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The next day, it was Christmas Eve.
Wen Di studied all day and went to a nearby restaurant for a big dinner in the evening.
She had booked the table two weeks in advance. With Shen Tang gone, it was a sense of ceremony just for herself.
The restaurant was decorated in a romantic and festive way. As she walked in, most of the tables were occupied by couples. There were also girlfriends having a meal together, and some were families with children celebrating.
She was the only person in the entire restaurant dining alone.
She comforted herself, thinking that the good thing about eating alone was that she could rest whenever she got tired.
She had received many Christmas Eve blessings tonight. Her parents and second aunt had even specially ordered apples and flowers to be delivered to her home.
While eating, she checked her phone twice but didn’t receive a blessing from the person she wanted to hear from.
He was the one playing hard to get, and yet he was blaming her for it.
She didn’t know if this was a regular habit of his—taking the initiative to add someone’s contact information, occasionally showing some ambiguous concern, and then waiting for the other person to contact him.
Wen Di opened her phone again and changed Yan Heyu’s contact name to “Yan Plays-Hard-To-Get,” to remind herself to be wary of his tricks and schemes.
Suddenly, her phone vibrated with an incoming call. Seeing the number, she felt a slight pang of disappointment.
It was a call from Qu Pei. Wen Di answered.
Qu Pei asked her which restaurant she was eating at.
“Teacher Qu, how did you know?”
“I’m at your apartment. How do you think I knew?”
Qu Pei had come to see Wen Di. The housekeeper told her that Wen Di wasn’t home and had gone out to celebrate Christmas Eve. As far as she knew, Wen Di’s only close friend, Shen Tang, was at an event in Shanghai.
“Who are you with? A college classmate or a boyfriend?”
Perhaps Wen Di had started dating someone recently, and she just didn’t know.
Wen Di said, “I’m by myself.”
“...Aren’t you bored eating a big dinner all alone?”
“Not really. I ordered a two-person set meal and am pretending the person across from me just went to the restroom.”
Qu Pei didn’t know what to say.
Wen Di asked, “What did you need?”
Qu Pei: “I was passing by and wanted to drop off your copyright contracts. The royalties should be in your account before the end of the year.”
Wen Di had sold two more screenplays recently. She had written them during her two years of college. Because of the success of Late Fisherman, she had gained a little fame. After splitting the profits with the company, the two screenplays were each worth nearly eight figures after tax.
Qu Pei continued, “Our director Ruan said he plans to work with you and direct one of your screenplays after he finishes his current project.”
“Director Ruan wants to direct my screenplay?”
“Yes. The earliest would be next year. Think of it as my Christmas gift to you this year.”
For her, this was the most surprising Christmas gift.
In industry terms, Director Ruan collaborating with her would be a huge boost to her career. It was very rare for a well-known director like him to pay attention to a young screenwriter like her.
She didn’t need to guess. It was all thanks to Teacher Qu.
Qu Pei brought her a few apples and put them on the coffee table. “You go eat. Your food will get cold.”
After hanging up, Wen Di immediately checked to see if anyone had called her during their conversation.
The chat page was completely clean, with no unread messages.
Wen Di put down her phone. She had never felt this way before. She had only ever written about characters anxiously checking their phones in her screenplays, and she never expected it to happen to her.
Meanwhile, at another restaurant...
Yan Heyu glanced at the phone on the corner of the table. He had looked at his phone like this several times tonight. Each time, Yan Heyan across from him caught him. She looked at him and asked, “Are you waiting for a call from Jiang Yunxing?”
“What does that have to do with anything? Why are you bringing her up?”
Yan Heyan didn’t want to bring her up either. “I’ve never seen you so specifically waiting for anyone’s call, and other than her, I can’t imagine who else would make you check your phone while you’re eating.”
Yan Heyu didn’t admit to checking his phone. He said flatly, “Just eat your food. If you’re not going to eat, I’m paying the bill.”
Yan Heyan glared at him and retorted, “What makes you think I don’t want to eat?”
Speaking of Jiang Yunxing, she had scrolled through her social media an hour ago and saw that Jiang Yunxing had posted a nine-photo collage of her skiing in Europe.
Ever since Jiang Yunxing broke up with her brother last year, for two consecutive Christmases, she had been skiing abroad with a group of friends, having so much fun she forgot all about home.
