Once the New Year passed, the temperature gradually became less cold. By the seventh day of the first lunar month, the national holiday ended and all industries basically resumed operations. First to strike was the media world—they dropped a bombshell piece of gossip the moment work resumed.
—Zhou Yicong Instantly Dumps Gao Ningning, Ambiguous Rain Night Hand-Feeding with Long Qi.
Along with the headline, seven or eight photos of her and Zhou Yicong entering the barbecue restaurant together were released. She walked ahead, Zhou Yicong holding an umbrella following behind. No one else around them, the distance between the two less than half a meter in every shot.
Once this gossip broke, the response was unprecedented. The two were already frequent visitors to trending searches. It was like breaking the dimensional wall—two groups of fans converged, also attracting a batch of onlookers. Reviews were polarized—positive ones comprised a small portion, composed of mostly passersby and a minority of Zhou fans. Probably traumatized by the previous girlfriend Gao Ningning, they instead accepted reality, expressing views like “though heartbroken, Long Qi’s looks are acknowledged,” “the two match in appearance,” “as expected Gao Ningning is a habitual clout-chaser, clearly the real deal asserting dominance, everyone disperse, those hotel photos before were photoshopped,” “the goddess Qi tears down Gao Ningning without even lifting a finger”… and such. While negative attacks mostly focused on how Long Qi had just broken up with her rich second-generation boyfriend a month ago, then immediately hooked up with Zhou Yicong—”too promiscuous,” “private life obviously not clean,” “really good at picking men, only looks at money or fame right,” “also unclear with Ban Wei”… this type, mainly from Zhou fans, taking her on another trending search trip. This drew dissatisfaction from her fans. A war of words erupted immediately, using “obviously not his type, just drinking with the same crew don’t make it bigger than it is and lead the rhythm,” “wanting to whitewash the hotel incident by making my Qi take a bullet, my Qi is really transported wherever needed, honestly my straightforward Qi doesn’t even fancy your hypocritical Zhou,” “Zhou Yicong’s type is wild models like Gao Ningning, goddess Qi throwing herself at Zhou Yicong? Please look at goddess Qi’s ex-boyfriend, with that standard of taste right there, need to throw herself?” “just comparing exes alone, you lose, tee hee”—these viewpoints to fight back.
Anyway, the comments under social media accounts were unwatchable.
Those few days she deleted the APP again, having Lao Ping go negotiate with Liu Bi to clarify things, lest it delay her dating someone new.
Lao Ping said she was foolish.
“Does Zhou Yicong not know he himself is someone paparazzi won’t rest even during New Year’s, dying to stake out day and night? Meeting you for drinks late at night without bringing an assistant—his anti-stalking skills are so deep, debuted so long and only got caught once with Gao Ningning. Why don’t you think about it?”
“My fame isn’t as high as his. What would he gain from hyping with me?”
“You say he likes Gao Ningning, right?” Lao Ping scrolled on his phone screen, swooshing it over to Long Qi. “Look at the comments under your own account, then look at the comments under Gao Ningning’s. Who still remembers her? Everyone’s transferred battlefields to bite at you.”
“The topic Zhou Yicong discussed with me that day really couldn’t include an assistant.”
She didn’t look at the phone, flipping through the list of suitors her assistant had organized for her. Replying this sentence to Lao Ping, Lao Ping impatiently waved his hand: “Forget it! Hyping with him isn’t a loss anyway.”
And the result of washing his hands of it was that someone in the crew also leaked information to the media. From the anonymous perspective of a staff member who “witnessed” it, they vividly recounted what happened between Long Qi and Liu Bi. Right, that story complete with beginning, development, twist and conclusion—equivalent to providing a “solid hammer.” Finally adding mysteriously: the young actors in the group are all currently hot ones, young and impetuous, impossible without emotional friction. Some people’s surface relationships seem harmonious, but actually have undercurrents. For example, a certain popular singer is fiercely pursuing a certain pure and clever national young flower, has visited the set several times already, but this young flower has her heart set on a certain great beauty’s ex-boyfriend.
