“It’s okay, we can wear them next time,” Song Chuyi consoled her. “I’ll travel with you once every year.”
Changqing nodded with satisfaction and leaned on his shoulder.
When they got back to Northern City, Changqing quickly dived into her work at the broadcasting station while Song Chuyi also successfully entered the Northern City Subsidiary Hospital. When he first started work, his workload was heavier than when he was at Bo Han Hospital. Sometimes, he would have to work during the day and help at night, so he had less time with Changqing. Changqing was very unhappy about this, but her heart also ached for him.
As April arrived, spring crept in and many things happened in the entertainment industry.
Firstly, Ruan Yang finished her new film and publicly announced that she would leave the entertainment industry temporarily for an unknown period of time. She wanted to pursue something she liked.
…
One April afternoon, Changqing was dozing off in her office at the broadcasting station when the boss suddenly called over. “Come over to the cafe on the 12th floor.”
Changqing was slightly shocked. The cafe was a place where the higher-ups in the office occasionally took breaks. She wondered why the boss would suddenly call her over. Could it be that he saw her looking lethargic so he wanted her to have a cup of coffee to wake up?
She spent eight minutes getting to the cafe, and just as she was about to ask the barista where the boss was, a man dressed smartly in a black suit suddenly walked over. “I was the one who got your boss to call you over.”
Changqing was shocked. Isn’t this Xin Ziao? Now that a year has passed, his hair got even shorter but not to the state where he was unrecognizable. She had to admit that his features looked even more distinct.
“Take a seat. I’m the new sponsor your broadcasting station tried all ways and means to get.” Xin Ziao turned around and walked towards a table that was by the window.
Changqing suppressed her detest for him and followed silently behind him. If she had the option, she really didn’t want to bother with him, but Xin Ziao had hinted very clearly that he was someone the station tried very hard to get, which meant he was God. She couldn’t offend God.
The barista served the freshly brewed coffee immediately. Changqing took a sip while Xin Ziao watched her complicatedly. “You’re close to Ruan Yang. Do you know why Ruan Yang wants to leave the entertainment industry?”
Changqing frowned. “Aren’t you engaged to Zhao Zhu already? Why do you keep asking about Ruan Yang? It should be none of your business whether or not she leaves the entertainment industry.”
Xin Ziao’s handsome face stiffened and he gripped the coffee cup tightly. “I watched Ruan Yang struggle as she made her way to where she is today. She’s suffered a lot and it wasn’t easy for her to get to her current position. Why’s she leaving just like that? Is it because of me?”
When Changqing first heard that, she still felt a little touched. Towards the end, she became unhappy. “You’re really good at claiming credit. That’s right—it has a little to do with you; it wasn’t because Ruan Yang was suffering after hearing news of your engagement and couldn’t concentrate on her career. It was because your fiancée is too vicious. Ruan Yang is afraid that the public would find out she once dated you and when that happens, she might be called a third party. No secrets can be kept forever. Secondly, Ruan Yang is indeed sick of this industry. She doesn’t want to keep shooting films, get followed and have her pictures taken wherever she goes. She doesn’t want to consider how the public would react whenever she does something. She’s already earned enough now and she would like to do something she likes.”
A hint of pain flashed past Xin Ziao’s eyes. “I would never let the public find out about us. She doesn’t need to worry about this at all.”
Changqing scoffed. “Sure, but you can never be certain about everything. Do you think you’re credible? When you were pursuing Ruan Yang, you vowed to call off the engagement and marry her, but did you do that? Xin Ziao, you’re also the CEO of a listed corporation and have many companies under your management. Don’t tell me you can go back on your word time and again at the company. Not to mention Ruan Yang, but me, just because I’m Ruan Yang’s friend, Zhao Zhu tries to harm me whenever she sees me. If it wasn’t for Augustine Rong being in Shanghai back then, your wife would’ve done me in.”
Xin Ziao frowned deeply. “Wasn’t she chased out by you guys previously?”
“So I should forgive her just because she got chased out?” Changqing scoffed. “I’m talking about Zhao Zhu being narrow-minded and vicious. Xin Ziao, for Ruan Yang’s sake, you shouldn’t show her any more concern or look for me. I thank you for putting that jacket over her when Ruan Yang was at her most helpless, but I hope you will take off that jacket in the future.”
Xin Ziao’s face changed. He took a sip of coffee and asked again, “Then what’s going on between Ruan Yang and Li Shaobin?”
Changqing was stunned. She recalled Jiang Duoyao mentioned that Ruan Yang kissed Li Shaobin previously. She smiled. “It would, of course, be best if the two of them could end up married. Truth be told, Ruan Yang has a pretty good impression of Li Shaobin. He’s straightforward, loyal and is very pure in a relationship. He’s also pretty cute when he’s being stupid. Besides, Li Shaobin even saved the damsel in distress previously. Right now, Ruan Yang’s attitude towards him is totally different. It’s pretty good. When I got married in Sanya, they had quite a lot of fun together. They even sat together at the pool or when eating. They’re really compatible.”
