Chapter 96 96 A graceful exit
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There were a total of four 26-inch suitcases. Before they were with Shen Yueze, all their belongings could only fill two suitcases at most.
I never realized I had so many clothes and shoes until I started organizing them. I was surprised to find that I had bought so many without even noticing. Even something as inconspicuous as hair ties had more than a dozen different designs.
I haven't had a break in the last two days. I cleaned the bedroom and living room thoroughly, wiping them inside and out. The previous tenant was clearly a man; there was a lot of cigarette ash on the old bed and cabinets, and the white walls had cigarette stains and were yellowish.
There are also pillows and mattresses on the bed, but I don't know how long they've been used, the yellow stains look like they can't be washed off.
She always felt that boys' lack of hygiene had little to do with whether they were rich or poor. She guessed it was because they were healthy and rarely got sick. Some boys didn't like to shower. It was a little better in the summer, but in the winter they would go for several days without showering and would even sleep with their outer pants on.
Before Wen Yichuan went abroad to study, when they lived together and ate at home, she often felt disgusted that Wen Yichuan touched her things, and she wouldn't even let him into her room, worried that he would sit on her sofa and bed sheets and she would have to wash them again.
Because she was tall, the two of them wore T-shirts of similar size. Occasionally, Wen Yichuan would take her clothes if he liked them, and she wouldn't even want the ones he had worn.
Fortunately, he went abroad to study, and she often lived alone at home. Only the nanny was responsible for making breakfast and dinner for her. Her father had to go out for business dinners and would drink until the early hours of the morning. By the time he got home, she was already asleep.
It wasn't until she met Shen Yueze that she was able to adapt to living and eating with a boy.
He takes a shower and changes his clothes every day. He almost never wears the same shoes twice, so it's hard to tell if they're new or if the housekeeper cleans them for him every day.
Frowning, he laid out clean sheets, knelt on them, and smoothed them out. The four-piece bedding set looked completely out of place with everything else in the room.
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Xu Si often stayed out all night, or returned at two or three in the morning.
She had already gone to sleep by then, and when she woke up around seven or eight in the morning, the other person was still asleep.
She went out for lunch at noon, and Xu Si happened to be leaving in her boyfriend's car with his guitar on his back.
We originally planned to do a thorough cleaning of the living room together, but we didn't meet for three days in a row.
Moreover, Xu Si wasn't too picky about hygiene, and felt that the living room wasn't too messy, so he was quite used to living there.
She had to clean it all by herself, leaving no corner untouched. It would be very tiring if the house wasn't cleaned for a long time, and she was so exhausted that her back ached.
The living room was alright, at most there were more dirty clothes. But when she opened the refrigerator door, she was completely stunned. Inside was a pile of rotten fruits, vegetables and cakes, crawling with maggots. Even the refrigerator door was covered in them, still alive, slowly pupating.
Looking down into the kitchen trash can, I saw it was full of the same maggots.
She finally couldn't hold back any longer and dialed Xu Si's number directly, "How long has it been since you cleaned your refrigerator? It's full of bugs!"
Xu Si's side was filled with background music, quite noisy, a mix of various instruments, and a guy singing.
He replied dismissively, "It hasn't been long, just over a week."
"You know the refrigerator is broken? I don't know if it's broken or not plugged in, but it's teeming with maggots. You can't put anything in it anymore. Maggots easily breed in the summer, don't you know that?"
"If I put food on the table, small flying insects will appear in a short while, so I don't dare to leave it overnight."
"Oh, I haven't been to the kitchen in a long time, and I don't eat at home either. I'm busy right now, I'll talk to you when I get back. If you can't, you can call the cleaning service."
Wen Yining took off her other glove, sweating profusely. Her hair was stuck to her neck, which she tidied up haphazardly. With her hands on her hips, she said speechlessly, "Then why didn't you plug it in? Don't you have any common sense? I was in a hurry when I came here that day, and I didn't check carefully. Your living habits are really bad."
