"Surprised to see me?" Su Fu asked.
Su Li snapped at her. She said she had never expected Su Fu to have a daughter, and that the man standing behind her must be old and half dead. And it was wonderful, really, because she had just caught another one of Su Fu's weaknesses.
Su Fu told Su Li that she didn't think she would ever do very well in the world of Star Entertainment. The family had spent a great deal of money on her, and they had not seen her popularity increase — although she had won first place on the list of worst acting skills, and did not even have the qualifications to be nominated for anything else.
Su Li told her that she was a — and that it was not her turn to lecture anybody.
Su Fu asked her what else she could actually do besides scream and slap people, since even an ordinary human being was not as bad at acting as she was.
The director, meanwhile, was wondering whether that really was Su Fu. He had heard what happened six years ago, when Su Fu and the entertainment star had such an ugly fight; and what was even more shocking was that she had turned out to be the mother of the Little Genius Lulu. When had she got married? Perhaps she had retired from acting because she was pregnant before she married.
Su Fu greeted the director and said that she had heard he was making a large-scale film, and asked whether she might have the honour of working with him.
She had come here to disturb the situation. Because when Su Li felt that she was in a crisis, she would go all out to compete for the female lead — and then the game would become far more interesting.
Su Li told her not to think so highly of herself; it was fine if she wanted to sink, but she didn't want the whole team dragged down and buried with her.
Su Fu asked Manman to take the little genius out first. Manman picked her up and left. The worried director also began to wonder whether he should leave.
Then Su Fu told her that they both knew what had happened, so if she didn't mind, she could put every bit of it out in the open.
Su Li asked who she thought she was scaring. What had happened back then, she said, was that Su Fu had used her scoundrel identity to marry into the Qin family and steal their wealth. Did she still want to hit her? Because she had truly never seen anybody as shameless as her. She could make it public if she liked; Su Li wasn't afraid of anyone. Su Fu was just a poor actress with an illegitimate daughter, and Su Li had the support of the Su family behind her — so who did she think would believe her words, when she didn't even have any proof?
Su Fu said that all right, then they would present it together, and see which of them ended up number one on the trending list.
Su Li snapped that she was a dead pig that wasn't afraid of boiling water, and that she had better go and look, because maybe she could make a lot of money out of it. And she told her not to blame her sister for refusing to give her a chance — what did she think of this: she would ask the company to find her a minor part, a beggar girl, or a widow who got abused, or a role with several layers to it. Which was more exciting? Which sort did she prefer?
Su Fu stepped forward, took her by the arm and threw her down onto the table.
The director looked nervous, and said that it seemed he had discovered a great many things he was not supposed to know.
Su Fu told Su Li not to blame her older sister for being cruel. What if she asked the director to give her a small part instead — a beggar with a broken left hand, or a scavenger girl with a broken right hand? Or perhaps she liked both arms broken. Wouldn't that be more exciting?
Su Li told her to try it.
Su Fu told her that if she had no work as an actress she wouldn't be able to support her children; and if she couldn't support her children, she would be on the brink of ruin. Did Su Li really think she wouldn't dare?
She pressed down a little harder.
Su Li said that if she dared to do that to her, the Su family would never let her go easily. She said that she felt as though her hand was about to break. She said that Su Fu was a damned woman, and wondered when on earth she had become so good at this.
Su Fu turned her over and took her by the throat, and told her that, by the way, she was not going to let the Su family go either. Then she poured water into her mouth and reminded her that when a person had a bad mouth, you simply had to wash it out.
Su Fu walked out, and Su Li was left coughing on the table.
At the door she told Director Wan that she would arrive in time for the audition the following day, and that she hoped she would be given a chance.
He said all right, and that they would be waiting for her.
Su Li, for her part, said that she was a — and that she had made her do this. She wanted to become the movie queen, and to defeat Su Fu completely in the one field she was best at.
Walking out, Su Fu was remembering how, six years ago, she had begged Yi Fan to give her a chance, and how she had said that since the contract was not over she would even agree to go on hiatus temporarily. But Yi Fan had not only refused her coldly; he had also called the security guards to remove her.
Then she overheard a conversation.
Somebody was telling the boss that if he didn't sign Miss Su Fu, she would go to another company, and then he would definitely regret it.
Inside, the boss was telling Tan Renru that she had clearly lost her mind, and asking her whether signing Su Fu wasn't exactly the same thing as offending the Su family. If Tan Renru hadn't made a great deal of money for this company, he said, he would have fired her a long time ago. Because when the Su scandal broke out back then, if he had not cut the losses in time and drawn a clear line between the company and her, the company would definitely have suffered for it.
Su Fu stood in the corridor. Originally she had wanted to find out whether the boss would let her come back to Star Entertainment. But it seemed things were exactly the same as they had been six years ago. The family's slander against her back then would have to be cleared up first, before she could move on to the next step of her plan.