The Eighteenth Star
Jiang Chuyi took out her phone and found Xin He’s WeChat.
Her avatar was a cute pink piglet sitting on a gray microphone stand.
Jiang Chuyi sent her a message: “My agent told me she’s recently been in touch with the IP ‘September Rain’. I met Director Li today. He said you praised me. Thank you, little lotus flower!” (“He” is the same character as lotus in lotus flower)
After sending the message, Jiang Chuyi put her phone away, not expecting an immediate reply.
Unlike an idle person like herself, although Xin He couldn’t compare to BloodxGentle’s popularity, she was very promising among the younger generation of actresses and was busy all year round. If Jiang Chuyi remembered correctly, she seemed to have been filming non-stop last year, even recording a few variety shows in between.
Taking a taxi home, Jiang Chuyi strolled around the supermarket downstairs, picked some fresh fruit, and stocked up on coffee and milk.
When she huffed and puffed to carry the things upstairs and put everything away, she took out her phone and found that Xin He had sent several messages half an hour ago, along with two missed calls.
Xin He: “What little lotus flower? So tacky! Who allowed you to call me that?”
Xin He: “?”
Xin He: “Three minutes have passed. How dare you not reply to my message?”
…
…
Jiang Chuyi couldn’t decide whether to laugh or cry. She called her back.
After over a dozen seconds of ringing, just before it was about to automatically hang up, the other end finally picked up. Xin He leisurely said hello.
Jiang Chuyi held the phone with her shoulder and opened the fridge door. “Did you call me because you have something to tell me?”
Xin He snorted. “I called you because you didn’t reply to my messages.”
“Oh, I see.” Jiang Chuyi smiled. “I didn’t look at my phone until just now. I messaged you mainly to say thank you.”
“Tsk, so sappy.”
Keenly perceiving that Xin He was starting to feel uncomfortable again, Jiang Chuyi guessed that she might be feeling shy? She found it amusing.
Jiang Chuyi held back her laughter. “I really am very grateful to you. With my current popularity, I shouldn’t have access to such a good script. I don’t know what you said, but Director Li was willing to meet me. Even just an audition opportunity is very precious.”
Hearing her say this, Xin He actually fell silent for a few seconds. She clicked her tongue on the other end of the phone. “How can you be so honest? Seems a bit dumb, not smart at all. How do you survive in the entertainment industry?”
Jiang Chuyi: “I’m just telling the truth.”
“Don’t put me on a pedestal. What are you thanking me for? You’re Qin Tong’s disciple. You still lack these kinds of resources?”
Jiang Chuyi: “…”
As soon as she said this, Xin He seemed to realize something and immediately explained, “I’m not implying anything about you. That rumor about you and the underage, I also find it quite annoying.”
Jiang Chuyi recalled that when the black hot search about her and Qin Tong came out during filming before, Xin He had unprecedentedly taken the initiative to say a few words to her.
Xin He’s intentions may have been good, but she seemed to have an innate inability to comfort people. She was probably well protected since childhood, used to being high and mighty. Her EQ in this area was not fully mature, lacking some sincerity in her mannerisms.
So even when she said nice things to others, it sounded a bit sarcastic, making Gao Ning furious for a long time, constantly misunderstanding her.
Jiang Chuyi made an “mm” sound. “It’s alright. I’m not that fragile. I know you mean well.”
Xin He casually asked, “What are you doing?”
“I just got home.”
“If you’re free, why don’t you come pick me up after work? And treat me to a meal while you’re at it.”
“I’m treating you to a meal?”
“What? You don’t want to?”
Jiang Chuyi thought for a moment. “That’s fine. Send me an address then.”
Ending the call, Jiang Chuyi tidied up at home, grabbed her car keys, and went to the underground parking garage to take out her little car.
Following the address sent by the other party, she picked up Xin He. Jiang Chuyi searched Meituan on the spot and found a newly opened tea restaurant nearby with pretty good reviews. It wasn’t too crowded and had a quiet environment with private rooms.
When the waiter came in, he couldn’t help but glance at Xin He and Jiang Chuyi.
Xin He had just finished recording a show and hadn’t removed her makeup yet. Her skin was snow-white, and she had an exquisite big wave perm. She was beautiful and refined from head to toe.
After ordering, she turned her head and frowned slightly. “Why are you staring at me with those lecherous eyes?”
“What?” Jiang Chuyi felt wronged. “I wasn’t being lecherous, was I? I was just simply looking at you.”
“Why are you looking at me?”
