#7 (Misunderstanding)

Yan He Yu was a man of his word. In the following filming schedule, Wen Di would receive dishes and soup delivered from a thousand miles away every now and then, all cooked by the chef from the private dining restaurant. Yan He Yu simply didn’t have time to learn how to make soup yet.

Wen Di understood him and didn’t press the issue. She was already quite satisfied with delicious dishes and soup, though the rest of her time was a bit frustrating.

As she had anticipated, during several days of filming, she clearly felt that Qi Mingche had an issue with her. Despite getting to know each other for so long, there was still no chemistry between them. In several competitions, their group invariably came in last.

During the competitions, she tried her best, but he seemed reluctant to cooperate with her on the challenges.

Since it was their first time meeting, she hadn’t offended him. She still couldn’t understand why he had such an attitude.

“Sister Wen Di, here’s some pre-meal fruit. Eat with confidence; all the fruits are carefully selected by me, low in calories and sugar.” Xin Yuan handed her a portion.

Xin Yuan’s assistant carried a large bag, and everyone received a share.

“Mr. Qi, this is yours.”

Xin Yuan specifically checked the name on the package to ensure it was correct before handing it to Qi Mingche.

Qi Mingche didn’t decline. “Thank you.”

Wen Di saw the word “Di” written with a marker on her fruit package. It turned out Xin Yuan’s assistant had selected fruits according to everyone’s preferences. The fruits were washed, cut, and ready to eat.

The director also came over to snag some fruit. Everyone gathered around the dining table, sharing fruit, chatting, and laughing, waiting for the dishes to be served.

Undeniably, this was the best- 분위ered work team Wen Di had ever been on, except for the not-so-pleasant Qi Mingche.

Xin Yuan finished distributing the fruit and sat down. The director asked her, “What brand is the bracelet you’re wearing? Our show has a jewelry sponsor, so we might have to blur your bracelet.”

At the sound of this, everyone looked over, including Wen Di.

The bracelet was quite loose. Xin Yuan tucked it back into her hoodie sleeve and said, “It’s not a big brand, not valuable. It was a very special gift I received when I graduated from high school.”

Someone at the table teased, “Keeping it for so many years and still wearing it, looks like there’s something going on.”

Xin Yuan smiled, neither confirming nor denying, and said something ambiguous and easily misinterpreted: “I can’t not wear it. I’ve been wearing it for almost ten years. As long as I’m not filming or attending events, I habitually wear it. I forgot to take it off today because I’m wearing a long-sleeved hoodie.”

She deliberately changed the subject: “How does the fruit taste?”

Everyone understood that Xin Yuan had a boyfriend whom she had been dating for many years.

Wen Di wasn’t interested in other people’s private affairs. Whether Xin Yuan had a boyfriend or not was irrelevant to her, and she didn’t take it to heart.

The director craved hotpot again. He was hosting a dinner that night and asked who was free to go.

Wen Di was the first to say she wouldn’t go: “I’ve gained a pound recently; I’m dieting.”

Qi Mingche glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. He hadn’t seen her eat less in the evening.

His room and Wen Di’s were on the same floor. He had seen someone deliver takeout a few times and later realized it wasn’t local takeout; the bags were from a private dining restaurant in Beijing.

He had been to that private dining restaurant a few times, always with his father.

________________________________________

After lunch and a short break, they headed to the afternoon filming location. Wen Di and Qi Mingche shared a car but never spoke to each other inside.

As the car pulled up, she walked directly to the back passenger door. Qi Mingche followed behind her, maintaining a proper distance between them.

Before reaching the car, Qi Mingche’s phone rang. He glanced at the number, turned, and walked in the opposite direction, walking some distance before answering.

Mrs. Ming’s first words were: “I think I know who your father’s mistress is.”

There was no ripple of emotion in Qi Mingche’s eyes as he echoed, “Oh, who is it?”

Mrs. Ming had no intention of telling her son, fearing he would create an unmanageable scene: “This is my business. Whatever your father does outside, I’m the one who should settle the score with him. You seriously finish filming the show. I invested in it for your sake, so don’t treat it as a game.”

Qi Mingche remained silent.

After a long silence, Mrs. Ming called out to him: “Mingche?”

“I’m listening.” Qi Mingche bent down, scooped up a handful of snow from the ground, and rubbed it back and forth.

