Seeing her reaction, Chu Cimo asked, “For you, it was also… at Wilson?”

Bai Shanshan lowered her head and didn’t say anything.

That night, Yan Zihao kept on making her drink.

When she woke up, she was in bed with no clothes on. Yan Zihao then stood at the side of the bed and said that he’d be responsible for her.

She didn’t have any impression of what had taken place that night. However, that day was a turning point in her life.

Chu Cimo didn’t know that the reason Bai Shanshan wanted to be a star was to be able to stand next to the dazzling him.

However, that dream shattered from that day onward.

Therefore, when Yan Zihao brought up the method of her acting as a replacement singer, she agreed as she no longer had lofty ambitions.

Sensing her resistance, Chu Cimo didn’t continue to probe. Instead, he complained, “This hotel is a five-star hotel. Why are there so many dirty things happening there? They have really harmed a lot of people! I wonder whose family this business belongs to!”

Bai Shanshan looked at him quietly. “I think it belongs to your family.”

“…” Chu Cimo let out a cough. “Is that so? Then I’ll have to go back and tell my brother to take them in order. Why are all these things happening?”

His reaction made the depressed Bai Shanshan laugh involuntarily.

“Alright, go to sleep first.”

Chu Cimo pointed to the bed. “If you don’t sleep well, how are you going to lose weight?”

After saying that, he then said, “I’ve contacted many weight loss experts and came up with a healthy food plan and an exercise plan for you. Hmm, I also plan on hiring a private trainer for you… Don’t blindly trust Shen Ruojing’s method too much. You haven’t been eating well, so how can you not lose weight? But you can’t go on like this. Losing weight by not eating will affect your health.”

Bai Shanshan’s eyes turned red as she listened to his naggings.

All these years, each time she mentioned concerns about her figure, Yan Zihao would persuade her to give up on losing weight. Moreover, he’d console her to say that he wouldn’t give up on her nor would he divorce her.

However, he never understood what it was that she truly wanted.

Putting aside looking beautiful or ugly, her weight was detrimental to her health.

After Chu Cimo was done talking, he had her get onto the bed. After Bai Shanshan fell asleep, he returned to the sofa and took out his phone.

His gaze suddenly became serious.

His fingers tapped on the screen very quickly, and a bunch of complicated symbols appeared on it.

–

In the Chu Manor’s study.

Lu Cheng was looking at Chu Cichen with a solemn expression. “Bro Chen, as expected, Dugu Xiao has made a move. He pressured our business partners and had some of them terminate their cooperation with the Chu Corporation. If this goes on, the Chu Corporation won’t be able to hang on, and we’ll have to sustain it with offshore funds. Do you think we should divulge a bit of our identity to Dugu Xiao to tell him not to act so arrogantly?”

Chu Cichen said calmly, “No need.”

His gaze was clear, as if everything was within his control. “The Chu Corporation has been dealing with real estate for so many years. It’s time for a change in our trade.”

Lu Cheng’s eyes lit up. “So this is what you’re planning! We should have gone into pharmaceuticals a long time ago. Anyway, we’ve been secretly making preparations for a while.

After saying that, Lu Cheng then felt troubled. “But we’re a new company and even if we were to come up with medicine, no one would probably dare to buy them. Although the experts we’ve hired are all very reputable, we’ll still need someone who has a great status in the medical industry to back us up.”

He glanced at Chu Cichen. “Bro Chen, I have a candidate…”

“Who?”

“The divine doctor!”

Chu Cichen fell silent for a moment. “She* won’t agree to it.”

However, Lu Cheng was very confident. “It’ll be fine. Leave this matter to me! Didn’t I tell you? His* assistant likes me a lot. I just made a trip the other time, and the divine doctor directly went to the hospital after that! It’ll be fine if I am the one to negotiate this!”

Chu Cichen looked at Lu Cheng as if he was looking at an idiot.

However, some things were just his guesses and he didn’t have any evidence. Therefore, Chu Cichen didn’t tell Lu Cheng anything.

At this moment, there was a knock on the study’s door.

“Come in.”

