Chapter 29: The Boy Who Hid His Treasures

Song Ying coming to pick up Sang Zhiyi this time was actually something the two of them had agreed upon a few days earlier.

When he had said he wanted to collaborate with Sang Zhiyi, Song Ying hadn’t been acting on a whim.

Back when he first saw Sang Zhiyi’s mermaid performance during the live broadcast from the aquarium on Love of a Limited Season, seeds of inspiration had already been planted in Song Ying’s mind.

As a highly acclaimed new director, Song Ying had quite good connections and networks in the entertainment industry.

After making up his mind to make Sang Zhiyi his leading lady, Song Ying found a well-known producer, planning to tailor a drama specifically for Sang Zhiyi.

The producer wanted to meet Sang Zhiyi in person.

Song Ying had said he would bring her by in the next few days.

Since the producer was free today, Song Ying had contacted Sang Zhiyi.

The distance was a bit far.

Sang Zhiyi looked around and noticed that there were only the two of them in the car.

Sang Zhiyi said, “Am I this lucky today?

I actually get to ride in a car driven by Director Song himself.”

She had thought Song Ying would call his driver.

“This counts as lucky?”

Song Ying snorted.

“Then you’re going to have way too much luck in the future.”

“By the way,” Song Ying brought up as if casually, “that tie you gave me had good taste.

I quite liked it.”

“Really?”

Sang Zhiyi seemed genuinely surprised.

“When I saw it, I felt it would suit you perfectly.”

“By then, Liu Bolin had already found me.

I figured something was bound to happen, and I wouldn’t be able to give it to you as part of the outfit I picked out for you on the show, so I had to give it to you separately, outside the program.”

Mentioning Liu Bolin made Song Ying’s expression darken as well.

Almost two weeks had passed since the second episode of Love of a Limited Season was forcibly interrupted.

With the evidence ironclad, Liu Bolin’s team’s desperate struggles were futile.

Not only had he harassed and molested a female guest during the live broadcast, but Liu Bolin had also been exposed for tax evasion and a series of other scandals, leaving netizens utterly dumbfounded.

Liu Bolin not only had no chance of ever making a comeback, but he also faced a future of sewing machine operation in a detention center every day.

This was due not only to Lou Yanchen’s strong pressure but also to Song Ying, who also held considerable influence in the entertainment industry, adding fuel to the fire.

The moment he learned about Sang Zhiyi’s accident, Song Ying’s panic had completely exceeded his own expectations.

Even as he rushed to the hospital, his mind was in a somewhat blank state.

Even when the person he found most distasteful was standing right in front of him, Song Ying hardly reacted, simply agreeing to Lou Yanchen’s request to keep an eye on Sang Zhiyi.

After emergency treatment, Sang Zhiyi, pushed out by the doctors, had fallen into a deep sleep.

Her pale complexion made her look almost translucent, no longer bearing the liveliness and cunning Song Ying had seen in her before.

Song Ying felt his heart ache, like seeing a crystal ball that had been smashed on an afternoon years ago.

“Did I ever tell you,” Song Ying’s voice was somewhat low when he spoke again, “how I became enemies with Lou Yanchen?”

Sang Zhiyi truly didn’t know.

The original plot of this world revolved around the male lead, Lou Yanchen, and the female lead, Jiang Yingru.

Their information was particularly detailed.

Although Song Ying was considered an important supporting character, since he was at odds with the male lead and had little contact with the female lead, the information about him was relatively limited.

What Sang Zhiyi had been able to piece together was that Song Ying’s mother was the legitimate wife of the wealthy Song family, who had passed away when Song Ying was very young.

His stepmother had quickly entered the family and given birth to Song Ying’s younger brother.

Song Ying had a very poor relationship with both his stepmother and stepbrother, and his biological father hadn’t taken much care of him either.

However, Song Ying’s stepbrother was quite incompetent.

Under the contrast of Song Ying’s excellence, the older he got, the more he seemed like mud that couldn’t be wallpapered.

The head of the Song family, not completely blinded, seeing that his favored younger son was incompetent, turned to support his eldest son instead, lest the family fortune be squandered.