Stopping at just enough, yet perfectly clear.
Initially, because the second leak didn’t specify names, and Wu Jiakui maintained an otherworldly attitude—filming scenes, posting daily status updates, smiling and signing autographs when encountering fans by chance, facing media with skilled cooperation and rhetoric—naturally she didn’t get burned. Until half a month later, when the rumors about Long Qi and Zhou Yicong gradually dissipated due to consistent denials from both teams, the studio that had originally stalked Zhou Yicong released new material. This time targeting Wu Jiakui.
—Available Day and Night on Call, Luxury Car Frequent Nightclub Visitor, National Young Flower Obsessed with Rich Second Generation Falls for Love.
Judging from the stalking videos, paparazzi had been watching her since before New Year’s. Also news heard from the British study abroad circle—they’d followed her for a whole month. Originally thought they’d only capture this “scandal-immune young flower’s” first relationship. Never expected that the few times she urgently requested leave from the crew to see someone, it was all the same very famous person.
Jin Yiken.
Entering and exiting nightclubs for his venues, entering and exiting Langzhu Mansion to walk his dog, entering and exiting parking garages to sit in his passenger seat, entering and exiting malls to buy him drinks. Even once, she entered and exited a creative industry park.
Long Qi didn’t watch these things. Lao Ping also had great perception, warning in advance that anyone who mentioned it would submit resignation letters. Later, an extra actor during lunch break was holding up their phone watching with volume on. She actually watched with her own eyes as in the lens held by reporters, Wu Jiakui brought two or three people from her team and entered the building where Jin Yiken’s purchased office unit was located. Stayed nearly an hour. After coming out, she even smoked a cigarette at the building’s base.
Jin Yiken came out from the building about five minutes later, one hand tucked in his pants pocket, an interior decorator (Long Qi had seen before) following beside him, discussing business. Jin Yiken just talked, that person just nodded. After exiting the building, seeing Wu Jiakui, he chatted a sentence or two and shook hands with team members behind Wu Jiakui. Finally, got into his sports car alone with Wu Jiakui.
The paparazzi also captured that evening, Jin Yiken attended another gathering. The gathering was full of influential people in the industry—big boss-level friends of Wu Jiakui’s and even Wu Jiakui’s parents’ generation. That day the paparazzi squatted until three in the morning before catching Jin Yiken. Song not yet ended, people not yet dispersed, he was vomiting in the back alley of the nightclub. The lens captured his blurry silhouette, one hand braced against the wall. This silhouette was soon half-blocked by Wu Jiakui who followed out. Wu Jiakui had one hand patting his back, the other hand passing water. Jin Yiken used his other hand to block Wu Jiakui, gesturing for her to return to the venue. After Wu Jiakui left, after he finished vomiting comfortably, he lit a cigarette.
No one else, no restlessness. He alone slowly smoked in the alley, hand tucked in pocket, silent and soundless.
Then stubbed out the cigarette butt, re-entered the venue.
After that, the stalking ended.
Nothing intimate was captured, but several times they were captured entering and exiting the same occasions, living in the same place. Based on Wu Jiakui’s previously aloof attitude in handling male-female relationships, compared to this time, the case was settled.
It was a pursuit relationship.
At this point, the situation quietly formed a new circle—Zhou Yicong and Gao Ningning, her and Zhou Yicong, her and Ban Wei, Ban Wei and Wu Jiakui, Wu Jiakui and Jin Yiken… And Jin Yiken once again stood at the very top of this circle’s food chain, in an understated manner.
How did this person have the ability to make himself the protagonist everywhere?
