TL/Note: Starting from this chapter and onwards, I will use the term ‘Assistant Xu’ more often than ‘Xu Yang’. Similarly with Lin Yu, I will use ‘Manager Lin’ when Su Chengyang calls him instead of ‘Mr. Lin’. Because there was a bit of confusion during the previous translation process. I’m sorry (シ_ _)シ
Although Su Chengyang was enthusiastic about eating hot pot, Lin Yu still asked Assistant Xu to take them home first.
During this time, Su Chengyang had been living at Xiao Lu’s house. She had originally wanted to move out and find her own place, but Lin Yu didn’t agree. He said that according to the contract, the company should be responsible for Su Chengyang’s accommodation, including meals and lodging. The Cayenne borrowed from Lin Yu’s garage for Xiao Lu’s commute could be considered as payment for the year’s rent.
Xiao Lu’s parents were temporarily settled in Italy, and Xiao Lu felt lonely living alone in such a big place. Plus, she got along well with Xiao Lu, so she didn’t mention moving out again.
After returning home, Lin Yu and Assistant Xu went back to the company to handle some business, and agreed to meet at the hot pot restaurant at 5:30 in the evening.
Su Chengyang packed her luggage, took a nice hot bath, and took a nap in her room.
She had been waking up early these past few days, and combined with the unfamiliar environment, she didn’t sleep well.
Maybe because she was going to eat the hot pot she had been craving for a long time, Su Chengyang even drooled in her sleep.
Upon waking up, Su Chengyang felt a pang of hunger in her stomach. She searched the kitchen and found half a cucumber, which she nibbled on while scrolling through Weibo.
Su Chengyang clicked on Weibo and saw that the reality show they had filmed, <Travel>, was being mentioned by many netizens.
“What are you looking at?” Xiao Lu came down the spiral staircase, wearing a black tank top and a pair of white shorts. Her hair was messy, and she had sleepy eyes. She must have just woken up and yawned as she approached Su Chengyang.
Su Chengyang clicked on the <Travel> entry and saw several marketing accounts releasing behind-the-scenes clips of the show, including Su Chengyang and Jiang Shanqi.
“Weibo,” she said.
Watching Su Chengyang nibble on the cucumber with gusto, Xiao Lu also took out half a cucumber from the refrigerator and walked slowly to her side.
“By the way, my cousin brother asked me to tell you that the show’s promotional video will be released tonight. They should tag you when they do, so remember to repost it in time.”
Su Chengyang nodded, no wonder the <Travel> entry suddenly appeared out of nowhere. It should be the program team doing the promotion. After the promotional Weibo is released, it can go straight to the top of the hot search.
However, neither the show nor its guests were particularly popular, and Su Chengyang’s own popularity had long since faded. Even with advance promotion, it was unlikely that she could immediately climb to the top of the hot search with natural traffic. Su Chengyang guessed that the program team would have to buy their way up.
As she scrolled through Weibo, Su Chengyang came across Tang Yue’s account.
She clicked on it and saw that after Yang Xiuyi’s scandal broke, Tang Yue had gained some popularity online. After all, she was the only person in the entertainment industry who had bravely stood up for Su Chengyang and condemned the scumbag.
Tang Yue had nearly two million followers on Weibo and seemed to have landed a few more endorsements recently. Her recent posts were all promotions, and she seemed to be doing well.
Su Chengyang followed her and sent a few greetings on WeChat, chatting about each other’s recent situations. Then, she called Liu Wen.
Liu Wen was surprised to receive a call from Su Chengyang. After leaving her old agency that day, she thought Su Chengyang’s words were just a passing remark and didn’t expect her to actually call to console her.
Approaching five o’clock, Su Chengyang and Xiao Lu set off for the hot pot restaurant they had booked on a small road.
On the way, Xiao Lu sent the address to Lin Yu and received a message that they would be a little late as they hadn’t finished dealing with company matters.
Seeing this, Su Chengyang said, “If Manager Lin really can’t make it, let’s just go eat together.”
“Hot pot is more fun with more people,” Xiao Lu replied.
