Chapter 10: The CEO Learns to Ask

More and more staff members had arrived on set.

Although they didn’t dare to act presumptuously around Lou Yanchen, it was clear that there was drama between Lou Yanchen and Sang Zhiyi, and the appeal was undeniable.

And perhaps it wasn’t their imagination—they felt that Lou Yanchen seemed to have lowered his head in front of Sang Zhiyi, making him less intimidating.

Some staff members were already itching to come closer and find out what was going on.

Lou Yanchen: “…”

Were all the people in this production team this idle?!

Lou Yanchen still didn’t want to air his private affairs in front of so many people.

Between driving away all these gawkers and taking Sang Zhiyi somewhere private, he chose the latter—it was more efficient and had fewer potential problems.

He was about to say, “You come with me,” when he remembered that Ren Xiaoqian had already changed considerably.

The approach he had always used wouldn’t work on Sang Zhiyi.

Lou Yanchen frowned deeply, but finally took a step back.

“…Can we talk?”

It was a request, but his tone was quite stiff, and you could hear how reluctant he was to say it.

At least he was speaking like a normal person now.

Sang Zhiyi also had some matters to confirm with him.

She took out her phone and checked the time.

“Five minutes.”

Lou Yanchen: “…?”

Lou Yanchen was a bit confused.

Five minutes of what?

Sang Zhiyi put her phone back into her bag.

“I’m only giving you five minutes.

Please make it quick.”

***

This time, Lou Yanchen didn’t just pull her into a corner.

Instead, he brought Sang Zhiyi to a small reception room on the second floor of the villa.

A few days earlier, Lou Yanchen had bought this villa outright for his convenience.

Now the villa was his private property, temporarily rented to the production team for use.

The second floor had been empty all along—spacious and quiet.

Lou Yanchen closed the door, and this became a small space where no one else would disturb them.

Lou Yanchen’s expression finally softened a bit.

Sang Zhiyi had already naturally sat down on a chair, casually looking at the scenery outside the window.

Lou Yanchen directly asked the question he most wanted to ask.

“Where have you been lately?”

After the first episode of Love of a Limited Season finished filming, Lou Yanchen had wanted to see Sang Zhiyi immediately.

At the time, it hadn’t even occurred to Lou Yanchen that he might not be able to find Sang Zhiyi.

He had gone to the aquarium much slower than Zhongli Miaomiao, who had shot out like a spring.

The result was predictable.

Zhongli Miaomiao hadn’t even been able to catch up with Sang Zhiyi, let alone Lou Yanchen.

What shocked Lou Yanchen even more was that for the entire half month that followed, he couldn’t find any trace of Sang Zhiyi at all.

Like the artists at Starlight, Lou Yanchen also didn’t know where Ren Xiaoqian usually went besides the company, so he was completely unable to get a read on Sang Zhiyi.

Moreover, because he had neglected Ren Xiaoqian in recent months, Lou Yanchen couldn’t even remember Ren Xiaoqian’s contact information.

The agents and assistants around Ren Xiaoqian had been personally arranged by Lou Yanchen.

Seeing that Ren Xiaoqian had been left out in the cold by Lou Yanchen and was gradually falling out of favor, they had also become slack.

They hadn’t bothered with Ren Xiaoqian for several months.

When Lou Yanchen specifically called them in for questioning, every single agent and assistant assumed the president wanted to discuss something else.

When they hurriedly found Ren Xiaoqian in their contact lists, they discovered—like everyone else at Starlight Entertainment—that they had already been blocked by Sang Zhiyi.

Thus, once Sang Zhiyi moved out of the apartment Lou Yanchen had bought and used some means to ensure that the flow of funds from her card wouldn’t be traced for a short time, Lou Yanchen lost all channels to contact Sang Zhiyi.

These means were really nothing much to Sang Zhiyi, but to Lou Yanchen, they were completely unexpected.

That delicate, weak clinging vine—since when did she know these kinds of tricks?

Only now, after half a month, did Lou Yanchen see Sang Zhiyi for the first time and have the chance to ask where she had been.

Sang Zhiyi understood.

No wonder Lou Yanchen had arrived on set so early today, even earlier than her—he had been specifically waiting to corner her.

Curling her lips slightly, Sang Zhiyi didn’t answer Lou Yanchen’s question.

Instead, she said sweetly, “President Lou, you’re so nice.”

Caught off guard by this compliment from Sang Zhiyi, Lou Yanchen froze for a moment.

This Ren Xiaoqian, who now couldn’t care less about him, was actually saying something nice about him?

Easily diverting Lou Yanchen’s attention, Sang Zhiyi continued.

“I originally thought you might be angry with me and want to kick me out of the show’s guest list.”

From the very beginning, Sang Zhiyi hadn’t placed all her bets on threatening Lou Yanchen with Jiang Yingru.

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

After all, Lou Yanchen was an investor in Love of a Limited Season and had significant influence.

Ensuring that he didn’t cause trouble throughout the filming of the first episode had already met Sang Zhiyi’s expectations.

But Love of a Limited Season didn’t have only Lou Yanchen as an investor.

After the show ended, Sang Zhiyi quickly organized the information about this world in her mind, analyzing and deducing the situations of some other investors.

She picked out a few pieces of leverage that weren’t terribly damaging but were enough to exchange with those investors.

If Lou Yanchen made a move, Sang Zhiyi would use these things.

The process would indeed be somewhat roundabout and cumbersome, but as long as it achieved the goal, that was fine.

