43 - Is my thigh not enough for you to hold?

You're currently reading a VIP (paid) chapter, please support the author by purchasing the original chapter here.

During her day off on Saturday, Wei Ruxia went to the Ancheng Theatre. Eight years later, the theatre was very different from before. Wei Ruxia took a picture and prepared to send it to her father later.

As soon as she entered the theatre, she heard the sound of a rehearsal in the empty performance hall. Wei Ruxia passed by and glanced at the performance hall of the theatre. The hall was twice as large as before. Although it had been around for many years and the audience for dramas was small, the fans were dedicated, and the growth was relatively smooth.

Smiling while watching the actors rehearsing, Wei Ruxia crossed the corridor, walked to the dean's office and knocked on the door. After getting permission to enter, Wei Ruxia pushed open the door and walked in.

As soon as she walked in, Wei Ruxia's smile widened and she said, "Uncle Wang, Auntie Cai."

In the office sat an elderly man in his sixties and a woman who was about fifty years old. The elderly man was sitting behind the desk, and the woman was sitting on the sofa in front of the desk. The two were talking about something.

When Wei Ruxia came in and said hello, the two of them smiled instantly and called out, "Xiaxia."

The director of the theatre hadn't changed. Cai Xinpei also still worked as an assistant to the actors in the theatre. The two look older, but still had the same kindness in their eyes.

Wei Ruxia smiled and went in and sat on the sofa next to Cai Xinpei.

She came to the theater this time to talk to Dean Wang about a charity drama performance in September. After Wei Ruxia went back to her hotel on Wednesday night she went out to buy things in the supermarket and she happened to ran into Cai Xinpei. After her father went to the UK, he resigned from the theatre. At first, they had more contact with the country, but they gradually lost contact over time.

Cai Xinpei almost cried when she saw her. The two went to a cafe to chat and she learned that Wei Ruxia was now the director. She knew that there was a play currently being planned in the theatre for September, so she wanted Wei Ruxia to try it.

Wei Ruxia's career plan was to be a film director in the future. But most of her work so far was for commercials or short stories. Directing a play for the theatre was a good opportunity. During her summer vacations with her father on tour, Wei Ruxia also got on with the cinematographer and director, which cultivated her interest to a certain extent. It also formed the basis for her career as a photographer and then a director. After thanking Cai Xinpei, she came over on Saturday.

The script had already been written and Wei Ruxia took a brief look. She was still very familiar with drama scripts, especially as recently her father would occasionally read students' scripts he liked to her.

After reading the script, Wei Ruxia closed it, raised her head and said to Dean Wang, "I want to try it, thank you Uncle Wang for giving me this opportunity."

Dean Wang still felt a bit emotional when he saw Wei Ruxia as an adult. When she was on tour with the troupe, she was still a 17-year-old girl.  After her mother died, her grandmother also passed, and she only had her father to depend on. Then something happened to her father.

Wei Ruxia had already achieved a certain level of renown in the advertising industry. Coupled with Wei Zishan's relationship, she was a reasonable choice. As long as Wei Ruxia wanted to do the job, he would definitely give it to her.

"Very well, we’ll start rehearsing at the beginning of September.  The stage is different to the screen, nothing can be sloppy." Dean Wang reminded her with a smile.

"I know. Don't worry, Uncle Wang. Even if I destroy my own image, I won’t destroy the image of the theatre." Wei Ruxia replied with a smile.

Once the business matters were decided, everyone began to talk about personal matters. Cai Xinpei roughly explained to Dean Wang Wei Zishan's situation.

"After your father gets better, are you going to bring him back to China?" Dean Wang asked.

Wei Zishan's rehabilitation period still had at least two years to go, but Wei Ruxia had gradually shifted her focus of work to China and started a life both foreign and domestic. She had indeed had this thought.

They were former colleagues of her father, and Wei Ruxia had nothing to hide. Her initial plan was indeed to bring him back, but everything still depended on her father's recovery.

"Yes, I want to return to domestic work." Wei Ruxia replied.

