Letter from Hong Kong Chapter 61

The man before her exuded an overwhelming aura, more intimidating than any man Ying Yin had ever encountered. In the silent, deathly still ten-odd seconds, she stared blankly with wide eyes, unable to speak or make a sound.

What now? The very day after she’d told her boyfriend “I love you” and heard it back, they were about to be torn apart.

The hand hanging at her side felt a gentle squeeze. She came back to herself, instinctively turned her face, and looked up slightly to see Shang Shao’s calm profile.

The man’s sharp jawline didn’t tense in the slightest; his gaze and expression were entirely relaxed, not at all on guard.

He neither dodged nor yielded, and greeted Shang Qingye with proper respect. “Dad. What brought you back to Hong Kong all of a sudden?”

Shang Qingye wasn’t having any of it. He turned away coldly. “Ten minutes. I’ll be in the study.”

As soon as he left, Ying Yin felt the air around her begin to flow again. She finally remembered to breathe, her heart thumping wildly on the edge of a cliff. “What do we do? Your dad seems really pissed.”

“He’s pissed every day. That’s just his fiery temper – nothing to do with you.” Shang Shao took both her hands. “Want me to take you back? Or would you rather look around a bit more?”

Seeing that he was about to leave, Ying Yin held on tight, gripping his palm and refusing to let go. “Is he going to make things hard for you?”

“I don’t know.” Shang Shao answered honestly, then after a moment’s thought said calmly, “He might write you a check and tell you to leave me.”

Ying Yin blinked her very round eyes.

Just like in the dramas!

“For instance… two or three hundred million.”

Ying Yin couldn’t help herself. “Really?”

Her eyes lit up, her voice rising at the end –

Shang Shao understood. She was tempted.

Something about riches not corrupting the virtuous and poverty not swaying the steadfast – she could be swayed all too easily.

Under his stern gaze, Ying Yin promptly pressed her lips together and shook her head rapidly to show her loyalty.

“Forgot to tell you – even if I were to walk away with nothing this time, I’ve still got over a billion of my own. Not like a few years ago when I only had a few tens of millions.” Shang Shao looked down at her, his voice low and laced with warning. “Is that enough?”

Ying Yin nodded vigorously. “Enough, enough, more than enough.”

Shang Shao glanced down at her. “Over a billion – still not as much as Song Shizhang, and not as much as Chen Youhan.”

Ying Yin: “…”

She swallowed hard.

Shang Shao lowered his head with a slight smile, brushed his knuckles against her cheek. “Alright. You can think about where you want to go tonight, and wait for me to get back.”

Before he left, he still pulled Ying Yin into his arms and held her for a while.

The two kissed, which nearly drove Shang Qingye – who was watching from not too far away – to utter fury.

They’ve taken this to a whole new level!

His secretary, Uncle Sheng, followed beside him. Though long accustomed to his temper, he still barely dared to breathe. He stood there sweating for a long while before finally seeing Shang Qingye move – and hearing a gritted-teeth instruction. “Don’t tell Youyi yet.”

After waiting in the study for a moment, Shang Shao arrived right on the dot of ten minutes.

Shang Qingye stood by the window, one hand in his pocket, smoking. He heard the footsteps but couldn’t be bothered to turn around, and asked directly, “What’s your game here? Revenge? Rebellion? Don’t tell me this is serious.”

Since he was being so forthright, Shang Shao saw no reason to hold back either. “It is serious.”

Even though Shang Qingye had mentally prepared himself, he was now so furious he was nearly snapping his cigarette in two. “I admit the woman is beautiful, but there are plenty of beautiful women in this world. Education, upbringing, insight – I won’t even mention family background! You don’t care about any of that anymore, do you?! Lusting after a pretty face – I’m ashamed for you!”

Once he started his dragon’s roar, the bridge of peaceful communication between father and son was broken.

Shang Shao couldn’t be bothered to carefully parse his meaning either. He pressed on with a grim face, questioning relentlessly. “So? If she doesn’t meet your standards, what’s your plan this time? Threaten to cut me off? Disown me?”

“You!” Shang Qingye roughly stubbed out half his cigarette and broke into a violent coughing fit. “If you’re just fooling around, no one cares! But marrying her – absolutely not!”

“Why not? She comes from a decent family, she’s lovely and bright, sharp and perceptive, has no bad habits, has talent, a career, convictions, and insight – tell me, what exactly is wrong with her?”

Shang Qingye’s temple veins bulged. “You’re telling me – about a domestic helper who hadn’t even been in the house a few days before hooking up with her employer – that she’s decent and bright and perceptive and talented and has convictions? What convictions? Convictions about bagging men?! Uncle Sheng! My blood pressure meds!”

The man was about to die of rage!

Uncle Sheng immediately brought over water and pills. But before Shang Qingye could even put them in his mouth, he heard Shang Shao ask in disbelief, “Who did you say… is a domestic helper?”

“That beautiful little mistress of yours!” Shang Qingye was fuming. He abandoned the blood pressure meds, slammed the water glass down, planted one hand on his hip and started undoing his tie with the other. “Where’s Youyi? I want Youyi – I can’t deal with this unfilial brat anymore… Get out of my sight!”

Shang Shao waited calmly for his three-minute tantrum to run its course, then said placidly, “Her name is Ying Yin. She’s an actress, a Best Actress winner, the female lead of Shang Lu Films, and the face of Qili – you stayed at the Qili in Singapore for all those days and never once looked up at her ad?”

Shang Qingye: “…”

Uncle Sheng said nothing, thinking to himself: I’m out of here.

The study door clicked shut. Shang Qingye’s body seemed frozen in place, his tie half-twisted in his hand as he hesitated for a long moment before asking. “Who?”

