The top-rated reviews online really weren’t just hype. Wen Shiqing, who’d had a poor appetite these past two days because of the heat and her nerves, actually ate a bit more at this place.
The two of them spent over an hour eating and managed to finish just about everything they’d ordered.
Xiao Zhao patted her round, full belly, looking completely satisfied. “That was so good.”
Wen Shiqing was feeling a bit stuffed too. She said, “Let’s go, take a walk to help digest.”
She called the server over to settle the bill and also asked how to get down from there. To her surprise, there was a path right behind the restaurant that led down to the road below—super convenient.
The two walked down arm in arm. At this hour, there weren’t many people out strolling yet—just a few here and there, walking and chatting, looking very relaxed.
Wen Shiqing actually really enjoyed walks like this, but the last time she’d walked like this on a street was back in her student days, with…
She pressed her lips together, her train of thought stopping right there. Soon enough, Xiao Zhao found the perfect photo spot, directed Wen Shiqing to stand there, and whipped out her phone for a frenzy of shots.
Xiao Zhao said, “Don’t even need to edit these—post them straight away!”
Wen Shiqing smiled at that. “You decide.”
Her Weibo was mostly managed by Xiao Zhao anyway. She had a small anonymous account for browsing, but she rarely logged into it, since she was always busy.
The two walked a full loop along the road, stopping and starting as they went. By the time they got back to the hotel, it was completely dark.
By the time they’d both showered, it was nearly eight o’clock.
Xiao Zhao sat cross-legged on a chair, constantly refreshing the emails in her inbox.
Seeing this, Wen Shiqing asked, “What are you doing?”
Xiao Zhao pressed her palms together, muttering under her breath. Hearing Wen Shiqing’s question, she replied, “Praying to Buddha.”
She really, really wanted Wen Shiqing to get this!
Wen Shiqing didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. There was nothing else to do right now, so she opened her phone and decided to scroll through Weibo.
The moment she opened Weibo, she saw an explosive trending topic.
#Fu Huaiye Black and White Photoshoot#
She tapped into it. The first post in the topic was Fu Huaiye’s own Weibo post.
Posted ten minutes ago, and it was already trending ten minutes later—that said a lot about how much pull he had.
Wen Shiqing looked at his six photos. There was almost no background—he was just standing in front of a black and white backdrop, simply standing there casually, and it was enough to make people scream.
“Ahh!”
The scream from across the room startled Wen Shiqing so much that her hand twitched and she accidentally liked Fu Huaiye’s post.
She scrambled to unlike it, but the next second, Xiao Zhao pounced onto the bed, rolling around twice, screaming the whole time.
Wen Shiqing thought something had gone wrong. She put her phone down and asked, “What happened?”
Xiao Zhao scrambled up and shrieked, “Ahhh! Sis! You passed the first audition! They said the second audition is in City A, at the end of the month!”
Xiao Zhao kept screaming. This news was, to her, the absolute best news of the day!
Wen Shiqing couldn’t help but be infected by her excitement. She smiled and said, “That happy, huh? Whether I’ll even get it is still up in the air. You’re smiling a little too early.”
“Not early, not early!” Xiao Zhao’s eyes sparkled. “Sis, this role was made for you!”
Wen Shiqing really liked this role too. When she heard that she’d passed the first round, she actually felt a bit conflicted inside—happy on one hand, but on the other, not sure how she was going to tell Zhou Langxing.
While she was lost in thought, Xiao Zhao sidled over and asked, “Sis, aren’t you happy to hear this news?”
“Of course I’m happy—this is recognition of my acting skills.” Wen Shiqing curved her eyes into a smile. “I’m just thinking about how to tell Lang Xing.”
…She’d been so overjoyed that she’d completely forgotten about that.
Xiao Zhao pressed her lips together and said, “How about I talk to Xiao Feng? Have him drop a hint to Brother Zhou, so he can be mentally prepared. And besides…”
Xiao Zhao paused, and Wen Shiqing looked at her with confusion. “And besides what?”
Xiao Zhao took a deep breath. “And besides, Brother Zhou never said you couldn’t take it. Sis, don’t overthink it. Maybe you’ll land the lead role, and with such a great production team, Brother Zhou will definitely be happy for you.”
Wen Shiqing just smiled. “Maybe.”
She didn’t directly answer Xiao Zhao, but Xiao Zhao wasn’t about to give up. She said, “How about we go find Brother Zhou for lunch tomorrow? Talk it over—he’ll definitely be thrilled for you.”
