The next few days were scenes between her and Zhong Yueqing. They were filming a middle section of the script—Deng Lizhi and her husband’s ninth wedding anniversary. She wanted to do something with a sense of ceremony. So she booked the restaurant where he had proposed to her years ago, specially dressed up, and even prepared a gift for him.

However, her husband didn’t remember this day at all and notified her at the last minute that he had to work overtime.

She sat alone in the restaurant, eating two people’s worth of food that tasted like wax. Outside the ninth-floor floor-to-ceiling windows, thunder and rain came in waves.

Deng Lizhi’s body trembled instinctively. The thing she feared most in life was thunder and lightning.

The phone lit up again. It was her husband calling.

“Hello.”

“It’s thundering outside.”

Hearing this plain statement, Deng Lizhi’s nose stung with emotion. She suddenly felt at peace.

Life didn’t need romance and poetry, it just needed someone who could remember her small matters.

Just as she thought this, the voice on the phone said, “Remember to bring that orchid I bought yesterday in from the balcony. It’ll get ruined in the rain.”

Deng Lizhi’s face first showed astonishment, then stiffness, finally trending toward indifference.

She hung up the phone without a word.

This scene went very smoothly, finishing earlier than the estimated time. Zhong Yueqing proposed staying to observe the next shoot, which happened to be a scene between Zhui Ye and Ding Jiaqi.

Wu Man didn’t leave, maintaining a learning mindset. One was a Best Actor, the other was a talented newcomer personally discovered by Wang Cheng. She was curious to see what kind of sparks these two would create.

The next scene to be filmed was Zhui Ye and Ding Jiaqi’s first encounter. The scene was very simple. The filming location was a boutique shop. Zhui Ye passes by the display window and suddenly stops in his tracks.

He wants to buy Deng Lizhi a gift, but inside the shop is decorated in bright colors, full of girls crowded together. He really can’t bring himself to go in. But that brooch in the display window truly attracts him.

He hesitates standing outside the window, not noticing that inside the window, a girl is secretly watching him.

There wasn’t a single line of dialogue here. They had to rely on eye acting to convey the amazed tenderness and flustered confusion of a young girl’s first sight of a young man.

Wu Man stared at the main monitor in the upper left corner. This camera angle was a close-up of Ding Jiaqi’s eyes.

The instant she lifted her head reminded Wu Man of spring water on the Seine—a sudden breeze, rippling the entire pool. The two words “heart flutter” interpreted to perfection.

Was her acting really this good? Wu Man recalled Ding Jiaqi’s glances at Zhui Ye during the first day’s dinner gathering, somewhat suspecting the young woman was playing herself.

When this scene ended, the crew suddenly wheeled out a large cake. It turned out today was Ding Jiaqi’s eighteenth birthday.

The young woman was pleasantly surprised, her face flushed red, thanking everyone as “big brother” and “big sister.”

Zhong Yueqing cut a piece of cake for Ding Jiaqi and handed it over, saying, “I didn’t know it was your birthday, so I didn’t prepare a gift. How about this—tonight I’ll treat everyone to celebrate your birthday. This is your coming-of-age ceremony, don’t be polite with me.”

Wu Man could see at a glance that Zhong Yueqing’s ulterior motive to pursue Ding Jiaqi was still alive, but he was clever about it. He didn’t specifically invite her alone, but got everyone to go karaoke together.

Wu Man didn’t refuse to save face or deliberately act aloof and special. She agreed to participate. Upon arriving at the private room, she saw many minor supporting actors were also there. It had essentially become a crew team-building activity. Ding Jiaqi sat right in the middle, still wearing the school uniform skirt from filming.

The most ordinary outfit imaginable, yet the outfit that most displayed youthful energy, constantly reminding Wu Man that she and Ding Jiaqi weren’t from the same generation.

She had never worn such nice school uniforms. Back when she was in school, it was baggy uniform tops and pants. Even though she had deliberately asked a tailor to make the leg circumference smaller, the top half was still unbearably ugly.

But fortunately, she didn’t wear those indescribably ugly uniforms for long.

Because she had dropped out of school.

Wu Man pulled back her thoughts and handed over the gift she’d specially bought earlier to Ding Jiaqi. “Happy birthday.”

Ding Jiaqi stood up flattered, receiving it with both hands, repeatedly thanking Teacher Wu Man.

