Chapter 1443 - 1437: Come Help Me Up!
"What nonsense are you spouting?" Cyan Rowe’s face turned pale, she snapped coldly, clenching her fingertips tightly.
"It’s you, Cyan, isn’t it? Did you go for plastic surgery? You remodeled yourself to look like Chloe Winston, didn’t you? I was just saying there’s something familiar about you." Lisa sneered with a sarcastic tone.
On the side, Esther couldn’t help but burst into laughter, starting to view this unimpressive extra with new eyes. Every word of hers was cutting; Cyan Rowe had been arrogant and domineering in the Entertainment Sector, offending countless people. Esther had heard friends in the industry complain about her before, and now she regretted not filming this. Watching Cyan Rowe in such an embarrassing situation could keep her amused for a whole year.
"If you keep talking nonsense, I’ll sue you," Cyan Rowe said, exasperated.
Lisa rolled up her costume sleeves and shouted: "We grew up together, how could you be so vicious and still talk about suing me? Are you afraid I’ll reveal your background, first love goddess?"
Everyone around pricked up their ears, eager for the gossip.
Cyan Rowe’s face turned ashen, and beside her, her manager’s face also darkened, shouting: "Where did this extra come from? Could it be a troll sneaking in?"
The manager spoke and gestured for the bodyguards to escort the intruder out.
Chloe Winston, seeing the situation escalating, retracted her smile and stepped forward, saying lightly, "Lisa is my friend. What, you plan to use your power to bully people right in front of me? Is Starshine Media planning to throw away its years of good reputation on you?"
If it had been someone else, Cyan Rowe’s manager wouldn’t have cared, but Chloe Winston was visited by Constantine Stewart before, and thus the manager, Yugo, looked tense and dared not make a move.
On the other side, Esther had already cleverly gone to call for the director.
Director Faust walked over with a stern face and asked, "What’s going on?"
As the boss of the crew, yet having to manage a group of unruly kids like a kindergarten teacher, Faust naturally wasn’t in a good mood. These mischievous ones are all like gold, backed by countless bigwigs, offending any of them wouldn’t be wise.
Cyan Rowe looked at Chloe Winston and Lisa standing together, unable to believe they would team up.
She naturally remembered Lisa, sweet and obedient when they were young, the prettiest girl in the orphanage. Lisa was the wildest girl back then, the two had countless hidden quarrels. She never imagined Lisa would enter the Entertainment Sector and work her way up to become an extra today.
Cyan Rowe lacked any talent for acting; she entered the Entertainment Sector purely because Chloe Winston was in it. She wanted to completely replace Chloe Winston, so Starshine Media spent a whole year investing, creating a bottomless pit but only producing a carpet star.
She and Chloe Winston held secrets about each other, neither speaking of past affairs, but not Lisa, who held her secret alone. If it were exposed that her status as a wealthy socialite was fake, she’d be done for.
Cyan Rowe’s emotions were a roller coaster ride in such a short time; she couldn’t care less about joining the crew to play that thankless supporting role, tugging her manager’s clothes desperately shaking her head, and weakly saying, "Yugo, I’m not feeling well, I want to go to the hospital."
"Director Faust, I’ll take Cyan to the hospital first." Cyan Rowe’s manager saw her signal and quickly took Cyan away.
Director Faust was baffled and furiously said, "So you came to my crew just to drink tea?"
"Director, what’s Cyan doing in the crew? Surely not to play the female supporting role. I think she’s an even bigger diva than Sister Wynn, earlier she even tried to curse at Chloe Winston. If she actually comes, it’ll be chaos." Esther smiled gleefully in the background.
Chloe Winston gave her a second glance, not expecting this girl to be so shrewd and even to sell her a favor.
"Director, she even told the bodyguards to hit people earlier. If Sister Chloe hadn’t stopped them, tomorrow’s trending headline would be ’crew assaults extra’." Lisa added pitifully, winking at Chloe Winston.
Chloe Winston smiled faintly with her eyes closed, saying nothing.
Director Faust was furious seeing this, knowing well that if such a scandal broke out in his crew, it would be a disaster. He quickly called over the assistant director and sternly said, "What role is Cyan Rowe supposed to play? Replace her, find another actor immediately, no room for negotiation."
Faust was breaking down, and Cyan Rowe on the other hand had no intention to rejoin the crew, already discussing with her manager how to keep Lisa quiet.
News of the crew’s happenings reached Constantine Stewart’s ears by the end of the day.
Constantine Stewart had been restlessly recuperating at home for a week, during the divorce, Chloe Winston packed up her things and instructed the butler to throw them away.
The butler didn’t dare to discard anything and stored it all in the storage room. Bored at home, the man hauled out several boxes, going through them bit by bit.
Her dolls filled an entire large box; the remaining were clothes and jewelry he had bought for her, all of them cute in style. Richard Shaw noticed the clothes were out of season and didn’t bother to put them back into the closet. Instead, he had designers redesign the clothes and shoes. As for the jewelry, part was in the home’s safe, untouched, while part was randomly stuffed in the boxes. Richard Shaw felt a headache coming on; if she’d just taken one or two pieces with her, she wouldn’t be so broke she couldn’t pay the rent.
