After Becoming a Film Queen, She Dumped Her Financial Sponsor - Chapter 31

Chapter 31: Sister… Can You Stay With Me Tonight?

She should’ve known something was up—how else could Tao Yi still be laughing so cheerfully even when something so urgent came up? Turned out, the very first thing Fu Qingyun did after acquiring the company was to grant Tao Yi more authority.

What a classic tactic—winning people over with power and resources.

So despicable.

Did she really think she could dig out everyone around her with that filthy money? Well, let’s see if she truly has the skills to back it up.

Qiao Sijin gritted her teeth silently in her heart. Time would tell everything.

“I’m leaving. I don’t feel well today.”

She really didn’t—not just physically, but mentally too. Tao Yi watched as Qiao Sijin stepped out of the office in her high heels, shaking her head helplessly.

She couldn’t afford to offend either side. It was a difficult position to be in.

Still, this outcome was already far better than she had expected. Tao Yi initially thought Fu Qingyun’s first move after taking over would be to replace her.

Unexpectedly, Fu Qingyun not only refrained from doing so, but even gave her more authority.

“President Fu, since you’re already here, why didn’t you say a few words to Sijin?”

“If there really is a misunderstanding between you two…”

At some point, Fu Qingyun had walked out from the other side of the room. She wore a black trench coat, the belt hanging loosely on either side of her body, untied. Her expression was unreadable, her long black hair falling behind her shoulders, covering her collar.

Even though it had been days since she last saw the one she thought of day and night…

Her eyes remained fixed ahead—where Qiao Sijin had just left. Her slender fingers pressed against the half-open door. With a gentle push, the gap widened.

“There’s no misunderstanding.”

“She simply wants to leave me.”

Whether or not to open the birdcage—that question might haunt Fu Qingyun forever. She could use forceful means to keep Qiao Sijin by her side.

But she didn’t want to.

Even acquiring this company was merely because she feared Qiao Sijin, out of her line of sight, would be bullied.

Fu Qingyun knew she was being overly anxious, but she couldn’t help it. She couldn’t ignore these worries.

“President Fu, I have to object to that.”

“Sijin used to have only you in her eyes and heart. She could be overjoyed for an entire day just because of a single message from you.”

“She’d also be deeply hurt when you broke a promise because of some business dinner.”

“Do you think… she brought up the word ‘first love’ just to curse you over your unhappy fallout?”

Tao Yi’s words hit straight to the point. She wasn’t afraid of offending Fu Qingyun—after all, Fu Qingyun was standing right in front of her now.

What was there to be afraid of anymore?

“Really…? I never knew those things.”

“I thought as long as she got what she wanted, she’d be happy. I didn’t think I was that important to her.”

After all, their relationship had been spelled out clearly in the contract. There was supposed to be no emotional entanglement between them. Fu Qingyun believed she had a clear conscience—she’d fulfilled her side of the agreement.

But when the contract ended, doubts crept in.

Had she really kept her conscience clear? Had she truly done everything the contract required?

Tao Yi was nearly speechless. Her bl00d pressure almost spiked. Why were they all so difficult to deal with?

“If you’re willing to listen, I’ll tell you everything.”

Tao Yi had once believed that Qiao Sijin’s devotion wasn’t worth a dime.

She had thought Qiao Sijin was too naïve back then, that she was nothing more than a puppet in Fu Qingyun’s hand given the power and status gap between them.

After a brief pause, Fu Qingyun fully pushed open the door, stepped inside, and sat in the chair Qiao Sijin had just vacated.

“It was around the second drama she worked on under my management. To be fair, in terms of resources, President Fu, you never shortchanged her.”

The scripts were the kind every actor dreamed of, and Qiao Sijin could choose her roles freely. If she had her eye on a certain film, it was hers.

Anyone at an acting academy would be green with envy. The media and paparazzi swarmed like leeches drawn to bl00d, vowing to uncover Qiao Sijin’s background. But their efforts were quickly crushed—because they ran into the impenetrable wall that was Nanshan Group.

Like a ship that sprang a fatal leak.

“But this kind of indulgence was like placing her on a burning grill.”

“That’s the thing about fate—it opens one door and closes another.”

Although the public didn’t know Qiao Sijin’s secret, people in the industry had their ways. Finding out who her sponsor was wasn’t that hard.

It’s just that no one ever spilled the secret.

So young, and already neck-deep in the glitz and glamour because of Fu Qingyun. That kind of world was like a swamp, and it had dragged her down deep.

“I watched her transform from a radiant, sunlit girl into someone who’s now worldly-wise and cautiously articulate.”

“Can you understand what that feels like, President Fu?”

Fu Qingyun listened in silence. No wonder, in the past, when Qiao Sijin looked at her, her eyes were always as brilliant as the stars. Even after becoming a household name and achieving her dreams…

She would still quietly follow behind Fu Qingyun, stepping in her shadow, gently tugging her sleeve, and softly saying—

“Sister… can you stay with me tonight?”

“I really… really miss you.”

White breath formed in the winter air. The snow on the streets had been cleared, revealing the gray bricks underneath. Melted snow puddled in the cracks, reflecting dried yellow leaves.

Just two short sentences, but Qiao Sijin felt like she had used up all the courage she’d saved up that week. Her heart was stretched thin—like a spiderweb at its breaking point.

Waiting for her sister’s judgment.

She was supposed to be busy that night. Her flight to the U.S. had already been booked. But when she looked back into those eyes, Fu Qingyun sighed deeply in her heart.

She really couldn’t do it.

She couldn’t say no to Qiao Sijin.

She couldn’t form the words to refuse, but skipping an international meeting because of this? That would be too reckless. She had never done something so impulsive in her life.

To outsiders, it looked like Fu Qingyun had everything. But that wasn’t true. She wasn’t free to act on her every whim—she had too many responsibilities.

Even her private emotions had to be made public.

Had she ever said it out loud? That Qiao Sijin’s eyes were truly beautiful—like mist on a rainy day, or sunlight glimmering on a lake in summer.

“If you send me a message, I’ll reply when I see it.”

In the end, she could only squeeze out those dry, inadequate words from her throat.