Wu Man waved her hand. “No need to be so formal. Just call me Sister Man.”

Ding Jiaqi said timidly, “Okay, thank you, Sister Man.”

Wu Man replied with a polite smile and sat in the most remote corner. She looked around—Zhui Ye surprisingly hadn’t arrived.

No way, such a good opportunity to pick up girls, and that playboy would actually miss it? She had just thought this when the private room door opened. Zhui Ye, though late, had arrived.

“Preparing a gift made me a bit late.”

He actually didn’t need to explain. Ding Jiaqi’s face was full of undisguised joy. To her, his arrival was already the best birthday gift.

“For you.” Zhui Ye casually tossed the gift straight over.

Ding Jiaqi caught it in a flurry, asking in surprise, “Can I open it now?”

Wu Man pitifully glanced at her own gift, which had now been relegated to the cold palace, thinking: could the young woman not be so obviously playing favorites right in front of her?

“It’s yours now. Of course.”

Ding Jiaqi carefully unwrapped it. It was an old music CD. This disc had been released eighteen years ago, on the day Ding Jiaqi was born.

There were many albums released on that day in the world, but only this album contained a song called “A Beautiful Date Like a Dream.”

Wu Man couldn’t help exclaiming inwardly: brilliant.

Never mind Ding Jiaqi—even she would be moved by this.

Zhong Yueqing’s face was so dark it merged with the dim private room. The moment Zhui Ye sat down, he leaned over and said in a low, displeased voice, “Zhui Ye, isn’t this a bit underhanded of you?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Can’t you see I’m interested in Jiaqi? And you give such a gift?”

“I gave her a gift because it’s her birthday, isn’t it? And her coming-of-age ceremony.” Zhui Ye shrugged. “If it were your birthday, I’d also pick something good. A thoughtless gift is worse than no gift at all. Is there a problem with that?”

Zhong Yueqing stared at his utterly sincere face and admitted defeat. He didn’t believe this nonsense at all, saying through gritted teeth, “Fine. It better not mean anything.”

Someone started egging Ding Jiaqi on to sing “A Beautiful Date Like a Dream” to show her thanks. She fidgeted, her cheeks red, not daring to look at Zhui Ye. Gripping the microphone, she said, “Then I’ll make a fool of myself with one song for everyone, and also thank Big Brother Zhui Ye for the gift.”

Ding Jiaqi was clearly being modest. When she started singing, everyone was pleasantly surprised. When she finished, they directly teased, “Director Wang kidnapped a singer’s talent to act.”

The atmosphere gradually warmed up. Zhong Yueqing took the baton to sing the next song, passing the mic into Wu Man’s hands.

“Come on, Man Man, you sing one too. Seems like in all your years since debut, we’ve never heard you sing.”

Wu Man’s expression was indifferent. “I’m not very good at singing. I’ll just listen to you all.”

Zhui Ye, sitting diagonally across, had been looking down but suddenly lifted his head to glance at her.

Everyone thought she didn’t want to steal the spotlight, so they didn’t insist.

The alcohol in the private room finished one round. Zhong Yueqing ordered another, rubbing his hands together and calling to everyone, “Don’t just drink—let’s play a game this time!” He looked at Ding Jiaqi. “But Jiaqi, you should still drink beverages.”

Ding Jiaqi shook her head. “This time I want to try drinking…”

Zhong Yueqing said concernedly, “Then if you can’t handle it, absolutely don’t force yourself. Tell me.”

Ding Jiaqi nodded obediently, but her gaze passed over Zhong Yueqing, winding around to land on Zhui Ye.

After everyone’s chatter, they decided to play the mouth-to-mouth card pass game.

“Everyone alternate and sit in a circle. That way the game will be more interesting.”

Zhong Yueqing proposed shuffling the seating order. He sent the woman on his left to sit among the men across from them, so he could sit right next to Ding Jiaqi. As a result of this shuffle, he discovered the person sitting to his right was Wu Man. He asked somewhat hesitantly, “Will you play?”

To avoid trouble, and since she truly didn’t like this kind of game, Wu Man was about to say she wouldn’t play when she unexpectedly met Zhui Ye’s gaze. He sat next to Ding Jiaqi but was looking at her.

In her ears echoed his mockery—Sister has very “strict family rules.”

The words about to escape her throat choked to death. She changed her tune, saying indifferently, “Sure.”

