When Lin Xiaoxiao came in, Shen Yanci sat at his desk with a gloomy expression.
She had already heard what had happened outside.
“Yanci, are you planning to get Xu Mian back?”
Shen Yanci tightened his face. “It’s just a collaboration.”
Lin Xiaoxiao paused mid-peel with her orange, then nodded. “Then are you prepared for Xu Mian to have the upper hand once she returns? She never supported this drama before. Now you’ve invested if it makes money, fine. But if it flops, and Xu Mian comes back, how do you think she’ll see you?”
Shen Yanci’s brow darkened.
Lin Xiaoxiao smiled lightly. “Yanci, you know I always support whatever you do.”
“But are you sure you want Xu Mian back at this moment?”
“She used all those tricks just to push you. If you give in now, won’t it make you look ridiculous?”
Shen Yanci’s expression grew darker.
“Honestly, if you want my advice, I’d say you could wait a little longer.”
“Xu Mian only finished high school, right? If she’s not a manager, what else can she do?”
“You, a legitimate film emperor if this project fails, you can go back to acting. But Xu Mian? Would she give up her golden goose? There are plenty of potential stars in the entertainment industry, but someone with your potential? Only one. Xu Mian knows that.”
“She’s just putting on airs, waiting for you to beg her to come back.”
Lin Xiaoxiao looked at Shen Yanci with a hint of pity. “But if you really like someone, how could you give up?”
That last line hit Shen Yanci right in the chest.
Exactly.
If you truly like someone, you wouldn’t let go.
There was no doubt Xu Mian liked him!
She was just putting on a show.
Fine.
Then he would gamble on how long Xu Mian could hold her pride.
Shen Yanci told his assistant, “Spread the word. Tell them I agreed to have dinner with CEO Li of Banghui Media.”
The new assistant stared in shock.
“CEO Shen… that Li… is famous for ”
Sleeping with male stars in the entertainment circle.
Back then, Xu Mian had stormed out in a rage because CEO Li tried to take advantage of Shen Yanci. She smashed a beer bottle and ended that relationship completely.
And now…
Shen Yanci wanted to proactively invite him to dinner?
“Go, and you go!” he was gambling that Xu Mian would feel heartache, would hesitate!
If she could, Xu Mian would never show up.
When Xu Lin returned from the company, he glanced inside the villa.
Li Aunty smiled. “Just like father and daughter Xu Die did the same when she came back.”
Xu Lin chuckled.
But Wang Fang, at his side, said, “Li Aunty, now that Mian Mian is home, don’t say it like that. She might feel uncomfortable.”
The trust fund was about to expire.
Xu Mian was no longer the underage girl she once was.
If they didn’t hand over the trust, it would be troublesome.
Xu Lin saw through Wang Fang’s worry and waved it off. “You’re overthinking. She’s just a girl why would she need all that wealth? Give it to her? Can she manage it? She only finished high school. She’ll find someone to marry and that’s enough.”
Hearing this, Wang Fang smiled and hooked her arm around Xu Lin’s. “But will Xu Mian agree herself?”
“Why wouldn’t she? I’m her father! She’s 25 now. It’s time to marry. Does she want to be a spinster at home? That would be ridiculous!”
Wang Fang smiled more deeply. “Then I’ll introduce her. You know, among the socialites I know, there are some good young men.”
Xu Lin nodded, looking at her with tenderness. “I’ll leave it to you. There’s so much going on in this house, and now with Xu Mian, you haven’t been sleeping well lately.”
He leaned toward her ear. “Tonight… shall we relax at the ancestral hall?”
Wang Fang, in her forties and well-kept, lowered her head shyly. Xu Lin’s hand on her slender waist tightened.
Xu Die smiled and leaned in. “Dad, you like Mom, but you don’t like me.”
Xu Lin hooked his arm around Xu Die’s shoulders. “How could we not like our baby? The three of us should be happy together.”
At that moment, Xu Mian slowly came down the stairs.
Xu Die smirked. “Dad, you’re right. The three of us should live well together.”
She spoke while glancing at Xu Mian, who entered the kitchen calmly, her expression unreadable.
“Dad,” Xu Die said to Xu Lin, “my friend said that when my sister went to the hospital today, nobody wanted her. Everyone thinks she only got in because she’s a high school dropout with connections. Don’t you think she’d be bullied?”
Xu Lin’s face darkened immediately.
He strode to Xu Mian and slammed the table heavily.
Xu Mian lazily ate her dinner while scrolling on her phone.
Hearing the noise, she lifted her eyelids and looked at Xu Lin. “Going crazy?”
Her face was cold and detached, and when she looked up, it was icy.
Xu Lin paused. “Xu Mian, are you deliberately defying me? I told you to go to the company’s production department to pack bags. You insisted on going to the hospital to embarrass me. Now that nobody wants you, are you happy?”
Xu Mian’s gaze swept past Xu Lin to glance at Xu Die without much emotion.
Xu Die recoiled in fear.
This is a lunatic.
Xu Lin snapped. “Don’t look at your sister. Tomorrow, don’t go to the hospital. Go to the production department and be a laborer.”
Xu Mian withdrew her gaze, picking up some vegetables. “Xu Lin, know your place.”
“I don’t have to follow your orders.”
“I’ll go wherever I want.”
Xu Lin was furious. “I am your father!”
“Am I?” Xu Mian peeled a shrimp, her tone flat, but a mocking smile tugged at her lips. “I don’t have a father who rolls around on the lawn with the little maid while my mother’s corpse is barely cold.”
Xu Lin froze.
“You…”
“How would I know?” Xu Mian laughed, her expression scornful. “You seem to have forgotten. I was young, but at that time, I had control over the house’s surveillance. Not just the lawn, right?”
She glanced at Wang Fang, who looked unavoidably fragile. “The sofa?”
“The kitchen?”
“Oh ”
“Almost forgot.”
“Your favorite spot was the Xu family ancestral hall.”
“Facing the ancestral tablets of Xu family forebears… thrilling, isn’t it?”
Xu Mian curled her lips in a sarcastic smile, crossed her legs, and laid bare all the filth.
“I wonder, if grandpa and grandma knew, would they scold your shamelessness… or your incompetence?”
“Dad, I did some statistics. Your average duration is fifteen minutes.”
Xu Mian set down her chopsticks and stood, smiling lightly. “Are you…”
Her tone dragged out as she slowly spoke two words: “Kidney-deficient?”
“Hua Lin Urology is good. Go check it out.”
She finished, bypassed the trembling Xu Lin, and faced Wang Fang, her gaze cold and direct.
“Fasao picked the wrong person. He got a loser.”
She bent slightly to meet Wang Fang’s eyes. “You must be feeling itchy tonight, huh?”
Xu Lin was about to explode!
Then Xu Mian dropped the bomb: “Those little toys you bought? I put them in your room. I guess my dad will enjoy watching you play alone.”
Her arrogant laughter echoed through the Xu household.
Everyone in the room turned red and white with embarrassment.