Published at 2nd of September 2019 9:50 pm

Chapter 4.2 — The Power of Gossip (2)

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

Gu Yu’s words caused Jia He to remember Yi Wenze’s instructions.

It turned out that one sentence of “The day after tomorrow, three o’clock in the afternoon,” was referring to this matter. While everyone was still speculating over the secret reason for their marriage breakup, the two were already taking advantage of breaks in their filming schedules to complete the formal procedures. Then, they would do a public statement about it, and that would be considered enough of an explanation for all the fans. But, would that be enough of an explanation for themselves? Who would know? Who would care about that?

Gu Yu said some more pointless words before they at last ended the call.

As a result of the huge news that she had unintentionally learned from her question, Jia He ended up tossing and turning for the entire night, and only when the sky was hazily lit did she fall asleep. At ten o’clock, however, she climbed out of bed right on time, asked Xiao Ou for the schedule, and checked to see which scene Yi Wenze was filming today. Xiao Ou thought she wanted to go to the filming location, and beaming ecstatically, she specially explained that the director, taking into consideration that it had snowed so hard yesterday, had made some last-minute changes and scheduled the horse-riding-and-rescue scene to be shot today.

The group that was doing the filming of that scene had gone out very early in the morning. If Jia He wanted to go see, she would need to call and get a taxi.

Hurriedly interrupting her, Jia He told her that she was merely asking.

In fact, she was simply worried that if Yi Wenze had too much idle time today, he would inevitably think about that matter that would be taking place tomorrow. Though she had no personal experience in divorce, she had written quite a few scripts on love and marriage and had also once lost her love and fallen into despair. Just having the thought that her idol would feel dejection brought a sense of emptiness and a dull ache into her own heart, and she wanted to do something.

“Screenwriter, do you need to call a cab?” Xiao Ou had already pulled out her mobile phone.

“No thanks.” Jia He smiled. “Where’s the motorhome?”

With a “Huh?” Xiao Ou stared bewilderedly at Jia He, not understanding what she meant.

Jia He contemplated for a moment. “It’s snowing, and filming today is also outside. Everybody definitely is really cold. If they could have hot pot, that would be awesome.” Afraid that Xiao Ou might get some mistaken ideas, she hastily added, “Qiao Qiao and Director Jiang both quite like to eat that.”

Cluing in, Xiao Ou beamed and answered her, “Great idea! The motorhome’s here anyway, so it’ll be easy to get the stuff.”

Seeing that she had agreed to the idea so readily, Jia He could at last breathe out in relief. Xiao Ou called over two assistants who had stayed behind, and they began discussing what things they should buy. While they were at it, they gave Qiao Qiao a call to ask for permission to carry out the plan. Qiao Qiao was currently being tormented by the godawful frigid weather, so when she received this call, she instantly became extremely exuberant and declared that she needed to personally review the menu. Right before the call was ended, Qiao Qiao finally told Xiao Ou to hand the phone to Jia He.

“Oh yeah, you’re good.” Inside the phone, there was the whistling of the whipping wind. Sniffling, Qiao Qiao pointed out in a quiet voice, “You’re thoughtful enough and certainly put in enough effort. Alas, I once more have become your excuse.”

After laughingly shooting back a couple of retorts, Jia He hung up the phone and, with Xiao Ou, began carefully drawing up the list of food. In that period, she would every so often receive text messages from Qiao Qiao, who one moment would be saying she wanted to eat tripe and yanpi dumplings[1], another moment saying she wanted wood ear mushrooms and winter melon. It was not until Jia He sent back a text, berating her to consider the hardships of the people doing all the legwork and to stop being so picky, that some restraint was shown on that other end.

After some time, Qiao Qiao sent a text message to Jia He individually: You don’t need me to tell you what Yi Wenze likes to eat, right?

In outrage, Jia He fired back her own message: Shut your trap.

Jia He, of course, knew very clearly what Yi Wenze liked to eat. This knowledge came not simply from his celebrity profile; there were also all these years of entertainment news on him, so there were bound to be pictures of him eating. Jia He had long ago committed his taste preferences to heart, to the extent that sometimes, as she thought about the fact that her idol liked to eat a certain thing, she would end up eating a little more of it, too, until gradually she had developed the same taste preferences as him.

The remainder of the work, she handed off to the assistants to prepare. Jia He merely went with Xiao Ou to personally select the soup base for the hot pot. Yi Wenze liked spicy foods, but his preference was for the sour-spicy flavours of the Yunnan and Guizhou regions, and he did not really eat the numbingly spicy flavours of the Sichuan area. Due to this, the two of them ran around to several different places before they were able to find that type of soup base.

