“Of course not!” Lu Yanzhao denied it without a moment’s hesitation.
In his heart, Yu Xiaxing had indeed gradually become a completely different kind of person.
Coldly beautiful, spoiled, reckless—and impossible to look away from.
She was the brilliant starry sky of a summer night, dazzling enough that no one was worthy of her.
All he could do was look up at her.
After a long pause, Yu Zheng said, “Good. As long as that’s not the case, keep an eye on her… From now on, you don’t need to report any of her business decisions to me. But if anyone bullies her, you have to tell me.”
“Understood.” Lu Yanzhao was satisfied now. He no longer had to wrestle with his conscience.
After a moment, he asked, “What if she bullies someone else?”
Yu Zheng replied, “Then they deserve it!”
With that, he hung up.
Lu Yanzhao was in an excellent mood. He no longer had to struggle with his conscience at all.
—
At that moment, Yu Zheng, back at Kangle Residential Community, was completely dumbfounded.
Lu Yanzhao… the trusted aide he had painstakingly cultivated had switched sides and gone over to his little sister!
Their grandfather worshipped Guan Gong and had taught Yu Zheng from childhood about the importance of loyalty and righteousness.
So Yu Zheng had also understood the importance of cultivating his own trusted aides from a young age.
When he was very young, he had already started making money and used it to sponsor many talented children from poor families so they could attend school. Though “children” wasn’t quite accurate—most of them were around his age, and some were even older.
After sponsoring them for several years, he suddenly stopped and told them that he had fallen on hard times and no longer had the money to support them.
A normal person would have felt grateful, wished him an early comeback, and left it at that.
After all, since these people had never enjoyed the advantages of an elite education, they didn’t have the ability to help him at their age. Knowing how to be grateful was already enough. Later, Yu Zheng would continue supporting them.
Cheng Li and Chen Jiaxin, who remained by his side, were examples of this.
Selfish people, on the other hand, didn’t care about him at all. They would cry and say, “What am I supposed to do now? If you stop sponsoring me, how am I supposed to pay my tuition? Can you help me find another sponsor?”
And the most cold-blooded ingrates would even demand that he sell off everything he could to keep funding their education. If he refused, they would curse him for being useless.
Lu Yanzhao, however, was special.
He asked Yu Zheng what had caused him to fall on hard times.
Yu Zheng told him it was because a rival company had schemed against him.
Lu Yanzhao was the same age as Yu Zheng. They had both been fifteen at the time.
Disguising himself as a food-delivery rider, Lu Yanzhao secretly went to the rival company to steal information, intending to help Yu Zheng make a comeback.
The result? He was caught red-handed—and it was Yu Zheng who had to go and bail him out.
Although he had failed, Yu Zheng understood that Lu Yanzhao was bold, tenacious, and remembered favors. From then on, he began grooming him in earnest.
He funded Lu Yanzhao’s studies abroad and brought him into various projects while he was still in school.
And now, his heart no longer belonged to him!
Yu Zheng laughed in exasperation and muttered, “Little sister… you’re quite something.”
—
—
Following the information Zheng Wenhao had given her, Yu Xiaxing looked up Fourth Brother-in-Law’s training program online.
“Classes taught by renowned directors.” “Exclusive exam predictions.” “Practical short-drama development.” “Enroll in the advanced program for a chance to audition for projects”…
Yu Xiaxing already had evidence exposing their rigged operations. Should she release it?
But then she thought about it. What if the training program was still utterly mediocre? If she exposed it, wouldn’t she end up giving them free publicity?
Parents were especially easy to deceive with claims that they could “buy the exam questions.”
If she accidentally made them famous, wouldn’t Qiao Tang and the others end up thanking her?
No. She needed to inspect the place in person first and see what they were really like.
Yu Xiaxing left the school immediately.
—
Half an hour later, her car stopped at the entrance of a film and television industrial park in the southern part of the city.
The entrance to the park was designed in an ostentatious style. The glass curtain walls reflected the sunlight, and several billboards stood nearby.
