Chapter 1: Although the sparrow is small, it has all five internal organs…
Shen Youwei hadn’t had this dream in a long time.
In the dream, she was back to when she was ten years old, climbing Mount Qingjing with Guan Shanyan, who was two years older than her. The weather had been great that day, with spring flowers blooming along the path. Shen Youwei had excitedly asked Guan Shanyan to take some photos of her, but accidentally slipped and fell off the mountain.
Fortunately, Guan Shanyan reacted quickly and caught her in time, pulling her back from the edge of the cliff.
Naturally, the two of them never made it to the summit that day, and since then, Shen Youwei had never gone mountain climbing again.
But there was one thing she had never told anyone.
That day, she had the strange feeling that she had fallen off the mountain twice. And in one of those times—Guan Shanyan hadn’t caught her.
What she had just dreamed about was that second fall.
When she woke up, it was already 11:30. A thin layer of sweat covered Shen Youwei’s forehead, and her temples throbbed faintly.
She lay in bed for a while, then turned on her phone, only to be met with a flood of unread messages.
【Today’s Juiciest Drama! Top fashion blogger Shen Youwei sets her eyes on assistant Xu Kaicai’s boyfriend—ten years of friendship down the drain!】
Seeing the post that He Man had sent, Shen Youwei curled her lips into a cold smile.
Just then, He Man’s call came through. Shen Youwei answered it with her eyes still closed and turned over: “Hello…”
“Oh my god, don’t tell me you just woke up?” He Man’s voice rang through the receiver at a high pitch—sharp enough to wake the dead. “Did you see the post I sent? All the group chats I’m in are going wild over your gossip!”
Shen Youwei didn’t respond. He Man anxiously followed up, “Is what the post says true or not? Did you really fall out with Xu Kaicai?”
“…Yeah.”
“Because of Chen Qing??”
“Yeah.”
“…” He Man was silent for a full five seconds, clearly struggling to process that simple “yeah.” “Did Chen Qing cast some kind of love curse on both of you??”
Xu Kaicai’s boyfriend, Chen Qing, was someone He Man had met once or twice. Word was, he was a rich second-generation kid—decent looking, but with questionable character.
Hearing the questions on the other end of the line, Shen Youwei couldn’t help but let out another cold laugh. “Weren’t you the one who said that real best friends always have different taste in men—that way they’d never fall out over one?”
“…Yeah, I did.”
“Well, turns out you were only half right. They can also fall out because they can’t stand each other’s taste in men.”
He Man: “…”
She suddenly remembered how Shen Youwei had once complained that Chen Qing gambled and was deep in debt, and once even got physical with Xu Kaicai after drinking too much. To be honest, she couldn’t blame her for looking down on him.
“So… you and Xu Kaicai are really…”
Thinking back to everything that happened last night, Shen Youwei felt her anger flare up again. “Xu Kaicai saw some influencer’s check-in spot online and dragged Chen Qing along to catch the sunrise. But when they got there, it turned out to be just a little dirt hill—exactly like the photos—but they got into a huge fight over it.”
He Man: “……”
Right. Okay then.
“But what does that have to do with you?”
“Good question. I wish it had nothing to do with me,” Shen Youwei flipped her long hair back and, fuming, sat straight up in bed. “But after the fight, Chen Qing drove off and left Xu Kaicai there alone! In the middle of the night! I got woken up by Xu Kaicai’s call and had to drive over to pick her up!”
“…Legendary.” He Man honestly didn’t expect the drama to be this juicy. “And then?”
“And then?” Shen Youwei gave a cold chuckle. “Then, of course, I called Chen Qing and gave him a proper scolding. The guy totally lost it and said he was going to break up with Xu Kaicai. Then Xu Kaicai panicked and begged me to apologize to him, saying I was too harsh!”
He Man: “……”
“What a joke. I didn’t lay a hand on him—that’s already the greatest act of restraint in a law-abiding society—and now she wants me to apologize?”
“…Okay, okay, calm down first.” He Man was afraid Shen Youwei would really go beat Chen Qing up, so she quickly tried to soothe her. “So is that why you and Xu Kaicai fell out? Then why is everyone online saying you two are fighting over a guy?”
