"I searched, but..." Yu Xinwei spoke the truth, ultimately shaking her head.
Chen Cheng was very curious, and the topic circled back to the beginning, "Miss Yu, will this scandal be exposed?"
"It won’t! It won’t! The other party has a status too and won’t expose themselves!" Yu Xinwei reassured once again.
Chen Cheng crossed his legs in a casual manner, "Then I have even more reason to refuse to help you."
"You said your former patron has a very high status; he isn’t helping you, but if I do," Chen Cheng smiled faintly, "what should I do if he comes after me?"
Yu Xinwei instantly understood Chen Cheng’s concern. He was worried that he himself would be targeted by someone more powerful. Losing five hundred million would be the lesser issue; offending someone would be the major problem.
"Mr. Chen, you’ve got it wrong!"
Yu Xinwei nervously glanced towards the door, ensuring it was properly closed. Then she spoke in a low voice, "I know that person, from a business reception four years ago."
"At that time, I was just a minor actress hopping between five crews a day."
Yu Xinwei stopped there.
Those days were the most difficult period of her acting career, running between various crews every day, auditioning everywhere, yet constantly facing rejection.
"That day, my agent asked me to go to a party, hoping I might meet some directors and producers, or maybe rich investors."
Yu Xinwei continued, "I really detested that kind of socializing, believing I could make my own way."
"But in the end, you went anyway, right?"
"I didn’t wear the deep V dress my agent picked out; I just dressed casually like today, with jeans." There was a fleeting recollection in Yu Xinwei’s eyes,
"I thought that this way I wouldn’t attract any undesired attention or interest, but she still noticed me."
Chen Cheng and Tong Jialu listened with keen interest, "What did she say?"
"She approached me on her own, very kindly, asking if I was a newcomer and complimenting me on my potential, saying I would surely become famous."
"She said she appreciated my demeanor and wanted to invest in me..."
Chen Cheng raised an eyebrow, "Did she really invest?"
Yu Xinwei nodded, "The next day after the dinner, I received a call to join a crew, and I became the second female lead just like that."
"That patron of yours must be pretty influential," Chen Cheng pondered for a moment, "Miss Yu, I really can’t help with this favor."
"Mr. Chen! That’s really the only part of my past that can’t be revealed! And besides, she won’t come after you!"
Chen Cheng gestured with his hand, cutting Yu Xinwei off, "Miss Yu, you still don’t understand what I mean."
He leaned back against the sofa, speaking calmly, "It’s not about your patron coming after me. Your current predicament makes this investment seem too risky."
"Risky?" Yu Xinwei asked, puzzled.
Chen Cheng smiled, "Miss Yu, you’ve said it yourself, your patron is very powerful and even once gave you a lot of support. But now, you’re in such trouble, and he just stands by, what does that tell you?"
"Mr. Chen, you’ve misunderstood."
"I misunderstood again?"
Yu Xinwei explained, "Her reason for refusing to help me is that she doesn’t want these kinds of relations anymore."
"She finds you troublesome?"
"I’m not a bother!" Yu Xinwei insisted, "Maybe she also wants to go back to family life."
Tong Jialu, listening all along, was very curious, "Miss Yu, could you tell us the name of your former patron?"
Seeing that things were pretty much out in the open, Yu Xinwei saw no need to hide anymore, and she uttered three words: