Huayu: Starting from retirement, sweeping across the domestic entertainment industry

Three days later...

After filming the last scene, Li Ran returned to the hotel and took a shower.

He changed into a clean T-shirt and shorts, dried his hair until it was half dry, then got up and went out. After walking a few steps, he stopped in front of Tian Xiwei's room, swiped his card, and went in.

Tian Xiwei, wearing pajamas and with her hair down, was playing with Kang Kang on the bed. She looked up and saw him come in, but didn't say anything.

Li Ran walked straight to the bedside, lay down, and looked at Tian Xiwei, saying, "Why did you bring it into the car? It's covered in cat hair..."

Tian Xiwei glanced at him sideways, "What's wrong? Even if you don't come, Kang Kang will sleep with me. I'm happy to."

Li Ran smiled helplessly, didn't refute, and picked up her phone to look at it.

Tian Xiwei leaned over to take a look and saw that it was looking at the trending topics on Weibo.

"Is this the juicy scoop you were talking about?" she asked casually.

Li Ran glanced at her and chuckled, "What else? This isn't fierce enough; I even dug up her ancestral graves."

Tian Xiwei snorted coldly, "So, you can also whitewash Liu Haocun's name while you're at it?"

Li Ran put down his phone, sat up, picked Kang Kang up from her arms, threw him off the bed, and then reached out to pull her into his arms again.

Tian Xiwei lightly punched him. "What are you doing? Are you jealous of Kang Kang?"

Li Ran said helplessly, "It's covered in cat hair, doesn't it itch when you sleep?"

He paused, then explained earnestly, "What happened to Liu Haocun wasn't her fault either. Dancing inherently involves risks, and nobody wants something like this to happen. It was a disaster for both families."

"As for whitewashing or anything like that, I can only present the facts clearly, and please don't make baseless accusations."

Tian Xiwei didn't say anything, she just looked at him.

After a few seconds, she looked away, found a comfortable position in Li Ran's arms, and slowly said, "Speaking of which, Yu Shuxin brought this on herself."

"Why did you have to mess with her? It's just a role, and it wasn't pre-selected. The producer was interested from the beginning, so how did it become her role?"

Li Ran sneered, "What else can you do? Just because your family has a little money, you think you're a princess! You think you can mess with anyone?"

"Fifteen billion, that's no small sum..." Tian Xiwei said sarcastically, drawing out the words.

Li Ran scoffed, "It's not like it belongs to her family."

On the trending search list, the hashtag #YuShuxinHumanBloodSteamedBun# was followed by a purplish-red "Explosive" character.

Clicking through reveals solid evidence: video clips of him bullying fellow trainees during his time on "Grade One," and various scandals from his "Youth With You" days—each and every one of these incidents has been meticulously compiled.

The most fatal flaw was her family situation, including the misappropriation of assets…

The comment section has exploded, filled with insults, and any attempts to defend oneself are quickly drowned out.

Another trending topic was about Liu Haocun. This topic wasn't at the top, but it stayed there steadily, slowly accumulating clicks.

Clicking through leads to a long article that meticulously analyzes Liu Haocun's life story.

My parents came from an ordinary family in a small county town. Their dance class was just a regular training class on the street, not some elite school.

The claim online that "there was no compensation" is completely unfounded. Liu Haocun's parents actively paid for the initial medical expenses, but disagreements arose regarding the amount of subsequent compensation.

Back then, in 12, Liu Haocun was still just a child. Without the high salaries that come with stardom, he naturally couldn't afford to pay the losses...

The girl's parents also came forward to clarify, saying that Liu Haocun's family had always cooperated actively and had never shirked their responsibilities.

This was also thanks to Li Ran. As soon as the incident occurred, he sent his company's lawyer to Northeast China to re-sign an agreement with that family.

In addition, they offered extra compensation, asking for help in clarifying the matter, and also demanding that Liu Haocun not be blackmailed with this matter again.

Li Ran dared not gamble with human nature...

In the comments section, some apologized, some remained silent, and some continued to be stubborn.

Liu Haocun's public image is slowly recovering, but Li Ran can't control the mouths of those who don't distinguish right from wrong.

He knew that some things take time and can't be rushed.

The girl was injured because of Liu's mother; that's an indisputable fact...

In his previous life, he didn't understand why Liu Haocun's agency allowed the incident to escalate, but now he suddenly understood.

In the eyes of capital, celebrities are just commodities.

If it becomes popular, it's the company's cash cow; if it loses its popularity, they can just replace it with another one.

It's a miracle that Xiao Zhan's aunt, Long Danni, didn't add fuel to the fire when he was involved in that incident.

