QKYJ - 25

After hearing about what Shen Zhi had been through, Xi Xi, while busy with her own work, said, “She really has it rough.”

“It’s not that bad,” Shen He said, leaning back and lying on the massage chair with a serious expression.

Even though she had expressed a similar sentiment of sympathy, Xi Xi didn’t show any unusual behavior in her actions. All she did was take precautions to ensure that Shen He wasn’t affected.

What did it matter if it was hard?

Who in this world had an easy life?

It was good enough to just take care of yourself.

Xi Xi said, “What about you? Didn’t Hua Zichen ask you to play golf this afternoon?”

Shen He remained lying there, motionless, and said while looking at the ceiling, “What golf? It would be more like him to ask me to play ping-pong.”

Xi Xi waited for his response.

“I don’t want to play with him anymore,” Shen He said, spouting an unshakably childish comment.

“What’s wrong now?”

As a manager, she not only had to take care of her artist’s work, but also his life. She had completely given up on Shen He’s love life; but she was still very supportive of him making friends. Especially since Hua Zichen was a very valuable person and was absolutely qualified to be a good teacher and friend.

It was just a shame that Shen He’s biggest trait was his unpredictability.

Someone who he was as close as a brother to last week was someone he was avoiding this week.

“When you make plans to go out with someone, and you want to bring other people, shouldn’t you tell them in advance?” Since they were on the same side, Shen He complained without reservation, “I’m not asking for too much. I’m just asking him to consider other people’s feelings and give them a heads-up. Is that too much to ask?”

“He’s not a bad person...” Xi Xi said.

Shen He turned his head and stared at her: “Don’t be vague. Am I wrong? Is he the one with the problem?”

“You...”

“Tell me.”

Shen He’s attitude suddenly became firm, as if he wouldn’t let go until he got the right answer.

Xi Xi had no choice but to admit, “It could have been handled a little better.”

“It’s not ‘it could have been’,” Shen He turned back and continued to express his dissatisfaction, “it’s ‘it should have been’.”

Xi Xi finally understood. She couldn’t reason with this person in a normal way; she had to follow his line of thinking, otherwise there was no way to communicate.

“Then give him another chance,” Xi Xi said.

“What?”

Xi Xi became a persuasive elder: “You can’t just throw everything away because of one mistake, can you? People should be tolerant of each other, shouldn’t they?”

Shen He sat lazily in the massage chair.

After a while, he said, “That theory is not wrong.”

“See?” Xi Xi felt there was hope.

“But I don’t have to be tolerant of him,” Shen He said. “I’m not from Liangyi. The only reason I know him is because of the company.”

Xi Xi was at her wit’s end.

The assistant came in, stirring a smoothie in his hand. The strange smell alone was enough to make one lose their appetite. It was a wonder that Shen He could eat it every day for decades as his main meal whenever he needed to, without any complaints.

“What’s wrong, Brother Shen? You’re in a bad mood again?” the assistant said.

Shen He started eating: “Get lost.”

After a while of being busy, Xi Xi came back and looked down at a message from her husband on her phone. She suddenly thought of something, turned to ask Shen He, her tone filled with a hint of a question: “I heard that when Hua Zichen couldn’t meet you and those people that day, he turned around and asked Zhang Qingyue to have dinner with him. Did you know about this?”

As she said this, Xi Xi suddenly remembered something.

Before she took over as Shen He’s manager, Zhang Qingyue seemed to have specifically gone to the set to find him. Since Zhang Qingyue had gone abroad, Shen He hadn’t mentioned it, so Xi Xi didn’t know the details.

Could it be—

Shen He’s reaction, however, was flawless. He looked calm and unconcerned. He finished his terrible food: “Mhm. What about it?”

He was already getting up as he spoke.

They had an appointment to go to the TV station for a meeting.

It was for a personal talk show that Shen He had been preparing for a long time.

The format of the show was one-on-one, with Shen He talking to celebrities from various industries. Before the official negotiations, he had participated in the recording of several variety shows from that TV station to get a feel for it and confirm the quality.

