QKYJ - 32

Let’s not make any more personas in the future.

Standing in front of the constantly shaking washing machine, Shen Zhi was lost in thought about the uncertain future. She thought that, not just for Shen He, but for herself as well, it was time to consider a life outside of acting.

The phone rang again and again.

Shen Zhi ignored it again and again.

She drove out, and Lan Qiao suddenly jumped into the middle of the road. The last time a reporter tried to stop them at the door of their house like this, Shen He’s reaction was “run them over.” If Shen Zhi hadn’t desperately stopped him, the two of them might have been on the social news.

With a hard brake, Shen Zhi frowned sullenly.

Lan Qiao was panting, and finally got permission to get in the car.

She sat there, maintaining a long silence. Shen Zhi didn’t plan to go anywhere to have a detailed conversation with her, so she pulled over and didn’t move.

Lan Qiao couldn’t hold back.

Her first sentence was: “I don’t expect you to forgive me.”

For some reason, Shen Zhi suddenly thought of a line from Love in a Fallen City, where the male protagonist linked “If you knew the me from before” with “forgive the me now.” It was a perfect self-justification, but unfortunately, it didn’t work between her and Lan Qiao.

Shen Zhi glanced at her.

Lan Qiao continued, “I also know you don’t plan to forgive me.”

“Then what are you here for?” Shen Zhi took out a pair of sunglasses and slowly put them on her nose.

“I don’t actually envy you,” Lan Qiao said. “I know how real and fake your entertainment industry is, even if you don’t say it. I know you’re not living as well as you pretend to be. Shen Zhi, don’t be so self-righteous. I’m the one who’s wronged you this time, but—”

She was caught off guard by the look Shen Zhi gave her.

Shen Zhi looked at her with a hint of confusion, which made Lan Qiao speechless for a moment.

“What’s wrong?” she said.

Then she saw Shen Zhi shake her head.

Shen Zhi said, “Do you know why I kept tolerating you over and over again?”

Lan Qiao couldn’t help but ask, “Why?”

“To me, you’re the closest thing to ‘family’,” Shen Zhi turned back and said lightly. “I hate you, but I have to admit that you’re the person who is most likely to understand me.”

It was rare to meet someone who was so candid and calmly analyzed herself. Even Lan Qiao couldn’t help but forget the script she had prepared and stared at Shen Zhi without being able to refute her.

Shen Zhi took out an e-cigarette from her bag, took a light puff, and then said, “But this time, you’ve made me very unhappy.”

She was like a heroine from a fairy tale, always elegant, always noble. Every time she spoke, a pearl would come out. The three words “very unhappy” were small and round, and perfectly measured.

“I...”

“Don’t say anything else. I’ve already shown the paperwork to mom. From now on, no one will help you, and you’ll have to pay back your student aid. I’ve decided that what your parents owe me and what you owe me will be notarized.” Shen Zhi lowered her eyes, like a narcissus swan on a lake. She turned back, and the smoke gently drifted onto Lan Qiao’s face. “You’ll have to work your whole life to pay me back.”

Lan Qiao gritted her teeth, feeling humiliated and angry: “We’re sisters! Do you have to go this far?”

Shen Zhi looked away. Her eyes behind her sunglasses were cold and clear: “Yes.”

After a long time, Lan Qiao only said angrily, “I don’t have a family like you.” And Shen Zhi responded nonchalantly, “You can go now.”

After the car door closed, Shen Zhi sat alone for a while.

Then she continued with her original plan.

She went to see Ouyang Sheng, but she didn’t expect Sun Mengjia to be there as well. By the time it was Shen Zhi’s turn to go in, the two of them were already there, sitting across from each other. One was wearing a floral dress, and the other was in a perfectly tailored black and white business suit. One was drinking fruit tea, and the other was sipping coffee, and they were ignoring each other.

In fact, in college, they were “plastic sisters.” They would take selfies together but would never edit the other person. They would secretly compete with each other in every aspect of their lives. However, there was a third person in the dorm, and that was the universally recognized kind and beautiful Shen Zhi.

As long as Shen Zhi was present, both Ouyang Sheng and Sun Mengjia could still pretend to be close sisters and act like a sisterhood.

Ouyang Sheng was the one who had asked Shen Zhi to come out, with the reason being “something came up.”

And now, Shen Zhi smiled and asked, “Are you both here to talk to me about something?”

“She came on her own,” Ouyang Sheng said.

“Don’t be a stranger,” Sun Mengjia sneered. “We’re all college roommates.”

The three of them first went to a spa and let the technicians massage them like marinated meat.

It wasn’t until they were in the water that they got to the point.

“Actually, it’s nothing else,” Ouyang Sheng said. “I’m just a little concerned and wanted to know if that thing with Shen He really affected you?”

