CH 14.1

Yi Wenze was filming in the daytime today. After discussing with him, Jia He booked her return plane ticket for tonight.

He left very early. Her head still woozy, Jia He slipped back into sleep again for a while. It was nearly twelve o’clock when she finally went and completed the check-out procedure.

Taking the room key card from her, the desk clerk input the information. At once, the clerk nonchalantly shot a discreet glance at her. Jia He could only pretend to be clueless, burying her head and keeping her eyes fixed on her mobile phone. “Miss, the bill is ready for you to sign.” When the itemized bill slid into her view, she finally set down her phone and picked up the pen. She discovered, though, that the other party’s previous discreetness had become a blatant expression of nosiness.

Bemused, Jia He picked up that itemized bill, quickly scanned her eyes over it—and instantly understood. Listed eye-catchingly under “items consumed by hotel guest” was… a box of those.

With her eyes glued to the bill, she moped for a full three seconds before eventually the pen and signing a random letter as her signature…

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Her flight was at eight o’clock at night, so she had nothing to do for the entire afternoon. In the end, she went to Jinli Ancient Street[1] to do some eating.

She would walk for a bit, then stop for a bit, eating and looking around. Every time she came to Chengdu for work, she would always come here. Xiao Yu always ridiculed her for going only to those commercial streets that locals did not go to. But this place was awesome. One circle through and you could eat most of the Sichuanese snacks that you had been eyeing and drooling over. It was perfect for ridiculously lazy people like her.

You saved time, saved money, and even saved on all the transportation costs.

When she at last could not get any more food down, she found a café, sat down in a corner, and, opening up her computer, aimlessly looked at webpages. The sunlight did not reach her but the scent of sun still pervaded everywhere, and despite being slicked with sweat, she still found enjoyment in this.

She read some international news stories for a while, but her heart simply would not settle, and before long something compelled her to find her way to his Weibo page. The human mind is so bizarre. Since becoming a couple with him, she even more so had not dared to look at his Weibo or read news related to him. There was a persistent unease in her; she feared she would somehow spy into something.

There were very few updates to his Weibo. She reckoned it was likely because he was too busy with the shooting of his new film.

The newest post was from this morning at six o’clock.

A very simple sentence:

All these years, I had always thought reality would be inferior to what I dreamed. But, it turns out reality is even more perfect and fulfilling.

She silently read this post from beginning to end more than ten times.

Because it was simply too obvious what he was implying, the comments exploded and reached a record high number. In only one morning, the number of replies had already surpassed three thousand. Yi Wenze had risen to fame simply too long ago, so his fans were mostly adults. Rather than comments showing prying nosiness or professing love for him, there actually were more heart-warming well wishes. There were all varieties of simple words, but really, they were all asking things along the lines of whether there was happy news around the corner, when he would announce it, etc.

After only skimming her eyes a few times over the comments, Jia He already did not dare to keep reading. Completely burrowing herself into the couch, she gnawed on her fingernail while her gaze drifted around vacantly. Soon, redness suddenly climbed into her cheeks. She immediately clapped her hands over them, trying to calm herself.

Oh no, oh no. This is broad daylight. What are you even thinking? Aaaaaah…

A server happened to be bringing her coffee over and was startled by Jia He’s actions. “Hey, pretty girl, are you unwell?”

Jia He actually got a shock from his sudden question and momentarily froze. Only then did she realize that she had been acting smitten and love-crazy out in public. At once sitting herself up straight, she cleared her throat. “I’m okay, thanks.”

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As a result of that one simple statement of his, her entire afternoon became a write-off. After four hours of writing the same scene of parting, she finally wholly gave up on the possibility of doing any work and simply closed her computer and went to pay her tab.

By the time she walked out the door of the café, the sky had already dimmed a little. On either side of the street swayed a long line of red lanterns, and every now and then two or three people would brush past her. While she was roving and mulling over whether she should simply head to the airport first, her phone suddenly rang with the call she had been waiting the whole day for.

“Work’s done for the day?” She tried hard to repress the elation in her, her voice so tender it was as if you could squeeze water from it.

He gave an “mm,” then asked, “Have you eaten?”

“I still haven’t had a proper meal, but I’m pretty much already full.” Rambling around arbitrarily, she sniffed at the aromas drifting at her from all directions and was unable to resist taking a look around to see if there was something else she could eat. It was like this every time she came to Sichuan; if she didn’t stuff herself silly, she would not stop. “How about you? Have you had dinner yet?”

