Published at 2nd of September 2019 9:52 pm

Chapter 12.1 — Insuppressible Pounding of the Heart (1)

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

Three days later, they headed back to Beijing.

In Tianjin they had stayed in a hotel and so could have two rooms, but if they were back in Beijing… she could neither stay in his bedroom, nor blatantly go stay in his company’s office.

She snuck a look at Yi Wenze. He was very focused on driving. They would be entering Beijing very shortly, and her longing to be home was boundlessly amplified, like hundreds of hands were scratching at her heart. After contemplating for a long while, she still eventually stretched a hand over and waved it in front of his eyes. Right when she was about to speak, though, her entire body was thrown forward. But then at once, it was yanked back by the seat belt again.

The car had come to an abrupt stop, and the jolting and jerking had left her head feeling heavy. It was not until she dazedly turned her eyes on Yi Wenze that she realized that one of his hands was pressed against the front of her body. Anger could faintly be seen rippling in his eyes, and his smile was wholly absent from his face.

As Jia He looked out at the vehicles changing lanes around them, she realized she had just committed a wrong.

A dangerous glint was in those eyes. Her chest felt as if there was a bunny hopping jitterishly inside. Thump, thump. There was no need to mention how panicked she felt… “I forgot we’re on the highway…” She flashed a sheepish smile. “Let’s drive first. It’s too dangerous to be stopped here like this.”

His middle finger knocked lightly a few times against the steering wheel. In the end, he did not utter a single word and simply continued driving.

The half of his face that was visible beneath his cap carried no expression whatsoever. In silence, his eyes looked out at the road ahead. His lips were pressed together—yes, they were pressed together.

Jia He was being stifled into depression. That facial expression was just too familiar. From watching so many of his movies, she ascertained that this subtle signal represented two words: extremely angry. Yes, “extremely” angry, not just an average type of anger… Jia He swept an imperceptible look over the dashboard and its gauges—everything was very steady. His psychological composure was just too amazing. There was actually no change of any sort. If it were herself, she reckoned she could floor the gas pedal when she was angry.

“Would you like a smoke?” she asked tentatively.

“No,” he replied impassively, “I’m quitting smoking.”

Uh…

“Why?” Once she finished asking, the three words “preparing for pregnancy” popped up in her mind.

He wouldn’t be… quitting smoking so early in preparation, would he? As soon as this thought arose, she cut it off herself first.

What in the world was that? Wholesome and pure. You need to be wholesome and pure.

Yi Wenze remained unspeaking and only carried on driving.

Yell at me. It’s better to just yell a few words at me! Jia He gazed at him, then gazed at him some more.

“Actually,” she began, very composedly attempting to butter him up. “I’ve always thought that you’re really handsome when you’re angry.”

Yi Wenze flicked a look at her.

Such a deep, intense black. Even if she wore cosmetic contact lenses, she’d never be able to achieve this effect. She could not help lamenting, This is what’s meant by “God is not fair.” This is the definition of “comparison brings misery”… “It’s true. In that New Year’s movie of yours last year, you looked so cold and aloof when you were mad. My heart felt like it was all twisted together when I was watching, and I could totally put myself in the other person’s shoes. I was all tense and breaking out in cold sweat for the female lead.”

Just like right now, oh gosh…

Her eyes were fixed on him. There was a slight shift in the lines of his chin; slowly, they softened and spread into a smile. At last, he resignedly instructed, “Next time, no fooling around on the highway. If anything were to happen, it would be a big thing.”

Jia He nodded docilely. She could finally relax in relief. So, what this showed was that pretty people always have an advantage. She silently reflected on the tactic that she had used. Why did it seem so much like that of a rich playboy coaxing smiles out of his girlfriend? While she was once more sighing over how even heroes cannot resist the charms of a beauty, Yi Wenze had already removed his cap and put it on her head. The brim was just right for blocking out the light in front of her. “Sleep a bit by yourself first. Don’t disturb me while I drive.”

“Mm-hmm,” she answered, in the end still not putting forth the request to go home.

Fortunately for her, once the car entered Beijing, she noticed it was heading in the direction of her home.

They were nearly at her community before she asked him, “You have work tonight?” Very pathetically, she discovered that when he took her home without mentioning a word about it, she actually felt even more torn.

“I need to make a last-minute trip to Hong Kong. It will be three days at the earliest before I’m back.” Seeming to be mulling over something, he then asked her, “Would you like to come with me?”

