Jia He has been shoved into a spotlight, and if you've been following the story, you probably know that's her worst nightmare. Think Jia He going to have to fend for herself?

This story was translated with the express permission of the author for hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com only. All forms of reproduction, redistribution, or re-posting are not authorized. If you are not reading this from hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com, the copy is unauthorized and has been taken without consent of the translator.

The number of reposts had already soared to more than thirty thousand.

Following beneath that photo was a simple line of words: The night before last, I couldn't sleep and was taking in some air on the balcony, and then, totally surprisingly, I saw Wu Zhilun's girlfriend who's been keeping invisible! Oh, and also, the owner of that house is no ordinary Joe either. But he's my idol, so I won't give the gossip on that.

A line of small words that was so frightful to behold.

Jia He was frozen in shock for a long time before finally speedily sending Xiao Yu a question: How did you manage to see this?

Xiao Yu sent over an animated sticker of a rabbit that was continually wagging its bottom, then her reply: Just look at the number of reposts. That's just the number of times the original post was reposted. There are also countless second-hand and third-hand reposts. My co-worker's Weibo had this on there too. I got such a scare I nearly went into cardiac arrest.

Jia He's chest felt tight as she sent her message: I'm going to go into cardiac arrest soon, too…

And then nothing more came from Xiao Yu. She did truly seem to be in a meeting. All that remained now was that chubby, white bunny happily wagging and wagging this way and that.

Jia He chucked aside her mobile phone. Less than half a second later, though, she was hastily picking it back up again and staring at that photograph, examining it carefully. Despite having been taken from a very far distance, the side view of her face could be seen in it. This absolutely was not something a mobile phone camera could do.

It very much appeared to be the work of an SLR camera. Jia He's smile was wry. Nowadays, even the gossip scoop sourced from common folk was so professional.

Before she had the chance to come up with words to comfort herself, her phone was already ringing with all its might.

"Go online." Qiao Qiao's words fired tersely and rapidly. "Go look at the entertainment news."

Jia He was dumbstruck.

"Are you online yet?” Qiao Qiao continued hurrying her.

"It has nothing to do with me, right?" Jia He prayed desperately.

Qiao Qiao gave an "Ah?" and asked, "You know already? Weibo is honestly so scary. I'm looking at a post that is exposing dug-up info on you. Basically, it's pretty darn close to the mark. It's a good thing the people who actually know you are showing bit of mercy when it comes to their tongues. There are only some 'persons in the know' who are trying to colour the situation and add some spice."

Jia He cried a tearless cry. "Have they dug up my real name yet?"

"Don't panic. Wu Zhilun just clarified things on his Weibo, saying that you're just friends. Everyone's already starting to try to get the scoop on whom that villa belongs to."

"Thank goodness." Jia He exhaled with relief. Yet, when she heard the last half of Qiao Qiao's words, she unexplainably grew uptight again.

Qiao Qiao snorted. "Don't be happy too soon. There's already someone saying that she saw Wu Zhilun on Huaihai Road with a girl. She even took a picture with her mobile. Even though we can't see your face, the car and clothes are the same. Just think, Wu Zhilun came here to Shanghai all low-key, and then from Huaihai Road all the way to Pudong, he's with a woman. And what's more, they're driving a toy-looking MINI Cooper. You're going to have enough trouble with just the things filled in by people's imaginations. He's got a movie that's. .h.i.tting theatres soon, so it may be that in just a bit, he's going to start zipping his lips and not replying to media. If that's the case, it'll get even more interesting."

Jia He was in no mood to joke. After shooting back a retort, she hung up.

Fortunately, it was only a side shot of her face. It was not like she was a celebrity. People wouldn't readily remember her face.

There are differences between a photo and the real, live person, and what's more, the differences are really big. Jia He continuously brainwashed herself. Back when Qiao Qiao was photographed having dinner with one of the artistes under her management, she had only been teased a couple sentences here and there by a few good friends; there had been no impact to her. Jia He could only pray now that there would not be any busybody people acquainted with her, coming out to join in on the excitement.

As a journalist, she had never read the articles she wrote, afraid she would find them shallow only after they were printed.

