Wu Man certainly wouldn’t give up because of Yu Jiaze’s one sentence. She could sense there was still room for negotiation.

She remembered Yu Jiaze was still hungry, so she rummaged through cupboards to find two packets of instant noodles, then ordered some vegetables for delivery, wanting to demonstrate her sincerity—though currently she could only cook instant noodles. But at least it was hand-cooked, which had to be more thoughtful than ordering takeout.

When Yu Jiaze woke up, he was awakened by hunger.

As soon as he came downstairs, he smelled the aroma filling the living room, and his stomach immediately protested with loud growls.

Wu Man, wearing an apron, brought out the spicy-flavored instant noodles from the pot, with added tomatoes, vegetables, and a poached egg.

“You must be hungry. I cooked some noodles. Want to eat some?”

Yu Jiaze said nothing but actively walked toward the dining table. Passing by the trash can, he saw several packs of cigarettes and many lighters thrown inside.

Wu Man had deliberately thrown them there for him to see.

What a scheming little crow.

Yu Jiaze had actually calmed down at this moment, but he very much enjoyed Wu Man’s pretentious posture of dependence before him while also being somewhat unwilling.

That trapped-beast-like contradiction was very attractive.

“I swear I really won’t smoke again. Please give me one more chance, okay?”

Seeing him sit down and pick up chopsticks, Wu Man cautiously probed.

Meeting her hopeful gaze, he kept her hanging without answering, slowly finishing the last bite of noodles before saying: “Fine.”

As soon as he said it, he felt a bit regretful about letting Wu Man go filming so easily. Apparently this production would take a long time to shoot, the location was in Dali, and transportation was very inconvenient.

He never deliberately visited sets, usually only when it was on his way. This kind of set visit requiring connecting flights and then transfers—don’t even think about it.

So the assistant never in his wildest dreams expected that he’d receive a message from his boss late one night, telling him to book flights to Yunnan.

Two days before departure, Yu Jiaze made a video call to Wu Man, deliberately concealing that he was coming to visit the set.

Wu Man ran to the trailer to answer his video. She was still waiting during a filming break, her face wearing the character’s makeup.

The role she was playing was a Miao region poison maiden. On her head she wore a heavy silver crown, its lower edge a circle of tinkling bells that chimed crisply with her blinking eyes, sounding like wind chimes under a corridor.

Wu Man’s eyes were therefore half-hidden by that circle of curtain. Holding a pipa, half-covering her face—it made her glances look particularly captivating.

Yu Jiaze scrutinized her from top to bottom for a few seconds, furrowing his brow: “What kind of styling is this?”

Wu Man answered honestly: “This is minority nationality clothing. Doesn’t it look good?”

“Very mediocre.”

He made a mental note: tomorrow need to have a good talk with the stylist.

Wu Man awkwardly changed the subject: “Speaking of which, the scenery in Yunnan is particularly beautiful. Yesterday I had few scenes, so I visited Dali Ancient City and went to Erhai Lake—it’s blue without a trace of impurity!”

Yu Jiaze hummed: “Did you go alone? Or with others?”

“I went with my assistant.” Wu Man scrunched up her face. “The scenery here is nice, but the food is all so spicy. Though it would be the kind of flavor you’d like.”

This sentence inexplicably made Yu Jiaze feel pleased.

“Then you’ll take me to eat?”

She looked confused: “Are you coming over?”

“Impossible.” He lied with a straight face. “I’m very busy.”

“Oh… then I’ll mail you some chicken fir mushroom preserves. They’re a local specialty, a bit spicy, you can try them.” She propped up her chin, leaning closer to the camera. Yu Jiaze watched her look up and yawn, her cheeks puffed out, making him really want to reach out and pinch and pull until she cried out in pain.

In this instant he had the impulse to change his flight, wanting to fly tomorrow to see his little bird.

However, he restrained himself, seemingly casually asking: “What are the specialties from your hometown? I want to eat specialties from your place.”

“Ah, I can’t send you those right now.” Wu Man thought for a moment and named several foods she missed. “…Can’t mention this late at night, my mouth is watering.”

As Wu Man talked, she noticed Yu Jiaze on the other end had his head lowered, not listening at all, so she stopped.

