Morning light glimmered across the glass towers of Liangcheng, pale and cold. The day began with a whisper — a post, a picture, a few lines of text. By noon, it became wildfire.
> #ActorXuWeiRanHiddenLover
#LuminarCEOandHisMysteryWoman
#RedBeanCoupleTruth
On every social platform, the same image spread like a stain: a young woman in a beige coat leaving a bookstore beside Xu Wei Ran. Their faces were half-turned, smiling. Ordinary, harmless — yet suddenly worth a thousand speculations.
The caption read:
> "Before she became CEO Gu Ze Yan's woman, Lin Qing Yun lived with top actor Xu Wei Ran for eight months in Guangjing."
Comments swarmed beneath.
> "Eight months? That's not 'just friends.'"
"She's beautiful but scary. Climbed from actor to CEO — power move."
"Stop shaming her, maybe she was in trouble."
"Rich men always fall for the quiet manipulative type."
By evening, even the mainstream portals had picked it up. Gossip accounts dissected timelines; paparazzi recycled old footage of Xu Wei Ran buying groceries.
---
Qing Yun scrolled through the storm in silence. The phone's glow lit her face, calm but pale.
She didn't even blink when Ze Yan entered the living room, tie loosened, expression unreadable.
Without a word he took the phone from her fingers, glanced at the screen, then placed it facedown on the table.
"You're trending again," he said, voice dry.
She managed a faint smile. "So I heard."
He studied her, eyes steady, unreadable.
"Don't you want to know?" she asked quietly. "What really happened between me and Wei Ran?"
Ze Yan's answer came without hesitation.
"If you wanted to be with him, you would be."
He leaned forward slightly. "You're here, Qing Yun. That's all I need to know."
For a moment, the words hung between them — simple, absolute.
Her chest tightened; something fragile inside her eased. "You don't even want to ask?"
"I don't care what happened then," he said softly. "Only where you are now."
---
Qing Yun exhaled, eyes drifting toward the window, where evening painted the skyline with thin silver light.
"Five years ago," she began, "I wasn't living, just… surviving. Si Yao was gone. Everything in me felt hollow. Wei Ran offered me a place because he couldn't stand watching me disappear."
Her voice was calm, measured, as if narrating someone else's story.
"We shared a roof but barely saw each other. He filmed most days. I stayed in my room. We talked about bills, groceries, scripts—nothing else."
Ze Yan listened, silent.
"He was kind," she said after a pause. "He tried to help. But I couldn't feel anything. I didn't even know how to be grateful properly."
His hand found hers, thumb brushing the faint callus along her finger from long hours of restoration.
"Then that chapter's finished," he murmured.
She looked at him — really looked — and something like light stirred in her eyes. "Thank you."
---
Ze Yan poured her a cup of tea, steam curling between them. "Do you want me to take care of it?"
She frowned slightly. "Take care of what?"
"This noise." His tone sharpened just enough to suggest the weight behind it — the reach of his influence, the people he could silence with a single call.
She shook her head. "No. Let it burn itself out. Better now than later. Let them say everything they want, so there's nothing left to use again."
He studied her face, the quiet conviction in her eyes. "You're not afraid?"
"I've already lived through worse," she said simply. "I'm just worried about Wei Ran. He doesn't deserve the fallout."
Ze Yan's gaze softened. "He'll handle it. You taught him how to stand tall."
Her lips curved. "I doubt he needed me for that."
---
In Guangjing, Xu Wei Ran's agency looked like a war room. Managers barked into phones, PR assistants drafted statements.
"Should we deny?" one asked.
Another shook his head. "There's photo evidence. Denial will make it worse."
Wei Ran sat quietly in the corner, hair still damp from filming. He stared at the screen showing the same old picture — him, her, laughter frozen midair.
"She's being torn apart," someone muttered.
He finally spoke. "Prepare a statement. I'll post it myself."
That evening his verified account released a single message:
> "Yes, Miss Lin Qing Yun once lived at my place, during a difficult time in her life.
We've been friends since high school. She was like family, and I only wanted her to have somewhere safe to rest.
Please don't twist kindness into something it wasn't."
Attached was an old photo from their teenage years — the two of them holding certificates at a competition, grinning under fluorescent lights.
Within hours, the tide shifted.
> "He protected her when everyone else abandoned her."
"True gentleman."
"Stop dragging her; she was grieving."
Wei Ran leaned back in his chair, eyes closing. "That's enough," he whispered. "No more damage."
---
By the time the city lights blinked on, the storm had begun to ebb.
Qing Yun refreshed her feed: the latest headline now read, "Actor Xu Wei Ran Defends Lin Qing Yun: 'She's Family.'"
Relief slipped through her chest like warmth.
Ze Yan returned from the kitchen carrying two cups of tea. He sat beside her on the sofa. "It's fading," he said.
She nodded. "Rumors always do once truth stops entertaining them."
He smirked faintly. "You sound like you've handled this before."
"Maybe in another life," she murmured.
Ze Yan slid his arm around her shoulders, pulling her gently against him. "Then this life, you don't face it alone."
Qing Yun rested her head on his chest, heartbeat slow and steady beneath her ear. "I know."
For a long moment, they stayed like that — quiet, still, the world outside finally softening to silence.
---
Across the river, in an office lit by cold white light, Yi Rong watched the same headlines.
Her assistant hesitated at the doorway. "Miss Jiang, the public turned. Xu Wei Ran clarified — they're sympathizing with her now."
Yi Rong's smile was small, razor-thin. "So she still wins, even shamed."
She rose from her chair, walking to the window where the skyline shimmered gold.
"Find her family file," she said quietly. "Her mother's case. Old debts, records — I want everything."
The assistant swallowed hard. "Right away."
Yi Rong's reflection in the glass smiled wider, brittle as glass.
"She thinks she's untouchable," she whispered. "Let's see if her bloodline is."