In contrast, her brother had spent two Christmas Eves with her.
Everyone on social media thought that no matter how much of a jerk her brother was, he still couldn’t get over Jiang Yunxing, because they hadn’t seen him be nice to anyone else.
They talked as if it were a fact, but she wasn’t convinced. If her brother truly couldn’t let go, he wouldn’t have broken up with Jiang Yunxing. But tonight, she began to wonder if her intuition was wrong.
Jiang Yunxing was skiing, and he was waiting for her call?
Yan Heyan finished her dinner while her mind was racing. After paying the bill, she and her brother went downstairs to wait for their car.
The car was parked in the open-air lot, and the driver was on his way.
“Hey,” she said, nudging him with her elbow. “Do you still have feelings for Jiang Yunxing? Do you regret breaking up with her?”
Yan Heyu turned his head. There were people nearby. He said in a low voice, “Are you done?”
“What’s the big deal about admitting it to me? I won’t blab it out. At most, I’ll just make fun of you by myself.” Yan Heyan continued, “You’re trying to hide it, so how can I not think about it more?”
“I’m not waiting for her call.”
Yan Heyan sniffed out some gossip. “Then whose call are you waiting for?”
“You don’t know her.”
“I will if you tell me.”
“A little fox.”
“...”
Yan Heyan was so mad she rolled her eyes and stomped on his instep with her high heel.
It was a sharp, searing pain. After a full thirty seconds, Yan Heyu was able to walk toward the car.
Once in the car, Yan Heyan didn’t want to talk to him. She turned on the in-car TV. She had been following Late Fisherman these past few days and was very touched by how good the male lead was to the female lead.
She had rewatched one episode three times and still wasn’t satisfied, so she watched it again.
Seeing the scene, she couldn’t help but sigh, “The director is so good at filming.”
Yan Heyu said, “The screenwriter is a good writer.”
Yan Heyan was in the habit of refuting her brother’s every point, but this time, she didn’t. The show’s viewership ratings had soared due to its reputation and fresh storyline.
“Do you know the screenwriter?” It wouldn’t be surprising if he did, since his company was the title sponsor of the show.
Yan Heyu: “Yes.”
Yan Heyan asked casually, “Is she very emotionally intelligent?”
Yan Heyu, however, said, “She’s about the same age as you.”
Yan Heyan was in disbelief. She couldn’t believe someone so young could be so talented. “Are you sure she’s about my age?”
Yan Heyu’s look told her she was asking a stupid question.
Yan Heyan asked him for a favor. “Then introduce her to me. Our views on certain things, especially on relationships, are so similar, so we’d definitely have a lot to talk about.”
Before Yan Heyu could reply, his phone rang. It was Kangbo’s number.
Kangbo told his boss, “Miss Wen refused to accept the Christmas apple.”
“Didn’t you put my name on it?”
“Yes, I did.”
But the delivery guy had just called him, saying the recipient refused to accept it. Wen Di knew the Christmas apple was specially sent by her boss, yet she still refused it.
“Got it.” Yan Heyu hung up the phone.
Three minutes earlier, after her big dinner, Wen Di had returned to her apartment and received a call from a delivery person who said someone had sent her something and she needed to come downstairs to get it.
The apartment elevator required a keycard, so the delivery person couldn’t go up.
She asked who had sent it and refused to accept it.
Her phone rang. Wen Di put down her water glass and went to the kitchen island to get her phone.
It was an unknown number, but the last digits were very unique and easy to remember.
She had a feeling it was Yan Heyu, but she also felt that for someone so high and mighty, he wouldn’t call her immediately to question her, no matter the reason for the refusal.
She answered.
“What’s with the attitude on Christmas Eve?”
“Who has an attitude?”
“If you don’t have an attitude, why did you refuse the Christmas apple? It’s not a valuable gift or anything.”
“My family sent me a lot. I can’t eat them all.”
“...”
Yan Heyu pressed a hand to his forehead. “Wen Di, there’s a limit to how willful you can be. Tell me why you refused it.”
Wen Di said, “The person who sent it wasn’t right.”
She was blaming him for not delivering it himself.
“I had dinner with my sister tonight. We had booked the table in advance.”
