IMH - 5

That night, Yu Qian didn’t sleep well. The wind in the capital city raged until dawn, its sound resembling the howl of some beast, unceasing.

She dialed the hotel’s internal line and asked a staff member to bring up a bottle of red wine. After letting it breathe, she sipped it alone, gazing at the frenzied dance of branches against the night sky.

A flood of emotions welled up within her, but she calmly suppressed them.

Yu Qian remembered a Christmas years ago when she and Peter had drunk too much.

Peter cried until his nose turned red, first vomiting the steak he had eaten that evening, then spouting his evaluation of her—”Yu Qian, you’re actually a coward!”

Yu Qian lowered her head and chuckled, thinking to herself: nonsense.

The work assistant had stayed at the hotel last night and came knocking on Yu Qian’s door early in the morning.

However, when Yu Qian opened the door, the assistant absentmindedly wished her good morning.

Having not slept well, Yu Qian’s eyes were slightly swollen when she woke up: “Sit for a moment while I find something to soothe my eyes.”

The assistant only then snapped back to attention: “Or should I go fetch an anti-swelling eye mask from the company makeup room…”

Her words trailed off as Yu Qian pulled out a chilled bottle of mineral water from the fridge, wiped it briefly, and pressed it against her eyes.

“What did you say?”

The assistant shook her head: “Nothing…”

In fact, Yu Qian was completely different from what she had imagined.

She was very beautiful, with skin so fine and white that it resembled the top-quality sheep fat jade often featured on TV. Yet her whiteness wasn’t bland; her joints carried a rosy hue, making her look extremely tender.

Her features were bright and delicate, yet her expression was always indifferent, carrying a lazy disinterest in everything.

The assistant had always thought that a woman like this, even if her personality wasn’t coy, would surely be someone who indulged in luxury.

She never expected her to be so unconcerned with trivialities.

Yu Qian sat across from the assistant, holding the water bottle pressed against her eyes, resting her cheek on one hand: “Is there something you need from me?”

“Yes, the photography team we collaborated with a few days ago is interested in working with you again. What do you think…?”

“It’s fine.”

“No, this one is for charity, so there won’t be much compensation.”

Fearing Yu Qian might feel disappointed, the assistant consoled her: “You’ve just joined the company, and many photographers don’t know about our collaboration yet. Once they do, there’ll be plenty of high-paying endorsements coming your way. Don’t worry.”

Yu Qian smiled: “I prefer things this way.”

Already weighed down by her own thoughts, the assistant hadn’t fully registered Yu Qian’s words and instinctively asked for clarification. After receiving Yu Qian’s agreement to collaborate, they discussed some details.

Once business matters were settled, the assistant breathed a sigh of relief and began explaining why she seemed so distracted.

“I checked into a room above yours last night. Earlier, when I came down to find you, I met Mr. Cheng in the elevator. It seems he stayed at the hotel last night, and he didn’t appear to be in a good mood.”

Yu Qian showed no reaction, except for a slight half-second pause in opening the dessert packaging when she heard that Cheng Xiaonan hadn’t left.

“Qian, I’m sorry. I really haven’t been doing a good job lately, and I’ve overlooked many things while taking care of you. I’ll be more attentive…”

The assistant sighed deeply in dejection: “Mr. Cheng must think I’m not fit to be your assistant.”

Yu Qian shook her head: “You’re overthinking it. You’re very thorough in your work.”

“But every time I see him, he doesn’t seem to be in a good mood…”

“His bad mood might just be because he had a fight with his girlfriend. It has nothing to do with you.” Yu Qian reassured her.

The assistant looked confused: “Does Mr. Cheng have a girlfriend?”

Yu Qian popped a small cake into her mouth and casually said: “Yes.”

He even peels apples.

With her new assignment, Yu Qian became busy once more. This shoot was for charity, and she was merely a prettier background figure. She didn’t have to stay up late, but the assistant still dutifully delivered coffee in the afternoon.

Yu Qian thanked her as she accepted the coffee, suddenly recalling the assistant’s earlier self-reproach. Smiling, she raised her coffee cup toward the assistant, indicating—

Having coffee every day is quite nice.

The assistant wanted to mention that all the coffee had actually been bought by Mr. Cheng, but for some reason, at the last second before speaking, a strange feeling surged within her.

There were so many overnight or late-night shoots happening across the base, yet she hadn’t seen Mr. Cheng visit areas B, C, D, E, or F to spread warmth or deliver coffee.

Only in Area A had he come every night for several days, delivering coffee to everyone in the entire workspace…

And she couldn’t recall hearing of anything similar before.

