Chapter 4: Turn Off the Light

Rong Si paused, then quickly unbuckled her seatbelt. Just as she opened the door, Cheng Jinzhi leaned over and slammed it shut.

“Did I tell you to get out?” Even she thought her own words sounded unreasonable. She’d lived over forty years, after all.

Rong Si seemed used to Cheng Jinzhi’s domineering ways. She stayed silent.

“Say something.”

“What do you want me to say?” Rong Si lifted her eyelids, still calm.

What did she want Rong Si to say? Cheng Jinzhi didn’t know herself. “Just don’t sit there in silence.”

“Silent, but who knows what schemes are brewing in your head.” Cheng Jinzhi was afraid of Rong Si. With Rong Si’s abilities, one day she might deliver a blow right between her eyes. If this person weren’t Rong Si, Cheng Jinzhi would probably want to latch onto her. But of course, it had to be Rong Si. Who was Rong Si? Her lifelong rival. Not that Rong Si had ever taken her seriously after becoming famous.

The car stopped at a red light, and her emotions cooled. “Don’t you want a role? Aren’t you good at enduring?”

“I’m not a god.”

Rong Si’s words made Cheng Jinzhi turn her head. She looked at Rong Si’s profile—lowered eyelids, feathery lashes brushing lightly. It made Cheng Jinzhi realize that the Rong Si before her was just a girl who’d lost both parents, burdened with debt and a younger brother to raise.

“Green light.” Rong Si didn’t look at her, just reminded her as the light flashed green.

Cheng Jinzhi awkwardly turned away, released the handbrake, and merged with the traffic.

When they got home, Cheng Jinzhi opened her mouth to speak, but Rong Si glanced at her first. “What do you want for dinner?”

“What do you want? I’ll have Ah Wei arrange it.”

“Something simple. Not too much.”

“Okay.”

Rong Si opened the car door. Cheng Jinzhi hesitated, her face twisting in awkwardness, then grabbed Rong Si’s sleeve. She grasped her wrist. “I’m…”

Sorry.

After going bankrupt, Cheng Jinzhi had said those three words plenty.

Rong Si turned to look at her, seeing her struggling to speak. “If you can’t say it, don’t force yourself.”

“I know acting with me was me forcing you.”

“Actually, when I calmed down, I realized I was the one who lost my nerve. Can’t blame you.”

Rong Si was only in her teens now, wasn’t she? Her composure was infuriating.

As soon as they got out of the car, Ah Wei approached. He looked embarrassed seeing Rong Si, then quickly reminded Cheng Jinzhi behind her. “Boss, she’s here.”

She? What she? Cheng Jinzhi didn’t understand. She only realized who Ah Wei meant when they reached the door.

A woman stood at the entrance, in a red long dress, clearly fresh from some awards ceremony. She wore fifteen-centimeter stiletto heels, her spine straight. Seeing Cheng Jinzhi, she walked over with a relaxed smile, holding a pink handbag with elegant poise.

She showed no surprise at seeing Rong Si. In her heart, she’d never considered anyone a rival. She reached up and wrapped her arm around Cheng Jinzhi’s neck. “Still mad?”

After Cheng Jinzhi’s bankruptcy, Gao Yi had maintained contact with her—or rather, bed partner contact. Gao Yi treated her like some third-rate wild model. The complete rupture came during Cheng Jinzhi’s imprisonment. A reporter interviewed Gao Yi, asking what she thought about Cheng Jinzhi’s drug use.

“I hope she can pull herself together.” That single sentence from Gao Yi had confirmed everyone’s suspicions.

After the investigation, Cheng Jinzhi was released. Gao Yi explained it was a line prepared by her sponsor. There was a new drama at the time—the drama that would be her comeback. She couldn’t afford to lose.

Cheng Jinzhi turned her face away and grabbed Rong Si, who was walking straight past. “Where are you going?”

“Back to my room.”

“Mm…” Cheng Jinzhi held Rong Si’s hand, her fingers trembling slightly.

Rong Si’s expression didn’t change. She withdrew her hand from Cheng Jinzhi’s, then directly pulled Cheng Jinzhi from in front of Gao Yi to her own side. She looked up at Gao Yi. Gao Yi, in her high heels, towered over Rong Si.

“Jinzhi, who is this?” Gao Yi narrowed her eyes, finally truly looking at the young woman before her. She’d heard that Cheng Jinzhi had been hanging around some girl, but she’d been busy and had let Cheng Jinzhi blow off steam.

Gao Yi looked at the young woman. She prided herself on having presence when she got serious. But the girl before her remained unmoved, her gaze calm and steady, not a trace of panic.

Gao Yi felt herself being provoked into bristling tension.

“I…” She couldn’t exactly say she was keeping Rong Si. “My girlfriend.”

The word “girlfriend” popped out naturally. Rong Si turned her head, glancing at Cheng Jinzhi.

“And it’s not your place to ask.” Cheng Jinzhi said, exhaling. She finally felt a bit of backbone. The earlier fluster in front of Gao Yi? Let’s call it the shock of meeting an old flame.

Gao Yi was about to say something when her phone rang.

