CH 8

Jia He wanted to deny this, but when the words came to her lips, she felt that doing so would not be right. In the end, she answered honestly, “Mm-hmm,” and then offhandedly picked up that magazine that Yi Wenze had read this afternoon.

He did not continue asking and merely turned on the reading light for her. “You bought an economy class ticket?” Then he handed her a bottle of water, twisting open the cap for her.

Taking the bottle from him, Jia He had a drink. “Yes, economy. It’s not even a two-hour flight. You take a doze and then you’re there.” It was not as if this was an international flight, where you were tortured for a very lengthy time, nor did she need to avoid the public eye like a celebrity, so naturally there was no need to waste money.

Yi Wenze nodded. “As long as you’re used to it.”

She took a sip of water and casually thumbed through the magazine, but eventually, unaccustomed to reading large blocks of English at a time, she could only set it back in its original place. “Do you have any Chinese magazines? You know, the kind where you don’t really have to read any text.” Actually, she did not really like looking at magazines, but sitting like this, side by side with him without anything to distract herself, would just make her feel constantly disconcerted.

Before Yi Wenze could answer, the driver was already pointing at the front passenger seat. “A-Qing left these here earlier. She likes reading that kind of stuff.”

Leaning forward, Jia He saw that, sure enough, there was a stack of tabloid magazines as well as quite a few fashion magazines. She noticed that several had Yi Wenze on the cover, but feeling too awkward to take those, she could only continue bending forward and picking through the pile. All of a sudden, the brakes were hit. Jia He did not even have a chance to react before Yi Wenze had taken ahold of her waist and pulled her back.

“Thanks.” Not daring to look at him, she could only bring her head down and allow her eyes to take in the magazine she had arbitrarily grabbed. By fluke, the cover of this one was a photograph of Yi Wenze and Tian Chu together, and a tearing effect had even intentionally been placed between the two of them. Such… a coincidence. Jia He inconspicuously flipped past the cover. Once more topping the new-songs chart was Tian Chu’s newly released song. She was about to turn the page again, but Yi Wenze’s eyes had already slid over it. Instantly, she pointed to that song at the top of the list and, merely to make conversation, said, “Wu Zhilun told me that day that the two of you wrote this song two years ago?”

Regret hit her the instant the question came out. Seriously, she just had to pick his sore spot and then give it a nudge, too.

Yi Wenze glanced at the spot at which she was pointing. “The song itself was composed a long time ago. The lyrics, he wrote two years ago.”

His voice was unperturbed; his expression was unperturbed. In any case, everything seemed fine.

Jia He gave an “oh” and was about to change the topic, but he added another sentence. “I wrote this for a fan of mine, some time around 1999.”

Jia He immediately sighed with feeling. “Such a lucky fan.”

He smiled, not saying anything.

When the car arrived at the airport, it was not even eight o’clock. The road that was usually very congested was exceptionally smooth and unimpeded today.

Jia He took a look at the vehicle drop-off and pick-up area. It was brightly lit and travellers, as normal, were swarming about like the tides. Very cautiously, she turned her head and looked at Yi Wenze. “They must still be waiting for you to go back. I’ll just go in myself now.”

He did not refute this and instead only summarized his schedule for her. “I’ll be in Shanghai for this next while. If there are no surprises, I’ll be going to Beijing next month.”

Going to Beijing next month?

She was a little surprised. “Is it for your new film?”

If she remembered correctly, the whole time back when they were in Hengdian, he had been providing feedback for a new screenplay.

The driver got out of the car and opened the trunk to retrieve her luggage. Only the two of them remained in the vehicle.

Yi Wenze’s lips curved upwards. “Didn’t you say you would treat me to dinner if you got the chance?”

Remembering that note, Jia He at once smiled and nodded. “I have a lot of freedom with my time in Beijing. As long as you’re free, just give me a call. I’ll take you to have some good eats.” After saying this, she added, “Some very different stuff.”

“All right,” he agreed simply.

Jia He wanted to say goodbye but also felt she should say something more as a farewell.

The atmosphere became subtly different with the sudden quietness.

She cleared her throat. As she reflexively tilted her face up to look at him, he had already lowered his head with a smile, and he brushed his lips quickly against hers. “Take care, and always be safe.”

It was a very light kiss, just a brief touch and then he had moved away again. So gentle. And also very polite.

Jia He stared dazedly at him for three seconds. Then after mechanically uttering bye, she swiftly scrambled out of the car like she was making a getaway.

Taking her luggage, she bade a goodbye in a low voice and then left. Everything was smoothly continuing as it should, but even as she was checking in, Jia He’s heart felt like the overturning waters of a stormy river or a billowing sea, and clutching her identity card, she was lost in thought. “Miss, do you have any luggage to check in?” The airline staff had to inquire with her about this before Jia He hastily set her suitcase onto the conveyor belt.

