Ai Wei’s arrival was indeed Shang Xinglu’s decision.

Since it was a last-minute personal decision, she didn’t put the expenses on the company’s account; instead, she paid for Ai Wei herself.

At that time, most of the budget had already been spent on He Jia Jia. When deciding on the second candidate, Bi Chen hesitated between Ai Wei and Li Xinyue.

In the end, they used a voting method.

Since Li Xinyue’s drama was currently airing on major websites and TV channels, she had more casual fans and won by a narrow margin.

Shang Xinglu made a call to check Ai Wei’s schedule.

Her manager said she was available, so they immediately arranged for Ai Wei to come over.

If it had been someone else, it wouldn’t have mattered as much.

But Ai Wei’s arrival made Li Xinyue even angrier.

She was already in a bad mood today, making her temper worse.

The reason for her bad mood was her belief that company resources were unfairly distributed—her manager favored another artist from the same group.

Both were shooting commercials, yet the manager only greeted her before rushing off to supervise the other artist’s shoot.

This wasn’t the first time it had happened. How could she not take it personally?

Regardless of the reason, Li Xinyue realized she had offended someone she shouldn’t have. She quickly called her manager.

Since He Jia Jia’s schedule was tight, they filmed her part first.

Before she was even finished, Shang Xinglu received an apology call from Li Xinyue’s manager, who explained that Li Xinyue was young and immature. Soon after, she received another call from Yin Yao.

Yin Yao got straight to the point and didn’t try to persuade her. She simply asked, “Do you need to replace her? If so, just do it.”

Shang Xinglu replied, “Not exactly replacing. We’ve already paid her, and breaking the contract now wouldn’t be worth it. Let her film—whether we use it or not is another matter.”

Hearing this, Yin Yao understood Shang Xinglu’s intention.

Yin Yao asked again, “What did she say that made you so upset? This girl is quite something in her own way.”

Shang Xinglu was quite calm by now. It was just verbal rudeness—nothing serious or worth getting angry over.

She said, “I’m not replacing her out of anger. I just think that if she has such a bad temper and believes she can get away with offending me, she might try the same with others. Today, I might not care, but someday, she’ll offend someone who does.

“In this industry, people love gossip. Our company is just starting out, and even our commercial budget is tight. It hasn’t been easy. A brand ambassador represents the brand to some extent. If Li Xinyue gets caught in a scandal after filming, what happens to Bi Chen?”

Situations like this happened all the time.

For example, when a certain male celebrity had just taken on an endorsement, he was caught in a drug scandal, and netizens collectively boycotted the brand.

“You’re right. Let her finish filming, and we’ll decide later if we want to include her scenes.”

That being said, unless something drastic happened, Li Xinyue’s scenes were unlikely to be used.

After He Jia Jia finished, the four of them shot a group scene. Then, they filmed a three-person shot featuring He Jia Jia, Shang Xinglu, and Ai Wei.

Li Xinyue’s heart sank.

Next, it was her turn to shoot.

Her scene was a simple skincare routine—washing her face and applying products. Since this product line targeted younger audiences, the scene needed to capture a fresh and youthful vibe.

It had to look natural, not overly performed.

But Li Xinyue was in a bad mood, which affected her performance. She kept making mistakes, which made her anxious. The more anxious she became, the more mistakes she made.

The director tried to comfort her at first, but after more than ten takes, he lost patience.

He finally snapped, “How do you even pass as an actress? You can’t even wash your face properly? This is such a simple scene!”

Li Xinyue exploded, “This is not the same as acting!”

Her tone was sharp, and the entire set fell into silence.

The atmosphere became awkward.

At this moment, Shang Xinglu said, “How about Ai Wei goes first?”

Ai Wei was delighted to see Li Xinyue struggling.

The worse Li Xinyue performed, the happier Ai Wei felt.

She was in a great mood and quickly found her rhythm. After just a couple of test takes, she nailed the scene.

Everything went so smoothly that Li Xinyue barely had time to rest.

When it was her turn again, she forced herself to focus and barely managed to finish.

Finally, it was Shang Xinglu’s turn.

Technically, those who had finished could leave. For example, He Jia Jia had to rush to another studio for a magazine shoot.

Ai Wei wanted to stay and thank Shang Xinglu for giving her the opportunity. Li Xinyue, on the other hand, had to stay to apologize—on her manager’s orders.

But deep down, she thought, If I struggled, there’s no way an outsider like her can do any better. She believed Shang Xinglu left her scene for last to avoid embarrassment.

Seeing others fail always brought a sense of satisfaction.

So, Li Xinyue stayed as well.

Shang Xinglu scheduled herself last simply because she didn’t want to delay the professional artists. She wasn’t too nervous—after all, she wasn’t a real actress. If she performed badly, no one would blame her. If she performed well, that would be surprising.

The director, knowing she hadn’t acted in years, carefully explained everything beforehand.

As Shang Xinglu listened, she suddenly realized—hadn’t Master Jiang already taught her all of this?

It turned out that not only had Master Jiang taught her, but he had also drilled these techniques into her muscle memory over the past few days.

Shang Xinglu’s shoot went surprisingly smoothly, second only to He Jia Jia’s.

Of course, an actress couldn’t compare to a professional model.

He Jia Jia, for example, could strike thirty different poses in thirty seconds—one per second—with perfect precision. Her professional skills were impeccable.

Shang Xinglu finished quickly.

The director watched the monitor for a moment before saying, “President Shang, your screen presence is better than some actors’. The footage looks great. After some editing, the final product will be worth looking forward to.”

The assistant director agreed, “Yes, your eyes can smile—something many struggle with.”

Shang Xinglu wasn’t sure if they were just flattering her, so she laughed it off.

