Chapter 35 "Good morning, Young Master Xu"

Wen Jia's sleep has improved recently, especially the night she was in Xu Shaoting's arms.

But clearly, her sleepiness was completely driven away by her chaotic thoughts that night.

She lay on her side with an eye mask on, her body curled up, her mind filled with images of Xu Shaoting getting married to someone else. She could almost imagine what a grand wedding it must have been to support such a romantic love.

Wen Jia fell asleep amidst this imagining, even taking him into her dreams. In the dream, there was no contract; she and Xu Shaoting got together naturally after meeting and falling in love, but they remained together for many years without marriage. There was no diamond ring in the dream, nothing at all. Later, they had two children. After that, when others in the industry commented on her, they remained silent about her other aspects, only offering a sigh, 'That woman who got nothing but two children.'

She seemed to hear his voice in her dream, muffled and reaching into her ears. She was awakened and reached for her pillow in the darkness.

A damp patch, with liquid seeping onto the silk pillow, had clearly been there for some time; it was no longer scalding hot, but rather icy cold.

She pushed off her blindfold, placed her arm on her forehead, and stared blankly at the crystal chandelier on the ceiling with her hazy eyes.

Then a sense of relief arose in my heart, thankfully there was that contract outside the dream.

Unsurprisingly, she woke up the next day with swollen eyes.

She had to go to a script reading in the morning, so Yu Kaiqing knocked on the door early in the morning. When she saw her eyes, she was so frightened that she trembled.

"Did you cry last night?"

Wen Jia's eyes were swollen, and when she smiled, her eyebrows and eyes could not open wide. Her originally light and lively eyelids were now drooping heavily, like two butterfly wings wet by rain, heavy and unable to flap.

Yu Kaiqing couldn't bear to look at her, "...You shouldn't smile today."

Wen Jia felt even more upset and pouted, "If I said I cried while watching a movie last night, would you believe me?"

Yu Kaiqing could vaguely guess why she was crying, but at this moment and in this situation, she obviously had to pretend to be stupid. "Of course I believe you! I cried too, but I put an ice pack on it, so it's not swollen... I'll put one on you in a bit. You, you, you should go downstairs and have breakfast quickly, don't get cold."

Wen Jia had no appetite. She sat at the table, unsure whether to eat or not. Bored, she tore at the edges of the toast, her mind wandering. Her fingers unconsciously started to rub together. When she came to her senses, the table was covered with toast crumbs.

Yu Kaiqing chewed slowly, glanced at her, and carefully said, "Chairman Xu came by last night."

Upon hearing this, Wen Jia's eyes flickered noticeably, and a hint of emotion finally appeared in her swollen eyes. "Xu Shaoting is here? When? I didn't know."

"Around one or two in the morning."

She feigned composure, saying, "I'm already asleep at this hour."

She was asleep, so she didn't know that Xu Shaoting knocked on her door at 1:30 a.m.

He didn't bring Lin Youzhe with him; he drove himself from the manor to the villa. The chill of the night clung to his suit coat as he rang the doorbell, looking travel-worn.

Yu Kaiqing opened the door with a yawn, and jumped when she saw his face. "Chairman Xu? What brings you here?"

I've come to see her.

"Look at Wenjia? She's perfectly fine."

Yu Kaiqing knew perfectly well that Wen Jia was upset because of him, and she felt bad for Wen Jia. Now that she actually saw him, her tone unconsciously became a little hurried.

But Yu Kaiqing was wrong. Wen Jia was not good at all. When Xu Shaoting knocked on the door, she was crying in her sleep.

He stepped into the villa, bringing with him the chill of the outside world. Although Yu Kaiqing was unwilling, she was still afraid of him. She didn't dare to stop him from coming in.

The man walked steadily up the stairs, taking two steps at a time. He knocked three times on the tightly closed door, but received no response.

"The reeds are fragrant."

"The reeds are fragrant."

His heart sank deeper and deeper, and his voice grew more and more urgent.

