My Superstar Ex-Husband is a Yandere
Translator: Fuyu
Chapter 1 - If he replied to her again, he was a dog.
Late March, rainy season.
In the continuous drizzle, the final scene was filmed, and the director yelled, "Cut!"
Jiang Minyun's assistant was waiting outside the dressing room with an umbrella. As soon as the makeup artist removed his makeup, Jiang Minyun got into his RV with his assistant amid the chorus of "Teacher Jiang, you've worked hard" on the set. He collapsed onto a sofa chair and checked his phone.
After two months of closed set filming in a remote county town that didn't even have a commercial complex, Jiang Minyun was exhausted. His body felt like the mud underneath his feet.
A year ago, Director Zhao, who had just won the Golden Horse Award for Best Director, approached him with lofty aspirations and declared that he would take him to the three major European film festivals and gain international recognition. At that time, Jiang Minyun had already collected the best actor award from three most prestigious Chinese film festivals.
After listening to Director Zhao's hyping and boasting about Early Return's script, Jiang Minyun quietly sank into the sofa with his eyes downcast. If Jiang Minyun didn't suddenly stretch his hand out to skillfully flick the cigarette ash, Director Zhao might have thought he was falling asleep.
Holding the cigarette between his fingers, he raised his hand and bit the slender cigarette with his delicate lips. The tiny red mole just below his left eye slightly moved. Through the haze of smoke, he smiled and agreed, "Sure, as long as you pay enough, everything is easy to say. Contact my company for the contract and send the script to my email."
Everyone in the industry knew that compared to other prestigious actors and actresses with legendary track records, Jiang Minyun was the easiest to hire.
His schedule was open to the highest bidder. As for the money he earned, it all went into his pocket. He never lent out any money or invested any of it in the works he acted in. His nickname was "Jiang Pixiu".
(T/N: Pixius are mythical creatures with voracious appetites for gold, silver, and jewels.)
Once, an Oscar-winning international director flew to China to ask him to play a role in his film, but because the director of a commercial movie that had the same filming period offered three times as much pay, Jiang Minyun rejected the Oscar-winning director without hesitation. His reason was, "Any role is an acting role."
Many people secretly laughed at him for being shortsighted.
Jiang Minyun ignored them. And, as it turned out, he could still bring a role in an unpromising script to life and win awards.
After all, he had shot to fame at the age of 18. There were plenty of people that criticized him for being a money grubber, but no one would say he didn't know how to act.
"Jiang-ge, I'm sorry. I contacted the ticket office, but the first-class seats on tonight's flight to Mingcheng are sold out. There are still seats available for tomorrow morning and afternoon. How about I book a ticket for tomorrow morning?"
In the RV, Assistant Fang sat in the passenger seat. With a nervous expression, he looked back at the exhausted Jiang Minyun.
Jiang Minyun didn't want to stay on the set for an extra few seconds. He turned down the wrap party. Without even packing his luggage, he had the driver drive him from the small county town where he had stayed from the past two months to the provincial capital's airport.
"No, book an economy class ticket." He didn't even look up from his phone.
It was Jiang Minyun's habit to take the earliest flight home after filming.
Assistant Fang was new to working for Jiang Minyun and was unaware of Jiang Minyun's persistence. Just as he was hesitating on following Jiang Minyun's order, he saw that there was only one ticket left in economy class.
"Ge, there's only one ticket left-"
Before Assistant Fang finished speaking, Jiang Minyun snatched the phone from Assistant Fang's hand. Assistant Fang saw the other party furrowing his brow and quickly doing something on the phone before tossing it back to him.
"You guys take the next flight tomorrow with my luggage. I'll fly back alone tonight."
Assistant Fang was at a complete loss. It would become public knowledge that the filming was complete. He was worried that something would go wrong if he didn't follow Jiang Minyin.
He reported the matter to Zhuang He, Jiang Minyun's agent.
Zhuang He quickly messaged, "Don't worry about him. He's 30 years old. Arrange for VIP services. In the future, buy plane tickets for the days leading up to and after the last day of his filming. Keep an eye on the high-speed rail too."
Zhuang He added, "There was one year when it snowed, and the flights and high-speed rail rides were suspended. He insisted on taking a 25-hour train ride to get home, so you can't forget this matter."
Assistant Fang had worked for many high-maintenance stars and was awe-struck by that last line.
Assistant Fang surreptitiously looked back. Jiang Minyun was staring at his phone. His face, which looked as if carved by the gods, glowed brighter than the phone's fluorescent light. He was smiling and didn't take his assistant's unprofessionalism to heart.
On his screen, it was the messaging interface.
Jiang Minyun: I'll be back tonight.