Out of instinct, Jia He felt that this trip had something to do with Tian Chu, so shaking her head, she replied, “In these next two weeks, I absolutely cannot leave Beijing, or else that really would be irresponsible and not keeping my word.”

He was not insistent about this, telling her in a tranquil tone, “During the divorce process, certain procedures regarding some assets weren’t completed. After I go back this time, everything should be about done.”

Jia He gave an “mm-hmm.” Her heart was itching. She wanted to ask but was unable to get the question out of her mouth.

When Jia He stepped through the door of her home, her mom was in the study “stealing crops” in a video game, but after catching a glimpse of the door, she immediately ran out from the room and very eagerly and attentively poured some tea for Jia He. Jia He was somewhat taken by surprise at this unexpected special treatment. She had thought she would be getting an interrogation session, but it actually turned out to be a warm cup of tea.

The next second, she understood.

“Daughter, give me your identity card number[1].”

Jia He’s suspicions were roused. “For what?”

“To sign up for QQ Happy Farm[2].” Her mom very patiently explained, “One identity card is only allowed to register two different accounts. Your dad and I have registered four altogether, but that’s not enough.”

Jia He was stunned. “Four farms aren’t enough for you to play with?”

“Do you think Mom is like you and has so many schoolmates who have QQ? On my accounts, in total I just have your uncle, your aunt, and you. Oh right, and your farm never has anything on it.”

Jia He pressed her hand against her forehead. “When do I have the free time to grow stuff so it can be stolen?”

“Even if I include your nephew in there, that’s not enough for ten minutes of crop stealing for me.” Her mom carried on explaining, “And also, Happy Lord has a daily limit on happy beans[3]—”

Jia He waved her white flag. “Don’t explain; I wouldn’t understand anyway.” Saying this, in order to have some peace, she straightaway stated her identity card number. To her surprise, even after giving it out, her mom still kept staring at her with eyes that gleamed, as if she was looking at a piece of red-braised pork belly[4] that had just come out of the pot… Once more, Jia He went on alert. “Didn’t I just give it to you?”

“And also your boyfriend’s,” her mom very kindly reminded. “That way there can be two more accounts.”

Take Yi Wenze’s identity card number and use it to sign up for Happy Farm? Why don’t you just kill me and let it be at that? … She suddenly remembered that Yi Wenze did not have a Resident Identity Card. Finally, she had an excuse. “He’s from Hong Kong. He doesn’t have an identity card.”

Her eyes dimming, her mom muttered, “Why did you find some Hong Kong guy? Made-in-China is better.”

She all of a sudden discovered that her mom was actually not interested in knowing about her boyfriend. Finding this a rather fascinating phenomenon, she asked, “Mom, something’s not right about you today, eh. How come you’re not chasing after me and lecturing me?”

Her mom poured a cup of tea for herself. “What else can I do? You can be classified as a ‘higher up there in age’ type of young woman. If it’s time to marry, just go get married. I’ll be broad-minded this once.” With that, she immediately picked up her tea and went back to register some new accounts.

……

She had tossed her suitcase to the side and was about to head to the shower when her mom popped her head out again. “By the way, there was a talent show these last couple of days. Someone was impersonating your idol. It was actually a lot like him.”

Watching as her mom once more went back to “steal crops,” she gloomily realized that casually making her relationship with Yi Wenze known to everyone was not going to be very easy.

The days that followed were truly ones of stress and chaos. The detailed character outline, which had already been written, was completely overruled by the original author, and the feedback provided left people caught between amusement and annoyance. For scenes that clearly had a lot of conflict, she was constantly insisting that elements that showed inner thoughts and emotions be added in. Inner thoughts and emotions, inner thoughts and emotions… Did she really think this was a novel, where you can dilly-dally out thousands of words of mental activity?

On the phone with Yi Wenze, Jia He, wearing her earbuds, moaned, “You say, what viewer has the patience to sit in front of the TV for ten minutes to listen only to a voice-over monologue about someone’s inner thoughts and emotions? If it were me, I’d just straight-out pick up the TV and huck it.”

Hints of fatigue were in Yi Wenze’s voice, but still it was very warm and gentle. “Why don’t you think of it this way? Adaptations have the original story as a foundation, so they’re a lot easier in terms of amount of work.”

Now that she thought about it, that was true. “Forget it. It’s not like I can get all the benefits. When the money is easy to make, there will be other places or things that won’t be easy.”

She did not want sleep at the production company’s office but her home was too far as well, so she could only continue to bum a place to stay at Xiao Yu’s home.

It was past midnight already, but she was still the only one in the house. The surroundings were exceptionally quiet.

