Su Yanxi gently sat on Bie Yunzong's lap, touched her husband's face and sighed: "Can we wait a little longer? There are only a few days left for the Golden Awards nominations. I want to wait and see. After the nominations and results are announced, I will deny the rumors and make our relationship public."
"But what about the rumors?" Bie Yunzong worried for his wife. "They're so strange. Why are they so insistent that you're being kept by a sugar daddy, without considering that we might be in a normal relationship?"
"Because of preconceived notions. When Xiang Mingyue and Qi Xiang'an were still alive, they attacked me with too much public opinion, and I didn't take it seriously or deal with it properly; now that the photos and videos have been exposed, netizens will inevitably be misled after connecting them with the previous news."
"so……
"What about the selection process? Will the selection process take public opinion into account and exclude you from the shortlist?"
"No, it won't happen." Su Yanxi was certain. "The Golden Awards are known as the Oscars of the domestic film and television industry—they emphasize fairness and impartiality, and only the strength of the works and actors matters. As long as I am good enough, I believe that this kind of public opinion will not have any impact on me."
The mother-in-law, Cheng Xiaohui, was a member of the Golden Awards judging panel in previous years. This year, in order to avoid any suspicion from her daughter-in-law, the mother-in-law took the initiative to take a year off and was absent.
This made Su Yanxi even more determined, realizing that she must be patient and wait for the final result!
When will the shortlist be announced?
"It should be Friday. Only actors with nominated works are eligible to be invited by the Golden Awards organizers."
"Friday?" Bie Yunzong frowned. "My God, it's only Sunday! Am I supposed to do nothing and just watch you get scolded for a week?"
"No, it's not just one week. Friday was just the announcement of the shortlist; there's still the official awards ceremony afterward, right?"
“That’s right.” Su Yanxi reached out and rubbed the dog’s temples for the troubled dog. “The official selection should be at the end of the month or the beginning of December? There’s not much time left, at most half a month. Honey, let’s wait a little longer?”
His wife's soft, gentle voice tickled Bie Yunzong's heart. He helplessly scratched his bangs, torn between two options: "Although I really hope to go public and let others know about our beautiful love as soon as possible, my wife has already said so, so there's nothing I can do."
Suddenly, the advice his elder brother and sister-in-law had given him came to mind.
"He's the top student at the Beijing Academy of Drama, and he gave up his most precious years for you."
Chapter 199
“I don’t want to disrupt your work plans; I just hope your dreams can be realized soon,” Bie Yunzong added quietly.
"Really? Honey, you're so sweet."
Su Yanxi felt a warm feeling in her heart and stretched her neck to kiss the stinky dog's face.
"Besides, the matter of Miss Xie is not completely resolved yet. You didn't tell me about it before, keeping me in the dark. Now that I know, I have to handle it properly."
Bie Yunzong leaned his head against his wife's chest, and the dog burrowed into her arms and whined, "Didn't we already say it was caused by a business dispute? What else can we do?"
"After brunch, I'm going to my parents' house." Su Yanxi played with Bie Yunzong's hair. "The Xie family is our business partner, after all. They wouldn't dare to spread such a big rumor as 'family marriage' out of thin air. I guess... they probably have some kind of agreement with our family to spread such rumors."
Su Yanxi's eyes dimmed.
He still cared a lot about the phrase "other mistresses have preferred daughters-in-law".
Although unwilling to admit it, in Su Yanxi's consistent understanding, apart from her brother and sister-in-law Cai Yuyan, the most suitable person to be someone else's daughter-in-law was him, and could only be him.
Aside from him, he was so petty that he couldn't tolerate anyone else being approved by his mother.
Upon hearing that her daughter-in-law was coming, Bie's mother, Cheng Xiaohui, was naturally overjoyed. She had just finished lunch around 12:00 PM and pulled Bie's father, Bie Xiangtian, to wait together in the living room.
The two elders each enjoyed their leisurely time after lunch. Bie Xiangtian lay on the recliner, listening to the midday news, rocking back and forth with his eyes closed, taking a nap; Cheng Xiaohui paced back and forth in the living room to digest his food, watching the secretly filmed video that had been exposed late last night as he walked.