Su Chengyang awkwardly said, “What if Manager Lin doesn’t like this kind of taste?”
Su Chengyang realized too late that Lin Yu had only recently returned to China and might not be accustomed to Chinese cuisine at all. He might have only refrained from directly refusing Su Chengyang out of politeness.
Xiao Lu shook her head and said, “No, although my brother spends most of his time in Italy, he loves Chinese culture and food. Due to his influence, almost all the gardeners at his estate in Italy speak Chinese.”
“Oh,” Su Chengyang said unexpectedly, “no wonder he speaks Chinese so well.”
“Yeah,” Xiao Lu nodded.
However, Xiao Lu still relayed Su Chengyang’s message to Lin Yu and received the same response: he would come later.
After arriving at the destination, Su Chengyang got out of the car directly.
As her online popularity had decreased, she wasn’t worried about being recognized by anyone in public, so she didn’t hide and dressed in a very ordinary way. Her hair was messy and she didn’t even wear makeup.
Even so, when Su Chengyang stood at the entrance of the underground parking lot waiting for Xiao Lu to come out, there were still many passersby who cast curious glances at her.
Su Chengyang had a stunning and flamboyant appearance. When she was expressionless and absent-minded, she appeared distant. Due to her years of experience as an actress, even in her leisure time, she carried herself with grace and was a person who could be easily noticed in a crowd. Although Su Chengyang’s face didn’t have any particularly memorable features on the screen filled with beautiful women, once she was placed in reality, she was someone who couldn’t be forgotten after just one glance. Moreover, her aura was something that the “Su Chengyang” could never compare to.
Finally, a young man with a red face walked up to Su Chengyang. She looked at him in confusion and thought, “Is he here to ask for an autograph?” She had thought that nobody remembered her anymore.
Su Chengyang’s casual glance made the young man’s face even redder, and he stammered, “Hello, can we, can we get to know each other?”
Su Chengyang was taken aback. It turned out he wasn’t there for an autograph.
“Ah, is it?” Su Chengyang expressed her confusion sincerely. In her previous world, she had a fan base, and almost everyone she met outside would ask her for an autograph. Suddenly encountering someone who didn’t want an autograph made her a little confused.
The boy’s face was like a boiled crab, and he stammered and couldn’t speak.
Just then, Xiao Lu walked out of the underground parking lot and saw Su Chengyang with an innocent and indifferent face and the awkward boy in front of her. She teased, “Tsk, Chengyang, don’t scare him.”
Su Chengyang: “…”
Which eye did you see me scare him with?
Although feeling embarrassed, the boy did not give up. He gritted his teeth and said, “Can I add you on WeChat? I, I won’t disturb you often.”
Xiaolu smirked and winked at her.
Su Chengyang helplessly said to the boy, “Sorry, the company regulations state that we can’t add strangers on WeChat.”
The boy was stunned for a moment, and understood that Su Chengyang was rejecting him. With a red face, he said, “Sorry for disturbing you…”
“She’s called Su Chengyang, you can search for her online if you want to know more about her,” Xiao Lu shouted to the boy.
The boy clearly hesitated, nodded at them, and then turned and left.
Xiao Lu walked up to Su Chengyang, looked at the boy’s back and said, “Do you think he will search for your name when he goes back?”
“I don’t know.”
“I think he will. Congrats, Chengyang, you have gained another little fan. Besides, does the company really have a rule that prohibits you from adding someone?”
Su Chengyang looked at her with a half-smile and said, “The company doesn’t have such a rule, but your cousin brother does.”
“What are you talking about? How could my cousin brother do that?”
Su Chengyang cleared her throat and imitated Lin Yu’s tone at that time, “This is my card number, and the penalty will be directly charged to it.”
Xiao Lu was amused by her appearance. “I didn’t expect you to hold grudges. My cousin brother was just teasing you.”
“I don’t believe it. Manager Lin is not that kind of person.”
The two of them walked and talked, and entered the hot pot restaurant. Xiao Lu gave the name and the waiter led them to a private room.