As it was not a weekend, there was quite a number of empty seats on the airplane. In this particular row, there were only four or five people, all quietly waiting for takeoff. Behind her, though, a man and two women were laughing and chatting and were rather noisy.

Seeing that it was almost time for departure, she took out her mobile phone and was going to power it off. However, the flight attendant all of a sudden announced over the speakers that the plane was still waiting in line for takeoff. The underlying meaning of that was that, yet again, the flight was delayed and furthermore, it was not known when it would be able to take off. The man and two women behind her muttered some complaints and then switched into a conversation about Mango TV’s[1] talent show program for this year. After listening on and off to them for a very long time, she eventually still chose to dial Yi Wenze’s number.

“You still haven’t taken off?” Yi Wenze picked up very quickly. His surroundings were a little noisy. He was likely already back at the restaurant.

“I want to explain some things to you,” Jia He told him quietly.

“Sure.” His voice was just as warm as it normally was.

Jia He was very worried that after she spoke, they would both feel awkward when they saw each other again. But if she did not say it… her heart would feel like something was stifling it.

“I feel like you might have some misunderstandings about a few things.” She finally mustered her courage. “My stay at your house a couple of days ago was honestly completely unexpected. I didn’t have any special motive behind it. It may be that Qiao Qiao likes to joke around, so now things between us have been made so awkward.” On the other end, he had not said anything the entire time, appearing to be listening, yet also seeming like he was not seriously listening. All she could feel was her heartbeat getting slower and slower. She paused for a long moment before resuming, “What happened last night actually really isn’t that serious, but if we continue on like this, I’m scared… I really will fall for you.”

After spilling out all the words in one breath, she immediately loosened with relief. But then she tensely pressed her phone to her ear, as if she was prepared at any time to hear him say, “You’re overthinking things. That was just a goodbye kiss between friends,” or similar words.

Utterly unexpectedly, though, he merely asked in a warm tone, “Anything else?”

“No.”

He stated, “Just a moment,” and then spoke no more. His surroundings went from being raucous to quiet. Behind her was still the discussion of the contestant selections and each candidate’s strengths and shortcomings. Staring out the window at the brightly illuminated terminal building, Jia He waited for him.

She, in fact, truly was not smart at all. Relationships of this sort could be found all around her, merely ones of a man and a woman playing ambiguous games with one another, and if handled properly, the woman became a “close friend.” But she knew herself too well. If she allowed things to continue developing in this way, in the end, she would completely fall in head over heels and then she was bound to get hurt to her very core.

Quite some time passed before his voice was heard on the other end. “Jia He, do you feel really insecure about being in a relationship with me?”

“No, that’s not it…” For a moment, she was stuck for words.

“Because things just started between us, I don’t want to put too much pressure on you.” He also had brought his voice down slightly, but it was very clear. “I know that for most couples, making their relationship known to everyone is what is normal. However, too much attention is very likely to hurt you.”

Bit by bit, his words trickled into her ears, and she listened to them as if in a dream. She pressed her head into the seat in front of her, her cheeks so hot they were almost aflame.

“Jia He.” He seemed to detect that something was not quite right with her, so he addressed her.

“Actually…” Jia He’s voice was a little scratchy. She did not know at all what she wanted to say with this “actually.”

Without warning, the airplane started to move. After a ding echoed out, the flight attendant began carrying out the routine procedure of informing everyone that the plane was soon to take off and requesting passengers to fasten their seat belts and turn off all of their electronic devices. Yi Wenze seemed to hear the voice as well. “You’re taking off now?”

Jia He’s answer was a light “mm-hmm.”

“Shut off your phone first. When you get to Beijing, let me know.”

She answered with another “mm-hmm,” still maintaining the same posture, waiting for him to hang up first.

Time seemed as if it had come to a standstill. No one ended the call first, nor did either of them speak again.

After some time, Yi Wenze at last chuckled and asked, “Why aren’t you hanging up?”

Struggling for words for a long time, too embarrassed to say she was waiting for him to first hang up, she finally had no choice but to be the one to end the call.

Even when the flight attendant was serving drinks, she was still in a stupor, and asking for a glass of orange juice, she downed half of it in one go. Cold, sweet, sour. Very tasty. By her ear was the flight attendant’s voice, which was very patiently inquiring with each person. Behind her, those three young people were still merrily chitchatting away, but she no longer thought they were strident, for their conversation basically did not register in her ears anyway…

Xiao Yu was the one who came to meet her flight when she landed in Beijing.

