Chapter 12

The Loving Script is Actually a Game of Rivalry Where Each Knows the Other’s Secrets

Hu Xiu finally understood that films have scripts, variety shows have scripts, live broadcasts have scripts... and so does love.

The moving love stories in movies are also repeatedly revised, with careful consideration of the atmosphere, angle, lines, and the emotions involved.

In reality, relationships evolve like scripts, with words and actions creating chemical reactions. Saying the wrong thing, doing something out of line, and the conflicts from mutual calculation all leave scars, or even—cracks.

At 23 or 24, Zhao Xiaorou was passionate about chasing Korean stars. Buying thirty albums to get into a fan signing event, then selling signed pages for a profit, taking idol photos to increase followers, and printing them—reinvesting.

Later, she got into reselling BTS merchandise and made a fortune in 2015, gaining more and more followers.

Hu Xiu admired Zhao Xiaorou’s ability to read people. She had no principles but could keenly judge which K-pop group would be successful, and immediately threw herself into the chase, taking photos, creating buzz in fan circles, and then—harvesting the rewards.

And she almost never got it wrong. Every star she liked became famous. Back when BTS debuted, Zhao Xiaorou experienced the joy of being surrounded by fans, and later, when they exploded in popularity, she loved recounting that time.

After returning to Shanghai, she applied for a job at an advertising company. The boss valued her fanbase, so she joined the company with both herself and her account. She resigned within three months and quickly found herself in a whirlwind marriage with Wang Guangming.

Wang Guangming was a TVC director, fairly good-looking with strong bone structure, making his facial features stand out, especially his thick lips, which were quite sensual. When he wore glasses, he appeared somewhat refined, but there was also a hint of... bad boy.

As Zhao Xiaorou would say, men with such strong bone structure were usually quite vigorous in bed.

After marriage, Wang Guangming turned out to be two-faced. He would accompany Zhao Xiaorou in filming lovey-dovey videos, using it to boost his own popularity and gain followers. On the side, he liked to privately connect with younger girls.

Of course, Hu Xiu had noticed it on Weibo. Wang Guangming’s main account, called “Rourou, the Great Official” (which was quite cringe-worthy), crafted the image of a devoted husband, while his secondary account, “highlightMinG,” frequently interacted with the comment sections of younger girls.

Moreover, Wang Guangming had a thing for long legs. Every girl he ever flirted with had, without exception, a profile full of slim, long legs and fair, beautiful skin.

At one point, Wang Guangming looked down on Zhao Xiaorou, considering her brainless, with a toxic mouth, and abnormal for living in the fandom world.

However, after dating and marrying, he somewhat calmed down and made an effort to create the illusion of Zhao Xiaorou as a woman with good taste and a love expert, thanks to his PR psychology knowledge. He was very skilled at packaging things.

Zhao Xiaorou accumulated two million followers, becoming firmly established as an influencer through her public displays of affection. In 2017, their second wedding video, coupled with 5,000 sets of couple outfits and merchandise, sold out. Divorce would mean a drop in income.

Now that the marriage was at the brink of ending, Hu Xiu thought to herself that neither of them were good people.

It was clear they both wanted to stand on the moral high ground and take jabs at each other, but without being too obvious about it.

People who love to show off are always showing off. Even if they get criticized for chasing trends, they don’t mind, as they can still make money from it. Suddenly, they decide they no longer want to show off.

Zhao Xiaorou no longer wanted the “sweet wife” persona Wang Guangming had built for her.

Once trapped in this path, she could only enjoy Wang Guangming as her man, but he was a jerk, and everyone was laughing at the “green hat” on her head.

At one point, Zhao Xiaorou needed Wang Guangming to help her create hype. Now that she had made enough money, the market was saturated, and it was time to “castrate” him.

Ah, the 21st century, the cyber city and the distorted nature of marriage.

Zhao Xiaorou’s plan was simple: she wanted to expose Wang Guangming during a live stream.

The two were going to do each other’s makeup while promoting an eyeliner pencil and lipstick for a company.

Zhao Xiaorou carefully set up the plot, mentioning their quick marriage and love history during the live stream. As they applied makeup, they would kiss and reveal their personal lives, while Wang Guangming would use lipstick to draw his lip line, pretending to be a straight man while actually showcasing his individuality. The marketing account had already prepared the follow-up copy.

Hu Xiu’s role in the live stream was to appear for a few minutes and talk about Zhao Xiaorou’s infatuation with Wang Guangming, that aside from being a fan, he was her only love interest.

This part was true. Zhao Xiaorou would take her past internet relationships with her to the grave after her surgery.

The live stream began. The two of them sat in front of a lit camera with filters, looking sweet and affectionate from the start.

Hu Xiu sat beside them, playing on her phone, casually glancing at her lock screen, which showed a photo of Qin Xiao Yi in military uniform, sent by customer service.

“Today, let’s talk about makeup. As everyone knows, Old Wang is a super straight man, and I’ve always wanted to do a makeup video together. Today’s live stream is a great opportunity for that.”