“Not yet. I’ll be getting into Chengdu very soon. Where are you?”

Jia He came to an abrupt halt where she was. “Weren’t you somewhere out of the city? Why are you coming back again?”

“I wanted to see you, so I came back.” Yi Wenze’s voice was neither loud nor soft, but it was just enough to tug at her and render her unable to put up any resistance.

Jia He clutched her phone, not really knowing what to say. After some time, she finally answered softly, “I’m at Jinli.”

On his end, A-Qing was asking where they needed to go. When Yi Wenze told her, “Jinli,” A-Qing instantly whooped, “Yes, awesome! I can eat my fill in one go!” Jia He was silent. She and A-Qing sure did have commonalities.

“It’ll be about fifteen minutes. Find a place first and then wait there for me.” After saying this, he also added, “I’ve got quite a few people on this end.”

Jia He asked, “Ah? Who?”

A smile in his voice, he answered, “They’re all people from the cast or production crew.”

Jia He thought for a moment. “Then I’ll go find a bigger restaurant first.”

Sure enough, when he arrived, there were a dozen or so people with him. Seeing him walk in, Jia He quickly stood. It was not until he took her hand and, with a smile, told the director beside him, “This is my girlfriend,” that she at last loosened up somewhat.

The director looked like Maitreya Buddha as he beamed at her, and shaking her hand, he expressed with a melodramatic sigh, “Just for you, the rest of us are all getting this chance to be acting extras.”

Jia He smiled bashfully while giving a fierce pinch to Yi Wenze’s hand.

“Why’d you come back?” When everyone had started eating, she finally asked him this. “Will this hold up any of your work?”

Yi Wenze’s professionalism was not merely a one or two-day rumour. Previous reports had all been about how on filming sites he threw himself wholly into his work, or how he had exhausted himself going from place to place for publicity events that he had ended up getting internal stomach bleeding.

He smiled, “For some special days, exceptions need to be made.”

As she bit into the bamboo-skewered meat, she remembered again that Weibo post. And then, she very decisively bowed her head and played dead.

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Sichuanese food is always able to induce a big appetite in people.

At the end, when the people in the group were in high spirits after eating, they began jesting with Jia He. One man, a producer, put on a solemn face and, looking at her, said jokingly, “Before I came to join the team on site, my wife heard that Teacher Yi would be here, and almost every night she was unable to sleep. She wanted me to get her an autographed picture and also told me that I absolutely have to find out who ‘the love rival of the masses’ is. That way, her teenage fantasy will finally burst and can be completely put to bed.” Tossing a bamboo skewer onto the table, he rubbed his hand on his chest and heaved a long sigh. “Today, I have finally accomplished my mission.”

Another person also joined in on the teasing, remarking with a grin, “That’s weird, my girlfriend said those same words.”

It was not often that Jia He was the target of such teasing, and for a moment she did not know how to handle it. By chance it was about time for her to leave, so she simply told Yi Wenze that she needed to go first.

Once everyone heard this, heckles instantly rose up. The group cried out that she might as well just stay the night. Yi Wenze was shooting night scenes tomorrow, so it was perfect; he could stay in Chengdu tonight.

Jia He rushed to explain, “It’s precisely because he’ll be filming at night that he needs to get some good rest today.” The words came out before she realized they could be interpreted the wrong way, and straightaway she added “Tomorrow, I’ll be joining a cast and crew on filming location, too, so I’m not able to spend more time with all of you either. If chance allows, I’ll see you all again some other time.”

That male producer instantly grinned, “Come visit on the set often, Screenwriter. That’s how your mind can be set at ease.”

When he finished saying this, there at last was a shift in expression on the face of that young woman who had been sitting in the corner all this time. Jia He, though, simply smiled and cracked a joke that was apt for this moment. “No matter what, it’s never completely safe to leave him out and about. My ultimate goal is to keep the beauty hidden away in my golden house.”

Everyone burst out into loud chortles, complimenting her that indeed she lived up to her job as a screenwriter.

Yi Wenze, on the other hand, gave a very light smile, fixing a meaningful look on her. “I’ll be respectfully awaiting this at all times.”

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In order to stay longer with him, Jia He had waited almost until the very last minute to call the taxi, but when she arrived at the airport, she depressingly found out that the plane was once again late, as per habit. Taking a seat in the departure lounge, she saw that the space beside the jet bridge on which she would be boarding was still empty, and she grew even more aggrieved. Her airplane had not even arrived yet…

Right as she fished out her mobile phone and was about to send a text message to gripe about this, someone sat down beside her.

