Chapter 13 Violet "So, are you going to sleep with him or not?"...
The parking lot was quiet, and the temperature was even cooler than outside.
Wen Siyu's eyes were like those of a venomous snake lurking in the darkness, poised to attack.
After staring coldly at Zhuang Yan for three seconds, he looked at Ji Jiazhen with sharp eyes and said, "Quite a coincidence."
Zhuang Yan was a smart man, and of course he could see that there was something fishy going on between the two of them. "Your friend?"
"My neighbor."
"Her landlord."
Two voices rang out at the same time, and the atmosphere froze again the second after they finished speaking.
Sensing Zhuang Yan's slightly questioning gaze, Ji Jiazhen added, "Landlord, and neighbor."
She stepped aside, leaving a space between them. "Aren't you going out?"
Wen Siyu's lips curled into a cold smile, his eyes still gloomy, revealing no trace of a smile. "Yes, get out."
As he walked out, Ji Jiazhen went in, brushing past him. The sensation of their shoulders touching made her heart skip a beat. Zhuang Yan glanced briefly at Wen Siyu's back before also getting on the elevator.
Neither of them spoke during the ascent. Zhuang Yan had something to ask, but it involved privacy, so he didn't pry. Ji Jiazhen was preoccupied with how to naturally steer the conversation towards the film adaptation of "Sacrifice."
After entering, she told Zhuang Yan to sit wherever he wanted and asked him what he would like to drink.
"Warm water is fine."
Ji Jiazhen paused, her hand reaching for the wine, and raised an eyebrow slightly before pouring him a glass of warm water.
Zhuang Yan took a sip to moisten his throat, then asked her, "Are you interested in 'Sacrifice'?"
Ji Jiazhen sat down opposite him, crossed her right leg over her left, and rested her chin on her elbows. "I'm interested in the film adaptation of 'Sacrifice'."
Zhuang Yan smiled. Everyone knew the theme of tonight's private banquet, but Wei Yikai didn't mention those three words, so the others kept quiet. Ji Jiazhen was the first to openly state the purpose.
Instead of asking further questions, she inquired about his situation, "When you returned to China this time, did you plan to stay and develop your career there, or are you just coming back for a while?"
“I’ve stayed in China for the long term,” he replied. “My family is all in China. Even if I’m living comfortably abroad, I’m still adrift in a foreign land, and I feel uneasy.”
That's just an excuse; it can't be faked.
Ji Jiazhen let it go in one ear and out the other; she knew all too well why Zhuang Yan had returned to China.
International awards may not be as prestigious as they're touted to be, but compared to most domestic awards that are based on deception, they're still more genuine. He's already won two highly recognized awards, his talent is undeniable, and he'll eventually establish himself in the Western directing scene. Giving up such opportunities to return to China is simply because he wants to be back under his family's wing, making his path in this industry easier. After all, his family has more than just one famous member, Wei Yikai; they have connections in directing, acting, and screenwriting.
Thinking of this, a hint of sarcasm flashed in her eyes.
Sure enough, no matter which path you're on, you need someone behind you.
"Deepening your career as a director?"
Zhuang Yan laughed: "I've only made short films before, but I want to expand my reach in the future."
Ji Jiazhen understood what this "broad" meant; Feng Mingqiao's words were still ringing in her ears: "The director of 'Sacrifice' is Zhuang Yan."
Just as she was thinking about how to ask the question, Zhuang Yan brought it up first.
"You want the role of Wang Qiao, right?"
Ji Jiazhen didn't speak, but her eyes conveyed the word "of course".
Zhuang Yan clasped his hands together and replied, "Excuse my bluntness, but you are not suitable for this role."
She blinked twice, expressionless, while Zhuang Yan looked serious. Ji Jiazhen paused for two seconds before sneering, "From a director's professional perspective, or just your personal opinion?"
"Director, and audience."
Ji Jiazhen lowered her legs, leaned back, clearly unwilling to accept defeat.