It wouldn’t really involve actual contact anyway—just like camera tricks. She didn’t want to seem like she couldn’t even play along with a bunch of kids.

She didn’t care, but others did. No male actor volunteered to switch to sit beside Wu Man. They’d rather sit next to Zhui Ye.

Zhong Yueqing didn’t want to be the only one dragged into the water. He pointed at the small supporting actor next to Zhui Ye and told him to sit between Wu Man and another woman.

The young actor had a bitter face. What if this reached Wu Man’s financial backer’s ears and he got targeted?

He stood up very reluctantly. A pair of hands suddenly reached over from the side, pressing on his shoulder to make him sit back down.

Zhui Ye stood up.

“If he doesn’t want to switch, no need to force him. It’s the same if I switch.”

He walked over to sit between Wu Man and the woman. The originally spacious gap became crowded, so crowded that Wu Man could clearly feel his warm thigh root pressing against her.

With Zhui Ye’s position change, some were happy, some sad.

Ding Jiaqi originally had him on her left, but now it was that small supporting actor. The disappointment on her face couldn’t be hidden. Wu Man didn’t know if it was her imagination, but that small supporting actor’s face also flashed with disappointment…

The happy one was of course none other than Zhong Yueqing. From earlier, he’d been unhappy about Ding Jiaqi and Zhui Ye sitting together, but it wasn’t appropriate to order Zhui Ye to switch in front of everyone, so he’d pointed at that small supporting actor.

After Zhui Ye became famous, his romantic scandals had emerged endlessly. Zhong Yueqing had heard of them. Originally, he was certain Zhui Ye was competing with him for the girl, but unexpectedly, he switched positions easily, as if completely indifferent to Ding Jiaqi.

Then what was Zhui Ye’s gift for? Was it really as he said, just a simple gift? Zhong Yueqing was confused.

Someone put on an electronic dance track, adjusting the private room’s lights to dim flashing. The entire atmosphere became perfectly hazy and ambiguous. The game began.

The card passed clockwise, starting with Zhong Yueqing passing to Ding Jiaqi, going around in a circle to Wu Man, then passing back to Zhong Yueqing—one complete cycle.

The first two rounds were simple. The torn paper pieces were large enough. But by the third round, the card began to get insufficient. Especially after going around the circle to the tail end, it was already so small that two people needed to press tightly together.

Zhui Ye struggled to take the paper piece from another woman, turning to face Wu Man. That paper piece held between his lips was so small it was almost invisible, its edges all damp with traces of moisture.

Wu Man instinctively frowned, not moving for a moment.

Zhong Yueqing led the jeering. “If it breaks here, you’ll have to accept punishment!”

Loving the commotion, everyone joined in the jeering. Ding Jiaqi followed with two dry laughs, drinking faster and faster.

Wu Man didn’t move. Zhui Ye didn’t move either. The two of them inexplicably faced off against each other. The neon in the private room changed to dark blue, like water rippling across Zhui Ye’s face. Wu Man suddenly felt disoriented for a moment, as if she were on set from a few days ago… in front of that light blue glass water tank, the young man leaning in close, eyelashes trembling.

She pressed her lips together, looking into his eyes as she moved forward.

Zhui Ye lowered his eyes to look back at her, the tip of his tongue pushing out that tiny piece of thin paper.

The instant he looked over, Wu Man shifted her gaze away, turning back to the paper piece, but was unexpectedly distracted by what was around it—under Zhui Ye’s slightly upturned lip shape were small canine teeth on each side. Sharper than ordinary canines, making her think of sharks.

And she was that sardine swimming into the net.

Wu Man gently moved her lips, touching the edge of the paper. One step closer, and their lower lips would meet.

The people around couldn’t help holding their breath. This was the game’s climax point—this was the scene everyone anticipated seeing.

Ding Jiaqi also stared at these two people in such intimate proximity. Ignoring the paper piece, they simply looked like an affectionate couple in a seductive pose. Clearly they had such a large age gap, yet they looked unexpectedly well-matched. Clearly it was an eye-pleasing scene, but in her eyes, it only felt uncomfortable.

Every fraction Wu Man and Zhui Ye drew closer, everyone grew more tense. When they reached the critical point, Zhui Ye, without warning, grabbed Wu Man’s black handbag and blocked himself and her.

