Chi Shuo tilted her head slightly, looked at Zeng Guai, and said helplessly, “She had a nightmare.”
The implication was clear: people who have nightmares need comfort.
Zeng Guai indeed dropped her questioning gaze. She “oh”-ed and said, “No wonder.” She slowly walked over, looked at He Lindi, who had already let go, and asked caringly, “Didi, was it because of the horror movie? You dreamed about it? Don’t be scared, those ghosts are fake, don’t be afraid.”
Zeng Guai had her gentle moments. As she spoke, she even patted He Lindi’s head. To Chi Shuo, it looked like she was patting a child.
Chi Shuo pushed herself up from the sofa. She glanced again at He Lindi, who was still looking downcast, then offered dryly, “I’ll go check on the hot water.”
“Okay,” Zeng Guai agreed. “Let me, the emotional comfort expert, console Didi.”
Chi Shuo: “……”
He Lindi reacted slightly to this. She had been silently composing herself, but hearing this, she broke into a tearful smile and raised her hand to wipe the tear tracks from her face.
Chi Shuo only noticed then that during the short time He Lindi had rested on her shoulder, tears had continued to fall. She subtly raised her hand to touch her own shoulder, and sure enough, felt a damp spot.
Chi Shuo rubbed her fingertips together, then walked aside.
Chi Shuo sometimes felt she and He Lindi shared a similar plight, both having suffered punishments from their families to varying degrees—essentially, domestic abuse.
She had been punished by being forced to work under the sun, while He Lindi had been punished by kneeling on a cold winter night. What was worse than Chi Shuo’s experience was that He Lindi had been made to kneel and reflect more than once; otherwise, Chi Shuo felt, He Lindi wouldn’t have such deep psychological scars.
Why wouldn’t He Lindi’s grandfather like her? The reason was easy to guess, but the answer seemed to be more than just favoring boys over girls.
Chi Shuo didn’t particularly want to know the specific reasons. In her heart, He Lindi’s affairs had nothing to do with her, nor was she very interested. He Lindi had always been the one to initiate telling her these things before.
Thinking of this, Chi Shuo couldn’t help but feel puzzled again, because she realized that at some unknown point, He Lindi had become much more proactive in front of her, whether in speaking or acting. She herself had always been the passive one.
Like this trip to Liucheng, she had originally stayed in the car, but He Lindi had called using Xia Zhou’s phone, her tone tinged with threat, insisting she had to come over.
Chi Shuo couldn’t quite figure it out and also began to worry, because she couldn’t get too close to He Lindi. What if one day she accidentally let slip that she used to like her? Or let slip that she had liked Ding Miaoran?
These were secrets. No third person in the world knew. The second person was Han Yu, heartbroken and self-proclaimed player.
Because of work commitments, the Liucheng trip was very short. The four of them returned on Sunday afternoon. The purpose of the trip seemed to be just delivering a lens to He Lindi; beyond that, it was perhaps just a change of scenery and mood.
The working crowd resumed their tedious lives, while students began their battles at school. Traffic at the city’s major hotspots noticeably decreased.
It was already late August, approaching the end of summer vacation. Chi Shuo’s workload had also lightened slightly. Since handling the various matters for Song Qin’s fan meet & greet, the company hadn’t assigned her such tasks again.
It wasn’t that Chi Shuo had done poorly; on the contrary, she had done very well. Her supervisor had even called her into the office to praise her. The lack of such work arrangements was simply because the company hadn’t had any events to host recently.
Stars were busy filming, rushing between cities for schedules, or preparing for the fashion event at the end of the month.
This event was quite star-studded. A wave of Best Actors, Best Actresses, TV Kings, TV Queens, popular young starlets, and heartthrobs attended. Ticket lottery collaborations between major media and the magazine were also booming. A blogger Chi Shuo followed had reposted one, but unfortunately, didn’t win. Because of this, the blogger even posted on Weibo about how sad they were.
Chi Shuo didn’t chase stars and couldn’t relate to such feelings. Moreover, she felt puzzled: Was it really necessary?
Besides, when they went to the venue last Saturday, Chi Shuo and the others had seen the seats far back, completely different from the treatment of the stars or industry bigwigs up front. Without binoculars, you probably couldn’t even see your own idol’s face clearly.
Chi Shuo couldn’t figure it out for the life of her. She asked Xia Zhou, who glanced at her: “Do you know what chasing stars is?”
“Is it love?” Chi Shuo remembered the online meme “This isn’t chasing stars, this is love!”
Xia Zhou shook her head: “More than that, it’s also kinship. For example, I’m Qi Siqiao’s mother.”
“……”
“And Guai Guai is Shen Qu’s mother.” Xia Zhou sometimes called her that when Zeng Guai wasn’t around.
