When Wu Man saw the message, the alcohol she’d drunk immediately sobered up by more than half.

This was exactly something Yu Jiaze would do. Yesterday he’d been in Beijing, and suddenly he’d flown to Guangzhou—spot-checking her anytime, anywhere.

She hurriedly sent Yu Jiaze a message: “Someone from the crew has a birthday. We’re about to wrap up. You don’t need to come over.”

That guy with the little bird avatar replied with four words: “Picking you up.”

After a while, Yu Jiaze sent: “Come out.”

Wu Man didn’t dare linger. She stood up and told everyone, “I’m a bit tired from filming today. I’ll head back to rest first. You all continue.”

There weren’t many sober people left in the private room. No one minded her departure. Before opening the door, she instinctively swept a glance around the room but didn’t see Zhui Ye’s figure.

Yu Jiaze had the driver park the car at the alley entrance diagonally across. From afar, Wu Man saw the car window was open. The person sitting inside had blurred features, but she could recognize him at a glance.

She walked over and pulled open the back car door. Yu Jiaze was dozing, not even moving his eyelids as he patted the spot beside him.

Wu Man silently moved closer, leaning against his shoulder.

Yu Jiaze raised his hand, stroking her hair like petting a bird, and sniffed. “Your hair is full of alcohol smell.”

“Because you never say in advance when you’re coming. If you’d told me, I wouldn’t have attended.”

“Is my little bird blaming me again?” Yu Jiaze chuckled softly. “I had a sudden business trip and remembered you were filming here, so I came over.”

He took off his windbreaker and draped it over Wu Man’s shoulders. “I didn’t mean to interrupt your gathering with colleagues, but you also need to know your boundaries.”

Wu Man lowered her eyelids. “Mm, I know.”

“Oh right, I brought you a gift.”

Yu Jiaze pulled out a small square package box that looked like jewelry.

Wu Man accepted it without much surprise. He often suddenly gave her these little trinkets.

The instant she opened it while saying thank you, she suddenly let out a short scream, the entire box slipping from her hands and falling to the floor.

A severed finger fell out, rolling into the crevice of the back seat.

Yu Jiaze held Wu Man, feeling her trembling in his arms, lovingly stroking her head.

“What’s wrong, little bird? Don’t you like it?”

“…That’s a finger?” she asked in disbelief, her mouth trembling with difficulty.

He smiled. “Guess whose it is?”

“…”

All the color drained from Wu Man’s face.

“That President Xu touched you with his left hand, right? I shouldn’t have remembered wrong.” Yu Jiaze tapped the car window with his other hand. “Even things I don’t want anymore—is he worthy?”

Cold sweat seeped from Wu Man’s forehead in large amounts, as if she’d suddenly been pulled from water. She never imagined Yu Jiaze would retaliate against someone like this, especially when he’d deliberately induced that person to do it.

His insanity had escalated to a degree she couldn’t comprehend.

In this instant, Wu Man wanted to desperately jump out of the car and flee.

Yu Jiaze suddenly burst into laughter, his whole body shaking from it.

“You didn’t actually believe it, did you? This is a society governed by law now.” He picked up that finger from the floor and tossed it into Wu Man’s lap. “Just a surprise. You know I love giving my darling surprises.”

Wu Man reflexively swung her hand to throw it away, but upon contact, she discovered that finger was indeed a prosthetic prop.

“While waiting for you at the hotel just now, I saw the props department had this little toy, so I borrowed it to play. After all, you made me wait quite a while. I was bored.”

Wu Man collapsed back against the seat, not wanting to say anything for the moment, mentally tearing Yu Jiaze to shreds a thousand times over.

“Angry?”

Yu Jiaze pulled out another small square gift box. “This is the real gift I prepared for you.”

This time Wu Man refused to accept it no matter what, having developed gift-opening PTSD.

Yu Jiaze chuckled softly and opened the gift box himself. It was a Y-shaped necklace, each letter studded with rubies.

He brushed aside Wu Man’s dark red hair, fastening it from behind. Maintaining the posture of putting on the necklace, he smoothly embraced her, his chin resting on her shoulder.

He said, “Except when filming where I allow you to take it off, you can’t at other times.”

Wu Man touched her chest. It was like a blood-red mark, branded on her body.

For no reason, she thought of the gift Zhui Ye had given Ding Jiaqi earlier—a gift truly given from the other person’s perspective, thoughtfully hoping to make the recipient happy.

Yu Jiaze whispered softly, his tone vaguely displeased. “You’re distracted?”

“…Still haven’t recovered from the shock.” Wu Man pulled up a smile. “I really like it.”

“That surprise I gave you just now was a bit much. Sorry, darling.”

He planted light kisses on her hair whorl, incredibly gentle.

