Chapter 51

After the TV drama wrapped up filming, Rong Yin could finally be a couch potato again. In the mornings, she slept until eleven in her warm, air-conditioned room, her little belly airing out.

Lu Zhi had gone to the company. Rong Yin, her two slender, smooth legs bare, swung them leisurely and contentedly on the silky bed sheet a couple of times, then rolled her whole body over to the spot beside her. Just as she was about to rub her cheek nicely on that pillow, the prone position made her feel a slight pain in her chest.

Rong Yin sat up, pulled open the loose neckline of her pajamas with her fingers, and looked down. She let out a very loud “Ah!”, then immediately picked up her phone to find someone to settle accounts with.

“You still said you didn’t bite!!!” Her slender fingers hammered furiously on the phone screen.

“You clearly bit! It hurts like hell!”

The other side didn’t reply for a moment, probably not looking at the phone.

Rong Yin knelt on the bed, pulling open her collar to look again. There were still several love bites and bruises in her line of sight.

She checked her arms and the sides of her legs, then even jumped off the bed to look at herself in the vanity mirror. Finally, her cheeks flushed red, she sat back down on the bed.

“Are you a dog or something?”

“Sister!!”

After two seconds, the other side sent back a “?”.

Rong Yin let out a “Hey!” and sat cross-legged, straightening up, just about to properly argue with her, when more messages came through on her phone.

“Sorry.”

Rong Yin’s fingers paused. What’s with this utterly sincere and serious tone? If you admit fault so eagerly, how am I supposed to throw a tantrum?

The next second, another message popped up from the bottom.

“I couldn’t help it.”

Rong Yin pressed her lips together. Lu Zhi’s expression when looking at her in bed flashed through her mind, instantly making her straightened spine go numb.

Lu Zhi asked again: “Why does it hurt? Is the skin broken?”

Rong Yin inhaled, her fingers typing out two words: “It’s not.”

But…

“Don’t shower or let it touch water for now, I’ll look at it when I get back.”

Who wants you to look again…

Rong Yin bit the soft flesh inside her lip, calmed herself, and then began to type seriously.

Rong Yin: “Forget it, the skin isn’t broken anyway.”

Rong Yin: “But you can’t bite me anymore in the future!”

Rong Yin: “And there are other marks too…”

Rong Yin: “How am I supposed to go out like this!”

After a good while, the other side slowly sent back an “Oh”.

“Don’t worry, there’s nothing on your neck.”

“I’ll let you bite me tonight.”

Looking at those words, Rong Yin’s heart gave a soft flutter, even her toes couldn’t help but curl slightly. Her fingers tapped and hesitated, wanting to send a ‘Who wants to bite you?’, but she couldn’t send it for a long time. Her mind was filled with dizzying, seductive springtime thoughts.

Perhaps seeing she hadn’t spoken for a while, Lu Zhi naturally changed the subject, sending two more messages.

“There are steamed crab roe buns and millet porridge in the kitchen. Go eat by yourself.”

“No drinking ice water, and no ice milk either.”

Holding her phone, it took Rong Yin a long moment before she obediently sent out a single word: “Okay.”

Rong Yin rolled around on the bed for a while longer.

Her bed sheet was newly bought by Lu Zhi, made of pure black fabric, as fine and soft as silk. Even rolling around on it without clothes wouldn’t affect her skin in the slightest. Not to mention, when a beauty lay stretched out, her fine porcelain skin contrasting with the dark, fog-like black, the visual impact was striking.

There were two more sets of the same material: one in ivory white, one in deep wine red.

After lounging in bed for a long time, Rong Yin finally got up to wash up. While brushing her teeth in front of the mirror, she couldn’t help but repeatedly examine the mottled love bites on her body. Inwardly, she condemned Lu Zhi for being impatient and lustful, yet also couldn’t help feeling a bit excited, her small, delicate ear tips constantly red.

Maybe because she had consumed too much at night, she finished all three crab roe buns left in the small steamer and drank an entire bowl of millet porridge.

It was only when she held her belly and let out a satisfied sigh that Rong Yin remembered she hadn’t weighed herself today. Hurriedly, she took out the scale and stepped on, immediately letting out a shriek at the number displayed: 47.60kg.

Even after taking off the pearl hairpin clipping her hair, the number didn’t change at all.

Rong Yin weighed herself three times. Finally, she had to resign herself to the fact that she had gained weight again. She was so angry that she didn’t eat anything until evening.

As the year drew to a close, various big banquets in the entertainment circle were frequent. Tonight, there was an industry wine party organized by a jewelry merchant, with many stars attending to support the event. Although Rong Yin wasn’t their Spokesperson yet, since Lu Zhi was already in talks with their publicity department, she was also invited.

