Chapter Seventy: Is She the One You Love?

Tang Ziyu’s scene was about to start, and Bai Chenxi perched herself on a small stool to watch, her eyes bright with curiosity as she “gathered intelligence on the enemy”—or so she claimed, calling it learning through observation.

But Bai Chenxi had to admit, there was some truth to Director Li’s gentle treatment of her. Tang Ziyu truly was a gifted actress.

Unwilling to concede, Bai Chenxi thought to herself: I’m not much worse than you; one day, I’ll surpass you.

As if sensing Bai Chenxi’s gaze, Tang Ziyu turned and flashed her a provocative smile.

Seeing Bai Chenxi’s every emotion written plainly on her face, Tang Ziyu couldn’t help but muse: So this is what he likes? Innocence, energy, a touch of cleverness, yet untouched by worldliness. In her eyes, the world seemed wholly beautiful.

Once, she herself had been like that, many years ago. But ever since she met him, she had lost herself, lost her temper.

She wasn’t entitled to such innocence anymore.

Perhaps it is only because of love that one indulges so much?

She let out a bitter smile—none of this mattered to her now.

Whatever Tang Ziyu was thinking, Bai Chenxi would never know. She simply noticed Tang Ziyu’s expression suddenly darken and muttered to herself: What did I do this time? From top to bottom, the whole crew seems to have it in for me for no reason. Truly, there’s no such thing as a free lunch.

And if there were, you’d better check if it’s spoiled. For instance, Meng Ling, who was now walking toward her—Bai Chenxi didn’t even need to look to know this was trouble.

Meng Ling approached, forcing an awkward smile she couldn’t quite manage.

She dropped the pretense altogether. “Hey! Bai Chenxi, the company wants me to post a clarification, say we’re on good terms.”

At this point, Meng Ling seemed to lose her momentum and paused. Her assistant flashed an apologetic smile at Bai Chenxi and tugged at Meng Ling’s sleeve.

But Meng Ling wouldn’t be stopped. “I need to take a picture with you, so just cooperate.”

Seeing Meng Ling act the spoiled heiress, Bai Chenxi could only laugh bitterly to herself: What is wrong with this person?

She pulled her face taut. “Why should I cooperate with you? That’s your company’s demand, not mine.”

Meng Ling immediately bristled. “Bai Chenxi, don’t push your luck! If it weren’t for whatever tricks you pulled with President Jiang, would the company be shielding you like this?”

“Really, you’re such a flirt—having Jiang to yourself isn’t enough, you have to seduce Chu Muyun too. Have you no shame?”

Bai Chenxi’s face darkened completely, but then she smiled, even a touch arrogantly. “That’s right, I have that kind of skill. Jealous, aren’t you? Too bad—even if you threw yourself at them, they wouldn’t want you.”

Meng Ling was so angry she couldn’t speak. She stammered “You…” for a while before finally spitting out, “You’re shameless.”

Bai Chenxi glanced idly at her own fingers. “Coming from you, that’s rich.”

Meng Ling was left fuming, breathing heavily. “Bai Chenxi, just you wait. You won’t have a good ending.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll definitely end up better than you.”

Their commotion had already drawn a few curious glances. The assistant, fearful Meng Ling might cause more trouble, quickly dragged her away.

Later, Meng Ling did post on Weibo to clarify, saying it was all a misunderstanding and that she and Bai Chenxi got along very well. Whether she wrote it herself, who could say.

But even with such a statement, the skeptics remained unconvinced. Meng Ling was from Kaijia Media, the largest shareholder behind Director Li’s film, which only fueled the conspiracy theorists.

Not every truth can shine through; a white cloth stained by filth will never be spotless, even when dry.

Bai Chenxi couldn’t be bothered to look at those mindless comments. After all, you can’t expect everyone to have common sense, can you?

Zhang Kai had just glanced at his phone when he shouted, “Muyun, your wife’s in trouble again!”

Chu Muyun immediately asked, “What happened?” Bai Chenxi really never let people rest easy.

As soon as Xiao Wen heard that his goddess was in trouble, he whipped out his phone. Seeing trending topics like #BaiChenxiIsADiva and #BaiChenxiActingSkills, he knew it wasn’t good.

“This is outrageous—how can they talk about the goddess like that?” Xiao Wen muttered, diving into an online battle against the keyboard warriors.

Chu Muyun frowned at his phone.

Meanwhile, Jiang Jize was in the middle of a meeting when he got Chu Muyun’s call and nearly dropped his phone.

“Brother Chu?”

Chu Muyun got straight to the point. “What’s going on online?”

Jiang Jize sat up straight. “Brother Chu, we’re already handling it.”

Fearing Chu Muyun wouldn’t believe him, Jiang Jize explained in detail, “We’ve had Meng Ling clarify that it was all a misunderstanding. We’ll guide public opinion, and this will blow over soon.”

“Meng Ling? She’s in that production too?” The mention of Meng Ling made Chu Muyun’s brow furrow even more.

“Huh?” Jiang Jize didn’t understand the sudden question.

“She’s got real potential. The company wants her to develop in multiple directions, so we put her in the crew to work on her acting.”

Roles others fought tooth and nail for were, in Jiang Jize’s words, just for practice. Who knew what those auditioning would think if they heard him now.

Jiang Jize had always found Meng Ling’s name familiar, but never paid it much mind. Now, with Chu Muyun’s question, he thought about it carefully—yes, it was her.

Suddenly, Jiang Jize grinned slyly. “Brother Chu, is it possible Meng Ling and Bai Chenxi don’t get along because of you?”