“Because it’s live, we might argue in the middle. After all, we’ve been married for a long time. You know how it is,” Zhao Xiaorou said.

“I can’t bear to argue with you,” Wang Guangming said, raising his voice slightly, his recent contouring making his side profile more striking as he leaned toward Zhao Xiaorou.

Hu Xiu suddenly became interested. If you want to talk about acting, these two were probably better than the actors in Snowpiercer.

They applied products naturally while talking and sharing some emotionally charged lines.

Zhao Xiaorou spoke about a friend’s husbands all gaining weight, while Wang Guangming casually twisted open the mascara, pretending not to care: “No way. Men can’t relax their guard. It’s the age of gender equality. If the balance isn’t right, women will look down on men.”

“And for health and aesthetics, I think men should work out. You can’t end up being the kind of man who works out to attract the opposite sex before marriage, but after marriage, if you work out, it either means you’re cheating or you’re sick. See how harsh that sounds?”

“But actually, no matter how Old Wang changes, I still like him. But he’s so disciplined, his chest muscles are getting bigger than mine.”

“Old Wang, look, someone just gave a gift and said you’re handsome. They want to know why you can’t produce more like you,” Zhao Xiaorou added.

“Of course not. You’re the only one,” Wang Guangming responded. “To this little chatterbox looking for love, you’ll meet a boy you like, too.”

Hu Xiu noticed that Zhao Xiaorou’s eyes shifted slightly, and when she looked up again, there was a hint of sadness.

In a single moment, both longing and pain melted on her face. It was clear that she wasn’t indifferent to Wang Guangming.

Hu Xiu only sat beside Zhao Xiaorou for a minute, briefly talking about her past of being a fan before she stepped out of the frame. Then it was time for the two of them to do the makeup.

When they took out the eyeliner pencil to do their eyes, Zhao Xiaorou carefully applied both upper and lower eyeliner, using reddish-brown at the inner corners and blue at the outer corners, smudging it with a cotton swab. Then she applied fuchsia lipstick, making Wang Guangming look like a foreign singer.

With his thick lips, Wang Guangming pouted at the camera, “Baby, I look so ugly.”

Without a doubt, the tens of thousands of viewers were laughing, because Zhao Xiaorou had used sparkly lip gloss, making his lips look like two grilled sausages.

Wang Guangming didn’t back down, and kissed Zhao Xiaorou’s cheek, leaving a huge lipstick mark on the right side of her face. She wiped it with a tissue repeatedly, saying, “Good thing I have makeup remover wipes. I hope they work well and don’t remove my foundation.”

It turned out that the product to be promoted was not just the eyeliner pencil, but also the makeup remover wipes. As Hu Xiu observed from up close, she marveled at their acting skills. When the live stream ended, Wang Guangming got up to use the restroom.

Zhao Xiaorou didn’t move. She stayed in front of the camera, arranging her things, tears streaming down her face silently as she sobbed.

Wang Guangming saw her coming over, glanced nervously, confirmed that the livestream had ended, and picked up Zhao Xiaorou’s hair tie, playing with it: “Why are you crying in front of the camera? What if the livestream wasn’t turned off?”

“It’s nothing, I’m just sad, afraid that everything you’re doing is an act,” she replied.

“Where did I act? All this is real, damn it!” Wang Guangming threw the hair tie aside, “Zhao Xiaorou, stop being paranoid, okay?”

Zhao Xiaorou turned her face away, silently crying, her expression full of grievance.

With staff and Hu Xiu nearby, Wang Guangming could only bend down, hug Zhao Xiaorou, and pat her back: “Don’t cry. I won’t act with you, we’ve been together for so long, you know me, trust me a little, okay?”

After comforting her for a few minutes, Wang Guangming finally got up and left. Hu Xiu, who had been dazed, waited until the right moment and turned off the livestream.

Recently, there was a bug with the livestream, where you had to click the exit page twice to close it. The first time you clicked, it would only turn the screen grey, and although fans couldn’t see the scene, they could still hear the sound.

Exposing Wang Guangming’s unsavory behavior using this bug was Hu Xiu’s main goal today.

As the people in the room left, Zhao Xiaorou threw her phone onto the table: “Wang Guangming is such an old fox, he knew I was crying after the livestream was over.”

Hu Xiu was confused.

“He knew the livestream wasn’t off, and that me sitting here crying was for the fans to see. To maintain the perfect couple persona, he went along with it and comforted me for five minutes. Got it?

He didn’t slip up. But after this, there’s no turning back for us. If he can act like this, I respect it.”

A message from Wang Guangming appeared on her WeChat: “Don’t go too far…”

Finally, Hu Xiu understood—acting has a script, variety shows have scripts, livestreams have scripts... even love has a script.

The touching love stories in movies are also repeatedly edited and polished, considering the atmosphere, angles, lines, and emotions.

But real life is different, it’s a path where relationships create chemical reactions through lines and scenes. Wrong words, inappropriate actions, mutual scheming, and conflicts create grudges, and even cracks in the relationship.