Amongst their university friends, only she and Xiao Yu were Beijingers, so naturally they were very close. Were it not so, there would not have been that telephone call that had coerced and cajoled her into helping to find an actress to be a celebrity endorser. Xiao Yu had parked the car at the exit, and despite being clothed in an ankle-length, purple dress, she still leaned against the side of her SUV—very eye-catching. Only after Jia He had stepped outside did she walk over, take her luggage from her, and look her over with a grin. “Why is your face all rosy? Seems like the weather in Shanghai is pretty good.”

The colour staining Jia He’s cheeks deepened a little more. Her heart felt as if it was bursting and she had a persistent urge to share the news with someone. However, she also felt that this matter was something even she had still not accepted yet. Therefore, she could only give Xiao Yu a look, then pull out her mobile phone and wordlessly send off a text message: I’ve arrived in Beijing.

Very soon, he was calling her.

Terribly embarrassed, Jia He stared at her mobile phone, not daring to answer it. As Xiao Yu tossed the luggage into the trunk, she gave Jia He a puzzled look. “Why aren’t you answering?”

Only then did Jia He pick up the call, softly saying, “Hello?”

“About what time will you get home?”

“I’m staying at a friend’s home today.” After saying this, she quickly supplemented, “A female friend.” But once she finished adding that piece of information, she felt like such an idiot. On the other end of the call, he seemed to be chuckling. Even more abashed, she hastily said a few words and then bade him good night.

Once she had truly hung up, though, she began to regret it. She had waited the entire flight, wanting only to say a couple more words to him…

By the time they drove into the urban core, it was already approaching midnight.

The two could therefore only find a restaurant somewhere on the East Second Ring Road to have a late-night meal. When they sat down, Jia He discovered that the world truly was awash with coincidences. At the table beside them were the one man and two women from the flight. She actually had not really gotten a look at their faces but the man’s voice was very distinctive, and now as she glimpsed the two young girls, she observed that they were attractive as well and appeared as if they might be students or graduates of a performing arts college.

Xiao Yu’s glance glided over the sunglasses on that young man’s face, and in a lowered voice, she asked, “A little celebrity?”

Jia He shrugged. “Don’t know. He might have acted in a couple of dramas.” Because of the man’s noisy blabbering tendencies, she rather unkindly added, “Who knows? He may have played the part of something like a chief eunuch, the kind who has less than twenty lines.”

Both comprehending, they said no more and simply exchanged a grin.

“I met Wu Zhilun last time.” The young man’s voice was still very loud. “In reality, in private settings those big stars are no different from ordinary people. I even had a smoke with him. Do you guys know about that whole thing that was on his Weibo recently? There’s actually an inside story to that.”

Jia He had just taken a drink of water, and now she almost sprayed it back out.

[1]Hunan Television is nicknamed “Mango TV” because of its logo. Its online video-streaming platform is called Mango TV.

With her head down, Xiao Yu calmly picked up a har gow with her chopsticks and tossed it over to Jia He, her eyes sparkling.

Har gow, also known as shrimp dumplings or crystal shrimp dumplings. (Image credit: “Har Gow,” by Foodista, original posted in https://www.flickr.com/photos/foodista/ , image used under CC BY 2.0)

“Don’t judge based on how he clarified so quickly. According to my many years of experience in this entertainment circle, there is absolutely something between those two.” He fished out a box of matches, pinched a matchstick between his fingers, and took it out.

“Bastard!” Xiao Yu cursed in a low voice.

“Quiet.” Shooting her a glare, Jia He carried on eavesdropping with ears pricked.

Those two female performing arts students were obviously very interested as well. One of them even elatedly said that she had always liked Wu Zhilun and had already watched three or four times his film that was released during the Valentine’s Day period. The young man cupped the flame of the match behind his palm and took a deep drag of a cigarette before resuming what he had been saying. “You know about Yi Wenze’s new drama? The trailer was finished today. A buddy of mine who works on that drama shared it with me. That woman is in it, and from the looks of things, her part isn’t all that small. Now, you say, if there really were no connections, how could a newcomer who has never shown her face before manage to play a role opposite Yi Wenze?”

He purposely wanted to keep them in suspense.

One of the girls immediately jumped in and continued for him, “That’s true! Wu Zhilun and Yi Wenze have been friends for more than a decade. It must be that Wu Zhilun asked Yi Wenze to say a few words to the production team so that his girlfriend could get her shot at fame, right?”

A tremor shook Jia He’s hand and she ended up missing her target, pouring vinegar outside of the little sauce dish.

Too amazing…With such deductive abilities, this girl shouldn’t act. She was absolutely suited for being a screenwriter.

Quickly yanking out a napkin, Xiao Yu helped her clean up her mess while chortling quietly. “When you listen to it, it does sound quite real.”

“You’re listening to him spout nonsense.” Jia He did not even have words to respond. “Qiao Qiao and all of them ganged up together and forced me. My role has all of a few minutes and three lines… And what’s more, because I’m the screenwriter, they said I had to ‘invisibly support’ the production, so they didn’t even pay me for it.”

