MTL - 39

Does Tang Yu think that proximity will naturally lead to affection? He’s overthinking it. Perhaps he’s forgotten that I spent over a year helping him chase Ming Zhu as his teammate.

Perhaps love makes people nitpicky.

— The Diary of a Little Rich Girl

After hearing that sentence, Tang Ting was momentarily stunned: “Huh? But you used to like the type like Ming Zhu—waist-length hair, gentle personality—not at all like Tang Xin…” She tugged at her long hair. “Tang Xin is very pretty and sweet-looking, but she’s completely different from your previous type. Most importantly, she’s not gentle at all! On the surface, she looks sweet and smiling, but in reality, she’s cunning and ruthless!”

As she said the last part, Tang Ting likely recalled the scene where she was treated as “Little Lamb” and fleeced. Her voice grew louder.

Tang Yu: “… “

Not only was she not gentle, but she was also fierce and stubborn—cunning and ruthless were spot-on descriptions.

That was Tang Xin.

Tang Yu didn’t deny that the women he had previously pursued or dated were indeed different from Tang Xin—entirely distinct types. What he couldn’t deny, however, was that he had fallen for Tang Xin now, someone completely opposite from the partner he had envisioned.

Her views on love and life were problematic—she claimed she only liked his money and looks.

Thinking about this stung Tang Yu deeply. He glanced at Tang Ting, who was full of confusion, and said coldly: “Stop guessing nonsense.”

With that, he turned and walked away.

Tang Ting stood rooted in place, watching his car drive out of the estate. She muttered to herself: “So… did they really have a drunken mishap, and did he take advantage of Tang Xin?”

Frowning, she walked back, but suddenly stopped at the entrance.

Hadn’t her brother just said that he wasn’t necessarily uninterested in Tang Xin’s type?

Which meant… he might be interested?

She couldn’t resist pulling out her phone and sending Tang Xin a WeChat message: “Sugarheart, what exactly is going on between you and my brother?”

At that moment, You Huan had just arrived at Tang Xin’s new home, cradling Flower Roll. Tang Xin opened the door for her. A few days ago, while packing, Flower Roll had caused such chaos that Tang Xin had no choice but to send her to You Huan’s place.

Flower Roll was temporarily locked on the balcony.

Tang Xin slid the glass door shut, and her phone buzzed.

Opening the message from Little Lamb, she stared blankly for a moment before replying emotionlessly: “The relationship between a former boss and a former subordinate.”

Tang Ting: “Really? I don’t believe it!”

Tang Xin immediately shifted the blame to Tang Yu: “Then go ask your brother.”

Tang Ting: “… “

If she could get an answer from him, would she still be so tangled up?

You Huan took a tour of Tang Xin’s new home, admiring everything. Walking into the master bedroom, she watched Tang Xin hanging clothes in the wardrobe and praised with a smile: “This place is amazing. I’m tempted to beg you to let me live here.”

Tang Xin generously replied: “Sure, you’re welcome.”

Her bed was covered with a mess of clothes. You Huan went over to help; she was much better at organizing than Tang Xin. “Forget it,” she paused, holding the wardrobe door and looking at Tang Xin, “it’s a bit far, not very convenient. And… Qu Wei got married in a flash marriage and is moving out. There’s still half a year left on the lease for that place, and I’ll be living alone.”

Qu Wei had co-founded the studio with You Huan and had been renting a place together for two or three years.

Tang Xin was taken aback: “Huh? Flash marriage? With whom?!”

“A high school classmate. Back then, he chased her relentlessly but failed. On graduation day, he kissed her forcefully, and Qu Wei slapped him.” You Huan raised an eyebrow as she spoke. “I used to think the guy was too ugly to succeed, but today when I saw him… damn, he’s insanely handsome. He could rival your Boss Tang—refined and gentlemanly on the outside, but secretly devious. That face… I can’t imagine how Qu Wei managed to slap him.”

“…”

Why bring up Tang Yu again?

“How come no handsome guy has ever forcefully kissed me? I consider myself pretty enough. Why is my romantic luck so bad?”

“…”

Tang Xin fell silent. She had kissed someone forcefully once.

It was embarrassing even to think about it.

She patted You Huan’s shoulder consolingly: “Don’t worry, your luck will change soon. You can have as many handsome guys as you want.”

You Huan laughed: “By the way, didn’t Dingding say she wanted to come over?”