Cai Xinpei's son was one year older than Wei Ruxia and 27 years old this year. After graduating with a master's degree, he joined a bank and had been working for two years. But Wei Ruxia seemed to be much more sophisticated than her son. Cai Xinpei didn’t know how much hardship she had suffered over the years.

Thinking of this, Cai Xinpei felt a little sour. At first, Wei Zishan didn't recognize this daughter, but now if it wasn't for his daughter, he would have been dead.

He was very fortunate.

After chatting, Wei Ruxia got up to say goodbye. Dean Wang wanted to keep her for lunch, but Wei Ruxia refused. After she left the theatre, she took a taxi and made to return to the hotel. She had to go back and make some filming schedules for next week.

After the taxi had left, Dean Wang and Cai Xinpei were also ready to go home for lunch. Dean Wang looked at Cai Xinpei and asked, "Doesn't your son have a girlfriend? Xiaxia should be single too, you could match them up."

When people were old, they liked to do old fashioned things. He also liked to see the young and beautiful get married.

Cai Xinpei sighed slightly and said with a smile, "I thought about it, but Xiaxia wouldn’t go for it."

The last time she saw Wei Ruxia, Wei Ruxia hadn't eaten yet. She wanted to ask Wei Ruxia to go to her house for dinner, but when Wei Ruxia heard that her son would come to pick her up she refused. She was afraid of inconveniencing them, and the reason why she was afraid of inconveniencing them was because she didn't have those kinds of thoughts.

"That child must be so tired, taking care of everything by herself. If Lao Wei doesn’t recover, she will travel back and forth, she’s probably not thinking about falling in love. Even if she wanted to date, she’s too considerate of others. She’s probably afraid that her lifestyle would negatively impact the feelings of any boys." Cai Xinpei understood Wei Ruxia rather thoroughly, but the more thoroughly she understood her, the more she felt that Wei Ruxia really made people feel distressed.

For now, she could only hope that Wei Zishan would recover well and no longer let his daughter be so tired.

After Wei Ruxia got in the taxi, she sent the picture to her father. After the message showed that it was read, she called Wei Zishan.

After Wei Zishan saw the theatre, his mood was much better than when she called him in the past, filled with some excitement and joy that couldn’t be concealed.

"Did you go to the theatre?"

"Yeah. I met Uncle Wang and Auntie Cai." Wei Ruxia replied. Then she told him her plans for September, "I’ll be directing a play in September."

Wei Ruxia was a very meticulous person, she would always inform him of all her decisions. In order not to disturb him, she would carefully test his reaction every time. She started by taking photos of the theatre, first eliciting the theatre as a topic, and then told him her plans for September. She had been frequently returning to China recently, clearly showing the deepest part of her heart was actually set on returning to the country she grew up in.

Wei Zishan felt indebted to Wei Ruxia, so he would follow along with Wei Ruxia's ideas and express whatever response she was looking for. The back and forth of the father and daughter had become their fixed way of communication.

"The doctor said that I was recovering well, he estimated that I may recover and be discharged from the hospital in another 13 months." After Wei Zishan finished speaking, he chuckled, and said, "I persisted for 8 years, and I may finally succeed in 13 months. I’ll focus on that goal, however, I may not be able to watch your play’s first performance."

Her tense nerves gradually loosened, but a soreness spread in her chest. Wei Ruxia smiled and said, "It's okay, I'll record it for you."

The air-conditioning in the taxi was on, but after ending the call with her father, Wei Ruxia still felt a sweat run down her back. She leaned forward, and the phone that she had just hung up suddenly rang again. This time, it was Chen Peini calling her.

On weekends, they seldom talked about work, so when Wei Ruxia answered the phone she asked, "Hey, Peini’jie, what's up?"

"You’ve been attacked." Chen Peini replied. She looked at the hot topics on Weibo and said, "Song Meng accepted an interview today. It says that she recently shot an advertisement where the director had a bad temper and poor character. They even threatened her by using their improper relationship with the company’s senior management. She didn’t mention any names, but you have been fished out. She also said that you’re related to the YI company’s Chief Cen. Either way, she’s been spreading crap all over. She said that you wanted to return to China to be a director and make films in the future. Her fans have already joined a support club with several actors to boycott you."