“I’m admiring how pretty you are.”
Xin He: “…”
She had soft skin, so her blushing was very obvious. After a few “you”s, she stammered, “You don’t like girls, do you? I’m not a lesbian.”
Xin He subconsciously scooted a bit further away.
“Of course not.” Jiang Chuyi sighed, not knowing what her little brain was thinking about all day. “I really like your looks. Very beautiful.”
The complete opposite of herself.
Actually, Jiang Chuyi had never felt that she wasn’t good-looking. But later, as she gradually grew up and heard more negative voices, that confidence wore thin. Occasionally when walking the red carpet, passersby would occasionally mock her for having a plain face like an ordinary person.
Whenever it was mentioned, it was always about how she was overshadowed by someone’s beauty or became someone’s background prop.
Maybe the nicer way to put it was that she had a movie face.
Her features were relatively ordinary and clean, making it easy for anyone to project themselves onto her when acting.
Seeing her say this, although her tone was calm, it was hard to hide her dejection. Xin He was a bit puzzled. “Aren’t you quite pretty too?”
“Am I pretty?”
“Pretty.”
Jiang Chuyi smiled with squinted eyes, finding it a bit hard to believe. “I actually received a compliment from a great beauty. I’m so honored.”
Xin He snorted.
She wasn’t just comforting her. Xin He genuinely thought Jiang Chuyi was very good-looking from the bottom of her heart.
Those online comments about her appearance, like calling her a flower of wealth in the mortal world, she found greasy and tacky.
Her first impression of Jiang Chuyi was a few years ago when Fu Cheng was still a trainee. They had celebrated New Year’s together at Ji Kai’s house. At that time, Ji Kai still had a girlfriend. A group of people sat in the living room chatting. Someone had put on an art film with a projector.
It was directed by Qin Tong.
Xin He had always found such films boring, but that day she unprecedentedly took some interest. She sat on the sofa watching the movie seriously with Zong Ye.
The others were either drinking or playing games. Only the two of them weren’t talking, silently focusing on this somber film in the festive New Year atmosphere.
The girl in the white dress in the movie was Jiang Chuyi, looking fourteen or fifteen years old. She sat on a reef by the sea, waiting for the seawater to soak her dress, her dark long hair blowing in the wind. Like a white tea flower about to be submerged.
She didn’t remember many scenes from this movie, but this shot gave her a bit of a shock.
The girl’s fleeting glance, pale thin lips, light contours, slender wrists as white as porcelain.
Not the conventional beauty defined by the masses, but very much in line with the image of the female protagonist in the kind of youth pain literature Xin He fantasized about at the time.
Xin He couldn’t help but say, “Who is this person? She’s quite pretty.”
She had just casually remarked about it and didn’t expect an answer. Who knew that Zong Ye, who had been quiet for a long time, suddenly spoke up and told her, “Her name is Jiang Chuyi.”
…
…
Resting her chin in her hand, listening to Xin He recount this past event, Jiang Chuyi felt a bit pleasantly surprised.
“At that time, I thought you were a cold and artistic beauty.” Xin He pouted. “Only after getting to know you did I realize you were actually a fool.”
Jiang Chuyi smiled.
Xin He glanced at her uncomfortably.
There was also a sentence she kept in her heart, too embarrassed to say.
From that time, she had wanted a chance to get to know Jiang Chuyi and become friends or something.
Jiang Chuyi became curious about another matter and asked, “So you and Fu Cheng have known each other for a long time? Are you dating?”
Xin He and the others were too good at keeping secrets. They appeared completely unfamiliar with BloodxGentle on the outside. Even within the industry, there had never been any rumors.
“I wouldn’t really call it dating. He can’t date now anyway.” Xin He told the truth. “We’ve known each other since we were little. I originally saw him as an older brother, so when he came to confess to me a few years ago, I immediately rejected him. Later, I regretted it and went to find him, but then he started putting on airs and has been stringing me along!”
Jiang Chuyi: “…”
Was this gossip she should be hearing?
Just recalling Fu Cheng’s arrogant appearance, she really couldn’t imagine what it would be like for him to confess to someone…
“Didn’t Zong Ye mention an anniversary before?”
“That’s the anniversary of when Fu Cheng and I met.”
Jiang Chuyi made an “oh” sound and realized belatedly, “So you liked hanging out with Ji Kai on set before to purposely make Fu Cheng angry?”
“Yeah.” Mentioning this, Xin He couldn’t help but feel a bit wronged. “That time you heard us arguing, right? It was because Fu Cheng blocked me again! This guy is really petty.”
