Chapter 28: Meng Yi’s Grievances
“Do you know how I became famous?” Meng Yi asked Jiang Yu abruptly, out of the blue.
“Because you’re capable?” Jiang Yu thought about it. Among the many traffic idols, Meng Yi’s professional skills were actually pretty good. On top of that, he had a decent face and strong backing from the company—of course he became popular.
Meng Yi let out a cold laugh. “Heh. Capability? In today’s entertainment industry, people with real ability don’t get ahead.”
Looking at Jiang Yu, Meng Yi smiled meaningfully and said, “Maybe I asked the wrong question. I should ask—do you remember how I debuted back then?”
Jiang Yu raised his eyebrows. Of course he remembered. Out of over a hundred trainees, Han Cheng had chosen only Meng Yi. With Han Cheng’s help, Meng Yi debuted in the center position and then went solo.
Seeing Jiang Yu’s silence, Meng Yi smiled smugly. “There were plenty who sang better than me, and plenty who danced better too. Back then, I was just average. The reason I could debut was because Han Cheng took a liking to me.
When I first got together with Han Cheng, he gave me a lot of help. And in order not to disappoint his affection, I worked hard on my singing. I kept getting better, gaining more recognition, and gradually pulled ahead of those idiots who only knew how to plaster on makeup, standing out from the crowd.
I was really happy back then. I had a lover who doted on me, and a thriving career. I thought I would be happy with Han Cheng for the rest of my life—I even considered adopting a child.”
As Meng Yi reminisced, his face was full of happiness. Looking at that smile, Jiang Yu felt dazed, as if he were seeing his own past self.
But the smile only lasted a few seconds. Suddenly, Meng Yi’s expression darkened. He stared at Jiang Yu sinisterly, gritting his teeth, hatred pouring out without any attempt to hide it.
“But just when I was immersed in happiness, I learned of your existence. An old lover who had been with Han Cheng for more than two years—and hadn’t even been dumped yet.”
A sour jealousy hung thick in the air. Only then did Jiang Yu understand why Meng Yi held such deep hostility toward him. Another pitiful person just like himself—someone who couldn’t see through Han Cheng, that scumbag.
It had to be said: when Han Cheng truly devoted himself to someone, he could easily give them the illusion that they’d found a lifelong partner.
Jiang Yu felt this hatred was a bit unfairly placed on him. “So you hate me just because I’m Han Cheng’s lover? He’s a notorious playboy. I’m hardly his only lover. You knew about the others too—we even watched his scandals together.”
“Heh, hahahaha, hahahaha.” Faced with Jiang Yu’s confusion, Meng Yi suddenly burst out laughing, and the laughter grew more and more unhinged, until tears streamed down his face.
Jiang Yu glanced at Wang Huan and motioned for him to pull the wheelchair back a little. Meng Yi like this made him uneasy. This kid had really gone crazy, hadn’t he?
Meng Yi laughed for a long while, tears and snot all over his face, until he finally laughed himself out. Lying on the bed, he looked at Wang Huan and said, “Could you hand me the tissue box over there? Sorry, I really couldn’t hold it in.”
Wang Huan looked at Jiang Yu. Jiang Yu nodded. Wang Huan tossed the tissue box from the TV cabinet to Meng Yi.
Meng Yi pulled out a few tissues, wiped his tears, blew his nose hard, then casually tossed the dirty tissues onto the floor. He glanced at Jiang Yu, gave a disdainful smile, and continued:
“Brother Yu, do you know what I hate most about you? It’s that fake look of yours—clearly enjoying Han Cheng’s favoritism, yet acting all miserable and resentful, pretending you don’t even know it.”
Jiang Yu quietly looked at Meng Yi. He didn’t agree with Meng Yi’s prejudice against him.
That he lived in bitterness and resentment was true—because he couldn’t escape Han Cheng’s clutches. But he had never felt that Han Cheng favored him in any special way.
This kid was obviously mentally unstable. Jiang Yu didn’t want to argue with him right now.
“I know all about his lousy romantic entanglements, of course. But most of those lasted only a few months. Only you—who’ve stayed with Han Cheng until now, what, six years already? You’re not just some simple lover.
I was young back then. The first time I found out he had someone else, I even went to catch him in the act. You can probably guess what happened.
That bastard sent me to someone else’s bed. I was smarter than you—I managed to escape intact. After that, Han Cheng dumped me and even blacklisted me for a while.
I was blacklisted for over a month, I think. Then Sister Bai became my manager. Han Cheng deliberately arranged for your manager to come manage me. He did it on purpose—to warn me.
Do you know what Sister Bai often says to me?”
Meng Yi asked Jiang Yu again. Jiang Yu really wanted to roll his eyes. How would he know what Sister Bai said to him?
Meng Yi didn’t expect Jiang Yu to guess anyway and directly gave the answer:
“What Sister Bai often says to me is: ‘All your resources are the ones Jiang Yu doesn’t want. In the future, make sure to curry favor with Jiang Yu. Jiang Yu has no friends—if you get along well with him, President Han will remember you too. All the resources President Han gives Jiang Yu are top-tier. When the two of them fall out, whatever Jiang Yu doesn’t want, President Han will stuff into your hands.’
Heh. I should actually thank you. If you hadn’t turned down those top-tier resources, I wouldn’t have risen so fast.”
“If you’re thanking me, then why frame me?” Jiang Yu had no interest in those resources. After all Meng Yi had said, he still couldn’t understand why Meng Yi had to set him up.
