CH 80

"Why aren't you saying anything?" Song Yan asked.

Wen Li was dissatisfied with his previous answer, but now that he became enthusiastic, she couldn't handle it.

Perhaps because they had few conversations in the past, Wen Li felt that Song Yan still hadn't mastered the art of communication with her.

When he was polite, he was overly polite, and when he was wild, he was excessively wild. Of course, she had to admit that no matter which extreme he displayed...

...he looked handsome.

Wen Li pretended to be disdainful, "You've changed."

"Changed how?" Song Yan asked.

Wen Li bit her lip and said, "You've become flirtatious."

There was a moment of silence on the other end, and Song Yan's tone carried a smile, "Do you like it?"

"Whether I like it or not isn't important," Wen Li said awkwardly, "Your mouth is on your face, so just say what you want to say."

Song Yan, in a tone of "I'll listen to my wife", casually replied, "I speak for your ears. If you don't like it, I won't say it anymore."

Wen Li lifted the car curtain and glanced around. She covered her mouth and lowered her voice, speaking fiercely to the man on the phone, "What kind of real man only knows how to talk? Empty words and no action. If you can't last three days and nights when you come back, I'll post on Weibo and tell the whole country that you're incapable!"

"Okay," Song Yan calmly responded, "Don't beg for mercy."

When it came to a man's abilities, Song Yan's arrogance and self-confidence were no less than her usual self-obsession.

Wen Li became scared. Song Yan's words just now were clearly forewarning her, but she only said those things because she didn't want to be at a disadvantage. Why did he take it seriously?

"Can you stop thinking about all these dirty things every day? You went to Bin City to work. If you slack off during work, can you justify it to Director Qiu?" Wen Li started using her best skill of arguing unreasonably. Even without a valid point, she could come up with a long string of arguments.

Song Yan chuckled twice and said, "Isn't it because someone sent me a video of herself dancing first?"

Wen Li took a while to react to his words. She was both amused and a little angry.

She laughed at him for beating around the bush about missing her, but she was also annoyed at herself for not being able to come up with something more cheesy to say.

"Oh, sorry," Wen Li desperately suppressed the upward curve of her mouth, "Then I'll hang up."

"Go ahead," Song Yan said, "Don't send me videos like that in the future."

Wen Li didn't expect him to say that. She was deeply hurt and blurted out, "Why? You said it was good just now. Don't you want to see something good-looking? And besides, you used to secretly watch my dance videos without telling me, didn't you?"

Could it be that their recent good relationship and her being too proactive made her less attractive to him?

Wen Li refused to admit that her charm had diminished and started looking for other reasons.

"Is it because I'm not suitable for this style of dance?"

"No," Song Yan hesitated to speak, but under Wen Li's persistent questioning, he could only say in a helpless tone, "You used to do solo dances, but this one is a partner dance with the opposite sex."

"Ah?" Wen Li was first confused, then stunned for a long time. Suddenly, she didn't know what to say, "Oh, I see..."

"..."

Song Yan said in a low voice, "Then, I'm hanging up."

Without waiting for her response, he hung up the phone directly.

This was the first time Song Yan hung up her call without saying goodbye. Normally, Wen Li would be annoyed and curse him for not knowing any better. But now, she tightly held onto her phone, wearing a proud and sweet expression on her face.

When she came to her senses, Wen Li sent a WeChat message to Xu Li, complaining about his gender.

「Why aren't you a girl?」

Xu Li, using a phone he had hidden, replied to Wen Li's message.

Rabbit:「?」

Rabbit:「Why aren't you an animal?」

——

After hanging up the phone, Song Yan held onto his phone in a daze for a while.

Reflecting on what he had just said on the phone, he finally realized it was a bit embarrassing. He sighed while resting his forehead on his hand.

The girl must be feeling smug right now.

The image of her familiar smiling face appeared in his mind and he found himself smiling for no reason.

Let her enjoy her moment of pride for now. After returning to the hotel, he would make a video call and see if her expression matched his imagination.

The film and television base in the western suburbs of Bin City still had the atmosphere of midsummer. Several crews stationed here were busy filming under the scorching sun.

This city experienced early snowfall, and by the time [Ice City] officially starts filming, it would likely be snowing in Bin City. At that time, the entire place would be covered in a vast expanse of white, fitting the overall heavy and gloomy tone of the script.

Leaving the film and television base, Song Yan got into the car and prepared to return to the hotel to rest.

