Chapter 56
After getting off the plane, Qin Wei immediately started searching for good food near the airport on her phone. As she was walking, she suddenly heard many people shouting her name:
"Qin Wei! It's Qin Wei!!"
Qin Wei looked up to find the source of the shouts, and saw more than ten people gathered together, waving light sticks and bouquets in their hands.
She frowned:
"If I'm not wrong, they are here...to pick me up?"
Li Yao freed up one hand to take out his phone. He had not rested well the entire journey and had such a headache after getting off the plane that he did not even have the energy to look at his phone. Now, if someone was here to pick up Qin Wei, it must mean he had missed something.
Those people were quite well-behaved. After shouting her name a couple times to get her attention, they just waited quietly for her to come over, without making any more noise or running around.
"They can't be here to boycott you, right?"
Li Yao turned on his phone, only to find countless missed calls and unread messages, 99+ for both. He quickly browsed through them but was still confused. Before he could read them carefully, he saw that Qin Wei had walked away.
Li Yao hurriedly dragged the luggage and jogged after her.
"Qin Wei, how did you get injured?"
Someone asked when she got closer.
Qin Wei replied:
"There was an accident during filming. I'll leave it to the police to announce later! I won't guide public opinion."
Another person asked:
"Is it a serious injury?"
Qin Wei pointed to her own head. Although she was wearing a baseball cap, one could still see a bit of gauze.
"Will it disfigure you? What if it leaves a scar?"
Qin Wei:
"I'll try my best to not let it scar. If it really does leave a scar, there's nothing I can do."
Yet another person asked:
"Will it affect your intelligence?"
She refused to answer this and even rolled her eyes at him.
A voice piped up from the crowd:
"No eye-rolling! Stupid Lu E."
Someone else said:
"Stop thinking about taking the exam. You won't pass it anyway, don't you know your own capabilities?"
Qin Wei huffed in annoyance:
"I will too!"
Another person in the crowd said:
"Don't you know you didn't graduate from university?"
Qin Wei was taken aback:
"Really?"
Many people nodded, seeming to confirm Lu E had turned dumb after hitting her head, even forgetting whether she graduated or not.
Qin Wei frowned and casually said:
"Damn..."
Someone in the crowd admonished her again:
"No cursing! Stupid Qin Wei."
...
Just as Qin Wei was about to curse back, Li Yao came over and practically dragged her away. Only when they got in the car did he let go of her. Qin Wei still looked discontented and wanted to undo her seatbelt to go reason with those people.
Li Yao didn't open the door for her and stepped on the gas pedal as soon as they were on the highway.
Only then did Qin Wei settle down.
"They must be antis, definitely antis."
Qin Wei spoke her judgment.
"They cursed at me when I didn't even do anything!"
The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. And they even said she wouldn't pass the exam!
"I'll show them I can pass the stupid exam!"
Li Yao calmly drove while telling her:
"They weren't wrong. You really didn't graduate."
Qin Wei: "Huh?"
Li Yao opened his mouth as if to explain, but his phone rang at that moment. He gestured for Qin Wei to keep quiet, put on his Bluetooth earpiece and answered the call.
One couldn't tell who was on the other end or what they said. Li Yao only gave vague responses like "okay" and "I see." Bored, Qin Wei opened her phone to check the news on various platforms.
Among the top 5 hot search terms, there were:
#QinWeiNoCursing#
#QinWeiAirportPickup#
They sure typed fast. The video from just now was already uploaded online.
She scrolled down to read the comments:
【Qin Wei's signature move, an eye roll】
【Speaks so elegantly, Qin Wei curses】
【Hahaha I'm laughing so hard, they annoyed Sis Qin until her pupils shook】
【Classic scene, hit her head and lost her memory, forgot who she was. Qin Sis forgot she didn't graduate ahahaha damn】
The three words "didn't graduate" were especially glaring. She opened up the search engine on her phone and typed in her own name.
The first result that popped up was her wiki page. Because there were so many words, she had only skimmed the key points before.
Now she would read through it properly to find out her education status!
"Qin Wei, student of the acting department of the Capital Academy of Drama in 20xx. Took a leave of absence for work and has not graduated to this day."
That's what the "Education" section said.
So she really hadn't graduated...
...
Since he was driving, Li Yao kept his phone call brief, hanging up after a short exchange. He then said to Qin Wei:
"I have a piece of good news to share with you. Do you want to hear it now?"
Without waiting for her response, Li Yao turned to look at her. She was still staring at her phone, looking utterly hopeless.
"Still upset? As a public figure, you shouldn't argue with others. Being recorded and posted online will impact you negatively. You wouldn't want to keep issuing apologies, right?"
Qin Wei stared out the window:
"It's true I didn't graduate?"
Li Yao nodded.
"Yes. One drama had a particularly long filming period so I helped you apply for a leave of absence. You knew about this! It wasn't like I did it without consulting you."
Qin Wei covered her face, recalling how she had just embarrassed herself:
"Then why didn't you tell me when I said I wanted to take the civil service exam? Just now the antis insulted me and I still argued with them."
Li Yao explained:
"I didn't want to stimulate you further before seeing doctors back home, in case your head injury was serious. Not long ago you had that car accident and fell into the sea, and you've been acting strange these past few months after regaining consciousness. I don't want to agitate you further."
Qin Wei truly did not know how to respond, and could only say "Thank you."
"You're welcome."
Li Yao pushed up his glasses.
"Anyway, I have a piece of good news for you now. Because your selfies with fans at the Milan airport went viral online, the show's production team couldn't withstand the public pressure and have come up with compensation in the shortest time possible. I'll get the lawyer to negotiate tomorrow, and I believe we'll reach an agreement very soon.
You don't know this, but the production team kept shirking responsibility while we were in Italy. I was prepared to negotiate with them after returning, but didn't expect public opinion to resolve this so quickly."
This was only to be expected, just faster than imagined. Qin Wei was not surprised and simply said "I see."
Li Yao glanced at her and saw her lack of enthusiasm. He continued persuading her:
"You see, so many people are speaking up for you. It shows you haven't completely lost favor. Since you can't take the exam anyway, just focus on your career for now. Don't think about retiring."
Unexpectedly, Qin Wei remained firm on this matter:
"I'm still retiring. Going on this show was a nightmare. I nearly died and it made me realize life is precious. No amount of money is worth anything if I lose my life. "
Li Yao knew it was futile to persuade her further. So he changed the subject:
"You know, so many people supported you. The original post was suppressed, but one person liked it and that's how it started trending."
Qin Wei happened to see this too. She looked up and asked Li Yao:
"The one who liked it, was it Shen Kaige?"
Li Yao: "???"