Chapter 318

These past few months have been a lull in the film season, with no major releases usually, yet the entertainment circle still churns out big scandals nonstop.

First, Liu Qian teamed up with Li Yundi to perform magic on the Spring Festival Gala, with Liu Qian saying, "Find Li Hong."

That single line thrust all three into the spotlight; gossip netizens listed every ambiguous detail of the relationship between Li Yundi and Wang Laoer, fueling their "romor" fever.

Such male-male rumors still delighted netizens, but soon both issued statements clarifying they were heterosexual.

Yet this couldn't quench the netizens' gossip fire.

No one knew the real situation, but netizens just felt something was off: they watched movies together privately, toured Baodao together, and visited each other's homes.

It resembled the affair between Liu Tianxian and Zeng, except these two didn't have as many instigators stoking the drama.

Then a netizen named Papi Wang posted multiple photos on Weibo, revealing in the captions that Haitian Shengyan was suspected of lewd activities.

The scandal involved numerous billionaires, celebrities, and young models, with many top stars entangled in it.

Then came the incident involving Li Shuangjiang's son.

Recently, Fan Xiaopang seemed to have gone mad, constantly releasing publicity drafts to "outshine" other stars—probably because she's rich now!

Netizen "Papi Wang" wrote a Weibo headline: "Those Years, the Female Stars Fan Xiaopang Outshone or Outshined."

Article: "When it comes to writing publicity drafts, no one in China can match Fan Xiaopang's studio; no matter what event she attends, if Fan Xiaopang shows up, everyone else gets outshined."

"From Hollywood stars to foreign supermodels, from mainland top-tier A-list actresses to fresh-faced newcomers, Fan Xiaopang outshines one after another, two by two—female stars she's outshined could circle the Earth three times."

Netizens listed how Fan Xiaopang not only outshined domestic stars like Guoji Zhang, Man Shen, Li Bailian, and Yao Dazui, but also outshined international heavyweights like Anne Hathaway.

One netizen searched and compiled a list of Fan Xiaopang's paid publicity draft keywords:

"Outshines Yan Wang among male stars, Chunge becomes the most beautiful."

"Passionately outshines Shu Qi."

"Dressed as a goddess, outshines Gui Lunmei."

"Red dress, red lips, outshines Man Shen."

"Airhostess outfit outshines Young Master Zhou."

"Forbes outshines all rivals."

"Busan outshines Korean stars."

"Sensual look outshines Guoji Zhang."

"Playing mind games, outshines Berucci."

"Fair skin outshines all stars."

"Big-star aura."

"Outshines Tang Wei."

"Fan Xiaopang's fur coat outshines Guo Jinjin; after Cannes, outshines Gong Huang."

"."

Altogether, 269 Fan Xiaopang publicity draft keywords outshined dozens of domestic and international female stars—even male stars and androgynous figures weren't spared; she's utterly obsessed, burning through money.

Now Fan Xiaopang, riding the success of "Star You Are the Reddest," is pushing hard to cement in viewers' minds the image of "Sis is the most beautiful."

Yet she never bought publicity drafts to outshine Liu Tianxian—she knows Liu Tianxian has powerful backers, so she avoids provoking her.

Nowadays, no one in the entertainment circle dares to provoke Liu Tianxian; no one knows how powerful the Principal really is, so even in competition, everyone tries not to offend her.

Actually, the mainland entertainment circle is relatively tame and restrained; it's Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan where things are truly chaotic.

"kb48 exposed for hosting lewd sex parties—150,000 per session." Small Japan.

"South Korean male star sentenced for sexually assaulting underage girls!"

"South Korean celebrity suspected of raping a 22-year-old woman!"

"25-year-old Hong Kong model drugged and raped while serving drinks!"

"TVB actress exposed for prostitution—slept with wealthy businessmen for 250,000!"

"."

Scandals of every kind surround us—truly nauseating; compared to these, the mainland entertainment circle is practically a white lotus.

No way—any star committing even one of these offenses vanishes.

That day, Fang Hong drove to the airport to pick up Liu Tianxian; now that she's back, he's always the one to pick her up—his assistant helps load her bags into the trunk and then leaves to rest.

Liu Tianxian sat in the front passenger seat and hadn't even taken off her bag before leaning over toward Fang Hong.

Fang Hong leaned over too, and they kissed, lips meeting in perfect sync.

They kissed deeply and intensely; from the side, you could see them entangled together.

Mainly because they hadn't seen each other in a while—naturally, they missed each other.

After a long while, they finally parted; Liu Tianxian then set down her bag and pulled out a tissue to wipe her lips.

She pulled out another tissue and handed it to the man beside her.

"Didn't you see I'm driving? I'm busy." Fang Hong had already started the car, hands on the steering wheel, eyes on the road.

