Chapter 7, Section 7: Tan Junming: Gu Lai is good, President Jiang is bad.

"Don't ask anymore." Gu Lai lowered her head to pour the wine, but her hands were too weak and she spilled it. The golden-brown liquid dripped onto the coffee table, like beeswax.

Her agent, the actual CEO of the studio, and known in the industry as a workaholic, Ms. Tan Junming, was dressed in a yellow duck sweatshirt and jeans in a very un-elite manner, with no makeup on, yawning and a few tears welling up in the corner of her eyes.

Tan Junming, too lazy to wipe his eyes, slumped across from Gu Lai with wet eyes and said, "I can't stop you from drinking like this, and it's not easy to stop you, but you can't leave. I'll just have to give you another trending topic like 'Agent Spends the Night with a Popular Actress,' which will save you money."

Gu Lai glared at her, her eyes devoid of any threat: "No job?"

"Someone worked overtime for me, and I was paid overtime according to regulations."

"Not going home to take care of the child? Shouldn't she be taking her high school entrance exam soon?"

"It's all in the hands of fate!" Tan Junming waved his hand.

Gu Lai felt stifled, but the alcohol made her brain uncontrollably sluggish. She crossed her arms and thought for a long time before replying, "I just want to drink quietly, alone, at home."

The words “one” and “home” were emphasized.

Tan Junming squinted and quietly looked at her boss, who was about ten years younger than her and became childish after a little alcohol.

Strictly speaking, she only brought Gu Lai along because of Jiang Yicai.

Gu Lai changed agents quite a few times. Her first agent was ousted after she debuted in a girl group through a talent show. Her second agent was the pimp who had tricked her into meeting older women. Then she met Jiang Yi, and from then on, agents became like cabbages, available for her to try out. Tan Junming was her sixth.

Tan Junming was usually carefree and youthful, but meticulous in his work and decisive in his methods. Gu Lai quickly became friends with him, and Jiang Yi was quite satisfied. According to Jiang Yi at the time, a CEO-style top brokerage firm needed both high emotional and intellectual intelligence, but also couldn't be careless enough to arouse unwanted attention. She felt most at ease with middle-aged career women like this, who were married, had two children, and were already mothers.

Tan Junming's initial intention was actually to get involved with Jiang Yi.

She always remembered meeting Jiang Yi when signing the contract. She subtly expressed that she would take good care of Gu Lai according to Jiang Yi's wishes, but Jiang Yi didn't buy it and corrected her, saying that it wasn't Jiang Yi who was in charge, but Gu Lai who was hiring her.

Tan Junming didn't take it seriously. She knew that if Gu Lai was dissatisfied, she would be replaced. But in the end, even Gu Lai herself relied on Jiang Yi.

“From my perspective, it’s my team’s job to be considerate of my partner. To you, I should be Gu Lai’s partner.” Jiang Yi said at the time, then suddenly smiled. “But maybe I don’t need to remind or explain. My charm lies in power, while A Lai’s charm lies in herself.”

The first half of what he said is hard to judge, but Tan Junming admitted that the second half was true.

He still respects Jiang Yi, but treats Gu Lai like his own little sister.

Tan Junming sighed and said, "That business account that broke the news on the hot search was probably just trying to get some traffic for fun. Feng Lu responded to the PR so quickly, and President Jiang obviously didn't believe it either."

Gu Lai hugged the doll that Tan Junming had given her as a substitute for a wine bottle and said, "I know."

Tan Junming clapped his hands: "That's settled then. Anyway, she was recently implied to have an affair by that editor-in-chief Xu Rui, and you were also implied to have an affair by a marketing account. It evens out."

...God, she tied the game with the big watermelon.

Gu Lai said in a muffled voice, "That's not what I'm talking about."

Tan Junming suddenly realized: "They've been arguing again?" Seeing that Gu Lai remained silent, he nodded and said: "Okay, our Gu Lai is good, but President Jiang is arguing. President Jiang is bad."

Gu Lai couldn't help but laugh, almost letting out a snot bubble: "Are you trying to coax a child? I'm serious."

Tan Junming just nodded and mumbled "uh-huh" incoherently.

That's not entirely her fault for not caring. Over the years, she'd figured it out: the two bosses weren't a loving, harmonious couple. They were like a thunderbolt striking the earth—passionate, yes, but also capable of exploding at any moment.

Both of them had the habit of running away from home when they were angry. Jiang Yi naturally had no shortage of places to go, but Gu Lai's first attempt to run away from home was not successful.

