Wu Man understood immediately—Ji Zhou had been losing popularity recently and was taking desperate measures to leech off her heat.

After all, the Golden Image Awards craze had just passed, and among female stars, she ranked first in all trending metrics. She was practically a natural mobile blood bank.

She repeatedly emphasized on the phone that she hadn’t exchanged more than a sentence with him. Only then did Yu Jiaze say, displeased, that he would teach him a lesson and put this matter to rest.

During the next few days of filming, anyone could see the two main leads were in conflict.

Although these two didn’t usually communicate much outside of filming, that awkward atmosphere of deliberately pretending not to see each other was about to break through the universe.

Wang Cheng was very worried. That evening’s filming location was at an outdoor food stall. After wrapping, he simply called everyone to stay for a group dinner, hoping to break the ice between Wu Man and Zhui Ye.

Since the director had spoken, Wu Man couldn’t refuse. In fact, she also felt her sulking was particularly childish. It was just friction between workplace colleagues. After so many years in the industry, wasn’t it simple enough to smooth things over and leave each other some dignity? But when she wanted to speak to Zhui Ye as if nothing had happened, seeing his sullen face with no sign of softening, a surge of anger rose again, and she turned her head and walked away.

At the dinner table, the two also sat at the farthest diagonal corners.

Zhong Yueqing was best at livening the atmosphere. Games like the mouth-to-mouth one from before weren’t appropriate for this setting, but he had many drinking games. He immediately searched his mental database and pulled one out.

“Director, let’s play ‘Never Have I Ever.'”

Wang Cheng was a bit confused: “How do you play that?”

“This game is perfect for someone with rich life experience like you!” Zhong Yueqing was always good at flattery. “The rules are simple. Everyone holds out their palm, and we take turns saying something we’ve never done. When someone finishes speaking, if others haven’t done it either, they put down a finger. Whoever’s palm becomes a fist first has to drink.”

Ding Jiaqi pouted: “Then I’m the youngest—I’ll be miserable.”

A supporting actress teased: “You’d better not drink randomly again. When you get drunk, you kiss people randomly. That night in the private room, you victimized everyone.”

Wu Man had left while Ding Jiaqi was still conscious, so this apparently happened after she left.

Ding Jiaqi clasped her hands together apologetically: “I’m sorry, Sister. I still remember your lips were very soft, haha!”

After getting familiar with everyone, her personality had become more lively, occasionally joking around unlike her reserved demeanor when she first joined the crew.

“How am I as soft as Zhui Ye? As soon as he came in, you grabbed him and wouldn’t let go, kissing him wildly.”

Ding Jiaqi’s face turned completely red without even drinking, stammering: “Don’t talk nonsense—I remember I didn’t… didn’t kiss his mouth.”

Her voice got smaller and smaller, her neck almost buried under the table.

“You didn’t kiss his mouth because you couldn’t reach it! You were gnawing on Zhui Ye’s neck like it was a pig’s trotter.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I really didn’t know I’d be like that when drunk…”

Wu Man vaguely recalled the kiss mark on Zhui Ye’s neck that day after the concealer wore off. She had thought they’d done something that night, but it turned out Ding Jiaqi had just been drunk and wild.

She felt her mood seemed to improve just a tiny bit.

Zhui Ye was unfazed: “Why do you apologize to me every time we meet? How about this—I’ll gnaw your neck back once, and then you don’t have to apologize anymore, okay?”

Ding Jiaqi blushed again from the teasing.

Wu Man looked away. That feeling just now must have been an illusion. Her mood hadn’t improved at all.

Zhong Yueqing couldn’t bear to watch and interrupted: “The drinks are here, the drinks are here! Let’s start a round!”

Wu Man silently gave Zhong Yueqing a thumbs up.

Everyone urged the director to start first. Wang Cheng thought for a moment and said: “I’m married… is that okay?”

Zhong Yueqing nodded: “Yes, yes, that’s exactly it.”

Almost everyone at this table was young actors. Some hadn’t even been in relationships, let alone married.

“Director, you’re so ruthless!” Everyone cried out as they folded down a finger. Wang Cheng laughed heartily, savoring it: “This is quite interesting.”

Next after the director was Ding Jiaqi. She retaliated playfully: “I’ve never been in a relationship!”

Wang Cheng didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as he bent down a finger.

Wu Man hesitated between bending or not bending.

Between her and Yu Jiaze, how could it count as a romantic relationship? Breaking down those two characters—you needed romance, and you needed love.

Between them were commands, obedience, control, interests, whims… many, many words could define it, just not those two.

But Wu Man still bent her finger, because by conventional definitions, they probably counted.

Some people present still hadn’t bent their fingers, including one person who shocked everyone.

Zhui Ye was still holding his up.

“You can’t lie in this game!”

Zhui Ye faced those questioning him, looking very innocent and sincere: “I really haven’t.”

Wu Man was also very surprised. She’d thought that although he was young, he was the type with a rich history. Among all those gossip and scandals, surely one was real?

She realized with astonishment that her understanding of Zhui Ye was based on very one-sided assumptions. She hadn’t added him on WeChat, hadn’t looked up his information, and based on just a few encounters, she seemed to have given him a simple definition.

She admitted there was an element of revenge in this, making her resistant to understanding this person.

The questioner muttered: “…I don’t believe it.”

Zhong Yueqing looked at him like he was looking at a male green tea, mockingly saying coolly: “What’s not to believe? Having playmates is enough. Our Zhui Ye isn’t a wanderer willing to be tied down by one woman.”

Zhui Ye shrugged, not defending himself: “My turn. I’ll just say something random.” He thought for a moment. “I once chased a train on horseback and ended up falling off and breaking two ribs.”