"Busy your head."

Liu Tianxian wiped his corner of the mouth: "You always drive one-handed and show off to me—Xiao Feifei, look, am I not awesome?"

When she said the last part, her tone was odd, her body twisted slightly, movements endearing—making Fang Hong smile.

Then Liu Tianxian returned to her normal tone: "When you want me to attend to you, you need both hands on the wheel."

"I'm doing this for our safety, you know," Fang Hong said.

"Excuses."

She then took off her long coat, revealing a white women's shirt underneath—her figure slender, as expected after returning from an event, she'd maintained her physique.

It was late March; daytime temperatures hovered around 20 degrees, no need for so much clothing.

Fang Hong glanced over: "Huh, Xiao Feifei didn't wear jeans today? That's unusual."

"Hey, how do I look?" Liu Tianxian grinned playfully, stretching out her long leg.

She wore low-rise shorts with a belt, her smooth, toned legs slender and sexy.

"Beautiful. Let me feel."

Fang Hong could now drive with one hand—he reached out, brushing his fingers over her plump thigh, the skin silky smooth.

Liu Tianxian didn't stop him; she'd shown it for him to touch.

She smiled at him: "How's it feel?"

"Wonderful—but your legs are a bit thick, the shape isn't quite slender enough, visually unappealing. If you lost a little weight, it'd be perfect." Fang Hong analyzed with clinical precision.

"Slap!"

Liu Tianxian swatted his hand away, pulling her leg back, annoyed: "I let you touch me, and you complain I'm thick? Then don't touch!"

"Aw, I was just joking, look at you." Fang Hong said.

"You say things I don't like—'visually unappealing'? Then don't look!" Liu Tianxian teased sarcastically.

"Not looking is such a waste—you wore it, so sexy, it's thrown my Dao heart into chaos." Fang Hong grinned mischievously, glancing again at her legs.

Liu Tianxian laughed, tapping his shoulder twice.

The car stopped at the entrance to Liu Tianxian's Villa. They got out, heading to the trunk to pack up—her luggage and items bought in France.

"These pâté and jams are for your mom—she'll love them." Liu Tianxian pushed several gift boxes aside, ready for him to take.

Every time she returned, she brought many gifts.

"What about mine? Did you get me anything?" Fang Hong pulled out a large suitcase, rummaging through the trunk's array of elegant gift boxes.

All bore foreign text—English or French, he couldn't tell. "No gift for you. These are all for me and my mom." Liu Tianxian lifted all the boxes out.

"You went away, bought everything for everyone, but nothing for me?" Fang Hong pointed at himself, indignant.

"Why should I buy you anything? You didn't even comfort me when I came back." Liu Tianxian huffed, hugging her things and walking toward the Villa.

Fang Hong grabbed his suitcase and followed, clutching his chest: "I'm heartbroken. So much pain."

"Suffer then. I'm not a doctor." Liu Tianxian glanced at him dismissively.

Fang Hong pouted and reached for her belly.

Liu Tianxian giggled, swatting his hand twice, dodging his Dragon Claw Hand, then sprinted into the house.

Liu Xiaoli watched her daughter scamper inside, shaking her head: "Always wild when she comes back. Can't you be serious for once?"

"Mom, he tickled me!"

Liu Tianxian ran to her mother to complain.

Fang Hong instantly became serious the moment he saw his mother-in-law, stopping his antics.

Liu Xiaoli didn't scold him, only gently advised her daughter: "Rest well after returning. Put your things away and sleep."

"Just leave them for now. I'll tidy up later."

Liu Tianxian pulled out a delicate gift bag and handed it to her mother: "For you."

"What's this?" Liu Xiaoli examined it.

"Cosmetics. To help you look younger." Liu Tianxian's voice was sweet.

Liu Xiaoli's expression remained calm, placing the item on the table—her daughter often bought her things.

Still, she felt quietly pleased.

"Xiao Honghong, this is for you." Liu Tianxian tossed a small box to Fang Hong—he'd definitely gotten a gift; she'd only teased him earlier.

Fang Hong caught it—a square box, unidentifiable. He was about to open it.

"Don't open it. Open it at home," Liu Tianxian said.

"Then go rest. I'll be going, Auntie." Fang Hong slipped the box into his pocket, waving to Liu Tianxian.

He'd only brought her home.

"Drive carefully," Liu Xiaoli said.

Liu Tianxian puckered her lips in a kiss, playfully waving at him.

Today she'd sleep to adjust her jet lag—she'd just returned from France.

Back home, Fang Hong opened Liu Tianxian's gift: a bottle of perfume, and a small note: "Perhaps you can't see me, but when you close your eyes and breathe deeply, I'll be right beside you."

Quite poetic. Fang Hong smiled.

