Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I had just finished blow-drying my hair when my mother called.

She asked, “What is wrong with you? You’ve been by Mr. Liang’s side for five years. How can you still not beat that little vixen?”

I rubbed my brow. “Stay out of it.”

My mother grew anxious. “If I don’t care about you, who will? I told you this ages ago.”

“Hurry up and give Mr. Liang a son. Then the rest of your life will be secured!”

I gave a cold laugh. “You gave that man a son, didn’t you? And in the end, don’t you still rely on me to support you?”

She said bitterly, “Nannan, Mom is only doing this for your own good. How can you talk like that?”

“If you don’t hurry and find a man while you’re still young and beautiful, what will you do when you’re old?”

All of a sudden, I felt terribly sad.

I worked so hard at acting, worked myself to the bone, and in her eyes, none of it was as good as simply finding a man.

Because she had once gained certain conveniences from men thanks to her pretty face, she worshipped men like gods.

For the first half of her life, she relied on the money a man left behind to raise my younger brother and me in straitened circumstances.

For the second half of her life, she hoped I would find a man too, someone who could continue supporting our whole family.

She had spent her entire life as a dodder vine.

And she urged me to become one too, a vine that clung to others to survive.

She didn’t encourage me to struggle and fight for myself. Instead, she encouraged me to step onto a slippery slope that was easy to slide down.

She said that as long as I let myself slide, I would reach a paradise of perfect bliss.

But in truth, it was nothing more than a mirage.

So I would not let myself slide down.

It was true that I had made it this far because Liang Yan had given me resources.

But it was also because I was hardworking enough, smart enough, and desperate enough that I had become popular so quickly.

Unfortunately, other people didn’t think that way.

Like my mother, they all believed I depended on Liang Yan.

So once there was a problem in this relationship, I had to be the most innocent one. I had to be the perfect victim.

Only then could I earn enough sympathy from public opinion and avoid being devoured by it instead.

Our battlefield had never been a tiny film set. It was on the public’s keyboards.

But Zhong Ni and Liang Yan didn’t seem to understand that at all.

Zhong Ni was even still smug over her “victory.”

After the conflict that day, Zhong Ni strutted around the set every day like a rooster that had won a fight, throwing her weight around with her head held high.

Liang Yan and I also fell into a cold war for the first time.

A few days later, Liang Yan got drunk.

His friend called me and told me to pick him up.

I directly sent him Zhong Ni’s number instead.

Liang Yan was so furious that he made a harsh declaration that very night. “Bai Li, I’ll be waiting for the day you come begging me.”

All these years, I had always acted hopelessly lovestruck.

So much so that even his friends said,

“Young Master Liang really is charming. Bai Li is usually so cool and aloof. So many rich young heirs have tried to curry favor with her, and she couldn’t be bothered with any of them.”

“Who would’ve thought that in private, she’d actually be Young Master Liang’s simp?”

So this time, the moment I let my persona crack even a little, Liang Yan couldn’t handle it.

In truth, if he were smart enough, he should have known.

When a subordinate starts caring less about the boss’s mood, it usually means they’re getting ready to jump ship.