Chapter 190: Chapter One-Hundred and Ninety: Planning
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
Tan Ning let out a sigh of relief when Yun Liu got her up to speed. She hugged Yun Liu with no sign of her usual stern attitude as she said, “Darling, that’s amazing. I didn’t expect this matter to get resolved so smoothly. I believe everything will go well for us from now on.”
“Tan Ning, I’ll be counting on you,” Yun Liu told her. The two could be considered friends in need. Yun Liu was impressed by Tan Ning, and Tan Ning finally realized that Yun Liu wasn’t a fool.
Tan Ning stated, “Next, we should arrange a press conference. We have to prepare a poignant story about your background; we can use this to win back some of your fans. Then, we once more promote your movie ‘Cozy in Love— the buzz about ‘4:30 P.M.’ will have died down by then, so I think we still have a chance to improve your movie’s box office results.”
Yun Liu nodded. “Tan Ning, help me check what those guests from ‘Embracing Life’ are up to now. Those people have hurt me so much, and I can’t get over it. I also heard Yun Nan is going to the small town where her adoptive family lived. You must get someone to keep an eye on her; don’t miss any opportunity to embarrass her!”
Tan Ning hesitated for a moment before saying, “Yun Liu, Yun Nan is very much in the limelight right now. We won’t be able to get anything out of it if we go head-on with her. What’s most important for us right now is to establish and consolidate your image. Only then will you have long-term development.”
Yun Liu bit her lip, and her eyes reddened. Seeing this, Tan Ning hurriedly reassured her, “Alright, alright, don’t worry. I’ll send someone to keep an eye on them. If anything bad happens, we’ll deal with it in time.”
Yun Liu took a deep breath. “There’s already a rift between me and my brother. He doesn’t trust me as much as before, so you must be careful, Tan Ning. You can’t let my brother suspect me again.”
Tan Ning understood the importance of this matter and quickly nodded.
Bai Jie watched her son finish drinking his milk before asking, “Sweetie, what do you think of Shi Xiu?”
Gu Fei put down his cup, dabbed his mouth with a napkin, and answered, “She’s very nice. We had a great chat and even made an appointment to meet again. However, I get the feeling she’s quite busy. Mom, she invited me to where she’s filming, and I agreed.”
Bai Jie nodded in satisfaction, but when she heard the word “filming,” she frowned once more. “You have to persuade Shi Xiu to give up acting after you guys get together in the future. Such a job really isn’t suitable for people from distinguished families like ours—especially acting in those romance dramas! It’ll damage your reputation if people see your partner canoodling with other men!”
Bai Jie added, “I heard that the missing daughter your uncle Gu An’s family recently found is a starlet. I won’t accept my daughter-in-law doing the same job as them.”
“Mom,” Gu Fei said without batting an eyelid, “Shi Xiu and I haven’t even started dating yet. You can take your time to discuss her job with her after she becomes your daughter-in-law.”
Bai Jie thought about it and decided her son was right; the matter could wait. She told Gu Fei, “Don’t worry about anything else right now. Just focus on wooing Shi Xiu. You’ll definitely marry her; I will accept nothing else. We’re all counting on you now, son. Your sisters and I will spare no effort to give you whatever support you need!”
Gu Fei didn’t want to continue on this topic, so he said, “Alright. Did my aunts not bring my newly-found cousin to see you? Now that they have another daughter in the family, won’t they have another chess piece to use to build marriage alliances?”
Bai Jie made nothing of it. “Not yet, but they will. Those two aunts of yours are full of schemes; who knows what bad ideas they’re coming up with this time? I heard Gu Man and that newly-found daughter both like the second young master of the Shi family, Shi Nian. However, Shi Nian is already married,” she informed him.
“I heard Shi Nian and his wife met the girls and had a very unpleasant fight, but your aunt still hasn’t given up. I know what she’s up to. Since you’re going to marry Shi Xiu, then if they can marry a daughter into the Shi family, they’ll have more bargaining chips against us main branch family.”
“But… Hmph! You know what they say—the best-laid plans and all that. Shi Nian has secretly gotten married, and their wishful plans are probably going to fail. They’ll only anger the Shi family if they continue to harass him. We should draw a clear line between us and them before the Shi family; we should distance ourselves from them and let them walk to their doom.”
There were many women in the Gu family, and quite a few of them had high IQ and EQ, so Gu Fei had grown accustomed to seeing female rivalry and petty and jealous quarrels. He knew that even men would be humbled by these women’s ruthlessness when they got serious, which was why Gu Fei had always been very resistant to women.
He had four bossy elder sisters and a bossy mother. They suppressed the ‘talented women’ of the Gu family’s other branches with their strong personalities and protected and maintained the main family’s dignity and reputation. As the only male heir of their family line, Gu Fei’s mother and sister had planned his life for him; he never had the opportunity to resist, nor did he have the right to do so..