She had lost contact with her parents and lived in a different city. She was too stubborn to go to Jiang Yi's big villa, and she was afraid of going to a hotel and getting on the trending topics. After thinking it over, she asked the driver to take her to find Tan Junming.

Tan Junming did have a vacant house, but she stayed there for less than three days before opening the door to find Jiang Yi even more furious.

It turned out that Tan Junming stubbornly refused to say where he was, which made Jiang Yi extremely frustrated.

Upon meeting, Jiang Yi's face was cold and icy, his eyebrows raised, and his eyes still held a murderous glint in them. Gu Lai was indeed frightened and instinctively took a step back.

As soon as she stepped back, Jiang Yi's anger suddenly dissipated.

She said in a slightly hoarse voice, "If I didn't want to give marketing accounts KPIs, I almost would have reported it to the police."

Gu Lai looked at Jiang Yi; her eyes were noticeably bloodshot, but otherwise, she was still radiant. Gu Lai felt guilty and heartbroken; she had long forgotten about their argument. Hesitantly, she said, "Your voice..."

Jiang Yi interrupted her, saying, "You're angry." To emphasize her anger, he gave her a fierce glare. Unlike her previous demeanor, this glare, in Gu Lai's eyes, actually carried a hint of allure.

Gu Lai wrapped her arms around Jiang Yi and easily kissed the corner of his mouth. After kissing him like he was tasting candy, she said, "You look really good now. You scared me just now."

Jiang Yi was being unreasonable, and said in a low voice, "You dislike me but still come closer to me, so go away."

Gu Lai knew that Jiang Yi could be quite unpredictable, even over harmless banter. She wanted to step back and peek at his expression, but unexpectedly, Jiang Yi's hand on her waist suddenly tightened its grip.

"What are you trying to do?" Jiang Yi preemptively asked, turning the tables on him.

Knowing she couldn't win an argument, Gu Lai warned him directly in a harsh tone, "I'm getting angry, Jiang Yi."

Jiang Yi didn't speak, but tilted his head back and looked at her for a while. Suddenly, he lowered his head and buried his face in her shoulder, pressing down on her with half his weight, making his voice muffled: "Oh, it's late now, you can't escape your anger. I don't want to look for you again. Take me home and sulk."

Gu Lai laughed in exasperation, then lowered her head and bit her translucent white ear.

Jiang Yi's ears twitched sensitively, but he didn't look up. He said slowly and vaguely, "It's no use biting me. That's how we rich people are. We keep mistresses in luxury. Humph, you're not allowed to run away from home again. Huating No. 1 is empty. It's much better to go there."

"You," Gu Lai said speechlessly, holding her in her arms, "would that still be considered running away from home?"

Jiang Yi said knowingly, "Hey, you just want some peace and quiet, why do you have to find Agent Tan? She's so annoying, she absolutely refuses to say where she is."

Gu Lai's attention was drawn to what followed: "Oh, then I'll talk to Sister Tan about it?"

Jiang Yi paused, looked up, and her hair brushed against Gu Lai's cheek as she moved, carrying the faint, intoxicating scent of Sharon roses.

“No need,” Jiang Yi smiled at Gu Lai, her tone as unhurried as ever, with a subtle smirk at the end, “She’s very shrewd, Lai. She’s fine as she is.”

Gu Lai didn't even realize when her tears were flowing, and she couldn't help but chuckle halfway through her thought.

Tan Junming quietly handed her a piece of paper. As the paper appeared before her eyes, breaking her dazed gaze, Gu Lai felt a sense of absurdity and loneliness, as if she had been suddenly pulled from her memories.

She took the tissue and carefully wiped away her tears. She blew her nose, but unfortunately, it was completely blocked. She tried to inhale several times to no avail, so she had to give up.

The moment she gave up, her rational mind told her it was normal, but she felt like everything was against her, and she was exhausted by all the bad luck.

"They did have a fight," Gu Lai said softly. "They really did have a fight."

Tan Junming handed her another piece of paper, which Gu Lai took, but simply held in her hand.

"I……"

Gu Lai wanted to say something but got stuck, feeling confused, and it took her a while to find the right words.

"I feel really tired and confused. I don't even know how we started arguing... I don't know if it's because I drank this fake alcohol."

Tan Junming's mind was still preoccupied with wondering if Gu Lai would run away from home, and how he would deal with her if she left Jiang Yi and returned to China. After hearing the last half of Gu Lai's sentence, he glanced at the elegant calligraphy of the top winery's name on the half-empty bottle of Sauternes, and, using all his high emotional intelligence, nodded in agreement.

