Chapter 24
“How do you know that?” Xu Chun raised a hand to her mouth with studied carelessness and fired the question at her first assistant. Afraid Jiang Banxia might notice, she masked the movement behind a fixed smile as she pressed for an answer.
But Jiang Banxia was not so easy to fool. She stepped closer and stopped just inches from Xu Chun. When she leaned in slightly, her silky, dark hair slid from her shoulder like a waterfall, and the beauty of it stole the breath.
They stood close enough that Xu Chun could almost catch the faint shampoo in her hair, mingled with the rich sweetness of the perfume behind her ear—a combination that stirred faint, unbidden thoughts in anyone nearby.
Jiang Banxia was undeniably beautiful. Unlike Yu Sui’an’s delicate white-lotus air—seemingly strong yet brittle, too fragile to take even the slightest bend—Jiang Banxia made no effort to hide the elegance and breeding of a young lady from a distinguished family.
From her smooth, fine fair skin to every well-tended strand of hair, down to the smallest accessory she wore, every inch of her radiated a refined delicacy that ordinary people—even those raised in comfort and privilege—could never match.
A woman like that—fair-skinned, beautiful, impeccably born, like some untouchable fairy above the clouds—was a mirror that reflected the inferiority and inadequacy buried deep in ordinary people’s bones.
Jiang Banxia’s lovely eyes lingered on the corner of Xu Chun’s mouth before settling on her flawless brows and eyes. “Xu Chun, don’t tell me you…” She tilted her head slightly, the smile at her lips barely there. “…forgot me that quickly.”
“No—no, I haven’t.” Xu Chun denied it without thinking. “How could I possibly forget you?”
She let out an awkward laugh. She’d meant to chat and catch up properly, but the moment the words reached her tongue, her brain short-circuited, and what came out was: “With a relationship as close as ours, I’d recognize you even if you were burned to ashes.”
The smile on Jiang Banxia’s face froze. Xu Chun, belatedly realizing her mouth had run off without her, wailed inwardly: “!!!”
No! That’s not what I meant! Let me explain!
Jiang Banxia seemed truly angered by her. She abruptly straightened up and looked down at Xu Chun, her gaze cold and remote. “Fine.” Her lips were smiling, but her eyes held no warmth. “Very well.”
The words sent a jolt through Xu Chun, and she hurried to explain, but Jiang Banxia clearly had no intention of wasting another moment on her. Without hesitation, she turned and swept away with her large entourage, vanishing from sight in the blink of an eye.
Only after Jiang Banxia was completely gone did the first assistant, who had been questioned earlier, let out a breath. “I have a friend who lives in the same residential compound as Miss Jiang. Back then, she had a friend who was one of Miss Jiang’s close female friends, so she heard that friend complaining about it firsthand. She mentioned it to me in passing later. That’s how I remembered it.”
What a tangled web. Xu Chun suddenly found herself doubting the truth of her assistant’s story.
After dismissing the assistant, Xu Chun took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and searched her mind for the memory long sealed away in the original owner’s head. After a long while, she finally pieced the whole story together from beginning to end.
In fact, Jiang Banxia was much like Jiang Zhaolie. Both could be considered childhood acquaintances of the original owner. The only difference, perhaps, was that the original owner had known Jiang Zhaolie since childhood because their families had arranged a betrothal between them.
As for the original owner and Jiang Banxia, they had attended the same schools. Since they were equally striking in appearance and equally at the top of their class, they learned of each other through friends and classmates, trading rumors about one another.
At that tender age, neither was mature. Instead of peacefully coexisting with such an equally excellent classmate, the two treated each other as rivals. Every time they met, the air between them turned tense and confrontational—just short of openly pasting “I don’t like her” across their foreheads.
From primary school to middle school, then middle school to high school, the original owner and Jiang Banxia kept landing in the same school as if by fate, though always in different but equally elite classes. Then the college entrance exam results came out, and somehow they chose the same university, the same major, and were assigned to the same class—officially beginning their interactions.
This was their first head-on clash. Young and full of fire, neither was willing to yield. They chased and overtook each other, fighting to the death for the title of school-wide number one, like two enemies who would never rest until one was destroyed.
The original owner and Jiang Banxia never hid their desire to beat each other. Nearly the whole school—and even people from several nearby universities—knew that the top two students in their department refused to submit to one another and were famous rivals in the area.
