Chapter 16 Part3 (1/2)
Big news! (Actually more than one!) ?
Chapter 16.3 — The Unexpected (3)
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The heater in the room was turned to a very warm setting in the first place and he had also switched on the central heating, so the two both ended up bathed in perspiration. She was so hot that she only grabbed a spaghetti-strap dress before rus.h.i.+ng off to take a shower. When she came back out again, drying her hair with a bath towel, he grabbed her, tugged her onto the bed, and made her sit down. Digging out a round-necked sweats.h.i.+rt that she normally wore in the winter, he pulled it over her head for her. Next was a pair of jogging pants.
His motions as he dressed her were extremely deft. Jia He practically could only gape in awe as he moved and positioned her this way and that. This was five-star superior treatment!
At the end, when he saw that the sweats.h.i.+rt sleeves were a little too long, he even helped her to roll them up one fold. Sniffling, she said softly, ”It's good now.”
Then, she watched as he straightened back up, stepped up beside the desk, and dialed an internal number on the phone. ”Lun, you can come on over now.”
Huh?Jia He nearly toppled off the couch.
Wasn't that basically just admitting, without even needing to be grilled, that the two of them had been in the room but just didn't open the door?
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Because she had put on such warm clothing immediately after showering, she was starting to sweat again. Hearing knocking on the door, she jumped straight up and declared, ”I'm going to go get you guys something to drink.” With that, she dashed to the coffee station. Her eyes swept this way and that. Floral tea, black tea, Pu'er tea—which one would be good? Eventually, she decided to brew coffee; that way it would take a little longer…
Outside, they were already laughing and talking. When the coffee was done brewing and she was carrying out two cups of it as well as a cup of tea, Wu Zhilun finally ceased the conversation. Holding a bag in his hand, he said to her, ”I originally came here to deliver something and then, in pa.s.sing, see if there are any good eats here. Is this it? Is this how you're going to treat me?”
At first Jia He's conscience had been terribly uneasy, but with these words from him, she was a little baffled. ”What does that have to do with me?”
Flas.h.i.+ng his teeth, Wu Zhilun looked at Yi Wenze. The latter merely took the gla.s.s cup that Jia He handed to him, smiling but holding his silence. Jia He also handed a cup of coffee to Wu Zhilun before taking from him the paper bag that he had been holding. She saw that written on it were a few simple words: ”Yi Wenze, With You.” Somewhat uncertainly, she looked again at Yi Wenze, but still he did not say anything.
Wu Zhilun, on the other hand, gave a couple of coughs. ”You two still aren't done being mushy? How does that saying go? Oh right! 'Making eyes at one another.' ” After knowing him for so long, Jia He had learned already that his Mandarin was actually very good. Each time he said things like this, he was definitely making fun of her…
Jia He set the paper bag onto the table. Purposely ignoring Wu Zhilun, she tugged on Yi Wenze's sleeve, her eyes s.h.i.+ning as she asked, ”You're going to release a single?”
This was huge news, aaaah! He hadn't sung for so many years.
Smiling, Yi Wenze gave a nod. ”Happy?”
She swiftly nodded. ”Of course.”
With a grin, Wu Zhilun told her, ”I took time out of my extremely busy schedule to write the lyrics.” He picked up the paper bag again and wagged it in front of Jia He. ”Harmonious Family Prospers, let me tell you, Yi Wenze truly has a lot of huge shortcomings. For example, he only cares about his woman and not his bro, or for example, he's incredibly lazy and likes to toss everything to me to do.”
The words ”cares about his woman and not his bro” were emphasized particularly forcefully and caused Jia He to bow her head once more and take a fierce drink of her coffee, nearly scalding her tongue off. Finally, she heard Yi Wenze speak up, but his words were directed at Wu Zhilun. ”How do you feel about it?”
Beaming broadly until his eyes became slits, Wu Zhilun answered, ”Very good. Extremely good. The song you wrote with the lyrics I penned. And also, you're willing to sing. I bet we won't even need any real marketing and PR and it'll still be a big hit.”
