Yu Lingyi called Su Hao and Qiao Tang back to the company from the set, saying they needed to have a serious discussion about Shen Zhi walking out on the production.
Yu Lingyi soon arrived downstairs at the company.
She had just parked and stepped out of her car when someone suddenly called from behind, “Miss Yu.”
Yu Lingyi stopped.
A person came hurrying out from the shadows by the roadside.
The other party was wrapped up tightly. A baseball cap was pulled low over their face, a black mask covered most of it, and the collar of their coat was turned up. At first glance, they looked like either a paparazzo or a stalker.
There were surveillance cameras everywhere in the parking garage, and Yu Lingyi also had a self-defense weapon in her bag, so she wasn’t afraid. She calmly asked, “Who are you?”
Ruan Tian didn’t waste any time. She took out her phone, opened a video, and held it out to Yu Lingyi.
The video played for only seven or eight seconds.
It showed Zheng Wenhao bragging, “My mom’s a big star who runs an acting academy,” and “My Uncle Su has connections. He can get me cast in a production directly.”
Ruan Tian took back her phone.
“I know your fiancé and his mistress have been secretly transferring the company’s assets behind your back. Your fiancé tricked you into setting up this academy. Give me one hundred thousand, and I’ll send you all the evidence I have.”
Yu Lingyi gave a light laugh. “People like you who come to blackmail me pretending to be paparazzi—I run into more than ten of them every month.”
Ruan Tian fell silent.
Yu Lingyi continued, “You took a blurry clip, added a few ambiguous lines, and now you want to extort money from me. You people should work harder, or artificial intelligence will replace you too.”
“Fourth Miss Yu, do you really not suspect anything at all?” Ruan Tian asked.
Yu Lingyi raised her eyes. “I know what kind of person my fiancé is.”
Ruan Tian decided that Yu Xiaxing had been right. Fourth Miss Yu really was both foolish and rich.
Ruan Tian wasn’t in a hurry to make her sales pitch. She had the upper hand, so she took out her business card and tucked it against Yu Lingyi’s car window.
“My offer of one hundred thousand is valid until midnight tonight. After midnight, the price goes up to two hundred thousand.”
Yu Lingyi didn’t even bother to respond. She simply walked toward the elevator.
Ruan Tian left as well.
Not far away, a black production van was parked.
The windows were tinted dark, and the people inside had cracked the door open slightly.
Su Hao and Qiao Tang had happened to arrive at the same time, and they had witnessed the entire scene clearly.
Only after Yu Lingyi had disappeared completely into the building did they finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Qiao Tang patted her chest. “That scared me to death. Someone really was investigating us. Thank goodness Fourth Miss Yu believes you.”
Sitting beside her, Su Hao toyed with a lighter. The tension on his face slowly eased.
When that paparazzo had appeared, he really had panicked for a moment.
Now, however, his eyes were filled with contempt. “A sheltered heiress like Yu Lingyi has been protected by her family for too long. She’s naive.”
Qiao Tang hooked her arm around his. “That’s only because you’re so charming, darling. Even a dignified woman like Fourth Miss Yu was completely taken in by you.”
Su Hao didn’t deny it.
He looked in the direction Yu Lingyi had left, the corners of his lips slowly curling upward.
A woman like Yu Lingyi was afraid of losing face and looking foolish. She was afraid of people saying she had misjudged someone.
So it wasn’t just that she trusted him completely now.
Even if his relationship with Qiao Tang were exposed in the future, Yu Lingyi might not have the courage to turn against him.
Qiao Tang leaned against his shoulder and asked softly, “Do you think she’ll scold us later? We drove Shen Zhi away—are we really going to stop the project?”
Su Hao closed the lighter. “Let’s go take a look first. When the time comes, one of us can play the good cop and the other the bad cop.”
—
Inside the office.
Yu Lingyi sat on the sofa, looking down at the footage that had already been shot for the drama.
When Su Hao entered, he had already put on his usual gentle expression.
“Lingyi, I’m sorry. Shen Zhi leaving the production was all because I failed to soothe her emotions…” Su Hao immediately apologized with a deeply remorseful look.