She and Bie Xiangtian went to bed early, and they only found out about the news after they woke up in the morning and were reminded by the servants.
As an elder, she didn't care about whether it was being secretly filmed or not, or whether it was about being kept or not. She only cared about looking at the high-definition pictures and videos, and reminiscing with the old man as she watched.
"These two kids have such a good relationship." Cheng Xiaohui said this no less than twenty times today.
She played that high-definition, close-up kissing video on her large-screen phone at least thirty times.
"As elders, we're happy to see our descendants happy. Oh my, look at them, if you didn't know better, you'd think they'd just fallen in love!" Cheng Xiaohui couldn't hide her smile as she manually dragged the progress bar back to the beginning. "Luckily, Yunzong was sexually awakened early, and we didn't have to force him into a relationship with the Xie family's daughter. Otherwise, there would have been so much trouble, and Yunzong wouldn't be living such a happy life now."
Thinking back on that time, Cheng Xiaohui felt very fortunate.
Back then, the younger son was still a child, and other families had just established a cooperative relationship with the Xie family. Since the Xie family's daughter and the younger son were about the same age, the two children often had the opportunity to play together while the adults were discussing business.
Seeing that the two children got along well and chatted happily together, the Xie family half-jokingly suggested arranging a marriage between them. They said that a match between another family and the Xie family would be a perfect pair; if it could really be arranged, it would be a further step forward in business and a continued strengthening of personal relationships—a double blessing!
At that time, it was best not to let the heavens take charge, with Cheng Xiaohui assisting in business matters. The two thought it was a good idea, so they tried to create opportunities for the two children to develop feelings for each other.
Other families don't care about double happiness. They are wealthy and powerful families, business tycoons, who don't care about such interests and status. They only care about whether their son can find a partner and whether he can be happy for the rest of his life.
"Both of these brothers, Cong Rui and Yun Zong, are troublesome and give people headaches! One is emotionally impoverished and indifferent to everyone; the other is carefree and flirtatious and doesn't take anyone seriously or care about them."
This led Bie Xiangtian and Cheng Xiaohui to act somewhat recklessly in their desperation. They'd try to match their sons with any young master or lady they saw, to see how well they got along and whether it would work out. Would their sons, looking so hopeless, end up alone for life?
"Thank goodness for Yu Yan and Yan hope. Yu Yan gave Cong Rui her affections, while Yan hope was able to keep that little rascal Yun Zong in check. Ah, these two are truly a match made in heaven!"
There was no response from behind, so Cheng Xiaohui turned around in surprise and realized that her husband was fast asleep and hadn't heard a word she said.
She pursed her lips speechlessly and casually covered Bie Xiangtian with a blanket.
Just as she was about to sit down to continue enjoying the intimate videos of her son and daughter-in-law, a commotion came from outside the house: "Dad, Mom, I'm coming!"
Upon hearing her beloved daughter-in-law's voice, Cheng Xiaohui hurriedly put down her phone and rushed to the entrance to greet her: "You're here so fast? Your dad and I just finished lunch not long ago. Look at your dad, he's still taking a nap."
"Quick, quick, come in. Yunzong is here too? Come here and let Mommy give you a hug."
Bie Yunzong hugged his mother with a pitiful expression and whispered a reminder: "Mom, you have to speak up for me later. If you don't, your daughter-in-law will make a fuss with me again."
"What's wrong again?" Cheng Xiaohui asked, puzzled. She pulled Su Yanxi into the inner room. "Did you two have a fight? That shouldn't be the case. You two seem to be getting along quite well lately. You went on a hot spring trip and picked each other up from get off work. You're very sweet together."
Su Yanxi felt a headache coming on when she heard this, and said to her mother-in-law in a helpless tone, "Mom, did you see the pictures and videos too? I feel so embarrassed, please don't say anything more..."
"Yes, I saw it. I just woke up this morning and the maids told me there was some 'big news'." Cheng Xiaohui sat down in the living room with the two children. Bie Xiangtian, who had been taking a nap, also woke up. "What's so shameful about it? It's perfectly natural. Isn't it wonderful for two people to have a sweet romance?"