Xiao Yu snickered. “That does have Qiao Qiao’s style in it: ‘kick ’em while they’re down’ plus penny-pinching.”

Jia He shoved an entire har gow into her mouth. When she got back home, she definitely had to take a look at that trailer. How did her face manage to get in there? …

Over at the other table, those people were still blathering on noisily. She and Xiao Yu scarfed down their food. While Xiao Yu was paying, one of the young girls was still talking about this matter. “From reading the gossip on the forum posts, that woman is already twenty-six, twenty-seven years old. How is it that Wu Zhilun likes someone so old?”

Jia He gave an indignant sniff. Was that really old? Wu Zhilun was thirty-five already…

“Ah, just forget it. It’s all about a person’s lot in life.” The other girl sighed, saying, “I’m going for a screen test in a couple of days. Who knows if such good fate will fall on me and I can run into some big celebrity.”

Xiao Yu did not show much of a reaction. After taking her card and the receipt that the server handed back to her and stuffing them into her bag, she turned around and, flashing a smile that was only skin deep, addressed that girl, who was currently using her mobile phone as a mirror to examine her own face. “Oh, a screen test, eh? I suggest you first go get a jaw or chin reduction or something like that. Being old is actually nothing to worry about. You can just put on some makeup and that covers it up. But if your face is even just a little too big, in the camera lens, it becomes a pancake.”

Her voice was neither loud nor soft, just enough for everyone at the two tables to hear.

The people at the other table were evidently confounded by this interruption. By the time they were able to react and ready to open their mouths to start bellowing back retorts, though, they spotted Jia He. There was an obvious pause in their actions, and not a sound came from them.

With those tens of thousands of horses stampeding once more in her heart, Jia He grabbed Xiao Yu and strode out from there.

Not until they were in the car did she begin whacking Xiao Yu with her purse. The subject of her beating cackled while blocking her assailment. “I was wrong for getting even for you?”

“Drive.” Having vented enough, Jia He hugged her bag to herself and stared sullenly ahead, deciding that she would ignore her.

The car drove onto the Third Ring Road and soon reached Xiao Yu’s home. After a quick shower, Jia He stretched out on her belly on the bed and, clutching her mobile phone, began to stare with glazed eyes at it, pondering seriously over whether she should make a phone call to say that she was going to bed.

In the end, after vacillating for a long while, she went online instead and contacted Qiao Qiao, asking her for the trailer. On the other end, Qiao Qiao, seeing this request, instantly sought credit for her wonderful contribution, boasting that she had spent a long time specially keeping an eye on things from the side and had expended a lot of effort to get a scene with Jia He in it added into the trailer. Jia He did not know whether she should cry or laugh at this and could not be bothered to explain to Qiao Qiao the embarrassing predicament she had been in tonight. Once she received the trailer, she immediately went offline.

She watched that three-minute trailer from beginning to end four or five times.

And the darn thing about it was, she was devastated by the angst and actually ended up crying for a long time after.

Just as she was nonstop tugging tissues out of the box, a text message came in on her phone. Her heart gave a leap. Roughly able to guess whom it was from, she picked up her phone, her heart in a flurry. Sure enough, it was Yi Wenze. Asleep yet?

She straightaway tapped the button to call him back but then at once hung up again. Oh no. She had just cried. Her voice must sound awful…

Very soon, there was an incoming call.  She gave a couple of coughs with all her might, trying to make her voice sound normal again before picking up. Assuming a relaxed tone, she spoke first. “How did you know I’m not asleep yet?”

On his end, he seemed to take a drink of water before leisurely answering, “I’m very familiar with your daily schedule already.”

The sounds of Xiao Yu’s shower echoed in from outside. Rather guiltily, as if she was nervous she would be found out doing something forbidden, Jia He stepped to the side of the window and gazed down at the road on which cars were still coming and going. Her finger unthinkingly drew random scribbles on the glass. “How come you’re not sleeping yet?”

He chuckled. “I was waiting for your call.”

She gave an “oh,” suddenly not knowing what to say.

Normally when she was on the phone, she would simply talk casually about whatever she saw or anything that came to mind. But when talking to him, what should she say? … While she wrestled with this question, Yi Wenze all of a sudden asked, “Did you cry just now?”

“… Mm-hmm.”

“What’s wrong?”

She could only be honest. “I just watched the trailer. Cried from all the agony and angst.”

His side was momentarily quiet. Then, with mirth in his voice, he said, “Next time, write something that’s a little happier.”

Hearing his laughter, her heart dropped and she tentatively probed, “You find it too sad, too?”

“It’s all right.”

“What did you feel when you watched the trailer?”

His tone nonchalant, he analyzed, “There are no domestic dramas of late that are sad and tragic. If the marketing and publicity are done well, the reception should be quite good.”

