Ruan Yu headed straight to the TV station after getting off the plane. Her colleagues at the station had all heard about the arts festival incident and didn’t dare speak to her when they crossed paths, afraid of touching upon her pain. This cautious atmosphere made Ruan Yu feel even worse.
After careful consideration, she decided to first sound out Shan Anxin, but when she reached Shan Anxin’s office, she learned that Shan Anxin had gone straight home to rest after returning from Hai City. Huh, the person who merely made a brief appearance ended up more tired than the one who went on an actual business trip.
Ruan Yu sent Shan Anxin a message. The gist was that she had learned the truth about the phone number mistake and wanted Shan Anxin to come back to the station to talk. Perhaps feeling guilty, Shan Anxin immediately called back. Ruan Yu didn’t answer. After three consecutive calls went unanswered, Shan Anxin hurriedly rushed back to the station. Such an attitude had already revealed everything without confrontation.
Ruan Yu sat upright in her office, watching Shan Anxin burst in with a bare face. “Anxin, you came quite quickly. Seems you’re concerned about my misreading of the phone number.” Ruan Yu rose from her desk and led Shan Anxin to the sofa.
Shan Anxin smiled, “Sister Ruan, what are you saying? We’re colleagues, of course, I’m concerned about you.”
“Would you like something to drink?”
“No, thanks.” Shan Anxin suppressed her anxiety. “Sister Ruan, you said you know the truth about the phone number. What truth?”
“Don’t you know?”
“How would I know?”
“But someone saw you switching it.”
Ruan Yu deliberately kept her words vague. Shan Anxin’s eyes shifted, not easily falling for the trap.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“The script,” Ruan Yu prompted.
“What script?”
Ruan Yu took out the script and waved it at Shan Anxin. Shan Anxin reached for it, but Ruan Yu dodged her grasp.
“What are you curious about? Haven’t you seen it since you switched it yourself?”
Ruan Yu’s tone grew increasingly pressing.
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
“Should we check the surveillance footage?”
“There are no cameras in the makeup room.”
“I never said you switched the script in the makeup room.”
“…” Shan Anxin was suddenly speechless, her fox tail slightly showing as she lost her composure.
“Sister Ruan, don’t try to fool me with a piece of paper. Who knows where you got that thing?”
“Of course from the cleaning lady who gave it to me.”
“Impossible, she said she tore it up.” Shan Anxin blurted out.
Ruan Yu smiled. “Good of you to admit it.”
Before Shan Anxin could defend herself, a strong male voice came from the direction of the desk: “Shan Anxin, come to my office immediately!” It was the Station Director’s voice.
Shan Anxin’s face changed dramatically. “Di… Director?”
Ruan Yu walked to her desk and showed Shan Anxin her phone screen, displaying an active call with the Station Director on speakerphone.
“You… Ruan Yu, you set me up!”
“Who set up whom?” Ruan Yu hung up the phone, not wanting to argue with Shan Anxin. “Whatever you have to say, explain it directly to the Station Director.”
“You went straight to complain to the Station Director?”
Ruan Yu remained silent. She hadn’t wanted to skip levels and make such a scene, but she didn’t know what else to do. If she had taken the evidence to the Deputy Director, he would certainly have covered it up, siding with Shan Anxin, and it would have all been for nothing. She had no choice but to go to the Station Director.
“What… what did you tell the Director? What did you say?” Shan Anxin was nearly crying.
“What else could I say? Of course, I told him everything you did.” Ruan Yu waved her phone. “Though I should thank you for cooperating so well. I boasted to the Director that I could make you confess within five minutes. I didn’t expect you’d admit it even faster.”
Shan Anxin was terrified and burst into tears. She ran out the door while calling Deputy Director Huang Ge for help.
Ruan Yu watched Shan Anxin’s stumbling figure and finally felt her suspended heart return to its place. She thought this would mark the end of the matter, that she could now get justice, but the result wasn’t nearly as simple as she had imagined. About an hour later, the Station Director called her to his office.
When Ruan Yu entered, she first noticed two cups of untouched tea on the coffee table. Deputy Director Huang Ge and Shan Anxin had just left.
“Little Ruan, come sit.” The Station Director beckoned to her.
Ruan Yu complied, sitting across from the Station Director’s desk.
“Would you like some tea?”
“No need to trouble yourself.”
“Alright then, I’ll get straight to the point.” The Station Director rubbed his temples. “I’ve just cleared up the details of the Jia Yue Arts Festival broadcast incident. How do you want to handle this?”
“How does the Director think it should be handled?”
“You want my opinion?” The Station Director smiled kindly, his face benevolent.