Expecting a company to work tirelessly for its artists? That's impossible.

From the company's perspective, artists are just employees who can bring profits to the company.

Some of the negative information might not even have been released by the rival company; their own agency could have done so as well.

Nobody wants to terminate their contract once their cash cow becomes successful. Rather than letting you fly, it's better to break your wings first.

At midnight, Li Ran was playing PUBG Mobile with Tian Xiwei.

"Shoot! Why did you misfire..." she said without looking up.

Li Ran scoffed, "This is nothing, the gun isn't even hot yet..."

Just then, my phone vibrated; it wasn't a message, it was a call.

The screen was lit up, with the words "Meng Ziyi" displayed in the notes.

Tian Xiwei paused for a moment, turned her head to look at him, and then looked up at Li Ran with suspicion.

Why would she call you in the middle of the night?

Li Ran shook his head. "How would I know?"

He genuinely didn't know that Meng Ziyi hadn't contacted him since that friendly match.

She was so quiet, as if nothing had happened, that he thought she had finally come to her senses.

The phone call came suddenly today, which puzzled him.

A thought flashed through his mind, but he suppressed it again... It shouldn't be that bad, right?

Is Sister Meng that hungry?

Tian Xiwei looked at Li Ran, her large eyes blinking listlessly. "You two aren't seeing each other, are you?"

"What could possibly be between us?" Li Ran looked into her eyes, his expression frank. "None."

Tian Xiwei stared at him for two seconds.

His gaze didn't waver, nor did he make any of those unnecessary fidgety movements that come with a guilty conscience.

"Shall I connect you?" she asked slowly, her tone slightly tentative.

Li chuckled, reached for his phone, and hung up. "That's enough, why bother with her?"

We're barely there yet, not even in Tianjin.

He had no intention of going back the way he came.

Tian Xiwei glanced at him, but didn't ask any further questions...

……

The following morning, the sun in Hengdian was already scorching hot.

After finishing his scenes, Li Ran changed out of his costume and climbed into the RV. The air conditioning was on full blast, and the cool air swept over him, taking away the last bit of summer heat. He leaned back on the sofa, picked up his phone, and saw several unread messages on the screen, the top one from Meng Ziyi.

[Li Ran, sorry about last night, I wasn't drunk.] The message was sent around 1 a.m. He hadn't checked his phone last night and only found it now. He thought for a moment, then typed back: [Sister Meng, what's up?]

The message had barely been sent when the chat window displayed "typing...". But after waiting for about ten seconds, no text arrived; instead, a video call request appeared—Meng Ziyi had called directly.

Li Ran looked at the smiling face on the screen, smiled helplessly, and answered the call anyway.

"Li Ran, I'm sorry! I bothered you last night." Meng Ziyi's face filled the screen. The background looked like her living room, with a few cushions on the sofa, the curtains drawn, and the light dim.

"What's wrong?" Li Ran leaned back on the sofa, his tone casual.

"Can't I call you if there's nothing wrong?" Meng Ziyi pouted, then laughed first, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "After all, we're practically inseparable!"

Li Ran didn't respond to that. He stared blankly at the screen, waiting for her to get down to business. Meng Ziyi felt a little guilty under his gaze, so she dropped her joking expression and remained silent for a moment.

"Li Ran, it's like this." Her voice lowered, "Xin Xin asked me to apologize to you on her behalf. She didn't expect this..."

"Sister Meng," Li Ran interrupted her, his voice low but cold. A cold laugh escaped his throat, laced with undisguised sarcasm. "We're still good friends, so I'll pretend you never said that."

After saying that, he hung up the call immediately.

Meng Ziyi stared at the disconnected call screen, completely stunned.

She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but the screen had already gone black. She was stunned for several seconds before she came to her senses.

Why doesn't Li Ran give her any face at all? She has a good relationship with Yu Shuxin and said she wanted to ask her to help her make a connection so she could apologize to Li Ran.

What is it between him and Yu Shuxin that she doesn't know?

Yu Shuxin definitely didn't tell me the truth.

Although Meng Ziyi speaks without thinking, she is not stupid.

She opened Li Ran's WeChat and typed: "Hey Li Ran, I'm coming to see you in a couple of days!" After sending it, she didn't wait for a reply and directly called Yu Shuxin's video call.

It rang a few times, and then the other end answered.

Yu Shuxin's face appeared on the screen, looking extremely haggard, with dark circles under her eyes as if she had been punched twice.

"How is it, Sister Meng? Has Li Ran forgiven me?" Yu Shuxin's voice was hoarse and anxious.

