CHAPTER 22Song Nanchuan was set to depart two days later. The day before his departure, he spent the night with Pei Ying.
In the morning, Pei Ying accompanied him to the airport. In the waiting room, Song Nanchuan earnestly reminded her, “I’ve already set up your phone to make international calls. Remember to call me every day.”
“Mm. What if you’re busy?”
“Getting your call is still more important.”
Pei Ying couldn’t help give a light chortle. “This CEO’s really quite headstrong.”
Song Nanchuan raised his brow and continued, “Remember to call me three times each day.”
Pei Ying fluttered her eyelashes. “I can’t call four times?”
Song Nanchuan smiled and kissed her. “The more the merrier, of course.”
A pair of lovers so reluctant to part… Xiao Zhang braced himself to spoil their fun. “CEO Song, it’s time to board the plane.”
Song Nanchuan frowned slightly. Though he really didn’t want to, he finally let go of Pei Ying. “I’ve got to go. Take care of yourself, and remember to eat your meals on time.”
Pei Ying responded, “You’re the one who should remember to eat. Don’t forget about everything else just because you’re busy.”
Song Nanchuan smiled. “The thing that keeps me busiest every day is missing you.”
Pei Ying, “….”
Did CEO Song secretly eat some honey today? His mouth was so sweet…
“Alright, I really have to go. Bye.” Song Nanchuan gave her a goodbye kiss and then boarded the plane with Xiao Zhang.
Pei Ying watched as his figure disappeared before walking off on her own.
Song Nanchuan’s driver had sent them to the airport, so of course, he was still waiting outside. When he saw Pei Ying exit the airport, he politely asked, “Ms Pei, where would you like to go?”
Pei Ying thought for a moment and then asked, “Take me back to my apartment.”
“Okay,” the driver responded. Bathed in the sunlight, the car headed toward its destination unhurriedly.
Pei Ying’s phone suddenly sounded. She pulled it out and looked to see that Yu Kaize had sent her a message.
Speaking of Yu Kaize, she still had rather mixed feelings about things with him. When she first met him on the set of LSRR, she’d kept her distance, but Yu Kaize had very naturally added her on Weixin chat.
Yu Kaize’s comments in the group chat, whether intentional or otherwise, inevitably made Pei Ying think too much. But still, he’d made sure that their relationship was good so that neither felt uncomfortable.
She opened her Weixin messenger to see his latest news.
[Yu Kaize] Universe Pictures bought the film rights to Dancing In the Beautiful Sunshine (DIBS). We’re in the midst of casting, and the female lead hasn’t been set yet. Are you interested in auditioning?
Pei Ying was a bit surprised. It’s true that Yu Kaize had previously mentioned that he would help look out for scripts for her, but after her relationship with Song Nanchuan went public, she figured that he wouldn’t help her anymore. Unexpectedly, he’d reached out to her pretty quickly.
Should she say that his EQ was high or that he was actually a decent guy?
In any case, the movie adaptation of DIBS did intrigue her. Pei Ying didn’t often read novels, but she had definitely heard about this novel before.
DIBS’ original author was Nan Feng Liang, a new romance novelist that had gained popularity in the last two years. She only had two published works, but they both captured lots of readers and sold extremely well.
To use the current slang, it was a big IP. (Note: I believe IP is in reference to “intellectual property,” and the term is used for an original work that would be expected to rake in a lot of money from selling adaptation rights)
This was definitely the best opportunity that Pei Ying had met with in her time in the entertainment industry. If she were cast as the female lead in this movie, her popularity would skyrocket.
She held her phone and considered it, and then she replied to Yu Kaize, “Thank you very much for telling me about this. I’ll ask my manager about it and try to get the role.”
[Yu Kaize] Okay.
Pei Ying looked at his “Okay,” and she started to wonder if maybe acting this way was like burning the bridge after crossing the river? But in the future, in all manners, she didn’t want to continue troubling him.
But if she left it like this, it meant that she still owed him.
She thought about it for awhile, and then sent another message. “When you have time, we should go out to eat with Tao Tao. My treat this time. ^-^”
Well, although Pei Ying didn’t much like Tao Tao, she was still quite useful in these kinds of situations.
