The first day of script reading ended smoothly. Several actors considered their characters and proposed some amendments regarding their lines. With heavy revision and discussion, one-third of the full progress was made on that day.

Shen Yichong had been right. The progress would be slow. Meanwhile, he had arrived at Yu Yaoyao’s hotel room in the evening after a few days. He had decided not to interfere with her work but seeing Little Bun stressed after his dinner, and with him missing his wife terribly, they had decided to spend the night with her.

She greeted them happily. “Mummy has a sore throat!” exclaimed Shen Rui.

“I brought some Malva nuts to stew them,” said Shen Yichong, “It will help with your sore throat.”

Father and son were already in action to soothe her aches and pains. He stewed some Malva nuts for her while Little Bun massaged her shoulders. After having the stew, Shen Yichong massaged her left hand while Shen Rui took care of the right. Yu Yaoyao was in bliss being taken care of by her family, but her phone rang.

Little Bun, who was closest to the table, accepted the call and put it on loudspeaker. A man’s voice greeted her. “Hello, is this Yu Yaoyao?” the voice asked.

Shen Yichong’s hands, which was massaging her left, halted. He raised an eyebrow at her in a silent question.

Yu Yaoyao was getting drowsy when the phone call woke her. “Who is this?” asked Yu Yaoyao.

“I am Li Nan, a Southern Tabloid reporter,” said the voice on the phone, “We got a tip from an anonymous source that you have a poor relationship with your parents and have not been in contact with your family for nearly five years. Your mother is said to have begged you to come for dinner at least once back home, but it was met with indifference from your side. Is that true?”

Yu Yaoyao was wide awake now. She knew the ‘anonymous source’ was none other than Yu Xinjie. She had been too busy to take care of it during the script-reading, so she had now spread rumors about her.

Yu Yaoyao was going to let fly a series of cuss words when Shen Yichong reached out a hand to stop her. The silence only contributed to increasing the excitement of the reporter Li Nan on the other side of the phone.

He had received a private message just ten minutes ago from an unknown number who claimed to be a distant relative of Yu Yaoyao’s:

I couldn’t stand it when Yu Yaoyao abandoned her old mother. I’ve contacted Yu Yaoyao herself but wasn’t taken seriously, so I’ve come to you for justice. I’m hoping that the reporters will be able to handle and reveal the level of ignorance of this so-called top-tier artist.

Li Nan had planned to send the article he had written against Yu Yaoyao to be published online, but he had considered calling Yu Yaoyao to confirm it first. It would add to the authenticity of his article. After all, an exclusive interview would make it more popular.

By sheer luck, he had found out that his friend’s cousin had done make-up for Yu Yaoyao several years ago when she had been a trainee. She had her number. It was a long shot, though, to expect that Yu Yaoyao would still be reachable on the same number. It was a number from six years ago when she wasn’t married, yet.

When she had picked up the phone and didn’t hang up right after, Li Nan thought his day couldn’t go any better. “Ms. Yu, the other party isn’t your biological mother, right?” asked Li Nan, “How bad is your relationship? According to an insider, your stepmother used her dowry to raise you and buy you lavish presents, but now you don’t even want to meet her. You won’t even greet her properly. Is that true?”

He heard a sharp intake of breath from the other side of the phone, followed by a whimper. “Did they… did they actually say that about me?” said Yu Yaoyao, voice faltering. “Was I so unbearable to my mother and my sister for all these years?”

Li Nan was quiet. It sounded as though something was terribly wrong. “Is there more to the story, Ms. Yu,” he asked. But he knew that the public only cared about drama and dirty secrets, they didn’t care whether it was true or not; they didn’t care about the real story. And what could be more sensationalizing than a famed female artist who disobeyed filial piety. The audience would be attracted to it like moths to flame.

No matter what she said today, the headlines wouldn’t be altered anyway. Li Nan was already dreaming about the attention his article would get. He could even use her reply and put it in the end saying ‘celebrity refuses claims’. A whimper and a low cry brought Li Nan back to the present, shocking him. He was wondering if he should put ‘Yu Yaoyao couldn’t bear to make a sound to refute’ somewhere in the article. It will be perfect!

Eventually he heard a child pleading with his mother not to cry. He heard Yu Yaoyao sob. “It’s alright, baby,” she said to Shen Rui, “Mommy is fine. I will just talk to uncle for a bit okay. Honey, take our son and go to the next room for a while. I am fine, really, my dear. This is an issue with my mother and sister, I will solve it on my own.”