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Qi Mingche chuckled lightly, not responding.
Wen Di knew from his expression that he didn’t believe what she had just said.
It wasn’t surprising.
If he had believed it, he wouldn’t have such a deep prejudice against her.
Facing the sea breeze, she walked forward, turning her head to look at him, “How did you find out about me and your dad?”
She was curious what had led him to such a misunderstanding.
“Wen Di.” Qi Mingche called her name for the first time, with a warning: “That’s enough.”
He was not in the mood to discuss his father’s affair with her.
Wen Di wasn’t even afraid of Yan He Yu’s threats, let alone his. “I said I have a boyfriend, but you don’t believe me. You won’t tell me why you’re misunderstanding me either.”
She gestured with her chin towards the green tea in his hand, “I didn’t treat you to tea for nothing. Just answer me, how did you find out I was sleeping with your dad?”
Qi Mingche was too lazy to play along with her. “Eight years ago, you could make Ming Jianjun transfer a 200-square-meter luxury apartment to your name without batting an eye.”
After that, all of Wen Di’s works were directly or indirectly invested by his father. Over the years, his father had put a lot of effort into Wen Di.
The apartment Wen Di currently lived in was originally chosen by him, and he had participated in the design of all the interior decorations. Unfortunately, after it was renovated, he hadn’t even had a chance to move in before his father “sold” it.
At the time, his father’s excuse to the family was that he owed someone a favor in business, and that person happened to want to buy a house for his daughter, so he repaid the favor.
His mother readily agreed, even comforting him, saying it was just a house, and they would buy him another high-rise in a similar area.
The house was reportedly sold at market price.
Looking back now, his father wasn’t repaying a favor; he was making his mistress happy.
Wen Di didn’t know that her apartment was bought from Ming Jianjun. She explained, “The apartment was a coming-of-age gift from my parents.”
Qi Mingche chuckled.
Wen Di knew he didn’t believe her. She called Ming Jianjun in front of Qi Mingche, but there was no answer.
She got through to Ming Jianjun’s secretary. “Please tell Mr. Ming to explain to his youngest son what happened with that apartment back then. It’s only been eight years; it shouldn’t be hard to find the transfer receipts from that time. I don’t want to be anyone’s shield, and don’t use me as a pawn.”
After speaking, she hung up directly.
Qi Mingche felt nothing inside. “Do you think throwing a tantrum can clear your name?”
He reminded her, on the sixteenth of last month, at noon, she and Ming Jianjun had met again at the club, against the odds. She was holding Ming Jianjun’s car’s spare key, looking for the car in the parking lot, but couldn’t find it.
“I didn’t accuse you wrongly about this, did I?”
Wen Di frowned. On the sixteenth of last month, she and Ming Jianjun met at the club to discuss a custom script.
“Do you know why he didn’t wait for you to leave together?” Qi Mingche asked and answered himself, “Because he saw my car pull in when he went downstairs, so he had to leave first, not daring to wait for you.”
Then he saw Wen Di come out of the club. She walked past his car with her car key, constantly pressing the key to find her car. After searching the parking lot for a long time without success, she even called Ming Jianjun to question him: You drove the car away, what am I supposed to do?
Wen Di was curious: “Did Mr. Ming also drive a Bentley that day?”
Qi Mingche suddenly found it uninteresting. “Is it that hard to admit it openly?”
Wen Di suddenly smiled. This time, she had no words to defend herself.
She hadn’t expected such a coincidence: that day, she drove Yan He Yu’s Bentley, and Ming Jianjun also drove the same model.
Qi Mingche had been benevolent enough; he had given Wen Di ample opportunity and dignity. “Handle yourself well.”
He nodded slightly, then turned and walked back.
Wen Di stood by the shore for a long time. She didn’t receive a call from Ming Jianjun. She found Yan He Yu’s chat box: “Husband, are you busy?”
Yan He Yu wasn’t exactly busy. He was already in Haitang Village, looking at a barbecue restaurant’s menu, ordering seafood Wen Di loved.
Seeing her message, he called Wen Di: “What’s up?”
Wen Di stated plainly: “Ming Jianjun is having an affair. Last month, I met him at the club to discuss a script, on the day you drove your car away. His youngest son thought I was the mistress and came to confront me.”
