I Want a Lifetime with You
Chapter 473

Shu Qing merely huffed in response. When the manager saw her disinterest, he felt slightly awkward and did not continue speaking anymore.

The car quickly arrived at the parking lot. Seeing that Xinhuang's staff had prepared for this scenario in advance, the media reporters and paparazzi were not granted access.

Shu Qing pushed the car door open and stepped out. When she saw that Su Huaibei had also gotten out, her face turned gloomy all of a sudden. "Why did you get down?"

A smirk played upon Su Huaibei's lips. "Of course, it's to take a look at your future workplace and see what kind of environment you'll be working in!" Su Huaibei didn't bother about Shu Qing, walking ahead of her instead. Xinhuang's person in charge was slightly astounded upon seeing Shu Qing and a middle-aged man walking over together. Even so, the person in charge did not comment on it. "Ms. Shu, this way please!"

Su Huaibei shot a glance at Shu Qing, who had a reluctant look sprawled across her face, before stepping into the elevator. The manager followed closely behind them. Shu Qing gritted her teeth in the end, as she ultimately chose to follow them in.

She had witnessed Su Huaibei's methods more than once. Every time Shu Qing thought that his methods could not get any more brutal, he would make her see him in a different light again. Su Huaibei had never cared for civility. Thus, Shu Qing was now on her best behavior.

When Su Huaibei saw this, a crease formed between his brows. Nevertheless, he did not make any remarks.

The Xinhuang personnel looked between the two of them and instantly felt the oppressive aura that the middle-aged man was exuding. All he did was stand there without uttering a word, but he could still intimidate those around him. Very soon, the personnel could also make some connections between Shu Qing and Su Huaibei.

The elevator doors opened when they reached the seventh floor. The personnel extended his hand and urged, "Please follow me. Our boss is already waiting in the conference room."

Su Huaibei took the lead, with Shu Qing trailing along behind him. The personnel pushed open the door to the room. At that moment, Shu Qing felt regret gnaw at her chest. She wanted to run in the opposite direction, but Su Huaibei did not give her the opportunity to do so at all.

His hand had already grabbed her arm as he grinned at her. "Where do you think you're going?"

Shu Qing's face paled as she stared at Su Huaibei's hand on her arm, holding her in place. Then, she looked at the person inside the room. Her fists clenched tightly and hatred swirled in her eyes.

Shi Nuan had also seen Shu Qing by now. She stood up from her seat and walked toward them with a polite smile. Her smile stayed in place the whole time and she gave off the vibe of a mature and steady woman.

However, when Shi Nuan's gaze landed on Su Huaibei, surprised filled her eyes. She stared at him for quite a while before exclaiming softly, "It's you?"

Su Huaibei also froze for some time before releasing Shu Qing's arm. Faced with Shi Nuan's smiling eyes, he was slightly dumbfounded, but more pleasantly surprised than anything. "Good afternoon!" "Good afternoon!" Shi Nuan smiled. "We met at the hospital previously, but you look a little bit different from that day! Do you remember me?" Shi Nuan pointed at herself.

Su Huaibei immediately understood. "Oh, yes. I remember that. I looked rather disheveled that time. I'm sure you had a good laugh behind my back."

"It wasn't a big deal. My name is Shi Nuan. I'm the current person in charge of Xinhuang. And you are?"

"Su Huaibei!" He extended his hand and shook hands with Shi Nuan in a very gentlemanly way.

Shu Qing, who was standing beside Su Huaibei at that moment snorted with derision when she saw his actions. "Stop acting like you're close when you're not."

The smile on Shi Nuan's face stiffened, but she quickly recovered and raised her brows instead. "Mr. Su, I hope you don't mind me asking, but what's your relationship with Jiang City's Su family?" "Do you know of the Su family, Ms. Shi?" Su Huaibei looked at her with surprise. Shi Nuan nodded and replied, "Yes. Mr. Su Shaoqing and I are well acquainted with each other. What about you?" "I'm Qing's fourth uncle!" Su Huaibei smiled. "So you and my nephew are friends!"

"That's right, Mr. Su. Ms. Shu, please come in as well!" Shi Nuan did not ask what the relationship between Su Huaibei and Shu Qing was, neither did she ask someone to escort Su Huaibei out. On the contrary, she made sure to take good care of him.

"Xu Yue, pour some tea for Mr. Su, please." Shi Nuan paused. "What type of tea do you prefer, Mr. Su?"

"I don't mind anything!" Su Huaibei looked at Shi Nuan with a gentle gaze.

Shi Nuan nodded slightly. "Make a cup of Pu'er then. Ms. Shu, what about y..."

"There's no need for that." Shu Qing cut her off and said in a slightly vexed tone, "You don't need to put in so much effort on me, Ms. Shi. I don't want a drink!"

Shi Nuan raised her lips slightly at that. "Bring a glass of warm water for Ms. Shu. Seeing how ageless Ms. Shu looks, she must be very health-conscious, avoiding consuming any outside food." Shi Nuan cleverly cleared the awkwardness brought about by Shu Qing.

Su Huaibei's keen eyes were fixated on Shi Nuan as he gazed at her with admiration and a hint of a smile.

Shi Nuan looked away and raised her hand slightly. With that, Zhou Zheng came over. "Mrs. Fu, this is the contract for Ms. Shu!"

Shi Nuan nodded and accepted the contract. Her eyes swept over the details as she held the contract in one hand, while her other hand tapped against the desk. Her calm and relaxed appearance made her look very professional and sophisticated to outsiders, but when Zhou Zheng saw this, a smile stretched across his lips.