Song Ying’s personality wasn’t one to obediently comply.

He simply left home to become a director in the entertainment industry, and he became very successful, stubbornly refusing to return, leaving his father hopping mad but helpless.

In the later stages of the original plot, after Jiang Yingru had already retired from the entertainment industry, descriptions of Song Ying became even scarcer.

It was only because Sang Zhiyi had carefully sorted through some clues that she could determine that Song Ying did eventually return to the Song family after the male and female leads married, with his stepmother and stepbrother forced to live at his mercy.

“Ancient history from ten or twenty years ago,” Song Ying scoffed.

“When I was a child, I lived at the mercy of my stepmother’s moods.

My half-brother’s favorite thing to do was destroy anything I liked, whether it was cutting up a plush bear with scissors or throwing a tantrum to get my father to replace a servant.”

“I worked very hard to hide my things, but in the end, the only thing left was a crystal ball my mother bought for me before she passed away.”

“That idiot brother of mine didn’t find it, but Lou Yanchen, who happened to be visiting my house, accidentally discovered it instead.”

By this point, Song Ying was already sneering.

“You should know, Lou Yanchen is especially good at pretending.

Adults all fall for his act.

He was always the ‘other people’s child’ in our circle.”

“Even though he smashed my crystal ball right in front of me, my father magnanimously forgave him on my behalf.”

Sang Zhiyi understood.

This kind of thing—adults treating a child’s treasured possession like worthless trash—was not uncommon.

“Later, whenever I encountered something… I liked,” Song Ying’s tone became somewhat awkward, “it was quite easy for me to instinctively stay away from it.

As long as no one discovered my weakness, no one could use it against me.”

After a pause, Song Ying’s tone grew even more awkward, but he still added an explanation for Sang Zhiyi.

“But letting you know that I liked your gift… doesn’t give me that disgusting feeling of having my weakness exposed.”

“I’m quite happy about it.”

***

Their destination was a commercial street near the A City Film Studio.

As the largest film studio in A City, the surrounding area was quite commercially developed, with all kinds of shops.

The restaurant the producer had chosen for the meeting was a clubhouse decorated in an antique style, with a quiet and elegant environment.

Sang Zhiyi followed Song Ying into the private room and saw the producer already sitting inside alone.

The producer was a rather thin woman, about fifty years old, dressed quite fashionably.

She wore gold-rimmed glasses, and a single gold chain hung beside her face, accentuating her already expressionless features, making her look even more severe.

Song Ying had introduced this producer to Sang Zhiyi.

Her name was Zhu Qing.

In her youth, she had been a highly popular film actress who had won numerous awards before moving behind the scenes.

Zhu Qing had been working as a producer for over a decade, with several high-quality works to her name.

All her projects were far above average.

Aside from having a somewhat bad temper and a sharp tongue, she had almost no negative feedback in the industry.

Otherwise, Song Ying wouldn’t have gone out of his way to find her.

“Aunt Zhu,” Song Ying said, still with one hand in his pocket, smiling at Zhu Qing.

“I’ve brought the actress I mentioned.

Take a look.”

“You’re here?”

Zhu Qing nodded at Song Ying, then shifted her gaze to Sang Zhiyi beside her.

Sang Zhiyi showed no reaction to Zhu Qing’s almost piercing stare.

She merely smiled and gave a slight bow to Zhu Qing.

“Teacher Zhu, hello.”

Her posture was demure.

“Ren Xiaoqian?”

Zhu Qing’s brow furrowed instantly.

Sang Zhiyi was a bit surprised.

“Teacher Zhu knows me?”

“For the past half month, that mermaid video of yours has been everywhere online,” Zhu Qing said coldly.

“I also watched your previous acting work.”

She turned her gaze back to Song Ying, visibly annoyed.

“No wonder you never told me who the actress was before.”

“With this attitude of yours, I figured it couldn’t be anything like a proper actress.

But I thought, since you’re the great Director Song Ying, your taste couldn’t be that bad.

Who knew the one you picked wasn’t even an actress at all, just a pretty-faced internet celebrity?”