Give me a reason.
Zhuang Yan gave her four words: "You are too beautiful and too young."
Ji Jiazhen's lips curled slightly. If this was wrong, then she really couldn't change it.
"So you don't believe in my acting skills."
Zhuang Yan shook his head, "It's related to acting skills..."
Before he could finish speaking, the doorbell rang. Ji Jiazhen looked towards the door, while Zhuang Yan looked at her.
She couldn't think of anyone else who would knock on the door at this hour but Wen Siyu.
She didn't want to drive.
The doorbell rang a second time.
Zhuang Yan asked her, "Aren't you going to take a look?"
The sound was still coming from the doorway; it wasn't the doorbell anymore. The dull thud of knuckles hitting the door was obvious, and the person knocking was clearly getting impatient.
Ji Jiazhen took a deep breath and said to him, "Sit down for a while, I'll be right back."
The person outside kept knocking on the door, the sound irritating her.
With a click, the door opened, and Wen Siyu stood there casually, looking indifferent, his face full of indifference to the world, carrying a bag of things in his hand.
Ji Jiazhen asked him in a low voice, "What are you doing?"
He did have a legitimate reason. He raised his hand and waved the bag in front of her twice. "My power went out. Can I borrow your kitchen to cook?"
"If the power tripped, you should go find the housekeeper. Why didn't you cook earlier? Now you're making dinner at 10 pm? Are you kidding me?"
"The housekeeper needs time to solve problems. I'm a patient, I have a fever, and I've been sleeping all day. All I want is to eat something. How can you be so heartless?"
When he said that, Ji Jiazhen could indeed see some fatigue in his eyes and his voice sounded a little nasal, but her eyes were full of disbelief.
Wen Siyu bent down, "Don't believe me?"
He grabbed her wrist with his free hand and guided her hand to touch his forehead.
It's really hot.
Ji Jiazhen wasn't that soft-hearted. She pulled her hand away, frowned, and put it in her pocket. "The patient shouldn't cook. Just order takeout."
After she finished speaking, she had the urge to close the door, but Wen Siyu suddenly raised his voice and looked up from the top of her head, landing on Zhuang Yan.
"I'm your landlord, it's not unreasonable for me to borrow your fire to cook some noodles, is it? I'll clean it up for you when you're done. We're neighbors, we should help each other out, don't be so heartless."
Ji Jiazhen's chest heaved with anger.
She witnessed firsthand what it means to turn the tables and blame someone else, and now she's the one who's heartless.
He just wanted to see what she and Zhuang Yan were doing, wasn't he just afraid that something might happen between them?
She kicked the door open with her foot. "Alright, friendly, helpful, come in."
Wen Siyu was completely unceremonious, swaggering in and casually glancing at Zhuang Yan.
Behind him, Ji Jiazhen closed the door, or rather, slammed it shut.
He walked confidently to the island counter, but instead of going into the inner kitchen, he insisted on cooking his noodles in the western kitchen, because it was right opposite the sofa and not far away, so he could hear everything they said there.
Ji Jiazhen rolled her eyes at him and sat down opposite Zhuang Yan. This position was also convenient for her to observe Wen Siyu's every move.
"Keep talking, ignore him."
Zhuang Yan withdrew his gaze and continued what he hadn't finished saying, "It has nothing to do with acting skills. Your appearance alone is not convincing. The audience's impression of you as a person will be greater than that of the character. Therefore, the portrayal of this character is a failure."
"So you're still targeting my face. You're targeting everyone with an exceptionally good appearance. You subconsciously believe that such people can't portray a character well and are more suited to being a pretty face."
She had encountered too many people like this in this industry, and she hated them the most. So she spoke frankly, not to argue with him, but to express her attitude and stance.
Zhuang Yan pursed his lips. "I'm sorry, that's not what I meant. I was just referring to the character Wang Qiao."
