Chapter 477: Chapter 477: Please Respond Directly
Sang Ning found it strange—Sister Lan couldn’t find her son, but why didn’t she call the police? Why come to her?
Though puzzled, she quickly grabbed her phone and walked out of the reading room, comforting her: "Sister Lan, don’t worry, is something..."
Before she could finish her sentence, the other party interrupted: "Xiao Sang, is he with you?"
Sang Ning frowned, feeling even more baffled. She only heard the other party continue: "Li Juezhou, Li Juezhou—he’s my son!"
Sister Lan’s words were so chaotic that they were almost incoherent, but Sang Ning’s heart skipped a beat—Li Juezhou’s mother was actually Sister Lan!
Li Haidong—Li Haidong.
Oh, wow. Sang Ning finally understood. This couple swapped identities and secretly tested her!
Even Wei Lan couldn’t get in touch with Li Juezhou, which meant he was indeed missing.
Of course, Sang Ning wasn’t going to tell Wei Lan the truth—that Li Juezhou was missing. Her instincts told her that Li Juezhou was likely affected by a space-time distortion and was now in an unknown location. She decided to investigate the laboratory before discussing further.
After contemplating for a moment, she suddenly switched to a joking tone to turn the tables: "Well, Sister Lan, you and your husband really secretly came to check me out behind Li Juezhou’s back. No wonder he said he’s had some minor disagreements with his family recently and wanted to take a bit of time off. He said he’d be back in a few days."
Wei Lan stayed silent for a while before replying, "When did the kid figure it out? He never mentioned it to us."
She knew her son was thoughtful, but his immature behavior seemed unfamiliar too. As she tried to think it through, Sang Ning continued: "Sister Lan, don’t worry, maybe Li Juezhou’s rebellious phase just came a little late. Once he gets over these few days of emotional turbulence, he’ll be fine."
Wei Lan pondered for a while—it did make sense. No matter how steady and mature a man was, he’d act like a fool when encountering the girl he liked. Just like his father back in the day. Relieved, she sincerely apologized to Sang Ning: "Xiao Sang, we were wrong. Back then, we thought you were the kind of girl who chased vanity and worried that if you knew we were Li Juezhou’s parents, you’d try to curry favor with us. But now I realize we were stereotyping you. Azhou has been single for so many years, and it’s rare for him to meet someone he likes. I truly hope you two can make it work."
Sang Ning had no idea how far things would go with Li Juezhou, but she didn’t want to say anything disappointing at this moment, so she responded vaguely.
After the second-round audition was over, her agent secured the premiere roadshow date with the production team.
The "roadshow" would take place at the busiest cinema in Jing City, where the main cast team would interact with the first audience and answer questions from them and the reporters.
On the day of the roadshow, Sang Ning saw old friends she hadn’t met in ages backstage.
Huang Chengzi was still just as enthusiastic as ever, rushing to give her a hug right away.
Sun Bangyu’s social anxiety hadn’t entirely gone away, but he was much more outgoing compared to when they first met. He even proactively greeted her when he saw her.
Wei Lejun, by contrast, seemed colder, though his tone while talking to her was still normal. Yet the moment he walked out of the dressing room and ran into Lian Qi, his angry glare practically rolled to the back of his head. Previously walking alongside everyone, he suddenly rushed ahead on his own.
"Lejun, why are you walking so fast? Wait up for us!" Huang Chengzi quickly caught up, and Sun Bangyu followed as well.
Sang Ning seized the chance to stop Lian Qi: "What’s the deal with you two? After all this time, you still haven’t made up?"
"Ah, don’t even bring it up." Lian Qi hung his head in frustration. "I don’t even know what I did to upset her back then. After filming wrapped, I tried contacting her several times, but she barely paid any attention to me. Finally got her to come out recently, and then I made the mistake of saying she looked like she’d gained weight, and that as a female artist, she ought to stay mindful of managing her figure. She hasn’t acknowledged me since—and even deleted me from her WeChat!"
Hearing this, Sang Ning fell silent for several seconds before giving Lian Qi a meaningful look: "Good luck, kid."
Lian Qi, utterly perplexed, scratched his head furiously but couldn’t figure out what Sang Ning’s words meant. In the end, he let out an anguished cry from the depths of his soul: "Why is it so hard to figure out what women are thinking!"
True to their professional training, the actors pulled themselves together once they got on stage. Wei Lejun, no longer cold, interacted seamlessly with everyone on stage, including Lian Qi.
This threw Lian Qi off—he thought Wei Lejun had forgiven him, so he happily played along with the interaction.
Sang Ning saw through it but stayed silent. Poor, clueless Lian Qi assumed Wei Lejun’s anger had subsided, when in reality she just didn’t want her backstage attitude to stir rumors of discord within the crew. With the release date coming up, bad press—even unrelated—wouldn’t bode well for the movie or its cast.
For the roadshow, the first segment was moderated by Director Qin Jiaxiang, who began introducing the film’s cast members one by one, starting with the leads. Next, the actors played lighthearted games, followed by audience and reporter Q&A.
Although most questions were pre-scripted, there were still some sharp ones. Thanks to Qin Jiaxiang and the host’s ability to manage the scenario—and the actors’ professionalism and sharp wit—it went on smoothly without slipping into awkward territory.
Until the end of the Q&A session, when the host said: "Because time is limited, we won’t hold you for longer. If no one in the audience or among the reporters has any additional questions, we’ll conclude today’s roadsho—"
"Wait!" The host’s sentence was cut off abruptly.
A man with squinty eyes and a triangular face rose from the audience. Without waiting for the host to cue him, he spoke directly, targeting Sang Ning: "Fans are intensely curious about Sang Ning’s love life. I’d like to ask if your relationship with the Hai Chuan Group’s CEO has come to an end? Why couldn’t your boyfriend show up for such an important event like today’s roadshow? When your relationship was made public with such fanfare, but the hashtags were quickly buried—is it because he approached you purely with the intent of treating you as his toy from the beginning?"
The question was razor-sharp, and despite the host frantically gesturing for him to stop talking, the man wouldn’t shut up. This was an unforeseen incident that caught everyone off guard.
Even more stunning than the question itself was the revelation—Sang Ning was in a romantic relationship with the CEO of Hai Chuan Group, and it had even been officially confirmed!
Qin Feng nearly collapsed, his legs faltering beneath him. During his intensive training period, what other major news had he missed? He even mistook Sang Ning for Li Juezhou’s mistress—that thought alone made him want to dig a hole to bury himself.
The other actors exchanged bewildered glances, even Wei Lejun temporarily paused his feud with Lian Qi to share mutual disbelief.
The host braced himself to smooth things over: "Our dear audience member, please refrain from asking questions unrelated to the movie."
The man ignored the host and instead fixed his gaze sharply on Sang Ning, curling his lips into a mocking smile: "I hope Sang Ning responds directly to that."
