Fu Chengyan smiled and pulled Shi Nuan into his embrace. “I have a plan up my sleeve.”
Shi Nuan raised her eyebrow. “You’re killing me with the suspense!” However, she chose to not push any further.
Shi Nuan knew that Fu Chengyan had considered things from all aspects and everything that was happening was within his predictions.
“You’ll have to compromise and stay here for a while.”
“I understand.” Shi Nuan turned around and wrapped her arms around Fu Chengyan’s waist. “You’ve said that eight hundred times now. I’m tired of hearing it even if you’re not tired of saying it!” Shi Nuan nuzzled her head against Fu Chengyan’s chest and closed her eyes slightly. Fu Chengyan reached out to prop up her head and adjusted her such that she would be in a more comfortable position. “Tired? Do you want to go to bed?”
Shi Nuan shook her head. “Let’s watch TV. This episode is about to end.”
Fu Chengyan was little speechless but he could only follow Shi Nuan’s wishes. Yet, the lady who had claimed she wanted to finish the episode soon fell asleep.
Fu Chengyan gazed at the tilted head and again felt speechless, but he still carried her gently back into the bedroom.
He quickly removed Shi Nuan’s clothes and placed her under the covers, then climbed in and held her until he felt the covers warm up. Then he got back out of bed.
Zhou Zheng had been waiting for Fu Chengyan for some time. Seeing Fu Chengyan’s phone call, he quickly shook himself awake. “Mr. Fu!”
“How did it go?”
“As you had expected, Sir. Jiang Yu has dug up almost everything about the Song family. Other than the skeletons in the closet, Jiang Yu has basically grasped all that she needs to get a hold on.” Zhou Zheng couldn’t help but admire Fu Chengyan for coming up with such a plan.
Otherwise relying on Jiang Yu’s ability alone, there was no way she could find such a renowned investigator or learn about this many of the Song family’s secrets. These were all but under Fu Chengyan’s control.
“What’s our next step, Mr. Fu?”
“Have Shi Wei go to the company tomorrow. We should start shooting the advertisements for St. Dee. And give her the second female lead role for the movie ‘Beneath the Sky.’“ Fu Chengyan’s long fingers tapped the window frame and he looked out at the car parked downstairs, a glint flashing across his eyes.
Zhou Zheng understood right away. “I’ll inform Guan Jing tomorrow. But it seems like it’ll be a waste to give Shi Wei the role in ‘Beneath the Sky.’“
Zhou Zheng had personally sought out well-known scriptwriters and film directors to produce ‘Beneath the Sky’ and it took them a couple of years before they were happy with the final product. Zhou Zheng had a feeling that ‘Beneath the Sky’ would be a huge box office hit should it screen in the cinemas.
But Zhou Zheng also knew that once Fu Chengyan made up his mind, there was no changing it, so he didn’t say anything further.
“You need to sacrifice something to win something. The more I put Shi Wei on a pedestal, the more they’re going to go at each other. And it’ll be even better if both the Song and the Shi family all get roped in. Then that would be one great show to watch.” Fu Chengyan grinned. “Alright, go take care of it tomorrow. When will the press conference for ‘Beneath the Sky’ be held?”
“Next month.” Zhou Zheng did some quick math. “It’ll be the new year in a month or so. We plan to do it before then. As for shooting, there’s still quite a bit of preparation to be done so that’ll be after the new year. Mr. Fu, is this arrangement satisfactory to you?”
“That’s fine as it is. I’ll attend the press conference.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll take care of it.” After Zhou Zheng hung up the call, he made another to Guan Jing right away.
Guan Jing wasn’t as busy recently due to all of Shi Wei’s issues. She was in a deep sleep when the phone suddenly rang and woke her. Guan Jing answered the phone dazed. “Hello?”
“It’s me!”
When Guan Jing heard who was on the other line, she quickly climbed out of bed and was immediately wide awake. “Mr. Zhou? It’s late. Is something wrong?”
“Bring Shi Wei over to Xinhuang tomorrow,” said Zhou Zheng. “Make sure you do so!”
“Shi Wei? But Shi Wei… Shi Wei has been embroiled in scandals lately with Mr. Fu…” Guan Jing paused. “Mr. Zhou, is Mr. Fu willing to speak up?”
“Have you forgotten that Shi Wei has an endorsement deal with St. Dee? It’s been delayed for too long. St. Dee’s products will be unveiled early next year. If we don’t shoot the advertisements now, the company will lose a lot of money. Is that what you want?”
“St. Dee?” Guan Jing was in shock. “But I thought…” Guan Jing was sure that after the events of late, Shi Wei would’ve lost that endorsement deal. She never would’ve expected Zhou Zheng to personally give her a call and tell her that the deal was still Shi Wei’s. Guan Jing couldn’t quite grasp what was going on.
The company was already being very gracious by not taking any measures against Shi Wei. Under normal circumstances, allowing her to continue with the endorsement deal was just out of the question.
“What? Which part of Mr. Fu’s decision do you not understand?”
“No, no, no. Absolutely none. I’ll bring Shi Wei over tomorrow.” Guan Jing breathed a sigh of relief. “Is there anything else I can do for you?”
