The Person I Love Who Has Been Missing For Three Years - Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Turning Hands into Clouds, Turning Hands into Rain

Song Xiangwan wrapped herself tightly in the blanket, maintaining a completely uncooperative posture, not even leaving a single gap.

Cao Xin pulled at the blanket but couldn’t budge it. She had to say slowly, “You still have to eat. How can you recover if you don’t eat?”

“Not eating. Take it away.” Song Xiangwan’s voice was decisive, firm, and unwavering.

She couldn’t help but recall how resolutely Ming Jin pushed her away and the cold, icy tone of her words.

Given the situation, if she ate the meal sent by Ming Jin, she would truly have no dignity left.

Cao Xin and Cheng Cheng exchanged glances, both sighing helplessly.

There was nothing they could do. They couldn’t persuade her. That was just Song Xiangwan’s nature.

Cao Xin started clearing the dishes from the table: “What are you holding a grudge over? You just had a fight. Can’t you just give in a little?”

“With a powerful figure like President Ming, why would you suffer such grievances in the industry? Just yield a little, and you’ll have everything.”

“Impossible,” Song Xiangwan’s voice was muffled.

Under the blanket, she was struggling to control her emotions.

Was it her who hadn’t bowed down? She took one step forward, and Ming Jin retreated three, eager to put an insurmountable chasm between them.

She hadn’t meant to rub salt in her wounds, she really hadn’t… she was just concerned… How could Ming Jin accuse her like that?

The door slammed heavily against the wall, seemingly shaking fine dust from the plaster.

Xu Zhiyan’s clear eyes were now ablaze with fire, staring intently at the person inside the room. She looked windswept and dusty, clearly having rushed straight here.

Cao Xin’s first reaction was to stand in front: “President Xu, why are you here?”

“Move.” Xu Zhiyan pushed Cao Xin aside and stood by the bedside. The confrontation between her and Song Xiangwan was thick with tension, like a battlefield.

“President Xu, what’s wrong?” Cao Xin quickly tried to smooth things over with a smile. “Please have a seat, let’s talk slowly.”

“Song Xiangwan, why are you so persistent and inescapable?” Xu Zhiyan’s voice was strained, her unsuppressed anger washing over them.

What was this? The current partner challenging the ex?

Song Xiangwan’s jawline was tight. There was no hint of cowardice in her phoenix eyes. She was as proud as a white swan.

“I’m persistent?” Song Xiangwan’s tone was neither servile nor arrogant. “President Ming is high and mighty. How could an ordinary person like me cling to her?”

“It wasn’t me who chose to stay in the same ward on the same floor as President Ming.”

“Nor was it me who initiated sending meals.”

“Please, be clear about your situation.”

“Keep your own person in check.”

Cao Xin quickly tugged at Song Xiangwan’s arm, whispering, “Can you just keep quiet?”

“No.” Song Xiangwan shook Cao Xin’s hand off. The “new partner” had come to flaunt her dominance right in front of her. Why should she be the one to slink away?

Xu Zhiyan’s face flushed slightly with anger. Her clenched knuckles were white, her shoulders were rigid, and her furious eyes looked ready to erupt like a volcano.

Ming Jin had hidden it from her, and Lin Rong had helped hide it from her.

She rushed over immediately after the board meeting, only to see Ming Jin lying in bed, wearing a nasal cannula, looking as if she would shatter at any moment.

Lin Rong wouldn’t talk, but the commotion Song Xiangwan caused yesterday was significant. It was easy to find out what happened.

It was Song Xiangwan who burst into Ming Jin’s ward, causing Ming Jin to suffer a heart episode and her condition to rapidly deteriorate.

“You’re not persistent?”

“Wasn’t it you who followed her to the resort?”

“Wasn’t it you who insisted on breaking into President Ming’s ward?”

“Wasn’t it you who insisted on clinging to her, refusing to break clean?”

Xu Zhiyan’s voice was low and heavy: “Song Xiangwan, I’m warning you, if anything happens to President Ming, I won’t let you get away with it.”

“What? Planning to blacklist me, or ruin me?” Song Xiangwan raised her eyebrow, her tone slightly disdainful.

She blamed her for lingering—it was clearly the new partner coming to assert her dominance.

The more Xu Zhiyan acted this way, the less likely Song Xiangwan was to back down.

However, hearing the implication in Xu Zhiyan’s words, Song Xiangwan’s heart still skipped a beat.

“If anything happens…” Did something happen?

“You better remember what you just said.” Xu Zhiyan’s words were slow and deliberate, radiating an oppressive sense of power.

Song Xiangwan narrowed her eyes. She felt a wave of annoyance because, in Xu Zhiyan, she vaguely saw Ming Jin’s shadow.

So similar? A couple’s resemblance?

Ming Jin had once said the exact same words to her.

It was when they first met. Song Xiangwan was a sophomore, and she was playing a supporting role in a web drama for the paycheck.

It was the wrap party. Everyone was drinking, and the atmosphere was lively and cheerful.

The producer offered to drive Song Xiangwan back to school since it was on his way.

She followed him down to the underground garage, where they were blocked by a group of people.

The producer’s face immediately darkened with displeasure, but when he saw the business card handed to him, his expression instantly changed to one of fawning flattery.

She was taken back to the hotel, into the exclusive suite on the top floor, where she met Ming Jin for the first time.

The leather office chair swiveled around. Her fingers rested on the armrest, long and beautiful knuckles. Her shoulder line was sharp, like a drawn sword.