Again, Yu Kaize just responded with a simple okay.
She didn’t continue trying to guess at this young master’s intentions. In any case, she would treat him to a meal to pay him back, and that was that. She exited her Weixin messenger and gave Chen Sheng a call.
He answered quickly. Chen Sheng asked, “Xiao Pei ah, what is it?”
Pei Ying responded, “GM Chen, I heard that Dancing In the Beautiful Sunshine is currently holding auditions for its female lead. I was wondering if I could partic.i.p.ate?”
Chen Sheng was quiet a moment, slightly taken aback. The news that Universe Pictures had bought the rights for DIBS hadn’t gone public yet, and the casting was now progressing secretly. They were planning on announcing the casting and the news about the movie production simultaneously. Where had Pei Ying heard about it?
But in this business, everyone had their own network. The fact that she’d already heard about the news just meant that she had good connections… Did Song Nanchuan tell her? The more Chen Sheng thought about it, the more he found it a possibility. Without asking much, he said, “Auditions are indeed underway. I just got the news about it myself. But Tao Tao is also planning to audition for the role.”
Pei Ying’s eyes trembled ever so slightly. Indeed, GM Chen had only notified Tao Tao about it. Although she was currently more popular than in the past, Chen Sheng was still partial towards Tao Tao.
Tao Tao was more popular than her though, so she didn’t find anything particularly unjust about his bias. As normal, she asked, “Can each company only send one actor to partic.i.p.ate?”
“Well, no…” Chen Sheng pondered for a bit. Then he said to her, “I also heard that Li Sisi is partic.i.p.ating in the auditions. You know that this is a big IP, so the compet.i.tion will be fierce… How about this. I’ll send both of yours and Tao Tao’s information over. It’ll be like double insurance. Maybe one of you two will be able to knockout Li Sisi.”
“Okay, thank you, GM Chen.”
“No need for thanks. The production will screen through the data first and then send out notifications for the time and place of the audition. Wait for my news.”
“Okay.” After Pei Ying hung up the phone, she finally let out a small breath.
Small, because she’d found out that Li Sisi was auditioning for the role. Li Sisi was a first tier star. Called an otaku G.o.ddess (?), she had more than ten million fans on Weibo.
Pei Ying felt that, based on acting skill alone, she could beat out Li Sisi. But when it came to popularity, she would lose in a flash.
She let out a light sigh. She decided not to think about that for now and instead, go to read the original DIBS novel.
She spent two days and finished reading the novel. That’s also when Chen Sheng notified her that both she and Tao Tao had made it through the initial screening and could audition.
The audition would take place in five days at Universe Pictures HQ. Because the main character was a dancer, the audition included a dance portion.
“The director said that they weren’t going to use a body double at all in the film and the actress has to film all the dance scenes. So you’ll have to do a short dance at the audition.” As Chen Sheng filled her in on the details, he also sent her the supplementary info in an email. “I’ve already sent you the dance you’ll have to perform. It was put together by the dance instructors and everyone will perform the same dance for the audition.”
“Okay.” Pei Ying was sitting at her computer, so when she received Chen Sheng’s email, she immediately opened it. The video was only a minute and a half long, but for an actor who didn’t dance, it would still be considered a challenge.
Pei Ying watched the video over roughly. The dance instructors must have considered that most of the actors wouldn’t have dancing experience and so the main moves were very basic. Still, the alternating circular motions was still quite difficult.
“The director for the film is Yi Feiyue. In the industry, he’s known for being very nitpicky, so you’d best practice the dance well. It will definitely play a large role in choosing the actress. ”
“Okay, I will.” Pei Ying had long ago heard about the famous Yi Feiyue. Because he was rather a perfectionist when it came to his work, some of his words could be very harsh. Some even called him the Qiao Yichen of the film industry.
“Alright. Your MV filming is finished as well, so focus on learning the dance for the next few days. I’ve found a dance teacher already. It’ll be easier to pick up if there’s someone teaching you.”
“Ah, thank you, GM Chen.”
“The dance teacher will be here for the next few days. You and Tao Tao can both come when you have time.”
“Oh, okay.”
While Pei Ying’s preparations for her audition were in full swing here, Song Nanchuan was also carrying on with business in a far off place.