Sun Mengjia interrupted, “Why are you still wearing glasses at a time like this?”

“I like it,” Ouyang Sheng retorted.

Seeing that they were about to argue again, Shen Zhi spoke up in time: “It’s nothing.”

“Hehe,” Sun Mengjia’s face was full of contempt. “I didn’t expect that Zhang Qingyue actually had some tricks up her sleeve.”

Ouyang Sheng was even more disdainful: “If she didn’t have some tricks, how could she have made it to Hollywood?”

The rumors about Shen He and Zhang Qingyue had already been mostly clarified online. Both of them were backed by big companies that could stand on their own, so they could make black sound white, let alone when this matter had no basis in reality.

Throughout the entire process, Shen Zhi herself had not said anything, but she was still inevitably forced to appear several times. After all, one of the parties was her husband in name. Her existence did play a significant role in proving Shen He’s innocence. For reasons unknown, Chongyu was especially aggressive this time, sending out several lawyer’s letters and even sending the person who first spread the news to the police station.

Ouyang Sheng commented on this: “Shen He is really afraid that you’ll misunderstand.”

“Isn’t he just afraid that his work will fall through?” Sun Mengjia’s comment dampened the mood.

Shen Zhi just gave a slight smile.

In front of the public, the clarification work was done very well.

However, the few of them, as acquaintances, naturally knew that such a topic wasn’t completely unfounded.

Whether Zhang Qingyue and Shen He had a past romance or not was irrelevant.

Since her return to China, her presence had indeed been a little too deliberate.

A legendary actor with both sons and daughters, a business tycoon who controlled movie theater chains, a director who was once extremely popular a few years ago, and various other people she didn’t know about.

Including Shen He.

Even Ouyang Sheng and Sun Mengjia were on the same page about this matter. They knew who was right and who was wrong, and their firepower was aimed at the same target.

Sun Mengjia commented objectively, “Did she stay in the United States for too long and not read any domestic news? You two are so good together. Anyone who interferes would be a great sinner and would be cursed to death by the public.”

Ouyang Sheng leaned against the side of the tub: “She calls Shen He when she has a flat tire, she calls Shen He when her dad is sick. Is she going to call Shen He when her bathroom heater breaks during her next shower?”

“I heard she kept mentioning Shen He when she was having dinner with the people from Liangyi last time,” Sun Mengjia said half-heartedly, and took a moment to observe Shen Zhi’s expression.

Ouyang Sheng got up in anger. The green medicated bath water slid off her body: “Does Shen He have feelings for her?”

Shen Zhi’s expression didn’t change at all.

Feelings?

For a moment, Shen Zhi had an impulse to tell them the whole story. She wanted to explain how she and Shen He got married. She wanted to tell them that she wasn’t in a position to express her thoughts. They weren’t a real couple.

It was at that moment that the topic suddenly shifted.

Ouyang Sheng said, “I really want to marry for love too.”

Because of her parents’ years of discord, she had always hoped to make up for what she had missed in her childhood.

“You and Shen He are so good together,” she said again.

The words were at the tip of her tongue, but Shen Zhi stopped.

The cast of this play had already been decided. The actors were the playwrights and directors, and the people behind the scenes were his and her companies. Since the performance was realistic enough to be this convincing, why bother to expose herself? It was fine to let everyone remain immersed in the dream.

On the other hand, Sun Mengjia just smiled indifferently.

“Marriage is a game,” she said one word at a time, like a female warrior pulling out her sword in a wuxia film. “The one with fewer feelings wins.”

Ouyang Sheng retorted indignantly, “Then what did you get married for?”

“Money, a house, and status,” Sun Mengjia said. “Anyway, it has nothing to do with love.”

Seeing that they were about to argue again, Shen Zhi had to step in.

She said, “It doesn’t bother me.”

Shen Zhi said, “Shen He and I have been married for too long. We don’t have a passionate feeling anymore. This kind of thing won’t affect us.”

After thinking about it, she appropriately compromised to lay the groundwork for the future: “In life, maybe we’ll try more things in the future. In any case, we’ll definitely communicate well. If anything happens, I hope you’ll understand us.”

Was that a little too direct? After saying it, Shen Zhi couldn’t help but reflect.

The fewer people who knew her secret, the better.

In the end, Shen Zhi laughed at herself in her heart. She still hadn’t been able to accept anyone.

Recently, the staff around Shen He had been on high alert.

The reason was none other than the fact that Shen He was in a very bad mood.

When he was in a very bad mood, he didn’t smash things or swear. Looking at it that way, it wasn’t so bad.

However, those weren’t the only two things he didn’t do.