His assistant, Ah Kang, who had been waiting for him in the car, turned his head and said, "Brother, Director Qiu was looking for you. He doesn't know where you went and asked you to give him a call."

"Alright."

Song Yan promptly dialed Director Qiu's number.

"Ah Yan," Qiu Ping said on the phone, "Old Yu has also come to Bincheng."

"Why did Teacher Yu come?"

"Next month, there will be a film festival in Bincheng. This year's organizers have a connection with Old Yu. Since he doesn't have any movies this year, he came as a guest to support the event," Qiu Ping laughed, "But Old Guo has a film and the award has already been decided. He'll receive it when attending. He especially brought the lead actress of his new film with him. He quite favors that girl. Don't rush back to the hotel for rest yet. Wait for me and Old Zhou. We'll have dinner with the organizers tonight."

Film festivals like this ranged from highly prestigious to more casual events. The disparity in the value of awards varied greatly. Some people didn't care about the so-called value and just enjoyed walking the red carpet, gaining exposure. They could receive any award and having it listed on their Wikipedia page would impress many outsiders.

It was normal for Song Yan not to know. Male actors like him had received numerous high-value awards and actresses like Tang Jiaran were regulars on international film festival red carpets. They had no knowledge of the upcoming film festival in Bin City next month.

Following Qiu Ping's instructions, Song Yan didn't immediately return to the hotel. He sat in the car and waited for a while.

Not long after, Qiu Ping and Old Zhou arrived to meet him. They got into the car directly and told the assistant the address to the dinner place for the evening.

Inside the car, Qiu Ping didn't idle and started talking to Old Zhou about Director Guo, who was responsible for organizing the dinner.

"Director Guo is hosting this dinner mostly to pave the way for his goddaughter."

Old Zhou asked, "An actress?"

"Not exactly," Qiu Ping casually replied, "She's a young idol who sings and dances. Director Guo's new movie is her debut."

"Debut? So she hasn't acted before? Not even in TV dramas?" Old Zhou seemed surprised. "Isn't Director Guo taking a big risk?"

"His own daughter has argued with Director Guo countless times because of that young idol. But he refused to let go, treating it like true love. A movie is nothing compared to that," Qiu Ping said, pausing for a moment before looking at Song Yan, "I remember that for the male lead of this movie, Director Guo initially approached you, right?"

Song Yan frowned slightly, "Really?"

"Is it not the case?" Qiu Ping became uncertain, "Did I remember wrong?"

"Forget about that. If he accepted Director Guo's offer, then he won't be able to accept ours, right?" Old Zhou didn't care about anything else, only concerned about his script, "Compared to acting alongside an unknown idol, it's more comfortable to act with your own wife."

"What does that have to do with this? Although Wen Li doesn't have much experience on the screen," Qiu Ping confidently said, pausing for a moment, "she has a certain charm. With me guiding her in our production, her potential should be very high. Even if she's not Song Yan's wife, I would still be interested in seeing them collaborate."

Song Yan accepted Qiu Ping's praise on behalf of Wen Li.

"If my wife hears this from Director Qiu, her tail will probably wag in the air again."

"You always say that Wen Li's tail will wag in the air, but every time I meet her, she seems quite humble, not arrogant or impetuous," Qiu Ping glanced at Song Yan with a meaningful look, raising his eyebrows, "Is it only in front of you that your wife wags her tail? Huh?"

Song Yan also raised an eyebrow and smiled without saying a word.

"Tsk," Qiu Ping clicked his tongue.

"Tsk," Old Zhou chimed in.

The people in the car chatted casually as they arrived at the dinner location.

They weren't the last ones to arrive.

"Huh? Old Guo isn't here yet?" After greeting others, Qiu Ping looked around, "What's going on? He invited us to have dinner together, but where is he?"

Yu Weiguang replied, "His goddaughter just finished recording a program in Yancheng and rushed over. She got a bit delayed, but she's on her way. He called just now and asked us to start eating first."

Qiu Ping shook his head, "That's not right. The host hasn't arrived yet, so how can we start eating? Let's wait."

So they waited for over half an hour. The people at the table were already engaged in lively conversation when Director Guo arrived with his goddaughter.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm late. Let me punish myself with three cups first."

After the self-punishment, Director Guo greeted everyone at the table with his goddaughter.

When Director Guo's goddaughter approached Song Yan, he remained seated, raising his eyelids to look at her. He seemed to have some impression of the person in front of him.

She bowed and greeted him in a well-behaved manner, "Hello, Teacher Song. I'm Xu Xingyue."