“Such a coincidence?”

A voice she could not be any more familiar with. She turned her head to the side. “Such a coincidence. You’re heading back to Shanghai?”

There was bound to be some awkwardness. That day downstairs of her home, she had not even gotten out of the car to say hi, and now in the blink of an eye, several months had already passed. Gu Yu only gave a nod. “You’re going back to Shanghai as well?”

“No.” Jia He shook her head. “Back to Beijing. I still have work there to do.”

After she stated this, the two did not speak again. Coincidentally, Yi Wenze called her at this time, so saying, “Excuse me,” she rose and stepped a little distance away. On Yi Wenze’s end, it was no longer rowdy; he likely was in the vehicle. As there were simply too many people on his side, Jia He only said a few words before telling him, “If it’s not a good time to talk, we can talk more when I’m back in Beijing.”

When she hung up, Gu Yu still had not left. It would not be appropriate for her to be too blatant in her actions, so she had no choice but to go back to her original seat and sit down.

She scanned her eyes over the tarmac. Her plane had already arrived, and a large stream of people was walking out from the jet bridge. At last, she saw hope of being able to board. Secretly she prayed that they would hurry and board the plane, so she would not have to continue waiting here in this awkwardness.

“The ratings for your drama are really good.” Gu Yu suddenly spoke up. “I was looking through some proposed article topics the other day. Someone wants to interview you.”

Jia He paused for a moment, then answered with a laugh, “No way, that crazy? I’m not worth that much money yet.”

Professional screenwriters in Mainland China are actually a weak minority group. Apart from the few who are skilled in hyping and promoting themselves or the ones who catapulted into overnight fame, it is very rare for them to frequently get interviews like actors do that allow them to increase their presence in the public eye.

Before Gu Yu could reply, a boarding announcement abruptly rang out. It was for the flight to Shanghai.

Yes! … Jia He immediately pointed at the boarding gate that was some distance away. “That’s yours, right?”

With an “mm,” Gu Yu stood. “But I cancelled that interview. I figured, if it were you from before, you probably wouldn’t really like being in the limelight.”

Uncomfortably, Jia He tugged her lips into a smile. “Thanks. I really am like that.”

He had already started to tow his luggage when, as if only now suddenly thinking of something, he turned back again to look at her. “I think my friend has a movie that he wants to make. He asked me about you a few days ago. How about it? Interested?”

“My schedule is full for the next half a year.” She gave a decisive shake of her head. “If there’s a need, I can introduce him to someone even better.”

Such an obvious rejection; any smart person person would understand its meaning.

Gu Yu very tranquilly gave her another look, not saying anything more.

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Jia He continued doing nothing but sitting. While she was watching the meal cart deliver food onto the plane, her phone unexpectedly rang. Flashing on the screen was Yi Wenze’s name. A little surprised, she picked it up, saying, “Hello?” It was quiet on the other end of the call. Anxiousness hit her for a moment, and thinking that something might have happened, she hastened to ask, “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

“No.” His voice was very peaceful as it echoed over. “I was closing the door just now.”

Giving an “oh,” Jia He muttered in a sour voice dripping with jealousy, “It wouldn’t be that another someone came knocking on your door, right?”

“My dear wifey,” Yi Wenze said, his tone laidback, “I deliberately brought so many people to dinner today just so that you could return to Beijing with an assured heart.” The instant that one word of address came out, any temper she might have had deflated. “Who let you call me that? …”

Her head bowed, her eyes fastened on the Monchhichi on her bag, she began in this untimely moment to bemoan the fact that not only had she toted her half-swollen face to see him, that entire cast and production team had seen her in this wretched state, too. When those people went back, they would surely comment secretly that, after seeing Yi Wenze’s girlfriend, she really was just so-so…

Monchhichi

His voice was fading in and out somewhat; his reception seemed quite poor.

It was a short while later before his voice was finally clear again, but with an echoey quality, like he was outdoors. “Jia He?”

“Hmm?” she absentmindedly responded, still eating her heart out over her little swollen face.

His voice, though, had already softened. “Some things, I should be the one to do them. Next time, don’t fight me for it.”

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[1]锦里 Jinli is a busy pedestrian street in the city of Chengdu and one of the most visited tourist areas in the city. It has been maintained as an “ancient” street, with dozens of stalls and vendors of food and various little items to purchase. In particular, it is known for having many traditional Sichuanese snacks. At night, the street is lit with red lanterns.