They battled and competed like that for a full two and a half years. Just when everyone expected them to keep fighting through graduation, then test into graduate school and continue their endless war, Jiang Banxia abruptly withdrew from school without a word and left the country in the blink of an eye, disappearing completely from everyone’s sight.
When a rival who had fought you for half your life quietly withdrew from the battlefield, even if the original owner didn’t like her, she couldn’t help feeling unsettled. Besides, there had never been any real conflict of principle between them. They had only engaged in healthy competition, each pushing the other to go higher and farther.
So when Jiang Banxia suddenly left, the original owner—completely unused to it—drank for the first time, trying to numb the immense loss and loneliness that followed, as if she had suddenly lost her spiritual support.
Jiang Banxia was undoubtedly a bold, vivid stroke across the original owner’s heart. Though her absence left the original owner listless no matter what she did, it never reached the absurd point of Jiang Banxia becoming her first love or “white moonlight,” let alone the claim that “she” had dumped Jiang Banxia.
Xu Chun was just about to complain about all those gossips who loved to exaggerate and stir up trouble when she suddenly remembered: back when Yu Sui’an had carefully laid traps to lure the original owner, the original owner had actually seen through her little tricks. Yet in the end, she had still fallen for them without hesitation, and a large part of the reason was that she felt Yu Sui’an sometimes shared certain traits with Jiang Banxia.
So, half-pushing and half-yielding, treating her like a substitute, she willingly walked into Yu Sui’an’s trap.
Once Xu Chun had sorted out the cause and effect of the whole affair, she went numb. This falling-apart yuri novel actually had heart-wrenching, body-tormenting substitute romance?!
As for whether the original owner had ever had feelings for Jiang Banxia, Xu Chun believed there was a little. Otherwise, no matter how carefully Yu Sui’an schemed later, if the original owner had felt nothing for Jiang Banxia, Yu Sui’an would never have had the slightest chance.
But later Yu Sui’an successfully gained the upper hand—becoming not only the original owner’s official girlfriend, but the original owner indulged her without limit, nearly letting Yu Sui’an ruin her reputation and leave her with a miserable end.
So Jiang Banxia’s title of “first love, white moonlight” could barely be considered accurate.
Xu Chun sat in her chair in silence for a long while. One second she was wallowing in the misery of “I just angered the original owner’s first-love white moonlight half to death,” and the next she shot upright like a salted fish flipping over, her dark eyes shining. The real deal and the substitute were filming in the same crew… wouldn’t the days ahead be quite a show?!
Oh man! This was truly a melon-eater’s paradise.
Xu Chun raised a hand to smooth her collar, then turned and patted her first assistant’s shoulder, her tone complicated. “Next time you share gossip, be extra careful.”
The first assistant was startled by her deliberately grave tone. “?”
What did that mean? Was the gossip about what had just happened fake? She wanted to chase after Xu Chun and ask, but saw her humming a tune, looking rather pleased, heading toward Yu Sui’an.
Something’s off, the first assistant thought. Didn’t Sister Xu used to avoid Yu Sui’an? Why had she suddenly changed today and gone out of her way to approach her?
Xu Chun was, of course, going to grab a VIP front-row seat for the juiciest drama. What could be more devastating than “you were nothing but a substitute”?
Yu Sui’an had noticed Xu Chun approaching on her own and felt a thrill of joy, but she was still filming, so she suppressed her happiness and forced herself to finish the scene. The moment it ended, she hurried to Xu Chun’s side, her clear apricot eyes unable to hide her delight. “Jiejie.”
Her eyes were limpid, and when she tilted her fair face up to look at someone obediently and quietly, she was hard to resist. But Xu Chun was, generally speaking, not quite human, so not only did she have zero thoughts about Yu Sui’an’s adorable appearance, her mind was entirely occupied with the drama unfolding before her. She couldn’t wait to share the news about Jiang Banxia. “The actress replacing Shen Shutong has arrived.”
Xu Chun stared at Yu Sui’an, not wanting to miss a single detail on her face. “Have you met her yet?”
At the mention of someone else, most of Yu Sui’an’s smile quickly faded. What remained lost its warmth, turning thin and faint. “I took a couple of looks from afar just now.” Yu Sui’an blinked lightly, her tone ambiguous. “Jiejie, do you know her?”