If she were to use the club’s surveillance footage from that noon to clarify, it would mean revealing her relationship with Yan He Yu to Qi Mingche. She wasn’t sure what Yan He Yu’s intentions were now.
Of course, if Yan He Yu ignored it and considered her grievance insignificant, their relationship would end today.
Yan He Yu said, “I’ll handle it.”
He asked her, “Where are you now?”
Wen Di looked around, “By the sea.” She couldn’t give a specific location. She walked back along the original path, “I’m filming a show in Haitang Village.”
Yan He Yu “hmm”-ed, then said, “I’m busy.”
Wen Di didn’t know if he was busy solving this problem for her.
________________________________________
Ming Jianjun had long anticipated that Wen Di would come to him to clarify the misunderstanding. He knew his youngest son’s temperament best; filming a show in the same team as Wen Di, they would constantly run into each other. Qi Mingche couldn’t keep tolerating Wen Di, and sooner or later, they would clash.
He knew Qi Mingche had hired someone to investigate his affair, and everything was under his control. He played along, misleading Qi Mingche so that all the investigative evidence Qi Mingche obtained pointed directly to Wen Di.
Because his relationship with Wen Di was innocent, no matter how big the misunderstanding, it could be explained clearly. He wanted to use Wen Di to clear his name regarding the affair, which was pure fabrication.
He painstakingly protected Xin Yuan because he didn’t want to bring trouble upon himself and didn’t want to break up his family.
His wife was very beautiful when she was young, but she had lost her figure with age.
Their past love was also passionate and intense.
The only thing Ming Jianjun miscalculated was that he never expected Yan He Yu and Wen Di to be a couple. Just now, Yan He Yu had called him, putting pressure on him and saying: “He’ll deal with it.”
Then the call was cut off.
Ming Jianjun instructed his secretary to gather all evidence that could prove his innocence with Wen Di, then dialed Qi Mingche’s number.
Without waiting for his youngest son to speak, he launched into a scolding: “Are you unhappy unless you cause me trouble? How many times have I told you all that some people look at our harmonious family, feel envious, and rack their brains trying to sow discord, wishing for my family to fall apart and my company to go bankrupt so they can feel comfortable. And you lot, you don’t believe me, and you keep jumping into the traps others dig! If you have the guts to cause trouble, then have the guts to clean it up!”
Ming Jianjun spoke until his throat was dry. This was the first time he had ever scolded his youngest son.
Qi Mingche said coldly, “Are you done talking?”
Ming Jianjun took the opportunity to vent: “Do you even know who Wen Di’s boyfriend is? Even your old man here can’t afford to offend him, and you just blabber on. You pissed Wen Di off today, and now she’s come to me demanding an explanation, telling me to handle it myself!”
________________________________________
He stopped wasting words. “I’ll send you all the information. Once you’ve read it, go apologize to Wen Di! The car she drove that day wasn’t mine!”
Ten minutes later, Qi Mingche received the so-called evidence from his father.
He wasn’t interested at all. How credible could evidence be that his father sent to clear his own name?
Qi Mingche turned off his phone and went to a seafood barbecue stall by the beach for dinner. He asked the owner for two cans of beer and casually ordered a few seafood dishes.
“Boss, do you have seats upstairs?”
“There are two left.” The owner quoted the price.
The second-floor rooftop had a large terrace with a direct sea view, and the price for such a scenic seat was also considerable.
Qi Mingche asked for a seat on the terrace. After paying, he followed the waiter upstairs.
There weren’t many customers upstairs; many seats were empty, yet the owner had said there were only two left.
The seat he chose was right next to the railing, with the boundless sea stretching before him.
“Did Ming Jianjun and his youngest son apologize to you?”
Qi Mingche was opening a beer when he suddenly heard his father’s name, and then his own name was called. His hand paused. Following that unfamiliar, low voice, he looked to his left.
A tall man in a white shirt, one hand in his pocket, stood by the railing, gazing at the tourists coming and going downstairs. The man’s aura was not something that could be accumulated just with money.
The man turned his head. Qi Mingche looked closely and recognized him, incredibly astonished that Yan He Yu would actually appear in Haitang Village.
No wonder there were so many empty seats nearby; Yan He Yu must have booked them all.
The empty seat he was sitting in now must have been occupied by a customer earlier, and Yan He Yu hadn’t asked the owner to clear the area.
Qi Mingche knew Yan He Yu. He had encountered him a few times in the club lobby, and his friends had told him that he was “that one from the Yan family.”
