The motion-handling van’s anti-explosion film-coated windows filtered out the early summer scorching heat, leaving only a warm halo of light that landed on Jiang Tong’s back of hand.
Quietly, she looked at the street view flying past outside the window, her fingertips tapping on her knees. This was a piece of music she had recently been conceiving, with inspiration coming from the damp sea breeze, its rhythm sometimes slow and sometimes light.
Her manager, Sister Li, nagged away from the side, making her final instructions: “Tongtong, oh, this time Heartbeat Wander is a great opportunity. The platform is large, and the exposure is high. Although it’s mainly to build momentum for the new drama of those two leading actresses from Xingyao Media, the heat/popularity is definitely not low.
“Your weak constitution shouldn’t be too exhausted either; you need more quiet recuperation. Relax, just treat it as a publicly funded field trip and coming to find inspiration. Be a bit more natural in front of the camera. We aren’t striving for overwhelming fame and fortune; as long as we can use this opportunity to let more people hear your songs, it will be worth it.”
Gently, Jiang Tong uttered an “en,” withdrawing her gaze from outside the window and letting it land on her excessively slender wrists.
The aftereffects left by the car accident made her body more prone to exhaustion than ordinary people, unable to endure intense or prolonged activity. Prolonged standing or the slightest emotional fluctuation would bring a dull, oppressive sensation to her heart and lungs.
Yet all these years, she had learned to peacefully coexist with this physical shell. It stripped away her strength to run, but also endowed her with more time for inward observation and settling thoughts.
“Sister Li, don’t worry. I have confidence in my music.” The corners of Jiang Tong’s lips curved into an extremely faint yet resolute arc.
In order to make a living, she transitioned from backstage composition to a faceless music blogger, and now to a dating reality show that required stepping to the front stage. Every step felt like being pushed by fate, making her deviate from her original dream’s track.
However, having experienced so much, she had long since learned to peacefully accept it.
Back then, withdrawing from the girl group audition was a last resort; choosing to be a faceless music blogger now was also reaching the end of her rope. It was Sister Li who discovered her, believed in her, and persuaded the company to back her with full force so she could become a modestly known music blogger.
Now that the company was facing difficulties, as the pillar of the company, she naturally couldn’t refuse. With her musical talent, she might even be able to rescue the company.
Seeing her look of having success in the palm of her hand, Sister Li laughed and shook her head: “Alright, alright, alright, I trust you. The boss has always praised you for having a gentle and plain temperament, but an inner strength, just like a tree. That’s right, no wonder your name is Tongtong!”
The car slowly drove into the seaside resort, the salty and damp breath of the sea breeze faintly penetrating through the car window.
The program’s recording location was right here.
The staff guided her toward a modern, design-filled waterfront villa, where four guests were already present in the living room.
Just as Sister Li had said, the two female actors, Song Anna and Bai Yu, who had received much attention due to a double-heroine drama, were sitting together chatting and laughing merrily. Their seats were in the central area of the hall, clearly the core focus of the entire program.
The other two were a man and a woman, both internet bloggers like Jiang Tong, sitting in the left-hand area talking in low voices.
Politely, Jiang Tong greeted everyone, her smile warm and proper—neither overly warm nor showing detachment.
Deeply aware of her own positioning, she walked without hesitation to the left side, nodded gently in greeting to the two bloggers, and sat down beside the female blogger.
Her posture was relaxed, yet her spine was naturally upright, like a plant growing quietly in a corner, not contending for sunlight, yet possessing its own stretched and tranquil veins.
Lowering her gaze, she tapped her knees lightly with her knuckles, keeping time silently while continuing to ponder the tune’s key.
The sunlight cast a small patch of shadow under her eyelids from her dense long eyelashes, making her side profile look excessively pale and quiet.
Right at that moment, a slight commotion came from the entrance, accompanied by increasingly polite and even fawning guidance from the staff.
“Teacher Xie, this way, this way.”
Subconsciously, Jiang Tong raised her head to look.
Against the overly bright natural light at the entrance of the hall, a tall and graceful figure walked in, instantly capturing all the sightlines within the hall.
The newcomer was wearing a decisive resort-style waist-cinching long dress, with dark brown curly hair casually draped over her shoulders, setting off skin that was blindingly white.
The most striking feature was that face; her mixed-race genetic background endowed her with extremely three-dimensional bone structure.
Deep eye sockets, a high-bridged nose, paired with plump and clearly outlined lips, presented an extremely aggressive and unforgettable bright, stunning beauty.
Jiang Tong felt her breathing suddenly halt; her blood seemed to stop flowing at this moment, and her fingers tapping on her knees also froze halfway in mid-air.
Xie Weiyi.
Or rather, now she should be called Aine, the former lover who had appeared heavily and colorfully in her life, only to be pushed away by her own hands.
Time seemed exceptionally generous to Xie Weiyi.
