The Secret Realm of Time, His and Her Life Through the Changes

Actually, Shang Yibo felt quite uncomfortable. Knowing about his background was one thing, but laying it out online for the public to judge was another.

Ever since receiving Fang Xichen's call that morning, he had been trying his best to endure it, telling himself countless times that as long as he didn't think about it and left it to time, everything would pass.

Later, when Zhou Yanruo came, he became even more unwilling to show his vulnerable side in front of her.

Zhou Yanruo brought his favorite wontons. He remembered that people often say that good food can heal everything, so he tried to let go of his worries while enjoying the food.

Shang Yibo looked up and stared at Zhou Yanruo sitting opposite him.

She lowered her eyelids, holding the saucer of her coffee cup with one hand and stirring the coffee with a coffee spoon in the other.

Even though it was black coffee with neither sugar nor milk, she was stirring it unconsciously, clearly not paying any attention to it.

Shang Yibo let out a soft breath and said, "I heard you just came back from abroad?"

"Um, what? Oh, I studied finance."

Zhou Yanruo looked up and met Shang Yibo's gaze. She paused for a moment, then said, "Are you asking me if I came back from abroad?"

Shang Yibo nodded.

Today's announcement was about going to the film set for a makeup test. So, Shang Yibo had just quickly washed up; his hair wasn't styled or blow-dried, and the strands lay casually on his forehead. He was wearing a white crew-neck t-shirt and jeans—just a simple, ordinary young man.

Looking at Shang Yibo like this, Zhou Yanruo was momentarily dazed, as if Wang Jie was sitting in front of her.

“I… I’ve been back in China for six months. Before that, I was in New York,” Zhou Yanruo stammered. “I studied finance and have worked at fund companies and investment banks, but not in sales. I mostly did HR or company secretary work.”

Shang Yibo only asked one question, but Zhou Yanruo gave a long answer, introducing herself in a jumbled mess, not even knowing what she was saying.

"You actually studied finance?" Shang Yibo murmured.

He recalled that Zhou Yanruo had failed math in her college entrance exam, so how did she end up studying in the United States, majoring in finance? He really couldn't understand it.

Just as Shang Yibo was about to ask something else, the access control phone rang.

"Is that Ding Jiajia? I'll go open the door. Can I just answer the phone?"

Zhou Yanruo finally found an excuse to leave this strange atmosphere, so she ran over to open the door for Ding Jiajia.

"Answer the phone, press the button in the lower left corner, and the elevator door on the first floor will open."

A moment later, Ding Jiajia walked in carrying a shopping bag.

"Yibo, I brought you breakfast: whole wheat bread, tea eggs, and enzyme-based sugar-free juice."

"Sister Yanruo." Ding Jiajia was a little surprised to see Zhou Yanruo. "You're up here too."

"I've been here for a while. I'm going to bring Yibo some wontons."

"Oh, I see." Ding Jiajia held up the shopping bag in her hand and turned to Shang Yibo, saying, "You've already had breakfast, what about this bread?"

Zhou Yanruo: "Give it to me, I haven't eaten yet."

Shang Yibo: "Yan Ruo didn't eat? Why didn't you eat with me earlier?"

Zhou Yanruo: "I didn't have enough time this morning, so I only made 15 wontons before rushing over."

"Yanruo? You call her Yanruo?" Ding Jiajia looked at Shang Yibo, then at Zhou Yanruo, and said with a smile.

"what happened?"

"Oh, it's nothing, she's fine. But you should call her Sister Yanruo."

"why?"

"Because, because she's older than you. You're also called Sister Qingnan."

"Oh, okay, then you're older than me, aren't you, Jiajia?"

"Fine, fine, do as you please." Ding Jiajia gave in; Shang Yibo had been talking too much today, she really couldn't stand it.

Zhou Yanruo took a bite of her bread and said, "Call me whatever you want, it's just a name. Yibo, feel free to do whatever you like."

Ding Jiajia was confused. Zhou Yanruo no longer called Shang Yibo by his full name, while Shang Yibo affectionately called her Yanruo. It seemed like everything was different after just one night.

Shang Yibo took out a tea egg from the shopping bag and handed it to Zhou Yanruo: "Eat the tea egg. You didn't have breakfast, so why are you drinking black coffee? Don't you want to eat your stomach?"

"Okay, thank you." Zhou Yanruo took the tea eggs and went to the kitchen.

Ding Jiajia took out her phone, opened Weibo, and handed it to Shang Yibo, saying, "Yibo, they said it's best not to let you look at your phone, because they're worried it might upset you and affect your schedule. But I think you should still know, especially now, because they're slandering you online..."

Shang Yibo didn't answer Ding Jiajia's phone. Instead, he took out his own phone from his back pocket and said, "There's nothing I can't see. The internet isn't down. I know everything."

Zhou Yanruo walked over and joined their conversation: "Qingnan told us we don't need to go back to the company, but to go directly to the makeup test. There's still some time before we leave, shouldn't we do something? We can't just sit here and watch."

Ding Jiajia: "There's nothing we can do right now. If we respond incorrectly and it gets misinterpreted, it will be even more troublesome to deal with."

Zhou Yanruo: "Digging into personal privacy, maliciously slandering and defaming, and spreading rumors are all violations of the law and should be handled by lawyers."

Ding Jiajia: "Sister Yanruo, you've been abroad for a long time, and what you're saying only applies to the US. There are so many online trolls who hide behind the internet and do whatever they want, and there's no way to deal with them. It's hateful."

Shang Yibo remained silent, scrolling through the messages on his phone with a furrowed brow.

-

At the same time, in the conference room of Yihua Entertainment, Shen Yihua was convening a meeting with Qi Qingnan, the publicity director, Xie Can, the agent director, and Zhang Yan, the head of the public relations department, to discuss countermeasures against the online public opinion targeting Shang Yibo.

Shen Yihua got angry just looking at the people sitting in front of her and couldn't help but lash out: "I think Yihua Entertainment has no one left to use. You can't even control the fan wars, what's the point of the company spending money to support those fan groups?"

"Now look what's happened, they've even come up with this 'fake prince, real illegitimate child' thing, and they just let the haters and gossip accounts spread it all over the internet, and you can't do anything about it."

"Don't forget, Shang Yibo is responsible for almost all of the company's KPIs, and this is how you treat him."

Jie Can quickly spoke up: "President Shen, don't be angry. We already discussed it in the group before coming to the company. You can judge whether some of our ideas are feasible."

Qi Qingnan opened her phone and read aloud the plan that had been compiled in the WeChat group: "We've come up with several plans. First, our fan management team will find a few big fans to organize and control the comments; we'll find some influential KOLs to post positive articles, such as praising acting skills, the potential of newcomers, and the quality of their lines, to get them trending. At the same time, we'll get some industry professionals we've worked with to give their support..."

Before Qi Qingnan could finish reading, Shen Yihua tapped the table, interrupting her, and said sternly, "You've been discussing and researching for so long, and this is all you've got?"