Jia He was silent. Why was his answer so… official-sounding? “What I mean is, weren’t you touched?”

He seemed to mull this over with seriousness. “Not bad. As long as the ending is good, that’s good enough.”

She was not certain why but she somehow felt as if she had taken a blow.

“I cried for a long time when I saw you and Liao Jing, you know, that.”

What she wanted to say was “that kiss scene between you and Liao Jing,” but when the words came to her lips, she felt awkward and also a teensy bit of discomfort in her heart, so she did not let them come out. Yi Wenze’s kiss scenes used to be what she most loved to watch… For any film of his that had a kiss scene, she was able to immediately find the exact time at which it occurred. Sure enough, now that her status had changed, she was starting to mind.

He suddenly told her, “Kiss scenes are simply necessary for the portrayal of the roles and story. You don’t really need to mind.”

Jia He’s face grew hot. He had actually caught the undertone of her words. She was a screenwriter. She had seen so much of this, but here she actually needed someone to straighten out her thinking. She must seem so petty.

Before she could come up with some words to respond, over on his end of the call, someone was already sniggering. “Hey, Harmonious Family Prospers, I’ll teach you a method. From now on, every time he does a kiss scene, you have him make up for it at home. If another person gets one kiss, you go and get yourself a hundred kisses. You’ll definitely become desensitized in the end.”

It was Wu Zhilun.

Jia He was instantly stupefied. Someone was actually listening in… At once not daring to say anything else on that subject, she hurriedly asked, “You still have someone with you there?”

“Mm.” He informed her in a mild tone, “I’m at the office having a meeting.”

A meeting?

He was in the middle of a meeting, too?!

“Then I’ll go to bed first.” After swiftly throwing out these words, she hung up the call.

Back and forth she wandered through the room. The more she thought about it, the more embarrassed she felt and hence sent another text over to him: I actually don’t mind…

Ding. A text message had been sent back: It’s all right. It’s normal to mind. Rest earlier.

If he was in a meeting, then there surely was more than one person with him.

But that meant, the instant people heard those words of Wu Zhilun’s, they would have known that Yi Wenze was on the phone with his girlfriend.

Girlfriend… Jia He gave a shake of her head. She still felt it was unreal.

In the days that followed, Jia He was swamped with work. Normally meetings would take place for half a day and the remaining half a day would be used to organize the information, but because she had arrived a few days late, this entire week was filled with full-day meetings followed by sorting and organizing all the information until three or four in the morning. Consequently, she could only phone Yi Wenze during brief breaks or merely send him a few text messages.

However, this steady, gradual progress in the interaction between them was a good thing. Jia He was finally beginning to slowly accept this reality: she and he truly were together.

Occasionally, when she was feeling rather bad, she would ask, “Do you mind that I’m so busy?”

He was not bothered. “It’s actually quite seldom that I am so free. When I truly do start working, my schedule will be very full. You need to be prepared for that.”

Jia He mused on this. No wonder it was so hard for actors to date someone. Dating required actually having dates and interaction in order for the relationship to be maintained, right?

Leaning against the wall of the hallway, she assured him quietly, “No worries. When the time comes, I’ll just accept more script projects and day and night, I’ll just write. That way, I won’t miss you too much.” It was only after the words had rolled from her lips that she felt a little bashful. “Once you really do get busy, just let me know. I won’t bother you.”

Someone walked by Jia He in the hallway and gave her a smiling nod and greeting. Jia He hurriedly returned the smile, a little nervous that her words a moment ago had been heard.

“When you go back, check your inbox.” Yi Wenze’s words voice for a moment, and then he said, “I have guests here. We’ll talk again tonight.”

“Okay.”

When Jia He ended the call and went back into the conference room, laughter and jokes were flowing amongst the group.

Wordlessly, she poured herself a glass of water, walked over to her seat, and sat down. Just as she clicked open her inbox, an email showed up in it.

There was only a simple row of words: This is the latest.

She was a little bewildered. After she opened up the attachment, though, she instantly paused in surprise. It was as if something had caressed the softest depths of her heart. Touched—that was the only feeling she had right now.

He had sent over his work schedule, all of his plans and arrangements for the latter half of this year.

The noise in the background was still lively, but it was as if she was removed from all of it and not even a part of this world. She did not even notice that everyone had started to shift the subject over to the new drama serial and discuss the details of the next stage.

“Jia He.” Director Liu all of a sudden addressed her.

Dazedly, she lifted her head. It took a while for her mind to clear a little and recover some awareness. “What’s the matter, Director Liu?”

Director Liu smiled. “I saw the trailer of your last drama project. It’s definitely going to be a hit.”

Jia He smiled self-consciously. “I hope so.”