“……”
Chi Shuo couldn’t continue this conversation with Xia Zhou anymore. So young, wasn’t it inappropriate to be a mother?
The magazine collaborated with many companies, such as Qiyu Company, Xiyu Company upstairs, and also Chi Shuo’s Xinyue Company. Any company that had prior dealings with the magazine, or was relatively well-known in the industry, sent representatives.
But this had nothing to do with Chi Shuo, because the one attending was her boss; she was just a junior employee.
Time passed day by day. During this period, Chi Shuo had no contact with He Lindi whatsoever, not even exchanging a single WeChat message, as if that hug in Liucheng had been fake, or perhaps treated as fleeting smoke, unremembered by anyone.
Soon, it was time for the fashion event to begin. On the 29th, at 4 PM, the livestream had already started.
The event wouldn’t start that quickly; before that, there was a lengthy red carpet procession. Fortunately, it was summer, not cold, and the red carpet area had air conditioning, so people wearing short skirts and shorts wouldn’t feel uncomfortable.
Chi Shuo and her colleagues were required to open the livestream and watch, because Xinyue Company’s boss would also appear on the red carpet later. The specific time was after a certain Best Actress. The supervisor required them to keep an eye out, so they could take screenshots later to flatter the boss, or rather, flatter the company.
Xinyue was relatively well-known in the industry, but that wasn’t enough. Chi Shuo knew the company wanted to grow bigger and stronger, which was why they cared about slightly larger events like this.
What if this event led to collaborations with other companies? Wouldn’t that be another step forward?
The red carpet segment was quite long. There were two hosts. It was clear the magazine highly valued this event, because even the red carpet hosts were relatively big names. Previously, they usually just used lesser-known hosts to fill the role.
Due to her profession, this wasn’t the first livestream Chi Shuo had watched, so she naturally noticed the differences. But perhaps precisely because of this, He Lindi had gone on a half-month business trip to prepare for tonight.
Star after star walked the red carpet and left their signatures. Zeng Guai quietly moved her chair next to Chi Shuo, leaned closer, and asked softly, “Shuo Shuo, I’m getting sleepy watching this. How about you?”
Chi Shuo gave a small yawn: “A little.”
She had never been interested in such events; they had nothing to do with her. The whole process was basically just listening to the hosts and guests engage in awkward small talk.
But as soon as she finished speaking, a wave of fan cheers came from the livestream. Chi Shuo blinked, then heard the host announce, “Who is our next guest? It’s the actress playing the female lead in the recent hit drama Urban Love Chronicle: Shen Qu!”
Chi Shuo cursed internally (‘Fuck!’) non-stop, but showed no reaction on the surface. In contrast, Shen Qu’s ‘mother’ beside her was not so calm. She covered her mouth slightly with one hand, tugged Chi Shuo’s sleeve with the other, and couldn’t help but whisper, “Sob sob sob! Qu Qu! Mama loves you!”
“……”
“How can one person be both sweet and savory? I adore this long dress she’s wearing today; it could rank in the top 3 outfits of the year, or even the best dressed tonight.” Zeng Guai sighed to Chi Shuo, “She looks too good, I love it so much, I’m a bit incoherent, can’t even blow rainbow farts properly.”
Chi Shuo glanced at her: “And you call that not being able to blow them?”
In the livestream, Shen Qu and the host were already engaged in awkward back-and-forth small talk. Chi Shuo didn’t really want to see Shen Qu looking so radiant and successful right now, so she simply took out her phone, lowered her head, and opened Weibo.
But unluckily, the first thing on her freshly refreshed Weibo feed was He Lindi’s reposted updates. There were three in total, all displayed.
One of them was high-definition styling photos from “Shen Qu Studio,” six in total. It was obvious they were taken in a high-end hotel corridor. Even Chi Shuo, a photography layman, could tell the composition, lighting, etc., of these photos were excellent. Shen Qu and the photographer coordinated very well; each photo, taken alone, could be considered perfect.
Chi Shuo was speechless again, but her hand uncontrollably clicked on the comments for this Weibo post. Perhaps because the photos were truly outstanding, Shen Qu’s fans in the comment section were very satisfied, all thanking He Lindi, or praising both He Lindi and Shen Qu.
—Ahhh! Our Qu Qu collaborated with Teacher Didi again!!! I’m so happy!!!
—When I saw the photos, I felt it must be Teacher He who took them for Qu Qu. I checked the studio’s @ tag, and sure enough, it was Teacher He. Only you can capture such a multifaceted and distinctive Qu Qu.
—Fuck… I really have to thank Teacher He, I’m about to ascend to heaven from how beautiful Little Qu is tonight.
The comments reached over a thousand, clearly showing the enthusiasm of Shen Qu’s fans. Chi Shuo, however, was full of question marks, feeling that Shen Qu’s fans really liked to exaggerate.