Neither of them spoke very frequently, yet they also did not hang up, merely saying a few words whenever they thought of something. Much time had already passed when she finally took a quick glance at the bottom right corner of her screen, and then she unconsciously softened her voice. “You go to bed first. It’s so late already.”

Over on his side, he did not really seem to care and only said, “It’s all right. I have a lot of things, too, that I need to take care of.”

It was the deep hours of the night, when all was quiet. In this time when she was most tired, there was someone keeping her company.

Even though they could not do anything, simply his presence keeping her company like this made her heart feel warm, and even her vexation dissipated by quite a bit. With an “mm,” she asked, “Still haven’t finished dealing with all of it?”

“We’re both adults. There won’t be too much trouble. There are just a few issues on some formalities regarding the company.” He paused for a moment before continuing, “With both myself and Tian Chu returning to Hong Kong this time, there likely will be a lot of media attention on us. Tomorrow there happens to be an event, and some people might ask some sensitive questions.”

“Mm-hmm.” Jia He answered in a relaxed tone, “You don’t need to tell me everything. There are so many chances of you getting pursued and surrounded. If you have to declare every potential thing ahead of time to me, I won’t be able to remember it all either.”

Picking up her cup, she took a drink of water.

The two exchanged a few more sentences of chitchat, and then Jia He, worried that Yi Wenze would want to continue keeping her company like this, could only fib that she had made all her revisions already and was going to bed. Only then did they hang up, and she carried on with her valiant battle.

It was noon the next day when she finally crawled out of bed and saw Xiao Yu nestled on the couch in the living room, her legs crisscrossed, surfing online. Seeing Jia He emerge from the room, Xiao Yu threw a sideways look at her. “I didn’t get back until the morning. How come you didn’t even think to call and ask how I’m doing?”

Looking at her, Jia He shot back in resignation, “Your nightlife is too exciting. I didn’t want to get myself in trouble.”

Xiao You fell backwards and lay face-up on the couch, smiling through half-closed eyes and looking truly so coquettish and gorgeous, all forms of coquettish and gorgeous.

While Jia He was still trying to make heads or tails of what this was about, Xiao Yu was already extending an arm to hand her laptop to her. “Take a look. It’s news on your boyfriend.”

Jia He took the computer from her. Multiple tabs were open in Internet Explorer. The one currently displayed was a webpage showing a series of photographs from some sort of event. The handful of sentences below were a standard news write-up for a celebrity event. The words themselves were very simple, but they were extremely eye-grabbing:

According to insider information, after their divorce, Yi Wenze and Tian Chu have both begun new relationships.

This insider had also revealed with certainty that Yi Wenze had met his new girlfriend through a film project. Some speculated that it was the female lead of his new drama, Mainland China’s new budding actress, Liao Jing. After the event ended, the Hong Kong media people present had all rushed back stage and bombarded Yi Wenze with questions. At first, Yi Wenze had merely expressed that he had been in this entertainment circle for more than ten years, but never did he publicly discuss any matters pertaining to his love life and relationship. However, when someone continued pressing him about whether it was Liao Jing, he surprisingly actually spoke up to set the facts straight, stating with a smile that that was utterly groundless.

Up to the time when the news was released, Tian Chu had not given any response to this matter.

There was a weird feeling in Jia He’s heart, one that she could not put words to. This was her first time actually not feeling excited at all when reading news about him.

While she was lost in thought, Xiao Yu had already extracted the computer from her hands and patted her on the shoulder. “Feeling low, aren’t you? If you’re feeling low, treat me to a meal of instant-boiled mutton hot pot. Once your wallet is skinnier, your attention will be diverted.”

[1]In China, all citizens are to apply for a Resident Identity Card at the age of 16. On each card is a unique, 18-digit code, which is assigned to the citizen and serves as that person’s identification number for his or her entire lifetime.

[2]QQ农场. Happy Farm is an online, social networking game hosted by Tencent QQ. In the game, players own a farm, grow vegetables, and harvest them. The vegetables can be traded or sold, and players can even steal crops from friends. In later levels, players can raise animals and take care of them. The game was released in late 2008 and was extremely popular for a period of time. At the height of its popularity, there was a daily cap on newly-registered players.

[3]See footnote [2] in chapter 4.1

[4]红烧“red-cooking,” “red-braised,” or “braised in brown sauce” cooking is a technique where the meat is pan-fried and then stewed in soy sauce that is flavoured heavily with seasoning. The meat comes out tender and takes on a distinctive red-brown color.

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