Can't Hide My Love for You - Chapter 2

“Yixin, President Lu’s production is heading to the studio tomorrow to shoot the promotional posters.”

Li Wenjing pushed the door open and entered. Noticing that Cheng Yixin’s expression had turned cloudier than a thunderstorm at her words, she asked in confusion, “What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing.”

Cheng Yixin hadn’t told Li Wenjing about dumping Lu Qing yet. Being cheated on wasn’t exactly a badge of honor, so she simply said: “Don’t mention Lu Qing in front of me again. Once this drama is finished, refuse any further collaborations with her.”

“Alright.” Li Wenjing assumed it was just a lovers’ spat and didn’t press further. “I’ll go with you tomorrow.”

Cheng Yixin nodded and changed the subject. “I want to move. Help me find a place with a better environment.”

“Is your current apartment not working out?”

She came up with a random excuse. In reality, she just didn’t want to be bothered by Lu Qing. Over the past few days since the breakup, Lu Qing had sent her messages, but she had deleted the contact immediately.

“Sure, I’ll go pick out some options.”

The house Cheng Yixin lived in now was provided by the company, so she had no immediate plans to buy property.

In her original life plan, she never intended to become an actress. During her university years, she was scouted by a famous director as a “civilian” and became an overnight sensation after starring in a hit movie.

Despite having no formal acting training, she had a strong natural instinct for the craft. The director said she was born for this profession. However, at that time, Cheng Yixin had ignored the olive branches extended by countless talent agencies, choosing instead to finish her studies.

The experience of being on the big screen brought her plenty of trouble. She was constantly the center of attention at school, and even during her post-graduation internships, she had to quit two consecutive jobs due to harassment from her superiors.

After hitting a wall twice in the professional world, she finally accepted an offer from her senior, Fang Yuhan, and joined the newly established Xinyu Media to become an actress.

She officially entered the entertainment industry at 22. The glory of her university fame had long faded, and she essentially started from scratch. Fortunately, after two years of playing minor roles, she got her big break.

At 24, her career hit its stride. Now, at 27, Cheng Yixin was flooded with script offers and had long since saved enough to buy a house.

However, the disposable balance in an actress’s bank account is rarely much; she handed most of her income over to her parents for safekeeping.

“Mom.” During a break, Cheng Yixin started a video call with her mother. The phone rang for a while before it was answered.

“Sweetie, you’re actually free enough to call your mom.” The woman on the screen looked modest, her light makeup highlighting eyes that resembled Cheng Yixin’s. Fine wrinkles appeared at the corners of her eyes when she smiled.

“Yeah. I have to work in half an hour, so I thought I’d give you a call.” Cheng Yixin said with a beam, “How’s the shop?”

“It’s good, don’t you worry.”

Cheng Yixin’s parents ran a hotpot restaurant. Her childhood memories were filled with the aroma of her father frying the hotpot base.

The hundred-square-meter shop only had a few tables. When business was good, they often had to set up tables outside. Even though their daughter was now a famous actress, the hardworking couple refused to give up the shop or the regular customers they had known for years.

But as Cheng Yixin’s fame grew, netizens eventually tracked down the address of the hotpot shop. A wave of people swarmed the place, including influencers looking to “check-in” and leech off her popularity.

This sudden traffic caused a lot of trouble for the regulars. Eventually, Cheng Yixin had to speak out, confirming the situation and appealing to netizens for rational consumption. Only then did the disruptive hype gradually die down.

“By the way, I heard there’s a piece of land for sale in our district. It’s quite large. I was thinking of buying it to build a house later.”

“Go ahead and buy it. But didn’t we just add another floor to our house two years ago?”

“It’s for your future marriage,” Mother Cheng said. “I just don’t know if you plan to live in this small city or in the big city later on.”

“That’s thinking too far ahead…” Cheng Yixin twitched her lips. “Buy it if you want. My money is with you anyway.”

“With me for safekeeping, but I haven’t spent a penny of yours,” Mother Cheng chided. “I opened a separate card for you and I’m saving it all up.”

“I know, I know.”

“Didn’t you say a while ago you were dating? When are you going to show me what the girl looks like on video?”

At the mention of her love life, Cheng Yixin’s face darkened. “Don’t mention it, Mom. We broke up.”

“Huh?”

“She cheated. I caught her, so we broke up,” she said nonchalantly.

“When you told me you were dating a woman, your father and I couldn’t sleep for several nights… I thought if you dated a woman, maybe she’d treat you better…” Mother Cheng frowned.

“Scumbags don’t have a gender.”

“Keep your eyes open for the next one.”

Off-camera, the assistant, Xiao Yu, knocked on the door to remind her it was time to leave for her next appointment.

“I have to go to work now.” After waving goodbye to her mother, Cheng Yixin ended the video.

The physical script for the drama Lu Qing invested in had already been delivered. On the day of the poster shoot, Cheng Yixin took a few moments to glance through it. If she hadn’t already signed the contract and didn’t want to pay the penalty fee, she would never have appeared in it given her relationship with Lu Qing.

The phone in her bag kept vibrating. Seeing her absorbed in the script, Xiao Yu took it out and handed it to her. “Sister Xin, you have a call.”

Cheng Yixin glanced at it. Seeing Lu Qing’s name, she didn’t want to answer, but under the watchful eyes of Li Wenjing and Xiao Yu, she couldn’t lose her temper. Thinking she’d likely see Lu Qing soon anyway, she picked up.

She remained silent, signaling the other party to speak first.