“I do.” Xu Chun answered without hesitation. “We were classmates.”
The air went still for a moment. Then Yu Sui’an smiled faintly. “No wonder Miss Jiang looked at me with some displeasure earlier.” The curve of her lips deepened. “She and jiejie must be very close.”
Her probing sounded like a question, but it was really a statement. From just a few words, Yu Sui’an had already formed her judgment about their relationship. An irrepressible sense of crisis rose in her heart. After a moment, when she raised her eyes to Xu Chun again, her gaze had turned dark and deep, impossible to see through.
Xu Chun had been about to say something, but after catching the dangerous narrowing of Yu Sui’an’s eyes, she clamped her mouth shut and swallowed every gloating, pot-stirring word.
This little white lotus was always turning dark and causing trouble at the drop of a hat. Better not provoke her. There was no point in getting dragged down with her.
Xu Chun steered the topic aside and put some distance between herself and Yu Sui’an. “It’s fine. You go film first; I’ll go get ready.” Before Yu Sui’an could try to keep her there, she turned and disappeared.
Yu Sui’an stood alone, her gaze fixed darkly on the direction Xu Chun had gone. The faint smile remained on her lips like a careful disguise, deeply concealing her most unspeakable thoughts.
After her encounter with Yu Sui’an, Xu Chun quickly adjusted her melon-eating strategy: I won’t provoke trouble, and trouble won’t provoke me. Her goal was to finish this drama safely and peacefully, then pack up and leave, far away from Yu Sui’an. Now that Yu Sui’an wasn’t causing her trouble, there was really no need to go out of her way to tangle with her.
After repeating “Love and Peace” ten times in her head, Xu Chun was about to send Qin Yao a greeting when her assistant strode in, her tone carrying a trace of barely concealed excitement. “Sister Xu, time to film.”
That day Xu Chun had a scene with Yu Sui’an—the usual heart-wrenching drama full of misunderstandings. She got through it effortlessly, then noticed that Jiang Banxia had appeared in the crowd at some point. Meeting Xu Chun’s gaze, Jiang Banxia lifted her chin slightly and nodded toward Yu Sui’an, her voice deliberately raised so the entire crew could hear. “Is that the ex-girlfriend who posted passive-aggressive subtweets about you after you broke up?”
A moment of dead silence fell. Everyone went quiet at once; the set was so still you could hear a pin drop.
Xu Chun’s heart thumped twice. She was about to speak when Yu Sui’an beat her to it. Yu Sui’an’s soft voice rang out, gentle and yielding, utterly harmless. “What happened between jiejie and me doesn’t seem to concern Miss Jiang, does it?”
Every word implied that Jiang Banxia was meddling. Jiang Banxia gave a light laugh. “How could it not concern me?” She tilted her head, smiling at Xu Chun beside her. “A-Chun and I have known each other for years. Our relationship is already closer than close, irreplaceable. Her affairs are my affairs.”
“A-Chun, wouldn’t you say?”
Xu Chun, who had been happily eating melons and enjoying the show, was suddenly and without warning dragged into the line of fire. “!”
Come on, then… let the storm rage even harder!
Surviving in the cracks, she nodded like a decent human being and tried to change the subject. “I think you’re both right, but this isn’t important. Everyone should hurry up and get back to filming.”
Jiang Banxia turned to gaze at Xu Chun with dwindling interest, her tone carrying an indescribable hint of danger. “A-Chun, can I interpret this as—you’re openly taking her side right now?”
Xu Chun: “?!” I am not! I didn’t! Don’t spout nonsense!
She opened her mouth to speak to Jiang Banxia when Yu Sui’an’s frail, delicate voice cut in again, forceful despite its softness—impossible to ignore. “Jiejie and I were once bound in a beautiful relationship. Is it really so baffling that jiejie would treat me this way?” Yu Sui’an paused, then smiled slowly. “Or does Miss Jiang think jiejie is that heartless and fickle?”
Seeing the light in Jiang Banxia’s eyes gradually turn cold, Xu Chun looked left at Jiang Banxia, right at Yu Sui’an, and felt her head swell to twice its size. Oh, for heaven’s sake, stop arguing! If you two keep fighting like this, I’ll be back in the headlines today!