Wen Di understood that he couldn’t change his plans on a whim, but after dinner, he could have found time to deliver the apple. Her apartment was in a very upscale area, probably not far from his home and even closer to his company. In short, he was too proud to humble himself, so he had someone else deliver it.
“Happy Christmas Eve, Mr. Yan. I’m hanging up.”
Yan Heyu was about to say something more, but she just hung up.
The car was still parked on the side of the road. The driver didn’t know whether to start driving or wait there.
Yan Heyan, who loved a good spectacle, said, “Hey, who is Wen Di? Is this the first time you’ve had a gift returned?”
Yan Heyu looked out the window, ignoring his sister.
Yan Heyan was incredibly curious. “Why didn’t you spend Christmas Eve with her? Is she on a business trip out of town? How long have you two been together?”
After a moment of silence, Yan Heyu said, “We just met last night.”
“What the...” Yan Heyan’s curse word was cut short by Yan Heyu’s glare.
She was quiet for a moment. They had only known each other for 24 hours, and he was already on the verge of pursuing her. Wen Di must be something else.
“Is Wen Di a stunning beauty?”
“With a vocabulary this limited, you should read more instead of gossiping.”
“...This is called being down to earth!”
The topic change failed. Yan Heyan was relentless, wanting to know what Wen Di looked like.
Yan Heyu: “Search for her on social media yourself.”
Since she could find her by her real name and she was so pretty, Yan Heyan assumed she was a recently debuted celebrity. She opened Wen Di’s social media. Her bio said she was a screenwriter, with Late Fisherman as her representative work.
Her jaw dropped.
Then she looked at Wen Di’s photos and understood why her brother could tolerate being given a hard time.
“Did you become the title sponsor of Late Fisherman because she’s pretty, and then use that as an opportunity to get to know her?”
Yan Heyu didn’t reply and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes to rest.
“I’m asking you a question.”
“I saw the promotional footage first.”
Yan Heyan knew her brother’s personality. If he spoke, he wouldn’t lie. It seemed that like her, he also thought the screenwriter of Late Fisherman was talented, and he hadn’t expected her to be even more beautiful.
Her brother’s phone was still lying between them on the back seat. They had just met. If they kept clashing like this, it would definitely fail.
“Aren’t you going to deliver it to her yourself?”
Yan Heyu: “Can you just leave me alone?”
“Yes. But before I shut up, I have to say this: it’s not embarrassing to personally deliver a gift that was rejected. I won’t laugh at you, because you would be bowing to talent and substance.”
“...”
________________________________________
Wen Di was about to go to sleep when her phone rang.
She was very surprised to receive another call from Yan Heyu.
He said, “Come downstairs.”
“You’re at my apartment building?”
“Yes.”
Even Yan Heyu himself found it hard to believe. How had he ended up delivering the Christmas apple to her again in the middle of the night?
The elevator required a keycard, so he was waiting in the lobby on the first floor. He didn’t know which floor she lived on, just that she lived in an apartment building in this area.
Ten minutes later, Wen Di arrived, a little late, wearing a new overcoat.
Even though it had only been a day since she last saw him, she felt as if several weeks had passed. His expression was flat, his face full of reluctance.
The two of them stood there in silence, staring at each other.
They were clashing.
For Yan Heyu, taking this much initiative was already an exception. The women pursuing him were so numerous that they gave him a headache, yet here he was, delivering a gift late at night to a willful person.
A gift that she had already rejected.
Wen Di looked up at him slightly. He didn’t speak, so she didn’t speak first either.
Yan Heyu handed her the Christmas apple. “It’s not that your standards are high; you’re just pushing your luck. Since your final exams are coming up, I don’t want you to be in a bad mood.”
He paused, then added, “Don’t let this happen again.”
Wen Di smiled, liking his quirky reason.
The Christmas apple Yan Heyu gave her was a giant one. In all her life, she had never seen such a large apple before. It felt like it weighed several pounds.
She looked at him and said, “Hold out your hand.”
Yan Heyu didn’t know what she was going to do, but he complied.
Wen Di took a tiny mini-apple from her pocket and placed it in his palm. His fingers were long and slender, making the apple look even smaller, so small that at first glance you’d wonder if it was even an apple.
After saying goodnight, she walked towards the elevator, her steps light, holding the apple that was as big as her face.
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