Su Yanxi felt a throbbing pain in her temples. She pressed them to calm herself and got to the point.
Chapter 200
"Mom, I came here to ask you about something—it's a side effect of this incident, something that's been bothering me for a long time. Since Dad is here too, I thought I'd ask you directly."
Su Yanxi considered her words carefully before deciding to get straight to the point.
"I'd like to know if you and Dad ever arranged a marriage for Yunzong? And were there any other...more desirable daughter-in-law candidates before me?"
Su Yanxi recounted all the rumors he had heard twice. The more he spoke, the more aggrieved he felt, realizing that he wasn't the one "chosen from the beginning."
Bie Yunzong felt even more wronged than him, feeling that he hadn't done anything wrong—he had just casually said something when he was a child, but his wife made a big fuss about it and forced him to reveal the super surprise he had carefully prepared in order to prove his innocence!
But Cheng Xiaohui and Bie Xiangtian were only surprised after hearing this. After exchanging a glance, Cheng Xiaohui asked Su Yanxi, "Why didn't you ask Dad and Mom sooner? You two argued all night over such a small thing?"
Su Yanxi lowered her head apologetically: "When I first heard it from Qi Xiang'an, I... I didn't take it seriously. It wasn't until I heard it again from Song Jinlan last night that I realized something was amiss."
"Oh dear, how could you be so careless!"
As Cheng Xiaohui handed over some delicious tea and snacks, she poked her daughter-in-law's forehead with her other hand, her tone both indulgent and helpless.
"Next time something like this happens, I should ask my brother and sister-in-law, and my parents right away. If I don't ask them right away, I'll almost get my relationship ruined by bad people, just like this time!"
Bie Yunzong sat on the armrest of his father's recliner, munching on tea and snacks, swinging his long legs, and said in a cocky manner, "What exactly happened? The Xie family dares to spread such a big 'rumor,' could it be that our family was really engaged to them?"
"It has been decided," Cheng Xiaohui answered first.
Su Yanxi and Bie Yunzong were both shocked: "Really?"
“No, no,” Bie Xiangtian hurriedly added on behalf of his wife, “We tried to arrange a marriage, but it didn’t work out. At that time, our family and the Xie family had a lot of business dealings, so the Xie family went along with it and wanted to form a marriage alliance with our family.”
“That brat was quite mischievous back then, but he would only be a little more settled when he played with the Xie family’s daughter. Your mother and I were worried about him, so we just agreed without thinking.”
Su Yanxi had never heard of this past event. Not to mention Su Yanxi, even Bie Yunzong, the person involved, had never heard of it and could not find many related memories.
Apart from the phrase "Let's make do," Bie Yunzong truly couldn't remember anything else related to Miss Xie!
"And then what happened?" Su Yanxi pressed. "It didn't work out, right?"
"Of course it didn't work out. If it had, would I have bothered choosing a daughter-in-law at the Beijing Academy of Drama?" Cheng Xiaohui gave Bie Yunzong a sidelong glance. "Yunzong later told me that he wasn't interested in Miss Xie and only wanted to be friends with her, so he asked me and Xiang Tian not to force him to marry her."
"Not long after, he told me and Xiang Tian that he didn't like girls. When Xiang Tian and I heard this, we gave up and thanked the Xie family for their 'good intention' of a marriage alliance."
Su Yanxi seemed to understand something: "So that's how it is..."
Bie Yunzong got excited and moved to sit next to Su Yanxi, nuzzling his beautiful wife vigorously: "See, see, I told you I'm innocent, right? Miss Xie and I were forced into this situation, neither of us wanted to!"
"Shut up." Su Yanxi kept her head down in thought, then raised her arm and elbowed Bie Yunzong. "You're not interested in her, yet you told her 'we'll just make do for the rest of our lives'? You scumbag, get lost, and don't you dare talk to me for the next three minutes."
Bie Yunzong made a zipping motion near his mouth, then shut his mouth and stopped talking.
