"You drank too, didn’t you?"
Her low-voiced defense seemed to lack some convincing power.
Song Baiyan glanced behind her and caught the meaning of Tang Li’s request to be "treated equally." A hint of a smile flashed through his eyes: "Since when can children be compared with adults?"
Suddenly, Tang Li’s buzz from the alcohol ramped up.
She held out a beer can to him: "Here, if you want it, it’s yours."
Song Baiyan took it in his hand, only to find it was an empty can. As he looked up again, he saw Tang Li had already moved behind a nearby pillar.
"A can of beer really isn’t that much." She popped her head out from behind the pillar.
While speaking, she wrapped her left hand around the pillar, and with the other hand, she gestured at a height: "Each can is only 330 milliliters. With my tolerance, I can drink a dozen."
Song Baiyan asked, "Did you used to drink a lot?"
"Not often," Tang Li shook her head. "I drink when I’m feeling down. But not this kind; I drink the red ones, the kinds that cost tens of thousands per bottle."
As she finished speaking, she gazed intently at the man before her: "Wenyan never looks after me, so why do you always have to?"
"You talk about your dad by his name so openly in public?"
"He doesn’t want me as his daughter."
Tang Li pursed her lips and glanced at Song Baiyan: "My mom gave birth to me when she was 25. If she were still alive today, she would be 44, more than a decade older than you. Even if you’re high in status and power, to her, there’s only my dad."
Tang Li leaned against the pillar, her doe eyes bright as she stared straight at Song Baiyan: "Isn’t it said that men of all ages like eighteen-year-old girls? I’m 19 this year, not 18, but it’s not much of a difference. Down by the mountain earlier, there were guys who asked me to dance. It’s not like no one wants me."
Saying this, her tone turned melancholic: "I shouldn’t have become an actress. I should’ve gone into politics like you, like Wenyan."
"But I can’t be like you all; you’re all hypocrites. You appear upright and honorable but are actually sanctimonious."
Looking at her slightly drunk state, Song Baiyan couldn’t help but chuckle. He didn’t stop her, just lit a cigarette, slowly exhaled a ring of smoke, and then pulled over a bamboo chair to sit beside him, taking his seat with authority: "Seems you have some opinions about me too."
"Not at all, I’m far from done respecting you."
Tang Li turned and hugged the pillar, then continued: "I know I can’t hold office; my grandfather was a Drug Lord. Let alone anything else, I wouldn’t pass the political screening. Even if it’s concealed now, there will be a day when it gets exposed. Besides, Wenyan would never allow me to go into politics. He would rather kill me."
These last few words were spoken in a very low voice.
Because she knew this was the truth.
Once she harbored any thoughts of entering politics, Wenyan would no longer be so reasonable. When she began to threaten his career, Wenyan really would kill her.
"Other than acting, I don’t know what I could do."
Tang Li said, looking over again: "In our entertainment industry, a lot of female artists have godfathers."
Song Baiyan’s action with his cigarette paused for a moment, his gaze settling on her blush-tinged face. Her bewildered expression amused him: "What, you want to find one too?"
"Mhm." Tang Li nodded earnestly: "Actually, I’ve already found one."
Without waiting for Song Baiyan to ask further, she squatted down beside his legs, one hand resting on the man’s thigh, the other grasping Song Baiyan’s left hand: "Since you can’t be my stepfather, then be my godfather. Neither are blood-related, so it doesn’t make much difference."