Chapter 38 The Only One
That night, Wen Jia was kept at the manor by Xu Shaoting.
At 2:30 a.m., in the master bedroom, the maid was ordered to come in for the third time, but she didn't dare to lift her eyes. She only knew to change the third bed sheet quickly and efficiently according to the young master's request.
Xu Shaoting, wearing a bathrobe, leaned against the French windows. After watching the maid leave respectfully, he walked to the sofa, pulled the disheveled woman into his arms, and kissed her forehead.
He looked at the thin layer of sweat on her nose and her slightly heaving chest, and smiled helplessly, "Why are you so tired again?"
Wen Jia weakly opened her blurry eyes to look at him, and said reproachfully, "It's all your fault..."
His skills were too good, and he was patient and had stamina that she found terrifying. Even someone like her who exercises regularly couldn't resist his various teasings, let alone listen to his whispers in her ear. Several times, she couldn't resist in his arms and pitifully begged for mercy, her voice broken and incoherent.
But Xu Shaoting knew that she was just being coquettish. In the end, it was she who couldn't bear for him to stop, or rather, he was really worried about her disheveled appearance and that she wouldn't be able to face anyone during the day, so he half-coaxed and half-persuaded her to take a bath.
That night, Wen Jia didn't dream about Xu Shaoting falling in love with someone else and slept soundly, so she didn't even know that he had left at seven o'clock in the morning.
At 11:00 AM sharp, the Bombardier 7500 took off from Linzhou International Airport on time, heading towards Switzerland along a northwest route.
Yu Jianshan, unusually compassionate, announced that the reading session would not begin until the afternoon. So Wen Jia deliberately did not set an alarm and slept until the sun was high in the sky. When she opened her eyes, she subconsciously reached for the seat next to her, and unsurprisingly, it was empty and cold.
When Xu Shaoting received her video call, he had only been on the plane for about an hour and a half, and hadn't even left Chinese airspace yet.
She lay on her side in bed, one hand supporting her phone, the other covering her forehead. The strong sunlight made her skin appear fair and translucent. She stretched, and only when she heard a deep voice on the other end of the phone did she wake up as if from a dream and look at the screen. She had only called jokingly, intending for him to see it after he got off the plane and call back, but she hadn't expected it to actually be answered. So he could see her sleepy eyes clearly.
She was slightly flustered. "How did you actually get through? Weren't you on the plane? Or did you lie to me and not even leave the country?"
"...The airplane has a net."
Wen Jia reacted in two seconds, buried his head in the pillow, and made a "hmm" sound. He felt that he had just gotten up and his rationality had not yet returned. He felt a little embarrassed, forgetting that he would never condescend to squeeze onto a commercial airliner.
"What's up with the video call?" he asked seriously.
Wen Jia was still grumpy from waking up. Hearing his polite, business-like tone, she was slightly dissatisfied. "Why are you so cold?"
Xu Shaoting cleared his throat. "I was just having a video conference."
"You mean I bothered you?"
"Good riddance."
Wen Jia's eyes gradually curved into a smile. "I..." She changed her mind before she could finish her sentence, as if she couldn't bring herself to say it. "Is there anyone else with you?"
Xu Shaoting seemed to know what she wanted to say, raised his eyes and glanced at the three flight attendants waiting to the side, then raised his chin.
The flight attendant, with great insight, retreated behind the curtain.
He waited until the cabin was completely empty before turning his gaze back to the screen and asking slowly, "What's wrong?"
Wen Jia said in a muffled voice, "I think I'm starting to miss you a little..."
"Just seems?"
"Just a little?"
"Wouldn't it be too insincere to say I miss you now? You should still be in China, right? These kinds of words are precious. I'll wait until you get to Switzerland before I say them."
Wen Jia suddenly became rational.
"explain."
Xu Shaoting gave the order indifferently, as if he only ever waited for others to flatter him.
She boldly ignored his orders, rambling on about this and that, refusing to directly say she missed him. In the end, he chuckled indulgently and gave in to her:
"I miss you as well."
The video call kept her fully conscious until it was finally cut off by Zhang Linzhi's phone call.
She hung up on this end and hurriedly answered the other.
Zhang Linzhi's high-pitched voice assaulted her eardrums right from the start of the morning:
"Grandma, you and him got photographed again! I saw it prominently trending on social media as soon as I woke up. Can you please be a little more discreet?!"
Wen Jia took two seconds to process her words before calmly replying, "I am dating him."
Five seconds of dead silence followed on both ends of the phone, then an unbelievable single syllable came through:
"ah?"
