Chapter 5 Part1 (2/2)
Jia He looked at him in surprise. She had even been beat when it came to saying words of apology…
The door was suddenly pushed open.
A young nurse strode in, checked the data on the monitoring equipment, and then asked a few questions in a low tone, her voice so tender you could practically squeeze droplets of water from it. Wickedly, Jia He began reasoning that the nurse responsible for this room must have gotten the job by drawing straws… When the nurse was done all her busy work and Jia He finally had an opening that she was hoping to use to continue the earlier topic, several knocks resounded on the door.
Seriously, so bustling with excitement.
”Screenwriter,” Xiao Ou reported, poking her head in, ”Qiao Qiao said she's not going to wait for you to eat and told you to solve the issue of lunch yourself.”
Filled with bitterness, Jia He answered, ”Okay.”
”Need me to buy something and bring it up for you?” Xiao Ou offered.
”… No thanks.”
”It's almost two o'clock already. No matter what, you should at least eat a little, right?” Xiao Ou dutifully tried to convince her.
”Xiao Ou.” Yi Wenze interrupted this drawn-out, see-saw battle between the two. ”Qing has already gone down to buy food. Could I trouble you to go take a look? She's not very familiar with the streets here.”
”Oh, yeah, sure.” At last understanding, Xiao Ou gave a little sheepish shrug of her shoulders and astutely chose to leave.
Yi Wenze had already picked up his drinking gla.s.s before he realized he had already drunk most of his water. Jia He, her motions natural, took his gla.s.s from him. ”I'll fill some water for you.” She walked up in front of the water dispenser, then stopped again. ”Do you want it a little hotter or just tending more to the warm side?”
Behind her, there was a brief moment of quiet. ”A little hotter.”
Jia He pressed the b.u.t.ton to dispense the water. This dispenser was not that user-friendly, and the stream of water that flowed out was very small. However, as a result of the room's stillness, even this sound of water filling a gla.s.s was so clear it was creepy. Holding her arm rigidly in place, Jia He silently urged, Hurry up, hurry up. But that water dispenser just had to let her down even more, so slow that practically even her hair was ready to stand on end in anger.
”Where's your mobile phone?” He suddenly asked this question.
Qiao Qiao had been looking for her but had sent someone to deliver a message. It was evident something had happened to her mobile phone.
”I accidentally dropped it in water yesterday. It's a write-off.” Jia He pressed the b.u.t.ton to stop the water, turned around, and handed the gla.s.s back to Yi Wenze, explaining sheepishly, ”Good thing I'm heading back to Shanghai straightaway; otherwise, I really would be worried it would cause delays in my work. The one pity is my progress in Angry Birds—”
”You're heading back to Shanghai?” Taking the gla.s.s from her, Yi Wenze held it in his hand and took a drink.
”Yup.” As she smiled and looked at him, her gaze happened to lock with his, and an unexplainable nervousness. .h.i.t her for an instant. ”My next drama is in Beijing. I need to do some prep work first, and there are always several meetings in the early stage, so it'll be more convenient if I stay in Shanghai. You know it; Director Jiang tends to take good of his screenwriters and for any sort of communication, you just usually need to go through him, but others don't give such good treatment.”
Just thinking about needing to work on location during production with other companies would cause her head to swell. She wished with all her might that she could just stay at home the whole day, and that way she would not need to come into contact with those actors and actresses.
Yi Wenze laughed. ”You're still not used to it?”
Jia He gave an embarra.s.sed smile. ”It's my personality issue. If I really do become better acquainted with people and they ask me to add a few extra lines or something for them, I wouldn't know how to refuse.” The world has a type of person called Mr. Nice Guy or Ms. Nice Girl, and that absolutely was referring to her. Once she thought about how, whenever she was on location for production, it was like she owed people money and was hiding all the time from her creditors, she would get wicked internal injuries.
Other people could unperturbedly eat, drink, and be merry, unperturbedly sidestep and dance around with their words, so why was she unable to learn how to do it?
Seeming to ponder on something, Yi Wenze looked at her. ”If that's the case, next time if we do get an opportunity to work together again, I should have a few more dinners with you to try to win Screenwriter's favour?” Though he spoke as if he was serious, a smile had already spread into his eyes and was mixed with hints of jesting.
”Umm… I actually just said that for fun. If I really did have such power, what would you need story editors and directors for?” Putting on a relaxed front, Jia He cleared her throat.
Yi Wenze was still smiling at her, merely smiling and no longer speaking.
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Qing truly was unfamiliar with the streets around the hospital. It took her a long time to buy just one meal, and by the time the coffee was in Jia He's hands, it was already a little cold.
Ever since Qing stepped into the room, Yi Wenze did not say anything more and only nonchalantly opened his computer. His fingers slowly tapped a few times on the keyboard, and he began unhurriedly looking through web pages. There was a sense that his mind was occupied with other things.