Even during those days when she was dejected and sorrowful, this person hadn’t been idle at all. How could he have time for feeling sentimental about spring and autumn? His life state ran continuously—almost all his time and energy placed on establishing the new company and interpersonal relations. How shrewd was he—having bought the office space, how could he possibly leave it idle? Even if the incentive was gone, business still had to be done. He was such a rebellious person, right at an age urgently needing to prove himself to his parents. He owed his father a debt from investment, also owed his own past an explanation. He’d walked three years of crooked road on Long Qi—now timely pulling back his hand, unstoppable again. And Wu Jiakui was precisely clever in this point. Relying on her ability to mix in circles since childhood, she tied her own resources together with Jin Yiken’s career. She wanted to become someone with deep interests connected to Jin Yiken. She also deeply understood that only this way would Jin Yiken not treat her as an ordinary woman pursuing him.
This was where Wu Jiakui was smarter than Bai Aiting, even smarter than Long Qi.
Not blindly indulging, making valueless efforts. Also not relying on favor to be arrogant, only demanding and wearing down patience.
Later, during those rumor-filled late nights, Long Qi watched this video segment again. The part where Jin Yiken vomited alone and smoked alone, she watched many times… Just how hard was he pushing himself? He was clearly someone who wouldn’t get drunk after a thousand cups.
Thinking, contemplating, the phone buried at the foot of the bed dinged, screen lighting up. Lao Ping sent a message: “Tomorrow I need the car, can’t send you. If you still want to go shopping according to original plan, how about Dou Junyun sends you?”
…
The next day, she waited idly in the underground parking garage, hands tucked in her coat pockets.
The soles of her orange boots idly grinding on the ground, legs exposed, soft curls scattered on the shoulders of her trendy brand jacket. A candy in her mouth, assistant beside her holding her props. When Zhou Yicong departed for the set, he even whistled at her.
This person, since the scandal incident, instead developed revolutionary friendship with her. Just because she believed he didn’t hype it, his entire nature was liberated before her—plenty of joking around on set.
More than ten minutes later, a Cayenne entered the parking garage, finally circling to the lane where Long Qi was. Car door opened, a one-point-eight-meter tall young man got out, quickly circling the car front to open the passenger door: “Traffic jam on the road, did I make you wait?”
Long Qi didn’t move, looked at him. He also looked at her, looking until his ears reddened a bit.
Dou Junyun was the hardcore brother of a male artist under Lao Ping’s management, also a second generation, small-handsome looking.
Supposedly he’d heard of her during school days, favored her for a long time. Now encountering her good single timing, relying on proximity he entered and exited the crew several times. Once arranged by Lao Ping to eat late-night snacks together with the team, he got to know and interact with Long Qi. He didn’t talk much, didn’t smoke, didn’t greedily drink—a polite good baby. Actually somewhat met Long Qi’s previous definition of “good boy.” Lao Ping saw she wasn’t averse, so often gave him some reasons to do things, also getting himself some relaxation.
Three seconds later she finally moved, lifted her boot onto the car. After taking her seat, tossing her hair, fastening her seatbelt, the thin chain on her hand collided with buttons on her outer clothing, making tinkling sounds, dispersing a faint fragrance.
Dou Junyun closed the passenger door, opened the back seat door for the assistant.
While fastening the seatbelt, she saw his phone screen placed in the center of the seat lighting up. When Dou Junyun got in the car, she reminded: “You have a message.”
“Oh.” He took the phone to check, silently typing on the keyboard, casually saying, “Group chat messages from bros, they’re quite noisy, so I muted it.”
Then placed the phone back beside the seat, back side facing up.
Then began turning the steering wheel. The car circled toward the parking garage exit. On the way, they passed Zhou Yicong and them. Dou Junyun glanced that way, looked back at the front. Not long after, briefly glanced at the passenger seat: “I saw the news about you and Zhou Yicong before, really thought you two were together.”
“He has a main.”
“Oh.” He nodded, changing topics. “Only heard from Lao Ping you wanted to shop, specifically want to buy what? I’m familiar here, I’ll recommend good places to you.”
“Clothes.” She leaned against the window, using her hand to support her side forehead, looking in his direction. “Want to change to new styles.”
Dou Junyun nodded again, ears reddening a bit again. Long Qi said slowly: “I didn’t sleep well yesterday, want to sleep a bit first.”
