Chapter 343: What condition would that be?
Mao Li adjusted his glasses nervously, hiding the twitch in his jaw as he tried to maintain composure.
Hua Jing’s eyes narrowed, and her smile turned faintly mocking. "President Mao, you must really think I’m desperate."
There was a brief pause, heavy with tension. Then she added, almost casually, "I can come back... but on one condition."
Mao Li leaned forward, curiosity evident in his voice. "And what condition would that be?"
Hua Jing gazed at him and then said softly, "I can come back... but I want her to go."
The silence that followed was deafening. Mao Li’s expression stiffened, his eyes snapping up in disbelief. For a brief moment, he simply stared at her, as though the woman sitting before him wasn’t the same Hua Jing he had once known. His lips twitched, and after a few seconds, he leaned back in his chair, letting out a low, incredulous laugh.
"I never knew you were someone like this, Hua Jing," he said finally, his tone sharp but forcedly calm. "How do you expect us to let her go?"
Hua Jing’s eyes narrowed. "And what about me?" she asked coldly, her voice laced with quiet venom. "Am I that easy to let go of?"
Her words cut deep, and the air grew heavier by the second. For a moment, Mao Li had no response. The man who once used to have a quick tongue, who could talk his way out of any corner, suddenly looked lost — as if her words had struck a nerve he didn’t even know he still had.
When Hua Jing had first joined Blue Entertainment, she had been an outsider — a rising star from another company. Back then, Mao Li had been the one to recognize her potential, the one who had gone out of his way to poach her. He had spoken with passion, full of vision and ambition, promising her a future brighter than anyone else could offer. And he had kept those promises — at least for a time. He had been attentive, strategic, driven. The two of them had been the envy of everyone in the company, a perfect manager–artist pair that no one could compete with.
But that was before everything changed.
Hua Jing still remembered the day she lay in that sterile hospital room, bandaged and weak, her future uncertain. She remembered the soft footsteps that entered the room — not of comfort, but of betrayal. Hua Ling had stood there with a proud smirk, holding up the fresh contract she had just signed — the same contract Hua Jing had been meant to sign before her accident.
It was that day Hua Jing realized how far Mao Li had fallen.
The man who once defended her, believed in her, and promised to stand by her side had now joined hands with her greatest enemy. She had never understood what made him change — greed, fear, or something darker — but his betrayal had been a wound she carried even to this day.
Now, sitting across from him again, seeing the calm deceit in his eyes, Hua Jing felt that old disgust resurface.
She could see it clearly — Mao Li wasn’t here because he truly wanted her back. He wanted her name. Her fame. Her legend. He was desperate to use her return as leverage, to breathe life back into Blue Entertainment’s struggling reputation. He was afraid that Hua Jing might publicly declare that she had severed all ties with them — something that would crush the company’s credibility completely after what they had done to her a year ago.
So this meeting wasn’t about reconciliation. It was about convenience.
Mao Li’s gaze hardened as he straightened in his chair. "Why can’t you just give in to her?" he asked, his tone turning cold. "She’s your sister, after all."
That word — sister — made Hua Jing’s lips curl into a slow, humorless smile. Then, suddenly, she laughed — not a soft laugh, but one full of disbelief and fury.
"Sister?" she echoed, her tone sharp as glass. "You still dare to call her that in front of me?"
Her eyes gleamed dangerously as she leaned forward, her voice trembling with restrained rage. "Tell me, Mao Li... if she’s truly my sister, why has she spent her entire life trying to take everything from me? Why has she schemed, plotted, and stolen every opportunity that was ever mine? Why did she have to destroy me just to stand where I once stood?"
Each question hit like a blow, and Mao Li’s jaw clenched tighter with every word.
He had known of the strained relationship between the two women, of course — everyone in the industry did. But he hadn’t expected Hua Jing to be this direct, this furious. He tried to hide his unease behind his calm demeanor, but she could see right through him.
"You know," she continued bitterly, "you could have stopped her back then. You could have chosen what was right. But you didn’t. You let her ruin me, and now you’re sitting here, pretending as though you don’t know the truth."
Mao Li’s brows furrowed, but before he could respond, Hua Jing stood up abruptly, her chair scraping harshly against the floor. The air around her seemed to shift — no longer soft or diplomatic, but fierce and final.
"If you truly want me back," she said icily, "then that is the only condition I can give you. Get rid of her. Otherwise, you have no reason to ever find me again."
Her tone was so sharp that even Mao Li froze. She looked down at him with eyes full of fire, then added coldly, "President Mao... I hope you choose wisely."
The words hung between them, heavy and cutting.
Hua Jing knew exactly what she was doing. She was handing him a problem he couldn’t solve — a choice he would never make. Because she knew that, despite everything, Mao Li would never let go of Hua Ling!
These two were schemers and heavily relied on one another like leeches mooching off one another so how could Mao Li let Hua Ling go?
It was utterly impossible!