“Don’t just listen; you need to take it to heart.” Mrs. Ming painstakingly advised, “I know you’re angry with your father, and I am too.” But anger wouldn’t solve anything. “Just pretend you don’t know and focus on the show. If it gets out of hand, no one will be able to manage it. Can you listen to your mother just this once?”

The snow melted into water on his fingertips; his fingers were both cold and burning.

“Mom.” Qi Mingche spoke after a moment of quiet, “Are you reluctant to divorce my dad?”

Mrs. Ming retorted, “Is that how you see your mom? I don’t rely on him to support me. The company is where it is today; I won’t say much, but I deserve at least one-third of the credit. But Mingche, have you ever thought about what will happen to the company if this becomes public? You, your older brother and sister-in-law, and your little niece, won’t everyone be laughing at you? Adults can handle it, but what about the children? How will your little niece hold her head up in class later?”

Qi Mingche was at his limit: “My dad just preys on your fear of making a scene, that’s why he’s so brazen!”

Mrs. Ming gave a bitter smile, “Yes, he does. But I can’t be like him and not consider you all. Don’t worry, Mom isn’t a weak person; I won’t suffer in vain.”

She hadn’t gotten to the main point of her call yet. “Mingche, I can tell you for sure, with absolute certainty, your father’s mistress is not Wen Di. Don’t keep targeting her. What has Wen Di ever done to you to deserve your constant cold shoulder?!”

Qi Mingche suddenly laughed. So, his mother had gone to such great lengths, making so many preambles, just to get him to get along with Wen Di, finish filming the show, and not cause any other trouble.

His mother was painstakingly trying to maintain the facade of a harmonious and perfect family.

Mrs. Ming calmly said, “Don’t believe those ‘evidence.’ Can you guarantee that all the evidence you got is real? I trust my intuition; that mistress is definitely not Wen Di.”

Qi Mingche didn’t want to argue about these meaningless things with his mother anymore. He ended the call: “Mom, I’m busy.” After hanging up, he called his assistant, without any preamble: “You can go back to Beijing. You don’t need to follow me anymore.”

The young assistant paused, feeling wronged: “If you send me back, I’ll be completely out of a job. Mr. Qi said so before.”

Qi Mingche was speechless. The assistant had been arranged by his mother. The young girl didn’t talk much and was smart and capable, but one thing he couldn’t stand was that she would truthfully tell his mother about his situation, otherwise his mother wouldn’t have known about his unpleasant interactions with Wen Di.

The young assistant tried to persuade him: “No matter what, Mr. Qi is doing this for your own good, afraid you’re wrongly accusing Sister Wen Di. I’ll report what needs to be reported, and I won’t say an extra word about what shouldn’t be reported.”

Qi Mingche had no intention of being difficult with a young girl, but he was suppressing a surge of anger. “You don’t need to ride in the car this afternoon.”

The young assistant saw that Qi Mingche was in a bad mood and dared not provoke him. Whatever he said, went.

As long as she wasn’t sent back to Beijing, it was fine.

Qi Mingche got into the car, leaving one seat between himself and Wen Di. He put down the armrest, completely dividing their space into two.

This armrest clearly demarcated the boundary.

Wen Di was accustomed to it and didn’t even look at him.

During the drive, the director didn’t plan to record any material, and they were happy to relax.

After getting out of the car, they walked to the filming location, known as a snowy wonderland.

The snow on the road was soft and fluffy; stepping into it, it came up to their calves.

Wen Di walked behind Qi Mingche. There was a hillside to climb. She slipped and fell in the snow. It didn’t hurt, but being constantly recorded by the camera was a bit embarrassing.

Qi Mingche heard the commotion behind him. He didn’t turn his head or help Wen Di up, pretending not to know what had happened behind him.

The competition scheduled for this afternoon was divided into two groups, with four guests in each group.

Wen Di interacted with the two people from the other group throughout. The jokes she threw out, the other group always caught them. Everyone felt this was Wen Di’s best recording state ever.

At the end of work in the evening, the first episode’s filming, themed around snow, was completely finished.

Back at the hotel, Qi Mingche was called to dinner alone by the director.

With no outsiders present, the director got straight to the point: “When you first returned to the country, didn’t you say Wen Di could give you filming inspiration? What’s going on now?”

The director noticed the tension between Qi Mingche and Wen Di. He couldn’t say much during filming as it would affect the mood.