Chi Chia-chen did not accept this explanation. "I am not a newcomer to the entertainment industry. I have acted in movies and won the Best Actress award when I was twenty. What you are saying is not only questioning the judgment of other directors, but also denying my abilities."
Her tone was noticeably harsher than usual; she was serious and genuinely defiant. Zhuang Yan wanted to explain further, but someone beat him to it.
Wen Siyu, who had been quietly in the kitchen, suddenly spoke up: "What kind of person is Wang Qiao?"
Ji Jiazhen looked up at him and their eyes met. She wasn't sure why Wen Siyu wanted to ask that question, but her intuition told her it wouldn't hurt, so she explained in detail.
"Uneducated, a well-known spinster in the village, she went to the city at thirty and was tricked into prostitution. She didn't know she was pregnant afterward, and by the time she found out, it was too late for an abortion. The following month after giving birth, she threw the child into a well to drown. When the police came to investigate, she seduced the officer in charge of the case and made him fall completely in love with her. Then she found the man who had raped her and carried out the murder through a proxy. On the day the policeman was arrested, she stole his gun and ended her own life in front of everyone."
A long silence fell over the room, the sound of the water boiling in the pot was exceptionally clear. Wen Siyu put the noodles into the pot, then asked his second question, "Original script or novel adaptation?"
Ji Jiazhen replied: "The novel, Wei Xikai's 'Sacrifice'."
Wen Siyu chuckled lightly, his eyes turning to Zhuang Yan with an interesting look, a mixture of mockery and amusement.
"Didn't Wei Xikai also cast a pretty face in that movie back then? Meng Xu, with that face, still won Best Actress, and the movie won awards too. I haven't read the book, but I just heard about the character description. I think she can act, and she can act quite well. As for your bullshit theory, I don't believe it even if she disagrees. As a viewer, the plot is the most important thing, and the character description is just icing on the cake. After watching a movie, the most memorable thing is definitely the plot. If not, then there's a problem with the plot, the script, or the original work, not to blame the actors entirely."
Ji Jiazhen, who was originally debating with Zhuang Yan, sank into the back of the sofa after hearing this, and her eyes gradually turned to Wen Siyu with a smile, a hint of appreciation and inquiry.
She found his words very pleasing; his points were almost entirely consistent with her own. There were certain things she couldn't say due to her position, but Wen Siyu's position was perfectly suitable.
He's not involved in the entertainment industry, and he's not afraid of being targeted. His family background is far superior to Zhuang Yan's.
Zhuang Yan fell silent, his expression complex. He seemed to have been persuaded, but he was still struggling with something in his heart.
Ji Jiazhen didn't know what other concerns he had, but he saw him open his lips and say softly, "Jiazhen, you understand the rules of this circle better than I do. There are many things that can't be said in public, but they still exist."
She didn't know what Zhuang Yan was alluding to; many things were lurking beneath the surface, and as someone on the shore, she couldn't see the truth.
He stood up and glanced back at Wen Siyu, who was engrossed in frying eggs and ignored his gaze.
"It's getting late, and I have things to do tomorrow morning. See you another day."
Wen Siyu then lazily lifted his eyelids and glanced at him, a faint smile playing on his lips.
Ji Jiazhen escorted Zhuang Yan to the door, and as he turned back after closing the door, Zhuang Yan's bowl of noodles was finally cooked, and he was carrying the bowl to the dining table with one hand.
She walked over there too, sat down before him, and the noodles were placed on the table, their aroma wafting upwards. She looked down at them.
I must say, it looks and smells delicious. There are even two green vegetables placed next to the golden fried egg, which looks quite appetizing.
Ji Jiazhen reached out and grabbed the bowl, while the chopsticks were still in Wen Siyu's hand. She looked up, her hand outstretched in the air, and raised an eyebrow at him.
"Cook another serving, I want to eat this bowl."
She only ate a small bowl of salad today, hadn't eaten for ten hours, and even drank some alcohol in the evening, so her stomach was really uncomfortable. Wen Siyu's bowl of noodles looked quite light and comforting.
