Chapter 51: Clarification (Part 3)

Staring at the screen, Yan Man thought she was hallucinating and couldn’t help but refresh the page.

The post remained unchanged, now marked as having been posted one minute ago.

She clicked into the comments section, and in just a minute or two, it had already gathered nearly ten thousand comments.

The entire comments section was flooded with question marks and exclamations.

【??????????】

【Is he responding to Yan Man’s “don’t know, unclear, don’t recognize” line?! So the behind-the-scenes photos were all posted by him?! Ye Lin, you’re something else!!!】

【Ye Lin: I won’t allow anyone to say Yan Man belongs to someone else in front of me.】

【YanYe shippers, we’ve hit the jackpot!!!】

【What does this mean? They’re dating, right? RIGHT?】

【Ye Lin!! Protect your wife!!】

Simon finally recovered from his slack-jawed state and leaned over to check Ye Lin’s comment section. After reading for a bit, he felt a little giddy and was just about to say, “This is kind of sweet…”

When he saw Yan Man open WeChat and ask the person on the other end, “Did your account get hacked?”

Simon: “……”

Her voice message was sent, and within seconds, the man replied:

【No. It’s me.】

She still didn’t believe it. “Send a voice message.”

Soon, a video call request popped up. Yan Man answered and stared carefully at the screen for half a minute, confirming that it really was Ye Lin, live and moving.

He parted his lips to speak, but she promptly cut him off: “Got it. Hanging up now.”

And clunk—the call ended.

Ye Lin: “……”

Right after the call, Yan Man received a message from another lead actress—Cen Zhi, the forty-year-old veteran who played a teacher.

She didn’t use Weibo often and was reaching out to discuss a scene. Yan Man quickly put everything down to chat with her for over half an hour. After the call, she rested her eyes—until Simon broke the silence.

“You done chatting?” Simon said. “Check Weibo! Ye Lin replied to a comment!”

Yan Man: “What, he never replied to comments before?”

“Nope.”

That sounded strange. Yan Man sat up. “People like him don’t reply to comments? He’s that full of himself?”

After her short break, she opened Ye Lin’s comment section and indeed saw that he had replied to one.

【I’m confused... Who’s chasing who here?】

Ye Lin replied: 【I’m the one chasing.】

In just half an hour, the nested comment thread had amassed over ten thousand replies.

Most were 140-character-long “Ahhhhhhhh” screams of excitement.

Back on the original post, the top-liked comment shot to first place:

【Even their clarifications are coordinated! When the leads themselves are delivering the sugar, it hits the hardest!】

Simon: “That’s solid confirmation, right? He’s basically—”

Yan Man already knew where he was going with that. “Why can’t it just be a top-tier celeb’s stupid pride? He just refuses to ‘lose’ to anyone—even in CP shipping?”

“……”

Simon: “I’m not getting dragged off track today! Even if the King of Heaven shows up, Ye Lin is still—”

Yan Man: “Still what? Did Ye Lin say that to you personally?”

Simon: “……”

Damn it, he really couldn’t win against her.

“I get what you’re saying,” Yan Man shrugged. “But this time, I’m not going to overthink it.”

Yan Man was clear-headed and didn’t want to burden herself unnecessarily.

“Unless he clearly states his intentions, I’ll treat everything as just part of a show’s promotional campaign.”

—

The next morning, Yan Man received a dinner invitation.

It was from the Shabing crew.

They said tonight was the wrap party and asked if she could make it.

Everyone else was going, so Yan Man agreed.

She left her current filming site and arrived just as Ye Lin was getting there too.

He chose a spot sheltered from the wind. Beside him, the director chuckled: “I heard from Director Zhang that you asked the Past Years crew for a bunch of behind-the-scenes photos yesterday?”

“Yeah,” he didn’t avoid the topic and nodded. “I needed them.”

The director raised an eyebrow again. “Want photos from our set too? Should I send them to your agent?”

Ye Lin agreed, then lowered his eyes and scrolled through the photos he’d posted yesterday.

If Bi Tan hadn’t told him people on the forums were shipping Yan Man with Bian He, he wouldn’t even have thought to contact the old crew or look at those photos.

But in those pictures, her feelings for him were clear as day.

In many shots, their shoulders touched, and she’d lean in close when speaking. You could even see the fine hairs on her cheeks. Her tone was often unconsciously affectionate—almost like she was being coquettish.

She showed him a side no one else got to see—offering him a special kind of patience, energy, and care.

No one had expected her to leave.

And when she did, she didn’t hesitate or look back. Only he was left stuck in the memories.

Back then, did she also feel uncertain? Did she wonder whether he liked her, feel uncomfortable seeing him with someone else, want to find him constantly?

Maybe not.

But if even a little of that were true—

Then fate had been very fair, because everything she once felt, he now felt tenfold.

Now he was the one obsessing over whether she liked him even a little. The one who got happy just seeing her. The one who felt a void at wrap parties, who didn’t want to see her with anyone else—not even as friends. The one who wanted to be with her, to hold her hand, hug her. Even if they didn’t kiss, he’d still think again and again: If only we were together.

If she could just like him—that would be enough.

He didn’t dare ask for anything more.

While he was deep in thought, the door opened and, without needing to look, he knew who had arrived.

Sure enough, Yan Man appeared, smiling and greeting everyone cheerfully.

She carried a light-colored handbag and, feeling the breeze, chose a wind-sheltered seat.

She chatted animatedly about recent streaming numbers and viewers’ guesses about the upcoming plot, her voice full of pride. She said she hadn’t expected the drama to become so well-loved—her character even had a trending super-topic now.

All of it was thanks to her hard work. Sitting there, her eyes sparkled as she laughed and talked, like a never-dimming star you couldn’t look away from.

In that moment, he wondered if he had the luck—or the ability—to ever have that star for himself.

Once everyone arrived, the director picked up the menu. “We ordered a few things earlier, but it’s definitely not enough. You guys order more.”

A male actor flipped through the menu, asking what everyone wanted.

When it got to Yan Man, she said, “I’ll have the eel.”

She knew she wouldn’t eat much of it, but just the taste would be enough.

“Got it,” the actor said. “What about you, Teacher Ye? What do you like?”

Ye Lin paused. “Nothing in particular.”

He’d already looked over the menu.

The actor pressed on. “How about salmon sashimi? Do you like that?”

“Don’t like it.”

“Tuna salad, then? Their tuna’s pretty fresh.”

Still, Ye Lin replied flatly, “No need.”

Yan Man rested her head on her hand and gave him a glance.

So many people here, and he was the hardest to please.

“This one you don’t like, that one you don’t like,” she said while pouring water, teasing casually, “Then what does Teacher Ye like?”

Ye Lin: “I like you.”