Looking at her expression, Meng Ziyi sighed inwardly. "Xin Xin, Li Ran isn't the kind of person to hold a grudge. It's not like he'll get angry if your fans just vent a little in the comments section."

She paused for a moment, then said, "You should focus on dealing with your own affairs now."

Yu Shuxin was stunned for a moment.

Her business? Her business is simply that Li Ran shouldn't pursue it, right?

She didn't dare say that she had someone else leak Li Ran's dirt on her; she only told Meng Ziyi that her fans were stirring up trouble in Li Ran's comment section.

"Sister Meng, could you please send me Li Ran's WeChat? Thank you so much, Sister Meng." Yu Shuxin's tone was pleading.

Meng Ziyi thought for a moment.

"Okay," she agreed.

After hanging up the phone, Meng Ziyi felt increasingly uneasy.

Why is Yu Shuxin so eager to get Li Ran's WeChat? Is she planning to steal his place? She knows Yu Shuxin's methods; she used to pull all sorts of dirty tricks to snatch roles.

I haven't succeeded yet, so I can't afford to have new competitors.

She thought about Yu Shuxin's face...

That face, even in the entertainment industry, is just so-so.

Li Ran has very high standards. Zhou Ye, Zhang Jingyi, Tian Xiwei, Liu Haocun... aren't they all great beauties? Li Ran probably wouldn't even give Yu Shuxin a second glance.

But she still didn't plan to directly send the WeChat message to Yu Shuxin; she wanted to ask Li Ran's opinion first...

She opened Li Ran's WeChat and found that he hadn't replied to her messages at all.

She frowned and made a video call.

Meanwhile, inside Li Ran's RV.

Tian Xiwei was nestled next to him, holding a bowl of fruit and poking at the cut mango with a small fork.

Li Ran's phone vibrated, and the words "Meng Ziyi" appeared on the screen.

She glanced sideways, the fork hovering in mid-air, the mango not yet in her mouth.

"Why did she call you again?" She looked at Li Ran, her tone indifferent but full of suspicion.

Li Ran shrugged, looking completely innocent. "How would I know?"

Tian Xiwei put down the fruit bowl, picked up her phone, and held it up in front of him.

"Connect her, let me see what she's up to." Her voice wasn't loud, but her tone carried an unquestionable command.

Li Ran chuckled at her expression and reached out to answer the call.

Meng Ziyi's face popped up on the screen again.

"Li Ran!" Meng Ziyi called out, then saw the face leaning closer beside him, and paused for a moment, "Xiwei is here too."

Tian Xiwei didn't speak, but just looked at the screen with a slight, ambiguous smile on her lips.

Those eyes swept over Meng Ziyi's face, then slowly looked away. She picked up the fruit bowl again, forked a piece of mango, put it in her mouth, and chewed it very slowly.

Li Ran sighed helplessly. Why is Sister Meng never going to stop?

"Sister Meng, what are you doing now?"

Meng Ziyi remained silent for a few seconds on the other end of the screen. Her gaze lingered on Li Ran's face for a moment before she slowly spoke, "Yu Shuxin... she wants your WeChat."

Before Li Ran could speak, Tian Xiwei snorted coldly.

"Meng Ziyi, you think you're so important? Are you Red-Haired Shanks?"

Meng Ziyi paused for a moment, then blinked.

Red-haired Shanks? Who's that?

She racked her brains for a while, but still couldn't figure out what the joke meant.

But Tian Xiwei's tone was definitely not kind. She opened her mouth, wanting to retort, but didn't know what to say.

Li Ran looked at her bewildered expression and understood.

Sister Meng really didn't know what Yu Shuxin had done and thought it was just a small matter of fan wars.

He sighed, softening his tone.

"Sister Meng, tell her that she has to bear the consequences of her own actions. I have nothing to say to her."

Meng Ziyi pursed her lips. She could hear the resolute tone in Li Ran's voice; it left no room for negotiation.

But her relationship with Yu Shuxin is there. When she was criticized by the whole internet for her role in "The Untamed", Yu Shuxin was one of the few people who stood up and wrote articles to support her.

She has to repay this favor.

"Li Ran," she said carefully, her voice lower than before, "Yu Shuxin didn't do it on purpose. It was all the fans' behavior, not her doing. She's a nice person..."

Li Ran didn't say anything, but Tian Xiwei wouldn't be polite to Meng Ziyi.

