Zhou Yun said, "Sorry to keep you waiting so long. If I’d known, I would’ve come a couple days earlier."

"Not at all, you were always scheduled to arrive today. We just came early to check the place out again," Zeng Yeng said. "I haven’t congratulated you in person yet—another nomination for the Qingmu Award for Best Actress, that’s amazing. People say among the younger generation of actresses there’s no one who can compare to you anymore, and you’re still breaking the records you set yourself."

Zhou Yun shook her head and said, "No way, Sister Yeng, don’t praise me like that, I feel really embarrassed."

Zeng Yeng said, "Isn’t that exactly how it is? Don’t be so modest. If you ask me, every actress should learn from you. Even before we worked together, I’d already heard so many people praise you, saying you can take hardship and you’re never fussy on set. At first I thought maybe they were wearing rose-tinted glasses about you, but after working with you for so long this time, I realized that’s really the kind of person you are."

Zhou Yun wasn’t very good at handling situations where people laid on the praise.

She’d always felt a real resistance to people complimenting her—not that she didn’t like hearing it, but she never knew how to respond. Smiling felt wrong, not smiling felt wrong; she just didn’t know what to do with herself.

After putting away her luggage and changing clothes, Zhou Yun went out for coffee with Zeng Yeng and Wen Bing.

Zeng Yeng said, "Xiao Yun, I heard you lent Liu Yuqian several million?"

Zhou Yun looked at Zeng Yeng in surprise and asked, "Sister Yeng, where did you hear that?"

But Zeng Yeng didn’t answer directly. She hedged, only saying, "In this circle, there’s no such thing as a wall that doesn’t leak wind. Anything that happens, news will get out. I just heard it in passing from someone. I never thought you’d actually be willing to lend money to Liu Yuqian."

"Why not?" Zhou Yun said. "Is she a scammer or something?"

"That’s not what I mean. It’s just that everyone knows she owes a huge amount of money, and it’s going to be very hard for her to pay it off," Zeng Yeng said. "You’re not the only one she borrowed money from."

"Since she promised to pay it back, I’ll trust that she will," Zhou Yun said. She had no intention of continuing this topic with Zeng Yeng.

She and Zeng Yeng weren’t very close, so she didn’t really want to get into such a sensitive topic with her.

Zhou Yun took the initiative to ask, "Sister Yeng, are you married?"

Zeng Yeng shook her head and said, "I’m already engaged. We’re planning to get married in the second half of the year."

Hearing that, Zhou Yun thought, what a coincidence, and said, "Congratulations, congratulations."

Zeng Yeng said, "Do you and Song Chi have any plans for when to get married?"

Zhou Yun shook her head. "We’re just letting things take their course. We’re both really busy right now, we hardly have any time together. Getting married or not doesn’t mean that much to us. Even if we did get married, this situation wouldn’t change in the short term."

Zeng Yeng said, "I used to think that way when I was younger too, that getting married or not didn’t mean much to me. But then when I got past thirty, I suddenly started feeling anxious about my age. You probably can’t relate yet. When everyone around you slowly starts getting married, having kids, and you’re still alone, you get this sense of being left behind by other people."

Zhou Yun said, "That’s not what I meant. I mean getting married or not doesn’t make much difference to how Song Chi and I get along. We’re both too busy right now. Even if we got married, it wouldn’t slow our pace down. It’s not that we don’t plan on getting married."

Zeng Yeng suddenly understood. "Oh, that’s what you meant."

Listening to the two of them talk, Wen Bing discreetly winked at Zhou Yun.

Zhou Yun knew exactly what Wen Bing meant.

Wen Bing could be a bit too cutting sometimes—like right now. What Wen Bing actually wanted to say to Zhou Yun was: see, the producer of our film doesn’t even have basic comprehension skills.

Which really shouldn’t have been an issue.

Zeng Yeng had been sent over by New Shield to manage the Female Assassin project—meaning, of course, she’d been sent by Yao Yuanfeng.

New Shield had greenlit the film and put up a big investment, but with that kind of money on the line, there was no way they were just going to let Wen Bing burn through it unchecked in a foreign country. What if they ran out of money before the film was finished—then what?

Zeng Yeng was there to control the money.

During the early prep phase, Wen Bing had already clashed with Zeng Yeng more than once.

Sometimes Wen Bing insisted on shooting a certain shot, but Zeng Yeng felt it wasn’t worth spending that much money on, and the two of them would end up in conflict.

Zhou Yun had long heard about the conflicts between them.

It was inevitable: one was the spender, the other was the one holding the purse strings. Their positions were bound to clash.

After they finished their coffee, Wen Bing said to Zhou Yun, "Remember to come to the meeting tomorrow."

"Got it, I won’t forget," Zhou Yun said. "I need to go back and sleep. I’m so tired."

Wen Bing nodded and stood up first. "Let’s go."