Xi Xi held a McDonald’s in his left hand and a bowl of fish maw porridge in his right. He walked behind Shen He, who was concentrating on playing table tennis, and said, trying to suppress his anger, “Besides the pack of red ginseng I gave you yesterday, have you eaten anything in the past two days?”

Shen He said, “No.”

Xi Xi continued to ask, “Then have you slept?”

Shen He actually laughed: “I don’t think so.”

“‘I don’t think so’ my ass!” Xi Xi finally couldn’t take it anymore. He walked up from behind and slapped the back of his head. “Can you not make our studio risk having to start a crowdfunding campaign for you?”

To his surprise, Shen He turned around and asked him a very serious question: “Do my savings have so little that I can’t afford to be sick?”

Xi Xi was so angry that he was speechless.

Not only that, but during this time, Shen He’s tolerance for anything inefficient would go to zero.

As soon as he saw a staff member doing something in an unreasonable way, he would openly express his dissatisfaction, lecture them, and even insist on doing it himself, and no one could stop him.

The worst part was that he was so stubborn that he wouldn’t stop until he had done it perfectly, which was inexplicably annoying.

Xi Xi could only go around comforting everyone: “It’s fine. Just pretend he’s on his period. He’ll be back to normal in a few days.”

However, during this time, an unexpected and tricky situation also occurred.

The popular male star that the TV station had recommended for Shen He’s talk show before was Cheng Ruiyi.

Even though he was recommended, Cheng Ruiyi had always been in a state of agreeing but not agreeing.

With Shen He’s temper, he would have canceled him immediately. However, he still had to save face. It had been delayed again and again, which had held up a lot of things.

Even his assistant, who was always responsible for smoothing things over, said, “He’s so arrogant. Is his family really that dismissive of how people in the industry see them...”

In the end, it was Shen He who said, “I’ll take responsibility if anything goes wrong,” and replaced him.

“And he even filmed a show with Sister Shen.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, the assistant regretted it.

Xi Xi had just reminded him that Shen Zhi was a forbidden word during this period.

But Shen He’s reaction was surprisingly normal.

“Yeah,” he said.

The assistant felt his heart jump to his throat. Just as he was about to find an opportunity to slip away, Shen He spoke again: “I haven’t seen her in a week, have I?”

At that moment, the three words “death sentence” flashed through his mind.

The assistant said, “Why don’t you apologize?”

Shen He wasn’t very resistant to this suggestion. He just asked, “Why?”

“Isn’t that how you get along with women? Just apologize first.”

Originally, Shen He was very calm.

He thought for a while with an expressionless face. Then, the staff came in and called them. It wasn’t until the evening when the assistant was about to get off work that he said goodbye and left. Shen He suddenly appeared and blocked his path, saying, “I don’t think you’re right.”

The assistant’s face was full of suspicion.

“How many women do you have in your life, Long Ri?” Shen He crossed his arms and stood his ground. The way he was standing, the assistant knew he was about to make a self-statement followed by a self-refutation. “No, don’t answer. It’s not important. To be honest, isn’t it truly unfair to someone to apologize without knowing what you did wrong?”

The assistant tried to join the debate: “But isn’t that what women like?”

“Other women might like that, but Shen Zhi won’t.” Shen He continued to speak with righteous indignation. “Do you think Shen Zhi isn’t a woman?”

Can you not be so unreasonable?

The assistant was speechless: “Sister Shen is of course a woman...”

“In short, I have to know what she’s thinking first, and then I’ll decide what to do.” With that, Shen He took out his phone without hesitation and dialed the number at the top of his contacts smoothly.

The assistant really wanted to grab his phone and smash it.

But his rationality told him that he couldn’t beat Shen He. Shen He could take him down with one hand.

So, he watched helplessly as the call went through.

Then Shen He spoke into the phone: “Hello? It’s me.” They were so familiar with each other that this opening was all they needed, yet they could go for days without seeing or contacting each other.

“Mhm.”

Shen Zhi’s reply was also very easy and natural.

Shen He said, “What are you doing?”

Shen Zhi said, “Getting my nails done. You?”

Shen He said, “I’m about to go for a run, and I’m thinking about you right now.”

Shen Zhi let out a barely perceptible sigh and said, “If it’s about the divorce, I hope you understand that you didn’t do anything wrong. At least not anything serious. The reporters didn’t dig up anything, and you didn’t really embarrass me. We had already agreed to consider separating after seven years. It was all agreed upon. I won’t blame you.”

They were only a couple in name. Even if he liked someone else, she had no right to criticize him.

The call was unusually silent.

After a long time, she heard his reply.

He said, “...Why don’t you blame me?”

“Huh?”

Shen He was silent, and then, he asked with difficulty, “Can’t you just blame me?”