“Mr. Fu has decided to give Shi Wei the role of the second female lead in ‘Beneath the Sky.’ The one of the assassin.”
“Really?”
The news had come completely out of left field. Guan Jing was experiencing a night filled with plenty of excitement. By the time Guan Jing regained her composure, she realized she was already placing a call to Shi Wei.
Shi Wei was very annoyed when she saw Guan Jing’s phone call. “It’s so late. You know my temper very well, so this better be something important.”
“Of course I have great news. And it’s more than one piece of good news too!” Guan Jing was so excited her voice had gone up a few pitches. Shi Wei could feel the shrill from the other side of the phone.
She held the phone a little further away. “What good news?” She had been terribly unlucky as of late. What good news could there possibly be?
Guan Jing knew Shi Wei would find it hard to believe her. “There’s two good news and I just found out too. First, the St. Dee endorsement deal is still yours. They want you in tomorrow for some shoots. As for the second… I think you won’t be able to sleep once you hear it.”
“Really?” Shi Wei was already overjoyed just from the first piece of news.
Heaven knew she had been hibernating in her house everyday, not daring to venture out. She’d been waiting day after day for Xinhuang to release a statement and yet they were completely silent. Shi Wei was as antsy as if she were walking on hot coals.
She originally wanted to find Fu Xicheng and have him come up with a solution. She had made several calls to him, but Fu Xicheng just kept ignoring her. Shi Wei had her pride. Since Fu Xicheng wasn’t going to give her the time of day and even dared to be angry with her, then Shi Wei was going to ignore him for a period of time too.
Shi Wei believed that when this blew over, Fu Xicheng would finally realize that she was the victim and would no longer hold a grudge.
However, she had been waiting for so long and Xinhuang remained quiet. This both hurt and disappointed Shi Wei.
“St. Dee’s endorsement deal is still mine? Really?”
“Why would I lie to you? Mr. Zhou called just now and asked for you to go to the office tomorrow. These issues of yours have affected your work quite negatively. I knew Xinhuang wouldn’t just keep mum on this incident. After all, they were the ones who lured you to them with a lucrative contract.”
Shi Wei’s expression darkened but she kept her mouth shut. “And what’s the second piece of news?”
“The second… I’m sure you’ve heard of the movie ‘Beneath the Sky’?”
“‘Beneath the Sky’? The one written by Wang Shenglan, and with Xinhuang as the main investor? Isn’t Li Huai the director as well? The roles haven’t been cast, right? I heard that there’ll be a nationwide audition.”
“That’s true, but when Mr. Zhou called just now, he said the role of the second female lead, Phoenix, is yours!”
“Really?” Shi Wei’s eyes shone brightly. She was now truly and completely awake. She threw off the covers and hurried out of bed, before sitting in front of the vanity mirror and staring at herself. “Guan Jing, are you lying to me?”
“Why would I lie to you? What good would that do? Even though it’s just the second female lead, you need to know that this movie is a big-scale production. As long as you’re in the movie, and once the movie airs, all these scandals will not mean a thing. You need to get yourself together and show all those haters how wrong they are.”
“Yes! Okay! This is great! Guan Jing, thank you!”
“C’mon, there’s no need to thank me. You should get a good rest now and wake up early tomorrow morning to make yourself look nice and presentable. I’ll get a car and pick you up from your house tomorrow, then we’ll head to Xinhuang for the advertisement shooting. As for the movie, I’ll go and check things through with Mr. Zhou tomorrow as well.”
‘Okay!”
With such amazing news, Shi Wei immediately forgot about all the stress her scandals had brought about. She paced around the room a few times out of sheer adrenaline and only fell asleep late into the night.
And because of her great mood, Shi Wei woke up very early the next morning and started getting ready.
Jiang Yu too woke up early because she was worried about Shi Wei. And yet when she went downstairs, she saw Shi Wei standing there all prepared — dressed and dolled up. Jiang Yu couldn’t help but was shocked at the energetic-looking Shi Wei. “Wei, are you going out? You…”
“Yes, mom! I’m going out in a bit.” Shi Wei had a big grin on her face. She saw Jiang Yu looking at her worriedly so she ran over and held her arm. “Mom, don’t worry. I’m fine. Guess what? I’m going to shoot an advertisement later. It’s the one I told you about before, St. Dee!”
“St. Dee? The brand under Shengyuan? Didn’t you say you were going to lose that deal?” Jiang Yu was shocked but a bigger part of her was overjoyed. “Really? If it’s true then that’s great!”
“And that’s not all, mom. I’m going to be the second female lead in the movie ‘Beneath the Sky’!”
“That’s amazing! Mom has always believed that Wei is the best!” Jiang Yu was so excited she hugged Shi Wei tightly. “About all those rumors and all the people sabotaging you, they’ll get what’s coming to them.” Jiang Yu suddenly thought of something. “Hold on, who’s giving you all these great resources at this particular time? Who’s behind these decisions?”
“I’m guessing it’s Fu Chengyan. My manager told me that Fu Chengyan’s assistant called her late last night, telling her that they wanted me.” Shi Wei smiled shyly. “Mom, aren’t you glad?”
