Chapter 14: Apology or a Favor?
As the afternoon stretched on, sunlight streamed through the clear sky and through the glass windows of Wenjia's room, casting shimmering spots of light on the wooden floor.
The wind rustled through the leaves, but it didn't disturb the figure curled up on the bed. Wen Jia was covered with a thin, off-white blanket, and her breathing was light and even.
Downstairs, the figure that had walked to the door suddenly turned back to the living room sofa, pulled the slightly chilly suit coat around itself, and sat down calmly.
Yu Kaiqing fiddled with the tea leaves on the island counter for a while, then placed three ceramic cups on the coffee table. Hot water steeped the tea leaves, carrying a slightly astringent and sweet aroma.
She smiled sheepishly and pushed the teacup toward the other person: "Mr. Xu, please make do with this. I'm not an expert in tea brewing, so I don't have any special skills, but it should be alright...?"
After she finished speaking, she carefully examined the man opposite her. Only when she saw him pick up his cup with his slender fingers, take a small sip, and then nod in affirmation did she breathe a sigh of relief.
The living room fell silent. Yu Kaiqing felt extremely awkward, but the man opposite her seemed quite used to this silence. Perhaps he was used to being at ease in the business world and never needed to take the initiative to talk to others, so he hesitated to speak.
Yu Kaiqing racked her brains for topics, but what could she and Xu Shaoting possibly talk about? So Wen Jia became the topic.
"Mr. Xu, thank you so much for today. I also have to thank you for last time, you were the one who brought her back," she joked, "I'm having a pretty easy time as her assistant."
"Of course," Xu Shaoting placed the cup on the coffee table, smiling as he subtly changed the subject: "How has she been lately?"
“You’re in good shape,” Yu Kaiqing thought he was referring to Wen Jia falling asleep in someone else’s car, and tried to smooth things over for Wen Jia. “But I’ve been busy. I went to Italy a couple of days ago, then to a celebration party, and then to shoot commercials and stuff. Anyway, I haven’t had a proper rest since I came back from Italy.”
Xu Shaoting nodded. "And before?"
"Before?"
"Before retirement."
“Oh, not to mention before,” Yu Kaiqing said, as if she felt sorry for Wen Jia when talking about that period. “During that time, she was not only busy with announcements, but everything else was coming at her.”
She pursed her lips, and when she spoke again, her tone was tactful, "You know, she has to endure many people and things."
As she finished speaking, she looked down and sipped the last drop of tea, emptying the white porcelain cup. She looked at the man sitting opposite her and suddenly realized she had gone off on a tangent.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Xu, we've gone off on a tangent." She smiled.
Xu Shaoting was clearly listening very attentively to Yu Kaiqing. He lowered his eyes, his brows furrowed slightly, as if he was pondering something. Only when he realized that Yu Kaiqing had stopped speaking did he give a faint smile.
Yu Kaiqing pursed her lips and said, "I've been following Wen Jia around since I graduated from university. Actually, we're about the same age, but don't you think she's much more mature than me?"
Xu Shaoting remained silent, only gesturing with his eyes for her to continue.
“Actually, for the first few years after she entered the industry, she didn’t have an assistant. The company wouldn’t provide one for her, so she had to do everything herself. It was about three or four years after her debut that the company hired me. When I first joined her, she wasn’t as mature as she is now. She was sometimes a bit loud and carefree, and she would occasionally make small mistakes. In fact, many of these things don’t seem like a big deal to us, but the media, rivals, and the public wouldn’t let her off the hook,” Yu Kaiqing’s expression remained calm, but her tone was somewhat sarcastic. “Maybe it’s because criticizing her generates buzz, so the media seizes on small things to write smear articles and buys trending topics. The public is naturally led by the nose by them. Once the wind changes, the public opinion changes too… They say she’s a resource-backed actress, that she’s pretentious, they say whatever nasty things they can get…”
Yu Kaiqing's eyes seemed to well up with tears, which she concealed as she looked out the window and continued, "I remember the most vivid time was on set. She was still filming when a smear campaign came out. That director was no good either; he didn't care about the details and immediately started yelling at her, saying she was affecting the production and other things. The insults were really nasty. Even her former agent, after terminating his contract with Wen Jia, wouldn't let her off the hook and was still backstabbing her. Actually, there were many other things, even small things. When you pile them up on someone, even the lightest snowflake can cause an avalanche. When people go through all this, their character is slowly worn down. Actually, when I think back on it now, I feel that she never did anything wrong from beginning to end, but in the eyes of outsiders, everything she did was wrong."
