The sequel’s contract hasn’t been officially signed by the producers yet, but Qiao Qiao had already sent news. All kinds of interviews poured down like rain, stirring up hype both real and fake. Jia He asked him if he wanted to take on the sequel, and Yi Wenze very seriously said he probably didn’t have anything scheduled.
When she heard that, she didn’t know whether to feel excited or disappointed. If he acted in it, she would feel awkward, but if he didn’t act in it, there’d be no appeal to the drama without him as the lead.
Jia He stood under the production company building, staring at the magazine from half a month ago with his face on it in the newsstand, just feeling regretful over her own fickleness, when someone called her.
Jia He looked back to see Director Liu’s assistant. The little assistant smiled at her while asking the boss, “That one.” What she took was the cover with Yi Wenze, head lowered slightly, smiling as if he had just finished saying something and was patiently listening to a question.
Jia He blinked and bought herself a copy too.
The little assistant’s eyes instantly lit up. “Screenwriter, you like him too?”
Like him? It’s more than just liking…
She nodded. “I’ve liked him for many years.” The little assistant affectionately pulled her arm: “Me too!” Then she suddenly realized, “Oh right, the last drama you wrote was the one he starred in right? And talks about filming a sequel?”
Jia He uh-huh’d, and groundlessly said, “He’s very dedicated to his work and very polite.”
Even she felt her teeth go numb saying that.
The little girl spoke gently all the way for a full ten minutes. Other than sighing over missing his concerts and how lucky his girlfriend was, she didn’t ask too many questions. She was completely unlike the average fan who would seize opportunities like this to ask about what the star himself was like and any gossips from being on set.
But come to think of it, he had always kept a low profile all these years, so his fans were always low-key too.
Aside from the divorce, there were basically no hyped scandals.
Even this time it was solved in one go without answering any more questions. She remembered afterward when she went to flip through his forum and official site, his fans were also very protective. Whenever outsiders or media tried to probe for details, most would say the idol doesn’t like to talk about his private matters. Some even politely reminded others that the past is the past, please don’t ask about it unnecessarily anymore.
They really matched the saying “like idol, like fans.”
Returning to the room, everyone still wasn’t in discussion mode yet. She casually flipped through the magazine she just bought.
Actually most of the content in his interviews were about the same. Inevitably it would turn to relationship questions at the end. But this reporter was quite playful, dismissing it in one line—He said it’s very stable, oh, seeing him smile, I felt too embarrassed to keep asking.
“Screenwriter,” someone suddenly called her from nearby, “My wife and mom are both watching your drama. Give me some spoilers I can use to coax my wife with when I get home.”
Jia He looked at him helplessly: “To be honest, I don’t know.”
Although the producers had handed great power over the sequel to her… She had racked her brains for many days now but was completely dried up without any ideas.
The person mockingly said Jia He was tight-lipped. Then he casually added: “That little actor Liao Jing isn’t simple. She’s playing opposite Yi Wenze in her second drama, and there are even affair rumors.” Yesterday someone shared her Weibo post, it was so ambiguous, ‘Thank you for giving me a moment of happiness.’ The internet already went wild with speculation. Many are saying the two went out partying wildly together in Hengdian several times.”
Jia He’s heart quivered. The little assistant was printing out suggestions for revisions. She very seriously clarified: “Impossible. She’s just hyping it up. If it was really Yi Wenze’s girlfriend, her character definitely wouldn’t be like that.”
A diehard fan indeed. Jia He listened till her bones went soft.
“Analyzing it plausibly from drama breeding romance huh.” That person turned his computer to show the two of them.
The general idea was tracing the overlapping timelines between the two. Coincidentally, Liao Jing happened to be in Beijing the day of the concert too. The most vicious thing was someone digging up details about that KTV ruckus in Hengdian, claiming they saw Liao Jing singing Tian Chu’s songs with Yi Wenze present at the scene.
She skimmed through it hastily, all kinds of explosive reveals, dozens of pages…
The little assistant read with increasing silence, until finally giving her a look by the end, as if wanting confirmation. Jia He hadn’t intended to get involved, but that guy just had to add: “See, even you believe it now right?” Hearing those words, the girl became so anxious her eyes reddened.
Jia He really couldn’t bear it and cleared her throat to casually say, “As far as I know, it’s very unlikely.”
With one line, all eyes lifted to look at her.
So everyone was listening…
She lowered her head, flipping through the three pages of thin A4 paper in her hands. She could only brace herself to bluff: “We ate together once. He joked about not really liking tall women,” then she quickly added, “Don’t believe me, I’m just rambling nonsense.”
The three pages in her hands, turned back and forth with her sneakily making scribbles on them with a pen.
But everyone still watched her closely, refusing to let her off.
Fortunately the little assistant saved the situation at the end: “Screenwriter, our idol doesn’t like talking about private matters. Let it be, ignore them.”
Jia He nodded vigorously. Not bad for your insider news, good kid…
Just because of that line, she was surrounded and interrogated the entire afternoon.
She finally escaped when night fell. Because Yi Wenze’s company’s first drama entered post-production, he had been working overtime for dozen days straight. As the boss who set an example of professionalism and dedication, the young people below naturally followed energetically. When Jia He drove over, it happened to be dinner time. The employees who had long gotten familiar with her took the initiative to call out sister-in-law upon seeing her park and get out, not forgetting to point out the boss was in the cafeteria.
As Jia He kept saying what a hard job it was, she walked inside.
Entering the cafeteria, she saw the head chef passing food to Yi Wenze through the window, even chatting with him for a bit.
