Chapter 5 "I'm afraid you might suddenly change your mind and ask me to go upstairs..."
Xu Shaoting tilted his head, his expression nonchalant. He could see right through her. He had expected Wen Jia to make excuses, and sure enough, the next second, she waved her phone with the screen lit up: "My assistant will come to pick me up, Mr. Xu."
"Then ask her now, if I drive you or she comes to pick you up, which one will she choose?" Xu Shaoting smiled.
He had barely finished speaking when Yu Kaiqing's voice came through the receiver. Clearly, she was also listening intently. Her tone was a little wary and hesitant, "Chairman Xu's voice? He brought you back?"
When Wen Jia agreed to star in the movie, Yu Kaiqing was also present when she signed the contract, so it's no wonder she recognized Xu Shaoting's voice.
Wen Jia closed her eyes briefly: "Yes, it's him. Maybe you should do it..."
Before Wen Jia could finish speaking, the person on the other end of the phone betrayed her swiftly: "Since Chairman Xu is taking you, I won't go. I'm currently working on your schedule for the next week. Be careful on your way back, don't get photographed. Wear your mask properly. I have to hang up now, I'm so busy..."
Wen Jia took the phone away from her ear, gritted her teeth, glanced at the screen, and then angrily hung up the phone.
Xu Shaoting sat in the car, leisurely observing the people outside. Instead of asking her to get in, he adjusted the air conditioning temperature with his left hand and changed the car radio with his right. After doing these things, he picked up the watch on the center console with his slender fingers and slowly put it back on his wrist.
"Aren't you afraid of being seen if you stand here any longer?" Xu Shaoting lowered his eyelashes, not looking at Wen Jia. He rested his watch face on his wrist, as if all his attention was focused on wearing the watch, and asking her a question was just a casual thing to do.
His movements were fluid and unhurried, so patient that it didn't seem like he was waiting for a woman to get in the car, but rather that Wen Jia was waiting for him to get out.
Wen Jia hesitated for a long time before finally stepping forward and pulling the doorknob.
The car door closed with a dull thud, separating the inside of the car from the outside into two enclosed spaces.
Xu Shaoting then raised his eyes, turned to look at her, his gaze unreadable.
"Why is Chairman Xu looking at me like that?" She felt embarrassed by his gaze and subconsciously tugged at her mask and smoothed her long hair.
"Don't you feel like you've forgotten something?"
"Forgot what?" Wen Jia took a few seconds to process, then feigned sudden realization. "Forgot to thank you? I'll say thank you when I get out of the car. I didn't expect you, Chairman Xu, to be so mindful of a thank you..."
She understood, her expression revealing her knowledge of him: "You probably hear this kind of thing a hundred times a day... Is there someone who rode in your car and didn't thank you, making you hold a grudge?" She then smiled at Xu Shaoting.
Xu Shaoting raised an eyebrow and patiently listened to her unrestrained and imaginative ramblings.
Does reading too many scripts lead to such a rich imagination?
He remained silent for a moment.
"……seat belt."
"..."
The car fell silent. The awkward atmosphere in the enclosed space was thick and heavy, making Wen Jia feel like she was suffocating. After a long while, there was a 'smack' sound. Wen Jia slapped her forehead, deliberately turned her back to the driver, and pulled on her seatbelt to fasten it.
Xu Shaoting watched her embarrassed back with a half-smile.
The metal buckle made a crisp sound, and the car engine started up at the same time. Wen Jia turned her head, gave the address, and the car drove onto the main road.
Unbeknownst to anyone, in the shadow of the square pillar in the parking lot, the barrel of a telephoto lens was silently and slowly extending into the darkness.
*
Hsu Shao-ting seems to have a strong preference for woody scents.
The woody scent in his car was even stronger than the scent on him. The crisp, refreshing aroma subtly entered Wenjia's nose, while the woody scent intertwined with the floral and fruity fragrance on her body, entering the nose of another person.
There wasn't much traffic on the road at night. He drove very steadily, switching between the accelerator and brake smoothly. Xu Shaoting deliberately didn't accelerate, and the engine's breathing was suppressed to near perfect silence, and the car returned to quiet.
"Why do you live so far away?" Xu Shaoting finally spoke after a long silence.
Wen Jia's eyes flickered, surprised that he would suddenly ask such a question, but she still answered truthfully, "I just want some peace and quiet," she sighed almost inaudibly, "When I used to live in a big apartment, paparazzi would squat in the corner of the parking lot every day to take pictures of me. Actually, it's not that I'm afraid of exposing my privacy, public figures... privacy has been flying everywhere for a long time... I'm just very afraid of the kind of peeping eyes they have, as if they want to strip me bare inside and out, and dig out something."
"Their sinister gaze really gave me the creeps, so later on, I even needed my assistant to take out the trash for me." Wen Jia habitually looked down at her clean fingernails.
Xu Shaoting frowned slightly but remained silent.
