When the timer reached 10:00, Shang Yechu turned off her phone, let out a long breath, and tiptoed out of the bathroom.
After dawdling in the bathroom for ten minutes, Yang Huanyi should have reached Shao Guangji by now, even if he had to crawl. Now was the perfect time to leave. Shang Yechu stood to the side of the bathroom door, hesitating slightly, unsure whether to go back upstairs to eavesdrop on Yang Huanyi and Shao Guangji's conversation, or simply leave.
There's already a written agreement for "The Heavenly Emperor." The lead actor isn't someone Shao Guangji can simply replace. With this most important matter settled, the rest is fine. Besides, if the eavesdropping were caught, it would be even more embarrassing.
In fact, all the mysteries could be solved simply by asking Shao Guangji. But for some reason, Shang Yechu was extremely reluctant to ask Shao Guangji. It was as if something bad would happen if she opened her mouth.
Shang Yechu made up her mind, tiptoed out of the hall, and reached the door in the blink of an eye. She didn't even bother saying goodbye to Shao Guangji anymore; she just wanted to get away from Yang Huanyi as quickly as possible. Suddenly, a muffled thud and a sharp pain in her forehead; she had bumped into something.
Shang Yechu didn't even have time to touch her forehead. When she looked closely at the thing she had bumped into, she was shocked.
Yang Huanyi didn't go inside the building; instead, he stood in the rain. He held a black umbrella in one hand and a piece of paper in the other, muttering something to himself.
What Shang Yechu just bumped into was the brim of the black umbrella.
However, Shang Yechu's attention wasn't on the umbrella that had bumped into her. Something else had drawn her gaze.
Yang Huanyi was reading something from the paper when someone suddenly bumped into him. He was about to get angry, but when he saw who it was, his face turned ashen.
Shang Yechu stared intently at Yang Huanyi. To be precise, her gaze wasn't fixed on Yang Huanyi's face or body, but rather on... Yang Huanyi's feet.
A stroller was parked at Yang Huanyi's feet.
The stroller was a lovely pink color, with an adorable design and exquisite decorations. An angelic baby slept soundly inside, wrapped tightly in a thin, soft, silky blanket. The baby had a sweet smile on its face, drool dripping from its mouth, blowing out tiny bubbles.
In this desolate, verdant rain, this cozy and warm baby stroller seems like something from another world.
Seeing the stroller alone, Shang Yechu understood why Yang Huanyi had been walking so slowly. Upstairs, her view was obstructed, and she couldn't see Yang Huanyi's lower body. Yang Huanyi had actually been holding an umbrella in one hand and pushing the stroller with the other. She had walked slowly so as not to disturb the sleeping child. But for some reason, she stopped in front of the house.
Shang Yechu was unaware of how her gaze appeared. To her surprise, the baby only glanced at it briefly before looking away, as if she had no interest in it whatsoever.
Yang Huanyi stood in the drizzling rain, holding an umbrella. She also clutched a piece of paper in her hand. Shang Yechu then noticed that the umbrella was tilted quite sharply, blocking the fine rain from above the stroller. However, half of Yang Huanyi's shoulder and elbow were exposed to the rain and were already soaked.
Her face was pale; she was clearly frostbitten. Shang Yechu felt a pang of heartache. Fortunately, she had worn a formal coat to see Shao Guangji this time. Shang Yechu took off her coat, quickly walked to the umbrella, and draped it over Yang Huanyi's shoulders.
"Sister," Shang Yechu cleared her throat and laughed, "It's so cold, why aren't you wearing more clothes?"
Yang Huanyi's throat bobbed, and her already pale face turned almost bluish in an instant.
Shang Yechu draped the coat over her shoulders, carefully fastening the top button to prevent it from falling down. The cold rain poured down on her back, but she seemed completely oblivious.
After doing all this, Shang Yechu said cheerfully, "Is this your relative's child? He's quite cute."
Yang Huanyi stared at her silently, his hand holding the umbrella handle trembling slightly.
"You go inside first, it's awfully cold outside," Shang Yechu said with a smile. "I have something to do..."
“This is my daughter,” Yang Huanyi suddenly said.
Shang Yechu's smile faltered, then her eyes widened in surprise: "Adopted, or through sperm donation in vitro fertilization? Speaking of which, I might try it sometime in the future, hahaha..."
The veins on Yang Huanyi's hand, gripping the umbrella handle, stood out, and her cheeks bulged from biting them. She opened her mouth to interrupt Shang Yechu's laughter: "No, it was me who gave birth to it."
Shang Yechu's laughter gradually subsided, and after a long while, she said, "So you've been divorced. You can spend time with me sometime later—"
“I didn’t either—” Yang Huanyi’s facial muscles twitched slightly as she abruptly interrupted him. Before those cold words could be uttered, Shang Yechu interrupted her again: “Speaking of which, I met Luo Yao today. She told me that when ‘Anna Doriya’ airs, we still need to do some promotional work. She wanted me to confess to you in front of thousands of people and stuff. I think that’s too exaggerated. What’s between you and me is between the two of us. Why involve other people? We can just be together quietly.”
Shang Yechu chattered on and on, as if afraid Yang Huanyi would interrupt her. She continued like this without stopping for a long time before finally stopping, smiling, and saying, "I really have to go now. Sister, you should go inside. It's too cold in here."
Without waiting for Yang Huanyi's reply, Shang Yechu turned and plunged into the rain without stopping, walking quickly away.
The black umbrella wasn't large, and Shang Yechu's entire back had been soaked through from being exposed to the rain. Her hair, hanging down the back of her head, was also damp and glistening with water droplets. Yang Huanyi stared at that retreating figure, blinking hard as if trying to hold back tears.
Seeing that Shang Yechu was about to flee in panic, Yang Huanyi closed her eyes tightly and tears streamed down her face.
“This is my child with Cao Shi,” she said in a voice that was neither too loud nor too soft. Cao Shi was Shao Guangji’s old friend.
The sound of the rain carried her voice far. The deserter in the rain stopped in his tracks.
The person had their back to her. Yang Huanyi gazed at her familiar back, a pang of sorrow gripping her heart. But this couldn't go on. If she didn't explain things clearly today, she would never have the chance. Shang Yechu was that kind of person; she would forever run away. In this distorted, self-deceiving relationship, she was always the one running away.
Yang Huanyi gripped the umbrella handle tightly, the paper in her hand crumpled and deformed. Fortunately, the person in the rain had their back to her, so Yang Huanyi didn't have to face those familiar eyes.
Yang Huanyi took a deep breath of the misty, rain-filled air and said without pausing, "That year I was blacklisted, all my endorsements were gone, and all the scripts that were supposed to cast me were replaced. Because the negative impact was caused by my personal issues, I didn't even get much in compensation for breach of contract."
"I didn't give up at the time. I used my savings to invest in two TV series and a movie. The TV series are still shelved and haven't passed censorship, and the movie was released, but the box office was only a little over 300,000 yuan."
"Those were the most difficult days of my life. I thought I was finished. The audience didn't want me anymore, and the market abandoned me. I wanted to make a comeback, I wanted to make a comeback, I dreamed about it all. But the market just wouldn't accept me. I didn't know what to do."
“Cao Shi has been pursuing me for many years. He is two years older than me and has been pursuing me ever since we met. But I have no feelings for him, not at all—I have rejected him many times.”
“Even at that time, he still didn’t give up on me.”
Perhaps because her vision was blurred by tears, Yang Huanyi seemed to see the figure in front of her tremble violently.
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