Chapter 44
Chapter 44
“Lu Yao Wins Best Actress at the Golden Butterfly Awards for the Second Time”
“Ji Lingze Faints at Golden Butterfly Awards Ceremony”
The two trending topics appeared one after the other, and no one connected them.
Lu Yao had noticed the commotion at the ceremony. When she saw Ji Lingze swiftly carried into an ambulance, she paid it little attention.
By the time she heard about him again, more than a month had passed.
No one knew whether the former genius director had been unable to accept falling from the clouds and never regaining his former heights, but something seemed to have gone wrong with his mind.
He appeared trapped in a fantasy world of his own making. In his fantasy, his career had never suffered a setback. He was still that exceptionally gifted young director, and he had successfully gotten together with Lu Yao, now the nation’s goddess.
The media only paid brief attention to a has-been like him. After that, no one cared again.
Once Lu Yao’s career steadily entered its peak, Zhu Yin began coming and going unpredictably.
In fact, she had stopped following Lu Yao everywhere several years earlier.
The heroine could now stand on her own. Three years ago, she and Landi Entertainment had ended their contract on friendly terms, and she established her own studio. Zheng Yushu had even personally congratulated her on Landi Entertainment’s behalf.
That left outsiders who had speculated about a falling-out dumbfounded.
Only some industry insiders had long known that Lu Yao would leave sooner or later once her wings were fully grown. And with a cousin like Zhu Yin behind her, who would risk falling out with her?
Over the years, Zhu Yin occasionally intervened to nurse several highly respected veterans in the industry back to health. Those with better sources knew that people in the upper echelons had privately contacted her as well, beyond those veteran artists.
Compared with Lu Yao at the height of her fame, Ms. Zhu Yin–who had long since faded from public view and kept a low profile–was the one no one could truly afford to offend.
Everyone knew that Ms. Zhu Yin had an eccentric temperament and could be swayed by neither coaxing nor coercion.
Someone had once tried using power and status to force her to treat an elder in their family.
The details were unclear. All anyone knew was that someone from the same circle later revealed that the person had arrived with great fanfare and lavish gifts to apologize, and afterward refused to utter a word about anything involving Zhu Yin.
People were amusing that way. When someone with real ability had a temper and a few quirks, they found it perfectly natural and thought that was exactly how an exalted master ought to behave.
Most of the time, they could not find Zhu Yin, so they treated Lu Yao with ever greater courtesy.
After Lu Yao won Best Actress at the Golden Butterfly Awards for the second time, Zhu Yin’s mission progress reached ninety-nine percent.
A little remained. She guessed it was because the heroine’s wish had been to “live a life free from those schemes…”
The key was *a life*.
“That’s fine. I’ll treat this as a vacation in a new world,” Zhu Yin said.
She truly began vacationing, taking Barbara around the globe. They stayed in each country for a while: a week in places she found boring, and six months or a year in places she liked.
Sometimes she plunged into a primeval jungle or a snowy mountain and lost track of time. She would disappear for ten days or two weeks, making Lu Yao frantic with worry back home.
At thirty-five, Lu Yao met the person she wanted to spend her life with.
Her life had gone smoothly. She had several normal relationships over the years, savoring love’s sweetness and experiencing its bitterness as well.
When they broke up, it was because they were incompatible, rather than for any bizarre reason.
Zhu Yin attended her wedding. In the guests’ eyes, this increasingly mysterious woman still looked like a radiant girl of sixteen, bright and beautiful.
No ordinary beauty regimen could possibly achieve that.
After Lu Yao’s wedding, Zhu Yin resumed her unpredictable wanderings. This time, even Lu Yao could not always reach her.
With a plump white cat in tow, she appeared in every corner of the world. She sampled all kinds of delicacies and bought heaps of cute or bizarre souvenirs, stuffing them wholesale into pockets that seemed to have no limit.
She was deliberately letting her connection with Lu Yao fade.
She returned once when Lu Yao’s daughter was one month old.
The fair, soft baby girl had huge, crystal-clear eyes and smiled at everyone she saw.
Zhu Yin gave her an ordinary-looking white jade pendant.
Zheng Yushu had arranged for people to watch the area around Lu Yao’s home long ago. When Zhu Yin emerged, he had already been waiting for a long time.
“When will you fulfill your promise to me?” Past thirty and successful in his career, the man appeared suave and refined.
But the gaze behind his glasses held none of that gentleness.
He stared fixedly and greedily at Zhu Yin’s young, vibrant face, his voice fervent with longing. “You promised me! You said you would give me an opportunity.”
Barbara hugged its host with its little paws, bewildered. It had been there when the two made their agreement.
Its host had promised to give Zheng Yushu an opportunity leading to mystery and immortality, but the rookie system had not understood what she meant.
“Oh? You’ve thought it through? You’re certain?” Zhu Yin asked slowly.
Zheng Yushu gazed raptly at the face that had not changed in more than a decade. “Of course.”
After seeing this face with his own eyes and witnessing the power to give life to inanimate objects, what did the mundane world’s paltry money and power amount to?
Zhu Yin gave a short laugh. “It isn’t a pleasant destination.”
But she knew full well that Zheng Yushu would not listen. That was the very result she had deliberately guided him toward.
Sure enough, the man was wild with obsession and cared about nothing else.
She handed Zheng Yushu an invitation.
The black paper exuded a rich fragrance. It bore no words, only a strange symbol dripping with blood.
The instant Barbara saw it, all its fur stood on end.
Its database contained no information about the symbol or the invitation, but at first sight, it sensed something dark and ominous about the object.
Trembling, it asked its host what the thing was. Zhu Yin ruffled its head. “Nothing good. Children shouldn’t ask so many questions.”
Zheng Yushu left clutching it as though it were a priceless treasure. Only after his figure disappeared did Zhu Yin solemnly ask the system, “Barbara, you saw the entire thing clearly. He insisted on asking me for it, and that was why I gave it to him. Correct?”
Barbara did not understand, but nodded.
The following afternoon, the top trending topic announced that Landi Entertainment executive Zheng Yushu had died after rescue efforts failed following a car accident.
Barbara turned to look at its host. Staring at the trending topic, its host looked shocked and innocent. “Oh, what a terrible shame.”