She never expected to see Yu Jiaze at the filming site two days later. When he came, the several items he carried in his hands were exactly the ones she’d mentioned wanting to eat during their video call.

“Finished filming today’s scenes?”

He asked, travel-worn. Wu Man hadn’t reacted yet and nodded instinctively, then was stuffed with an armful of food.

“You… didn’t you say you weren’t coming?”

She held the heavy bag, the silver ornaments jingling with the wind, extraordinarily light.

“Didn’t you say there were flavors I’d like here? So I came to taste.”

The assistant beside him rolled his eyes hard. President Yu, who ate almost identical working meals every day and didn’t care at all what he ate, had now transformed into a great gourmet? Hilarious.

Wu Man was stunned, nodded and said: “You really… do like spicy food.” She removed the silver crown. “Wait for me, I’ll remove my makeup right away!”

She changed back into regular clothes, preparing to take Yu Jiaze around Dali Ancient City. The restaurant she and her assistant had eaten at before was inside the ancient city—not some old established famous restaurant, just an unexpected delight she’d inadvertently discovered wandering into an alley.

The city gate at the south entrance engraved with the characters “Dali” was brightly lit. They walked in under the gate tower, pushed together by the crowd.

Yu Jiaze’s face fell in disgust: “Why are there so many people?”

“It’s a scenic area, there are lots of people at night…”

Wu Man was also a bit startled. When she’d come during the day a couple days ago, the streets had been quite spacious, not this crowded.

She was about to continue forward when Yu Jiaze suddenly extended his hand from his coat pocket, naturally placing her hand inside his pocket.

“…?” Wu Man looked at him wordlessly. Yu Jiaze looked ahead: “Too many people. With your small frame you’d be swept away in one rush. Must be tightly held by me.”

His hand was very cold, and the pocket he’d been warming was also cold.

But in that moment, Wu Man felt warm.

Wu Man led Yu Jiaze to the restaurant based on memory.

It was a private kitchen restaurant with a small courtyard outside. In summer, the owner would set up tables and chairs, and customers could eat while gazing at distant Cangshan Mountain. However, now it was winter. Although in Dali this season wasn’t considered cold compared to other places, sitting outside to eat was still somewhat difficult.

It was already past meal time. Though the streets were full of strolling people, inside the restaurant it was cold and quiet. The two sat down in a corner near the courtyard’s floor-to-ceiling window. Yu Jiaze noticed there was also a small stage in the center of the shop, with a guitar and empty chair on the floor.

Wu Man noticed his gaze and explained: “This shop has folk song performances, but they only open during high-traffic periods.” Wu Man said with some regret: “Both times I came, it was so unlucky—couldn’t hear any.”

“Isn’t that simple?”

Yu Jiaze stood up and walked to the counter, whispered a few words to the owner, then calmly returned to his seat.

“Just wait and see.”

Soon, along with the dishes being served, a singer also arrived.

Wu Man said in surprise: “They specially called her to perform just for us?”

Yu Jiaze smiled: “Little bird, you need to know one thing—there’s nothing in this world money can’t solve. She’s not only singing just for us, you can also request any song you want to hear.”

Hearing this, the singer’s face darkened, and she quickly added: “But I don’t know everything… even KTV doesn’t have every song.”

Her accent sounded somewhat awkward—her Mandarin wasn’t very standard.

Wu Man asked curiously: “Are you from Hong Kong or Taiwan?”

“Right!” The female singer tossed her hair. “I’m from Hong Kong. I used to sing on the streets of Causeway Bay. Got tired of singing there, so I wanted to tour the mainland. Dali is my first stop, but it’s so comfortable here that I never left.”

Wu Man couldn’t help but recall the year-plus she’d spent barely making ends meet in the third-rate cabaret troupe, living that kind of vagrant life too. Back then, aside from having no money, everything had been quite happy—unfettered, wandering the world.

But having no money was actually the biggest problem.

In a sense, what Yu Jiaze had just said wasn’t wrong. Who could be above worldly concerns? No matter how free the female singer was, tonight she still had to sing exclusively for them for a few bills, and even if they requested “Two Tigers” she’d have to pretend to be crazy and accept it.

Wu Man suddenly felt emotional. Coming back to herself, she said: “I won’t specify anything. Just please sing something you’re especially good at.”

