Song Chuyi was angry upon hearing that. “What do you mean? Are you implying I’m old-fashioned?”
“Don’t be so petty.” Zhan Mingwei sat up in his bed and explained, “I don’t privately own the broadcasting station. As the station chief, I have to act with the station’s biggest benefits in mind. The target now is viewership. If the station’s viewership wavers, Boss Feng’s position wouldn’t be stable and as a station chief, I wouldn’t be any better off, especially these couple of years when I’m also in the midst of a promotion…”
“So… what you mean is you also agree to Yan Changqing hyping up a ship?” Song Chuyi’s face darkened. “I can’t lose this face.”
“Then my suggestion is for Yan Changqing to leave her position on her own,” Zhan Mingwei said in a deep tone, “The station will come up with a few new programs this year. I’ll talk to Boss Feng and see if there are any positions suitable for her to host. I won’t treat her unfairly in any way.”
“… Alright.” Song Chuyi’s expression improved.
After the phone call, he recalled he had an important surgery that had to be done in these next few days and his head hurt when thinking about that in addition to the incident with Changqing. He suddenly felt that having a woman from the entertainment industry was quite troublesome.
At the horse ranch.
Changqing, clad in a riding outfit, was sitting nervously on the horse’s back. The horse tamer leading her horse in front started running and while running, he turned back to say, “Relax, relax, relax. Squeeze the horse tightly with your thighs. Lean forward a little and raise your hips according to the horse’s tempo…”
Changqing listened to the horse tamer’s words but couldn’t resist blushing as she thought of the scene two nights before when she was riding with Song Chuyi. It seemed a little similar too.
Also, her legs were easily sore.
Now her legs were extremely sore.
The horse finally came to a halt and her legs felt like they were about to break.
“Not bad.” The horse tamer turned back and said with a smile, “Is the sun too hot? Your face seemed pretty red.”
Changqing nodded while her ears burned. It wasn’t from the sun; it was from recalling what happened two nights ago which made her heart and thoughts run wild.
“Let’s rest for a while.” The horse tamer helped her down.
Wen Tong passed her a cup of cold drink. Changqing stood by the side as she watched Guan Ying riding afar while drinking. Guan Ying, who was in a riding suit, looked valiant. Her dark, long hair flew in the wind and her legs were long and thin. Her beautiful eyes were bright and she was holding a whip in her hand. Her features were definitely delicate but at this moment, she looked heroic.
Director Su was full of praise at the side. “Good. Guan Ying has almost got the feeling. Changqing, get on the horse again in a bit. The cameraman will take a few poster pictures for the leads and upload them on the internet tomorrow.”
Changqing could only pass the drink to Wen Tong and endure the soreness in her body as she mounted the horse again. When she saw Guan Ying, she made fun of her with a smile, “The image of you riding just now almost knocked Director Su out.”
“The three leads, please stand in a row.” The cameraman brought his camera over and squatted on the floor, taking a picture of them from the side.
After more than 30 minutes, Changqing and Guan Ying dismounted from their horses. The makeup artist ran over to touch up their makeup. The director took a look at the sky outside and said through the megaphone, “It seems like it’s going to rain today. Everyone, make haste. Those moving the props, hurry up. Guan Ying, mount the horse first and get into position. Changqing, get ready. When Guan Ying’s horse is out more than 10 meters, get up on your horse and make a dash. The parts with the hurdles will be done with a double.”
This scene today was of the utmost importance. Changqing started to go through and familiarize herself with the content the horse tamer taught her in her mind once through. After Guan Ying left, Changqing watched her nervously and saw that Guan Ying didn’t have her gloves. She looked at the resting bench at the side and indeed, there was a pair of white gloves.
“Guan Ying, you forgot your gloves.” Changqing rushed over with her gloves.
“Yeah, I almost forgot,” Guan Ying said with a smile, “Good thing you reminded me, otherwise, I would get a scolding from Director Su again…”
At that moment, not far away from the two of them, a tall, black horse suddenly kicked its legs as though it was mad and charged towards them.
The black horse was too close to the two of them and Changqing subconsciously pulled Guan Ying along to run. However, the horse was too quick and it was jumping all over the place. When it was in front of them, it kicked its back legs with all its might towards Changqing. At that moment, Changqing watched those two horse legs and her heart almost stopped from fear.
In the midst of chaos, the person beside her seemed to give her a push and Changqing fell on the ground. When she got up, she happened to see the horse’s back legs stepping on Guan Ying and a horrifying shriek escaped her throat.
“Quick, get a hold of the horse,” Director Su instructed anxiously.
A horse tamer with fast reflexes ran over to pull the horse’s reigns and quickly mounted the horse and dragged it towards an empty plot of land to run.
Changqing crawled and rolled over to Guan Ying. Guan Ying had already lost consciousness. Her forehead and face were full of traces of blood.
“Quick, call the ambulance, call the ambulance.” Changqing didn’t dare to touch her and could only wail with her face as pale as a sheet.
