Shion’s Notes 81

Chapter 81: Protection

Several more days passed. She had forgotten exactly how much time had gone by because she simply hadn’t counted. She only knew the money in her wallet was dwindling, and the things she could afford to eat were gradually decreasing. At first, she could barely afford to stay in a hostel, but now, she could only sleep on the streets.

Now, she slept on a park bench every day, using a picked-up newspaper as a blanket. Fortunately, the weather hadn’t been cold these past few days, so sleeping outside wouldn’t easily lead to catching a cold. But even if she did catch a cold, she had no money for treatment. It was best not to get sick.

“Sigh…”

Looking at the single red banknote left in her wallet, her money had truly reached its limit. Accommodation and food always cost money these days. No matter how much she saved, there was still a limit. Now, it had reached the end.

It seemed like she hadn’t showered for several days. She had been living in the park for a few days too. The smell on her body was very unpleasant, but she couldn’t help it.

As a girl, sleeping outside was actually very dangerous; it was easy to be targeted by criminals. So these past few days, she didn’t dare comb her hair, deliberately letting herself become disheveled, not washing her face, looking dirty. But her conspicuous appearance was still attractive, and there were still many punks who wanted to take advantage of her. At these times, Yu Linna would run to a place very close to the police station, making these people afraid to approach.

But this wasn’t a long-term solution. Yu Linna knew that if she continued living like this, something would happen sooner or later. She couldn’t keep living outside, no matter how comfortable it seemed.

If only she were a boy, Yu Linna sometimes thought. If it weren’t because she was a girl, she wouldn’t face these troubles.
Besides, sleeping outside meant many mosquitoes, which often bit her. She didn’t like sleeping in the park either.

“It’s reached the limit…”

Her money had truly reached its limit. She couldn’t continue like this. At most one more week, and she would have to start begging on the street. To think she had fallen to this state, it was truly laughable. If she hadn’t signed that damned contract back then, none of this would have happened. She could still be the ordinary Yu Linna.
But now it was impossible; she could never go back no matter what.

“Why…”

Many times, many times, Yu Linna asked herself this question: why did she, specifically, encounter this kind of thing?

She knew there was only one way to solve the current predicament: compromise with Orange River, sell herself out. But she was unwilling to do so, no matter what. Even if she starved to death, she wouldn’t sell her innocence cheap. If people laughed at her, let them laugh. Anyway, she wouldn’t give her most important thing to someone she didn’t like.

But…
She really couldn’t hold on much longer.
Since it’s come to this, why keep living? Isn’t it tiring?

Yu Linna smiled bleakly, dragging her heavy suitcase, disheveled, walking aimlessly in the big city. She felt she had lived tiredly enough. Since her previous life, things had never been good. It seemed her life was always full of hardships, always unable to eat her fill. She thought becoming an actress could change this situation. She thought as long as she became famous, she could be superior to thousands. But the fact was, she thought too much.
Yu Linna was just a slightly better-looking girl. Her talent wasn’t outstanding.

“Enough, it’s enough, so tired…”

Money gone, stomach growling with hunger, legs losing strength, cold and hungry, she felt she had lived tiredly enough.
She didn’t want to live anymore.
Because living was really too tiring.

“Dad, Mom, why did you give birth to me? I live so tiredly. It would have been better not to be born, let me dissipate along with the memories of my previous life…”

Two lines of clear tears flowed down, washing away a layer of dust from her face, also taking away her strength.
She was desperate enough, helpless enough. Anyway, no one would help her. Anyway, the people at Orange River were just playing with her. Then… she might as well find release sooner. Rather than carrying this unpayable debt, it was better to find release early. Anyway, she had no relatives in this world; she wouldn’t burden anyone. That way, it should be fine…
Dad and Mom must have abandoned her because they didn’t like her, hated her. Since that was the case, she might as well leave this world.

Yu Linna’s lonely figure shuttled through the city. No one would notice this girl; no one would care about her. She wandered alone, walked into the train station, crossed countless tracks alone, and found the railway tracks below the platform.

Looking at the train tracks, the place where trains passed line by line. It must hurt a lot if she lay down and was run over by a train. But the pain would only last for a moment. No matter how painful, it couldn’t compare to the pain in her heart.
The heart betrayed by Nangong was still bleeding now. Such pain was deeper than the pain of being run over by a train.

She looked up at the sky, a line of clear tears falling. This was the last time she would cry in this world. She came into this world crying, and left this world with tears. Henceforth, she had nothing left to take away.

“Goodbye, Yu Linna…”

She murmured this name, the only thing she received from her parents in this world. She had nothing left to linger for.
She took a step, intending to jump down just like that, to spend the last moments of her life on those train tracks.

“Get back here for lao niang!” (Note: 老娘 (lǎo niáng) is a coarse way for a woman to refer to herself, implying toughness or anger.)

Suddenly, a hand reached out from behind, grabbed her collar, and forcefully dragged her back.
Yu Linna was startled, struggling frantically, but the person holding her pulled even harder, forcefully pulling her back. Her strength was surprisingly great; Yu Linna couldn’t resist either. When Yu Linna looked up and saw this person’s face clearly, she couldn’t help but show a surprised expression.

“You… why are you here?”

