“Sister Man, do you like Brother Wei?” Yun Xiangxiang was suddenly curious.
Before the event started where the newbies were rehearsing for their performance, Yun Xiangxiang took Li Man to a corner and whispered her question.
“I like his arrogance,” Li Man’s answer petrified Yun Xiangxiang,
The look on her face was adorable. Li Man pinched Yun Xiangxiang’s little face. “This is a nice sensation.”
Li Man’s look of affection made Yun Xiangxiang feel she was being flirted with by a thug.
“We lived in a different time from yours,” Li Man suddenly stood against the wall and spoke with regret. “Huan Yu didn’t have the status it has now.”
Li Man was already thirty-three. She debuted in the nineties. The economy back then wasn’t as great as it was now. The people were still agonizing over putting food on the table then. They did not have the mood to catch up with the stars.
At that time, only the dramas themselves enjoyed popularity, not the actors. Everyone would know a character if it was mentioned. They would love it. However, scarcely anyone could answer the question of the name of the actor who played that character.
That was why actors during that era had little to no status. They might not have had to suffer the invasiveness of media outlets like today, but they had their own problems unbeknownst to people too.
Unlike Han Jing, Li Man was drop dead gorgeous. She was a renowned beauty back in the nineties. Countless people were interested in her.
Hua Xiangrong saw an article when she debuted, which was in the ’00s that talked about someone offering fifty million yuan to spend a night with Li Man.
Fifty million yuan in the early ’00s was an astronomical figure. It was obvious how charismatic Li Man was.
“Do you know about the news of fifty million for a night?” Li Man actually talked about the insulting news first.
Yun Xiangxiang nodded silently.
“Someone who could fork out fifty million ten years ago was no ordinary man. Their background was unfathomable,” Li Man looked like she was walking down memory lane. “He Zhen couldn’t protect me. My agent at that time couldn’t either.”
It was Li Man’s darkest hour. That was the first time she hated her beauty. As she looked at herself in the mirror, she wondered: can I live a peaceful life if I just destroy this face?
When she picked up the fragments of the glass bottle she smashed to destroy her own face, He Wei saw it.
He Wei would not lose out to the male stars in the industry in terms of looks. He was also calmer, more mature, and more rational than his peers.
He Wei thought she was taking her own life. She was also desperate for any help at that time. She hugged He Wei and sobbed, pleading for him to save her.
He Wei had just returned to Huan Yu after graduation. Nobody knew he was He Zhen’s nephew. In the eyes of most of Huan Yu’s staff, he was just a normal agent who just signed with the company.
After Li Man had cried her heart out, she thought it was laughable herself. Even He Zhen failed to protect her. How could she ask a nobody for such a big favor? It would be akin to asking him to die.
Right when Li Man accepted her fate and was ready to face reality, the one who offered that money was willing to let her off the hook. In her incredulity, she asked around about it before finding out that He Wei stood up for her.
For her matter, He Wei broke three bones in his ribs and had to be hospitalized for three months.
So he was her knight in shining armor. Yun Xiangxiang was surprised about how He Wei and Li Man started off. If it was Yun Xiangxiang herself, she would have fallen for He Wei too.
Handsome, courageous, a man of few words, and one who knew how to do things. It was truly a powerful combination.
“Wake up, little fangirl,” Li Man pinched Yun Xiangxiang’s little face again. “I used to think he did it for me too.”
“Er…,” Did he not?
Li Man shook her head in self-mockery. “No, he did it for the company, and for breaking the rules.
Out of everything, it was done not for her. She refused to believe it at that time. She thought He Wei was feeling inferior, and that he thought he was not worthy of her.
She clung onto him. Every chance she had, she tried seduced him. It was a shame she did not know that He Wei trained as a special agent and had come across various trials.
For a time, she even suspected him of having some disease he could not tell her. When she lay on his bed in her birthday suit, he could even send her away with her clothes intact.
If she was an ordinary woman who could trade in money with him to take what they wanted, perhaps he would be willing.
But Li Man was an actress. She was Huan Yu’s actress, even. He could not give her love, so he could never touch her, not even a finger.
“Was it worth your time, Sister Man?” Yun Xiangxiang didn’t know what to feel after she heard that.
The proud empress in everyone’s eyes had pursued He Wei in every lowly way she could think of.
“There is no such thing as “worth it or not” in love. There’s only you being willing, or the opposite,” Li Man smiled. “You’re still young. When you come across the one that you are willing to be with, you will know it’s impossible to measure or calculate relationships.”
Yun Xiangxiang touched her nose. She chose to be silent. It was not because she refused to have a heart-to-heart session with Li Man, she couldn’t say what she had in mind so easily. There was also the matter about her actual age.
Yun Xiangxiang could roughly sketch the message Li Man was telling her through her story: I don’t wish for you to fall in love with He Wei. At the same time, Li Man was hoping to know more about He Wei through Yun Xiangxiang.
If not, Li Man hoped Yun Xiangxiang would mention her in front of He Wei because of her own graciousness toward Yun Xiangxiang.
“Sister Man, aren’t you afraid He Wei and I…?” Yun Xiangxiang suddenly tested the waters.
“Pfft!” Li Man chuckled. “It’s impossible between both of you once you ask that question.”
“What ‘s wrong with this question?” Yun Xiangxiang was puzzled.
“You don’t understand him. If he fell in love with you or any other actress, he would leave this circle.”
“Why?”
Li Man looked at the busy crowd jostling outside, “In our circle, you can’t be at ease just because you you don’t feel guilty about yourself. He has a huge sense of responsibility. If he falls in love with an actress, he would never let the one he loved be wronged because of him.”
A relationship between an actor and their agent was a scandal, especially if they were from the same company. Even if it was Li Man and He Wei, they couldn’t escape it.
No matter how open-minded a person could be, they would never allow the innocent love in their hearts to be slandered.
Let alone the fact Yun Xiangxiang was an actress directly under He Wei. If something were to happen between them, one of them would have to retire from the circle to protect the both of them.
“Sister Man, if you can see it so clearly, that means you are already prepared, aren’t you?” Judging from how deep Li Man’s love to He Wei was, Yun Xiangxiang had a guess.
“If he is willing to marry me, I can give up the luxury of fame to make a warm home for him,” a look of yearning gentleness appeared on Li Man’s face.
Everyone said Li Man was a proud queen, and that her ambition was written all over her face. Nobody knew she was just an ordinary woman whose love was unrequited.
“Do your best, Sister Man,” Yun Xiangxiang did not know what to say to Li Man except words of encouragement.
He Wei didn’t feel anything for Li Man. After so many years, Li Man didn’t manage to warm He Wei’s heart. Even though Yun Xiangxiang thought Li Man’s chance was slim, she wouldn’t try to douse her flames.