Chapter 20: A Soft Heart with Lingering Feelings
Gu Lai remained silent after hanging up the phone.
She remained silent. The concierge team on Fenglu's side was already used to all sorts of eccentric clients, so adding their boss's partner, who was inexplicably withdrawn, was no big deal. They communicated enthusiastically with the assistant in charge of the itinerary throughout the flight. After boarding, Gu Lai quietly followed the staff's instructions and sat down, showing no intention of doing anything to pass the time.
The personal assistant hadn't followed, so Zhou Shanshan hesitated for a moment and asked softly, "Sister, do you want to sleep? Do you need an eye mask?"
Gu Lai shook her head, paused for a few moments before saying as if she had come to her senses, "Don't worry about me, you guys go about your business."
She meant it when she said not to worry about it. Several important team members on the same flight did have things to deal with, and after looking at each other for a while, they started a meeting.
Gu Lai turned her head to look at the night view outside the porthole.
Actually, there's not much to see at night.
Before takeoff, all she could see was a monotonous, coldly smart airport. After the plane took off, the view reflected in the window was a galaxy of lights from thousands of homes—a sight she was all too familiar with.
In that villa, she and Jiang Yi had talked, kissed, and argued countless times in such a setting. From the gradually ascending plane, all they could see was a more complete bird's-eye view.
In the end, all this excitement was covered by clouds.
Gu Lai stared at the clouds. For a moment, she almost forgot about the other people on the plane and selfishly wished that if the plane crashed, she could end her life forever at 50,000 feet.
If the public knew about this idea, they would probably be subjected to online harassment. But what if only Jiang Yi knew?
...It's hard to say.
Gu Lai thought for a long time, but still didn't know how Jiang Yi would react.
In the past, she might have thought Jiang Yi would give her a strange look and then casually tell her not to overthink things. If she were interested enough, she might have even heard Jiang Yi casually quote a few obscure but seemingly reasonable proverbs.
But now, she suddenly felt uncertain again.
Gu Lai kept replaying the phone call before boarding the plane. She even put on her headphones and started playing the short recording of the call over and over again, lingering on Jiang Yi's last words.
You wished me a Happy New Year, but you seemed very sad.
As Gu Lai noticed Jiang Yi's subtle and hidden emotions, she also realized in a flash what had caused her sudden evil thought.
She intuitively sensed the turmoil hidden beneath Jiang Yi's calm words, but her reason hadn't yet caught up with it, and so an absurd idea began to grow—she wanted to exchange a grand farewell for a deeply etched memory of Jiang Yi, even if it sounded stupid.
She felt a near-self-destructive pleasure in her thoughts: "You actually cared about me, yet we ended up parting ways. So let's make it even more clean and thorough, so you can spend the rest of your life with an even more complete farewell." Many years later, looking back, the memory of her ex-husband, who had just sent her New Year's greetings, falling from 50,000 feet is nothing short of legendary.
When Gu Lai realized what she was thinking, she accidentally touched the still-lit phone screen.
Jiang Yi's slightly hoarse voice traveled through time, gently blessing her from above the clouds: "Alai, Happy New Year."
Happy New Year.
We celebrated nine New Years together. On the tenth New Year, I foolishly thought of retaliating against you with a violent death on a plane. How could I be happy? How could you be happy?
Gu Lai recalled Jiang Yi saying on the phone earlier, "I don't hate you."
She interpreted this as a soft heart still harboring lingering feelings.
The entertainment industry is full of lovelorn men and women, and there are countless works featuring this theme. They've even discussed the topic of using one's own death to take revenge on others.
Jiang Yi was naturally disdainful; she had no interest in discussing such people. Gu Lai, on the other hand, felt a certain degree of empathy for them.
At that moment, Jiang Yi's expression couldn't even be described as "astonished." She probably thought it was too outrageous and instead showed a rare look of confusion. She raised her hand and made a "please" gesture, meaning that she should explain in detail.
Gu Lai said that people who make this choice don't love, and probably don't love enough. But the heaviest punishment such people can imagine is the departure of the person they cherish, which only shows that this person cares more about the lost lover than anyone else.
Hate lasts longer than love, Gu Lai concluded in the end, her heart probably already terminally ill.
Jiang Yi listened quietly, offering no comment from beginning to end.
Gu Lai wouldn't let her be a silent listener. She also knew that Jiang Yi wouldn't be the kind of person to make such a choice, so she asked, "If you were the one who was left behind as a lover, what would you think?"
The question was actually absurd, but Jiang Yi still cooperated and answered it.
Jiang Yi said lazily, "I would hate her, but does hate last longer than love? If that's the case, I'll just forget about her."