“Besides, you love this script too, right? There are plenty of scripts out there, but finding one you genuinely like and that fits you perfectly is really rare. Now that you’ve passed the initial audition, it proves they appreciate your performance too. You can’t let this opportunity slip away, sis!”
Xiao Zhao kept chattering away in Wen Shiqing’s ear, and it did have an effect—she hit a nerve.
Wen Shiqing let out a sigh. “Alright, I’ll talk to Lang Xing tomorrow. I’ll send him a message later.”
Actually, Zhou Langxing had already said today that he wanted to have lunch with her tomorrow, and then have Xiao Zhao drive them to the high-speed rail station. She’d declined, but now it seemed a meal was indeed in order.
Xiao Zhao grew even more excited. “Great! Let’s go to that restaurant we went to this afternoon, shall we? I’ll book a spot right now! Get us a private room!”
When they’d gone today, they’d actually wanted a private room, but all the private rooms had been reserved in advance. Tomorrow was Saturday, so business would be even more booming.
Xiao Zhao was a woman of action—she grabbed her phone and made the call right in front of Wen Shiqing.
A minute later, she hung up and said, “Done! There were exactly two private rooms left, so I booked one.”
Wen Shiqing hummed in acknowledgment. “Good.”
With the important matter settled, her heart settled back into place. Xiao Zhao lay down on the other side and started scrolling through her phone—her feed was all black-and-white hard-hitting photos of Fu Huaiye that he’d just posted.
Xiao Zhao sighed with admiration. “He’s so handsome.”
Wen Shiqing picked up her phone again too. Her Weibo had auto-refreshed, and after a quick scroll with nothing catching her eye, she simply logged out and decided to read a novel to pass the time.
But Xiao Zhao asked, “Sis, do you think we’ll ever get a chance to collaborate with Fu Huaiye?”
Wen Shiqing glanced at her. “Why ask that out of nowhere? He just won the Best Actor award not long ago—there must be tons of people lining up to work with him. It won’t be our turn.”
That was the truth. Fu Huaiye’s stock was at an all-time high right now; everyone wanted to collaborate with the young Best Actor. But Fu Huaiye was very mysterious—the rumors about him online were a mix of truth and falsehood, yet he never came out to deny any of them, letting everyone speculate freely.
Xiao Zhao let out a sigh. “If only we could work with him. That would be amazing.”
Wen Shiqing didn’t respond. Xiao Zhao asked again, “Oh, by the way, sis—have you ever run into Fu Huaiye?”
“Hmm? What do you mean?” Wen Shiqing asked, puzzled. Xiao Zhao said, “Like backstage at some award ceremonies or at some banquets—haven’t you ever run into him?”
Especially at banquets, most of the time the artists sit at one table while the staff sit at another, so Xiao Zhao couldn’t always be by her side.
Wen Shiqing gave a slow “Oh” and said, “No, I’ve never seen him.”
Xiao Zhao sounded a bit disappointed: “I’d love to see him in person. A friend of mine is a huge fan of his—if I could get his autograph, that’d be great.”
Wen Shiqing comforted her: “We’re all in the same circle, we’re bound to run into him eventually.”
She’d only said it offhandedly, but little did she expect that she’d actually run into him at her most embarrassing moment.
Of course, that’s a story for later.
The next day.
There were no work tasks today, so the two of them slept in until around ten in the morning. Xiao Zhao efficiently packed up the suitcase, checking to make sure nothing was left behind. They’d check out and head out, then have dinner and depart from the restaurant, so they wouldn’t need to make a special trip back for their luggage.
Besides, they’d only brought one suitcase this time, so it wasn’t much trouble.
After timing it right, Xiao Zhao went ahead and checked out. Wen Shiqing sat on the sofa in the lobby waiting for Xiao Zhao to come back. With nothing to do for now, she opened Weibo again, planning to scroll through any gossip from the past couple of days.
Unexpectedly, there was indeed some juicy news.
#Niu Dachui Exposes New Rising Actress’s Pregnancy#
#See You Saturday#
#Who Are the New Rising Xianxia Actresses#
#Click Weibo, Discover New Babies Anytime, Anywhere#
Today’s trending topics were quite lively. Wen Shiqing couldn’t resist tapping on the top trending post to take a look. It turned out to be just a comic-style teaser with blurry figures, but it gave a few key points.
Just starting to make a name for herself, debuted in a xianxia drama, fairly young, and currently on set.
Just the second keyword alone was enough to target a large number of people.
