Song Yushi saying “Suit yourself” was a tacit agreement. But Qi Ke didn’t end up going. She had a new album to release and had scheduled a meeting with the music arranger at the company. Sister Ming was rushing her, sending a driver directly to pick her up. She left only ten minutes after Song Yushi.
Song Yushi hadn’t gotten enough sleep and was drowsy, leaning against the back of her seat.
Xiao Nan, in the passenger seat, kept looking back. She finally couldn’t hold it in anymore and spoke up as the car turned into the hospital’s driveway, “Boss.”
Song Yushi hummed in acknowledgment.
“Sister Fei said you shouldn’t always come to the hospital.” Xiao Nan glanced worriedly at the driver. The driver had a stoic expression, driving as if he heard nothing of the world outside the car. Only then did she continue ambiguously, “You were photographed by the paparazzi last time.”
Last time, the time Qi Ke saw the news.
【Song Yushi seen entering and leaving the hospital with a strange man, suspected engagement to a non-celebrity boyfriend, good news is near.】
The news was, of course, fake. Song Yushi’s family background was not good, and Sister Fei didn’t want people to make a story out of it. But she couldn’t stop Song Yushi from visiting Ruan Xiangmeng, so she could only use marketing tactics to divert the attention of the gossip-loving public.
First, it concealed the real reason for Song Yushi’s hospital visits. Second, when hyping up the CP, it wouldn’t tie her so tightly to Qi Ke. Third, the “non-celebrity boyfriend” was just a temporary bodyguard, something fans could easily clarify.
Song Yushi knew Xiao Nan had to report back to Sister Fei. She fell silent for a moment before compromising, “I know.”
Xiao Nan breathed a sigh of relief. She took advantage of the lull to quickly pull out her notebook. “Boss, let me go over your schedule for next week with you.”
Song Yushi closed her eyes. “Go ahead.”
“Tomorrow, there’s a script reading for 《Awakening of Insects》 in Moonlight City. Tuesday and Wednesday are for filming 《30 Days of Cohabitation Life》. On Thursday, you’ll arrive in Winter City to rehearse for the Lychee Fashion Gala, and on Friday, you’ll attend the Lychee Fashion Gala. You’ll return to Moonlight City for another script reading over the weekend.”
A busy week, without a moment’s rest.
“Oh, right,” Xiao Nan said, flipping through her notebook. “At the fashion gala, your performance is on the same stage as Teacher Qi.”
Song Yushi opened her eyes. “So you’re saying, out of seven days this week, I have to see her for four of them?”
Xiao Nan stammered, “Uh-huh.”
After a pause, she spoke again, “But Boss, didn’t you have a good relationship with her before? I’ve seen the videos and everything…”
Perhaps realizing she was shipping the CP right in front of one of the people involved, Xiao Nan’s voice grew quieter and quieter. But inwardly, she was screaming. She had seen all those CP videos! All the edits, all the timelines, and all the analyses! And she had passionately reposted them with the comment: Fill the screen with “Qi Yu is real”!
And then…
The car stopped steadily outside the hospital. Song Yushi unbuckled her seatbelt and fed Xiao Nan a mouthful of metaphorical glass shards, “That was before. Now, we’re just ordinary colleagues.”
Xiao Nan: “…”
What’s it like to be told by one of the people involved that your CP is fake? She could answer that question!
Song Yushi put on a hat and mask and got out of the car alone. Ruan Xiangmeng had a congenital heart defect. As she got older, her heart couldn’t bear the load, and she had become a regular at the hospital, having to check in two or three times almost every month.
Ruan Xiangmeng was only three years younger than Song Yushi, but she looked young for her age. With a student-like bob and straight bangs, she looked like a high school student.
Ruan Xiangmeng was staying in a VIP room, a private single room with strong privacy.
When Song Yushi arrived, she was playing a video game. The game’s sound effects were lively, dinging and clanging smoothly. Song Yushi sat on the stool by the hospital bed and started peeling an apple.
Without looking away from her game, Ruan Xiangmeng asked, “Aren’t you with that Qi Ke?”
“She went back to the company.” The fruit knife was sharp, and the apple peel came off in intermittent strips. Song Yushi peeled it earnestly and answered just as earnestly.
“Do you still like her?”
“No.”
“Then why are you hyping a CP with her? You’re a Best Actress now, who would dare force you to do something you don’t like?” Ruan Xiangmeng was aggressive.
“Many people.” Song Yushi’s peeling skills weren’t great; the apple’s surface was uneven and pitted. She handed the apple to Ruan Xiangmeng. “I used to think that as long as I climbed higher, worked hard, and became stronger, I could refuse to do things I didn’t like. But reality taught me that’s impossible.”