“I believe the Director will do right by me.”
The Station Director maintained his smile, but his eyes revealed complex emotions. Ruan Yu suddenly realized things might not be so simple.
“Little Ruan, you’ve certainly been wronged in this matter. You didn’t do anything wrong from start to finish, yet you took such blame. How about this: I will punish those who made the mistake, but we’ll resolve this matter behind closed doors, without making it public. After all, family shame shouldn’t be aired.”
Ruan Yu felt her hands and feet turn cold. What did this mean? Was she supposed to just keep bearing the blame?
“Director, this solution isn’t fair to me.”
“I understand, I understand.” The Station Director made a ‘calm down’ gesture. “Little Ruan, I understand your grievance. But this matter involves not just Anxin, but also Ying Wen. You’re among the few capable female hosts in the station. If we take them all down at once, how can that be good?”
“Sister Ying Wen?” Ruan Yu frowned. “What does she have to do with this?”
“Ha, what does she have to do with it? She has everything to do with it.”
“Director, are you saying Sister Ying Wen was also involved?”
“Wasn’t she the one pulling strings behind the scenes? Anxin just confessed everything. Your situation – it was all Ying Wen’s idea.”
Ruan Yu felt a chill pierce her heart. How could this be? How could Sister Ying Wen, whom she respected most, scheme against her behind her back?
“Could there… could there be some misunderstanding?”
“There’s no misunderstanding. If you think carefully, you should understand. Though Anxin is usually arrogant, she wears all her emotions on her face. To put it nicely, she’s guileless; to put it bluntly, she’s not that clever.”
Ruan Yu fell silent. The Station Director had a point. At the arts festival, when the incident occurred suddenly, Shan Anxin had come up with a solution surprisingly quickly, which didn’t match her usual intelligence. If she were capable of such scheming, she wouldn’t have let Ruan Yu extract a confession within five minutes.
This explained why Shan Anxin had a strategist behind her. But she never imagined that person would be Ying Wen.
“Little Ruan, if we maintain the original solution, regardless of how public opinion develops, it remains simply a host’s mistake. But if we expose how Anxin and Ying Wen plotted against you, it becomes a matter of character and morality. When hosts within a station fight so viciously, not only will Anxin and Ying Wen’s images be damaged, but TG’s reputation will suffer too. Once public opinion spreads, their shows will be affected. The station’s losses would be immeasurable.”
Ruan Yu lowered her head with a bitter smile. “What about my image? Is my image not important?”
“Of course it’s important, but the nature is different. A host misreading a script – which station hasn’t experienced that? Even more accomplished hosts make similar mistakes. It’s normal, nothing worth dwelling on. You’ll see, in a few days, everyone will have forgotten about it. You’ll still be the renowned host you were, the station will continue assigning you work – who would question your professional ability because of this mistake? But Anxin and Ying Wen could ruin their careers, even their lives, because of their mistakes. And Jia Yue – we’ve just calmed their anger. If we drag them back into this, they’ll certainly be unhappy.”
Ruan Yu understood the reasoning and could weigh the pros and cons, but she still couldn’t accept it.
“Little Ruan, over these years, everyone has witnessed your achievements, and your character is well-respected at the station. Among all our hosts, you’re the one I value most. The station hasn’t cultivated you easily. You’re a smart and kind child. I believe you can understand my difficulties and consider the bigger picture.”
Fighting back her heartache and sadness, Ruan Yu forced a smile at the Station Director.
“Director, you’ve said all the good and bad. If I keep pressing the issue, I’d appear unreasonable and ungrateful. Handle this matter as you see fit. I won’t object.”
“Good, good child. Afterward, I’ll make sure they apologize to you.”
By the time Ruan Yu left TG, it was very late. Full of grievances, she began crying as soon as she got in her car. The Station Director’s kind persuasion was like a soft knife – she couldn’t block it and could only take the cuts one by one. Society and the workplace are just like this – not every matter can be settled by right and wrong. Often, more important than right and wrong are relationships, benefits, face, and invisible vanity.
Sacrificing a pawn to save the king – so this was what it truly meant.
Ruan Yu wiped away her tears and drove to the “Nameless” bar. She felt she needed a drink tonight; otherwise, she’d surely lie awake all night.
When she arrived at the bar, she realized it was about to close.
The staff were cleaning up, and they froze when they saw Ruan Yu enter.
The young man who had asked for her autograph that day was the first to recognize her.
“Sister Ruan, are you here for a drink? We’re closing.”
Before Ruan Yu could respond, footsteps came from the second floor.
Teng Yi had come down.