“That role of Yi Wenze’s is definitely going to bring him another huge wave of popularity.” Director Liu continued, “Yesterday, I was even thinking if I should hurry and find a script, send it over, and then ride on the momentum of Tune of Yong’an to make another period drama.”

Giving a dry laugh, Jia He prayed ceaselessly in her mind, Director Liu, please don’t say any more.

Fortunately, he only laughed and nodded, bringing an end to this topic.

After a week of intense, tightly-packed meetings, she finally had time to go home that evening. With great difficulty, amidst her mom’s accusations that she was heartless, she managed to unpack her bag, and then once she had successfully convinced her mom to carry on playing Happy Lord, she slipped into her own room.

Taped up behind her computer was a poster of Yi Wenze, one she had bought from the Beijing Books Building[1] back when he had just risen into popularity. At the time, she had only been fifteen, sixteen years old. Never had she expected that more than a decade later, their lives would intersect in such a way. Without even really being aware of it, two weeks had glided by already and the two of them had communicated by phone like this. Sometimes when she thought about it, she found this really did seem similar to having a cyber romance…

Her phone in her hand, an idea suddenly came to her. “Does your computer… have a webcam?”

There was a brief silence on his end before he replied, “Wait a minute. I’ll have A-Qing set it up.”

While she was answering, “Mm-hmm,” A-Qing had already taken the phone. “Screenwriter, do you use MSN?”

Jia He stated her MSN ID. Before long, someone had added her as an MSN contact. He had actually… outright used “Yi Wenze” as his ID. The two women fiddled for some time until they at last got a picture. From his side, the picture showed his study, and on the screen A-Qing’s head was wagging to and fro, scrutinizing something for an extensive time before finally remarking into the computer, “Screenwriter, your room is so cute and girly…”

Jia He laughed. “I haven’t been back for a long time. It’s still decorated the way it was when I was in high school.”

A-Qing very wisely moved out of the way and the view in the video opened up. Then, that familiar face appeared before her.  Jia He suddenly felt a little bashful. Why hadn’t she change into a different outfit first? …

Right as she was about to speak, however, her door was thrown open without any warning.

Her mom, carrying a platter of fruit in her hands, was nagging on about eating more strawberries to combat aging, while also sweeping her eyes over the computer screen. At once, she commented, “Yi Wenze again? How come you still haven’t changed idols yet?” Jia He was stunned, motionless. Before she had a chance to shut down the window, her mom was already leaning in close and studying it. “Is this a video? It’s not a concert? It looks quite like normal, daily life.”

Jia He wanted to cry. In a moment of anxiousness, she blurted, “It’s a video that was taken in secret…”

[1] The Beijing Books Building in the Xidan commercial area of Beijing is one of the largest bookstores in Beijing, its selection spread over five floors.

On his side, Yi Wenze was in the middle of lighting up a cigarette. When he heard her words, his hand obviously paused a moment and he gave a slight smile.

“Huh? Didn’t you say your idol is top quality? Why are there scandals like this about him, too?” Hearing that it was a secret video, her mom instantly became invigorated and pulled over a chair to take a seat.

“It’s not that type of video…”

“Don’t secret recordings just record that type of thing?” Her mom had an “I get it” look on her face.

“Of course not! He has great moral character!” Jia He’s head started to spin and nonsense began gushing from her mouth. “This type of video is called ‘insight into real life.’ Don’t you know that this is the in thing right now? Fans like to watch their idol’s real, daily life. You know that talent show on Mango TV? This year aren’t they going to have it where the contestants are followed around and filmed for seventy-two hours? It’s that type.” As she spoke, she was desperately kicking her foot around beneath the table.

Where was the plug? Where was the plug?!

All of a sudden, Yi Wenze lifted his head and directed a sentence to a nearby spot, somewhere, it seemed, by the doorway.

Her mother immediately asked, “Is it starting? Who’s your idol talking to?”

She felt like something was being smothered in her chest. “How would I know?”

For the life of her, she could not find the power outlet. Surely it couldn’t have changed positions…

“How come when I look at it, it doesn’t seem like a secret recording, eh, daughter?” Before Jia He’s mom was finished speaking, another person had already appeared in the picture. Holding a cup in his hand, he strolled up behind Yi Wenze and took a deliberate glance at the webcam. “Eh? What’s that lad looking at?” her mom wondered.

As Jia He stared at that exquisite face, she wanted to cry, but no tears would come. The next time she ran into Wu Zhilun, she was definitely going to bust his head off…

Luckily, the next second, the video screen went black.

Afterward, most of the words her mom spoke did not even register in her ears. She only gave cursory responses and then forcefully pushed her mom out the door. Prior to leaving, her mom even specifically gave some instructions. “In the future, if you have this type of secretly-recorded video, use QQ to send it to me. Aren’t you a screenwriter? If you have any of Kris Phillips[1], that will be best. I like him.”

