“What a heartless, wicked woman.”
Zhao Yinuo muttered under her breath, practically itching to run over and knock some sense into Su Muyang’s head. He really ought to learn from her.
Just look at her! So ruthless, so ambitious!
When she was little, she had lost miserably whenever she compared her parents with the other children. Now that she was grown, she was still losing whenever she compared her artist to those of other managers.
Although Zhao Yinuo admired Tang Wan’s ruthlessness, there was no way she could force Su Muyang to learn from her.
After all, the reason she’d received financial support back then was precisely because of Su Muyang’s innocence and kindness.
She had benefited from his kindness. She couldn’t turn around and encourage him to throw away those good qualities.
All she could do was quietly clean up the messes he left behind and stay by his side to help him.
The Su family’s situation fit Zhao Yinuo’s stereotypical image of a wealthy family perfectly. The infighting among the adult children was fierce.
There was the eldest son, born to the wife his father had married for the sake of a business alliance, as well as an illegitimate son born to a mistress who was determined to climb her way into the family.
Su Muyang’s mother, meanwhile, had been a minor actress in the entertainment industry whom Chairman Su married for his second marriage. After getting married, she retired from the industry and devoted herself to her husband and child. She died unexpectedly when Su Muyang was seven.
When Zhao Yinuo accompanied Su Muyang during his internship at the family corporation, his performance had actually been outstanding. He could have been promoted immediately after graduation.
But then Su Muyang was sabotaged by his older brother and got into an argument with his father.
Chairman Su had even insulted his mother, calling her a low-class actress and saying that it was no wonder she’d given birth to a useless son who was all looks and no substance.
The things people say during arguments between family members are often the most vicious and hurtful.
Su Muyang’s kind and innocent nature had been shaped by his mother’s love. He had always been closest to her.
The moment he heard his father belittle his mother like that, Su Muyang refused to tolerate it.
He immediately gave up his position in the family business and charged headfirst into the entertainment industry.
So what if she’s an actress? Then I’ll become an actor.
It was an incredibly impulsive decision.
But Zhao Yinuo followed him without a second thought.
She gave up the well-paying job that had been practically handed to her and accompanied Su Muyang into the entertainment industry, starting from scratch.
Su Muyang was extremely lucky. He went on a talent competition show and became an overnight sensation, rising straight to the top.
That shut Chairman Su up.
In fact, his father even urged him to come home soon, which was essentially a veiled apology.
The only one who continued quietly sabotaging Su Muyang was his older brother, who managed to get several of Su Muyang’s endorsements and acting roles canceled.
And then Zhao Yinuo got absolutely roasted by his fans.
They accused her of being incompetent and unable to secure good resources, of being terrible at handling PR crises and letting her artist suffer, of being heartless, taking an excessive cut, and exploiting her artist…
Even though Su Muyang felt terrible that she’d been dragged into all the backlash, he immediately turned around and bought her several bags.
“I noticed you really liked this one, but you couldn’t bring yourself to buy it. I’m sorry for getting you dragged into this. You’re not mad at me, are you?”
“It’s fine. I’m not angry.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
Zhao Yinuo didn’t care much about what outsiders thought of her. The only person’s opinion she cared about was Su Muyang’s.
She was content, and she knew how to be grateful.
Under such poor educational conditions and with her own family constantly holding her back, simply continuing her studies had been difficult enough.
But thanks to Su Muyang’s financial support, she’d been able to attend a prestigious university. She’d also landed a job at one of the top companies in the industry.
The growth she’d gained in ability and experience was priceless.
Su Muyang had practically given her a new life.
Even if she and Su Muyang were to fall out now, she’d be willing to give him every asset she owned and start over from scratch using her own abilities.
When it came to someone who had done you such a profound kindness, your tolerance could stretch almost infinitely.
A little criticism from strangers was hardly enough to make Zhao Yinuo angry.
But while she wasn’t angry, Su Muyang was.
He scolded her with an exasperated expression.
“You’re good at everything, but your temper is too good. That’s the one thing that’s not good about you. You should be bold about expressing both love and hatred. Don’t keep everything bottled up.”
Zhao Yinuo was silent for two seconds.
“I’m sorry.”
After spending so many years walking on eggshells around her unreasonable family, she’d become afraid to lose her temper and afraid to express herself honestly.
For someone as straightforward as Su Muyang, talking to someone like her must have been frustrating.
