The woman's name was Zhou Qing. She was a third - tier star in the entertainment circle, usually playing supporting roles in movies and TV dramas. She hardly ever got her hands on any major resources.
She came here today in hopes of seizing an opportunity. She wanted to make an appearance in front of these capitalists, thinking that perhaps a director might take a fancy to her charm.
This Director Liu had worked with her once before. He had made some excessive demands on her. Although Zhou Qing was eager to become a big star, she would never accept any form of sexual harassment in exchange for opportunities.
"Director Liu, who's this beside you..." Zhou Qing stared intently at Lin Zhirou, her tone laced with mockery. "So this is the type you like these days, Director Liu."
Perhaps because she had been so blunt, it made Lin Zhirou feel extremely embarrassed.
By now, everyone knew what was going on between Lin Zhirou and Director Liu, and it was out in the open.
Lin Zhirou had thought that after coming down, Zhou Qing would first question Shen Jianyi about the dress. But unexpectedly, she came over to mock her instead.
Lin Zhirou clenched her fists. "Miss Zhou, watch your words. You might end up in trouble."
Zhou Qing covered her mouth and laughed lightly. "Trouble? I'm just a third - tier actress. What do I have to fear?"
There are people who, having reached rock bottom, fear no further fall. Zhou Qing was a classic example. She had nothing backing her up. She had worked hard to get to where she was. She had never truly succeeded, so there was no question of failure.
Lin Zhirou felt a shiver run down her spine. She glanced at Shen Jianyi and then at Zhou Qing. Clearly, Zhou Qing was trying to shift the topic to the evening dress.
Just then.
Zhou Qing suddenly spoke up. "It's my honor to wear the same dress as Mrs. Lu."
When she had come down and seen someone wearing the same dress, she had been quite angry at first. But after seeing the other person's face and learning her identity, she suddenly thought her taste wasn't too bad.
To have the once - in - a - lifetime opportunity of wearing the same dress as the famous Mrs. Lu, well, she had truly lucked out.
Zhou Qing's attitude was truly admirable. Even Shen Jianyi thought she was quite easy to get along with.
She had thought the matter would end there, and no one would bring up the dress again. Shen Jianyi had only come to this banquet because of Zheng Tiantian. Picking on her over this was truly unwise.
Unfortunately, Lin Zhirou wasn't that smart. She twitched the corner of her lips and quickly resumed her haughty demeanor. "That's right. After all, there's quite a gap between you and her."
In fact, the people standing there couldn't understand why Lin Zhirou was provoking others out of the blue. Wasn't she just digging a hole for herself?
By provoking one person after another here, in the end, everyone would speak ill of her. It was even possible that Director Liu would no longer want to have anything to do with her.
"Come on." Zhou Qing looked disgusted. "You still have the mood to mock me. Why don't you take a look at the evening dress you're wearing? It's a hand - me - down."
"What do you mean?"
Zhou Qing immediately took out her phone, flipped through it, and showed a photo to the woman. She looked extremely smug. "The dress you're wearing was worn by a top - tier celebrity on the red carpet last time. It's just a pity that your status seems to be quite different from hers."
This dress was, of course, bought by Director Liu. Although there's no rule saying that a dress worn by someone else can't be worn again, it was still quite embarrassing.
Even Director Liu's face didn't look good. He was well - known in the circle for being a playboy, always surrounded by different women. That top - tier celebrity had once been with him.
This evening dress, brought back from the fashion capital, had been given to that celebrity back then. But they had broken up amicably after a short while.
Watching Lin Zhirou cherish this dress as if it were a treasure was truly laughable.
Lin Zhirou's face immediately changed, alternating between green and white. It was obvious that she just wanted to leave as soon as possible.
But no matter how angry she was, in the end, she could only swallow her anger. She couldn't just turn against Director Liu in front of so many people. By then, who knew what Director Liu might do.
All of this seemed extremely interesting to Shen Jianyi.
The banquet hadn't even started, and she had already witnessed a great show. She could hardly imagine how lively it would be when all the celebrities arrived.
They say the entertainment circle is a deep pool. After seeing this, she knew it was true.
No wonder Shen Jiayu had so many rumors spread about her back then. It was a pity that those rumors were all fabricated.
If even men could be so jealous, one could only imagine how much more so these female celebrities were.
Shen Jianyi shrugged and found a seat to sit down. She seemed completely unconcerned about what would happen next.
After seeing Shen Jianyi leave, Zhou Qing didn't bother with Lin Zhirou anymore. Such a woman was bound to be a failure in the entertainment circle. It was easy to see why.
She walked straight over to Shen Jianyi, sat down close to her, and lowered her voice. "Mrs. Lu, can we be friends?"
Hearing this, Shen Jianyi slowly raised her eyelids, her voice cold. "Sure."
"Then let me add you on WeChat!"
Just as Zhou Qing took out her phone and was about to scan the QR code, Lu Jinsheng suddenly stepped forward to stop her.
"Sorry, my wife doesn't associate with people from the entertainment circle. Let's forget it."
Shen Jianyi, who had already taken out her phone, was stunned. She didn't understand what he was doing. The other person was just a woman. Was Lu Jinsheng jealous of a woman?
Lu Jinsheng ignored Zhou Qing and simply grabbed the woman's hand and walked away.
All of this left Shen Jianyi quite confused. She had a million questions. "What's going on?"
"You'd better have as little contact with her as possible. This woman's identity is very mysterious. Only a little of her public information has been revealed."
Hearing this, Shen Jianyi suddenly remembered that there had always been an unrevealed member in the research institute. This member had grown up beside Zhou Sang and had never shown her face in front of them.
Shen Jianyi still remembered that she had only seen that girl once when she was very young. But so much time had passed that she had long since forgotten.
Although Zhou Qing might not have deliberately appeared in front of her, there were so many evening dresses to choose from, yet she had chosen the same one as Shen Jianyi.
This made Shen Jianyi feel that she had done it on purpose.
"Do you know something else?" Shen Jianyi raised her eyelids. She always felt that the other person was hiding something from her.
Lu Jinsheng sighed. He could never fool her. Looking into the woman's dark eyes, he slowly said, "I saw her before. She seems to have some connection with Lu Suowei. So I think... it's better to have less contact with this person."