Things seemed about to spiral out of control when the director quickly spoke up to break the deadlock and ease the tension. In a displeased tone, he sent the gawking staff back to their positions, then called Xu Chun aside. “Little Xu, the censors have been really strict lately, so you must pay attention to your personal conduct.”
“You know this drama cost a fortune and represents so much hard work—and it’s my retirement project…” The director’s words were tactful and indirect, but Xu Chun understood immediately. She was utterly unable to defend herself. Good grief, this had nothing to do with her! She was truly wronged! This time, even if she grew hundreds of mouths, she couldn’t explain her way out of it.
Her lips moved a couple of times, but what came out was: “I understand, Director. I’ll be careful from now on.”
Only after receiving her assurance did the director let her go, still not quite at ease. But before she left, he didn’t forget to remind her again and again: “These things—you can do whatever you want in private. As long as it doesn’t blow up in public, no one can control you.”
The director nagged like Tang Sanzang reciting scriptures. Xu Chun nodded like a chicken pecking rice and bolted.
After the commotion just now, Xu Chun had thoroughly figured out Jiang Banxia’s feelings toward the original owner. Perhaps even Jiang Banxia’s sudden arrival to join the crew as the second female lead today had been premeditated. It was just that Jiang Banxia was still as straightforward as ever, saying whatever was on her mind, like a fiery little rose full of thorns—beautiful and intimidating.
But… Xu Chun frowned slightly. Didn’t Yu Sui’an always advocate keeping the peace and making money, walking the gentle, considerate route of happy family reunions? Why had she gone against her usual behavior today and confronted Jiang Banxia head-on?
That unyielding stance, like a little flower knowingly overestimating itself yet still trying to stop a chariot with its bare arms, didn't make people laugh. It made them break into a cold sweat for her, stirring a soft pang of pity in their hearts.
Xu Chun shook her head, realizing she understood Yu Sui’an less and less… No, she had never understood the other woman, not before and not now. Yu Sui’an’s thoughts were always tightly hidden, never easily deciphered.
Xu Chun had only spaced out for a moment. When she looked back, she found that what had just happened had already been anonymously leaked online. The tangled love-hate between Xu Chun and Yu Sui’an, the wealthy-heiress second female lead who had dropped into the crew from on high, and the on-the-spot conflict the moment the second female lead met Yu Sui’an. Three big pieces of news exploded at once, and melon-eating netizens instantly sprang into action, gathering around to watch.
【…Didn’t expect Xu Chun to play so wild in private. That second female lead—could she be some old flame of Xu Chun’s?】
【The commenter above guessed right. From what I know, the second female lead who dropped in, Jiang Banxia, is exactly Xu Chun’s first love, her white moonlight. I’m guessing Jiang Banxia joined the crew because of Xu Chun.】
【I remember Jiang Banxia only just returned to the country yesterday… and she joined the crew today? Oh my! Could she have come back specifically to film for Xu Chun’s sake?】
【Everything that belongs to me, I will take back—including my woman. Ooh, it has that prime-time soap opera morality-drama flavor! This crew is truly a treasure trove. Even before filming started, the two female leads haven’t had a moment’s peace, and now there’s a Jiang Banxia added to the mix. I’m telling you, this drama had better film for at least half a year, right? Does that mean we’ll have fresh melons to eat for the next six months?】
【The crew: You’re so mean. Pay less attention to gossip and more attention to our drama, okay.】
【Huh? They’re actually still filming? If their off-screen drama is this exciting, won’t the on-screen drama be even better?】
【Oh yeah! We’ve got a feast coming for the next six months!】
The director had no idea how everyone’s attention had shifted from the melons among the three leads to the drama itself. Because of Xu Chun and Yu Sui’an’s relationship, the drama already had enormous buzz and drew plenty of attention, and now Jiang Banxia had been added to the mix… The director suddenly felt as if he were being held over an open flame, not daring to relax his vigilance in the slightest, or he’d lose his reputation in his old age.
If anything went wrong and the drama—his retirement project—ended up with a bad reputation, he wouldn’t be able to rest in peace even with both feet in the grave.
So after an emergency meeting, the screenwriter and director stayed up all night revising and polishing the script.
The next day, Xu Chun held only the latest episode of the script and stared: “?” Why was everyone suddenly working so hard? Were the director and screenwriter really trying to work themselves to death?