Yu Kaiqing looked up at the ceiling. "Later, I joked with her, saying, 'Wen Jia, why don't you go and have your fortune told? See if you're destined to be plagued by villains.' She said, 'Having my fortune told won't change my fate. I'll just have to face whatever comes my way; I can't avoid it.'"
"Don't be fooled by her glamorous appearance. She signed with a top agency right after her debut, but the agency doesn't treat people well. She was put into good film crews right after her debut, but only she knows what's really going on in those crews. Even though she's reached the top now, she's worked really hard to be in front of the public."
After listening to these words, Lin Youzhe glanced at Xu Shaoting's expression. If others didn't look closely, they would only think that he had the same calm expression as usual, but Lin Youzhe noticed that there was a layer of coldness in Xu Shaoting's eyes.
Xu Shaoting put down his cup and asked succinctly, "Which director?"
"Huh?" Yu Kaiqing didn't understand his question and blinked.
"Which director insulted her?"
Yu Kaiqing awkwardly tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "...Can I say that?"
Xu Shaoting saw through her worries and smiled, "You can say that you don't need to worry about anything."
Yu Kaiqing gritted her teeth and blurted out, "Shen Qiaowen."
Xu Shaoting subtly glanced at Lin Youzhe.
He then politely finished his tea, put down the cup, and stood up.
“Ms. Yu, thank you for your hospitality. Unfortunately, I have some business to attend to at the company today.” Xu Shaoting glanced at his watch.
After saying this, he glanced at the stairs almost imperceptibly, but only briefly and casually, before quickly looking away.
Since he was leaving, Yu Kaiqing naturally couldn't keep him any longer. She quickly got up to see him off, saying as she walked, "Chairman Xu, come back for dinner again sometime." She led the two of them across the small stone path in front of the villa.
She didn't return to the villa until she had watched the black Maybach drive a hundred meters away from the courtyard.
That night, Yu Kaiqing didn't knock on Wen Jia's door, but let her sleep until she woke up naturally.
At seven o'clock, Wen Jia opened her eyes and habitually tried to push her eye mask away, only to find that she had missed. It was the first time she had ever realized that she could sleep so well without an eye mask.
She was still wearing the same thick cardigan she had worn that afternoon. Wenjia got out of bed, stretched her neck, and shuffled downstairs in her slippers.
As she climbed the stairs, she stretched her shoulders and swung her arms.
Yu Kaiqing nestled on the sofa and heard her move: "You're awake? Are you hungry? I'll make you something to eat."
Wen Jia had just woken up and had no appetite, so she just shook her head and took a bottle of mineral water from the refrigerator.
She walked and drank as she went, then sat down next to Yu Kaiqing on the sofa, her eyes glancing at the three cups on the coffee table.
"You have quite the leisurely pace, drinking three cups of tea all by yourself." Wen Jia didn't seem to mind, and pulled out a square cushion from behind her and hugged it to her chest.
“I can’t drink three cups of tea by myself unless I don’t want to sleep tonight. This is what Chairman Xu and his secretary drank.”
Wen Jia nearly choked on her water, quickly swallowing it before uttering a single syllable: "Huh?"
"Why did you invite them in for tea?" Wen Jia looked at her amusedly. "You're so good at handling things, no wonder you're my assistant."
Yu Kaiqing was embarrassed: "I didn't invite them in for a drink, they came in on their own. You were asleep, and Chairman Xu carried you into the house, you forgot...? So when they come in, I should at least greet them."
Wen Jia didn't black out from drinking; she was just groggy from sleeping. Upon hearing Yu Kaiqing's words, she sat stiffly on the sofa, blinked slowly and mechanically, and uttered a single syllable for the second time.
