Chapter 275

At Meimei's concert venue, it had clearly become Xu Can's fan meet-and-greet.

After all, anyone who liked Meimei's songs would basically fall in love with Xu Can's film work.

……

"You went with her again!!"

"Emma, listen to me."

"Fine, I'm listening, go ahead and explain."

"Why aren't you playing by the rules?"

"Learned it from you."

Los Santos, Beverly Shanzhuang, Xu Can's mansion.

Emma Stone stood with her arms crossed in front of him, calmly listening to his explanation.

Xu Can had thought she would throw a fit like Meimei and refuse to hear him out.

Then he'd just hold her and coax her a little, and the whole thing would blow over.

He hadn't expected Shitou-jie to pull a counter-routine move, insisting on hearing him squirm his way through an explanation.

Xu Can knew he was in the wrong and had nothing to squirm his way out of.

Attending Meimei's concert twice in one month, sharing sweet moments with Meimei—no wonder Shitou-jie was jealous.

Xu Can, who prided himself as a master of balancing things, really hadn't kept the water level this time.

"Here's the thing—she needed a stage guest, and we were just doing a normal performance collaboration, nothing else messy going on."

Xu Can put his god-tier acting to use, making himself appear sincere enough and dead serious.

Since he left no trace of performance, even Shitou-jie found it hard to tell whether it was real.

She could only sense, through a woman's intuition, that something was off about Xu Can.

"She was about to have ten kids with you…"

"Those are lyrics, just lyrics."

"Sigh…"

Shitou-jie forced out a faint smile.

Since Xu Can was trying so hard to explain, at least he still had her in his heart—otherwise he wouldn't care about her feelings.

What was the point of clinging to this kind of thing endlessly?

Shitou-jie could only keep pua-ing herself.

"Fine, since you say it was a collaborative performance, I'll pretend nothing happened. But when are we collaborating… What happened to the promised Spider-Man 3?"

Emma stepped forward, gently wrapped her arms around Xu Can's neck, and blinked her big puppy-dog eyes at him.

She had already figured out how to handle Xu Can: play pitiful.

As long as she was weak and pitiful enough, Xu Can couldn't bear to see her hurt.

If they collaborated on a film together, it would be a natural progression to stick together every day,

leaving Taylor no chance at all!

Music and concerts were her turf, but film was her turf!

Emma Stone was Xu Can's best on-screen CP!

"Baby, you know, I've got to shoot Interstellar coming up. I'm afraid we won't be able to film together until after summer break."

Xu Can looked into her eyes and comforted her,

"Besides, The Blind Side is a good story. If you give a serious performance next, it might take your acting up a step up."

"Fine… but this way, we're apart again for a long time."

Emma Stone leaned against Xu Can reluctantly.

Meimei could rest her head on Xu Can's shoulder without tiptoeing; Shitou-jie could only press against his chest and listen to his heartbeat.

"I hate being apart from you too. But this is what we love. If we stopped making movies, it would definitely hurt more."

"Mm."

Emma Stone agreed with that.

She knew she wouldn't give up her dreams for love—acting was her everything.

If she could improve her acting through film and collaborate better with Xu Can afterward, she was willing to endure the torment of missing him.

"When we're too old to make movies anymore, let's buy a villa in Hawaii, cuddle together every day, and watch the sunrise and sunset by the sea…"

Listening to Xu Can's description, Emma Stone was lost in a daze, and tightened her grip on his arm.

That would be a dreamlike life!

Xu Can sensed the change in Emma and finally relaxed.

Relying on the pua skills he'd honed playing the male lead in Love and Other Drugs, he'd finally coaxed this girl around—no need to worry about her for a while.

Lost in her performance, Emma Stone wouldn't pay attention to outside rumors.

Then Xu Can would be free to move about.

Just then the phone suddenly rang, breaking the warm moment between them. 【】

Xu Can glanced at the caller's name and quickly adjusted his expression.

"Emma, Ivanka is calling—probably about investment stuff. Let me talk to her."

"Okay, nothing wrong with the company, right?"

Emma Stone didn't think too much of it; she trusted that Xu Can and Ivanka had a normal relationship.

"Don't worry, the company is perfectly healthy."

Xu Can pinched Shitou-jie's baby-fat cheeks, then turned and walked into the study.

GLOSSARY:

【】

"What's wrong?"

In an instant, Xu Can's tone shifted from the doting warmth of moments ago to icy cold.

He'd already more or less fallen out with Ivanka; worst case, he'd just pull his investment.

"Two days have passed, and you're still giving me this attitude?"

Ivanka still wore that lofty, untouchable air of a young lady.

"According to your own proposal, you're no longer my investor — what attitude I use is none of your business."

The other end of the line was silent for a moment, and Ivanka's tone unexpectedly softened considerably.

"Actually, there's no need for us to be this stiff with each other. We were friends before… and, and we…"

She, who was always composed, was uncharacteristically a little halting and tongue-tied.

Ivanka suddenly recalled that night in the hotel room in a foreign land with Xu Can.

Clearly Xu Can had been very rude to her, even a little rough.

Why did she feel a kind of longing for that feeling?

No one had ever treated her that way!

For the past two days, Ivanka's mind had been full of Xu Can, full of that day.

"'Oh? So you're saying you won't interfere with my creative work anymore?"

The corner of Xu Can's mouth lifted, a little curious.

"I was wrong about this matter. After all, from the very start we agreed we wouldn't interfere with your creative work or your decisions."

"Fine, then let's put this matter behind us. I'll act as if nothing ever happened."

"How could you…"

"Those were your own words — nothing happened, right?"

"I…" Ivanka was once again left speechless.

It had indeed been she who said it.

Besides, she knew the women by Xu Can's side.

Suppose this matter were to continue — being with Xu Can wasn't bad for Ivanka either: a young man a few years her junior, successful in his career, sunny and handsome, with the charm of an Eastern man.

On top of that, he worked out often, with a solid, sturdy body.

All of this simply made Ivanka unable to stop herself.

But with her pride, she could not tolerate the women by his side.

The optimal solution to this matter was to act as if everything had never happened, to treat that day as a beautiful, thrilling, and shameful dream.

"If there's nothing else, I'm hanging up. See you at the next shareholders' meeting."

"Hey, wait…"