Ruan Xiangmeng caught the apple with one hand and took a bite.
“Besides,” Song Yushi wiped the fruit knife, “mind your own business. Take care of yourself.”
Ruan Xiangmeng pouted resentfully. A ‘ding’ sounded from the game screen, and a deep male voice announced dejectedly: Game over!
“I lost.” Ruan Xiangmeng threw the controller onto the bed and bit into the apple resentfully. She was too thin, which made her eyes look especially large. Her face was pale, but her expression held an unyielding stubbornness. After a moment, she asked, “They haven’t been looking for you, have they?”
“They,” Ruan Xiangmeng’s parents.
Song Yushi shook her head. “Not this month.”
Song Yushi grew up in an orphanage and was adopted at the age of ten. At that time, the Ruan family were the most prominent nouveau riche in Yunzhou City. Ruan Xiangmeng’s parents were busy with their business and didn’t have time for a second child, so they adopted Song Yushi from the orphanage specifically to be Ruan Xiangmeng’s playmate.
So in Ruan Xiangmeng’s eyes, the initial Song Yushi was just her toy.
Song Yushi had been a good actress since she was a child, relying on her sweet looks to win everyone over. Gradually, Ruan Xiangmeng became very attached to her, treating her like a real older sister. It was also Ruan Xiangmeng who encouraged her to become a trainee later on.
The little girl’s eyes sparkled. “I want to be a big star too, but I can’t go. Yushi, you go in my place!”
That year, Song Yushi passed the trainee auditions and officially joined Mangosteen Entertainment.
In that same year, the Ruan family went bankrupt. Ruan Xiangmeng had a heart attack and was rushed into surgery. The hospital issued three critical condition notices in a row, but Song Yushi couldn’t be there because of an evaluation. By the time she arrived, Ruan Xiangmeng was already out of danger.
What awaited Song Yushi was only accusations and verbal abuse.
Song Yushi added money to Ruan Xiangmeng’s payment card and dragged her feet slowly back to the hospital room.
As she walked, she tried to recall what the Ruan parents had cursed her with.
Oh, it was probably things like ungrateful, jinx, white-eyed wolf, lone star of misfortune. They blamed her for the bankruptcy and Ruan Xiangmeng’s illness, as if that would make them feel innocent and at ease.
The lips hidden under her mask curled into a faint, mocking smile.
Song Yushi thought to herself that the Ruan parents had never treated her as a human being, so she didn’t take their curses to heart. She didn’t even have much affection for Ruan Xiangmeng; her friendliness was an act, just to make her life in that family more comfortable.
Song Yushi walked silently through the bustling hospital crowd. Suddenly, she caught something in her peripheral vision. A flash of surprise went through her mind. She froze for a second, thinking she had seen wrong.
She took two more steps forward.
She casually turned her head. Not far away, a long white coat swayed with its owner’s movements. It was one from her own closet.
Song Yushi thought for a moment, then whipped her head around. The person following her also turned around instantly, but the hasty movement had already given them away. A nameless anger suddenly flared up in Song Yushi’s heart. Her fingertips, clutching the bank card, tightened slightly, the pads turning white. She strode towards that person.
She thought she would have to give chase for a bit, but to her surprise, the person just stood there obediently, waiting for her.
Song Yushi stopped in front of her.
The same style of mask and hat, the same beautiful eyes. Qi Ke blinked, trying to look cute. Just as Song Yushi was about to speak, Qi Ke grabbed her wrist and said in a low voice, “Too many people here. Let’s go somewhere else.”
Song Yushi lowered her eyes, looking at her captured wrist.
Before she could react, she was dragged away. They moved to a relatively quieter place: the rooftop of the inpatient department. Song Yushi pulled her wrist free, put some distance between herself and Qi Ke, and asked, “Following me?”
“I was not!” Qi Ke said innocently. “I just wanted to come see the little sister, that’s all!”
“Did you see her?”
“…No. Her parents still don’t care about her?”
“…Yeah.”
The reason Qi Ke knew was that she had once caught the Ruan parents asking Song Yushi for money. After the Ruan family went bankrupt, the parents couldn’t handle the blow and were tricked into gambling, which they couldn’t stop. Not only could they not afford Ruan Xiangmeng’s medical bills, but they were also being pursued by debt collectors.
Thinking of this, Qi Ke narrowed her eyes. “You didn’t give her parents money, did you?”
Song Yushi gave her a strange look. “It’s not like my money grows on trees.”
