Chapter 270: Failed Bait
“Wanru” was Yang Jingwan’s pen name, the same as her WeChat nickname.
The barrage of million-book-coin reward messages from “Lin Shao” didn’t stop until they had scrolled past a hundred times. On this female-oriented fiction site, the exchange rate between real currency and virtual coins was one to one hundred.
That meant—this series of tips equated to a full one million yuan in real money.
In the entire online novel industry, a reward of just a hundred thousand was already considered god-tier. A full million? That was near unheard of.
Yang Jingwan stared at the screen for a long time, utterly stunned.
The platform splits rewards seventy-thirty, with seventy percent going to the author. That meant she’d just pocketed around seven hundred thousand before taxes—after taxes, still well over six hundred thousand.
Just like that, she had made more than six hundred grand. Even she felt dazed.
Wang Haoran, however, grew thoughtful.
This wasn’t normal.
Judging by the ID “Lin Shao,” the tipper was clearly male. Male readers on female fiction platforms weren’t unheard of, but one who would tip a million? That was definitely rare. With suspicion already rising, Wang Haoran said, “Let me borrow your site account for a sec.”
“Go ahead, use it as you like,” Yang Jingwan replied casually, not thinking much of it.
Wang Haoran grabbed his laptop, logged in using her credentials, and sent a private message to Lin Shao.
“Thank you.”
Just two simple words.
But even that was enough to trigger an instant reply.
“Hey, pretty big sister author, can I get your WeChat?”
“Sure.” Wang Haoran borrowed Yang Jingwan’s phone and sent over her WeChat ID.
Soon enough, a friend request popped up.
Verification: I’m Lin Shao.
Wang Haoran approved it and immediately checked the profile.
The WeChat account listed “male” as the gender, with Qingling as the location—no other info. Not even a single post in the Moments feed.
As Wang Haoran was investigating, a new message came through.
“Big sister author, I gave you so much—don’t I at least get a photo?”
“Of course,” Wang Haoran replied smoothly, then went online to search for a random pretty selfie.
There was no way he’d actually send Lin Shao a real photo of Yang Jingwan. She was the female lead, after all. If this Lin Shao was some protagonist in disguise and happened to see her in real life, that would almost certainly trigger some ridiculous plot event.
A few clicks later, he found a decent-looking selfie and sent it.
His instincts as a villain were screaming. This Lin Shao? Definitely a protagonist.
Wang Haoran’s plan was simple—bait the guy through private messages and lure him into the open.
But just as he thought the trap had worked, a reply came back:
“This pic’s from the internet. I found the same one in a reverse image search. Can’t believe you used a fake! If you won’t show your real face, you’re definitely some ugly chick. Bye.”
And just like that, Yang Jingwan’s WeChat was blocked.
Wang Haoran sighed in regret.
Was Lin Shao just too cautious, or had he developed some kind of sixth sense for spotting a fake? The trap didn’t work. It had been sniffed out.
Had he known this would happen, he might’ve risked using Yang Jingwan’s real photo after all.
But now it was too late, and so he returned the phone to her.
Yang Jingwan had no idea what he’d really been up to. All she saw was him reaching out to a fan who’d just dropped a million. With a hint of teasing in her voice,
she asked, “What’s this? Getting jealous of a reader? Afraid I’ll get snatched away?”
Wang Haoran grinned and delivered a line laced with sugar, “Of course I am. You’re my precious girlfriend. How could I not worry?”
【Ding! Host stirred the heart of female lead Yang Jingwan. Gained 300 Villain Points!】
【Ding! Host stirred the heart of female lead Yang Jingwan. Gained 300 Villain Points!】
【Ding! Host stirred the heart of female lead Yang Jingwan. Gained 300 Villain Points!】
Warmth bloomed in Yang Jingwan’s chest. Her head gently rested against his shoulder, and in a voice as soft as the moonlight, she murmured, “Don’t worry. I’ll never leave you. Not in this life, not in the next… even if I’m reborn a thousand times, I’ll always be yours.”
Everyone knew women loved sweet words.
And strangely enough, Wang Haoran, though a man, found he liked hearing them too.
Was that normal? He wasn’t sure. But it wasn’t the kind of mystery he wanted to explore right now.
His gaze fell on her, hot and unrestrained.
Reading the look in his eyes, Yang Jingwan blushed and mumbled, “I—I’m going to take a shower.” Then she fled the room.
Wang Haoran leaned back and toyed with his phone while he waited. Suddenly, he remembered something from earlier in the day—something Xu Muyan had mentioned.
She’d given him her Douyin ID.
He opened the app and searched. It didn’t take long to find her account.
Xu Muyan hadn’t posted many videos—only two. One was a gameplay clip showing off her mechanics. The other was a casual selfie video shot on campus.
Just those two clips had brought her over two million followers.
Her profile picture was glowing with a red ring—meaning she was live.
Wang Haoran clicked in.
There were more than ten thousand viewers watching the stream.
For a gaming channel, that was upper-middle tier.
She was playing Assassin Akali. It was just six minutes into the match, and she already had ten kills. The comment section was filled with endless “666”s—chat speak for “sick play.”
But Wang Haoran wasn’t there for the game. After a few minutes, he lost interest.
He backed out and returned to his profile screen.
His old account—Piano God—had been banned because of the scandal involving Qiu Qianwei’s awards speech. He hadn’t bothered trying to get it back. That account was only needed to court her. Now that she was already his, it didn’t matter anymore.
Still, if he wanted to boost Xu Muyan’s popularity with a big gift drop, he’d need an account.
So he created a new one.
The ID was plain: Number One Boss.
He loaded a million yuan onto it.
Then re-entered Xu Muyan’s stream.
Opening the gift screen, he selected the Supreme Salute—the most expensive option available at 66,666 book coins, or 6,666 yuan in real money.
Without rushing, he tapped it one hundred times—dropping a total of 666,600 yuan.
The stream exploded.
“Number One Boss” instantly took the #1 spot on the leaderboard. Bullet comments flooded the screen in a frenzy. Even Xu Muyan herself was caught off guard. Distracted by the shower of gifts, she lost focus and ran straight into a group fight—her character got overwhelmed and killed for the first time that match.
Viewers began worshipping “Number One Boss.”
Wang Haoran smirked and was about to slip away—he’d save the rest of his gifts for another day.
But then…
Another round of explosive gift animations appeared on screen.
“Lin Shao sent Supreme Salute x10!”
“Lin Shao sent Supreme Salute x10!”
“Lin Shao sent Supreme Salute x10!”
“Lin Shao sent Supreme Salute x10!”
Wang Haoran’s “Number One Boss” was quickly bumped down to second place.
And Lin Shao’s storm of gifts? Still going.
“Lin Shao sent Supreme Salute x10!”
“Lin Shao sent Supreme Salute x10!”
“Lin Shao sent Supreme Salute x10!”