Mrs. Fu has spent too much time with Mr. Fu to the point that she has picked up some of his little habits. Whenever Mr. Fu is in deep contemplation, he would look like this too.

Shi Nuan looked through the contract thoroughly, then passed it to Shu Qing. Then, she instructed Zhou Zheng to give Shu Qing's manager and Su Huaibei a copy each as well. "The contract that was previously given to Ms. Shu was only the preliminary agreement and it wasn't perfected yet. This one was just released this morning. Please take a look at it first. If there are any problems, feel free to point them out."

Xu Yue came in just then. He gave Su Huaibei a cup of tea, before handing Shu Qing a glass of warm water. However, Shu Qing did not accept it. Xu Yue glanced at Shi Nuan, and the latter signaled for her to place the glass aside.

Shi Nuan looked at Shu Qing patiently and found that they shared many similarities. Nonetheless, there were also disparities between them.

Shu Qing's personality was very different from hers. On the contrary, Shen Qianan and Shu Qing had the same personalities; they wore their emotions on their sleeves.

Shi Nuan shifted her gaze but was met with Su Huaibei's friendly one.

Shi Nuan gave him a polite nod, which he did the same with a smile. From the start to the end, he was nothing but a modest gentleman.

Shi Nuan had a very good impression of Su Huaibei. He gave her a good feeling and he seemed completely harmless to her.

It took Shu Qing about half an hour to finish looking through the contract. Shi Nuan had remained quiet in her seat throughout the entire ordeal.

Shu Qing could not stand how collected she was, so she snapped the contract shut and announced, "I'm not satisfied with this contract!"

"Oh?" Shi Nuan raised her brows. "May I know what exactly you're not satisfied with, Ms. Shu?" Shi Nuan then lifted her hand and Zhou Zheng instantly came over. "Zhou Zheng, note down everything and make sure that you fulfill all of Ms. Shu's requests."

Although Shi Nuan was speaking to the assistant, her eyes were trained on Shu Qing. "Ms. Shu, Mr. Zhou is my husband's personal assistant. Of course, his skills are unparalleled. So, if you're dissatisfied in any manner, just let Mr. Zhou know."

"Ms. Shu, I'm all ears. Please, go ahead!" Zhou Zheng sat adjacent to Shi Nuan and focused on Shu Qing with a serious expression.

Meanwhile, Shu Qing was stupefied, unable to say a word for quite a while. Under Shi Nuan's intense gaze, Shu Qing finally snapped out of it and sneered. "I'm just not satisfied. I've heard that Xinhuang is one of the top entertainment industries in the country. So what is this? You people can't even handle a simple contract and need me to teach you how to do your jobs? Is everyone at Xinhuang so incapable?" Zhou Zheng lifted his head and arched his brows in question at Shu Qing.

This was the first time that he met such a difficult artist. Shi Wei was already bad enough, so he never expected that there would be someone even worse. Had it not been for Fu Chengyan specially ordering him to accompany Shi Nuan to settle some things, he would not have been willing to serve someone like this. Not only was she arrogant, rather, her attitude toward Shi Nuan was also very bad. It was a blessing that Shi Nuan was a good-tempered person, otherwise, he would have...

Shi Nuan lightly tapped the table, signaling for Zhou Zheng to remain calm. Then, she turned to Shu Qing with a smile and uttered, "Then I guess we won't be signing the contract today." Shu Qing scoffed. "If that's the case, I'm leaving. I have things to do."

Seeing Shu Qing stand up, Shi Nuan followed suit. "Ms. Shu, why don't you keep your options open? After all, Z Nation is huge and Xinhuang isn't the only entertainment company. Based on your current reputation, any company would be willing to sign you, and the price would be negotiable as well. Since you aren't satisfied with Xinhuang, it must mean that we still have to improve on certain things. After you explore other companies, I'll get in contact with you again to ask you for your advice, Ms. Shu!"

Shu Qing's face turned ashen with anger. "Shi Nuan, you..."

"Preposterous! How dare you raise your voice at Mrs. Fu?" Zhou Zheng got to his feet and went to stand in front of Shi Nuan. "Mrs. Fu treats everyone well, and that's because she's kind. Even if you are our guest, you shouldn't take advantage of it. If you don't want to sign with Xinhuang, I dare say that no company in the country would want to sign you!"

"You..."

"Zhou Zheng!" Shi Nuan frowned and pinned him a hard stare. "How could you speak to Ms. Shu in such a manner?"

"I was out of line." Zhou Zheng immediately retreated to his initial position.

Shi Nuan plastered a professional smile on her face and turned to look at Shu Qing. However, the smile did not reach her eyes. "Since our discussion has turned rather unpleasant, I hope that you'll have a good day, Ms. Shu. I believe that we'll have other chances to collaborate in the future!"

"Xu Yue. See our guests out."

"Ms. Shu, this way."

"Hmph!" Shu Qing harrumphed and took a step to leave.

Shu Qing's manager quickly grabbed Shu Qing's arm. "Ma'am, what are you doing? Xinhuang is such a large company but you don't want to sign with them? What in the world aren't you satisfied with? All the conditions stated in the contract are tailored to your best interests. Even the resources are the best of the best. If you walk out now, you won't get another chance like this."

"You... Are you even my manager?" Seeing her own manager publicly slap those words in her face, Shu Qing glared at him. "I'd said, I don't want to sign!"

"Don't forget about your current image and reputation. You're not young anymore. Why are you being so stubborn?"

"Since she doesn't want to sign, then we won't force her!" Su Huaibei came to stand before Shu Qing, looking down his nose at her. "After so many years, you're still the same; older but not wiser!"