“Good, good.” He responded, turning the car music lighter. “You sleep.”
…
Half an hour later, Dou Junyun sent her to a high-end consumption mall in the city.
Initially accompanied her shopping for a small half-day, also actively helped her pay, but was refused. Later became a functional existence helping carry shopping bags. Dou Junyun could also chat, but mostly chatted about those highbrow things in his interest field (he studied astronomy). After Long Qi didn’t respond twice, he talked less.
When shopping was almost done, on the automatic escalator in the mall center, Long Qi was suddenly caught by paparazzi who’d been lying in wait for a long time.
Four total, two front two back pincer attack. Caught the assistant also off guard. Even pretentiously asked what she was doing. Dou Junyun hadn’t seen this formation, obviously also someone with quite strict portrait protection consciousness. Immediately avoided cameras. Long Qi responded to paparazzi: “Shopping.”
Giving the assistant an imperceptible hand gesture. When the escalator reached a certain floor, the assistant and Dou Junyun took another route away, creating the illusion they were together. She continued down the escalator. Paparazzi unwilling to let go, followed asking about Wu Jiakui matters, insisting she express an opinion.
She lazily leaned against the handrail, hands tucked in jacket pockets.
Lao Ping had long figured out what media was most interested in now, repeatedly instructed her to either stay silent or feign ignorance about such sensitive questions. Her national favorability was originally lower than Wu Jiakui’s. This incident coming out, no matter what she could gain a magnanimous image before the national public. Now several paparazzi lenses aimed at her. If Lao Ping were present, he should still be able to feel his heart hanging at his throat. Unfortunately Lao Ping wasn’t there.
So after three seconds of silent standoff, she laughed coldly.
Light, mocking.
This was her opinion.
Good—the gunpowder smell between her and Wu Jiakui, the entire nation’s public smelled it, crackling and sparking.
…
After taking the elevator to shake off paparazzi, Dou Junyun’s car was already stopped at the elevator exit to pick her up. Assistant and shopping bags already in the back seat. She sat in the passenger seat. Dou Junyun was about to say where to eat dinner, blocked by her: “Go straight back.”
Seatbelt clicked fastened. Lifting her knee against the car’s front console, she took out her phone from her pocket, lowering her head to browse social media account messages.
Dou Junyun shook his head outside the car, clicking his tongue: “Alright then.”
Car on the road, accelerating, the Bluetooth music in the car still played violin music. She asked: “Do you have other songs on your phone?”
He took his own phone, before giving it to her, unlocked it with his fingerprint.
Long Qi scrolled through the music in his playlist, didn’t find anything listenable. So searched for songs in the search bar. Just as she finished typing the song name and was about to press “search,” a WeChat message notification suddenly flashed at the top of the screen, just covering the search bar, and just happened to be clicked open by her.
Dou Junyun’s WeChat page thus silently jumped out, directly entering a girl’s chat window. Long Qi’s other hand still supported her side forehead. In the chat window background, a seemingly couple’s cheek-kissing photo of Dou Junyun and a girl quietly entered her eyes.
—Baby, have you gotten home? What did the doctor say?
This was the newest message sent in the chat window.
The sparse few sentences of chat content from the previous hours were all on one page.
When Dou Junyun had just picked up Long Qi, the other party had sent a sentence: Baby, my violin class ended, I want to watch a movie this afternoon~
Dou Junyun replied: Baby I’m not feeling well today, at the hospital right now.
Other party: Migraine again? Which hospital are you at? I’ll come find you~~
Dou Junyun: Mm, but about to finish, want to rest well this afternoon… Should I come pick you up?
Other party: No need, you rest well.
Dou Junyun: Okay, doctor wants to chat with me, won’t chat for now.
Other party: [heart][heart][heart]
Other party: Baby have you gotten home? What did the doctor say?
…
No wonder so sensitive to cameras.
