When Song Yunsheng had originally come to the hospital, she had brought that acquisition agreement with her. Unfortunately, Sang Yu had been so overwhelmed by her own emotions that she completely ignored what that acquisition meant for her mother and herself.
Even though her maternal grandparents had passed away in an accident, all three of them—mother and daughters—were entitled to inherit shares.
As long as Sang Yishen went bankrupt and the primary shareholder existed in name only, the Yunsheng Group could return to the Qiao family. Then, there would be hope for her inherited shares, and Sang Yu would have the money to maintain her mother’s medical expenses and provide for her younger sister’s continued advanced studies.
Sang Yu bit her lower lip; however, regret was useless now. She could only redial Song Yunsheng’s number.
After returning to the company, Song Yunsheng worked as usual, but anyone with eyes could see she was in a foul mood. It could be said that the entire office had dropped eight degrees in temperature. The assistant who knew her best was practically trembling, treading lightly even just to deliver a document, agonizing over when to remind the CEO about the meeting.
Unexpectedly, before she could speak, a phone call suddenly came in. After Song Yunsheng answered it, her expression softened slightly, and she suddenly glanced toward her side.
The assistant jolted and immediately said, “President Song, the afternoon meeting…”
“Push it back by one hour.”
Song Yunsheng’s voice was calm and indifferent. Her nonchalant manner made the assistant secretly click her tongue in surprise. One had to know that since President Song took office, she had never been late for a single meeting. She wondered who had just called.
While thinking this, the assistant complied. Just as she was about to leave, Song Yunsheng called out to her again, “Someone will be coming to see me shortly. Bring her directly here.”
“Yes, President Song.”
Sang Yu was unaware of this little interlude. Her original intention was to negotiate with Song Yunsheng, but Song Yunsheng had spoken with concise brevity over the phone: “This matter cannot be discussed over the phone. If you truly want to talk, come to the company and find me.”
Driven by necessity, Sang Yu had no choice but to brace herself and head over. In three years, this was her first time coming to the Song Group’s headquarters. She had expected to encounter the difficulties she had imagined, but throughout the journey, nothing happened.
The entertainment company she had originally signed with was now a subsidiary of the group, so Sang Yu was not afraid of running into Lu Lingxi here.
However, she hadn’t figured out how to open the conversation with Song Yunsheng. After agonizing over it for half the journey, Sang Yu decided to take the initiative.
The moment she saw Song Yunsheng, she spoke bluntly.
“Let’s change the terms of our cooperation. You help me acquire Yunsheng Group and drive Sang Yishen into bankruptcy. In exchange, I will voluntarily waive all my shares in the group; I only need ten million to maintain the medical expenses and my sister’s tuition.”
A starved camel is still bigger than a horse. No matter how incompetent Sang Yishen was, that was his personal issue. At its peak, the Yunsheng Group’s output value reached tens of billions. Even now, the inherited shares of the mother and two daughters were worth several hundred million RMB. This was a very profitable bargain, and Sang Yu knew that Song Yunsheng did not lack ten million.
In other words, her proposal was equivalent to letting Song Yunsheng directly acquire and control Yunsheng Group for a mere ten million. Sang Yu didn’t think she had any reason to refuse.
As Sang Yu thought this, she noticed the surrounding temperature drop slightly. Song Yunsheng’s cold voice came from in front of her, “Close the door behind you.”
What… is she telling me to get out?
Sang Yu froze, feeling a pang of bitterness in her heart. She pursed her lips, turning a deaf ear to the implication, and insisted on speaking, “Even if you don’t want to see me, acquiring Yunsheng Group is inherently beneficial to you. Is it worth letting it fall through halfway just because we are getting a divorce?”
Before her voice had even faded, Song Yunsheng glanced at her with a slightly strange expression. Sang Yu was bewildered, but Song Yunsheng didn’t explain.
She simply spoke in a slow, measured way: “You are right. But you must understand, this bit of sunk cost means nothing to me.”
As she spoke, Sang Yu suddenly heard the sound of the door lock clicking behind her. She caught a glimpse out of the corner of her eye and saw the assistant who had led her up leaving quietly.
Sang Yu froze again, a wave of indefinable emotion rising in her heart, but immediately after, Song Yunsheng’s words became sharp.
“Sang Yu, you have probably forgotten. The Yunsheng Group acquisition plan was a condition in our five-year agreement. You are the one who breached the contract first. I am already being generous by not making you pay the penalty for breach of contract, yet you actually expect me to continue fulfilling the agreement?”
Sang Yu’s face turned pale. For a moment, she wanted nothing more than to slap herself for her earlier wild imaginings. Her lips trembled as she tried to argue back, but unexpectedly, Song Yunsheng spoke coldly again.
“Besides, your father has been trying to curry favor with me recently. Why should I give up a business partner because of you?”
“He is not my father! He doesn’t deserve it!!”
Sang Yu was beyond furious. For the first time, she realized that Song Yunsheng was actually so detestable. After living together for many years, she had been completely unaware of the other’s loathing for Sang Yishen…
And to talk about “business partners”—had she planned all along to play both sides? If so, what did her own wholehearted trust in Song Yunsheng over the past three years amount to?
Sang Yu’s scalp felt numb; she almost didn’t dare think about it further.
But at the same time, she realized why Sang Yishen, knowing full well the rift between father and daughter, still held delusions about Song Yunsheng and kept trying to please her.
It turned out that everything was a matter of near-heartless, rational calculation…
In an instant, Sang Yu thought of everything. She broke down completely, her grievances and anger pouring out as she had a huge row with Song Yunsheng.
