QKYJ - 30

Shen He arrived at the hospital, took the private entrance upstairs, and entered the VIP room. Jiangnan was already resting. His wife was there, and so was Zhang Qingyue. He walked over, greeted them first, and then consulted with the doctor about his condition.

“He’s fine now,” his wife said.

Shen He nodded and replied softly, “That’s good.”

He suggested they rest for a while, and he and the teacher’s assistant would take care of the rest.

However, his wife shook her head firmly: “How can I rest easy at a time like this? Being by his side is the best way for me to get some rest.”

Shen He thought about it, and for some reason, he felt he could understand.

Finally, he said, “Then you should go back, Senior.”

At this point, Zhang Qingyue also said, “No need. Mom should at least eat something.” With that, she turned to leave.

His wife was worried and finally held Shen He’s hand.

“Xiaoshen, you should go. Qingyue has been going through some things recently, and it’s a time when she can’t even take care of herself. What if her depression relapses...”

“Mom.” Zhang Qingyue slowed down. At this moment, she turned around and softly stopped her mother from continuing.

“Don’t worry too much. Everyone knows. Shen Zhi will also come tomorrow. Mr. Zhang will be fine,” Shen He said. “I’ll be right back.”

He didn’t notice the slight flicker in Zhang Qingyue’s eyes.

She sighed and said, “Thank you.”

Shen He had already disappeared from the door of the ward.

Back in his university days, when people heard that Zhang Qingyue had arrived, the male students would all swarm out in droves to catch a glimpse.

At that time, Shen He was not one of them. It wasn’t that he was superior. He was just constantly getting demerits and only avoided being held back a year because of the teachers’ favoritism. He was used to being on the front lines of being a maverick every day.

When a classmate said that he would do anyone’s homework if they could get Zhang Qingyue to have dinner with them, he agreed without a second thought. Many people were waiting for him to fail, and Zhang Qingyue did indeed refuse many times. However, Shen He was different from others. When he made up his mind to do something, it was difficult to change it.

In the end, Zhang Qingyue agreed with a superior smile.

Then, she was so angry that she left when she found out that he had invited her to eat at the school cafeteria.

If you had to analyze it, Shen He didn’t do anything wrong, and Zhang Qingyue, who thought the North Campus cafeteria wasn’t classy enough, wasn’t wrong either. She returned to her normal life, and he put everything behind him and got an excellent grade for his final project without any effort. The matter should have ended perfectly there.

It was just a shame that the human heart was the most unpredictable thing in the world.

Today, Zhang Qingyue chased him out of the room.

Her sigh was like a rustling reed. Shen He was sharing the parking lot address with his manager. He wasn’t very good at caring for others, especially women.

So he was silent for a long time and ended up not saying anything.

The hallway was empty and lonely. Perhaps affected by the atmosphere, Zhang Qingyue suddenly opened her mouth.

She said, “Shen He, do you mind that I’m dragging you down?”

For a few seconds, Shen He was confused.

He said honestly, “You can’t drag me down.”

They weren’t bound by a common destiny.

When Zhang Qingyue heard this, the ripples in her eyes gradually became brighter.

The earthquake hit at that moment.

The ground shook. Shen He was stunned and subconsciously prepared to react.

However, Zhang Qingyue stopped all of that.

She screamed, trembling, and slammed into Shen He’s arms.

Without time to figure out what was happening, Shen He raised his hand. What did they teach in the disaster drills? He wanted to walk to the shelter, but Zhang Qingyue’s legs had gone soft, and she held onto him tightly, not letting him go.

In this critical moment, Shen He couldn’t help but forget his manners: “Zhang Qingyue?”

Zhang Qingyue still wouldn’t move.

In a state of stress, he could only roughly grab the back of her collar and drag the helpless woman to the corner of the wall. However, this terrifying shaking was not as strong as he had expected, and it had even come to a halt.

The hospital’s reassuring broadcast came on.

Shen He looked up.

At that moment, he heard the click of a camera shutter.

Dying here for real—was impossible.

