Chapter 02 Chapter 2
An Jiyue was pinned to the spot for a few seconds.
The male guest on stage had already finished recording his speech and stood there, bewildered. All eyes were focused on the stunned woman, and then followed her direction to see the man who was also stuck in the spot.
"...Cut!" she called out mechanically, "Prepare for the next one."
The angle of the armchair was too low, so An Jiuyue stood up and walked forward step by step despite feeling dizzy.
It was really him. She looked at the familiar yet unfamiliar outline against the light, and vaguely saw the turbulent expression on his face receding. The word "Ji Yue" just now seemed to come from another world, and she even suspected that she was hallucinating.
An Jiyue's voice was hoarse. She squeezed her bloodshot eyes and asked uncertainly, "Lu Ye...? What are you doing here?"
The other person was much more energetic than her. Lu Ye had already put away his previous loss of composure and regained his composure first. He stroked the suit in his arm and said calmly, "Come to participate in your show."
Before she could speak, Xu Mu exclaimed, "Lu Ye? Aren't you Mr. Shen?!"
"That's my colleague. He had some temporary work, so our company arranged for me to fill in. Didn't you get the notice?"
Xu Mu secretly cried out in dismay. His director couldn't even tolerate a lighting issue, and now he was replacing the guest, practically requiring a complete rewrite of the entire script. He glanced at Director An and saw that she was indeed looking sullen. He closed his eyes and waited for the consequences.
"Let's shoot first. Xiao Xu, give the previous script to Mr. Lu, and we'll make adjustments on stage later."
Her words had come true. She sat down again, rubbing her brows wearily. It was all her fault for lying about staying up all night, and now she was getting what she deserved. Not only had she already pulled half the night, but she had even met Lu Ye in such a half-dead state.
It shouldn't be like this.
In her occasional fantasies, their reunion would take place on a sunny afternoon. She would be dressed from head to toe, greeting him with a lighthearted smile and a carefree expression. They would chat briefly in front of a coffee shop, a fleeting moment, and years of accumulated obsession would vanish.
It can't be the middle of the night and there shouldn't be any ghosts around.
She raised her phone, a swollen, pale face reflected on the black screen. If he had arrived two hours earlier, or if someone had informed her in advance, she wouldn't be in this state. An Jiyue felt a surge of frustration. She tapped the screen twice, opened the male guest contact group, and started to go crazy.
Who was responsible for replacing male guest No. 3? Why didn't you tell me in advance?
After typing the last question mark, she paused, sighed, and deleted it. She rephrased:
[Director An: Please contact me to get the information about the new male guest No. 3 as soon as possible.]
Accountability must be pursued, but resolving the issue is paramount. Lu Ye took his seat on stage as the music played, his makeup artist applying a few subtle strokes to enhance his features. An Jiyue opened the PDF she had just received and quickly relived the past five years of her ex-boyfriend's life.
"My name is Lu Ye, I'm 27 years old, and I currently work at a fund company."
"I have a rather traditional personality. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and studying legal theory and philosophy."
"I came on the show to try to find true love."
An Jiyue stared at the monitor screen, frowned, and shouted "Cut" without mercy.
"Male guest number 3, don't say 'traditional personality'; change it to 'highly self-disciplined' or 'have your own standards of judgment.' If your hobbies are too advanced, you can leave them out. And don't use such corny phrases as the reason for being on the show; change it to something like 'I want to take a break from my regimented life.'"
After she put down the phone, she remembered something and continued, "Add some expression and body language when you speak. Like this—"
An Jiyue stood up and demonstrated, raising her arms and waving and twisting them, leaving her subordinates stunned. She sat down breathlessly, "Get ready, let's do another one."
Although guest number 3 didn't have a script, he understood everything immediately. When the lights came back on, not only did he look normal, but there was even a hint of a smile in his voice. His straight body relaxed considerably, and aside from the occasional hint of seriousness in his eyes and eyebrows, he was completely different from the stiff expression he had been a moment ago.
"Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Lu! You really have a strong sense of stage!"
After finishing the last take, Lu Ye took the coat handed to him by Xu Mu and glanced towards the director's chair against the light. "It's okay. You guys are the ones who really worked hard."
"I'll coordinate with my colleagues and try to move your shoot tomorrow to the afternoon. I'll have someone take you back to the hotel to get some rest. No one will disturb you tomorrow morning!"
Lu Ye paused, shrugged slightly, and smiled. After two hours away from the screen, he had actually had a good rest.
He raised his wrist to check the time. It was almost five in the morning. After returning to the room, he would take a quick shower and start reviewing the market trends. It would be even better if he could produce some useful conclusions before the roadshow in the morning.
But today's thoughts weren't going smoothly. He pounded his lower back, stood up from the uncomfortable desk chair, walked to the window, and raised his hand to pull open the heavy blackout curtains. As the sky brightened and the morning light began to appear, Lu Ye stood quietly for a moment by the balcony glass door, then turned back and sat down to type a few lines of dry text.
He shamefully knew the reason for his misfortune, but forbade himself to dwell on it.
The first roadshow was at 7:30, with colleagues giving the keynote and Lu Ye answering questions. The manager on the other side of the screen had received a number of personal messages and was clearly quite pleased. He even chatted with them before the show ended, reminding him to rest more as he looked tired.
