#61 He realized that Su Yanxi was better.
Three days later.
Upon receiving the call from the entertainment reporter, Song Yanqi was furious. He drew the curtains in his hotel room and yelled into the receiver, "It's been three days! Three days! You haven't taken any pictures at all! You've wasted three days at the resort?"
Song Yanqi couldn't contain her anger, feeling both that she had been played by the entertainment reporters and that she couldn't catch the bad man Su Yanxi red-handed!
"You lost them in the first place, fine, but after finally finding their vacation spot, you still—!?"
The hotel's blackout curtains were very thick; once drawn, they completely blocked out all sunlight, making the room as dark as night. Without the problem of light, Song Yanqi no longer felt like he was being spied on, and he could confidently and unabashedly continue his cursing.
"I asked you to follow and secretly photograph Su Yanxi to gather irrefutable evidence that she is being kept by a sugar daddy, not for you to go on vacation and soak in hot springs!"
Chapter 161
"We know, we know, we know!" Entertainment reporter Xiao Zhang said helplessly, trying to comfort and explain, "We've been trying our best to follow them! But Su Yanxi and his sugar daddy are staying in a separate villa area within the resort, and we can't get in!"
Song Yanqi paced anxiously around the room: "What should we do? Are we just going to wait it out? How about I give you more money and you can move to the villa area?"
"It's no use. Those are all detached villas. Even if we moved in, we wouldn't be able to get close to their houses," Xiao Zhang sighed. "Mr. Song, if you're getting impatient, why don't I take the photographer and leave first?"
"No way!" The sunk costs already invested are too high, and Song Yanqi is unwilling to give up. "We've been following them for so many days, how can we retreat at a time like this? There's less than a week until the film festival. No matter how sweet Su Yanxi and her sugar daddy's vacation is, they definitely have to return to Beicheng city in the next few days!"
Song Yanqi steeled his heart, gritted his teeth, and decided to take another gamble.
“I’ll stay calm, and you guys stay calm too. I’ll give you extra money for food and lodging; see if you can move to the villa area and keep an eye on things.” Song Yanqi emphasized repeatedly, “We need kissing photos—or even more intimate photos! They have to be photos that can definitively prove Su Yanxi is being kept by a sugar daddy, leaving Su Yanxi no room for denial or whitewashing!”
Although Song Yanqi wasn't short of money, spending seventy or eighty thousand on something so trivial still stung. He almost had a moment of daze, thinking to himself, "Why don't I keep the money for myself instead of treating others to a vacation?"
After hanging up the phone, he touched his chest and calmed himself for a while before finally making up his mind to give the entertainment reporter, Xiao Zhang, an additional 30,000 yuan for food and lodging.
After transferring the money, Song Yanqi felt a sense of loss. He first slumped on the sofa, staring blankly at the dark room for a long time before slowly coming back to his senses, turning on his phone, and glancing at the lock screen.
His lock screen image is of Chen Yongyan, his eternal idol. Because he liked Chen Yongyan so much and wanted to be with him so badly, he did many extreme things and went a long, long way in forcing Chen Yongyan to agree to date him.
We've gone too far; there's no turning back.
He had indeed felt regret, but he also understood that regret was futile. In order to gain a chance to date Chen Yongyan, it seemed that he... had no choice but to continue down this path of no return.
Song Yanqi shook his head, forcing himself to clear his mind. He unlocked the screen, found his uncle Song Jinlan's number in his contacts, and dialed it.
"Hey Uncle, are you busy right now? Can I come to your studio to find you?"
"I...I have some things I can't handle, and I'd like to ask for your help..."
Like the paparazzi who were frustrated because they couldn't get any pictures, Bie Yunzong was also puzzled for several days.
Every evening, he would sit on the edge of the first-floor balcony for a while, watching the fiery red sunset slowly descend through the floor-to-ceiling windows, accompanied by a long sigh of regret.
