Chapter 49

Though the holiday wasn’t over, Wen Tang began to get busy again.

After Ke Xin and Yang Yang returned, they had both traveled to their hometowns during the month off and also managed to visit various tourist spots. Ke Xin and Yang Yang brought back many local specialties and small gifts from their travels.

Regardless of whether Wen Tang found them useful or not, she took them all with a mix of complaints and acceptance.

The new manager, Li Yingjie, was someone Wen Tang was somewhat familiar with. In her late thirties, everyone called her Sister Ying. She had been managing other artists in the company, including the top star Liu Chengxi. Since no other suitable person was available, Qi Xiuyuan assigned her to manage Wen Tang temporarily.

Li Yingjie had already communicated with Liu Meifen before meeting Wen Tang. She knew about Wen Tang’s intention to leave the entertainment industry and was aware of the reasons behind it from Liu Meifen.

Since the day Wen Tang had met Liu Meifen, she had completely cut off contact with her, blocking her on both phone and WeChat.

Liu Meifen didn’t mind. She had hidden certain things from Wen Tang and believed she needed some time to come to terms with them. As Wen Tang had said, Liu Meifen had controlled her for years and it was time to let go.

As for Wen Tang’s plans to leave the industry, Liu Meifen only realized how reckless her actions had been after stepping down as Wen Tang’s manager.

She had no regrets and would make the same choices if given another chance.

For now, Wen Tang could do as she pleased.

After eighteen years of managing Wen Tang, Liu Meifen had grown tired of their constant clashes. She was ready to let go.

On Friday, two days before Wen Tang’s holiday ended, Li Yingjie visited Wen Tang at her apartment.

She discussed some work arrangements and confirmed that, per Wen Tang’s request, no new work had been scheduled. However, as one of the most prominent stars, Wen Tang’s existing commitments would keep her busy.

Moreover, before Liu Meifen stepped down, she had secured various endorsements for Wen Tang.

Li Yingjie came not only to hand over responsibilities but also to address an urgent matter.

“One of the endorsements, Red, as you know, has been highly sought after. The ad should have been completed last month, but due to the recent issues, it’s been delayed repeatedly. Many brands were hesitant and even considered dropping you, but Red remained firm on keeping you. They agreed to the extended break, showing their sincerity.”

“However, the delays are pushing the limits now. The new products are about to be promoted, but the ad isn’t ready…”

Li Yingjie, while familiar with Wen Tang, was only recently appointed as her manager. Liu Meifen had protected Wen Tang so thoroughly that no one else had a chance to interfere.

Li Yingjie hadn’t anticipated becoming Wen Tang’s manager, even temporarily. It was a challenging task.

Wen Tang was notorious for being difficult, highly independent, and frequently making headlines. Even her mother, Liu Meifen, often struggled to manage her and their arguments were well-known within the company.

Wen Tang was well-known in the industry for being difficult to handle.

Before Li Yingjie came, she was unsure whether she could persuade Wen Tang to return to work early. After all, Wen Tang was already contemplating leaving the entertainment industry. She had earned enough money and had numerous endorsements, so losing one or two would have little impact on her. To put it more specifically, while others were scrambling to sign her, Wen Tang was thinking about how to cancel contracts.

Li Yingjie was concerned that Wen Tang might take the opportunity to terminate her contracts, which would be problematic.

Fortunately, those concerns did not materialize.

Wen Tang was surprisingly cooperative.

“When is the filming scheduled for?” she asked after listening to Li Yingjie’s explanation.

Li Yingjie had not worked closely with Wen Tang before. Although her reputation for being difficult was well-known, she was known to be serious and responsible when it came to work. Those who had worked with her would confirm this.

She might be picky about other things, but she was never picky about her work.

“It’s from 5 PM to 9 PM tomorrow,” Li Yingjie said.

This timing made Wen Tang think of the birthday party Zhou Jingyu had mentioned a couple of days ago.

Wen Tang raised an eyebrow and asked, “Why choose this time?”

It was a coincidence.

Li Yingjie thought Wen Tang was asking why it was scheduled for the evening rather than the daytime.

“The studio is quite busy lately. The only available slot was during this time. There were daytime slots a few days ago, but the company didn’t want to disturb your holiday, so they scheduled it for tomorrow evening instead.”

Filming at night was quite normal for artists, and it wasn’t particularly late. If the conditions were good, the shoot could even finish early.

Li Yingjie assumed Wen Tang might have reservations about working in the evening after a long break, so she added, “If you prefer not to work at night, we can find another studio and schedule it for the day.”

Wen Tang paused for a moment and replied, “No need, tomorrow evening is fine.”

And so it was decided.