She was a small director, unknown by name, and such a big wave of skillful slander was obviously targeted at her. Song Meng wasn’t reconciled to the grievances she suffered in LO last time. After returning home, she had prepared for a few days and then attacked Wei Ruxia.

Her intent was to kill Wei Ruxia's career in the cradle. Movies nowadays were all commercial undertakings and aimed to rank first in the box office. In the box office, all that counted were fans. If she was boycotted then she would lose the box office a lot of fans. No matter how good it is, people won’t want to watch her movies. Investors were all investing to make money. She wanted to be a director, but the box office sales weren’t guaranteed, who would want to use her.

Song Meng had pinched her throat until it left a mark. Even if the mark faded and the heat subsided, if she didn’t respond and counterattack this time, it would definitely become a stain on her career.

She, who also opened Weibo and Tieba accounts after returning to China,  suspected that her Weibo must have been razed to the ground by fans and paid corroborators by now.

The driver stopped the car outside the hotel and said, "Miss, we’re here."

After saying that he was about to stop the meter, Wei Ruxia stopped him and said, "Please go to the Southern District."

Chen Peini could be a minister at her age. In addition to her first-rate knowledge of people, her emotional intelligence was also very high. After she hung up with Wei Ruxia, she called Luo Tang. When Wei Ruxia arrived, he was sitting on the sofa in the living room reading news on the Internet. He should have seen speculation that she had an improper relationship with him, and his brows were knitted together.

In this matter, Luo Tang was an innocent bystander, she could only hope it wouldn't affect LO.

While Wei Ruxia was in the taxi, she had already figured out a plan. She sat on the sofa and handed her mobile phone to Luo Tang. There was a video on the phone that Lao Wai had just sent to her. It was a video of Song Meng flexing her ego that day. Song Meng heard that Wei Ruxia asked Lao Wai to cut after a scene, thinking that Lao Wai wasn't filming she started making trouble. In fact, Wei Ruxia had a mind that something like this would happen at the time.

As Luo Tang watched the video, his brows were still tight. Wei Ruxia decided to start and said to him, "Song Meng is attacking me, but in the end it will definitely involve 'Ice War' and affect its reception. But if you want to release this video, the tide should reverse and you could also centre the news around 'Ice War' and create a wave of hype."

This was a method Wei Ruxia and Chen Peini had discussed on the way. Chen Peini thought it was feasible, but although the advertising department was in charge of making such announcements, this incident would disturb Luo Tang so it would be better to ask him.

Luo Tang agreed with Wei Ruxia's thoughts, but he watched the video again and saw that Wei Ruxia showed her face in the video. He raised his eyes and glanced at Wei Ruxia, who was sitting opposite, and asked faintly, "You just want to hype up 'Ice War'?"

Don was an old fox and Luo Tang was his boss. Luo Tang must be more serious and see things more thoroughly. When Wei Ruxia was asked this by him, she felt guilty, but after she smiled, she didn't hide the facts, and said straightforwardly, "I also have selfish intentions. First, I can clear my name, and second...it would create publicity for me personally."

After promoting herself, she didn't think that someone would find her to make a movie right away, but at least she would become a familiar face.

Wei Ruxia's brain was hot. She said everything because she didn't want to hide anything from Luo Tang. However, after speaking, she felt that she was too eager for success. The release of a video like this would cause a big blow to Song Meng, and she also used Luo Tang's publicity team to promote herself.

When she was in high school, she wasn't a pushover. If others bullied her, she would definitely get them back. But her revenge at that time was simple, even if she retaliated, others would think that her bold personality was justified.

And now...to be honest, she felt that she was too scheming, and she couldn't hold her head up in front of Luo Tang.

Perhaps Luo Tang's impression of her was still the pure-hearted girl in high school, and perhaps what he liked was also the one who had no scheming thoughts or ambitious plans.

While she was thinking about it, Luo Tang looked at her uncertain eyes and said, "Okay, I'll help you build hype."

With an empty heart, Wei Ruxia raised her eyes to look at Luo Tang. Luo Tang handed back her mobile phone, he looked at Wei Ruxia and said, "I'm helping you to hype to promote the game. I'm not the same teenager before, and you aren't the same Wei Ruxia. I have a business, benefits come first, and you have your own ego to take care of, we have indeed changed."