Before he came, he thought that once he saw her, he would personally hear her explanation for not answering the phone, but at this moment, he just wanted to see her immediately.

Five minutes passed, and all that answered him was the deathly silence of the entire floor.

Xu Shaoting lowered his hand and sighed almost inaudibly.

The man, who was always aloof and superior, had never shown such a defeated expression before.

A lion, driven from its territory, still had its mane majestically spread over its shoulders, but its eyes held a bewilderment never before seen on the grasslands.

He took out his phone, and in his call log, the same number occupied the entire page. He dialed it easily, but waited with great difficulty.

The familiar, mechanical shutdown notification sounded. He frowned, impatiently hung up the phone, and a voice inside him kept urging him to 'break in,' but he ultimately restrained himself and simply turned to look at Yu Kaiqing.

"What's wrong with her?"

Yu Kaiqing stammered, not even knowing what had happened between the two of them. As an outsider, she naturally didn't dare to say much. Having spent so much time with Wen Jia, she knew how important it was to keep her mouth shut. She simply and vaguely said that she didn't know.

"It's because of me, isn't it?"

Yu Kaiqing nodded honestly, "Maybe..."

Xu Shaoting pursed his lips and nodded slightly.

Thank you.

After listening to Yu Kaiqing recount what had happened in the early hours of the morning, Wen Jia's eyes inexplicably welled up with tears again. She forced back her tears and sniffed her red nose.

She knew nothing of what was happening outside the door; all she knew was that she seemed to hear his voice in her sleep.

It wasn't a hallucination; he really had been there.

Yu Kaiqing sat opposite her, looking dazed, and waved her finger in front of her eyes twice, "What exactly happened between you and Chairman Xu?"

Under her gaze, Wen Jia slowly shook her head, unsure how to answer.

Does she say she can't tell if it's liking someone or her pride that's getting in the way?

She simply couldn't bring herself to say it.

"Do you think it's shameful to fall in love with someone?" she suddenly asked.

Yu Kaiqing was worried about her mental state, "Why would you think that?"

“No,” she explained weakly, “I mean, in a relationship where feelings shouldn’t develop.”

Having said that, Yu Kaiqing couldn't continue to play dumb, and her tone carried a hint of outsider's detachment:

"Oh well, if you love, then love. At least you still have a hundred million to take. Is love more important than money?"

"I didn't say who it was, so how come it's a hundred million? Would you believe me if I said I still have feelings for Song Yanlin?"

Yu Kaiqing gave a fake laugh, wiped her mouth, and casually tossed the napkin aside, seemingly enjoying the spectacle. "That's great! You really made the right choice joining this production crew."

Wen Jia frowned, finally raising her eyes to look at her. "What do you mean?"

"Aren't you acting with Song Yanlin? Didn't you see what Yu Jianshan sent? Or did I see it wrong?" Yu Kaiqing took out her phone, opened the email sent by Yu Jianshan, and confirmed it again. Her expression was quite gloating. "Yes, that's right."

Wen Jia felt as if she had been struck by lightning. "Heavens... Yu Jianshan, that old bastard... doesn't have to be so objective. I don't believe he doesn't know that I dated Song Yanlin."

Yu Kaiqing shrugged. "Maybe he really did it on purpose. He's an ex, after all. He'd love to make the other person die. You guys act like you're going to die, and that'll make him happy."

Wen Jia rubbed her forehead, shook her head deeply, and then let out a deeply embarrassed "Damn it."

When exes meet, they are filled with resentment.

She was genuinely heartbroken and cried today.

Wen Jia closed her eyes tightly, left Yu Kaiqing behind, and ran into the bedroom.

Half an hour later, she came down with a full face of exquisite makeup, her puffy eyes were completely gone, and she was looking down to put on sunglasses.

Yu Kaiqing looked at her like she was a monster, a bad feeling creeping into her heart. "Sister, you don't actually still have feelings for Song Yanlin, do you?"

