Chapter 191 is available [VIP]

Chapter Summary: His smile was so wide it almost reached his ears.

Mu Zhi doesn't want entertainment gossip to overshadow her identity as an actress and affect her image as a quality actress in the public's mind.

She and He Zhiyue also reached a consensus on this matter:

After officially announcing their relationship, the couple stopped posting about their romance or showing affection online.

She is actress Mu Zhi, and he is businessman focused on the business world.

Therefore, Mu Zhi will not respond to interview requests from grand events, magazine interviews, post-brand events, or other programs regarding her personal relationship with He Zhiyue.

Ji Binghe agreed with Mu Zhi's approach: "Okay, you two can develop your relationship in private. You've set a precedent for this grand event, making it harder to refuse interviews from other media outlets. So, just don't accept any of them."

Mu Zhi doesn't need a romantic relationship to generate buzz and attention.

Once a relationship is overexposed to the public eye, it can easily turn from initial blessings into something else entirely, leading to accusations of "using the relationship for publicity," "why are they always trending on social media just because they're dating? It's so annoying," and "aren't they top actresses and business tycoons? Are they really that desperate for attention?"

Keeping a low profile is the right thing to do.

The more mysterious something is, the more interest and sustained attention it attracts from the public.

Late December to mid-January.

Mu Zhi attended several grand events.

The awards presented to her by the platform were all relatively prestigious film awards, such as: Actress of the Year, Best Actress in a Film, and Most Breakthrough Film Actress of the Year; as well as popularity awards: Most Popular Actress of the Year, Most Popular Female Artist, and Most Popular Actress in a Film.

This year, Mu Zhi released three films, all of which achieved excellent box office results. One of them was the box office champion during the Spring Festival, and another was the box office champion during the National Day holiday, ranking second in the domestic film box office chart.

Winning these film awards/popularity awards at major ceremonies held by several platforms is not an exaggeration at all.

What netizens are more concerned about is: next year... oh no, it's already January, we're entering a new year.

I wonder how many prestigious film awards Mu Zhi will win this year?

The nominations for the Golden Horn Awards will be released in May, and the biennial Golden Dragon Awards will be held in November. If Mu Zhi can win both of these awards, she will become the youngest actress to win all three major film awards!

On February 16th this year, Lunar New Year's Eve, Muzhi finished its grand event schedule, and there was still about a month left before the arrival of the new year.

Filming for "Mirror Flower Water Moon" is expected to begin in mid-March.

With only two months left, Mu Zhi will now go into seclusion to study her new role and prepare for joining the cast of her next project.

Before the Lunar New Year, Mu Zhi met with directors Xie Wendi and Pan Yan to discuss the script in detail and learn about the latest progress in the film's preparation.

After the meal, director Wendy Sherman and her team left first.

Mu Zhi thought that she had worked with Director Pan Yan before, and it was nothing unusual for the two of them to have a meal together with their teams. They came out of the restaurant together and waved goodbye at the door.

They were photographed by paparazzi who were diligently staking out the location.

"What's going on?!"

"Does Mu Zhi have time to have dinner with Director Pan Yan, but not time to go on a date with He Zhiyue?"

It's been almost a month since they officially announced their relationship.

He and another paparazzi followed him every single day for a month.

I've always wanted to capture photos of Mu Zhi and He Zhiyue together in private, showing their daily life as a couple.

As a result, during this month, Muzhi was busy with public events and brand activities.

Personal private schedule: having dinner with Zhou Jingzhu and Liu Cai; treating the team members to dinner; going to the company, Lanxing Media; and one day going out alone to the nearby supermarket.

But no! There was no! He Zhiyue in sight.

It's so discouraging that we can't even get a picture of them together.

The next day, Mu Zhi and Pan Yan were photographed having dinner, and the photos were posted online by paparazzi.

Netizens naturally wouldn't stray into the topic of a romance, but instead speculated whether Mu Zhi and Pan Yan were going to collaborate on a TV series, or if they were simply having a meal together.