Wei Ruxia smiled. Hearing what he said, she was quite uncomfortable in her heart.

"But we both turned out all right." Luo Tang said.

Wei Ruxia raised her eyes to look at Luo Tang. Luo Tang got up with her mobile phone. After meeting her gaze, the end of his eyes were slightly picked. He said, "We're very similar."

Her hanging heart was released again, and Wei Ruxia laughed out loud when he said his conclusion.

Luo Tang got up and went to call Don and arrange everything. He was standing at his desk, leaning against the tabletop and leaning back on his left hand.

Wei Ruxia watched him in a daze listening to the pattern of his orderly and deep voice making the arrangements.

When Luo Tang was a teenager, he gave people a warm and refreshing feeling and she felt carefree when she was with him. Now as an adult, he had the mature charm of a man, and he could bring others an indestructible sense of security, like a shield, allowing her to relax completely.

No matter when it was, Luo Tang was always very charming to her.

After he arranging things properly, Luo Tang raised his eyes and looked over. Wei Ruxia looked back, her earlobes a little hot. After a while, Luo Tang walked back to the sofa, threw the phone on the table, and sat opposite her.

"It's done."

Faced with this result, Wei Ruxia didn't know what to say except thank you, so she could only smile and say thank you.

The man opposite her raised his eyebrows slightly in response to her thanks. He looked at her deeply from across the way. When she was getting numb from being watched, he said, "No need to thank me. Let's talk about our affairs. Why is Cen Nianbai having a serious relationship with you?"

Wei Ruxia and Cen Nianbai were friends. When Luo Tang mentioned him, she was taken aback for a moment. She looked at Luo Tang and asked, "Huh?"

Luo Tang looked at Wei Ruxia, leaning back on the sofa, his eyes lowered slightly, looking at Wei Ruxia. Then he asked a question that Wei Ruxia didn't know how to answer.

"Why, is my thigh not enough for you to hold?"

Wei Ruxia, "..."

Fortunately, she just said that he was mature, he was still terribly naive.

Wei Ruxia laughed dryly and wanted to cry. At that moment, Luo Tang's cell phone rang. Luo Tang looked away from Wei Ruxia. After seeing the caller ID on the phone, his eyes softened, and he took the phone and said to Wei Ruxia, "My sister."

This younger sister was simply her savior!

Wei Ruxia had worked in LO for so long, and from the gossip of the little girls in the advertising department, she basically understood Luo Tang's situation now. At Starbucks, when she saw Luo Tang holding the little girl, it wasn't his daughter, but his younger sister named Luo Shian, whose nickname was An'an.

She knew the existence of his sister, but Wei Ruxia never asked. She remember that when the college entrance exams were over, Auntie Yang was probably suffering from morning sickness, but Luo Shian was only five years old. It was likely that Aunt Yang had a miscarriage back then. Wei Ruxia felt that asking such questions would be like exposing others' scars.

Luo Tang picked up Luo Shian's call and went to the balcony. The sea and sky outside were the same color, and accompanied by the sea breeze, the younger sister's tender and lovely voice came over the phone.

"Gege~ I'll see you later~"

Hearing his sister's voice, Luo Tang's eyebrows softened, and he replied softly. He looked back at Wei Ruxia who was sitting in the living room, he had just poured her a glass of milk, and she was now looking at his wine cabinet while drinking the milk.

Luo Tang said to Luo Shian on the other end of the phone said, "I have another sister at home who can play with you."

Luo Shian was still very young and had no gossiping heart. She asked anxiously, "A sister? What kind of sister?"

"You'll meet her in a little while." Luo Tang said to Luo Shian, then, "An'an, do me a favor."

"What do you want?" Luo Shian finished asking, and then bargained with Luo Tang, "If I help, can you take me to the playground?"

"Yeah. If you can help me take this sister to our house for dinner today..." Luo Tang said in a quiet voice, "I'll build a playground for you."

The author has something to say:

Tangtang: Don't say anything else, let's talk about it after seeing my parents first.

Damn, Luo Tang's dad fucks.