“Who knows.” Shen Youwei rubbed her temples and lay back down in bed. “Some gossip account must’ve picked up bits and pieces of what happened and spun it into a story. Wouldn’t be surprised if Chen Qing planted it himself to trash me. Tch. Guy’s real good at inflating the market value of his own pork.”
He Man: “……”
To be honest, she could totally understand how Chen Qing got so triggered by the scolding.
“So, what’s your plan? The whole circle’s probably talking about it by now.”
Shen Youwei’s headache got worse just thinking about it: “I’ll let my lawyer handle it. I’m not wasting my breath fighting with them online.”
“Sounds good. But are you still posting your video at noon?” Shen Youwei had always been consistent with her updates on all platforms, and today was her scheduled upload day. But now that she was in the middle of a scandal, He Man worried that uploading might just give haters another excuse to attack her.
But Shen Youwei didn’t hesitate at all: “Of course I’m posting. You think someone like Chen Qing could get in the way of my updates?”
“…Alright then. No worries.” To be honest, instead of worrying about Shen Youwei, He Man figured it’d be more productive to try talking some sense into Xu Kaicai.
By midday, Guan Shanyan was sitting alone in a restaurant. Women passing by would glance at him—some subtly, some not so subtly—but his eyes never left his phone, refreshing the screen over and over.
Shen Youwei was supposed to post a new video around noon, but a full minute had passed and there was still no update.
Guan Shanyan frowned, deep in thought, and didn’t even notice Gu Fei sitting down next to him.
“Master Designer Guan, this is the lunch you invited me to? The restaurant downstairs from your office?” Gu Fei’s tone was clearly displeased. When he saw Guan Shanyan staring at his phone, he leaned over to sneak a peek. “Oh, you follow Shen Youwei too?”
With a loud snap, Guan Shanyan locked his phone.
The screen went dark so fast that Gu Fei blinked in surprise. Then he grinned and teased, “What are you so nervous about? She’s a legit fashion blogger. What’s there to be ashamed of?”
Guan Shanyan set his phone down and replied coolly, “I just think you’re what’s shameful.”
“……” Fine. Gu Fei smiled at him and picked up the menu to start ordering. “Speaking of Shen Youwei, did you hear the gossip from this morning?”
Guan Shanyan’s eyebrows twitched slightly. “What gossip?”
“You don’t know?” Gu Fei looked at him with some surprise. “They say Shen Youwei is fighting with her assistant over a boyfriend. The whole group chat is buzzing about it.”
Guan Shanyan had been busy all morning and only had a moment to check his phone at noon—so he hadn’t had time to catch up on the gossip. But he knew Shen Youwei’s assistant: Xu Kaicai. They had been close friends since middle school, over ten years.
“Those two fighting over a boyfriend? That’s impossible,” Guan Shanyan’s expression darkened. This was the first time Gu Fei had seen him pay so much attention to a woman. It made him even more curious.
“See for yourself. This post makes it sound pretty convincing.” Gu Fei sent the forum link to Guan Shanyan. It was a niche forum that mainly shared fashion news and some insider gossip. The last time the forum was this lively was when a well-known designer was exposed for domestic violence.
Looks like Shen Youwei is really popular lately.
“Who’s this Chen Qing?” Guan Shanyan suddenly asked while looking at the post.
Gu Fei said, “Good question. I actually saw him at a fashion show once. He’s the third son of the Chen family and came with Mrs. Chen. He dresses well, but I heard he likes gambling and always loses. At first, his family helped pay off his debts, but now they’ve stopped. He just holds the title of ‘Third Young Master Chen’ but actually owes a mountain of debt.”
At this, Gu Fei paused to think. “Do you think Shen Youwei and the others might have been tricked by him?”
Guan Shanyan didn’t answer. He couldn’t understand how Shen Youwei could be interested in someone like that.
Three years apart and her taste has really dropped this much?
While Gu Fei was ordering, Guan Shanyan secretly opened Shen Youwei’s WeChat and sent a single period.
As expected, he immediately got a red exclamation mark.
Seeing that long string of red exclamation marks in the chat, Guan Shanyan snorted quietly to himself and locked his screen again.
Shen Youwei’s update was ten minutes late today, and after the video went live, plenty of people came to watch the drama unfold.
