CH 17.3

Chapter 17.3 — To Love (3)

“Be more clear on what you’re trying to say.” As Jia He clutched her mobile phone, her heart rate inexplicably began to speed up.

Inside the phone, there was only a sigh, then another sigh. Suddenly, the tone changed. “You go watch it yourself. Remember to go to the freezer and grab some ice cubes. Keep cool, keep cool.” With that, Mumu immediately hung up.

She deliberated a bit, and deliberated some more before finally going into the bedroom, bringing her computer out, and doing a search on “Yi Wenze’s latest interview.” Astoundingly, dozens of pages of results showed up, all of them about the talk show program that she had gone that day with him to. The titles that came up were a wide variety. Scanning through them, she clicked on one that said, “Shocking Secret: Yi Wenze Reveals His Romantic History.” Her eyes fixed on the progress bar on the screen, she took a deep breath.

Please, please don’t be too romantic. I really will be jealous.

The opening of the program was very normal. The host was even more conversational than that day in the dressing room, smiling profusely and professing to be a fan of his acting for many years. Yi Wenze simply sat very leisurely on the couch, a smile on his lips as he continually nodded his head. An occasional few words from him were already enough to evoke shrieks from the fans sitting down below, off the stage. Clips and pictures interwove on a video that looked back on times past, all scenes of him since he rose to fame. Even she, as she watched, was stirred into exhilaration.

Then the host smiled and asked, “I wonder if today I’ll be able to make you break from your normal practice.”

Yi Wenze chuckled. “I know what you want to ask.”

Beaming, the host heaved three or four consecutive sighs, then turned and actually first addressed the people off the stage. “Do all of you want to know?”

Mirth rolled through the audience, and several girls shouted back in unison, “No!”

A giggle burst past Jia He’s lips. This poor host. Likely, she had never seen fans who would defend their idol like so. The host wore an easy smile and, in relaxed tone, said that she had prepared herself in advance for facing not just the silence of one person, but also the guarding and protection provided by several dozen fans. The fans echoed their agreement, shouting, “No asking about personal matters, no talking about personal matters!”

For a moment, the scene was terribly hilarious. Yi Wenze merely smiled. When this all died out, he finally remarked, “You and I are old friends of more than ten years.”

“Yup.” The host was extremely grateful that he actually said something, relieving the awkwardness. “That’s why I’ve decided that I’m going to hold out under the pressure the director’s putting on me and let you off the hook.”

He smiled, adjusting his sitting position.

From beneath the coffee table, Jia He pulled out a box of cookies, opened it, and began searching for the flavour she liked.

“The first time I saw my fiancée was also here in Beijing, more than ten years ago.”

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In the video, silence fell. And then, the next moment, there were waves of squeals.

She was only halfway through ripping open the cookie packaging, but her fingers were already so stiff she did not even know how to bend them.

In Beijing? More than ten years ago? How is that possible?

Wait… Since when did I become his fiancée?

The host also dramatically clapped a hand over her own mouth. Abruptly rising from her seat, she spoke directly into the camera, “Director, I want a raise. This is Yi Wenze’s first time speaking out—his first time speaking out about his love relationship.” After saying this, she slapped a hand on her chest and brought her gaze on Yi Wenze. “A-Ze, let me adjust to this for a bit. My whole mind is blank right now. I don’t even know at all what I should ask.”

The fans in the audience screamed all the louder. He chuckled. “You don’t need to ask. I’ll be open and honest and just tell you.”

Then, with natural motions, he picked up a bottle of mineral water and had a small sip.

Unblinking, Jia He riveted her eyes to the computer, discovering that she had crushed the cookie between her fingers.

“I would be considered a relatively lucky person. My entrance into this career was very smooth, and there seemed to be no real hurdles or storms that I had to experience.” He paused momentarily, then continued, “Actually, before I came into the entertainment industry, I was a very shy person, so with suddenly having to face the media and public every day, there was bound to be a bit of difficulty acclimatizing. Good thing Mai Jieis a very understanding and forbearing person, and without asking for anything in return, she let me have a whole two months off.”

His words seemed to carry a warm, placid strength and instilled tranquility into every person.

