Chapter 43: The Eve of The Shoot
After dinner Mo Ting lead Tangning to the living area of the manor. When they arrived, there were already a few American men sitting inside waiting for them.
Tangning did not understand what Mo Ting wanted to do, but Mo Ting gently comforted her, "No need to be nervous."
Not long after, the American man in charge stepped forward and started chatting to Mo Ting. It was at this time that Tangning overheard their conversation and finally understood what was going on – Mo Ting wanted to purchase insurance for her legs.
It wasn’t unusual for famous people to insure parts of their body, but…they mostly did it to create attention, so Tangning quickly grabbed onto Mo Ting, "Mo Ting…I don’t…"
"Don’t overthink it. Your legs need protecting because they are the most beautiful legs I’ve ever seen on the modeling stage…"
"But…" Tangning was still unsure.
"Listen to me," Mo Ting nudged her towards the valuer. "You never let me do anything for you. Are you going to deny me the right to buy you insurance as well?"
Tangning couldn’t refuse. Even though her legs were beautiful, at the moment she wasn’t very famous, so she assumed the cost wouldn’t be too high. With this in mind, Tangning gave up resisting and let the valuer do his job.
However…before the valuer could give a quote, Mo Ting stepped in to say, "No matter what the final estimated value is, I want to increase the insured amount by ten times."
If that’s the case…
…then that would be over 100 million dollars!
Standing quietly to one side, Lin Wei and Long Jie were in shock over what they were witnessing. Most importantly, Mo Ting wasn’t doing this to create attention, he was merely helping Tangning secure a guarantee. The final benefactor of this insurance would be Tangning; from now on, no matter what happened to her legs, she would be covered by insurance.
Mo Ting really spoilt Tangning!
Tangning was quiet the entire time, a million thoughts were running through her mind. However, Mo Ting placed his arm around her shoulder and said, "This complex industry is chaotic and unsafe; I can’t guarantee that 10 or 20 years from now, Hai Rui will still be as successful. So, I want to do all that I can to give you a peace of mind. I want the path ahead of you to be protected."
"Then, why don’t you also buy one for yourself?" A tear slowly snuck its way out of Tangning’s eye.
Mo Ting leaned over and chuckled into Tangning’s ear, "Because I don’t have beautiful legs like yours…"
In that moment, under the beautifully lit room, Tangning only had Mo Ting in her eyes – the Mo Ting that did things for her without expecting anything in return. She had originally married him with a motive, but he never minded, instead he gave her faith that he loved her wholeheartedly.
"Because of what you’ve done, do you know how many promises I am making to myself?"
"Huh?"
"I’ve promised myself to never leave this man, unless I die," Tangning responded in seriousness.
Mo Ting laughed with his usual poise and charm. As long as it was something he found worth it, he would be willing to give up anything without regrets – Tangning was the first person that made him do things without asking anything in return…
Such was life: one person trampled over her heart, while another treated her like treasure. That's why no one should ever be broken hearted over a jerk; as long as one is persistent, there will always be someone better out there who is willing to give them the warmth they wish for.
"Tangning is now precious…" Long Jie whispered quietly to Lin Wei.
"She’s insured for over 100 million dollars…that’s enough to buy Tianyi outright."
"You don’t know how tempted I am to thank Han Yufan the jerk, for sparing our Tangning from marrying him," Long Jie winked at Lin Wei. "I want to see him hug that shameless B-grade model and get out of our sight, as far as possible…"
"Never would Han Yufan imagine, while he is using all his brain power to think of ways to go against Tangning, there is someone who is willing to invest 100 million dollars on insurance for her."
…
Indeed, as the Secret shoot was fast approaching, Han Yufan was endlessly contacting the Chinese media – trying to give Mo Yurou as much exposure as possible. He released statements about Mo Yurou being better than so-and-so and Mo Yurou completely out-shining so-and-so, making her exposure inflate dramatically. In comparison, Tangning who also released statements, only got mentioned here and there and whenever she was mentioned, it was always just a few lines amongst news about Mo Yurou.
Fans became anxious. Members of the Official Fan Club contacted Lin Wei multiple times to ask her how Tangning was going, but Tangning always gestured her to stay quiet.
Lin Wei understood. Overseas, Secret Magazine was merely a third-class publication, there was no need to make such a fuss over it – this would only make Tangning appear short-sighted and shallow.
So, Lin Wei simply responded with 4 words: Have faith in Tangning.
With these 4 words, Tangning’s fans felt a sense of relief. Judging by how Tangning handled herself previously, they knew she held a low profile and kept to herself; no matter what happened, good or bad, she was clear about what she wanted and always had a plan.
"President Han, back at home, Mo Yurou’s support has increased once again…" Mo Yurou’s assistant said as he looked at the comments online.
"And how are the reactions towards Tangning?" Han Yufan questioned.
"All thanks to Ruoxue Jie’s PR, we successfully used Tangning to boost Yurou’s popularity and then we used the names of top celebrities to boost Yurou’s value, hence the newer statements we released naturally didn’t require Tangning. Although we have offended the fans of others, but Tangning’s rate of being mentioned is only a small portion of Mo Yurou’s."
"This is the result of the statements…" Han Ruoxue looked at the path she was laying out for Mo Yurou and sneered, "Right now, we have interest and popularity all in the palm of our hands, however…to truly win against Tangning, we have to wait for the result from the Secret photo shoot. If Yurou’s performance is as good as our results so far, then once we return home, Tangning won’t even exist anymore…"
"I am confident," Mo Yurou promised to the few people in front of her, "I’ve seen Tangning’s shows. I don’t feel like I am any worse than her. Plus, don’t forget, she was previously my substitute."
Of course, this was because Mo Yurou had no idea, in order to imitate her, Tangning had to dramatically drop her standards.
"With regards to the photographer, I will go work my PR magic. For the front cover shoot I will arrange for them to make you the main focus. Yurou, make sure to think carefully about how you will pull off the theme of Oriental Trend."
"I will think about it carefully."
"This will be your first time sharing the stage with Tangning. You should know, it's not just your reputation that's on the line. If you fail, the whole of Tianyi will be humiliated along with you. As for Han Yufan, people will end up doubting his judgment, so this battle, you must win," Han Ruoxue told Mo Yurou in a serious tone.
"After yesterday's humiliation, I will definitely make sure to get revenge," Mo Yurou said with determination. Because of her rise in popularity, she was now full of confidence.
Tomorrow, her and Tangning would be having a battle of life and death!