Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Before going abroad, Lu Sisi was already a popular A-list actress. Now that she had returned with the prestige of international experience, she was flooded with film offers.

She called and said she had just returned to the country and needed a capable assistant.

“I think that Yu Ning by your side is quite good. She looks like she knows how to serve people.”

Zhou Jinyan was silent for two seconds.

She gave a light laugh. “What? Reluctant to let her go?”

“No,”

Zhou Jinyan said indifferently. “Since you need her, I’ll send her over.”

I followed Lu Sisi to the film set.

During a break, the second female lead, Lin Jia, came over to strike up a conversation. “Sisi, your assistant looks quite a bit like you.”

“Except for the eyes. She has a beauty mark under her eye that makes her look even more charming than you.”

Lin Jia was originally supposed to be the lead actress of this drama, but unfortunately, Lu Sisi had returned and intervened, snatching the role away from her.

She was bitter.

She said this intentionally just to get under Lu Sisi’s skin.

Sure enough, Lu Sisi’s expression changed, and the hatred in her eyes when she looked at me was barely concealed.

After work finished that afternoon, she said she had lost her ring.

“It was still there when we were filming the scene by the lake. It must have fallen into the water.”

Her gaze shifted and finally landed on me. “Yu Ning, go into the lake and help me find it.”

The water level of the artificial lake wasn’t high, barely reaching my waist.

I soaked in the water, bending over to feel through the mud at the bottom of the lake bit by bit.

The sunset on the horizon was as red as blood.

As night fell, the light faded inch by inch.

Knowing that Lu Sisi was intentionally making things difficult for me, everyone watched from the shore in silence.

No one would stand up for an obscure little assistant.

My fingers turned white and wrinkled from being soaked in the cold lake water. When I lifted them, mud dripped off.

Suddenly, I thought back to my university days.

I used to spend my time in the lab, working on my graduation project.

I had to keep my hands dry and clean as I picked up test tubes, Petri dishes, and slides to observe results and record data.

My senior classmates and my supervisor all said I was a gifted student who would surely go far on that path.

But the life of an ordinary person cannot withstand even the slightest storm.

A single setback can destroy everything.

Only three years had passed, yet it felt as distant as a previous life.

Finally, when the sky was completely dark, the stylist spoke up. “Sisi, I found your ring. It was on the table in the dressing room.”

“I must have accidentally forgotten it there.”

Lu Sisi took the ring and tossed it casually into her Hermes bag.

“Come up, Yu Ning. Clean yourself up. Don’t make it look like I bullied you.”

After work, Zhou Jinyan would come to pick her up.

I sat dripping wet under a few pear trees outside the set.

I don’t know how much time passed before that black Rolls-Royce returned.

Zhou Jinyan got out of the car and walked up to me. “Go home and change your clothes.”

I didn’t look up.

He softened his tone slightly. “Don’t blame Sisi. She’s just unhappy and needed to vent. She’ll be fine once it’s out of her system.”

Seeing that I still didn’t respond, Zhou Jinyan lost his patience. “That’s enough, Yu Ning. Who are you throwing a tantrum at?”

I sniffled, holding back my tears as I looked up at him.

“Zhou Jinyan, it’s been three years. Now Lu Sisi is back.”

“Let me leave.”

His expression shifted slightly. “Where would you go?”

I picked up the canvas bag beside me and took out a document.

“I applied for a Master’s in Life Sciences at a top university abroad. They’ve already sent me the admission notice…”

Before I could finish, Zhou Jinyan suddenly snatched the pages and tore them to shreds.

He grabbed my wet wrist and shoved me into the car.

His burning palm pressed against my icy arm, and his warmth slowly transferred over.

Under the dim car light, Zhou Jinyan looked at me with a chilling gaze.

“Don’t even think about it. You’re not allowed to go anywhere.”

“Yu Ning, you are my girlfriend.”