“That says more about them than it does about us. If you fight with them, it speaks more about you than it does about them,” said Yun Xiangxiang earnestly.
“This is the path every actor must go through. I will be facing more attacks after this, and it will only get worse. Unless I quit acting, only more and more haters will appear. Are you planning to fight every time that happens?”
Yun Lin gritted his teeth.
“Look, you might have won this time, but what if you meet people you can’t beat?” Yun Xiangxiang continued advising him. “Little Lin, rumors are just that. Rumors.”
Yun Lin puffed his cheeks. He sulked on the sofa.
Yun Xiangxiang left him to his own devices and went down to check on Qian Yongnian.
Yongnian was living with Wang Yong and the others. He stuck to his original plan of starting work on the first of June. Now he was drawing all the blueprints he could think of.
“I was going to make some pea-sized beads and string them together. There’s also a bracelet, necklace, and earrings. But then I thought it would be a shame if the beads broke because the string broke. That’s why I changed it into a piece of inlay jewelry.”
Yongnian gave Yun Xiangxiang the blueprints. He designed them based on the uncut stone. They were painstakingly detailed. He had weighed the stone and marked down all the jewelries’ range of weight.
He even designed things like inlaid brooches or ring bezels with the leftovers. Nothing was wasted.
She found it hard to relate a craftsman like him with a crooked man who took his employer’s jade all to himself.
Yun Xiangxiang said nothing about it. She put down the blueprints, “I’ll pick up your grandson as planned when summer vacation swings around.”
When she returned home, Song Qian said, “The master down there has some history.”
“What did you find out?”
“Something deeper. You hired him, so it’s my job to dig deep,” Song Qian was responsible for Yun Xiangxiang’s safety.
“His son was paralyzed after a car crash. His daughter-in-law was the one who accused him of counterfeiting and doing shoddy work. And she married…”
She smirked, “…someone who works in the company that slandered Master Qian.”
“Tragic,” Yun Xiangxiang understood what Song Qian was saying.
Yongnian was framed by his family, who was colluding with the company. That was why he couldn’t defend himself.
“That woman is ruthless. She never even cared about her son after all these years.” The boy was little more than a year old when she betrayed them.
“I think this is her last act of kindness toward them,” Yun Xiangxiang sneered.
Letting her son think she was dead was better than having him know he had a scumbag mother.
“It’s just a matter of opinion,” they were not their family. They wouldn’t know what they wanted.
Someone else’s family matters should only be their own business. Yun Xiangxiang stopped the conversation. She felt that the guy married Qian Qian’s mother to control Yongnian. He wouldn’t overturn the case as he needed to keep his grandson safe.
There was a generation gap between him and Qian Qian. What happened to him was in a time long before Qian Qian. It couldn’t affect him. But it was different with his mother.
Yun Xiangxiang rested for a day before she went to the filming spot. The place was far from her home, and Beijing’s traffic jam during peak hours was atrocious. She didn’t go back home. Instead, she stayed in a hotel the company had arranged for her.
Someone sent her a friend request to her after she had done talking with Song Mian. It was Liang Xinrong.
After the competition back then, Yun Xiangxiang knew Wen Lan wanted Xinrong to be under her. Yun Xiangxiang let the girl pass because of her past with Wen Lan.
But only a select few in the company knew her number. Out of the actors in the company, she only had Li Man and Xue Yu as friends.
If nobody sent her any request, she wouldn’t ask for their username either.
Liang Xinrong sent her a message, [I like you a lot. I added you as a friend because I want to learn from you.]
[Everyone is a newbie. Let’s work hard together.] Yun Xiangxiang answered politely.
[En en {📑}]
[[{💪}]
Xinrong didn’t send her any messages after that. No matter if she had any ulterior motives, at least nobody could dislike her message. That was what Yun Xiangxiang thought.
“The King’s Plan” ended its run on the first of June, recording a total box office of 2.41 billion yuan. Regrettably, it didn’t break the record and settled as number two. Yun Xiangxiang told Du Changrong she would be going to Wu Zhao’s place for the feast.
Having it at the hotel was troublesome. The reporters could come and go as they pleased. Wu Zhao held the feast in his home. Only the main team would be there.
Yun Xiangxiang arrived early. Wu Zhao wasn’t home yet. Only his wife was there.
His wife wasn’t someone in the industry, but she was a genius in the financial world. Thanks to her, Wu Zhao was a wealthy guy.
Mrs. Wu didn’t look like a domineering woman. When Yun Xiangxiang was there, she was cooking for them herself. After putting down the gift she brought, Yun Xiangxiang went to the kitchen to help.
“Not many girls are willing to step into the kitchen now,” Mrs. Wu liked Yun Xiangxiang.
“I can be the assistant. But if you want me to be the chef…,” Yun Xiangxiang trailed off.
Her dishes were edible. She could make a few soups. Compared to her mom or her boyfriend, her skills were nothing.
‘It’s fine, as long as you carry your own weight,” Mrs. Wu chuckled.
“Aiyaya, you’re making me look like an unvirtuous woman,” Sun Qiluo was standing outside the kitchen.
“Get over here and you can pretend to be one,” Yun Xiangxiang teased.
Qiluo shook her head, “The guys know how I work. I better not trouble you two.”
She was one those girls that Mrs. Wu mentioned was unwilling to enter the kitchen. Eating was right up her alley. Cooking was not.
Yun Xiangxiang and Mrs. Wu laughed. They didn’t mind her not helping. Qiluo went to the living room. Yun Xiangxiang learned and chatted with Mrs. Wu as she helped out. She found out they had a nineteen-year-old daughter who was studying abroad.
Mrs. Wu praised Yun Xiangxiang when they were having dinner, “She’s a pretty lady, you men have to take the opportunity.”
He Xingzhou shook his head, “If I marry her, my life’s going to be a disaster.”
Yun Xiangxiang was gorgeous, capable, gentle, knowledgeable, and of great upbringing. That much was true.
But the problem was that he couldn’t fit her in his palm. Nor did he have any romantic feelings for her. He preferred gentle girls who idolized him.
“Brother Cang has a family, Brother Jin is too old, umph…”
Lu Jin hit him with his elbow before Xingzhou finished his sentence. The latter’s face contorted with pain.
“There’s sixteen years between you two. Brother Jin. How could you?” He Xingzhou clutched the throbbing spot. He looked at Lu Jin as if Lu Jin was an animal.
“Hahahaha, come, come, let’s eat,” Mrs. Wu mediated.