Deal

“What are you looking at?”

Yang Huayi’s voice came from behind her.

Li Lan’s expression darkened. She looked away from Xiao Bao’s photo.

“Director Yang seems very interested in my daughter,” Li Lan said. “I’ve never even seen this hundred-day photo before.”

Yang Huayi walked over and sat down on the sofa, leaning back lazily. “It was printed a while ago. I didn’t send you a copy.”

Li Lan was just about to refuse coldly, but then she remembered why she had come today and swallowed the words back.

“Xiao Bao starts elementary school next year. Director Yang mentioned Q School last time, so I came today to talk about that.”

Yang Huayi took a sip of tea and lifted her chin, signaling for Li Lan to sit.

Li Lan did as she was told and sat across from her.

“I’ve already contacted them. She can enroll, but some materials are required,” Yang Huayi said, resting her fingers on the teacup as her gaze fell on Xiao Bao’s frame. “If you don’t want the trouble, I can adopt her. You only need to cooperate……”

“I’m leaving first.” Li Lan cut her off.

Yang Huayi was silent for two seconds, then set the teacup down. “Pretend I didn’t say anything.”

Li Lan lowered her eyes and rolled them slightly.

Yang Huayi handed Li Lan a USB drive. “Back to the point. There’s still a year left. Prepare these materials according to my requirements, and there shouldn’t be any major problems.”

Li Lan took the USB drive and put it in her bag. “Thank you, Director Yang.”

Yang Huayi glanced at Li Lan’s bag and frowned. “You’ve been in the fashion circle for so many years. Why are you still carrying something like that?”

The bag in Li Lan’s hand was a custom canvas tote, a freebie from a supermarket promotion Zhu Qing had gone to last time; you got it after spending a thousand points.

“I’m going home to buy groceries. This is convenient,” Li Lan said evenly, as if she were talking about the weather.

Yang Huayi was speechless. “Country bumpkin.”

Li Lan took it in stride. “Of course I have to thank Director Yang for nurturing me. Wasn’t I just a little bumpkin before?”

Yang Huayi was silent for a long moment. “How’s Xiao Bao been lately?”

Her tone was calm, but Li Lan could hear the unease underneath it; she could also tell that Yang Huayi’s mood was nowhere near as calm as she sounded.

“She’s very good, and very smart.”

Yang Huayi said, “If there’s nothing else, you can send her here. The company has a place for children to play; there are a few child stars and kids waiting to debut who can play with her.”

“I don’t want her entering the entertainment industry.” Li Lan took several papers out of the canvas bag and handed them to Yang Huayi. “These are her practice papers. When I say she’s smart, I’m not speaking as her mother; she really does have a high IQ.”

Yang Huayi accepted the test papers. As though she couldn’t believe it, she looked them over several times before saying with obvious satisfaction, “Not bad. Then hurry and set up an education fund for her. Let me think who’s an expert in this area……”

Li Lan said, “We can talk about that later.”

“Xiao Bao is already five; she’s starting elementary school soon. A lot of people have all this settled from the moment they’re born,” Yang Huayi said disapprovingly. “How exactly are you raising a child? You haven’t prepared any of this at all. You’re not attentive enough.”

Li Lan’s temper wasn’t particularly good. Under normal circumstances, she disliked being criticized, but this was Yang Huayi; she suppressed her anger and answered.

Yang Huayi went on, “Since Xiao Bao is so gifted, she needs a better teacher. And Zhu Qing—she’s still young, so she probably isn’t suitable to live with Xiao Bao. It’s easy for her to lead Xiao Bao astray.”

“Director Yang,” Li Lan’s brow twitched at that, “Xiao Bao already has a dedicated tutor. Xiao Qing is very good, and she’s very good to Xiao Bao too. I won’t change any of this.”

Yang Huayi frowned. “Do you know what you’re saying? Right now, you’re the one asking me for help; asking me to get Xiao Bao into Q School.”

Li Lan softened her tone and said in a low voice, “Director Yang, thank you for helping Xiao Bao, but have you asked Xiao Bao what she wants? She likes Zhu Qing the most.”

“A child’s preferences change every day,” Yang Huayi said carelessly. “Zhu Qing isn’t Yan Jin. How could she really be good to Xiao Bao?”

