Chapter 6 Part3 (2/2)
Getting drenched in rain and then having a fever were in fact not a big deal. She could very well drive herself to get some medication, then go home, throw her comforter over her head, and have a sleep, and everything would be fine. But now Qiao Qiao had taken her car, and this place was also in a villa community outside of the Outer Ring Road. What was even more woeful was that this was her idol's home; she did not want to trouble him too much. Hence, unable to come up with any other plan, she could do nothing except first ask Qing to secretly help her buy some medication.
”She went out with Qiao Qiao.” Yi Wenze asked, ”Do you have something that you're looking for her for?”
Pondering briefly, Jia He told him, ”No, nothing.” Her voice was already a little hoa.r.s.e. Afraid that the two might catch clues that something was amiss, she walked to the bar counter, picked up a gla.s.s, and went to get herself some water, thinking all the while that when she went back to her room, she would give Qiao Qiao a call. She should be able to last until the evening, when Qiao Qiao would buy the medication and bring it back for her. Wu Zhilun very judiciously did not tease her any further and resumed with the previous topic. Her back to them, the gla.s.s held between her hands, Jia He felt as if an entire century had pa.s.sed before the gla.s.s was filled.
Right as she was turning around, Yi Wenze addressed her. ”Your complexion doesn't look very good. Are you sick?”
She tried hard to force a smile. ”No. I'm guessing it's because I slept in too late.”
When he was about to ask further, the housekeeper who had been sweeping the yard was already walking back in through the door, and she asked Yi Wenze whether she should prepare some lunch for this young lady. Yi Wenze gave a natural nod of his head, instructing her that it would be fine to make something simple. As Jia He stood beside him, listening to all this, she began to cry silently in anguish, the heavens and the earth seeming to spin dizzily around her. But at such an hour of the day, she had no excuse to decline and could only sit, wooden and dazed, beside the dining table.
The housekeeper's motions were very nimble. From the refrigerator, she pulled out some dumplings and fried them to a bright golden colour.
This was a very Northern style of cooking dumplings, and served with some vinegar, they were set on the gla.s.s dining table. ”Mr. Yi said you're a Northerner. You probably like to eat foods made from wheat, right? It's been a long time since anyone has stayed here, and I didn't have any noodles on hand. This morning, I specially asked my husband to knead some dough to make these dumplings.” The housekeeper was very conversational, and she carried on, saying that her husband was a Northerner as well and the dumplings that he wrapped were simply special, his wrap having a nice, chewy texture.
Scrumptious dumplings had always been Jia He's favourite, but currently, she felt that the air she was exhaling was fast becoming hotter than the heat emitted from the dumplings… She practically was counting each one as she stuffed it into her mouth. Due to the fever, she could not taste anything she ate. All she could think about in this moment was that she needed to hurry and call Qiao Qiao to have her come back. With such greasy food hitting her stomach, she felt even worse.
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After she was done eating, she very diligently began to tidy up everything herself.
”Jia He.”
Halting her motions, she looked at him, her hands still holding her bowl and chopsticks.
Without warning, he extended an arm over, touching the back of his hand to her forehead. It was a very polite action, simply to test her condition, but it caused her heart to race.
”You're running a fever.” Swiftly drawing this conclusion, Yi Wenze looked at Wu Zhilun. ”Go ask the housekeeper where the fever medication is.” After stating this, he reached over and took the bowl and chopsticks from Jia He and set them to the side. ”Go back to the room first and lie down. I'll be there shortly.”
Jia He wanted to say that she was fine, but then her legs all of a sudden gave out beneath her, catching her off guard, and she nearly collapsed to the floor.
In the end, he managed to grab ahold of her first, but losing his own centre of gravity, he crashed into the bar counter.
Bang! The impact knocked the chopsticks to the floor. His arms, though, were propped on the bar counter's surface and had completely prevented her from colliding into anything.
