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Wen Di woke up just before six in the morning, her throat dry from thirst.
She had been too tired before bed last night and forgot to drink some water.
It was one of the few times she had woken up earlier than Yan Heyu.
They had probably gone to sleep around three o’clock or a little after.
Yan Heyu’s self-control in this area used to be quite good. He wouldn’t fool around if he had to work the next day; he would know his limits.
Last night was an exception; he was a little self-indulgent.
Wen Di gently took Yan Heyu’s arm off her. He was in a deep sleep, and he didn’t even stir or move when she got out of his arms.
She sat up and then lay back down again.
Her body felt a little like it wasn’t her own.
After a while, she propped herself up again and moved to the edge of the bed.
Her six o’clock alarm went off on time. Yan Heyu reached for his phone, turned off the alarm, and then realized with a start that his arms were empty.
He opened his eyes; Wen Di wasn’t in bed.
The lights weren’t on in the bathroom or the walk-in closet, so she wasn’t in there.
Her phone was still on the bedside table.
“Wen Di?”
No one answered.
Yan Heyu got up, quickly washed up, and went to the walk-in closet to find some clothes.
Wen Di still hadn’t returned to the bedroom, so he went to look for her outside.
The light in the study was on. He called out, “Wen Di?”
Wen Di responded. She thought Yan Heyu could hear her, but her throat was so hoarse that only she could hear her faint “Mm.”
Yan Heyu came in. She was leaning against the desk, drinking from a cup of water. There was a water dispenser in the study. She had already finished one cup, and this was her second.
She cleared her throat, and her voice was raspy. “Aren’t you going back to sleep?”
“I have a meeting this morning.” Yan Heyu rarely postponed scheduled meetings for personal reasons. He took the cup from her hand and finished the remaining half in one gulp.
“Do we have any throat lozenges at home?” he asked her.
“No need for that.” Wen Di patted her throat. Drinking more water would be enough. Her voice had been hoarse before, back when she was giving him the silent treatment for days. When they finally made up, he had asked for her again and again.
Yan Heyu refilled the cup with water and handed it to her. “I’ll try to be more restrained tonight.”
Wen Di didn’t take the cup and just stared at him.
Yan Heyu corrected himself. “We’ll both go to bed early tonight.”
Only then did Wen Di take the cup, sipping the water slowly to soothe her throat.
Yan Heyu picked her up and sat her on the desk, asking her softly, “Is anything else bothering you?”
Wen Di pushed his face away. “That’s a stupid question.”
Yan Heyu glanced at his watch. It was almost time for him to leave. “I’ll have the housekeeper make you some soup for lunch. If your throat hurts, just have some soft food.”
“I’m going to the company.” He gave her a light hug.
Wen Di kicked him, and Yan Heyu smiled faintly, indulging her little temper.
She called out to his back, “Hey, wait a minute.”
Yan Heyu was buttoning the top button of his shirt and turned to ask her, “What is it?”
After he had buttoned his shirt, Wen Di said, “Nothing.” She just reminded him, “Don’t leave the top two buttons of your shirt undone today.”
Yan Heyu: “I won’t. I’m wearing a tie today.” He walked out of the study.
She had left a row of teeth marks on his collarbone, symmetrical on both sides. They were already bruised this morning, two rows of dark purple. She had also left several deep purple hickeys on his neck.
In the years they were together, he tried to avoid leaving marks in visible places. She was the opposite. She would bite wherever it was easy to leave a hickey. If she could have easily left a mark on his face, she would have bitten him every day.
________________________________________
Wen Di thought she didn’t have to go out today, but just before eight o’clock, she received a call from Qin Xing asking when she could come to the company for a meeting with a few people.
“I’ll be there around nine-thirty.”
Before she left, she endured the soreness and did some stretching in the yoga room. Luckily, she had a regular workout routine, or else she wouldn’t have been able to get out of bed today after all the turmoil last night.
The film company had just completed its B+ round of financing and had money in its account. Qin Xing was considering investing in the movie The World Is Not as Good as You, but he only had a preliminary plan and wasn’t very confident.
