Chapter 11 Miss Lü
Zhou Jingcheng's car slowly stopped in front of the villa, the tires making a faint but crisp sound as they rolled over the fallen leaves.
"Mr. Zhou, don't get out of the car to see him off." Wen Jia noticed Zhou Jingcheng unbuckle his seatbelt and said.
Zhou Jingcheng paused, gave a nonchalant "hmm," and then withdrew his hand.
Wen Jia turned her head and peered out the car window for a while before carefully taking out a mask, putting it on, and getting out of the car.
A crisp, cool breeze blew outside, and wispy clouds drifted by. Wen Jia wrapped her black trench coat tighter around herself and headed towards the gate.
Yu Kaiqing waited in the courtyard, walked up to greet Zhou Jingcheng through the half-lowered tinted car window, and then took the bag from Wen Jia's hand.
She stared at the weariness between Wen Jia's brows for a long time before finally asking, "What's wrong? You look unhappy. Where did President Zhou take you?"
As the person who knows the relationship between Wen Jia and Zhou Jingcheng best, Yu Kaiqing could roughly guess from her expression that the two must have just finished a rather unpleasant conversation.
Ke Wenjia just shook her head and didn't say anything. It was unclear whether she was unwilling to talk or deliberately kept quiet. She bent down and put on her slippers in the entryway.
Yu Kaiqing stared at her back and tactfully changed the subject: "Chairman Xu's clothes have been sent to be washed and can only be picked up the day after tomorrow. I'll make an appointment with Chairman Xu then."
Wen Jia nodded, but after taking only a few steps, she turned back and changed her mind: "Never mind, I'll return it myself later."
After saying that, she took out her phone, hesitated for a moment, and then decisively turned it off after two seconds, handing it to Yu Kaiqing for safekeeping.
"Hold my phone for me, I need to rest these next couple of days." After saying that, Wen Jia walked upstairs to her bedroom, the 'tap tap tap' sound of her slippers fading into the distance, leaving Yu Kaiqing with only a slender back view that was hard to decipher.
She acted so decisively that she didn't know that the instant her finger swiped the power button, a call came in from a number that also had no contact name.
*
Wen Jia was awakened by a series of continuous knocks on the door.
At six o'clock, Yu Kaiqing came over, but left when she found the room quiet. At seven o'clock, she came over again, knocked on the door a few times, but no one answered, so she turned and went into the kitchen. At eight o'clock, Yu Kaiqing was really worried that Wen Jia would starve herself by not eating dinner, so she hardened her heart and knocked on the door hard. The muffled thumping sound penetrated the door and woke Wen Jia up.
Wen Jia turned on the floor lamp by the bed, and the soft, warm light enveloped her. A layer of orange shadow pressed on her thin eyelids. She moved her eyes, felt the weight of the light, and reluctantly opened them.
"Get up and eat, or your stomach will be ruined." Yu Kaiqing banged on the door from the outside.
"Okay, I'll get up right away." Wen Jia rubbed her eyes, got up, put on a thin cardigan, and walked out of the room.
The villa's kitchen is open-plan, and even before Wen Jiaren came down the stairs, he could smell the aroma and warmth wafting upwards.
Wen Jia couldn't get used to eating high-oil and high-salt foods, so Yu Kaiqing accompanied her and ate light meals. There were four or five lightly flavored dishes on the table.
The two sat down and chatted idly.
Yu Kaiqing stuffed two mouthfuls of food into her mouth, biting the tip of her chopsticks, and looked at the person opposite her with a thoughtful expression, as if she couldn't suppress the little thoughts in her heart.
Honestly, who knows how long she endured it?
Working alongside a top female celebrity, even with her strong self-control, it would be difficult for her to suppress her gossipy nature.
"Where did President Zhou take you today?"
"We didn't go anywhere, just drove around for a bit." Wen Jia put a small mouthful of white rice in her mouth, chewed, and spoke a little unclearly.