Wen Siyu chuckled, placed the chopsticks in her palm, and went back to the kitchen.
Ji Jiazhen took a bite of the fried egg; it was quite tender, the kind of texture she liked. Her cheeks twitched slowly as she chewed, watching Wen Siyu's movements. He had taken off his jacket for convenience, wearing only a basic black T-shirt, and looked serious. For some reason, her eyes even seemed to detect a hint of a devoted husband.
"Someone like you can cook."
Wen Siyu flipped the fried egg over, looked at her, and asked, "What kind of person am I?"
Ji Jiazhen stirred the noodles on the tip of his chopsticks, blew on them twice, ate them, swallowed them, and then replied, "The eldest young master, the kind who needs a dozen or twenty nannies at home, and also some kind of butler."
Thinking of this, she chuckled to herself, shaking her shoulders as she said, "Butler, you should say that the young master hasn't laughed in a long time."
Wen Siyu didn't understand the joke, but he found her quite funny. He had never seen anyone laugh so hard at a single sentence.
"That young master is either in a vegetative state, has facial paralysis, or has been dead for a while."
Ji Jiazhen has a very low threshold for laughter, and he couldn't stop laughing after hearing what he said.
Wen Siyu smiled as he watched her laugh, and Ji Jiazhen didn't laugh completely until he finished cooking his noodles.
He sat down opposite her with his bowl in his hand, his arms resting on the table.
Ji Jiazhen's eyes swept casually across his body, but were suddenly drawn to a rather long mark on his forearm. The scab hadn't fallen off yet, and it looked like he'd been cut by something sharp. She remembered the day she went to pick up Xu Yanning, and noticing a mark on the end of his eyebrow.
"Are you always getting into fights or what?"
Wen Siyu knew she was referring to the wound on his arm, and replied in a rather indifferent tone, "I just accidentally scratched it."
Ji Jiazhen wasn't very curious, so she didn't press the matter.
I had just taken a bite of my noodles when the person opposite me spoke up again: "Who is that guy? Is he related to the role you want to play?"
"Zhuang Yan, Wei Yikai's nephew, should be the director of that film."
Wen Siyu put down his chopsticks, took out his phone and fiddled with it. Half a minute later, he said quietly, "Twenty-seven years old, that's quite old."
Ji Jiazhen looked up with a puzzled expression and caught a glimpse of his phone screen: someone was searching for Zhuang Yan's personal information online.
“Columbia University directing master’s degree, studying art, huh?” He gave her a look. “Overseas, studying art, this is the kind of thing where you play around the most, the kind where you kiss until your lips are raw.”
Are you crazy?
Wen Siyu had a bright smile on his face. "Still so arrogant. You think you're a big shot just because you won two awards. You said you can't act and you look down on me."
Ji Jiazhen put down her chopsticks, crossed her arms, and leaned back in her chair. "Either you eat or you get out. You're slightly better than him in terms of arrogance, so stop badmouthing him."
"I'm just trying to prevent you from making a mistake, so I'm helping you avoid potential pitfalls."
"You're just afraid I'll sleep with him."
The smile on Wen Siyu's face was somewhat intriguing.
The two were quiet for a while and focused on eating their noodles. Ji Jiazhen stopped after eating half of her noodles, wiping her mouth with a tissue. Wen Siyu had almost finished eating as well.
Ji Jiazhen pointed to the kitchen and then to the table. "Clean it up. Close the door when you leave. I'm going to take a shower and go to bed."
Wen Siyu didn't answer whether it was good or bad, but instead asked her a question: "How much do you want the role of Wang Qiao?"
"It's basically like, you want me to want it as much as I want it."
He laughed, and after Ji Jiazhen turned away, he threw out a question, his voice like ice soaked in alcohol, making people tremble.
"So, are you going to sleep with him or not?"
A note from the author:
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My darlings, the next chapter will be updated at 8 PM this Friday. There's a little explicit content, so remember to check back on time! [pity][pity]
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