“You bastard! Do you know how worried people were when you disappeared? Why didn’t you call me when something happened? Why didn’t you find me? Why are you so worrying!!”

Ye Zhiyun’s angry roar pulled her back to reality, leaving her completely stunned.
Facing her accusations, she had no words to refute. Now, surprise occupied most of her emotions.

“You’re simply a bastard, a complete bastard! Disappearing for half a month! If I hadn’t learned about your situation from your landlady, I’d still be kept in the dark!”

Ye Zhiyun was very angry, really very angry. In places she didn’t know, Yu Linna actually encountered such a big incident. What angered her more was that she knew nothing about it.

At this moment, several men in suits came from the platform. They walked hurriedly, their faces anxious. Seeing Yu Linna still standing there, they finally breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thank goodness, Miss Yu, you didn’t seek death. If something happened to you, the boss would hold us accountable.”

The men in suits said so.
Yu Linna looked at them, her body trembling again. She couldn’t help but take a few steps back.

“You guys… have you been watching me all along…”

“Not really. But no matter where you go, we can find you. We were really afraid you’d seek death in a place we couldn’t see. But, Miss Yu, your willfulness should end here. Our company still needs you for filming. Go back, the leader will forgive you.”

So no matter how far she ran, they would still find her. No matter where she went, Orange River wouldn’t let her go. As long as she was Orange River’s artist, they wouldn’t let her go, simply because she was female.

“No, don’t! I don’t want to go back! Please, let me go! I don’t want to be an actress anymore!”

Yu Linna trembled, hiding behind Ye Zhiyun, desperately clutching her clothes. Her appearance made one’s heart ache.

Ye Zhiyun looked at the girl behind her, the girl desperately clinging to her. She felt an inexplicable heartache. She had just learned what happened, but seeing the girl like this still made her sad.

“Miss Yu, stop making trouble and go back. You still have work to do.”

The man in the suit took a few steps forward, wanting to pull the blonde girl out from behind Ye Zhiyun. But the blonde girl screamed and cried, unwilling to come out from behind her. She absolutely didn’t want to go back to that place, not even if she died.

At that moment, Ye Zhiyun reached out her hand, slapped his hand away, spread her left arm to shield Yu Linna behind her, her eyes filled with anger.

“Who dares touch her!”

When she shouted this sentence, the men in suits were stunned. The momentum of that sentence suppressed everyone. Even though they were all adults, in front of Ye Zhiyun, they felt an oppressive force.

“Miss Ye, please don’t interfere with our work.”

The man in the suit frowned slightly, speaking unhappily. If it weren’t for giving face to Ye Zhiyun, he wouldn’t have wasted so many words.

“I said, who dares touch her. Try again, I’d like to see who dies first!”

Her face had never been so terrifying, that face, like a demon king from hell. Just seeing that face sent chills down one’s spine, making hair stand on end.
Just by relying on her imposing manner, Ye Zhiyun was enough to make people stop in their tracks.

“But, Miss Ye, she is an artist under our company. You cannot interfere with her work! She signed a contract! If she doesn’t follow arrangements, that’s a breach of contract. Breach of contract requires paying a penalty of 80 million!”

“…”

Ye Zhiyun turned her head again to look at Yu Linna behind her. Yu Linna had already cried into tears, tightly clutching her clothes, her dirty little face mixed with tears, smearing onto her clothes.

A penalty of 80 million was really not a small sum. Let alone Yu Linna, even she herself felt afraid. Such a huge number, ordinary people simply couldn’t pay it back. With Yu Linna’s situation, she couldn’t clear it even in a lifetime.

If it were before, she wouldn’t care.
But…
Seeing this crying face, she was moved. She still couldn’t sit idly by.

“Alright, 80 million is 80 million, I’ll give it. Her breach of contract penalty, I’ll pay. But I have a condition: terminate her contract immediately. From today on, she no longer belongs to your Orange River.”

The craziest thing Ye Zhiyun had done in her life, also the proudest thing she had done, wasn’t how much money she earned, wasn’t what correct decisions she made, what position she attained, but that she chose to pay this 80 million.

“You can’t be joking, right, Miss Ye? 80 million! What does that mean! With your strength, paying this sum isn’t that easy, right!”

Not just the man in the suit, even Yu Linna was stunned. They couldn’t understand Ye Zhiyun’s actions.
80 million was not a small number. Even for Ye Zhiyun, she couldn’t easily take it out.
And this amount of money was enough to invest in filming a major production movie.

“I said, I’ll give it. Do you have any objections?”

“But, Miss Ye, you can’t arbitrarily take people from our side. Our Orange River…”

“I said, I’ll give it! Where’s all the nonsense? I’ll write you the check later. If you obstruct me again, you’re going against me, Ye Zhiyun. Don’t even think about doing business with me in the future!”

Perhaps her actions seemed incomprehensible to others.
But, what did it matter?
She liked it.

No one could snatch Yu Linna from her hands, no one. She now belonged to no one but her, because she was bought by her, the unique Yu Linna.

And Yu Linna probably wouldn’t have thought that this former enemy, in her most destitute and desperate moment, was the first person to stand up. And the friend she trusted most abandoned her in the end.

The sun was about to come out.