Jiang Yining sat on the side and could also hear the voice coming from the cellphone.
Listening to Luo Wenxiang beating around the bush, she clenched the bag in her hand tightly. It was clearly her role, so how did it become "having had an eye on another actress for a while"?
Chairman Liang asked which actress, and Luo Wenxiang did not hide it.
"She came for an audition yesterday. She is an artist signed by IMG in the second half of the year, with the surname Tang."
Aside from Tang Li, Jiang Yining couldn’t think of anyone else.
The one who had stolen her role was Tang Li.
Jiang Yining’s grip tightened, almost scratching the genuine leather of the bag, then she heard Chairman Liang say: "Since she’s a newcomer, then replace her!"
"It’s not that I don’t give you face, Chairman Liang, it’s just that Director Zhao always values casting. Once a role is set, he won’t change it easily. How about this, our company is about to start a campus-themed web series, and Miss Jiang fits the female lead’s profile perfectly. If Miss Jiang is willing, we can settle on this, how about that?"
Chairman Liang did not agree immediately, only saying he would consider it.
Having hung up the phone, he embraced Jiang Yining again: "Mrs. Bao is just a minor role, whereas a web series is on the rise these past years. There’s definitely a chance for major success."
Recently, a young actor became immensely popular because of a web series.
Jiang Yining suppressed her displeasure and couldn’t help but murmur: "What if I’m snatched away again this time?"
Chairman Liang laughed: "If you’re snatched away again, I’ll personally invest in and shoot a film for you."
At these words, Jiang Yining’s lips curved into a smile.
Tang Li arrived in Diannan at 2 o’clock in the afternoon.
While waiting for Yu Sui to use the restroom, she sent a text message to Song Baiyan: "Safely arrived in Diannan."
The message sent, she quickly received a reply: "Be careful in Mihesha River, take good care of yourself."
As Tang Li read the message, she suddenly remembered a line of poetry—
"If the two hearts are loyal through time, why need they be together at every moment?"
It seemed to describe exactly this kind of situation.
When Song Baiyan received the message following a meeting, he had just returned to his office. The words "received, no worries" displayed on the cellphone screen. Even though they ended with a full stop, he could still see the excitement of the sender in every stroke.
He looked at the message, recalling the blushing cheeks of Tang Li the night before she got out of the car, the image of the girl looking straight at him, asking if he would find another woman, desperately trying to hide it but urgently hoping for a promise from him.
Given his status, finding a well-matched woman to be his wife wasn’t difficult. But unexpectedly, the one who stirred his heart happened to be the young girl who saved him years ago.
The nearly absurd affection suddenly erupted in an instant.
As a man, without emotions, facing a young girl who looked at him with adoring eyes, he couldn’t possibly remain completely unmoved.
Perhaps this was a weakness of human nature.
Even the most rational person still has an emotional side.
This kind of emotion at first stemmed from desire.
A man in his thirties, liking a girl who is barely twenty.
To others, such a thing always easily attracts strange looks.
Or, it might even accompany with malicious conjectures.
There is a world of difference between a 31-year-old and a 19-year-old, and between a 41-year-old and a 29-year-old, or a 51-year-old and a 39-year-old, despite the age gap looking the same.
To most people, a nineteen-year-old is still a child.
And it is such a "child" that has stirred feelings in him that should not have arisen.
These feelings even caught him off guard.
For how many years had he not been so cordial to someone.
Perhaps from the moment he met Tang Li again, he was doomed to compromise over and over.
Whether it was to repay her for saving his life or for some unusual affection, whatever the reason, he couldn’t escape the inevitable conclusion.
Over the past few years, Song Baiyan had never felt anything wrong with this lifestyle. Accustomed to walking in the dark, he naturally adapted to it, skilled in the calculating world of officialdom, the deceitful interpersonal relationships. He had never been a "good child" nor thought there would be someone who would make him want to change his current state of life.
Song Baiyan remembered what Ji Ming had said in Diannan—
"Love is a person’s complete disarray."
Indeed, what an understatement.