April passed quickly. With the new movie’s release, Fu Xueli’s busy schedule increased dramatically, requiring her to travel nationwide for promotions.
The last stop was in Kanjiang, next to her hometown.
Resting in the hotel at night, shoulders slumped, Fu Xueli lay on the bed doing a face mask. Several days of intense work had left her drained.
Recently there had been a minor incident. Tang Xin gave Fu Xueli a white envelope. She opened it curiously, and several photos fell out.
They were all of her and Xu Xingchun. From various places. Some even showed them near his apartment building.
The paparazzi were quite skilled to get past the security at Xu Xingchun’s complex.
Without hesitation, that night they spent several hundred thousand yuan in bribes to buy back the negatives and suppress the news. Fu Xueli was both angry and shocked, her heart burning with rage.
After cleaning up the mess, Tang Xin lay across the sofa, saying coolly, “You’re a celebrity, you can’t live like normal people. Recently when you go out, take someone with you, don’t be reckless.”
Her freedom was necessarily restricted. Besides feeling frustrated, Fu Xueli suddenly understood the helplessness and bitterness of being in this industry.
After various incidents, she was full of anger. She increasingly despised this circle. Actually since entering the industry, Fu Xueli realized she probably wasn’t suited to being a celebrity.
She had no interest in others’ worship, nor could she find self-satisfaction from others’ admiration. She didn’t want to curry favor with anyone. So gradually the idea of retiring emerged in her mind.
But Fu Xueli hadn’t mentioned any of this to Xu Xingchun.
When she received his call, two assistants were in the room arranging tomorrow’s schedule. Fu Xueli rolled over to get up, put on slippers, and rushed to the hallway to take the call.
“Hey…”
Her somewhat downcast voice was too obvious to him. Xu Xingchun asked, “What’s wrong, are you unhappy?”
Once this question was asked, she couldn’t hold back anymore. Fu Xueli leaned against the wall, one ear wearing an earbud, her slippers rubbing against the carpet. She bit her lip, desperately holding back tears. She didn’t know why she wanted to cry.
Maybe because she hadn’t seen him for so long.
So many things she wanted to say, but didn’t know how to express them.
“Nothing… just missing you,” she murmured.
After a while, he opened video on his end.
Fu Xueli saw herself on the phone screen and suddenly realized her face was covered in volcanic mud mask, not looking good at all. The sad emotions from before were quickly washed away.
She hurriedly turned off the video.
After a moment of silence, Xu Xingchun laughed softly, “Why did you turn it off?”
“No way, I haven’t washed my face. I look really ugly like this.”
“Not ugly, you look good.”
“Doesn’t your conscience hurt lying with your eyes open?” Fu Xueli wasn’t moved at all, “Point it at your face, I can’t see you.”
In the bedroom, Xu Xingchun was buttoning his pajamas with one hand, sitting on the edge of the bed. Hearing this, he bent down and adjusted the camera angle.
He had just showered, the edges of his hair still slightly wet. Maybe due to the lighting, his eyes looked lighter in color, especially gentle and soft, “What happened recently, why are you unhappy?”
Due to his profession, Xu Xingchun had unusually keen intuition. And his voice had a strangely soothing magic.
Fu Xueli put aside her many worries and forced a smile, “I’m fine, just really tired lately. I don’t want to be a celebrity anymore, will you support me in the future?”
Almost without hesitation, Xu Xingchun responded, “Okay.”
Speaking of this, she suddenly remembered a very important question. Being relaxed, without thinking it through, Fu Xueli blurted out, “I just found out a few days ago that Li Jieyi got married, don’t you have any thoughts about that?”
“…”
Xu Xingchun didn’t speak.
?!
Oh heavens…
Damn….
What am I saying?
So awkward…
It sounds like I’m desperate to get married.
“I’m not pressuring you about anything.” Realizing her last sentence was problematic, Fu Xueli’s mind raced, and catching sight of the simple suitcase standing nearby, changed the subject, “Are you going on another business trip?”
“Yes.”
In the video, Xu Xingchun’s phone-holding hand was a bit low. His face viewed from below had a somewhat harsh scrutiny, but was still exquisitely handsome. Not many people could look good from this angle.
Fu Xueli was a bit entranced by his beauty, casually asking another question, “How long will you be gone?”
“Don’t know.”
“Don’t know?! Is it dangerous?!” Countless bad thoughts suddenly flooded her mind, making her inexplicably panicked, “Can you call me regularly then?”
“Not necessarily, I’ll try my best.” After a pause, he felt somewhat heartache and said, “It’s not dangerous, don’t worry.”
This case was related to the source of Heaven’s drugs. It also had countless connections to a major case Xu Xingchun’s team had solved seven years ago.
The higher-ups specifically requested him.
Fortunately, it wasn’t in the border region, negotiations would be relatively easier in the inland environment.
The next evening, Xu Xingchun arrived in Dali to meet with the work group.
The person who came to pick him up wore all black with a scar on his face. The man in black had seen Xu Xingchun’s photo and could recognize him at a glance.
He was indeed handsome, no wonder the police station had specifically chosen Xu Xingchun’s photo as the image for their website.
Traffic was terrible on the way, the driver chain-smoked several cigarettes while Xu Xingchun carefully read documents in the passenger seat.
The man in black casually chatted with him, “We’ll be dealing with various people this time, many grey area personnel. We’ll coordinate at the hotel first.”
He suddenly asked, “By the way, brother, I heard you’ve been on TV? With your looks, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be famous?” He was very direct without any barriers, extremely friendly.