The young man hurried to explain the situation to Teng Yi.
“Boss,” he lowered his voice, “we’re closing on time, but another customer just came. She’s not an ordinary customer – she’s a celebrity. Should we give her a face and let her have a few drinks? I can stay overtime to serve her.”
Teng Yi glanced at the young man.
The young man looked sincere.
“Remember for the future: treat celebrities the same as anyone else,” Teng Yi said.
“Ah? Boss, you mean we don’t need to give celebrities special treatment?”
“We don’t need to give celebrities special treatment, but we must accommodate the boss’s wife. You can go home – I’ll serve her myself.”
The young man was completely stunned.
What?
Boss’s… wife?
This Ruan Yu was their boss’s wife?
Oh no – wouldn’t his earlier revelation of the boss’s whereabouts for an autograph be exposed now?
After the employees left, Teng Yi closed the door.
Ruan Yu sat at the bar, looking dejected. From her appearance, he could guess things hadn’t gone well at work.
“Host Ruan, you ask me to quit drinking, yet here you are drinking?” Teng Yi teased, but his hands honestly opened the liquor cabinet for her.
“Just occasionally.”
“Things didn’t go well?”
“Not exactly.”
“Then?”
Ruan Yu pressed her lips together, propped her chin on her hand, and fell into silent contemplation.
“Teng Yi, have you heard of the cruel trolley problem with the train and six children?”
The gist of that problem was that six children were playing on the tracks. Five children were playing on the new track, while one child warned his playmates about the danger but was ignored, so he played alone on the old track. When a train came speeding along and the driver discovered the children, it was too late to brake. Should the driver continue normally and kill five children? Or reduce casualties by switching to the old track and killing that one child?
“I’ve heard of it.”
“What do you think should be chosen?”
Teng Yi shook his head.
This question – any choice could be right yet wrong, and any choice could be explained yet inexplicable. Too difficult.
“You became that one child?” he asked.
“Yes, I became that one child. I obediently played on the old track, I didn’t do anything wrong, but the train chose to hit me. And that’s not the scariest part. The scariest part is that the train didn’t kill me – I have to face the pain of being chosen while fully conscious.”
After speaking, Ruan Yu began drinking glass after glass while gradually telling Teng Yi the whole story.
He listened attentively, though he couldn’t match the names Shan Anxin and Ying Wen to anyone.
“You don’t even know Shan Anxin and Ying Wen? They’re very famous hosts!”
“Of all the female hosts in China these past few years, I only know you.”
The dark clouds in Ruan Yu’s heart instantly lightened a bit.
She smiled. “I’ll take that as you comforting me.”
“Did it help?”
“Yes. Having you beside me, listening to these trivial matters, is already a comfort.”
Hearing her say this, Teng Yi felt guilty.
“I’m sorry. These six years, when you needed me, I wasn’t by your side.”
“We’re even. These six years, when you needed me, I wasn’t by your side either.”
He reached out and patted her head. “Drink less.”
“Is the boss being stingy?”
“It’s not about being stingy. It’s just that you’re not very presentable when drunk.”
“How am I not presentable?” Ruan Yu was indignant. “When have I ever been drunk in front of you?”
Teng Yi smiled. “Never mind, if you’ve forgotten, let it be.”
“No way, tell me, what did I say when I was drunk?”
“You said I could stop loving you.”
“…” Ruan Yu scratched her head. “Then I was drunk. Don’t hold it against me. Drunk thoughts don’t count. You must talk nonsense when you’re drunk too.”
“I don’t talk nonsense when I’m drunk.”
“I don’t believe you. What do you say when you’re drunk?”
Teng Yi pointed to the light blue hanging cloth on the wall.
“See the little fish pattern up there?”
“Yes.”
“Rui Shu says when I’m drunk, I grab people and shout at them ‘Against the current fish, never die, never rest.'”
These six years, whenever he couldn’t carry on, alcohol and tobacco could temporarily numb his nerves, and these words could give him strength.
“Remember what you told me in Sanmenxia back then? Now, say those words to yourself again, and maybe it won’t be so hard.”
“Say them with me.”
“…”
“Come on!” Ruan Yu pulled at him coquettishly.
Teng Yi had no choice but to nod indulgently.
They slowly began speaking, their voices – one deep, one soft – intertwining.
“No matter who you are, even if fate corners you, even if life grips your throat, as long as you have an ounce of strength left to struggle, don’t give up. Don’t flow downstream, don’t drift with the current. Be like the fish swimming against the current – never die, never rest.”
Against the current fish, never die, never rest.
Never die, never rest.