The man driving the car was named Wang Qin. He was Jiang Chuanmin's confidant and had known of Jiang Lai's existence since childhood. Jiang Lai would call him Uncle Wang.
While driving, Wang Qin chimed in, "In my opinion, Lai Lai's current achievements are even higher than President Jiang's back then, so there's no need to worry so much."
Jiang Chuanmin nodded in agreement: "Your Uncle Wang is right. You're still so young, and you're not a child star. This is already a very good achievement. The path you take is more important than anything else."
Jiang Lai was already in a bad mood, and said impatiently, "Dad, stop talking."
"Okay, okay, I won't say anything more. Can I watch a movie with Dad?"
Jiang Lai looked up: "Us?"
Jiang Chuanmin: "It's absolutely safe to book the whole theater. I'm supporting your first movie. Your mom is busy and can't come."
Jiang Lai hesitated for a moment. Since Lin Zhi had lied to her, she would watch it in advance and punish Lin Zhi!
"All right."
Jiang Chuanmin had booked a VIP theater with massage chairs, an IMAX screen, and surround sound. Jiang Lai felt inexplicably embarrassed as she watched her own face magnified in front of her. She was even more nervous than when she was watching with Lin Zhi, sitting next to a movie star. It was like trying to show off one's skills in front of Guan Yu.
The movie, which was less than two hours long, felt incredibly agonizing to Jiang Lai. Time seemed to drag on, as if the actors in the film were moving at a slower pace. In contrast, Jiang Chuanmin leisurely ate popcorn and enjoyed a massage chair.
Finally, the movie ended, and the cast list scrolled across the big screen.
Jiang Lai took out her phone and took a picture. Her name was third, below Xia Fanrou's.
This was her first appearance in a movie, a momentous occasion.
After finishing the last of his popcorn, Jiang Chuanmin clapped for Jiang Lai: "Not bad."
"Huh?" Jiang Lai frowned: "What do you mean by 'not bad'?"
"It's good that it's acceptable at this stage, but we still need to improve."
As expected, Jiang Lai had already guessed it.
"Dad, can you tell me about it?"
Jiang Chuanmin cleared his throat, unusually putting on airs in front of his daughter: "I wonder if your mother ever said anything about you being too theatrical when she was teaching you?"
Jiang Lai nodded. She had indeed said it, and more than once. It wasn't that she couldn't immerse herself in the role, but rather that she pursued it too much, which made it seem somewhat deliberate. Her deliberateness was different from others; she merged with the role too well, which backfired.
Jiang Chuanmin said, "Since your mother has told you this, I won't say any more. Remember to make the screen realistic, and be natural, not performative. Next time, you can try to forget that you are performing."
Jiang Lai nodded, and the father and daughter chatted for a while before leisurely walking out of the movie theater.
A cold wind was blowing in the underground parking lot, making Jiang Lai shiver a few times. She hunched her shoulders to keep the cold wind out.
The father and daughter had separated, but Jiang Chuanmin noticed that his daughter was cold, so he called out to her and took three steps over to put his scarf on her.
"It's warm now, drive carefully on the road, see you on your way home."
Feeling the warmth, Jiang Lai no longer needed to hunch her shoulders and smiled sweetly, "Then I'm leaving."
The father and daughter waved goodbye, but what was originally a heartwarming scene turned dirty and sordid under the lens of someone with ulterior motives.
A man dressed in black lit a cigarette, casting a glow in the dark car. He looked at the photos in his camera and dialed his employer's number.
His employer was very mysterious; his voice was altered so that it was impossible to tell if he was male or female. However, he didn't care. The other party paid a lot of money. Although it would offend Jiang Chuanmin, as long as he was tactful in his writing, Jiang Chuanmin couldn't do anything to him. After all, it was true that Jiang Chuanmin was keeping a new actress as a mistress, so it wasn't exactly a rumor. He would just try to quell the situation and maybe even make money from both sides in the end.
It sounds wonderful.
"Hey, I got the photos, they're absolutely explosive. The two of them are very intimate, I don't believe they're not having an affair. I'm telling you, you'll have to pay extra. This person is hard to find. I waited in the parking lot all day before I finally caught her."
The other person's voice was unreadable: "Did they watch the movie together?"
The man took a drag of his cigarette: "Of course."
The man could faintly hear the sound of his employer grinding his back teeth.
"I will send it out as agreed, and I will transfer the money to you after I see the Weibo post."
The man was annoyed: "Damn it, what if you run off with the money! You transfer it first, and I'll pay you back after you do. In our line of work, integrity is the most important thing."
The other party hesitated for a moment, but finally compromised: "I'll transfer it to you in a bit, you better not be lying to me."
"Haha, no, no, it's a pleasure to work with you."
——
When Lin Zhi returned home, her mother wasn't there; she was probably out visiting relatives and friends for the New Year.
She was starving and decided to go to the kitchen to heat something up. As soon as she got to the kitchen, she heard a noise coming from her father's room. She listened carefully and realized that he was on the phone.
She couldn't hear the conversation clearly, but from her father's tone, she could tell that he was making a video call with Lin Feng. Besides the boy's voice, she could also hear a woman's voice from time to time.
Broken up? No more contact?
It was impossible. Lin Zhi even thought that her father and mother hadn't divorced for two reasons: firstly, divorce was bad for one's reputation in that era, and secondly, Lin Zhi had grown up and started earning money to support him.
She didn't believe her mother insisted on introducing Lu Rendong to her. Without her father's instigation, who wouldn't be tempted by a well-off returnee with a thick wallet? Poor old man, he was deceived and still dreamed of marrying his daughter into a wealthy family.