“Mom and Dad, since we had this kind of contact before, you should be able to get Miss Xie’s contact information, right?” After thinking for a while, Su Yanxi spoke again, “Yunzong said he tried to contact Miss Xie, but to no avail. I suspect that the Xie family wanted to use this to blackmail us, so they cut off Yunzong’s invitation to meet.”
When Su Yanxi came over at noon, she carefully read Miss Xie's handwritten letter. Judging from the wording of the letter, Miss Xie was not an unreasonable or inconsiderate person; if the misunderstanding was really due to Bie Yunzong's past "promises," then Su Yanxi felt that the misunderstanding should not be difficult to resolve.
"While a decisive response would be appropriate, our family has always maintained a balance between firmness and compassion. I hope to personally address Ms. Xie to clarify things, rather than irresponsibly—"
Su Yanxi rolled her eyes at Bie Yunzong as she spoke.
"To distance oneself from the matter."
The meeting that Cheng Xiaohui secretly arranged for Su Yanxi to meet happened to be on Friday.
On this day, Su Yanxi had to meet with Miss Xie and wait for the nomination list for the Golden Awards. At first glance, she appeared calm, but in reality, she was filled with anxiety and apprehension.
First, I was afraid that when I met Ms. Xie later, I wouldn't perform well on the spot and that my words wouldn't be polite or sincere enough; second, I was afraid that "Red Flower" wasn't on the shortlist, and that I wouldn't even be qualified to participate in the Golden Awards.
Under the double debuff, Su Yanxi could only relieve her anxiety by surfing the internet on the way to the meeting place.
Five days have passed since the leaked photos were first exposed, and the discussion surrounding the topic has indeed cooled down considerably. That's how the internet works; it has no memory. If an event can be discussed for three to five days, it's already considered a major event that has gone viral.
The reason why the hype surrounding Su Yanxi cooled down so quickly is partly due to the unwavering support of her fans who "explained and refuted the rumors." Amidst the public's frenzied condemnation of Su Yanxi for "shamelessly being kept by a sugar daddy," "no wonder she gets so many good resources," and "climbing over so many people in the industry to get to the top, doesn't she feel ashamed?", her true fans desperately tried to clear Su Yanxi's name.
Chapter 201
[In that "sugar baby timeline," the airport where the photos were taken by passersby was Nanxiang Airport. Nanxiang is Su Yanxi's hometown, so it's clear that Young Master Bie accompanied Su Yanxi back to her hometown before returning together. Is it necessary for a sugar baby relationship to require accompanying someone back to their hometown? I feel it's more likely a normal romantic relationship.]
[Did Young Master Bie really stay with Su Yanxi on set the whole time? If so, then I'd lean towards a normal relationship. There are many sugar daddies in the entertainment industry, but I've never seen one dote on their kept woman like this.]
[After watching the video and reviewing the timeline, I just felt that the relationship between Su Yanxi and her sugar daddy was too sweet; it made me faint. So what if it's a sugar daddy arrangement? If it's really that sweet, Su Yanxi will eventually become his official partner.]
Su Yanxi quickly browsed through the comments on the name square, scrolling down several pages. Just as he was about to close Weibo out of boredom, a densely packed post popped up in his view.
Rather than a "discussion of the incident," that Weibo post read more like a heartfelt review of the show. It was written with such sincerity and genuine emotion.
[I'm a casual fan; I got into the show through "Red Flower." I watched it with my mom and gradually grew to like Su Yanxi. Just based on his performance in the drama, I'm willing to believe he's innocent and ignore the rumors about him being kept by a sugar daddy.]
His acting in "Red Flower" was superb and nuanced. At first, I only thought he was handsome and his acting was decent, but when I saw the protagonist, Fan Honghua, being harassed by his landlady and digging at the flower bed with his blackened, tattered hands in the middle of the night, I was deeply moved. That scene was filmed very clearly; it wasn't a hand double digging, but Su Yanxi himself doing it.
The reason I feel this so deeply is because my parents divorced when I was young, and my mother raised me with great difficulty. In the early years, my mother did similar things to support herself and me. Now that life is better, my mother's hands have become less rough under my care, but looking at my mother's hands still brings back those vivid memories.