最佳契合 (Perfect Match) – 十九瑶
Chapter 71
Zheng Feiluan slept beside He An for the very first time that night.
Linglan was the one who wanted him there.
When they were done talking about the plan in the living room, he sent He An and his daughter back to their room, said good night, and was about to leave when someone grabbed his sleeve. With tears in her eyes, Linglan looked at him shyly and then at the door, where voices could be heard from time to time.
Zheng Feiluan immediately understood.
She clung to her father, whom she didn’t particularly care for but who she trusted more than anyone else, because she was terrified and wanted him to protect her at all times.
He An naturally understood, stepped back while holding Linglan, and smiled, “Come in.”
There weren’t many chances to sleep on the same bed, but Zheng Feiluan didn’t fall asleep until later that night.
It’s easy to get rid of pictures and articles that are everywhere, but it’s hard to get rid of rumors that people have believed for a long time. The evidence they release to the public needs to be clear and convincing, and they need to aim for a decisive strike to quickly change the situation. Before going to bed, Zheng Feiluan made more than ten phone calls, from his brother to friends to lawyers to the media, to make sure there were no mistakes. He also set up all the necessary notifications, assurances, and instructions.
At that moment, He An had dozed off with Linglan held in his arms, his anxious brows furrowed; yet, not even in his dreams could he escape the brutal storm that day.
He felt bad about it, so Zheng Feiluan kneeled down and kissed his cheek.
I’m sorry I couldn’t keep you safe.
I promise that this will only happen for one night. Whoever deserves to be hated will be exposed tomorrow.
⋮
The next morning, at the Wanlang Hotel in Luotan City, Xie Yan’s assistant opened Room 1735 by walking down the hall with a big box of breakfast food. He was skinny, had short hair, and wore a black shirt. He also had square-shaped glasses on and a camera around his neck. He was the beta who had checked out of He An’s room a few days before.
In the background, an old violin piece played over and over again. The coffee table was covered in a script, among other random things, and a glass jar contained a pile of cigarette butts.
“Lu Yisen, could you add milk to my coffee?”
In front of the bathroom mirror, Xie Yan was in his bathrobe, putting on a face mask, and carefully trimming his sideburns.
“Add more, make it thick!” As soon as Lu Yisen saw an empty spot, he quickly put the paper boxes there. He carefully took out the honey cake, caramel egg tarts, and coffee with extra milk, but a twinge of concern crawled up his spine as he asked, “Yan Ge, is it okay for you to eat foods with this much sugar content?”
Xie Yan didn’t care, “We won big, so that’s worth celebrating. Let’s get back to work after eating.”
“Well… actually, you don’t need to go today.” Lu Yisen said, “Director Xiang mentioned that you had been struck badly yesterday, and the scene you’re filming today is very intimate, so you may not be in the right condition. He wants to give you a day off to recover…”
“How can this be? I need to leave!”
In a fit of rage, Xie Yan ripped off his mask and tossed it in the trash. “‘Yesterday’s love had fallen apart, but today’s smile remains, recalling Xie Yan’s dedicated moments over the years’… There are probably going to be a lot of photographers waiting to take pictures of me today. I wrote the headline for the press release already, so how can I leave it blank?”
“Okay, I’ll go talk to Zhao Jie right now.”
“Wait.” Xie Yan stopped him and asked, “Is Zhao Ru still mad?”
Zhao Ru has been Xie Yan’s manager for over three years and is one of the top agents in the company.
Lu Yisen responded, “Zhao Jie got a hundred or eighty phone calls in one night. There were blisters all over her mouth, and she hardly slept at all… Yan Ge, you already know how she works. Her anger will last for two weeks if we do something so dangerous without telling her.”
“If she doesn’t want to put out the fire, then don’t do it. It doesn’t matter if she puts out the fire. Time will prove me right.”
Xie Yan didn’t believe he was risking anything. He sneered as he ate the egg tart and said, “She’s so lazy that she can’t even get the role I want. Why bother taking chances? If I don’t give it my all, she will eventually replace me. Now read the comments online. Does anyone dare to doubt the authenticity of the allegations? Will anyone speak up about that He guy? Absolutely nobody.”
Sitting down comfortably, he took a spoonful of milk and said, “I’ve thought through every step of this. The people who are wrongly accused can’t be investigated, and the people who can be investigated are probably so frustrated that they are about to catch a flight back to Yuanjiang today. How can they turn things around? Oh, right…”
He looked up at Lu Yisen and asked, “Did you wipe all the backups? No one else can keep the original video except me.”
“I got rid of it. They’re all gone.” Lu Yisen nodded.
“Show me.”
Xie Yan extended his hand, and Lu Yisen lifted the camera from his neck and gave it to him.
