In truth, Sang Yu understood exactly what Lu Lingxi meant. Since she was currently on bad terms with Song Yunsheng, it was virtually impossible for the company to pour money into marketing for her.
Therefore, she had to temporarily ride the wave of this current trending topic to get the word out about her comeback. Only then would it be possible for a director, seeing the weight of the title “Best Actress,” to contact Lu Lingxi regarding a role.
Of course, if the public reaction to the variety show was poor, that would be a different story.
Thus, no matter how anxious Sang Yu was, Lu Lingxi still offered a word of comfort: “Take it slow. This isn’t something that can be rushed.”
“And don’t overthink it. Perhaps CEO Song was just angry and intentionally spoke those harsh words. After all, you were personally signed into the company by her back then. There’s no reason for her to deliberately target you!”
“Times change,” Sang Yu lamented, reminding her again, “Don’t forget, the young starlet the company is currently putting all its strength behind isn’t me.”
“That… is true.”
The mention of a name that went unspoken left both of them in silence. Lu Lingxi was driving; she had been heading forward while they chatted. Sang Yu continued flipping through the notices and asked casually, “Where are we going?”
Lu Lingxi became mysterious at this point, lowering her voice to say “It’s a secret.” Before Sang Yu could press her out of curiosity, Lu Lingxi seemed to remember something else.
She hurriedly said, “By the way, look at that dating show on there. I think the concept and gameplay of that program are very suitable for you.”
Upon hearing “dating show,” Sang Yu frowned slightly.
“A dating show? That’s not a good idea. I’ve just gotten divorced and I’m going on a dating show? Even if Song Yunsheng doesn’t want to target me, the fans will poke holes in my spine with their criticism.”
“You still care about the fans?”
Lu Lingxi complained bluntly, continuing: “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it. Firstly, your ‘lovestruck’ persona is deeply ingrained in people’s minds. Isn’t it normal to use a new relationship to smooth over old scars?”
“Besides, this is the most immediate and simple response. Once you’re on a dating show, you can openly tell everyone you’re divorced—you won’t even need an official announcement. Wait, don’t tell me you still want to reboot that work account from three years ago and listen to your old fans come over and bash you?”
It wasn’t that Sang Yu hadn’t experienced cyberbullying before; celebrities deal with those kinds of comments all the time, so her expression didn’t change much as she listened.
However, Lu Lingxi strongly disagreed. “Can it be the same now as it was before? Think about it. After posting a Weibo, you’d have to immediately find the most suitable comments to reply to out of hundreds of sudden, diverse messages. Can you handle that?”
Calling them “comments” was being polite; they would likely all be insults by then.
Sang Yu fell silent for a moment and realized she truly couldn’t do it. Lu Lingxi, having anticipated this, gave a mocking snort and shrugged. “That’s why I said this show is suitable for you.”
“The marriage scandal already has a lot of buzz. Once you officially announce you’re joining a dating show, it will surely stir up another wave of organic heat. Isn’t that where the opportunity lies?”
Lu Lingxi squinted her eyes as she spoke while reversing into a parking space. Sang Yu hadn’t even noticed when they entered the garage. Lu Lingxi had already parked the car and finally found a moment to pat her shoulder, teasingly saying, “This is a great chance to fight a turnaround battle. Are you sure you don’t want it?”
Lu Lingxi’s eloquence was always trustworthy. Sang Yu had nothing to say in return and simply agreed, “Fine.”
“I love how straightforward and decisive you are!”
Lu Lingxi beamed with joy while pulling her out of the car. Sang Yu looked around and suddenly realized something was wrong. She stood still and asked hesitantly, “Wait, what place is this?”
“You’ll know once we go in, won’t you?” Lu Lingxi nudged her along. This mysteriously familiar rhetoric gave Sang Yu a bit of a psychological shadow.
She spoke tactfully, “The last time I heard you say that, that producer took me to meet a group of directors with an average age of forty-five…”
To put it bluntly, she was referring to the time she was steered toward “unspoken rules.”
Lu Lingxi arched an eyebrow at this. “What, you suspect me of harming you? You little ingrate, I was tricked by others that time too. Don’t worry, the private room I booked has no one else in it. It’s just the two of us letting loose. However…”
As if thinking of something fun, the smile on Lu Lingxi’s face became lewd. “If you want to find some ‘little treasures’ to drink and chat with, this place can actually provide that too~ How about it, want to try? It’s my treat this time. Are you really not tempted?”
Sang Yu had already picked up the keywords from that sentence. She retreated a step in silence, looking a bit troubled.
“Tsk.”
Lu Lingxi leaned against the side, her eyes showing a bit of frustration that Sang Yu wasn’t living up to expectations. “How is it that after three years of marriage to Song Yunsheng, you’ve become even more cowardly? You won’t even drink?”
