My Mother-in-Law and I Became the Internet’s Hottest Power Couple

Lu Yicheng was exceptionally smooth when saying "I'm sorry."

Jiang Lan couldn’t help but wonder—had it been like this many times before, with Lu Yicheng always being the first to apologize?

When Lu Yicheng said he wouldn’t argue with her and would let her have her way, he probably meant it. Jiang Lan thought it was normal for couples to fight; no two people were perfectly compatible from the start, and it wasn’t as if just looking at Lu Yicheng’s handsome face or his well-built physique would magically dissolve her anger.

Two people adjusting to each other required someone to yield first.

What would their arguments even look like?

But even if Jiang Lan was curious, she wouldn’t ask. She’d hold back and keep it to herself.

Yu Wanqiu handed her the menu. "Order whatever you want—my treat today."

Well, in that case, she wouldn’t hold back.

Since it was that time of the month, spicy food was off the table, so they opted for tomato and mushroom broth hotpot. They ordered two plates of meat, though Jiang Lan worried it might be too much and go to waste.

She also added shrimp paste and fish balls before passing the menu back to Yu Wanqiu. "You choose, Yu-laoshi."

Yu Wanqiu added two plates of vegetables. "Anything else?"

Jiang Lan shook her head. Her appetite wasn’t great today, and she wasn’t particularly hungry.

The hotpot restaurant was owned by someone in the entertainment industry, and the food was decent. The owner was also a friend of Yu Wanqiu’s.

Yu Wanqiu noticed Jiang Lan really wasn’t feeling well today—normally, she’d never eat so little.

"You should see a traditional Chinese doctor for some regimen. Girls tend to have weaker constitutions," Yu Wanqiu said. "I know an experienced physician. Whether it’s acupuncture or herbal medicine, a bit of recuperation will help ease the pain."

"Thank you, Yu-laoshi," Jiang Lan said.

To Yu Wanqiu, this was just a small favor, hardly worth mentioning. Of course, she wouldn’t bother doing this for just anyone.

After dinner, Yu Wanqiu asked, "Do you want to stay out a bit longer or head back?"

Jiang Lan chose to go back. She just wanted to lie down.

It was Tuesday, and the third episode would air on Friday—three days away. By tomorrow, Jiang Lan would probably feel better.

Zhang Tian found this segment rather heartwarming. He didn’t really understand menstrual pain—having never experienced it himself, he used to think the term was exaggerated.

But seeing Jiang Lan like this, it was clear she was genuinely suffering. If she weren’t, why would someone usually lively look so pale?

And wasn’t this basically sweet moments? It had to be. Yu Wanqiu brewing brown sugar ginger tea for her, keeping her company while binge-watching shows and eating together—just the two of them, the atmosphere was effortlessly cozy.

What also surprised Zhang Tian was that Yu Wanqiu would snack alongside Jiang Lan. He never would’ve expected that—Yu Wanqiu didn’t seem like someone who’d touch junk food.

Now, Zhang Tian followed two fan communities under a pseudonym: one for "Lanzhou Lamian" (Jiang Lan & Yu Wanqiu) and another for "Irreplaceable" (Jiang Lan & Lu Yicheng).

The "Lanzhou Lamian" fandom had over 600,000 fans, filled with screenshots of their subtle interactions. There were even rumors that during the first episode’s filming, when an unnamed actress mistook Jiang Lan for an assistant and tried to provoke her, Yu Wanqiu stepped in and even had Jiang Lan play the cello.

Whether this was true remained unverified—the scene wasn’t in the aired episode, and no one knew which production team it was. But damn, the idea alone was thrilling.

Imagine: the unnamed actress thought Yu Wanqiu disliked Jiang Lan, so she tried to bully her, dreaming of taking her place and marrying into the Lu family. But then Yu Wanqiu turned around and publicly defended Jiang Lan—back when they’d just met in the first episode.

*"She’s mine. I can mess with her all I want—who the hell are you?"*

The sheer dominance was suffocating.