There was a pause on the other end of the line, and you could still hear someone talking to Xu Si. Xu Si replied to one sentence before continuing, "We hardly ever see each other. So what if my living habits are a little off? That's how it is when you share an apartment. There are plenty of people lazier than me. As long as your bedroom is clean, that's fine."
"..."
Wen Yining felt she couldn't reason with her, so she hung up the phone.
It felt like I was back in the dormitory. Actually, I got along quite well with the other two at school. To be precise, it was Geng Chutong who didn't get along well with the other three.
Faced with such a dense swarm of maggots, I was completely overwhelmed. I had originally planned to hire a part-time worker, starting at least two hours, at 150 per hour.
The thought of not knowing how long this kind of life would last, and the fact that the money could be used for other purposes, made me reluctant to spend it. I used insecticide first, and after a while, I simply threw away the maggots' corpses along with the other garbage in the refrigerator.
I took a shower tonight, thinking that all the problems were obvious and that I could break it in, but the showerhead only sprayed half water. Many of the small holes were clogged. It's old, the water flow is weak and slow, and it's very inconvenient to use.
She smeared foam on her body, her mind heavy with thoughts of the days she spent living in Shen Yueze's apartment.
A 120-square-meter bathroom... a whole-house water purification system... a multi-million dollar indoor climate system with constant temperature, humidity, and oxygen levels...
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Perhaps I was too tired from working during the day to have time to think, so I fell asleep very quickly.
After three days, I've gotten used to it. It's not as unbearable as Cheng Yuzhou said, but the contrast is still strong.
On the third day, she felt some pain in her lower back after getting up. She didn't know if it was because her period was about to start or because of the mattress.
Anyway, when I slept at his house, I felt comfortable all over.
Modern mattresses are quite firm, not even Simmons mattresses, just very thin pads. Landlords don't want to spend too much money on renovations, so they try to cut corners wherever possible.
Xu Si is actually a nice person and good-looking, but his hygiene habits are really not good.
In just one week, the living room was piled high with leftover takeout containers, snack wrappers, and a few pieces of worn clothing.
Perhaps because she's used to living alone, Wen Yining threw her clothes on the sofa after taking them off. She didn't really want to sit on it, even though the sofa cover had already been changed and washed in the washing machine.
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On the weekend, she was on the balcony, wearing slippers, a loose short-sleeved shirt and shorts, watering her potted plants, which she had moved in with her.
She frowned, squatted down, and observed for a while, noticing how listless it looked.
I don't know if it's because I didn't water them in time or it's a problem with the magnetic field, but these flowers and plants were doing just fine when we were at Zhaoshan Apartment.
The shop owner said that keeping these plants would bring good fortune, and that plants also have a spirit, so it couldn't be because of changing the environment.
She sighed silently, suddenly relieved that she hadn't taken the dog he bought with her; otherwise, they wouldn't even be able to afford air conditioning, a difference akin to moving from a mansion to a slum.
Although this place is just an ordinary residential building, there's definitely no problem surviving, and there's enough money for a month's worth of dog food. The difference lies in whether the dog's life is comfortable or not.
Dogs naturally have thick fur, and in the summer they get so hot they pant with their tongues hanging out.
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I was cooking noodles in the kitchen at noon when I finally met up with Xu Si.
Xu Si had drunk quite a bit. His expression was unfocused, and his voice was slurred, "Cooking."
She carried a red electric guitar, wore a black halter-neck mini-dress, had slender legs and arms, a thin figure, fair skin, short hair, and a delicate, youthful face that was refreshing and captivating. She had a particularly charming appearance.
She told Xu Si not to go back to his room yet, "Can we talk about something?"
"Just say it."
As soon as Xu Si entered the door, he slumped onto the sofa, sipping a carton of yogurt.
"After you finish eating, don't forget to take out the trash and throw it downstairs when you leave."
“I’ve been the one throwing them out every time for a week now. And it’s easy for bugs to get in during the summer. Look at the picture I took of the maggots I sent you. There are so many that it’s impossible for anyone to live here.”
