After Taking Advantage Of An Opening [Entertainment Industry] - Chapter 7

“Mommy~”

Gu Rongqing turned and spotted Wen Nuan and Wen Ling outside the window. She stood, intending to go out to them, but Ji Chenxi suddenly caught her hand and asked what was wrong.

Wen Ling had planned to tell Wen Nuan that Mommy was busy and that they shouldn’t disturb her, but before she could speak, Wen Nuan had already called out.

Ji Chenxi looked toward them as well, then said something to Gu Rongqing. In the end, Gu Rongqing sat back down.

Wen Ling glanced at the two of them, then walked away.

“Mama, why aren’t we going over to see Mommy?”

“Be good, Xiao Nuan. Mommy is busy, so let’s not disturb her.” Wen Nuan pouted and wanted to say something else, but she noticed that Wen Ling didn’t look very happy and ultimately remained silent.

Of course Wen Ling was upset. Yesterday, she had asked Gu Rongqing whether she and Ji Chenxi were together, and Gu Rongqing had denied it. Yet today, Wen Ling witnessed a scene like that. The grievance bottled up inside her was almost unbearable.

The moment Gu Rongqing saw Wen Ling and Xiao Nuan—especially when Xiao Nuan waved her little hand in greeting—she had instinctively stood to go out to them. Ji Chenxi was the one who stopped her, saying, “The uproar over your divorce still hasn’t died down. If you go out to meet them now, it won’t be good for you or for them.” Those words brought Gu Rongqing back to her senses. After sitting down again, she also felt that she had acted somewhat impulsively.

“I truly couldn’t tell that Rongqing had become so impulsive.” Gu Rongqing didn’t respond and merely took a sip of coffee.

She kept feeling that the Ji Chenxi before her now was different from the Ji Chenxi she had once known.

Ji Chenxi had been one year ahead of her, and they met as soon as Gu Rongqing started university. When everyone else had parents accompanying them through enrollment, Gu Rongqing was alone. Ji Chenxi helped her register, find her dormitory, and carry her belongings. Gu Rongqing wasn’t outgoing; in fact, she tended to close herself off. That was why she had always remembered everything Ji Chenxi did for her at university. Gradually, the two of them became familiar with each other and eventually became friends. They also frequently performed together. Back then, Ji Chenxi had been dazzling and excelled in every respect.

Gu Rongqing had assumed that the person returning after all these years would still be her old friend, Ji Chenxi.

She hadn’t expected…

Ji Chenxi had called the previous night and said she wanted to discuss the script. Gu Rongqing agreed without giving it any thought.

Before Gu Rongqing left home today, Ji Chenxi sent her the address of this café and asked her to come over.

After Gu Rongqing arrived, however, Ji Chenxi barely said a few words about the script before changing the subject and talking about other things. It wasn’t until she saw Wen Ling and Wen Nuan that Gu Rongqing suddenly began to understand Ji Chenxi’s unusual behavior lately.

“Rongqing, what’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing…”

When Gu Rongqing looked up, she found Ji Chenxi gazing at her tenderly. That look felt somewhat familiar, but she couldn’t remember where she had seen it before…

“Chenxi, I’m not feeling very well. I’m going home.”

Gu Rongqing stood to leave, but Ji Chenxi reached out and caught her hand.

“Then I’ll take you home.”

Ji Chenxi stood as well, still holding Gu Rongqing’s hand.

“There’s no need. I can go home by myself. If you have something to do, go ahead.”

Gu Rongqing’s refusal left Ji Chenxi with no choice but to release her hand awkwardly.

“Then be careful on your way home.”

Gu Rongqing nodded. “All right.”

After Gu Rongqing left, Ji Chenxi sat back down, her face dark and exceedingly unpleasant.

The following day was when the production team of Lost officially announced its cast. Posters of the leading actors were released that morning.

