“Oh?” Yu Jiaze narrowed his eyes slightly, his gaze landing on Wu Man.

Wu Man appeared nonchalant on the surface, but her fingers resting on her lap unconsciously intertwined.

She pretended to recall: “If the thank-you gift refers to the burn ointment, then I suppose so.”

Yu Jiaze raised an eyebrow: “That makes us seem too much like bullies.”

He pulled out a contract from his bag and pushed it over.

“This is our company’s S-level artist contract. Currently, aside from Man Man, I haven’t given this treatment to any other artist.”

Zhui Ye didn’t even lift an eyelid: “Is this a thank-you gift for me or for you?”

Yu Jiaze chuckled low at this: “Seems you don’t know what it means to be personally recruited by me?”

Zhui Ye said indifferently: “I’m an actor. I only need to know how to act well. As for all that other nonsense, it’s not within my scope of consideration.”

“OK, truly a Cannes Best Actor—young and accomplished, a person of true character.” Yu Jiaze crooked a finger, and the contract returned to his hands. He methodically tore it into two pieces. “If you’re not interested in your career, then what about beauties? I see you have quite a few rumors in that regard.”

“You want to pimp?”

Wu Man was drinking tea. Hearing Zhui Ye say this, a mouthful of water choked in her throat.

“Cough, cough…”

Yu Jiaze patted Wu Man’s back like patting a small baby: “At your age, still choking on tea.”

Wu Man smiled awkwardly. Only then did Yu Jiaze spare energy to look at Zhui Ye: “What type do you like? I could actually do some pimping.”

Zhui Ye’s gaze passed over Yu Jiaze and glanced at Wu Man with seeming casualness.

“Stubborn, strong-willed, cold-hearted…” With each word he spoke, Wu Man’s heart jumped. Each word seemed to be describing her directly.

Yu Jiaze’s hand on her back tightened bit by bit.

Zhui Ye suddenly smiled and looked away: “Except for these qualities, everything else could be my type.”

Yu Jiaze raised an eyebrow, slowly releasing Wu Man, saying with some regret: “Then seems I can’t help. My taste is exactly opposite to yours.”

Zhui Ye said meaningfully: “No matter. What I set my sights on, I prefer to snatch for myself.”

*

This meal, comparable to eating shit, finally came to an end. The three parted ways at the elevator entrance.

Yu Jiaze returned to the room with his arm around Wu Man, not mentioning anything more about Zhui Ye, as if he’d completely forgotten whom he’d just eaten with.

Wu Man thought this farce should be thoroughly over.

Before bed, she forced her exhausted, almost falling-apart body to sit before the vanity mirror applying a face mask. Yu Jiaze clung to her from behind, pecking kisses on the back of her neck.

“Enough…” she said weakly.

He stared at Wu Man in the mirror, asking as if casually: “What do you think of Zhui Ye as a person?”

Wu Man’s hand applying the mask paused slightly. She continued squeezing out the essence from the packet, as if there wasn’t much to say.

“A very talented kid, just starting out, so he easily becomes arrogant about his talent and often speaks without reading people’s expressions.”

He made a long “hmm” sound: “That statement—is it appreciation or dislike?”

The taut face mask perfectly covered Wu Man’s expression.

She met Yu Jiaze’s scrutinizing gaze in the mirror: “What do you think? I’m almost getting used to being annoyed by him.”

Only then did Yu Jiaze let her go: “A small actor—how is he worth making our little bird angry?”

*

The next day’s filming was a major scene—Chen Nan’s graduation ceremony.

Graduation day required students’ parents to attend the ceremony. Chen Nan’s mother had gone north, his father didn’t care about him, so he invited Deng Lizhi to come. And on this day, Deng Lizhi witnessed the female student played by Ding Jiaqi approach Chen Nan.

This time Yu Jiaze also came to the filming location, getting out of the van and brazenly sitting next to Wang Cheng in his capacity as producer to observe.

He patted Wu Man’s bottom without leaving a trace: “Let me see how well you’re filming this project you insisted on taking against my wishes.”

This one sentence made Wu Man nervous.

Wang Cheng interjected from the side: “Xiao Man really is excellent—moldable talent.”

Wu Man became even more nervous.

She stood before the camera, hypnotizing herself to blur out all the surrounding lights, cameras, sound equipment, and director’s crew, leaving only the students in school uniforms on the field as clear focal points.

And she stood on the viewing platform, full of joy yet sorrow, witnessing the young man she loved cross a milestone and become an adult.

Deng Lizhi had prepared for a long time for Chen Nan’s graduation ceremony.

