I Want a Lifetime with You novel Chapter 86

When Shi Nuan walked into the kitchen, she saw Fu Chengyan busy cooking. She stood at the door for a while before Fu Chengyan noticed her presence and said, “Why don’t you sit outside?”

“We’re not doing much outside. Are you sure you can handle all these by yourself?” Shi Nuan looked at Fu Chengyan and noticed that that he was very organized and methodical. She observed him for quite some time before asking, “Do you need my help?”

Fu Chengyan paused for a moment and nodded his head. He then said, “Take a look at the soup and adjust the intensity of the fire. I brought it to boil a while ago. Please let it simmer now.”

“Sure!” Shi Nuan walked to the pot and took a sniff and said, “This smells really good. What soup is this?”

“Pork bone soup,” Fu Chengyan paused for a moment and said, “You were drugged yesterday and there’s definitely some remnant of the drug in your body. Drinking some soup is good for you.”

When Shi Nuan heard Fu Chengyan’s words, she nodded with a smile and said, “Sure. But since when was I drugged? I have no recollection about it. Also, what about Shi Wei……” At this time, Shi Nuan realized that something was amiss as Shi Wei would usually be gloating or reprimanding her furiously whenever something happened. But this time, she was not around.

Doubt started to fill her thought as she could not recall what happened yesterday and Fu Chengyan also did not fill her in on the incident. “Was Shi Wei really the one who kidnapped me?”

Fu Chengyan raised his eyebrows and said, “Your reaction time is a little too slow. Shouldn’t you have asked this earlier?”

Shi Nuan pursed her lips and replied, “As you have said, I was drugged and that’s why my mind is not very alert.” Shi Nuan held a ladle in her hand to stir the soup in the pot before bringing it to a simmer. She then leaned against the kitchen island and stared at Fu Chengyan.

She realized that whatever Fu Chengyan did was pleasing to the eye, even if it was only a menial matter. Shi Nuan imitated the usual way Fu Chengyan clasped his hands and said, “How did Shi Wei react when you rescued me yesterday? Based on her character, she would definitely come after me. But I still haven’t heard much from her today.”

Fu Chengyan lifted his eyebrows, twitched his lips and replied, “Isn’t it better if she’s not around to give you a hard time? Unless you are the kind of person who likes to be abused. Are you?”

“That’s not what I meant!”

“If that’s not the case, please help me to cut some garlic and ginger,” Fu Chengyan continued cooking while instructing Shi Nuan to help out. “Stop thinking about this matter as it’s not going to help you in any way.”

“That’s true.” It was a relief to be freed from Shi Wei. Although Shi Nuan still felt that something was amiss, she could not tell what went wrong.

Meanwhile, a “battle” was taking place at the living room. Although it was merely a misunderstanding between them all these while, Song Rongrong still found Su Shaoqing too snobbish. Furthermore, the smile of Su Shaoqing’s was just too irritating to Song Rongrong and that prompted her to challenge Su Shaoqing.

The method that they adopted was quite straightforward. The loser of the poker game would be punished with notes being pasted on his or her face.

This was one of the ridiculous games that Song Rongrong and Shi Nuan played in their school days. No one expected that such a game would still be useful in such a context. Song Rongrong met her match today. In the past, she was an expert in this game, but who would have expected Su Shaoqing to be even better in playing card games?

In fact, Su Shaoqing had played poker in various amusement and entertainment outlets. It was rare for him to lose a game. If he was to lose one, most likely it was because of him not wanting to win it and not because of his inability to do so.

After one round of poker, the face of Song Rongrong was covered in paper notes while the faces of Su Yian and Su Shaoqing were still clean.

“Hey, let’s stop the game. Did you both play dirty?” Song Rongrong threw the cards in her hand on the table and continued, “Why am I the only person losing in this game? My cards were good.”

Song Rongrong stared at Su Shaoqing furiously. She really suspected Su Shaoqing of playing dirty. Otherwise, how did she lose in every game? Indeed, Su Shaoqing and Su Yian did not lose at all.

Su Yian was never someone who was good in playing card games. In the past, she was merely asked to play so as to meet the minimum number of required players. Who would expect Su Yian to outlast her today?

Song Rongrong did not believe Su Yian could improve by leaps and bounds and her only explanation was that Su Shaoqing had applied some dirty tricks and made her lose.

Su Shaoqing raised his eyebrows and smirked while looking at Song Rongrong’s sour face, “Ms. Rong, your accusations are unsubstantiated. We really played fairly and you should not blame us if your card playing skill is bad.”

“You…” Song Rongrong gritted her teeth and continued, “I don’t want to play anymore.” She wiped away all the paper on her face. “There’s nothing wrong in quitting this game, right?”

“Sure, as a gentleman, I’ll not go against a lady’s wish.” Su Shaoqing then put his cards down on the table with a broad smile.

Song Rongrong felt bored and took the remote control to switch on the television. The program broadcasted at that time was entertainment news.

Shi Wei’s face appeared on the news and she was bombarded with questions from reporters. Many mics were placed before her and they almost covered her face. The panic on Shi Wei’s face was something that they had never seen before.