Seeing the peaches and half a watermelon on the coffee table, she said, "You can't leave half a piece of fruit on the table, or it will get infested with worms the next day. You can put the watermelon in the refrigerator, but just throw the rest away."
Xu Si's brain worked slowly for a moment. "Sigh, I can't remember. By the way, have you ever shared an apartment with anyone?"
"I mostly live in dormitories. When we're in the dorm, we usually have rules: we take turns taking out the trash and cleaning."
"Okay then, it's mainly because I'm used to doing it all by myself. How about I give you money and you hire a cleaner? Besides, I usually come home late at night and don't have the energy to do these things. I'm too tired to do anything but sleep."
Xu Si yawned. "Don't you go out during the day? Our schedules are different. I don't even know when you leave the house."
She paused for a few seconds, then said, "If I don't have any acting jobs, I stay at home. I haven't graduated yet."
Finding her easy to get along with and having a decent attitude, she then brought up other problems with the house, saying, "The air conditioner in my room isn't working well. Do you know how to adjust it? Is it broken?"
"It's probably broken. It's an old model from over ten years ago. Why don't you ask the landlord to fix it? Replacing it with a new one is unlikely."
"The breeze that comes out is warm, but it's not so hot at night that I can't sleep."
The showerhead broke too, so I bought a cheap one online for a few dozen yuan and replaced it.
Xu Si took off his short skirt in front of her, threw it on the sofa, changed into his pajamas, and then removed his breast pads. "I'll pay for the cleaning service. You can tell you've never lived in a place like this before. This is already considered a good place. I looked at several places before renting this one, and this one is slightly better. The furniture and appliances are all usable. Just make do for now."
"But you're so good-looking, if you audition a few more times, you'll get roles and be able to move on to another place."
Wen Yining: "I have a supporting role next week, so I'll have to go away for a few days."
Xu Si cut a watermelon in half, turned on the fan, and gave her half. "What day are you going out? Can my boyfriend stay here for one night?"
After hesitating for a moment, Wen Yining thought about how she had already paid for the cleaning service and said, "I probably won't come back to live here, but please keep it down, this building isn't soundproof."
I've met Xu Si's boyfriend. He has tattoos on his arms and is a tattoo artist. He's fairly good-looking, but when I occasionally run into the neighbors, I find that people live in both the upstairs and downstairs apartments.
If you hear any noise, don't assume it's her calling.
Xu Si smiled knowingly, "It's just for one night, don't worry, I won't touch your things."
"However, you shouldn't stay at home during summer vacation. You should go to Hengdian more often. They recruit extras there. Someone will definitely ask you to act. You're so good-looking, you can even do the kind of role without lines."
"I packed a lot of things the past two days, and I'll be going there in a few days. I've also signed with the company."
Which company?
"Dongyang".
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She planned to retrieve her Rolex before joining the production team; it was an Ice Blue Daytona with a glacier blue dial, and the combination of silver and ice blue gave it a cool and serene feel.
She fell in love with it at first sight, but it cost 650,000, and it's said that the price will rise to 700,000 or 800,000 later, as the market price of watches fluctuates greatly.
He said it was a breakup gift, but he didn't message her asking when he could come over.
She thought she would go when he wasn't home, but if she ran into him, she didn't know what to say.
At 10 p.m., I took a taxi to the entrance of Zhaoshan Apartment.
I pulled down the shoulder strap of my bag and rummaged through it for the access card. After searching for a while, I remembered that I had given it back to him. It could recognize faces, but I had canceled that feature after setting it up on my phone.
A few days ago, I came here alone and was packing my things at my apartment. I put them on the coffee table just before leaving.
The security guard, seeing her standing at the door for a while, opened the door to the security booth and asked, "Young lady, which household do you live in?"
Wen Yining: "I forgot my access card. I'm going in to get something."
The security guard looked her up and down, seemingly trying to recall if he had seen her before. He did recognize her carrying a YSL bag, so he figured she must be quite wealthy.
“That won’t work. You have to talk to the homeowner or register it before we can feel at ease.”
She remembered that the building manager would show the registration records to the homeowners.
