Chapter 53
At 3:45 a.m., the motion-sensor lights in the corridor of Hengdian Hotel turned on one after another.
Xu Li pushed her 20-inch carry-on suitcase, her heels clattering rapidly on the carpet. Just as she turned the corner, Nan You's voice came booming up like a megaphone.
"Xu Li! Are you ignoring me? My red carpet dress is still stuck at customs in Haikou, and you dare to fly there first?!"
Nan You, clad in ten-centimeter heels, carried her suit jacket in one hand and clutched her itinerary in the other, the pages rustling as she fanned herself. "Also," she said, "the brand suddenly upgraded the jewelry to high-end beads. If you dare drop even one—"
“It won’t fall off here.” Xu Li pulled her hat brim down as low as possible and fastened her earphones with one hand.
Nan You ripped off her earphones: "Stop talking nonsense! It's 33 degrees Celsius in Hainan right now. What's with that wool coat in your suitcase? Are you planning to faint from the heat on the red carpet and have me carry you to the emergency room?"
Xu Li sighed and snatched the earphones back: "The hotel in Hainan has air conditioning, and the red carpet walk is only five minutes. I'm afraid of the cold."
"I'm afraid you'll trend on social media! I've even thought of a headline for you—[Xu Li suffers heatstroke on the red carpet, pale-faced, suspected of being pregnant]!"
Nanyou rolled up the itinerary into a tube and tapped her head with her knuckles, "Also, you're not allowed to bring that box of mung bean cakes! You can't eat them on camera, eating sweets will cause water retention! Don't you know that?"
"I know, I didn't eat it."
Xu Li silently took the mung bean cake out of the side pocket of the suitcase and stuffed it into Nan You's arms: "Then you eat it for me, don't waste it."
Nan You choked, stuffing the pastries into her bag as she continued, "...I've revised your Weibo post three times, so don't accidentally post the wrong picture. The brand's PR team doesn't sleep until 4 a.m., so you better stay awake too. You hear me?"
"I heard you—" Xu Li drawled, put the boarding pass in her mouth, and pushed her suitcase into the elevator.
Just before the elevator doors closed, Nanyou's final words pierced through the crack: "Drink some Americano to reduce swelling as soon as you get off the plane! Let me know you've arrived safely as soon as you get off the plane! Get off the plane—"
Xu Li pressed the close button, and the world instantly fell silent.
She leaned against the elevator wall, took out her phone, and saw an unread WeChat message on the screen.
[Mu Mu: Ali, relax on the red carpet today, don't be nervous, mwah. (A dog emoji)]
Xu Li curled the corners of her lips, swallowed the word "long-winded" back into her throat, and replied with an emoji: You're quite worried about me, aren't you? I've walked so many red carpets, don't worry.
The elevator went straight to the second basement level, and the night wind, carrying the smell of gasoline, hit us in the face. At 4:07 a.m., the nanny van from Hengdian to Xiaoshan Airport stepped on the gas, crushing Nanyou's nagging into dust behind its taillights.
At 4:25 a.m., the van sped onto the highway. The overhead lights were off inside the van, only the eerie blue light from the dashboard illuminated Xu Li's profile in a cold, pale light.
Nan You sat in the passenger seat, a tablet propped on her lap, the screen displaying a GIF of Xu Li on the red carpet—under the lights, her waist and hips were clearly defined, and she gave a satisfied "hmm," but her mouth didn't stop moving.
"I brought two jars of foundation, 01 and 1.5, just in case the humidity in Haikou is off the charts and you'll have to mix them on the spot. Don't use last year's rosy lip gloss, it makes your skin look dark! Make three copies of the jewelry insurance policy, one for me, one for you, and one for customs—if you lose it, you'll be stuck there as collateral."
Driver Lao Zhao yawned, and the steering wheel veered slightly. Nan You slapped the back of the seat: "Steady! She's going to sleep for twenty minutes, her eye pressure can't be high!"
Xu Li finally couldn't take it anymore and took off her headphones: "Sister Nanyou, I'm going to walk the red carpet, not defuse a bomb."
Nan You turned around, her voice lowered to a whisper, yet sharper: "You're on the rise right now, every step is a potential bomb. You know how toxic those Hainan media outlets are with their unedited photos, right? Last year, Li XX was caught on camera with visible neck wrinkles, and lost two endorsements in just three days!"
Xu Li rubbed her temples and changed tactics: "I promise to give you an iced Americano, a de-puffing roller, and a face mask as soon as I land, okay?"
Nan You snorted coldly: "You had better keep your word."
...
Xiaoshan Airport Terminal 4, 5:10 AM.
The business class exit had just opened when Nan You handed her carry-on to Xu Li, but then stopped in her tracks. "I'm not flying with you."
Xu Li was taken aback: "Didn't we agree to go together?"
Nan You glanced at her watch: "The dress was confiscated by customs, I have to rush to Haikou to retrieve it. I've upgraded your seat to A1, window seat, you can lie down. Xiao Zhao will pick you up after you land, the van has an ice bucket, iced Americano, a full makeup artist kit—and—"
She suddenly pulled the crumpled itinerary from her pocket, tore it in half, stuffed it into a chewing gum box, and threw it into the trash can.