His father had said on the phone that Wen Di’s boyfriend was someone even he couldn’t afford to offend.
He opened his email. One of the surveillance videos his father sent him.
It turned out he had misunderstood Wen Di that day. Wen Di had indeed driven Yan He Yu’s Bentley, not his father’s. It was just such a coincidence that it didn’t feel like one.
Qi Mingche found it interesting. He had investigated for so long, only to find out it was a misunderstanding. How then were those pieces of evidence, showing Wen Di and Ming Jianjun checking into the same hotel, to be explained?
It seemed he had been misled, and his father was just incredibly lucky.
Downing a can of beer in one go, Qi Mingche didn’t linger. He didn’t even eat the barbecue. He went downstairs and left.
In the crowd, he glimpsed Wen Di walking up from the beach, holding her phone to her ear. She was probably talking to Yan He Yu.
Wen Di had been fuming, but after Yan He Yu talked to her on the phone for more than ten minutes, half of her anger dissipated.
“Aren’t you busy tonight?” she asked Yan He Yu.
Yan He Yu answered evasively, “Where are you looking?”
“Huh?”
“If you walk further, you’ll hit a begonia tree.”
Wen Di immediately looked up. Less than a meter ahead was a begonia tree. She realized belatedly, “When did you get here?” She looked around for him but couldn’t see him.
Yan He Yu reminded her, “Don’t you know to look up?”
Wen Di looked up and found him on the scenic terrace of the barbecue restaurant ahead. He was standing by the railing, surrounded by neon lights and wisps of smoke rising from the barbecue stalls, making him appear somewhat ethereal.
He seemed out of place amidst such a mundane, lively scene.
His physical presence here brought her more joy than him sending her soup and food via private jet from a thousand miles away.
Across the lights, the night, and the noisy crowd and waves, she looked at him and said, “Husband, can I get more surprises like this every year?”
After a moment of silence, Yan He Yu didn’t answer, only saying, “Come up.” He hung up the phone.
Wen Di took it as a yes.
Yan He Yu still stood by the railing, watching Wen Di walk towards him, watching her go upstairs and rush to him.
There were no other customers on the terrace, yet Wen Di chose to sit at a different table.
She rested her chin on her hand, seemingly admiring the sea view, but in fact, she was watching Yan He Yu.
Yan He Yu gestured to her, “Come and sit here.”
“You come over.” She extended her hand to him.
The space between their seats was separated by flowers and a fence, but it didn’t hinder their conversation.
She remained seated. Yan He Yu had no choice but to go over, circling the fence.
“Where are you staying tonight?” she asked.
Yan He Yu said, “Returning to the city center.”
He had no intention of staying overnight in Haitang Village; he had only come to see her.
Wen Di asked him, “Is your luggage in the car?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Can’t you stay with me for one more night?”
“Didn’t you say you’d be staying with the production team to record material?”
“Filming starts tomorrow.”
Yan He Yu called Assistant Kang, asking him to book a room at Shen Tang’s family guesthouse.
Wen Di emphasized, “That’s not her family’s own; someone else rented her house.” Shen Tang’s family owned quite a few houses by the sea, and Grandpa Shen couldn’t live in all of them, so two of them were rented out, one to a villager to run as a guesthouse.
Whether it was run by Shen Tang’s family made no difference to Yan He Yu. He told Wen Di, “Come find me after you’ve eaten barbecue.”
“You’re not eating?”
“I’ve already had dinner.” He left first; he still had a video conference to attend.
Wen Di messaged the director of Like a Shadow, Following, fabricating a story that she would be staying at Shen Tang’s house tonight. The house where Shen Tang and Grandpa Shen lived shared a courtyard with the guesthouse, so there was no difference between going to Shen Tang’s house and going to the guesthouse.
Director: [We’ll gather at 6:30 AM tomorrow. Don’t be late.]
Wen Di left a message for Shen Tang: [I’m using you as an excuse for a date tonight (smirk)]
After eating barbecue, she enjoyed the sea view for a while longer.
Until Yan He Yu messaged her: [If you haven’t finished eating, pack it up and bring it back. The room card is at the front desk.] He had finished his video conference and still hadn’t seen her.
Wen Di replied: [On my way.]
She went straight to the guesthouse next to Shen Tang’s house and picked up the room card at the front desk.