“At the time, I was in Beijing and had been here for about a month. I remember, it was shortly after Beijing Books Building over in Xidan[1]opened its doors for business. I had arranged to meet up with a friend somewhere nearby to have tea. When I arrived, he had already been sitting there for a long time. He pointed at something outside the window and said, ‘I’ve never gotten the sense from you that you’re an idol, but today I’ve been made fully aware of it. In order to buy posters of you, that young girl over there used up all of the money that should have been for her return ride home.’ ”

The camera was doing a close-up shot of him. The entire time, there was a faint smile on his lips. So unreal.

Jia He practically forgot to breathe. She vaguely remembered that she seemed to have done such a thing many years ago. But that was so far back that even she did not have any clear recollection of it. That time was actually somehow connected to him? More than a decade ago, with only a pane of glass between them, she had seen him?

Or perhaps it should be said, he had seen her.

The talk show’s production team was very good at assessing the situation.

Very slowly, his new single, “With You,” began playing. Its gentle melody even more so brought out the warmth and tenderness of his voice.

“At the time, I looked through the window and saw a young girl with a huge backpack on her back, probably stuffed with books. There was a really long paper tube of something sticking out from one corner of that backpack. It looked to be a rolled-up poster. I asked my friend, ‘How do you know she doesn’t have money to get home?’ He said, when he went to choose some books, he saw that young girl talking under her breath to herself and calculating out how much her transportation money could buy, and then she very happily discovered that she actually had enough to buy three posters.”

“What happened after?”

“After.” He gave a little chuckle. “Do you mean that day or further out in the future?”

Jia He got to her feet, then sat back down again. Another three seconds passed, and then she immediately stood again. That day she had been right there in the sitting lounge while he actually said all these things, but she had not known anything about it.

“What happened after? What happened after?” Off the set, numerous fans were pressing to know.

With a smile, he shook his head. “That day, there was no ‘after.’ I owed her the money for one trip home. When I ran into her again many years later, I calculated up what I would owe in interest and also accounted for current commodity prices, and it appeared that my debt was just too much. So, I could only use the way that we Chinese people often use to repay our debts.”

An obvious joke. A light joke.

It took a long time for her to be able to even react to this, her mind processing the meaning amidst the cries of “You pledged yourself to her[2]!”

The layer after layer of happiness that, from inside to out, was teeming from her nearly obscured her vision.

The host first was moved to speechlessness. Then, in the end, after not knowing for the longest time what to say, she sighed feelingly, “Ah, it was all fated.” Likely every fan here was willing to walk home in exchange for a few of Yi Wenze’s posters, but in the vast sea of people, he only noticed her. Moreover, it was when she was still only a young girl. And the part that made people gnash their teeth in jealousy was that after many years, they met again.

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The video came to an abrupt stop right here. It appeared this particular clip had been specially made by one of Yi Wenze’s hardcore fans just for this specific part of the interview.

Without even remembering to shut down the window, Jia He rambled into the kitchen. It was the deep of winter, but she actually dug out a bottle of mineral water and took several guzzles. Alas, the flame in her heart was still leaping and leaping, and every part of her body felt as if it was on fire, so scorching it was frightful.

After she downed the whole bottle, she tossed the empty container into the garbage and, leaning against the wall, carried on being lost in thought.

Never had she imagined that there could be such a coincidence. He had seen her before, and it was even here in Beijing.

Disjointed snippets of recollections of when he might have given hints of this flashed through her mind. The pictures in her mind came to a stop on his second meeting with Gu Yu. He had very clearly stated that he had seen her in the year she was fifteen years old. Ah, she was just too mortifying! She had actually even thought that he had been reciting a line from some sort of film…

Her hands were thrown over her face and she was still sighing and groaning about this when, suddenly, a sound was heard from the front door.

Oh no! Yi Wenze was back.

After taking just one step, though, she grew very bashful, and it was only when she heard his footfall draw near that she gave a rub to her face and left the kitchen. He had stepped over to the water dispenser and filled a cup with warm water. Seeing her walking out, he asked in passing, “Did you get the photo frames yet?”

A blush coloring her cheeks, Jia He stammered, “Yup, got them.”

No, this was not good. Just thinking about the fact that he had seen her ugly appearance back in her pubescent days left her chagrinned.

She feigned poise. As she walked by him, however, Yi Wenze reached over and pulled her into his arms. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” She smiled sweetly.