The station had already drawn up a list of potential guests and was asking for Shen He’s opinion.

The first episode was crucial.

Shen He used his own connections.

“I’m confident there won’t be any problems. Your popularity is already guaranteed, so everything else is just a bonus,” the person from the TV station said. “For the next few episodes, some people have already reserved a spot to come on. It’s a young person who has been doing very well recently and wants to transition from being a star with a huge fan base to being an actor—”

Shen He wasn’t interested at all and said directly, “You can handle it and just let us review it.”

Lan Qiao had asked for an abortion.

Shen Zhi also had to go back to the film set. Although she didn’t think it was inappropriate for her cousin to be alone with her fake brother-in-law, she wasn’t obligated to be that close to Lan Qiao, so she had already arranged a hotel for her.

She could stay for as long as she wanted.

She could be given anything that money could buy.

But not what money couldn’t buy.

As she thought this, a staff member in the distance called her name.

Her rigid expression faded, and Shen Zhi put on a smile and calmly stood up.

She was going back to the set at noon, and her schedule was packed. It was rare for her to come to the Liangyi headquarters, and every time she did, she was always in a hurry.

Before it was time to leave, Shen Zhi lay down to catch up on some sleep.

Since she wasn’t wearing makeup, she found a cushion and was about to fall asleep when she heard a series of footsteps outside the window, which forced her to open her eyes.

“Why is it so noisy?” she muttered to herself.

The assistant behind her heard and told her truthfully, “The company seems to be signing someone.”

Just signing a contract, why all the fuss?

“It’s not just anyone.”

Shen Zhi was in a bad mood, so she mocked, “Is it some kind of Disney princess?”

The assistant said, “Something like that. It’s Zhang Qingyue.”

Her back stiffened almost imperceptibly.

Shen Zhi turned around and slowly suppressed her surprise, asking with her usual calmness, “How come I don’t know about this?”

“Maybe it’s not confirmed yet, so Sister Cai didn’t bother to tell you,” the assistant thought for a moment and then said, “Besides, there shouldn’t be any conflict between you two.”

The footsteps in the corridor faded.

The room became quiet for a while.

Shen Zhi said, “That’s true.”

“...”

She smiled faintly: “Anyway, she wouldn’t lower herself to act in a TV drama.”

It was no big deal.

Nothing would happen.

A person like Zhang Qingyue would never cause any trouble for Shen Zhi.

When she got up, the assistant asked her a question.

“The restroom,” Shen Zhi said as she walked out.

She was washing her hands in front of the mirror.

That’s when Zhang Qingyue walked up.

She meticulously cleaned her fingers with hand sanitizer.

Shen Zhi continued with what she was doing calmly, without looking away, until she looked up and showed a polite amount of surprise: “Senior Zhang?”

Zhang Qingyue also looked over, saying with an equally pleasant expression, “Shen Zhi? What a coincidence to run into you here.”

This was the company where Shen Zhi had been working for nearly ten years.

“It is a coincidence,” Shen Zhi said. “How have you been lately?”

Today, Zhang Qingyue was wearing a white maxi dress, which slightly revealed a black slip dress underneath. It was both noble and pure, and it couldn’t have suited her better.

“I’ve been good,” Zhang Qingyue said.

After another moment of silence, Zhang Qingyue suddenly remembered something.

“Oh, right. Before, I have to thank Shen He. I really have to thank him,” Zhang Qingyue said.

Shen Zhi was in no hurry to reply.

She didn’t know what Zhang Qingyue was talking about. Shen He had never mentioned it. Trivial matters were one thing, but if it was something she should have known about, it was dangerous.

After a moment of hesitation, she finally smiled: “It’s nothing.”

Zhang Qingyue silently observed Shen Zhi. Shen Zhi was fully aware of this but allowed her to look.