Even if Wen Jia hadn't said anything, she could have guessed it, but she hadn't expected that Wen Jia, who had always glossed over things before, would admit it so quickly this time.
Wen Jia gave a soft "hmm," which was taken as acquiescence. She thought she was going to be scolded, but Zhang Linzhi completely missed the point and just asked quietly, "What was your mother's reaction?"
“My mom already knew, but she didn’t react.”
"Jesus, you're still alive and well."
"Your mother knows everything, but what about Kaiqing?"
"She was the first to know."
Where is Lin Xi?
She was the second.
"You mean I'm the last person around you to find out?"
Wen Jia smiled slyly, "More or less."
Zhang Linzhi was silent for half a minute, then suddenly raised her voice, as if she were about to teach someone a lesson.
Where are you now?
"His home."
"..."
Wen Jia instinctively covered her other ear. "Why aren't you angry? I was already prepared for what you'd say."
"Why are you being mentioned? He's not bad at all. A 60 million diamond ring! If I were you, I would have agreed too."
Zhang Linzhi has always been straightforward in her speech, and her tone is always frank, which makes Wen Jia feel comfortable and at ease.
Wen Jia feigned surprise, "How did you know? Has it already reached your ears?"
"...Don't play innocent. You've been in this industry for so long and you're still so naive? I vaguely heard about the diamond ring that night, didn't I even help you teach Shen Qiaowen a lesson?"
"This got out?"
"Mmm."
“It wasn’t a lesson…” Wen Jia explained, “He doesn’t act recklessly. He just had Shen Qiaowen apologize to me.”
Zhang Linzhi felt relieved for her, let out a big sigh of relief, and let her bangs fly up in the wind. "Haha, that bitch Shen Qiaowen should have been dealt with long ago."
“No,” Wen Jia said, feeling a strange sense of relief, “Why didn’t you scold me? Weren’t you very unhappy when Zhou Jingcheng and I were about to have a scandal?”
She felt that she was in good spirits, had normal values, and a sound personality, and should not have masochistic tendencies, but she was very unaccustomed to not being scolded by Zhang Linzhi for the first time.
Zhang Linzhi started firing indiscriminately again, "Zhou Jingcheng isn't a good person either, but... well, never mind, he did help you before, and you're indebted to him, so let's not talk about him."
"So you were unhappy before because you didn't approve of my relationship with Zhou Jingcheng, and not because I was dating?"
"I guess so," Zhang Linzhi sighed, her words lacking any mercy. "If you were dating during your rising career, I would definitely scold you. But scolding you now would be too much of a beast. You can't really never date, can you? Besides, I didn't scold you, I was just advising you. You can't say I scolded you just because I speak bluntly, fast, and loudly. That's so pretentious."
"You're definitely different from my former manager. When I was dating Song Yanlin, my former manager didn't say anything, and he was certainly free..."
“Everyone has their own considerations,” Zhang Linzhi laughed with satisfaction. “Actually, if the man is a good person, everyone will give their blessings, but don’t be too high-profile or cause trouble. I trust you with that; you’re not the kind of person who likes to show off.”
"I'm not ready to make it official yet."
"Alright, you decide this yourself. If you're really going to make it official, at least tell your PR team. Don't just announce it by yourself, understand? And don't let men cloud your judgment. It's best to balance love and career, otherwise you'll end up like Li Shuke. Look at her, she gave up being the second sister of Xing Shuo to have a baby. Now look what happened, she has the baby, but her husband cheated on her, and her career collapsed. What's the point?"
"But her husband is rich, so she can get a large sum of money if they divorce."
“That’s true, maybe that’s what she’s after,” Zhang Linzhi said disdainfully. “Anyway, I don’t want you to become like her. You have to hold onto your position as the top star of Xing Shuo for me, hold on tight, hold on for the rest of your life.”
"Okay, sis, I'll always listen to you."
Every time Wen Jia talks to Zhang Linzhi on the phone, even if it's just for casual conversation, she feels at ease and responds obediently.
Zhang Linzhi lamented, "Now she doesn't get any of the company's resources. Although she's not under my supervision, I still often feel sorry for her. I always felt that if she had followed the path the company had set for her, she could have achieved something..."
"It's probably just bad luck. Although she's the second sister, she's never really had a big breakout. She's always been lukewarm, which is a real shame. So I was just telling the PR team that your ability to get involved in all sorts of scandals isn't all bad. You can easily make it onto the entertainment charts with just a couple of hits, which saves our PR department a lot of money on buying keywords."
