A live stream that dramatically transformed a depressed schoolgirl shocked netizens across the count

At the other end of the ancient city, the crowds at the morning market pushed and squeezed into the narrow alley.

Ye Xingyu moved forward step by step, her floral dress soaked with cold sweat, clinging to her spine.

Even with three layers of foundation on her face, she still couldn't hide the dark circles under her eyes.

The suffocating feeling from being swept away by seawater in the rip current last night is still stuck in my throat, pulling at my nerves and causing a sharp, throbbing pain.

Her best friend, Su Niannian, was pressed close to her side, the mineral water bottle in her hand being squeezed out of shape, making a piercing plastic sound.

Long Shao, who was walking at the front, stopped.

His bespoke leather shoes crushed a withered leaf on the stone slab. He turned his head, his brows furrowing with obvious impatience.

"Ye Xingyu, stop wearing that mournful face."

He glanced at her from head to toe.

"The company spent a lot of money to promote you, not so you could come to Dali for a funeral."

"Who are you trying to show this to?"

Ye Xingyu's eyelashes trembled, but she remained silent.

Su Niannian stepped forward half a step to block her side, her throat sounding like she had coarse sand in it.

"She almost drowned in the sea yesterday."

"The doctor said her heart stopped beating for almost a minute, and today you forced her to come out and film some cheesy romance content despite her injury. Do you have any conscience?"

Long Shao didn't even lift his eyelids, slowly dusting off his suit sleeves.

"Nian Nian, right?"

"Your best friend signed a performance-based agreement, a written deal worth 20 million."

"When the data didn't meet the deadline, the legal letter was sent directly to her rural hometown."

"I don't care if she's breathing or not. Once the hype dies down, nobody's going to have a good time."

The assistant quickly tugged at Su Niannian's sleeve and whispered words of persuasion.

"Sister Xingyu, Young Master Long is doing this for the good of the company."

"This batch of materials must be produced today to cover up yesterday's illegal fishing incident."

Ye Xingyu raised her head, the morning sunlight falling on her cheeks, but it couldn't reveal any color in her face.

"I don't want to film today."

Every word seemed to be forced out of his throat.

Young Master Long was so angry he laughed.

He took half a step forward, the tip of his shoe almost touching her toes.

"You don't want to."

"Ye Xingyu, get your identity straight."

"The company is promoting you; you're a chameleon with millions of followers."

"If I didn't support you, you wouldn't even know the account password."

"You'll pay with your life for a debt of twenty million."

Ye Xingyu dug her nails into her palm, her knuckles turning deathly white.

Just as Su Niannian was about to curse, Ye Xingyu grabbed her wrist with her icy hand.

Young Master Long put his hands in his pockets, a smile playing on his lips.

"Don't think I don't know what crazy thing you did last night."

"Have your assistant scour the entire internet for CCTV footage to find the man who pulled you out of the water."

"What, do you want to act out a scene from a novel where someone offers themselves to another?"

Ye Xingyu suddenly looked up.

"What's wrong with looking for your savior?"

Su Niannian shouted it out.

"Without him, Xingyu would already be in the morgue."

"Keep an eye on your dog."

Long Shao tapped Ye Xingyu's forehead in the air.

"If that person had connections, they would have already used the trending topic to ask Xingyao Entertainment for money."

"There wasn't even a ripple now; he was just an ordinary passerby who got lucky."

"If you go looking for a complete stranger all over the world, your male fans will tear you apart if word gets out."

Ye Xingyu bit her lip, leaving a row of white teeth marks.

An overwhelming sense of powerlessness filled my entire body.

Su Niannian's tears fell onto the bluestone slab, and she kept muttering, "You are not human."

Young Master Long turned and left.

In that instant, Ye Xingyu's previously empty eye sockets suddenly reflected a sliver of darkness from between the crowd.

Sunlight pierced through the thin mist.

Five meters away, a black windbreaker without a brand logo walked in.

A high, straight nose, sharp eyebrows and eyes, and a black titanium steel earring in his left ear that gleamed with a cold, hard metallic sheen in the sunlight.

The man walked through the crowd with one hand in his pocket, his nonchalant steps creating a vacuum in the bustling morning market.

It's him.

Last night, in the raging rip current, it was that arm, as hard as iron, that grabbed her waist and dragged her back to the human world from the clutches of the water ghost.

She'll remember that menthol-scented windbreaker for the rest of her life.

Ye Xingyu's eyes lit up, and she shook off her assistant and rushed over there.

Long Shao's eyelids twitched, and he stepped in front of him to block the way.

"Where are you going?"

"Get out of the way."

Ye Xingyu's eyes were red.

"He saved me yesterday, I want to go and thank him."

"That's my savior, what right do you have to stop me?"

Su Niannian also pushed him.

Long Shao glanced over there with a cold expression.

