As summer rolled around, Mu Yue also found herself facing the end of term. After leaving her old job, Wen Xue spent a whole month making preparations and finally landed a role in a new drama.
Mu Yue took a look at the drama's title, and it turned out to be exactly the project that marked Wen Xue's first big career comeback after hitting rock bottom in the original story.
It had a classic underdog plot: before filming started, the crew couldn't secure any investments, couldn't sign on any well-known actors, and faced one hurdle after another. But the whole team was refreshingly genuine — from the director to the cast, none of them had the fickle, impetuous attitude that ran rampant in the entertainment industry these days. Their final finished work more than lived up to all their hard work and toil, and blew up massively. Even people who tried to smear the show could only make jokes about how broke the production team had been.
But now that Mu Yue was in the picture, funding was no issue at all. She waved her hand casually and poured a whole 100 million yuan into the project. Just as she had planned before, she was investing in Wen Xue, spending the money as intended, and no matter whether she would get a return later or not, her points were already secured.
The drama was set to start filming that Saturday, and the production team specially invited Mu Yue, their biggest money mama, to attend the ceremony. Mu Yue happily agreed.
This drama was a historical mystery series, with a tight total of only 20 episodes. The script had a fast pace and a tightly woven plot, so Mu Yue was actually looking forward to it — after all, this was the very first drama she had invested in herself.
The filming location was a famous movie studio city. Several other crews were shooting there around that time, and before Mu Yue's car even arrived, she could spot several small but noticeable groups of fans.
Thanks to the movie studio city, the city's tourism industry was thriving, and Mu Yue planned to take a stroll around the nearby area after having a meal.
Mu Yue followed the crew members who had come to pick her up at the airport into the studio city. The whole crew was gathered in a five-entry residential mansion that was the most frequently appearing location in the drama, which served as the marquis's manor in the story. Mu Yue admired the historic architecture as she listened to the crew's introductions.
When they arrived at the site, the director came hurrying over to greet her from a distance. Even the most socially awkward person knew better than to slight a goddess of wealth like her.
After the opening ceremony, the whole group headed to a restaurant. The production team had booked a star-rated restaurant, and with Mu Yue present, everyone greeted her with big smiles. The atmosphere at the dinner table was perfectly harmonious. No one was foolish enough to step out of line at such a time, all the topics they discussed were completely appropriate, not a single inappropriate word slipped out, and no one overstepped their bounds to bother her.
Even though Mu Yue looked very young, was still a student, and seemed to have endless money to throw around, making her look like an easy target to take advantage of.
But the crew all knew perfectly well how precious this opportunity was, and how rare it was to have a money mama who didn't meddle in their work. They would have to be total idiots to even think of provoking her. Though of course, if the Young Miss took a liking to someone on the crew of her own accord, that would be a different story.
After the meal, the official work kicked off right away, and Mu Yue didn't go over to interfere with the hustle and bustle. The main reasons she came for this trip were to see what the whole process was like, and to earn some counterattack points. Quite a few people on this crew were characters that appeared in the original story, including two fairly important supporting roles. With this chance right in front of her, Mu Yue was definitely going to make the most of it, and in the end she reaped a total of 880 points.
Most of those opportunities were one-off gains, with only the two more important ones leaving room for a second harvest. By now, she had built up solid capital across all fronts, and even the one-off payouts were far higher than what she had earned back when she first ran in the social circles in City A.
Once the points were safely in her pocket, Mu Yue had nothing left to do. Before she even needed to ask, Qianqian had already put together a detailed guide, and was going over all the must-see scenic spots in the city and various specialties that Mu Yue might be interested in as soon as they got in the car.
Another leisurely weekend had passed, and no one expected that only half a month later, there would be new juicy drama popping up around Wen Xue.
A new film crew had moved in next door, acting all high and mighty. They had already started their promotional campaign even before officially kicking off production. It was billed as an S-tier production headlined by top-tier A-list stars, with hordes of self-proclaimed industry prophets predicting the drama was guaranteed to be a massive hit.
Unsurprisingly, one of the lead actors in this drama was none other than the white moonlight Mo Yaru. She was taking on the role of the second female lead, a character who started off kind and innocent in the early plot but turned into a sinister female villain later on. Originally, Wen Xue had fought hard to land this role herself, but now, it had become a resource handed over to Mo Yaru.
Wei Xuan told Wen Xue that this was what Wen Xue owed Mo Yaru, and all of these opportunities rightfully belonged to Mo Yaru in the first place.
He said that to Wen Xue face to face back when she was still at her old agency, showing up with Mo Yaru right by his side. Wen Xue was so infuriated that she actually laughed out loud, completely dropping the gentle, soft-spoken persona she had been carefully maintaining before, and slapped Wei Xuan hard across the face.