Wen Jia chuckled twice, "Your mentality is exactly what makes you a star. If you debuted, I probably wouldn't stand a chance as the number one star in Star Shine."
"Come on, stop pretending. Praising me is useless; you need to take what I tell you to heart."
After listening to Zhang Linzhi's sighs and her earnest advice, Wen Jia was completely awakened. After hanging up the phone, she leisurely opened Weibo.
This time, the trending topic was ranked second on the entertainment list. Unlike before, this time there was no word "hot" next to it, but it was still eye-catching enough. The topic was simply two words:
#Wenjia#
She clicked in to take a look, and this time the marketing account was surprisingly objective:
[@CelebrityBehaviorObservationBot: Last night, gossip media outlets reported that Wen Jia was seen intimately posing with a man. In the photos, Wen Jia appeared completely unconcerned, getting into the man's car. The two were behaving very intimately inside the car, talking for nearly ten minutes before the vehicle drove directly to Fushan Avenue. It's reported that Wen Jia has previously been rumored to be dating this man, and some eagle-eyed netizens have identified him as the chairman of Tianxu Group. If this is indeed a relationship, would you all offer your blessings? #WenJia #WenJiaRelationship]
This time, the paparazzi successfully captured Xu Shaoting's face. One of the photos shows him leaning against the car, staring straight at the person opposite him. Although it was a leaked photo, the paparazzi's photography skills are incredibly good. Despite the slightly blurry image taken from a distance, his temperament and figure are unmistakable.
She even had the urge to ask the paparazzi for a watermark-free version.
The remaining photos show the two being intimate in the car. The shutter was pressed from the front of the car, and you can catch a glimpse of her hooking her arms around his neck and tilting her head back for a kiss.
Because it was taken through a closed, dark car window, it appears ambiguous, hazy, and taboo.
Wen Jia clicked into the comments section, and the first few comments were quite positive:
Let's congratulate the newlyweds! [Congratulations][Congratulations][Congratulations]
[My sister is finally in love again! She's dedicated to acting and enjoying a sweet romance! [Congratulations!]]
[So pleasing to the eye! Only a man like this is worthy of me. All female celebrities in the Chinese entertainment industry should take note and stop dating men who are like kappa! [Cracking face] This is the kind of style we love!]
[A good standard for a man and a woman... Does anyone understand my description?]
Some netizens didn't hold back and boldly brought up old friends:
Who dares to tag syl?
【@SongYanlinLynn-】
[There's a rumor circulating that these two are starring together in a new drama. Is it true?]
Song Yanlin's fans are dignified and rational:
Song Yanlin is about to join a new film crew to focus on filming. Please pay more attention to his work! [flower emoji] Let bygones be bygones; may everyone be well and happy.
Wishing Sister Wen all the best, please don't mention her!
Thank you everyone for remembering, but you're all old friends~ [cute] Our Teacher Song is now a dedicated and active actor, and we welcome everyone to check out his upcoming drama "Nothing But Thirty"!
There are certainly quite a few people with sharp eyes:
[This time it's confirmed, right? I'm sure this is the same person who was exposed before. They look so alike. Although the car is different, the side profile in this picture is exactly the same.]
I agree [facepalm] and when they clarified things back then, I didn't believe they were just friends, and sure enough, they were.
Am I mistaken? I remember he was about to marry someone, but I forgot who the woman was. But it's true.
I remember! But it was a long time ago, so I guess many people don't recall it.
...
Because this blog post blatantly revealed Xu Shaoting's identity, some netizens followed the internet to find Tianxu Group's official Weibo account and Xu Shaoting's personal Weibo account.
However, netizens who always love to watch the drama and gossip managed to maintain their last shred of rationality and did not dare to cause trouble in these two comment sections.
But Wen Jia dared.
She clicked on Xu Shaoting's Weibo homepage. It was a verified account, but compared to his actual personality, his Weibo seemed quite casual. He had zero followers, and didn't even follow the official Weibo account of Tianxu Group. His profile picture and background were default, and his personal bio was concise and clear.
Director of Tianxu Group and Executive Director of Yunxi Technology.
The most recent Weibo post was a repost from a year ago, used to promote the new spokesperson for Tianxu Group's products.
However, Wen Jia was perceptive enough to realize from the Weibo post that it was not Xu Shaoting who reposted it personally, but rather someone else did it on his behalf.
This man probably doesn't use Weibo much. Without thinking twice, Wen Jia found one of his few original Weibo posts and wrote a cryptic and intriguing comment.