But this was, after all, the first drama she was properly filming, and it could be considered her formal comeback after Yu Sui’an had ruined her reputation. So Xu Chun joined the all-nighters too, enthusiastically offering all kinds of outrageous plot ideas she’d picked up from those dog-blood yuri novels He Qingli had given her.
It was already a drama adapted from an old-school dog-blood domineering-CEO novel anyway; no matter how absurd it got, no one would be surprised.
So after the three of them put their heads together and finalized the last version, Yu Sui’an held the freshly printed script and sank into silence. Wasn’t she the female lead? After just two days without seeing Xu Chun, how had she become Xu Chun’s character’s biological younger sister in the drama?
Had Xu Chun cheated? Or had Jiang Banxia added scenes for herself to squeeze Yu Sui’an out and take her place?
Yu Sui’an suddenly sank into irritation. A baffling emotion rose swiftly in her heart, wiping the gentle, ever-smiling expression from her face and replacing it with a lingering gloom.
Her manager knew Jiang Banxia had joined the crew. He’d originally intended to come that same day to back Yu Sui’an up, but family matters had kept him tied down for the past two days, so he’d only managed to rush over today. The moment they met, he noticed Yu Sui’an’s terrible mood. He raised an eyebrow in surprise and asked, seemingly casually, “One Jiang Banxia and you’re already this unsettled?”
Yu Sui’an stayed silent and didn’t respond. The manager chuckled and comforted her. “Suisui, you’re going to be a Best Actress winner someday, a woman who’ll dominate the entertainment industry.” He turned her shoulders to face him, his tone softening. “Relax. She’s just here to play around at most; she won’t seriously compete with you.”
Jiang Banxia was waiting to go back and inherit the family fortune, after all.
His comfort didn’t soothe Yu Sui’an. She raised her dark, shining eyes and looked straight into her manager’s. “She knows Xu Chun.”
The manager’s brow furrowed, then quickly smoothed out. “That is a problem, but you have Jiang Zhaolie, Suisui. As long as you keep a firm hold on her, even if Xu Chun and Jiang Banxia team up, they won’t be able to do anything to you.” He shifted tack. “By the way, how are things with Jiang Zhaolie lately?”
Not great.
Since Qin Yao’s visit last time, they’d parted on bad terms, and neither Yu Sui’an nor Jiang Zhaolie had been willing to lower their heads and soften first. They’d fallen into a cold war, neither willing to admit fault first.
Besides… right now Yu Sui’an’s mind was only on how to win Xu Chun back and conquer her again. Where would she find the energy to spare for Jiang Zhaolie?
The manager read her expression and immediately understood. He persisted in coaxing her. “Suisui, the entertainment industry isn’t as easy to navigate as you think. Your family background is poor, you have no backing, and your support isn’t strong enough. Out there, anyone with a bit of money can pinch you. So now that you have a good option like Jiang Zhaolie, you should hold onto her.”
“After you achieve fame and retire, your later years will be secure.” His tone had quietly turned cold by the end. “Otherwise you’ll just end up as someone’s plaything at a dinner table. Understand?”
“I understand.” Yu Sui’an lowered her head slightly, her evenly falling lashes hiding every emotion in her eyes.
Her manager’s repeated pressure disgusted her. She silently clenched her fingers. Someday… she would kick him away and stop being controlled by him.
“All right, then. Hurry up and secure Jiang Zhaolie as soon as possible.”
Yu Sui’an murmured an acknowledgment, her expression unreadable. The manager glanced at her lightly and didn’t call her out—as long as she obeyed, she was a useful pawn. If she stopped obeying…
Then she could be discarded.
The manager’s arrival didn’t ease Yu Sui’an’s inner turmoil; it only stirred the waters of her heart into even greater chaos. After staying alone for nearly an hour, Yu Sui’an took a deep breath and pressed down the messy thoughts in her head.
She closed her eyes, holding her phone, the screen still open to the chat window with Jiang Zhaolie. They hadn’t contacted each other in about ten days. If she went running to the other woman now, right after clashing with Jiang Banxia and feeling wronged, it would seem too opportunistic and calculating.
After long deliberation, Yu Sui’an ultimately didn’t send the message.
As it happened, Jiang Zhaolie’s mood was no better than Yu Sui’an’s. The moment Jiang Banxia joined the crew, Jiang Zhaolie had received the news. Later, her informant had practically live-broadcast everything that happened on set. When she heard Jiang Banxia openly slander Yu Sui’an, Jiang Zhaolie had wanted to drop everything and rush over to protect her, but she was currently with Qin Yao.