She had no choice—right now, in this world, she was completely penniless.

It wasn’t until she decided to help Zhongli Miaomiao and established a connection with her that Sang Zhiyi had a simpler option.

She only needed to mention to Zhongli Miaomiao with a hint of worry, “President Lou doesn’t like me.

What if he cancels my guest spot?” and Zhongli Miaomiao immediately declared indignantly, “That surnamed Lou wouldn’t dare?!”

Although Zhongli Miaomiao hadn’t made a formal investment like Lou Yanchen, she had also spent money to get a guest spot—she was a hidden financial backer.

Knowing Sang Zhiyi’s concern, Zhongli Miaomiao simply added more investment to the show, making sure it wasn’t less than that surnamed Lou’s.

“I was originally planning to spend this money on Liu Bolin,” Zhongli Miaomiao said.

“Now that I’m spending it on Sister Xiaoqian, it feels a hundred times more worth it.

And I still have some left over!”

With Zhongli Miaomiao as an even bigger investor, Sang Zhiyi no longer had to worry about Lou Yanchen having absolute control over the show.

Now that the second episode was about to start filming, Sang Zhiyi still hadn’t received any news about Lou Yanchen canceling her spot, which surprised her a bit.

“But you didn’t do that, President Lou.”

Sang Zhiyi looked at Lou Yanchen and apologized with genuine feeling.

“I misjudged you.”

Whether Lou Yanchen hadn’t tried to do it, or he had tried and failed, Sang Zhiyi wanted to confirm this.

Then, Sang Zhiyi observed that after hearing her words, a trace of embarrassment appeared on Lou Yanchen’s face.

Sang Zhiyi chuckled softly.

She understood.

She really needed to find a way to make money, Sang Zhiyi thought.

Otherwise, many things would become much more troublesome.

But Sang Zhiyi wasn’t in a hurry for now.

She was waiting—waiting for the money to come to her.

Soon, that opportunity would come.

***

Lou Yanchen had indeed approached the production team, asking them to replace Sang Zhiyi.

He really didn’t want to see Sang Zhiyi on this dating show anymore.

Whenever he saw Sang Zhiyi, Lou Yanchen remembered how she had taken his first love away right in front of him.

And… that dreamlike mermaid in the seawater, and the untimely stirring of his heart.

Even after leaving the filming set that day, Lou Yanchen’s heartbeat hadn’t fully returned to normal.

Later, he couldn’t help himself from repeatedly watching the mermaid video many times.

Lou Yanchen tried to convince himself that this was just a process similar to desensitization.

Once he watched it enough times and got tired of it, Sang Zhiyi would no longer hold such strong attraction for him.

But things didn’t go as he wished.

No matter how many times he watched it, it was still just as breathtaking.

Lou Yanchen: “…”

Lou Yanchen rarely felt a sense of anguish.

He ultimately decided that to solve the problem, he had to address it at its root.

First, erase Sang Zhiyi from Love of a Limited Season, then have Starlight shelve her.

After enough time passed, he could pretend she didn’t exist.

Lou Yanchen firmly believed that this momentary infatuation was merely an illusion caused by a dopamine disorder.

He had been in unrequited love with Jiang Yingru for so many years.

Even when he found Ren Xiaoqian as a substitute, he had never touched her.

He was obviously so faithful and devoted—how could he possibly change his heart?!

Even with Sang Zhiyi’s threat hanging clearly over his head, Lou Yanchen still resolved to stick to his choice.

When choosing between two evils, of course you pick the lesser one.

Rather than letting his first love know he had kept a substitute lover, Lou Yanchen was even less willing to accept that the substitute had shaken his deep feelings for his first love.

Besides, even if Sang Zhiyi told Jiang Yingru about this, would Jiang Yingru believe her?

Only the two of them, the parties involved, truly knew about this matter.

Even if others felt that their relationship was ambiguous, there was no evidence.

Lou Yanchen had always been careful to clean up any traces related to this.

After the first episode of Love of a Limited Season aired, so many viewers thought he was interested in Sang Zhiyi and jealous over her, but hadn’t they still failed to dig up any solid proof?

Even if he faced Jiang Yingru herself, he would have opportunities and excuses to explain and maneuver.

As an investor, requesting to replace a guest on the show should have been easy to accomplish.

But to Lou Yanchen’s surprise, the producer of Love of a Limited Season looked extremely troubled.

Lou Yanchen’s face turned cold.

“Is there a problem?”

The producer broke out in a cold sweat.

“President Lou, it’s really not that we’re unwilling…

It’s, it’s that the other investors are unwilling!”

“Other investors?”

Lou Yanchen was baffled.

The biggest investor in this dating show was himself.

He had already won over the previous investors—there was no way they would suddenly oppose him without any warning.

…It couldn’t be Zhongli Miaomiao, could it?

At that time, Zhongli Miaomiao hadn’t yet added investment because of Sang Zhiyi.

Even counting the money she had already spent, her investment share was still less than Lou Yanchen’s.

The producer wiped the sweat from his forehead.

“It’s, it’s Director Song Ying… He also added investment…”

Lou Yanchen could still recall to this day the feeling of swallowing a fly when he heard Song Ying’s name.

The door to the small reception room on the second floor of the villa was suddenly pushed open.

Song Ying walked in, bold and unceremonious.

“Oh my, President Lou really has a lot of leisure time, doesn’t he?”

Song Ying’s face was full of mockery as he laughed. “Filming is about to start downstairs, and here you are sneaking away with your little lover?”

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