“Nothing you like?” Dou Junyun looked at the front steering wheel, asking. Long Qi turned her head to look at him.
Because he didn’t hear a response, Dou Junyun also turned his head to look at her. Then his gaze moved down, involuntarily looking toward the phone screen in her hand.
“Your baby is asking how your migraine is.”
She said slowly.
Dou Junyun’s gaze moved up accordingly. The two locked eyes. His breathing held the taste of sweat. Before he could speak, the assistant suddenly screamed and slapped the front seat hard: “Look ahead…”
Words not yet fallen, Dou Junyun faced forward properly. The earlier distraction caused the car to unknowingly change lanes into oncoming traffic. In his panic, he mistakenly pressed the accelerator instead of the brake. A truck roared past head-on. The assistant’s soul hadn’t returned when a sports car traveling extremely fast approached head-on. Dou Junyun didn’t dodge this time. On the right lane another bus running parallel blocked them. Under the pincer attack from both sides, he spun the steering wheel left. Long Qi’s passenger side now directly faced the other car’s front. Fortunately the other party’s reaction was also fast, timely and cleanly taking warning measures. Direction turned extremely skillfully, passing in a flash between the bus and Cayenne. Long Qi heard the piercing metallic sound of the Cayenne’s front scraping the other car’s door. The road surface smoked from tire grinding. Inside the car also a strong inertia. Her forehead knocked the car window. After half a drift, the car finally stabilized. The assistant in the back seat gasped heavily. An oil smell drifted into the car.
Gasping sounds from pedestrians on both sides of the street arose successively.
Dou Junyun hadn’t recovered yet, wrists trembling. After a long while, turned his head to look at the accident situation behind, hearing his instinctive low curse beyond his upbringing: “Damn.”
The assistant came up asking if she was okay. Seeing a patch of red swollen blood on her forehead, got a fright. Long Qi looked toward the rearview mirror.
On the road surface several meters away permeated with a layer of smoke, that Koenigsegg’s door rotated upward. On the door was a conspicuous scratch. Long Qi looked at that car’s color, heart drumming, breath hot, thinking there couldn’t be such a damned coincidence in this world. But Jin Yiken’s figure getting out of the car came anyway, came so clearly yet slowly, without a trace of warning. The oil smell pungent, the smoke on the road surface wouldn’t dissipate. His hair was slightly moved by the oncoming wind. One hand in pocket, the other hand closing the car door, squinting at the scratch on the door. While she stared at him from the car cabin several meters away—clearly hadn’t crashed too seriously, yet as if suffering aftereffects, spine stiff, mouth dry. Dou Junyun’s “damn” meant “why did I have to crash this kind of hard-to-compensate car,” while Long Qi afterward withdrew her gaze, moist index finger pad stroking across her forehead, saying in a low voice another sentence: “…Damn.”
Just after silently confronting him before the paparazzi lens, immediate karmic retribution came.
Dou Junyun got out of the car heading toward the back.
Long Qi watched again.
The two quickly got into conversation. In this matter Dou Junyun was in the wrong. Dou Junyun obediently admitted it, seemed to negotiate a private settlement. Jin Yiken was lowering his head dialing his phone to exchange contact information. Afterward, he idly glanced this way, gaze just sweeping past the rearview mirror. Long Qi rolled up the car window glass.
Afterward didn’t look at the rearview mirror, lifting her arm, biting her knuckle. Damn it, footsteps from behind the car came walking this way. She looked backward from the center of the seat, didn’t see the person coming, but saw Dou Junyun still standing in place recording compensation.
Nearly wanted to die.
The footsteps drew closer and closer, clearer and clearer. She supported her forehead, fingers continuously tapping her brow.
Five seconds later, the footsteps finally reached beside her passenger window. Sunlight from the side was blocked. She turned her head, saw Jin Yiken’s familiar limited edition trendy brand jacket and the watch on his wrist. On the back of his hand at the tiger’s mouth was another new coordinate-style tattoo. Raising that hand, index and middle fingers tapped the car window glass.
…