Taking in the sight of his slightly furrowed brows, Jia He finally somewhat clued in that she must be disturbing her idol from doing his actual work. Sensitive to this, she hastily scooped a couple more mouthfuls of food, and then, without even drinking her coffee and simply holding it in her hand, she quickly bade goodbye and stepped out the door.
The anxiousness she had felt when she came here had long since dissipated, but she could not rid her mind of the preoccupied expression that Yi Wenze had worn just earlier.
Only when a ding resonated from the elevator did she suddenly remember she had no way of contacting Xiao Ou. And so, she could only return to the third floor, thinking to borrow Qing's mobile phone. She had only just arrived at the door of the hospital room when she saw a doctor, as well as the young nurse from earlier on, walking out, saying in low tones, ”See, not everyone can be a big celebrity. If it were the average person, he would have been flat on the bed in pain a long time ago and unable to get up.”
Jia He listened to this in alarm. When Qing came out of the room, she asked her, ”What's wrong?”
Qing gave a ”Huh?” and said, ”Screenwriter, why'd you come back?”
Jia He motioned to her to lower her voice. ”I came back to borrow your mobile to use. What happened just now? Is there some sort of problem?”
Qing immediately brought her voice down. ”This morning, they did quite a few pre-op checks and tests, and then originally they had arranged for surgery this afternoon, but Teacher Yi insisted on scheduling it for the evening.” With an expression of heartache, she looked at Jia He and sighed, ”Just now, he said there was still another half a phone conference that he needed to continue having, and then he asked the doctor for some painkillers. It was only then that I found out that his s.h.i.+rt is actually completely soaked with sweat.”
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[1] 绵里藏针. This idiom, ”needles hidden within silk floss” are describing something that appears kind and gentle on the outside, but hidden within is ruthlessness and an intent to hurt, and what is more, the hurt caused leaves no trace.
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Additional Comments:
From the comments last update, I sense mixed thoughts on Tian Chu, even confusion. Some get a bad niggling from her, some think that there's nothing wrong with what she said. Both are correct. On the surface, Tian Chu's words are harmless and even seem kind—the silk floss. But the bad niggling some are getting is the “needles,” even before the text explicitly told you they were there.
Observing two things from the last update:
First, after visiting Yi Wenze, she came out and said one—and only one—sentence to the media: ”Ze's injury is not serious. Thank you, everyone, for your concern.” This is practically like a statement on behalf of Yi Wenze, spoken like someone who has the authority to represent him. But aside from his agent, Mai Jie, or someone from the company, only family would usually have the right to do that. Usually, unless commissioned by the involved person, not even a close friend would give such a statement. She is his ex-wife; the whole world knows this. So why would she think she can still represent him to say that? It's been said in the text that Tian Chu is talented, that's no question, but she also knows how to use hype and gossip to rise up. Seem like a deliberate blurring of the lines to keep the media guessing, to keep her and her relations.h.i.+p with Yi Wenze in the headlines a little longer?
Second, at first glance, Tian Chu's words to Jia He seem kindly, but I personally feel that if you are trying to be kind to someone, you would also consider that person's feelings. Showing the photo to Jia He, telling her it's an inappropriate time for it to appear (implying it would bring bad speculations about Yi Wenze) shows she is worried about Yi Wenze, yes, but it also naturally should plant a feeling of guilt in Jia He, even if Jia He is a mere fan. That's logical. What would a natural outcome of that be? Perhaps it would successfully cause Jia He to keep her distance from Yi Wenze? Perhaps it's a reminder that Jia He is incapable of handling the gossip that comes with being in close contact with a celebrity? We don't know for sure, but we do know that Tian Chu never directly addresses any of Jia He's feeling. I'm thinking, if it were me and I truly had kind intentions, even if I didn't know Jia He well, even if I didn't try to a.n.a.lyze what Jia He's reaction would be, it's natural to say, “Don't panic; it's not your fault.” But in this update, what, instead, does Tian Chu say? ”You don't need to take it so seriously. Once you've encountered more of this type of thing, you'll get used to it. I used to be like this, too, where I had no clue even that someone had photographed me, and then when an issue did arise, I'd be thrown into a huge confusion and in a terribly wretched state.” Subtext: “You've caused an issue. You can't help. You're just going to cause more confusion and be in a wretched state.” And maybe further subtext: “If you don't want to get used to it, get far away, NOW.”
Haha, that last bit had some creative liberties in my interpretation, but you know what I'm trying to say. On the surface, Tian Chu is kind, but she is pointing out Jia He's inadequacies and not truly offering any advice, help, or genuine sympathy.
Needles in silk floss.
Completed:
1 of 1 Prologue
13 of 58 Chapter segments
0 of 4 Epilogues
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