“...Did Shen He not tell you?” Zhang Qingyue seemed a little hesitant. Her smile faded slightly, replaced by a friendly expression that made it unclear whether she was trying to cover something up or if there was no ulterior motive at all.

Shen Zhi’s smile deepened: “I’ve been on set lately.”

“That explains it. It’s also possible that he didn’t want you to worry,” Zhang Qingyue replied understandingly. “This is what happened: my car had a flat tire that day, so I asked Shen He for help.”

Shen Zhi was too calm.

Then, a deeper emotion appeared on Zhang Qingyue’s face: “...And for a long time, my mental state was really not good...”

Was she being too self-important?

He had extended a helping hand, and she had endured her displeasure. Wasn’t it all just because of Zhang Jiangnan’s past guidance and support?

Shen Zhi clasped her two hands together and put them in front of her. She stood there calmly, looking at Zhang Qingyue with a gentle expression.

After a long time, she said, “Would you like a cup of coffee?”

It was Zhang Qingyue’s turn to be surprised.

“Senior, you probably don’t know where the company’s coffee machine is, do you? That one is very expensive, and the coffee it makes is delicious,” Shen Zhi said. “I’ll get you a cup.”

As she said this, she turned around.

Her sense of gratitude was replaced by a subtle dissatisfaction.

Even Shen Zhi had her moments when she wanted to lose her temper.

Ding Yaocai said, “Run.”

Shen He, who received this call, was full of suspicion. He held the phone in one hand, asking, “Why?” while parallel parking with the other.

Out of the 365 days in a year, the number of times Ding Yaocai had directly contacted Shen He was very few. All work matters could be communicated systematically, so if she was calling, it was because something was out of control.

“Shen Zhi is on her way to you,” Ding Yaocai said, her voice sounding very tired.

“Shen Zhi?” Shen He glanced at his phone, confirming that it wasn’t a prank call. “Didn’t she have to be back on set before the afternoon?”

What he didn’t know was that half an hour earlier, the first thing Shen Zhi did when she saw Ding Yaocai was to hand her bag to her assistant and walk resolutely toward the door: “I need to see Shen He. Now. Immediately.”

“What kind of female CEO role-play are you doing?” Ding Yaocai was confused. “How long ago did you two separate? Stop fooling around; we don’t have time for that today.”

But Shen Zhi said, “Then I just won’t eat.”

She made a decision easily: “There’s no need for lunch. It’s just grass anyway, so it’s as if I didn’t eat it.”

With that, she headed straight for Shen He’s location.

It was clear that Ding Yaocai’s warm warning had come a step too late. When he got out of the car, Shen Zhi was already walking toward him menacingly.

They were people who made a living by presenting an excellent image of themselves.

Every word, every action, every look in their eyes in front of the camera, and every step they took in public were supposed to be perfect.

Today, she wasn’t wearing makeup or dressed up. Her face was bare, and she was wearing a simple vintage-style top and jeans that couldn’t be more ordinary. Her long braid swayed slightly, and behind her sunglasses were a pair of eyes that perfectly suppressed all emotions.

Shen Zhi approached Shen He as if she were walking the red carpet under the gaze of thousands.

“What are you—” he couldn’t help but say.

His mind was endlessly replaying the embarrassment Zhang Qingyue had caused him just now.

She came up to him and said coldly, “Can I hit you?”

He raised an eyebrow and quickly replied, “Don’t hit my face.”

Without another word, Shen Zhi swung her handbag and aimed it at Shen He’s face.

He dodged and took the hit on his shoulder.

The distance between them was almost non-existent. Their eyes were like the surface of a lake covered with algae, a murky and bottomless chaos. Their lips and noses were like works of art, pleasing to the eye and perfect for the camera. The image was frozen in time: a man and a woman approaching each other without a trace of emotion.

“Whatever women you want to mess with, however you want to do it, and what you do, as long as you don’t get caught, it has nothing to do with me. But,” she raised her hand and pointed forcefully at his chest, matching the rhythm of her words, “don’t, you, ever, cause, me, trouble.”