After the movie was registered, netizens were not optimistic, complaining that capital was shamelessly trying to make money off of the TV show The World Is Not as Good as You. They felt that even with Tan Moxing in the lead, the movie couldn’t escape its fate as a bad film.
The growth and subtle emotional interactions of the main characters in the TV show could not be fully shown in a two-hour movie, which could easily turn into a boring plot.
Qin Xing wanted to invest because he trusted Wen Di and Zhou Mingqian. He believed they could create a different version of the movie and use the box office results to silence the naysayers.
However, the investment amount wasn’t just a few million or tens of millions of yuan, which could be written off as a learning experience if it failed. The amount was in the hundreds of millions, so he couldn’t just decide to invest based on a gut feeling.
He had been thinking about it for several days, almost losing sleep last night, and still couldn’t make up his mind. So, he asked Shen Tang and Wen Di to come to the company.
They were all founders of the film company.
“This is the PowerPoint I made overnight. All the analysis is on it. Take a look.” Qin Xing also looked at the big screen with them.
He was still thinking clearly. “Brother Yan invested in this movie because it has a different meaning for him. The key point is that Brother Yan is rich. He won’t feel bad even if the movie loses money. We’re different; we don’t have that much money to be so impulsive.”
A great production team and great actors don’t always guarantee high box office numbers.
Currently, besides Yan Heyu, only two other film companies had expressed interest in investing, and it was just an interest, not a final decision. They had seen the revised script, but no one knew if they had the patience to read it.
“Wen Di, what’s your opinion?”
Wen Di smiled. “You’re a great person to ask. Could I possibly say that my own script isn’t good?”
Qin Xing rubbed his temples. “Sometimes, the box office is really just a mystery.”
“It’s not a mystery,” Wen Di said. “The audience will never let a good movie go unnoticed.”
Qin Xing closed the PowerPoint and let out a sigh of relief. “Your words put me at ease. We have to invest.”
Wen Di asked him, “What did I say that put you at ease?”
Shen Tang laughed, “He just brought us here as a formality so that if the box office isn’t great, he has someone to take the blame.”
Qin Xing laughed. “Don’t expose me.”
Wen Di asked him, “How much are you planning to invest?”
He wouldn’t be as extravagant as Yan Heyu, only investing what the company could afford. “At most, about 10% of the movie’s total investment.”
If they ended up losing money, he would sell his house and car to cover the company’s daily expenses.
Shen Tang capped her water bottle and stood up. “You decide on the exact amount. When it comes to investing, you win some and lose some. Don’t overthink it.”
She pointed her chin at Wen Di. “Let’s go shopping.”
Wen Di packed her bag and left with Shen Tang.
She asked, “What do you need to buy?”
Shen Tang rarely went shopping during work hours.
“I need to get an outfit for the charity auction. I want us to wear matching outfits.” Shen Tang linked arms with Wen Di as they went downstairs. “A few stores have new clothes in, so let’s go and see if we can find something suitable.”
They no longer needed to walk the red carpet, so they didn’t have to wear high fashion, but when attending events with many celebrities and cameras, they still needed to dress up.
When they got out of the elevator, a cold wind blew straight into their necks, and Wen Di and Shen Tang instinctively tightened their coats.
Shen Tang said, “It’s winter again. We’ll be celebrating the New Year in a little over two months. This year is flying by.”
“I know, right? You’re a mother now.”
Shen Tang tilted her head to look at Wen Di. “Sometimes I can’t believe I have two kids. I was nineteen when I met you. Now I’m a mother, and you should be getting there soon, too.”
They were no longer young.
Wen Di smiled and said, “I’ll always be nineteen.”
“Then I’ll always be twenty.”
The two of them laughed as they got into the car.
Speaking of the upcoming New Year, Wen Di asked Shen Tang if she wanted to go to Jiangcheng for a few days. The twins were older now and could walk, which was a fun stage.
“My mom has asked me several times when you and the babies are coming to visit.”
Shen Tang fastened her seatbelt, put her hands on the steering wheel, but didn’t start the car.
Wen Di looked at her. “What are you spacing out about?”
Shen Tang turned her face slightly. “From now on, I’ll treat your house as my home, and I’ll go every year and go home with you. I hope your aunt and uncle don’t get tired of me.”
