Wu Man withdrew her hand: “What are you talking about? I’m not angry.”

“Stubborn.”

“Stop the nonsense. My car will be here soon—I’ll take you to the hospital.”

Zhui Ye’s expression changed: “I’m not going.”

Wu Man hadn’t expected him to refuse: “Do you not want me to take you, or…?”

“I’m not going to the hospital. I won’t go no matter who takes me.”

“Are you a three-year-old child?”

Being called a three-year-old child, he simply acted shamelessly: “Either way, I’m not going.”

“Then what about your burn?”

“Just buy some burn ointment and iodine to apply. That’ll do.”

“…”

Wu Man was speechless, but she couldn’t tie Zhui Ye up and drag him to the hospital. She could only follow his wishes and send him back to the hotel. On the way, they passed a pharmacy, and she bought every single burn ointment they had.

Zhui Ye pointed at her bag full of ointments, his eyes crinkling with laughter: “Sister, when you were buying medicine just now, you looked like a domineering CEO.”

“Thank you for not saying I looked like a nouveau riche.”

The car quickly arrived at the hotel. In the elevator, Wu Man tossed the large bag of ointments to Zhui Ye. He said incredulously: “You’re not planning to wash your hands of this, are you?”

Wu Man stared him down: “I already bought the medicine. You still want me to apply it for you?”

“Shouldn’t you?” Zhui Ye said coolly. “Turns out you’re not just a domineering CEO, but also a heartbreaker.”

“Call your assistant!”

“He’s still at the food stall. By the time he gets back, my burn might be even more serious…”

“Who was it just now who refused to go to the hospital no matter what?”

“That’s different. I don’t like hospitals.”

“I can’t argue with you.” Wu Man ignored him and went straight to press her own floor. Zhui Ye stood in the corner holding the medicine, not pressing any floor button. When the elevator doors opened, he followed closely behind Wu Man as she exited.

He brazenly followed her all the way to her room door.

Wu Man turned around and made a STOP gesture.

“Kid, if you follow me inside, that’s being a hooligan. Understand?”

Zhui Ye said nothing, only silently reached out to lift his sleeve. Half his skin had already blistered.

Wu Man’s gaze traveled back and forth over that pitiful skin. Her throat rolled, but she still stubbornly looked away and closed the door in his face.

She changed out of her sticky clothes. The blisters she’d glimpsed lingered in her mind, impossible to shake.

After a simple rinse and change of clothes, Wu Man paced back and forth in her room before tentatively opening the door and poking her head out to look.

Zhui Ye was still standing at the door holding the bag of medicine, and they came face to face.

Wu Man said nothing, withdrew her head with a dark expression, but the open door didn’t close again.

There was rustling behind her, then the sound of the door closing. Without turning her head, she said: “Take off your clothes and lie on the sofa.”

“So eager?”

Wu Man said ominously: “Then go out now and wait for your assistant to come back. Slow enough for you?”

Zhui Ye obediently shut up.

Wu Man went to the washroom to wash her hands. When she came out, Zhui Ye had already removed his wet white shirt and was lying on the sofa. On his two protruding shoulder blades were shocking blisters.

Only the floor lamp by the sofa was on in the room. In the dim yellow side light, those two shoulder blades stretched diagonally onto the wall, wings ready to take flight, yet fragile and precarious.

Throughout the journey, Zhui Ye hadn’t complained of pain, so she’d thought it really wasn’t serious. Only after he undressed did she discover how frightening it was.

“…Fortunately the blisters are relatively small, otherwise you’d really have to go to the hospital.” Wu Man pressed her lips together. “It might hurt a bit when I apply the medicine. Tell me if I’m too rough.”

Zhui Ye buried his face in his arms, his voice coming out muffled: “Okay.”

Wu Man applied a bit of ointment, her movements gentle as she covered the area around the raised blisters. His skin still carried residual heat, faintly burning. As she applied it all the way down, she felt her fingertips about to catch fire.

The scene was excessively quiet. Wu Man diverted her attention: “Why did you suddenly appear there?”

“She’d been watching you ever since dinner started.”

“…I really didn’t notice that.”

He hummed: “There are lots of things you don’t notice.”

Her movement paused: “Did I hurt you?”

“A little bit.”

Zhui Ye’s back tensed slightly, the curved lines like a leopard’s, but a leopard in distress, forced to crouch helplessly in a corner. Fine sweat seeped from the back of his neck, slowly sliding down his slanted shoulder, like oil dripping into a lamp wick. Combined with his suppressed light panting, it ignited flames across Wu Man’s face with a clang.

“It seems a bit hot.” She murmured, rising to walk over and lower the air conditioning. Zhui Ye turned his face to watch her. She walked back to the sofa’s edge, and his gaze happened to fall on her knee hollow.

“Don’t move.” He suddenly spoke, reaching out to cup her knee hollow, his thumb gently caressing the red spots there. “You’re injured too. Didn’t you notice?”

Wu Man bent down and slapped away his hand: “After I finish treating yours, I’ll treat mine.”

“But a female star’s legs seem more important.” Zhui Ye directly grabbed Wu Man’s leg and pulled her to his side. She was caught off guard, falling dizzily into the sofa.