"Hey, someone as handsome and dashing as me should be in a 24M ultra-high-definition unedited photo taken by paparazzi, not sitting here."
"If you're not going to sit here, then get out!"
Su Yanxi brought out the stew from the kitchen and saw the stinky dog looking up at the sunset at a 45-degree angle, looking like a pseudo-intellectual. She really wanted to take off one of her slippers and throw it at him.
"It's been three days already, and you still can't stop thinking about it, huh?" Su Yanxi put the stew pot on the table, went into the kitchen to get bowls and chopsticks, and called the dog to come and drink the soup. "Come and drink the soup while it's still hot. You rarely get to go on vacation, and you still managed to get an upset stomach. Aren't you ashamed?"
As soon as his wife called, Bie Yunzong immediately put away his pseudo-intellectual sad face, cheerfully came to the dining table, and obediently sat down.
"I didn't want to either." Bie Yunzong picked up his bowl and chopsticks to ladle out some soup. "I ate too much oily food yesterday, that's why I feel so uncomfortable all over. If I had known that eating fried fish would make me feel like this, I shouldn't have ordered that dish!"
Su Yanxi scoffed and muttered to herself, "It's a good thing you're tall and strong. What good is a strong body if your stomach is as fragile as glass?"
Large size with a fragile stomach? Haha, that's exactly the same as the habits of an Alaskan Malamute! This adds another strong argument to the idea that he might be a reincarnation of an Alaskan Malamute!
"Because of your sensitive stomach, I have to make you nourishing soup while I'm on vacation."
Despite her complaints, Su Yanxi grabbed a soup spoon and scooped up a lot of ingredients from the honeysuckle chicken soup, dumping them all into Bie Yunzong's bowl.
"We were probably one of the few customers who actually cooked in the kitchen. When I asked the staff if they had stew pots or if they could help me buy soup ingredients, the look they gave me was full of doubt and confusion."
"So what if we actually cook over a fire?" Bie Yunzong smugly sipped his wife's lovingly stewed soup, his tail practically wagging in the air. "The kitchen can't just be for show, can it? The hotel set up a kitchen in the villa, which means it's for us to use!"
"Let them wonder and be puzzled! They should reflect on why we would rather cook for ourselves than eat the food from their hotel."
Bie Yunzong sucked the chicken bones with satisfaction, licking every last bit of chicken meat clean. He ate as if it were a heaven-sent peach, not chicken soup, which is why he didn't let a single bit of "peach flesh" go to waste.
"I think it's pretty good that my wife makes me soup when I'm sick, hehe."
Su Yanxi clicked her tongue and put another piece of meat on Bie Yunzong's plate: "What a character."
If Bie Yunzong hadn't been crying and complaining about his stomach upset all day, he wouldn't have gone to such lengths to make chicken soup for his nemesis. He'd been on vacation at the hot spring hotel for a while, and he wanted to relax and unwind completely.
He hadn't been too concerned at first, but now, seeing Bie Yunzong eating so heartily, he felt something was off: with such a ravenous eating style, how could he claim to have a bad stomach?
Chapter 162
He suspected that his nemesis might not have eaten his cooking or drunk his soup in a long time, so he deliberately put on this show to trick him into cooking.
Su Yanxi narrowed her eyes suspiciously, and for no reason kicked Bie Yunzong under the table: "Focus on drinking your soup, stop showing off."
"Oh, sip it slowly. Your wife's soup is meant to be savored, one sip at a time!" Bie Yunzong smiled as he accepted his wife's affectionate kick, put down the spoon, and reached for his phone. "Sip it slowly, I'll show you the business endorsement I picked out!"
Bie Yunzong opened the WeChat chat with the grumpy guy, scrolled through the pictures, and started showing them from the first one.
"What kind?" Su Yanxi's interest was piqued at the mention of work. She straightened her back and leaned closer to examine the items. "Lipstick, face cream, face mask, eye cream?"
Su Yanxi frowned and shook her head in displeasure.
"Neither is good."
