Gu Li'an remained silent, only tugging at the collar of his shirt to catch his breath.
The room was dark and the lights were off. In the dim light, Yun Daixi looked at his face and suddenly burst out laughing.
She raised her hand, wanting to wipe away the mess of lipstick smeared around his lips.
Just as she raised her hand to her chin, Gu Lian grabbed her wrist with a rather strong grip, causing her smile to freeze and her brows to furrow slightly.
Noticing her expression, Gu Li'an instantly released his grip.
Without any warning, the hand, which had just been grabbed and was resisting, suddenly released, causing the force to rebound and hit the shoe cabinet with a thud.
The pain gradually spread from my arm, and half of my body felt numb.
Despite her efforts to suppress it, she couldn't hold back and let out a groan.
In the darkness without lights, Gu Li'an's Adam's apple bobbed. He leaned back slightly against her back, straightened up, and made some distance.
After composing himself, he said, "Miss Xu, turn on the light."
The words were respectful, but the tone was like a command.
Yun Daixi smiled, with a sense of detachment: "Mr. Gu, Miss Xu is dead. My name is Yun Daixi."
She was still sitting on the shoe cabinet, reaching out to press the smart whole-house light switch on the wall.
The moment the lights came on, Gu Li'an realized the purpose of her raising her hand through the mirror behind her.
His face was a mess, covered in lipstick stains. He reached out and tried to wipe it off, but it only made it worse.
Yun Daisy used her other hand to support herself as she climbed down from the shoe cabinet, took off her high heels, and stepped barefoot onto the wooden floor: "Come in, make yourself at home, I'll get you some makeup remover."
Ignoring the people behind him, he went into the room while talking.
Gu Li'an remained standing still. He didn't like others entering his territory casually, and vice versa.
Yun Daixi went to her room to quickly remove her makeup.
As for the one for Gu Li'an, she first placed her hand on the makeup remover, then changed her mind and picked up the makeup remover balm.
As he went out, Gu Li'an put his hands in his pockets and resumed his familiar expression, only now it was stained with an unusually interesting lipstick color. He wondered if anyone else in the world had ever seen him like this.
She held back her laughter and walked over to spread the makeup remover balm in her palm.
Remembering his earlier refusal, she asked softly and politely, "Do you need my help?"
This statement is both enticing and provocative.
He offered himself up, and this time, she was more willful than before when she feigned pitifulness.
Lipsticks that can't stand the light of day shouldn't be taken out of this room.
Gu Li'an remained silent. Yun Daixi bet that he had never seen a makeup remover before. Without waiting for his reply, she unscrewed the cap, picked up some with her ring finger, and held it to his lips.
Not wanting to go out with evidence of his crime, and even less willing to remove his makeup in front of this woman in such a disheveled manner, he didn't dodge and ultimately chose to let her press her fingertip against his lips.
Gently rub in circles, as if cleaning a piece of mutton fat jade.
Taking off her heels widened the distance between them, and Yun Daixi could only stand on tiptoe, her gaze fixed on his lips with feigned composure.
His gaze was lowered, watching her look up into his eyes.
After some time, the red on her lips faded, and she turned to the side to take a soft cotton towel and wipe off the remaining makeup remover.
In a barely audible voice, he said, "Alright."
Gu Li'an turned to look in the mirror, and everything was as before, as if nothing had happened between the two of them that night.
He took Yun Daixi's lipstick out of his pocket and placed it on the shoe cabinet: "Miss Yun lost something, so I came to return it."
He obediently changed his address.
Yun Daixi picked it up and examined it, feigning surprise: "So this is what Mr. Gu came for. It's kind of you to make this trip in person."
Gu Li'an smiled slightly, a hint of sarcasm in his expression, and raised his eyebrows.
Yun Daixi realized that this line was indeed performed rather poorly.
The air returned to calm.
She changed the subject: "I've figured out how to contact you regarding the conditions Mr. Gu promised me the other day?"
"Here's my private number. You can contact me if you need anything."
"There's no pen at home," she made up an excuse almost without thinking, then added, "My phone's dead too."
She opened the lipstick cap, twisted out a piece, and handed it to him, looking around: "Whatever you like, write wherever is convenient."
The tone was exactly the same as when I asked if I needed help.