Strictly speaking, since signing under Lu Zhi’s management, she had never once attended a dinner or gathering intended for social networking purposes. Even for a branded networking wine party like this one, it was rare. Since Lu Zhi was letting her go this time, it meant there would definitely be a collaboration opportunity with them in the future.

Because it was a non-public wine party, away from the long guns and short cannons of the media, there was no need to wear a trailing evening gown. Lu Zhi had already picked out her outfit in the morning: a navy blue French-style jacquard dress with embossed floral patterns and a cinched waist. Its small V-neck covered half her collarbone. When Rong Yin put it on, it perfectly hid the marks on her body, revealing only a section of her swan-like neck, which actually made her appear even fairer and more alluring.

Rong Yin let her hair down and looked at herself in the mirror, thinking Lu Zhi was incredibly “shrewd and calculating.”

She put her hands on her hips and asked Assistant Little Wen, who was helping arrange her hair beside her, “Do you think I’ve gained weight?”

Little Wen looked at the radiant, slender girl in the mirror and shook her head vigorously: “Not fat at all. You’re so tall and weigh less than 100 jin, how could you be fat?”

Rong Yin scoffed, saying grumpily, “I’ve gained ten jin in the past half year! You must have been brainwashed by Little Chen to think I’m not fat!”

Rong Yin’s Little Chen naturally also had to attend the evening’s wine party. She had gone to the company in the morning to appease Su Xi, who wanted to add more work for Rong Yin, and then went to Director Li Chengfeng’s place to look at the sample footage of Zhou Mingming’s movie. It was already six in the evening, and there was no time for her to make a trip back home, so she simply went to the venue alone first.

As soon as Rong Yin arrived, she saw Lu Zhi standing near the entrance, talking to a gentleman. She was wearing a smoky gray suit set, with black low-heeled leather shoes on her feet instead of high heels. She had a tall figure and a straight posture. Her overall aura was extremely clean and coldly aloof. Her simple and comfortable attire didn’t give off any sense of slighting the occasion; instead, it made her appear even more casually restrained and introverted.

Lu Zhi had deliberately stood there to wait for her. She saw Rong Yin the moment she appeared. After slightly excusing herself, she walked straight over.

First, she brushed back the dark hair that had fallen over Rong Yin’s chest as she walked, then led her inside to a table at the edge of the venue. Glancing at the various drinks and alcohol on it, she asked, “Water?”

The moment Rong Yin saw her, the corners of her mouth lifted. She obediently replied, “Okay.”

Lu Zhi personally poured her a glass of plain water. After handing it over, she instructed her as if she were a child: “Follow me and don’t wander off. Don’t accept anything anyone gives you.”

Rong Yin couldn’t control herself and burst out laughing, her eyes and brows curving beautifully. Her voice was soft and sweet: “Alright, Sister.”

In such an occasion, Lu Zhi’s usual role should have kept her constantly busy. But since she had Rong Yin with her, she only led her to greet the wine party organizers, then sat down to the side.

Lu Zhi even took out her phone, pulled up a novel, and handed it to Rong Yin for her to entertain herself.

Compared to the others busily networking and circling around the venue, the two of them sitting so calmly and comfortably seemed quite out of place.

But precisely because one appeared extremely noble and aloof, and the other was a somewhat famous internet-famous young actress, they actually attracted many people they didn’t know to come over, hand out business cards, and chat them up. Most sought out Lu Zhi, but some also came to inquire about Rong Yin.

Rong Yin dutifully followed Lu Zhi’s words, politely refusing all the drinks and alcohol invitations from those people one by one, then bowed her head to focus solely on playing with Lu Zhi’s phone.

Lu Zhi had practically no secrets from her. Besides some essential communication software on the phone, entertainment and news apps took up the bulk. There was only one game app, a Match-3 Game, and even that was downloaded just to help Rong Yin kill time. There were quite a few reading and video apps, with bookmarks and subscriptions packed with many history, literature, and sci-fi titles.

Rong Yin navigated back and flipped through the photo album. Aside from work screenshots saved for records, most were candid photos of Rong Yin and Zhou Mingming on set, meant as material for publicity.

She skipped past Zhou Mingming’s photos and only opened hers to look. She was surprised to discover quite a few unflattering pictures. Her fingers moved, wanting to delete them, but after hesitating a moment, she didn’t. She secretly made a mental note that she absolutely had to take a few photos of Lu Zhi too.

She navigated back to the novel page, scrolling up listlessly, when she felt Lu Zhi gently nudge her.

“Give me the phone for a moment,” Lu Zhi said.