Tang Xin pursed her lips and recounted the afternoon’s events: “He said he was trying to make amends.”

You Huan clicked her tongue: “Is Tang Yu planning to chase after you again? Men are such fools. When you were pursuing him, he thought you weren’t good enough, but now that you’ve moved on, he feels regretful.” She looked at Tang Xin warningly. “Let me tell you, even if you still have feelings for him, don’t give in so easily. Didn’t Dingding say something about needing five points of affection to start chasing and six points to really pursue? Let’s see how far he goes.”

“I’m not that weak. Not long ago, I was just a spare tire. Now…” Could she be considered upgraded from a spare tire? Tang Xin felt frustrated and tossed the clothes into the wardrobe. “Forget about him. My parents might visit soon.”

Because the house she bought was higher-end than expected, her savings fell a bit short. Tang Wei and Zhong Lijun gave her six million yuan, initially saying they’d come to see the place together. Now that the purchase went smoothly, they weren’t in a rush and said they’d visit later.

The next morning, when Tang Xin left for work, she noticed the neighboring door was open, and renovations were underway. Old furniture was being moved out.

The foreman saw her and politely smiled: “Hello, we’re doing some simple renovations here. If it bothers you, please let us know.”

Tang Xin had never encountered such polite renovation workers before. She smiled: “Okay, thank you.”

It took Tang Xin a week to slowly tidy up her new home. When she went out to take out the trash, she noticed the neighbor’s renovations were much more tasteful and progressing quickly.

She sighed in admiration. The neighbor must be someone with refined taste.

Tang Ting kept asking her on WeChat when she could visit.

Due to the move, Tang Xin had fallen a bit behind on work and was busy catching up on the script. She couldn’t find time to accommodate visitors, so she postponed it.

In early July, the outline of the script was complete, and after the project team meeting, Lu Zhixing lounged in his chair and glanced at Tang Xin: “Do you have any candidates in mind for the male and female leads? Who do you think fits your image of Jiang Yi?”

Jiang Yi was the female protagonist of A Dream for You . She was in her early twenties, exuding youthful innocence. The actress couldn’t be older than 25.

When Tang Xin first signed with Shiguang Pictures, she secretly thought about who would suit her female lead. At the time, she believed the young starlet Lu Xuning fit perfectly. At 25, Lu Xuning had a clean appearance and aura, extremely delicate features. However, four years had passed, and she had transitioned into a mature femme fatale role.

She was no longer the female lead Tang Xin envisioned.

Tang Xin was torn. She mentally reviewed the popular young actresses and felt Zhou Jialu’s looks were somewhat fitting, though she wasn’t irreplaceable.

But Tang Xin had often used Tang Yu for publicity, and entertainment news once labeled her as his rumored girlfriend. Tang Xin disliked Zhou Jialu because of this.

Frowning, she admitted: “Zhou Jialu, maybe. But she’s started going down a sexy route recently.”

Lu Zhixing pursed his lips: “She probably won’t have availability.”

The film ideally needed to start shooting in spring, so the adaptation timeline was tight. Lu Zhixing wanted to release the film during next year’s Christmas or Spring Festival season. Popular actors generally had tight schedules, and Zhou Jialu’s schedule was reportedly booked until the following year.

Tang Xin: “Then forget it. I’ll think of someone else.”

Lu Zhixing chuckled: “Actually, newcomers are an option. If there’s no one suitable, we’ll scout talents from the Film Academy.”

Tang Xin considered it. That could work.

Feng Cheng disagreed: “Newcomers’ acting skills aren’t great.”

Old Yuan suggested: “What about Liu Ying?”

Lu Zhixing glanced at him and lazily smirked: “We might as well ask Tang Xin to act. She fits the image better.”

Tang Xin: “… “

Director Lu, you sure know how to joke.

Feng Cheng looked at Tang Xin, half-joking and half-serious: “Come to think of it, our little screenwriter Tang is quite pretty and delicate. She’s no worse than Zhou Jialu.”

Tang Xin smiled brightly: “Thank you all, but my acting fee is quite high. Unless you offer me at least 100 million yuan, I won’t consider it. The production team probably can’t afford me, so forget it.”

“Pretend I didn’t say anything.” Lu Zhixing chuckled, openly looking at her. “We really can’t afford it. The production team is broke.”

“…”

“HAHAHAHA!”