I glanced at my watch; it was past ten o'clock. He shouldn't be back yet.
Around nine o'clock, Xie Yuchen posted a ten-second video of herself playing basketball on her WeChat Moments.
They're in the indoor courts, playing basketball, tennis, badminton, and table tennis. He plays all of them, and he's quite good at it. When they're together, she likes to go there to play badminton.
He appeared in the video for just a few seconds, wearing a tracksuit, a headband, and wristbands. He looked dashing and spirited, almost captivating, with no trace of sadness. He was chatting and laughing with people, and his voice was still pleasant.
He draped his arm over Xie Yuchen's shoulder, smiling casually. His arm was slender and strong, with pale blue veins that exuded sexual tension.
The breakup was done openly and gracefully, as if they truly didn't care anymore.
She was just a passerby.
An indescribable feeling welled up inside me.
...
...
Wen Yining emptied the bag of everything but couldn't find the access card. She had no choice but to ask the security guard for help, her tone embarrassed: "We've already broken up. I left something here with him. I'll just take it and leave."
The security guard frowned and waved her away, trying to get her to leave. He'd seen plenty of people like this. "That won't do, young lady. If everyone said that, things would get chaotic."
Wen Yining continued to negotiate: "Can I come out in ten minutes? Do I look like a thief? I remember there were people who forgot their cards and still managed to get in."
Facial recognition doesn't work anymore. I've set it up on my phone, and I thought it would never come back.
"That's because they're the homeowners. I asked for their house number, but they wouldn't tell me, and they weren't willing to register."
You know our rules here. Besides, even if I let you in now, you'd still need to swipe your card in the lobby. How would you get up there then?
During the argument, she was standing at the entrance of the corridor, next to a resident. She made way for him, and he glanced at her a couple of times as he passed by. Then, facial recognition was used, the machine beeped, and he was allowed in.
Wen Yining took out her phone, pretending to look for something. She looked through her contacts, hesitated for a moment, and then decided not to call him.
He's probably still angry, and he'll probably start making sarcastic remarks again. I can even imagine his meaningful yet irritating tone.
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The only way to get back is by taxi.
Sometimes things just happen by chance. She was waiting for a car by the roadside, bored and thinking about entering an unfamiliar environment on set tomorrow, when she looked up and saw a familiar car model—
In the black McLaren P1 with the windows tightly shut, she stood frozen in place, staring inside, her breath still. The incessant chirping of cicadas and the honking of car horns all vanished from her ears, and her body involuntarily froze.
I kept staring at the McLaren. There was someone in the passenger seat, who seemed to be wearing a skirt. It was a woman, but I couldn't see clearly because of the dim lighting. I could only tell that someone was sitting inside.
My blood almost turned back, my heart raced, and for more than ten seconds I barely moved until the McLaren drove into the underground garage.
He brought a girl home.
She paused for a moment, her palms sweating, her chest tight with discomfort, and a sense of loss spreading through her.
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The supporting role that Cheng Yuzhou gave her had more lines than last time. It was a palace drama, and even for a maid role, countless people auditioned for it.
However, I heard that something came up at the last minute and she couldn't come because of scheduling conflicts, so it was her turn.
Jiang Shan is considered the second female lead. Artists from the same company often have more opportunities to interact and it's common for them to appear in the same drama.
Cheng Chengyu Zhou instructed her that if she could get along well with Jiang Shan, she could ride on her popularity. She wanted to, but Jiang Shan, a top-tier celebrity, was too lazy to bother with someone like her who was no better.
She even followed the person on Weibo, and Jiang Shan just gave a curt "oh" without saying anything else.
The waiting time for the scenes is quite long; it's uncertain when the previous scenes will be finished filming.
After lunch, we waited for more than an hour in the afternoon, but filming still hadn't started.
The director and several staff members nearby were quite anxious and asked the assistant, "Why hasn't Jiang Shan come over yet? Has she woken up?"
The assistant went to urge them twice, and each time came back with a worried look on his face, saying it would be done soon.