“Screenwriter.” Xiao Ou finished paying, then stuffed the soup base into her bag. “I heard Qiao Qiao mention that you’re from Beijing. How come you like spicy food so much?”

“Actually, it’s okay to me. I just thought a spicy pot of soup would help dispel the chilliness.” Jia He gave this offhanded answer to brush over the question.

By the time they had finished all this busy work, it was already the afternoon. Jia He and Xiao Ou arbitrarily ordered a few boxed meals, and after eating them with the assistants, they brought the various ingredients into the motorhome and then drove to the outdoor shooting location.

Overnight snow brings the most frigidness. The vehicle had only just come to a stop before Jia He saw Qiao Qiao, wrapped up like she was a wanted criminal, large eyes, which showed from beneath the layers, staring in through the motorhome’s window and madly blinking and blinking at Jia He. When the engine was shut off, Qiao Qiao jumped over to open the door for her first. “A warm welcome to our leader who is here to do her inspection visit.”

“It’s so cold.” Before Jia He had the chance to even respond to her, she was first given such a chill that she shrugged her shoulders up to hide her neck.

“Yup.” Qiao Qiao’s lips were covered by a scarf, so her words came out muffled. “I’m almost frozen to death. The horse isn’t being obedient either. We’ve had countless NG takes. Even I wish I can eat that animal’s flesh alive, but your idol is actually still able to smile in all this. I’ve figured it out now. You must have created this character just for him. ‘A disposition so refined and warm it is like that of the lustre of jade. A man who remains unperturbed even if the seas are billowing and crashing around him…’ He fits all those descriptions.”

Jia He reached over and gave her a pinch, a hint that there were still people following behind them.

Qiao Qiao originally had merely been trying to get some amusement. Seeing that Jia He was vexed, she hurriedly asked what soup base they had bought, hoping to change the subject. Jia He could not be bothered to even pay her any attention. Roughly sweeping her eyes over the surroundings, she very soon spotted Yi Wenze in that white expanse.

He was sitting on a horse, leaning forward, gently stroking the horse’s neck in an attempt to appease this animal that was cross because of the cold. That horse seemed to truly understand his intent and was not at all disobedient like Qiao Qiao had described. Rather, it was over and over rubbing itself against Yi Wenze’s hand, acting so terribly friendly and cozy.

Watching from a distance as that horse behaved so docilely, Jia He remarked with a smile, “See, isn’t that horse being good?”

Qiao Qiao stood there by the vehicle door, rummaging through all the ingredients they had bought, not even lifting her head as she answered, “A horse is unlike the grass or the trees[2]. Naturally, then, it likes the good-looking ones.”

Her idol was just complimented. Jia He’s mood also naturally became quite good.

With a sunny smile, Jia He gave her a pat. “It’s time for you to do some hard labour. Start moving things.”

Right as she was speaking and about to turn around, over on the other side, the person on the horse seemed to hear the noise here and, straightening back up, took a glance in their direction.

Through the fluttering, light snow flurries, she had only an indistinct glimpse of his face, yet his gaze seemed so tangible that a brief stupor came over Jia He.

Without really being aware of the passage of time, everyone had endured all the way until work wrapped up for the day. The main and supporting actors and actresses, as well as the directors and producers, all got into the motorhome. When they spotted the hot pot, they evidently received quite the shock, and loud, elated cheers of “Who was so thoughtful?” over and over rang out. Pressing forward together, they took the bowls and chopsticks that Xiao Ou had prepared, and without even taking off their winter coats, they all crowded around the steaming hot pot.

After an entire day of bitter cold, a hot pot had suddenly descended from heaven. Who would care now whether you were a man or woman, big star or not? Everybody was simply crazily delighted. Around that rectangular, six-person table were crammed more than ten people on both sides, and there were still quite a few people standing. Because Jia He was slender, she was squished into the corner near the window. It so happened that opposite her was Yi Wenze.

“You really like spicy foods?” When everyone’s mouths were open wide because of the burning spiciness, he seemed very much to be enjoying it, leisurely eating away.

Nodding, Jia He buried her head down and ate her wood ear mushroom.

She had personally mixed the condiments for Yi Wenze’s dipping sauce, but she wasn’t certain whether they suited his tastes… Well, no point in thinking too much about it. If worst came to worst, there was still the soup base to hold down the fort. This particular flavour should be pretty good. While she was still musing on this, someone called out, “The shrimp are ready!” At once, numerous pairs of chopsticks all reached towards the pot. Jia He was wedged around until she could not even see the pot and could only sit there and salivate enviously. Right as she was feeling glum, out of nowhere, someone placed a shrimp into her bowl.