Unable to tolerate such provocation a second time, Gu Li'an grabbed her bare arm, pulled up her wrist, and turned the inside of her arm towards himself.
The skin at the edge of her little finger pressed against the back of her soft hand as she slowly wrote eleven digits.
With each stroke, her wrist bones rubbed lightly against her arm.
The slight rubbing sensation made her scalp tingle.
As if harboring a vengeful spirit, he wrote each stroke extremely slowly, using silky lipstick to return the favor he had just done to his lips.
After writing it down, I handed the lipstick back to her.
She was startled when she saw the string of numbers on her arm.
Her exceptional memory immediately reminded her that it was an unfamiliar phone call made late at night on the day of Chi Muye's first concert.
It seems he already knew about her and Chi Muye.
Her ears suddenly felt hot, like a woman caught cheating.
Gu Li'an looked at her and suddenly remembered that year when he saw that blurry face approaching him while he was unconscious.
Without any prior context, he suddenly uttered two words: "Gone."
He turned to open the door, then turned back again and added, "See you next time."
Yun Daixi lay back down on the sofa, her lips and ears feeling like they had been burned.
She silently recited the string of numbers in her mind.
The seemingly meaningless red number was, to her, like a set of keys that could unlock a vault, a huge temptation for anyone who came across it.
He took his phone out of his bag, which still had 19% battery left, found the number from a few days ago, and clicked the button to change the contact name to "Mr. Gu".
Her phone is always online 24/7, and she never lets it run out of battery.
Up until now, everything seemed to be going according to her script, but she knew all too well that a greedy woman was destined to fall into hell.
-
Downstairs, in front of the black Maybach, the driver was resting. When he saw Gu Li'an coming over, he quickly went to open the back door.
Gu Li'an got into the car and took out a tissue to wipe the lipstick stain on her hands again, but there were still red marks.
In the end, he had no choice but to give up, lean back, and close his eyes.
He, who had always rejected fragrances, was now completely enveloped by Yun Daixi's scent.
It disturbed his peace of mind.
-
The next morning, I received a call from Lin Suihuan's assistant as soon as I arrived at the company.
The voice on the other end reported excitedly, "Daisy, I knew you'd be useful! Today the director made that person with connections apologize to Sui Sui in front of everyone, or else we'd have to reshoot!"
"That's good," Yun Daixi replied calmly.
After hanging up the phone, a strange fear welled up in her heart. Just how much did Gu Li'an know about her? He could even interfere in matters so far away.
In just one night, she managed to change the minds of those she had to beg.
Perhaps to him, she was like a dancer who had been stripped naked without realizing it.
Self-righteous and showing off.
She hesitated for a moment, but still dialed the number.
Regardless of the circumstances, one should always show basic courtesy when receiving favors.
He must have been busy; the call was disconnected after only two rings.
Yun Daixi edited a message with just two words: "Thank you." and sent it.
I was busy all day and almost forgot about it in the afternoon when I received his call. He asked, "What's wrong?"
"Thank you for what happened to Lin Suihuan."
"It was just something I did to give someone a warning, something I did on the side."
His tone was as indifferent as if he were casually crushing an ant while picking a leaf.
"No matter how simple it was for you, it still helped me a lot, so I'll treat you to dinner?"
"I'm rumored to be dating your Jiang Xianxian, and you also have a relationship with the famous singer Chi Muye. Wouldn't it be inappropriate if we were photographed having dinner together?"
I never expected him to do this.
"I will arrange to send a lawyer's letter right now to tell them to stop spreading rumors. Jiang Xianxian is single, loves her work, and has no ulterior motives."
"And what about your Chi Muye?" This question was clearly more forceful than the previous ones.
"We still need to be together for a while," she said truthfully.
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone before someone said, "I'll pick you up from your company later."
Where to?
"Aren't you going to treat me to dinner? I'll choose the place."
Before Yun Daixi could even give the company address, the other end had already hung up.
With his vast resources, if he wanted to, he could probably find out everything about her annual revenue and net profit, not to mention her address, which is printed on her business card.
She quickly finished what she was doing and went to touch up her makeup.
-
Someone was knocking on the door, and you could tell it was Chi Muye just by the force of the knock.
"Come in." She leaned back in her chair.
He came in standing, not sitting, and his newly dyed silver-gray hair for the concert made his features appear even sharper.
