Chapter Twelve: Fu Xinye: "Let's add each other on WeChat, Miaomiao."
Xu Miao felt a bit uncomfortable under their intense gazes, even beginning to doubt herself.
“Is my makeup really that ugly? It shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
Chen Yunmo snapped back to attention and smiled, “Not ugly—too beautiful. You’re stealing the spotlight too much. You’ll have to stand in the back row; otherwise, the leading lady won’t get any attention at all.”
Xu Miao laughed at his teasing, tilting her head with a gentle curve to her eyes. “Senior Brother, is this how you compliment people now?”
The word “Senior Brother” carried a hint of coquettishness, making Lin Mo’s ears flush red in an instant.
He scratched the back of his head awkwardly, avoiding her gaze. “I’m just telling the truth. Alright, go on and get busy, listen to Teacher Wang’s instructions.”
With that, he turned away to attend to other matters. Xu Miao noticed how red his ears were and wondered to herself.
What’s wrong with Senior Brother? Could he be sick?
Chen Yunmo watched Xu Miao walk away, his gaze fixed on her retreating figure, lost in thought.
He had always liked Xu Miao. Back in her sophomore year, when she participated in the University Film Festival, she had invited him to be the male lead in her film.
Though he didn’t develop feelings for the heroine, he grew fond of Xu Miao, the director.
But she was the daughter of the Xu family.
Though the Xu family wasn’t top-tier in South City, they still held considerable status, while he was just a humble student from an impoverished background. He felt unworthy of her and could only silently care for her under the guise of “Senior Brother.”
Recently, he heard the Xu family had encountered some troubles. Watching her shoulder all the burdens alone, he felt both pain and admiration.
He wanted to confess, to tell her that she could rely on him, but when the words reached his lips, he swallowed them back.
He was still just a junior assistant director, his career only just beginning. He wanted to wait until he was more stable, able to provide her with a secure future, before standing proudly before her.
Yet today, watching her dazzling under the lights, impossible to look away from, Chen Yunmo felt an unprecedented surge of urgency.
A girl like her wouldn’t wait in place forever.
Once this film crew’s work was done, he had to confess, afraid someone else would beat him to it.
---
Xu Miao had been busy on set for a full week, during which Xu Zhong hadn’t bothered her.
She enjoyed the peace.
Xu Zhong kept away because Fan Sanye hadn’t contacted him either.
The Fan family.
“Crash!”
Fan Sanye smashed a prized Yuan Dynasty blue-and-white porcelain vase into countless shards on the polished marble floor. The fragments flew about, nearly scratching the pants of a middle-aged man standing nearby.
The man, dressed in a well-tailored suit and gold-rimmed glasses, looked on with weary resignation behind his lenses.
Li Meipin, the Fan family’s legal counsel, cautiously avoided the mess on the floor while watching the enraged man who resembled a wild beast.
Fan Sanye’s eyes were bloodshot, his chest heaving violently, veins bulging on his temples as if about to burst.
He had just been bailed out of the police detention center; his rumpled designer shirt still carried a stubborn musty smell, and he looked utterly disheveled.
“Master Sanye, please calm down,” Li Meipin said softly.
Fan Shabing shoved his hand away, gasping for breath as he sank into a leather sofa, fuming.
“How can I calm down? Someone is clearly out to get me! I went on a business trip out of town to relax, and by sheer bad luck, I got caught in a prostitution bust! And of all things, there was a reporter present! Now all of South City knows Fan Shabing was arrested for soliciting prostitutes!”
The situation was indeed suspicious.
Li Meipin adjusted his glasses, his tone grave yet tactful.
“Master Sanye, as you said, someone is targeting us.”
He paused, watching Fan Shabing’s expression before continuing his analysis.
“The morning you were taken away, the resort project we were about to finalize with Huihong Real Estate was abruptly canceled. Yesterday afternoon, our European supplier, with whom we’d had a five-year relationship, sent an email terminating all future orders. This is certainly no coincidence.”
Fan Shabing’s face turned deathly pale. He sprang up, grabbing Li Meipin by the collar, his bloodshot eyes intensifying.
“What did you say?! Both projects stopped?! Why?”
“The other parties didn’t provide clear reasons, only saying it was a business decision after comprehensive evaluation,” Li Meipin’s expression grew even more solemn. He straightened his crooked tie and spoke deliberately.
“Master Sanye, think carefully. Wasn’t your fiancée picked up that night by the eldest son of the Fu family?”
Fan Shabing’s pupils suddenly constricted, and his grip on the lawyer’s collar slackened.
---
Of course, he remembered.
That day, he had helplessly watched that wretched Xu Miao slip away with her lover. Furious, he had taken a photo of the car, intending to have the lover taught a lesson.
He never expected the car belonged to Fu Wenhan, the eldest son of the Fu family.
Unable to confront the Fu family, he spread rumors, claiming they had bullied him and stolen his fiancée, insisting the Fu family was in the wrong.
Little did he know, he had struck a nerve.
Li Meipin saw his defeated expression and knew he had pieced it together. He sighed and continued.
“Master Sanye, you know better than I do how ruthless the old patriarch of the Fu family is. Fu Wenhan is the most cherished heir of the current generation, the old master’s beloved. You’ve touched his golden canary. How could the Fu family possibly let this go?”
Fan Shabing sneered fiercely, then, in a fit of rage, kicked the rosewood tea table, sending the tea set crashing to the floor.
“It’s all that shameless Xu Miao’s fault!” Fan Shabing ground his teeth, every word like it was squeezed through clenched jaws. “She seduced Fu Wenhan! She thinks climbing up the Fu family’s ladder means she can just kick me aside? Dream on!”
Li Meipin watched the man verge on madness, shaking his head inwardly.
Master Sanye still hadn’t grasped the situation.
What he should be considering now was how to quell the Fu family’s wrath and minimize losses.
But Fan Shabing clearly thought otherwise.
He believed he had been schemed against by the Fu family solely because of Xu Miao. Unable to touch the Fu family, he could still go after Xu Miao.
A sinister smile spread across his face.
“Since she’s so unchaste, so eager to be someone’s ‘toy,’” he whispered darkly, his voice chilling, “then I’ll grant her wish.”
He lifted his head, looking at Li Meipin.
“If this wife can’t be mine, then I’ll destroy her! I want everyone in South City to know that Xu Miao is nothing but a loose woman, a dirty slut anyone can have! Let’s see if the Fu family still wants her after that!”