Ren Bai, seeing he wasn’t being stopped, assumed silent approval and let out a breath, speaking through gritted teeth:
“Isn’t it all because of that bastard Du Han!”
Jiang Yu asked, “Even if Du Han worked with Huaze, the contract can’t be faked. When you signed, didn’t you read the terms?”
“Terms? There were no terms!”
Ren Bai exhaled heavily. Just thinking about it made his chest hurt. He tried to keep the explanation short.
“That year, Du Han came to borrow money from Yu Shiqing. He only had 360,000 yuan, but gave it all to him.
Then Du Han pretended to be thankful and took us out to dinner. He got me drunk, and especially poured a lot for Yu Shiqing.
After we got home, he said the money amount was too big and asked for an IOU. He took out two blank sheets and told Yu Shiqing to sign them.”
The water in the pot bubbled and boiled—it was the only sound in the kitchen.
“That bastard even brought ink for the fingerprint. Clearly, he planned it all.
Yu Shiqing felt something was wrong, but Du Han kept begging…”
As Ren Bai spoke, his eyes turned red with emotion.
“They were friends, you know? I still can’t believe it. How can someone be such scum?”
After venting, Ren Bai took a deep breath.
His lips still trembled. He was clearly blaming himself.
“It’s my fault. I should’ve seen it coming.”
Yu Shiqing gently placed a hand on his shoulder. “It’s fine now.”
In the end, it was Yu Shiqing’s own fault for trusting the wrong person.
He couldn’t blame anyone else.
Especially not Ren Bai.
Ren Bai shook his head, unable to speak. He turned away suddenly, not wanting Yu Shiqing to see his tears.
The atmosphere grew heavy.
Jiang Yu was also silent for a long time before asking,
“Did you ever talk to a lawyer?”
“We did,” Yu Shiqing answered, glancing at Ren Bai before continuing.
“The contract was printed out the same night. No way to prove the handwriting.
Huaze transferred the money to me the next day, so the contract became valid.
Things like that. The lawyer said the chances of winning were basically zero.”
Jiang Yu noticed how different his tone was from Ren Bai’s.
Still calm, still distant—like he was telling someone else’s story.
“How many years did you sign for?” Jiang Yu asked.
“Fifteen years,” Yu Shiqing said.
Jiang Yu fell silent again.
He used to not understand Yu Shiqing’s cold detachment.
Now he did.
After suffering this kind of betrayal, most people wouldn’t even have half the composure Yu Shiqing had.
Yu Shiqing said, “Now your curiosity is satisfied. Time to cook the dumplings.”
He took the thawed dumplings and walked over to the pot.
Before dropping them in, he asked Jiang Yu,
“Can I put them in now?”
The water was boiling.
“Yes,” Jiang Yu said.
Yu Shiqing dumped them in. As he turned, he caught a glimpse of Jiang Yu’s sharp profile and said suddenly,
“Don’t take it to heart.”
Jiang Yu paused in the middle of chopping garlic.
“What I said earlier—that it’s not so bad now—wasn’t just comforting myself,” Yu Shiqing continued.
“I love acting. Whether it’s plays or movies, it doesn’t matter much to me.”
“Movies give more feedback,” Jiang Yu replied.
Yu Shiqing smiled. “That’s true. It’s a bit of a pity. But life always needs a little regret. I don’t expect perfection.”
Jiang Yu didn’t respond.
Yu Shiqing might not ask for perfection in life.
But if it weren’t for Huaze, his life would have been perfect.
Jiang Yu knew he wasn’t as calm as Yu Shiqing.
Even as an outsider, he couldn’t swallow this anger.
He had planned to ask a lawyer about the penalty clause.
Not anymore.
Huaze trapped Yu Shiqing using such dirty tricks.
Now they wanted to cash in with a huge penalty on top of it?
Dream on.
Ren Bai had already pulled himself together and shouted,
“They’re done! Dumplings are ready!”
The shout snapped Jiang Yu out of his thoughts.
Yu Shiqing was holding a bowl and trying to scoop the dumplings out—but spilled broth everywhere.
Ren Bai quickly grabbed the strainer from him. “Bro! Use a strainer! A strainer!”
Yu Shiqing was pushed aside and accidentally bumped into Jiang Yu.
“You don’t even know how to use a strainer?” Jiang Yu asked.
Yu Shiqing looked down at the cutting board and paused.
Jiang Yu followed his gaze.
The garlic he’d chopped was all different sizes and scattered everywhere.
Clearly, Yu Shiqing was questioning his cooking skills.
Jiang Yu gripped the knife tightly.
For the sake of how miserable Yu Shiqing had been, he could let this slide—just this once.
Then Yu Shiqing brought over a sauce dish.
He poked at the garlic on the board with his chopsticks and reasonably doubted,
“You don’t even know how to chop garlic?”
Jiang Yu: “…”
Expressionless, he stabbed the knife into the cutting board.
“Stay away from me.”
Ren Bai already had the dumplings on the table.
“Let’s eat!”
Yu Shiqing brought over the dipping sauce.
Just as they sat down and Ren Bai was about to eat, his phone rang.
He looked at the screen. “It’s someone from the studio.”
He picked up, spoke briefly, and hung up.
“They found it. The result’s in my email. I’ll send it to you now.”
Jiang Yu watched him operate the phone, then had a sudden realization.
Yu Shiqing had long stopped caring about this.
Even with a capable studio backing him, he hadn’t once used it to dig up dirt.
But Jiang Yu wasn’t like that.
Huaze had done so many terrible things to Yu Shiqing.
They deserved payback.
The Huaze executives.
Du Han.
Qi Taihua.
One of them had to have something worth digging up.
Jiang Yu said, “Give me that person’s contact.”
Ren Bai looked up. “Didn’t you say you didn’t want to get involved?”
Jiang Yu replied vaguely, “I might need it later.”
“Oh.”
Ren Bai nodded and sent him the number.
“I’ll be right back.”
Jiang Yu got up and went into the bedroom.
He closed the door and made a call.
After stating his request, Jiang Yu said coldly,
“Follow them. Investigate. As long as you can get me what I want—the price is up to you.”