"ah?"
As her memories returned, Wen Jia closed her eyes, patted her head, and seemed a little lost.
"So you mean I was sleeping soundly upstairs while Xu Shaoting was drinking tea downstairs...?" Wen Jia forgot to call him 'Chairman Xu' at this moment and called him by his full name.
"That's how it is," Yu Kaiqing said seriously.
"Why didn't you call me? That's so inappropriate..." She held her forehead, unsure of what to say.
"Do you think either Chairman Xu or I would be willing to call you?"
Wen Jia took half a minute to react, then buried her face in the sofa with a soft "hmm," her eyes tightly closed. The memories finally became clear: the bumps, the unease, the swaying, and finally the comfort of falling into someone's arms—she remembered them all.
She took out her phone, hesitated for a moment, and then, with a determined heart, dialed Xu Shaoting's number.
The mechanical speaker made a sound for a moment before the call was connected.
"Chairman Xu."
It was completely silent on the other end of the phone.
Xu Shaoting hummed in agreement. "Are you awake?"
"...Just woke up." Wen Jia swallowed awkwardly, unsure of what to say.
"Is there something you need when you call?"
Hearing his absent-minded tone, Wen Jia thought she had disturbed his work, so she picked up her phone and glanced at the time: "Are you still in the office?"
"At home, why?"
Wen Jia nodded slightly on the other end of the line. "It's nothing, I just lost my composure a bit today."
Over there, Xu Shaoting leaned against the sofa in the living room of the villa on the hillside, a cigarette between his fingers. He slowly took a drag, then exhaled the smoke, the mist covering his entire face.
He raised an eyebrow and narrowed his eyes: "What's wrong with your composure?"
Wen Jia didn't know if he was genuinely ignorant or pretending, but regardless, she still had to explain: "He slept directly in your car." She spoke each sentence with intonation.
"It's okay to sleep in my car."
Xu Shaoting curled his lips into a smile on the other end of the phone.
"It's always better to be cautious when you're in someone else's car," he added.
Hearing his deep voice, her heart warmed, and she softly hummed in response.
He then proceeded to berate himself: "You came to visit while I was still sleeping upstairs. Although I know you are magnanimous and won't hold it against me, I still feel bad."
While giving him a "good guy" card, Wen Jia also apologized, her words full of contradictions.
Of course, she wasn't the only one with a conflicted expression. Xu Shaoting listened to her speak, his eyebrows furrowed, but a smile lingered at the corners of his eyes and mouth, which was quite contradictory as well.
"Wen Jia," he called her earnestly, "why are you so sure I won't hold it against you?"
Hearing his words, alarm bells went off in her head, fearing she had given him the "friend card" too early.
"You didn't invite me up for tea last time, and this time I came for tea and you were sleeping upstairs again. What are you planning to do next time?"
Xu Shaoting always spoke in a calm tone, and when they were face to face, she could tell his mood by looking at his expression. But now, with the phone between them, she couldn't even see his expression, and her judgment was thrown off balance.
"Then how do you want me to apologize?" Wen Jia smiled, her tone relaxed.
Xu Shaoting was clearly not expecting Wen Jia to ask such a question. He carefully considered it for a few seconds before replying to her: "Have a meal with me."
He used the word "accompany" instead of "please".
The first time Wen Jia had ever seen someone ask for an apology was by inviting them to dinner. She lowered her eyelids, smiled, and felt a ripple in her heart as a petal fell onto the calm water.
"Is it an apology or a favor?" she joked.
Xu Shaoting extinguished his cigarette, but the fog hadn't dissipated. Through the hazy fog, he spoke, "Please do me the honor of having dinner with me."
Wen Jia stared at the bone china cup on the coffee table, picked it up and examined it.
She didn't agree immediately, but asked, "When?"
"the day after tomorrow."
"I have to walk the red carpet the day after tomorrow..."
He didn't give him a chance to refuse:
"What time do you finish? I'll come pick you up."
A note from the author:
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The transitional chapter is followed by a very exciting and rapidly advancing plot!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
