A smile touched Lu Wen’s face. "As long as you’re happy. I have work right now, so let’s talk later."

Jin Xi: "Okay, I’ll come find you for lunch."

Lu Wen teased, "Aren’t you supposed to be working?"

"That’s not important. I just want to see you right now. As for work, I can go back and put in some overtime tonight."

Lu Wen didn’t object to Jin Xi coming over. "Alright, just come on over when you’re ready. I really have to go to a meeting now. See you later."

After a brief exchange, Lu Wen ran into Sister Li as she was leaving her office. Sister Li was in a good mood too. "I guess those keyboard warriors have nothing to say now, huh?"

"Reading that old news was so nauseating it almost made me sick."

"Let’s not make this all about men. How are Little Fang and Little Xia doing on set?" Lu Wen had no intention of discussing her private life further and quickly steered the conversation back to work.

"They’re all doing great," Sister Li said, her brow furrowing slightly. "But besides them, I heard some bad news."

Lu Wen frowned as well. "What is it?"

Sister Li: "For the script you gave out before, Director Wang’s side has already cast an A-list actress. But Director Qi’s side still hasn’t decided, and I hear Hu Yize is pulling a lot of strings."

"After all, he became famous at a young age and still has some acting chops."

Lu Wen: "I will never let him be in it. No matter how good his acting is, I will not agree. You and Director Qi... forget it. I’ll talk to Director Qi about it later."

"But Director Qi is an old fox. He wouldn’t make such a stupid move, would he?"

Sister Li: "Who knows? It’s better to handle this sooner rather than later. There’s no reason our own script should end up serving someone else. What would that be? The great reconciliation of the century?"

"Don’t even. Reconciliation is never, ever going to happen." Lu Wen’s expression twisted. "Please don’t disgust me. But seriously, I need to get back at Hu Yize for this. Back then, Qi Yu used his influence to trip me up countless times."

"Go for it. Do whatever you want. We don’t kick a man when he’s down, but we still need to settle scores satisfyingly. Otherwise, won’t it look like we’re just swallowing our grievances?"

Sister Li agreed with Lu Wen’s approach. "If you don’t hold it against him, he’ll just think you’re weak and take a mile when you give him an inch."

"I need to think about how to make trouble for him," Lu Wen said, her eyes narrowing. "But to be honest, Hu Yize is pretty careful about protecting his reputation. It’s going to be hard to find any dirt on him."

Sister Li suggested, "Then how about ending his acting career? He hasn’t been in many films these past few years anyway. And honestly, when actors do too many variety shows, it’s easy to be pulled out of the moment when you see them act."

Lu Wen ground her teeth. "That’s an option. I’ll have to think it over. But even if he doesn’t act, he’s still living comfortably. He’s quite wealthy, after all. The thought of that really rubs me the wrong way."

She had suffered quite a bit at Qi Yu’s hands in the past. How could Qi Yu have been so arrogant if she wasn’t borrowing Hu Yize’s influence? Lu Wen had been bottling up her anger for a long time, but Hu Yize was just too meticulous, and she really didn’t know where to start.

Since Lu Wen wanted to settle the score, Tan You certainly wasn’t going to refuse. In fact, Tan You herself was the type to seek satisfying revenge. It was just that she had been busy with work the past few years, and she was also biding her time, so some things were difficult to carry out.

Now, she too had to figure out how to teach Hu Yize a lesson.

Tan You took over the matter, and Lu Wen stopped paying attention to it. Tan You had far more tricks up her sleeve than she did. In fact, Lu Wen was quite looking forward to it—looking forward to Tan You teaching Hu Yize and Qi Yu a harsh lesson.

The news of Lu Wen’s rumored boyfriend spread quickly, and of course, all the people who needed to see it, saw it. Take Hu Yize, for example. Although he had mostly guessed that Lu Wen’s single status wasn’t because of him, he couldn’t deny that seeing those kinds of speculations online had given him a secret thrill.

But he never expected to be proven wrong so quickly. Lu Wen actually had a rumored boyfriend?

The entertainment reporters were resourceful enough to dig up photos of Lu Wen and Jin Xi’s previous meetings and dates. This made the timeline much clearer and dispelled any suspicion that Lu Wen was just putting on an act.

The fans were instantly full of blessings and envy. Seeing these comments, Hu Yize was naturally in a foul mood. His divorce from Qi Yu had already put him in the eye of the storm. While they called it an amicable split, everyone in the industry knew the real reason; they just had a tacit agreement not to talk about it.

Ultimately, he was the one who got dumped by Qi Yu.

Just as Hu Yize was pondering how to deal with the news online, he got a call from Director Qi. "Little Hu, it’s Old Qi. For that movie I’m preparing, we’ve decided on the male lead. It’s Han Dong."

Hu Yize frowned. "I remember during the audition..."

"Your audition was excellent," Director Qi sighed. "But the investors don’t want to offend Lu Wen. Besides, this is her script to begin with, and she’s made it clear that any script produced by her company will not be offered to you."

"You know, if you two had just had an amicable split back then, things wouldn’t have ended up like this."

A bitter taste filled Hu Yize’s mouth. "Director Qi..."

Director Qi sounded helpless. "My hands are tied. I had to beg her for this script. There are plenty of other screenwriters in our circle; there will always be opportunities to work together. And you haven’t been acting much these past few years anyway, right? It’s just one job opportunity. It’s no big deal if you lose it."

Hu Yize: "But it wasn’t just an opportunity..."

’It represented my standing!’

Director Qi understood what Hu Yize left unsaid. He could only sigh. "As for Lu Wen, it would be best to sit down and talk with her face-to-face. Over the past few years, Qi Yu relied on your influence quite a bit. Even though you didn’t do anything yourself, you’re not entirely innocent either."

"Besides, you know why you two broke up. You can’t just wait for Lu Wen to come knocking on your door, can you?"

A chill went down Hu Yize’s spine. "What have you heard?"

Director Qi picked his words carefully. "I heard... just a rumor, mind you... that Lu Wen is planning to make a move against you. Of course, this is just a rumor from her company. The reason there’s been no action yet, I suspect, is because she’s in the preparatory stages."

"Look at how she lay low for the past few years without making a peep. That tells you she aims to strike decisively. Now that you’re in her sights, you’d best sue for peace early on, before it gets to the point where..."

"I won’t say any more," Director Qi said, taking a drag from a cigarette. "It’s already not great for me to be telling you this. If Lu Wen finds out, I won’t know how to face her later. You decide for yourself."

"You have a son to raise. If you go up against Lu Wen, you might not win."

Hu Yize dug his fingers into the armrest of the sofa. "I understand. Thank you for the warning, Director Qi."

After hanging up with Director Qi, Hu Yize’s agent grew anxious. "What... what do we do? Has she really targeted you? But Qi Yu did all that stuff, what does it have to do with you?"

Hu Yize sighed. "A husband and wife are one entity. How can you ever truly separate the two?"