Zhang Tian left a comment under his alt account:

*[Yeah, she just shielded her like that—instant protection mode!]*

After indulging in some sweet content, he returned to the "Irreplaceable" community. Since Lu Yicheng had only appeared briefly once and was rarely mentioned in the show—combined with the traffic diversion from "Lanzhou Lamian"—this fan group felt a bit deserted.

*[Seriously, don’t we have any skilled video editors here? Even amateurs would do—just produce some content!]*

...

*[Ugh, can’t make bricks without straw. We’ve got, what, a grand total of one minute of Lu Yicheng’s face time? How are we supposed to edit that? Should we just have Xie Zheng play him again?]*

*[Xie Zheng: Thanks, I hate it.]*

*[So hard to dig up material. The man’s practically a ghost.]*

Even with the equation, knowing the result doesn’t help when both variables are missing. I’ve bitten into so many fake sweet moments, my teeth hurt.

The fan group had decent numbers, but with so little content to work with, members pounced on anyone claiming to be Jiang Lan’s roommate, classmate, or Lu Yicheng’s friend.

They’d already endured every imaginable scenario—Lu Yicheng confessing on campus, public declarations of love, love triangles, even n-sided polygons. They were numb.

The only verified moment was Jiang Lan giving him roses on the sports field. But then some idiot had to ruin it by claiming she bought them from a Pinduoduo livestream sale!

Zhang Tian rubbed his nose.

Well, livestream or not, it was the thought that counted. But compared to Yu Wanqiu’s gestures—like Jiang Lan personally carrying packages to arrange and care for flowers—it just... paled.

Besides, who could’ve predicted people would ship Jiang Lan and Yu Wanqiu? Probably not even Lu Yicheng saw that coming.

With Yu Wanqiu around, no one would dare mess with Jiang Lan. But now, the one causing trouble was Yu Wanqiu herself.

The earlier claims that Yu Wanqiu would nitpick had backfired—everyone was too busy shipping them.

Zhang Tian could only imagine Lu Yicheng’s reaction if he stumbled upon that fan community. Painful to think about.

But the fans had a point: you can’t make something out of nothing. The "Lanzhou Lamian" hype mainly thrived because Yu Wanqiu had an extensive filmography.

Ancient, modern, futuristic—Bilibili editors had endless material to remix: *Love Across a Millennium*, *I Came from the Republic Era*, *Waiting for You in the Future*...

Even if it was all fabricated, the sheer volume of videos made "Lanzhou Lamian" explode in popularity. But Lu Yicheng’s content? Hard to come by. Fans had to fact-check every crumb.

*[From now on, if anyone claims insider info, provide proof. Otherwise, it's fake. Let’s keep this community clean.]*

No panicking. Worst case, we send that video to Luyuan Group’s chairman. Guaranteed victory.

*[Since when does money dictate what we ship? Who does he think he is?]*

*[Pretty sure OP’s from the "Lanzhou Lamian" fandom...]*

*[Nah, I mean—Lu Shuangchen doesn’t have that kind of power. This plan won’t work.]*

*[Check my profile for proof. I’m the girlfriend of Lu Yicheng’s roommate. Got one tidbit—not sure if it counts as sweet content.]*

*[Wait, you’re actually from Qinghua University?! Talk, we’re listening!]*

*[Where’d they go?!]*

I'm typing slowly, sorry. It might not be sweet, but it's about them fighting. I used to think that having a boyfriend as hot as Lu or a girlfriend as pretty as Jiang Lan would mean that just looking at them would calm you down. That's not the case.

Freshman year, they were gaming at night. When bedtime rolled around, Jiang Lan said she was logging off to sleep. But Lu apparently stayed online—except Jiang Lan hadn’t hidden her match history.

She’d been carrying some girl in ranked from 11 PM to 3 AM.]*

(*Honor of Kings* has a stealth mode, so friends can’t see you online—but if you don’t hide your match history, the timestamps remain visible.)