Not to mention Qin Yao wouldn’t let her leave at a time like this; even if the other woman were willing, Jiang Zhaolie was out of town and had no idea when she could get back. By the time she arrived, it would be too late to do anything.
Jiang Zhaolie was inwardly tormented, distracted in everything she did, her expression somewhat off. Qin Yao glanced at her without much expression, and Jiang Zhaolie immediately snapped back to attention. She stood up and said, with a trace of apology in her voice, “I’ll go to the restroom for a moment.”
Without waiting for Qin Yao’s response, she pulled open the door and strode out of the meeting room.
Clutching her phone, she found an empty spot and took a deep breath before resolutely dialing the number she hadn’t called in a long time. Her fingers curled into fists. She regretted it. What had she been so childish as to hold a grudge against Suisui for? Hadn’t she sworn to herself long ago that she would protect the other woman for a lifetime?
Yet now, over a mere small conflict, she had ignored her for nearly half a month…
If Suisui suffered any grievance on set because of Jiang Banxia, if she couldn’t think straight and did something extreme, Jiang Zhaolie would never forgive herself.
The phone rang for a long time. In anxious, nervous anticipation, the call was finally picked up. That gentle voice she hadn’t heard in so long—the one that haunted her dreams—came slowly through the phone: “Zhaolie?”
“Suisui, about what happened before… it was my fault. I’m sorry.” She spoke quickly, and the loss and anxious torment in her heart vanished completely at the sound of Yu Sui’an’s voice, leaving only the happiness and contentment she’d felt before. Jiang Zhaolie tried to suppress her soaring emotions. “Are you still angry with me?”
Angry? Yu Sui’an actually wasn’t angry anymore. She’d wanted to reconcile with Jiang Zhaolie just now but had thought better of it after deliberation, which was why she’d given up. Now the other woman had called to apologize on her own. What reason did she have not to take the out? “No.”
A smile entered her voice. “I was never angry with you.”
Jiang Zhaolie’s heart leaped with joy. Before she could say another word, she heard an embarrassed, bashful voice from the phone: “Zhaolie, I miss you.”
Jiang Zhaolie was instantly overjoyed, as if thousands of fireworks had exploded in her head at once, leaving her dizzy and giddy. “Me too.” She echoed instinctively. “I’ve missed you too, all this time.”
After rambling on about all sorts of things, Jiang Zhaolie glanced down at her watch. They’d been on the phone for nearly half an hour, not that long, but Qin Yao and the senior executives were still waiting for her in the meeting room. Thinking of the consequences of angering Qin Yao, Jiang Zhaolie took a deep breath and nervously interrupted Yu Sui’an. “Suisui, I’ll come keep you company once I’m done here next week.”
Yu Sui’an’s voice paused briefly. “Okay.”
Jiang Zhaolie had work on hand and couldn’t get away, but Jiang Banxia was still on set, and she was an unstable factor. Jiang Zhaolie was frantic with worry but helpless. Finally, after hanging up, she thought of someone—Xu Chun.
Asking Xu Chun to look after Yu Sui’an was undoubtedly like asking a tiger for its hide, but she had no other choice now. Apart from Xu Chun, she truly didn’t know anyone on set who was Jiang Banxia’s equal and could stop her from making things difficult for Yu Sui’an.
After a long struggle, Jiang Zhaolie steeled herself, gritted her teeth, and reached out to Xu Chun. Xu Chun glanced at her phone as the screen lit up. When she clearly saw the words “Dog Thing,” she hung up without hesitation. Jiang Zhaolie, realizing she’d been rejected: “?”
Undeterred, she called again. If the other woman didn’t answer, she kept calling—until Xu Chun was so annoyed she was seeing red. She snatched up her phone, narrowed her eyes, and said in a dangerous tone, “Jiang Zhaolie, you’d better have a real reason for calling me.”
Jiang Zhaolie was silent for a moment, finding the request hard to voice. But thinking of Yu Sui’an’s safety and feelings, she forced herself to speak. “Xu Chun, I want you to help me look after Suisui.”