“Okay, okay.” Locking her door, Jia He blew out a long exhale and fell back against the wall.

After a long while, she finally dialed his number, apologizing in a small voice, “I’m sorry. I didn’t expect my mom to suddenly come in.”

Giving a very placid “mm,” Yi Wenze asked, “Do you still want to have a video call?”

“No, it’s okay…”

“Is your door locked?”

She answered only with “mm-hmm.”

His voice suddenly lowered. “I miss you a lot.”

Jia He did not speak. She ran this sentence through her mind, then ran it through again. This… was his first time saying that. His voice was still mild and gentle as before and held a low, magnetic quality. In the past, every time she watched him give a love profession in his movies, her blood would roil and surge and she would be even more emotionally charged than the female lead of the movie. But now, this was his first time saying such words to her.

Over the phone, with 1400 kilometres between them, he had said to her, “I miss you a lot.”

Merely five words. As if under some nameless compulsion, she once more opened up MSN.

The webcam seemed to have moved to a different location. From this angle, she had a view of more than half of his study. Yi Wenze filled a glass of water, walked over, and sat down, only looking at her quietly and in no hurry to speak. Jia He sat in awkwardness while her gaze incessantly flitted about randomly. Eventually, truly feeling self-conscious, she took a quick look at him, but the instant she saw those features that seemed so unreal, she felt even more awkward.

“Is it hot in Beijing?” He all of a sudden spoke.

“Not too hot.” Jia He was honestly too embarrassed to look straight at him and could only bow her head and fix her eyes on the keyboard.

“What plans do you have for tomorrow?”

“Nothing at the moment. I’m taking this weekend off.”

She continued counting the keys on her keyboard.

“My flight is in the morning. I should be in Beijing by noon.”

Jia He replied with an “oh” and carried on counting keys. Counting and counting. And then her head whipped up. She looked straight at him. “You’re coming to Beijing?”

He did not give a direct answer. “Have you decided what you’re going to take me to eat?”

……

It was evident that in the dialogue that followed, her responses were all given from a state of shock. Only when they finally ended their video chat did her mind catch up, and she realized she knew only that he was arriving in Terminal 3 at noon but had not even asked for his flight number. Ah, forget it. Just sleep first.  She set an alarm for eight o’clock on her mobile phone, supposing that she would need one hour to get dressed, one hour to… At any rate, she needed to get up early.

And so, carrying with her that desire to rise early, she hugged her comforter and tossed and turned in bed until three in the morning. Still wired and energized, she stared wide-eyed at the ceiling, so vexed she wanted to slam her head into the wall.

Couldn’t sleep. No matter how she tried, she couldn’t sleep…

The direct result of this was, the next day, she slept and slept in the taxi.

It was not even eleven o’clock when the taxi arrived at the airport. She went to the first level, bought a large cup of coffee, and sat in a corner to kill time. Should she wait at the arrivals gate or in the parking garage? Or maybe watch him from afar and follow him? For a very long time, she deliberated over this, but still she came to no conclusion. She glanced at the time. Six minutes had passed.

Her hands encircling the paper cup, she began mulling over the next issue.

In the first sentence she spoke to him, how should she address him?

Teacher Yi? Obviously that wasn’t appropriate. A-Ze? That felt really weird, too. By chance, behind her was a young girl holding a phone and speaking with soft, tender tones into it. Jia He could tell straightaway that the girl was chatting with her boyfriend, for she had the same habit as Qiao Qiao, saying “Hubby this” in one sentence and “Hubby that” in another—so very sweet. Jia He wasn’t even sure when it happened but at some point in time, the people around her had all begun addressing their boyfriends this way… But simply imagining this form of address applied to Yi Wenze was already something she was unable to accept. She could not contain her rising agitation.

She glanced at the time again. Only three minutes had gone by.

All of a sudden, her phone rang. A name written very distinctly in black and white was flashing on the screen.

Startled, she immediately answered the call.

The background was a little noisy on the other end of the line. “You’re up now?”

“I’m up. Your flight’s delayed?”

He should have been on the plane at this hour, so her first reaction was that his flight was delayed. A flight delay wasn’t a bad thing; that gave her more time to mentally prepare herself.

“No delay.” Things suddenly became clamorous on his end. There seemed to be the voices of reporters and also fans who had come to meet his flight. His voice, though, was warm and gentle as always and settled her heart as it fell on her ears. “I’ll wait for you in the underground parking garage. Call me when you get here.”

Immediately after saying this, he hung up the phone.

Jia He ran these words through her mind, reflecting on them. Could it be that he had arrived already? Wasn’t it supposed to be twelve o’clock?

She called him back at once. “I’m here already.”

Yi Wenze was a little surprised. “So early?”