Many netizens and fans of the couple left comments criticizing the paparazzi: "Is this what I wanted to see? Couldn't they have taken some photos of the couple being affectionate or kissing?" (pointing and whispering)

Staff will collect the latest news about Mu Zhi online and send it to He Zhiyue.

Looking at the comments from netizens, He Zhiyue clearly remembered that he and Mu Zhi hadn't seen each other for a month after the confession ceremony.

Muzhi has been busy attending grand ceremonies and brand events lately.

He Zhiyue went on two business trips, one abroad for half a month and the other to a branch office in another city.

I just got back to Beicheng yesterday.

He wanted to see Mu Zhi, but with a mountain of documents piled up in front of him to process, he simply couldn't leave...

Last night, he contacted Mu Zhi, who said she had no public appearances coming up and was at home studying scripts to prepare for her new film.

He Zhiyue had an idea and picked up her phone to send a message to Mu Zhi.

[He Zhiyue] I want to see you. Can you come to my company to find me?

[He Zhiyue] I'm tied up with a mountain of documents, and Assistant Wen is watching me from outside the door. Teacher Mu, could you come and see me? You can read the script while I'm at it.

He Zhiyue and Mu Zhi have known each other for 5 years.

He knew Mu Zhi's personality to some extent; Mu Zhi was not a proactive person in matters of the heart or in her private social interactions.

However, she will most likely meet the needs expressed by those around her and the requests they make that are not excessive.

Sure enough, a few minutes later.

He Zhiyue received Mu Zhi's reply, "[Okay]", and smiled so wide her mouth almost reached her ears.

Two hours later.

This is Mu Zhi's first time visiting the He Group.

Just as her car entered the underground parking lot, He Zhiyue called right on the dot.

Where is she?

He came down to the underground parking lot to pick her up.

Mu Zhi pushed open the car door, grabbed her bag, and got out.

He Zhiyue then appeared before them.

Mu Zhi's hair was pinned up at the back of her head with a pearl-decorated shark clip, and two strands of hair fell naturally across her face. She wore a loose beige sweater that reached above her knees, paired with light gray tights and gray snow boots, and carried a white puffer jacket in her hand.

It's not convenient to wear a jacket while driving.

He Zhiyue naturally took the bag from Mu Zhi's hand and stood aside watching Mu Zhi put on her coat.

Compared to the radiant and dazzling Mu Zhi at the grand event, He Zhiyue prefers Mu Zhi's gentle and casual demeanor at this moment, revealing her homely side.

He felt that she was standing vividly in front of him, rather than an unattainable moon in the sky.

After putting on her coat, Mu Zhi also put on sunglasses and a mask, and then reached out to He Zhiyue, indicating that he should return her bag.

He was dressed in a suit and tie with an overcoat over his shoulders, and was carrying a large women's handbag, which looked very mismatched.

He Zhiyue didn't care if others saw her. "The bag is a bit heavy, I'll just carry it."

Half an hour ago, he saw that it was snowing outside and regretted asking Mu Zhi to come out and find him.

Are you cold?

He Zhiyue carried Mu Zhi's bag in one hand and took Mu Zhi's hand with the other, gently leading her towards the elevator.

He pretended to be calm. He initially reached out to hold Mu Zhi's hand to see if it was cold. Only after he held her hand did he realize that he had held Mu Zhi's hand!

Although this wasn't the first time the two had held hands, it could be said to be their first official hand-holding.

He Zhiyue felt that the hand he was holding was incredibly soft, like a feather gently brushing against his heart, sending a tingling sensation through him. He couldn't help but slow down, wanting to hold her hand and walk on forever.

"It's not cold."

Mu Zhi drove all the way from the underground parking lot of Donghua Mansion without getting out of the car. The underground parking lot is a relatively enclosed environment, so it wasn't cold.

She looked at He Zhiyue's upturned lips, then at his large hand holding hers.

His hands were warm, so I let him be.

Upon arriving at the elevator, He Zhiyue led Mu Zhi to swipe her card and board the high-rise private elevator.