As Chu Cichen’s cold voice rang out, Shen Ruojing pushed the door and entered. The woman’s peach blossom eyes flickered with light and she said, “I want to go to the live recording for tomorrow’s fifth episode of the [Masked Singers].”

“Sure.”

Chu Cichen replied directly.

Shen Ruojing raised her brows, not expecting this guy to agree to it straight away.

As if he had seen through her perplexity, Chu Cichen lowered his eyes and spoke with a distant tone, “Dugu Xiao knows how I do things and won’t dare to kidnap you openly again. I’ll also send people to protect you. Don’t worry.”

The reason he had invited Shen Ruojing to stay in the Chu Manor was to protect her. But he wasn’t going to restrain her movements.

Shen Ruojing frowned.

Ever since she accompanied him for a drink the other time, this guy had clearly become a lot closer to her.

However, when Chu Cichen spoke with her today, his tone sounded polite and his attitude became distant once again.

She didn’t understand why this guy suddenly became cold toward her again, but she still said, “Thanks.”

Although she didn’t need his protection, since she had moved in, it was better for her to let the owner of the house know when she wanted to head out.

When Shen Ruojing turned to head out, Lu Cheng followed behind her.

“Shen Ruojing.” Lu Cheng held onto his phone and asked, feeling a little troubled, “If a girl likes you, and you’ve given her your number plus hinted to her that your phone number is your WeChat number, but she still hasn’t added you on WeChat after very long, what does this mean?”

Shen Ruojing. “?”

Before she said anything, Lu Cheng patted his head and said, “I understand now. She must be shy. Moreover, she doesn’t know how I feel and thus doesn’t dare to disturb me! Miss Ye Lu is really an understanding girl…”

Shen Ruojing. “????”

Turned out that after all that, the person he was referring to was none other than Ye Lu?

–

The fifth episode of [Masked Singers] went on as planned.

Although Shen Ruojing didn’t participate in the show, she was worried about Bai Shanshan’s condition and thus came rushing over.

Shen Ruojing then consoled Bai Shanshan backstage. After Bai Shanshan went to prepare for her turn, Shen Ruojing went to the audience seat in front. However, she didn’t expect to encounter Yan Zihao here.

Shen Ruojing didn’t even look at this scumbag.

“Miss Shen.” However, Yan Zihao walked over and said in a vicious tone, “I don’t understand why you aren’t supporting your father but choose to support such trash?”

Shen Ruojing lowered her gaze and sneered. “I don’t understand why Mr. Yan’s family treats a fish eye as a pearl, but let the actual pearl be covered in dust. Do you think that everyone is blind like you are?”

Yan Zihao’s countenance changed and he became flustered. “Do you really think that your songs can make Bai Shanshan popular? There’s a saying that watery mud can’t be used to hold up walls*. No matter how much effort you put in, it’d be useless if she were to forget the lyrics the moment she gets on the stage.”

At this moment, the host invited Bai Shanshan onto the stage to perform!

Yan Zihao sneered. “Miss Shen, let us witness how this pearl in your eyes will be crushed on the stage today!”

As he said this, Bai Shanshan slowly made her way up on stage.

After the previous incident where she got scolded, Bai Shanshan always felt very anxious inside. Hence, as the music played, she kept her head lowered and started singing without any confidence.

She didn’t dare to raise her head.

She was so nervous that her body was trembling…

Her voice gradually became so soft that almost no sound was coming out…

She had practiced this song many times, but why could she still not do it? Was she too bad? What was the next line to the lyrics…

Bai Shanshan was so anxious that she was on the verge of tears.

There was also a moment when a thought rose in her mind.

Maybe she was really not suitable for the stage. Why did she perform so badly… She had really let Miss Shen down…

She was panicking so much that tears were almost flowing out.

But at this moment!

The audience suddenly let out a surprised gasp. Bai Shanshan looked up and was instantly stunned!!

Footnote:

[1] This saying is used to describe someone as being inept or useless.

[2] In the conversation between Chu Cichen and Lu Cheng, Chu Cichen referred to the divine doctor as a female while Lu Cheng referred to the same person as a male. The words ‘he’ and ‘she’ are both pronounced the same in Chinese.