CHAPTER 439: CHAPTER 414: JUN, YOU LIANGSHENG: SOUNDS PAINFUL

"Tongtong..." Huo Shaojun murmured.

Unfortunately, Jian Liangtong, in extreme panic and anger, didn’t hear it.

"Uh... Huo, Huo Shaojun, you, stop!"

Jian Liangtong screamed in her heart!

The heat seemed to have penetrated through her thin skirt.

"Bastard!" Terrified out of her wits, Jian Liangtong cursed and then burst into tears.

"..." Huo Shaojun’s forehead veins throbbed, and all his movements immediately stopped, as he looked at Jian Liangtong with a tightened, flushed face.

Jian Liangtong’s thin body was shaking like a sieve, her exquisite face was pale, and her apricot eyes were filled with undisguised fear and panic.

She sobbed fiercely, with tears continuously rolling down from the corners of her eyes, and looked at him as if she was looking at an unscrupulous rapist!

Huo Shaojun’s breathing stalled for a moment, and a boundless darkness seemed to surge into his cold eyes, unfathomable.

In front of the Spyker Hotel, Bai Qiao was sitting in his car, ready to drive away.

The door of the backseat was suddenly opened, and a red figure got in.

Bai Qiao was startled, thinking he was hallucinating.

After half a second, Bai Qiao turned his body, about to look back.

"Don’t turn around, drive!"

The slightly hoarse and trembling female voice came from behind.

Bai Qiao’s spine stiffened, and after more than ten seconds, he sat up straight and cautiously glanced at the person huddled in the corner of the seat through the rearview mirror.

He opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end, he said nothing and drove forward.

In the suite, a tall man in a black robe stood like a stiff cold sculpture at the floor-to-ceiling window, placing his phone with speaker mode on the windowsill.

"Dad, are you listening to me?" The childish voice came from in his hand.

"Yeah."

"... Are you coming home tonight?"

Huo Shaojun’s cold eyes moved slightly, "Why?"

"..." For a full minute, there was no sound from the other end.

Huo Shaojun’s brows furrowed, "Hao Hao..."

"Nothing."

The voice dropped, and the call was disconnected from the other end.

"..."

Huo Shaojun was slightly stunned, looking down silently at the now dark phone screen.

Bai Qiao dropped Jian Liangtong off at the entrance of her residential area, and Jian Liangtong said nothing. She pushed the car door open and got out, walking into the complex without looking back.

Bai Qiao’s heart hung slightly, staring blankly at the entrance of the complex.

Jian Liangtong’s home was on the nineteenth floor of Building B in the complex.

It was somewhat like a traditional tube-shaped building, with three households on each floor.

After getting out of the elevator, aside from some fatigue on her face, Jian Liangtong didn’t show any additional emotions. Standing at the door, she hadn’t even inserted the key into the lock when the door was opened from the inside.

Jian Liangtong was taken aback, immediately looking at Mrs. Jian blocking the doorway with an angry face glaring at her. She laughed and said, "Mom, why are you so good today, waiting specifically at the door for me."

Mrs. Jian, He Xinyun, saw Jian Liangtong’s playful smile and couldn’t suppress the surging flood of power within her. She reached out to twist Jian Liangtong’s ear and growled, "Jian Liangtong, do you want to go overboard? Little Wu has such good conditions, he didn’t even look down on you, yet you look down on him? Do you think you are still a little girl of eighteen or nineteen? You’re twenty-six! Twenty-six! An old girl, and you still dare to be picky with me!"

"Mom, mom, stop, stop outside. It’ll be embarrassing if people see this!" Jian Liangtong felt embarrassed, fearing her mother’s loud voice would startle the two neighboring families, and hurriedly pushed He Xinyun indoors.

"Embarrassing? You still know about being embarrassed? Your mother’s face is almost lost to the Pacific Ocean because of you!"

"Mom, it’s not that bad. Nowadays, there are plenty of people at twenty-six without partners. Your daughter isn’t an anomaly. Besides, I’m currently focused on my career, where do I have the time to date?"

As soon as Jian Liangtong entered the house, she quickly shook off He Xinyun, took the fruit plate handed by Mr. Jian, and quickly headed towards her room.

"...You are different, don’t compare yourself with those people!" He Xinyun’s eyes flashed with complexity, chasing after Jian Liangtong.

Jian Liangtong’s legs slightly paused, she turned her head towards He Xinyun, and an expression of confusion appeared on her serene face, "Mom, you’ve been emphasizing how I’m different from others. I don’t understand, in what way am I different?"

Faced with Jian Liangtong’s confused yet pure eyes, He Xinyun hesitated for a long time before lowering her voice, "As a girl, you shouldn’t be so career-focused. What’s most important now is finding an ordinary good family and getting married..."

"I’ve heard you talk about this so much my ears have calluses." Jian Liangtong made a surrendering gesture and smiled pitifully, "Dear mother, I’m really tired today, can you please let me off for now?"

After speaking, Jian Liangtong turned around and walked into her room, closed the door, and locked it.

He Xinyun frowned, unwilling to give up and was about to step forward when Mr. Jian, Jian Ningfeng, hurried a few steps to hold her back, "Don’t push Tongtong anymore, didn’t you hear her say she’s very tired today?"