Qiao Tang quickly chimed in, angrily saying, “Boss Yu, the director really didn’t target Ms. Shen!”
“She used to be an award-winning actress in serious dramas, and now she’s slumming it in a short-form drama, so she looked down on all of us! She was also extremely uncooperative during filming!”
“Today, we were only shooting a confrontation scene, but she thought I was deliberately bullying her! If you don’t believe me, you can ask anyone else on the crew!”
Of course, everyone else on the crew listened to Su Hao.
Su Hao glanced at Qiao Tang. “That’s enough! Qiao Tang, I said this was all my fault! Ms. Shen used to have a lot of glory and recognition, so it’s perfectly normal for her to have her pride!”
Qiao Tang could only shut her mouth with an indignant expression.
Yu Lingyi sighed and asked Su Hao, “Now that the female lead has left, what’s your solution?”
Su Hao was silent for a moment before saying, “How about we cut down Shen Zhi’s storyline? Our company needs a newcomer who can produce results quickly. Since Shen Zhi is gone, we can concentrate our resources on training Qiao Tang.”
Yu Lingyi didn’t agree. She felt that Qiao Tang simply wasn’t capable of carrying the drama.
She was still lost in thought when Qiao Tang grew anxious. Did Yu Lingyi really intend to make them humble themselves and apologize to that old woman, coaxing her into coming back?
Qiao Tang immediately said, “Boss Yu, you need to make a quick decision! You already have a yellow card. You can’t afford another mistake. If this project drags on, it’ll hurt you!”
Yu Lingyi’s mind went blank with a buzz, and she looked at the two people in astonishment.
“Yellow card” was a term used internally in the Yu family’s heir-selection competition. The media had never reported it publicly.
She had come in last and received a yellow card—but she had only told Su Hao.
That night, Su Hao had held her hand and said gently, “It’s all right, Lingyi. It’s only one round of evaluation. I know what you’re capable of.”
At the time, she had been so moved that she almost cried. She had felt as if he were the only person in the entire world standing by her side.
But now Qiao Tang had let it slip so casually!
So her failures, her shame, her humiliation, and the side of herself she was most afraid of others seeing… He had already taken all of it and told another woman!
Yu Lingyi’s heart slowly turned cold.
The detective’s words echoed in her mind…
Qiao Tang had no idea that her single mention of the “yellow card” had struck a nerve with Yu Lingyi.
Su Hao, however, was perceptive enough to notice. He quickly explained, “Yu Xiaxing mentioned that you’d received a yellow card when she came over to cause trouble today. I wasn’t the one who told her.”
Yu Lingyi’s gaze darkened, but she soon smiled calmly again. “It’s fine. You’re right. I can’t afford to make any more mistakes now, or I really won’t have a place in the Yu family.”
The tension in Su Hao’s eyes gradually eased.
Thank goodness. He knew this foolish woman still believed him.
Qiao Tang also secretly let out a sigh of relief.
Yu Lingyi lifted her head, her gaze sweeping over the two of them. “Since Shen Zhi has already left, we’ll set her aside for now. The project can’t stop. Start by filming Qiao Tang’s scenes. There aren’t many of them, so if we group them together, we can finish them in a day and a night. As for the female lead, I’ll think of a solution. We can either use AI face-swapping later or find another newcomer.”
That was a reasonable plan. Short-form dramas usually had a filming schedule of only seven or eight days.
They had already completed half the production, so the remaining scenes could indeed be finished in a day and a night.
Although Qiao Tang hadn’t managed to secure the female lead’s role, at least she had kept that disgusting rival from coming back!
Su Hao nodded. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of everything.”
Yu Lingyi rose to her feet. “I have something else to take care of, so I’ll be going. Move forward with the shoot immediately. Get started right away.”
Su Hao stood as well. “All right.”
Yu Lingyi turned and left the office.
She went all the way to the parking garage, then picked up Ruan Tian’s business card from beneath the car.
Using the number on it, she sent a message:
Yu Lingyi: “I’ll give you one hundred thousand. Send me everything you have.”
