Chapter 4, "If you don't mind, get in the car..."
The thunder was fleeting, but the rain continued to fall. Wen Jia's dress was sleeveless, and as she moved, she slightly touched the cold tiles behind her, making her feel a little chilly.
"I might misunderstand what you're saying, Mr. Xu."
"What misunderstanding?" Xu Shaoting raised an eyebrow, not waiting for her to answer, "You still haven't told me what your relationship with Zhou Jingcheng is."
Wen Jia remained silent and did not speak.
He continued, "Don't overthink it, I'm just curious. I won't force you to answer if you don't want to."
Wen Jia subtly avoided his question, neither saying she was willing nor unwilling, but simply asking, "Does curiosity necessarily mean knowing the answer?"
The problem was like a ball, being kicked back and forth between the two of them, going around in circles.
He explained casually, "I just handed Zhou Jingcheng my business card, you saw it," he said, his gaze subtly fixed on her. "We'll inevitably have some business dealings in the future, and if he's the kind of person who has improper relationships with others, I won't consider cooperating with him." Xu Shaoting's tone was serious enough that it seemed he was simply stating something that had nothing to do with him.
"That's all?" she asked, listening to Xu Shaoting's explanation.
“That’s all.” Xu Shaoting nodded firmly. “Otherwise, what else could it be, Miss Wen?”
Wen Jia breathed a sigh of relief, raised an eyebrow, and joked with him, "It's nothing, you can't be doing this because of gossip."
Xu Shaoting chuckled lightly, "You're joking." Then, he calmly lowered his head and straightened his cuffs. Actually, his cuffs were already neat enough, but he still couldn't help but tidy them up, left and right. The tourbillon watch face, which was covered by his suit jacket, emerged with his movements.
The thunderstorm subsided, and the corridor was so quiet that the faint mechanical sound of the gears turning in his watch could be heard, barely perceptible, yet Wen Jia could hear it.
She calmly replied, "Chairman Xu, why are you so certain that even if I have a relationship with Zhou Jingcheng, it's an improper one? Can't we have a proper relationship?"
"You don't seem like it."
"What's the reason?"
“I’ve never seen two people in a proper relationship where the woman is so resistant to the man’s touch, so I say you don’t seem like it. As for whether he does, I think you know better than I do.”
Since Xu Shaoting had already figured it out, Wen Jia felt there was no point in hiding it and confessed to him: "Indeed, he and I have a very ordinary relationship, but Zhou Jingcheng has always had some ulterior motives, which I don't like, so I have to pretend to be ignorant."
Although she holds several awards and, based on her achievements, she is fully deserving of the title of "senior" among newcomers in the industry, her achievements have always been limited to the entertainment industry. Compared to the capital of someone like Zhou Jingcheng, her achievements are ultimately insignificant.
Wen Jia wasn't exaggerating; she truly lacked the power to contend with Zhou Jingcheng.
Are you afraid of him?
"I wouldn't say I'm afraid," Wen Jia said nonchalantly, looking down at her neat, rounded nails.
Xu Shaoting took half a step closer to her, his black leather shoes and the woman's stiletto heels clashing together. The dark suit trousers on the shoes, pressed without a single wrinkle, made Wen Jia's calves appear even more slender and fair.
Xu Shaoting stopped, narrowed his eyes, looked down at the person in front of him, and concluded: "You're afraid of offending him."
Wen Jia's expression was very frank, and she smiled generously at the man opposite her: "People like them have a lot of power and influence. If they want to blacklist someone, it's just a matter of a word. I don't want to ruin my career, so it's normal for me to be afraid, isn't it?"
Wen Jia immediately fell silent after saying that, then suddenly realized something was wrong and said in a joking tone, "Oh, sorry, I forgot that you're the same kind of person as him, Chairman Xu. You won't blacklist me for saying this, will you?"
Xu Shaoting found the woman in front of him very interesting: "What makes you think I would specifically choose one person to make a movie, and then blacklist her?"
"Who knows, some people just have this kind of fetish...and I heard..." Wen Jia seemed to recall some gossip she had heard somewhere a long time ago, and muttered to herself.
Xu Shaoting frowned slightly: "What?"
Wen Jia laughed it off, saying, "It's nothing, but I still have to thank you for getting me out of that situation."
Xu Shaoting glanced at her, nodded slightly, and said nothing more.
The atmosphere froze.
Wen Jia almost forgot that she came out to touch up her makeup. Now that she had been outside for a while, she decided to just take out her lipstick mirror from her handbag and do a quick touch-up.
Xu Shaoting understood what she was going to do, and turned away at the right moment, avoiding her gaze.
The corridor was quiet for a few seconds, then a crisp sound was heard as Wen Jia deftly put her lipstick back on: "I'm going back now, Chairman Xu."
Xu Shaoting came to his senses and was about to return to the banquet hall when he followed her for a few steps. The two walked one after the other. He looked at Wen Jia's graceful back as she crossed her arms and rubbed her arms.
Are you cold?
"It's not cold."
The next second, a man's suit jacket, still warm from her body, was draped over her: "Wear this for now."
Just as Wen Jia was about to reach out and pull, the banquet hall doors opened.
The person standing at the door was none other than Zhou Jingcheng.
He stood in the shadows and saw the man and woman in front of him, as well as the man's suit worn by the woman. He was clearly stunned. Of course, he wasn't the only one who was stunned; Wen Jia was also stunned. The only one who remained calm and composed was Xu Shaoting.
Zhou Jingcheng concealed his surprise and asked with a thoughtful expression, "Why is Chairman Xu with her?"
Zhou Jingcheng spoke to Xu Shaoting, but his eyes were fixed on Wen Jia. Clearly, he showed no respect, neither in words nor in his eyes.