The female singer picked up the guitar, adjusted the mic, looked outside at the courtyard, and pondered for a while: “It’s snowing on Cangshan. I’ll sing a song fitting the occasion. It’s called ‘Chi Qing Si.'”

She lowered her head, played an intro, and began singing in a deep voice:

“The dream isn’t finished yet, there are still cicadas in the great cold

Coming through wind and snow at night, calling out raindrops.

…”

They couldn’t understand the Cantonese lyrics very well. Wu Man only felt the melody carried a sense of helpless sorrow.

But Yu Jiaze was displeased listening. Before one song finished, he raised his hand signaling the female singer to shut up.

“What kind of thing are you singing? Ruins my appetite.”

The female singer immediately stopped. Wu Man had been listening quite entranced. Seeing his dissatisfaction, she didn’t dare say anything more, smoothing things over: “Then let’s not eat anymore, go outside for a walk?”

Yu Jiaze’s hand reached across the long table, stroking past her eyes, saying with full suggestive meaning: “I think we can go back to the hotel.”

Wu Man’s face flushed. She lowered her head and took a bite of rice.

The two left the restaurant preparing to exit the ancient city. Passing Fuxing Road, they discovered all the woven crowds of tourists from before had gathered here.

At the foot of snow-white Cangshan, this entire road was full of pink winter cherry blossoms.

No wonder there were especially many people tonight—the cherry blossoms had bloomed. All the noise between heaven and earth receded, leaving only white snow and a sea of flowers.

Wu Man involuntarily stopped, tugging Yu Jiaze’s hand: “This is so beautiful.”

Yu Jiaze roughly swept a glance, indifferent: “Aren’t they just flowers?”

“This is my first time seeing cherry blossoms in winter!” Wu Man raised her head, flower shadows swaying on her young face. “I always thought they only bloomed in spring. Turns out they also bloom in this season.”

“It’s just that the temperature here is still acceptable, can’t really be called winter.” Yu Jiaze guessed without interest. “Get a bit colder and they’d definitely wither.”

“But at least they’re blooming now!”

Wu Man picked up a cherry blossom that had fallen from the branches, blew off the dust, and cupped it before Yu Jiaze: “Here, for you.”

Yu Jiaze’s footsteps about to leave paused: “Give me this? What for?”

“You’re going back to Beijing soon. There aren’t such beautiful winter cherry blossoms there. Keep this, let it accompany you at work.”

“Beijing has any kind of fresh flowers. I’ll just buy them.”

“Those would definitely be shipped over from Dali flower shops anyway. Why let middlemen earn the markup? We’ll take directly from the source.” Wu Man pried open the chest pocket of Yu Jiaze’s coat and carefully inserted the cherry blossom. “Even buying from Beijing flower shops, they’d definitely be greenhouse-cultivated varieties, not this kind of completely natural one.”

Yu Jiaze pinched her face: “You’re just using this kind of thing to brush me off.”

He lowered his head to look at the winter cherry at his chest, his facial expression seemingly completely unconcerned.

Yu Jiaze had booked departure for the next afternoon. Before leaving in the morning, he still had time to watch one more filming session.

And this day happened to be a major scene—Wu Man’s Miao poison maiden character had to place a love spell on the male lead, and the method was through a kiss.

Before this, Yu Jiaze hadn’t vetted Wu Man’s script. He didn’t have that leisure, nor that awareness. After all, when giving resources before, he gave them as he pleased and didn’t care who the other person acted with or how they performed.

He was similarly completely ignorant of the details of the script Wu Man was currently filming, only knowing roughly, so when he walked into the filming site, he was calm and casual.

Wu Man had just finished hair and makeup, muttering somewhat strangely: “Why does today’s makeup seem a bit light?”

The makeup artist glanced toward the man in front of the monitor, thinking: isn’t it because your financial backer ordered it? Aloud, she played dumb: “The director said this kissing scene needs a different feel for the makeup.”

Wu Man nodded unknowingly. The male actor’s side was also ready. Equipment in position, preparing to shoot.

Yu Jiaze was a bit tired from days of travel and had gotten up rather early. At this moment, his eyes were slightly narrowed as he sat in the folding chair, forcibly sitting with the imposing manner of an office leather sofa.