He was wearing a plain black T-shirt and a black windbreaker, and a girl wearing a small white flower wreath was with him. The two of them were holding a few yuan's worth of snacks from a roadside stall.

Two poor students traveling in Dali on a shoestring budget.

Long Shao reached out and grabbed Ye Xingyu's wrist.

"I searched all night just for this penniless bastard."

"Let me go."

Ye Xingyu struggled desperately.

Su Niannian pounced on him and started cracking her knuckles.

Long Shao's eyes turned cold, and he sidestepped and elbowed Su Niannian on the shoulder.

Su Niannian stumbled back three steps, crashing into the blue brick wall, and the mineral water bottle rolled into the sewer.

The assistant quickly stepped forward and hugged Su Niannian's waist.

Long Shao tightened his fingers, his neatly trimmed nails digging directly into the soft flesh of Ye Xingyu's wrist.

"Don't push your luck."

"We won't finish filming the materials today, so we'll have to go back and wait for the legal letter."

"Also, if you dare to cause trouble again, I'll immediately send the surveillance footage of you frantically searching for men last night to the entertainment channel."

"The title is 'Innocent Witch Seeks Pleasure Late at Night,' let's see who the fans believe."

Ye Xingyu felt a chill run through her body.

Watching that black silhouette grow ever smaller in the crowd, tears finally streamed down my face.

She reached out her other hand and pressed it on the back of Su Niannian's hand.

do not talk.

I'm not going.

Five meters away.

Shen Qingci swallowed the last mouthful of warm, sweet-smelling milk fan, the paper bag rustling in his hand.

The noise came from the left corner of the alley.

The girl in the yellow dress was being dragged by a man, her eyes bloodshot.

Those eyes weren't looking at the person pulling her, but rather, with the frantic urge of a drowning person clinging to the last piece of driftwood, they were fixed straight on Chen Lang beside her.

Shen Qingci paused, her fingertips pausing.

She recognized that look.

Ten days ago, when she stood outside the cross-sea bridge and saw Chen Lang reach out his hand to her, she looked at him in the same way.

A strange, bittersweet feeling suddenly welled up in my chest.

Chen Lang was her support wall.

Only she can stand under this wall.

Shen Qingci tightened his jaw slightly, and a rare stubbornness appeared in his usually cold and aloof eyes.

She took a step closer, her left hand passing directly through Chen Lang's arm.

Through the rough fabric of his windbreaker, his fair fingers gripped the strong muscle lines of his forearm perfectly.

The knuckles are turning white.

She was pressed tightly against his side without leaving any gap.

Chen Lang stopped in his tracks.

He glanced down at the hand gripping his arm tightly, then looked up at Shen Qingci's tense profile.

The girl's ears were red, but she stared straight ahead with a tense face, like a little wild animal protecting its territory, showing its claws to everyone.

A smile played on Chen Lang's lips.

He didn't pull his hand away; instead, he reached out his other hand and gently patted the back of her hand, which had turned white from exerting so much force, twice.

The live stream chat paused for half a second, then exploded with comments.

[Holy crap! Qingci took the initiative!]

Look at how tightly she's gripping Lang Ge's arm; she's practically locking him up.

[The girl in the yellow dress on the left is definitely smitten with Lang Ge's gaze. Qingci understood, and immediately switched to protective husband mode.]

[Of course! If I were pulled out of the sea by Brother Lang and had to put on some clothes, I'd already thought of a name for my second child on the spot.]

[Qingci's younger sister: I can accept the life-saving grace, but this man is mine.]

[Qin Feng (Ignorant and Incompetent): My master's wife's move was perfect, she caught me firmly.]

[Stop bumping into her! The guy in the suit on the left is attacking. He's elbowing her and grabbing her arm.]

[Bullying a girl in broad daylight, Brother Lang should do something about it.]

Chen Lang let Shen Qingci hold his arm.

The arguing on the street corner didn't register in my mind, but my heightened hearing, enhanced by my maxed-out physical abilities, had already picked up on the words "betting agreement" and "late-night revelry" perfectly.

He turned his head to look at Shen Qingci's protective behavior towards her food, and a low chuckle escaped his throat.

"Teacher Shen, why are you holding me so tightly? Are you afraid I'll run away?"

Shen Qingci bit her lip and remained silent, her fingers gripping even tighter.

"Alright, I'll consider it a meritorious service in protecting the emperor."

Chen Lang grabbed her wrist with his other hand and gently pulled her back half a step behind him, encircling her in the safest position.

Then he turned around.

The casual smile vanished from his eyes.

He raised his eyelids amidst the chaotic crowd, his black earring flashing coldly in the morning light, his gaze pressing heavily on Long Shao, who was still holding Ye Xingyu five meters away.

Just one glance.

Long Shao's cold smile froze.

A chill ran down her spine, and the fingers gripping Ye Xingyu's wrist loosened involuntarily.