The cooked river shrimp was already a pink hue to begin with, and then with the chili oil coating it and dripping from it, it looked even more flushed and especially tasty.

As she lifted her head in surprise, she was in time to see Yi Wenze pulling his chopsticks back. In his bowl, though, there was not even the shadow of half a shrimp.

Was this considered… a fan benefit?

Lowering her head, Jia He took a bite, carefully using her teeth to pull away that thin layer of shell. All she could sense was that sour and spicy flavour gradually permeating from her mouth all the way to her stomach… And then, in an instant, crimson flooded her cheeks. The people surrounding them were all utterly focused on that hot pot and busy snatching food for themselves. No one had noticed this little corner near the window or what had just occurred.

“Screenwriter, it turns out you actually can’t take spicy foods?” Her bowl cupped in one hand, Xiao Ou pointed at Jia He with her chopsticks and announced in seriousness, “We ran around to a bunch of places this afternoon to buy the soup base, so I thought you’re really able to take spiciness.”

Tears from the spicy heat had long sprung into Assistant Director Cheng Hao’s eyes. He at last knew who the true culprit was. “Jia He, are you getting revenge on me for making you take a little, supporting role? You should have just said something earlier. I guarantee, next time I’ll give you the lead actress role.”

As these two played off one another, everyone eventually noticed that Jia He’s face was redder than a cooked shrimp, and they all echoed their mirthful agreement, saying that Jia He wasn’t here to reward everybody; she was basically taking this chance to exact her revenge. But despite the gripes coming from their lips, they were still each more rushed and eager than the next, and in the blink of an eye, the food, which had actually been double the portion for their numbers, was completely demolished.

After they had eaten until they were basically full, their bodies also felt warmer. This group that during the day had longed to wrap up work and head back to their rooms to sleep, now actually grew animated. Cheng Hao had recently become obsessed with Sanguosha[3], and grinning, he pulled out a set of the cards from his pocket. Straightaway, the people in the vehicle all gathered around him. Jia He did not know how to play and could only watch from the sidelines. When she became tired from watching, she stepped out of the motorhome, wanting to take in some fresh air next to it.

The ruckus inside the vehicle faded further and further. The light around her also became dimmer and dimmer.

Without even noticing, she had actually strolled quite far. She remembered that she should go back to keep working, so she turned around, thinking that she would first admire the footprints she had made. To her surprise, she saw Yi Wenze standing not far from her, cloaked in the shroud of night.

He had one hand in his pocket while pinched between the fingers of his right hand was a cigarette, giving off a faint, flickering glow. He merely tranquilly watched her, not uttering anything.

Because everything was blanketed in white, their surroundings appeared especially vast and empty.

It was as if, in this space between heaven and earth, there were only the two of them, gazing at one another.

What flashed across her mind in that instant was how foolish she must have looked earlier when she was stepping in the snow. Terribly embarrassed, Jia He self-consciously asked, “Teacher Yi, why did you come out, too?”

“I saw that you kept walking towards where it’s dark, so I followed along just to keep an eye on things.” Smiling, Yi Wenze stubbed out the cigarette. “It’s about time to go back now. Work will be starting up very early tomorrow.”

With this simple sentence from him, Jia He very quickly remembered the reason work needed to start early tomorrow.

What kind of reason would it have to be for anyone to choose to forsake such a man?

Jia He’s heart suddenly twinged. Back when she first found out about Gu Yu’s betrayal, she had only been able to use “not good enough” to comfort herself. She had been working for three, four years but was still only a little reporter who had to run around everywhere while he was already soaring up the ladder in his career and rising rapidly to success. But now, as she looked at Yi Wenze, she simply could not imagine why such a man would also be betrayed and forsaken.

[1] Yanpi dumplings, also known as pork skin dumplings, are a snack food originating from Fuzhou. The yanpi is the “skin” of the dumpling. Lean pork that has been pounded into a paste and mixed with tapioca flour or glutinous rice flour is formed into thin slices, which serve as a wrapper for the dumpling filling.

[2] Qiao Qiao changed this from 人非草木 “man is unlike the grass and the trees.” Man is unlike the grass and trees, which feel nothing and hold no emotions. Here, Qiao Qiao is jesting that horses have feelings, too, and what they feel is that they like the good-looking people.

[3] 三国杀. A role-playing card game based on the classic story, Romance of the Three Kingdoms. This card game is known in English by various names, including Sanguosha, Killers of the Three Kingdoms, Legend of the Three Kingdoms, and Three Kingdoms Kill.

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