Chapter 21 – A Lovely Gift: Come with Me After the Party

Zhong Yang and Su Mingzhu didn’t arrive particularly early. By the time they got there, the large round table was nearly full. Only two seats remained—one between Wu Zhirong and Jasper, and the other between Pei Yunzhe and Ruan Yu.

Technically, Zhong Yang should have sat beside her manager, but Su Mingzhu spoke up first:
“I’ll sit next to Manager Wu, you go find President Pei.”

Fine. Sitting next to someone either way—at least this time she didn’t have to be on edge.

“All right, everyone’s here!” Jasper stood up to speak, full of leadership energy. “This meal will mark a perfect beginning for the Wusu crew. Let’s raise our glasses for a toast!”

“Cheers!”
“May everything go smoothly!”
“Box office success!”

Jasper laughed helplessly, “We haven’t even started filming, and you’re already wishing for ticket sales?”

Su Mingzhu, the one who just shouted it, replied confidently, “What’s wrong with that? I’ll say it from now until the premiere. Just think of it as making more wishes.”

“You’re too much, Director. Let President Su say whatever she wants.”

“Hahahahahaha!”
“Exactly, exactly—box office success!”
“Big success!”

Jasper’s team skewed young—no one over forty. The oldest was the long-haired casting director from the audition day, who was thirty-five.

Where there are young people, there’s fun. The atmosphere warmed up quickly.

Zhong Yang had a faint smile on her lips and also raised her glass. “To great success.”

Dishes soon filled the entire table. Everyone, familiar or not, was joking and chatting. Ruan Yu, seated beside Zhong Yang, turned to talk to her:
“Zhong Yang, if there’s any dish you can’t reach, just let me know. I’ll help you.”

“Thanks, but that’s okay—”

Before she could finish, Ruan Yu had already used the shared chopsticks to place a tomato-sauce abalone onto her plate.
“Try this. I’ve had it before—it tastes good and won’t make you gain weight.”

Zhong Yang was pleasantly surprised. She hadn’t expected Ruan Yu to be so kind and polite in private. No wonder he had made it this far in the entertainment industry at such a young age.

“No need to be so formal. We’ll be seeing each other a lot over the next few months,” Ruan Yu said warmly. With his handsome features and gentle voice, he made people feel like spring sunlight.

Jasper suddenly cut into their conversation:
“By the way, Zhong Yang, you need to gain weight. You’re too thin right now—still quite far from the character’s ideal build. Eat more over the next while.”

In fact, the points he deducted at the audition were because she was too underweight.

Zhong Yang nodded obediently. “Okay. How many pounds should I gain?”

Jasper thought for a moment. “About 110 pounds.”

Zhong Yang twitched at the corner of her mouth.

She currently weighed 96 pounds. That meant she needed to gain 14 pounds—no easy feat.

Especially for someone like her, who had a naturally hard time gaining weight.

While she was silently worrying, she suddenly noticed Pei Yunzhe looking at her. When she turned her head, their eyes met.

She blinked. For some reason, she felt that Jasper and Pei Yunzhe had similar features.

It wasn’t noticeable when they weren’t together, but now that they were sitting side by side, the resemblance was obvious.

Zhong Yang didn’t ask immediately. She lowered her head and ate for a while before quietly asking Pei Yunzhe:
“I just realized you and the director look kind of alike?”

Pei Yunzhe chuckled. “Don’t you know his Chinese name?”

Zhong Yang was curious. “What is it?”

“Pei Shize.”

Zhong Yang whispered in surprise, “Jasper is your younger brother?!”

Because of how Chen Qingyue had described him, Zhong Yang still imagined Pei Yunzhe’s little brother as a sickly child who once had a fever so bad it nearly messed up his brain. Now, realizing that Jasper was that very child, she suddenly felt less reverence for the director and more… maternal affection?

“President Pei, a toast to you.”

Hearing that, Pei Yunzhe shifted his gaze slightly away from Zhong Yang and looked toward Ruan Yu.

“I’ve heard so much about you. It’s my first time seeing you in person. I’ll finish mine, you drink as you please.”

Their glasses clinked with a crisp sound. Pei Yunzhen took a small sip and set his glass down.

Ruan Yu poured more wine, then raised his glass toward Zhong Yang.
“Miss Zhong, looking forward to working with you.”

“Looking forward to working with you too.” Zhong Yang smiled. Seeing him drink it all in one go, she also took half a glass in one breath.

The dinner continued in a cheerful atmosphere. After several rounds of drinks, everyone grew closer.

Pei Yunzhen’s glass, however, barely changed. Aside from Pei Shize and Ruan Yu, no one dared toast him.

On the other hand, everyone was eager to toast the female lead, and they were so enthusiastic that she couldn’t refuse.

Ruan Yu, perhaps overly gentlemanly, kept drinking on her behalf—glass after glass. In the end, Zhong Yang looked at his slightly drunk, glassy eyes and felt a little guilty.

In truth, she could handle her alcohol just fine. She didn’t need anyone to drink for her.

“What’s wrong?” Pei Yunzhen gave his brother a puzzled look, confused as to why he kept nudging his leg.

“Nothing, bro. Just an accident.”

