Seeing that the person in front of him had fallen silent again, Yan Shan awkwardly stepped forward and dialed the microphone. He turned to look at Chen Fu and said, "In this situation today, don't you have anything to say?"
"Of course."
Chen Fu said calmly.
She snatched the microphone from Yanshan's hand, and as soon as she uttered the first word, she felt a sharp pain in her throat. She said, "I really have many people to thank for this award: my family and friends, my dear fans, and the company that recommended this opportunity to me..."
"Of course, I am most grateful to the director of the 'Surrender' production team. I want to thank him for his long-term guidance and support, for seeing my potential among so many candidates, and for..."
The crystal trophy was very heavy; Chen Fu could barely lift it for a moment. She forcefully smashed the trophy against Yan Shan's face.
"Thank him for making me suffer every day and for breaking my leg!"
*
"Yanshan asked me to tell you."
Eva smiled wryly, her expression somewhat awkward from excessive tension. She said that although she was very popular back then, Yeonsan always had the final say in Hee-hwa.
"You know about his relationship with Sun Hao."
Eva said I simply couldn't refuse him.
As if she needed a moment to process something terrifying, Chen Fu struggled to utter those words. Eva's words were too absurd. In conventional values, harming someone always brings guilt and remorse. Regardless of Yan Shan's motives, he was ultimately responsible for Chen Fu breaking her leg. Therefore, he should have stayed by Chen Fu's side, humbled himself, and made amends, instead of publicizing it to the world, and certainly not having Eva come before her to tell her the whole story of his crimes.
What does he want to do?
"Yanshan was puzzled when you rejected his invitation back then. He couldn't understand why you would refuse to play the female lead in a drama. He later realized that you were held back by the stage."
"When he found me, he said, 'If Chen Fu could end her idol career on stage, it would be a very fulfilling experience for her.'"
"That way she can come with me to film movies."
Yanshan said.
Every word Eva said struck Chen Fu's heart like a hammer blow. She felt her worldview, which she had painstakingly built up over the past twenty-odd years, was collapsing. She realized that there really were people who were so domineering and cold-blooded, and that they could destroy what others cherished so easily.
Chen Fu felt a tightness in her throat, like a wild beast being bound and stripped of its fur. She struggled blindly in the prison that confined her, a prison called "perfection" or "so that she can come with me to film a movie."
"But why did he make you tell me all this?"
"Don't you understand?"
Eva gave a wry smile.
"In the story of 'Cultivation,' the female protagonist works hard for half her life and finally gets her name cleared, only to find that the one who caused her such a miserable end was actually the teacher she admired the most."
Yanshan needs actors whose experiences are similar to those of the characters he writes about.
"I heard that the film was renamed after its release, something like..."
"Submit."
*
The scene suddenly descended into chaos due to Chen Fu's outburst. Reporters frantically scribbling reports below were stunned. A hostess who came to help separate the two twisted her ankle in the panic, and the security guards who rushed forward were blocked. A heated argument erupted from the crowd.
"Don't push!"
At this moment, Chen Fu resembled a wounded beast, clinging to Yan Shan's arm and refusing to let go. Yan Shan's neatly pressed new suit was mostly torn off, and he was flushed and utterly disheveled.
Lu Xiaomi in the stands was stunned and speechless.
0413 in the mental sea also fell silent for a while. The overwhelming amount of information caused it to crash. In the chaos, Yan Qing came over, took Lu Xiaomi's hand and said, "Never mind, let's go."
Lu Xiaomi fiercely swung that hand away.
Almost out of control, Lu Xiaomi pushed through the crowd and rushed onto the stage. Her soul seemed to be gradually ripped away with her running motion; the familiar feeling of constraint spread throughout her body once more, and the cold pain made Lu Xiaomi groan softly.
This is a sign that OOC (out-of-character) punishment is coming.
"Didn't you say Chen Fu's affection level towards me is full? Hurry up and raise it!"
