The door was suddenly pushed open.
Lin Shu was facing the dressing mirror, shaping her eyebrows.
The sudden noise made her hand tremble, and the slender eyebrow pencil almost scratched the corner of her eye.
Anger welled up in her heart, and she was about to scold whoever was so thoughtless.
Looking up, she saw the overbearing figure at the door clearly.
Shen Nian'an?
Lin Shu forced herself to swallow all her dissatisfaction.
She quickly adjusted her expression, putting on a properly respectful smile on her face. She immediately stood up and said, "Miss Shen? Why did you come here in person? Please have a seat..."
Before she could finish speaking, Shen Nian'an had already stepped in front of her in a few strides.
Without any nonsense and even without giving Lin Shu time to react, she raised her hand, and with a sharp whistling sound, she slapped Lin Shu hard!
"Slap!"
The clear and resounding sound of the slap echoed in the quiet lounge.
Lin Shu's head was suddenly turned to one side, and a few strands of her carefully styled long hair instantly fell loose.
This slap from Shen Nian'an carried a clever force she had learned from her self - defense master and was very powerful.
Lin Shu's left cheek instantly turned red.
The burning pain shot straight to her forehead, and humiliation and anger engulfed Lin Shu.
She bit her lower lip tightly, and a trace of the taste of rust filled her mouth.
How long had it been? Since she had been with Gu Chengyu, no one had ever dared to treat her like this.
Lin Shu barely suppressed the impulse to fight back.
Covering her face, when she looked up again, her beautiful eyes were quickly filled with tears. Looking at Shen Nian'an pitifully, her voice choked with grievance: "Miss Shen... I..."
"Stop your tricks!"
Shen Nian'an interrupted her disgustedly, her voice cold, looking at Lin Shu like she was a piece of dirty thing. "Break up with Gu Chengyu! Right now! Immediately!"
She took a step closer, staring down at Lin Shu's face haughtily, and spat out vicious words from her red lips: "Otherwise, in a few days, your pornographic photos with a bunch of hooligans will cover every corner of the Internet."
"I guarantee they'll be extremely exciting."
Pornographic photos? Did she mean to set her up with some men?
Lin Shu trembled all over, and a chill ran from the soles of her feet to the top of her head.
She tried to argue: "Miss Shen! Please be merciful!"
"I've earned so much money for Shen's Media. Even if I don't have merits, I've put in hard work..."
"Ha!"
Shen Nian'an let out a disdainful sneer, with blatant contempt in her eyes.
"There are two types of top - tier artists under Shen's."
She stretched out two slender fingers and slowly gestured:
"One type is truly talented, rare individuals."
"If Shen's loses them, it will lose that part of the market."
"Like Ji Lan in the music department, who is top - notch in songwriting, composition, and singing. She was born for this career."
"Like the movie queen Qin Mo, with her immersive acting talent, achieving both awards and box - office success."
"Like the TV drama queen Jiang Wanqing, whose ability to carry a drama is unparalleled."
She paused for a moment, her eyes sweeping over Lin Shu's stiffening face.
"The other type is someone like you, a top - tier celebrity created by huge amounts of money and top - notch resources."
"You're a bit prettier, have a higher EQ, a strong sense of the camera, and your acting isn't so bad that it takes people out of the story."
"By throwing money and resources, as long as Shen's is willing, it can easily promote ten or eight more Lin Shus!
"Understand?"
"You, Lin Shu, are just such a replaceable person."
"However, usually, Shen's doesn't pay to promote these top - tier artists on its own."
"It's the masters behind you who are willing to spend money, which gives you your status, like Gu Chengyu."
Lin Shu's face turned pale. She didn't expect that Shen Nian'an wasn't really a spoiled and stupid rich girl.
What she said was absolutely right.
Although she, Lin Shu, had hundreds of millions of fans and beautiful activity data, in terms of real national popularity, audience appeal, and irreplaceability, she was far inferior to those people Shen Nian'an mentioned.
Even in front of those people, she had always carefully maintained a humble attitude.
She didn't dare to compete with them for fear of losing disgracefully and being mocked by passers - by.
She, Lin Shu, had always been very self - aware.
