Isn't This a Contract Marriage? Why Are You Sneaking Kisses! - Chapter 3

#Shen Silie Stealing Scenes# #Shen Silie Acting the Big Shot on Variety Show# #Requesting Someone Not to Act Like a Diva—Look, Does Anyone Even Care About You?#

【Can this Shen Silie just get out of the entertainment industry? Stop showing up on the trending searches every day; seeing him makes my eyes feel dirty.】

【I’m done. This guy not only steals scenes, but even on a variety show, he has to pull stunts to hog the camera. Truly beyond saving. Kid, just go home.】

【Why has this person been on the trending list every couple of days lately? I haven’t followed the whole drama—what actually happened?】

【To summarize: his rise in fame is entirely based on snatching others’ roles, bullying the poor victims he stole scenes from on set, and later using petty tricks on a variety show to make his costar fall sick. He was even caught red-handed stealing someone’s belongings and claimed the person gave them to him to look at.】

【? No… can a human being really do something that stupid?】

【Help! My ‘White Moonlight’ character Xiao Li has ultimately been ruined by him.】

He had just finished his final task and spoken with his manager, listening to the woman’s dismissive words on the other end.

Shen Silie smiled as usual and hung up. He glanced at the Weibo notifications—where a private message could get an account banned just for containing a screenshot—and silently logged out, closing the app.

He opened his notes. At the very top was the figure 10,030,000, with various names being deducted one by one.

He scrolled to the very bottom.

In the newest line, Shen Silie typed:

967,000.

At that moment, his phone chimed with a notification. Instinctively, he clicked it.

[Yunshen: Are you home? I opened the gift; I really like it.]

In the attached photo, the man had rolled up his sleeve slightly. A silver metal watch and a redwood prayer bead bracelet were worn together on his left wrist.

[Yunshen: Sleep early. We’ll head back to the capital together the day after tomorrow. Goodnight. (Happy dog wagging its tail emoji)]

The nightlight in the bedroom emitted a soft, non-intrusive glow. Outside the window, a light snow was falling.

Shen Silie stared blankly at the screen for a long time before finally putting the phone down.

Leaning against the window of his cramped bedroom, his gaze drifted through the blurred glass toward the snow-covered willow tree in the yard. He involuntarily lost himself in thought.

The first 23 years of his life were melodramatic and cliché—so cliché that if they were a background snippet in a novel, no one would have the desire to read them.

His father died when he was young, his mother’s whereabouts became unknown, and he was fostered at his uncle’s house. Due to debt issues, even though he hadn’t inherited any fortune, it was impossible for people not to hate him as a former beneficiary of his father’s success.

In school, he was bullied by the children of those creditors and their friends. Even the adults could hardly muster a kind look for him.

Ji Yunshen appeared during that time. Because he was mischievous, his family had transferred him from the capital to Shen Silie’s school.

Ji Yunshen was his only friend back then.

He fell in love with this only friend—as mysteriously as it was inevitable.

A loving father, a gentle mother, a decently sized factory, a happy home… all of it went downhill as the economic environment shifted. Then, an accidental fire burned the factory down.

The factory went bankrupt. The debts, plus the unpaid wages of all the workers, totaled nearly 13 million. This massive debt caused the once-happy family to collapse under the weight of the accident.

His father sold every asset that could be liquidated, but it was still a drop in the bucket. The immense pressure caused his father to lose all spirit. Later, his mother started working away from home to try and pay the debt.

But it was useless.

Fate did not let them go. In that state of extreme collapse, his father was diagnosed with late-stage lung cancer. There was constant coughing of blood, an inability to eat, and unbearable pain. Round after round of chemotherapy, mounting debts, and the constant need to hide from creditors followed.

He watched as his father—always gentle, a man who never raised his voice at his mother even after the factory accident, the man who always stood in front to protect them—struck his mother for the first time.

His earliest memories began in a small, single-story house in the village. His father was impressive; riding the waves of the era, he had led them from that small room to the bustling city in less than ten years—moving from a wooden shack to a flat, and then to a luxury high-rise.