Li Shihui: You've worked hard. What do you want to eat?
Jiang Minyun: Let the aunty take care of it.
Li Shihui: Okay, can you accept my friend request?
Jiang Minyun: Isn't texting good? You like texting so much.
Li Shihui: I don't. I was just talking to him about some research.
Just?
Jiang Minyun didn't reply. He scrolled all the way back up and read the old messages.
The last time she texted him was two months ago.
Li Shihui: What are you angry about? I didn't keep in touch with him after the college entrance exam. That was over ten years ago.
Li Shihui: I met him at a class reunion. He came back from abroad and left his contact information with everyone. I even refused to add him on WeChat.
Li Shihui: Please accept my friend request. Okay?
Jiang Minyun: Just chat like this.
After several days, Li Shihui messaged "good morning" and "good night" like she was clocking in and out of work.
Jiang Minyun couldn't be bothered, but he couldn't sit still either. He provokingly messaged, "You're having a great time talking with him, right? That makes sense. He's your sloumate."
Li Shihui: "It's soulmate. I've been busy with writing grant applications. Has work been exhausting for you too?"
(T/N: sloumate/soulmate was written in English in the Chinese raws.)
Jiang Minyun was furious and ignored Li Shihui for a few days.
Li Shihui called him to ask him to accept her friend request. Jiang Minyun originally wanted to get some benefits from her and was about to stop while he was ahead, but then he suddenly heard a pretty boy's voice close to her phone saying, "Professor Li, are you free?"
Li Shihui ended the call. The next time she called, Jiang Minyun was busy filming and didn't have time to answer. When he saw her missed call, he couldn't be bothered to call back.
Just like that, the cold war continued until Li Shihui messaged him.
Li Shihui: How about we video chat after you accept my friend request?
Li Shihui: I saw behind-the-scenes photos taken by the paparazzi online. You look so handsome.
Jiang Minyun: Who's handsome?
Li Shihui: Jiang Minyun
Jiang Minyun: Who is Jiang Minyun?
Li Shihui didn't reply. After Jiang Minyun waited for a long time, Director Zhao sent someone to urge him to go on set.
He tossed his phone. If he replied to her again, he was a dog.
When he returned to his RV, he saw her apology. She said she had been busy with writing grant applications. The university attached great importance to this project. She chattered on and on about nothing important and didn't answer his question.
He thought; you idiot, Jiang Minyun is your man. How boring.
Li Shihui: Can you take a photo of yourself? I haven't seen you in a long time.
Li Shihui: I miss you.
Jiang Minyun quietly woofed.
Assistant Fang was sitting next to Jiang Minyun. He attentively looked up to check on his boss, only to see Jiang Minyun glaring at him. Flustered, he went back to scrolling on his phone.
Jiang Minyun: Three for one. I won't do business at a loss.
Li Shihui: I'm ugly.
But she couldn't get him to change his mind.
Three minutes later, Li Shihui sent a video that was a few seconds long.
The woman in the video was fair-skinned and had a delicate and pretty appearance. It was just that her nose was noticeably crooked. The selfie camera slightly shook as she adjusted it to show her face and her conservative white pajamas.
Jiang Minyun had chosen these pajamas. The silk had a nice draping effect, and he had a matching one in black.
It was only when Li Shihui was lying next to him that the wonderfulness of these pajamas could truly be appreciated.
"Jiang Minyun, I miss you." She bashfully smiled, revealing her youthful, small canine teeth. Her voice was melodious and gentle. The video ended there.
When Jiang Minyun got to this point in their chat history, he watched the video a few more times. He remembered the night he had received that video. He had rushed back to his room like a teenage boy. He satisfied himself while watching the video. After doing it two times, he fell asleep in exhaustion and forgot to reply back.
When he got up the next day, he unyieldingly replied to Li Shihui's "good night" message, with "Try again, say my name."
He wanted to pick her up in his mouth and swallow her.
He continued scrolling down. There were a few more videos of Li Shihui, but she didn't say his name. Those videos only had a flash of her face.
Jiang Minyun realized he had forgotten to send her his photo. Li Shihui had asked for it a few times before leaving the matter unresolved.
She was so lacking in perseverance. Nothing special.
He skipped down to the last message.
Li Shihui: Have you been mad at me this whole time?
Li Shihui: Can we have a serious talk after you come back?
Jiang Minyun smiled. Talk? He really wanted to have an in-depth chat with her, preferably one that lasted all night.
There was still another hour left in the drive to the airport. Jiang Minyun turned off his phone screen, reclined his seat, and planned to take a nap so that he could show off his magnificent vigor at night.
He had just closed his eyes when his phone rang.