The third floor of the guesthouse was a large suite, offering strong privacy.
Wen Di opened the door. There was no one in the living room. She heard “splashing” sounds from the bathroom.
“Husband.” She knocked on the bathroom door.
Yan He Yu asked her, “Did you bring clothes?”
“No.” Wen Di had come directly from the barbecue stall, too lazy to go back to the guesthouse where the production team was staying to retrieve her luggage.
Yan He Yu: “Then put your dress outside.”
Wen Di thought the same thing. If her dress accidentally got dirty, she wouldn’t have anything to wear tomorrow morning. The conditions here were not like hotels in the city center; there was no place to dry clean dresses.
She took off her long dress and hung it in the closet, right next to his clean shirts.
She found a black hair tie in her bag and casually tied up her long hair.
Yan He Yu saw her faint silhouette through the glass door and walked over to open it for her.
She was barefoot, wrapped in his discarded shirt.
The sound of the waves swallowed all other noises.
Yan He Yu closed the door, lowered his head to find her lips, and gently bit them.
He pulled the shirt off her body and casually tossed it onto the shelf.
Wen Di reached back and turned off the bathroom light with a click.
The fishing lights from the sea outside filtered through the window, illuminating her body with a soft, lustrous white. The weak fishing lights seemed dim in comparison.
Yan He Yu pulled her up and hugged her close, kissing her.
The bathroom tiles were incomparable to those at home; Wen Di found them cold.
Yan He Yu picked her up, “Then let’s go to the bed.”
Wen Di was carried back to the bedroom. Seeing the familiar bedsheets on the bed, she asked doubtfully, “Are these the bed linens provided by the guesthouse?”
“No,” Yan He Yu told her to lie down and leaned down to kiss her.
Wen Di’s attention was still on the bedding, and she pressed for an answer: “Is this the set I prepared for you when I packed your luggage before?”
“Mm.”
Yan He Yu got up and walked towards the bathroom.
Wen Di looked at his back: “What are you doing?”
He said, “There’s only one set of bedsheets.”
If they got wet, there wouldn’t be another set to change into.
Wen Di turned her head sideways. The pillowcase had her familiar scent.
She had a habit of bringing her own bedsheets and duvet covers, and even pillowcases, whenever she traveled for business. The familiar scent made it easier for her to fall asleep.
She had packed Yan He Yu’s luggage a few times for business trips and habitually put a set of bedding in his suitcase. Unlike her, Yan He Yu didn’t rely on scents to sleep, and he had never used it. However, he always carried this bedding storage bag with him, in case they were on a business trip in the same city, making it convenient to use.
Yan He Yu brought the shirt he had taken off from the bathroom and placed it under her.
Wen Di reached out to hug him. He leaned over, and she leaned into his lips. He returned her kiss.
In between, Wen Di reminded him: this wasn’t their bed at home; it couldn’t withstand his rough handling.
________________________________________
The next day at five o’clock, the beach became lively as tourists waited to watch the sunrise.
Yan He Yu had to catch a flight. When Wen Di woke up, he was already dressed. He said, “After this episode is filmed, call Assistant Kang before you come back. If I’m free, I’ll pick you up; if not, I’ll have the driver pick you up.”
“No need.”
It was another week until Chinese New Year.
“It’ll be close to the New Year when filming finishes, so I’ll go straight home,” Wen Di said. “I’ll stay home for a few extra days, spend more time with my grandparents, and then come to you around the tenth.”
He was getting engaged on the sixth of next month, and she wouldn’t be coming until the tenth.
Yan He Yu paused, then said nothing in the end. He propped his hands on either side of her, looking into her eyes. Wen Di smiled back at him. He lowered his head, and his kiss landed on her lips.
It was a particularly gentle kiss.
Wen Di got ready and went downstairs first. Yan He Yu followed ten minutes later to check out.
She hadn’t left yet, drinking a cup of water from a disposable cup at the guesthouse reception. Seeing him come downstairs, she left her half-empty water cup on the counter and departed.
Yan He Yu handed the room card to the owner. He casually picked up the disposable cup Wen Di had left for him and drank the remaining half of her water.
The driver who was picking him up was already waiting at the guesthouse entrance. He walked out with the empty paper cup.
Before getting into the car, he instinctively turned his head to look for Wen Di by the roadside.
She was nowhere in sight.
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