OSM Chapter 34: Their Seventh Year—what does it have to do with me?

Translator: Abo Dammen

With the release of the online drama, He Zhiqiu officially made his debut on screen.

Whether on the big screen or the small one, for him, it was a promising start.

For this type of drama, the ratings weren’t a big deal.

With his good looks and decent acting skills, He Zhiqiu, as a newcomer, still attracted a fair amount of fans.

Xu Sui is a very smart person, not one to chase after petty profits. His vision was very long-term. He never viewed He Zhiqiu’s role as just making a quick web series. Even though He Zhiqiu still couldn’t land any great scripts at the moment, Xu Sui never rushed when it came to role choices. Whether it was a lead or supporting role, no matter how much screen time, he always made sure to pick memorable characters like the one in Pingsha.

But scripts like Pingsha are rare to come by. Xu Sui did his best to select some good ones from the scripts available to him.

However, the roles he thought were good were often very competitive.

This meant that He Zhiqiu had to spend even more time honing his acting skills to stand out among the many competitors.

The short vacation passed in the blink of an eye, and He Zhiqiu was back to his busy routine.

He still had to wake up early and work late, attending acting and physical training classes at the company. Late at night, he would wake Li Yuze up and bring him something to eat.

Li Yuze’s hand had almost fully healed. The bandages were removed a few days ago, and luckily, there were no scars. The injury had caused a bit of a stir online, but since no photos from the set were leaked, and the crew didn’t step forward to comment, the incident gradually faded away.

Ironically, the media that spread the news were criticized by many fans, who pointed out that they were spreading rumors. Their intentions were truly questionable.

Speaking of Li Yuze’s fans, they were a rare, refreshing group in the fandom world.

First of all, their idol was already at the top of the industry, both in terms of popularity and status.

There was no competition, so they didn’t have to desperately scramble for resources.

Second, from the moment Li Yuze debuted, he publicly announced that he was married, positioning himself not as an idol, but solely as an actor. Whether married or not was completely normal to him.

For all these years, whether his mysterious marriage was true or not, he had never been involved in any rumors.

No celebrity he worked with ever used the publicity to stir up rumors of a relationship, making the fan base a chaotic mix of CP fans and solo fans.

Li Yuze’s fans only recognized the person he had openly admitted to as his spouse.

Any opportunistic person trying to get attention through him was immediately labeled as a third party.

The label of “third party” was a serious accusation.

In the past few years, there were a few who, foolishly, tried to leverage a collaboration with him to gain some publicity. They tried to flirt with the idea of a CP during the promotional period.

They were immediately bombarded with insults on hot search, and the parties involved had to quickly come out and clarify.

As for why no one criticized Li Yuze?

There were some who did. Many haters tried to muddy the waters, even labeling him a “scumbag.”

But the big star Li Yuze never paid attention to these gossip articles. By the time those trying to gain attention couldn’t take the heat anymore, they naturally came forward to explain themselves.

After a few of these incidents, people started to get the message that no one dared to bother him anymore.

However, the real victims were Li Yuze’s fans. They kept saying that Li Yuze was married, but they still had no idea who his wife was. They had never seen her themselves.

At 2 AM.

On the homepage of an anonymous forum, there was still a post being updated.

The post had a straightforward title, “Their Seventh Year.” Scrolling back, there were previous years listed, from Year One to Year Two, up until the current year, Year Seven.

Anyone with some common sense would know this was a CP thread, and upon clicking, it confirmed as much.

But the first line of the main post was rather bleak. “Their Seventh Year—what does it have to do with me?”

The anonymous fans in the replies lazily responded: “With the new year half gone, has THB’s wife been revealed yet?”

3rd reply: “Same old, I don’t know if I’ll see THB’s wife in my lifetime.”

5th reply: “Probably not, I’ve waited from being unmarried to married, from graduation to my son running away, and I still don’t know who his wife is.”

8th reply, randomly inserted: “Who is THB? Can someone explain?”