"What's wrong with it?" Bie Yunzong enthusiastically promoted the products, "They're all niche domestic brands that I recently bought, the quality is top-notch—and the prices are very reasonable!"
"It's not practical enough. Lipsticks and face creams are not necessities in life." Su Yanxi stirred the soup in her bowl, resting her chin on her left hand. "There are many teenagers in the star-chasing group. Their consumption views are not yet formed and mature, and most of them do not have the ability to earn money to spend on their own."
"I feel terrible when I think about how these people might spend their parents' hard-earned money on things that are not practical or are completely useless because of my influence."
"Sigh," Bie Yunzong slumped onto the table, feeling both helpless and forced to understand his wife's thoughts. "Wife, you really are—"
"Never mind, that's precisely where your personal charm lies. It's because of your thoughtfulness and gentleness, your unwavering integrity and perseverance, that I like you—I like you more every day!"
When Bie Yunzong looked up again, his face was once again adored with the smile of infatuation and affection for his wife.
“These are the four products I hope you can endorse. My wife is so beautiful, she would look amazing in a makeup or skincare ad!” Bie Yunzong scrolled through a few more pages of pictures. “If your wife doesn’t like them, that’s fine! There are more later, these are the ones that really meet your needs.”
The next four items are significantly more practical than the previous four. They are: sportswear, sports shoes, bedding, and a thermos.
Bie Yunzong hoped his wife would choose the bedding. Although, by bedding, he meant proper pillowcases, duvet covers, and sheets, well…
hey-hey.
Su Yanxi carefully considered these four items. He first ruled out sportswear and sneakers, because there are many sports brands, and the market is almost saturated; with a little effort, one can find plenty of cost-effective sportswear and sneakers. Bedding was worth a try, but considering the target consumer group, Su Yanxi felt it wasn't quite suitable.
"How about a thermos?" Su Yanxi turned on Bie Yunzong's phone, which had just gone dark, and chuckled. "After looking around, I think this is the best. Both the brand's core values and the product itself seem very affordable and practical!"
"Ah, this..." Bie Yunzong was a little disappointed that his wife hadn't chosen bedding, but he quickly cheered up and continued to smile. "It's fine, as long as you like it! I'll talk to my brother later and ask him to reserve this business set for you."
"Just eat your food, you don't need to worry about it."
Su Yanxi snorted and stuffed a large chicken leg into Bie Yunzong's mouth.
"I'll talk to my older brother in person tonight. After that, I'll go see Sister Tong to see if we need to create some buzz beforehand."
In Song Jinlan's personal studio in Beicheng District.
Song Yanqi, with a wrinkled face, tearfully complained to her uncle, "Uncle, you have to help me! That Su Yanxi is so awful, she's got Xiaoyan completely infatuated!"
Song Yanqi arrived at just the right time, catching Song Jinlan trying on clothes. Both Song Jinlan and Song Yanqi were to attend two important year-end events: the Film and Television Awards and the CG Awards.
Song Jinlan stood on the small round platform, his arms slightly raised, letting three or four staff members circle around him. Apart from occasionally lifting his foot to let the staff put on his socks and shoes, he was even lazier than an emperor who had palace maids to serve him.
"Are you still pursuing that college classmate of yours?" Song Jinlan asked casually, her tone neither cold nor indifferent, but rather carrying a hint of mockery towards a younger person. "Didn't I tell you long ago? There are plenty of fish in the sea. You insist on having a crush on that one, so who can you blame but yourself?"
“But…” Song Yanqi pouted, trying to argue, “I just like Xiao Yan… what can I do? No matter how much you try to persuade me, Uncle, I still like Xiao Yan!”
"Besides, it's not a question of whether I like Xiao Yan or not anymore; it's that Xiao Yan—he was deceived by a bad man!"
"A bad man?" The staff helped Song Jinlan get dressed. Song Jinlan arrogantly raised an eyebrow, straightened her suit and bow tie, and stepped down from the small round platform. "Is that Su Yanxi? Hmph, she's just a gold digger who got ahead. You can't even handle such a small fry?"