Ai Wei came over and said, “Miss Shang, impressive! You look so comfortable in front of the camera.”

As she spoke, she glanced at Li Xinyue—clearly implying something.

Li Xinyue’s face turned red with embarrassment.

But she had no choice. She still had to apologize to Shang Xinglu.

At this point, she looked quite like a delicate flower. After hearing it, Shang Xinglu waved her hand and said, “Alright, I accept it. Don’t take it too seriously, and be careful on the road.”

As for the advice she gave to Yin Yao?

She wasn’t Li Xinyue’s mother, why should she tell her that…

Besides, maybe the other person was stubborn and didn’t fear society’s harsh reality?

Li Xinyue’s apology felt like a punch sinking into cotton, leaving her feeling powerless all over.

She couldn’t even apologize again; the words wouldn’t come out.

…

Shang Xinglu felt refreshed after filming the commercial.

Aside from Li Xinyue, everything else went smoothly, so they finished early. Shang Xinglu made another dinner appointment with Lin Heng, at a new upscale restaurant that Assistant Yuan had booked for the rich and famous.

However, this time, the two of them finally had dinner together.

Lin Heng wasn’t very particular about food, and neither was Shang Xinglu. The chef at this restaurant had decent skills, so it wasn’t necessary for Shang Xinglu to nitpick.

The meal, meant to be a romantic dinner, somehow ended up feeling like a casual home-cooked meal.

Assistant Yuan sat silently at the table next to them, feeling a little upset.

These two had no sense of romance!

After eating most of the meal, Lin Heng pulled out his phone and handed it to Shang Xinglu.

Shang Xinglu took it without understanding, only to see a picture of a penguin, looking almost like an ID photo.

When she saw the fluffy creature, she couldn’t help but smile. Honestly, she had been too busy lately to enjoy something so cute.

After looking at the picture for a while, she suddenly trembled, and the phone slipped from her hand onto the table.

“Who are you?! Did you possess my Lin Heng?!”

Lin Heng: “…”

Lin Heng silently stared at her.

He looked at her for about three seconds.

The cold, impatient gaze was unmistakably Lin Heng’s.

Shang Xinglu scratched her head, calmed herself down, and said, “Oh, you weren’t possessed? You’re not… allergic to fluff, are you?”

Lin Heng calmly responded, “Didn’t you always want to raise a penguin?”

Shang Xinglu: “…”

Before the divorce, he wouldn’t let her. After the divorce, he brought up raising penguins on his own…

Mr. Lin, you’ve changed… So much for sticking to principles!

Well… it was kind of sweet…

Lin Heng said, “Scroll through the rest, there are many more pictures. Pick whichever one you like.”

Shang Xinglu asked, “Is this one of those sponsorship-based ways of raising them? Can I go see them in person?”

Lin Heng had already prepared for her wanting to interact with penguins. They set up a time on a workday when there wouldn’t be too many people at the park.

That day, the penguin exhibit was under maintenance, so they wore large down jackets and entered.

Lin Heng stayed a little farther away, while Shang Xinglu excitedly followed the zookeeper inside.

Seeing that Shang Xinglu genuinely liked penguins, the zookeeper gave her a detailed introduction.

Lin Heng stood silently with his hands in his pockets, most of his face buried in his collar, revealing only his eyes, looking like a security guard at the entrance.

He called out from a distance, “Pick two.”

Shang Xinglu asked, “And one will be named Edmond, and the other Louise?”

Lin Heng: “…”

No, no need for that.

Shang Xinglu quickly picked two: an Emperor penguin named Edmond, and an Adelie penguin named Louise.

Since Mr. Lin couldn’t come over, he didn’t have the right to object.

Proudly, she called out to Lin Heng, who furrowed his brow and asked, “Can’t you pick other names?”

Shang Xinglu responded, “Huh? The noise is too loud, I can’t hear you!”

Lin Heng: “…”

At that moment, the Emperor penguin suddenly pooped… and it stank terribly.

Shang Xinglu quickly stepped back, then hurriedly retreated even further… until she quietly exited.

Lin Heng, standing far away, was confused. He walked over and asked, “Leaving already?”

Shang Xinglu was still staring at the penguin and said, “I was going to pet it, but Edmond just pooped, and it was so stinky… woo woo woo…”

The other Edmond, the penguin: “…”

I told you not to use my name!

The zookeeper mentioned that they would send regular photos and videos of the two penguins to Shang Xinglu, and she happily agreed. On the way back, even Shang Xinglu noticed something unusual about Lin Heng.

She asked, “What’s wrong? Sending penguins as a gift… really unusual.”

Lin Heng had many thoughts in mind, but at that moment, he simply said, “It’s a gift.”

If it was in response to that eyeglass incident, he would have called it a return gift, not a gift.

So that means…

Was it about the last incident with the pigeons?

Actually, both of them had their turn with the pigeons, and they were both the “Pigeon King,” but Shang Xinglu didn’t mind. If anything, she felt regretful.

They were both too busy, and it was an unavoidable kind of busy.

But still, a gift is nice.

And compared to jewelry, luxury homes, and sports cars, Shang Xinglu definitely preferred something fluffy. She was quite happy with the gift.

But if she were to ask for something else…

Shang Xinglu asked, “Can I ask for another gift?”

Lin Heng was eager to give gifts but wasn’t sure what to give.

Shang Xinglu smiled and said, “Time.”

“I want your twenty-four hours, not going anywhere, just being with me.”

Lin Heng smiled softly, his usually cold expression softened. He said, “Don’t worry, we’ll have plenty of time.”

Shang Xinglu: “…?”

Mr. Lin, is this a hint?