-
Zurich winters are cold. When the Bombardier landed at the international airport at 3 p.m. local time, the first snow of the winter had just begun to fall.
The tires glided slowly across the airport runway, leaving two parallel dark marks, and finally came to a steady stop on the tarmac. The cabin door was pushed open by the flight attendants, and the man slowly appeared in the gangway.
The private jet was fully equipped, and Xu Shaoting rested and tidied up on board.
He had changed his clothes; a dark Chester coat, the Zurich snow falling on his shoulders, quickly seeping into the fine fabric, becoming a small, transparent patch. His tie was slowly lifted as he put on black leather gloves and strode down the gangway.
A team was already standing respectfully in front of the plane, one group responsible for arranging his luggage and the other for receiving him.
"Chairman Xu, the villa has already been cleaned and tidied up."
Yang Ruiming was among the first group of employees sent to Switzerland. He has been based in Switzerland for nearly six years, handling everything personally and helping Tianxu expand its business in Europe. He is another confidant of Xu Shaoting besides Lin Youzhe.
Xu Shaoting nodded slightly, "Thank you for your hard work."
Then she handed him the phone.
After a nearly eleven-hour flight, Xu Shaoting spent one hour in a video conference with employees of his Swiss company, and the rest of the time resting to adjust to the time difference. The first thing he did after switching to a local SIM card was to open WeChat. Eight or nine out of ten work-related messages were blocked by Lin Youzhe and his subordinates, not reaching him personally, making his personal messages stand out conspicuously:
10 hours ago:
It looks like it's snowing in Zurich today.
9 hours ago:
"Those darn paparazzi, they've photographed the two of us again!"
【picture】
【picture】
【picture】
"How come the filming turned out pretty good? It's not bad at all."
7 hours ago:
【picture】
【picture】
"The watermark-free version, guess how I got it?"
"I had my agent ask the paparazzi for it personally, and when I sent him a private message on Weibo, he thought he'd been scammed, hahaha."
"Does this count as me indirectly admitting something?"
6 hours ago:
"Mr. Xu, how come you have over a million followers on Weibo? Did you buy them?"
"Why aren't you following me on Weibo! I've already followed you."
"When are you planning to follow me back, Mr. Xu? It would be best if I could be your only follower."
4 hours ago:
"I need to get back to work now. Even though I've gotten to know Yu Jianshan better, he still seems a bit serious. Does he never smile?"
"And he speaks very bluntly."
2 hours ago:
"Let me know when you've landed safely."
Wen Jia knew that he was probably resting and adjusting to the time difference, so he was talking to himself and asking and answering questions.
Xu Shaoting got into the car and read through the messages word by word. He didn't reply immediately, but instead sent a message to Yu Jianshan first. Then he returned to the chat box with Wen Jia, quoted each message, and replied to each one. After replying, he made a video call without saying anything else.
When Xu Shaoting dialed the first number, Wen Jia didn't answer. He patiently dialed again after 20 minutes. The phone rang for half a minute before it was answered.
At 10:30 p.m. in China, Wen Jia stepped out of the bathroom, drying her hair with one hand and holding her phone with the other to answer a video call.
Xu Shaoting stared intently at her on the screen for several seconds, without blinking, "Why didn't you answer just now?"
"I was just taking a shower. You've arrived in Switzerland."
Through the camera, she could see that he had changed his clothes; he was dressed impeccably in a shirt, vest, and tie, and the thin layer of black velvet on the lapel of his coat made him appear even more sophisticated and noble.
Xu Shaoting hummed in agreement, "Just got off the plane."
"You replied to my message as soon as you got off the plane?"
Are you satisfied?
Wen Jia's heart was unsettled by his presence, and she nodded. Hearing his languid tone, she stopped drying her hair and looked at him closely. "Are you very tired?"
"I was a little tired just now, but I'm not tired anymore."
Wen Jia lay on the bed, propped her chin up, and looked at the screen with a smile. "Why?"
Why do you think so?
Wen Jia was a little distracted and didn't dare to look at him. She just turned over and lay on the bed, sighing softly, "If I said I missed you, would you fly back to see me?"
Xu Shaoting answered objectively, "It depends on how far you want to go."
Wen Jia said in a thought-provoking way, "To the extent of indulging in fantasies."
The video call lasted for nearly half an hour. After hanging up, Wen Jia checked his Weibo account and saw that the number of followers had clearly changed to 1.
The only one.
-----------------------
Author's Note: What did Chairman Xu send to Yu Jianshan? It's so hard to guess!
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