She simply couldn’t be like him.
He could get into a huge fight with his own father and then walk out of the house. If he liked Tang Wan, he could openly pursue her without hesitation.
Seeing someone as full of life as Su Muyang made Zhao Yinuo happy.
But if she had to do the same herself?
She couldn’t.
“You! You actually apologized to me?!” Su Muyang stared at her in disbelief. “Do you know how ridiculous that is?”
“Is it really that ridiculous? It’s not like I’m like this with everyone.”
Other people hadn’t done her any great favors.
She could still have a bit of a temper with outsiders.
Besides, most of the time, Su Muyang wasn’t annoying at all. He was actually incredibly considerate.
Tang Wan had been dragged away by her manager to deal with something, so Su Muyang couldn’t see his girlfriend.
He obediently mingled with the other guests instead, and before long, he brought an aspiring young actor over to Zhao Yinuo.
“Yinuo, Lin Haoran’s contract with Shengxing Entertainment is almost up, and he wants to sign with another company. Why don’t you talk to him? The company has always had only one artist—me. It’s really holding back your development.”
Su Muyang didn’t want to keep watching Zhao Yinuo get called incompetent by his fans.
The truth was, Zhao Yinuo was extremely capable. She handled practically everything at the company.
Even the variety show he’d appeared on when he debuted had been carefully selected by her.
His instant success after debut, combined with the fact that he wasn’t particularly motivated by money, had made him somewhat complacent.
He strongly recommended Lin Haoran.
“Shengxing Entertainment may be a big company, but the competition there is brutal. He can’t stand out, so he wants to come work with us instead. Lin Haoran came from the same show as me. You should know him. He’s very down-to-earth. I’m sure he’ll work well with you.”
Unlike Su Muyang himself, who was basically a rich young master who hadn’t suffered much in life. A lot of the time, it was Su Muyang who couldn’t keep up with Zhao Yinuo’s insanely intense work pace.
Seeing the hesitation on Zhao Yinuo’s face, Su Muyang continued persuading her.
“Please, Yinuo. Take on another artist. You only focus on me, and I can’t handle all that attention anymore. Besides, there are some opportunities that come to me that I don’t need. You can give them to other artists in the company instead of letting them go to waste like before, right?”
Zhao Yinuo didn’t want to waste resources.
And if her excessive attention really was becoming a burden for Su Muyang, she had no choice but to compromise.
“Fine. I’ll talk to Lin Haoran first and see what his plans for the future are.”
Although she was secretly scheming to break up Su Muyang and Tang Wan, and was even entertaining the idea of taking Su Muyang for herself, she had a strange feeling deep down.
She couldn’t seem to hold on to him.
She felt as though Su Muyang would slowly drift farther and farther away from her.
That fear of being unable to hold on to him made her desperate to grasp onto something—anything.
She’d previously refused to take on other artists because she was afraid that dividing her attention would prevent her from handling Su Muyang’s affairs in time.
But now that Su Muyang was practically following Tang Wan wherever she went, Zhao Yinuo had no choice but to put more of her energy into the company.
After having a brief conversation with Lin Haoran, she arranged for him to come to the company the next day for a more detailed discussion.
Zhao Yinuo had just taken a relaxed sip of her wine when Tang Wan called.
“Yinuo-jie, emergency! I ran into a super handsome guy here who drank the wrong thing. Come help me out. Can you bring someone over and take him away?”
When she had no problem, she was just Yinuo.
The moment she needed something, it became Yinuo-jie.
How annoying.
Zhao Yinuo politely declined.
“Why are you calling me? Where’s your own manager?”
“That bastard won’t answer my calls! He’s clearly trying to sell me off.”
Just thinking about her manager made Tang Wan grind her teeth in anger.
This wasn’t the first time her manager had tried to play matchmaker and pimp her out.
Pushing her into a pit was bad enough, but now the man had even stopped answering her calls because he was afraid she’d contact him for help.
Even though Tang Wan herself was willing to climb the ladder this time, her manager’s refusal to leave her any way out still infuriated her.
She secretly swore that once she got the chance, she would kick that manager to the curb and terminate her contract with the shady company.
“Yinuo-jie”
For the sake of helping Tang Wan dump Su Muyang and climb toward a better position, Zhao Yinuo resigned herself to her fate and sighed.
“Fine. Wait there. I’ll be right over.”