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He had a meeting with the partners in the morning that lasted until 1 PM. After walking out of the conference room, he had Xiao Zhang organize the meeting notes. He would have to look over them again later.
Xiao Zhang knew that the reason he was in such a rush to finish work was so that they could take care of business more quickly and he’d be able to return home to see Pei Ying sooner. But working without eating or drinking wasn’t healthy.
Since the root of the issue was Pei Ying, he could only use Pei Ying to press his boss. “CEO Song, when you left, Ms Pei specifically instructed for you to eat well.”
Song Nanchuan, “….”
He looked down and laughed. He looked over at Xiao Zhang and asked, “If I don’t eat well, are you going to report that to her?”
“I wouldn’t dare.” Xiao Zhang lowered his head and behaved.
Song Nanchuan was still smiling. When they walked out of the elevator, he said, “Let’s go have lunch. Restaurants should still be open.”
He and Xiao Zhang went to a Western style restaurant that they often frequented. By the time they arrived, it was nearly closing time, but because Song Nanchuan was friends with the owner, the kitchen kept working to serve him.
“The main dish today is lobster with American style sauce.” Song Nanchuan’s dish was personally served by the head chef. They’d known each other for many years, and he was Song Nanchuan’s favorite chef.
“Thank you.” Song Nanchuan picked up his knife and fork and had a bite. His eyes paused and changed slightly. “Indeed, the ace of main courses when it comes to lobsters, Ying Ying…”
He subconsciously raised his head, wanting Pei Ying to have a taste as well. But he suddenly found that there was no one in front of him.
Xiao Zhang pretended that he didn’t hear anything and continued sitting quietly beside the CEO, almost as if he didn’t even exist.
When Song Nanchuan realized that he was in a foreign country, his eyes dimmed. He continued to eat his lobster but didn’t seem to have much of an appet.i.te anymore.
Uncertain of the situation, the head chef remained standing at the side. Seeing him suddenly stop eating, the chef thought that there may be some problem with his food. “Mr Song, is there a problem with the lobster?”
Song Nanchuan lifted his head and smiled. “No, it’s delicious.”
So delicious that he very much wanted to share it with Pei Ying.
He took a photo and sent it to Pei Ying. “I’m having lobster for lunch. It’s delicious. Come along next time, you’ll definitely like it.”
When Pei Ying woke up at 7:30 in the morning, she realized that Song Nanchuan had sent her a photo of lobster at 1 AM.
Pei Ying, “….”
Reporting so early in the morning, huh.
But, that lobster did look really good.
The day that Song Nanchuan had left, she’d added a clock for New York time onto her phone. She checked it now to see that it was past 7 PM there, and so she decided it was safe to make a call.
The phone rang just once before Song Nanchuan answered. “Ying Ying, missing me?”
Pei Ying wrinkled her nose. “I saw the lobster photo you sent this morning. I really do miss you so much.”
Song Nanchuan chuckled. “I’ll bring you along next time, and we can go out to have some fun too.”
“…Huh.”
“It’s only 7 in the morning over there. Why are you up so early? New job?”
“Yep.” Speaking of, Pei Ying’d head suddenly woke up. “There’s a big IP movie that’s currently casting their female lead. I’ve been preparing for the audition, so I have to head to the office for a dance cla.s.s today.”
“Dance cla.s.s?”
“Mm. The female lead is a dancer, so the director wants to test our dancing.”
“So it’s like that.”
Pei Ying sat up from her bed and headed to the bathroom. “Then I won’t talk with you now. I have to get to cla.s.s.”
“Okay. Remember to eat breakfast.” And then Song Nanchuan kissed into the receiver.
When Pei Ying heard the sound of a kiss, her face went completely red.
After eating breakfast and going down to feed the cats, Pei Ying took a cab to the office, as she had always done.
Her morning cla.s.s actually didn’t start until 9. She arrived to the dance studio early and decided to familiarize herself a bit first. She tried to follow the dance instructor in the video by herself.
When it was nearly 9, Tao Tao arrived. Pei Ying gave her a nod, a greeting of sorts, and then continued stretching.
Tao Tao was dressed in a sports tank and pants, just like Pei Ying. She walked up to Pei Ying and followed her in her stretches. “Pei Pei, is your CEO Song abroad recently?”