"Don’t tell me these things." He Xinyun growled at Jian Ningfeng, exasperation in her voice, her eyes showing red streaks, "Why am I doing this? Tongtong doesn’t understand, do you not understand either?"

Jian Ningfeng looked at He Xinyun’s red eyes, his brows tightly furrowed with gravity, "Of course, I know your good intentions. But Tongtong has her own plans, and if we keep pushing her like this, it’ll only add to her pressure and make her develop a strong aversion to blind dates. Wife, haste makes waste; we can’t rush Tongtong’s lifelong commitment."

"It’s been over half a year. I’ve introduced so many people to her through various connections, yet every time she’s just perfunctorily going through the motions! I’d be relieved if she took it seriously just once!"

"Maybe she hasn’t met someone she feels satisfied or moved by. Take it slow."

"..."

Inside the room, Jian Liangtong leaned against the door panel, stuffing fruits into her mouth while eavesdropping on her parents’ conversation outside the door until the voices grew fainter and eventually faded.

Only then did Jian Liangtong carry the fruit platter to the bed, sit cross-legged, reaching out for a piece of fruit ready to put it in her mouth. But as she was about to eat, Jian Liangtong suddenly lost all desire to eat.

On the dressing table, there was a photo framed with her and her best friend Jin Jumo, taken six years ago.

Jian Liangtong looked at the youthful images of her and Jin Jumo in the photo, her apricot eyes filled with confusion and wistfulness.

Jian Liangtong knew exactly why she was confused and bewildered, because she had lost five years of memory!

A year ago, when she woke up in the hospital room, everything had already changed drastically.

Her best friend was married with a child, while she had slept away five years of her life.

Unbelievable?

But it truly happened to her!

No matter how much she didn’t want to admit that her best five years were wasted on "sleeping," the fact remained, ridiculous and cruel.

After she finally accepted this reality and resolved to work twice as hard to make up for the five lost years, another painful thing happened.

Her mother began arranging all kinds of blind dates for her, no matter how she resisted, it was no use!

Sometimes she felt that the reason her mother was so eager to set up blind dates for her, saying she was different from others, was mainly because she was a "vegetative state" patient for five years, afraid others would dislike her, so they wanted to hurry and marry her off while she still looked somewhat youthful? Uh, is that possible?

Early the next morning, Jian Liangtong received a phone call directly from Hou Wenxuan.

The moment Jian Liangtong heard Hou Wenxuan’s voice, her heart screamed, it’s over, there’s no chance!

So when Hou Wenxuan said he thought Bai Qiao was still not suitable for the male lead role in his drama, Jian Liangtong knew Bai Qiao was definitely going to be passed over, and she was about to experience another role being snatched away by Li You.

"Little Jian, I’m really sorry, but I hope you can understand me. As the director of this drama, I have to be responsible for it," Hou Wenxuan said.

Jian Liangtong rolled her eyes up at the ceiling, "Director Hou, I certainly understand the ratings pressure you’re shouldering for the drama. Let’s just say Bai Qiao and this drama don’t have a fate together. Hi, that kid has been cooped up at home studying the script day and night without rest, how would he feel if he knew he couldn’t act? But it’s okay, I’ll talk to him."

"Little Jian, I knew I wasn’t wrong about you, you’re so magnanimous, truly remarkable."

Jian Liangtong snorted coldly in her heart and chuckled, "Director Hou, you’ve misunderstood me. How am I magnanimous? I just have no choice, my heart is quite sad and regretful. But if I cried to you over the phone, what would that say about the situation? I’m just swallowing my bitterness."

"Little Jian, you’re quite humorous," Hou Wenxuan laughed.

Your whole family is humorous!

Jian Liangtong took a deep breath.

The entertainment industry is like this; no matter how frustrated or aggrieved you feel inside, you still have to maintain appearances.

Especially considering Hou Wenxuan has a high status in television drama directing, and his dramas have good viewership ratings and reputation.

Even if there’s no cooperation this time, you can’t completely break ties with him and lose future opportunities to work together.

So now, Jian Liangtong could only lower her stance, express her regret while trying to evoke a little bit of guilt in him.

And Bai Qiao’s opportunity might just come because of that slight guilt!

"Director Hou, I’ll communicate to Bai Qiao about not being able to act. If there’s nothing else..."

"Little Jian," Hou Wenxuan suddenly interrupted Jian Liangtong.

Jian Liangtong’s eyelids twitched slightly, and she smiled, "Director Hou, is there something else?"

"...It’s like this, you and Huo Tianwang, you two..." Hou Wenxuan stammered.

Jian Liangtong roughly knew what he wanted to ask but played dumb, "Me and Huo Tianwang?"

"No, it’s nothing," Hou Wenxuan immediately said, "I’ll go through the script again and see if there are any other roles without cast actors. If so, and if they’re suitable for Bai Qiao, I’ll let you know."

"Thank you, Director Hou."

Ending the call with Hou Wenxuan, Jian Liangtong started going crazy, knocking her head against the wall, having no clue how to explain to Bai Qiao.

Bai Qiao takes things to heart; last time when his role was snatched by Li You, he was "self-indulgent and depraved" for a full half a month.