Spring Night of Misty Rain - Chapter 10

Qin Zhiyue took a tour of Shen Zeyu’s house and was thoroughly satisfied. She walked up to Shen Zeyu and pointed toward the second floor. “I’ve had a look; there are eight rooms on the second floor that can serve as breakrooms for the directing and editing team.”

“The space on the first floor is massive. We can install three glass walls—it’ll be perfect for displaying your family’s ceramics.”

“Then, we’ll set up a long table, and that will be our office.”

She spoke with such casual certainty that Shen Zeyu raised a hand to cover half her face, feeling a faint, throbbing ache in her temples. “So, you’ve already made your choice, I see.”

She wasn’t being given any room to refuse!

Qin Zhiyue approached Shen Zeyu, draping an arm over her shoulder with a beaming smile. “The Little Boss and I have been house-hunting for a week, and we finally found a suitable place. Let’s keep the benefits within the circle—surely you wouldn’t be so cold as to reject me?”

Qin Zhiyue looked like a fox, and by nature, she was a “smiling fox.” In the past, when Shen Zeyu collaborated with her, she had been more than happy to help Qin Zhiyue scheme against others. But now that she was the target, the feeling wasn’t quite as pleasant.

Just then, Meng Fei came running out from the third floor, leaning over the railing and shouting at the top of her lungs, “Ayue! Ayue! There’s a huge studio on the third floor that can hold so many costumes!”

“I want it for the makeup room!”

Qin Zhiyue snapped her fingers and looked up. “You’ve got it!”

She hooked her arm around Shen Zeyu’s neck, turning her toward Xu Luosu. “We’ve chosen. This is the place. Whether we can secure it or not depends on you, Little Boss!”

Xu Luosu nodded with a smile. “Understood. Since the location is settled, the rest is up to me. For now, let’s go get some breakfast.”

Qin Zhiyue clapped her hands and called her team back. “Stop looking around, everyone! Let’s head out for breakfast.”

With that, she kept her arm around Shen Zeyu’s neck and dragged her toward the exit. “It’s a rare occasion to visit Jinwu. As the host, you have to treat me to a good meal!”

Shen Zeyu sighed helplessly. “Fine, fine… my treat.”

The group arrived like a grand procession and left just as loudly.

As they passed the entrance to the house, they happened to run into the female coach who had come to recruit Shen Zeyu. Shen Zeyu greeted her and explained that she had friends to host and would be taking the day off.

Xu Luosu was standing close by. Upon hearing this, she glanced at the female coach, taking note of her appearance. The woman had an oval face with a touch of heroic spirit in her features and healthy, wheaten skin. She wasn’t a beauty by conventional standards, but she was vibrantly full of life.

So, Senior Sister Shen likes this type, Xu Luosu thought.

Qin Zhiyue had brought eight people in total. When Shen Zeyu led them to the jianbing guozi (savory crepe) stall, they immediately filled the entire seating area.

When the breakfast arrived, Meng Fei took a large bite of the filling and let out a satisfied exclamation. “Delicious! Jianbing guozi really tastes best at home!”

Qin Zhiyue happened to walk over from a restaurant across the street carrying a pot of rice wine. She sat down next to Meng Fei and cautioned, “Eat slower, don’t choke.”

Meng Fei gave her an “OK” sign to show she wasn’t worried. Qin Zhiyue shook her head, placed one of the two plastic cups in front of Shen Zeyu, and asked, “Can you drink?”

Qin Zhiyue was born in Jingzhou and grew up by the river. She had been drinking “morning wine” with her fisherman grandfather since she was five or six years old. She was a total “boozehound” who needed a drink almost every day.

Shen Zeyu used to be much the same; when they were on film sets, both of them were usually half-drunk.

Back then, these two alcoholics managed to take Fengcheng by storm.

In the past, Shen Zeyu would have reached for the cup without hesitation, but now she waved her hand with a slight air of apology. “I can’t drink anymore. I’ve quit.”

Once, after she had climbed over the hospital wall to buy a hoard of hard liquor and drank herself into a stomach pumping, Chen Ci had been so furious he gave her a beating. He then ordered the hospital to keep her under strict supervision, forcing her to quit drinking entirely.

If Chen Ci found out she had started again, she feared her legs would be broken.

Qin Zhiyue nodded understandingly, looking even a bit pleased. “Quitting is good.”