Wen Shiqing even spotted her own name in the comments.
She tapped on the comment thread with her name and found that her fans had already gone to debunk the rumors.
[Teacher, our Shiqing won’t be participating in this topic. Though it’s a bit embarrassing to say, she debuted by filming a micro-movie for her school!]
[Thanks for the invite. I just saw Wen Shiqing at an audition in S City yesterday, her belly was flat. There’s a limit to spreading rumors.]
The commenter had also attached a photo. Wen Shiqing tapped to open it and sure enough, it was her and Xiao Zhao walking out of the hotel arm in arm from yesterday.
[Hotel? Who goes to a hotel for an audition? Shouldn’t it be some proper venue?]
[Reply to the above: No one’s treating you like a mute if you don’t speak. Isn’t the hotel proper? Fine, fine, they’ll be sending you a lawyer’s letter soon.]
[Floor 79, it really was an audition. I’m a hotel staff member, but the specific production hasn’t been announced, and Wen Shiqing wasn’t the only one—lots of female artists came. Taking this chance to plug our hotel—absolutely secure, private, and great service! Everyone is welcome to stay with us in S City!]
The hotel staff member had also posted a photo with “Confidential Project Audition (1) Room” written on it, and the photo included the hotel’s logo, likely intentionally released.
Wen Shiqing scrolled down a bit more, then felt it wasn’t all that interesting and pressed exit. Unexpectedly, another familiar name appeared in the comments.
Lin Yueshu.
Lin Yueshu?
Wen Shiqing raised an eyebrow slightly. Now that was an unexpected name.
But she had only seen her yesterday, and she hadn’t looked pregnant at all.
Just then, Xiao Zhao came over.
“Let’s go, sis. The car I booked is waiting outside too.”
Wen Shiqing turned off her phone. “Mm, alright. Let’s go.”
Xiao Zhao asked, “What were you just looking at? So intently.”
“Nothing much.” Wen Shiqing yawned. “Just scrolling through Weibo, killing time. Nothing worth looking at anyway.”
Xiao Zhao nodded in agreement.
By the time the two arrived at the restaurant, it was almost noon. Fortunately, they had booked a private room in advance, and the moment they arrived, a server led them straight to it.
Xiao Zhao ordered a few dishes. Only after the server left did Wen Shiqing take off her mask and hat.
Xiao Zhao said, “I just asked Xiao Feng. He said Brother Zhou is still removing his makeup and needs about ten more minutes. It’ll probably take them another fifteen minutes or so to get here. The timing works out perfectly with the food.”
The timing was indeed well planned. By the time the server finished bringing out all the dishes, they would arrive and start eating right away—no time wasted.
Wen Shiqing looked out the window. It was the same scenery she had seen yesterday, but for some reason, she felt today’s view was more beautiful, the flowers more vibrant.
Time ticked by, minute after minute. Within half an hour, the server had brought out all the dishes they had ordered.
Xiao Zhao snapped a few photos with her phone, then went back to WeChat to ask where they were.
But Xiao Feng didn’t reply—he was probably driving.
She relayed this to Wen Shiqing, who gave a slight nod. “Let’s wait a little longer. They’re probably still on the road.”
Even as she said this, she couldn’t help glancing at her own phone. The message she had sent Zhou Langxing still hadn’t been replied to. He probably hadn’t noticed it.
Her eyelid twitched. She had a faint sense of unease.
Just as she was wondering what could possibly be wrong, the door to the private room was pushed open from the outside.
Wen Shiqing turned her head to look, and the expression on her face involuntarily softened.
The door opened halfway, and the person outside walked in.
It was Xiao Feng.
After entering, Xiao Feng closed the door behind him. Xiao Zhao asked in confusion, “Where’s Brother Zhou?”
Xiao Feng wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, “Brother Zhou got pulled away by the director. Apparently there’s a big scene this afternoon, and he wanted to run through it with a few of the actors during the meal break. Brother Zhou couldn’t get out of it, so he sent me instead. After we finish eating, I’ll drive you two to the high-speed rail station.”
He paused, then looked at Wen Shiqing, his tone softening. “Sis, Brother Zhou really had no choice. He asked me to tell you that once he wraps up filming and gets home, he’ll properly make it up to you.”
Wen Shiqing simply picked up her chopsticks without saying much. “Let’s eat.”
The moment Xiao Feng had walked in, her eyelid had stopped twitching. So this must have been it.
Wen Shiqing let out a quiet breath. Honestly, she hadn’t felt all that surprised.