I don’t think she likes my money at all.
Pei Ying had spent the past two days resting at home and tending to her injured ankle. Song Nanchuan would also have dinner delivered to the house when he got home from work.
At 6 that evening, Song Nanchuan returned from the office and saw Pei Ying holding a cat, sitting at the window in a trance. Song Nanchuan watched her for a moment and then asked, “Ying Ying, what are you thinking about here?”
“Meow~”
After the cat in Pei Ying’s arms called out, it ran off. Pei Ying turned to Song Nanchuan and got up from her seat. “Oh, the results for the audition came out today. GM Chen said I wasn’t picked.”
Song Nanchuan was silent for a few seconds before comforting her, “It’s alright. If not this time, there’s still next time. Who knows, maybe there’s an even better opportunity waiting for you around the corner.”
Pei Ying continued to look at him. “That’s it?”
Song Nanchuan’s brow twitched slightly. “What?”
“That’s all you have to say to me?”
Song Nanchuan was silent again. He looked at her and asked, “What’s the matter?”
Pei Ying pursed her lips. “I heard that the director gave the role to Li Sisi after you said I wasn’t suitable for the role.”
Song Nanchuan was slightly taken aback as his brows knit together into a frown. “Who did you hear that from?”
“That’s not important. What I want to know is whether or not it’s true. Did you tell the production team that I wasn’t fit for the role?”
Song Nanchuan’s lips pressed together into a thin line. After a moment, he responded, “Yes.”
Pei Ying held back her temper and remained as calm as she could. “Then I’d like to hear why you felt I wasn’t fit for the role.”
Song Nanchuan answered, “Have you read the original novel? There are a lot of intimate scenes in the story, and even a scene where the leads have sexual relations. I don’t want you to act in that kind of movie.”
Pei Ying raised her head to look at him, her face not betraying any emotions. After a moment of silence, she suddenly laughed. “That’s it? It’s just because you didn’t want me acting in that kind of movie?” She found it rather laughable. “You asked if I’ve read the original novel? I was so busy practicing my dance, but I still found the time to read it three times. I practiced until I sprained my ankle, but I still persevered to the end. Originally, I thought that since I did my best, it didn’t matter what the result was. At least, I wouldn’t have had any regrets. But now? Because you didn’t want me to act, I can’t act.”
Seeing her reaction, Song Nanchuan suddenly felt a bit of panic rising inside him. “Ying Ying, Universe still has a lot of productions lined up. Why does it have to be this film? I already told Xiao Zhang to look for some suitable roles, so there will be news soon.”
“Is that the problem right now? And what kind of roles do you think are suitable?” Pei Ying looked at him, her eyes red. “Have you ever considered my opinion? Have you ever asked me what kind of roles I want to act? Or do you think this isn’t something you should have to discuss with me?”
Song Nanchuan let out a breath and said, “Okay, I was wrong not to discuss this with you first, but like I said, I’ve already asked Xiao Zhang to look out for more roles. The quality won’t be worse than the movie you auditioned for, and it will be a lead role. What are you unsatisfied with?”
Pei Ying scoffed. “Don’t say that you were wrong. You don’t even think you did anything wrong, do you? Song Nanchuan, did you really start thinking that you were my financial backer after everyone called you that? If I wanted a backer, do you think it’d be you, Song Nanchuan?!”
“Pei Ying, do you even know what you’re saying?!” Song Nanchuan grew angry as he shouted at her.
Pei Ying pursed her lips once more and turned to look out the window. She took several deep breaths, as if she’d just finished a long run.
Song Nanchuan also took several breaths. He looked at Pei Ying and said, “I don’t want to fight with you because of something like this—”
“Something like this?” Pei Ying interrupted before he could finish. “In your eyes, this is something insignificant, isn’t it? I’m just making a fuss over nothing, right? If you really think that this is insignificant, then why didn’t you dare to tell me when I first asked you about it? If Yu Kaize hadn’t told me, you would’ve kept it hidden from me forever, wouldn’t you? And then you’d toss another leading role to me and I’d be thanking you, ah.”
Hearing Yu Kaize’s name, Song Nanchuan’s eyes dimmed. “Yu Kaize? He’s the one who told you this?” He sneered. “He’s the one who told you about the audition too, isn’t he? Did you know that he’s the male lead for the movie? Are you unaware of his intentions toward you? And still, you jumped right up at this?”
“What’s wrong with Yu Kaize? At least he’s straightforward with his actions!”
“Oh? Since you admire him so much, then why don’t you go to find him!”
Pei Ying glanced at him. Then she picked up her bag from the sofa and walked to the door. Song Nanchuan watched her, and when she reached the door, he asked with clenched teeth, “Where are you going?”
Pei Ying responded, “I think that we’re both a bit worked up right now. It’ll be better if we separate and calm down a bit.”
“Ah.” Song Nanchuan laughed. “Separate and calm down? If you want to break up, just say so.”