A call under a minute. Gao Yi pulled a mask and a beautifully wrapped little box from her handbag. She shoved the box into Cheng Jinzhi’s hands and put on the mask. Her face was small; the mask nearly covered her entire face. “Jinzhi, you’re upset now. When you’ve calmed down, I’ll come back.”

With that, Gao Yi hurried off—probably her manager’s call, worried about paparazzi catching a shot.

Cheng Jinzhi let out a sigh of relief after Gao Yi left. She tossed the box to Ah Wei. “For your wife.”

“Thanks, Boss.”

Cheng Jinzhi had Ah Wei arrange dinner. Rong Si had no appetite—she ate two bites, then dabbed her lips with a napkin. Picking up her chopsticks, she placed some food on Cheng Jinzhi’s plate.

“Eat your own food.”

“I’m full.”

“Are you tired? Go upstairs and rest.”

At that, Rong Si’s spine stiffened. She nodded and went upstairs.

Cheng Jinzhi soaked in the bath, enjoying it more than she had in ages. She drowsed in the tub, idly grabbing a magazine beside her—a monthly Rong Si subscribed to, about economics and finance. Cheng Jinzhi had done rebirth dramas before, but the scripts were terrible. The protagonists who returned to the past all, without exception, had golden fingers—all-knowing cheats. Cheng Jinzhi scratched her head looking at the economics journal. She couldn’t understand it. Who knew how she’d survived those twenty years? There were always major economic events, stock market crashes, right? Cheng Jinzhi thought back. Before her bankruptcy, her assets were managed by a manager. After bankruptcy, she had no money, let alone attention for such things. The people she usually associated with were also just coasters, and after bankruptcy she’d dropped straight down to the “landless peasant” tier.

How could she keep her family from going bankrupt?

“Hey, Dad, are you—” Sure enough, her father was still out carousing. Cheng Jinzhi tilted her head, moving her phone a few centimeters away. “Where are you? It’s so loud. Come out for a second.”

“I’m discussing business.” Her father mumbled, seeming to be having wine poured for him.

Her family’s bankruptcy wasn’t due to sabotage or anything. It was because her father stopped being responsible later on. “Dad, I have a film in hand.”

“Shoot it. As long as you’re happy.” Her father said that quite sincerely.

The family fortune, including inherited ancestral property, wasn’t squandered by her father alone—she and her father did it together. Her mother tried to manage things, but by the end, the festering wound burst from the inside out. There was no choice but to declare bankruptcy and cut losses.

Right now, the company was in its golden period. Her father’s carousing habit started right around now. “Do you have time this weekend?”

“This weekend I need to ask my secretary…”

“Which secretary?”

“The new one. Surnamed Sun.”

Secretary Sun. Of course Cheng Jinzhi remembered her. That secretary had nearly driven her parents to divorce. “I don’t like her. Fire her.”

“Replace her with who?”

“I’ll come to the company tomorrow and see.”

Her father chuckled a few times. “Come to the company? Fine, fine, come on over.”

Cheng Jinzhi often said she’d visit the company, then claim something came up and not go. Probably fewer than a few times a year. Her father was probably laughing at her. “Anyway, I don’t care. You need to clear your schedule this weekend. We’re going to Grandma’s for dinner.”

“Hm? What’s wrong with Grandma?”

“Nothing’s wrong. I just miss her and want to visit.” This year, Grandma had moved to a temple on the mountain top, saying the family’s fortune was too aggressive these years, blocking too many people would accumulate bad karma. She wanted to eat vegetarian and chant sutras for the whole family. Nothing they said could persuade her otherwise, so the family had renovated the temple for her, so she wouldn’t suffer too much.

“Then I definitely need to clear my schedule. It’s rare for you to be this filial.”

“Don’t stay out playing. Finish your business and go home.” Cheng Jinzhi checked the time on her phone. “After midnight, I’m calling Mom to ask if you’re home.”

“Fine, fine. It’s rare for my daughter to care about me.”

Satisfied, she hung up. Cheng Jinzhi peeled off her face mask and patted her cheeks. Rebirth—no, no, returning to being rich felt so good. Cheng Jinzhi stepped out of the bath naked, grabbed the white robe, and wrapped it loosely around herself. She had to walk several steps from the bathroom to the bedroom. Wonderful. No more living in that cramped twenty or thirty square meter rental where she couldn’t stretch her legs.

“Ah Wei, wipe Gao Yi’s fingerprints off everything. Yes, any residence of mine—not a single strand of her hair stays inside…”

“Got it. Anything else, Boss?” Ah Wei listened for a while. The line was silent. “Hello? Boss?”

“Th-that’s all.” Cheng Jinzhi stuttered and hung up.

Rong Si was lying in bed, the blanket pulled up tightly, only her pale shoulder exposed. She opened her eyes when Cheng Jinzhi came in.

Cheng Jinzhi had only taken two steps toward her when Rong Si spoke. “Wait.”

“Huh?”

“Turn off the light.” Rong Si bit her lower lip.

No matter how calm Rong Si was, in this matter, she was still just a teenage girl.