As a a screenwriter, she never watched the dramas she wrote, afraid that she would not discover how corny they were until they had aired.

Therefore, when she was the subject of gossip, naturally… she also did not dare go to any forums to read those posts exposing her personal details.

One moment she was thinking this was no big deal, the next moment she was terrified that this really would turn into a deal of some sort.

Thus feeling conflicted and torn, she walked from the bathroom to the bedroom, then looked in the closet, checking item by item to see whether she had packed everything. A long while later, she once more pulled out her mobile phone, took a look at the text mesage Ctrip had sent her, and verified her flight time. There were still more than five hours. But since there was nothing to do at home anyway, it was perfect; she had enough time to have a decent dinner. Thinking this, she straightaway, towing her luggage with her, strode out of her home and locked the door behind her.

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While she was waiting for the elevator, Auntie Zhao, her next-door neighbour, happened to come out to throw out the garbage, and seeing Jia He, she at once came over and greeted her. "Jia He, you're home?"

Jia He nodded. "I just got back, but I'm leaving again to go to Beijing on business."

Ding. The elevator doors opened. Jia He was about to say goodbye, but Auntie Zhao was already following her into the elevator. "Such nice suns.h.i.+ne. I'll go downstairs to walk around."

Jia He was puzzled with this. It was not until she had pressed the b.u.t.ton for the first floor that Auntie Zhao whisperingly asked, "You're going to Beijing to register your marriage?"

"Huh?" Jia He jumped with shock.

"Just now my daughter was playing on the computer, and she showed me a picture." Auntie Zhao's smile was enigmatic. "With such a boyfriend, does that mean that from now on you don't have to pay whenever you go watch a movie?"

Jia He did not even know how she should react to this. So, to these aunties, the benefits of being an actor were actually that simple…

"Auntie, people are just joking around about that. You absolutely cannot believe what's said on the Internet. It's all fake."

Auntie Zhao's response was an "Uh-huh, uh-huh," as well as a nod. "I get it. My daughter already told me. We have to seal our lips. Even when reporters come asking, we can't say anything."

Jia He fell into utter silence. Finally managing to bear through until they reached the first floor, she carried her suitcase down a set of stairs and yanked out its handle. "Auntie, I'm going now."

"Oh my, Jia He, is that Yi Wenze?" That absolutely was a tremor in her voice. This was a wonderful surprise beyond all her expectations! And hence she basically did not hear what Jia He had said.

Jia He's heart gave a little skip, and for a long moment she was unmoving, until she finally turned to look in that direction.

In her heart, she secretly prayed that Auntie Zhao was mistaken.

Alas, this place was awash with Yi Wenze's strong presence and had long turned into an outdoor shooting location.

A black car was parked beside the reflecting pool, its door half open. And he, beside the door, was leaning against the car. He wore merely a simple, understated black jacket and held a casual posture, his hands in his pockets. But these were enough already to give her the feeling that at any moment, someone would shout, "Action!" and then a heartrending, melodramatic, feeling-infused, urban-setting love drama would begin playing out. Right now these were still regular working hours for people, and this was also a standalone apartment building, so there were only two or three people coming and going downstairs here. However, they all stopped to look, their giddiness br.i.m.m.i.n.g over in their speech and expressions…

Her heart was racing one moment, slowing the next, and she stood rooted to the spot.

Auntie Zhao beside her seemed to be mutteringly lamenting that she had forgotten to bring her mobile phone out with her. Otherwise, she could have taken a photo and given it to her daughter to upload onto Weibo, and surely then she would become an instant Internet celebrity, or something like that…

All of a sudden, as if Yi Wenze could sense something, he turned his head to look towards where Jia He was, beckoning very obviously to her.

It was a very natural gesture of greeting, but it left her in slight fl.u.s.ter.

"Auntie, I'm going now." Resigning herself to this situation, she dragged her suitcase and once more bade a farewell.

Having observed everything to this point, the truth suddenly dawned on Auntie Zhao. "Don't tell me Yi Wenze is actually the one who is your boyfriend, and Wu Zhilun is just a random person who has nothing to do with this at all?"

Jia He wanted to cry. Gosh, just what in the world was all this? Did knowing a celebrity automatically equate to a secret romance?!