I don't know if it's psychological, but he looked much older after just one night apart.
"I agree with what you said yesterday. When do we start?" He put his hands in his wide-leg jeans, his body language looking arrogant, but his tone was expectant.
"Tomorrow." Yun Daixi checked his schedule early in the morning. "I have some business to attend to and can't fly around the country with your concert. I'll accompany you to the offline promotional events and program recordings in Beijing."
"Will you come home with me? Or to a hotel?" he suddenly asked. "If we're not photographed by paparazzi, spending a few hours alone together, what kind of intimate relationship is that? What you just said is what an agent should normally do."
"Okay." She agreed without much thought. It wasn't like the two of them hadn't spent time in a private space before, so it wasn't a big deal for her.
This caught Chi Muyi, who was in a fit of anger, off guard, and he could only say sullenly, "Then what you said will start tomorrow."
"I'll go with you to record that interview." She confirmed again, "I have plans tonight, and I'm in a hurry to take care of things right now."
Before she could finish speaking, Chi Muye understood what she meant and pushed the door open to leave.
-
Fearing that an office in the CBD would be too conspicuous, Sai Jinhua chose a cultural and creative park that was somewhat far away when she established her brokerage company.
This area is home to many artists' studios. When Sai Jinhua was designing the building, she chose a bare concrete style to renovate the entire building.
She is a big fan of Tadao Ando.
I firmly believe that even the hardest cement has a warmth to it, and the sense of light can be perceived by those who are attentive, through subtle shifts in the unseen interior of the atrium.
Yun Daixi stood on the second floor, watching Chi Muye walk downstairs.
He rarely comes to the company, preferring to stay in his studio to create, which makes him somewhat mysterious.
Today, it seems some fan leader leaked their whereabouts, and a large group of fans flocked to the area, completely blocking the once spacious area outside the park.
Chi Muye was probably not in a good mood, but he still listened to her and politely smiled and waved to everyone despite being stopped by the bodyguards.
When he first signed the contract, he was immersed in the world of creation, and his emotions fluctuated. He even gave his fans a hard time a few times.
Later, he was caught by his rivals, who accused him of being arrogant and unreasonable. It almost escalated to a matter of human nature, but Yun Daixi managed to calm things down after a lot of maneuvering.
At that time, he was sitting in his office, watching Yun Daixi busy herself asking people to make phone calls for him.
Since then, he has never been rude to his fans again.
As soon as Chi Muyi left in the nanny van, the phone rang. It was Gu Li'an's voice: "Get down."
"We've arrived?" Yun Daixi had been looking down the whole time, so how come she hadn't noticed?
"Hmm." Just as the words left his mouth, the hazard lights of a black Bentley came on under the metasequoia trees next door.
"I'll go down right away."
She went downstairs to the car, the driver got out and opened the door, and Yun Daixi bent down to get in.
After the Frost's Descent solar term, around 7 p.m., the sky outside was already a hazy gray, and in a little while, everything would be swallowed up by the night.
The car smelled as clean as Gu Li'an himself, like a brand new car that had just come off the production line, without any decorations.
There wasn't even a hint of smoke.
Yun Daixi joked, "I didn't expect Mr. Gu to not smoke."
Gu Li'an didn't look at him, and only said, "Not interested."
The tone implies that the speaker is keeping people at arm's length.
He said to the driver in the front seat, "Let's go."
The car turned on its lights and started, without specifying where it was going, leaving Yun Daixi with a sense of unease, as if she were trekking through the darkness.
But thinking of his attitude just now, she decided not to make a fool of herself, sat quietly, and turned to look at the receding metasequoia trees outside the car window.
The absence of music and fragrance inside the car made the silence all the more deadly.
His abstinence seemed to have reached a perverse level. Looking back on what he did last night, he felt a little scared that he might have overstepped his bounds.
The car is on the ring road, and I don't know which exit to take.
Yun Daixi always liked to plan everything in advance, and this endless uncertainty made her scalp tingle. Finally, she couldn't help but ask, "Where are we going?"
The driver tightened his grip on the steering wheel; this was the first time a woman had gotten in his car after driving for Gu Li'an for so long.
Their relationship must be extraordinary.
Gu Li'an closed the document he was reading and asked in a deep voice, "You were just having an affair in the office, and now you're in another man's car. How does that feel?"