15th reply: “Anonymous forum doesn’t carry real names. 8th, if you want to decode, you should start from Year One.“

22nd reply: “Probably no chance. THB is so low-key, there’s no way his wife would be exposed.”

47th reply: “Even if he’s low-key, there’s no way there’s no rumors at all, I’m starting to think he’s actually not married.”

50th reply: “I don’t think he’s unmarried, but his wife is probably an ordinary person. There are so many celebrities secretly in relationships that no one can uncover them. His wife is just harder to catch.”

60th reply: “In the end, it’s the media’s incompetence. After all these years, not even one picture of them together? And I was hoping to ship them. Guess it’s next life!”

74th reply: “Can’t blame the media, it’s because THB’s wife is a non-celebrity. If she were in the industry, we’d be able to look for clues, narrow down the possibilities.”

85th reply: “Even if she were in the industry, it would still be hard to find. There are so many stars, and if you guess wrong, it’ll cause a scandal.”

8th reply again: “Is THB really the ceiling of the industry? Is there even such a figure in the entertainment world?”

89th reply: “Replying to 8th, THB is the universally acknowledged visual ceiling in the industry. Figure it out yourself, no need to elaborate.”

91st reply: “Whoa! Earthquake!”

93rd reply: “Damn! Did 74th’s words just get enlightened?”

I am the 74th replied: “What’s going on?”

112th reply: “Aaaaahhhh I’m going crazy! It’s sugar! It’s sugar! Look at Weibo! #CeilingDeletedImmediately#!”

The CP thread quieted for a few minutes because of this post.

But just a few minutes later, it exploded again.

There was no “Ceiling Deleted Immediately” post on Weibo, only one that said “#Li Yuze Deleted Immediately#.”

The trending topics quickly heated up, with fans quickly capturing screenshots.

The content of the screenshots was simple: a photo and a sentence.

In the photo, it appeared to be a corner of a living room, with an ivory-white coffee table holding a stack of unreadable scripts and two cups of coffee.

Nothing special about the photo.

What stood out was the sentence edited by Li Yuze: [Accompanying the ‘little actor’ for a scene.]

It was posted at 2:13 AM, and the device used was a tablet. You could also faintly see a wardrobe in the background, suggesting the photo was taken at home.

But these details no longer mattered to fans. The focus was on that one sentence.

Accompanying a “little actor” for a scene?

Who was this little actor?

Who else could it be, other than someone at home late at night, who Li Yuze would accompany for a scene?

Countless media outlets were suddenly awakened by this event in the middle of the night. The mystery that had been lingering for years finally seemed to have a clue.

No wonder they always got it wrong. They had been looking in the wrong direction all this time.

Li Yuze’s wife wasn’t an outsider after all?!

It was rare that Chen Qiong didn’t have much to do today, so she went to bed early. In the middle of a beautiful dream, her phone rang, waking her up. She glanced at the trending topics and almost had her hair stand on end.

She immediately called Li Yuze, but after a while, the call didn’t go through. She then remembered that Li Yuze’s phone was broken and he still hadn’t replaced it.

She thought about calling Meng Lin, but then recalled that Li Yuze had used an unfamiliar number to call her on the day of the wrap-up, to let her know he was safe.

So, she scrolled through her contacts and found that number again, calling it.

A few seconds later, the call was picked up. The voice on the other end sounded drowsy and asked, “Hello, may I ask who this is?”

When Chen Qiong heard it wasn’t Li Yuze’s voice, she double-checked the number and asked, “Excuse me, who are you?”

“Ah? I’m He Zhiqiu.”

“He… Zhiqiu?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re He Zhiqiu?” Chen Qiong’s expression changed, and she paused for a few seconds before asking, “Then, may I ask, do you have Li Yuze’s contact information?”

“You are…?” He Zhiqiu asked in return.

“I’m his agent, Chen Qiong.”

“Oh, hello. Sorry, please hold on for a moment, I’ll go wake him up.”