Qi Mingche took a large gulp of white wine, wrinkling his brow as he swallowed.

Wen Di indeed brought him inspiration, which was why she first followed Wen Di on the photographer account she registered after returning to the country.

Later, he unfollowed her.

He followed her again on the first day of filming the show, as the production team required each group to send single photos of each other and @ the other person. He had no choice but to follow her.

“If you and Wen Di don’t get along, we’ll reshuffle everyone for the second episode and arrange a photographer who can get along with Wen Di.”

Even though the director and Qi Mingche had known each other for years, friendship was one thing, work was another. Filming like this would drag the show down.

Qi Mingche stated, “I’ll try to adjust. No need to reshuffle groups.”

The director clinked glasses with Qi Mingche. All unspoken words were in this glass of wine.

________________________________________

The next day at noon, everyone headed back home. The second episode was scheduled to be filmed a week later.

Wen Di returned to Beijing when it was almost dark, heading directly to Yan He Yu’s villa.

While bored on the plane that afternoon, she suddenly remembered the gifts Yan He Yu had piled in the living room; she had forgotten to unwrap them earlier.

She didn’t visit the villa often, and the few personal items she kept there were minimal.

The housekeeper looked surprised when she saw her getting out of the car, then smiled and stepped forward to help her with her luggage.

Her last visit was six months ago, so the housekeeper probably thought she and Yan He Yu had already broken up.

Entering the villa, Wen Di saw the gifts in the living room, but there were fewer than she imagined, stacked in two rows level with the coffee table. What did Yan He Yu say before? He said his villa’s living room was piled with many gifts, and she could unpack them when she had time. This could hardly be called “piled”?

Wen Di went to the bedroom, took a shower, changed into comfortable loungewear, and came downstairs. She wasn’t in a hurry to open the gifts. She sent Yan He Yu a message, just an emoji.

Yan He Yu now had a conditioned reflex to Wen Di’s messages. He was currently discussing business at the club, extinguished the cigarette in his hand, and told the person next to him, “Go outside and return a call.”

He went to the club’s corridor to call Wen Di. Looking down from the window at the end of the corridor, he happened to see a car just entering the club’s courtyard, then driving out without stopping.

“Hey, that’s strange. Usually, when you see Yan He Yu’s car here, you’re practically flying upstairs to be by his side in a second. What’s going on today?”

Ding Yi looked incredulously at Tian Qinglu from the passenger seat.

Tian Qinglu didn’t keep her friend guessing: “The engagement banquet is on the sixth of next month.” She particularly emphasized, “Yan He Yu chose the date himself.”

Just as I thought.

It was already set in stone. The engagement was on February 6th, and it was mid-January now, less than a month away. So she wasn’t in a hurry to see him. Anyway, he’d be hers sooner or later; they’d probably be locked together for the rest of their lives.

Ding Yi thought of this and tugged at her seatbelt, feeling inexplicably constrained.

She hadn’t expected Tian Qinglu to be so beyond saving. “After you get married, you’ll suffer all the grievances yourself; don’t come crying to me!”

Tian Qinglu opened her mouth, then said nothing.

Ding Yi tried to make her stop deceiving herself: “You can’t not know that Yan He Yu’s private jet has been constantly applying for flight routes to the same place recently, just because Wen Di wants to eat dishes from that private dining restaurant.”

Tian Qinglu naturally knew. “He and I aren’t boyfriend and girlfriend. Before the engagement, what he does has nothing to do with me.” As she said this, she herself felt a lack of confidence.

Ding Yi countered her: “It’s not that it has nothing to do with you; it’s that you can’t control him at all. You just have to endure no matter how uncomfortable you are.”

Tian Qinglu was angry for a long time, unable to find a retort. After a long silence, she tried to save face: “Marriage alliances are for the benefit of each family anyway. What’s there to talk about feelings? Even if I don’t marry him, I’d still have a marriage alliance with someone else I have no feelings for. So why wouldn’t I choose a man I find appealing and handsome?”

Ding Yi said, “If you weren’t so deeply in love with him, I wouldn’t object to your engagement and marriage to him.”

After all, in loveless marriages, everyone did their own thing, just like her and her husband. They were tied together by interests, but they were open-minded, not controlling each other, and lived easy and carefree lives.

But Tian Qinglu was different with Yan He Yu; she was too deeply entangled.