He had already instructed his assistant, Wen, to prepare an elevator card for Mu Zhi so that she could come to see him at any time.

Upon reaching the top floor, there weren't many office workers on that floor.

He Zhiyue led Mu Zhi by the hand toward the chairman's office, and they still encountered a few employees along the way.

They glanced at He Zhiyue one by one, then quickly looked at Mu Zhi, and greeted her somewhat stammeringly: "President He, President He."

He Zhiyue nodded and led Mu Zhi into the office without stopping.

Before Mu Zhi arrived, he had already had a new set of desks and chairs prepared and placed to the side, with a vase on the desk containing a bouquet of fresh flowers.

As soon as Mu Zhi entered, she surveyed the office environment. He Zhiyue had probably renovated it; the style was modern and minimalist, and it was much larger than the general manager's office of Lanxing Media.

She noticed that the set of table and chairs was for her, and took her bag back from He Zhiyue's hand.

"You continue with your work, I need to get back to work too."

After saying that, he walked towards his "desk".

The office was heated.

He Zhiyue watched as Mu Zhi walked to the white desk, took off her coat and carefully draped it over the back of the chair. Then she took out her laptop, script, headphones, sticky notes, pen and other items from her bag and set up to start working.

His eyes were filled with tenderness, and a smile that lingered on his lips. He walked to his desk, pressed the intercom, and instructed his secretary to bring in a cup of coffee and ask if the snacks he ordered had arrived, and if so, to bring them in as well.

He Zhiyue sat down in his office chair. He had put a little thought into the arrangement of the desk and chair he had prepared for Mu Zhi. They weren't arranged in a parallel direction, but rather on his left, not far from the floor-to-ceiling window.

He could see her as soon as he looked up.

Mu Zhi had already opened the script and was reading it.

Seemingly sensing his gaze, Mu Zhi looked up at He Zhiyue. He Zhiyue quickly picked up a document piled up beside him, focused his attention, and began to work diligently...

Assistant Wen was standing outside the door.

He has a small project that requires him to report the latest progress to his boss.

The assistant hesitated for a moment, thinking that there was now a girlfriend named Mu Zhi in the boss's office, but ultimately, work was more important, so he gritted his teeth and knocked on the door.

Soon, the owner inside replied, "Come in."

Assistant Wen didn't push the door open as usual. She waited a while before walking in, staring at her toes, thinking that she might see something embarrassing.

My first reaction upon entering was: It's so quiet?

"Assistant Wen, is something the matter?"

While the assistant was lost in thought, he heard the boss's voice and quickly looked up to report. He saw the boss sitting alone at his desk and breathed a sigh of relief.

But he needed to give a work report, and there were other people in the office...

The next second, He Zhiyue spoke up: "Just say what you want to say."

"......yes."

After reporting his work, Assistant Wen turned to go inside and glanced to the side. He saw Mu Zhi sitting at his desk, flipping through a script. Mu Zhi must have been disturbed by his conversation with the boss, because she looked over at them.

Meeting his gaze, Mu Zhi calmly nodded slightly in greeting.

Assistant Wen nodded hurriedly, took the documents, and walked out quickly.

He was overthinking it. When Mu Zhi sat there, she looked like a serious female CEO. But the moment he saw Mu Zhi's pure face and clear eyes, all his romantic fantasies vanished.

Wait until you come out of the boss's office.

Assistant Wen felt ashamed of her previous thoughts. She shouldn't have presumptuously assumed that the boss would be frivolous towards Miss Mu Zhi in the office. The boss liked and admired Miss Mu Zhi so much that he probably wouldn't dare to do that, and it was out of respect.

Mu Zhi N read through the script for the movie "Mirror Flower Water Moon" once, opened her laptop, and selected a 1.5-hour documentary from the list of Republican-era documentaries and movies that director Pan Yan shared with her to help her shape her character.

She sat quietly watching documentaries with her headphones on, occasionally eating a snack that He Zhiyue had given her. These snacks were low in sugar or sugar-free and low in oil, so they wouldn't make her gain weight or cause acne.