At first, Wen Xue was worried that Wei Xuan would fly into a rage and hit her back, but men can be such ridiculous creatures. Wei Xuan, to her total shock, did not lay a finger on her at all. He just stared at her, completely dumbfounded. Wen Xue did not linger there any longer. Putting on a perfect performance, she gave Wei Xuan a look that brimmed with utter disappointment and heartbreak, then turned around and walked right out. If she didn't make a quick escape, she was afraid that this idiot Wei Xuan would snap back to his senses any second.
When Mu Yue got wind of this piece of gossip, she was absolutely stunned by the domineering CEO's completely warped train of thought.
What on earth was Wen Xue supposed to owe Mo Yaru? The two of them had never even met, let alone had any sort of interaction for over two decades. The only thing that ever linked them together was that nutjob Wei Xuan. Could it be that Wei Xuan actually deluded himself into thinking that Wen Xue staying by his side, occupying the spot that he thought should belong to Mo Yaru, counted as some kind of debt? That idea was laughable. Wen Xue never clung to Wei Xuan on her own accord—he practically forced himself on her.
If there was any debt to be repaid, it should be Wei Xuan settling what he owed on his own. What a generous guy he was, using Wen Xue's things to pay off his own debts!
What shocked Mu Yue even more was that Mo Yaru seemed to buy into that ridiculous narrative too. The second she got the role, she came over to the set next door where Wen Xue was working, and "ran into" her on purpose, spouting a bunch of passive-aggressive remarks about returning what rightfully belonged to its original owner.
Wen Xue did not let her get away with that attitude, and fired back with the same level of sharp, passive-aggressive banter. When she talked about this whole incident with Mu Yue later, Wen Xue said straightforwardly that she had her own backer now, which was the only reason she had the guts to stand her ground like that. Then she lavished her backer—Mu Yue—with so many sweet, honeyed words that Mu Yue could not stop grinning from ear to ear the whole time.
Mu Yue could only sigh in amusement. How embarrassing! Domineering CEO male lead, I'm taking your leading lady for myself. You'll never get to enjoy this kind of top-tier treatment where you're coddled like a little baby for the rest of your life!
By Wei Xuan's side, Wen Xue has always been the picture of diligence and devotion. The "white moonlight" persona she plays is even more endearing and tender than the real white moonlight herself, so much so that the bastard male lead has long been utterly smitten. Even so, he hides behind a whole pile of excuses to deny his feelings, and piles on nothing but snide remarks and tests after tests, determined to hurt her until she is covered in cuts and bruises, before he finally comes to his senses and regrets his actions, and finally figures out what his own heart truly wants.
Real life is nothing like a novel. No one would ever give this kind of idiot the chance to chase his wife and make amends. What's more, Wen Xue is not some lovesick fool at all. Her ambition reaches all the way to the very peak of the mountain. Mu Yue has every reason to suspect that in the later parts of the original story, when the domineering CEO kneels in the rain one night begging for forgiveness, Wen Xue making up with him again is not because she has truly fallen in love with Wei Xuan. It is only because she is afraid that if she rejects him, this deranged man will destroy everything she has worked so hard to build, so she is just pacifying him half-heartedly.
There might even be a hint of training him in that arrangement too. She takes advantage of that tiny bit of guilt Wei Xuan feels to get him to do whatever she wants. When it comes to the grand finale, when the domineering CEO's parents refuse to accept her, Wen Xue just turns around and leaves without the slightest hesitation, leaving Wei Xuan to sort out the mess with his parents on his own, or else she will call the whole thing off.
The original ending naturally sees Wei Xuan sorting everything out perfectly. His parents still look down on Wen Xue, but they no longer dare to speak ill of her. After they get married, the male lead becomes completely wrapped around his wife's finger, the so-called "sweet" dynamic played up to the hilt.
But the very day after Wen Xue finished ranting to Mu Yue, she and the white moonlight had a falling out, and the whole thing ended up going viral online. This exact plot point was already in the original story. The ridiculously cliché part is that someone at the scene actually filmed the whole incident, and that footage accidentally ended up in the hands of the domineering CEO. But he refused to admit that he had already fallen for Wen Xue, so he did absolutely nothing, letting Wen Xue get torn apart by online netizens.
The original text clearly spelled out his thoughts: he wanted Wen Xue to come beg him. As long as she did, he would step in to help her. Unfortunately, Wen Xue never once reached out to him at all. She gritted her teeth and kept filming the project even under the relentless public backlash. Later, one smear campaign after another targeted Wen Xue, but she ignored every single one of them, and managed to wrap up the entire film under that exact hostile environment.
At one point, people pressured the director to fire Wen Xue from the female lead role, but the director shared a life-or-death bond with Wen Xue, and he withstood all that pressure. In the end, their hard work paid off. The entire crew shot to instant fame thanks to that drama. Interviews came pouring in one after another, and Wen Xue kicked off her path to a total rags-to-riches turnaround, soaring higher and higher without stopping.