In her chest, she felt as if there were tens of thousands of horses stampeding about, but on her face, she still tugged up a smile. "No, no. I'm his screenwriter. It's purely a work relations.h.i.+p. We're heading to the office right now to have a meeting." With that, she did not wait for Auntie Zhao to throw out any more questions, immediately wheeling her suitcase and escaping with brisk strides from this place.

<>Copyright of Fanatical, hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com. Translated with the express permission of the author for hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com only

Handing her suitcase to the driver, she pulled the car door shut herself and then expelled a long breath.

The next second, though, she discovered she was snug against Yi Wenze, her leg against his leg, with not so much as a gap between them, to the extent that she could even feel the warmth of his body… She wanted to move away but was also worried that doing so would make them both feel awkward. She could only arbitrarily search for something to say, asking, "You came looking for me?" Once she finished saying this, she stealthily s.h.i.+fted herself away a few inches.

The car at this instant happened to be driving over the speed b.u.mp at the front gate and jolted abruptly, so, once more, she b.u.mped against him.

It was still leg against leg, but now even their bodies were touching…

Yi Wenze could not restrain his smile. "We'll go have dinner first?"

In the front seats, Qing's ears were stuffed with earphones and the driver was watching the road intently. It was as if, without even any prior discussion, they were both giving Jia He and Yi Wenze this s.p.a.ce to talk.

But the more things were like this, the more discomfiture Jia He felt. "I booked a flight to Beijing. It's at nine."

"I know. Qiao Qiao told me already." He lifted his wrist and glanced at his watch. "It's six right now. There's still time to have dinner together."

His tone was natural and his suggestion was not at all unreasonable. Jia He wanted to be able to answer in a natural tone as well, but after being stuck for words for a long time, she only said one: "Okay."

After some time, Qing began talking on the phone, and every so often the name of a restaurant would show up in the dialogue. It seemed to be the place which they were heading. The name sounded familiar, and Jia He had a vague recollection of where it was. Although it was quiet and secluded, it was still a public setting…

"Let's just go to that club of yours," she gingerly suggested.

Yi Wenze brought his gaze onto her. "What's wrong?"

"That's a public place. That won't be really good," Jia He explained.

"It's okay."

Words were on the tip of her tongue, but she swallowed them. She could not well tell him that she was afraid of being photographed again. Yi Wenze did not say any more, offhandedly picking up a magazine and leafing through it. And so, the two of them sat like this, close against each other, such that she could even clearly sense his subtle movements as he flipped the pages. However, in view of the lesson she had learned from her earlier attempt, the entire the way until it was time to get out of the car, she did not dare to move again.

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When the car was parked, Qing unexpectedly called out, "Director Jiang." Looking in the direction that her voice was addressing, Jia He saw Director Jiang and a.s.sistant Director Cheng Hao chatting at the doorway. Oh, so this was a dinner gathering of the drama's production team. Finally, she relaxed in relief. But when she stepped into the private dining room, she received a slight surprise. Not only were there the production team members of "Tune of Yong'an," there were also many unfamiliar faces. The most unexpected part to her was that Wu Zhilun was present as well.

When he spotted Jia He, he immediately covered up his mobile phone, which was still connected in a call. "Hey, my rumoured girlfriend, long time no see."

Though everyone here was in the entertainment circle and would not gossip carelessly or be nosy, this type of quipping still caused the people at several tables to turn their heads and take extra glances at her. Wu Zhilun wanted to continue saying more, but Yi Wenze had already nonchalantly swept a look at him, quite successfully sealing that mouth of his.

Six tables had been set up in this private room. Jia He had originally planned to sit with Qiao Qiao, but she discovered that Qiao Qiao was actually not in attendance. Hence, she could only blindly follow Yi Wenze around. Waiting until he had finished talking to a few people and was preparing to head over to the head table, she finally abruptly halted her steps. Yi Wenze looked down at her. "What's wrong?"

"May I sit with Qing?" she softly requested.

He contemplated for a moment, but eventually nodded, telling her, "Go ahead."

He had only just finished saying this before someone was already coming over to greet him. Jia He took advantage of this opportunity to steal away from there. The table at which Qing sat was in the corner and more than half of its seats were empty, so it was very quiet.