Watching the pictures one by one, Xie Yan said, “I’m still a little worried. I’ve heard there’s now software that can recover things to their original state even after they’ve been deleted…”
“No, no!” Lu Yisen shouted quickly, “This SD card? Only a few pictures of me and my dad are in it. Yan Ge, you’re aware that my dad died recently. This is important to me, and I’ll never throw it away!”
Xie Yan didn’t say anything.
He thought about it for a moment, then took the old SD card out of the camera card slot, scratched the metal chip with his nails, and took it into the bathroom.
“Yan, Yan Ge…”
Lu Yisen had a vague idea of what would happen next, but he didn’t have the courage step in. He could only stand there and hold his pants legs with both hands while secretly holding back his anger.
The sound of a flushing toilet could be heard in the bathroom.
Xie Yan came out with his hands empty. He laughed and looked into Lu Yisen’s eyes, which were turning red quickly, “There’s nothing we can do about it. Destroying things physically is more reliable, after all. The situation matters more, Yisen. Is that clear?”
After talking, he leaned over and patted Lu Yisen on the shoulder. He then sat back on the couch and enjoyed his hot coffee.
⋮
Everything went well with filming “Immortals in the Mirror” until noon.
Fans sent Xie Yan a car full of gifts. He bowed low, tears welling up in his eyes, to show his appreciation and promise that he would go on to have a strong life. He also made time to accept an exclusive interview with a major media outlet. He acted so pitifully when the camera was rolling. When the show airs, he thinks he’ll be able to get a lot of new fans just by walking by.
But things changed just after noon.
About halfway through filming a scene, Xie Yan was called away from the set by his agent, Zhao Ru. He hurriedly got into the Mercedes car that was with him. The car started and took off from Luotan Film and Television City. He curiously asked, “Where are we going? Am I not filming this afternoon?”
“The reporters here will grill you to death if you stay any longer.” Zhao Ru got angry, pulled out her cell phone, threw it at him, and said, “See what kind of trouble you got yourself into for trying to be a smartass!”
Xie Yan took the phone curiously and swiped the screen, which showed a lawyer’s statement.
The name of the law firm was enough to make Xie Yan’s heart drop before he even read the content.
Daheng.
This is a well-established law firm that represents Jiusheng as well as Zheng Feiluan’s personal matters. As someone who had used Daheng’s services before, Xie Yan was surprised. When he was seeing Zheng Feiluan, he got into a fight with an up-and-coming actor over their reputations. They were both at fault at first, but Daheng helped him win the lawsuit and become famous. The actor, on the other hand, lost the case and has been having a hard time ever since.
The word “Daheng” sent a chill down Xie Yan’s spine.
The statement is only one page long and is very specific. It states that Mr. He An, who was recently involved in a scandal involving the cheating of a celebrity husband, is the partner of the client, Mr. Zheng Feiluan. Their relationship is harmonious, and they are blessed with a daughter. At the end of last year, they moved to Luotan Town to be closer to their daughter as she grew up. The rumors started yesterday, and they had to come clean about their relationship to set the record straight. People who harmed Mr. Zheng Feiluan’s family’s reputation will be sued and held accountable.
Xie Yan’s heart raced as he read such a rigid, emotionless statement.
Is Zheng Feiluan the father of He An’s child?
Has Zheng Feiluan lost his mind? Why did he let him have a child who is legally entitled to an inheritance so carelessly?
He still wouldn’t give in, so he tossed the phone back to Zhao Ru while acting casually and asked, “What does this prove? He’s self-centered, power-hungry, and has a record of being a homewrecker. Isn’t it natural for him to cheat on Zheng Feiluan while they’re together?”
Zhao Ru remained silent. She continued to tap on the phone without showing any emotion. After that, she zoomed in on the screen and held the phone up directly at Xie Yan’s face.
“Look closely.”
Xie Yan’s face turned completely pale this time.
Zheng Feiluan shared a photo on his personal account, which he rarely used. It was just a picture with the caption—“Biological Type I Sex Pheromone Compatibility Report.”
In this report, Zheng Feiluan and He An’s private information was blocked out, but the compatibility column clearly displayed a significant number.
100%.
The report was completed three years ago.
The report was given to He An by Cheng Xiu in person at a café close to his house.
Looking at this number, Xie Yan thought it was real and fake at the same time. His face turned strangely twisted, and he screamed like he was crazy, “This report is not real! It’s fake! Is getting a perfect match really that easy? In your entire life, how many different pairs have you seen? We both only have 85%, Zheng Feiluan and I. How could that He guy get a perfect match so easily?”
“Who cares if it’s not real? Don’t you get what’s going on?”