Having entered the entertainment industry at a young age, Sang Yu had obviously drank before. But in these three years, because Song Yunsheng disliked the smell of alcohol and she didn’t need to go out for socializing, Sang Yu had indeed gone a long time without drinking.
This was also why she looked like she was facing a formidable enemy the moment she heard this was a bar. Three years was enough time to change many people, including Sang Yu.
But Lu Lingxi didn’t think this was a good change. She tilted her head and said, “Sang Yu, although I can help you pull in notices, you don’t have a company right now, and I’m only helping you from the standpoint of a former manager. Whether you want to sign with a new company later or whatever is up to you, but you have to weigh your options.”
“Don’t forget, you are an Alpha. You have a mother and a sister to support. You need to pull yourself together. Song Yunsheng has almost pampered you into uselessness over these three years.”
Lu Lingxi spoke with regret, but it sounded more like instigation.
Sang Yu wasn’t someone who could be easily flickered. Her lips twitched slightly in annoyance, but she still agreed to Lu Lingxi’s invitation to drink.
Of course, she didn’t forget to stop Lu Lingxi’s unrealistic ideas— “Let’s get this straight first: don’t suddenly pull any of that messy stuff. My divorce isn’t even finalized yet; I can’t withstand a trending topic about cheating during a marriage.”
“That’s true,” Lu Lingxi thought for a moment and readily agreed.
Sang Yu looked at her, followed her into the lobby half-doubtingly. The first floor of the bar was full of men and women dancing wildly.
The passionate atmosphere was mixed with chaos. Sang Yu wanted nothing more than to turn around and leave, but Lu Lingxi was quick and held onto her tightly. “Wait! I said there’s a private room, it’s on the second floor. What are you in such a hurry to run for?”
Sang Yu’s resistance was futile; she was half-dragged and half-pulled into the private room. Fortunately, the soundproofing here was good, and there were no strange smells.
Seeing her relax, Lu Lingxi chuckled. “Look at how scared you are. There are no paparazzi specifically staking you out right now. You only have these few days to relax.”
“In a few days, after I finish making contacts and the official announcement from the program crew comes out, you’ll have to consider the impact if you want to seek pleasure.”
“Thank you,” Sang Yu said sincerely, “but I don’t need that.”
“Fine, fine, you don’t need it. But drinking is okay, right?”
Lu Lingxi was a bit unhappy, but she also patted her shoulder and began to reminisce. “Actually, I wanted to advise you three years ago, but back then you said something with such conviction… you said your lifelong dream was to have a home. As soon as I heard that, I knew things were bad and I couldn’t persuade you.”
“All these years, I’ve watched you be absolutely submissive to Song Yunsheng… Sang Yu, do you know? I was embarrassed to even bring job notices to you. I was afraid you’d turn around and say, ‘I’m living very happily, a second child next year’.”
Saying this, Lu Lingxi shuddered. She was a staunch believer in not marrying or having children, so it was normal for her to be triggered by such words.
However, falling into Sang Yu’s ears, these words undoubtedly became a kind of embarrassing dark history.
She coughed loudly twice and said while rolling her eyes: “Enough, enough. I see you haven’t even had a drink yet, how are you already drunk? You’re talking nonsense. How could your ‘President Song’ possibly carry a second child for me?”
There wasn’t even a shadow of a first child, Sang Yu grumbled inwardly.
“Tsk, still saying ‘my’ this and ‘your’ that. If President Song knew the two of us were here bad-mouthing her like this, she’d definitely fire me.”
Lu Lingxi muttered a sentence and casually grabbed a bottle of wine, handing it to Sang Yu. “Don’t talk anymore, drink!”
Sang Yu took it and commented coolly, “Is that so? I thought you had already prepared to set up your own business and were thinking of letting me take refuge with you again. Who knew you just had a big mouth.”
“What’s wrong with having a big mouth?”
Lu Lingxi was very indignant. “At least I won’t be PUA’d (manipulated). Look at you—you just got married, and even though you’re a Best Actress, look at what you’ve been reduced to.”
Undoubtedly, Sang Yu’s personal example provided Lu Lingxi with another reason to fear marriage. Sang Yu didn’t quite agree with this, but she wasn’t in a position to talk about love right now, so she simply shut her mouth and focused on drinking.
The two didn’t drink too fast, chatting as they drank. Time passed slowly, while a certain someone who hadn’t chased after them was still wearing a cold face.
Song Yunsheng didn’t have time to give chase. Not long after Sang Yu left the office, her assistant came over to ask when the meeting would start.
God knows how ugly Song Yunsheng’s expression was at that time. The assistant tried to minimize her presence as much as possible, yet she was the one at the forefront, so she could only be “frozen” half to death, trembling as she prepared for the meeting.