After a long while, Wen Jia's handbag on her lap made a sound. She took out her phone, glanced at the screen, and her breath caught in her throat.
Zhou Jingcheng's call came in at a very inopportune time.
Wen Jia held her phone but didn't answer. Xu Shaoting glanced at her, respecting her privacy and not even glancing at her phone screen, but he still guessed what was going on.
"Zhou Jingcheng's phone call?"
Wen Jia nodded.
Xu Shaoting inexplicably recalled the conversation in the banquet hall corridor earlier—
You're afraid of him.
You're afraid of offending him.
"Why didn't you answer?" he asked deliberately, his expression unchanged.
Wen Jia cleared her throat and, as usual, pressed the answer button with great determination.
She deliberately avoided hands-free calling and held the phone close to her ear.
"You're gone?" Zhou Jingcheng spoke first.
“They’ve been gone for a while…” Wen Jia prayed in her heart that Zhou Jingcheng would stop asking such obvious questions. Where else could they have gone if she wasn’t there?
"Why did you leave without saying goodbye?"
Wen Jia bit her lip, but was quite honest: "I saw you were chatting with someone else, so I didn't disturb you."
The car was quiet, making it difficult for Xu Shaoting to miss the conversation.
"How did you get back? I was going to ask someone to take you." Zhou Jingcheng always managed to ask her questions, even through the screen, questions she didn't know how to answer.
Wen Jia gripped her phone tightly, glanced at the person driving, and hesitated for a few seconds before saying, "My assistant came to pick me up." Her voice trailed off.
Upon hearing this, the man called 'assistant' frowned, suddenly stepped on the brakes, but released them immediately after only a second, and the car resumed its normal speed, gliding along.
But Wen Jia's body still leaned forward slightly due to inertia, and her heart tightened.
"Be careful on the road." Zhou Jingcheng seemed to have drunk a lot of alcohol, as his voice came through the receiver very unclearly.
"Okay, I'll hang up now." This time, Wen Jia took the initiative to hang up the phone.
There was a two-second silence inside the car.
Why don't you tell him the truth?
Her phone's lock screen sounded at the same time as Xu Shaoting's voice.
Xu Shaoting kept his eyes fixed ahead, his emotions unreadable.
"Too lazy to explain."
"What?"
“If I tell him you’re taking me home, he’ll ask me all sorts of questions, and I’m too lazy to explain.” Wen Jia looked troubled and turned to look out the car window.
The darkness outside formed a natural backdrop, and Xu Shaoting's white shirt and black tie were reflected in the window. She stared at them blankly for a while.
"Miss Wen." Now Xu Shaoting couldn't see her face, but he called out to her casually.
Wen Jia turned around and waited for him to speak.
"Have you ever considered that you don't need to explain to him?"
Wen Jia looked at Xu Shaoting's profile. The overhead light shone on his high, straight nose, casting a long, slanted shadow.
She suddenly remembered that when they met once, he had said something in a calm and unhurried manner that had struck her like a thunderbolt—"Miss Wen is preparing to give up her acting career?"
Both of them understood that the question did not need to be answered. Wen Jia remained silent, slowly leaning her head back in her seat with her eyes closed. The overhead light cast a long shadow under her eyes.
Forty minutes later, the black car drove into the villa complex.
"Wenjia." He turned his head and glanced in her direction, calling her name, unsure whether she was asleep or not.
The person whose name was called was clearly not asleep. Xu Shaoting lowered his voice enough to make her open her eyes as if she had been disturbed.
Which building?
"Turn left at the end of the road and you'll arrive."
After driving in silence for another two minutes, Xu Shaoting gently applied the brakes, and the car stopped in front of a beige French-style villa.
The porch light was on, its warm glow making the villa's small front yard feel cozy even in late autumn.
Wen Jia unbuckled her seatbelt and smiled at the man: "I'm leaving now, Mr. Xu. I'll return the suit to you after it's washed."
Xu Shaoting, with his hands on the steering wheel, looked at her calmly: "You're coming to return it yourself?"
Wen Jia seemed not to have considered this issue, and after thinking for two seconds, she said, "It depends. It's possible that my assistant will return it. You've met my assistant before. When she goes to your company, remember to let her through." Wen Jia winked at him jokingly.
Wen Jia opened the doorknob, and just as one leg touched the ground, she seemed to remember something and pulled it back.
She turned around and looked at Xu Shaoting, a playful expression naturally appearing on her face: "Oh, I forgot, I promised to say thank you when I got off the car."
Xu Shaoting took two seconds to react, then looked at her and smiled slowly.
His smile was casual and relaxed, completely different from the business-like smile he had at the party earlier.
"It's not convenient for me to invite you up for tea, Mr. Xu, you won't mind, will you?" she asked deliberately.
Xu Shaoting knew she was joking, so he drove back, his tone flippant: "What if I said yes?"