Just because he was the lover who’d been with Han Cheng the longest?
“Hmph. Why? Because I’ve endured you for a long time. I know Han Cheng is a scumbag, but I still couldn’t help loving him.
Every time Sister Bai said I was picking up your leftovers, my hatred for you grew a little more. Every time I went to the seaside villa Han Cheng bought for you and saw the way you enjoyed it, I felt you were hypocritical.
Han Cheng clearly gave you the very best, yet you were still dissatisfied, fighting with him every few days. If you wanted to leave Han Cheng, then just leave—why keep living in the house he bought for you?
Sister Bai often dragged me along to build a relationship with you. You stayed on deliberately just to show off to me, didn’t you?
Why is it that I want Han Cheng’s love, and he won’t give it to me? Yet you’re so pretentious, and he still clings to you and won’t let go.
Jiang Yu, you’re nothing more than a cheap bastard who takes advantage and still plays the innocent.”
The more Meng Yi spoke, the more agitated he became. Lying on the bed, his face flushed, neck thick, shouting at Jiang Yu until the veins on his forehead and neck bulged.
Jiang Yu was dumbfounded. The pretentious, show-off person Meng Yi was talking about—was that him? Was he really that kind of person?
Jiang Yu thought back to his interactions with Meng Yi. They had always been polite at best. Their relationship had never been close enough for heart-to-heart talks. Searching his conscience, he’d never once intended to show off in front of Meng Yi.
The only topic they occasionally shared was Han Cheng’s romantic scandals—and when complaining, Meng Yi was always far more animated than Jiang Yu.
How had such a huge misunderstanding even come about?
After shouting himself hoarse, Meng Yi paused to catch his breath, then took a deep breath and continued:
“At first, I could tolerate all this green-tea behavior of yours. After all, I still needed the identity of being your ‘friend’ to pick up those top-tier resources you didn’t want.
But I only plotted against you once with Sister Bai, that’s all. You could clearly tell I just wanted to act in a male second lead role you didn’t want. What on earth did you say to Han Cheng that made him, just to vent your anger, actually send me to accompany that pervert Zhuang Feng?
If you didn’t want to give it to me, you could’ve just said so. Why stab me in the back?
I didn’t want to go, and Han Cheng cut off every path I had. My endorsements, the songs I’d already negotiated, the variety shows that were promised—all of them were terminated.”
“I didn’t say anything like that,” Jiang Yu replied. “I told Han Cheng very straightforwardly that I didn’t want to play the second male lead and asked him to give you a chance to try. I didn’t say anything else.”
“Then why did he send me to that pervert Zhuang Feng? At a time like this, there’s no need for you to keep pretending to be a good person.”
Jiang Yu was speechless. Damn it—he’d even messed things up by helping. It was clearly Meng Yi and Sister Bai who’d asked him to whisper in Han Cheng’s ear, and when he did, it backfired. How on earth had this kid constructed such a monstrous image of him in his head?
“Didn’t Han Cheng give you a choice? Wasn’t it your own decision to go accompany Zhuang Feng?” Jiang Yu frowned slightly. This wasn’t what he’d been told.
“So that’s what he told you?” Meng Yi sneered. “Yes, he gave me a choice. I could choose not to accompany Zhuang Feng—but then I wouldn’t need to stay in the entertainment industry anymore. He’d already cut off all my resources.
“If he didn’t love me, I couldn’t also throw away my career. So I chose to go accompany Zhuang Feng. I wanted to climb higher—climb to a position where even Han Cheng couldn’t touch me, so I wouldn’t be under his control anymore.”
“It’s useless no matter how high you climb,” Jiang Yu said with genuine feeling. “Even if you become Best Actor or Best Singer, Han Cheng can still blacklist you whenever he wants.”
Back then, Jiang Yu hadn’t failed to take those Earth resources and approach other entertainment companies, trying to break free from Han Cheng. But after searching all over the country, he hadn’t found a single one.
He had even thought about going abroad to develop his career. He had memorized quite a lot of foreign songs and movies.
But he couldn’t even get a passport, because Han Cheng had swapped out his ID card and given him a fake one. Jiang Yu had almost been hauled off by the police to spend a few days in detention.
That bastard’s methods were dirty and numerous.
“Maybe it wasn’t possible before, but now it might be,” Meng Yi said with a cold sneer.
Jiang Yu’s interest was immediately piqued. “What do you mean? You have a way to get rid of Han Cheng?”
“Do you think I’d tell you, just so you can go tip Han Cheng off?” Meng Yi glared at Jiang Yu, making it clear he had no intention of explaining.
Fine, then don’t. Jiang Yu rolled his eyes. Only today did he realize that something was wrong in this kid’s head—things Jiang Yu had never done were still twisted into misunderstandings, and Meng Yi hated him to the bone for them.
“If you want to blame someone, blame Han Cheng. I never planned to mess with you in the first place—it was him who insisted on sending me to Zhuang Feng.
You know Zhuang Feng’s methods, right? After all, Han Cheng once sent you to Zhuang Feng too. I heard your clothes were stripped off back then.
You were really something—jumping from the third floor without any clothes on. Heaven really has no eyes. You only broke your waist and not your neck.”
“Where did you hear that gossip?” Jiang Yu corrected him calmly. “I was wearing pants—long pants. The belt wasn’t even undone. It was just my upper body that was stripped bare. And there happened to be a tree under the window. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have dared jump from the third floor.”