“I didn’t originally intend to call, but I talked about her with Director Kong today, and suddenly I really wanted to. We haven’t been in touch for half a month, and I thought, let it go. We’ve argued before, and we’ve even smashed things. So why stay in this stalemate and hold a grudge this time? So I made the call.”

Gu Lai said slowly, "After calling her, I realized... it seems like it's okay to continue not contacting her. I don't think I miss her that much."

Tan Junming was taken aback.

“She knows all my schedules, and I can always ask about her schedules from Assistant Ge, even her health.” Gu Lai smiled. “I do care about her, but… but I don’t think about her anymore. I don’t have the motivation or enthusiasm anymore.”

Tan Junming lowered his head and thought for a moment, then said softly, "It's like this after a while. Before I got married, we were inseparable, but now things have calmed down. Life is always about the mundane things."

“Really? Is that right?” Gu Lai said slowly, “Do you remember when I argued with her and ran away from home for the first time? I went to find you then and stayed in your empty house for several days.”

Tan Junming nodded.

Gu Lai said, "She has a really bad temper. The look on her face when she opened the door scared me. After I told her, she never showed that look again."

“Who can say she doesn’t love me? She remembers every anniversary, remembers my likes and dislikes, and I’ve had a smooth life because of her. I share in her glory.” Gu Lai said with her eyes closed, “This time too, she was the one who hung up the phone in a fit of anger, and she was also the one who quickly helped me clean up the mess, even if we were arguing just a second ago.”

Tan Junming said, "Once President Jiang returns, we can talk things out."

"is that so?"

After Gu Lai asked softly, there was a long silence.

The salon area is separated from the outdoors by only a retractable all-glass curtain wall, so transparent that its existence is almost imperceptible. Overlooking from the outside, one can see the bustling cityscape of half the city, which seems to surround the residence like stars around the moon.

The night was deep, the light was cold and bright, and the lights of thousands of homes shone brightly, like the Milky Way falling to earth.

Jiang Yi's residences were naturally not limited to this one; she was already immune to such luxurious scenery, and this was Gu Lai's favorite.

"When I didn't see her in person, all I could see were traces of her. But when I actually heard her voice, all I felt was exhaustion."

Gu Lai murmured softly, so softly that Tan Junming could barely hear her.

Gu Lai had something else she wanted to say but didn't.

Jiang Yi remains a model partner, always reporting, clarifying things promptly, and keeping nothing to herself; even her former womanizing ways are gone.

But he was no longer her ideal lover, so what he used to tolerate became unbearable, and his affection turned into impatience.

...It turns out that even the most passionate love can fade.

Tan Junming thought Gu Lai was really drunk.

She quickly discussed with her executive agent whether to reschedule or cancel tomorrow's schedule, and when she turned around, the bottle of wine was completely empty. She busied herself getting Gu Lai to bed and calling the housekeeping team, who had already gone off duty, to arrange temporary watch. Suddenly, Gu Lai, already lying in the bedroom, opened her eyes and called her.

"What?" Tan Junming didn't hear clearly.

"Let's put Director Kong's script aside for now, let's work on 'Gansui'." Gu Lai spoke clearly, not like someone who was drunk, but rather someone who was just a little sleepy.

Tan Junming hummed in agreement: "I'll tell the people below later. What's wrong?"

"Director Kong's refusal to appear fake is probably a way to use one enemy to devour another."

Gu Lai turned over, her voice cold and indifferent in the darkness, somewhat like Jiang Yi's businesslike tone.

"So let's leave Director Kong and that Editor-in-Chief Xu as they are for now, so they don't try to scheme against Jiang Yi through me."

Tan Junming sighed and said okay.

Milan, six hours later, was just as the sun was setting in the west.

After seeing off Gianni's business partner, Ge Li got into the car and looked back. Jiang Yi was working on his computer, still holding his phone in his hand, and the pigeon blood red ring on his finger shone brightly in the dimly lit car.

Hearing her get into the car, Jiang Yi closed his laptop and waited for Ge Li to finish explaining the arrangements before saying, "Change all meetings from tomorrow onwards to online, and arrange for her to fly back to China as soon as possible."

Ge Li gently advised, "Li Han has already come from France."

Jiang Yi looked out the window. Passersby hurried by, several football fans dressed in red and black were laughing and joking, and couples who were indistinguishable as men and women were entwined on the street, seemingly kissing.

The phone screen lit up briefly with an unrelated news notification, which unlocked the phone the instant Jiang Yi looked down at it. The screen was still displaying incoming call information, the latest one labeled "Agent Tan Junming".

Jiang Yi turned off the screen again and closed his eyes.

"I'll be back tomorrow," she repeated calmly.