, arrange for someone to keep an eye on Jiang Yunhan and report his movements to me.”

Knowing that she was in a novel world was not frightening. What was frightening was the possibility that her thoughts and actions might no longer be under her control.

She had to constantly remind herself not to be brainwashed, while also guarding against the force behind Jiang Yunhan that could manipulate people’s minds.

Thinking of this, Yan Qingwen called the manor’s butler again and had him export the surveillance footage from one or two hours before and after her return. Then she watched it alone.

The Yan family’s banquet had started at noon, and around eleven thirty, guests had begun arriving one after another.

The media reporters arrived even earlier than the guests. After all, the golden wedding anniversary of the Yan family head, with prominent figures from all circles gathered together, could also be considered major news. If they could dig up some hidden gossip from the wealthy families, that would be even better.

However, the Yan family had not invited the media inside, so they could only stay outside the manor gates.

At first, these media reporters were still quite orderly. But once a few livestreaming influencers arrived, they began using netizens’ curiosity and gossip about the lives of wealthy families to boost the popularity of their livestream rooms. Every time a luxury car arrived, they would squeeze forward despite attempts to stop them, wanting to be the first to capture the guest getting out of the car.

In order to ensure the guests’ safety, the private manor’s security personnel had no choice but to come forward and separate them.

From that point onward, the scene gradually became somewhat chaotic. This chaos reached its peak after Wen Hebai arrived. Media reporters and livestreaming influencers swarmed forward, all fighting to interview her first.

Ten minutes later, Yan Qingwen’s car arrived. She got out of the car, and Wen Hebai, who had just finished her interview and was preparing to enter the manor, turned back to look at her.

It was precisely because Wen Hebai stopped walking that the egg originally thrown at her suddenly headed toward Yan Qingwen instead.

When Yan Qingwen saw this, she rewound the footage by a few minutes and played it back in slow motion.

This time, she saw it clearly. Previously, Zhuang Yi had not appeared in the surveillance footage at all. Only when the hater holding the egg approached Wen Hebai did his figure appear, seemingly passing by by chance. Then, when the hater raised the egg to throw it, he reacted quickly and nimbly darted forward, blocking in front of Yan Qingwen.

This scene had been filmed by the livestreaming influencers and nearby media.

The security personnel, who were half a beat slower, also reacted and rushed over to subdue the hater who had still been planning to launch a second attack.

Yan Qingwen had been worried that if this scene spread, it would have a negative impact on Yan Corporation, so she had someone take Zhuang Yi away to clean up and change clothes while she herself stayed behind to deal with the media reporters first.

Five minutes later, Yan Qingwen entered the manor. As for Wen Hebai, she remained where she was to deal with the hater incident.

Judging solely from this surveillance footage, Yan Qingwen did not find any trace that suggested this had been deliberately arranged by Zhuang Yi. She could only say that Zhuang Yi’s movements were very agile.

Moreover, Jiang Yunhan had said in his heart that Zhuang Yi did this to get close to her. However, if Wen Hebai had not suddenly stopped and looked back, that egg would have been aimed at Wen Hebai. This did not match Jiang Yunhan’s claim.

In summary, the inner thoughts she heard from Jiang Yunhan might not necessarily be true, and Zhuang Yi might not truly have just been passing by either. What the truth was still needed to be carefully verified.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

Yan Qingwen was used to not locking the study door when she was home alone, so Wen Hebai twisted the handle and opened the door.

“Why didn’t you turn on the light?” Wen Hebai switched the light on with a snap.

Only then did Yan Qingwen realize that it was already pitch-black outside. The digital clock also reminded her that it was already nighttime.

Wen Hebai leaned against the doorframe and said, “I’m hungry. Is there dinner?”

Those words seemed to hit some kind of switch, because Yan Qingwen’s stomach also began to growl. She had not eaten anything at noon. Earlier, she had been so focused on watching the surveillance footage that she had not noticed her hunger. Now that hunger hit her, she felt faintly dizzy.

“The housekeeper is off today. No one is cooking,” Yan Qingwen told her.

Wen Hebai suddenly seemed eager. “Are there ingredients? I can cook.”

Yan Qingwen picked up her phone and ignored her suggestion. “What do you want to eat? I’ll have someone order food and send it over.”

“Hey, what do you mean by that? My cooking is delicious now!” Wen Hebai sat down unhappily on the single sofa in the study and crossed her legs. The slit of her skirt slid down her leg, revealing her long, slender legs.

Yan Qingwen sneered. “Is that so? Why do I remember that before the New Year, you went on a variety show and made cucumber salad, but poured in half a bottle of cooking wine thinking it was vinegar?”

Wen Hebai: “…”

She laughed dryly twice and weakly explained, “That was for show effect.”

Seeing that Yan Qingwen did not believe her, she could only curl up unhappily on the sofa and name the dish she wanted. “I want roast goose rice from Goose Emperor.”

Yan Qingwen ordered the food. Wen Hebai changed to a more comfortable position and lay down, her gaze falling on Yan Qingwen. Suddenly, a scene flashed through her mind. She curved her lips and waggled her brows at Yan Qingwen. “President Yan, how did you know about the variety show I went on before the New Year, and even know what dish I made?”

Yan Qingwen said calmly, “Because among the artists who appeared on the show with you, one of them was from an entertainment company under Yan Corporation. As it happened, she was the one who ate the dish you made and threw up. After the episode aired, your fans chased after her and scolded her, causing her to lose quite a bit of goodwill from passersby.”

Wen Hebai firmly refused to admit that it was her fault and shifted the blame to the production team. “Normal people would know to cut that scene out. Who knew the production team would actually keep it for the sake of show effect?”

In truth, both she and Yan Qingwen understood that because their two companies had been in a state of opposition while fighting over resources at the time, rumors that the two of them did not get along had been everywhere. Artists from both sides had participated in the same show. If there had been no conflict at all, the show would have had no highlight. Therefore, the production team had deliberately aired that mistake.

“So, are you settling old scores now?” Wen Hebai asked.

“I’m merely reminding you not to be so confident in your cooking skills.”

Wen Hebai let out a cold snort.

Yan Qingwen thought of the person who had thrown the egg and once again confirmed with Wen Hebai, “The person who threw the egg at you today—are you certain he was your hater?”

Wen Hebai heard the implication in her words and asked in return, “You suspect he wasn’t my hater?”

Yan Qingwen seemed to be deep in thought and did not answer.

Only then did Wen Hebai say, “My bodyguards checked his Weibo, Douban, and other accounts. There are quite a few records of posts attacking me. I also had someone check him. There were no large, unknown sums entering or leaving his bank account. According to him, he felt I didn’t deserve to win Best Actress at the Golden Pear Awards and caused his favorite actress to miss out on the award for the third time. So in a fit of anger, he wanted to throw eggs to vent.”

“Then do you know Zhuang Yi?” Yan Qingwen asked again.

“I do.” Wen Hebai raised a brow, her expression full of teasing. “That ‘deeply affectionate’ man who, after saving the beauty, fluttered around in front of you like a peacock, hoping you would spare him even a bit of attention.”

Yan Qingwen felt that if she kept chatting with her like this, the conversation would probably fall apart again.

Fortunately, at that moment, the food she had ordered arrived.

After dinner, Wen Hebai’s assistant also delivered part of her luggage. There were seven large suitcases in total—three cases of clothes, one case of skincare and cosmetics, one case of jewelry, one case of shoes, and one case of snacks.

And this was only part of it. Yan Qingwen began to worry whether her villa could fit all of Wen Hebai’s belongings.