“Yixin, are you still angry? Can you forgive me? I promise there won’t be a next time.” As soon as Lu Qing spoke, it was the same old rhetoric—so smooth that one wondered how many women she had apologized to like this.

Hearing Lu Qing’s voice, Cheng Yixin’s face went cold. “Don’t contact me again.”

Her icy tone perhaps bruised the ego of a woman who fancied herself a “dominant CEO,” as Lu Qing’s tone hardened slightly. “Do you have to be like this?”

Cheng Yixin hung up immediately.

The atmosphere in the car instantly dropped to freezing point.

Xiao Yu didn’t dare speak, so Li Wenjing stepped in to break the silence. “Yixin, did you two have a fight?”

Cheng Yixin hesitated for a few seconds before replying: “It wasn’t a fight. To put it simply, we broke up.”

Li Wenjing’s eyes widened. After processing the information for a moment, she said, “That’s for the best. Focus on your career.”

“…” What a cold-blooded manager, Cheng Yixin thought. Not a word of comfort.

When they arrived at the studio, the staff were already preparing. Cheng Yixin scanned the room; Lu Qing wasn’t there, which was a relief.

“Teacher Cheng, please go change and get your styling done. We start shooting in half an hour.”

The director instructed the staff to take the costumes to the dressing room, and Cheng Yixin’s group followed.

Cheng Yixin quickly changed into the costume and checked herself in the mirror. The clothes were a bit too big and looked very plain—not at all like something a lead character with her background would wear.

Assuming it was just an oversight by the crew, Cheng Yixin stepped out of the changing area. The shared dressing room now had a few more people in it.

“Teacher Cheng.” One of them looked at her with a smirk. “We meet again.”

It was Yu Jiao.

“Why are you here?” As soon as the words left her mouth, Cheng Yixin realized how silly the question was. As an investor, wasn’t it normal for Lu Qing to plant whoever she wanted in the cast? And people willing to trade “favors” for resources were common in the entertainment industry.

“I’ve joined the cast, of course. Come to think of it, this is our first time acting together.” Yu Jiao walked up to her and said hypocritically, “I’m looking forward to working with you, Teacher Cheng. Even though you only have a few scenes, I will cherish this opportunity.”

“?” A giant question mark popped up in Cheng Yixin’s head.

A few scenes?

“You must be mistaken.” Cheng Yixin looked her up and down, finally noticing that Yu Jiao was already in costume. Her intuition told her the quality of that fabric belonged to the lead character.

“Huh?” Yu Jiao feigned surprise. “Teacher Cheng, didn’t the director tell you? You’re playing my best friend. According to the billing, that’s the sixth female lead. I was actually wondering why you even showed up for the poster shoot today.” She was subtly mocking the fact that Cheng Yixin’s role wasn’t even significant enough to warrant a promotional photo.

Cheng Yixin finally understood. Her role had been swapped for a “cannon fodder” bit part—and an unlikable one at that. It was obvious Lu Qing had arranged this specifically to spite her.

Li Wenjing, standing nearby, wasn’t one to be pushed around either. Realizing there was a problem, she quickly had Xiao Yu call the director over.

After a confrontation regarding the roles and confirming that the female lead had indeed been replaced by a minor character, Li Wenjing immediately took her artist and walked out, refusing to work.

On the way back, once her anger had mostly subsided, Cheng Yixin began to think about the next steps.

“Sister Wenjing, if we aren’t filming this, how do we handle the contract issues?”

“Don’t worry about that. I’ve already reported it to President Fang.” Li Wenjing was also fuming. “Supporting a newcomer is one thing, but asking you to play second fiddle to a bunch of influencers? Impossible! If I let you fall into that trap, what use am I as a manager?”

“Good!” With Li Wenjing backing her up, Cheng Yixin nodded like a chick pecking at grain.

Back at the company, she inevitably had to visit Fang Yuhan’s office.

Fang Yuhan sat behind a large desk. She dismissed Li Wenjing, leaving the two of them alone.

As soon as the door closed, the composed Cheng Yixin immediately relaxed, lunging forward to grab Fang Yuhan’s arm. “Sister Yuhan~~!”

“Cut it out.” Fang Yuhan pushed her forehead away with an index finger. “Tell me about Lu Qing.”

“Fine.” Cheng Yixin sighed and sat in the chair across from Fang Yuhan. “She cheated. I caught her red-handed, threw red wine on her, and dumped her. She wanted to get back together, I refused, so now she’s retaliating.”

“How disgusting.” Fang Yuhan frowned.

“The contract is already signed. Is this serious?” Cheng Yixin, having never faced this situation, was a bit worried.

“It’s fine. They breached the contract first. I’ll handle the negotiations with Lu Qing. Don’t worry about it; there’s no way you’re filming that. Just focus on your upcoming work.”

“Thank you, Senior!”

Before leaving, Cheng Yixin glanced at the company logo on the wall behind Fang Yuhan and felt a pang of regret.

Back when the company was in its startup phase, her senior had recruited her and kept the promise to make her famous. She was famous now, and the company had grown larger, but it had also drawn the envy and jealousy of competitors.

It just so happened that the Feng Group wanted to enter the film and television industry. Isolated and without help under the pressure of her peers, Fang Yuhan eventually had no choice but to accept the olive branch extended by Feng Xinlan.

Fortunately, having the Feng Group as a backer gave Fang Yuhan the confidence to say no to certain “shady” deals.

Under the white lights, the LED sign for “Xinyu Media” remained as dazzling as ever.