Having been loudly reprimanded, 0413 could no longer feign death; the fox cub's trembling voice echoed from within his mental sea.
"Host, Chen Fu's favorability towards you has increased overnight..."
"It's been reset to zero."
--------------------
Author's Note:
Wishing everyone a happy Mid-Autumn Festival in advance!
Submission = Chen Fu
Chapter 41 CP41
"Reset to zero..."
The three words struck him like three thunderclaps, hitting him hard on the head. His last lifeline finally snapped, and he collapsed backward, utterly exhausted. But no one noticed his unusual expression, because the scene was already chaotic enough.
He was sweating so much that his dress was soaked through and looked disheveled.
0413 spoke so fast its voice almost changed as it told Lu Xiaomi that it had already reported the abnormality in the favorability rating and was waiting for a reply from headquarters.
The surroundings were a scene of utter chaos, like the end of the world. Lu Xiaomi's shoulders were being repeatedly bumped and jostled, but she felt no pain whatsoever. Her legs felt as if they were tightly bound by invisible, muddy vines. She knew she should leave before things got any worse.
But she couldn't move.
Unlike the cold pain she always felt during previous OOC punishments, this time it felt like she was being roasted in a fire, the excruciating pain spreading throughout her body. It reminded her of the ancient torture of branding with hot iron rods, where a person was tied to a red-hot iron rod, the scorching heat spreading from their spine to their entire body, slowly being cooked bit by bit.
She was about to be scalded alive.
The center of the uproar was completely surrounded by people. Tall security guards grabbed Chen Fu's arms and dragged her off the stage. Her assistant, Xiao Wang, was so anxious that her eyes were glazed over and her legs were trembling. She was regretting her job.
The forceful dragging made Chen Fu look somewhat disheveled. Her carefully styled hair was tangled with colorful fragments of varying lengths, her neatly pressed dress was almost torn, her makeup was half ruined, her lipstick had smudged, and the bright red color had unevenly stained the lower half of her face. Her overly long, fluffy bangs covered one of her eyes. To match her makeup today, she had specially worn pure black contact lenses, so the exposed eye was shining brightly.
She looked like a ferocious beast being strangled, or an angry ghost.
The hysterical expression finally disappeared after the exhausting struggle. The narrow backstage path automatically widened for her. Chen Fu leaned against the white wall, surrounded by a chaotic and bewildered crowd.
The surge of adrenaline gave her a sense of satisfaction, as if she had finally gotten her revenge.
But what's the point?
The brief moment of quiet stretched out endlessly, and decades of life flashed before her eyes like a revolving lantern, as if she were on a train called Memory. Chen Fu saw many people moving back and forth in the carriages.
She has childhood friends and companions, partners she fell in love with and broke up with, all sorts of different people she meets at work, a blustering but cowardly person, an arrogant senior in the industry, Han Xiao who greeted her with a smile when they first met, and Jiang Qing who handed her a blanket in the winter.
There's also Luyu.
At night, as the Ferris wheel reached its highest point, the city suddenly began to set off fireworks. Amidst the shimmering white light, she heard Lu Yu say, "I love you."
The face, filled with love, gradually magnified as its owner leaned forward slightly. The mist swirling in the illusion gradually dissipated, making the face appear even more real, as if Lu Yu were truly standing right in front of her.
The chaotic noise gradually subsided with the click of high heels. The people surrounding Chen Fu automatically made way, and through a sliver of daylight, Chen Fu finally managed to make out Lu Yu's face.
She really appeared in front of me.
As expected, Lu Yu had promised to come back for the awards ceremony today. Chen Fu had also seen her from afar while waiting backstage; she was with a female companion at the time. Chen Fu had heard of that person before establishing a close relationship with her; she had already thoroughly investigated Lu Yu's romantic history. Yan Qing was Lu Yu's ex-boyfriend, and they had broken up several years ago.
When she saw this scene, she thought she would be sad and upset, but the hidden bitterness and pain turned into sweetness. Chen Fu was glad that Lu Yu had finally met someone worthy of her love.
