When Have I Ever Lied to You?

But Du Lanxi was completely unmoved. She bundled her up tightly and led her out of the private dining room.

Chen Sinian took the elevator down to the parking garage with them. When they reached their car, Du Lanxi glanced at him, finally understanding why he had invited Su Tangtang to dinner.

Having been manipulated, Du Lanxi had lost any desire to negotiate with him, no matter how big a star he was.

Su Tangtang did speak up, though. "Brother Chen, we'll be going, then."

Instead of responding to that, Chen Sinian said, "There's something I need to tell you. I might not be going back on the dating reality show."

The brat had already secured all of his father's assets, including his company shares, and had sent his stepmother and the special assistant to jail. There was no need for him to keep putting on an act on the dating reality show.

"Huh?" Su Tangtang flipped through the book and discovered what had happened, too. [Then what about my three million?]

Chen Sinian said, "Don't worry. I'll pay you everything I promised."

"!!!"

[For real? There's actually a sugar daddy this generous in the world?!]

She stared at him for a while. Seeing that he wasn't joking at all, Su Tangtang immediately bowed to him like a penguin. "Thank you, Brother Chen!"

[Boohoo, I really lucked out, meeting such an amazing sugar daddy.]

Chen Sinian helped her straighten up with both hands, then rubbed his nose awkwardly.

If anyone should be saying thank you, it was him.

But just like before, the words reached his lips and refused to come out, no matter how hard he tried. He could only give up.

He said goodbye and let them leave first. He still had to wait for his assistant, who had gone to settle the bill.

Su Tangtang waved. "Bye-bye."

She got into the car with Du Lanxi, and they left.

Just as their car started, however, the man resting with his eyes closed against the back seat of the black sedan beside them slowly opened his eyes.

He idly twirled a gold lighter in his hand, those eyes that had been praised for their beauty glancing at the license plate of the van slowly driving away.

Then those shimmering eyes slowly closed again.

Inside the van, watching Chen Sinian's figure grow smaller and smaller, Du Lanxi was still baffled. "What deal did you make with him behind my back?"

What exactly was that three million about?!

Su Tangtang had guessed she would ask. With her brains, she would probably put it together in no time. Su Tangtang cleared her throat before quietly telling her.

When she finished, she immediately added, "Sister Du, please don't get mad. Once he transfers it to me, I'll send you thirty percent!"

The past two years of working with the original owner hadn't been easy for Du Lanxi. People mocked the original owner as a little train, hitching a ride on everyone else's popularity, and Du Lanxi hadn't fared much better.

Plenty of her peers had laughed at her, and none of the company's other artists wanted her as their manager. Su Tangtang was now her only client.

Luckily, she had never given up on the original owner. Otherwise, Su Tangtang wouldn't be on the dating reality show now, let alone getting this extra three million.

Du Lanxi glanced at her. "Are you serious?"

"Of course!"

"When have I ever lied to you?"

The instant she finished speaking, her phone chimed. Chen Sinian had been remarkably quick and had already transferred the money.

Seeing that, she immediately sent thirty percent to Du Lanxi. As she made the transfer, she said, "Sister Du, I remember signing a three-year contract with the company. It's almost up, right? How about we leave and start our own studio then?"

She hadn't forgotten that one of the company's executives had tried to pressure the original owner into sleeping with him. If Du Lanxi hadn't protected her, he might actually have succeeded.

Even after they reported him to the higher-ups, nothing came of it. Instead, plenty of people came to persuade the original owner to let it go, since nothing had actually happened.

Looking at the text notification for the transfer, Du Lanxi paused again and repeated, "Are you serious?"

Su Tangtang gave the same answer. "Of course. When have I ever lied to you?"

"Although I don't know how things will turn out, I promise that as long as I have a bowl of porridge to drink, you'll have a bowl to wash!"

Du Lanxi said, "..."

She gave her a look and let her figure out what it meant.

Su Tangtang flashed her a toothy grin.

Du Lanxi sighed. "I'll look into it. I still have more than a year left on my contract. If the company won't let me go, we'll have to wait until it expires."

Su Tangtang replied, "Okay. If they won't let you go, I'll wait for you."

"All right."

After a moment of silence, Du Lanxi said, "Don't sell yourself short. With that face of yours, you'll have plenty of opportunities as long as you don't go causing trouble."

Besides, she had that book that could look up anything.

"I know." Su Tangtang smiled. "I was just joking with you."

She still wanted to earn enough money to retire early. Of course she would work hard and stay out of trouble.

The next morning.

At ten, Su Tangtang was still lying in bed playing on her phone when a Weibo notification suddenly popped up.

Bai Zhitao had posted that she was turning down the drama's female lead role for personal reasons. The production team had agreed and also posted that they were looking for a new female lead.

Puzzled, Su Tangtang hurried to flip through the book.

She found that the information about the drama had changed significantly. Somehow, the director had discovered Bai Zhitao's tax evasion. After discussing it, the two sides had agreed to terminate her contract amicably.

They wouldn't reveal the reason for the termination, and Bai Zhitao would have to keep her fans in check so they wouldn't cause trouble for the production in the future-for example, stirring up narratives about how the role belonged to her, or how she would have done a better job than the new female lead.

Filming hadn't even started yet, and they had already poured a fortune into the drama. Naturally, they didn't want any negative publicity attached to it. Besides, plenty of rivals were surely watching from the shadows, ready to turn the slightest spark into a major scandal. That would be extremely damaging to them.

Bai Zhitao had agreed, and both sides had signed an agreement. If her side violated it, the production team would have the right to reveal why she had been replaced.

Now, Bai Zhitao had also sent someone to pay all the taxes she had failed to pay over the past few years. Naturally, that meant the later issue of the drama being unable to air because of her tax evasion was gone.

Even so, Su Tangtang still had no liking for her. The fact that she had done it in the first place showed what she truly thought. If no one had found out, she probably wouldn't have paid those taxes.

She earned so much and still evaded taxes. She had brought it all on herself. Now they had let her pay what she owed and given her another chance to keep raking in money.

The production team's refusal to offend anyone really made Su Tangtang want to spit out a curse. Pah!

People like that should disappear from the screen altogether.

She scrolled through the comments under the Weibo post. Before long, Du Lanxi called her.

"Sister Du, did you need me?"

Du Lanxi answered, "About that role yesterday-the director asked me to come over now to sign the contract. Do you want to come along?"

"Did he ask me to be there?"

"No." He had only asked Du Lanxi to come.

"Then I'll pass. I haven't even gotten out of bed yet."

Du Lanxi didn't say much, simply replying, "All right."

It wasn't until Friday evening that the production team finalized their female lead.

Zhou Ling was a professionally trained young actress. She wasn't particularly famous yet, but she had a good reputation and had played plenty of supporting roles that showed she could act. Most importantly, her background was clean, so she wouldn't cause trouble like Bai Zhitao.

It was a male-led drama to begin with, and the female lead didn't have much presence. They had come around to the idea that, rather than relying on an actor's fame to generate buzz, they should focus on making a good drama-especially the fight scenes. If those were satisfying enough, why worry about getting good word of mouth?

When Du Lanxi called to tell Su Tangtang about it, she was packing her luggage. The dating reality show would be back on air tomorrow.