“You know Jiang Banxia’s temper. She dared to openly target Suisui on her first day on set. Once you two spend more time together, who knows how she’ll make things difficult for Suisui…” Xu Chun’s ears ached from hearing her say “Suisui” over and over. She cut Jiang Zhaolie off. “You know Jiang Banxia has a bad temper, and you want me to stand up and protect Yu Sui’an against her? Aren’t you pushing me into the fire?”
She already had enough of a headache dealing with Yu Sui’an every day on top of filming. If she now had to face the storm and go against Jiang Banxia too, was she supposed to keep living or not?
Jiang Zhaolie knew she was asking too much, so she tried to tempt Xu Chun with money. “You only need to look after her for a week at most. I’ll give you one million.” She added, “Once I’m back in a couple of days, you won’t need to.”
Xu Chun raised an eyebrow, unmoved. “Such a small amount—who do you think you’re tossing alms to?”
“Five million.” Jiang Zhaolie gritted her teeth, then finally steeled herself and said.
If Xu Chun still wasn’t willing, she’d have to find someone else—more troublesome, but at least cost-effective.
“Deal.” Xu Chun answered instantly. For five million, she’d not only look after Yu Sui’an for seven days; she’d even serve her through a postpartum confinement. Beaming, Xu Chun feigned reserve. “Transfer the money right away. My work starts the moment I receive it.”
With that, she hung up with a crisp click.
Jiang Zhaolie’s temple throbbed violently. But she was the one asking for help, so she had to swallow her temper. After taking a deep breath, she convinced herself not to stoop to Xu Chun’s level, then turned and swiftly had the money transferred to Xu Chun.
When she returned, Qin Yao’s gaze rested on her for a long while. Jiang Zhaolie felt a bit guilty and took the initiative to bring up the meeting; only then did Qin Yao let her off.
By the time Xu Chun finished a scene, the money had arrived. Her eyes darted about. There were actually such generous suckers in the world? She suddenly felt as if she’d found a unique path to wealth.
With Jiang Zhaolie around, becoming a CEO, marrying a rich beauty, and reaching the peak of life no longer seemed like a dream.
Take the money, do the job. Xu Chun glanced over and focused her attention on Yu Sui’an. Jiang Banxia had initially given Yu Sui’an a public dressing-down, but after that she settled down and filmed properly. Actually, Xu Chun could roughly understand Jiang Banxia’s way of thinking. She’d simply seen an old friend being bullied, couldn’t swallow her anger, and wanted to vent on her behalf.
All in all, the other woman meant well.
After thinking it over, Xu Chun turned and walked over to Jiang Banxia, speaking up only after the fact. “Thanks for the other day.”
Jiang Banxia lifted her eyelids lazily. At the words, a smile that didn’t reach her eyes tugged at the corner of her lips. “Oh? What brings you to my side today?” she said with a sarcastic edge. “Why aren’t you off protecting your precious Suisui?”
Xu Chun was instantly rendered speechless. “…” No good. Too hard to swallow. Jiang Zhaolie’s money was truly hard-earned.
After being thoroughly suppressed by Jiang Banxia, Xu Chun slunk back to the director’s side with her script and sat down dejectedly. These past few days she’d deliberately avoided both Jiang Banxia and Yu Sui’an, not saying a word more to either. That was because only the director—only this director past seventy—could let her feel the world’s tiny bit of warmth.
…No, wait. She’d almost forgotten Qin Yao.
Remembering that she’d just made a bundle off Jiang Zhaolie, Xu Chun immediately transferred one million back to her and sent a WeChat message. “Transferred you one million. Take it and buy something nice for Sister Qin to cheer her up. Whatever’s left over can be your errand fee.”
Jiang Zhaolie’s phone was projecting onto the screen. The moment the chat bubble popped up at the top, the entire meeting room went silent. “…?”
What kind of person was this? Daring to order President Jiang around and make her run errands?
What kind of person was this? Daring to covet their noble, aloof, pure, and icy President Qin?
For a moment, every senior executive in the meeting room looked back and forth between Jiang Zhaolie and Qin Yao. Jiang Zhaolie snapped back to her senses and nearly ground her back teeth to dust. This was too much! Xu Chun didn’t treat her like a human being at all!
She’d taken her own hard-earned money, earned through countless hardships, and begged Xu Chun to look after Yu Sui’an. Was that so Xu Chun could turn around and use it as a favor to curry favor with her own mother?!