"You didn't go anywhere? Then why aren't you happy to be back?" Yu Kaiqing had been by Wen Jia's side for a long time, so she naturally understood her thoughts. She quickly asked back, "What did President Zhou say to you?"
Recalling her unpleasant conversation with Zhou Jingcheng in the car that afternoon, Wen Jia asked, "What kind of person do you think Chairman Xu is?"
Yu Kaiqing didn't swallow a bite of rice before lifting her head from the bowl: "Why do you ask that? I'm not familiar with Chairman Xu."
What about your first impression?
"He's handsome."
"..."
What about the second impression?
"rich."
"..."
Wen Jia sighed, "...Can't we talk about something more profound?"
“Depth?” Yu Kaiqing seemed to think hard before answering. “I think Chairman Xu has quite good taste. The first time I saw him, I thought the watch on his wrist was very nice. I don’t know how many lifetimes I would have to work to afford it.”
Wen Jiabai glanced at Yu Kaiqing and tapped her forehead: "First of all, I just gave you a raise last month. Secondly, I'm talking about something deeper, like your character and stuff."
"Alright, alright," Yu Kaiqing said sullenly, moving Wen Jia's hand away. "I was just joking. This is too deep. I just said I don't know anything about Chairman Xu. What am I supposed to say?"
Wen Jia put down her chopsticks and stopped eating completely. She was about to open her mouth but then closed it again, as if she had something difficult to say.
Yu Kaiqing saw right through her: "Just say what you want to say."
Wen Jia asked Yu Kaiqing to come closer, and even though there was no one else in the villa, she very carefully put her hand to Yu Kaiqing's ear and whispered something.
Yu Kaiqing, unconvinced, leaned closer to listen.
She held her breath and listened intently. Wen Jia's mouth opened and closed near her ear, and she whispered something. Yu Kaiqing almost spat out the food she hadn't swallowed. She exclaimed as if she had heard something incredible, "Huh?? You're asking me if Chairman Xu sleeps around with female celebrities?!"
Wen Jia's beautiful face couldn't quite contain her expression, so she quickly covered the mouth of the person opposite her with her hand, silencing Kai Qing completely before letting go.
"Did you find out some gossip about Chairman Xu and someone in your circle, and you're trying to extort money from him?" Yu Kaiqing couldn't think of any other motive that would make Wen Jia ask this question.
Wen Jia admired her imagination and glanced at her, saying, "Does she look like she's short of money?"
She calmly sat back down at the table. Yu Kaiqing looked at her and asked, "Does Chairman Xu have affairs with female celebrities? What kind of question is that?"
Wen Jia glanced at her, her expression calm: "Male celebrities are fine too."
Yu Kaiqing choked completely, coughing incessantly, her face turning bright red.
Why are you so shocked?
Yu Kaiqing recovered from her cough, took a big gulp of water, and asked her quietly, "What exactly did Zhou Jingcheng say to you this afternoon?"
Why is she unhappy as soon as she gets back? She turns off her phone, sleeps all day, and most importantly, she suddenly asks her if Xu Shaoting knows how to seduce female celebrities.
Wen Jia ignored her, persistent in asking the question she wanted to ask: "Answer me first, do you think Xu Shaoting seems like the kind of person who would play around with female celebrities?" She paused, then spoke again in an inscrutable tone, "Or rather, keep female celebrities as mistresses?"
Now, Yu Kaiqing was no longer shocked by anything she heard from Wen Jia, so she asked her in return, "Female celebrity? Aren't you a female celebrity?"
Wen Jia looked at her fingernails: "Of course I wasn't talking about myself. Besides, I'm not that familiar with him."
"I think... it's hard to say." Yu Kaiqing cleared her throat and answered Wen Jia's question seriously.
"Can't explain it well? How should I explain it?"
"You're in the entertainment industry, you definitely know more about this than I do, why are you asking me?"
I'd like to hear your opinion.