Then his mother disappeared on her way to work.

Finally, during an hour when he was late getting home due to being held back at school, a fire broke out in the rental unit due to old wiring. Everything stopped there.

He was too young then and knew nothing. He didn’t even see his father’s body, and there was no money for a proper funeral. After a hasty burial, he was taken to his uncle’s house.

The last of his father’s assets were auctioned off. Some went to pay debts; some were seized.

Facing the factory workers who relied on those wages to survive, their accusations, the questioning of their children, the school rumors, the bullying he had no reason to resist, and the cold stares of those around him…

It wasn’t until after that incident, when his family moved far away from their hometown with the help of the police, that he could finally catch his breath.

Shen Silie lifted his eyelids, dazing at the heavy snow outside. There were no intense emotions, only a customary, deep-seated fatigue.

Drop everything and start a new life.

He couldn’t do it.

Drawing, KTV, night shifts, tutoring, various shops—he had worked almost every high-paying job he could find. He worked 24-hour rotations, but that debt number still felt hopelessly out of reach.

Fortunately, he had a beautiful face. The debt he once thought would take a lifetime to repay finally showed a glimmer of hope.

At that time, he was scouted by a director. Using money as leverage, the director had him play the role of “Xiao Li.” It was that role that allowed him, a newcomer, to skyrocket in fame. With countless endorsements and advertisements, he was making money hand over fist.

Extreme popularity naturally invited jealousy and hatred from others.

Lin Chu, a senior at his same company, had been in the industry for over a decade. A former child star with good acting skills and many awards, he had an excellent reputation with the public.

Originally, the role of Xiao Li wasn’t supposed to go to Shen Silie. Lin Chu’s benefactor wanted the role for Lin Chu, but since Lin Chu was filming another project at the time, he turned it down. Only then did Shen Silie get the chance.

Who knew that this “hand-me-down” role would cause the drama and the character to soar to such heights?

Shen Silie blinked his dry, aching eyes, unsure how to describe his current feelings.

The framing on the variety show, the malicious editing, the internet trolls, the cancelled endorsements and ads…

He should be angry or sad, but being used to misfortune acted as a self-defense mechanism. Once his emotions reached a certain point, he simply lacked the strength to feel them anymore.

Voices constantly whispered in his ear: You’ve finally made it this far, you’re just one step away. Don’t give up on yourself for those people. Don’t do anything irreversible.

Ji Yunshen had thought about helping him, but the benefactor behind Lin Chu had a business relationship with the Ji family. It wasn’t convenient for Ji Yunshen to offend the other party.

Though after the benefactor realized he and Ji Yunshen were friends, they backed off and stopped tormenting him so ruthlessly.

But what’s done is done.

The internet has no memory, but those who hate him—those who want to use him as an excuse to vent their frustrations—do.

He had no capital to fight them, nor the ability to clear his name. He could only comfort himself: Infamy is still fame; heat is money. They’re just cursing you; you won’t actually suffer much.

Just a little more.

Shen Silie sat by the bed. Snowflakes swirled outside, landing on the windowsill and piling into a thick mound.

The debt that had once crushed his family was being paid off bit by bit. Sometimes he wondered if he was doing all this to clear the names of his deceased parents…

Or if he just treated that debt as a straw.

A single straw pulling him forward.

Shen Silie looked down, his finger tracing a winding scar on his knee. The uneven scar stretched from his thigh down to his knee; the faint pink traces of overgrown tissue were a reminder of a wound that had once been deep enough to see bone.

That person’s mother had unfortunately died of illness because her wages weren’t paid in time, preventing her from receiving treatment.

The wound here had healed, but the cries and roars of that man still echoed in his ears.

Every time it rained, a lingering pain would flare up.

This was a debt he could never fully repay for his father.

Suddenly, a commotion came from the living room. The soundproofing in the old apartment complex wasn’t good; the sound of the front door being opened with a key and the laughter of three people drifted through the crack in his door.