When she looked up, her shallow brown eyes held no warmth, but her brow was slightly raised, as if hiding a surging undercurrent. Her gaze was an undeniable scrutiny that made people instinctively hold their breath.

When she heard the conditions Ming Jin offered, Song Xiangwan’s first reaction was to refuse: “No way. Don’t even think about it.”

“I absolutely do not accept any sugar daddy arrangement or casting couch. That’s my bottom line, absolutely not.”

At that time, the web drama was Song Xiangwan’s first foray into the entertainment industry, and she didn’t expect to encounter something like the casting couch right away.

Ming Jin stood up and walked toward her with calm grace. Her tall, elegant figure stopped in front of her, looking down at her.

“You better remember what you just said.” Ming Jin’s fingertips came closer, gently brushing the hair near her temple. Those shallow brown eyes were like those of a cold predator.

She didn’t linger, walking straight past Song Xiangwan. A faint, cool fragrance drifted in the slight breeze she created.

Song Xiangwan thought that would be the end of it.

What followed was completely unexpected.

Before the web drama even aired, overwhelming negative trending topics flooded the internet.

They questioned her background: how could she, from a poor family, manage to take the artistic entrance exam and get into the Central Dance Academy?

Her entrance scores were not outstanding; she was admitted under the special enrollment plan for students from impoverished backgrounds.

Some netizens calculated meticulously, down to the penny, how much it costs to cultivate a dancer, stating that in this circle, it’s a fact that a peasant hen will never become a phoenix.

They claimed Song Xiangwan was secretly wealthy or privileged, fabricating a poor background to steal a spot from a truly underprivileged student.

Not to mention, how could a sophomore secure a third female lead role? The resources must be coming from someone backing her.

It only takes a moment to splash mud, but how much effort does it take to clear one’s name?

Moreover, she was just a university student who had just entered the entertainment industry and had no connections whatsoever.

Most importantly, because of these so-called negative rumors, the web drama was cut short, its broadcast restricted, and the crew demanded an astronomical breach of contract fee from her.

When she signed the contract, no one helped her review it carefully. She couldn’t see the traps hidden within the clauses.

She needed money, and she truly couldn’t afford that amount.

Most crucially, Teacher Zhou’s surgery… couldn’t be delayed…

Teacher Zhou was Song Xiangwan’s dance mentor. In that small county town, she immediately recognized Song Xiangwan as a diamond in the rough.

Zhou Fang herself was a top student at the Central Dance Academy, but a stage accident caused a vertebral fracture.

Once a genius, she plummeted overnight. Unable to cope with the psychological fallout, she left the city and returned to her hometown county, drifting through life.

Her life was supposed to end in obscurity, but she coincidentally met the young Song Xiangwan, who was dancing spontaneously to music, without formal technique.

Her physique, talent, temperament, and spirit… she was a born dancer.

Zhou Fang saw her younger self in her—no, this child was even more talented than she had been.

Such a gem shouldn’t be buried because of humble origins.

How many Beethovens were farming the land? How many Galileos remained illiterate their whole lives? Zhou Fang couldn’t bear to see such a tragedy.

She devoted all her efforts and all her savings to sponsor the poor girl to learn dance, to leap out of the small county town, and onto the center of the grand stage.

But because of this, she delayed her own spinal recovery surgery… If she delayed any longer, Zhou Fang might never walk again.

Song Xiangwan cried all night in her dorm. She didn’t know what to do.

She had no money to pay the compensation and no money for Teacher Zhou’s surgery.

Finally, she saw the business card of Ming Jin on her desk.

Turning hands into clouds, turning hands into rain—she understood what that phrase truly meant for the first time.

She was like a fledgling bird, firmly grasped by an eagle. If she didn’t struggle, she would be eaten. If she struggled, she would fall from a height of ten thousand feet.

She still couldn’t fly. She could only face her tragic fate.

For Teacher Zhou.

She changed into her best clothes, put on her prettiest makeup, walked into the Ming Corporation building, and was led to the boardroom on the top floor.

From then on, Song Xiangwan became a rising star in the entertainment industry, going from obscurity to fame across the country in just two years.

With the help of a good wind, send me up to the high clouds.

How much of that was Ming Jin’s money-backed resources, Song Xiangwan herself couldn’t say for sure.

Now, as Xu Zhiyan repeated the exact same words in front of her, Song Xiangwan felt as if the two faces slowly merged, the similarity uncanny.

Song Xiangwan tightened her fingers on the bedding. Her voice, however, remained proud: “I remember. If you have the guts, then blacklist me.”

She didn’t want to do this anymore anyway. Let it all be destroyed. Song Xiangwan was in this self-destructive mindset.

“Song Xiangwan, you just wait…” Xu Zhiyan issued a threat. When she turned her head, her expression instantly crumbled.

The initial anger immediately dissolved into a sheepish look. She didn’t quite know where to put her hands and feet.

Though somewhat timid, she still rushed forward, knelt by the wheelchair, and looked at Ming Jin’s face: “Why did you come out…”

Xu Zhiyan didn’t know when Ming Jin had arrived, nor how much of their conversation Ming Jin had overheard.

She worried that being so harsh with Song Xiangwan might have upset Ming Jin.

Xu Zhiyan was anxious.

Song Xiangwan, meanwhile, felt wronged, staring at Ming Jin, her lips tightly pressed, tears welling up in her eyes.

She had never been subjected to such humiliation before, being aggressively scolded by someone claiming the position of the main partner.