Pei Ying turned back to look at him. She opened the door as she said, “Fine, then let’s break up!”
The deliveryman at the door was about to knock when he saw her storm out angrily. He grew still.
What did he just hear? Break up?
…Did he come at the wrong time?
When Pei Ying saw him, she walked around him and left. The deliveryman walked inside with the food and looked around. Song Nanchuan was standing in the living room, looking extremely angry.
Deliveryman, “….”
He felt that if he walked in right now, he might get killed.
So he quietly placed the delivery box down on the floor and left as fast as he could.
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After leaving Song Nanchuan’s house, Pei Ying didn’t return to her own apartment, and instead headed to Ren Shanshan’s studio.
Seeing Pei Ying enter, Ren Shanshan nearly choked on the food in her mouth. “Why do you keep coming when I’m trying to eat? You already have Song Nanchuan to take care of you, so why you you keep trying to freeload off me?”
Pei Ying took a breath before responding, “He wants to break up.”
Startled, Ren Shanshan asked, “What happened?”
“I had an audition for a lead role, right? Originally, I landed the role, but because he didn’t want me acting intimate scenes, he had me taken out.”
“….” Ren Shanshan took a moment to digest the statement. “Mm, your CEO Song does have some money. But was there a need to break up over an argument like this?”
Pei Ying answered, “I don’t know. In any case, we had a big fight, and he thinks there’s something going on between me and Yu Kaize.”
Ren Shanshan, “….”
She took another moment to digest this statement. “Yu Kaize? That handsome guy? Isn’t he Universe Pictures’ young prince? He’s involved in this ordeal too?”
“He’s the one who told me about the audition. And he’s the one who told me that Song Nanchuan took me out of the movie as well.”
“Oh… Then didn’t he intentionally badmouth someone to you?”
Pei Ying glanced at her. “If Song Nanchuan hadn’t done anything, what would there be to badmouth? It wasn’t an unjust accusation!”
“Alright, alright.” Seeing that Pei Ying was still rather worked up, Ren Shanshan quickly said, “Song Nanchuan was definitely in the wrong here. He should apologize!”
“The problem is that he doesn’t even think he’s done anything wrong. He thinks that if he helps me get another role, I shouldn’t be angry at him.”
“Wait,” Ren Shanshan suddenly stopped her. “He found you another role?”
“That’s what he said.”
“…Then what are you still angry about?”
Pei Ying stared at her with wide eyes. “You think that way too? Isn’t the main point here that he doesn’t respect me at all? I’m a person too, and I have my own opinions. He didn’t even mention it to me before he did it!”
“Alright, alright, I get what you mean,” Ren Shanshan quickly surrendered. “But you have to know that Song Nanchuan comes from a rich and powerful family, and he’s this important CEO right now. Someone in such a high position as him would be quite used to giving orders and making decisions. Surely you realized that after you two got together.”
Pei Ying pursed her lips but didn’t say anything. Before she had gotten together with Song Nanchuan, all she had seen were his strong points. Who’d have thought about all of that stuff?
Ren Shanshan looked at her and continued, “Think about his face. Don’t you think that it’s not really worth it to break up with him?”
Pei Ying, “….”
Did she really think that someone who cared about appearances didn’t have any integrity…
“I know that he’s a CEO, but I’m not his subordinate and I don’t have to listen to all his orders, especially when they involve my own matters.” Pei Ying picked up Ren Shanshan’s beer and took a sip. “If he doesn’t want me to film intimate scenes, he could have told me directly. Isn’t it better to discuss things with each other? Did he have to make the decision for me? It’s a matter of principle, so I can’t just let it go.”
Ren Shanshan sighed. “I understand. If my boyfriend made a decision like that without asking me, I’d be angry too. But that’s how it is when two people are in a relationship. There will inevitably be friction. You enjoyed his pretty face, so shouldn’t you also tolerate his personality faults? You can’t just reap all the benefits, can you?”
Pei Ying, “….”
She actually felt that made some sense…
She took another sip of beer and then said to Ren Shanshan, “Actually, on this matter, rather than angry, I feel more powerless. I worked to hard for that role. I practiced dancing like my life depended on it, and I re-read the original novel several times to understand the characters better. But with just a few words from Song Nanchuan, all my efforts were negated with such ease.”
It wasn’t the first time that she’d faced this type of situation. She knew that the world was ruthless and she’d had a taste of the cruelty of reality. There are a lot of things that you cannot achieve, no matter how hard you work for it. But this time, Song Nanchuan, her darling boyfriend, actually treated her like that…
Ren Shanshan grabbed the beer can from her hand and pulled her to her feet. “Alright. You drank the rest of alcohol I had left. Let’s go for some drinks and snacks. My treat!”
Ren Shanshan locked the doors to her studio and drove Pei Ying to a restaurant near her house. The two of them sat down at a table, drinking and complaining about men. They seemed quite happy.
