After finishing their meal, Zhong Ruanxing drove Song JinXing over to Teacher Niu's place to receive his daily beating as promised. She reminded him before he got out of the car, "Tell Teacher Niu not to hit you too hard. The bruises from yesterday still haven't faded."
Song JinXing nodded. "I'll be careful not to let your body get injured."
Zhong Ruanxing was speechless. "I'm worried about you getting beaten!" She started the car with a murmur and drove away annoyed. "It's not like I'm the one feeling the pain anyway."
Song JinXing watched the trailing smoke of the car and smiled faintly.
In the afternoon, Zhong Ruanxing received a call from Song Shuling, asking if sister-in-law was still staying at her brother's home tonight.
"I bought a gift to give sister-in-law when we meet. I want to bring it over."
Zhong Ruanxing recalled her odd behavior last night and took the chance to ask, "Why did you leave so quickly last night? Do you not like your sister-in-law?"
Song Shuling hurriedly denied it. "No, not at all!" She hesitated briefly before stammering, "I was afraid of disturbing you two. Sister-in-law may not like me."
"How could that be?" Zhong Ruanxing's tone was firm. "Your sister-in-law likes you very much."
Song Shuling sounded a little happy. "Really?" Then she sounded somewhat dejected again. "But sister-in-law hardly talks to me or smiles at me."
Zhong Ruanxing had no choice but to say, "That's just her personality. You see, she doesn't smile at me either, but she likes me very much."
Song Shuling laughed at her words, and the anxiety that had weighed on her all night finally dissipated. When she arrived at the apartment that evening, she didn't enter directly with the password like last night. Instead, she knocked on the door.
Zhong Ruanxing was cooking. Song JinXing went to open the door.
Seeing that cold, aloof face, Song Shuling immediately put on an ingratiating smile. "Hello, sister-in-law."
Song JinXing nodded. "Come in."
He still wasn't used to interacting with this younger sister, let alone now in Zhong Ruanxing's body. Likewise, Song Shuling felt the same. Although reassured by her brother's words, facing those indifferent eyes still made her involuntarily nervous.
She changed her shoes and immediately ran to the kitchen. "Brother, let me help you."
Zhong Ruanxing waved her hand. "It's almost done. Just help set the table."
Having come home early today, she didn't just cook some instant noodles to get by. After all, she was the daughter of a top chef. Although she didn't cook often, she had inherited her father's talent. The dishes she made looked quite decent.
Song Shuling had tasted her cooking here while recuperating before, so she often bought ingredients to come over and eat. Although they were just home-cooked dishes, she felt the taste was better than a Michelin-starred chef's.
Zhong Ruanxing had thought she was just heavily biased towards her brother when hearing such compliments before.
But it seemed the siblings really did enjoy her cooking, as the dishes were emptied quickly. Song JinXing automatically went to wash the dishes. Song Shuling immediately stopped him. "Sister-in-law, let me wash them! Let me!"
She looked flustered, as if afraid he would compete with her for the task. Song JinXing was silent for a second before handing the dishes over to her.
Perhaps having adapted to Teacher Niu's teaching methods, he didn't seem to have many new injuries after practicing today. When Song Shuling finished the dishes and came out, she saw brother applying medicine for sister-in-law again.
That fair, delicate skin was mottled with bruises, looking as if it had been abused. It was painful to even look at, yet sister-in-law didn't furrow her brows at all, maintaining her usual calm appearance.
Song Shuling couldn't help but admire her a little.
After he finished applying the medicine, she plucked up her courage and handed over the gift she had prepared. "Sister-in-law, this is a gift I got you. I hope you and brother will be together forever."
Her nervousness was visible in her expression and careful tone as she said this.
Seeing her trying so hard to please, Song JinXing suddenly felt a trace of unfamiliar sourness he had never experienced before. His lips pressed thinly. His fingers twitched but ultimately he didn't stroke her head like Zhong Ruanxing would have. He just accepted the gift box and said in a low voice, "Thank you, Shuling."
Song Shuling didn't know if it was her imagination, but in that moment, she felt the coldness around sister-in-law had receded quite a bit.
She unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief.
Brother was so right. Sister-in-law was only aloof by nature. She didn't dislike her. Song Shuling had seen too many contemptuous and hateful gazes over the years and was extremely sensitive to such malice.
Some people would beam at her enthusiastically, yet she could only feel their ill intent. Although sister-in-law was icy cold, she could hear the sentiment in that 'thank you'.
Her mood upon leaving brother's home tonight was completely different from last night's. As Song Shuling got out of the elevator, she even skipped a couple steps. After getting in the car, she thought for a moment then searched sister-in-law's name on Weibo.
Under the deterrence of top lawyer Xu Qishen, there were hardly any more petty, baseless rumors on Weibo now. After an initial explosive surge, Zhong Ruanxing's fans had settled down into a gradual upward trend.
But the fan community was now stable, with the stars happily working on data every day. The official announcement of the leading cast of Song of Floating Life recently, as well as photos of the script discussion meeting, delighted them. They were now working on data for Song JinXing's role of "Qian Si" in hopes of raising awareness of the character.
Song Shuling had never followed stars before, so she was a little lost as she browsed for a while. She first followed sister-in-law's Weibo, then her hashtag, checking in and punching the clock. The pinned post at the top of her feed was a summary of voting links on major platforms.
Song Shuling clicked through the links one by one, quickly figuring out how to vote.
The actresses ranking ahead didn't look as pretty as sister-in-law, so why did they have so many more votes?! She was unhappy about this!
After voting, she scrolled up and saw another post had been heavily upvoted: [Xingxing's commercial resources have been so unfair since finishing The Spy until now without any news. If not for the two Song Corporation endorsements, there would be no data to make. Is the team even doing any work?]
—[Don't worry, sisters. Xingxing's resources in all areas have been so unfair before. Since she doesn't have a representative work yet, investors won't trust her either. It'll be fine after The Spy and Song of Floating Life air next year. I believe in Xingxing's ability to turn things around!]
—[Didn't we prepare ourselves when starting to follow a small-time actress? We're fans of someone who needs room to grow! Let's give her time!]
—[At least there aren't those malicious rumors anymore. The team is still working.]
—[How are the endorsements unfair when so many people are drooling over just the two from Song? More resources will definitely come after the shows air. We just need to believe in her.]
—[A beauty for the ages will go viral across Asia!]
—[Let me dump some cold water. She's only second female lead in The Spy and equal lead in Song but the show is clearly leaning towards Amy. Even if the shows do really well, it won't count under Xingxing's name. Let's pray Xingxing can get a standalone female lead project soon!]
...
The more Song Shuling read here and asked there, the more she understood what they were discussing.
Turns out sister-in-law had been maliciously slandered and suppressed since her debut until finally turning things around this year. But with no representative work, she couldn't get endorsements or quality female lead roles. She didn't even have variety shows, so she was at a greater disadvantage than actresses debuting alongside her.
Reading this made Song Shuling feel a little anxious.
Song Corporation had so many endorsements, yet sister-in-law only got two? Why not just give them all to her?
If she can't play female leads, why doesn't Song Corporation specifically invest in a TV series, hire the best screenwriter and director, and let sister-in-law star in it? Would that not work?
What's going on with brother? Doesn't he know how to do all this?