A faint smile on his lips as well, he brought his face down and took the corner of her lips into his own. Very naturally, the two became entwined in kisses. As she had just drunk an entire bottle of chilled water, the tip of Jia He’s tongue was icy, but his was warm and comforting. They kissed like this, again and again. By the time her breathing grew unsteady, she found he had already lifted her into his arms and carried her into the living room.

The entire couch was strewn with photo frames. Sweeping his eyes over it, he decided simply to sit down, with her still in his embrace, on the carpet beside the coffee table.

Nestling herself against him, Jia He was about to ask if she should make him something to eat. But the next moment, her gaze skimmed over her computer, which was still open on the coffee table and turned on. At once, she threw her arms around his neck and shifted herself to obstruct his view. “Tired?”

Oh no, oh no. The video had been shut down, but the entire screen was still filled with the search results. If he saw those, that would be ridiculously embarrassing!

Yi Wenze rested against the couch behind him. “Not bad. I had dinner before I got on the plane.”

Sitting even straighter, she tried with all her might to come up with a reason to get him far away from that computer. Yi Wenze, taking in her expression as she racked her brain, unexpectedly let out a laugh. Right when he was about to say something, she voluntarily planted a kiss on him. Her little tongue slid hesitantly into his mouth, a little evasive, yet also proceeding determinedly and thoroughly igniting a fire in him.

He, however, purposely did not give any response, allowing himself to enjoy this hard-to-come by moment of her taking the lead.

“Hey.” At last unable to contain herself, she looked at him, though with eyes that flitted about. “Why aren’t you showing any reaction?”

He returned a question to her. “What sort of reaction?”

“I’m already to this extent…” Jia He wanted to cry. “Are you keeping another woman outside somewhere?” The instant this thought sprouted, she forgot what her main purpose had been, and sprawling herself on him, she began to sniff him from top to bottom. The moment she brought her head down, Yi Wenze caught sight of the computer screen, and he understood at once what she had been attempting to do.

Lifting her head back up, Jia He eyed him over suspiciously. “Could it be that you’re too tired lately? That’s why you don’t want to do that?”

It must be.

Otherwise, she was too much of a failure. For once she had taken the lead and offered herself up, and he, and he… he was showing no reaction!

Picking her up, he flipped over and pressed her beneath himself, his head propped on one hand as he stared at her at this very close distance.

A delighted smile spread across Jia He’s face. “You are aroused?”

The question had already come out before she realized just how explicit she was being. Instantly, she turned into a mute.

He broke into amused laughter. “Reporting to my O great and honourable wife: very much aroused.” Once he finished saying this, he proceeded to shower kisses on her, first on her face and then slowly gliding over to her ear. In a very light voice, he said, “I told you about that matter a long time ago. Why are you only remembering it now?”

“Ah?” But then straightaway Jia He understood his meaning. “That day, I… thought you were joking.”

“Ohhh,” he murmured, his voice barely audible. “When have I ever used you as a joke?”

It seemed, and did appear, that roughly, generally… he never had.

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The whole time, he had still been methodically continuing with his “work,” his hand sliding into her clothing at her back and undoing her clasp before he finally asked another question. “Here, or in the bedroom?”

This one simple sentence dispelled every last bit of the valour she had had just earlier when she was offering herself up. Waffling for a long time, she replied, “The bedroom…”

Yi Wenze murmured, “All right.”

However, just as he was about to pick her up into his arms, she remembered that there was a very significant problem. Her eyes at once widened to stare at him. “How about… you just sleep? You spent the day travelling between Beijing and Shanghai and must be exhausted. I’ll go make the bed for you.”

Unsure whether to laugh or cry, he asked, “Honey, now what’s wrong?”

Fumbling for words for a lengthy time, she finally, feeling terribly guilty, gave him a kiss. “I forgot. Today’s, um, an ‘inconvenient’ day for me…”

<>Copyright of Fanatical, hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com. Translated with the express permission of the author for hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com only

[1]Xidan is a bustling commercial area in Beijing. The Beijing Book Building opened in May 1998.

[2]以身相许“yi shen xiang xu.” Refer to footnote [1] in chapter 13.2. Usually, this is a phrase that a woman would use, and in cliché plot lines, when a woman is indebted to a man but the kindness is so great she has no way to repay it, she may say this line, offering all of herself in repayment.