Shen Zhi recalled what she knew from the disaster preparedness guide, bent her knees against the elevator wall, took deep breaths repeatedly, and told herself to calm down, calm down, and calm down some more.

The elevator car continued to shake, and Shen Zhi fought against her fear without saying a word.

Time was stretched out infinitely, and countless fragments of memories came flooding in.

Like when she was little and saw her parents off at the airport. She would cry every time, but she didn’t know when that feeling had gone away. Even if she was sad, it was just a faint, dull ache in her heart. Another memory was that Lan Qiao always stole her things. Of course, she also stole Lan Qiao’s things. From middle school to high school, every boy Lan Qiao liked would eventually confess his feelings to Shen Zhi, who would then reject them. Without exception.

She also remembered things from the entertainment industry. For example, someone asking the director to increase their screen time at the expense of hers, someone spreading rumors about her, or someone offering her a role in exchange for sex.

Shen Zhi kept taking deep breaths.

In the end, her heart palpitations finally subsided. She kicked out the anxiety.

And at that moment, the shaking stopped.

The elevator door opened just in time. Shen Zhi walked out and looked around. It was full of people rushing about.

Her phone rang again. She answered it. It was Xiaoqiu.

Her assistant said, “Sister, are you okay? There was an earthquake. Luckily it wasn’t too serious. You have to be more careful from now on.”

Shen Zhi said, “I’m fine.”

“Sister,” the assistant’s voice was choked for a moment, and then she said, “It’s like this. I’m coming to pick you up now. You might have to come to the company. Can you send me the address now, please?”

Shen Zhi said, “Got it.”

She wanted to smoke a cigarette, but she didn’t have any. Moreover, she remembered that she had quit smoking.

Because of the frequent aftershocks, even though the disaster hadn’t escalated much, traffic was still affected to a certain extent.

It took Shen Zhi a long time.

First, she went home to wash up and change into dry clothes, and then she waited for the traffic control to end before leaving.

She didn’t arrive at the company until the middle of the night.

For a company like theirs, it was not unusual for the office area to be lit up all night. Due to the unexpected incident during the day, the fire escape had also been cleared.

They went up the stairs.

All the way up, the assistant’s expression was overcast. She couldn’t hold it in before entering the room. As she pushed the door open for her, she whispered, “Sister Cai said not to agree to anything before she gets back, no matter what they offer—”

Shen Zhi’s heart sank.

She knew it wasn’t good, but she didn’t know how bad it was.

If Shen Zhi had been nervous when she entered the first door, she was much calmer when she entered the last one.

Facing more than two high-ranking officials and secretaries whom she rarely saw, Shen Zhi knew that the situation was very bad. The smell of rotten apples filled the air, and she gave a calm and composed smile: “You were looking for me?”

“Shen Zhi, come in and sit. You’re done with filming, right?”

That tone of an elder talking to a junior was very uncomfortable.

Shen Zhi didn’t answer the question. She took off her woolen coat and just sat down. Her delicate calves were exposed from under her half-skirt: “Tell me, what’s wrong?”

The last time they had a meeting like this was when the company was in financial trouble and needed Shen Zhi’s help after someone had pulled their funding. At that time, Ding Yaocai had been furious and refused to budge, protecting most of Shen Zhi’s interests.

The person chosen to speak was Hua Zichen.

This didn’t surprise Shen Zhi. Recently, he and Shen He had been getting very close, so he was naturally assumed to be familiar with her as well.

Hua Zichen didn’t explain much and first showed her a few photos.

Shen Zhi took them and then saw a draft of a news article.

The protagonist was Zhang Qingyue.

It roughly said that during her cohabitation with her ex-boyfriend in the United States, Zhang Qingyue was suspected of having a history of domestic violence and had also stalked and threatened her ex-boyfriend and his friends after they broke up. They were preparing for a lawsuit.

“We have already signed Zhang Qingyue and are just waiting for the official announcement. We’ve even decided on the work she’s going to act in. The company will suffer a huge loss if something like this comes out,” Hua Zichen said earnestly. “A private settlement is a definite, but once the news is reported in China—”

Shen Zhi sneered.