Gu Rongqing would play Jin Nanfeng, Xu Mengmeng would play Fang Cao, and Zhan Feng, who had recently won Best Actor, would play Jin Nanfeng’s fiancé, Li Ye.

However, because Gu Rongqing’s divorce had caused a certain amount of controversy, some of the comments were less than friendly.

“Rongqing as Nanfeng? Absolutely perfect!!!”

“She got divorced and immediately started fooling around with Ji Chenxi. Now Ji Chenxi is producing this movie too. Tsk, tsk.”

“What do you know? That’s called keeping the goodies in the family.”

“Would you people shut up? Rongqing is genuinely perfect for this role!”

“Am I the only one who thinks this whole scandal is publicity for the movie?”

The comments from netizens were mixed, although most of them defended Gu Rongqing. Only a small number of keyboard warriors attacked her.

But Wen Ling wasn’t worried in the slightest.

Who was Gu Rongqing?

She was Best Actress Gu.

She wasn’t some young traffic star whose entire career could be destroyed by a single piece of negative news.

With Gu Rongqing’s talent, countless filmmakers were eager to cast her.

And so, Wen Ling admired Gu Rongqing’s beautiful promotional photos while packing the luggage she would take to the production tomorrow.

At first, Wen Ling had only intended to sell the adaptation rights to her novel and make some money. Later, Director Li Xin approached her and persuaded her to become the film’s screenwriter.

Since this was the first novel she had ever sold, being able to serve as its screenwriter would indeed give her a strong sense of accomplishment.

She simply hadn’t expected Gu Rongqing to be the lead actress.

Wen Ling wouldn’t be able to care for Wen Nuan during the production, so Mrs. Gu’s suggestion that she leave the child with them had conveniently solved one of her biggest problems.

Wen Ling had just finished packing her own luggage and was about to pack Wen Nuan’s when her phone rang.

She glanced at the screen and saw that it was Lin Xu.

When they had dinner together in Dongcheng City last time, her mother had encouraged them to exchange phone numbers so they could look after each other in Jingcheng City. But they hadn’t contacted each other since then, so Wen Ling had no idea why Lin Xu was calling.

“Hello, Lin Xu?”

“Wow, Sister Wen Ling!”

Lin Xu sounded so excited that she startled Wen Ling.

“Why are you so excited?”

“Sister Wen Ling, I never imagined that Wen Nuan’s mommy was actually Best Actress Gu!”

Lin Xu’s words nearly made Wen Ling drop her phone.

Because of Gu Rongqing, Wen Ling was always extremely careful whenever she took Wen Nuan outside. She had hardly ever allowed anyone to see what either of them looked like. Even when reporters surrounded her home last time, she had been completely covered up.

She hadn’t expected…

“Hello? Sister Wen Ling, are you still there?”

“I’m here. Since you already know, I won’t hide it from you. It’s true.”

“Then don’t be sad, Sister Wen Ling.”

Wen Ling was confused by the sudden attempt to comfort her.

“What happened?”

“Sister, check the trending searches yourself.”

Wen Ling ended the call and immediately opened Weibo to check the trending topics.

#Gu Rongqing and Ji Chenxi Spotted on Date by Ex-Wife#

With a sharp smack, Liang Mei slammed her phone onto the table. Pointing at Gu Rongqing, she demanded, “Tell me yourself—since your divorce, how many times have you and Ji Chenxi appeared on the trending searches? Even your divorce from Wen Ling didn’t trend this many times! And now you’re dragging your ex-wife and your current lover onto the same trending topic!”

Gu Rongqing looked at her without saying a word, infuriating Liang Mei even further. Liang Mei had lectured her for ages, yet the person involved looked as though nothing had happened. Eventually, Liang Mei became so angry that she stopped talking and sat across from Gu Rongqing.

The two of them stared at each other for nearly ten minutes before Liang Mei finally admitted defeat.

She hadn’t truly wanted to scold Gu Rongqing. Gu Rongqing had simply been far too careless. The frequency with which she had been trending lately was clearly abnormal.