“Good.” Qi Ke was very satisfied. “You paid them back the money you used from them long ago. Taking care of Ruan Xiangmeng now is already an act of charity. Don’t be a fool and play the saint! Hey, my family has a private hospital, why not transfer her there? It’s easier to get things done with connections!”
An idea flickered in Song Yushi’s mind, but she didn’t want to get too involved with Qi Ke outside of work, so she still refused.
Song Yushi went back to the room and talked with Ruan Xiangmeng for a while longer before leaving. Qi Ke was waiting for her at the door. Song Yushi said mockingly, “Not going in to see her?”
Just as Qi Ke had said, Ruan Xiangmeng didn’t like her, feeling that she had stolen her sister. She didn’t like Ruan Xiangmeng either. When it came to women, Song Yushi should only have eyes for her. What the hell was this random little sister doing here?
Qi Ke said resentfully, “Better not. I’m afraid she’ll have a heart attack.”
Song Yushi was about to say something else, but her phone suddenly rang. It was from Xiao Nan.
Song Yushi answered, “Hello?”
Xiao Nan’s voice was anxious. “Boss, there are paparazzi waiting for you outside! You should take the back door. Be careful at the back door too, I’m afraid there might be some there as well.”
Song Yushi: “…”
Qi Ke asked, “What’s wrong?”
Song Yushi: “Paparazzi.”
Qi Ke replied naturally, “Then we might as well just announce our relationship.”
She was shot a sideways glance.
A chill ran down Qi Ke’s neck.
She clicked her tongue and said, “You’ll definitely have to come see her again in the future. Are you going to hide like this every time? Where’s the paparazzo? I’ll go talk to them.”
Song Yushi: “?”
She looked at Qi Ke, then asked Xiao Nan, “What’s the paparazzo’s license plate number?”
After reciting the license plate number, Xiao Nan asked in disbelief, “Boss, I think I heard Teacher Qi’s voice.”
Song Yushi didn’t hide it. “Yes, it’s her.”
Xiao Nan: “!!!”
What happened to it being a bad ending! I was already shipping it as a tragic aesthetic! Liar!
Song Yushi had no time to worry about Xiao Nan’s feelings. She hung up and looked at Qi Ke, wanting to see what she was up to. Qi Ke grabbed her wrist and said, “Come with me.”
Song Yushi followed her.
As she walked, she thought idly that Qi Ke really liked to grab her wrist. It was the same in the past. When necessary, she would slowly intertwine their fingers.
Her fingertips twitched, then curled back into her palm.
Qi Ke let go of Song Yushi at the hospital entrance. She gave Song Yushi a “just you wait” look and went to find the paparazzo.
The area around the hospital was full of cars. Fortunately, the information from Xiao Nan was accurate, and Qi Ke easily found the paparazzo’s car. At that moment, the paparazzo was squatting by the car, furtively looking around.
Qi Ke squatted down next to him and struck up a conversation, “Busy?”
The paparazzo didn’t even turn his head. “Busy!”
“Staking out Song Yushi?”
“Of course! It’s big news! The Hundred Flowers Best Actress is pregnant before…?” The paparazzo finally realized something was off, grunted, and turned around. “Who the fuck are you, talking to me like… holy shit!”
Beside him, Qi Ke pulled down her mask and looked at him with a brilliant smile.
The paparazzo’s face paled in shock. “Qi… Qi…”
“Shh.” Qi Ke made a hushing gesture. “Which agency are you from? Acting like you’ve never seen the world. What’s so surprising?”
Paparazzo: “…” Damn! He really had never seen a scene like this!
Seeing him quiet down, Qi Ke patted him on the shoulder as encouragement, then said unhurriedly, “I came to tell you one thing. Song Yushi came here with me. There’s no fiancé. And as for me, I don’t have the ability to get her pregnant, so there’s no pregnancy before marriage either. We’ll be coming here again in the future, understand?”
The paparazzo nodded furiously.
Qi Ke was satisfied. “You’re teachable.”
She got up to leave, but still feeling uneasy, she added, “Remember to clarify there’s no fiancé.” As she walked away, she muttered, “Spreading random rumors all day long. Fiancé… gave me a scare.”
Paparazzo: “…”
The next day, a certain third-rate media outlet published an article.
【The mysterious person who accompanied Song Yushi to the hospital is revealed—not a fiancé! It’s actually HER!】
【Qi Ke frankly states: “I hope sperm-free conception technology can be developed soon.”】
Qi Ke: “………………………”
Rumors, these have to be rumors!!!!