At the time, Gu Lai didn't put herself in Jiang Yi's shoes at all, and even objectively commented that Jiang Yi's move was quite wise. After saying that, under Jiang Yi's indescribable gaze, she continued to ask, "What if it were the person making the choice?"
Jiang Yi looked at her and said that there was always a way to prevent her from leaving.
As she said this, her shimmering eyes met hers without any warmth, and Gu Lai was momentarily speechless. After a few breaths of silence, Jiang Yi suddenly smiled and said that she was joking.
Gu Lai belatedly realized that her heart was pounding.
Looking back now, it seems like a prophecy.
As the plane landed smoothly, the new year had arrived. The airport was so vast that it felt like being in an endless, silent wilderness, while in the distant, even more expansive night sky, a grand display of fireworks erupted.
Gu Lai buried her face in the scarf. It wasn't as dry and cold as the northern city she had come from, and the soft scarf suddenly gave her a warm and cozy feeling.
It's like being in a warm, soft embrace, a kind of surreal joy that makes you want to cry.
Gu Lai took out her phone, took a few selfies with the fireworks, and then uploaded them to Weibo along with her old photos.
[Gu Lai: Safe arrival, Happy New Year, goodnight, my dear. (Attached photos *9)]
She turned and said something to the PR team, then looked down and refreshed the page. She saw the page flooded with likes, shares, and comments, but there was no activity from Jiang Yi. She then logged out and checked Jiang Yi's account, which was online.
...At least turn off the status.
While occasional, unrestrained, and wicked thoughts may bring momentary, seductive pleasure, what often follows is a strange sense of guilt. Gu Lai felt this way at the moment, while also experiencing an expectation she herself was unaware of, and so she kept refreshing her mind.
However, all that kept refreshing were the fans' sweet praises and the CP fans' empty sweetness, and in the end, I just got so sleepy that I fell asleep.
As a result, she didn't get much rest, and her mind was still foggy when she was woken up by a phone call the next day.
Tan Junming's voice on the phone was still a bit noisy: "Are you awake, sweetheart? Let's start a video conference."
Gu Lai glanced at the closed bedroom door, picked up her laptop, got into bed, let her hair down, leaned against the soft pillows, and looked at the few people who had joined the meeting. She only turned on her microphone: "Go ahead and speak."
The PR person spoke first, quickly reporting on yesterday's New Year's Eve data and feedback: "Many fans are now requesting a new album, and the overall feedback is good. A few negative comments mentioning the slow-burning system have also been suppressed—"
“Wait a minute,” Gu Lai interrupted, “I haven’t been keeping an eye on it lately. How’s this going? It seems several celebrities have been implicated. Didn’t you try to contact me before? Has the matter been resolved?”
After a rare moment of silence, Zhou Shanshan, who knew the most, finally spoke up: "We haven't filed a lawsuit against Slow Bull yet, nor have we started a thorough investigation. The office's stance is that we shouldn't get involved. I've stopped anyone who wants to contact you if they're too deeply involved."
Gu Lai neither understood nor wanted to understand these high-end business battles. She lost interest as soon as she heard the word "office." She knew that Jiang Yi's wolf pack had probably already set their sights on or even participated in these battles, and Jiang Yi probably knew that too.
Perhaps only those few who can directly contact her are already "filtered" and prepared as options for her to do good deeds.
She said listlessly, "Continue."
The PR person glanced down at the notes and continued, "In addition, some fans noticed that President Jiang did not respond last night and had some doubts, but it should be the spontaneous behavior of individual fans and did not form a public opinion in the end."
Gu Lai's fingers twitched slightly, but her voice remained unchanged: "We never interacted or responded to every interaction before, so there's no need to bring it up since nothing's wrong."
The PR person said, "Sister, the main issue is that fans might become suspicious if there's no interaction for a long time."
—Because it is very different from the past.
Jiang Yi and she have no shortage of news about their affection, including street photos, social media interactions and other random pieces of evidence, but they were not specifically instructed to do so.
Although Jiang Yi has the looks to be included in the list of stunning beauties in the entertainment industry, and her personality is also quite flamboyant, she is not actually a spotlight-type entrepreneur. She is also very low-key. What really makes her stand out are the luxury brands under Fenglu.
Half of her personal posts were clicked by Gu Lai with the intention of showing off her relationship, and the other half were just things she did casually when she was following something. Her fans have a rather mixed taste in following her posts.
The last time Jiang Yi deliberately went to great lengths to be high-profile was seven years ago when he held a live-streamed wedding with Gu Lai.