Most of her wardrobe consisted of drab everyday clothes. The few items in livelier colors were from many years ago and were long out of fashion by now. So she went alone to browse a shopping mall she hadn’t visited in a long time, trying things on one by one.

That long-absent excitement was like being eighteen years old again, going to a date flustered and at a loss. After carefully dressing up, she solemnly pinned on the butterfly brooch Chen Nan had given her.

The graduation ceremony proceeded as scheduled. When it came to the photo-taking segment, the crowd dispersed. Everyone looked for their own mothers, rushing toward the viewing platform.

Chen Nan was mixed in the wave of people, wearing the same uniform shirt as everyone else, yet more eye-catching than anyone. He also spotted her at a glance. His originally expressionless face became animated. He stretched out his hand and shook it vigorously, his eyes crinkling with a smile as he ran toward her.

The still-warm afternoon sunlight at four o’clock, the fine hairs on the young man’s profile glowing with a halo, cherry-colored petals falling in the wind… Deng Lizhi felt in a trance that she really was eighteen years old, waiting single-mindedly for an embrace.

The auntie beside her nudged her: “Is this your younger brother?”

Deng Lizhi awoke as if from a dream: “…Yes.”

The auntie giggled: “So handsome!”

Chen Nan finally ran to Deng Lizhi’s side. He lowered his head and noticed her nose tip was a little red.

The young man immediately became nervous: “What’s wrong?”

Deng Lizhi said with a slight nasal tone: “Nothing, just too happy.” She stood on tiptoe to touch his head. “You’ve completely grown up!”

He puffed out his chest and said: “Right, I’m a man now.”

Deng Lizhi guiltily looked around. The girl played by Ding Jiaqi was stealing glances at them and was caught red-handed.

The girl hesitated, then simply came over with her phone.

“Let me take a photo of you two!”

Deng Lizhi was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said thank you.

She stood somewhat stiffly beside Chen Nan, but he unhesitatingly reached out to put his arm around her waist. In that instant, her expression was very uncomfortable, honestly recorded by the camera.

The girl didn’t think much of it, only saying: “Your expression wasn’t great just now. Let’s take another one.”

Deng Lizhi took a deep breath, letting Chen Nan hold her, and she also gently rested her head on his shoulder.

The girl paid no attention to their gestures. To her, the photo was just a pretext to get close to Chen Nan.

She came over with the phone, looking at Chen Nan bashfully: “Classmate… do you still remember me?”

Chen Nan thought back: “…You’re the one who helped me pick out a brooch at the store that day.”

The girl flushed excitedly: “You still remember me!” Her gaze swept over Deng Lizhi’s chest, and she smiled even more brightly. “When I asked you that day, you wouldn’t say. Turns out you were picking it for your sister.”

Deng Lizhi unconsciously shifted her body slightly, blocking the girl’s view of the brooch.

She squeezed out a smile somewhat awkwardly: “Hello, I’m Chen Nan’s… sister.”

The girl smiled sweetly: “Hello, Sister.” She turned to look at Chen Nan. “Classmate, let’s add each other on WeChat so I can send you the photos. You left in such a hurry last time, we didn’t get to add each other.”

Chen Nan didn’t think much of it, pulling up his QR code for her, instructing: “Remember to send the one where my expression wasn’t good too.”

Standing to the side, Deng Lizhi’s gaze swept over the girl’s school uniform skirt that barely reached her knees, swept over her high ponytail, swept over her flushed earlobes. She understood everything.

Deng Lizhi smoothed the deep pink dress she’d bought to look younger and stepped back awkwardly.

*

The entire filming session ended with almost no stuck moments, only needing to change angles to supplement shots.

Wang Cheng first supplemented close-up shots of Ding Jiaqi and Zhui Ye exchanging WeChat. Wu Man stepped away from the camera and returned to Yu Jiaze’s side to rest.

He touched Wu Man’s head, praising: “After three days apart, my little bird has already grown into a wild goose.”

“Really?” The corners of her mouth unconsciously lifted.

“This kid also acted quite well.” Yu Jiaze pointed at Ding Jiaqi in the camera.

Wu Man made an affirmative sound: “She is good.” Then she added another sentence, “Though there’s probably some genuine emotion mixed in. I feel the little girl truly likes him.”

“Oh?” Yu Jiaze stared at the interaction between Ding Jiaqi and Zhui Ye in the camera for a while, then asked Wu Man: “But how do you distinguish between false pretense and genuine emotion?”

Wu Man was stunned by the question.

His expression was inscrutable: “I saw the look in your eyes when Zhui Ye ran over just now—no worse than this little girl’s.”