Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
“Chi Yining is her competitor at the station,” Song Chuyi said, “Chi Yining would reap the biggest benefit from this incident. There should be surveillance cameras in the makeup room, so can you find them?”
Li Shaobin shook his head. “They were taken by someone beforehand, but I’ll try my best to find them. Actually, I have a suspect.”
“Who?”
“Zhao Zhu.”
Song Chuyi’s expression changed subtly. “Why her?”
“Only she has the guts to do this.” Li Shaobin smiled. “I checked this Zhao Zhu’s background and got a shock. She’s Zhao Zongtao’s illegitimate daughter.”
“Zhao Zongtao?” Song Chuyi was slightly astonished. Zhao Zongtao was the Chairman of Ding Wen Corporation. “Why was this unheard of?”
“Well, she’s an illegitimate daughter, so it’s nothing to be proud of,” Li Shaobin said, “If that wasn’t the case, how could Zhao Zhu get rid of so many Chinese and Korean artistes so easily and get signed on by Shang Wei? They sent their greetings beforehand. The female lead for this drama series was supposed to be Zhao Zhu from the start, but Fu Yu forcefully pushed Guan Ying up.”
Song Chuyi felt even more puzzled. “There’s no conflict of interest between Zhao Zhu and Changqing; one of them is the female lead and the other is the second female lead…”
“The origins are way more complicated.” Li Shaobin’s eyes glimmered as though he discovered the biggest secret of the century. “Zhao Zhu’s fiance is Xin Ziao, the vice-chairman cum biggest shareholder of Dong Chen, but Xin Ziao’s girlfriend is Ruan Yang, who is also your wife’s good friend. On top of that, Guan Ying is also your wife’s good friend. Guan Ying took away Zhao Zhu’s role previously and I heard Zhao Zhu hates Ruan Yang to the core.”
Song Chuyi finally understood what was going on. However, his head hurt. After so long, Ruan Yang’s boyfriend turned out to be Xin Ziao. “How did you find all that out in a short span of a day?”
“Ha, it was all coincidental.” Li Shaobin snorted and said, “Previously, that b*stard Xin Ziao actually refused a big project by Hong Ye and thought someone who mixed in the underworld was unpresentable. I couldn’t swallow this anger, so I got someone to investigate him. He appears to be self-righteous all the time, so I had to dig out some ugly news of him. He’s considered careful, but I happened to find out that he went to the Maldives on a honeymoon trip with Ruan Yang and that was some explosive news. Ruan Yang is a first-rate celebrity and if news of this got on the internet, his company would be clogged with reporters.”
Song Chuyi massaged his forehead. Li Shaobin really was the epitome of vengeful. Normally, looking for a partner to collaborate in a business project went two ways. However, he always went hard. “I don’t think that project of yours is reliable either. It’s reasonable that Xin Ziao didn’t want to work with you.”
“I just can’t stand his hypocrisy. I haven’t been able to stand him for a while now.” Li Shaobin crossed his legs. “This time, I got a hold of so much news that I better plan a big show and make sure that the Xin and Zhao family will have a falling out.”
“Enough, stop this.” Song Chuyi frowned. “News of this matter cannot be released. Ruan Yang and Changqing are good friends.”
“You can just protect Yan Changqing; why are you even protecting her friend? Old Song, did you drink some bewitching potion she gave you?” Li Shaobin said, “I think the whole lot of them are nothing good. Also, Xin Ziao already has a fiance, yet he’s still provoking female celebrities.”
“You shouldn’t get yourself involved in some things. Both the Xin and Zhao family do international business. Don’t create so much trouble that your big brother has to come out personally to seize you,” Song Chuyi warned, “I don’t want to get too involved in the matters of the entertainment industry, but you have to get the video recordings of the surveillance cameras from the makeup room. I can’t just let it go.”
“I suspect the tapes are in Xin Ziao’s hands.” Li Shaobin scoffed.
Song Chuyi’s face sank and he frowned. He never expected so many disputes to be wrapped up in this. However, it seemed like it was Zhao Zhu who did it. Only she would have the guts to do it.
Coming out from the Li family villa:
Song Chuyi drove to Ruan Yang’s apartment.
When the door opened, Ruan Yang was slightly astonished to see him. “Dr. Song, why are you here? Didn’t Changqing say you had to go in for the afternoon shift?”
“I’m mostly taking the night shift today. It doesn’t matter if I head over slightly later in the afternoon,” Song Chuyi said with a cold expression, “Miss Ruan, I have some things I wanted to chat with you about. Is it okay if I come in?”
Ruan Yang nodded and turned to get him slippers.
Song Chuyi entered and didn’t beat about the bush, taking out a photograph Li Shaobin passed him from his pocket. “Miss Ruan, you should recognize this, right?”
Ruan Yang’s face changed. That was a photograph of her holiday in the Maldives. The man beside her was wearing sunglasses, looking reserved yet confident. “Where did you get this from?”
“A friend gave it to me,” Song Chuyi said meaningfully, “Miss Ruan, do you know Zhao Zhu is Xin Ziao’s fiance?”
“Zhao Zhu—do you mean the female lead who’s on Changqing’s production team?” Ruan Yang was in a daze, and her expression looked exceptionally complicated.
Song Chuyi nodded.