Li Lan said nothing, but even without speaking, it was clear she disagreed with Yang Huayi.

“Then I’ll be leaving today.” Li Lan took the USB drive out, intending to return it.

For once, Yang Huayi looked a little shaken, and asked in surprise, “You’d have Xiao Bao give up Q School for Zhu Qing?”

“As parents, we give our children the best we can within our ability,” Li Lan said firmly. “If Director Yang insists on making interference in Xiao Bao’s other matters the price of this exchange, then I don’t agree to the deal.”

Yang Huayi glared at Li Lan. “Get out!”

She had held power for so long that she acted and spoke however she pleased. Now that anger had taken over, she raised her hand and smashed the cup.

Li Lan’s expression didn’t change. She set down the USB drive and turned to leave.

“Wait!”

Yang Huayi said angrily, “Get back here.”

Li Lan didn’t move; she only turned around.

“Take the USB drive and then get out,” Yang Huayi said through clenched teeth, breathing unevenly. “You’ve been stubborn since you were little. Stubborn!”

Li Lan wasn’t embarrassed at all. She went back at once, picked up the USB drive, and said, “If Director Yang has nothing else, I’ll be going.”

“Heh. Not only stubborn, but also obstinate,” Yang Huayi said viciously. “If only you were even three-tenths as obedient as Yan Jin.”

“Yan Jin has been dead for many years,” Li Lan said, a trace of suspicion flashing in her eyes. “Why do you keep bringing her up, Director Yang?”

Yang Huayi said, “She was your friend. Don’t you miss her?”

Li Lan had long been suspicious, and this was the perfect chance to probe. “I broke off contact with her. I don’t want to mention her anymore, and I don’t want to remember her either.”

Yang Huayi frowned. “You two fought?”

Li Lan said matter-of-factly, “She and I agreed to debut together and make our way in the industry together, but later she degraded herself and let someone keep her. I looked down on her, and we weren’t cut from the same cloth anyway, so we fought and went our separate ways.”

“You looked down on her? What did you say to her?”

Li Lan looked innocent and confused. “Just the truth.”

“She was your friend; she treated you like family. How could you speak to her so viciously!” Yang Huayi demanded.

Li Lan lifted a brow and said calmly, “I don’t have friends like that. She later ruined her body and died young; wasn’t that her own fault? If she had listened to my advice, maybe she’d still be alive and well now.”

The person opposite her froze. The flamboyant anger from moments ago was suddenly pressed down by something colder and darker.

Li Lan took a few steps closer and lowered her voice. “Director Yang, with that reaction now, could it be that you knew the person who kept Yan Jin?”

“Leave.” Yang Huayi’s lips moved, her voice deep and heavy.

Li Lan was quiet for two seconds, then nodded.

What she had wanted to test was more or less confirmed.

The person who had kept Yan Jin was definitely closely connected to Yang Huayi…… maybe even her.

Before Li Lan left the room, Yang Huayi’s voice sounded again.

“What about that film I mentioned before? Have you thought it over?”

Li Lan stopped in her tracks. Yang Huayi had adjusted her mood so quickly to ask that question; Li Lan almost admired her.

“You want to talk to me about that now?”

Yang Huayi closed her eyes briefly. “Yan Jin is already dead. Don’t bring up her business anymore. Now tell me what you think about the film.”

Li Lan looked at her in shock, but Yang Huayi’s face revealed nothing.

Li Lan had no choice but to say, “Give me another week off. After that, filming can start. I don’t have any extra demands; just like I said last time, don’t let Yu Ling appear. Everything else is fine.”

Yang Huayi was silent for a long while. “I’m very optimistic about this film. This script was originally…… made for you too. I hope you can fight for me.”

A film; if it succeeded, it would bring in hundreds of millions in profit.

For He Guang Tong Chen, a successful film or drama was enough to become the year’s main source of revenue. It could mobilize many resources, expand the company’s entertainment empire, and make Yang Huayi’s position even more secure.

“Don’t worry. I’ll do my best.”

Li Lan said, “Does Director Yang have anything else?”

It took Yang Huayi a long time before she finally said, “Xiao Bao…… Zhu Qing and Yan Jin look somewhat alike. If you married her and treated her as a substitute, then your marriage wouldn’t be very stable, which would be bad for Xiao Bao’s growth.”

