She’d made her mess, and others couldn’t always be expected to clean it up.
Letting her get away with it only encouraged her spoiled behavior.
Since she was angling to talk, Sang Miao simply followed her lead and asked, “Did someone give you a hard time out there? You look like you’ve had a rough day.”
The living room was large, and there was no one else around.
Sang Rui found it strange how calm Sang Miao was acting.
When she’d helped Shen Shuhe secure a role, wasn’t that a slap in her face?
Sang Rui hesitated briefly, then stopped beating around the bush.
Her face turned a bit sour and aggrieved.
“Sister, I just want to ask you.
Why did you help Shen Shuhe?
After you helped her, people started saying you were siding with her.
Do you know how hard that made things for me in the industry?”
She had thought things through.
If her sister had done it intentionally, then just being angry and lashing out wouldn’t help.
But she wanted an answer.
She needed to know why Sang Miao had done it.
Ideally, Sang Miao would help her again to smooth things over and fix her reputation.
If she could give Shen Shuhe resources, then why not give them to her instead?
In this moment, Sang Rui didn’t even stop to wonder how Sang Miao had managed to get Meng Peisheng to convince the brand to lower their standards just to prop up a minor celebrity.
Sang Miao sipped her tea, looking curious as she asked,
“I helped her? Why, what happened?”
Sang Rui opened her mouth, but the words stalled on her lips.
She hadn’t expected Sang Miao to play dumb like this.
If this had been before,
Sang Miao might’ve just lectured her and then ended up helping anyway.
After all, she was her sister.
And despite being angry over everything Sang Miao had done before, Sang Rui didn’t want to fall out with her just yet.
At the end of the day,
Sang Miao was playing a character from the book, with her fate to face.
There was no need to push things unnecessarily.
Sang Rui held back her urge to question her, and her voice took on a hint of grievance:
“You know that I’ve had some issues with her recently, yet you still invited her to the show, even lent her D.S.’s haute couture.
People outside are saying that the relationship between us sisters is strained now, that I’m not getting along with the Meng family.
Even in work matters lately, they’ve stopped giving me good treatment.”
Sang Miao responded with innocent surprise:
“How could that be? I invited Shen Shuhe to the show because she did me a favor.
The clothes were lent to her by the brand itself.
I honestly wasn’t too aware of it.”
“Besides, whether our relationship is good or not, what does that have to do with anyone else, and why should it affect your work?”
Sang Rui was instantly choked by that response,
Did she not know, or was she pretending?
She held it in again, but her tone unintentionally turned cold: “You’re now Mrs. Meng.
You know how influential the Meng family is in the entertainment industry.
Your attitude represents your brother-in-law’s attitude.
If you don’t help me, wouldn’t that mean I’m left alone in the industry, looked down upon by others?”
She had come today intending to use her guilt as leverage.
No matter what, she was still nominally Mrs. Meng.
After digging such a big hole for her, shouldn’t she help fill it in?
After hearing her out, Sang Miao looked slightly helpless and said,
“Is that so? You know the kind of relationship I have with Meng Peisheng.
It’s not like we’re a real couple; we hardly even see each other.
How could I possibly represent him in anything?
Besides, I’m not paying attention to your entertainment industry matters.
I don’t even watch dramas.”
“But you said you had issues with Shen Shuhe.
What kind of issues?”
“Since I know her, maybe I can help mediate a bit.
Isn’t having one more friend better than having another enemy?”
Sang Miao asked sincerely, as if every word was for her sake.
Sang Rui’s expression started to crack.
What was going on?
Since when had her sister become so hard to sway?
And now she was drawing clear lines, acting all innocent?
Last time, when it came to switching the groom, she had agreed without much hesitation.
That’s right, from her perspective back then, marrying into the Meng family seemed like an incredible opportunity.
Even if it was just a contract, there were countless benefits to gain.
Why wouldn’t she agree?
Now she was still firmly seated as Mrs. Meng, and wanting her help was naturally not going to be that easy.
Forget about helping at this rate; if she didn’t secretly trip her up behind her back, that would already be a blessing.
Was her former kindness all just a facade?
Now she even wanted her to talk about the falling out to admit she stole Shen Shuhe’s resources, just to scold her under the guise of sympathy?
No way.
She didn’t believe that her sister truly didn’t know what had gone on between her and Shen Shuhe.
Sang Miao had no intention of getting into this argument from the start.
No matter how it was said, she wouldn’t be satisfied anyway.
But thinking she could manipulate her guilt for some compensation, she had miscalculated.
Seeing her remain silent, her expression darkening,
Sang Miao switched to a more serious tone and said,
“Sang Rui, my marriage with Meng Peisheng is fake.
Even if some people treat us differently now because of the Meng family, it won’t last.”
Sang Rui stared at her silently for a few seconds.
Fake, I know it’s fake.
And it will never turn into something real.
But in this moment, Sang Rui just assumed she was brushing her off with words, and responded stiffly, “That’s not true.
You’re married now.
If there’s even a chance to make it real, wouldn’t that be even better?”
Did her sister have no thoughts like that at all…?
With the matchmaking by elders, the wedding banquet, and the brand VIP privileges,
don’t say it was all handed to her by Meng Peisheng.
Weren’t all these things earned through her careful efforts?
Now she was pretending to be all calm and unambitious.
Sang Miao remained silent.
She wasn’t surprised that Sang Rui had such thoughts.
She suddenly recalled that in the original plot,
the so-called villainous stepmother had ended up with a tragic fate precisely because of similar thoughts and expectations.
When desire outweighs ability, it becomes easier to make wrong choices.
If she had followed the original storyline and been the one to get married,
it would have been hard to guarantee she wouldn’t have ended up with a similar fate.
