Chapter 21: Like

Find a suitable woman to marry

Xing Yue had drunk the day before and, on top of poor sleep, had an injury on her face. Going on the subway in that state would probably draw attention.

Bo Wuxue had been called over to chauffeur. The car stopped at the front courtyard entrance but didn’t pull all the way in. She hollered: “Xing—Yue—”

The little two-story villa wasn’t tall. Looking up, she spotted a flash of red. Focusing her vision, she saw two figures standing at the French windows—Xing Yue crouching down, putting Bu Yao’s shoes on for her. Only once the shoes were on did she grab her bag and head out.

The sight made her grind her teeth in fury. Once Xing Yue got in the car, Bo Wuxue shook her head: “Tsk tsk tsk. Fallen from grace, Xing Yue.”

She’d thought Xing Yue utterly despised the job of serving the Eldest Miss. She never imagined that after so many years, she’d pick it right back up.

“Wasn’t it you who said it?” Xing Yue buckled her seatbelt, brushing her stray bangs over her slightly swollen face. She’d applied a bit more blush than usual to look energetic; without close inspection, you couldn’t tell anything was amiss. “Sleep with the Eldest Miss’s body, make her give birth to seven or eight little snake eggs for me, carve up the Bu family, raise two big baskets of little lover snakes and move them into Bu Manor—changing one basket every quarter.”

Xing Yue gave a rough summary of Bo Wuxue’s conspiratorial plan.

Hearing that Xing Yue was teasing, Bo Wuxue breathed in relief. Good—she hadn’t completely lost it. She’d been worried Xing Yue was really going to repeat the same disaster.

Life married to the Eldest Miss was just too torturous. Even as a bystander, she found it unbearable.

“What are you thinking now?” she asked, driving with one hand while using the other to hand Xing Yue the breakfast she’d brought over. “If you want to break the contract and don’t have enough for the penalty, I can lend it to you.”

Xing Yue had made some small money these past few years—bought a house, bought a car, even bought her mother a place in their hometown to rent out for retirement income. She probably still had some savings left, but definitely not enough to cover the penalty fee.

The only solution she could think of was to terminate the contract.

No one knew better than her how much Xing Yue hated showing her face. Xing Yue’s cover videos were basically just her silhouette lit dramatically; she never clearly showed her features. Or she’d only upload the song with footage of her playing the piano.

“Who said I’m terminating the contract?” Xing Yue opened the container. Inside were her favorite shrimp wontons. She used a skewer to pick one out for Bo Wuxue. “The penalty fee is so high. If I break it, won’t all those years of working mean I have nothing to show for it?”

Little Green Stone Snake was stunned, unable to fully grasp Xing Yue’s thinking. “So you’re just giving in? Giving in is fine too—making money. Nobody hates having more money. I’m just afraid you won’t be happy earning it this way.”

After all, it was something Xing Yue had held out against for ten years—always refusing the company. Suddenly changing her mind like this was unexpected.

But then, she remembered that Xing Yue hadn’t chosen this major career shift voluntarily, and she felt upset all over again. Moreover, Xing Yue had a physical condition—having her triple-status exposed would not be a good thing.

Xing Yue wasn’t young anymore. If she were twenty-five, she could still be reckless, having plenty of capital to pay for her own willfulness. But at her age, her approach and thoughts were more mature, more rational.

Having thrown a drunken fit the day before, her mood had improved somewhat. She’d thought about it calmly: “Not only will I accept the arrangement Madam Bu has given me, I’ll do it seriously. The Bu family has power, influence, money—making a celebrity famous is simple. Why wouldn’t I seize the chance to make a huge profit? I can also use the Bu family network to treat my tail. Once my contract with the company ends, I’ll have a healthy body and a fat bank account. Then I’ll find a suitable woman to marry, build a family—don’t necessarily need kids, just happy together. Then I can do whatever I want, go wherever I like.”

At most, she’d have to endure another four years. Swallowing so much hardship to gamble on the second half of her life—it didn’t seem entirely unacceptable.

Her savings now were meager, work gave her anxiety, and she couldn’t change the status quo or free herself from the company. The only way out cost a crippling penalty fee that would send her back to square one overnight. That would be true living death.

Bo Wuxue keenly caught that particular phrase: “Find a suitable woman to marry… What counts as a suitable woman?”

Xing Yue summed up her two failed relationships and arrived at a conclusion: “No class divide, equal relationship, mutual love, physical compatibility.”

It seemed the Bu family had scarred her deeply. She’d placed “no class divide” in the top spot.

“Oh. Then you’re not considering Miss Bu?” Bo Wuxue suddenly understood. “I get it. You’re using her—sweet-talking her into getting you good doctors and good resources.”

Xing Yue didn’t immediately deny it, only explaining: “Her mother purely wanted to humiliate me—she has no intention of promoting me. She’s just forcing me to show my face and run laps. I can only find a way through Bu Yao herself.”

After saying this, she felt it was lacking, so she added: “I’m not saying I’m not considering Bu Yao. Aren’t we in the process of working things out? If she doesn’t boss me around like a dog, she’s not that unbearable.”