Jia He had pulled out a chair and sat down already when Qing noticed her. Astounded, she asked at once, "Screenwriter, why are you sitting here?"

"It's nice here." Jia He brushed over this question with a laugh. "Just look. It's a tableful of food but only half a table of people to eat it. Such a good deal."

Qing said an "oh," seeming to think that this was reasonable, yet also finding it unreasonable.  But after mulling on it at length, she did not continue inquiring.

Surrounding Jia He was lively, enthusiastic conversation, but none of it had anything to do with her. Only when people from the production team occasionally came over to say h.e.l.lo would she smile and respond with a couple of sentences. Before long, she was already viewing herself as thin air and had begun to eat in silence. Someone, she was not certain who, mentioned that Yi Wenze and Wu Zhilun were partnering to start up a film production company and had already begun engaging in discussions with many companies regarding collaborations. Once this topic commenced, many people began teasing those two, saying that they were the entertainment circle's two most handsome bosses of a production company, and in the future, there would be no way they would be able to stop the influx of admirers, even if they wanted to.

She could not resist peeking at the head table before continuing with mechanically eating her food.

When she was almost full, out of nowhere, someone clapped a hand onto her shoulder. Beside her, Wu Zhilun, leaned down and grinningly remarked, "Hey, Harmonious Family Prospers! For you, Ze, the one who most dislikes having to do social engagements, was actually willing to treat people to dinner."

Jia He was mystified.

"You and me, plus so many other people"—he swept his gaze around the room—"and also this public setting. Today, there'll be who-knows-how-many-photos that end up leaking out from here. Add on top of that the news of the production company, who's still going to pay attention to that Weibo post?"

Jia He suddenly comprehended. She took a drink of tea. Her heart should actually have settled with this news, but surprisingly, she felt even uneasier, antsier.

Wu Zhilun gave her a rather meaningful pat on her shoulder, then, holding his wine gla.s.s, sauntered away.

So that was the plan.

Tilting her head slightly, she looked once more at the head table. Yi Wenze was speaking to someone. Right as she was about to s.h.i.+ft her eyes away, he cast an inadvertent glance at this spot where she was. Alarmed, Jia He instantly picked up her gla.s.s and, pretending to be looking around, evaded his gaze.

<>Copyright of Fanatical, hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com. Translated with the express permission of the author for hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com only

At around seven-thirty, Yi Wenze finally took Jia He from the restaurant. Seeming pre-arranged, the car was already waiting at the front entrance, and after the two sat into the vehicle, it immediately drove onto the elevated freeway, headed straight for the airport.

"Thank you." It was very quiet inside the vehicle, so she could only drop her voice low to avoid being heard by the driver. "Wu Zhilun said this dinner was to defuse the effects of that photo."

"It's nothing. This dinner has always been in the plan. It was just moved up a little earlier."

Replying with an "mm-hmm," Jia He thought, in any case, she could not go wrong with apologizing.

It was quiet for a while, and then he suddenly spoke up. "That day, I didn't drive you because, with my leg, I'm still unable to drive."

Jia He carried on as before, making another sound of "mm-hmm.” She did not understand what he was trying to say.

Calmly, he added another sentence. "So, regarding the whole romance rumour, I do not intend on having him take my place for it."

Jia He's paused in blank surprise. As she lifted her head, he happened to turn his gaze towards her.

But just as he was bringing his face down slightly, her mobile phone unexpectedly vibrated. Hastily burying her head, she began hunting through her bag. The spot that normally took only three seconds for her hand to find, this time needed a full minute. When she saw it was a text message from Gu Yu, she even more so felt an unexplainable guilt, like she had been found out, and she simply deleted it with a tap, not daring even to look at it.

But, at such a distance… It was such a giant screen, and he was so close to her, too.

Hesitating for a long time, Jia He eventually explained, "That was a text from Gu Yu."

He uttered a light, impa.s.sive "mm.” "He's still contacting you?"

This story was translated with the express permission of the author for hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com only. All forms of reproduction, redistribution, or re-posting are not authorized. If you are not reading this from hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com, the copy is unauthorized and has been taken without consent of the translator.

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