“Really?” Wen Di was ecstatic and leaned over to hug her. “You can’t lie to me!”
“Why would I lie to you?”
She had been abandoned by her parents as a child. After they divorced, they both had new families and didn’t want her. Her grandpa was her only family, and now that he was gone, she was, in a way, homeless.
When she met Wen Di, it was a low point in her life. She had no acting gigs, and all sorts of scandals were flying around. Only Wen Di hung out with her and always trusted and supported her, taking her back to Jiangcheng when she was in a bad mood.
She had wanted to go to Jiangcheng with Jiang Chengyu before the New Year last year, but at the time, Wen Di and Yan Heyu weren’t back together, so she dropped the idea.
Wen Di guessed that Shen Tang was thinking of Grandpa Shen and tried to distract her. “From now on, when we go home, we’ll order Yan Heyu and Jiang Chengyu around to do work.”
“We definitely will. We’ll be in charge of having fun.”
Just a moment ago, their noses were a little stuffy, and now they were laughing again.
Wen Di was already looking forward to the New Year.
She was in a good mood today, so every dress she saw looked beautiful, and she bought two after trying them on.
After getting outfits for the charity auction, Shen Tang wanted to buy some clothes for Jiang Chengyu. He had a lot of events to attend at the end of the year. “I haven’t bought him any clothes this year.”
Wen Di went with her. “Then buy him a few more.”
Shen Tang asked her, “Do you want to check out some of the brands Yan Heyu likes and buy him something, too?”
Wen Di was firm. “I’m not buying him anything.”
Just as she finished speaking, her phone rang. It was Yan Heyu.
Shen Tang laughed. “He probably sensed that you weren’t buying him clothes and is calling to complain.”
Wen Di answered. Yan Heyu asked if her throat still hurt.
“It doesn’t.”
“Drink more water.”
“I’m at the mall with Shen Tang.”
The subtext was that she didn’t have time for small talk.
When Yan Heyu heard that she was shopping, he guessed that she was enduring leg pain while walking. There were some things he couldn’t say over the phone. “Go ahead and shop.”
He then remembered something. “I put a few cards in your cardholder. Just use them for whatever you buy.”
Wen Di found her cardholder in her bag and opened it. The last few card slots had cards with his name on them, four in total. She hadn’t noticed them yesterday. “When did you put these in?”
Yan Heyu said, “This morning.”
Her bag was on the living room sofa, and the cardholder was visible at the top of the bag. He saw it as he was leaving and put a few of his cards in there.
Wen Di closed the cardholder and put it in her bag. “I never used your cards before, and it’s even less likely now.”
“I know.” He paused. “I also took one of your cards. Let’s swipe each other’s cards.”
“...”
Wen Di was speechless.
Yan Heyu told her the payment password for his cards. “It’s the same one as on my phone, the one you set back then.” Then he asked her, “What’s the password for your card?”
All her cards were linked to her phone, so Wen Di herself didn’t remember the password. “You can try a few times and see.”
She then realized that wasn’t right. “Use your own card!”
Yan Heyu gave her a perfunctory “I know.”
Just as Wen Di was about to hang up, he said, “I have something to tell you.”
“What is it?”
“Change the time you call me every day.”
Wen Di thought it was inconvenient for him to take calls during dinner parties. “Then I’ll call you at noon.”
“Let’s do it in the evening, between eight-thirty and nine. You can set an alarm for any time you want.”
“It won’t disrupt your dinner parties?”
“It won’t. I want to get a call from you during my dinner parties.”
“...”
Wen Di hung up the phone.
Yan Heyu did have a dinner party tonight, and Kang Bo was with him.
The others didn’t pay much attention, but Kang Bo, who was sitting next to his boss, noticed that he had glanced at his watch more than ten times in a few minutes.
At first, he thought his boss wanted to end the dinner party early, but his boss didn’t seem to be in a hurry to leave and was chatting with the others at the table without being perfunctory.
He deduced that his boss was waiting for Wen Di’s call.
Yan Heyu picked up the cup next to him, subtly checking the time. The hands of his watch pointed to nine o’clock. Wen Di still hadn’t called.