He sincerely apologized to everyone and even shared the milk tea and cold drinks that his fans had bought.
Wen Yining drank iced milk tea to stay awake, but wearing heavy costumes, she couldn't help but doze off.
This is a brainless, seductive concubine. As long as she's beautiful, that's enough. There's not much requirement for acting skills. It's much easier than the drama starring Shi Yuheng and Yu Heng.
Another half hour passed, and Jiang Shan still hadn't appeared. The director finally lost his temper. "Is this Jiang Shan even going to film anymore?! If she can act, she can act; if she can't, she can get out!"
Then I heard the sound of things being smashed, a loud crash.
The temperature reached 39 degrees Celsius, and everyone was getting irritable from the heat.
The personal assistant hurriedly came over and bowed to apologize to the director, "I'm so sorry, Director Guo, Shanshan isn't feeling well today. It seems like she has heatstroke. She vomited once this morning and didn't eat much at noon. Her face is still a little swollen."
"Why didn't you say so beforehand? If you had, I could have rescheduled the later scenes!"
People around her started whispering. Jiang Shan has been in the industry for almost 10 years, and she has built her career up little by little. There is no such thing as becoming an overnight sensation in the industry.
She only gradually rose to the top of the female star ranks in the last two years. She was quite dedicated in her early years, but later, with more resources, she was filming one project after another, even filming multiple projects simultaneously, without time to rest. She had the capital to be capricious.
Supporting character: "I met her when I first entered the industry. She had such a good temper back then. Tsk tsk, she was arguing with someone here just yesterday."
"Those who have worked with her now all have negative opinions about her..."
"There are too many people like her; they become completely different people after they become famous..."
...
The assistant director is now communicating with the director, saying that Jiang Shan had a conflict with senior actress Tao Jing a few hours ago, and that's probably why she's not coming. She claims that being sick is just a pretext, and that she wants the senior actress to personally invite her.
Tao Jing has won prestigious awards and doesn't seem to care much about popularity.
The assistant knew Wen Yining and asked her to go along, since they were from the same company.
Wen Yining didn't want to wait any longer, so she went to the RV with them.
As soon as I opened the car door, a blast of cold air hit me, creating a stark contrast with the outdoor temperature.
Jiang Shan, dressed as a concubine, sat in the carriage playing on her phone. Cut fruit was placed in front of her. She was fully made up and adorned with headdress, but her complexion was terrible. She realized that the person who had come was not the one she wanted to see.
"Why did you bring her here? Didn't I tell you to call Tao Jing? Tell the director to have Tao Jing come and apologize to me, and I'll go."
The assistant couldn't bring himself to say it and explained embarrassedly, "The director is already impatient. How could he possibly listen to anything with his temper?"
"Then I won't go down. Tao Jing slapped me twice this morning, and I didn't even retaliate. My face is all swollen, and I didn't do anything. She's so old, yet she still has to argue with a young person like me."
Jiang Shan applied an ice pack to her face, feeling increasingly depressed.
In the past two years, her temper has become increasingly volatile, and she has argued with her seniors several times. In short, conflicts are inevitable. However, this time Tao Jing is a tough nut to crack and does not tolerate her at all. When filming action scenes, she deliberately made several takes and slapped her a couple more times.
Wen Yining enjoyed the hard-won air conditioning and curiously observed the interior of the RV.
He advised, "Why don't you just fight back when it's your turn? Go down now, or we'll film another scene."
"It's not as simple as you make it out to be."
Jiang Shan was still angry, but she finally agreed to get out of the RV. However, she was not very cooperative. She would do the opposite of what the director asked her to do and would not do it properly.
The director, who also had a fiery temper, slammed down the walkie-talkie and yelled, "Who are you trying to fool with your eye-rolling? Did I ask you to make so many expressive faces? If you're going to act, then act properly. Don't think you're some big shot. Even people more famous than you aren't as arrogant as you!"
Others came to persuade them, and they calmed things down a bit.