Sheepish, Jia He told him, “I woke up early. There was nothing for me to do at home, so I came out. Why are you here so soon?” What was up with Civil Aviation Administration? Normally when she took a plane, there was a hundred percent guarantee her flight would be delayed. Did they see there was a celebrity on the plane, so they sped up? Even so, it still shouldn’t be one whole hour early…

On his side, Yi Wenze seemed to be walking towards the exit, and some time passed before he replied, “The flight’s scheduled time of arrival at the airport was 11:10. I added some time to account for delay. I was worried you would have to wait for too long.”

His voice as he spoke was not loud, but it was very clear.

An arrival time of 11:10. That meant he had left fifty minutes for potential delay.

She did not know how she should respond and could only clutch her phone with one hand while the other one unconsciously clamped her paper cup … until there was a pop! Only then did she notice that the cup was already misshapen from her squeezing. At last, she said softly, “When you’re in the car, just let me know which parking zone you’re in. I’ll go find you.”

“Okay. There’s no hurry. It may take some time.”

“No worries. I’ll wait for you.”.

It was twenty minutes later before his text message finally arrived and she grasped the true meaning of “It may take some time.” Terminal 3’s parking garage was always able to make her lose her bearings. This time, though, her head was exceptionally clear as she found her way to the correct location. A-Qing had come out of the vehicle and was craning her neck, peering this way and that. Catching sight of Jia He, she immediately waved. When Jia He drew near, she told her, “Teacher Yi is over there. I’m going to leave first.”

With that, she truly did stride away. Dazed, Jia He made her way along a row of cars until she spotted Yi Wenze sitting in a car on the furthermost end. He was in the driver’s seat and appeared to have noticed her as well.

Now, with only ten paces between them, she actually paused in hesitation. This was utterly different from talking on the phone. The real, live person was waiting for her in a car just ten steps away, but she had not even come up with what her first sentence to him would be.

In the end, though, he was the one who snatched the first sentence. As she sat into the car and was about to very considerately ask him something along the lines of whether he was tired, he was already very naturally asking her, “Would you like to go eat first or go to the office first?”

His manner was still so natural, his tone the same as it was every day when they were on the phone.

Only now did she have a sense that this was real. “How about we go eat? Were there a lot of people from the media meeting your flight just now?”

He started the car. “Quite a few, but they’ve all been led away by Wu Zhilun.”

Exhaling in relief, she thought for a moment. “How about we go to your office to eat? It’ll be a little more relaxed.”

“Sure.” He suddenly threw a glance at her.

A little puzzled, Jia He was going to ask him what was the matter, but he was already leaning towards her and, reaching out his arm, helping her to buckle her seat belt.

On her way here, she had actually still been worried about his leg. Although all along on the phone he had told her that his recovery was going very well, she had still not felt assured. Now, though, seeing the way he was driving, her heart was finally set at ease. The weather these days was warm, and as the breeze blew in through the half-open window, she felt only comfort. It was only a short while before she unwittingly started to doze off. Over and over, her head would bob, but still she forced herself to hang in there, not daring to let herself fall asleep.

Amused as he watched her, Yi Wenze asked, “What time did you sleep?”

Jia He answered honestly that, actually, she had not really slept much the entire night.

“You haven’t adjusted to being home?”

“Maybe.” Jia He was glum. “I don’t know why, but I was tossing and turning and couldn’t fall asleep. I actually saw the sky start to light up before I finally managed to get a bit of shut-eye. Does my complexion look really dull?”

Tilting his head for a glimpse at her, Yi Wenze answered, “A little pale. When we’re in my office, you can sleep for a bit.”

Jia He gave an “mm-hmm.” Those words began echoing continuously in her mind: Sleep for a bit, sleep for a bit…

And then, she blushed.

After another little while, she was completely unable to hold up anymore and hazily drifted off to sleep. When she woke again, the car was already stopped in front of a three-storey building. Yi Wenze was leaning back in his seat, resting with his eyes closed. Not daring to make any noise that might disturb him, she merely blinked her eyes, trying to restore the moisture in her contact lenses. Suddenly, though, the view before her right eye became a blur. Her lens had fallen out…

What lousy luck.

Gloomily, she gave a rub to her eye before discovering that Yi Wenze had already woken. “Your contact lens fell out?”

“It normally doesn’t come out so easily. It might be because I didn’t sleep well last night.”

“It’s all right. I have some here.”

Jia He stared, flabbergasted, at him.

He smiled. “I brought some along for you and kept them on hand. That way, it’s a lot easier if you suddenly need one.”

Jia He made a sound of “oh.” Those words began echoing continuously in her mind: Suddenly need one, suddenly need one…

And then, she once again blushed.

[1] 费翔 Fei Xiang, whose English name is Kris Phillips, is a Taiwanese-American singer (his father is American, his mother Chinese) who was hugely popular in China in the 1980s.