She must have been deliberately not calling him.
At nine-oh-one, the phone on the table vibrated.
For some reason, Kang Bo felt a sense of relief.
He thought that the matter they had asked the boss for help with tonight was probably a done deal.
Yan Heyu said, “I need to take a call.”
Kang Bo was about to get up and follow him to the door, but he noticed that his boss had no intention of leaving. In the past, his boss would always go outside the private room to take Wen Di’s calls, but today, he seemed to be planning to take the call right there.
Yan Heyu pressed the answer button and held the phone to his ear. A few seconds later, he said, “Not yet. I’ll be late tonight, but I’ll be home before one.”
Then he added, “I didn’t drink. Not a single sip. I’m not lying. You’ll know if I drank as soon as you smell my breath when I get home. I promised I wouldn’t drink, so I won’t.”
On the other end of the line, Wen Di rolled her eyes. When had she ever told him not to drink?
“Okay, I know. Get some rest when you’re done. I’ll try to get back early.” Yan Heyu hung up.
Yan Heyu really hadn’t drunk anything tonight; Kang Bo had blocked all the drinks for him.
After the dinner party was over, Yan Heyu rushed to a club.
Other people had invited him to dinner to ask for a favor, but he went to the club to set up a connection for a friend’s project.
Kang Bo didn’t go to the club with him. He had had a lot to drink and went straight home from the restaurant.
Qin Xing was also at the club tonight. Since he had decided to invest in The World Is Not as Good as You and signed the contract, all the pressure had gone to his head.
He could now empathize with the pressure Wen Di felt when she invested in Behind Desire.
The pressure was too much, so he had come to the club to blow off some steam.
“Brother Yan, we’ve been waiting for you.”
Yan Heyu took off his coat and sat down, giving him a look. “You’re here every day. Can’t you do some serious work?”
Qin Xing said quietly, “It’s not my fault I’m rich and lucky.”
The person next to him snorted.
Qin Xing laughed and handed a deck of cards to Yan Heyu, telling him to shuffle.
He then noticed Yan Heyu was wearing a tie and frowned. “Why are you wearing a tie at night?”
Yan Heyu was shuffling the cards. He glanced at him and said, “For warmth.”
Qin Xing almost choked on his drink. He moved his cup away. “Are you cold?”
“Yes, I’m sensitive to the cold.”
Just as Qin Xing was about to retort, his expression froze when he saw the person walking in behind Yan Heyu. Not just him, but everyone in the private room looked at the door.
The room suddenly fell silent, as if it had been muted.
“What’s wrong with you all?” Yan Heyu turned around.
The person who walked in was Jiang Yunxing.
Jiang Yunxing forced a smile, trying not to be awkward. She had known them all since they were kids and would normally greet them, but tonight was different, and it was a little awkward.
She gave a slight nod. “Sorry for interrupting you for a few minutes.”
Yan Heyu dropped the cards in his hand. “There’s nothing to discuss about your uncle’s matter.”
Jiang Yunxing sat down next to him. The last time she had been in this private room was eight years ago, and it wasn’t his private room then; it was just a luxury room in the club. It only became his private room later.
Everyone said he was crazy for spending so much money on the room every year and why he was being so wasteful since he didn’t even come that often, basically lending it out for free for them to use.
He didn’t listen to their advice and insisted on having this room.
He heard that when he was in other private rooms, beautiful women would always ask for his WeChat, which he found annoying. He couldn’t control who others brought to their rooms, but he could control who they could and couldn’t bring into his own.
Jiang Yunxing said, “Don’t give the staff a hard time. I insisted on coming in.” They didn’t dare to stop her because they couldn’t afford to offend her.
She then explained, “I didn’t track you. I had someone wait for you at the club. I’ve been waiting for you to come for days.”
She thought for a moment about what else he might be sensitive about and said it all upfront.
“There won’t be any misunderstandings in front of all your friends.”
With over ten people in the room, there really couldn’t be any misunderstandings.
Besides, they all knew what Jiang Zhengqian had done.
