Fearing she might find it too offensive, he added, "I've prepared a separate room for you at home. Didn't you promise last time that you'd occasionally stay overnight at my place?"
Yun Daixi said, as if comforting a child, "Okay. Since you've already promised."
He then took out his phone and called Liu, a paparazzo he often worked with: "I have some juicy scoop, do you want it?"
The person on the other end of the phone quickly agreed. Being a paparazzi is tough. They had just taken a shower and were lying in bed when they had to go out again in the dead of winter to get some scoops. They were working overtime like dogs.
Yun Daixi would never sit idly by and wait to be filmed; she would rather rely on herself.
If something isn't seen by others, it's as if it wasn't done at all; that's not her style. If she's going to the Chi Muye family, she wants to make going through that door have a more significant meaning.
In such situations, paparazzi and celebrities have a symbiotic relationship, exchanging benefits for each other.
"Let's go," Yun Daixi said, walking towards the van, "to your house."
Chi Muye stared blankly at her back. This woman seemed to have always been this calm and extremely pragmatic since he met her, but the more she was like this, the more attracted he felt to her.
Perhaps this is human nature; people always look up to what they don't have.
Yun Daixi told her assistant and driver to rest first before getting into Chi Muye's car.
The assistant and driver were gossiping in the car when they heard the door open, and they immediately fell silent.
"Hello, Sister Daixi, where are we going?" Chi Muye's assistant, Xiaowen, asked.
Chi Muye climbed into the car and said, "Xiaowen, let's take you home first."
"No need, no need, I'll take a taxi back myself." She immediately understood what he meant.
"It's too late, I'll take you there first."
Knowing he couldn't persuade her otherwise, the driver had already started the engine and headed towards Xiaowen's house.
We drove in silence, with Beatles songs playing on repeat in the car.
Chi Muye was a little drunk, and he swayed and eventually fell asleep on Yun Daixi's shoulder.
After dropping Xiaowen off at her house, Yun Daixi nudged Chi Muye with her shoulder and said, "Get up, we're home."
He thanked the driver again, saying, "Sir, you should go home and rest early too."
It was already quite cold outside in December, and it was late at night; breath was turning into mist. Yun Daixi called paparazzi Liu: "Have you arrived yet?"
The reply came from the other end: "Look to your left."
Turning her head, she saw a long camera waving across the street, and Yun Daixi bowed slightly across the road: "Thank you for your hard work in this cold weather. I'll probably be out in about four hours. I'll call you when I'm out. You can take a nap in the car for a while."
The other party readily agreed. Agents like Yun Daixi are extremely rare in the industry. Paparazzo Liu had watched her grow up and admired her to some extent.
After hanging up the phone, Chi Muyi reached out to straighten Yun Daixi's collar: "Let's go inside."
Afraid that he would take her hand and they would clasp hands, Yun Daixi took his arm, leaving him no room to maneuver.
These few scenes should be enough for paparazzi Liu to take some usable photos.
Upon entering the house, Chi Muyi's home still retained its original style: a geeky black color scheme typical of digital enthusiasts, with audio and recording equipment scattered throughout the floor and wires tangled in a complex mess.
This place is the dream destination for countless fans.
I fantasize about walking into Chi Muye's private territory late at night.
Yun Daixi took off her shoes and came in, stepping onto the soft carpet.
Presumably for soundproofing, the entire room was covered with dark carpets, making it look like a studio rather than a residence.
"Now we can drink, right?" Chi Muye knew that she didn't drink too much at this time of year.
"Have a drink." It's time to relax.
Chi Muye went to the refrigerator to get a craft dark beer and put it on the sofa.
There was no table in the living room; in front of the simple dark brown leather sofa, there was still a rug that stretched to the wall.
Yun Daixi lay half-reclined on the sofa, the can of beer in her hand icy cold: "Young people really are like this, drinking ice-cold beer so late at night. I'm afraid I'll get a stomachache from it. Do you have any red ones?"
Chi Muyi tilted his head back and took a sip: "No, how about I go heat up your beer?"
"Never mind," Yun Daixi said, opening the bottle and taking a sip. A slight bitterness rose in her throat.
Chi Muye glanced at the clock on the wall: "There are three and a half hours left."
"What?" Yun Daixi didn't hear clearly.
"You have three and a half hours left before you leave," he repeated.
In the living room without a main light, he sat leaning against the sofa next to Yun Daixi, and she could only see his back.