Wen Jia walked to the door, turned around, and pushed down the arm of her sunglasses with her slender fingers. Her eyes sparkled, and she winked at her meaningfully.

-

The script reading was held in a large conference room of Prism Films, the film's production company.

Yu Jianshan was demanding, and no one dared to be absent. In fact, the main creative team had already held a reading session beforehand, but Yu Jianshan strived for perfection and hoped that the team would get familiar with each other as soon as possible to speed up the process. Therefore, apart from the main characters, the main creative team also diligently arrived on time again today.

Just as he had said, Yu Jianshan didn't dare to use popular actors. This was the first time everyone had officially met. Wen Jia pushed open the meeting room door and looked around. There weren't many familiar faces; they were all people she had only met briefly in social situations.

Of course, it was only because she didn't know these people. As a top female star, the others all had a certain expectation for her, or even awe.

"Teacher Wen."

People around the round table stood up to greet her, and others stood up to shake her hand.

She was neither overly humble nor overly arrogant, responding appropriately to each question. Including—

Song Yanlin.

She has always maintained a normal attitude towards Song Yanlin. After all, their breakup had nothing to do with moral bottom lines, and there was no hysteria when they parted. They could even smile and wish each other well. They were in the same circle and would run into each other all the time. Pretending to be too familiar would make her feel awkward, and pretending not to be familiar would make outsiders feel awkward.

Wen Jia calmly greeted him with a "Good morning," and then noticed her name was affixed to the chair next to him.

It's obvious without even thinking that it was arranged by that old geezer Yu Jianshan.

She forced herself to sit down and subtly moved the chair a little further away. She pulled out her phone, which had been off for most of the day; the missed call notifications on the screen were unusually prominent, but she deliberately didn't click on them. Instead, she opened WeChat directly.

I made a whole screen of phone calls, but didn't receive a single WeChat message.

That's in line with his style; if he wants to contact someone, it's just a matter of making a phone call with a flick of his finger.

Wen Jia opened the chat box with an air of importance, typed and deleted a line of text, typed and deleted it again, hovering her finger over the screen, and finally, after some deliberation, simply said "Good morning" to him.

She received no reply to the message because she used the name he disliked the most.

Half an hour later, everyone had arrived. Yu Jianshan calmly sipped his tea, then leisurely began to introduce the main creative team members sitting around him. He introduced the last person with great ceremony:

"This is Shen Zhiyun, an assistant director I've worked with many times. She's a very capable person, needless to say, even more so than me." Yu Jianshan always spoke frankly, even when praising someone.

A burst of appreciative and teasing laughter erupted from those around him.

Shen Zhiyun remained composed and appeared quite pleased. She stood up, clasped her hands together, and bowed to the crowd.

Wen Jia looked up from the screen at Shen Zhiyun, who was sitting diagonally in front of her, very close. She felt inexplicably familiar with her, squinted, and carefully recalled the scene. Finally, she reconnected the woman in front of her with her own memories.

She remembered her; the woman who gave her an appreciative smile after reviewing her application materials on the day of the audition.

Shen Zhiyun smiled brightly and bowed several times amidst applause. She spoke only after the applause subsided, "I am very happy and honored to work with you all. I hope we can have a pleasant collaboration and work together to take the film to a whole new level."

A short, insightful, and elegant remark drew another round of enthusiastic applause from the crowd.

Yu Jianshan gestured for silence, then solemnly emphasized that reading the script several times was the most important step before filming officially began, and demanded that everyone pay close attention to it and devote themselves wholeheartedly.

Fortunately, everyone was used to acting and got into character quickly. The atmosphere on set was extremely harmonious throughout the morning. Screenwriter Su Jianyun led everyone through the first ten scenes in the script, naturally including the scenes between the male and female leads.

She was decisive and efficient at work, and her word was law. She asked Wen Jia and Song Yanlin to go over their lines. The people around them stared at each other, pursed their lips, coughed, and watched the show. They all had different expressions and looks, but the only thing they had in common was that they were all secretly glancing at the two of them.