She turned to Xu Luosu, who had been sitting beside Shen Zeyu quietly observing them, and asked with a smile, “Does the Little Boss want some?”

Xu Luosu, being supportive, took the cup and said, “I can have a little.”

Qin Zhiyue poured her a small amount. The two clinked cups, and Xu Luosu took a sip. The high-proof spirit hit her throat instantly, the spice making her burst into a fit of coughing.

“Cough, cough, cough…” She coughed violently, tears welling in the corners of her eyes. “Cough… it’s so spicy…”

Qin Zhiyue had expected this. She downed a large glass herself and laughed heartily.

Seeing this, Shen Zeyu reached out and took the cup from Xu Luosu, tossing the remaining liquor aside. “Don’t drink it; this stuff is very strong.”

She tossed the cup into the trash bin and pushed Xu Luosu’s soy milk forward. “Drink some soy milk to wash it down.”

“Cough…” Xu Luosu continued to cough as she lowered her head to bite the straw, taking a sip of soy milk before finally recovering.

She cleared her throat twice and looked gratefully at Shen Zeyu. “Thank you, Senior Sister.”

Opposite them, Qin Zhiyue watched their interaction, eyes half-squinted in thought. As she sipped her wine, she asked, “When were you discharged? Why didn’t you contact us first after you got better?”

Instead, she had sold the copyrights to Xu Luosu first.

Both Qin Zhiyue and Meng Fei were well aware of what had happened to Shen Zeyu.

Before Shen Zeyu’s breakdown, Xinghai—out of a desire for business expansion or perhaps to “de-Shen Zeyu-ize” their operations—had forcibly dismantled their team.

Gu Ji had sent Shen Zeyu to handle Xiao Yao, a collaboration with Giant Whale. Then, he offered the more famous Qin Zhiyue and Meng Fei to Jintian, with Lin Pei as the screenwriter and Shang Qiuchi as the female lead, to film a musical romance titled Listen Closely.

In Gu Ji’s words, this was “resource optimization.”

But anyone could see that, compared to Shen Zeyu, the newcomer Lin Pei was climbing up by stepping on their original foundation.

Yet Shen Zeyu didn’t mind; she didn’t even hold a grudge against her old employer.

It wasn’t until the incident with Shang Qiuchi that Qin Zhiyue and Meng Fei realized they had been played by Gu Ji.

From the very beginning, when Gu Ji cast Shen Zeyu aside to choose Lin Pei for the Jintian collaboration, it proved he already knew about Shang Qiuchi’s secret involvement with Jin Yue.

Qin Zhiyue and Meng Fei were livid. Meng Fei, in particular, was so angry she couldn’t even perform her duties as a stylist.

Meng Fei had originally suffered from a severe binge-eating disorder, which had improved slightly after meeting Qin Zhiyue. When this scandal broke, Meng Fei suffered a relapse and felt so disgusted she didn’t want to work at all.

Qin Zhiyue had simply torn up her contract and threw the movie back in their faces.

And guess what? That movie ended up back in the hands of Shen Zeyu and Lin Pei.

Shen Zeyu’s excessive sense of responsibility, combined with her guilt toward her friends, nearly crushed her. At that time, she had to pay off debts while also frantically adjusting the script for a newly selected lead.

How could anyone maintain emotional stability in such a chaotic environment?

Unsurprisingly, three months later when summer arrived, Shen Zeyu completely broke down.

Before Shen Zeyu was admitted to the psychiatric hospital, Qin Zhiyue and Meng Fei went to see her once.

At that time, Shen Zeyu was in a hospital gown, lying on the bed and staring at the ceiling with eyes full of deathly silence. Even though the sunlight outside the window was bright, it seemed as though it could never reach her.

Shen Zeyu was dying.

Only those on the verge of death have eyes like that.

Qin Zhiyue and Meng Fei sat by the bed, holding her bandage-wrapped hand, and made a decision. “A-Ze, I don’t know if you can hear me.”

“I am partly responsible for you ending up like this. I was too used to protecting myself and too used to running away. As a friend, I didn’t stand up to warn you about the kind of people you were surrounded by.”

“I’ve spoken with Gu Ji. I’m taking that movie back.”

But she would kick Lin Pei out. She would never again collaborate with anyone associated with Xinghai.

“So, you have to get better.”

Get better, and we will film another story—a story that truly belongs to us.