Wen Jia laughed along with him and shrugged: "Well, there's nothing I can do about it. You know there are a lot of paparazzi around me. If you go up for tea now and get photographed and the headlines go viral, it'll be a disaster. My reputation is more important."
"If you get photographed, I'll pay you to have it removed."
Having money is good.
Wen Jia panicked, afraid that he would really go up. After all, he had long legs, and it would only be a matter of him taking a few steps to get up.
Moreover, if he really went up there, Wen Jia might have to bring out the finest red wine and tea to properly entertain this prince.
Thinking of this, Wen Jia glanced at him and, in order to shut him up, suddenly got out of the car.
He propped himself up with one hand, calmly watching her slightly flustered expression.
“These days, paparazzi don’t buy everything, see you later.” Wen Jia stood at the car door, raising an eyebrow at Xu Shaoting. Without waiting for his reply, she slammed the car door shut and walked towards the villa gate.
Xu Shaoting sat in the car, one arm casually resting on the half-lowered window. He watched Wen Jiaqian's beautiful figure walk through the courtyard and then enter the gate, and suddenly smiled.
*
Yu Kaiqing is a very competent assistant. Wen Jia is a person who has difficulty getting up in the morning. When Wen Jia was semi-retired from the entertainment industry a couple of years ago, the two of them lived separately. Now that Wen Jia has a lot of business activities, Yu Kaiqing simply moved into the guest bedroom of her villa to make it easier to wake her up the next day.
At that moment, Yu Kaiqing was sitting cross-legged on the sofa with her laptop on, arranging Wen Jia's schedule for the next week. When she heard the electronic lock on the front door ring, she greeted Wen Jia without even looking up, as if she were the owner of the villa.
Wen Jia changed into slippers and slowly walked to the refrigerator to get a glass of purified water.
Yu Kaiqing then looked up at him and saw that a men's suit jacket had appeared out of nowhere in his arms. Yu Kaiqing was suspicious and exclaimed in surprise.
"What's going on? Men's clothes? Mr. Xu's? Why did you bring his clothes back?" Yu Kaiqing asked in surprise, then covered her mouth as if she had discovered something terrible.
To be fair, Wen Jia is an extremely dedicated actress. Apart from the male Maltese she kept a couple of years ago, no other male creature has ever set foot in this villa. There is not a trace of male presence, let alone anyone blatantly bringing men's clothes back.
This is the first time.
Wen Jia looked helpless. Afraid that she would misunderstand, she quickly swallowed the water and said, "What are you thinking? I accidentally spilled wine on his suit."
As she spoke, Wen Jia solemnly handed the suit to Yu Kaiqing: "Perfect timing. Take it to the dry cleaners when you have time, and return it to him afterward." She then thoughtfully added, "I've already spoken to him, and he'll let you in when you go to their company building."
Yu Kaiqing took the suit jacket, glanced at the brand label inside the lapel, and hissed, "Mr. Xu isn't mad at you, is he?"
Wen Jia chuckled, "Do you think he's such a stingy person?" Then she added in her ear, "He doesn't even need me to bring it back to wash."
"Then why did you bring it back?"
"My stance is firm."
Yu Kaiqing chuckled jokingly, then caught a glimpse of car headlights shining through the semi-transparent curtains outside the villa. She walked to the window, lifted a small corner, and looked out.
"Chairman Xu hasn't left yet."
"Is that so?" Wen Jia said dismissively.
Yu Kaiqing nodded: "His car is still parked outside," but after staring at it for a while, she missed the point: "How much do you think his consecutive license plate number costs?"
Wen Jia wasn't interested in such things and hadn't studied them much. She simply replied, "Rich people are really something, they can even make a big deal out of a license plate." As she spoke, she stretched and walked towards her bedroom on the second floor. She couldn't hear what Yu Kaiqing said afterward.
The bedroom door was quietly locked. Wen Jia, wearing a pair of linen slippers, tiptoed to the French windows. She crossed her arms and looked down at the cars parked downstairs for a while.
The silvery moonlight poured down on Xu Shaoting's car, outlining its streamlined body with a sharp yet elegant curve.
Just like the owner of this car.
The floor-to-ceiling windows are made of a special material, allowing Wen Jia to see the outside scenery from inside the room without any obstruction, while people outside cannot see into the room.
Wen Jia took out her phone, tapped twice with her slender fingers, and sent a message to Xu Shaoting:
"Chairman Xu, why haven't you left yet?"
In just half a minute, before Wen Jia even had a chance to lock her screen, the notification bell rang briefly. Wen Jia looked at the message on the screen.
"I'm afraid you might suddenly change your mind and want to invite me up for tea."
Wen Jia chuckled and thoughtfully twirled her phone in her hand. She couldn't imagine how Xu Shaoting, with such a dignified and aloof face, could type such flirtatious words.
But in less than a second, Wen Jia realized he was joking, because before she could even reply, she heard the sound of a car engine downstairs, and the Aston Martin glided away at a steady speed in the quiet night.
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