Chapter 71: She Is Not My Woman

"Pfft!"

Dong Shu laughed directly in front of Ning Chu, a look of smug triumph appearing in the depths of her eyes.

Yuan Fengye and Qi Jing exchanged a glance; Yuan Fengye had clearly just caught on, frowning as he forcibly suppressed a laugh, while Qi Jing shook his head—this mouth of Yu Ge's...

Poor Troupe Leader Hao dared not laugh, nor did he dare look at Ning Chu, only keeping his head lowered, his reflective forehead bobbing up and down.

"Yu Ge..." Humiliated to her face, Ning Chu's complexion instantly flushed red.

Her eyes reddened, and she felt incredibly aggrieved, "How could you..."

"How could I what? If you dance poorly, are people not allowed to say so?" Sheng Yu looked at her with a cold, detached gaze.

Ning Chu gritted her teeth, tears swirling in her eye sockets, threatening to fall but not quite doing so.

She was just not practiced enough, how could it be that bad?

Sheng Yu glanced at her, inexplicably thinking of how Zhu Yuan used to fake cry in front of him—first wailing at the top of her lungs, then sobbing in a low voice, and finally hiccuping, a progressive layering that left him feeling agitated and annoyed.

"Hold it in!"

Ning Chu's expression stiffened; she sniffled and held back her tears.

It was fortunate that only the few of them were around and no one else had heard, otherwise, what face would she have left to continue performing here?

Troupe Leader Hao stepped in at the right moment to smooth things over, "Second Miss Ning has only just learned this dance, and she is already doing quite well. There is still over half a month until the performance; it will surely stun the audience by then."

Dong Shu opened her mouth, wanting to say that she had seen Zhu Yuan dance and that *that* was what you called stunning, but once she thought of how she had previously spoken up for Zhu Yuan and displeased Sheng Yu, she had to hold it back.

Zhu Yuan returned after changing her clothes, and Du Chenming walked to her side, asking in a low voice, "Are you okay?"

"It's no big deal," Zhu Yuan said dismissively.

Du Chenming assumed she truly hadn't taken it to heart, patted her shoulder, and said, "As long as you didn't take it to heart, that's good."

"Alright, let's go rehearse," Zhu Yuan also patted his arm.

Troupe Leader Hao was just setting tea down by Sheng Yu's side, "Young Master Yu, please have some tea..."

Who would have thought that before he even finished his sentence, Sheng Yu's hand, which was resting on the armrest, suddenly swept out, knocking the entire teacup to the floor.

"Young Master Yu!" Troupe Leader Hao was so scared his face turned white, and he hurriedly used his sleeve to wipe the table.

Offstage, Sheng Yu's gaze swept toward the man and woman stepping onto the stage, a faint, cold sneer hooking the corner of his mouth.

Twice.

Dong Shu frowned, "Is Yu Ge feeling bored?"

"I also think it's meaningless; what's so interesting about watching rehearsals? Yu Ge, let's go play ball," Yuan Fengye suggested.

Sheng Yu stood up with a cold face, not saying a word.

Troupe Leader Hao hurriedly followed along the side, preparing to see them to their car.

After finally managing to send the few masters off to their car, Troupe Leader Hao had just let out a sigh of relief when he saw Sheng Yu's car window roll down, and the man said coolly, "Come here."

"Young Master Yu, what are your instructions?" Troupe Leader Hao leaned toward the car window.

Sheng Yu lowered his head to light a cigarette, his brows and eyes cold, "Do you not follow fair procedures when selecting your cast?"

Troupe Leader Hao was stunned, "But Second Miss Ning..."

"What does that have to do with me?"

The car window rolled up, and watching the car drive away from before his eyes, Troupe Leader Hao's brain CPU was about to burn out.

Wasn't Second Miss Ning under Young Master Yu's protection?

As the car drove out of the theater grounds, Sheng Yu held his cigarette, "Check what that man's name is."

Situ, who was driving, was somewhat confused, "Which one are you referring to?"

The man took a sharp drag of his cigarette, his entire person exuding a sense of restlessness, "The one who touched Zhu Yuan."

After the rehearsal ended, the sky had already turned dark.

Zhu Yuan was changing clothes in the dressing room when she heard Ning Chu's scream coming from the makeup room: "Ah!!! Who put glue on my chair! My pants are stuck! Who is it? I'm going to kill them!"

Zhu Yuan raised an eyebrow, took her bag from the locker, opened the door, and left.

But before she could even reach the back door, she was suddenly yanked backward by a hand grabbing the hood of her hoodie!

"You didn't perform today?" A cold voice poured into her ears.

Zhu Yuan seemed to have a conditioned reflex; her whole body shrank, and the suffocating feeling of almost being bitten to death by a wild wolf surfaced in her mind.

She kept her head down, pulling hard to try and detach her hood from his hand, "Second Master Pei."

However, the man had no intention of letting go.

The glass reflected the man's tall figure, like a mass of fog enveloping her; Zhu Yuan was somewhat afraid, afraid of being thrown back into the cage by him again.

"I asked you a question." Pei Ling's voice carried a sense of impatience.

Zhu Yuan remained with her back to him the entire time, tugged at her pant leg, and said, "I sprained my ankle, I can't go on stage for the time being."

"How did you sprain it?"

As if he had the nerve to ask!

Zhu Yuan thought this in her heart, but didn't dare say it, yet she still didn't want to miss this opportunity to mock him, "I got a bit carried away fighting the wild wolf that day; I was too excited and forgot to protect myself."

Pei Ling cursed a foul word, "So carried away, shall I let you play again?"

"Weren't your wolves all shot dead by Sheng Yu?" She had only been delirious that day, not truly unable to remember anything.

"If you want one, I'll have one caught and brought back for you."

These words sounded ambiguous and doting, yet the content made one's heart grow cold.

"Speak!" Pei Ling pulled on her hood to turn her around, his gaze landing on her right hand; the gauze that had been wrapped around it was already removed, replaced by a patch.

Zhu Yuan pressed her tongue against the roof of her mouth, forcibly suppressing that sense of humiliation, "If Second Master is so interested in watching people fight wild beasts, you should choose someone with more ability. Someone like me will be torn to shreds by a wild wolf before long; what is there to watch?"

"Holding a grudge against me?" Pei Ling narrowed his eyes.

"I don't have the guts."

Zhu Yuan looked out the window.

"You still haven't planted it?" No one had ever dared to speak to him like that before.

Without a second thought, Pei Ling pinched her chin and turned her face back, "If you feel it wasn't enough that your man beat me up, I'll let you hit me again."

Only then did Zhu Yuan see the several bruises on his face; because his skin was wheat-colored and the lighting here was not very good, she hadn't seen them clearly at first.

Sheng Yu hit him?

Thinking of how Sheng Yu's face also had injuries that day, Zhu Yuan frowned, but she dared not agree to Pei Ling.

"If you enjoyed being beaten, you can ask him to hit you again; I wouldn't dare."

Pei Ling gritted his teeth, "Do you think I have a masochistic tendency?"

Isn't that exactly what it is?

Otherwise, why would he proactively ask her to do it?

Zhu Yuan did not want to argue about this issue with him, but instead corrected him: "Also, he is not my man."