The scare that Jia He received was significant, and she hurriedly struggled to pull herself upright. ”Are you okay?”
With those words, she began to check him over, from his arms down to his legs. Only when she had confirmed that she had not b.u.mped into his injured leg did her chest loosen in relief. But she felt even guiltier, and her heart ached even more. ”I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that…”
”It's okay,” Yi Wenze soothed her. Turning his head, he addressed Wu Zhilun, who had only just risen to his feet and had not fully processed what had just happened. ”Could you please help me support her into the room?”
Everything that followed became particularly like something out of a television drama. She was not sure whether it was because her nerves had loosened after being found out, but once she lay down on the bed, her fever burned with absurd ferocity, and every joint in her body ached terribly. All she saw was Wu Zhilun bringing in some water and medication while his young a.s.sistant was off to the side, utterly unable to provide any help. And Yi Wenze was by her bedside.
Every time she was patted awake, she would be able to see his face. The expression on it, however, was a blur in her gaze.
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By nighttime, her fever finally subsided somewhat. Only the two of them were left in the room. So that she could sleep, the table lamp had already been turned to the lowest brightness setting. He sat on a chair, a computer set on his lap, his face illuminated by the white light of the screen such that his facial features were very distinct. Jia He fixed her eyes on him for some time, her brain for a moment unable to catch up. After a lengthy while, she at last asked, ”Did you b.u.mp into anything and get hurt?”
He lifted his head and looked at her, in pa.s.sing closing the lid of his laptop. ”Hungry?”
Having eaten nothing for an entire day, she indeed was hungry.
At this instant, however, she unexpectedly received an incoming phone call, and rather embarra.s.sedly she looked at Yi Wenze. His manner, on the other hand, was very natural as he handed her mobile phone to her. She answered the call, which turned out to be from the director of her next television drama. ”Jia He, it sure is hard to get through on your phone. So how about it? Will you be able to make it over here tomorrow?”
Jia He's voice was still a little feeble. ”I'm sorry about that, Director Liu. Tomorrow… tomorrow should be okay for me.”
She would sleep until tomorrow morning, and by then the fever should more or less have broken. Attending a meeting was not any sort of physical labour anyway; she should be able to handle it. The most important point was… she finally had an excuse to escape from here. It was not like she could keep staying here in Yi Wenze's home.
”That's good. We'll hurry up and finish the discussions, and then you can hurry up and make any revisions. I'm waiting for the scene divisions for the first and second episodes, and then we can line up the times.” The person on the other end did not seem to have noticed that there was anything peculiar with Jia He's voice. ”We want to rush to, in early May, set…”
Yi Wenze suddenly made a gesture, signaling to Jia He that she should give him the phone.
Jia He was taken aback, and even after she had handed it to him, she still did not understand his intent.
”Director Liu, h.e.l.lo.” Yi Wenze took the phone. ”This is Yi Wenze.”
Jia He stared in confusion at him. It was only when she heard him say that she was ill and might need to postpone her arrival in Beijing by a little that she understood what exactly he was doing. Immediately, she was thoroughly stupefied. Only one thought went through her mind: Oh no, I'm done for. What is Director Liu going to think? …
The person on the other end of the call seemed to agree heartily to Yi Wenze's request, his keen friendliness at an extremely high level.
Yi Wenze listened for another little while before answering, ”Sure. If there's a good script, I hope we do get a chance to work together.”
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一路顺风”yi lu shun feng.” The literal translation is ”May you have a tailwind the whole way,” or ”May the wind be at your back the whole way.” This saying generally is used to mean, ”Have a pleasant journey,” ”Have a good trip,” ”Safe travels,” etc. The literal meaning was used in the body of the translation to fit with Jia He's thoughts that you should not wish a tailwind on someone who is taking a plane (because airplanes take off and land into the wind).
In general, in China, people in the south tend more to eat rice, while those in the north often eat more noodles and foods made from wheat.
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