Gu Rongqing had never been someone who frequently appeared on trending searches. It was understandable that her divorce had put her there several times, but the fact that stories involving Ji Chenxi kept trending so frequently was highly suspicious.

Moreover, when they took the promotional photos several days ago, something about the way Ji Chenxi looked at Gu Rongqing had seemed wrong no matter how Liang Mei examined it.

“Once you join the production, be careful around Ji Chenxi. Don’t get too close to her.”

Liang Mei suddenly stopped. As though remembering something, she grabbed Gu Rongqing by the shoulders.

“Wen Ling will be there too?”

Without waiting for Gu Rongqing to answer, she continued, “If I’d known this would happen, I never would’ve helped you accept this movie!”

“Wonderful. Now Best Actress Gu, her ex-wife, and her rumored lover will all be in the same production.”

Liang Mei rambled on, standing up only to sit down again.

“You absolutely must be careful.”

“All right, I understand. I’m going home to pack.”

Liang Mei looked sexy and alluring, but whenever something happened, she immediately began nagging without end. Gu Rongqing truly couldn’t stand it anymore, so she rose and left.

When Gu Rongqing returned home, she happened to find Wen Ling dropping Wen Nuan off.

Mrs. Gu was sitting on the sofa with Wen Nuan in her arms, chatting with Wen Ling, while Mr. Gu was cooking in the kitchen.

Wen Nuan was the first to notice Gu Rongqing. She happily called out to Mommy, scrambled down from Mrs. Gu’s lap, and threw herself against Gu Rongqing’s legs.

“Mommy~ You’re back!”

Gu Rongqing crouched, hugged Wen Nuan, and pinched her little cheeks twice.

She felt that Wen Nuan had become particularly clingy with her lately. In the past, she hadn’t seen the child often, so Wen Nuan hadn’t been particularly attached to her either.

But as she held Wen Nuan’s soft, sweet-smelling body, Gu Rongqing thought that being clung to felt rather nice.

“Rongqing, you’re back. Dad made your favorite sweet-and-sour pork ribs.”

Hearing the commotion, Mr. Gu emerged from the kitchen and smiled at his daughter.

“Grandpa, Xiao Nuan likes sweet-and-sour pork ribs too,” Wen Nuan hurriedly declared, afraid that her grandfather didn’t know she liked the same dish as Mommy.

“All right, all right. Grandpa made it for both of you.”

With that, he returned to the kitchen.

Gu Rongqing led Wen Nuan to the sofa. The child still wanted to be held, so she climbed onto Gu Rongqing’s lap and wrapped her arms around her neck.

During dinner, Gu Rongqing busied herself feeding Wen Nuan while Mr. and Mrs. Gu chatted with Wen Ling.

But whether Wen Nuan was deliberately giving her trouble or the tableware simply refused to cooperate, Gu Rongqing couldn’t seem to feed her properly.

Eventually, Wen Ling couldn’t bear watching anymore.

Wen Nuan remained seated in Gu Rongqing’s lap, but Wen Ling took over and fed her.

Mrs. Gu was delighted as she watched the three of them together.

“Wen Ling, why don’t you stay the night? You can leave with Rongqing tomorrow.”

Seeing the family of three together made Mrs. Gu tremendously happy.

The moment she made the suggestion, Wen Ling’s hand paused in the middle of feeding Wen Nuan. She turned to Mrs. Gu.

“No, thank you. I haven’t finished packing my luggage, so I still need to go home and do that tonight.”

“Mmph… But Mama, didn’t you finish packing everything today?”

Wen Nuan promptly exposed her mama’s lie.

As soon as she spoke, everyone’s expression became subtly awkward.

Mrs. Gu shot Gu Rongqing a fierce glare. When Gu Rongqing noticed, she looked inexplicably guilty.

Wen Ling was also uncomfortable.

She hadn’t expected Wen Nuan’s innocent remark to shatter the fragile peace everyone had been maintaining.