Upon hearing this, Xu Shaoting's expression flashed with impatience. He knew perfectly well that Zhou Jingcheng wanted Wen Jia to answer in person.
However, he placed his hand over Wen Jia's back through his suit jacket, gently and lightly pushing her through the door.
"You go in first."
Wen Jia was clearly exhausted from dealing with Zhou Jingcheng, and Xu Shaoting's actions suited her perfectly. She felt like she had been granted a pardon and returned to the inner area wearing his suit jacket.
Xu Shaoting put on that polite, refined smile again: "I ran into Miss Wen in the corridor just now and we chatted for a bit."
Inside the banquet hall, Zhuang Yansong was still speaking on the stage, so no one noticed the doorway.
The sound from the speakers lingered throughout the venue, the low-frequency waves like heavy hammer blows to the chest, drowning out the voices of the two people. Wen Jia walked further and further away, and she could not hear the conversation that followed clearly. She held Xu Shaoting's well-tailored suit jacket and walked a distance before turning back to look at the two people at the door.
Suddenly, a piercing scream rang in my ears.
Wen Jia turned around abruptly. Half a meter in front of her, a strange woman was about to pass by, but she tripped over the trailing hem of her skirt and fell forward due to inertia.
She was about to fall face down—
Wen Jia instinctively grabbed the stranger's arm and pulled her back.
The strange woman had one hand held tightly by Wen Jia, while her other hand gripped a glass of champagne tightly.
Wen Jia was wearing high heels, which made her unsteady to begin with. The person in front of her staggered a few steps due to inertia, forcing Wen Jia to retreat repeatedly.
Afraid of falling, she gritted her teeth, braced her upper body against the weight of the stranger, and firmly steadied herself with her lower body, thus preventing herself from falling backward.
The stranger finally realized what was happening, straightened up from Wen Jia's embrace, and said "I'm sorry" several times.
Fortunately, neither of them fell, however—
Wen Jia looked down at the men's suit jacket draped over her shoulders, its chest stained with a large amount of champagne.
The wine glass in the strange woman's hand had spilled out without her noticing, and it happened to land on Xu Shaoting's suit jacket.
Many times, Wen Jia couldn't figure out whether to blame fate for deliberately making things difficult for her, or to blame herself for being unlucky.
For example, right now, it's embarrassing enough that Zhou Jingcheng has caught me wearing Xu Shaoting's clothes, but to make matters worse, the fabric is stained because of me, and to make matters worse, the clothes belong to Xu Shaoting.
The three matters were like a tangled maze, intertwined and linked, trapping her in a dilemma.
Wen Jia tore off her clothes; fortunately, they were dark-colored, so the wetness wasn't very noticeable.
"What's wrong?" A male voice came from afar, and Zhou Jingcheng walked into the venue in two quick steps.
Wen Jia gave him a perfunctory reply, then looked at Xu Shaoting behind him with a wry smile.
Xu Shaoting didn't say a word, seemingly unconcerned about the disastrous state of his suit.
Seeing his calm expression, Wen Jia knew perfectly well that Xu Shaoting wouldn't hold a grudge against her over a suit. However, the situation was awkward, and she felt bad about it. She forced a smile and apologized to Xu Shaoting, "Mr. Xu... I'll send the suit to the dry cleaners and return it to you after it's cleaned."
Xu Shaoting's face showed no obvious expression, revealing neither joy nor sorrow: "No need to trouble yourself."
Wen Jia ran her fingers over the suit in her hand. It was smooth and heavy, unlike the thin fabric of ready-made suits on the market. It must have been made of high-quality material.
In the adult world, there are many twists and turns. Sometimes, being straightforward is worse than being coy. Wen Jia said frankly, "Then I would feel guilty."
Xu Shaoting pondered for a while, naturally knowing that not going along with Wen Jia's wishes would only make her more embarrassed, so he withdrew his hand that was about to take back the suit, and gave her more leeway: "You can send it to be washed when you have time."
*
It was past nine o'clock, and the celebration banquet was nearing its end, but Zhou Jingcheng and Zhuang Yansong were still tirelessly socializing with people.
Some of the guests had already left. Wen Jia felt bored and prepared to go back. She took a mask out of her handbag, loosened the clips in her hair, and let her hair down before taking the elevator down to the basement.
Just now, Yu Kaiqing sent a message asking when she would pick her up. Wen Jia was unsure and only said that she would let her know when it was over. At this moment, Wen Jia was standing in the shadows of the parking lot and dialed her number.
The phone beeped twice mechanically, and a blinding white high beam flashed into Wen Jia's peripheral vision from afar. She raised her hand to shield her eyes from the light.
The tires slid silently to the front of Wen Jia, and the black car braked lightly, coming to a stop very steadily.
The passenger window rolled down, and the tall person in the driver's seat had to duck slightly to see Wen Jia.
"Is someone coming to pick me up?" The man in the driver's seat had one hand on the steering wheel and the other casually resting on the center console.
Looking through the lowered car window, Wen Jia couldn't see Xu Shaoting's eyes, only his sharp jawline, his handsome, straight nose, his white shirt, and his meticulously tied dark tie.
He took off his watch and casually draped it over the center console.
Wen Jia's phone wasn't on speakerphone, but the parking lot was eerily quiet at night, making the woman's voice on the other end of the line all the more noticeable.
"Is it over? I'll go answer it now?" Yu Kaiqing's voice came through the receiver.
Xu Shaoting's face was half-hidden in shadow. He seemed to smile slightly: "Miss Wen, what a coincidence," he said, then pressed the unlock button on the passenger side. "If you don't mind, please get in."
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