“Pfft, stop spewing your nonsense here. They are veterans in this field. They have graced red carpets across the globe with their superstar charisma. If I could play on an even field with them, I would be more than satisfied.” Lin Ruoxi glared at her husband before breaking free from his embrace.
“Well if anyone dares to say that they look better than you do, I’ll gauge their eyes out!” Yang Chen promptly replied.
Lin Ruoxi softly jabbed Yang Chen’s chest in response. “My god, can’t you speak like a normal person?”
“I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Oh yeah, one more thing. You ain’t mad at me anymore, are you?” Yang Chen chuckled.
Lin Ruoxi gave him a half-hearted glare before she shook her head. “It’s not the first time something like this has happened. I have to get used to it eventually. I can’t help myself but get mad at you. But, it’ll probably take a while before I can finally truly put everything behind me. Besides, you saw Li Jianhe in attendance but didn’t question me about it. Since you trust me so much, I got to learn to let go too, don’t you think?”
Yang Chen brightly grinned to her explanation. “Oh, I never thought you’d think I was being generous. If the bastard even had the slightest sketchy thought about you, I’ll snap his neck, so I wasn’t worried at all.”
“You…” Lin Ruoxi clenched her teeth as she turned away, disgusted by his constant gory mentality.
Yang Chen giggled with a bright smile as he held her by the shoulder with a solemn look on his face. “Frankly though, we might not have been married long but our marriage has gone through more than most couples can say. Many things which were once mountains are nothing more than molehills now. I’m glad we compromised.”
“Wow, don’t you dare act all smug on me. I didn’t even get to interrogate you yet! Where on earth were you spending the night before?” Lin Ruoxi confronted him.
Yang Chen took a woeful sigh as he started contemplating his options.
Lin Ruoxi then promptly raised her back heel and stamped right onto Yang Chen’s leather shoes!
“Hey! Wifey you’re breaking it!”
Lin Ruoxi brutally taunted, “Oh so the shoes matter more than your feet now, don’t they?”
Yang Chen shook his head. “Of course… I wouldn’t feel any pain…”
“You!” Lin Ruoxi slammed her foot down even harder the second time.
Yang Chen quickly understood that it was her way to vent her frustration. He smiled bitterly and cried from the ‘pain’.
Only then did she finally nod in satisfaction. “You deserved it.”
The rare chit-chat between the couple was inevitably cut short as the gala was about to start. According to schedule, as host, Lin Ruoxi was to officiate the event with a timely speech.
Originally, as newcomers in the entertainment industry, it would be a daunting task to invite list celebrities and international megastars to even bat an eye on an event like this.
But with a slight push from Yang Chen by inviting the biggest names of the fashion industry, Yu Lei Entertainment had quickly gained a foothold among the world’s leading names.
After all, it was a dream of many celebrities to collaborate with one of these internationally renowned designers.
At a gathering of this scale, it naturally attracted a frenzy of entertainment reporters as they flooded the heart of Yu Lei Convention Centre.
Nonetheless, as the CEO of the organization, Lin Ruoxi had a custom passageway towards the heart of the action.
As soon as she made her way into the banquet hall, Zhao Hongyan who was closely monitoring the flow instantly signaled the background staff to stop the music, and ready the stage for Lin Ruoxi’s inauguration speech.
Close to a hundred guests in attendance quickly noticed the music fading as they reactively turned towards the massive stage.
Under the focused spotlights, Lin Ruoxi took a deep breath and walked towards the center.
As the snow-white dinner gown graced the stage, glistening in focused lights, the bearer herself, an elegant yet commanding presence, made the center stage her home. She faced the multitude before her. The atmosphere was dead silent.
Big-name actors and actresses, renowned directors and conglomerate leaders, that were just moments ago jolly and frigid were now focused beyond belief, solely upon the leading woman herself.
The flamboyantly dressed female celebrities were instantly denounced by the blinding presence that was Lin Ruoxi!
This commanding presence was not one built only upon her divine appearance, but accompanied by elegance from her adolescence and total confidence from within.
Caught in the crowd were Li Jianhe and Shen Yaxin who were glowing with a range of emotions ranging from jealousy to anger.
Even those who had had the privilege of seeing Ruoxi in her prime were still shocked into speechlessness.