Just then, Zeng Guai’s voice came from beside her again: “Shuo Shuo, do you also think Shen Qu looks great tonight! I saw you looking at her photos.”
Chi Shuo: I’m not, I didn’t.
But the words Chi Shuo spoke were different from her thoughts: “She looks alright, it suits her.”
After speaking, she glanced up at the livestream on the computer again, only then realizing the next celebrity was up. She breathed a sigh of relief, locked her phone, and continued watching the computer.
The boss took a really long time to appear. After waiting perhaps another half hour, the host finally announced their company’s name: “Our next two guests are from Xinyue Company—”
After the boss’s appearance ended, Chi Shuo and the others no longer needed to keep watching the livestream. The event wouldn’t officially start until 7 PM. Only after seven would they be required to watch the livestream again, because the boss was going to present awards to the celebrities.
Such a fashion event definitely wasn’t just about walking the red carpet and attending a banquet. There would also be segments for awarding ‘pork prizes,’ and celebrity performances.
The so-called ‘pork prizes’ basically meant everyone who attended got one, just with different titles. Chi Shuo found it amusing thinking about things like ‘Most Popular of the Year,’ ‘Most Popular Among Fans of the Year,’ ‘Most Loved by Fans of the Year.’
What the fuck, was there any difference? It was just so people didn’t make the trip for nothing. If they didn’t even get a pork prize, word would spread, and they’d be laughed at.
Chi Shuo also watched some of the livestream after 7 PM, and again couldn’t avoid Shen Qu. She went on stage with Qi Siqiao from the same company. This time, they were award presenters, because both had won awards and held some status among young actresses.
Chi Shuo’s gaze was fixed on Qi Siqiao; she still felt Qi Siqiao was better looking. Meanwhile, the fans of the two in the bullet comments section seemed to constantly dislike each other and even started fighting.
Chi Shuo was stunned watching this again, then closed the livestream.
Forget it, she’d just steal the screenshot of the boss’s appearance from another colleague. She really couldn’t stand watching such a boring livestream anymore.
It was just that a voice in Chi Shuo’s heart kept cueing He Lindi: Anyway, you can’t see He Lindi the photographer.
Right. He Lindi was just there as staff. She would be busy taking photos when the celebrities she was responsible for appeared, but wouldn’t show her face afterward.
Thinking this way, Chi Shuo’s heart calmed down. Inexplicably, she recalled He Lindi’s tears that night.
“Ai.” Chi Shuo sighed, then opened Weibo again, clicking onto He Lindi’s homepage.
He Lindi’s Weibo activity today had exceeded the norm; usually, she didn’t post three times in one day. She pressed her lips together, thought for a moment, pressed back, then went to the Weibo search page and typed “He Lindi”.
The search results quickly popped up. Chi Shuo’s eyes instantly brightened slightly, because someone had taken photos of He Lindi and posted them on Weibo again.
He Lindi wasn’t wearing a skirt today, but a sharp suit. The well-tailored suit complemented her figure. In the reposts and comments section, quite a few people were already shouting “Jie Jie, I can!”
Sister? Who’s your sister? Chi Shuo frowned watching this. He Lindi was only twenty-three this year; it wasn’t even certain who was older!
The angles of these photos of He Lindi were also good, lacking neither front nor side views. There were also photos of He Lindi holding her DSLR camera while working. Chi Shuo pondered for a moment, then clicked save.
She didn’t know what use saving them was; she just felt these photos were most suited to staying in her album.
She scrolled a bit more, saw many Weibo updates praising He Lindi for being pretty, good-looking, or taking good photos. Finally, feeling somewhat tired from looking, she closed the page.
Just after closing the search interface, Chi Shuo received several messages. Chi Shuo opened them and saw her small group chat with Xia Zhou and the others was excitedly discussing topics related to He Lindi.
Xia Zhou: 【Fuck fuck fuck! Our Didi’s outfit tonight is way too good-looking!!!】
Zeng Guai: 【【Image】】
Zeng Guai: 【Wasn’t this shot from the livestream amazing? Too good-looking!】
Zeng Guai had sent a screenshot. Amidst the lights and shadows of the event, He Lindi was looking slightly up at the stage, a faint smile playing on her lips, looking tranquil and beautiful.
Chi Shuo: 【……】
Zeng Guai questioned her: 【What?! Not good-looking?】
Chi Shuo silently clicked save, then replied: 【She looks alright.】
As she said this, the corners of her mouth quietly curved up. Then she opened the chat dialogue with He Lindi, thought for a moment, and sent a message: 【Won’t be cold tonight, right?】
He Lindi wouldn’t reply this quickly, Chi Shuo knew, because the livestream was still going, and He Lindi still needed to work.
She turned off her phone and went into the bathroom to shower.