Yu Kaiqing was no longer shocked. She started to put on airs and acted pretentious. She clicked her tongue and pretended to be profound: "It's hard to say. First, Chairman Xu is so rich that he can keep anyone as a mistress with just a word. Second, to be honest, I don't think anyone can refuse his offer of support. Finally, there are a lot of rumors like this in the industry. Who knows if they're true or false?"
After finishing her statement, she began to embellish it, jumping to the opposing viewpoint and making her point flawlessly: "Of course, I was just saying it's possible. We can't generalize, right? What if Chairman Xu is one of those exceptions?" She carefully recalled her conversation with Xu Shaoting that afternoon. "Actually, I think Chairman Xu's character is pretty good. I find him very comfortable to be around. Although he can be quite intimidating, he doesn't make you feel tense. I don't really know how to describe it..."
Wen Jia listened but still couldn't understand what she meant, so she waved her hand to stop the conversation and instructed her, "What we said today, you can't say a single word about it, understand? No one can."
Yu Kaiqing nodded vigorously. Wen Jia glanced at her, knowing that she was always tight-lipped, and lost her appetite. She turned and went back to her bedroom upstairs.
Wen Jia spent two extremely leisurely days at the villa.
During the day, Yu Kaiqing didn't wake her, letting her sleep until eleven or twelve. Wen Jia would get up, have brunch, rest for a while, and then go to the villa's small gym to exercise. In the afternoon, whenever she had time, she would go to the study and read through all kinds of film studies, art studies, and film history books, both domestic and foreign. In the evening, she would snuggle up with Yu Kaiqing on the small sofa to watch movies, one after another, neither of them complaining of being sleepy, until two in the morning before finally stopping.
Wen Jia hasn't touched any electronic products these past two days. Her phone has been off for almost two days, and it took about ten minutes to charge before it could be turned on.
She first checked Weibo, and as expected, the trending topic had disappeared without a trace after two days. Wen Jia let out a long sigh of relief, then opened WeChat and replied to her mother and some other private messages.
Xu Shaoting hadn't contacted her via WeChat for the past two days, and she didn't have the habit of checking call logs, so she naturally didn't know about the call that came in two days ago when her phone was off.
On this day, the sky was clear and the air was filled with the dry scent of grass and trees, and the sunlight shone thinly on the streets.
In the afternoon, a woman "fully armed" entered the gate of Yunxi Technology. She had long, straight black hair, and a washed denim baseball cap was pulled low over her hair. A white mask covered most of her face.
She wore a long knitted cardigan with a wide belt around her waist, and black shorts that were partially hidden under the cardigan. Fortunately, a pair of over-the-knee high-heeled boots protected most of her slender legs from the autumn wind, preventing her from getting cold.
When the woman entered, the two female staff members at the Yunxi Technology reception desk, dressed in professional attire, quickly stood up. One of them, with a professional smile, asked her, "Hello, ma'am, who are you looking for?"
The mouth under the mask moved slightly: "I'm looking for Chairman Xu." Her voice sounded muffled and indistinct through the mask.
Neither of them seemed to have heard clearly, and one of them asked again, "Who are you looking for?"
“Your Chairman Xu, Xu Shaoting.”
The staff looked at each other in bewilderment; no one in the company dared to call him by that name.
Although they didn't know who the woman in front of them, whose eyes were the only part of her face, was, the staff had a feeling that she was someone important. So they asked cautiously, "Madam, what can I do for you, Mr. Xu? We can pass on your message."
The woman shook the bag she was carrying: "I have something very important to give to your Chairman Xu."
The staff member looked hesitant, but remained polite: "Would you mind if we forwarded it to you? Mr. Xu isn't in the company right now. Don't worry, we'll make sure your belongings are safely delivered to Mr. Xu's secretary."
The woman hesitated for two seconds, then finally said somewhat apologetically, "Could you please make a call to your Chairman Xu?"
After saying that, she added, "Just tell him my surname is Lü, Miss Lü."
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