Not unbearable—in fact, a little likable.

Bu Yao’s personality truly made things very hard for her. Even now, her conditioned reflex hadn’t healed. The moment Bu Yao showed the slightest inclination to control her, she could instantly flare up.

It was just that, since she now had somewhat of a plan that relied on Bu Yao, she would somewhat lower her stance and coax Bu Yao into being happy. This wasn’t manipulation, was it? She wasn’t deceiving Bu Yao about anything…

Thinking all the way up to this point, even Xing Yue herself felt her footing wasn’t entirely solid. Her eyes drifted toward the window, feeling restless and annoyed.

The plan was clear, yet because implementing it required deliberately giving Bu Yao warmth, she hesitated. But if she didn’t do this, she could only be a puppet, dancing on Madam Bu’s strings—playing the clown, mocked, trampled.

What did it matter if she was a little gentler with Bu Yao? This woman always cried so easily. If a few sweet words could coax her back to calm, saying a few more now and then was fine too.

The Eldest Miss could actually be quite adorable at times.

Bo Wuxue didn’t have any particular thoughts about Xing Yue’s plan. Earlier, she’d worried about how Xing Yue would live after breaking the contract—Xing Yue would definitely refuse her financial support.

She’d also worried that if Xing Yue didn’t break the contract, she’d be suppressed and crushed by Madam Bu, forced to do things she hated. Now that Xing Yue had made such a calm, rational choice, she was actually quite pleased.

She didn’t care about anyone else’s fate—as long as Xing Yue was fine.

The car arrived at the company building.

“Go on, big star.”

Xing Yue planned to re-record yesterday’s short script. She hadn’t yet discussed it with the studio staff.

Walking in, she saw a group of people seated in the conference room. Aside from familiar faces, there were two she didn’t recognize.

“Hello, Teacher Xing. I’m Jiang Li’s assistant; just call me Little Tang.” The girl who stood up first was all fawning smiles, enthusiastically shaking Xing Yue’s hand.

Xing Yue nodded, already guessing who the other one was.

Little Tang was about to pull out documents from a file envelope when the woman beside her took them over and personally explained to Xing Yue: “Senior Yue, this is the hospital admission form for my sister yesterday. Please look it over—I truly didn’t stand you up on purpose. Please give me another chance.”

Xing Yue reflexively accepted it. Her gaze fell to the form. The top line listed the patient’s name and age. Below, it was clearly written: “Food poisoning, convulsions.”

It was indeed quite a serious situation. Xing Yue wasn’t a harsh person and was about to agree when she inadvertently glimpsed the name listed under “Accompanying Family Member.” Her heart suddenly clenched. She forgot to breathe—it was as if her heartbeat had stopped entirely.

“He Zhiwen…” she murmured unconsciously, staring at the familiar name. Her lips trembled faintly.

Jiang Li smiled, warmly introducing her family member to Xing Yue: “She’s my sister’s wife. Yesterday was her first time cooking. She didn’t cook the green beans thoroughly enough, and my little sister got hit. Even while heading to the hospital, she was still shouting about not letting her wife cook. Xiao Wen is so spoiled by my sister—first time learning to cook after all these years married, quite pampered.”

Though Jiang Li smiled, looking as though she was showing off the affection between her sister and sister-in-law, she was actually complaining that He Zhiwen didn’t cook and had given her sister food poisoning on her first attempt.

Most likely, the relationship wasn’t harmonious, and she frequently made pointed remarks about her younger sister’s small household.

Xing Yue placed the medical file back in the envelope, her expression cooling by several degrees. “Is Miss Jiang’s cooking very good? If your cooking is good, you can take on more of the chef’s role.”

She turned and walked straight back to her own recording room. She didn’t use this little episode to carry out personal vendettas, keeping up with the script-recording progress. Throughout, she had no interaction with Jiang Li, her face completely expressionless.

Before work even finished, at eight p.m. sharp, Xing Yue’s WeChat received its regularly scheduled voice call notification.

The vibrating sound of her phone startled her badly. She hadn’t received a phone call during work hours in many years. Seeing it was Bu Yao, she blanked out for a moment—a fleeting flashback to ten years ago.

She sighed and hung up directly.

The next second, another voice call came through. Xing Yue felt a spark of anger. She answered, her tone less than gentle: “I’m working. Did I not tell you I was recording a script this afternoon? The other person has a flight tomorrow; we’re on a very tight schedule.”

The breathing on the other end hitched slightly. A hesitant voice spoke: “I wasn’t calling… to rush you home…”

It was already evening now.

“Then why are you calling at this hour?”

The impatient tone stung Bu Yao somewhat. In the place where Xing Yue couldn’t see, the red camellia leaves in the courtyard were nearly stripped bare by Bu Yao’s plucking.

“So I can’t ask what time you’re coming home?” Bu Yao’s voice was thick with undisguised hurt. “I wasn’t demanding you come home right now. I was going to ask what time you’d be back. I’m home waiting to sleep. If there’s something you want to eat, I’ll go buy it so it’s here when you get back. Is that not okay? Is it not okay to call you? Or is it not okay to wait for you?”