*[WHY NOT PLAY WITH LU YICHENG?! Was it really a girl or just some random dude?!]*

*[So Lu Yicheng didn’t sleep until 3 AM?]*

*[3 AM? My bet’s on him pulling an all-nighter.]*

【That girl is probably Jiang Lan's roommate. Why doesn’t she play? Probably because couples tend to argue when gaming together. Jiang Lan keeps her distance from guys—she prefers hanging out with girls... I’ve played with her before, and she’s seriously good.】

The comment about couples arguing over games was phrased diplomatically. To put it bluntly, Lu Yicheng is just really bad at gaming.

【Cough, I don’t know what to say, but I can’t help laughing.】

【Uh… I can just picture Lu Yicheng staying up all night, staring at Jiang Lan’s match history.】

【Come on, that’s taking it too far. Seriously, too far.】

【No wonder she has a side account. Adding Lu Yicheng’s name to it is true love.】

【Oh, it’s just a little game between couples—not really an argument.】

【Then what happened next?】

【After that, Jiang Lan never played with any other girls again.】

【So Yu Wanqiu is the first one, huh? Hehehe, that’s so sweet.】

【Why does our fandom always have these other shippers? So annoying.】

After browsing around, Zhang Tian headed over to Bilibili and searched for "Lanzhou Lamian." The first result wasn’t a recipe but a fan-made CP compilation video.

It had over 5 million views—the origin of the "Lanzhou Lamian" CP’s popularity: [I Have a Crush on My Son’s Girlfriend].

There were plenty more videos below—long princesses, assassins, swordsmen—tons of edits.

Returning to the homepage, Zhang Tian stumbled upon another video titled: [I Want to Be Jiang Lan’s Boyfriend].

Who on earth was this daring soul, trying to become Jiang Lan’s boyfriend? Clicking in, the video had a black background with the creator narrating.

Zhang Tian turned up the volume.

"Last night, I binge-watched two episodes of Mother-in-Law Is Coming and caught up on the livestreams. Even though I’ve got dark circles under my eyes now, Jiang Lan completely won me over. I dreamed about it—how amazing it’d be to have a girlfriend like her.

No one with a higher education than her plays as many instruments. No one who plays more instruments is as good at gaming. No one better at gaming is as romantic. And no one more romantic is as beautiful. Sorry, but I think my wife is the prettiest.

I racked my brain—how could I become Jiang Lan’s boyfriend? Well, I’d at least have to be better than her current boyfriend to have a shot at stealing her away.

Hmm, I checked Lu Yicheng’s college entrance exam score: 732. Conclusion—Jiang Lan likes guys who are smart. So I can work hard—just score higher than him, right?

Next, Lu Yicheng is ridiculously handsome. Liking good-looking people is normal—I like pretty faces too. But this part can’t be fixed with effort. Maybe she’ll get tired of his looks? There’s still a chance for me.

Then there’s Lu Yicheng’s family—his mom’s an actress, his dad’s loaded. But when I think about it, is that really a plus? More like a downside. Jiang Lan orders takeout, hangs out at snack streets, and her most expensive outfit (already sold out) was only 300 bucks. Her priciest possession is her instrument. That proves it—she’s not into rich guys.

So now, all I need is to score over 732 on the exam and wait for Jiang Lan to get bored of Lu Yicheng. Then, my springtime will come.

Given Lu Yicheng’s face, she’ll probably need another century to tire of him. A hundred years is long, but for my wife, I can wait.

Here’s to hoping they stay locked together for a century.

Now I finally understand what ‘irreplaceable’ means. Test scores, looks, talents, family background—those things can be matched. But the person? No substitute.

Jiang Lan might not be rich, but she still prepares birthday surprises for Lu Yicheng. Lu Yicheng might be loaded, but he’ll still wear a mascot costume just to see his girlfriend.

There are no pluses or minuses—just them. I also believe that social norms and class aren’t barriers to love. Time tells the truth. And a huge shoutout to Yu Wanqiu—your CP with Jiang Lan is absolutely addictive!"

...

【At first glance: Do I need to sharpen my blade? Halfway through: Sorry, friendly fire! By the end: Nope, still gotta kill this guy!】