Zhao Ru was too tired to tell him off. She laughed and said, “Your plans are full of cracks. You can only pray that Zheng Feiluan won’t be the one to look into this! ! It’s clear he’s protecting this omega! The lawyer’s statement and this report are only the beginning. If he tracks down Lu Yisen and the two actors you hired and files a lawsuit against them, you’ll be forever banned from acting!”
“Lu Yisen?”
A panic hit Xie Yan. He remembered that throughout the morning, he hadn’t seen Lu Yisen on set. There was only one other personal assistant there. The word frightened him, and he quickly called Lu Yisen, but no one answered.
“Has he… has he been caught by the authorities? What do I do?”
Xie Yan asked Zhao Ru with a distressed look on his face.
Zhao Ru gave him a smile and patted his cheek, “Don’t take risks if you’re an idiot. Don’t expect the company to clean up that big of a mess for you. There are still a lot of rookie actors out there who have no chance of making a name for themselves, and they’re all just waiting to share this piece of meat with you.”
⋮
Xie Yan spent the afternoon wallowing in some heavy booze and curled up on his hotel bed with a tablet, taking the fierce backlash from public opinion online.
The pull of gossip is so strong, and the story is so thrilling that supporters of both parties dug up a pile of deeply hidden old materials, accidentally proving Zheng Feiluan and He An’s relationship.
An entertainment company senior executive who is one of Zheng Feiluan’s business friends gave the first piece of old evidence.
He made a joke five minutes after Zheng Feiluan released the compatibility report, in a very cheerful tone:
“Mr. Zheng is a man of passion. After giving notice last year, he quit and went on vacation. He left his empire, which was worth tens of billions of dollars, without second thought. For a long time, everyone assumed they knew why he was there, but it turned out he was with his family. I’m sure the past two days have been traumatizing, so bring your little princess to the next party. She can be my Big Bean’s little sister.”
If people in the circle say something, people outside the circle will start to dig deeper to find out.
People who had a vague memory of this event remembered it right away, while people who didn’t remember it at all looked for the notice of Jiusheng’s executive team changes right away. In December of last year, Zheng Feiluan suddenly quit as chief executive. He had been in charge for many years and didn’t seem like he was planning to give up his position, which made people in the industry suspicious. People made guesses about everything back then, but no one thought about love.
Zheng Feiluan would never, ever give up the gigantic Jiusheng Empire for some petty love because, as anyone who knows him well is aware, his career is his top priority.
However, the 100% compatibility turns this most unreasonable reason into the most reasonable one.
The mystery was finally solved.
Everyone kept up with the news and learned that the pastry house across the street from the inn opened in December of last year, roughly at the time Zheng Feiluan left. When compared to the “Catching Three Videos” posted by Xie Yan’s fans yesterday, who else could the alpha, who ran to save the beauty and was called “Daddy” by He An’s daughter, be except Zheng Feiluan?
Those curious bystanders even figured out the names of the pastry house and the inn.
Red cranberries, green olives.
The two people in an excellent relationship balance each other, and their love can be seen in the simplest of things.
The discovery of “Cranberry Pastry House” led to the surfacing of yet another new piece of evidence just thirty minutes later. It was in the March issue of the travel magazine “Travel,” which wasn’t selling very well, and in the special issue of “Delicious Food Encountered on the Road,” featuring Luotan Town.
The young journalist going by the alias “Chanjuan” paid a visit to the Cranberry Pastry House, where she talked about the drinks in the menu, baked goods, and Michelin-starred chefs before dedicating an additional paragraph to writing about the love story of the store manager.
She described him as a well-known alpha who once held authority and wealth beyond the reach of ordinary people. Yet, in order to spend blissful time with his beloved omega, he gave up his fame and status, left the bustling city, and opened a pastry shop in a small town in southern Xinjiang. This is undoubtedly the best type of love.
The young reporter’s writing sounds like it came from a mediocre romance novel. Although it’s not perfect, it’s now obvious who the lover she writes about is.
A lovely photograph appears next to the text——
In a room with slanted sunlight streaming through red bricks and black tiles, an alpha is brewing coffee at the bar while an omega sits on a high chair holding a baby, patiently waiting. One is looking down, and the other is looking up, and their gazes are meeting perfectly.
Even though the faces were masked by the shadows cast by the light, the three figures’ features were plain to see.
As beautiful as a painting.
It’s difficult to tell how the young journalist caught this moment.
⋮
Everything from the pheromone compatibility report that came out three years ago to Zheng Feiluan’s irrational and unexpected vacation at the end of last year to the magazine article that was published by accident six months ago to the video that Xie Yan’s fans shot yesterday…
Over the course of three years, these seemingly unrelated pieces of evidence began to overlap and support each other, eventually leading to the final conclusion:
Zheng Feiluan and He An are a perfect match.
He An had no need to and was incapable of cheating on him with anyone else.
✕✕✕
Translated and edited by janemoyu (06/26/24)
