Please bookmark the related novel The Hooked Actress's Rise to the Top. Readers are gently reminded not to buy the whole story blindly and to subscribe based on their own taste. For thirteen years, Yun Zhi has confessed to Nan Qiao over and over again. Every time, Nan Qiao rejects her with the same line: we are friends. Yet as a friend, Nan Qiao shows possessiveness, drives away other admirers, behaves ambiguously, makes special demands, and exercises all the privileges of a lover. When Nan Qiao catches Yun Zhi with a new romance, she even smiles and offers her blessings, hoping she will find someone she truly likes soon. On that day, Yun Zhi finally wakes up. She decides to give up Nan Qiao and start living for herself. On the Qixi Festival, Nan Qiao invites the Yun Zhi who has not contacted her for a long time to dinner. Nan Qiao assumes that after half a month of being angry, Yun Zhi should have cooled down. Instead, Yun Zhi arrives with another woman, Yu Mingxia. Their behavior is intimate, and the way Yu Mingxia looks at Yun Zhi is openly affectionate. For the first time in her life, Nan Qiao feels panic. She assumes Yun Zhi is only trying to anger her and intends to tell her, just as before, to stay away from Yu Mingxia. But when she calls, the voice answering is Yu Mingxia's. Calm and clear, Yu Mingxia says that Zhizhi is asleep, that Nan Qiao can contact her directly in the future, and that as Yun Zhi's girlfriend she will naturally care about the people around Yun Zhi as well. Then she adds with a mocking laugh that Nan Qiao should behave herself and stop trying to interfere in someone else's relationship. Only then does Nan Qiao understand that she may have truly lost Yun Zhi. Nan Qiao also keeps feeling that the name Yu Mingxia sounds strangely familiar. Later she flips through a collection of outstanding alumni from their old high school and sees the name of the 2012 science-stream top scorer. Suddenly she remembers that in their senior year she once threw away a love letter someone had written to Yun Zhi. The signature on that letter was none other than Yu Mingxia. The core question is simple: if one person is someone you have loved for many years, and the other is someone who has loved you for many years, whom would you choose? The reading guide notes that same-sex marriage is legal in this setting, the timeline is set in 2024 within the Yuncheng series, and this is a crematorium-style chasing-the-wife story with a changed endgame pairing. The official couple is Yun Zhi and Yu Mingxia, and if either the character setup or plot does not match a reader's expectations, the author asks them to stop in time and remain mutually respectful. The blurb for The Hooked Actress's Rise to the Top is also included. From a very young age Jiang Tingyu knew she was the child the Jiang family had taken in, and that she had a marriage arrangement with the Jiang family's eldest daughter. She spent nearly twenty years following Jiang Weiyin around, only to receive not even a proper glance in return, until even the faith she had always clung to collapsed. Jiang Tingyu asks the family to cancel the engagement and accepts the first romance role of her life as an actress. Because of Jiang Weiyin's interference, not only are scene partners a problem, even the financing already promised to the production is withdrawn one by one. Just when Jiang Tingyu is ready to give up, a hot online topic suddenly links the production to Ning Zhaoxi, an award-winning movie queen with eight years in the industry. Although Jiang Tingyu thinks Ning Zhaoxi is both talented and kind, their previous interactions were not exactly pleasant. Trembling, she sends a greeting through her phone. To her shock, Ning Zhaoxi replies instantly: I will fully fund it. During filming, Jiang Tingyu finds working with Ning Zhaoxi easy and educational, but her friends are horrified, insisting that Ning is notoriously strict, never drinks milk tea, never joins gatherings, and always leaves as soon as the shoot ends. Jiang Tingyu stares blankly at the message on her phone asking whether she wants a late-night snack. There is an intimate scene in the script, but because Ning Zhaoxi supposedly never films kissing scenes, Jiang Tingyu never mentions it. Then one day Jiang Weiyin visits the set, and Ning Zhaoxi calmly announces: We are filming the kiss scene today. Jiang Tingyu is sure that scene was scheduled for half a month later. Jiang Weiyin, who came under the pretext of sponsorship, turns pale with anger and tries to pull Jiang Tingyu away, but before she can reach her, Jiang Tingyu falls into Ning Zhaoxi's arms and hears a cold, provocative whisper: She is my lead now. Your turn is over. In a later interview, when asked why she accepted the role, Ning Zhaoxi glances lazily at Jiang Tingyu and says: Because of Teacher Tingyu. Then she adds that Teacher Tingyu has excellent technique, by which she quickly amends herself to mean acting, is earnest and kind, and has many things still to teach her. The whole internet explodes again that night.