She snatched the phone, pointed it at Meng Ziyi on the screen, and sneered, "Meng Ziyi, are you saying that Li Ran's family background, match-fixing rumors, bullying on set... these are all things the fans found out themselves? Just because I was replaced as the female lead in 'Cang Lan Jue,' the fans are going to stand up for their idol? And 'Cang Lan Jue,' it seems like they never publicly announced the casting process, right?"

After she finished speaking, she hung up the phone without waiting for Meng Ziyi's response.

Meng Ziyi stared at the "Call ended" message for several seconds, completely stunned.

Then a surge of anger rose from my chest...

Why is everyone only saying half of what they mean and then hanging up the phone with such self-righteousness?

Don't you know that while she may be a little clever, she's not very clever? Can't you just explain it clearly?

She angrily threw her phone onto the sofa, crossed her arms, and sulked for a few seconds before slowly calming down.

Tian Xiwei's words just now swirled in her mind, over and over again.

Li Ran's family background, match-fixing rumors, bullying on set... Did her fans find all of this on their own? The more she thought about it, the more suspicious it seemed.

Can any random fan dig up those things? Can they push them to the top of the trending topics? Can they get official media to step in and clarify them?

Her pupils dilated slightly.

No way.

She picked up her phone again, hesitated for a moment, and then dialed Yu Shuxin's number.

"Sister Meng..."

"Yu Shuxin." Meng Ziyi didn't call her "Xinxin," and her tone changed. It wasn't the usual carefree and casual tone, but rather one with a sense of distance.

"Did you have someone leak those scandalous things about Li Ran?"

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone.

Meng Ziyi closed her eyes. She remembered how Yu Shuxin had spoken up for her, the nights they had chatted on WeChat, and the affectionate tone in which Yu Shuxin called her "Sister Meng".

She suddenly felt very bored.

"Thank you for speaking up for me back then." Meng Ziyi paused for a long time before slowly saying, "Let's leave it at that..."

She hung up the phone, found Yu Shuxin's WeChat, and hovered her finger over the red "Delete Contact" button for a long time.

Forget it.

If you can't figure something out, then don't think about it anymore.

She turned over, buried her face in the cushions, and sighed softly.

Who exactly is Red-Haired Shanks?

……

Tian Xiwei looked at her chat history with Li Ran. Li Ran's replies were all indifferent, but Meng Ziyi seemed overly enthusiastic.

She handed the phone back to Li Ran. "Is this why she contacted you?"

Li Ran nodded. "Otherwise what?"

"So she called you stinky Li Ran?" Tian Xiwei turned her head, her big eyes staring at him with a scrutinizing look.

Li Ran shrugged helplessly. "How should I know? Didn't you already check the chat history? Is there a problem?"

Tian Xiwei stared at him for two seconds, snorted coldly, and said nothing more.

Her intuition told her that something must have happened between Li Ran and Meng Ziyi.

She knew that the others might know what was going on between Li Ran and Meng Ziyi, but she was now isolated by them.

No one would voluntarily share information with her.

Li Ran clearly had no intention of telling her either.

Perhaps we could ask Wang Churan. Although their relationship is now just a formality, she should be willing to share this kind of information about working together against a common enemy!

"What a pair of dramatic sisters," she muttered. "Disgusting."

Li Ran knew she was referring to Meng Ziyi and Yu Shuxin...

Filming for "The Legend of Canglan" is still ongoing.

Life in Hengdian is like a river with a steady flow, each day almost identical to the last...

I get up early to put on makeup, go to work, film, finish work, remove my makeup, and go to sleep.

Occasionally, there are a few night shoots that disrupt my biological clock, but I get back on track the next day.

A week later, Hengdian experienced a light but persistent rain that lasted from morning till night, shrouding the entire film studio in a hazy mist.

Since outdoor shooting was not feasible, the production team temporarily adjusted their plans and switched to shooting scenes in a studio.

After filming her part, Li Ran prepared to return to the RV to rest.

Assistant Xiao Chen jogged over from the entrance of the film set, holding an umbrella in her hand, her expression somewhat subtle.

"Brother Ran, someone's here to see you."

Li Ran took the umbrella and asked as she walked out, "Who's there?"

"Meng Ziyi," Xiao Chen said in a low voice, "is already waiting over at the RV."

Li Ran paused for a moment, then continued walking.

He wasn't walking fast, but he was making plans in his mind...

What is Meng Ziyi doing here? He thought he had already made things clear about what happened on the phone last time.

Why did she suddenly come to Hengdian? Was it because Yu Shuxin caused some trouble again, or was it something that happened to her?

"Hua Yu: Starting from Retirement, Sweeping Across the Domestic Entertainment Industry" - Stunning writing style and a thrilling plot!