"—From this moment forward, all schedules are cancelled." Xu Li's eyes widened: "Sister Nan You?"
Nan You took a deep breath, her voice softening but still quick: "The red carpet event is at 7 p.m., but the brand has arranged a media afternoon tea in advance, starting at 3 p.m.
"If you don't want to go, then don't go."
"I've booked two rooms for you at the hotel, one for the paparazzi and one for you to sleep in. Little K is waiting for you in the B1 parking lot; she has the access card. The rest... you decide."
She paused, then for the first time used an almost pleading tone: "Xu Li, can you not be an artist today, just be a normal person?" Xu Li's throat tightened, and before she could answer, Nan You had already turned around, her high heels clicking rapidly, her silhouette stretched long and thin by the cold white lights of the airport.
...
With one minute left before the gate closed, Xu Li swiped her card and entered.
A first-class flight attendant offered her a hot towel, but she didn't take it. Instead, she took out her phone and opened her pinned WeChat account.
[Little K: Ah Li, it's too sunny on the tarmac, I moved to B1. The iced Americano hasn't melted yet, but it'll get really cold if I don't come soon.] Xu Li's lips curved slightly. Before turning on airplane mode, she replied with a voice message, her voice extremely low, containing only five words:
"Wait for me, ten minutes." Just as the plane broke through the runway, the first light of dawn appeared on the horizon.
Xu Li pulled down the sun visor, closed her eyes, and instead of Nan You's schedule, she heard Xiao K's words, which had drifted on the wind last night on Hengdian Road: "Happy wrap-up."
[Red carpet time: 19:00-19:04]
Location: Sanya Edition Beach Lawn
Theme: ELLE Style Awards "Heat Wave Night"
The van drove directly to the entrance to the inner area. Xu Li got out of the car, and the sea breeze lifted her skirt with a "whoosh"—a black, liquid-like, shimmering long dress with only a thin chain at the shoulder and a cutout down to her waist, like a crack in the night.
She wasn't wearing any necklace, only the brand's high-end pearl earrings, worth seven figures, on one side, leaving the other side bare.
The sound of camera shutters exploding instantly.
As Xu Li took her first step onto the red carpet, the sea breeze suddenly picked up. Her skirt fluttered wildly in the wind, and she instinctively raised her hand to press down her hair, leaving a smear of icy blue nail polish on her fingertips in front of the camera.
The LED lights on the backdrop cast her shadow three meters long, like a sword slanted across the beach. The director yelled into his headset, "Close-up! Close-up! Lock onto her back!"
Just as the host handed over a marker to the autograph board, a sudden gust of wind blew the board over.
Xu Li knelt down on one knee, holding the board with one hand and signing his name on the fallen board with the other—the movement was swift and decisive, like drawing a sword and sheathing it.
Someone in the media area shouted, "Xu Li! Look over here!" She turned her head, a bead of sweat sliding down her temple to her chin, shining like a diamond under the flashlight.
The sound of camera shutters was interspersed with bursts of profanity: "That's fucking amazing!"
The male celebrity who was supposed to take a photo with her was absent due to a flight delay, leaving her alone on the red carpet.
Xu Li simply took off her high heels, stepped barefoot on the fine sand, held the shoes in one hand, and made an "X" sign with the other for the camera. A burst of laughter erupted from the audience, only to be swallowed up by the sound of camera shutters a second later.
The director was slamming his fist on the table backstage: "It's going to trend! Quickly cut a 15-second vertical version!"
After walking the last two meters, she suddenly turned around and winked at the main camera. The earrings refracted tiny specks of light under the high-frequency flash, like shattered silver on the sea.
She lingered on the red carpet for a total of four minutes, but the media at the scene dubbed it a "four-minute massacre."
——Trending Search List——
01 #Xu Li's Stormy Black Swan# Breaking News
02 #Xu Li barefoot on the sand# Explosion
03 #Xu Li Single Earring# Boiling
05 #Xu Li's Autograph Board Killer# Hot
06 #ELLERedCarpetStunningPhotos# Hot
08 #Tan Yuze's Car Key# New
(The reason is: before walking the red carpet, Tan Yuze was photographed leaning against his car door in the B1 parking lot, holding an iced Americano and with a small green dinosaur hanging on his car keychain - the same one that appeared in Xu Li's live broadcast.)
——Brand Response——Jewelry brand increases orders overnight: Official Weibo account changes original copy "elegant and noble" to "rebellious, sharp, siren comes ashore".
A haute couture designer posted on Instagram: This dress originally had a layer of tulle overlay, which Xu Li cut off on the spot.
The piece of yarn that was cut was offered for 50,000 yuan by a fan on a second-hand platform.
After the red carpet event, Xu Li returned to her van. Just before the door closed, a paparazzi captured a photo from afar: a hand handed her a tissue from inside the car to wipe the sand off her feet.
There was a fresh, shallow scar on the wrist of that hand.
It's Little K.
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