All this while, the domineering CEO kept asking around about how Wen Xue was doing, suffering through days and nights of torment. Eventually, he uploaded all the evidence he had collected that could clear Wen Xue's name online. But he was far too late. Wen Xue had already long passed the point where she needed that help the most. It was at that moment that the domineering CEO was seized by overwhelming regret.
Mu Yue first went online to check the situation, and sure enough, the comments were all one-sided, everyone was bashing Wen Xue. But the Wen Xue right now is not the same leading lady from the original story who had no time to handle the public backlash and no one to help her.
This incident has been trending online for hours now with no response, which definitely means Wen Xue and her team have a plan of their own. Mu Yue reached out to Wen Xue, and sure enough, Wen Xue had her own arrangements all figured out.
Right now, their drama lacks heat, while the neighboring S-tier production is blowing up with viewership. There's no reason not to ride this wave of attention. Besides, it's still daytime now, most people who love to gossip are busy with work. They can let the incident ferment a little longer, and wait until more people are free online in the evening for the show to really begin. And of course they have all the evidence they need. Not just a little bit, they have more than enough of it.
Mu Yue threw money around, and Wen Xue managed to bring on board a highly capable agent in the entertainment circle whose reputation had taken a nosedive after being backstabbed by his own former artists. This agent had years of rich experience. When he noticed that Mo Yaru and Wen Xue were alone in a space together, he immediately had his assistant set up in an inconspicuous spot to record the entire scene on video and audio, just as a precaution.
Well, that precaution was coming in handy now.
With that settled, Mu Yue only had to wait for the show to unfold that night. Summer vacation was just around the corner, and once it started, she could spend more time hanging around the film and television city. Back when Wen Xue was filming this drama, the original novel had a steady stream of different characters popping up one after another. She wouldn't even have to run all over the place to get things done — this one plotline alone was enough for her to rack up a good number of points.
She was already starting to look forward to it. Oh right, there were the on-location shoots too. During the outdoor filming, Wen Xue would save the second male lead, a carefree, puppy-like younger man who kept calling her "big sister" nonstop. Unfortunately, the bastard male lead meddled in things, and before that little spark between them could even properly catch on, he had the guy sent away.
Meanwhile, Wei Xuan had also caught wind of what was going on online. It so happened that when he was getting out of his car, he overheard two passersby talking about Wen Xue. Both of them were speaking up for her out of a sense of injustice, and mentioned that they had both filmed footage of the incident.
A thought flickered in Wei Xuan's mind. He took two steps forward, then suddenly stopped, and told his assistant to go over and buy the videos from those two people.
An idea had sprouted in his head, and it grew wildly, completely out of his control. He wanted Wen Xue to come beg him. He had to admit that in all the days since Wen Xue left him, he had been incredibly out of sorts, and even his body had started to crave her presence. He wanted her to come back to him, to bow her head to him.
The whole day through, Wei Xuan kept checking the online updates every now and then. Even when he was at a dinner reception in the evening, he couldn't help glancing at his phone every once in a while. The person he was dining with joked that Wei Xuan must be really head over heels for Mo Yaru, checking his phone for her messages even in the middle of a meal.
Wei Xuan frowned. Ever since Mo Yaru had embarrassed him thoroughly at his cousin's engagement banquet, he had never introduced her to anyone as his girlfriend. He gave her resources, kept her by his side, but never once touched her. He couldn't even quite figure out what he was doing himself. But this pattern looked exactly like how he had treated Wen Xue back then.
A sudden flash of realization struck his mind, and Wei Xuan froze on the spot.
Could it be that he was treating Mo Yaru as a stand-in for Wen Xue?
Right at that moment, Wen Xue's account posted a new update. She didn't write a long, dramatic essay — just a simple line: Why are you still so obsessed with playing petty underhanded tricks?
Attached to the post was a very clear video, where even every line of dialogue was captured perfectly. Just like the engagement banquet incident Mu Yue had witnessed, Mo Yaru's newly brewed green-tea scheme had been fully recorded once again, and Wen Xue showed it to the public without the slightest bit of mercy.
Wei Xuan stared at that line of text, then at the video, gripping his phone tightly in his hand, and suddenly flew into a rage. He was furious at Mo Yaru — how could she mess up such a simple little trick again and get exposed? More importantly, the whole mess had been resolved so easily. The so-called evidence he had in his hand to help clear things up was completely useless to Wen Xue.
Which meant there was even less chance that she would come begging him.
Who was to blame for all this? A figure quickly popped into Wei Xuan's mind — Mu Yue. That's right! It was all Mu Yue's fault. If she hadn't showed up, Wen Xue would be stuck in the mire right now, waiting for him to come to her rescue.
[Villain Points + 1000 points!]
Huh? Mu Yue, who was right in the middle of enjoying the lively scene, froze. Where did this sudden batch of Villain Points come from? She could have sworn that coward Wang Jian hadn't made any moves lately—he'd already been put in his place by the big shots in prison and didn't dare to cause any trouble at all. Where on earth did these points come from?