Song Rongrong’s hand froze for a while and she turned her head towards Su Yian. Su Yian also saw the title of the news: ‘Incumbent Popular Movie Star Shi Wei Gained Fame Through Unruly Ways!’

Song Rongrong and Su Yian looked at each other and thought to themselves, Could it be karma?

Song Rongrong laughed loudly and took out her cellphone to get an update on headline news. Indeed, the headlines of all media were about Shi Wei.

The more Song Rongrong read, the more in shock she was. The news was about how Shi Wei was kept as a sugar baby and the relationship she had with various movie directors in order to secure a role. The reporting provided not only words but also photographs. They made it hard for Shi Wei to provide a good explanation.

When Su Yian saw Song Rongrong laughing so happily, she also took her cellphone out to scroll through the news. “Oh my! No wonder Nuan could never defeat her as Shi Wei was such a wicked person with hidden agendas.”

Su Shaoqing narrowed his eyes. He stroked his chin with his fingers and watched the television screen as contentment swept across his face. He then looked towards the direction of the kitchen and pursed his lips.

He did not expect Fu Chengyan to do so much for Shi Nuan and it seemed that he was seriously interested in her.

“Who did she offend?”

“Who was offended?” Shi Nuan walked out of the kitchen with a tray of food when she heard the conversation between Song Rongrong and Su Yian. She then put down the tray and walked towards them.

Shi Nuan noticed something amiss from the facial expression of Song Rongrong. She then looked at Su Yian and then asked, “An, what’s the matter with you both?”

Shi Nuan shifted her gaze on the coffee table and saw the messy state of it with cards and paper notes everywhere. She then asked, “Did you all play a card game? Who lost in the game?”

“Haha, no one lost.” Song Rongrong burst into laughter awkwardly and said, “Nuan, come and take a look at this.” Song Rongrong brightened her cellphone screen and then passed it to Shi Nuan.

Shi Nuan held the cellphone suspiciously and was flabbergasted when she read the news. She was in disbelief and reread the news, “When…when did this happen?” No wonder Shi Nuan was not around to make her life difficult today as she was in trouble herself.

“It just happened today. But the entertainment industry is a complicated one. Even a small scandal would cause an uproar on the internet. For instance, this news was only reported a few hours ago but Shi Wei is already on all news headlines now, including social media. Her name tops the list of all search engines.”

Song Rongrong let out a sigh and said, “Who would know that Shi Wei’s character was worse than what we had expected?”

“Who would tip-off the media with regard to such matter?” Shi Nuan was startled as she did not expect the situation to end up this way.

“I don’t know. Many bloggers said that Shi Wei had offended many people throughout her acting career in the past. Some even said that she had framed and harmed others. The entertainment industry is so complicated and perhaps someone took revenge against her,” Song Rongrong said nonchalantly, for she did not find the identity of the person behind this matter important. As long as Shi Wei was humiliated, that would suffice.

Shi Nuan gritted her teeth and said, “No. I must give grandfather a call!”

“What’re you doing?” Song Rongrong snatched the cellphone from Shi Nuan and stared at her strangely. She then said, “Shi Wei deserved to be as such for the bad things she had done. If you call her family now, how would they think about you?”

“But my grandfather is old and he won’t be able to withstand such shocking news!” Shi Nuan frowned as she was worried that Shi Yunsheng’s mood would be badly affected by such news.

“Don’t worry. Grandpa Shi is not a weak person. He would be able to withstand this. Furthermore, Grandpa Shi is not someone who keeps up with the times. Perhaps he still does not know about this. What if your call was picked up by either your parents or Shi Wei? They would vent their anger on you, thinking that your purpose was to mock Shi Wei.”

Shi Nuan shrugged helplessly and said, “You always have a justification for everything.”

“What Ms. Song said was right!” Su Shaoqing responded after a long pause. “The entertainment industry is absolutely complicated. Since you’re not in the industry, you better stay out of it.”

“Yes, yes, yes, what Su Shaoqing said was right.”

Song Rongrong nodded her head repeatedly and said, “Well, stop thinking about this. Shi Wei should have gotten used to the entertainment industry and she wasn’t a kind person to begin with. The number of people who wanted to frame her is definitely more than a handful. Why don’t you see this as karma for what she had done to others, as well as a valuable lesson for her?”

Shi Nuan raised her eyebrows and asked, “Isn’t this adding insult to her injury?”

“What’s about adding insult to her injury?” Fu Chengyan served various dishes on the dining table before looking at Shi Nuan. He said, “Dinner is ready. Let’s tuck in.”

“Sure!” Shi Nuan smiled while keeping her cellphone aside. She then said, “Let’s wash our hands and start dinner!”

Su Shaoqing followed them behind and stopped for a moment when he walked pass Fu Chengyan. He whispered, “Fu Chengyan, you’re quite a big deal!”

Fu Chengyan raised his eyebrows and asked, “What do you mean?”

Su Shaoqing twitched his lips and replied, “You were the source of the information of Shi Wei’s scandal, weren’t you?” Su Shaoqing then gave him a thumbs up and continued, “Your girl even thought that this incident was sabotaged by Shi Wei’s enemies.”

Fu Chengyan raised his eyebrows and asked, “Does she know?”