Wanting to change the subject, Yun Daixi asked, "Didn't you say you prepared a room for me? Where is it?"
Chi Muye pointed to the opposite side: "Go to the end of that corridor over there."
Yun Daixi got up and walked over, barefoot, the soft carpet giving her a sense of security.
Reaching the end, Yun Daixi opened the door and went inside.
Before she was ready, the smart sensor lights suddenly turned on.
Unlike the rooms outside, the lighting here is dim and yellowish. It's not very bright for a normal bedroom, but because of the contrast with the living room, it's like a moon in the night.
Smooth and discreet.
The bed sheets were off-white pure cotton, and there was a set of loungewear in the same color scheme at the head of the bed. Even the bathroom was furnished with her usual brands.
I wonder how much research she and her assistant actually did.
Yun Daixi dared not look any longer. She rushed out the door as if she had seen something shameful.
Yes, she feels incredibly ashamed right now.
No matter how scheming she was, she was hardly worthy of the room that Chi Muyi had specially prepared for the woman of his dreams.
When he grows up one day, he will realize how foolish he was when he was young.
The worst person to love is someone from a completely different world.
When I came back, the carpet seemed a few degrees lighter to the touch than before.
Chi Muye had finished his beer, and the empty can was crumpled and tossed aside at some point.
Seeing Yun Daixi return and sit on the sofa, he asked, "How is it? Do you like it?"
Yun Daixi remained silent.
Because I don't know how to say no in a way that will wake the person next to me.
Seeing that she didn't answer, Chi Muye propped himself up on the sofa behind him and sat down. He raised his voice and asked again, "How about we stay here tonight? Not just for four hours."
She was terrified.
For some reason, I felt a sense of reluctance to trample on the snow, even though I knew it would melt away overnight.
"No." Her voice rang out in the living room.
Just two words made Chi Muye, who was preparing to approach her in the darkness, freeze in place.
He pulled back and slumped onto the sofa, looking up. "Yun Daixi, what kind of man can tame you?"
There was a second half of what I wanted to say but didn't: I will definitely become that kind of person.
Yun Daixi didn't know why she was laughing, but she made a very certain sound in her throat: "No, I probably won't fall in love with any man."
Yes, any one of them.
Having witnessed her biological father beat her mother until she was covered in bruises, one snowy night, her mother tearfully bid her farewell through a rusty security window.
She choked back tears as she said, "Never trust a man."
Of course she hated her mother for cruelly abandoning her.
But the incident started with that man surnamed Xu.
If he hadn't used sweet words to drug her back then, how could she, so beautiful, have ended up like this for him when he had nothing?
So even when it was later discovered that she had remarried and had another daughter, she didn't feel much hatred.
Yun Daixi knew that men and women were the same, and there was no such thing as equality or inequality.
It's just that emotions are too fragile, and women are more prone to becoming obsessed with them than men.
Chi Muye had never seen Yun Daixi like this before; there was a hint of fragility in her smile.
He pulled her into his arms: "It's okay, I'll wait for you."
He exudes a warm, sunny aura, the scent of lemon and mint.
"If only you were my family, I would give you all my love," Yun Daixi murmured.
After a brief moment of tenderness, she knew she couldn't get any deeper into it. She reached out and pushed him away, using the overused comforting words from countless scripts: "You'll find someone better. I shouldn't be the one you're waiting for."
Chi Muye stopped dwelling on the topic and changed to a cheerful tone: "I just wrote a new song, for you who have been tormenting me to the point of near death these past two days. Do you want to listen to it? Just like back then, be my first listener."
Before Yun Daixi could agree, he had already run out from beside the electric piano.
As the piano music began, he transformed back into that radiant young man.
He hasn't written any lyrics yet, so he's using the onomatopoeic words "da la da la da la" instead.
This piece is indeed much more melancholic than his usual works, lacking the cynical flavor.
"How is it?" Chi Muye asked her as he came over.
"That's good." She turned around, not wanting him to see the slight emotion on her face.
Although I know perfectly well that he's so oblivious, he wouldn't even notice.
After chatting for another hour, Chi Muyi finally couldn't stay awake any longer and fell asleep on the sofa.
Yun Daixi went to the room and found a blanket to drape over him, while she scrolled through the news and looked at her phone.
I accidentally swiped through Gu Li'an's WeChat. My fingers moved faster than my brain to click in and take a look. Sure enough, his Moments was empty. There was nothing there.
Several days have passed, and I don't know if he received those books or not.
