Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Three years later, I had swept nearly every major award both at home and abroad.

When it came to the high-quality actors I encountered through work, there wasn’t a single one I couldn’t sign if I wanted to. My company was growing at a breakneck pace, and our pursuit of professional reputation among actors became the industry benchmark.

We proved that critical acclaim and commercial popularity could coexist.

I prioritized the words Sister Zhou once told me: “Acting is an actor’s lifeblood.”

Capturing the market was a war of attrition. We faced some initial failures, but fortunately, we adjusted quickly and recovered most of our losses.

Perhaps pushed too hard and realizing he was losing to me, Shen Sui abandoned his usual style. He began making rash decisions, and several strategic blunders caused the company significant losses. On the day the board of directors voted unanimously to remove him from his position, he came to corner me.

“Will this make you feel better?”

I found his question baffling.

“If there’s something wrong with your head, you should seek medical attention immediately.”

My loathing for him grew with each passing day.

It was because whenever people mentioned me, they invariably brought him up, offering commentary with the air of someone who had seen it all.

“Back then, I felt like it didn’t matter who it was. So when my mother asked if we should be together, I nodded. Later, I realized… I actually liked you a little bit back then.

“I’m sorry. I only faced my own feelings after you left. I thought you would never leave.”

I sighed and smiled. “It doesn’t matter.”

I gave Sister Zhou a look, and she understood instantly.

After Sister Zhou made a call, Lu Li rushed in. The moment her eyes caught sight of Shen Sui, she practically scrambled over to him.

“She’s treated you like this, so why do you have to keep liking her? She’s just a sycophant!

“You even suppressed my career for her sake. Am I not good enough? Do I not love you enough? I even endured people calling me a homewrecker.”

“Are you two sure you want to keep talking here?”

I watched them with composed amusement. Quite a few colleagues were already watching the scene.

Shen Sui’s gaze was icy. Lu Li was a bit frightened, but she still approached him, trying to lead him away.

“Don’t touch me.”

“How can you treat me like this? When I said I wanted to go abroad back then, you didn’t say a word and covered all my expenses. After I returned…”

I didn’t want to watch their petty squabble any longer and called security to escort them out.

Shen Sui looked at me in disbelief, his expression a mix of humiliation and agony.

I knew exactly why he was in pain.

It was simply because he realized that everything he once possessed was now inferior to what I had.

He had once stood at the pinnacle of power and knew how many people were captivated by it. He thought I would eventually come crawling back because his power gave him confidence.

But now, the tables had turned.

As for me, I no longer felt even a shred of affection for him.

After the two of them left one after the other, Sister Zhou walked over and said helplessly:

“I don’t know what’s wrong with Lu Li’s head. Why bother with a man? She should have just taken a sum of money and left back then.

“I heard earlier that Lu Li had been trying to find Shen Sui, hoping he’d help her like before. When I called her, she came running without asking a single question. Shen Sui can’t help her now.”

I tugged at her hand.

“Stop gossiping. We have a new batch of recruits; why don’t you come take a look with me?”

Sister Zhou retracted her gaze and nodded.

“Fine, let’s go.”

I don’t remember exactly which day it was later on, but Sister Zhou told me the two of them were still entangled. Somehow, Lu Li had ended up pregnant with Shen Sui’s child.

Shen Sui tried to force her to have an abortion, but Lu Li refused. The two of them even got into a physical altercation on the street.

Aunt Shen couldn’t stand it anymore and told Shen Sui to take responsibility for his actions.

Lu Li stopped working entirely, but her spending habits remained as lavish as ever. She was obsessed with appearances, buying haute couture every season.

Every time reporters snapped photos of her, she would flaunt her belly with a face full of pride.

Before long, Shen Sui’s money was exhausted by her.

Shen Sui’s stomach condition became severe, but Lu Li didn’t care at all, only urging him to go out and make money faster.

The two of them argued incessantly.

When the money Shen Sui provided wasn’t enough to cover her expenses, Lu Li turned to predatory loans, thinking she would eventually be able to pay them back.
In the end, they had spent years robbing Peter to pay Paul, and the debt had snowballed into an astronomical figure that neither of them could afford now.

When I saw the two of them again, I almost didn’t recognize them.

They looked battered by life, the hardships they had endured etched deeply into their faces.

Shen Sui flinched when he saw me. He seemed unable to help himself as he whispered, “Long time no see.”

He gave a bitter smile. “I have stomach cancer. I probably don’t have long to live. I guess this is my karma.”

I looked at him with a trace of pity. “I’m a kind-hearted person. I can’t stand hearing about things like this.”

His head snapped up, his eyes filled with hope.

“Sister Zhou, hurry up and have someone kick them out,” I said.

“We paid to rent this interview space today.”

“I really can’t stand hearing about things like this.”

Lu Li’s expression shifted drastically. She reached out and clawed at Shen Sui’s face.

“This is all your fault! Have you no shame?”

“I’m the shameful one? You’re the one who drugged me to trap me! You lived off me, and now you’re calling me shameful?”

Sister Zhou arranged for people to drag them out. I didn’t spare them another glance.

A moment later, the production crew arrived and began my interview.

The host asked an unavoidable question: “I think many netizens are as curious as I am-Teacher Jiang, how do you view that experience of being hurt in a relationship? When you realized you weren’t the one chosen, was it very painful? How did you finally move on?

“Is the reason you haven’t started a new relationship for so long because you’re afraid?”

I thought about it for a moment and finally voiced the question that had been bothering me for a long time.

“Why does everyone always like to cast me in the role of the victim? It wasn’t that ‘I wasn’t chosen’; it was that ‘I made the wrong choice.’

“That doesn’t stop me from being a good actress, nor does it stop my company from growing. I lost more than one point on my college entrance exams, but I still got into Tsinghua University. Isn’t it normal to make a wrong choice once in a while?

“I haven’t avoided a new relationship because I’m afraid; I just haven’t met anyone I like. Why should I cry over the one point I lost when I still have nearly seven hundred other points?”

The host realized they had asked a rather clumsy question and shifted the topic with a forced smile. “Then, Teacher Jiang, what are your plans for the future? Could you share them with us?”

I thought about it and said honestly, “To do what I love. Maybe I’ll be picking up trash on the street tomorrow, who knows?”

To always keep moving forward bravely-that was the account Jiang Zhi gave to herself.

October 9, 2023.

A friend of mine studying in France suddenly sent me a message.

“Aiger has ceased publication.”

She and I had been very close friends in our youth, though we had drifted apart after heading our separate ways.

Those few words struck a chord in my heart.

I felt a bit dazed. I knew that was her favorite magazine during her teenage years.

Our homeroom teacher had once confiscated it, and she had been so livid she was practically bouncing off the walls while venting to me.

I had never read that magazine myself, but I knew it was a microcosm of her youth.

It felt like only yesterday when she was walking down the street with me, saying, “I was reading it during the break, and he just took it away. I hate him.”

I looked at her and smiled gently.

Back then, neither of us realized that a certain meeting would be our last.

Just as I didn’t know that the person I had chased for eight years would end things in such an undignified manner.

That one glance was the final glance.

I replied to her: “Youth truly passes by too quickly.”

Later that evening, she asked me, “Can we meet up when you’re free? I miss you so much.”

I said, “You pick the date. I’ll fly over to see you.”

This was something the sixteen-year-old me couldn’t have done.

Sixteen was beautiful, but I also love my twenty-six-year-old self. I am no longer lost, and I no longer desperately chase after the parts of me that are missing.

I am whole as I am.

I really love myself.