Pei Shize smiled on the surface, but inside he was grumbling:
Ruan Yu is being this obvious and you still have zero sense of crisis?!

But he was wrong. Pei Yunzhe’s inner thoughts were far from calm and collected.

His eyes had never left the space between Zhong Yang and Ruan Yu. Every extra drink Ruan Yu had made him a little more annoyed.

Pei Yunzhe always acted with care. Given his sensitive position as a film investor, he couldn’t do anything over the line in public. Otherwise, Zhong Yang would become the target of baseless rumors and gossip.

He didn’t want her to ever show that hurt, sorrowful expression again.

At that moment, Zhong Yang was being called on again. She quickly pressed down Ruan Yu’s raised glass.
“Mr. Ruan, you’ve already had quite a bit—I can drink this one myself!”

Then she tilted her head back and drank half a glass in one go.

Pei Yunzhe, seeing that her complexion was fine, finally relaxed. In a low voice, he said to her:
“Come with me after the party.”

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“Why?”

“To give you your gift.”

“Wow!”

Seeing how Zhong Yang’s big eyes instantly lit up, a lot of the frustration in Pei Yunzhe’s heart disappeared. He thought to himself: She’s hot-tempered, but easy to cheer up. Just like a little girl…

The dinner lasted nearly three hours. After leaving the restaurant, Pei Shize was still clamoring to go to a KTV for a second round, getting quite a few people onboard.

Su Mingzhu pulled Zhong Yang aside to talk: “Qiguang’s new office location is set. I’ll send you the address later. Tomorrow morning, Brother Wu will bring the team, and we’ll have a meeting to discuss your future promotional strategy.”

Zhong Yang nodded obediently. “Okay, sure.”

Pei Shize nudged his brother’s shoulder. “Bro, are you coming with us?”

Pei Yunzhe: “No.”

As expected. Pei Shize then turned to ask Zhong Yang and Su Mingzhu, “Hey, leading lady, President Su, what about you two?”

Su Mingzhu: “Nope, got work to deal with.”

Zhong Yang: “Sorry, it’s getting late. I’d like to go back and rest. You guys have fun!”

“Alright, alright.” Pei Shize turned to Ruan Yu. “Male lead, you’re going at least, right?”

Ruan Yu chuckled, “I’ll go, I’ll go. The director’s inviting, I must accompany.”

At that moment, a strange thought passed through Ruan Yu’s mind: Why is Zhong Yang’s team so clueless about social niceties? Even in front of an investor and the director, they still act so aloof?

If Zhong Yang were some well-established superstar, that might be understandable. But she was clearly just a D-list actress with a lot of scandals behind her.

He hadn’t known during the audition, but after learning who the female lead was, his first reaction was to reject the role.

What a joke. Someone of my status playing second fiddle to a scandal-ridden minor actress?

His agent had to persuade him multiple times before he finally agreed to at least attend the dinner. Maybe he’d get a chance to meet Pei Yunzhe and build some connections.

And if that happened, even a cameo would be worth it—after all, some relationships are worth more than money.

Everyone went their separate ways—some to the KTV, others back to their companies.

Zhong Yang stayed where she was, waiting.

To avoid suspicion, the Rolls-Royce circled the block before returning to the restaurant entrance.

As soon as she got in the car, a dark privacy partition slowly rose. The ultra-discreet Driver Wang and Assistant Zhang exchanged a knowing glance—everything was understood without a word.

“Here you go, the leading lady’s gift.”

Pei Yunzhe pulled out a square box with a perfectly tied bow on top.

“What is it?” Zhong Yang took the box curiously. “Can I open it now?”

Pei Yunzhe: “Of course.”

Zhong Yang wasn’t sure if she imagined it, but it felt like the box moved a little…

“Meow~”

A long-haired, snow-white kitten with crystal-blue eyes tilted its head, curiously locking eyes with her.

!!!!!!!

She stared at Pei Yunzhe in disbelief: “Y-You—how did you know I wanted to adopt a cat?”

Pei Yunzhe’s lips curved into a small smile, clearly pleased with her reaction. “I saw it. You said you’d get a kitten if you passed the audition.”

Zhong Yang paused, suddenly realizing why her messy draft paper on the coffee table had mysteriously been tidied up.

Wuwuwu, from now on, she would loyally follow Pei Yunzhe’s lead and strive to become the best employee in the Pei Group!

Zhong Yang gently lifted the kitten from the soft box and carefully patted its little head. “Hello there, cute baby~”

“Meow~”

“What should we name you… Let’s leave that important decision to the most handsome, kindest, and most generous boss in the world. If you agree, say meow.”

“Meow~”

Zhong Yang turned her head and met Pei Yunzhe’s gaze. She blinked, a little dazed, and continued, “You—you name it?”

Pei Yunzhe looked down at the little white fluffball on her lap and suggested, “How about ‘Kitty’?”

“That’s way too lazy. Try again.”

“Then… ‘Meow-meow’.”

“Another one?”

“Whitey.”

“…Forget it. This difficult mission should be left to me.”

Pei Yunzhe looked displeased. “No. Let’s call it Whitey for now. I’ll come up with something later.”

Zhong Yang: “Fine. One more chance, then.”

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