Then, she had a bit of a girlish smugness. “But I figured it out later. He must have been jealous.”
Jiang Chuyi didn’t quite understand. “Why did you specifically pick Ji Kai to make Fu Cheng angry? Aren’t there Wang Tan and Zong Ye too?”
“Wang Tan is a bad guy. He wouldn’t cooperate with me. As for Zong Ye…” Xin He thought for a moment and concluded, “Zong Ye is naturally uninterested in women, like a block of wood. It’s very tiring to chat with him! How could he be as fun as Ji Kai?”
Like a… block of wood?
Jiang Chuyi hesitated. How come she felt the Zong Ye she knew seemed to be a different person from the one Xin He described?
Opening up, Xin He chatted with her about quite a lot. As they talked, the topic of going public with their relationship in the future came up.
Jiang Chuyi looked at her with some concern and cautiously said, “BloodxGentle is very popular now, and they’re taking the idol route. Their fans probably can’t accept them dating. If a relationship is exposed, it wouldn’t be very beneficial for you either.”
With the current crazy state of chasing stars in China’s entertainment industry, if any of the BloodxGentle members had a relationship exposed, it would likely cause a huge earthquake.
“I know that.” Xin He sighed. “Their contract with IM expires in another two years. We’ll talk about it then. I’m not in a hurry.”
Midway through the meal, Xin He received a call, seemingly from her company.
Not knowing what work matters they were discussing, Jiang Chuyi was afraid of disturbing her, so she stopped using her chopsticks and also picked up her phone to quietly browse on her own.
After surfing Taobao for a while, a new hot topic suddenly popped up in the Weibo notification box: #Zong Ye Airport Sighting#
Originally, Jiang Chuyi directly ignored these recommended keywords, but seeing Zong Ye’s name, she subconsciously clicked on it.
The page switched screens and jumped to Weibo.
These were a set of fresh airport photos of BloodxGentle returning to Beijing from Harbin. The few of them were surrounded by fans for autographs.
Jiang Chuyi randomly clicked on a photo.
Then, she zoomed in on the image.
Among this group of handsome men from BloodxGentle, Zong Ye seemed particularly eye-catching. She spotted him at a glance.
It wasn’t because of anything else… but his outfit…
In this set of photos, Fu Cheng, Wang Tan, and Ji Kai were still dressed very cool and intimidating in black trendy outerwear, all wearing sunglasses and duck-billed caps. Zong Ye’s clothes were more or less the same as theirs, but the only conspicuous part was—he actually had on a scarf.
And it was the kind of bear-eared hooded scarf, with two cute ears sticking up on top of his head, the two strings tied into a very girlish butterfly knot.
Jiang Chuyi’s eyes went blank in disbelief.
Wasn’t this the scarf she had left in the car that day???
How could Zong Ye have brazenly worn this strange thing out in public? Did he not care about his reputation anymore??!
Jiang Chuyi clicked into the comment section and was met with the usual insincere flattery.
[I could lick Zong Ye’s face for a lifetime. Don’t be too cute, sob sob, heart attack, my baby! Come give mommy a kiss]
[I love it so much. Please give me the link for the same item!!]
[Too cute for words, I won’t say who!]
…
…
She scrolled down the comments like this and suddenly noticed a comment in the back rows, drowned among the flattery.
This person’s avatar was the watercolor name “Yi Jian Zong Qing”.
Jiang Chuyi’s gaze paused.
Her comment was—
[In the eighth photo, the one where Zong Ye is signing autographs for fans with a pen. If my eyes aren’t deceiving me, that silver ring on his index finger is definitely from NESSING, right? Isn’t this the same brand as the necklace Jiang Chuyi was exposed wearing the other day? He quietly put it on again?]
The replies under this comment were similar in tone:
[Is it appropriate for a 188cm trendy guy to wear this kind of hat? Zong Ye oh Zong Ye, take a look at yourself, then look at your teammates. The lone girly style, this hat must be a gift from the wife, right?]
[Shipping anything will only hurt you]
[This is real sugar, right? Right?! Secretly wearing the matching ring again, not to mention publicly wearing the little bear hat the wife gifted (definitely gifted by the wife), could it be that he’s afraid the wife’s popularity hasn’t been hyped enough and plans to make a drama out of it? Zong Ye, don’t love too much. Some tricks of young couples can really shock people.]
Jiang Chuyi: “…”
She was also about to be shocked by this group of CP fans.