Caller: Li Shiyi
Jiang Minyun rolled his eyes and answered the call.
"Ge, are you still filming?"
Hearing Li Shihui's cousin's obsequious and unpleasant voice made Jiang Minyun carsick. He held his phone further away from himself.
Jiang Minyun's eyes were vacant as he absently gazed at the gray sky.
"Don't bother with pleasantries. Just say a number. Tell me how long my peace and quiet will last this time."
Even as winter changed into spring, the weather in the south was mercurial. The temperature had dropped the past few days. Was Li Shihui dressed warmly enough?
"T-Two million yuan, and I won't bother my sister for a whole year."
Li Shiyi had been asking Jiang Minyun for money for over a decade. At the start, it was 50 or 100 yuan, then it became a few thousand yuan. Once Jiang Minyun became famous, Li Shiyi even dared to ask for a few hundred thousand yuan. Shameless from years of getting money from Jiang Minyun, Li Shiyi didn't beat around the bush.
Jiang Minyun narrowed his eyes. He felt uneasy.
"Didn't you borrow six hundred thousand yuan last year to open a store? What happened to that money?"
"I… lost it." "Li Shiyi feigned a chuckle.
Jiang Minyun didn't ask further questions. "I'll give you a million yuan every year, distributed over four quarters. That's it. If you dare to tell your sister, you won't get a single cent. anymore"
"O-One million yuan, that's not enough." Li Shiyi's voice was panicked. "Ge, I need your help."
"It's one million yuan or nothing, your choice."
Jiang Minyun ended the call.
Li Shiyi quickly sent him a message on WeChat: One million yuan, I chose one million yuan, Ge, I'm begging you.
Jiang Minyun sent a message to Zhuang He, his agent, to transfer money to Li Shiyi and find someone to check what he had been up to.
He had two WeChat accounts. A work account and a private account. His work account received a constant stream of messages, which were handled by his assistant. He didn't have a habit of checking that account. His private account only had a few contacts and didn't get many messages.
He had pinned Li Shihui to the top of his chat list and would check it whenever he had free time, but after he deleted her. He rarely checked his WeChat.
If Zhuang He had an urgent matter, he would call him.
Actually, texting was pretty good too. He was Li Shihui's number two, and she was his number one.
Hmm.
He opened the friend request list, skipped over the random people, and found Li Shihui.
She had sent the friend request several times. The first one was: Honey, I'm sorry. Don't be angry anymore, okay?
Then it was: Remember to take care of yourself. Don't overwork yourself.
And "Could you accept? I can explain."
Recently, it was simply: I'm Li Shihui, a researcher at Mingcheng University's School of Control Science and Engineering.
Based on his extensive experience of fishing Li Shihui for over a decade, Jiang Minyun believed further negotiation was possible.
After two months of living apart, Jiang Minyun had come up with all sorts of new ideas. Things that old-fashioned young ladies would never think of or be able to learn.
Her goal was to get him to add her back onto his friend's list. He would agree as long as she could press the "agree" button on his screen without using her hands.
He had already thought of several other body parts she could use, and he would offer her free 1-on-1 professional coaching from a handsome guy.
With a head full of perverted nonsense, Jiang Minyun got off the plane while wearing a mask that covered the lower half of his face. He took a detour to Tiffany to see a new necklace that a sales associate had promoted.
His wife was an especially awkward person. She thought wearing gold and diamonds were too ostentatious. She didn't like platinum either because she felt that it didn't hold its value. Since his assistant happened to have saved him a thousand or so yuan on airfare, then if he added a few tens of thousand more, he could buy Li Shihui diamond and platinum jewelry to give her. That was simply the best value for money.
Two of his fans were also shopping in the store. They recognized him and asked if they could take a photograph with him. He declined with a smile, but he signed two autographs.
"Ge, what are you buying?"
"I'm choosing a necklace for my wife." He announced his marriage shortly after becoming famous, but he never revealed his wife's name.
Jiang Minyun was satisfied to hear them saying "aww". He placed his index finger on his lips "Keep my itinerary a secret."
The two fans very understandingly nodded and left.
After all, the luxury store across the street had a huge poster of him as their brand ambassador.
As he was swiping his card to pay at the counter, he suddenly heard a familiar voice from behind.
"Jiang Minyun?"
He looked back. A tall woman, who was wearing a Max Mara camel blazer and a pencil skirt, took off her sunglasses and looked at him with surprise.
Her face had long become famous on international runways and top fashion magazines. Anyone that was familiar with fashion would recognize her face.
Liang Xinyu. The last time he saw her was ten years ago.
—
At home, Li Shihui brought the last dish to the table and received a text message.
Jiang Minyun: I won't be home for dinner tonight.