She is currently on vacation at home and has no public engagements to attend.

Eating one or two pieces is fine; there's no pressure about being on camera.

By the time Mu Zhi finished watching the documentary, He Zhiyue had almost finished her work, and it was already dinnertime.

He Zhiyue took Mu Zhi out for dinner and asked her, "Won't you get bored?"

"It's alright." She was the same way when she was home alone.

She shared an office with He Zhiyue. He was very quiet when he worked, except for the occasional glance she caught him stealing over. After Assistant Wen came in to report on his work, he would go out to handle any other subordinates who came to him.

The feeling of having someone by your side to work with is actually not unpleasant.

He Zhiyue eagerly asked for her opinion: "Then let's come again next time, okay?"

Mu Zhi: "..."

The next second, He Zhiyue laughed and said, "Just kidding."

In the cold winter, he couldn't bear to let her drive out to see him again.

I really wanted to see her today, but it was too late after finishing work and I didn't want to go to Donghua Mansion and disturb her rest.

"Next, I'll come find you."

Starting the next day, He Zhiyue kept his "promise," seemingly to make up for the previous month by squeezing out all his spare time to see Mu Zhi, regardless of the time of day.

Sometimes he would come to Muzhi in the morning to have breakfast together, sometimes lunch together, sometimes dinner together, and sometimes late-night snacks like barbecue.

If it weren't for Mu Zhi needing personal space, he would want to make time to see her every day.

In the blink of an eye, there's only one week left until Chinese New Year.

That evening.

After having dinner outside, He Zhiyue escorted Mu Zhi back to the underground parking lot of Donghua Mansion.

After parking the car, He Zhiyue had something to discuss with Mu Zhi.

"Can you come back to my maternal grandfather's hometown with me this Spring Festival to celebrate the New Year together?"

"Only my aunt's family is here. They are very easy to get along with. Other relatives will come to pay their respects on the fourth or fifth day of the Lunar New Year. We won't run into them since we returned to Beicheng early."

"The scenery in my hometown is quite nice, and there's a temple fair during the Spring Festival, which is very lively."

He tried his best to promote it, but Mu Zhi didn't seem very interested after listening.

He Zhiyue knew that the two of them had only been dating for two months, and it seemed a bit too fast for them to go back to his hometown for the Spring Festival so soon.

He explained, "I just came to my home as a friend to celebrate the Lunar New Year and have some fun together. We live in the same house as my maternal grandfather, and my aunt's house is in the next house."

Mu Zhi knew that He Zhiyue didn't want to leave her alone in Beicheng for the New Year.

They did not refuse on the spot.

Mu Zhi thought for a moment and replied to He Zhiyue, "I'll think about it carefully tonight and give you an answer tomorrow."

He Zhiyue understood that Mu Zhi's answer meant there was a 50% or even more than 50% chance of her refusing.

But at that moment, Mu Zhi was not pressured to give the answer she wanted.

He nodded: "Okay."

The following morning.

Mu Zhi is a slow-to-warm-up person and doesn't integrate into another person's life so quickly. She doesn't plan to go back to her hometown with He Zhiyue for the New Year.

I said I'd consider it last night, just to save him face and not seem too cold-hearted.

She was about to call He Zhiyue to politely decline his invitation to return to her hometown for the Spring Festival.

The phone rang first, and when I looked down, I saw it was a call from Mr. Feng Chongxian.

Mu Zhi instantly guessed the purpose of Feng Chongxian's call, and couldn't help but twitch her lips slightly. She understood that this was a "scheme" orchestrated by He Zhiyue behind the scenes.

[Author's Note]

I'm a country bumpkin and I really want to see the couple kissing. That'll be in the next chapter, then I'll be joining a production team. My next award is already on its way...

Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 23:59:13 on October 24, 2022 and 23:15:45 on October 25, 2022!

Thank you to the little angel who watered the nutrient solution: Lala, 4 bottles updated!

Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!