As the crowd feasted their eyes on the spellbinding Lin Ruoxi, notable directors mesmerizingly watched in hopes that they could nab her for their next casting. She would be an instant hit!
But the aspirations were quickly brushed off with the reminder that Lin Ruoxi was herself an uber-successful entrepreneur sitting on a net worth of tens of billions.
Celebrities, no matter how bright they shone or how quick they would leave impressions in the minds of many, at the end of the day they were only just entertainers. The people who pulled their strings in the background were the real stars.
Even in today’s day and age, men with true power and wealth would never bat an eye upon the celebrities adored by the majority. Fame and the lack thereof was but a Sunday afternoon game for the powerful.
Lin Ruoxi participating in the entertainment world would be like a puppeteer relegating herself to the finite realms of puppets.
Back on the center stage was Lin Ruoxi, slightly nervous as she became the heart of the attention. She summarized her speech into a few short points in hopes of leaving the stage as soon as possible.
That was exactly what she did. After a brief speech to inaugurate the event, she hastily made her way off the stage, albeit in a professional manner.
Even then, many who were immersed in her divine beauty forgot the simple etiquette of clapping after her speech.
Nevertheless, the hectic mishmash of a day had finally come to a fruitful end.
After she left the stage, she demanded Yang Chen to accompany her as they met with crucial business partners and big names from the media.
Yang Chen might not be the most attentive, but Lin Ruoxi still wished for the man to put more effort into potential future endeavors, and not spend much of his time lusting over other women.
Yang Chen paid close attention to Lin Ruoxi’s demands, following her closely as she interacted with a variety of successful people, most of whom he was not familiar with. They engaged in small talk as he fulfilled his role in boosting Lin Ruoxi’s status in their minds.
Right at that moment, a fifty-year-old man with a ponytail, escorted by an elegant, poised woman dressed in a fiery-red low-cut gown, made their way to Lin Ruoxi.
“President Lin, we met six months ago, you still remember me?” The man engaged in an inviting tone.
Lin Ruoxin had a glow in her eyes as she hurriedly introduced. “Hubby, this is the acclaimed director Yu Shuo. Our promotional video was shot by him. The video even went on to win the best promotional video in the country. Just this year Director Yu won Best Director in both the Cannes and Tokyo film festivals. He’s one of the most sought-after in Hollywood right now.”
“Oh President Lin, stop flattering me. I wouldn’t have done all of that if it weren’t for the leaders and my business partners,” Yu Shuo humbly replied.
Yang Chen, however, was rather flabbergasted that the modest-looking fellow was actually an acclaimed director of his own right. Even as someone unfamiliar with the entertainment industry, he understood the significance of receiving key awards at a major film festival.
“I wonder if I’m unworthy of your attention, Ms Lin. Are you just going to be chatting with Director Yu?” joked the exquisite woman in the red dress by his side engaged her with a smile, in a bold, feminine tone.
Lin Ruoxi, without a slight change in emotion, replied, “Why would I? I was just going to introduce you to my husband. Hubby, this is Ms Lu Yao, I’m sure you are familiar with her work.”
Yang Chen took a quick glance at her and came to the conclusion that she seemed familiar. “I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere in the news…”
Lu Yao was slightly displeased but kept her smile intact. “I understand that Mr Yang has a wide connection. I suppose it is possible for people to fly under your radar.”
Lin Ruoxi subtly pinched Yang Chen by the waist, agitated by his brutal honesty. “Ms Lu Yao is the biggest female singer of the year, crowned as the queen of the college movie festival. She has even received the platinum award from Hong Kong and Taiwan.”
Yang Chen responsively slammed himself at the head. “Oh, I know you. You have that one song called ‘Without You in Heaven’ right?”
Lu Yao finally cracked a genuine smile as she coyly added, “Oh it turns out Mr Yang has heard of my song, but I suppose young men like you probably wouldn’t appreciate it as much. Its original audience was targeted to young women.”
That was clearly formal talk. But Yang Chen, however, took it rather serious as he replied, “Oh well, I really didn’t like it. The melody was decent, but your pitch wasn’t clear. If it were Hui Li—sorry… Lin Hui, it would have sounded much better.”