"Manager Zhang, don't worry. Teacher Lu has recently been selected to participate in a dating variety show. She will definitely be radiant in a few days."
"I see, love nourishes a person." Manager Zhang said with an expression that said, "I understand, I understand." "Xiao Lu has been in the industry for several years now. He's successful now, so it's about time he got a date."
"That's right. Our teacher Lu has been keeping his chastity for someone so long that he's almost become a monk. Let's just wait and see if he can blossom this time."
Seeing the conversation getting more and more out of control, Lu Ye quickly threw a desensitized roadshow material into the group chat, taking the opportunity to interrupt and end the meeting. He angrily opened the dialog box of his colleague and sent a half-typed private message:
[Lu Ye: Shen Xingyu, aren't you a friend of women? Why do you have so much to say to Manager Zhang?]
Before I could send it, Xu Mu's message arrived first.
Xu Mu: Good morning, Mr. Lu. Our Director An has asked you to get some rest first. The hotel has reserved breakfast for you. Your part will begin at 3:00 PM this afternoon.
His bony fingers hovered over the screen, and he suppressed the thoughts that had just begun to surge. A few seconds later, he replied:
Lu Ye: Thank you. Please remind Director An to get some rest as well.
Yue Hui looked at the chat history that Xu Mu relayed back to him, curled his lips in disdain, and put the phone back into An Jiuyue's hands.
"Look, this man is obviously still trying to hook you."
Her upper body was neatly dressed, and her lower body was still in pajamas. As she spoke, she picked up a bottle of perfume from the bedside table, sniffed it, and sprayed half a pump into the air. She waved the silk scarf in the fleeting fragrance mist and tied it back around her neck.
A mess of hair emerged from under the quilt. An Jiyue, sleepy-eyed, pondered the words "I've already said it, Mr. Lu said you should have a good rest" over and over again, then asked dully:
"No? I feel like it's just a courtesy."
"Don't worry about what the other person thinks. Are you sure about your own feelings?"
"I think...if I hadn't encountered it today, I might have almost forgotten it."
Yue Hui's phone rang. She yawned as she got out of bed, leaving An Jiyue in a daze. This woman had actually stayed up all night, rushed home early in the morning, and even before she had washed up, she crawled into her room and shook her awake.
At six o'clock in the morning, Yue Hui collapsed on the bed with a look of resignation on her face. An Jiyue, with her foundation and eye shadow smudged into a mess, sat beside her and vividly recounted the melodramatic story of how her ex-boyfriend was the new guest on her show.
"Breakfast is here. I'll put it in the microwave for you. Sleep a little longer and eat it when you get up."
"Ah, where are you going?"
"Miss, look at the time. It's already half past eight. Don't delay me from going to work for you!"
Yue Hui quickly pulled on his trousers and checked in the mirror before leaving to cover his dark circles. An Jiyue quickly pulled the covers over her head, dodging her glares. It seemed like she had several project interviews today... A model employee, dedicated to her work, still had to be pulled over by her boss to chat in the middle of the night. An Jiyue covered her face, thinking it was rather inhumane.
"Boss Yue, I was wrong. Next week, I'll treat you to a meal, drinks, and a spa treatment. If I can't continue this job any longer, I'll come back and work for you. I feel like that day isn't far off..."
You said that five years ago, didn't you? The woman in a smart suit didn't even have the mood to refute her. The alarm rang again. She picked up the phone, replied "On the way," and closed the door and left.
An Jiyue leaned back, sank blankly into the soft, pure white quilt, and unknowingly picked up her phone to read the message from Xu Mu again.
Please let me have a good rest. Then I will have a good rest!
She got out of bed, pushed open the bathroom door, carefully removed her makeup, put on an emergency mask and slapped it on her face, then got a lamp from the bedside table, set the alarm, and lay back comfortably in bed with her eyes closed.
-
"Lu, Ye, who is this Lu Ye? He has quite good taste."
A hand was raised, and she turned around with everyone else, and saw a handsome boy in casual clothes in the middle and back row of the classroom, calmly and casually tapping the screen of his iPad, not noticing that the eyes of the entire classroom were focused on him.
Although An Jiyue was sitting far away from him, she could still see his face clearly. He had sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, a faint dark spot under his eyes, a slightly raised nose, and a gentle curve to his lips.
She was lost in thought, but Lu Ye suddenly raised his eyelashes, his gaze fixed on her, and a light voice came across several steps:
"Jiyue, it's time to rest."
An Jiyue felt as if someone had yanked her hard, and she plummeted into the abyss. She suddenly opened her eyes, her sunshades filtering through the pale pink light of the row lights. She blinked rapidly, trying to steady her heartbeat and breathing, but her back was already soaked.
It turned out that she had not forgotten at all, but she just didn't dare to think about it. She leaned on the sink, not daring to look up at her red eyes in the mirror.
At that moment, the phone rang. An Jiyue picked up, and Xiao Xu, in a weary voice, reported that the new script had been revised. Director An, feeling guilty for having just mistreated an employee, immediately and sincerely thanked him for his hard work and gave him a day off.
"Send it to my email. You don't need to come today. Have a good rest."
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