Pei Ying’s eyes glimmered. In an even tone, she responded, “Mm, he said he had some business to take care of.”
“Oh,” Tao Tao responded, and then turned to look at her. “CEO Song is a major shareholder in Universe Pictures, right? Have you heard any news from him?”
“What news?”
“For example, like Li Sisi has already been chosen as DIBS’ female lead?”
Pei Ying started to stretch on one leg, and then she looked over at Tao Tao. What she was wondering wasn’t only if Li Sisi had already been secretly picked, but also whether or not she (Pei Ying) had been secretly picked by Song Nanchuan, right?
She smiled at Tao Tao and answered, “Although CEO Song is a major shareholder at Universe Pictures, he also has his own company. He doesn’t have the time to ask about things at Universe.”
What she said wasn’t a lie. Song Nanchuan was really busy with his own company. He threw two billion at Universe PIctures, but he rarely intervened with anything.
“Oh, it’s like that,” Tao Tao said, though who knows how much she believed.
The dance instructor arrived soon after. After she’d received the video yesterday, the instructor worked a bit overtime and quickly learned the dance. Today, she gave some pointers to Pei Ying and Tao Tao.
Having a teacher made learning a lot faster than trying to learn on her own. Pei Ying had spent the entirety of the previous night with the video, but she hadn’t even learned the first thirty seconds of the video. With the teacher’s help today, she learned all the simple moves in just an hour.
“The moves for this dance aren’t very difficult, but I wouldn’t call them easy for someone with no dancing experience either. The important part is to practice more, to familiarize yourself with the dance and its details,” the instructor explained as she corrected Pei Ying and Tao Tao’s motions.
After the day of cla.s.s, Pei Ying had more or less memorized all the moves. But to dance prettily, that would require more practice, as the instructor had said.
Tao Tao had another schedule in the afternoon, so she left at 3. After cla.s.s, Pei Ying had a meal and then rested a bit, before returning to the dance studio to practice.
She practiced as she watched herself in the mirror. Occasionally, she would forget a few moves and would re-watch the video. But that wasn’t the difficult part. The hardest part of the dance was this spinning move, and currently, she couldn’t do it properly at all.
She decided to better familiarize herself with the other moves first, and then she would re-challenge the spins.
Unknowingly, she practiced until 9 PM. The streetlights outside had alright lit up. Pei Ying packed up her things and headed back home.
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The taxi stopped at the side of the road and let her out as usual. Pei Ying got out and walked toward her apartment compound, when she happened to catch a glimpse of a man standing under a tree.
Her brows knit together and she chose a well-lit path to walk on. When she pa.s.sed the tree, she made it a note to glance over, and it was indeed a stranger under the tree. He wasn’t very tall, and he wore a black coat with white sneakers.
She quickened her steps as she walked away from the tree, and then she realized that the man seemed to be following behind her.
She headed into the apartment compound, which could be considered half-gated. There was a security room and guard, but he was mostly in charge of accepting deliveries and they didn’t keep a log of people entering or leaving the area.
Pei Ying could hear the footsteps behind her and couldn’t help herself from walking faster. That person continued to follow her until she reached her building.
Pei Ying nearly charged inside.
After she locked her door, she still felt a lingering fear. Was that person following her just now? Or was she overthinking things? All the news stories of single girls being followed and stalked by perverts suddenly flashed through her head. Pei Ying seriously scared herself.
She swallowed and tried to suppress her fears, and then she went to check that all her windows were locked.
After the night pa.s.sed with no casualties, she headed to the dance studio again the next morning.
Because the man under the tree had left such an impression on her, she took precautions and left early after practice. It was just 8 when she finally got home.
But that man was still standing under the tree.
Pei Ying’s alertness immediately heightened. She had several makeup products in her bags that she could spray. She recalled their locations in her bag so that she could pull something out to spray at the other person’s eyes.
She lowered her head slightly to avoid meeting with his eyes, but when she pa.s.sed by the tree, she heard the man suddenly laugh.