Wen Jia was reciting her lines without batting an eye when she suddenly heard a male voice whispering in the corner:

"Song Yanlin didn't even dare to look at Sister Wen. It was so awkward. What was Yu Jianshan thinking, bringing in a pair of ex-lovers? It's the only thing in the whole industry like this. I guess only he could do something like this."

The young woman next to him whispered in response, "His ex-girlfriend has become a top star. If I were him, I would definitely try to win her back."

“Song Yanlin is no slouch either, he’s definitely a top-tier star. Besides, I heard that Sister Wen has a boyfriend now.”

"Really? Wasn't she recently exposed for having a relationship, but she denied it? Could it be the same person?"

"I don't know. A producer I know told me that he went to an auction banquet a few days ago and saw Sister Wen there. He also said that the man bought her a diamond ring worth tens of millions."

The boy made a gesture of the number six as he spoke.

"Isn't he/she an insider?"

"Of course not. Who in the industry would be willing to spend 60 million on a diamond ring? Would you be willing to do that?"

The girl clicked her tongue in amazement, "She's so low-key. If I were to hook up with a rich guy like that, I'd just stay home and relax."

“Who says otherwise?” the man chuckled, then mocked himself. “That’s why we’re sitting in this corner now. If we had Sister Wen’s mindset, we would have been sitting next to Yu Jianshan like her long ago.”

"...That's true."

Wen Jia heard every word of the conversation, but she had no choice but to pretend she hadn't heard a thing. She secretly rejoiced that she had kept a low profile today and hadn't flaunted her pink diamond in public; otherwise, she would have truly gotten what she asked for.

Fortunately, the gossipy man and woman were sitting close to Shen Zhiyun, and their intermittent whispers were stopped by a glance from the latter.

-

Xu Shaoting slept very poorly that night.

At two o'clock in the morning, he stepped out of the villa and returned to his car. The Aston Martin was parked in front of the villa, without starting the engine or turning on the headlights, just parked in front of the small yard.

The car was as quiet as the people inside, but the silence was suffocating.

The streamlined body shape has changed from its previous sharp and elegant appearance, showing a bit of decadence. It is not like a beast quietly lurking, but more like a wounded and trapped beast.

With the car window half-lowered, Xu Shaoting rested one hand on the windowsill and the other on the steering wheel, his brows furrowed, becoming increasingly furrowed as the night deepened.

His eyelashes drooped, obscuring his deep pupils. A thousand thoughts surged in his mind at the same time, yet he couldn't quite grasp the thought that made her not answer his calls or reply to his messages.

He glanced at the second floor one last time, then rolled up the car window and drove away.

I fell asleep at 3 a.m. and opened my eyes at 6 a.m.

When the butler knocked on the door, he could only see that his young master was already dressed neatly, everything was so meticulous.

If you ignore the faint shadow under his eyes and the weariness between his brows.

When he arrived at the company, the rows of workstations on the top floor were still empty. He had specially canceled the routine morning meeting today to deal with the work left over from yesterday.

The documents were neatly stacked on his desk: reports, contracts, plans, and schemes. He read them quickly and decisively, signing his name for seven or eight figures in expenditures or income.

However, this decisiveness was very lackluster, as if it were just a mechanical repetition.

Until he heard the short message bell ring.

He slowly swiped open his phone screen.

Just then, there was a knock on the door of the board's office, and Lin Youzhe walked in, bowing and reporting, "Chairman Xu, there's something this afternoon..."

“Wait, cancel it.” Xu Shaoting interrupted him.

Lin Youzhe was puzzled.

Xu Shaoting stared intently at the brightly lit screen—

Good morning, Young Master Xu.

He chuckled lightly and deliberately, then instructed Lin Youzhe:

"Go ask Yu Jianshan and his crew what their schedule is for today. I'll be going there later."

-----------------------

Author's Note: Ms. Wen, you know how to provoke your husband!

It's about to start a cycle of her running and him chasing her, leaving her with no way to escape.