“My girlfriend. Her name is Ying Yin. She’s an actress.” Shang Shao patiently repeated it for him.

“An actress won’t do either. Actresses…” Shang Qingye paced a full circle, unable to find anything to curse at for a moment, and finally just said, “Get out!”

Shang Shao stood straight, gave a slight, respectful nod, and praised him. “You really are, consistently steady.”

As he stepped out, another crash of breaking glass came from behind – who knew what Shang Qingye had smashed this time, perhaps an ashtray.

Uncle Sheng brought in fresh water and pills. When he entered, Shang Qingye was smoking again.

“Have you heard of her? This actress.” He asked in a hoarse voice, coughing a couple of times, waving the smoke away impatiently.

“Yes, I have.”

Shang Qingye said, “I’m clearly younger than you, so how come I haven’t heard of her?”

How was one supposed to answer that? Uncle Sheng could only say, “You’re occupied with a thousand matters every day – it’s only natural that you wouldn’t keep up with these celebrities.”

Shang Qingye had just been subjected to his unfilial son’s sarcasm, and now no amount of nice words sounded right to him. He narrowed his eyes. “During our days in Singapore, did they play her ads?”

Uncle Sheng nodded. “Yes, they did. On the LED screen at the hotel entrance, the outdoor billboards next to the building signage, the LCD displays in every elevator…”

Shang Qingye said flatly, “Oh, so I don’t have eyes, then.”

Uncle Sheng: “…”

Youyi… he wanted Youyi too…

With Youyi not around, the old man had no choice but to grit his teeth and add, “But in the commercials she’s all made up – she looks quite different from how she does in person.”

Shang Qingye swallowed his blood pressure medication with water, took a moment to compose himself, and made a phone call to his younger son, Shang Lu.

Shang Lu and Ke Yu were on the snowy mountain road heading down.

The off-road vehicle was packed with bags, bundles, and all kinds of camera equipment. The local guide was driving in the front seat, glancing at the back row and turning up the heat.

One of the passengers in the back was asleep, bundled in a coat, his head resting on the other’s shoulder. The one being leaned on was tall and broad-shouldered, a laptop on his knees and a Bluetooth headset in his ear, reviewing rough cuts sent over by the editing team.

The snowy road wound on, the snow thick and icy. The anti-skid chains on the off-road tires creaked and grated, jostling the car with every bump.

His phone buzzed with an incoming call. The name on the caller ID was so unwelcome that Shang Lu deliberately let it ring a few extra seconds before answering lazily, “Hello.”

“What kind of girlfriend did you set Shang Shao up with?”

“Shang Shao has a girlfriend?”

Beep – Shang Qingye hung up on the other end.

Ke Yu hadn’t really been asleep anyway; he’d been plagued by altitude sickness the past few days, his head pounding. Half-dazed as he heard this exchange, he also asked, “Shang Shao already has a girlfriend?”

Shang Lu was still holding the phone, baffled. “I don’t know – when did I ever set him up with anyone?”

Ke Yu opened his eyes, pondered for a moment, and seemed almost regretful. “Actually, I really did think about introducing Shang Shao to Xiao Yin.”

“No.” Shang Lu shut it down decisively. “I refuse to have that woman as my sister-in-law.”

He had both reduced Ying Yin to tears on set while she binge-ate carbs, and been driven to helpless rage by her. On top of that, there was the blood feud of “I like Brother Xiao Dao the most!” – her as his sister-in-law? He’d rather knock on a wooden fish for ten years!

“…Never mind.” Ke Yu closed his eyes again. “Anyway, she thinks your brother is pretty unremarkable.”

“Holy shit.” Shang Lu couldn’t help but curse, as if he’d heard some wild fairy tale. “Since when has my brother ever been ‘unremarkable’?!”

Ke Yu had to say, “Stop right there. Anyway, they don’t have a chance anymore.”

But everyone had seen how much Shang Shao had changed over the past two years. Everyone thought he would never fall for anyone again – so hearing that he had a new partner, even Shang Lu, who never gossiped, couldn’t help but press for details.

When Shang Lu’s call came in, Shang Shao’s mental chess game with Shang Qingye had only just passed the halfway mark.

The past half hour had been full of sudden twists and unexpected complications, completely throwing off his rhythm and openings. He had to recalculate, sorting through the cards between him and Shang Qingye one by one.

The ringtone sounded. He paused, unmoved by the commotion, relaxed and composed, not a trace of agitation in his expression.

“Coming down the mountain?” Shang Shao pulled his thoughts aside for the moment.

“Yeah.” Shang Lu couldn’t be bothered with beating around the bush and went straight to the point. “Shang Qingye just called me, asking when I introduced you to your girlfriend.”

Shang Shao wasn’t surprised and let out a small laugh. “And then?”

“No ‘and then.’ So you really do have a girlfriend?”

“Just made it official.”

“The fact that Shang Qingye would ask that means this person knows me first, and she must be in the entertainment industry – eight to one, she’s my leading lady.” Shang Lu analyzed logically, confidently piecing it together step by step. “Since Ying Yin said you’re unremarkable, it can’t be her you’re dating. I’ve got it – your girlfriend is –

Xie Miaomiao.”

Shang Shao: “…”

Shang Lu was quite pleased with his own intelligence for arriving at the right answer in no time. He sat sprawled in the car with a smug snicker. “Not bad. Congratulations – Xie Miaomiao’s a good person. Her character is definitely better than Yu Shasha’s…”

“Wait.” Shang Shao cut him off calmly, narrowing his eyes, and asked slowly, “You just said – who called me unremarkable?”