Qin Xiaoyi’s love for her was also scripted—she didn’t know what the script was outside of the play.

But no matter which way Hu Xiu thought about it, she couldn’t just treat it as an act.

He had already occupied the position of boyfriend in her heart, and even though it would never happen in reality, she still hoped that the mysterious and alluring ambiguity in her story with Qin Xiaoyi could last a bit longer, letting her drown in it in her dreams.

And if love must be arranged, manipulated by the mind, she would rather only keep Qin Xiaoyi in the story, occasionally revisiting it, using tricks and disguises to exchange for love, and then push the blame onto each other before the relationship splits. She didn’t want that kind of relationship.

At REGARD, Zhao Xiaorou was furious. She didn’t even drink coffee and went to the old cabinet downstairs to find liquor. She ruined the dessert in frustration: “That Wang Guangming is just a scumbag who drank love potion. After the livestream, he didn’t even go home—where did he go? Off to cheat!”

Her Shanghai accent was a little off, and when Li Ai heard a few sentences, his face turned green. He wisely retreated to the kitchen to cook noodles.

Hu Xiu couldn’t speak, so she silently ate cake, thinking how similar this cake was to their livestream—it looked perfect and tasted sweet, but in reality, it was fragile, easily crushed and unrecognizable, but still edible—like most people’s marriages.

Zhao Xiaorou grew angrier: “I was furious at the time, but I couldn’t explode. Wang Guangming is good at acting, but why didn’t he dare to expose me in front of me? Why not argue, why not bring up divorce? Isn’t it because he’s afraid of being criticized as a scumbag by the netizens?”

A bowl of cheesy ham spaghetti was placed on the table just in time, and the wine bottle was quietly replaced with sparkling water.

Li Ai glanced at the half-empty bottle of wine, shook his head gently, and put it away in the cabinet.

Zhao Xiaorou was even more irritable when she was hungry, her anger doubled. At first, Hu Xiu didn’t understand why Zhao Xiaorou kept getting mad, but Li Ai had figured out her emotional trigger.

Zhao Xiaorou ate the noodles messily, still unable to swallow her frustration: “Only twenty-seven, and I have to endure this miserable married life, losing my emotional life? No way.

But I don’t need this marriage as a shield, I’m definitely getting divorced and becoming free.

I’m swearing right now, after the divorce, the first thing I’ll do is sleep with Ning Zechen, that big-chested, brainless fool!”

Suddenly, a name from Snowpiercer came up, and Hu Xiu was so shocked that her jaw dropped. After a few seconds of dazed silence, she said, “Okay, as long as you don’t sleep with Qin Xiaoyi.”

“I know Qin Xiaoyi is the most handsome in the whole room, but I won’t do something unethical like stealing my sister’s man.

I’m a woman with principles and boundaries, but now I’m stuck in a marriage where my husband cheats—what’s the point?

Wang Guangming is probably going to initiate the divorce once he’s milked those 100,000 fans. He won’t even spend money to buy more fans. Garbage.”

Hu Xiu’s attention was entirely stolen by the name Qin Xiaoyi, her heart rate all over the place: “What did you say?”

Li Ai saw through Hu Xiu’s reddening face: “Look, her mind is all on Qin Xiaoyi now, she’s not hearing anything else.”

“I’ll tell you, Hu Xiu, if it’s always in the script, you’ll never get Qin Xiaoyi. Getting a watch in the play doesn’t mean he has any feelings for you outside the play.

Either you get him or give up, don’t waste time in a fantasy, confusing it with real life. You, me, and Li Ai, we all need to get out of the shadows as soon as possible.”

The soft light fell on the small table, and Li Ai gently smiled as he held a guitar: “I think after adulthood, life doesn’t involve getting out of the shadows. Occasionally letting a little sunlight through is the norm.

There’s no rush to enter a new phase, the innocent and passionate mindset is short-lived, once it’s gone, it can never return.”

“Li Ai, you sound so old, like you’ve experienced a lot,” Zhao Xiaorou lightly patted his shoulder, as if drunk, “You’re only thirty-two, we really hope you can get back on your feet soon. And you’re such a good guy, no one deserves you.”

“How do I feel like I’m being given a ‘good person card’?” 

“If you really have someone you like, remember to tell me, I will—” Zhao Xiaorou shook her head. “Be jealous of her…”

Before Li Ai could respond, Zhao Xiaorou’s phone rang. It was a call from Wang Guangming: “Baby, I was wrong earlier today, I apologize. Let’s go on a double date in a few days, and bring Hu Xiu’s boyfriend along.”

“That’s not her boyfriend.”

“We’ve been on so many dates already, who are you kidding? Also, I know Hu Xiu likes the murder mystery games. The four of us should do one together—the most popular one, Snowpiercer.”

Hu Xiu heard this, and a cloud of gloom immediately settled over her. She wasn’t sure if Wang Guangming was really trying to apologize, but at least she sensed his scheme—he was trying to ruin her sweet dream.