He remembered.

This was his wife's junior at the same company. His wife didn't seem to like this junior very much.

"Xingyue is your fan," Guo Dao said beside her, "When you didn't accept my offer for this movie, the most disappointed person wasn't me, it was this girl. She argued with me for almost half a month, saying that my invitation to you wasn't sincere enough, which is why you didn't accept. I had to coax her for a long time to finally pacify her."

This movie had a huge investment. Xu Xingyue, who had never been involved in any film or TV drama before, was a completely new face in the acting industry. Now she was debuting as the female lead in a movie. Anyone with discerning eyes could see how much Director Guo was promoting her.

Everyone present, out of respect for Director Guo, didn't speak explicitly and only praised Xu Xingyue's luck.

Director Guo continued to accompany Xu Xingyue in toasting everyone. After a round of toasting, Xu Xingyue seemed visibly drunk, her face slightly flushed, making her look even more innocent and charming.

Xu Xingyue glanced sideways towards Song Yan.

To the left of the man sat Director Yu Weiguang and to the right sat Director Qiu Ping. Both were unapproachable big directors, showing no interest in her, so she didn't have a chance to approach them.

It was at this time that Song Yan received a phone call and got up to leave.

Xu Xingyue also used the excuse of going to the restroom and followed him out.

Someone noticed that she followed him and hinted to Director Guo, "Your goddaughter seems quite interested in Song Yan."

"Girls liking Song Yan is normal," Director Guo said with a smile, "Who wouldn't like a young man who looks good, has achievements, and is tall?"

"But doesn't she know that Song Yan is already married?"

Director Guo had lived for many years and had encountered women of all ages. It was easy for him to see through his goddaughter's inner thoughts.

"How could she not know? But you know, some girls are more attracted to married men than unmarried ones, especially those married men who are virtuous, have no scandals, and don't fool around. The sense of accomplishment in seducing such men is extraordinary."

"Don't you care about this, Director Guo?"

"I've known Song Yan for a long time. If he really wanted to fool around, it wouldn't be her turn. Xu Xingyue is quite well-behaved now, and I quite like her. As long as she doesn't cross my bottom line," Guo Dao said casually, "I'll turn a blind eye."

In other words, as long as she didn't cross the line, he would keep her in his palm, but if she did, she would face the consequences herself.

She was just a bird in his hand. If she listened, he would keep her; if she didn't, he would throw her away.

Xu Xingyue was unaware of the conversation between Director Guo and the others in the private room. She followed Song Yan outside and saw him standing in the corridor, talking on the phone.

"I am eating outside, haven't returned to the hotel yet."

It seemed like he was reporting his itinerary to someone.

Then the man suddenly laughed, "What? Asking if there's someone of the opposite sex at the table?"

"Teacher Wen, you're dancing with someone of the opposite sex, while I'm just sitting at a table, how can they be the same?"

Xu Xingyue quickly guessed who Song Yan was talking to.

She thought for a moment and walked up, raising her voice, "Teacher Song!"

Song Yan turned his head to look at the source of the voice.

Xu Xingyue said innocently, "I'm here to remind you to come back and drink."

The smile at the corner of Song Yan's mouth suddenly faded and the tender expression disappeared.

Xu Xingyue looked panicked and immediately apologized, "I'm sorry, did I disturb you?"

"Put it on speaker," the voice of Wen Li came from the phone, "I'll confront her."

Song Yan had intended to say something, but at Wen Li's command, he put the call on speaker.

"Is it on?" Wen Li asked.

"It's on."

"Xu Xingyue, do you have a serious illness or something? You're not ugly, you can earn money, President Zhang even supports you. Your conditions are enough for you to be an idol. Wouldn't it be better to find a single man and enjoy a happy relationship? If you want to degrade yourself, I won't stop you, but if you want to be kept, you should have the self-awareness of being kept and have some professional ethics. You don't eat what's in your bowl, instead, you look at what's in the pot."

"The man in front of you belongs to me, every inch of his body is mine. Even if one day I get tired of him and don't want him anymore, it won't be your turn, understand?"

Wen Li's contemptuous and arrogant words directly made Xu Xingyue's face turn pale.

Before Xu Xingyue could say anything, Song Yan asked in a deep voice, "What do you mean by getting tired of me?"

"..." Wen Li suddenly realized that her previous words were too arrogant and immediately tried to explain herself, "You misunderstood me. I didn't mean that..."