Wu Man moved her gaze away from the necklace. When she lifted her eyes, her whole body jolted.

Zhui Ye stood outside the KTV smoking, hands in his pockets. Though somewhat far from the car, Wu Man didn’t know when he’d started standing there, nor was she sure if he’d seen this side.

She quickly extended her hand and clicked—closing the car window.

“What’s wrong?”

“…I’m afraid of paparazzi secretly photographing.”

Yu Jiaze said contemptuously, “Let them photograph. Would they dare publish it?”

Wu Man’s gaze lingered through the car window for a while. That vague figure stubbed out the cigarette and entered the KTV without looking back.

She slowly exhaled, softening in Yu Jiaze’s arms and saying quietly, “Let’s go back.”

The next day’s shoot was a scene with Wu Man, Zhui Ye, and Zhong Yueqing. This scene took place on a weekend before the college entrance exam. Deng Lizhi’s husband, seeing Chen Nan constantly gloomy, proposed going out to relax and fish, also as compensation for missing their wedding anniversary. This scene was positioned in the middle of the script. Between Chen Nan and Deng Lizhi, undercurrents were surging, while the husband remained completely in the dark.

Wu Man originally thought Yu Jiaze would leave early in the morning, but his flight was delayed. He simply said he’d go to the set to watch her film.

During the first two years, Yu Jiaze would often go on set to watch her, but as he aged and took over managing many company affairs, he rarely had such leisure time anymore.

Wu Man’s heart actually didn’t really want him to go. On the surface, she smiled and said, “Thank you for taking time to accompany me.”

Yu Jiaze glanced lightly at her post-styling appearance and said boredly, “Really like a drab gray crow.”

They drove to the filming location, a secluded section of the Pearl River. The scene was crowded with people—lighting crew, makeup artists running back and forth. Dust flew on the black sand beach.

Yu Jiaze glanced disdainfully outside and said lazily, “I’ll just watch from the car.”

“Then I’ll head down first.”

Yu Jiaze made an affirmative sound, grabbing her hand and swaying it back and forth, not letting go.

Wu Man said quietly, “I need to go down.”

Yu Jiaze exerted force with his wrist. Wu Man, unprepared, fell into his lap.

He tilted his head to kiss a small mole below her neck, almost reaching her shoulder. His teeth bit lightly. Before long, a dark red kiss mark appeared on her skin.

Wu Man struggled to get up, covering her neck and glaring at him. “I’m about to start filming!”

“Just have makeup touch up the blemish.” Yu Jiaze looked down and fiddled with his phone. “Go touch up outside the car. My flight got moved up. The driver will take me to the airport first.”

He did it on purpose. Today’s styling had her hair in a ponytail—that patch of neck skin was clearly visible.

Wu Man covered her neck as she got out of the car, slamming the door thunderously.

She was just about to have Wei Wei call the makeup artist over for touch-ups when the person walking toward her was actually Zhong Yueqing.

“Perfect timing. Director Wang temporarily changed the sides a bit. We need to hurry over and run through the scene.”

Wu Man’s expression darkened. She could neither advance nor retreat.

“What’s wrong with your neck?” Seeing her constantly covering her neck, Zhong Yueqing couldn’t help asking.

“…Nothing, I twisted it last night.”

“Oh, no worries. I often twist mine too. I’ll recommend a massage device later.”

“…Thanks.”

Continuing to cover it was too awkward. Wu Man could only slowly lower her hand. Seeing Zhong Yueqing completely didn’t notice, she relaxed slightly. Right now, she could only go rehearse the scene first. The concealer could wait.

She helplessly followed Zhong Yueqing to the main monitor. Zhui Ye was already sitting to the side looking at the new sides. Wu Man took the temporarily revised sides, burying her head in immersing herself in the script. When she’d sorted things out and could rehearse with the other two, Zhui Ye suddenly stood up saying “wait for me a moment” and walked away.

Zhong Yueqing shrugged. “This young Best Actor is really freewheeling.”

Wu Man actually felt more relaxed with him gone. “Never mind him. Let’s rehearse our part first.”

She and Zhong Yueqing started running through the sides. Though it was just rehearsal, Wu Man forced herself to immerse in it. So she completely didn’t notice someone had silently come to stand behind her.

When a sweatshirt was draped over her from behind, only then did she become aware.

Zhui Ye’s gaze meaningfully slid over her now-covered neck, his expression emotionless. “Sister, the wind by the sea is strong.”

Wu Man almost immediately turned her head to look at the trailer.

The spot where the car had been parked was completely empty. Yu Jiaze had left.

Wu Man breathed a sigh of relief. If Yu Jiaze had seen her wearing another man’s clothes—disaster.

“Afraid he’d see?” Zhui Ye said in a voice low enough that only she could hear. “Just like last night, afraid I’d see.”