Chapter 6 Part2 (1/2)

Happy Lantern Festival! (Right on time for those in time zones similar to my N. American one, and slightly belated for those an ocean apart from me.) And joining in to wish Fanatical a happy 6th birthday! Thank you, readers!

Some things are just fated to be. All coincidences and accidents are just working to bring them together, right? Haha, a little cliffhanger. (P.S. Highly recommended that you play the video. The music really sets the mood, and you can see why Jia He reacts as she did.)

Chapter 6.2 — Development Period While Staying in Shanghai (2)

This story was translated with the express permission of the author for hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com only. All forms of reproduction, redistribution, or re-posting are not authorized. If you are not reading this from hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com, the copy is unauthorized and has been taken without consent of the translator.

The car turned at an intersection and drove onto West Nanjing Road[1].

Jia He replied with an ”oh” and then did not speak anymore, merely turning her head to look out the window.

”How did you meet Ze?” Wu Zhilun inquired, out of the blue.

She answered honestly, ”I'm one of the screenwriters for this current drama of his.”

”Screenwriter?” Tapping his index finger rhythmically against the steering wheel, he asked nonchalantly, ”You guys haven't known each other for very long?”

Jia He uttered an ”mm-hmm,” saying, ”Almost two months.”

He gave a little chuckle that carried certain feelings difficult to discern.

When they arrived at Qiao Qiao's home, they both purposely stayed downstairs for a while until they had verified that it was safe. Then, they got out of the car separately. Jia He went ahead of him and pressed the elevator b.u.t.ton. After some time had pa.s.sed, Wu Zhilun, his face concealed by his hoodie, his hands in his pockets, ambled over to the elevator with the suspicious gaze of this apartment building's security guard on him, and winked at Jia He.

That expression was exactly the same as that suavely romantic, handsome bukuai[2] [constable] in last year's lineup of New Year's movies.

Jia He suddenly remembered that back during their university days, when they were chatting in bed, Qiao Qiao had extensively praised the veiled gay film that Wu Zhilun had acted in. ”I think my friend has always rather liked you.”

Smiling, Wu Zhilun was about to say something, but a ding had already resounded from the elevator, and its two doors slid open.

However, before the two of them could step out, someone had already darted inside. At the same time, a woman's hand held the elevator door open. ”All I said was that my friend is coming here to stay. Do you really have to have such a reaction? You're leaving just because of that?” Qiao Qiao's unadorned face was extremely pale with rage, and it was not until she had fired out all of these words that she noticed Jia He and Wu Zhilun.

Jia He, gnawing on her lip, looked at her, then at that ba.s.s-playing talent. Now this was just melodramatically cheesy.

Qiao Qiao's gaze halted on Wu Zhilun's face for three seconds. Then, immediately loosening the hold of her hand, she beamed and said to the ba.s.s-playing talent, ”Goodbye.”

From flying off in extreme fury to a polite bidding of farewell, the transition had been flawless.

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And so, that elevator carried away the O great ba.s.s-playing talent, whose face was dark with surliness, and left the other three people there, smiling at one another. Before Jia He could make the introductions, Qiao Qiao, showing her good breeding, had already extended her arm out. ”h.e.l.lo, I'm Qiao Qiao.”

Wu Zhilun was all gentleman as well. ”h.e.l.lo. Wu Zhilun.”

Qiao Qiao smiled lightly and gave a nod. ”I'm sorry. You two should have called before you arrived, so I could go down to meet the two of you.”

Wu Zhilun shrugged. ”It's no big deal. I'm just here to drop Jia He off. I'm leaving right away.”

Qiao Qiao was surprised. ”You're not going to come in and sit for a bit?”

If it were not so chilly in this corridor, if Qiao Qiao were not wearing her home loungewear, Jia He honestly would have suspected she was actually at some sort of high-cla.s.s c.o.c.ktail party. On and on they exchanged social niceties, from expressing how they had hoped for a long time already that they could collaborate, all the way to discussing the box-office reception of the Valentine's Day films. The final outcome was that Wu Zhilun was unable to turn down this warm-hearted hospitality and followed the two of them to the door of the apartment. There, he watched Qiao Qiao stare at her own tightly-closed door, having completely lost her ability of speech.

… She had actually, dressed like this, in slippers and pajamas, locked herself out of her own home.

”How about…”—Jia He wanted to just slam her head into something and die—”we go to my home?”