Jiang Shan pouted unhappily, straightened her costume, and when filming resumed, Wen Yining lost her balance and, while going down the stairs in the garden, accidentally bumped into Jiang Shan while standing next to her. She was wearing platform shoes, which she wasn't used to, and her body bumped into Jiang Shan.
Jiang Shan was focused on delivering her lines and didn't realize what was happening. She was knocked down by the woman. Fortunately, the steps weren't high, only three sections. She fell on the second section, landing on flat ground, and wasn't seriously injured.
Wen Yining panicked for a moment, quickly helped Jiang Shan up, and before she could even apologize, she abruptly turned her head away, "I'm so sorry... Ah!"
After Jiang Shan got up, she slapped her. She had been holding back her anger for several days and had nowhere to vent it. Being suppressed by Tao Jing, that senior, and being tormented by the director, agent, boss, and fans, she could only vent her anger on people at the bottom.
Those with higher status than her can step on her head, and by the same token, she can treat others the same way. There has always been a clear hierarchy in the industry.
Wen Yining was stunned at this moment. It wasn't the pain, but the confusion, helplessness, and grievance. She stood there for several seconds without moving, completely unprepared, and her eyes gradually reddened.
When she tried to return it, the director interrupted her loudly: "You can't even walk properly and you fall down, what are you doing!"
Jiang Shan casually adjusted her headdress and glanced lightly at Wen Yining.
The side of my face that was hit first went numb, then burned with pain. There was no time to wait, I had to keep hitting it. Tears welled up in my eyes, but I didn't let them fall.
The rest of the crew were used to it; they had seen too many similar situations. Their emotions were not stirred at all. They glanced at Wen Yining indifferently a few times, then looked away and continued with their work. They were, in fact, numb.
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After work, only Jiang Shan's assistant came over to comfort her with sympathy. Staring at her face, she said apologetically, "I apologize to you on behalf of Shan Shan. I'm sorry Wen Yining. So many things have happened recently. She's under a lot of pressure and just took it out on you."
I gave her an ice pack. "She asked me to bring this over. Use this on, and the swelling shouldn't go down tomorrow."
The assistant knew she was from Dongyang and wouldn't dare post anything online, so she didn't give her any further instructions.
Wen Yining rarely suffered such grievances. "Is she like this all the time? When you're around her, is she like this to you too?"
"Occasionally, but she's pretty good to me. She gives me cosmetics and clothes that she can't wear all. Maybe it's because I haven't been sleeping well these days, plus I have too many messy worries."
She didn't say much. That night, her mood plummeted. Halfway through dinner, her stomach burned, and she couldn't calm down. Scenes from the previous night kept flashing through her mind.
He drove the girl home, and it was past 10 p.m., so she probably stayed overnight.
He also had social engagements. Sometimes, when he came back from drinking parties, around 2 or 3 in the morning, he would call or text her, asking her to come and keep him company. After drinking, he would act very aggressively and would even ask her to say dirty things.
...
She put down her chopsticks, sighed with worry, rubbed her forehead, and closed her eyes helplessly.
Perhaps because of their previous relationship, he couldn't help but complain to his boss that Jiang Shan had slapped him, and afterwards he asked his assistant to bring him an ice pack.
Cheng Yuzhou was socializing when a group of older men on the other end of the line sighed wearily, “You’d better get used to it. This is nothing. Who hasn’t been through this? If you can’t even handle this, then don’t do this job. Seriously, I’ve never seen an artist have a smooth career.”
"..."
"Resources have to be snatched, traffic has to be snatched, money has to be snatched, everything has to be snatched. If you're not famous, you deserve to be bullied."
"..."
He was forced to drink a lot of alcohol, and he knew the words of admonition to the artists by heart: "What do you mean by equality for all? Stop being so naive and innocent. Isn't this how it's been since high school? Improve by one point and you beat a thousand people. Competition is just in a different form. When you are the weaker party, don't expect others to respect you."
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A note from the author:
30 red envelopes in this chapter
Actually, I've been quite restrained in my writing. The protagonist doesn't have any special abilities; he exists somewhere between fantasy and reality.
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