“…”

“…”

Zhong Yueqing held his forehead: “Although I’ve also fallen off a horse, it was for filming. I’m not bored enough to chase trains.”

Ding Jiaqi looked curious: “Why did you chase the train?”

“Does there have to be a why? I wanted to chase it, so I chased it.”

She had a sudden realization: “That’s true.”

Wu Man was speechless at this absurd conversation.

After a few more people took their turns, it came to Wu Man. She guessed many people had done what she’d done. As for those truly unique experiences, she didn’t want to mention them.

So picking and choosing from those unremarkable memories, she squeezed out: “I’ve never been drunk.”

“God! Are you the devil?” Zhong Yueqing slapped his thigh. “Tonight we’ll make you reach enlightenment on the spot!”

“Stop it.” Wu Man smiled and blocked the drink Zhong Yueqing jokingly pushed toward her.

Someone couldn’t help asking: “Sister Man, aren’t you curious what being drunk feels like?”

“What’s there to be curious about? Isn’t getting drunk a terrible thing?” Wu Man unconsciously frowned. “Completely out of your own control, and it harms your body. All harm, no benefit. Unless necessary, I’d rather not.”

Ding Jiaqi felt she’d been unintentionally called out and guiltily drank a glass of lemon water. Seeing this, Zhong Yueqing quickly stepped up: “You… drinking is just drinking. What’s this about benefits or not? The point is to enjoy yourself.”

As he spoke, he raised his hand to have the server bring more draft beer.

The server seemed quite unhappy about being ordered around late at night. When bringing the draft beer, he set it down heavily on the table. But there was a dish of edamame beans underneath, and the beer glass slipped, spilling all over Wu Man.

“What are you doing?!”

Zhong Yueqing was the first to react, bursting out in Cantonese, and quickly grabbed napkins for Wu Man.

The server seemed shocked too, looking quite young, head bowed without even saying sorry.

Wu Man helplessly wiped herself roughly. The beer soaked through the fabric into her skin, creating a sticky mess between her thighs. She had no choice but to stand up and say: “I’ll head back early to clean up. Really sorry, everyone.”

Wang Cheng was also helpless. A perfectly good ice-breaking dinner, and the two leads hadn’t exchanged a single word. But there was no helping it. He nodded and watched Wu Man leave.

The driver hadn’t expected Wu Man to leave early, so the car was parked far away. While waiting for the car to arrive, she ducked into the back alley and pulled out a Suyan cigarette to light.

The chilly late spring evening breeze blew across her back. Wu Man felt cold all over.

As if sensing something, she turned around to find the server from earlier peering into the alley entrance.

Wu Man thought she minded the earlier incident and said casually: “You don’t need to chase after me to apologize.”

“Apologize?” The person suddenly laughed coldly. “You’re the one who should apologize to Ji Zhou!”

Wu Man was stunned: “Uh… are you his fan?”

“I’m his future wife! My brother would never like a vase like you! Those marketing accounts online are all stirring things up. You definitely bought those articles to leech off my brother’s popularity! Have you no shame?!” She approached Wu Man with her hands behind her back. “You’re just a shameless woman. Not only leeching off our brother’s heat, but also ruining his opportunities. If you can’t have him, you want to destroy him, is that it? You’re really disgusting!”

What was all this about? Wu Man was completely confused. Clearly Ji Zhou had bought articles to leech off her popularity—how did it become her being rejected and lashing out?

Wu Man suddenly remembered that a few days ago on the phone, Yu Jiaze had said he’d teach Ji Zhou a lesson. This was probably the “ruining opportunities” this person was talking about.

So it really did have something to do with her.

She couldn’t help but feel embarrassed, inadvertently taking the blame for Yu Jiaze again.

To avoid provoking this extreme fan, Wu Man said nothing and slowly backed away, blindly dialing 110 on her phone.

She’d only pressed one key when the server revealed the thermos she’d been hiding behind her back and splashed half of it toward Wu Man.

Wu Man barely dodged it, running toward the alley entrance without a second thought. But her knee hollow was scalded by the hot water, slowing her running speed. That crazy woman wore flat shoes—useless at everything else but amazingly fast at running. In a flash, she was about to catch up.

Wind rushed past her ears. Wu Man panted heavily, her heartbeat thundering, as if racing with a demon.

Feeling the footsteps behind getting closer and closer, when she had nowhere to escape, she collided head-on with someone’s chest.

The whole world spun. The neon lights in the distance stretched into threads before her eyes as that person held her and spun her around.

The lunatic splashed the remaining large half-bottle of boiling water entirely onto that person’s back.

Wu Man looked up in shock. Zhui Ye silently held her tightly in his embrace, leaving not a single gap. The hot water was completely blocked outside by his body.

The lunatic was also frightened. Coming to her senses, she ran off clutching the thermos. Wu Man had no mind to care, anxiously touching Zhui Ye’s back, completely forgetting that just a few hours ago, they found even one extra word to each other distasteful.

Her first reaction was to scold: “Are you stupid?! Couldn’t you push me away first and dodge yourself?!”

Zhui Ye: “…”

Only then did Wu Man awkwardly show concern: “It was hot water, right? Not something else?”

He hissed: “Should be. I only felt the burning.”

“That’s good, at least it was only hot water…”

Only then did she notice they were still entangled together. She hastily pushed Zhui Ye away.

Zhui Ye was slightly dazed. His half-sleeves and the back of his white shirt were completely soaked through. He looked like a bedraggled drowned chicken, but he didn’t care. Raising his hand to grab Wu Man’s sleeve, he teased: “Sister, are you still angry with me?”