Xu Xingchun explained in a low voice, “I was on CCTV12 once a few years ago, half my arm appeared on camera behind a large potted plant.”
Someone was already waiting at the hotel.
As soon as Ah Si saw Xu Xingchun, he rushed to hug him and punched his shoulder twice.
They had met before in Yunnan, where Xu Xingchun had saved his life. Many of the thugs in the Yunnan drug factory’s ice lab carried submachine guns, even AKs.
At the time, Ah Si had been shot through the neck by a drug dealer, fortunately Xu Xingchun’s timely rescue prevented his death, though it left two large scars on either side of his neck.
After chatting briefly, Old Wu smiled with narrowed eyes, took out a cigarette and said to Xu Xingchun: “Have a smoke, relax, let’s get dinner first. We’ll discuss work after meeting the informant tonight.”
Others nodded in agreement.
Xu Xingchun took the cigarette but didn’t smoke it. He suddenly wanted to call Fu Xueli and ask what she was doing.
But then remembered his phone had been dismantled and replaced with another monitored SIM card. So he gave up the idea.
This movie promotion’s Kanjiang was the last stop. Fu Yuandong had recently been discharged from the hospital, so Fu Xueli took the opportunity to visit their hometown. At the airport she received a message from Fu Chenglin about having dinner together tonight.
They agreed to meet in the underground parking garage.
Recently Fu Xueli was so tired she was almost stupid, still feeling dazed when she found Fu Chenglin’s car. She opened the door, planning to sit down, but found a woman in the passenger seat.
“New girlfriend?” She automatically opened the back door to get in.
The two exchanged glances, and Fu Chenglin seemed too lazy to introduce them properly, “Call her sister-in-law.”
Fu Xueli was dressed very low-key to avoid fans and attention. The woman in the passenger seat smiled, “Are you Fu Xueli? Many of my friends really like you.”
Then she continued naturally and intimately, “I’ve heard Chenglin mention you often.”
She casually glanced at this future sister-in-law, covered in top luxury brands. Dripping with jewels and finery.
Fu Xueli wasn’t impressed, “Is that so.” She was too tired to keep up the conversation.
The rest of her words caught in her throat, the young woman’s smile became somewhat forced, and the atmosphere in the car turned awkward.
Fu Chenglin explained stiffly, “She’s just like that, hasn’t known much about manners since she was little.”
“It’s fine.”
The siblings hadn’t seen each other for a long time, but due to the outsider present, they didn’t talk on the way. They drove silently to the restaurant.
The restaurant, Jin Bi Yuan, was a bit too grand and formal. While that woman went to touch up her makeup, Fu Xueli pulled Fu Chenglin aside, “What’s going on, where did this sister-in-law come from, changed again, you move pretty fast?”
“Dad’s choice. Been dating for a while, she’s okay.”
“What about the previous one?”
“Broke up.”
“What’s the situation now?”
“Having dinner with her parents. Uncle is waiting for you, let’s go up.”
Seeing Fu Chenglin’s mood wasn’t good, Fu Xueli couldn’t help asking, “Why do you look so unwell?”
Fu Chenglin handed his car keys to the valet, “I’ve been entertaining clients until 1-2 AM every day, what do you think?”
They were the last to arrive.
Both families were already seated in the private room.
The other parents were well-mannered, though surprised at first sight of Fu Xueli, they quickly controlled their expressions.
They waited for everyone to arrive before ordering, with Fu Chenglin in charge. He looked down at the menu, while the woman sitting beside him smiled graciously and properly, “Chenglin, Uncle Fu is just recovering from serious illness, he can’t eat things that are too greasy.”
Fu Chenglin nodded, maintaining his expression, “I know.”
The meal was tasteless.
After dinner, Fu Chenglin left his seat to pour tea for the other parents.
When asked about the wedding date, Fu Chenglin’s hand trembled, accidentally spilling tea on the table. As if sensing something, Fu Yuandong cast a faint glance in their direction from afar.
Fu Chenglin quickly returned to normal, smiled and said, “It’s up to her.”
As the dinner was ending, the future sister-in-law had an event to attend, so Fu Chenglin took her there before returning to pick up Fu Xueli from the hotel.
But she was too tired and fell asleep as soon as she got in the car. When she woke up after some time, the car was already parked at home.
In the night, Fu Chenglin sat on the car hood smoking. His phone was in his palm, the screen faintly glowing.
She quietly walked up and snatched his phone.
Fu Chenglin didn’t care and let her look, continuing to smoke casually. His every gesture typical of a cynical rich kid.
Seeing what was on the phone, Fu Xueli couldn’t stay calm, “What I wanted to say earlier but didn’t – what’s going on with you, did you really break up with Xiao Yun?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you like the current one?”
He deliberately kept his head down, his expression unclear. Fu Chenglin said flatly, “Don’t know.”
Seeing his genuine dejection, like a frost-bitten eggplant, his whole person wilting with endless confusion and grievance mixed in, Fu Xueli patted his shoulder, “Alright, don’t be like this. No one’s forcing you, besides—”
“She married someone else.”
“…”
The latter half of her words got stuck.
Fu Chenglin threw down his cigarette and lit another one, “A few days ago, she married someone else.”
Countless emotions swirled in her mind, Fu Xueli suddenly felt a sense of sympathetic sorrow, and helplessness, “I don’t know how to comfort you.”
Fu Chenglin snorted, “I’m not a kid, what comfort do I need? Just need some time. Don’t worry about me, let me be alone for a while, you go on up.”
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