Jiang Yunxing held her bag in front of her, with her right hand slightly clenched behind it. If she had any other choice, she wouldn’t have come to him.
She knew her uncle was to blame for his own actions, but he was still the uncle who had watched her grow up. In the large Jiang family, her uncle was the only one who had been truly sincere with her.
Even though she and her uncle rarely agreed on anything and their arguments could get to the point of throwing things, he had still put her in a key position in the company against everyone’s advice.
“I’m here today on behalf of my uncle to make peace with you.”
Yan Heyu looked at her. “Your family’s interests were harmed, so you want to make peace. What about when he was plotting against Wen Di? He was going to destroy not only Wen Di’s show but also Yin Ziyu’s career. This isn’t about money.”
Jiang Yunxing: “The damage has already been done. There’s no point in talking about it now. Why don’t we talk about what’s most practical?” What could be more practical than money?
She had temporarily set aside her pride for the sake of her family’s interests.
“Because I don’t need money.”
Yan Heyu paused briefly. “Jiang Yunxing, I don’t want to say any more harsh words. I don’t want people to think I’m cruel about old relationships and things, and I don’t want Wen Di to think she fell for a man with no class. Your uncle’s matter is a result of his failure to learn his lesson.”
Jiang Yunxing reiterated, “I’m here to talk about money, not forgiveness.”
Yan Heyu was firm. “There’s nothing to discuss. If I make peace with your family just because you came to see me, your uncle will think you have influence with me, and he’ll use Wen Di to threaten me again. Also, I don’t want people to misunderstand that I still have feelings for people and things from the past, and I don’t want Wen Di to get jealous over this.”
Yan Heyu felt that he had made himself clear.
The result was what Jiang Yunxing had expected. “I came here because I think it’s foolish to fight each other and let someone else profit from our conflict.”
Since she had said that much, there was no need for her to try any further.
If they couldn’t make peace, then they would have to face each other in the business world.
Jiang Yunxing said her goodbyes. “I have things to do. I won’t hold you up from your card game.”
The door closed, and Qin Xing let out a big breath. He had been holding his breath while listening to them.
“Brother Yan, we’ve all been saying this privately: you can stop now. Even if you make peace with the Jiang family, no one will think it’s because of Jiang Yunxing. It’s a real financial loss.”
Everyone else agreed, telling him to be rational. Wen Di wasn’t an unreasonable person and would understand if he made peace with Jiang Zhengqian.
Yan Heyu picked up the cards and continued shuffling. “You guys haven’t thought about what would have happened if I hadn’t managed that public opinion. If Wen Di’s show was completely destroyed, what would I have done?”
Everyone fell silent.
Yan Heyu suddenly stopped shuffling and picked up his phone to send a message to Kang Bo: [Ask Director Liu again what the trap is with that big deal from Met Company. Has he figured it out yet?]
________________________________________
Yan Heyu left the club at twelve-thirty and arrived home at one-ten.
There was a single warm yellow wall lamp left on for him in the living room downstairs.
He thought Wen Di was asleep and gently pushed open the bedroom door. The light was on in the room, and Wen Di was propped up in bed reading a book.
“Why aren’t you asleep yet?”
Wen Di didn’t look up. “I took a two-hour nap at noon.” She had just finished working overtime to complete her tasks for the day and wasn’t sleepy.
Yan Heyu carried her to his side of the bed and had her lean against his headboard to read. He leaned close to her and told her to take a sniff. “I didn’t drink.”
Wen Di poked him with her book. “Don’t get in the way of my reading.”
Yan Heyu stood up straight, took off his watch, and placed it on the bedside table, where he noticed a delicate box with a brand logo on it.
“Is this for me?” He opened it. It was a men’s belt.
“Thank you.”
Wen Di looked up. “I’m tired of you telling me a dozen times a day that your ten-yuan belt buckle is hard to unbuckle. My allowance for the next few years is gone.”
Yan Heyu unbuckled his old belt and put on the new one. He asked her, “Can I also get an advance on my allowance for my next life? You can get me a new watch.”
Wen Di: “...What are you thinking? Who would want to run into you in their next life?”
Yan Heyu bent down to fasten the buckle on his belt. “I want to run into you again.”
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