It was almost 6:30, and smelling the aroma coming from the gap in the door, Su Chengyang became so hungry that she drank three or four glasses of water. She held the menu and silently remembered everything she wanted to order. When Lin Yu and the others arrived, she wanted to place her order as quickly as possible.
Xiao Lu received a message on her phone and after reading it, she said to Su Chengyang, “Assistant Xu said they will need at least another hour.”
Su Chengyang’s bright eyes instantly darkened at the news of having to wait another hour.
One hour… still have to wait for another hour…
She felt like the entire sky had suddenly turned dark.
Suddenly, Xiao Lu chuckled.
Su Chengyang looked at her in confusion, wondering how she could still laugh at a time like this.
Xiao Lu laughed even harder, “I was just kidding! My cousin brother and his colleagues have already left the office. They told us to order first and they’ll be here soon.”
Then, Xiao Lu watched as Su Chengyang’s expression quickly changed from gloomy to bright.
Xiao Lu called over a waiter and Su Chengyang quickly ordered everything she wanted to eat before passing the menu to Xiao Lu.
As she glanced over the menu, she saw a wide variety of dishes and couldn’t help but pout, “You really aren’t picky, you’ll eat anything.”
“Of course!” Su Chengyang felt that her lack of pickiness was something to be proud of.
Xiao Lu chuckled.
Before long, the waiter brought their pot and dishes to the table.
Su Chengyang had already prepared the condiments and held her chopsticks in her mouth while staring intently at the slowly bubbling pot. She had a look in her eyes that seemed to want to ignite the flames to help the pot boil faster so she could start eating what she liked.
“Knock—”
Someone knocked on the door of the private room and pushed it open from the outside.
“Cousin brother, you guys are here.”
Su Chengyang briefly turned her head and said, “Manager Lin, Brother Xu.”
Without stopping for even a second, she turned her head back and continued to focus on her pot. Finally, the pot began to boil.
“It’s boiling! We can start putting in the food! What do you guys want to eat? I can help you put it in.”
Although Su Chengyang’s stomach was rumbling with hunger, she hadn’t completely lost her sanity. Even though the food she was craving was right in front of her, she decided to first please Lin Yu, who had rewarded her with this hard-earned hot pot meal. If she performed well, maybe Lin Yu would allow her to come out and eat once every few days.
Although she said this, Su Chengyang couldn’t help but stare intently at a plate of meatballs, her eyes almost shooting out sparks. She had never shown such an expression for anything other than food before.
Lin Yu’s gaze passed over the back of her head. They had reserved a small private room with only four seats, and Lin Yu walked up to pull out the chair next to Su Chengyang. Just as he was about to sit down, he noticed a white piece of paper on the ground out of the corner of his eye.
His gaze froze and he bent down to pick it up.
“Chengyang?”
“Hmm?”
Su Chengyang was a little slow to respond, reluctantly taking her eyes off the meatballs and turning to look at Lin Yu.
She saw him standing behind her, looking down at something in his hand. When Su Chengyang didn’t react, he held the paper up in front of her. “You dropped this.”
Su Chengyang looked at the letter in his hand for a moment, realizing it was the one that Lin Yu had given her during the day. She had put it in her bag when changing clothes and it must have fallen out when she was taking out her phone.
“Since it’s something that someone else has entrusted to you, please keep it safe.”
“Oh, thank you. I accidentally dropped it.”
Su Chengyang didn’t react much, put down his chopsticks, and reached out to take it.
After getting the letter, Lin Yu didn’t let go immediately.
Su Chengyang raised his head in confusion, “Manager Lin?”
Lin Yu looked down at her, his eyes like ink dots, making it hard to read his emotions.
After a while, he said, “If you don’t know how to handle it, I can temporarily take care of it for you until the day you want to see it.”
Su Chengyang was stunned, then said, “Manager Lin, thank you for your kindness, but I know how to handle it.”
Lin Yu glanced at her, then let go and sat down beside her.
“Is that so?”
In fact, Lin Yu guessed it right. Su Chengyang really didn’t know how to deal with this letter, so she hadn’t opened it yet.
But she didn’t want to hand the letter over to Lin Yu for safekeeping. She felt that it was disrespectful to the owner of the letter.
