From the penthouse suite of a skyscraper, cars on the street seemed more like ants than anything else. Their little lights glowed in the night. Their sharp turns became gentle. Their blistering speeds? Suddenly manageable.
“This view never gets old,” A man chuckled to himself while sitting half-submerged inside a pool. Right beside the floor-to-ceiling window in the darkened room, he looked out into the night while sipping from a cup of whisky. “That reminds me...”
Slicking his wet hair back, he reached over to his phone, opened the camera app, and snapped a few photos with the night scenery as a background. A few swipes and a couple taps later, he posted them to social media with the caption: [Nothing beats a glass of whiskey after a late-night swim workout. I’m working hard to surpass your expectations with my next project, stay tuned!]
Wearing nothing but a pair of ebony-colored swim trunks, his photos put his chiseled frame on full display. Not that the internet seemed to mind, they didn’t even notice the crystalline chandelier hanging above the pool in the background of the shot.
[HUSBAND!]
[Frothing at the mouth, our king never fails to treat us well]
[A true gentleman with charisma, work ethic, and elegance, how much more perfect could one person be?]
[Immaculate, i can tell bro lifts]
He snorted when comments came flooding in within seconds. Cracking a faint smile, he tossed his phone to the side and leaned back against the wall of the pool. “Expected, for someone like me.”
As he turned his head to look out the window once more, he paused, the phone had begun buzzing on the marble tile. Reaching over, he grabbed the phone with a frown. “What? Who are you to call me this late at night?”
“Chu Changfeng, I’m just letting you know we confirmed the actress for the female supporting lead role,” A hesitant voice came over the phone. “You wanted prompt updates about this project that you’re starring in after all...”
“Hmm... correct,” Chu Changfeng relented after taking a sip from his glass. “So, spit it out. Who is it?”
“Xia Ruyun,” The voice answered. “She’s making a low-profile return to the acting industry and this will be her second project. We directly offered her the position after the recommendation from Zhang Jingsong, and she took it. Don’t worry, we didn’t disclose our influence in this project to her. However, when we make an offer to Li Feiling for the female lead, we plan to mention it. Though minuscule, being more open about it may raise the chance she joins the project.”
“Oh? The singer makes a return? Oh? How exciting. I don’t expect Li Feiling to join, but try nonetheless,” Chu Changfeng broke into a wide smile before hanging up the call. Pushing himself upward to sit on the pool’s edge, he couldn’t help but lick his lips as drops of pool water slid down his body. “Xia Ruyun... A beautiful rose still untouched. How long will you be able to last against me?”
A jackal-like smile appeared as he faced his own reflection in the water. Before long, wreathed in the room’s darkness, his body shook from silent laughter. “I’m delighted... I’m so delighted for this next project.”
---
The hills outside of Q City housed a plethora of secluded villas. Of course, as the daughter of the Li Family who had an acting career beyond what could even be considered in the realm of a successful actress anymore, Li Feiling owned one such villa.
She sat in the living room, sinking into the sofa with a face mask on. Letting out a long sigh, her shoulders relaxed as she flipped open her book to continue where she had left off. With a timer set for fifteen minutes, she focused on reading—the sound of her flipping pages every couple minutes filling the room.
Once the chime of her alarm went off though, she pursed her lips, put in her bookmark, and set the book aside. She grabbed her phone, silenced it, and set it down before walking off to the bathroom. A second later, the sound of running water leaked into the living room as she washed her hands.
“Ah... that’s better,” Li Feiling mumbled to herself as she peeled the face mask off. After applying some toner, she bent down and grabbed her gemstone roller. Running through the rest of her routine, she walked back out of the bathroom only to notice a stream of missed calls from Ye Shuhua. Reaching down and tapping the notification, she called her back. The call connected within seconds, so Li Feiling led off with a “What’s up?”
“I just wanted to reach out to run a project by you,” Ye Shuhua answered. “You were offered a role with Chu Changfeng’s next blockbuster TV series. The pay is... immense, and they’re offering it without an audition. Plus, the shooting schedule starts soon. It pretty much checks all your boxes.”
“But it's with Chu Changfeng, the human-shaped piece of scum, so turn it down,” Li Feiling shrugged it off while turning and taking a seat on the couch. “Why even ask? You know I won’t take any projects with him anymore.”
“Well, to start, the pay is... crazy,” Ye Shuhua ventured. “I’ll send you the contract later, but it's a mind-boggling amount, even by the standards you request these days. I thought it’d be nice especially since you took a pay cut for the last movie.”
“You know I’m not lacking money by any metric though,” Li Feiling raised an eyebrow before falling silent to let Ye Shuhua continue.
“The second is because they’ve cast Xia Ruyun for the supporting female lead,” Ye Shuhua paused for a second. “I thought you’d want me to bring this project to your attention since both of us don’t want to see Xia Ruyun alone on a set with him.”
“Why did she take it...” Li Feiling scowled, massaging the bridge of her nose as she felt a certain pressure building in the front of her head. “I mean I can’t judge her though, the money probably means more for her.”
“Probably, though she should still have a fair amount of money from royalties,” Ye Shuhua agreed as the sound of a couple clicks leaked over the call. “As far as I can tell though, Chu Changfeng’s involvement in the movie’s backend has been hidden. There’s nothing that reveals it in the contract. His involvement was revealed to me personally by the director over the phone, and he wanted me to... keep it on the down low.”
“Dirty pig,” Li Feiling spat. As she opened her mouth to continue denigrating Chu Changfeng though, no words came out. Her stomach, instead, flipped and flopped while her shoulders tensed up.
The call fell quiet for a couple seconds, as if the nighttime’s solitude had begun rearing its claws. But, in reality, the two women on both sides of the call gathered their thoughts. While Ye Shuhua typed away on her computer multi-tasking, Li Feiling just stared down at her nails. Under the light of her living room, she opened and closed her hand in rhythm with her own breathing.
The stress I just got rid of has already returned...
With... anxiety too? Why? Why am I so nervous just thinking about Chu Changfeng right now...
“... I’ll join the project,” Li Feiling whispered as her eyes hardened. A long exhale left her lips and disappeared into the night—dragging with it, some of worries—causing her shoulders to fall and relax. “I... want to be there just in case Chu Changfeng tries anything. He’s done too much to too many people by now. At the same time, look into the director. Blacklist him for all my future projects if he turns out to be a Chu family lapdog.”
“Sounds good, I’ll let them know you’re joining. If you want, I’ll even try to negotiate a higher pay while I’m at it, since they seem to want to use money to lure you in,” Ye Shuhua confirmed over the phone as the typing sounds of a keyboard leaked over their call.
“Negotiate as much as you can, bleed his ass dry,” Li Feiling hissed before her voice softened. “I can hear you working though. No need to do this much for me so late at night. It can wait until morning. Get some rest and come over to my place around noon so we can talk over the details in person.”
“Thank you, I will keep that in mind,” Ye Shuhua laughed before they began exchanging some late-night pleasantries to wrap up the call. Just as she went to hang up though, Ye Shuhua paused before opening her mouth once more. “Little Li, Xia Ruyun really means a lot to you, doesn’t she?”
“... Yeah, she does,” Li Feiling’s voice replied after a few seconds.
“I’m glad,” Ye Shuhua smiled as her hand hovered over the end call button. “Goodnight, sleep well.”
“Thank you.”
Ending the call with a click, Ye Shuhua’s eyes softened as she stared out the window. She brushed her gray hair back before tying it up into a bun.
I wonder if Xia Ruyun will be the one to make Little Li stop working so much...
Heavens know that no matter how much the master of the Li family pays me, I can’t do anything to convince that girl...