The next morning, very early again, after waking up, Chi Shuo opened her phone and found she still hadn’t received a reply from He Lindi. Chi Shuo pouted, got up, washed up, and went to the company.
Because the boss’s attire last night was also quite outstanding, after arriving at the company, the boss himself was very smugly holding a cup of coffee, waiting for everyone to praise his handsome appearance from last night.
Xinyue’s boss was relatively young, at least the youngest among bosses of companies of this scale. Moreover, he hadn’t gained weight; tidied up, he really did give off a bit of an eligible bachelor vibe.
The boss was named Lin Xinyue. The company’s name was taken from his name, clearly showing his level of narcissism; otherwise, he wouldn’t have made the staff watch him on the livestream.
He spotted Chi Shuo, who had just clocked in, at a glance. He waved his coffee towards Chi Shuo, beckoned with his other hand, and called out, “Chi Shuo.” He said, “Come here.”
Chi Shuo put her card into her bag, walked up to him with a smile, and asked, “Mr. Lin, any instructions?”
“Did you watch the livestream last night?” Lin Xinyue’s face clearly read “I know you definitely didn’t watch.”
Chi Shuo swallowed nervously, smiled, and slowly nodded: “How could I not have watched?” She felt she was being too much of a suck-up. “Our boss’s heroic bearing, I absolutely had to watch!”
Lin Xinyue raised his eyes slightly and continued to make things difficult for Chi Shuo: “What did I say when I presented the award?”
Chi Shuo froze. She hadn’t expected Lin Xinyue to test her with such a tricky question first thing in the morning. She showed a slightly awkward smile: “You were too handsome at the time, how could I have any extra attention to focus on what you were saying?”
“Boss Lin.” At this critical moment, Chi Shuo heard a voice she hadn’t heard in ten days.
It was He Lindi.
Chi Shuo turned her head slightly and looked over. She saw He Lindi slowly walking over, handing the USB drive in her hand to Lin Xinyue: “Your photos from last night.”
Chi Shuo’s eyes widened. She asked her, “How come our company hired you again?”
Lin Xinyue took the USB drive, revealing a set of white teeth: “This time it was free again.” He smiled at He Lindi. “Thanks, Little Teacher He.”
After speaking, he ‘hmphed’ at Chi Shuo, extremely tsundere-like: “I’ll let you off this time.”
Then Lin Xinyue left. Judging by his walk, he was clearly overjoyed.
Chi Shuo tightened the grip on her crossbody bag, pointed to her workstation: “I’m going to work now.”
“Wait,” He Lindi said. “I also replied mentally last night.”
A colleague entered, saw He Lindi standing in front of Chi Shuo, and even greeted her. After He Lindi responded to someone’s “Good morning,” Chi Shuo finally waved her hand: “It’s fine. I know you’re busy.”
For some reason, this conversation felt a bit strange to Chi Shuo.
“Notice any changes in me?” He Lindi asked again.
Chi Shuo shook her head, replying, “No.”
“I have dark circles.”
Chi Shuo laughed twice, “Haha! You have your day too!” After speaking, she glanced at the time on her phone. “Nope, can’t chat anymore. I’m going in to work now, have a meeting later.”
He Lindi made a ‘bye-bye’ gesture: “OK.” She curved her lips. “See you later then.”
See you later? Chi Shuo raised an eyebrow after turning around, because she didn’t know when the next meeting would be.
The conversation just now seemed fine, but just like the interaction between the host and guests during the livestream last night—awkward.
Chi Shuo scratched her head and came up with a reason: Because it had been too long since they last met.
Having not met for too long led to strangeness upon meeting again. It wasn’t like they had a particularly close relationship to begin with, right?
There were times like this before, but things were different then compared to now. Now… now they were friends. The previously mentioned ‘ordinary colleagues’ was just a joke.
Right, what ordinary colleagues drive each other home alone?
Usually, if it wasn’t asking for a favor or pursuing someone, the only path left was friendship, wasn’t it?
Chi Shuo returned to her workstation. As she turned on her computer, she composed herself, gathered her thoughts, and started a new workday.
After the morning meeting, she started coordinating with other departments again. The sunlight outside gradually moved from the east towards the center. Around noon, just before lunch, Chi Shuo was called into the supervisor’s office again.
“There’s a new task this time, personally ordered by Mr. Lin.”
Chi Shuo was puzzled. What task could possibly warrant Mr. Lin assigning it to her? Clearly, her superior was the supervisor in front of her; usually, the supervisor just assigned work tasks to her.
Chi Shuo, somewhat bewildered, wanted to confirm again: “Mr. Lin?”
“Yes.”
“His livestream photos yesterday were all taken by He Lindi. He saw your relationship with He Lindi seems pretty good, so he wants you to thank He Lindi on his behalf. He just left on a business trip, no time.”
What kind of unreliable boss!
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