Rong Yin let out an “Oh”, and handed the phone over, watching as Lu Zhi added a middle-aged man as a friend.

The man looked to be around thirty-five, wearing a white shirt and suit pants, his hair neatly combed, looking like he had dressed carefully. But perhaps because of too many bloodshot eyes or a poor complexion, his overall aura still seemed somewhat down and out.

Although Rong Yin had been playing, she was also paying attention with half her mind. She knew the other party was a Director. For the past ten minutes, he had been passionately pitching himself to Lu Zhi.

“Miss Chen, I’ll send you the script outline,” the middle-aged Director said, looking somewhat excited. “Our crew has already started work. Photography, actors, post-production are all in place. Miss Chen, hard science fiction is currently a blank area in the domestic film market. Our special effects technology has been progressing but has no arena to prove itself. I believe, as long as my film can be released, it will absolutely deliver a heavy blow to the film industry! If you’re interested and willing to generously finance it, it definitely won’t let you lose money when the time comes…”

Rong Yin frowned as she listened, but seeing Lu Zhi looking very interested and engaging in discussion, she had to press her lips together and endure it. After a long while, she suddenly tugged at the hem of Lu Zhi’s clothes.

Lu Zhi turned her head sideways.

Rong Yin leaned in and whispered, “Come with me to the restroom.”

Lu Zhi hummed in agreement, put down the wine glass in her hand, and slightly apologized to the middle-aged Director: “I’m sorry, please excuse me for a moment.”

The middle-aged Director didn’t suspect anything, his face still bearing the flush of seeing hope. He smiled and waved his hand: “No problem, no problem. We’ll stay in touch on our phones.”

Only after they had walked a short distance away did Rong Yin speak: “Why are you entertaining him? In Hengdian, crews like his that run out of funds and halt production halfway happen every day. Most aren’t any good projects. Professionals can basically see halfway through whether what’s being filmed is a good show or a dud. For someone like him, no matter how brilliantly he boasts, there’s definitely a fatal flaw.”

Lu Zhi squeezed her fingers, saying, “Are you doubting my judgment?”

“Of course not,” Rong Yin puffed out her cheeks, “I just don’t want you to waste your effort. Besides, he’s looking for investment, funding. And it’s a sci-fi movie. Splendid World Entertainment definitely won’t put up money, and you don’t have any money either.”

“You just look like an Eldest Miss raised in a wealthy family, but you’re actually broke,” Rong Yin couldn’t help adding, hooking her finger, “You still need me to support you.”

Lu Zhi wasn’t angry either, saying, “Let He Li invest.”

Rong Yin knew Lu Zhi was on good personal terms with He Li, but her matter-of-fact tone still made Rong Yin somewhat displeased. She snorted and said, “He’s not a sucker with too much money to throw away. Why would he listen to you and invest in this money-losing deal?”

“Won’t lose money. I’m giving him such a good project. He’ll have to thank me in the future.”

Rong Yin looked at her doubtfully, not understanding why she was so certain.

Lu Zhi was naturally certain, because in the plotline she had received, this currently down-and-out man would become the Heaven Ascension Ladder for the female lead, Li Luo’s, future skyrocketing career. By then, he would already be a highly acclaimed and top-tier famous director in the film and television circle. His crowning masterpiece would be this very sci-fi film, whose creation was halted several times but, once released later, raked in over seven billion at the box office. He himself, thanks to this film, would become a leading figure pioneering a new era for domestic sci-fi cinema.

Lu Zhi hadn’t thought about seizing the chance to insert Rong Yin into the project for golden credentials. Honestly speaking, she genuinely admired the talent and persistence of such people.

She didn’t offer much explanation. Instead, she naturally followed Rong Yin into the restroom stall. The hotel’s attached restroom was cleaned very well, and the space was large. For the two of them to stand in the same stall wouldn’t be cramped at all.

Rong Yin was stunned. “What are you doing coming in here?”

Lu Zhi smiled, her gaze pure, while on the other hand, she raised her finger. Her fingertip quickly slid down Rong Yin’s slender shoulder, finally stopping over a peak through the fabric, saying, “Taking a look.”

Two very simple and calm words, but when Rong Yin heard them, it was as if they were laced with two hooks, tugging her heart into a gentle flutter and instantly making her body go a bit weak.

A rosy blush flew onto Rong Yin’s face. Even though she had already dodged her mischievous hand, her voice still carried a few tremors: “You… don’t just go into heat randomly…”

Lu Zhi raised an eyebrow, looking at her, with a perfectly serious expression: “Didn’t you say I bit and broke the skin? I’m just doing a check. Why is your mind going so many places?”