Following her train of thought, she searched for some current events related to Gu Li'an. Nothing special, just that he had attended some business events and signed a few cooperation agreements.
Four hours later, Yun Daixi called paparazzi Liu to wake him up, put on her shoes, and went downstairs so he could take a photo to prove her departure time.
Today's performance was quite elaborate.
-
The next morning, Yun Daixi sent a WeChat message to Jesscia: "Did Mr. Gu pick up the book I bought for him?"
Jesscia didn't reply until the afternoon: I said you're really my little aunt. That day I mustered up the courage to tell him about it. It was a gift from your company. He just glanced at it and left.
Yun Daixi asked: You didn't take a single one?
Jessica: No. You're usually very reliable, so why would you think of sending President Gu a bunch of useless things?
Yun Daixi laughed it off: "Hey, I just heard, there's a rumor, that President Gu isn't interested in beautiful women, he just likes to mess around with these things."
Jessica: You really shouldn't do that to me again.
Yun Daixi: Okay, as you wish.
-
The paparazzi Liu's "sneak peeks" were released during the peak of gossip-chasing hours that evening.
They were holding hands, their collars close together, and even though they were wearing masks, it was still easy to tell that it was Chi Muye.
Some comments lamented "early romance," while others said they were shipping them, noting details like "a lot can happen in four hours."
Having achieved a certain goal, Yun Daixi marked it with an "X" on her mental progress chart. Before locking her phone, she glanced one last time at Gu Li'an's empty message window.
I wonder what they're expecting.
-
On the opening day of the film festival, Yun Daixi went to the scene with Lin Suihuan's film crew.
Today, Lin Suihuan wore an elegant lake-green fitted satin dress with heavy makeup, exuding a more mature aura compared to her usual light-colored gowns.
In previous years, she also brought a film, but this year, Yun Daixi had a feeling that this film had a great chance of winning Best Actress.
Because the character of the female lead in the movie seems to have been specially designed for her temperament.
The script is based on a suspense drama that has become very popular in recent years.
The female protagonist was born in a shantytown. She matured early, her parents divorced, and her mother remarried. She raised her two younger siblings and became a female star envied by countless people.
Until one day, an elderly woman in the shantytown, who was in a daze, saw her standing in her former courtyard before dawn. She called her name and said that she had seen her drunken father push down the stairs, but she did not call the police. She wished her freedom from that moment on.
However, in order to cover up a lie, the female protagonist hurt even more innocent people.
The story begins in reverse chronological order with the death of this old man.
When Yun Daixi watched the entire film during the internal screening, a chill ran through every inch of her skin.
She understood that feeling all too well and was amazed at how naturally she could express all those emotions.
Seeing her is like seeing myself as a child.
-
After Yun Daixi arranged Lin Suihuan's makeup and styling, and waited for her to finish taking promotional photos backstage, everyone moved to the banquet hall for the awards ceremony before she sat down to rest.
After resting for a while, I went out to go to the lobby.
The crowded and chaotic backstage area is completely different from the awards ceremony being broadcast live, much like two sides of the same coin.
Behind the glittering lights of the outer field lies a chaotic mess inside.
Actresses in long dresses were running around; some had lost an earring and were searching for it, while others were still having their dresses styled and sewn by costume designers.
It's like a satire of the superficial world.
She tried her best to avoid these accidents, afraid of accidentally causing even more trouble for others.
But as they passed through one of the doors, a hand grabbed their wrist and dragged them inside.
Bang! The door behind me slammed shut.
The man in front of me was still dressed in black.
Yun Daixi forced a smile: "Long time no see, Mr. Gu."
There was a hurried knock on the door: "Mr. Gu, your suit has arrived."
Oh right, Yun Daixi looked at the man standing properly beside her. He hadn't put on a black suit yet; he was only wearing a plain black shirt for the time being.
You can vaguely see the lines of his abdominal muscles under his clothes.
He was standing with one hand in his pocket, still with that arrogant look, as if he had been dragged into the house by Yun Daixi.
He shouted towards the door, "Put it by the door."
Upon receiving the order outside the door, he quickly replied, "Yes, Mr. Gu."
Once the footsteps outside the door had faded into the distance, he bent down and, just like that day, forced her back step by step to the door.
He reached out his hand towards this side.
Yun Daixi thought he would put his arm around her waist.
But then I heard a click behind me; he had reached out and locked the door.
Then he replied in a deep, dark voice, "I see you in the news every day, Miss Yun."