Previously, the assistant had been consumed with panic, thinking, “Oh no, my inadequacies have been noticed.” But now, with this newfound doubt surfacing, she felt a sense of déjà vu.

After much contemplation, she suddenly recalled:

This behavior! Doesn’t it resemble those schoolboys secretly in love with a girl? To buy her a drink, they end up buying drinks for the whole class!

The outdoor shoot lasted two days, and then they returned to Area A of the photography base to film indoors.

Yu Qian noticed that since their shared car ride through the storm, two changes had occurred in her life:

First, the assistant began to grow closer to her, sometimes chatting about non-work-related topics.

Second, her encounters with Cheng Xiaonan became more frequent, happening increasingly often.

That morning, she had just seen Cheng Xiaonan leave the hotel lobby dressed in a suit, and now, in the smoking room, she saw him push the door open with his phone in hand.

He nodded at her, then dragged a chair to sit by the window, seemingly wanting to escape the noise outside to take a quiet call.

But how could he change outfits so quickly? Just a few hours ago, when she sat in the hotel lobby video-calling Peter, he had been wearing a navy-blue suit, striding out confidently.

At that time, Peter, seeing her gaze drift momentarily in the video, asked what she was looking at.

Yu Qian replied: “Watching a man in a navy-blue suit.”

Peter’s expression turned complicated. His designer’s instincts kicked in: “Navy blue suits… Aren’t they usually disastrous? You know, Asians tend to have yellowish skin tones and aren’t particularly tall, so sometimes navy blue can look… well, not great…”

Yu Qian smiled: “No, he stands out beautifully.”

She even switched to the rear camera to show Peter, earning an unexpected “Wow” from him.

Peter thoughtfully suggested: “He seems like a good catch. Why not try flirting with him? You can’t always be alone.”

“That’s not possible.”

But Peter misunderstood her meaning on the phone and said regretfully: “Ah, he’s not suitable? Then forget it. If a man isn’t capable, it’s a big problem, and some issues are lifelong and incurable.”

Yu Qian recalled this conversation and silently curved her lips.

But now, Cheng Xiaonan had already changed out of his navy-blue suit into casual attire, even switching his shoes to sneakers.

Yu Qian leaned against the window on the other side, smoking. Through the large patch of sunlight on the floor, she fixed her gaze on Cheng Xiaonan’s shadow.

After so many years, this younger brother seemed to have indeed matured. On the phone, he was mixing English with Japanese, communicating fluently.

Clearly, the person on the other end was Japanese, struggling with English, while Cheng Xiaonan explained in Japanese.

It was hard to believe this was the same person who once scored 48 on an English exam.

The autumn sun wasn’t harsh, casting itself onto Cheng Xiaonan’s profile.

His sitting posture revealed a hint of his youthful self—less formal, straddling the chair backward, arms casually draped over the backrest.

After finishing half a cigarette, Yu Qian extinguished it in the ashtray and turned to leave.

The smoking room door was briefly opened and then closed again.

It was only at this moment that Cheng Xiaonan raised his eyes to glance in Yu Qian’s direction. The room still lingered with the scent of blueberries.

Just a few days ago, Shen Shen had mentioned seeing the newly arrived beauty smoking, finding it very cool.

Cheng Xiaonan didn’t have strong opinions about women smoking, but he knew more about Yu Qian than others in certain aspects.

When he first met Yu Qian, she didn’t smoke. Her mother, however, often smoked this brand of blueberry-flavored cigarettes.

A few years ago, foreign media buzzed with rumors that when Yu Qian’s mother died in the hospital, Yu Qian herself hadn’t shown up, leading to whispers of her cold-heartedness.

But Cheng Xiaonan believed the rumors were lies.

At least, amidst this lingering scent of blueberries, he found the authenticity of those reports questionable.

He hung up the phone, sitting bathed in sunlight, wondering: Why did she have so many troubles that she needed to relieve them with cigarettes? Was she truly unhappy during these years away?

A few days later, when Yu Qian went to the smoking room again, she found the ashtray had been replaced.

Previously, it had been an ordinary crystal ashtray, but now it was a red, lung-shaped object made of some inexplicable material, appearing soft and moist, like a real organ.

To extinguish a cigarette, one had to press the butt into this sticky mass, which seemed capable of oozing liquid…

Needless to say, imagining the scene was grotesquely beautiful and difficult to behold.

On the wall was a slogan:

Cherish life, stay away from cigarettes.

Yu Qian held the cigarette pack for a moment, then decided to put it away, turning to leave.

Never mind, no more smoking.