Unable to bear it, Ding Yi continued to persuade tirelessly: “If Wen Di knew Yan He Yu was getting engaged, she might break up with him immediately.”

Tian Qinglu thought the same way, which was why she never considered Wen Di an obstacle.

Ding Yi’s next words dealt Tian Qinglu another heavy blow: “Wen Di’s personality is stronger than yours; she definitely wouldn’t put herself through that. But even if Wen Di breaks up with Yan He Yu, Yan He Yu doesn’t like you. You two have also agreed not to interfere with each other after the engagement. Can you guarantee he won’t have other women? You’ll be in living hell then.”

Tian Qinglu gripped the steering wheel tightly, a lump in her throat, unable to swallow or spit it out. Yet, she was powerless to refute Ding Yi.

As they were talking, a familiar license plate flashed past.

Ding Yi watched the car gradually drive away. “Do you know why Yan He Yu went home so early today?” She answered her own question: “Because Wen Di returned to Beijing today.”

Like a Shadow, Following’s official Weibo updated last night. She guessed Tian Qinglu saw the related post too.

“Wen Di can make Yan He Yu drop everything for her, but what does that matter? He’s still getting engaged for profit. He’s always used to controlling everything. Even his parents can’t control him. Do you expect him to settle down and listen to you after marriage? Marrying a man who is as cold-blooded and realistic as him, who doesn’t care about you – have you thought about how difficult life will be after marriage? Wen Di will be free soon, but what about you? You’ll be trapped in it for a lifetime.”

Ding Yi finished speaking calmly.

Tian Qinglu re-fastened her seatbelt. After a moment of silence, she said, “There’s no turning back once the arrow is shot. The banquet is set, and all relatives and friends from both families have been notified.”

She lightly pressed the accelerator, and the car quickly merged into the deep night.

________________________________________

Yan He Yu returned to the villa. Wen Di was lying on the sofa watching TV, her hair dried and spread over her shoulders.

She glanced at him. “Husband.”

“Mm.” Yan He Yu took a car key from the coffee table drawer. “Do you still recognize the way back?”

This was a subtle jab at her for not having been there in a long time.

Wen Di retorted, “Don’t you recognize the way home?”

Yan He Yu leaned over, supporting himself on the sofa, and lowered his head to kiss her lips.

While kissing her, he placed the car key in her hand.

Wen Di pulled away from his lips, shaking the car key. “What’s this for?”

He said, “New car.”

“For me?”

“Mm. Your car isn’t easy to drive, lest it breaks down again when you’re in a hurry next time.” He pulled her up from the sofa: “The car’s in the courtyard.”

Wen Di wasn’t interested in cars. Her coat was upstairs, and she didn’t want to go up to get it. “I have no clothes on; it’s cold outside. I’ll test drive it tomorrow.”

Yan He Yu took off his overcoat and gave it to her, then personally went to the shoe cabinet in the entryway to find a pair of women’s flats. He was clearly determined to have her test the new car today.

Wen Di stood still in the entryway, waiting for him to help her put on her shoes and coat.

They looked at each other for a few seconds. Wen Di clasped his hand and shook it a few times, acting spoiled.

Yan He Yu said, “Next time I wake up, will I have to dress you?”

“Not necessarily. You wake up too early; I can’t get up.”

Yan He Yu put the overcoat on her, stepped back, and squatted in front of her to put on her shoes.

Wen Di looked down at him; this was what she most cherished about him.

“Did you learn to make soup at home?”

“I tried once.”

Wen Di said, “Next time you try again, have the housekeeper record a video for you.”

“Why?”

“I want to see what you look like stepping down from your pedestal and into the kitchen.”

“Aren’t you bored?” Yan He Yu finished putting on her shoes and stood up. “Let’s go see the car.”

Wen Di wrapped his overcoat tightly around her and slowly walked into the courtyard. Yan He Yu didn’t follow her out.

There was a black SUV in the parking lot that she hadn’t seen before; it seemed to be the one he had given her.

Wen Di used the car key to unlock it, and the black SUV responded.

She opened the car door. Before she could even see the interior, several shopping bags fell out from the driver’s seat with a “thud-thud-thud-”.

The logos on the bags were prominent, exactly the ones he was seen carrying out of the flagship store in the video.

Wen Di picked up the shopping bags and looked inside the car. The driver’s seat, passenger seat, and back seats were piled high with gifts.