Because she was far away, Jia He naturally couldn’t hear what they were saying. But she especially enjoyed this scene. She liked seeing him so friendly with everyone, and she also liked watching his back from afar. There was never the slightest ostentation, just a simple shirt. A coat when it was cold. Most of the time it was low-key black.
He never saw himself as an idol. He could always put people interacting with him at ease to act freely.
But when it came to work, his demeanor and conduct were truly that of a public figure, extremely strict with himself.
A large plate held a small plate with a dozen or so salt and pepper prawns.
She sat in the chair watching him until he brought over rice and juice for her before suddenly asking: “Were there people trying to curry favor with you before? Don’t say no. I won’t believe it.”
Yi Wenze peeled off the plastic film from the straw and stuck it in her cup. “Is this an interrogation?”
Jia He bit the straw: “I just suddenly thought of it.”
“There would be people preparing many hot packs during filming,” he mused, “Sending food and stuff like that. Sometimes I’m really obtuse and would give things back as return gifts.”
Jia He oh’d and sucked some juice: “Boring. Anything else?”
He smiled. “There were also people who would specifically ask to act opposite me.”
You’re really honest. Jia He bit the straw and kept drinking.
“Want to hear more?” He smiled, gentle and harmless.
“Of course.” As Jia He watched him smile while seeming to seriously recall, she felt her heart bleed. People really do have masochistic tendencies huh. Why do you have to ask? Why? Just why did you ask…
Such a tortured life…
Yi Wenze took out a wet tissue to wipe his hands clean. She quickly put her chopsticks down and fawned over him pushing up his sleeves. Watching those beautiful fingers so nimbly peel prawns, she reveled in it. Just as she enjoyed looking at his visual feast while waiting for the food feast, Yi Wenze finally slowly said: “There was also someone who would put dozens of my photos on their computer to hint at me, someone who would prepare hotpot for me on set during heavy snow. Come to think of it, those two times left quite a deep impression.”
She had just picked up a prawn about to throw it in her mouth when the salt and pepper made her cough from choking.
Back then, there definitely wasn’t any ulterior motives ah…
Post-production schedules were always very tight. It was late into the night by the time Yi Wenze took her to the recording studio not far from the company.
It was never lively here to begin with. And it was so late now. Aside from those staying late to work overtime, there was almost no one walking around in the break room. Yi Wenze went to inspire the masses in the work room while Jia He loitered outside playing with all kinds of stuff.
From WiFi to pool, it was still lively discussion inside with not the slightest sign of rest.
She was extremely bored and could only take balls out of various bags to set them up and pick up a cue to pretend to play. With a bang, the colored balls still hugged together. She failed to break.
Too useless…
She looked at the balls in vexation, just deciding to give up when she was already encircled from behind as the person behind her adjusted her stance: “Your stroke isn’t steady enough. The hit has to be straight.” His hand grasped her hand striking straight into the pocket.
Jia He felt even more stifled. “You’re all experts. My friend Xiao Xiao is the same. Said he started playing pool in 7th grade and would win me outright every time with just one hand. Looks like I’m better suited to just typing and watching shows.” Yi Wenze leaned in by her ear, laughing: “I already noticed when we played tennis a few days ago.”
She nearly spit blood, awkwardly putting down the cue to make coffee at the bar. Then sat resentfully on the distant sofa.
When she looked up again, Yi Wenze still had both hands propped on the edge of the pool table, smiling at her.
Oh forget it. Adults don’t bicker with kids.
She sighed, taking out her phone: “Yi Wenze classmate, strike some poses to shock the heavens and make ghosts and gods weep to comfort my injured heart.” Yi Wenze smiled watching her. He bent over to mime a strike, from his expression to his gestures, even how his arm bent holding the cue, completely textbook perfect.
A perfect composition. Most importantly, that person was perfect, belonging only to herself.
After taking the pictures, she even specially added a heart before going to show him: “You’re not going to be this handsome until you’re 80 right? How will I keep living?”
He smiled sweeping over it: “Happy now?”
Jia He uh-huh’d. “Happy. Bygones.”
It wasn’t until midnight that the work could finally take a breather. Jia He followed him into the work room. Someone immediately stood with a smile to say Teacher Yi please take a look, this is the newly revised cut… After speaking, he tactfully left, specially giving the two privacy.
Yi Wenze listened very attentively while she obediently sat playing on her phone: “Today I met your hardcore fan. Just a few negative words from others and she almost cried. I used to be like this too, couldn’t stand anyone saying a bad thing about you and especially hated when people talked about your scandals. I hated it the most when people said you were gay.”
He played it again, only smiling and listening without speaking.
Recalling her days of chasing stars, she sighed again: “The dumbest thing was I set 10086 as your name in my contacts. Whenever I got text messages about owed fees, it would display your name Yi Wenze. My heart would race every time I saw it. Was I silly or what?”
The playback was still very clear. She was still reminiscing when she was quietly and soundlessly sealed.
Somewhat suffocatingly tight, almost no room whatsoever. This was the first time he was like this outside… She subconsciously put her arms around his neck to meet him. It wasn’t until hearing the door open that she shuddered but soon heard the door close again.
By the time he released her, Jia He stammered that s-someone saw.
She lowered her voice as if she had committed some grave wrong, desperately guessing who had come in. It was fine if it was Yi Wenze’s PR assistant or something, but it’d be trouble if it was an unrelated person. He was very close yet kept silent for a long time, watching her slowly calm down to stare at him in confusion before finally smiling.
His smile spread from the corners of his lips to his eyes, warm enough to make her panic.
“Wife, I love you.”
He said, wife… I love you.
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