He stared at the monitor. His slightly closed eyes slowly opened as he watched Wu Man and the other male actor’s physical movements draw increasingly closer.

He immediately straightened up and whispered something to the director.

The director’s expression stiffened. He pulled out the walkie-talkie: “Quick, cut!”

The two people in front of the camera didn’t know what happened and looked at each other in bewilderment. But they stopped their movements.

Yu Jiaze grabbed the director’s walkie-talkie and said a few words in a low voice: “Wu Man, get to the trailer.”

He called her name specifically, his voice transmitted through the walkie-talkie—cold yet carrying rough static, not like a human’s tone.

Hearing this sentence, Wu Man immediately got goosebumps all over, her heart pounding wildly in her chest.

She steeled herself and walked to the trailer. What met her eyes was Yu Jiaze sitting on the trailer sofa, fingertips lightly tapping the armrest, the frequency getting faster and faster. Suddenly, without warning, he pulled her into his embrace and gripped her throat, asking: “You dare kiss him?”

Wu Man couldn’t breathe, answering urgently: “That’s… the script… acting!”

“Who authorized you to act in scenes like this?”

“…You didn’t… object…”

Yu Jiaze took a long breath, restraining his desire to actually strangle this little bird in this instant.

“If I don’t say anything, you can just do it?” Yu Jiaze shook his head. “You disappoint me so much.”

He released his hand. Wu Man coughed and asked: “I don’t understand. Those people you gave resources to before also had kissing scenes and even larger-scale scenes. Why is it not okay when it comes to me?”

“Your memory is so poor? I told you, I don’t even remember who they are. Even if they actually did it for real in productions, I wouldn’t care. But you’re different. You’re my thing.” A vein bulged on Yu Jiaze’s forehead. “My things can only belong to me, can’t be touched by anyone.”

Wu Man’s voice hoarse, still coughing, asked tremblingly: “In your eyes, am I really just a thing? My dreams, my dignity—none of it matters?”

“Did I stop you from filming?” Yu Jiaze clicked his tongue in wonder. “I even fulfilled your dream of winning an award. Wasn’t that your dream? Didn’t I make it come true for you?”

Wu Man was speechless, feeling exhausted.

“You can film today’s scene as normal. I’m not that unreasonable, but the condition is this scene must use camera angles.”

She jerked her head up: “Camera angles…?!”

He said unquestionably: “I’ve already made a concession. Or do you want to be replaced on the spot?”

“…”

Yu Jiaze lowered his head, tracing Wu Man’s bloodless lips: “If you still want to continue on the path of being an actress, you should know what to do with scripts that have intimate scenes.”

He leaned down and bit viciously. Blood seeped from where their lips connected.

Just as he was about to pull away, pain shot through his mouth as the bloody taste came through Wu Man’s retaliatory bite.

Yu Jiaze’s blood-stained lips curved in a smile as he flipped her over and pinned her down.

“Still unwilling?” He pulled her thigh root toward himself. “Then don’t film today. When you’ve thought it through, I’ll let you go.”

A trace of despair floated across Wu Man’s face, which she desperately suppressed.

Everything was her choice. Who could she blame? She could only swallow her broken teeth.

Though at the time, she’d thought she was boarding a vessel that could temporarily carry her away from her current predicament.

The vessel indeed moved forward, but swept her to a deserted island.

From then on, she could foresee the barrenness of life.

“xxxx year x month x day

Little bird brought me a winter cherry blossom. Too boring, want to throw it away.”

…

“xxxx year x month x day

Threw away the flower. Made me quite angry.”

…

Tang Yingxue flipped through several pages of the diary. When she stopped at this page, besides these two lines of text, she also saw a cherry blossom petal that had long since withered beyond recognition.

The fresh tender pink had long blurred. The dead petal was flat and aged.

But its exterior had been wrapped in a layer of plastic film, which was why it had been preserved so completely intact.

Tang Yingxue held it up under the airplane reading light. The dim yellow illumination brought out the flower’s veins, like blood vessels that had stopped flowing.

The air conditioning’s warm wind blew down. The petal, already made into a specimen, swayed briefly once in her hand.

Tang Yingxue had a momentary illusion, seeming to see the cherry blossom still blooming fragrantly on its branch.