The remaining large box was filled with memories shared between the two of them: various photo albums, tennis rackets, medals, and all sorts of ticket stubs. The young girl had grown up poor and was reluctant to throw things away. Seeing the box full of old items, Richard Shaw suddenly missed her even more.
"Put the jewelry back in the bedroom, and place Madam’s favorite dolls in their original positions," Richard Shaw instructed the servants to put things back in place, with a few traces of fierceness emanating from his refined and handsome face. He had made up his mind; if he couldn’t bring Chloe Winston back, he might as well die there with her. After all, his father didn’t care and neither did his mother, and life didn’t seem to have much meaning.
Zheng Gu came upstairs to find a grand cleaning happening at the house. Mr. Shaw had people bring out several large boxes from the storage room and was commanding from his wheelchair.
"Reward the butler with half a year’s salary," Richard Shaw didn’t forget to reward the loyal butler of the house, then shot a cold glance at Zheng Gu, who was responsible for handling the divorce paperwork. He wanted to dock his salary, dock it till ten years later!
Zheng Gu felt a chill all over, sensing something bad. Steeling himself, he spoke softly, "Mr. Shaw, the folks at the set said that Cyan Rowe is back. She wanted to join the set to play a supporting role but was sent away by Chloe and her friends. Mrs. Shaw might be a bit jealous of your relationship with Cyan Rowe."
Zheng Gu was spewing nonsense with his eyes wide open. As long as Mr. Shaw was happy, he could say it a hundred times without blinking.
Richard Shaw snorted coldly, but his mood lightened a bit. Whenever Chloe Winston felt jealous, he would be so thrilled he’d adore her non-stop for three days and nights.
"Do you think, maybe Chloe misunderstood my relationship with Cyan Rowe, so she’s been giving me the cold shoulder?" Richard Shaw asked, deceiving himself.
"It’s possible. So, Mr. Shaw, should we come forward to clarify?" A bead of sweat dripped down Zheng Gu’s forehead, screaming internally. You’ve already divorced; you didn’t even show up when signing the papers, and no normal person would give you a good face. Mrs. Shaw has been very gentle and restrained.
Richard Shaw’s expression darkened slightly, thinking of how he has indeed been too indulgent with Cyan Rowe over the past half-year. If Cyan Rowe behaves, he barely remembers the woman; but if she insists on cozying up to Chloe, he isn’t pleased.
"What’s the situation with Cyan Rowe at Starshine Media?" Richard Shaw asked blandly.
"She has always been a heavily promoted female artist at Starshine Media, especially since she went to Paris to see you and created a scandal. It was said she had a great relationship with Earl Thompson’s wife, causing the Starshine Media board to misunderstand something and promote her to a leading position," Zheng Gu detailed carefully.
Richard Shaw laughed coldly; he hadn’t even touched Cyan Rowe’s sleeve.
"Are these people brainless? I went to the set to see Chloe, and they can still misunderstand that Cyan Rowe and I have something going on?!" Richard Shaw’s handsome face turned somber.
Zheng Gu smiled, thinking, among the current power brokers, who doesn’t have a string of mistresses and affairs? Two is hardly surprising; the people below are probably speculating who will finally rise to prominence anyway.
Who knew Mr. Shaw doesn’t have half a woman around, living like a monk for half a year.
"Have the kitchen pack up dinner and send it to Spring Prosperity Garden," Richard Shaw said as he looked at the box full of dolls, squinting his eyes. To clarify his relationship with Cyan Rowe in person would give her face. It would be better to go directly to Chloe’s place to await fortuitous encounters and stir up some rumors.
Fortunately, he had foresight and had Finnian sent away by Richard Shaw. Otherwise, given his current crippled state, it might’ve been risky.
*
Chloe’s mood was excellent in the afternoon; after work on set, she snuggled in the back seat of the nanny car with a heat pack, looking up tips on growing flowers.
"Sis, I have a party tonight, so I won’t be taking you to Spring Prosperity Garden. Can you get back on your own?" Little Autumn asked, a bit uneasy.
"Go ahead; the driver will take me home. I’ll just order take-out for dinner," Chloe said lightly. Finnian had gone abroad for work yesterday and would be away for a week, so Chloe was too lazy to cook and planned to order take-out instead.
"Alrighty, sis, let me know when you get home," Little Autumn said with a charming smile, then told the driver to stop ahead and happily went off to her class reunion.
Chloe wished she’d go to parties every day; having an assistant trailing her every day felt suffocating.
The nanny car couldn’t drive into the community, so Chloe got off at the entrance, carrying her backpack and a heat pack, greeted the guard, and walked home.
The community was vast, and it took Chloe nearly ten minutes walking to reach her front door. Thinking about Cyan Rowe’s humiliation earlier in the afternoon, she inexplicably felt happy. As she pushed open the iron gate of the small garden and entered the leafy courtyard surrounded by flowers and plants, she noticed a five-tiered insulated lunchbox on the ground.
Smart and immaculate, the man had fallen to the ground, with the wheelchair toppled beside him. His custom-made, expensive shirt was stained with dirt from the garden, and he looked miserably fierce as he gazed at her.
As Richard Shaw saw her return, carrying her backpack and holding a warm little cat in her arms, her small face was pale with a look of surprise. His eyes darkened as he extended his hand towards her in a low, hoarse voice, saying, "Come over and give me a hand."