The two of them hid behind the handbag like this, blocking all onlooking gazes.

Zhui Ye held the black handbag in one hand, the other hand braced on the leather sofa, trapping Wu Man in the castle he’d created in just seconds. She was also startled, silently questioning him with her eyes—

What are you doing?

Zhui Ye winked at her, slowly pulling back a bit of distance. With the other hand everyone couldn’t see, he took the paper piece from his mouth. At some point, his palm had been loaded with another brand-new paper piece, slightly smaller in shape.

In the instant Wu Man was still shocked and suspicious, Zhui Ye gripped her chin, his thumb rubbing her lips open.

The pure white paper piece brushed across her lips, adhering to them, seeping with bright red lipstick.

“Bite down.” He made a shushing gesture, saying with his lips, “Don’t reveal we’re cheating.”

He moved the handbag away, declaring brazenly while making a small V-sign behind his back, “We’ve passed it.”

“Hey, hey, hey! What sneaky business were you doing?” Zhong Yueqing immediately couldn’t help interrogating.

“Curious? Then you switch places with Sister, and I’ll do it again with you?”

Zhui Ye smiled carelessly. One sentence made Zhong Yueqing choke it back.

In fact, Ding Jiaqi was the most curious one, but she didn’t dare ask. She could only take the opportunity to observe Wu Man’s facial expression to investigate some clues.

Wu Man’s expression wasn’t very comfortable. Her lips pressed against the paper piece. She was dazed for a while before turning to face Zhong Yueqing.

Next, she should pass it to him. Everyone jeered even more enthusiastically because the card was a bit shorter than before.

Zhong Yueqing very tactfully raised his hands in surrender. “I concede, I concede!”

He mixed foreign liquor and beer and downed them. Everyone still wasn’t satisfied, so he had to pick up the mic and sing everyone a Cantonese song. He even pulled a woman to duet with him, selecting the romantic “Whirlpool.”

Wu Man took advantage of the singing to quietly ask, unable to resist, “What was that maneuver just now?”

Zhui Ye didn’t look at her, keeping the beat for Zhong Yueqing, saying carelessly, “Since you don’t like this game, you shouldn’t force yourself to play. During the first two passes, did you know you looked like you were defusing a bomb with your mouth?”

Wu Man was stunned. He saw through her forcing herself, so at the more explicit moment, he’d prepared a card in advance and cleverly helped her dodge it.

The words “thank you” wouldn’t come out. She lowered her head to drink, covering the awkwardness in her heart.

The scene was noisy and chaotic. After Zhui Ye picked up Wu Man’s handbag and put it aside, it was far from her reach. She forgot to take it back, thus missing an important WeChat message from Wei Wei.

“Sister Man, are you coming back now? Mr. Yu came to visit the set and is waiting for you at the hotel.”

After sending the WeChat, Wei Wei’s two eyes stared fixedly at her phone. She swore she’d never been this nervous and anticipatory waiting for her idol’s reply.

But heaven loved to play tricks on people. The more critical the moment, the more silent it was.

Wei Wei anxiously stole glances at Yu Jiaze through the car mirror. He sat in the back seat with his eyes closed resting. Under a crisp thin windbreaker was a black suit and dress pants. By the looks of it, he’d just finished work, with traces of fatigue between his brows.

She hadn’t met this big boss many times, but whenever he appeared, her body’s mental alert index would reach peak levels, forcing herself to mobilize all her attention to avoid making mistakes.

Whenever this happened, her envy and jealousy of Wu Man’s privileged status completely disappeared, leaving only sympathy and admiration. Because she was the person closest to Wu Man, she understood their relationship dynamic better than others.

If it were her, she definitely couldn’t endure it. Never mind ten years—ten days would be a problem.

—But the big boss would never be interested in her anyway. She secretly slapped her forehead, mocking herself for worrying unnecessarily.

“Still no reply?”

Yu Jiaze’s understated voice suddenly sounded, startling Wei Wei.

“Sister Man might be in the bathroom and didn’t notice… I’ll call her!”

“No need. What time is it now?”

“Almost midnight.”

Yu Jiaze said nothing more. He straightened his body slightly, his fingers tapping on the edge of the lowered car window.

In the private room, Wu Man’s phone lit up again.

It was a WeChat message from Wei Wei.

“No need to rush back anymore [covering face]. Mr. Yu is heading over directly.”