The advertisements were even more over-the-top.
“Short-Drama Practical Development Base!”
“An all-in-one training program for acting, broadcasting, screenwriting, and directing!”
“Personally taught by renowned directors—your key to passing the arts exams!”
“Renowned director,” Yu Xiaxing snorted with a laugh.
If Yu Lingyi hadn’t foolishly thrown money at Su Hao and financed several of his productions, he would have been a complete nobody in the entertainment industry. Yet he still had the nerve to call himself a renowned director.
She parked the car and walked inside.
The training program was still quite deserted, and there was no one at the reception desk.
Perhaps it was because school hadn’t let out yet. No students had arrived for training.
However, an argument and the sharp clack of a slate came from a photography studio farther inside.
Yu Xiaxing followed the sounds. As soon as she reached the doorway, she saw that a scene was being filmed inside.
The lighting rigs were blazing bright, three cameras were positioned around the set, and props and cables were strewn messily across the floor.
Su Hao sat behind the monitor, filming a confrontation between Qiao Tang and Shen Zhi.
Shen Zhi was wearing heavy makeup that day, with thick, dark eye makeup… It had clearly been done deliberately to make her look ugly.
Some actresses with powerful connections demanded absolute dominance in a production. To ensure they remained the only ones shining on-screen, they would require the other female actresses either to wear heavy makeup and look unattractive or to wear barely any makeup at all, giving way to them visually.
Shen Zhi was in the middle of an emotional outburst. Tears covered her face as she looked at Qiao Tang pleadingly.
Su Hao suddenly called, “Cut! Shen Zhi, your emotions were too intense just now.”
Shen Zhi was speechless. Her powerful emotions had been abruptly interrupted, and it would be difficult to build them up again.
But she also knew that Yu Lingyi had suffered a blow over the past few days and was no longer paying attention to the filming, leaving everything to Su Hao.
She could only take a deep breath and argue with the director. “Director, she stole my child and humiliated me in public. If I’m not upset, the character falls apart.”
Su Hao rolled his eyes. “Short-drama audiences don’t need to see all those complicated layers. All they want is instant gratification!”
He glanced at Qiao Tang. “Learn from Qiao Tang. Look at her emotional impact. Look at the force she brings to the scene!”
Shen Zhi couldn’t believe it. Qiao Tang’s entire acting technique consisted of screaming at the top of her lungs, and that was being called emotional impact and force?
Qiao Tang rubbed salt into the wound. “Teacher Shen, short dramas move quickly these days. Who has the patience to watch you spend ages building up to a scene? Your approach is meant for long-form dramas. It’s far too slow now. The audience will complain that you’re dragging things out and padding the runtime.”
Shen Zhi looked at her. “My scenes are written into the script. In this episode, the scene is two minutes long, and I’m on-screen for a minute and a half.”
“Then cut it yourself!” Qiao Tang said. “You know perfectly well that you’re getting old. If the camera stays on your face for a minute and a half, won’t the audience be sickened by your wrinkles and tired look? I think your shots should just flash by from now on. We have to respect the audience’s eyes!”
Shen Zhi finally couldn’t take it anymore and fired back, “Your features fly all over the place like your face has been run over. Looking at you would scare the audience into three sleepless nights!”
Su Hao raised his eyes. “Shen Zhi, control your emotions.”
Shen Zhi turned on him. “She’s been insulting me for ages, and you didn’t say a word. The moment I say something back, you tell me to control my emotions?”
Su Hao said sternly, “People really do become more sensitive about their pride when they get older. We’re working here. No one is obligated to manage your emotions or protect your self-esteem! Enough. Let’s do another take.”
Shen Zhi clenched her teeth and swallowed her bitterness, forcing herself to work up her emotions again.
The stagehand clapped the slate.
Filming resumed.
The moment the scene began, Qiao Tang suddenly charged forward and, before Shen Zhi had time to prepare, slapped her hard across the face.