Many also came just to insult her. Shen Youwei glanced through the comments and posted a lawyer’s letter on the gossip forum, saying the lawyer had already collected evidence, and if the original poster didn’t delete the post and apologize, they would take legal action.
After sending the lawyer’s letter, it stirred up a huge wave on the forum. Shen Youwei stopped paying attention and closed the forum, then ordered herself a fancy takeout.
Halfway through lunch, He Man called again. Shen Youwei peeled a shrimp and asked, “What’s up?”
He Man said, “I just called Xu Kaicai to try to calm her down, but she still sounds really angry.”
“Oh.” Shen Youwei replied calmly and fed herself the shrimp.
He Man continued, “She said you called Chen Qing ‘¹small but with all five poisons.’“
Shen Youwei didn’t care. “Isn’t that true? Doesn’t he have all five poisons?”
He Man was silent for a moment before speaking. “The problem isn’t that—it’s that you said he’s ‘small like a sparrow.’“
“…???” Shen Youwei’s mind filled with question marks. “Are you trying to be dirty?”
“Ahem.” He Man cleared her throat. “Anyway, Chen Qing is really mad and said Xu Kaicai actually told you even that.”
“……”
The room fell silent for quite a while before Shen Youwei finally spoke again. “So I accidentally guessed right? No wonder he got so defensive. That so-called ‘²super sensitive flawless skin’…”
“Uh…”
“Then why haven’t they broken up yet?”
“……”
After finishing lunch, Shen Youwei logged into the forum to take a look. The person who had posted the rumor about her still hadn’t deleted the post, and the drama was only continuing to spread. She had even made it onto the trending search.
When He Man saw the trending post, she called Shen Youwei again out of concern for her well-being.
“I’m doing great. Not only did I not lose followers, I gained some,” Shen Youwei said, raising an eyebrow as she looked at her rising follower count across platforms. “A lot of new followers said they came for the drama but ended up becoming fans after watching my videos.”
“……”
Well, that’s just so you.
Shen Youwei originally became popular because of a video where she gave her roommate a makeover. Back then, she was still in college. The video was casually made, but the transformation she gave her roommate was so successful that it got a lot of attention. Later on, she started making fashion videos herself. Thanks to her great looks and strong fashion sense, her popularity skyrocketed like a rocket.
Her video quality had always been high, so He Man wasn’t surprised she gained fans even through this scandal.
After their call, Shen Youwei cleaned up the table and took her takeout boxes downstairs to throw out the trash. On her way back, she happened to run into a delivery guy in the elevator.
The man wore a helmet and a mask, kept his head down, and when someone entered, he scooted further into the corner. Shen Youwei instinctively froze for a moment. She hadn’t put on makeup or covered her face to take out the trash—she wasn’t sure if this delivery guy recognized her or not.
Trying to act casual, she let out a theatrical cough and used her hair to cover part of her face. As the elevator slowly rose, she sneaked glances at the delivery guy from the corner of her eye. He kept his head down the whole time. It really seemed like he didn’t recognize her.
Sigh… I guess I’m still not famous enough.
When they reached the 15th floor, the delivery guy got out with his stuff. Shen Youwei took the elevator back up to her place alone and didn’t think much of the encounter.
Until a group of police officers suddenly arrived at the complex—and the residents’ group chat exploded.
【OMG! Someone in Building 8 got stabbed! I heard it was a little idol!】
【I’m at the scene! There are tons of cops, and the ground is covered in blood!】
【WTF—are they dead? I hope this doesn’t affect our property values.】
【They’re probably alive. Fortunately someone else was home at the time. The attacker dressed up as a delivery guy, stabbed her once, then ran off.】
【Building 8? Don’t tell me it’s Shen Youwei? She just got hit with that hate trending post today—someone probably went after her!】
Shen Youwei: ?
So maybe she was famous enough after all.
—
¹”Small but with all five poisons” means someone may seem insignificant or minor, but is actually full of bad traits or completely rotten.
²“super sensitive flawless skin” (from the line “什麼超絕敏敏肌”) is a sarcastic or mocking reference to someone claiming (or being known for) having perfect but overly sensitive skin — especially in a figurative or exaggerated way.