"You can go out with your friends after school, but be sure to stay safe and let grandma know so she doesn't worry. You can also continue to wear clothes in the style you have now, since dressing is a matter of personal freedom. Wear whatever you like. The better you isn't necessarily the one others see, but the one you enjoy being."
Sang Qiao couldn't help but reach out and touch her green hair, a gentle smile on her lips.
When Su Nuanying heard these words, her eyes couldn't help but moisten. She had almost forgotten what she initially wanted to become, so focused had she been on getting her parents' attention.
But it definitely wasn't the current version of herself, uneducated and hanging out in bars all day.
"I understand."
"Rest early."
"Okay."
-
-
The first thing Sang Qiao did upon waking was to check the residential address Fu Xing had sent her the night before, then she got ready and headed out.
The neighborhood where Fu Xing lived was arranged by the company, with excellent security measures in place.
He was also very punctual, waiting at the community entrance ahead of time. As soon as the car window rolled down, he came over with his luggage.
After getting into the car, Fu Xing asked softly, "Sang Qiao, I saw... the role announced isn't quite right. I initially auditioned for the second male lead."
"Do you not like the main male lead role?" Sang Qiao raised her eyelids and turned to look at him.
"That's not it," said Fu Xing, eager to explain. "I just can't believe it."
He had braced himself to lose the role, yet not only had he not lost it, he had become the lead male. This took him by surprise.
Sang Qiao chuckled lightly and turned her gaze away, "You can believe it now."
"Sister Qiao, thank you," Fu Xing said with a slight tremble in his hands, the entire person overwhelmed with excitement.
From last night to this morning, it felt like he was dreaming, and only now was it starting to feel real.
"It's your own strength that did it, otherwise nothing I could have done would've been of any use."
"Still, I owe a part of this to you, Sister Qiao. I'll certainly give my all in filming and won't let you down!"
"Good."
The filming crew of "Whose Youth" had set up their shoot in the local area, which wasn't far.
Fu Xing didn't bring much luggage, just a suitcase, and as soon as he got out of the car, he started pulling it himself, following closely beside Sang Qiao.
There were already people shooting other scenes on the set. As they walked in, they could hear the assistant director talking to another actor about the scene, and Nanfeng was sitting on a bench nearby.
His expression turned awkward as he saw Sang Qiao and the others. He stood up from the bench and walked towards them.
"Sang Qiao, I really underestimated you. Not only have you blocked me, but you've also debased yourself. Have you started selling yourself? To go to such lengths just to spite your family, aren't you afraid of getting sick!"
"Slap!" Sang Qiao raised her hand and slapped him. She rubbed the palm of her hand, her eyes revealing a hint of emotion: "If you have no proof, don't go around saying someone has sold themselves."
Nanfeng licked his lips, feeling a sting on his cheek, and looked at her in disbelief, "Did you really just hit me?"
"Your foul mouth was asking for it," said Sang Qiao. She interlocked her fingers and rotated her wrists, as if easing her tendons, while the breeze gently blew, causing a few strands of hair on her forehead to flutter.
Her eyes were clear and deep but held a detachment, her red lips slightly pursed.
Nanfeng felt an indescribable discomfort as he looked at her, as if she were a stranger looking back at him.
He shifted his gaze away, continually reminding himself that it was Sang Qiao who was wrong in the first place.
Thinking of this, he felt even more confident, "Am I not speaking the truth? Otherwise, where would you get the money to persuade the director to give the role to your family's actor?"
"Is it so strange for the Sang Family's only heiress to have a hundred million?" Sang Qiao spoke slowly.
"What 'only heiress'? You are not! In our eyes, only Jiaojiao is!"
Sang Qiao's expression remained completely unruffled, "What you think in your eyes is of no importance to me."
"So, you've been unable to tolerate Jiaojiao having these thoughts, is that it? That day at the banquet, you deliberately led our grandfather to ignore Jiaojiao, so that he would recognize your status, right?"
Nanfeng clenched his fists until the veins stood out on his palms, feeling even more that Sang Qiao was selfish and self-serving.
"Is that all the nonsense you have to say?" Sang Qiao looked at him coldly, his suspicions about herself.
At that moment, she realized she didn't care so much about the Sang Family, about her brother.
"Fine, this time I was negligent, Sang Qiao, you better be able to handle every difficulty that comes your way," Nanfeng said through clenched teeth, anger causing him to kick over a stool nearby.
He should have never thought that Sang Qiao would repent and come back to beg him. Sang Qiao wasn't worth his sympathy!
Watching his furious departure, Fu Xing couldn't help but feel anxious, "Sister Qiao, did I... cause you any trouble? If this role cost a lot of money, maybe we should withdraw our investment after all."
"It's not a trouble, and it didn't cost much money. He's the stupid one, it was just a word game I played with the director."
Sang Qiao was very calm inside. She was becoming more able to face her lousy brothers' schemes head-on.
"A word game?" Fu Xing looked at her, confused.
"Nanfeng only said you couldn't play the second male lead, but he didn't say you couldn't play the male lead. Having read the script, I noticed that the male lead and the second male lead have very similar characters, so I discussed with the director a bit."
Sang Qiao left out a bit, the "discussion" was more than just verbal, she had also promised to ensure the smooth broadcast of the online series since Nanfeng had suffered such a big loss, and there was no telling if he would cause trouble in the future.
"So, you didn't invest even a penny?"
"Not really, let's take your luggage upstairs. Your agent will come find you tomorrow."
"Okay, Sister Qiao, take care on your way home," Fu Xing watched her leaving.
"Uh-huh."
After leaving the venue, Sang Qiao's phone vibrated once. She took it out and saw that it was a message from Ah He, "The second episode of 'Instant Heartbeat' starts filming tomorrow. Remember to go. Here's the address."
Qiaoqiao is sleepy: "Okay."
Ah He: "By the way, have you seen the trending topic on Weibo? Your second brother truly is a beast, he pushed you out to take the blame in the past, and now he 'accidentally' liked this post on Weibo. Hilarious."
Sang Qiao's brows slightly furrowed, she exited the WeChat app and clicked on Weibo, finding at the top of the trending searches, "Explosive/Sang Qiao brings sasaeng fans to Sang Emperor's hotel late at night, causing him serious injury."
"How did this old news resurface again?"
"Sang Qiao is making a comeback, is shooting 'Instant Heartbeat', everybody please go to the variety show's official account and bash her, keep bashing until she leaves the entertainment industry!"
"Absolutely disgusting, back then Sang Emperor was almost violated by a sasaeng fan, it infuriates me to even think about it – why did Sang Qiao have any urgent matter to discuss with Sang Emperor in the middle of the night?"
...Line after line of abuse in the comments.
Sang Qiao quickly browsed through and exited. The second trending topic on Weibo was,
"Explosive/Sang Emperor 'accidentally' likes a post about Sang Qiao bringing sasaeng fans to his hotel late at night."
"Accidental like? Am I the only one who thinks Sang Emperor is trying to hold her accountable?"
"If Sang Qiao can't keep herself out of trouble and dares to act again, not to mention showing up in front of Sang Emperor looking for attention, she deserves to pay a painful price!"