Feng Cheng and Old Yuan burst into laughter. Old Yuan had a low threshold for humor and laughed so hard he slumped in his chair, shoulders trembling.

Tang Xin puffed her cheeks but couldn’t help laughing either. She huffed: “Director Lu, you’ll have a hard time finding a girlfriend like this.”

Lu Zhixing chuckled, glancing at her. Feng Cheng teased him: “Serves you right for being single, old bachelor.”

“Old?” Lu Zhixing hissed. “I’m not even 31 yet—I’m a talented young man.”

After exchanging a few light-hearted words, he straightened up and tapped the table. “I’ll check Zhou Jialu’s schedule first. But her price is high, so I’m a bit hesitant. If she isn’t available, I’ll look into newcomers.”

Tang Xin nodded. She trusted Lu Zhixing’s judgment—he had successfully launched newcomers before.

…

Recently, several films in the summer season were fiercely competing. Shiguang Pictures never missed the summer box office every year. Tang Yu was swamped and barely had time to breathe. The Light of Tomorrow , a suspense film released on July 1st, had poor pre-sale box office numbers. After three days of release, its growth was only steady.

Tang Yu had set the film’s box office bottom line at eight hundred million yuan, but the opening was already lackluster.

In the afternoon, a three-hour high-level meeting was held to adjust the screening times. Tang Yu instructed the marketing team: “Try another angle for promotion. Screening arrangements are fine; audience growth is slow but stable.”

The marketing team quickly replied: “Got it.”

After the meeting, Tang Yu walked out of the conference room and glanced at the time on his wristwatch.

It was almost six o’clock.

He returned to his office, left work early by twenty minutes without overtime, grabbed his car keys, and headed out.

Gao Heng followed behind him, quietly reporting: “The furniture has been moved in, your luggage delivered, and all essentials prepared. You can stay tonight directly.”

Tang Yu entered the elevator. After days of consecutive overtime, he felt unusually relaxed: “Mm.”

Arriving at the underground parking lot, Gao Heng formally stated: “Wishing you a pleasant move-in, Boss Tang.”

Since Gao Heng handled all the arrangements for the new residence, he naturally knew that Miss Tang lived across the hall.

Tang Yu glanced indifferently at his sharp assistant, chuckled faintly, and said: “It should be enjoyable. You can head back.”

…

Tang Xin finally had a rare vacation and invited a few former colleagues from Shiguang to her new home for a housewarming party, including Tang Ting and her cousin, Zhong Yan, who rented her old apartment. She had ordered a banquet from a restaurant to be delivered.

After arranging all the dishes, it was just past six o’clock.

They were estimated to arrive in half an hour.

She sat on the couch with Flower Roll, scrolling through Weibo to pass the time. She came across a movie blogger’s review of The Light of Tomorrow and clicked to read it.

When Tang Yu stepped out of the elevator, he checked the time and guessed Tang Xin hadn’t returned home yet. He entered the neighboring unit using the code, stood in the foyer, and scanned the three-bedroom apartment—it was half the size of his previous place.

In the underground parking lot, Tang Ting spotted a familiar Maybach and froze.

Looking at the license plate—

It was her brother’s car.

Could it be that Tang Xin had also invited her brother?

Full of doubt, she pressed the doorbell. Tang Xin opened the door and timed it perfectly to open the main door.

Tang Ting exited the elevator just as the door opened. Tang Xin stood at the entrance, holding Flower Roll, waiting for her.

Tang Ting scurried over, standing in front of her, peeking mysteriously inside and whispering: “Is my brother here too?”

Tang Xin was puzzled: “No.”

The next second, the door across from them suddenly opened.

The man was still dressed in a shirt and trousers, his hair freshly trimmed, clean and neat, his features even more striking. Standing in the doorway, he calmly surveyed the scene, frowning slightly when he saw Tang Ting.

Both Tang Ting and Tang Xin mirrored each other’s expressions, their eyes wide as if they’d seen a ghost.

“You’re here?!”

“Brother, why are you across the hall…?”

They spoke simultaneously.

Tang Yu was stunned for only a second before regaining his composure, leaning against the doorframe with a faint smirk: “I just moved in today.”

________________________________________

Author’s Note:

Tang · Tyrant CEO · Yu: This is awkward.

Little Lamb Tingting: … Scandal! Definitely scandal!

Little Rich Girl: This new neighbor is making me want to beat him up.

— Semi-cohabitation begins! Get ready for the drama to unfold!