Compared to the slightly green and showy ostentation during her girl group days years ago, the current Xie Weiyi had been polished into a kind of composed, effortless, and dazzling glamour.
She merely stood there, glancing around slightly, her every movement naturally exuding the confident aura belonging to an absolute center—bright, scorching, and impossible to ignore.
Jiang Tong knew she had developed very well after returning to the country; titles like “Red Carpet Killer” and “Divine Photo Manufacturing Machine” were resounding, but knowing was one thing, facing her so abruptly without a buffer was another.
Never had Jiang Tong imagined that the two of them would reunite in such a scenario.
During its promotional period, this dating reality show had dropped teasers saying Xie Weiyi would be invited, but since Bai Yu and Song Anna were already confirmed to be invited, inviting another hot favorite would probably cause a吵-to-death uproar. Therefore, fans all thought it was purely traffic-seeking hype and bait, and nobody took it seriously.
To think Xie Weiyi actually came!
The female blogger beside her stamped her feet with excitement in small steps, her ears blushing red, expressing her excitement to Jiang Tong who was closest: “My goddess! My goddess! I super love Aine! Sister, pinch me! I suspect I’m dreaming.”
When the female blogger smiled like this, Jiang Tong recognized her. She was the cute-style outfit blogger Xia Yuan, whose recently viral smiling transformation video had been remade across the entire internet.
“You’re not dreaming.” Smilingly, Jiang Tong pressed down Xia Yuan’s hand which was almost raised, offering an idea: “Later on, you might greet Aine; think about what lines you want to say.”
Nodding repeatedly, Xia Yuan said, “Right, let me wipe my hands first. I want to be fragrant when I shake hands with the goddess later!”
With a smile, Xie Weiyi’s gaze swept across everyone present. When it landed on Song Anna and Bai Yu, she familiarly nodded in greeting, and the two responded with enthusiastic smiles, clearly knowing each other and perhaps even having good private friendships.
Then, those translucent, glass-like light-colored pupils casually turned toward the left side, colliding in mid-air with Jiang Tong’s gaze.
“Jiang Tong, she’s really here.” The moment Xie Weiyi saw Jiang Tong, she set off fireworks in her heart. Enduring and enduring, she barely held back the urge to run over and hug Jiang Tong.
Even so, her gaze couldn’t help but lock onto Jiang Tong.
Xie Weiyi’s gaze carried too much weight and was far too scorching; Jiang Tong was stared at until her heart fluttered.
Almost clearly, Jiang Tong could hear her own deafening heartbeat, while countless shattered fragments of memories flashed through her mind in an instant.
The days and nights of sweating profusely in the practice room, whispering while sharing a pair of earphones in the dorm late at night, the temperature of leaning on each other on the streets of a foreign land.
There was also the glaring white of the hospital after the car accident, as well as the confirmation prompt popping up on the screen when her trembling hands deleted all of Xie Weiyi’s contact information.
She had once claimed outwardly: her memory was impaired after the car accident, forgetting many people and many things. Including the captain of the girl group back then, her ex-girlfriend, Xie Weiyi.
Was this clumsy act of amnesia finally reaching the point where it had to be acted out face-to-face?
Exerting all her strength to suppress the churning turbulent waves at the bottom of her heart, Jiang Tong curved the corners of her lips, revealing a smile carrying a hint of unfamiliarity and politeness.
Her gaze was clear, and perhaps because of the other person’s overly outstanding appearance, she appropriately displayed a trace of pure appreciation for a beauty. It was just like a young person newly entering the industry reacting with slight reservation yet undisguised admiration upon suddenly seeing a top-tier senior star within the field.
Her smile was flawless, save for lacking any emotion familiar to Xie Weiyi.
“What do you mean? Not planning to recognize me?” Xie Weiyi muttered inwardly to herself.
Immediately following that, she also returned a standard business-like smile—bright and charming, yet exuding a sense of distance.
Just as Jiang Tong felt this reunion could be lightly brushed past, Xie Weiyi stepped forward and walked toward their direction.
High heels knocked against the sleek marble floor, unhurriedly and steadily, making a crisp and rhythmic sound.
Xie Weiyi greeted the other two bloggers one by one, and then stopped in front of Jiang Tong.
“Hello, I’m Aine, Chinese name Xie Weiyi. May I ask what this beautiful big sister’s name is?” Xie Weiyi smiled and asked, her tone playful with her ending syllable raised slightly, pronouncing the four words “beautiful big sister” in a way that sounded both intimate and ambiguous.
Jiang Tong didn’t know whether Xie Weiyi had truly forgotten her or was choosing to pretend to be strangers just like herself.
“Hello…” Maintaining the smile on her face, Jiang Tong spoke in a steady voice.
Before she could finish, Xie Weiyi suddenly leaned forward and closed in. Seeing her exceed her own safety zone, Jiang Tong wanted to take a step back.