Or rather, it was her one-sided venting, because throughout the entire process, Song Yunsheng only opened her mouth once or twice and said nothing else. Her face was so calm that there wasn’t even a ripple of emotion.
Sang Yu felt this was even more humiliating. She slammed the door and left in a fit of pique. Song Yunsheng did not chase after her; she only rubbed her temples forcefully, not even knowing what she was thinking at that moment.
In fact, Song Yunsheng hadn’t intended to provoke Sang Yu. She simply felt that, at this stage, a divorce was not beneficial for either her or Sang Yu.
Therefore, Song Yunsheng maintained a negative stance toward the divorce. She knew how much Sang Yu cared about the acquisition of Yunsheng Group, which was why she tried to negotiate terms.
But she forgot that Sang Yu was not a business negotiation opponent. Cold negotiation tactics were completely ineffective in front of Sang Yu.
Realizing this, Song Yunsheng became inexplicably frustrated.
Actually, just as Song Yunsheng had said herself, whether they divorced or not would not change a single thing for her materially. Even if there was public pressure, the PR department wasn’t there just for show.
So why was she so unhappy now?
Song Yunsheng knitted her brows tightly but was unwilling to dwell on it.
On the other side, the first thing Sang Yu did after leaving the company building was call Lu Lingxi.
Lu Lingxi happened to be free, so she came to pick her up. When she arrived, she looked up at the building and was immediately curious: “You went to see President Song? What did you say? Did she agree to the divorce? When are you planning to make your comeback?”
After the barrage of questions, Sang Yu’s headache worsened. She pursed her lips and remained silent. Lu Lingxi raised an eyebrow, “Don’t tell me you aren’t planning on making a comeback.”
“That’s not it at all,” Sang Yu denied gloomily.
Lu Lingxi looked at her with an even stranger expression. “Then what did you go there to talk about? Your state of mind is very worrying.”
Family scandals should not be aired in public, so Sang Yu shook her head and didn’t mention Sang Yishen. She simply summarized the conflict between her and Song Yunshang: “I need ten million to maintain my mother’s medical expenses, and Song Yunsheng refused.”
“Why did she refuse? Did you add any other conditions? Or is she actually trying to make you leave with nothing after the divorce??”
Lu Lingxi was full of questions. She didn’t know that Sang Yu and Song Yunsheng had a contract marriage, so what Sang Yu said seemed truly unbelievable to her.
“No matter what, you’ve been a couple for three years. How can President Song be more heartless every time? Before, President Song didn’t seem like such a stingy person. Why is she being so petty now? It’s like you’re strangers…”
The speaker was unintentional, but the listener was attentive. Sang Yu lowered her eyes and smiled bitterly.
Indeed, even Lu Lingxi could see that their relationship was worse than that of strangers. What was she herself still hoping for? How could she have thought that Song Yunsheng would help her?
Between them, it had always been a matter of each taking what they needed; there had never been any affection to speak of.
Sang Yu gave up hope and shook her head, not wanting to mention Song Yunsheng anymore. She tried to pull herself together and spoke with forced lightness.
“So, isn’t that why I came to find you? It’s worth it to see through a person after three years. I finally understand now: if you lean on a mountain, it will fall; if you lean on people, they will deceive you. It’s better to rely on yourself than to beg others. It’s better to make a comeback early and earn more money.”
“You’ve finally realized it! You finally have some professional ambition.”
Lu Lingxi was greatly relieved, and Sang Yu followed with a relaxed smile. “Sister Lu is the best. Please help me out; I can take on any assignments now.”
The days of working non-stop hadn’t been that long ago. Sang Yu knew she couldn’t afford to be sentimental now; she had to earn money as quickly as possible and could no longer let Song Yunsheng control her.
Of course, that marriage agreement had no legal validity. Song Yunsheng was merely using it as a threat; she couldn’t actually file a lawsuit to force Sang Yu to pay the penalty for the five-year agreement.
However, with Sang Yu being in the entertainment industry and Song Yunsheng being the president of an entertainment company, Song Yunsheng had ten thousand ways to make it impossible for her to survive.
Originally, Sang Yu had been quite optimistic. She thought that even if Song Yunsheng didn’t care for her, she wouldn’t do things so ruthlessly. But after this, Sang Yu discovered she had thought too highly of Song Yunsheng.
That’s how business people were—selfish and never considering others.
Sang Yu took a deep breath, hoping things were still in time, but she also had to be prepared for Song Yunsheng to become fly into a rage out of humiliation.
Thinking of this, she could only urge Lu Lingxi more: “Sister Lu, please help me. It’s almost next month, and I still have to send living expenses to A-Ya.”
Lu Lingxi paused, appearing to reflect for a moment before remembering, “Your sister… oh, that child named Sang Ya?”
Sang Yu nodded, not noticing that Lu Lingxi lowered her eyes with a hint of something unusual. Soon, that slight strangeness vanished, and Lu Lingxi naturally took out a schedule from her bag, pointed out a few assignments to Sang Yu, and explained.
“That time you trended was so worth it. Afterward, several producers came to ask me about you. These are the few I picked that look promising. Take a look yourself.”
Sang Yu took it and scanned it, finding that most were variety reality shows.
The two had worked together for a long time. Before Sang Yu could even speak after looking up, Lu Lingxi guessed what she wanted to say and threw up her hands.
“Don’t ask why there are no roles. It’s true you were the Best Actress before, but have you forgotten how ugly things got at that awards ceremony?”
To announce retirement and marriage on the very stage where one had achieved the peak of their career and won the Best Actress trophy—it was likely that only a “love-brain” like Sang Yu could have done such a thing.