Hua Zichen didn’t like that expression on Shen Zhi’s face.

It was a cold, aloof expression that seemed to look down on everyone.

And she had occasionally seen it on Shen He’s face as well.

She said, “Pay to buy it off.”

“...” Hua Zichen was silent.

In fact, Shen Zhi had already understood the situation. But she insisted on making them say it out loud.

“Not everyone has the same opinion. It’s not good for anyone if the executives don’t get along,” Hua Zichen finally said frankly. “We want to use your news to cover it up.”

This was not uncommon in entertainment companies.

To reduce the impact of one person’s negative news, they would take a lesser-known story and use another person’s report to fill the gap and divert attention.

The prerequisite was that the company had the right to have 100% control over the artist and had negotiated the terms with them.

Shen Zhi sat there silently.

Hua Zichen said, “Don’t worry, we’ve already considered the compensation: movies, TV shows, endorsements. Your position is already solid. It’s been a long time since she’s been in the country. Your relationship is also very good...”

Shen Zhi and Zhang Qingyue.

As the person involved, she couldn’t help but fall into her thoughts. Was her relationship with Zhang Qingyue good?

They had only met a few times.

The number of times they had talked could be counted on one hand.

Zhang Qingyue had left very few impressions on Shen Zhi. Many people had chased her, her debut film was Mom, which had cultivated the youngest Cannes Best Actor, she had been living abroad for a long time and not taking care of her parents, and there had been various relationship disputes in Hollywood later on.

Zhang Qingyue was very lucky.

Since her debut, she had never acted in a bad movie. She had her father’s halo, and she had never really been manipulated by capital.

Perhaps for a moment, Shen Zhi had thought that.

But it disappeared in an instant like a passing cloud.

After all, she had always assumed they were not from the same world.

The first person to break this peace was Zhang Qingyue.

Now, Shen Zhi had to add a new impression of Zhang Qingyue.

Just a while ago, when she heard about her and Shen He’s interactions from Sun Mengjia, Shen Zhi had casually dealt with it and then had been alone for a while.

She and Shen He were a fake couple. They couldn’t interfere too much with each other, and the only thing they protected was their superficial dignity.

Even if Zhang Qingyue knew they were a fake couple, Shen Zhi wouldn’t be too surprised. She and Hua Zichen were so close. Furthermore, if Shen He had revealed something, what then?

Shen Zhi had always tried to avoid thinking about this.

If that were the case, what did that make her?

It was only a few hours until dawn. Hua Zichen left her alone to think. In fact, he knew that she didn’t have much room to maneuver and there was no need for her to refuse.

Outside the French window was the nighttime view of the city resting. Shen Zhi lay on the sofa, lazily looking up at the ceiling.

Her phone beeped.

After a long time, she picked it up to look.

In the photos that exploded on the trending topics, Shen He and Zhang Qingyue were tangled up together. The woman looked like she was about to burst into tears, evoking pity. The man was frowning, his eyes were downcast, and he had his usual bad, unromantic expression, which showed that it was indeed him.

She had been working constantly for all these years.

She had been acting non-stop.

Different roles meant different lives, different motivations, and different endings. She had immersed herself in different people countless times, using the act of becoming someone else to escape.

Shen Zhi looked up and examined the photos carefully. After a very long time, she still didn’t say anything.

This was the seventh year of their marriage. It was also supposed to be the last. People were not made of wood, but not everyone was like Shen He and Shen Zhi. They had discussed this based on rationality and practicality. However, things weren’t like this back then. Things hadn’t gotten to this point back then. Zhang Qingyue hadn’t come back yet.

Getting up and walking to the door, Hua Zichen happened to be talking to his secretary in the hallway. Shen Zhi poked her face out. It was thin, calm, and breathtakingly beautiful. She said softly, “I can help her.”

Hua Zichen looked at her with an unreadable expression.

They wanted to sacrifice her commercial value, and she knew best how to destroy her own commercial value.

“But,” Shen Zhi continued unhurriedly, “I want to use the topic of ‘Shen He and Shen Zhi divorcing.’“