In the hospital, Song Chuyi finished his rounds and went over to the nursing station. On the way, he ran into a few families of patients who were running downstairs excitedly.
He was a little puzzled and when he reached the nursing station, he saw a few young nurses standing on tiptoe, looking out the window.
He coughed softly, reminding them, “What are you looking at?”
“Dr. Song.” The youngest nurse pointed outside agitatedly. “Ke Yongyuan came to our hospital. I saw that many reporters came too.”
“What’s going on?” Song Chuyi looked at the head nurse with a frown. “Which celebrity has gotten injured again?”
“I think an actress from a production team was trampled unconscious by a horse during the shoot and was sent to the A&E…” the head nurse wasn’t done with her sentence and she could already see Song Chuyi’s complexion changing.
“Do you know the name of the actress?” he asked in a low tone. He remembered Yan Changqing told him yesterday that she had to shoot a scene on a horse today—could it be her? Only someone as muddle-headed like her could do such a thing.
The head nurse shook her head.
After Song Chuyi turned to walk out of the nursing station, he called Changqing immediately but the call didn’t go through. He had no choice but to call someone from the A&E. “Director Yu, I heard there was an actress who was stepped on by a horse sent to the A&E. Who is she? What’s her name?”
Director Yu laughed in a low tone, “Dr. Song, when are you interested in these small celebrities as well?”
“A friend of mine entrusted me to ask around. He had a close friend who was also acting on the production team,” Dr. Song explained in a low tone.
“I see.” Director Yu switched his computer on to check. “It was an actress named Guan Ying. A few days ago, her mom was still receiving treatment at our hospital. To think she would end up in here not long afterwards.”
Song Chuyi was astounded. “How’s her condition?”
“Still treating her at the A&E. I’m not sure.” Director Yu hesitated for a while and said with a smile, “The results will be out in a while. Should I inform you?”
“… That works too.”
When Fu Yu received news at the company, he rushed to the hospital.
Outside the A&E, Changqing sat blankly in a chair. Her hands were still stained with blood.
Fu Yu quickened his pace and went up, grabbing her hands in front of everyone. “Where are you hurt?”
Changqing raised her eyes that had been washed by rainwater to look at him and shook her head. Her expression was stiff and her voice was hoarse. “I’m not hurt. The one who was hurt is Guan Ying. If she hadn’t pushed me away in time, the person lying in there would be me, not her.”
Fu Yu was startled. He didn’t expect Guan Ying to be capable of something like that. It shocked him a little. He always thought Guan Ying was just making use of Changqing and didn’t think there was any sincerity between them.
He turned to look at Director Su, who was at the side, and his eyes sank. “Director Su, before we started the shoot, I instructed you time and again to make sure that all safety measures were in place. What were you doing? Now there are a bunch of reporters outside and this incident will be in the news tomorrow. How would the outside world view Shang Wei? If our actors even got injured from a horse scene, what if we were to film period dramas? Who would dare take up the offer?”
“I’m sorry, CEO Fu.” Director Su wiped the sweat on his forehead. “Actually, in the beginning, we did take sufficient safety measures. Even doubles for Guan Ying and Changqing were arranged, but I didn’t expect that a staff member would accidentally drop a prop on the horse when he was moving it and that was why it lost control…”
“Tell that to the reporters outside,” Fu Yu said gloomily, “Also Guan Ying better not end up with any handicap.”
Changqing was shaken. She stood up and stared rigidly at Director Su. The latter’s evasive eyes made her heart sink.
Yes, that horse used such great force to step on Guan Ying’s small and thin body. There could also be a possibility of a handicap.
Right at that moment, the door of the A&E opened and the doctor walked out first. Changqing felt like she was dragged to the edge of a cliff as though she was waiting for a verdict. “Doctor, how is… her condition?”
“The patient’s life isn’t in danger but she might’ve been hit by the horse on the head and there are signs of a slight concussion. There are three broken ribs and it will take at least two to three months of rest before she can recover.” The doctor’s voice came from behind the mask.
Changqing was in disbelief. “Then she won’t be able to film for three months?”
“No filming; she has to recover. I’ll have to trouble you to help her settle the hospitalization procedures,” the doctor said.
Fu Yu instructed his assistant and Longxin quickly arranged for Guan Ying to stay in a VIP ward and even hired a professional nurse for her.
Changqing sat by Guan Ying’s bed without a word and Fu Yu also sat quietly by her side.
Outside the ward, Guan Ying’s manager, Xue Gao, was arguing with Director Su.
“Three months? The production team can’t wait for her unless we’re not filming this show anymore.”
“What do you mean by that now? Guan Ying got injured because of the shoot and now that she’s filmed so much, we’re not shooting anymore after a word from you?”
“Xue Gao, it isn’t that I don’t want to wait for Guan Ying, but I have to accommodate the other actor’s schedules. Truth be told, Guan Ying can’t even compare to current popular actors like Ke Yongyuan or veteran actors at all right now. If we were to wait three months, nobody would want to film anymore. Who’s going to take responsibility for the losses?”