However, Xie Weiyi moved extremely fast, having already completed that cheek-kissing greeting with her.
The touching cheeks transmitted a slightly cool and delicate tactile sensation, and Xie Weiyi touched and parted from her instantly.
A familiar scent lingered around the tip of her nose, then quickly drifted away.
Yet seeing her stand straight up and still smilingly stare at her, Jiang Tong’s long eyelashes fluttered slightly.
Composing her mood, Jiang Tong continued: “My name is Jiang Tong—’Jiang’ as in river water, ‘Tong’ as in wutong tree. Senior Xie, long admired.”
“Senior?” Xie Weiyi’s pair of pretty glass-like colored pupils narrowed.
Just as she was about to speak again, an amused female voice appeared at the right time, breaking the increasingly strange atmosphere between the two.
The popular painter Su Leli smiled as she approached, naturally patting Xie Weiyi’s shoulder with a familiar and intimate posture.
Walking to stand beside Xie Weiyi, she smiled as she looked at Jiang Tong: “What a nice name.”
“Thank you, Teacher Su.” Jiang Tong slightly lowered her head, her posture beyond criticism.
Su Leli pulled Xie Weiyi away, but Xie Weiyi still stared at Jiang Tong, obviously very concerned about the “Senior” address Jiang Tong had just used.
Su Leli’s gaze shifted subtly between Xie Weiyi and Jiang Tong, her smile deepening gradually before she turned her head to say something to Xie Weiyi.
The two exchanged a meaningful look, then turned around together, walking toward the central area of the sofa with an intimate posture.
Jiang Tong’s gaze chased after their departing backs. She saw Xie Weiyi’s arm extremely naturally draped over Su Leli’s shoulder, and her heart felt inexplicably a bit sour.
Not until the two blended into the livelier circle over there, being enthusiastically greeted over by Song Anna and Bai Yu, did Jiang Tong allow herself to exhale that breath held inside her heart.
Facing Xie Weiyi, she had to maintain a high level of vigilance.
From the moment she knew Xie Weiyi might participate in this dating reality show, she had done psychological preparation in advance, visualizing countless kinds of openings.
Indifferent, crying bitterly, resentful, or as plain as water…
She simply hadn’t expected Xie Weiyi’s opening to be so direct, so full of her personal style, and so thoroughly aggressive.
“Aine in person is even better-looking than in photos! Her skin is so white and her facial features are so three-dimensional!” Xia Yuan’s tone was filled with the excitement of a fan meeting an idol. Looking down at her hands, she kept giggling foolishly: “Heeheehee, I don’t want to wash my hands anymore.”
“Eh? Jiang Tong, though why did Aine do a cheek-kiss greeting with you? Did you know each other beforehand?” Xia Yuan turned her head and asked, “I also want to cheek-rub with the goddess…”
Coming back to her senses, Jiang Tong feigned puzzlement and shook her head: “Don’t know, sigh.”
Author’s Notes:
Please collect the pre-release novel in my column, thank you, heart shape! The Sympathetic Doll Picked Up by the Arch-Enemy (Frenemies, superficially spoiled scheming eldest miss VS superficially iceberg crying little wolf pup, Xiao Xianzi vs Zhang Xia, white-turned-black VS black-turned-white, bitter rivals literature)
The Xiao and Zhang families are family friends, but Xiao Xianzi and Zhang Xia never got along since childhood. Zhang Xia thought Xiao Xianzi was too delicate, full of eldest-miss temperament. Xiao Xianzi thought Zhang Xia was too rigid, not liking to smile at a young age.
Therefore, when Xiao Xianzi helped her beat up the Zhang family’s illegitimate son, Zhang Xia felt like she had seen a ghost. Catching Zhang Xia crying secretly, Xiao Xianzi’s heart softened for a moment, and then… took a photo as a souvenir.
The two were destined to be lifelong bitter rivals. Until Xiao Xianzi’s sympathetic doll was picked up by Zhang Xia…
At night, Xiao Xianzi felt breathing difficulties: “Stinky Zhang Xia must be secretly pinching this young lady’s neck!” In reality, it was Zhang Xia hugging this woman’s doll and kissing it several times.
During the day, Xiao Xianzi felt dizzy: “Stinky Zhang Xia actually dares to toss this young lady around!” In reality, it was Zhang Xia taking the doll onto the airplane even on business trips.
Xiao Xianzi couldn’t bear it anymore and stole the sympathetic doll back from Zhang Xia. Unexpectedly, the doll was still gorgeous and even had several sets of custom doll clothes added. When accidentally touching the doll’s heart position, the recording equipment activated, and Zhang Xia’s voice drifted out: “Xiao Xianzi, I like you.”
A few minutes later, Zhang Xia came with a cold face to Xiao Xianzi’s doorstep, opening her mouth to cry: “Wuwuwu, return it to me.”