Sheng Jiaoyang pushed her gla.s.ses up her nose and casually glanced around. She saw the film crew and three other men she didn't recognise.

One man seemed to be in his forties with a beer belly, another was a rather well dressed man who appeared to be just over 30, and the last person was a young man that seemed under 30.

“Ooh, the female lead has appeared!” The young man's tone was somewhat frivolous.

Sheng Jiaoyang wasn't intimidated by the young man. She'd seen many similar scenes and had met all sorts of people. She naturally wouldn't be afraid just because somebody's tone was frivolous.

She walked over with a slight smile and sat down beside Gu Zhou. Out of everybody present, she was the closest to Gu Zhou. Naturally, it was best to sit next to somebody she was most familiar with.

“Xu Jiaojiao, I've been looking forward to meeting you. Let's toast!” The young man took a cup and poured a drink before handing it to her.

Sheng Jiaoyang was about to accept it when a hand from behind her suddenly reached out and took it, replacing it with another drink. “Drink beer instead, you won't get as drunk.”

“Ooh, Gu Zhou, what relations.h.i.+p do you guys have, defending her so quickly?”

Gu Zhou replied smilingly, “Just a friend.”

“Are you sure it's not a girlfriend?”

“If he was my boyfriend, he wouldn't even let me drink,” Sheng Jiaoyang replied before Gu Zhou could answer.

She took the cup and drained it, then nodded to the young man.

“Great! How frank!” The young man also downed his gla.s.s. “I'll introduce myself. I'm Li Senlin.”

Gu Zhou added, “Senlin is the current director general of Senlin Theatres.”

“The founder?”

“The founder was my dad, I'm just an idler,” Li Senlin said.

“Senlin Theatres only started to rapidly grow after you took it over. You really like to act modest, don't you? n.o.body believes it,” Cen Jin said.

“This is the chairman of FR's Chinese district, President Qian.” Gu Zhou gestured to the well-dressed man.

Sheng Jiaoyang suddenly understood. He was the sole sponsor of the movie. There was a scene where the female lead, Chen Xi, had finally returned to the mountains, bringing back a lot of clothes and shoes to give to the mountain children. All the clothes and shoes had the same brand imprinted on them: FR.

“This is Mr Qu.” Gu Zhou pointed at the middle-aged man with a beer belly.

Sheng Jiaoyang was a bit surprised. Based on Gu Zhou's introduction, their relations.h.i.+p didn't seem to be as simple as friends. It appeared the simple smiling man had another unspoken ident.i.ty.

“Whether by age or experience, President Qian and Mr Qu are both my seniors. It is fate that we're all here together today. I would first like to make a toast. Please treat me kindly in the future.” Sheng Jiaoyang poured herself a cup before making a toasting motion and draining it.

Her natural att.i.tude gave others a good first impression.

“Wasn't Miss Xu at Mr Liang's year-end banquet?” President Qian asked.

“Yes, I went with my grandfather.”

“Miss Xu's grandfather is?”

“My grandfather's surname is Yang, but his personal name would be inappropriate for me to say as one of the younger generation. Please forgive me.”

“Oh, so it's actually Mister Yang.” In fact, President Qian wasn't sure which Mister Yang it was and just casually said that. After all, Yang was a common surname. However, President Qian already looked at her differently. Partic.i.p.ating in the banquet as a relative and as a female companion were two very different things.

“Jiaojiao, why didn't you come with Ou Yang?” Cen Jin preferred calling Lin Yan by his character's name.

“We parted ways this morning.”

“Oh,” Cen Jin said casually. “Then, give him a call. We'll be separating tomorrow and we still haven't gotten a chance to thank him properly.”

Sheng Jiaoyang gaped. She was originally going to say that there was no need, but then thought that she wasn't Lin Yan and couldn't make a decision for him. Therefore, she could only follow Cen Jin's words to call Lin Yan and tell him about the situation. Lin Yan paused for a moment before accepting the invitation.

“He said that he'll arrive soon.” After hanging up, Sheng Jiaoyang reported to Cen Jin.

Cen Jin nodded as he raised his cup. “Come, everyone drink. Once the movie starts screening, I'll invite everybody out again to celebrate.”

Everybody toasted and drained their cup.

“This is your third drink in a row, won't you get drunk?” Gu Zhou leaned towards Sheng Jiaoyang and whispered.

“And if I say I'm drunk?” Sheng Jiaoyang tilted her head.

Gu Zhou laughed. “Then, I'll send you home.”

“It would be boring to leave so soon. Don't worry, I know my tolerance.”

“Why are you two always whispering to each other!” Li Senlin acted as if he'd caught two illicit lovers.

“Senlin, your singing is so good, let's hear it!” Gu Zhou changed the topic.

“There's no point in singing it alone, I need a beauty to sing with me,” Li Senlin said sloppily.

“Need a beauty to sing along…” Gu Zhou raised a brow. “Sure, I'll call you one. Xiao Zhuang, come and sing with President Li.”