Li Lan said in surprise, “Zhu Qing and Yan Jin are completely different. She isn’t a substitute.”

Yang Huayi’s gaze was deep as it settled on Li Lan’s eyes. “You don’t need to defend yourself. I’m just reminding you. All right, there’s nothing else. You can go.”

Li Lan still wanted to explain a few more things; what did she mean, treating Zhu Qing as a substitute? That was simply absurd.

Did Yang Huayi think everyone was like her, liking to treat other people as substitutes?

If before Li Lan had only been suspicious, now she could almost confirm it.

Yang Huayi liked Yan Jin. The lover she had once loved so deeply was Yan Jin, and Yu Ling was Yan Jin’s substitute.

Her cultivation of Yu Ling was, to some extent, transferred affection for Yan Jin.

As for Li Lan’s complaints about Yang Huayi, if she really went into them, she could fill an entire stomach with them.

Throughout her life, Yang Huayi’s favorite thing had been collecting beauties, like collecting flowers. She gathered them up, pruned them, and poured her perverse desire for control into shaping them into the kind of women she liked.

To put it nicely, that was discovering talent and making stars.

She had some artistic ambition, and was very willing to invest in her muse. Li Lan had once been, and perhaps still was, her muse; that wasn’t a problem. A muse was only a muse, a form of artistic expression, and Li Lan didn’t mind if Yang Huayi regarded her as a work of art.

But Yan Jin had appeared at the same time as Li Lan. Yan Jin was mediocre in every respect, not recognized by Yang Huayi for her artistic value, and yet she had somehow become Yang Huayi’s lover.

When Li Lan thought of that, she could only sneer inwardly.

With Yang Huayi’s vicious personality, she definitely hadn’t treated Yan Jin well; and in front of Yan Jin, she absolutely wouldn’t have hidden her praise for other beauties.

The moment Li Lan imagined those beauties including herself, with Yang Huayi praising how good she was in front of Yan Jin, goosebumps rose all over her body; anger and disgust tangled together.

Li Lan would never be like Yang Huayi, spitting on other people’s affection, then after losing it, treating someone else as a substitute.

On the way back, Li Lan remembered that Zhu Qing liked roasted duck from a certain shop, so she took a detour to line up for it. She thought that at this hour, Zhu Qing should still be at the welfare institute; she needed to remind Zhu Qing to come home early, and they could watch a movie together at night.

Thinking of the time she would spend with Zhu Qing in the future, bright anticipation surfaced on Li Lan’s face.

-

In the café by the welfare institute’s entrance, Qian Cancan handed a mini ice cream to Zhu Qing.

“You’re really shameless,” Zhu Qing mocked her at once. “Who eats kids’ ice cream?”

Qian Cancan had lied to the clerk that she’d brought a child, so the clerk gave her a mini ice cream; then she turned around and gave it to Zhu Qing.

“Wasn’t Xiao Bao not here? Otherwise, do you think it would’ve gone to you?”

They had sent Xiao Bao to the welfare institute. The two of them had to follow after her even if they only drank a few sips of coffee.

Zhu Qing said, “If you’ve got something to say, say it. Xiao Bao is still waiting.”

“She has other little friends to play with; she’s not dying to wait for you,” Qian Cancan said, then swallowed the little latte art figure on top of her coffee in one gulp, turning it into a masterpiece that looked exactly like The Scream. She frowned. “So bitter.”

Zhu Qing said, “What exactly do you want to say?”

Qian Cancan stared at the coffee for a long while, then lifted her head and looked into Zhu Qing’s eyes.

“The next piece of news may shatter your understanding and overturn the system of family and love you’ve built over the past while. Though I can’t bear it, as your friend and life mentor……”

Zhu Qing raised the Erkang hand. “Speak like a human.”

Qian Cancan said, “You and Li Lan are in a contract marriage.”

————————!!————————

I promise I’ll update more tomorrow [howling with tears]

(Solved the mystery. There’s a tendon sheath cyst at the base of my middle finger. No wonder it hurt so much [howling with tears][howling with tears][howling with tears])

(But it’s not like I update this little every day; I’m just completely buried by work. I wrote a ton of drafts this week and I’m exhausted [melted])