Their conversation that followed was all about the publicity work for the single. Jia He's head felt like it was in a fog as she listened to them. While she was completely unaware, the song had already been recorded and gone through post-production, and very soon such substantial publicity work for it would be starting up.
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After Wu Zhilun left, she, while was.h.i.+ng the cups, casually asked him, ”After this single, are you going to be releasing a new alb.u.m?”
He took the cup that she was handing to him and set it on the shelf. ”There are no plans for that yet.”
Giving an ”oh,” Jia He sighed, ”What a pity.” She did not even need to listen to it to know that this song would become a hit, and riding the momentum to release a new alb.u.m would be the way to go. Although she did not really know much about the music recording market, that day at the concert, when Yi Wenze began singing, she had instantly known that he was born to be a star. Even just singing someone else's song, he was so able to…
While these thoughts were running through her mind, she also remembered those words that he had said at the concert. Her reaction time now finally catching up, she retrospectively felt so much happiness in her that it was going to bubble over. Back and forth, over and over, she washed the same cup for a long, long time. When she at last pulled her mind back to the present, she noticed that he was leaning against the edge of the counter, watching her with great amus.e.m.e.nt. Only then did she shut off the water and stuff the cup into his hands. ”Let's sleep.”
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In the subsequent three days, Yi Wenze flew to four or five cities back-to-back. Jia He would have her mobile phone in hand, occasionally checking her text messages. As she was treating the trip to New Zealand as a matter of highest priority, she had practically pushed all her work to the next month. When Xiao Yu brought over the piece of calligraphy, which had already been mounted, Jia He unrolled it and admired it for a long time. Even though she was not well-versed in this artform, she still raised her thumb and sighingly praised, ”It's so good,” over and over more than ten times.
Xiao Yu sat in the living room, looking around at all the furniture. Rather pained, she asked, ”You were the one who picked out all of this?”
Jia He gave her a very wary look. ”You're not allowed to say it doesn't look nice.”
Leaning back into the couch, Xiao Yu heaved a long sigh. ”I remember someone once made the a.s.sessment that, if you compared amongst all the celebrities, Yi Wenze's taste and style are considered extremely good. Such a pity, such a pity.”
Jia He was wiping the gla.s.s balcony door, but when she encountered some high spots, she had to hop to reach them. Even so, Xiao Yu still ended up taking the cloth from her and helping her to wipe a couple of places. ”Since when did you become so diligent? With that little place of yours in Shanghai, you had a cleaning lady comepart-time to do the cleaning for you. Now that you've returned to Beijing, you've immediately adopted such good, womanly virtues?”
Seeing how she was able to wipe every corner clean with just a bend of her arm, Jia He was terribly jealous. ”I can't hire anyone now. I'm afraid people will gossip or make irresponsible remarks.”
Xiao Yu glanced at her. ”It'll be better once you're married.”
With an ”mm-hmm,” Jia He took the rag back from her, tossed it into the sink on the balcony, and began was.h.i.+ng it. Right when she was wringing it out, she heard the forever-unflappable Xiao Yu let out a shriek, giving her such a fright that she immediately dashed back into the living room. ”What's wrong, what's wrong?”
Holding her laptop computer, Xiao Yu slowly lifted her eyes to look at Jia He. ”Explosive news.”
Jia He's heart dropped, and because of the scare she had just gotten, apprehension flooded her. ”Don't scare me.”
”It has nothing to do with you.” Very slowly, Xiao Yu turned the computer around to face Jia He. ”How big do you think the diamond in this ring looks to be?”
Jia He took a seat beside her. It was a screenshot taken from a video. Due to this question, Jia He brought her gaze directly onto the diamond ring inside the picture. She tried hard to make an estimation based on the size of the box and hand, guessing, ”More than two carats, probably? It's bling enough.”
”Do you know this guy?” Xiao Yu pointed at the man inside the video.
Only now did Jia He look at that man. So familiar-looking… ”I remember now. That's Cheng Hao. Back when Tune of Yong'anwas being filmed, he was one of the a.s.sistant directors on the team.” Since finis.h.i.+ng up and leaving that production back in March, she had not seen him for half a year already.
”Does he know Qiao Qiao?” Xiao Yu continued to guide her words.