Gu Lai said, "There are many celebrity couples in the entertainment industry, and not every couple needs to be ostentatious."
The PR person paused for a moment: "That's true. But if it gets exposed later, or if something happens on President Jiang's side, such as Feng Lu disclosing a shareholder's marriage, the PR team won't have a contingency plan and it will be difficult to handle."
Gu Lai didn't speak, but after a few moments the PR person asked considerately, "Shall we continue to contact and cooperate with the office and Fenglu?"
Gu Lai wanted to say that she could accept it; let others think what they want, let the public say what they want, she had already received too much.
But she couldn't possibly say that to them.
"You can be lenient afterward, but don't use vague instructions like 'anything is fine' or 'anything is fine' to them beforehand. That's a bit annoying," Jiang Yi once taught her. "They don't know if their boss will hold them accountable later, and they'll hate leaders who seem to be trying to avoid trouble or just slack off. You're different from others, so don't worry."
Gu Lai sighed silently: "Yes, let's discuss the public relations plan if there are any changes later. For now, just maintain the status quo."
The PR person agreed. The film agent spoke up, though his expression wasn't very pleasant: "Director He said he wanted to ask if you would be willing to be a producer or assistant director. If you don't sign with Director He for 'Full House of Spring,' this period of your schedule will be empty. There are some new projects coming up recently, would you like to consider them? Also, do you need to continue working on Director Kong's 'Gansui'?"
Gu Lai slowly frowned, and Tan Junming, who had been listening in, turned on the microphone.
"Director He wants Kang Su-ru to try out for the role of Ye Wu, and Dong Ye will be given to Fan Zi. She hasn't been able to contact you for the past few days. She said she hopes to discuss the details in person. If you don't want to see me, just reply."
Tan Junming didn't say it explicitly, but Gu Lai realized that He Xiaoqing knew the news and didn't want to cause trouble.
This seems to be the first time I've lost a role since I met Jiang Yi ten years ago. It's quite ridiculous that this is the case.
Gu Lai suddenly had a real, worldly sense of losing Jiang Yi.
And this will be the beginning, she thought.
"Okay, I'll call Director He later. We'll talk about it then. Check on the situation with 'Gansui,' and send me the rest." Gu Lai smiled. "Anything else?"
The executive agent said, "They contacted you this month to confirm whether you want to attend the FL and XL Fall/Winter fashion shows. You were originally scheduled to attend. Also, Ms. Chen Ying invited you yesterday for a small meeting with the Film Association the day after tomorrow."
“The day after tomorrow…” Zhou Shanshan suddenly spoke up, “Ms. Mayer asked if we have time to meet recently.” She noticed a few people in the video looking blank and explained briefly, “Karin Mayer is the office’s chief investment officer.”
After a moment of silence, Gu Lai smiled first: "I understand. Is there anything else in the itinerary that needs to be confirmed?"
Executive Broker: "...And there's the Fenglu Annual Meeting next week."
Gu Lai had already taken out her phone while she was speaking; the screen was still on Weibo. She quickly exited, opened Jiang Yi's contact interface after a long time, and sent a message.
She typed quickly, without making repeated revisions, and naturally clicked the green "send" button. The moment the line of text jumped up from the small box, she belatedly felt nervous, her heart pounding as if she had been electrocuted.
Gu Lai: [Let's meet soon, I need to discuss some of my schedules.]
The message was sent successfully, and surprisingly, the sender didn't block the sender.
The thought had barely crossed Gu Lai's mind when the other end replied instantly.
Jiang Yi: [Okay, tonight?]
After seeing the message, she suddenly calmed down completely.
However, isn't the timing a bit too ambiguous?
...She's probably overthinking things because she's a busy person; it's not easy for busy people to find time on short notice.
Gu Lai said into the microphone, "I'll discuss and give a unified reply tonight. Thank you for your hard work."
At the same time, she replied to the message.
Gu Lai: [Bring a lawyer or someone else? Mayer said she wants to see me, let's handle it all in one trip.]
Everyone in the video chat breathed a sigh of relief and began reporting on other miscellaneous but not so important matters. Gu Lai listened half-heartedly, and this time there was no response from the other end for several minutes before the message finally arrived.
Jiang Yi: [I understand [smiling emoji]]
Gu Lai stared at the slightly yin-yang-shaped soybean, trying to do a reading comprehension exercise, and didn't come back to her senses for a long time.
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Thank you to Bu Ru Dai Duan and 54195758 for the nutrient solution, and thank you to Bu Ru Dai Duan and March for the landmines [heart emoji]. Wishing you all the best in your college entrance exams!
[Standing-eared rabbit head]
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