Li Senlin's gaze switched between Gu Zhou and Sheng Jiaoyang as he teased, “You won't even let her sing with me~ Looks like love is in the air for our great Movie Emperor.”

“Don't blather on, if I let Jiaojiao sing with you, you'd doubt your ears forever.” Gu Zhou turned to look at the calm Sheng Jiaoyang and remembered her singing voice. It was like an auditory car accident.

“Now that you've said that, I really want to hear it.”

Li Senlin went to grab two microphones and gave one to Sheng Jiaoyang. “Come, beauty Jiaojiao, let's sing together!”

Gu Zhou couldn't help but laugh. Since Li Senlin wouldn't listen, he'd just have to regret it.

When Sheng Jiaoyang was given the microphone, she stressed, “I can't sing.”

“Don't be so modest, I can tell that you're a good singer. Come on!” Li Senlin didn't believe her.

Sheng Jiaoyang glanced at Gu Zhou, whose eyes already revealed his internal laughter as he stood there, planning to watch a good show.

A popular duet love song was chosen. The first part was the man's lyrics, then it was the woman's turn before the chorus was sung together.

Li Senlin began to sing. Sure enough, his singing was great. He had good pitch and tone and was similar to the cute young boy singers on TV.

When the woman's part came, everybody watched Sheng Jiaoyang with rapt attention.

As soon as she opened her mouth, everybody was shocked.

Apart from Gu Zhou, who'd heard her sing before, everybody's jaw gaped in fright.

Li Senlin finally understood what Gu Zhou had meant by 'doubt your ears forever'. He'd never seen a girl sing like that before and thought that it was truly amazing.

No matter how he tried to harmonise their voices, her pitch would suddenly change and ruin it all.

Once the song was over, Li Senlin felt like he'd survived a disaster.

“Gu Zhou, you really didn't lie to me.”

“This doesn't have anything to do with me, I told you from the start that I couldn't sing.” Sheng Jiaoyang's expression was innocent.

“Xiao Zhuang, come and sing to heal our ears,” Cen Jin called the stylist.

Sitting nearby, Xiao Zhuang, who'd been called by name, didn't dare to reject him and took the initiative to stand up and sing.

There was no comparison. Even if Xiao Zhuang couldn't sing well, it still wouldn't sound unpleasant.

Sheng Jiaoyang took a seat and calmly drank some water. This time, n.o.body pulled her up to sing.

Gu Zhou took a sip of wine, using the gla.s.s to hide his laugh.

“I say, beauty Jiaojiao, are you doing this on purpose?” Li Senlin looked at Sheng Jiaoyang suspiciously.

Sheng Jiaoyang shrugged. “Singing this badly is still a talent, isn't it?”

Her words really made sense! Li Senlin was left speechless.

Singing that badly really could be considered a talent. If somebody was trying to sing incorrectly, they'd at least get one note correct. However, not a single note was sung correctly by Jiaojiao.

“Your fans would be shocked to learn that their new G.o.ddess has such 'amazing' singing skills,” Li Senlin commented.

“n.o.body said that an actress has to sing well.”

Li Senlin raised his gla.s.s in a toast. “For you!”

After someone toasted, unless you wanted to humiliate them, you'd obviously have to drink.

Sheng Jiaoyang didn't want to suck up to anybody, but she had to have basic courtesy and manners, so she obviously took a sip of her drink. Although Li Senlin gave off a sloppy feeling, he was still quite pleasing.

She returned the toast.

“Why don't you eat a little? You'll get drunk faster if you just drink.” Gu Zhou handed her a plate with different fruits and pastries.

“It looks like our beauty Jiaojiao's drinking ability is pretty good. How could she get drunk so easily?”

Sheng Jiaoyang glanced at Li Senlin before thanking Gu Zhou and eating the snacks with a fork.

“Jiaojiao, did you tell Ou Yang our room number?” Cen Jin suddenly asked.

Sheng Jiaoyang was startled as she hadn't.

She fished out her phone and found that there were several missed calls. Because somebody was singing, she hadn't heard the ringtone. Sheng Jiaoyang quickly stood up and walked out of the room with her phone in her hand.

“Lin Yan…you've already arrived? We're in Room 203, you…” Sheng Jiaoyang heard Lin Yan say that he'd already arrived at the club and subconsciously walked towards the elevator. She hadn't finished speaking when her phone was suddenly s.n.a.t.c.hed away.

She turned around and saw two familiar people standing outside Room 205. It was Yuan Neng and Yan Anxuan, who was currently holding her phone.

“Oho!” Yan Anxuan sneered. “We really are enemies on a narrow road!”

Sheng Jiaoyang didn't say anything as she tried to s.n.a.t.c.h her phone back. She knew that they wouldn't give it back and also sneered as she looked at them with ridicule. “Oh, don't tell me that after the successful confession from last time, you two are together now?”

Yuan Neng's face darkened.