“If you didn’t tell me, I wouldn’t have known she was Xin Ziao’s fiance.” Ruan Yang let out a bitter sigh. “I only knew he had a fiance but I didn’t know who she was.”
Song Chuyi remained silent, only locking his eyes at her quietly.
Ruan Yang turned to pour him a cup of cold water. “Mr. Song, you didn’t come all the way here just to tell me some gossip, right? Don’t tell me you don’t want Changqing to have a friend like me?”
“The acne on Changqing’s face was most probably caused by Zhao Zhu,” Song Chuyi started, “You might not know Zhao Zhu, but you must know the Zhao family. She couldn’t do anything to you so she could only vent her anger out on Changqing. Someone added lead and mercury into the makeup box. A person could easily be disfigured if that was used a few more times.”
Ruan Yang’s hand, which was holding on to the cup of water, froze. Her bright eyes were slightly restrained and she asked slowly and softly, “Are you sure?”
“There are surveillance cameras in the makeup room. Someone did something to Asa’s box of makeup, but after Changqing went to rest, there’s no more footage. The evidence in Asa’s makeup box was also swapped out. We have no proof right now. I suspect Xin Ziao sent someone to do something about the video recordings.” Song Chuyi paused for a while and continued, “You might be a little upset at me for saying this.”
“… There’s nothing to be upset about.” Ruan Yang turned over and her eyes lifted into a light curve. “If this is true, then Changqing was implicated by me. I will ask Xin Ziao about this personally.”
“If that’s the case, I would feel reassured. After all, I don’t intend to let Zhao Zhu live comfortably after this,” Song Chuyi said peacefully, but the words he spouted seemed exceptionally heavy.
He stood up and his tall and upright body caused Ruan Yang to be stupefied for a few seconds. She smiled again and said, “Fortune really favors fools for Changqing.”
“A clean person doing clean things will always make others respect her a little more,” Song Chuyi said lightly with his eyes slightly squinted.
Ruan Yang smiled. “Mr. Song, do you think I’m not a clean person or that I did something unclean?”
“Miss Ruan, you’re a smart person. Why would you commit such a folly?” Song Chuyi glanced downwards at her. “I had some dealings with the Xin family a few years ago. Xin Ziao and his parents are very conservative, traditional and proud. I heard that Miss Ruan…”
He paused. Ruan Yang smiled again, but her smile wasn’t sincere. She recalled a few years ago that she had to strip herself naked for a scene she had to shoot…
Although she was popular now, such an incident had always hung around people’s mouths, calling her dirty.
She even disabled the comments for her Weibo so that she didn’t have to see those hurtful remarks.
She laughed softly. “Then does Mr. Song mean I don’t have the right to happiness?”
Song Chuyi pressed his lips together. “It’s not like that. It’s just that when she knows how to respect herself, the men around her will respect her even more. I believe there are people who look down on you and also people who respect you. Being with someone who respected you would probably not make you feel so inferior.”
Ruan Yang was in a daze. Her gaze at Song Chuyi became a little more complicated. “Mr. Song has an eye for people.”
Everybody only thought of Ruan Yang as being glamorous and arrogant.
Some looked down on her, some envied her and some were jealous of her.
Even Changqing, Jiang Duoyao, Guan Ying didn’t know that the inferiority behind her glamor and intelligence.
All her courage, arrogance and beauty were all armor to cover up her inferiority.
However, Song Chuyi saw right through her.
Song Chuyi smiled lightly. “It’s getting late. I still have to go to the hospital, so I won’t bother you further. However, I still hope that Miss Ruan will go and find out what happened. After all, I don’t want to go head-on against Xin Ziao.”
“Take care, Mr. Song.” Ruan Yang saw him out and pondered for a while before going upstairs to change.
When Song Chuyi took the elevator down and reached the carpark, he received a call from Dr. Yan. “Dr. Song, when are you coming over? The family of the patient in bed 21 has been waiting for you.”
“Please tell them I will get there in around 40 minutes,” When Song Chuyi got in the car and started the engine, he realized that a black Rolls-Royce was blocking his path in front quietly.
He pressed the horn, but the other party didn’t budge. The chauffeur came out and opened the door at the back. A figure clad in a suit walked out from the car slowly. His short, brown hair had a natural curl and a beam of faint light from the carpark cast a dim luster on his face. His high nose created a dark shadow and under the thick eyelashes were a pair of man’s eyes that were like a deep and tranquil lake.
Song Chuyi’s eyebrows sank and he pushed open his car door.
The man had a slight smile on his lips. He pulled on the striped blue tie on his chest to loosen it slightly and said, “Chuyi, it’s been a few years.”
Song Chuyi put his hands in his pockets and stared at him coldly without saying a word.
The man looked him up and down and smiled. “I heard that you changed and indeed, what are you doing here? Looking for Ruan Yang?”
There wasn’t even the slightest change in Song Chuyi’s expression.
That man continued to have an apparent smile on his lips. “Does Yunyang know about the current you right now?”
Song Chuyi’s dark pupils finally constricted a little.
The man’s smile also became a little indistinct. “I just saw her last month and heard that you haven’t been in contact with her. Why did you set your eyes on Ruan Yang? I always thought that you, Song Chuyi, were a saint in relationships. Let me tell you—I have my eyes on Ruan Yang, so you better leave her alone and stop coming to her house. Otherwise…”