Sang Miao thought things were fine as they were now.
At the very least, she could ensure her well-being, and Sang Rui,
being able to stay away from the storyline, was already the best possible outcome.
As for her current life, Sang Miao had already said everything she needed to say.
She was an adult now,
whether she listened or not was up to her.
…
Meng Xici had originally been reading in his room.
Seeing that their agreed-upon time had passed by a bit, he thought he’d head downstairs to check on the situation.
If she couldn’t leave right away, it was fine to skip the shooting range today.
He could just stay home and read.
Coming downstairs, Meng Xici saw the two of them sitting on the couch in the living room.
He glanced over casually, then pretended to head into the kitchen for some water.
After drinking, he walked back out.
It seemed like they weren’t chatting anymore.
Sang Miao didn’t want to say anything extra.
It would just make her sound like a nagging old woman.
She was a sister, not a mother.
She couldn’t control her for the rest of her life.
Just then, Meng Xici came over, and she didn’t plan to keep talking to Sang Rui anyway.
What needed to be said had already been made clear.
Whatever Sang Rui chose to think or do next was her own business.
Sang Miao calmly sipped her tea, completely at peace.
As for whether Sang Rui felt the same, she didn’t know.
Seeing that Sang Rui had nothing more to say, she told her,
“I have something to do later, so I won’t be keeping you today, alright?”
The subtle dismissal was clear.
Sang Rui didn’t want to say anything more either.
She picked up her coat and bag and stood up.
As she turned around, she spotted Meng Xici.
He stood there, sensing the tension in the air,
but still nodded politely and greeted Sang Rui.
Sang Rui glanced at him, smiled faintly in reply, and then walked toward the front door.
Meng Xici didn’t think much of her odd attitude.
He simply asked Sang Miao,
“Are we still going to the shooting range later?”
As soon as he said that, Sang Rui’s steps faltered.
Then she heard Sang Miao reply,
“Of course, let’s go now. I’ll go change.”
After speaking, Sang Miao headed upstairs.
By the time she came back down, dressed and ready, Sang Rui had already left.
…
When they arrived at the shooting range, they ran into Fang Yanbai near the counter.
He shouted, “What a rare guest!”
Then looked behind the two of them.
“A,h Sheng didn’t come today?”
Sang Miao responded,
“Just the two of us. He’s still at the office.”
Fang Yanbai grinned.
“Even better than.
Let’s go, sis-in-law, Xici, I’ll take you guys over.”
Today, Sang Miao tried a different type of gun, shooting at moving targets.
After she got familiar with a few new models, she was silently calculating in her head
she might just end up better than Meng Peisheng.
The thought made her a little excited.
Meng Xici had grown tired of shooting at stationary targets.
Since his dad wasn’t around today, he decided to head over to the moving target range.
Fang Yanbai was checking the guns and, seeing Meng Xici’s move, clicked his tongue.
“Xici, stepping up the difficulty, huh?”
Meng Xici didn’t brag. He just said calmly, “I’ll give it a try first.”
Fang Yanbai replied with a casual “Alright,” then came over to give him a few pointers.
But before he could finish a couple of sentences, someone from the club came looking for him.
He was about to tell them to wait,
but the way the person described the issue sounded urgent.
After hesitating for a couple of seconds
Sang Miao noticed and said to Fang Yanbai, “You go ahead. I can guide Xici.”
Fang Yanbai thought about it and didn’t feel the need to worry.
“Alright then, sis-in-law. You’re the professional here. I’ll head over first.”
Sang Miao smiled and walked over to stand next to Meng Xici, calmly and leisurely staring at him.
Meng Xici: “……”
He had a strange feeling she wasn’t up to anything good.
—
Over the following week, Sang Miao sent a few drafts of concept art to Shen Xingxia.
Then she went to the studio to discuss some design-related issues before coming back to continue refining and adjusting the work.
That evening, she was crouched over her digital tablet and computer,
scratching her head in frustration, stuck on some visual details she couldn’t quite get right.
She couldn’t think of anything satisfactory.
She had already revised this image five times.
The scene itself was unfamiliar to her, so she could only rely on imagination,
Unlike the other scenes that came to her more naturally.
Even before Shen Xingxia suggested more tweaks, she already felt it wasn’t quite right.
To be fair, when it came to work, Shen Xingxia was ruthless and strict,
extremely particular about the content.
Even though he was younger than her.
But that’s precisely why Sang Miao and the rest of the team trusted him.
Whether the details were in place and whether the sincerity of the work came through,
players could directly feel it.
To lead a major project, you needed that level of determination and backbone.
He had high standards as a leader,
but it was the people executing them who suffered.
Sang Miao felt like a tormented little corporate peon at this point, despite technically being the project’s largest shareholder.
That’s how people were.
At first, they were full of ambition.
Then, when challenges came up, the suffering began and they’d start questioning why they even took the job in the first place…
Wouldn’t lying flat and doing nothing feel so much better?
Why bother chasing success?
Was she running out of money? Was she starving?
Why was she putting herself through this…
After complaining to herself, she went back to doing exactly what she had been doing.
Sang Miao buried herself back in front of the computer, trying hard to concentrate.
If no new ideas came, she figured she’d take a walk downstairs to refresh herself.
She focused intently, trying to stay immersed in the world of her imagination and thoughts.
Just as she was getting into the zone, Youyou suddenly dashed in from outside, meowing loudly at her.
Sang Miao was about to tell it to go play on its own and not bother her,
but casually glanced under the desk, and noticed something seemed off in its voice and eyes.
Youyou kept meowing at her while trying to lead her out.
It didn’t look like it just wanted to play.
Though confused, Sang Miao still followed it downstairs.