On Saturday morning, Wen Tang and Zhou Jingyu visited Zhou Donghai at the nursing home. Zhou Donghai was very fond of Wen Tang. Since Wen Tang started her vacation, she had been visiting him almost every week with Zhou Jingyu, and he was always very happy.

Morning was when Zhou Donghai was at his most energetic.

They chatted for a while.

Zhou Donghai loved sharing stories about Zhou Jingyu’s childhood. From him, Wen Tang learned that Zhou Jingyu had been outstanding in both academics and piano from a young age, had a lot of love for animals but was never allowed to keep any, and received many gifts from girls during holidays due to his good looks.

If Zhou Donghai had any doubts about Wen Tang when he first learned she was Zhou Jingyu’s girlfriend, now he considered her almost like a granddaughter-in-law.

After leaving the nursing home, Zhou Jingyu usually took Wen Tang out for lunch before heading back.

Today was no different.

Zhou Jingyu took Wen Tang to a well-known Hunan restaurant in Lingcheng.

After lunch, they returned to the apartment.

They sat on the sofa together and watched a movie.

Just as the movie ended, Yang Yang and Ke Xin arrived to pick up Wen Tang for the ad shoot.

The night before, Wen Tang hadn’t had the chance to tell Zhou Jingyu about her work schedule for the evening.

…Actually, it wasn’t that she didn’t have time. She just wasn’t sure how to bring it up. After all, Zhou Jingyu had been upset about her not wanting to attend his friend’s birthday party, and Wen Tang was sure he was genuinely angry because he hadn’t kissed her since.

He didn’t respond to her flirtations at night anymore.

…He had a bad temper.

But on the surface, it was hard to tell.

Wen Tang wasn’t sure how to tell him, feeling that doing so might only make him more upset. Yet she couldn’t help but test how important she was to him by dancing on the edge.

When Ke Xin and Yang Yang arrived, Wen Tang finally told Zhou Jingyu, “Zhou Jingyu, I have an ad shoot tonight starting at 5 PM. I need to leave now.”

Since Wen Tang would be busy once she returned to work in a couple of days, and to avoid her being bored at home, Zhou Jingyu had canceled Lu Yi’s birthday party.

Unexpectedly, Wen Tang had work in the evening.

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier that you had work?”

Zhou Jingyu asked.

If he had a cigarette, he might have taken a hard drag to relieve his frustration.

It was clear that Wen Tang had intentionally withheld this information.

What was she thinking?

Had she already gotten bored after just a month?

But he was accustomed to hiding his emotions. Even though he was seething inside, to Wen Tang, he only appeared slightly colder than usual.

When Zhou Jingyu asked, it reminded Wen Tang of how he had been distant in the evenings recently.

Feeling aggrieved, Wen Tang couldn’t help but say, “Well, if you’re not around tonight, I’ll have to find something to do myself.”

It sounded like she was blaming him even more.

Her passive-aggressive manner was just like when they first met.

Zhou Jingyu’s anger dissipated instantly.

He couldn’t help but shake his head and laugh.

What was the point of getting angry with her? She was a princess who needed to be pampered.

He didn’t let Wen Tang see right away that he had forgiven her so easily.

Zhou Jingyu grabbed his car keys and walked over to Wen Tang.

Wen Tang was puzzled.

Zhou Jingyu said, “Where is the studio? I’ll take you.”

Though there was a car arranged to pick up Wen Tang, who wouldn’t prefer their boyfriend driving them rather than someone else?

Unexpectedly, Zhou Jingyu was willing to drive her. Seeing her handsome boyfriend standing in front of her, Wen Tang’s grievances suddenly burst forth.

Taking a step forward, she wrapped her arms around Zhou Jingyu’s waist and buried her face in his chest.

Wen Tang nuzzled against Zhou Jingyu.

Her voice was muffled. “I thought you were going to get mad again.”

Zhou Jingyu, half-amused, said, “Oh, you know I might get angry?”

Wen Tang hugged Zhou Jingyu tightly without saying another word.

Yang Yang and Ke Xin, who had just arrived and were witnessing the scene, were left in a daze. They were mixed with emotions, unsure if they should feel sour or sweet.

Since they learned about Wen Tang and Zhou Jingyu’s relationship, this was the first time they had seen them together in person.

Ke Xin had been looking forward to today, knowing that Zhou Jingyu would be home on Saturday. She was eager to witness this “legendary couple” in action.

However, she didn’t expect to see such a scene.

Was this how they usually were together?

？？？？？

They had been around Wen Tang for years, witnessing her come and go with countless boyfriends, but they had never seen her like this—both aggrieved and dependent, like a little bird in need of protection!

…Zhou Jingyu had her completely under his thumb.

It was clear Zhou Jingyu was something special!

Ke Xin and Yang Yang exchanged a glance, seeing admiration in each other’s eyes.