"This time Xixi's gifts are practical—just food." Xu Liyun flipped through Liu Tianxian's presents—all French sauces.

Liu Tianxian rested at home one day, then climbed into Fang Hong's car the next day to attend the "Bound by Love" script reading session.

She held the full script of "Bound by Love," reading it while quietly crying.

She'd been reading this script since the New Year, multiple times—each time, her eyes turned red.

Fang Hong handed her a tissue: "What's going on?"

"This story's too real. It terrifies me," Liu Tianxian wiped her tears.

"Terrified of acting?" Fang Hong asked.

"No. I love the characters. I love the story. But the way it dissects love is too cruel—I'm afraid of romance. Afraid of marriage."

"Those characters were tortured by life. You have none of those troubles," Fang Hong thought she was overreacting.

"Why did they break up? As a director, explain their emotional journey to me."

"Simple. The leads were too idealistic. When they fell in love, they lived in the ivory tower of school—no pressure. Friendship and romance were pure; anyone could bond with like-minded people, becoming true friends.

But once they entered society, finding genuine friends became hard—because school's ivory tower erased inequality, minimizing social factors in relationships.

Love was simple: you like me, I like you—that's enough. No need to consider reality."

Fang Hong explained clearly and thoroughly—he'd actually written the script himself, then had the screenwriter polish it.

So he understood the story with unique insight.

Liu Tianxian tilted her head and looked at him, listening intently.

"That's how it is—two idealistic young literary souls who like the same songs, read the same books, share similar tastes in food; they're like a pair destined by heaven.

But behind the romance there's no reality—the underlying soil of their growth experiences, family backgrounds, and so on, that soil being the vulgar everyday necessities of life: firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, and tea.

It represents romance, it's beautiful, but without soil it cannot survive."

Fang Hong stopped there, letting Liu Tianxian figure it out herself. Actually, he'd already made it quite obvious—their fundamental values differed.

But he couldn't spell it out too plainly, because they too had this kind of issue of differing growth experiences and family backgrounds.

It's just that they had money and successful careers, which could smooth these things over.

Liu Tianxian propped her chin on one hand, thought quietly for a moment, and asked, "Then how do you think one should maintain it?"

"In love, appropriately yielding, sacrificing one's own feelings to gain peace in the relationship, is very necessary," Fang Hong said.

Liu Tianxian nodded gently. The two of them had indeed sacrificed their own feelings to keep their relationship stable.

"But this brings up another problem—repeatedly lowering your standards to match the other's pace becomes settling, and once you settle, the two will only drift further apart. So in the end the heroine is no longer willing to lower her standards to settle.

You ask how the two should maintain it—actually, two people who are alike find it very hard to be together, just like two identical puzzle pieces; how could they fit together? They're only suited to be friends."

Fang Hong parked the car steadily and got out.

Liu Tianxian got out too, her mind still turning over his words, feeling as though he was talking about the two of them—they were two different people, which was why their relationship had always been so stable.

Once she had tried to make Fang Hong become like her, and that had produced a lot of conflict between them. But after letting go, the relationship became much more stable, much easier to get along.

"Not bad, Mr. Fang—pretty incisive," Liu Tianxian praised.

"Of course!"

Fang Hong flipped his hair, looking very smug.

Liu Tianxian beamed, reached out and affectionately ruffled his head.

"Actually, the reason the male and female leads broke up wasn't that the feelings were gone, but that the passion and intimacy were gone. Love has three basic components: passion, commitment, and intimacy." As Fang Hong said each one, he folded down a finger.

"The male lead thought they'd lost their passion, figured it didn't matter, and tried to use commitment to win back the relationship, but didn't notice the key missing piece—intimacy, right?" Liu Tianxian immediately added.

"Right, that's how I understand it too."

Fang Hong agreed, and said to her, "Like the lyrics of a song: we can only blame ourselves for loving so fiercely, loving so deeply, and then the dream woke up, ran aground, fell silent, waved goodbye, yet couldn't come back to ourselves."

"Oh, what song is that?" Liu Tianxian found it familiar but couldn't recall it for the moment.

"Guess," Fang Hong said.

"Even if you won't tell me, I can Search it up." Liu Tianxian could find it just by searching the lyrics.

"Actually, this film is easy for you to act in too—substitute the inner state we went through when we were dating before, and you'll probably be able to find that feeling," Fang Hong said.

Liu Tianxian nodded gently. In the past, they too had gone from meeting, to falling in love, to having their share of cracks.

It was just that they had endured through restraint, through communication.

After hearing Fang Hong's analysis, Liu Tianxian basically understood the mental journey of the male and female leads in *Bundle of Love*—from the innocence of being in love, to the reality of entering society, to the calmness of breaking up.

(End of chapter)