If she had known, she would not have bothered with all the trouble. This was practically the great migration of the century. Originally, this was a traffic accident that affected only her. Somehow, Wu Zhilun had been pulled in to become her driver, and now she had spread the trouble onto Qiao Qiao by causing her to be locked out of her home.

Wu Zhilun was actually very calm. Glancing first at that locked door and then at Jia He, who was completely soaked, and Qiao Qiao, whose feet were clad in slippers, he decisively strode over to the other side of the corridor and, with a grin, dialed a number. Needless to say, the one he was calling undoubtedly was Yi Wenze.

”He's gorgeous in real life.” Qiao Qiao was still in the mood to sigh over a handsome fellow.

Jia He did not know if she should find this annoying or amusing. ”And here I thought you didn't feel anything.”

Qiao Qiao gave her a sideways look. ”I'm very professional, okay? Face to face with him, of course I need to put on a good front that makes me seem like a normal human being.”

Not bothering to even mock her, Jia He said quickly, ”In just a bit, you drive. We'll go to my place?”

Qiao Qiao moved her lips to point them at that backside. ”What about him?”

”He's going back, of course.”

Jia He had not thought at all that when her plan, which she believed to be a matter of course, was switched over to come from Wu Zhilun's lips, it would become something that was absolutely out of the question. She had only just reiterated her request for Qiao Qiao to drive her to her home and then immediately Wu Zhilun was stating that, with the way the two of them were and also how they looked now, they would definitely be unsafe on the roads. While Jia He was trying to come up with a counteraction, Qiao Qiao actually began adding fuel to the fire, saying things such as, there was a lot of crime in the neighbourhood where Jia He lived, her own parents were in Hangzhou tonight so she had no key, etc.

And so, with these two going back and forth, one person speaking and the other echoing the same tune, the final decision was that they would collectively head over to Yi Wenze's home.

The entire way, the two people in the front seats conversed quite cheerily. When they pa.s.sed the Yangpu Bridge, Qiao Qiao even pointed into the distance at the site of the 2010 World Expo and, in a manner of seriousness, explained the munic.i.p.al government's future plans for it. Wu Zhilun was also listening with interest. Qiao Qiao's spoken Cantonese had always been quite good, and now this was a time in which that skill could be exhibited. Absent-mindedly, Jia He listened to them, but it was only when she heard Tian Chu's song on the charts that she showed any sort of different reaction.

Yangpu Bridge in Shanghai (image credit: Pixabay)

”Have you heard this song?” Wu Zhilun looked at Jia He from the rearview mirror.

Jia He shook her head. ”A new song?”

”It actually isn't. It was written two years ago.”

Jia He gave an ”oh.”

”Ze composed the song, I wrote the lyrics.”

Seeing that he was still looking at her, Jia He could only nod her head. What was surprising was that he did not continue speaking.

The length after length of steel cables on the bridge spanned between the lights, and though they emitted no illumination themselves, they could still be clearly seen.

This weird atmosphere caused Qiao Qiao to cease talking as well.

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Pudong district's roads are very wide, as if it and the other side of the river are two different cities[3].  They drove for some period of time before turning into a neighbourhood of community compounds. As they drove along here, following the water's sh.o.r.e, it was quite a bit more tranquil.

The three of them got out of the car and, with Wu Zhilun in the lead, went into the house. He showed no unnecessary politeness and, immediately after stepping through the door, instructed his a.s.sistant to lay out the mahjong table. In fact, it was that young boy, when he noticed Jia He with her sodden hair and Qiao Qiao wearing her slippers, who could not quite process the situation. Likely, no one would have expected that there would be women in the world who would show up in this type of place with such appearances… In the spill of the entryway's wall light, Jia He stood in embarra.s.sment, and only when Qing took her arm and quietly asked her whether she needed a shower and a change of clothing was she finally able to escape from there.

She used the downstairs bathroom. Warm water. Steam suffusing everywhere.

Only halfway through her shower, she could already faintly hear the sound of shuffling mahjong tiles outside. She had originally worried that she was overstepping her bounds, actually coming to her idol's home to freeload a place to stay, but from the looks of things now, she was obviously the one showing the most restraint. She swiftly finished up her shower and slipped on Qing's sweatsuit. While she was wondering how she could dry her hair, someone was already knocking on the door.

Qing poked her head in and handed a hair dryer in to her.

Jia He looked at her in surprise but still said thank you.