"I... I don’t have money for a ticket to go take Doctor Wen out to eat, so I can only support Doctor Wen by joining the stream."

When Jiang Beibei heard Xu Yiran’s voice, her expression darkened. She walked over and looked into the camera.

"Yiran, tell everyone. Did you leaving the industry have anything to do with me? Didn’t you quit because of your family situation? And all those rumors about you online—didn’t I help you clear those up?"

As if realizing she sounded a bit too desperate, Jiang Beibei softened her tone.

"Yiran, we used to be so close. Back then, I was always encouraging you to hang in there. When you finally left, I was so sad I cried. I wanted to help you, but you refused. Now, people are slinging mud at me on this show. Yiran, tell them what really happened."

Jiang Beibei was confident. ’This Xu Yiran definitely won’t be stupid enough to expose me!’

"Beibei, long time no see." Xu Yiran appeared very calm, not at all agitated.

"Yiran, tell everyone!"

"Tell them what?" Xu Yiran asked calmly.

"Yiran, didn’t I just say it? Are you telling me you won’t help me clear things up?" Jiang Beibei looked at Xu Yiran on the screen, a hurt and disbelieving expression on her face.

"Alright, I’ll help you clear things up."

Hearing Xu Yiran’s words, Jiang Beibei felt much more at ease. ’I knew she wouldn’t dare to refuse me.’

Jiang Beibei looked at Wen Ying. "Doctor Wen, there are consequences for framing people with your words."

"Back then, Jiang Beibei and I were members of the same group, a fact that everyone should know. I trained incredibly hard because I knew that if I didn’t, I would lose the chance to change my own destiny and that of my family. I had to work as if my life depended on it! If others practiced a dance ten times, I’d practice it twenty, thirty, even forty times. The instructors said I’d made huge progress, that I had talent. But what talent did I really have? Wasn’t it all just forged from blood, sweat, and tears? I watched the sunlight start to shine on me, watched my future grow brighter day by day. I believed that as long as I kept trying, one of the debut spots would surely be mine!

Jiang Beibei was a friend I made on the show. She did treat me well, always showing concern, telling me not to work too hard, worried I’d collapse from exhaustion. When we were together, she would even watch what I ate. I was very grateful to Jiang Beibei. I even thought she was the first friend I’d made on the show—perhaps my only one.

Everyone knows my background. I’m a girl from the countryside with no connections, so very few people wanted to be my friend. It’s hard to accept, but that’s the reality. Everyone gets a taste of how cruel the world can be. Just when I was starting to think of Jiang Beibei as a dear sister, we reached the second elimination stage. There were three rounds. In the first and second rounds, I was praised by the instructors again. They said if I kept up the hard work, a debut spot might just be mine.

They saw potential in me, and I was so grateful. It was also around this time that I realized I was far too simple and naive. Jiang Beibei, my ’good friend,’ began telling me, in ways both subtle and direct, that this industry wasn’t for someone with my background. She told me that *she* had to debut, that *she* had to be chosen and praised by the instructors. But maybe because I didn’t react, she eventually asked if I would voluntarily drop out of the show.

How could I possibly give up the chance to change my destiny? After I refused, Jiang Beibei grew resentful, though she was very subtle about it. On the surface, we were still the best of friends, but the very next day, negative rumors about me started spreading online. At first, I paid them no mind. I believed that the innocent have nothing to fear. But eventually, the rumors began to seriously affect my family.

I confronted Jiang Beibei. She didn’t admit to anything, but she told me that there’s a price to enter this industry, that you need connections. I had nothing. I really wasn’t cut out for it, she said.

The online attacks grew more and more vicious. I tried not to let it get to me, but it was impossible not to be affected. Then, on the day of the third competition round, Jiang Beibei told me that if I dropped out, she would give me fifty thousand yuan—that’s several years’ income for my family. And if I didn’t drop out... well, some of those ’rabid fans’ might just pay my family a visit..."

Xu Yiran paused, a bitter smile touching her lips. "No one knows what I went through in those few days. So I quit. I didn’t want my family to get hurt. I never intended to say any of this, not in my entire life. But when I saw this show, when I saw Doctor Wen, I couldn’t hold back any longer. I don’t know what threats I’ll face for saying this, but... could it possibly be any worse than how things are now?"

Xu Yiran let out a cold laugh, her entire being radiating defiance. Everyone watching the live stream felt their hearts ache for her.

"The man I’m set to marry is an only son. He doesn’t understand any of this news from the internet, and his parents don’t care about the rumors. As long as I can... be with their son... and carry on the family line for them, that’s all that matters."

[Damn Jiang Beibei! She ruined this poor girl’s entire life!]

"I know some people will question why I’m relying on marriage to support my family instead of getting a job. I didn’t want to explain, but I’ll say this: a job for me would pay three or four thousand a month. My father needs a fifty-thousand-yuan surgery. He can’t afford to wait for me to earn that money."

[A lot of people don’t realize how many people in this world consider a simple barbecue dinner a luxury. It’s true what they say: poverty can break the back of the strongest hero.]

It was clear that the dam of Xu Yiran’s emotions was about to break. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"Yiran, stop. Let me take it from here," Doctor Wen said, her gaze fixed on Jiang Beibei.

"Jiang Beibei, do you have any idea who the last person Xu Yiran almost married was?"

"What’s that got to do with me!"

"She almost married a man who had been dead for a week! And you say it has nothing to do with you? If her parents hadn’t threatened to kill themselves to stop it, she would have already been married off to him! Do you understand what that means?"

Jiang Beibei’s face went deathly pale.

[Marrying a living person to a corpse? What kind of sick family thinks up a plan like that?!]

[What century are we in?! How does a backwards custom like this still exist? Shouldn’t someone report them?]

[Heh. You all live in your own bright little worlds. Let me tell you, ghost marriages are real in many places! Cases like Xu Yiran’s, where a living person marries a corpse, happen too! They’re just much rarer than two deceased people being married! That’s reality for you! Did you really think everyone’s life is sunshine and rainbows?]

"Wen Ying! Who Xu Yiran marries is her own choice! I didn’t force her to get married, did I? What kind of person she marries has nothing to do with me! Why are you trying to pin this on me? Am I supposed to be responsible for her marriage, too? Maybe I wronged her in some ways, but that doesn’t mean I’m responsible for her entire life, does it? Ghost marriage, whatever—I wasn’t the one who told her to choose that!"

"So, even after seeing how tragically her life has turned out, you still feel nothing?"