Her unusual attitude a while ago could finally be explained. Eva's revelation was a huge blow to Chen Fu. Her decades of pain were based on an absurd reason. This kind of evil, which could cover up the truth and was not afraid of the consequences, was like a dimensional attack, making Chen Fu feel that she was completely powerless to resist.
What's even more frightening is the attitude of those around them.
Eva slowly and deliberately told her that everyone in Xihe knew about this except for her.
Rather than eking out a living in such a filthy environment, it's better to destroy it along with your exhausted self.
Even though she had made up her mind, she still felt wronged. Lu Yu's appearance instantly intensified this feeling, because almost every time disaster struck, this person would appear in front of her as if from nowhere. The resentment she had been suppressing surged up instantly. She wanted to cry and tell Lu Yu that the person who made her break her leg had been found, but what good would it do? It was all too late.
But the expected comforting expression didn't appear on Lu Yu's face. Instead, Lu Yu stood in front of her and gripped her shoulders tightly.
The pain surged in the moment the heart opened, and when the throbbing soreness reached its peak, I felt a sense of relief, like taking a big gulp of bitter tea, and after the nerves were numbed, I could faintly feel a sweet aftertaste.
"How much money and effort have I invested in you?"
This sentence was almost shouted out, and Chen Fu stood there stunned.
When love is stripped away, it feels like being skinned alive; the mental pain far outweighs the physical discomfort. But then, you can't help but smile faintly, thinking that this is exactly the result you wanted.
*
This incident was forced to end in a mess, and Lu Xiaomi, whose body was being forcibly controlled, felt a chill in her heart when she heard her own desperate shouts.
She watched as Chen Fu gave her a pitiful smile, and her heart trembled violently.
Watching helplessly as your loved one hurts you is a blow that could break a person repeatedly. Lu Xiaomi smiled bitterly, but this kind of blow had happened to her countless times before.
In her panic, Chen Fu bit her tongue, and blood bubbles gushed from the corner of her bright red lips. Her assistant, Xiao Wang, spoke up just in time, saying, "President Lu, please don't get agitated. Let's talk about it when we get back to the company."
We definitely should go back to the company. What just happened was a major recording mishap, and the entire company should sit down and discuss the subsequent public relations issues. Although the gala wasn't pre-recorded, quite a few staff members have already spread what happened.
In short, we must cut off the transmission routes and suppress this matter no matter what.
Lu Xiaomi thought with a headache.
Faced with this emergency, Xihe indeed set up a separate response team. Lu Xiaomi thought that she had to participate personally no matter what, as she was not entirely at ease with the people Sun Hao had chosen.
So when she got back to the company, she hurriedly called her secretary and told her that she wanted to participate in the follow-up discussions on public relations. The secretary stood in front of her with her head down and didn't say a word. Lu Xiaomi knew perfectly well what that attitude meant. In fact, she had felt it as soon as she got back to the company. On her way from the elevator to the office, she was the center of attention of almost everyone.
Chen Fu was the artist she was mainly responsible for at Xihe. Since Chen Fu had such a big incident today, she naturally couldn't escape responsibility.
"That's right, Mr. Lu."
The secretary looked up and said solemnly,
"Due to your serious dereliction of duty at work some time ago, the board of directors has just issued a notice immediately suspending you from all your positions at Xihe..."
Lu Xiaomi's face turned pale instantly.
"Mr. Lu, please don't rush. You'd better go back to headquarters first and explain things clearly. Then everything will be easier to discuss..."
*
The series of blows actually calmed Lu Xiaomi down. She sat in the passenger seat with a numb expression, while 0413 in her arms gently licked her palm.
Her expression remained normal; only 0413 knew that this was a protective mechanism that the body automatically activates when a person is exhausted to a certain extent.
Lu Xiaomi did not heed her secretary's advice to return to the group headquarters. After coming down from the office building, she received a text message on her phone. The sender had no name in the message and simply told her to go home immediately.