What should she do?
Right, Gu Chengyu. She must clear her relationship with him.
How to say it? Just empty words would definitely not convince Shen Nian'an.
It would be best to drag Su Qianqian into this. Maybe it would make Shen Nian'an set up that bitch Su Qianqian.
Lin Shu's mind worked quickly. She took a deep breath and said in a voice full of grievance and sincerity: "Miss Shen, you've really misunderstood!
"I broke up with Young Master Gu completely three months ago, and it was a clean break!"
"Broken up?"
Shen Nian'an raised her eyebrows, clearly not believing it. "Then why did he cancel the dinner with me and Song Qingwan yesterday?
"Who else could it be if it wasn't you women whispering in his ear?"
Lin Shu's heart was pounding wildly. She knew this was a crucial moment.
She couldn't directly mention Su Qianqian. That would be too stupid, like handing a knife to Shen Nian'an. If Gu Chengyu investigated, she would definitely be doomed.
She had to clear herself and let Shen Nian'an find out on her own.
Lin Shu pretended to recall hard: "Miss Shen, I heard that Young Master Gu has rarely gone to entertainment venues in the past three months.
"Especially Yun Que. It seems he hasn't been there for a while.
"And he goes home on time every day."
She deliberately paused for a moment, observing Shen Nian'an's expression, and then added: "Really, we girls have long lost the chance to get close to Young Master Gu.
"As for why Young Master Gu is like this, with my low status, I really can't find out the reason.
"But Young Master Shen should know. Miss Shen, you might as well ask Young Master Shen yourself?"
Shen Nian'an's face darkened little by little as Lin Shu spoke.
Gu Chengyu hadn't gone to Yun Que for three months?
He even didn't go to other entertainment places?
He went home on time every day?
This was simply like a fantasy.
She knew the wildness and desires deep in that man's bones.
The socialites who had been with him in the circle privately talked about him with both love and fear.
How could he not touch a woman for three months? Unless...
A thought popped into Shen Nian'an's mind.
Unless there was a woman he really liked hidden in his home, a woman he was even willing to restrain himself for.
He went home on time, not just for sleep, but because he couldn't wait to pull that woman into his bed.
There was a regular woman in his private residence? That was completely different from someone like Lin Shu, a plaything he could summon and dismiss at will.
Shen Nian'an only felt a chill spreading from the bottom of her heart, and her fingertips were ice - cold.
She thought of the woman in the Shen family who had always suppressed her mother, making her mother unable to breathe.
Even though her son was disabled, even though she had mental illness, and even though her family had completely declined.
Her respected and feared father still bowed his head and coaxed her in every way.
Even if he couldn't get a good look or a smile from her, he didn't care.
No matter how turbulent her emotions were inside, Shen Nian'an still maintained her arrogance on the surface.
She suppressed the churning emotions in her heart and stared coldly at Lin Shu: "Fine, I'll go ask my brother right now.
"Lin Shu, you'd better pray that every word you said is true.
"If I find out you've lied even a single word..."
"You'll wait for your downfall and complete disappearance!"
After saying that, Shen Nian'an didn't look at Lin Shu again. Just as she had come, she stepped on her high - heels and left the lounge.
In the lounge, only Lin Shu was left.
The aggrieved and respectful expression on her face disappeared without a trace in an instant.
She slowly walked in front of the mirror and looked at the red and swollen slap mark on her left face in the mirror.
Gently touching the burning area with her fingertips, the corners of Lin Shu's lips slowly curled up into a cold and distorted smile.
"Ah..."
She deserved this slap.
She accepted it.
Looking at her disheveled self in the mirror, her eyes were venomous, as if she could see through the mirror surface and catch sight of that bitch hiding under Gu Chengyu's protection.
"Su Qianqian..."
She murmured this name, and her smile grew even colder.
"I took the slap from the daughter of the Shen family for you."
"But I really want to see how long you, a sparrow that has just landed on a high branch, can stay smug in front of these real aristocratic families that have been powerful since the era of constitutional monarchy."
"Blocking the path of their family's marriage alliance for a higher social status, you probably won't even know how you die..."