Ren Shanshan belched out and pat Pei Ying’s shoulder. “That’s how men are. Don’t think that just because you guys have known each other for awhile that you know everything about each other! Let me tell you, it’s far from that! The thing men are best at is lying to women!”
Pei Ying was in high spirits. She grabbed her can of beer and clinked it to her friend’s glass. “You’re right! When I asked him about it today, he even wanted to hide it from me!”
“That’s right! When you think about it some more, you’ll definitely find more of his faults!”
“Mm…” Pei Ying burped. “Every time he gets angry, he calls me Xiujuan! What’s so great about him just because his name sounds good?!”
“Hahahaha,” Ren Shanshan laughed exaggeratedly. “Pick a nickname for him then. Da zhu, er gou, san mao, si wa. Something local!” (Note: Sorry, I’m not sure what Shanshan is talking about. Literally, it means ‘large column, two dog, three hair, four doll’ …?)
“Okay!” Pei Ying picked up her phone and found Song Nanchuan’s contact info. She changed his name to Bastard Song. (Note: Song gou dan, which kind of rhymes with his name, literally means Song – dog and egg. gou dan are characters used in phrases that mean things like bastard, asshole, etc., so I assume that’s the sentiment she’s going for, but …?)
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While she and Ren Shanshan were drinking happily, Song Nanchuan also invited out Xiao Gu for a drink.
Xiao Gu looked at the person who’d already downed four cups of strong alcohol and he raised his brow. “CEO Song, what’s the matter? What’s made you so unhappy that you’re out to get drunk?”
“Ah ah.” Song Nanchuan picked up the large glass in his hand and waved it in front of Xiao Gu. “It’s nothing. I just broke up with my girlfriend.”
Xiao Gu paused in thought, recalling. “Pei Ying?” He’d seen the photos and reports online before.
“Ah, you know too?” As he spoke, Song Nanchuan raised his glass for a drink.
Xiao Gu asked him, “What kind of fight did you get into that you broke up?”
“Mm? She went to an audition for a movie with a lot of intimate scenes, so I had her taken out of it.”
Xiao Gu nodded thoughtfully. “So it’s like that. If it were me, I’d have broken up with you too.”
Song Nanchuan, “….”
“It’s just one role, isn’t it? I said I’d held her get another role, but she wasn’t grateful at all…” Song Nanchuan restlessly put his drink down on the table. “I don’t think she likes my money at all.”
Xiao Gu, “….”
Mm. For a CEO who was so poor that all he had was money, this would be a rather disturbing thing.
“CEO Song, all the things in the world that can be solved with money are very simple things,” Xiao Gu said. “But love and relationships are very obviously the most complicated things in the world.”
Song Nanchuan glanced at him. “What do you mean?”
“Before you can love someone, you must learn to respect them.”
“Ah, you think I don’t respect her?” What else did he have to do so that he’d be respecting her? “If it were your wife, would you want her acting intimate scenes with someone else?”
“Of course I wouldn’t want that, but I would have told her that this wasn’t a role that she had to act in.” Xiao Gu thought for a moment and then said, “Think about it from another perspective, won’t you? Today, you’re just an ordinary employee who works very hard at his job. After much difficulty, you were finally given the chance for a promotion. But then, your girlfriend, with her power and status, turned down that chance for you. What would you feel?”
“…When you put it like that, I was kind of an asshole, wasn’t I?”
“Get rid of the words ‘kind of’.”
Song Nanchuan, “….”
“I invited you out for a drink, not for a lecture.” He pushed a cup of alcohol over to Xiao Gu.
And so, the two drank into the night. In the end, Xiao Gu called a driver and sent the utterly drunken Song Nanchuan home.
Song Nanchuan slept until noon the next day. When he woke up, he had a splitting headache.
He rubbed at his temples and sat up from his bed. Not seeing Pei Ying, he called out, “Ying Ying?”
When no one responded, he suddenly remembered that Pei Ying had left the day before.
Suddenly, his head seemed to hurt even more. He lied back down in bed and called Xiao Zhang to say he wouldn’t be going in to work today.
After acknowledging this, Xiao Zhang prodded, “CEO Song, did you and Ms Pei break up?”
Song Nanchuan’s brow twitched. “Where did you hear that?”
“Uh… It’s on Weibo…” When he arrived at work that morning, he saw the fourth installment to CEO Song and Pei Ying’s story. He’d been uneasy all morning because of the news, as if he was the one to cause their breakup.
After hearing about it, Song Nanchuan hung up and turned on his computer.
The paparazzi on Wiebo had popped right up again, just like spring bamboo after a heavy rain.
“Breaking! Pei Ying and Song Nanchuan’s romance ruptured! Officially broken up yesterday.”
Compared to the ruckus when they’d gotten together, news of their breakup caused an even bigger uproar. “Pei Ying Song Nanchuan breakup” was continually trending on the Weibo searches.
Song Nanchuan didn’t check the hundreds of thousands of comments. He simply turned off his computer and called Xiao Zhang. “Get someone to delete the report on Weibo immediately!”