Before I knew it, my hand got burned by the steamer, and it instantly turned bright red.
When you're down on your luck, even drinking cold water can cause you to choke.
She ate a few bites of food, and her stomach stopped cramping from hunger. After resting for a while, she got up to wash the dishes. She was busy for half a day until the sun went down.
She missed Jiang Lai terribly. The last thing she said in the chat was "Okay," and then Jiang Lai never replied again.
She had a headache from being angry with Lu Rendong in the afternoon and didn't have time to think too much. Now that she calmed down and recalled carefully, she realized that the person was clearly her child. How could she have believed that it wasn't Jiang Lai just because of Jiang Lai's lie?
She was too confident and forgot that Jiang Lai was a person with a strong sense of self-respect. How could a person with a strong sense of self-respect question someone in public?
The child must be very sad, and I wonder what he's thinking now.
Just as she was about to send a message to Jiang Lai, she suddenly paused, remembering what Jiang Lai had said when they brushed past each other that afternoon... something about how long it had been since they last met, and something about going to her house tonight.
Lin Zhi snorted, tossed her phone aside, and remained sullen for a long time. She wanted to send a message but hesitated, and looked at her phone lying there quietly, unmoved.
She kept arguing with herself until the sun had completely set and the room was pitch black.
Lin Zhi sighed and murmured, "I was the one who made a mistake first, what right do I have to be angry?"
Just as I was about to pick up my phone, it started vibrating and the screen lit up. It was already six o'clock in the evening.
Lin Zhi answered the phone; it was Nan Moxi calling.
Before Lin Zhi could even exchange pleasantries, the other person said very seriously, "Lin Zhi, Jiang Lai is in trouble. I'm at the company right now. Before things escalate, you'd better come to the company so we can discuss a solution."
Jiang Lai is in trouble.
These five words served as a wake-up call for her. After hanging up the phone, Lin Zhi changed her clothes and went out.
As soon as Lin's mother got home, she saw Lin Zhi rushing out and asked, "Where are you going? How did your day go with Xiao Lu?"
Lin Zhi was in a hurry, her brows furrowed, and she didn't care who was on the other end of the line: "I have something urgent to do, you don't need to wait for me to come back."
Lin's mother wanted to say something, but Lin Zhi disappeared in the blink of an eye.
"This child..."
Although the company had given them a long holiday, native residents of City A like Nan Moxi could still return to the company at any time. She kept an eye on the artists' activities and Weibo every day, afraid that she would be the last to know if something happened.
Sure enough, she discovered the marketing account shortly after it posted the message. She immediately contacted the public relations department, sending those in City A back to the company and those not in the city to a video conference. Everyone was ready except for Jiang Lai, whom she couldn't reach.
Lin Zhi arrived at the company thirty minutes later. Everyone in the conference room looked worried, and no one was happy about the extra overtime pay.
Lin Zhi had already roughly understood the situation while she was in the car. She simply couldn't believe that Jiang Lai would be kept by Jiang Chuanmin. She trusted Jiang Lai enough, but she couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation.
Her heart ached as if someone had used a knife to cut a small piece of flesh from it.
Whether it was catching her father cheating back then or her boyfriend cheating later, she had never felt as upset as she did today. She forcefully suppressed the churning discomfort in her stomach. She was Jiang Lai's girlfriend, and she had to protect Jiang Lai no matter what.
It's very difficult unless there's a huge reversal.
Lin Zhi really couldn't think of anything that could suppress this Weibo post.
Nan Moxi was still dialing Jiang Lai's number. Since the person involved wasn't there, they couldn't offer a solution.
Sure enough, when the group looked at Weibo again, the topic had already topped the trending searches and was gradually climbing in the rankings. A large number of netizens had gone to Jiang Lai's Weibo to hurl insults, some of which were quite offensive. Some of Jiang Lai's fans even went to the official Weibo account of Zhengzhengrishang to send private messages, begging them to quickly refute the rumors.
The clothes were from the person Lin Zhi met that afternoon; it was indeed Jiang Lai.
The photos are very clear. In one photo, she slightly pulls down her mask, and even netizens can recognize her profile.
Lin Zhi's lips turned pale, and her vision blurred. She took a sip of water and then slumped down.
Jiang Lai, you wouldn't do this to me, would you?
--------------------
Author's Note:
Jiang Lai, just got home and charged her phone: [Image of an old man on the subway with his phone]. Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants between 2022-05-09 22:38:34 and 2022-05-10 21:55:38!
Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: Whale Has Fallen into the Sea (10 bottles); Feather Dye (1 bottle);
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 69
Jiang Lai's phone lit up. She glanced at it and was about to answer when it suddenly turned off. She then remembered that it only had one percent battery left.
Thinking there was nothing urgent, she didn't speed up and drove home slowly.
When she went upstairs to her room, plugged in her phone to charge, and turned it on again, the phone started buzzing incessantly, as if it were about to explode.
Nan Jie missed 15 calls.
My sister missed 23 calls.
Jiang Lai had a bad feeling and called Nan Moxi back. The call was answered almost instantly.
"Jiang Lai, where did you go today? Did you check Weibo?"
The other person's tone was very serious, and seemed to be angry, but they were just holding back their anger.
Jiang Lai swallowed and said, "I was driving and my phone died."
Nan Moxi took a breath: "Charge your phone and come to the company."
Jiang Lai hesitated for a moment: "Now?"
Will there be anyone at the company during the Spring Festival?