"Hmm." Song Yanqi nodded pitifully, sitting on the sofa next to him, watching his uncle stroll into the brightly lit photography studio. "Uncle, you don't know, Su Yanxi is so cunning and good at pretending! He's best at pretending to be innocent and naive, keeping Xiaoyan firmly under his control!"
"Xiaoyan and I even had a fight because of him! If he had just climbed up the ladder by relying on his sugar daddy, I wouldn't have bothered with him since he didn't bother me; but now? He's directly provoking me!"
Song Yanqi's relationship with his uncle Song Jinlan was not very close—not only was it not close, Song Yanqi also sincerely felt that this uncle was really difficult to get along with.
Song Yanqi himself is not an easy person to get along with, and yet there are people in this world that even Song Yanqi himself finds "difficult to deal with." Therefore, it's easy to imagine how unlikable Song Jinlan's personality must be.
Chapter 163
Because they were both in the entertainment industry and related by blood, Song Jinlan was quite tolerant of Song Yanqi. Even if it wasn't an overly attentive or protective approach, she would at least let him know if he needed anything and he would help him out.
Despite this, Song Yanqi was still very afraid of Song Jinlan. Every time he came to Song Jinlan's studio, he felt that the studio was lifeless, and the staff all had long faces, and they didn't like to talk or greet people.
They all seemed like walking corpses.
After finishing his accusation, Song Yanqi couldn't help but swallow hard, carefully escalating the conflict: "Uncle, bullying me is practically the same as bullying you, isn't it? You can not support me continuing to pursue Xiaoyan, but you have to teach Su Yanxi a lesson for me!"
"Is Su Yanxi really as amazing as you say?" Song Jinlan struck a few poses in the photo studio for the photographer to take her makeup photos. "What tricks did you use? Tell me about them."
Song Yanqi truthfully recounted how he collected photographic evidence and wrote a report to the film and television festival to expose the matter behind the scenes.
He knew his methods were rudimentary and naive, so he was afraid of being ridiculed by his uncle when he spoke.
To everyone's surprise, Song Jinlan not only didn't laugh, but suddenly let out a stern rebuke: "What kind of stuff is this?!"
Before Song Yanqi could react, Song Jinlan had already raised her arm and swung it down hard, smashing the camera with the expensive SLR lens on it.
"Are you deliberately choosing the worst angles to take pictures of me? You're having a lot of fun taking unflattering photos of me, aren't you?" After smashing the camera, Song Jinlan slapped the photographer in the face. "How long have you been working in my studio? Huh? At least four or five months, if not six months! Don't you understand or remember what angles make me look good?"
Song Yanqi was startled and stared at the photographer's face as a bright red handprint appeared.
He thought the photographer would argue back or make some kind of resistance—isn't that the natural reaction of a normal person after being hit? An employee is an employee, an independent individual, a human being; even if they make a mistake at work, they shouldn't be insulted and slapped like that!
That's what Song Yanqi thought. But to his surprise, the photographer didn't make a fuss; he simply covered his face and slowly squatted down.
"Useless, a bunch of useless trash." Song Jinlan slapped off her suit jacket in annoyance and threw it on the ground with disdain. "Don't waste time, let's move on to the next one."
Song Jinlan walked out of the photography studio and headed towards Song Yanqi. Even though Song Yanqi knew that his uncle was going to the dressing room, he still felt a sense of fear and unease.
How terrifying... My uncle's temper is truly terrifying. Song Yanqi unconsciously avoided eye contact, shivering with fear.
"Xiao Qi, you're a piece of trash too." Song Jinlan sneered, standing on the small round platform. "You think you can bring down Su Yanxi with just a letter of complaint? If Su Yanxi had any connections, she definitely wouldn't have let your letter of complaint get through. Your idea is good, but you're using the wrong method."