Xin Ziao suddenly stood up and the lines on his face twitched.
Changqing shrank back in her seat and stared wide-eyed at him. She was secretly a little afraid that she might’ve gone overboard.
However, she just wanted to deal this egoistic man a blow.
Xin Ziao stared at her malevolently for half a minute before he suddenly walked towards the door.
Changqing heaved a sigh of relief. She didn’t tell Ruan Yang about this incident in case that would make Ruan Yang think about him again.
…
A few days later, when the internet was still booming with news of Ruan Yang, news of Jiang Duoyao seducing a renowned director, Zhu Fenglei, surged up and was all over the place.
The company who reported this incident was a pretty large company, Rong Le Entertainment, in the country. The report wrote that when Jiang Duoyao was filming 9000 Years Old, she seduced the director, Zhu Fenglei, and there were even a few photos of Zhu Fenglei checking into a hotel with Jiang Duoyao attached in the article. Soon after, Zhu Fenglei’s wife, Dai Wen, came out to scold Jiang Duoyao for seducing her husband and destroying her family. She accused her of pretending to be pure and all this while, Zhu Fenglei kept silent.
The moment the news came out, it made the headlines everywhere. Many people on the internet were scolding Jiang Duoyao and there was even someone who said that Jiang Duoyao was often seen seducing the actors filming with her. Someone even said that Jiang Duoyao was seen with a few men in a bar with their arms around each other.
Changqing would never believe that Jiang Duoyao was such a person.
She had always been someone who only dared to talk but didn’t dare to act. She would never believe that Jiang Duoyao would seduce a married man.
She quickly called Jiang Duoyao but no one picked up.
Changqing was so anxious and wherever she went to the broadcasting station, almost everyone was talking about Jiang Duoyao.
…
When she went to eat in the canteen, Chi Yining seemed to be exceptionally loud when she was talking. “You can’t judge a book by its cover indeed. When I met her at Shang Wei’s opening gala, I even thought she was pretty pure, but I really didn’t expect this. Tsk, tsk…”
Changqing stood up angrily and walked over. “Duoyao isn’t like that. It’s so obvious that the things on the internet were said by internet ghostwriters.”
Chi Yining said with a smile, “Sister Changqing, I know you’re close to Jiang Duoyao, but no matter how close you are, there would still be some things she wouldn’t tell you. Actually, Jiang Duoyao is indeed progressing too smoothly. How do you find someone as lucky as her in this industry? There must be a reason. I don’t want to believe it either, but even Director Zhu’s wife also came out to scold her. That means there must be evidence.”
“You…” Changqing’s face flushed with anger and just as she was about to explode, Wen Tong rushed over and pulled her out of the canteen quickly.
“Don’t pull me.” Changqing was extremely mad. “She thought that everyone would seduce a married man just like her.”
Wen Tong pulled her to an empty spot before she said helplessly, “There were so many people there just now. Even if you wanted to scold her, shouldn’t you have considered Boss Feng’s face? Are you vying with her?”
Changqing could only take in a few angry breaths.
…
As the matter got increasingly out of hand that night, Jiang Duoyao called her, sounding very tired. “My phone is about to explode from all the incoming calls and I was in a meeting all day at the company, so I just switched my phone off.”
“Duoyao, are you okay? The internet…” Changqing couldn’t bring herself to say that everyone on the internet was scolding her and the comments were very harsh. However, Jiang Duoyao should’ve already known all this. “I’ll definitely believe you. Did you offend anyone?”
“I saw,” Jiang Duoyao said angrily. “F*ck, I merely said that Rong Le Entertainment’s report was full of shit previously because of the incident with Xu Xueran. They’re only good at defaming artistes without any proof. I didn’t think they would bear a grudge and even gang up with Zhu Fenglei to set me up. That fatty Zhu Fenglei is even more disgusting. There was one time when he tried to molest me on the production team while we were drinking so I gave him a slap. His wife is another crazy one. I didn’t even do anything with Zhu Fenglei and those photos were just playing with camera angles. Some of them were even him trying to take advantage of me and it happened to be caught by the reporter. Who went to the hotel with him? We just merely rested at a hotel that day when we went to Beijing. These people have been scheming against me for months.”
Changqing finally understood what was going on. Jiang Duoyao had always been the straightforward type and was also very loyal. She would always help certain friends in the industry out of loyalty and this would cause her to offend people very easily. Especially since this Zhu Fenglei had been a very famous director for longer than 10 years and he had a very wide network of connections, he wasn’t someone Jiang Duoyao, a young artiste who had only risen to popularity two years ago, could deal with. “You know very well you can’t offend this kind of person so you should’ve just scolded and rejected him; why did you slap him?”
“He’s too ugly. I couldn’t control myself,” Jiang Duoyao said. “It was mainly because I saw him bullying a newbie on the production team previously. She was only around 21 or 22 yet his hands were all over her in front of everyone in the suite, making her so scared that she cried. I really couldn’t stand it.”