After the meeting, there was a mountain of matters to deal with. By the time Song Yunsheng breathed a sigh of relief to rest, the sky was already dark.
She glanced at the time, feeling incredibly awkward in her heart.
On one hand, she didn’t know where the resentful Sang Yu would go; Song Yunsheng felt worried yet also felt Sang Yu deserved it. Clearly knowing she was in the wrong yet insisting on a divorce—Song Yunsheng, who thought about problems with absolute logic, simply couldn’t understand what Sang Yu was thinking.
Song Yunsheng thought with a grim face. The assistant, as usual, brought over a cup of coffee. Even though it was already dark, she was used to the precedent that CEO Song never left work early, so she didn’t even ask.
But this time, as soon as the coffee was placed down, Song Yunsheng stood up. She grabbed her coat and said casually, “Pour it out. The remaining documents will be handled tomorrow.”
“Huh?” The assistant only had time to utter one syllable before Song Yunsheng had already briskly walked out the door.
Song Yunsheng naturally didn’t know that her departure would trigger a wave of people leaving the office. On the way, she thought about many things, but to summarize, it was actually very simple because all of it revolved around the same name.
The name echoed in her mind like a screen being refreshed. Song Yunsheng felt a bit irritable and subconsciously opened the car’s drawer, catching sight of the mugwort sachet inside for calming the nerves.
…If she remembered correctly, it seemed Sang Yu had stuffed it in there.
Sang Yu was very fond of Traditional Chinese Medicine for a period of time, but Song Yunsheng couldn’t say for sure exactly when that was.
Last month, she had been as busy as a spinning top. Various things piled up with almost no chance to stop and rest. The taut nerves made Song Yunsheng, who already didn’t enjoy “that business,” even more cold and indifferent, but she hadn’t felt there was any problem.
When Sang Yu said she wanted a divorce, Song Yunsheng only treated it as a joke. But now, Song Yunsheng discovered something was wrong.
She had originally thought this matter was as casual as she had said, but now it seemed different.
Song Yunsheng realized that she actually didn’t want a divorce.
Even if she hadn’t figured out why yet, she was a person of action. Since she was certain she didn’t want a divorce, it was impossible for her to agree to it. Song Yunsheng pursed her lips and stepped on the gas.
However, when she returned home, the most frustrating thing happened—the nanny had finished packing up and was preparing to get off work, but Sang Yu…
Had not come back even now.
Song Yunsheng’s face turned ashen. She subconsciously pulled out her phone to call Sang Yu, but the nanny chose that moment to speak the truth.
Pl-please don’t be angry. Miss Sang might just be in a bad mood and out for some air. It’s only after seven o’clock. Miss Sang isn’t an indiscreet person; she definitely won’t delay her return home for too long.”
Only seven?
Song Yunsheng fell silent. Seeing that she wasn’t speaking, the nanny quietly breathed a sigh of relief, wiped her hands, and said, “You haven’t had dinner yet, right? I’ll go make it.”
After saying that, the nanny left. Song Yunsheng stood there for a while, realizing she had no appetite, and thought about letting the nanny get off work and go home to rest to avoid waste.
But as she approached, Song Yunsheng stopped her pace. She heard the nanny’s low mumbling coming from the kitchen.
Pick up the phone, Miss Sang Yu, please pick up the phone.”
The scene looked quite comical. As for Sang Yu’s side, they were actually already a bit tipsy.
Fortunately, the alcohol tolerance she had specially trained before hadn’t been completely returned to her manager. Although she and Lu Lingxi were both a bit dazed, their minds were still considered clear. The two were each holding onto something, chatting intermittently.
The phone rang at this moment. Lu Lingxi heard it first and subconsciously went to rummage through her own pocket, but reacted as soon as she moved.
“Wait, this ringtone is clearly yours—hello? Sang Yu? No way, are you drunk already?”
Whether it’s a total drunkard or someone just a bit tipsy, those words are the most impossible thing to admit.
Sang Yu clearly wanted to sleep already, but as her ears slowly captured Lu Lingxi’s words, she suddenly got a jolt and immediately started clamoring, “How is that possible? My tolerance is great. Even if you’re drunk, it’s impossible for me to be drunk!”
“Oh,” Lu Lingxi said expressionlessly, “then why aren’t you picking up the phone?”
“Huh? Ah…”
Sang Yu coughed. During the bickering, her mind cleared up a lot. For a split second, Sang Yu even thought the call might be from Song Yunsheng.
Maybe she would worry about her…
But as soon as the thought surfaced, Sang Yu silently crushed it. She knew very well that she really held too many fantasies about Song Yunsheng. Sang Yu silently found her phone, and upon unlocking it to look, it was indeed not Song Yunsheng.
It was the nanny. She didn’t know why she was calling so late; logically, she should have finished work at seven.