Pei Ying’s heart nearly jumped out of her chest from fright. She ran forward quickly, stopping only when she reached the guard room. There was just a middle aged woman inside, watching TV. When she saw Pei Ying come in with an unhappy look, she asked, “What’s wrong? Picking up a package?”
“No.” Pei Ying tried to catch her breath as she turned to look outside. That man was still standing underneath the tree, looking in her direction. Pei Ying quickly averted her gaze and told the middle aged woman, “I don’t recognize that man under the tree there, but he seems to be following me. Don’t let him inside.”
“Following you?” The woman glanced over to the tree and turned back to Pei Ying. “That guy’s been standing there for awhile now. He’s probably waiting for someone.”
“No…” Pei Ying bit her lip. When she saw the impatient look in the woman’s eyes, she swallowed the rest of her words.
Forget it. If the guy was still there tomorrow, she would report it to the police.
When she returned home, she carefully checked and locked all the doors and windows, as she’d done the evening before. Before she could even let out her breath, the phone suddenly rang.
Pei Ying nearly cried out in fright. She hurriedly grabbed her phone and saw that it was Song Nanchuan calling.
She steadied her thoughts and then answered the phone. “Chuan Chuan.”
On the other end of the phone, Song Nanchuan was silent a moment. Then he asked, “Did something happen? Why does your voice sound a little strange?”
Pei Ying nearly revealed the news of a stranger following her, but with the words on the tip of her tongue, she stopped herself. Song Nanchuan was in another country right now, and it wasn’t like he could rush back. If she told him about it, it would just make him worry. Moreover, he was probably very busy right now. She didn’t want to add to his burdens.
She smiled and then said, “I’ve been practicing dancing these two days, so I’m just really tired.”
Song Nanchuan asked seriously, “You don’t have to work so hard. You’re a CEO’s woman. I told you I would take care of you.”
Pei Ying couldn’t help laughing. “Now your words sound like a CEO’s.”
Song Nanchuan laughed as well. “Are you feeling better now?”
“Mm!”
“But I’m serious about taking care of you. Don’t torture and tire yourself out, got it?”
“I know.”
“I should be back in two days. Do you want anything? I’ll bring you back a present.”
“Mm…” Pei Ying thought about it “What is there over there?”
Song Nanchuan replied, “All kinds of name brand bags, clothes, and shoes. Should I buy you a set?”
“Hahaha, sure.” Pei Ying laughed, and it sounded very refreshing.
Song Nanchuan laughed along and said, “Alright. Since you’re so tired, you should go to sleep. Sweet dreams.” And then he added, “Best if I’m in them.”
Pei Ying’s lips curved up. “Okay. Goodnight, Chuan Chuan. Ah, that’s not right. I should say good morning to you.”
Song Nanchuan chuckled. “Alright. Hurry to bed, darling Ying Ying.”
“Okay, darling Chuan Chuan.” Pei Ying hung up and all of her unease and concerns disappeared.
Her third day of dance practice was also the fifth day after Song Nanchuan had left.
After two days of practice, Pei Ying was already quite familiar with the dance moves. Although there were still a few moves that weren’t exactly precise, she felt it was time to start practicing the turning moves.
That day, the instructor went over some of the technique for the spins, and she continued to help direct Pei Ying.
Tao Tao didn’t come in that day until the afternoon. After dancing for two hours, she left. Pei Ying didn’t take much notice of her and continued spinning toward the mirror.
She was slowly getting the feel for it, but perhaps because she was fatigued from practicing too long, a moment of inattentiveness caused her to sprain her ankle.
Pei Ying let out a breath of pain and slowly hobbled over to the wall to sit down. Her ankle had swollen a bit. When she didn’t move, she didn’t feel anything, but it would ache if she put any pressure on it.
When the instructor saw her injury, she helped examine it. “It’s alright, not too serious. Ice it and it should be fine later.”
“Mm.” Pei Ying tried to move a bit, worried that she may not be able to dance in a few days.
“Go home and rest for today. It should be better tomorrow. Don’t dance anymore today.”
“Okay.” Pei Ying slowly pulled herself up and packed up her things to leave. In order to guarantee that she could still dance at the audition in a few days, she decided to go to the doctor for a checkup before taking the taxi home.
She hadn’t expected that, despite the sky still being lit, that stranger was still standing under the tree there.