Zhui Ye was still on the sofa, his upper body bare, half-propped on his arm, partially enfolding her beneath him.

At the closest distance, their eyes met, nose tip touching nose tip. Time seemed like an old cassette tape stuck at this moment.

In the second Wu Man was dazed, Zhui Ye had already pulled back, jumped to the floor, and half-crouched to grip her knee hollow. His long arm reached for the ointment and applied it for her.

Wu Man bit her lower lip: “Stop meddling in other people’s business.”

Zhui Ye’s fingers paused: “You’re really cold-hearted.”

Wu Man’s expression darkened. She withdrew her leg from his hand and glanced at him sideways: “Then let me warmly give you a free lesson. In the entertainment industry, there’s no warmth—only interests are real.”

“Including your feelings for Yu Jiaze?”

The air froze into ice.

“I think I said not to mention Yu Jiaze’s name in front of me again.”

“Why?”

“Must people spell things out so clearly?” Wu Man sighed lightly. “Because you’ve crossed the line, kid.”

Zhui Ye made a soft “oh” sound, stood up and grabbed his clothes to put on. He buttoned them very hastily, finishing sloppily in a few moves, even clumsily buttoning them wrong, inappropriately exposing a small section of abs.

“Then thanks for Sister’s colleague affection tonight.”

He opened the door and left without looking back, waving his hand. So quickly that Wu Man didn’t even have time to say “you haven’t finished applying the ointment.”

She sat dazed on the sofa for a while, her gaze sweeping over the ointment. Finally, she grabbed her phone and searched for Zhui Ye’s account on Weibo. Ridiculously, though he was frequently trending, his Weibo didn’t have a single post, except for one auto-generated birthday greeting.

She opened Baidu and typed in Zhui Ye’s name.

His encyclopedia cover was a magazine photo from last winter, shot in the snow. He wore a white high-neck cashmere sweater with half-rolled sleeves, his arm around a snowman’s shoulder. Against him, the snowman seemed full of life, as if it had come alive.

Wu Man continued scrolling and saw his birthplace: Qingling.

She’d been to this county town once, a very long time ago. In her old memories, it wasn’t a good place. Poor mountains and treacherous waters, a drowsy yellow dog always sprawled on the potholed stone roads, the weather endlessly gloomy, the stuffiness of rain about to fall but not falling. Completely contrary to its crisp name.

It was hard to imagine Zhui Ye was actually born in such a place. He carried a vigor and purity completely unlike what that soil would produce.

*

Afterward, Wu Man reported the incident to the police. They arrested the perpetrator, and the matter passed without major incident.

The news inevitably reached Yu Jiaze’s ears, but he didn’t call even once to show concern. Wu Man didn’t expect him to care either.

Today was mainly her personal scenes. They filmed until very late before finishing. She was so tired she didn’t want to move even a finger. Lying back in the van scrolling through her phone, the silent Yu Jiaze sent her a location—a restaurant inside the hotel.

“?”

Wu Man sent a question mark back, and Yu Jiaze played dead, not replying.

She came to the restaurant’s private room according to the address. Yu Jiaze was sitting inside, one hand rubbing his temple, the other flipping through the menu.

He looked up, his voice a bit hoarse: “You’re here?”

“…Do you have a cold?”

He made a helpless affirmative sound: “The old man kept me in the hospital. Otherwise I could have come to see you yesterday.”

Wu Man’s heart was pinched very lightly.

“If you’re sick, don’t run around.”

“Can’t help it.” Yu Jiaze pulled her into his embrace, his unshaven chin deliberately rubbing against her small face. “Who told my little bird to get hurt?”

Wu Man thought Yu Jiaze really was a terrible man. Always tormenting, teasing, ignoring her, then creating expensive moments of tenderness for her.

She softened her tone: “I’m fine.”

“If someone from the crew hadn’t helped shield you this time, you would have been in trouble.” Yu Jiaze’s fingers tapped lightly on the table. “We should thank that young actor.”

The youngest Cannes Best Actor to sweep the Palme d’Or domestically was merely “a young actor” in Yu Jiaze’s mouth.

“Too bad his sense of time doesn’t seem very good.”

“What do you mean?”

“I asked him to come eat with us.” Yu Jiaze tapped her nose. “This is a reward for protecting you.”

Someone knocked once at the private room door. Without waiting for Yu Jiaze and Wu Man to respond, the person brazenly pushed open the door and entered.

Speak of the devil.

Wu Man’s face showed some panic she couldn’t manage in time.

Yu Jiaze had just looked away and didn’t see her expression. He smiled: “You’re late.”

“You were looking for me?”

Yu Jiaze pulled Wu Man into his embrace: “You protected my person. Naturally I have a thank-you gift to give you.”

Zhui Ye pulled out a chair and sat down loosely, his gaze lazily sweeping over Yu Jiaze’s hand draped on Wu Man’s shoulder.

He said casually: “As for a thank-you gift, someone already gave me one.”

Wu Man’s expression stiffened. Her mind flashed through the soaked white shirt, the dim yellow sofa, the bare back—that ambiguous night thick with gunpowder smoke.