Chapter 37: “Secretly” Following

Chapter 37: "Secretly" Following

"Mom, what do you think?"

Fu Yining squinted in thought for a moment before nodding slowly.

"Yes, but isn't your room a bit too small for filming? I'll have them clean out a spare room for you to use."

Seeing that Song Qingyu seemed about to say something, Fu Yining quickly interrupted, "Don’t get the wrong idea, I’m not doing this just for you. I just don’t want to make my grandchild uncomfortable."

"Yes, thank you, Mom." Song Qingyu understood but didn’t want to call her out.

Fu Yining nodded reservedly and summoned Hu Ma over to instruct her to clean the guest room on the second floor, leaving the rest to Song Qingyu's discretion.

Hu Ma glanced at Song Qingyu, who smiled and thanked her, and immediately got the message.

Ah, so it’s for the young mistress!

Oh, not to be rude, but Madam’s patience has been off the charts lately. A few days ago, a new maid accidentally spilled a tea pot, and Madam didn’t get angry. Instead, Butler Wang dismissed the maid on the spot.

If only Madam had always been this calm, this house would have been peaceful long ago.

So Hu Ma said, "Yes," and immediately took two people upstairs to clean the room.

With that, Fu Yining got up to leave.

From where she was sitting, Song Qingyu could only see Fu Yining’s white T-shirt, but as she stood up, revealing her entire outfit, Song Qingyu’s eyes lit up.

She couldn’t help but say, "Mom, you look amazing in that outfit!"

"I think so too!"

Fu Yining thought to herself that the protagonist’s taste was as good as hers.

"Alright, I’m going back to my room. You carry on."

"Okay, Mom."

With a smile from Song Qingyu, Fu Yining headed upstairs to her own room.

After closing the door, she took out her phone and searched for keywords on a social media platform. In the search results, she successfully found Song Qingyu's account.

The background of the video was clearly a university dormitory. The familiar ceiling and the bunk bed with a desk underneath were almost identical to Fu Yining's college dorm.

Song Qingyu sat at the desk, introducing her selected useful items with a gentle voice, while the passing bullet comments expressed support.

The ten-minute video had hundreds of thousands of views, which was quite an achievement for a small-scale influencer like Song Qingyu.

Fu Yining, after watching, promptly followed her.

The protagonist is kicking off her career, and I have to support her!

Seeing that her account had a new follower, Song Qingyu immediately suspected that this new follower from two minutes ago was Fu Yining.

Trust me, it’s pure intuition!

Without a second thought, Song Qingyu followed her back and then went upstairs to find her long-stored video equipment.

In the beginning, Song Qingyu started with just a phone, a computer, and a basic $1.50 tripod, which helped her build her first batch of followers.

After earning some money, Song Qingyu invested in more professional filming and recording equipment to improve her video quality. It was during this time that her follower count skyrocketed.

These items had accompanied her through her wonderful college days, so Song Qingyu couldn't bear to throw them away. She packed them neatly in a box.

Now was the perfect time to bring them back into action!

Song Qingyu returned to her room, found them, and cleaned them. After testing, she discovered they were still in excellent shape. While they didn’t match the performance of the latest models, they still worked incredibly well.

She had already decided what to film for her first video after the break. After not updating for so long, she owed her fans an explanation.

Song Qingyu waited for Hu Ma to finish tidying up and used the time to write her script.

Sitting at her desk, pen in hand, Song Qingyu felt a long-lost sense of fulfillment that brought back fond memories.

"Young mistress, the room is clean. Do you need anything else?"

Hu Ma knocked on the door, and Song Qingyu put down her pen, stood up, and went out.

On the third floor, Fu Yining received another call from Wu Yuan and was trying to send someone to help her.

Wu Yuan complained that the studio wouldn’t let her go, or they demanded a breach of contract fee before letting her leave, even though none of this was in the contract.

"Sister Yining, you have no idea. These people are just playing good cop, bad cop with me, not wanting me to resign. Hmph, don’t they remember how they treated me before?"

If they had treated her a little better, she wouldn’t be so determined to resign today.

What kind of breach of contract fee? Please!

If anything, they should pay her for all the overtime she’d put in!

"Sorry, no offense to dogs, but they really are disgusting!" Wu Yuan, who was hiding in the bathroom with the door locked, whispered on the phone to Fu Yining.

Fu Yining advised her to protect herself, as the lawyer was on the way.

Wu Yuan said she understood but didn’t really believe they would dare to do anything to her.

"Knock knock knock!"

"Xiao Wu, are you still inside?"

"What do you want?" Wu Yuan looked up warily.

A woman’s voice came from outside. She was the boss of the studio, named Liu Jing, and also the aunt/cousin of the other members (except Wu Yuan).

She was one of the people who had cornered Wu Yuan earlier, accusing her of being irresponsible for wanting to resign after only a few months and demanding a breach of contract fee.

Hearing the knock and the request to come out, Wu Yuan told Fu Yining and, pursing her lips, reluctantly opened the door.

"Oh, there you are."

Liu Jing changed her tone from earlier, affectionately putting her arm around Wu Yuan's shoulder.

Wu Yuan stiffened and rejected her attempt to get closer. "Jing, what's the matter?"

She wasn’t falling for the ‘good cop, bad cop’ routine.

Liu Jing sighed and advised kindly, "Xiao Wu, don’t blame Jing for being strict earlier. As you know, our studio has been struggling to manage with the lack of people."

Wu Yuan thought, was the studio’s struggle her fault? They weren’t putting this mess on her!

"Look, Xiao Wu, if you quit now, what are the customers going to do? They love you and always ask for you when they come in. Can you really just walk away?"

Xiao Wu thought, *Of course I can leave.*

"Sister Jing, just say what you need to say."

Liu Jing asked hesitantly, "Xiao Wu, what’s up? Why the sudden decision to quit?"

Xiao Wu replied, "Not satisfied!"

"What? Really?"

Liu Jing didn't expect her to actually say it and was momentarily speechless.

Xiao Wu realized that if Liu Jing had been willing to give her a raise, it would have happened already. Why wait until now?

She must think I’m an easy target!

Xiao Wu knew the customers who asked for her were great, but even great people need to pay the bills, right?

She wasn’t a saint. This salary barely covers food and rent—there’s nothing left over.

She had to quit. No question about it.