Jiang Li’s heart skipped a beat when she suddenly heard Yang Yi’s words.
She looked up to find the room completely silent.
Two pairs of eyes, carrying the same probing curiosity, were fixed on her.
Jiang Li blinked a couple of times, her mind racing as she scrambled for an excuse to brush it off—
But Yang Yi, noticing the unnatural look on Jiang Li’s face, suddenly had a dramatic change in expression, her eyes going wide.
In disbelief, she said, “You two didn’t…”
Seeing her expression, Jiang Li instinctively jumped to a certain conclusion and exploded: “What are you thinking, Sister Yang! We didn’t—”
“Get into a fight, did you?”
Jiang Li: ?
Yang Yi wore a “I knew it” expression and couldn’t even be bothered to ask further.
“But…”
Yang Yi pondered for a moment. “Shang Chi seems to have come back early—very low-key about it too. The media probably hasn’t caught wind of it yet.”
“Otherwise, with someone of his top-tier status, at least half—if not all—of the reporters at that reception would’ve been camped out waiting for him.”
“From what Chen Yan told me, after running into you, Shang Chi was extremely careful the whole way. He never took off his mask or hat, and he even wrapped you entirely in his jacket. Even if reporters had run into you, they wouldn’t have recognized you on the spot.”
Jiang Li froze, a jumble of complicated emotions washing over her.
Shang Chi had actually wrapped her in his jacket?
Why? Afraid reporters would see her in that state? That couldn’t be right.
Did he really have that kind of consideration?
The next second.
Yang Yi let out a wistful sigh.
“Just how bad is your relationship, exactly? To avoid being associated with you in any way, Shang Chi actually went to such lengths…”
Jiang Li: “?”
Xiao Qing was Jiang Li’s newly assigned assistant.
Although she’d long heard online that Jiang Li and Shang Chi were famously at odds in the industry, now that she saw Yang Yi step out to take a call, curiosity got the better of her. She leaned in close to Jiang Li and whispered.
“Sis, are you and Shang Chi really classmates?”
Shang Chi!
At just twenty-two, he’d carved out his own path with his debut original album across all major music platforms.
His signature track had surpassed a hundred million plays on a single site alone.
A true debut-at-the-peak artist who’d never once come down from that peak. Handsome face, killer body, undeniable talent—the whole package!
And Jiang Li—a stunningly gorgeous woman whose casual life photos hit the trending searches in minutes, a top-tier visual among the popular flower actresses!
They were actually high school classmates!
Two people with such striking, perfectly matched looks, and they hadn’t even secretly developed something beyond friendship?
Instead, they couldn’t stand the sight of each other, openly showing their mutual disdain even at public events.
Crowned by netizens as the #1 Most Impossible Couple in the entertainment industry!
Did that even make sense? It practically defied the laws of nature!
“Yeah, we were in the same class during freshman year.”
Xiao Qing couldn’t contain her excitement. “And then? And then? Was Shang Chi already that handsome in high school? Was he a good student? Did lots of girls chase after him?”
Seeing Xiao Qing looking at her with such eager anticipation, Jiang Li’s inner commentary was scrolling like a barrage of bullet comments across her mind.
That bastard.
That face of his really could fool people just as easily as ever.
Just as she was about to say something, her personal phone buzzed repeatedly with several incoming messages.
Jiang Li opened WeChat and immediately spotted the messages from her good friend Shen Luojia.
Jiajia Off Work: [Jiang Jiang! Girl! Are you awake?!]
Jiajia doesn’t work: [Heard Shang Chi is back?]
Jiang Li was taken aback.
She remembered Sister Yang mentioning earlier that Shang Chi had kept a low profile upon returning to the country this time—even the media hadn’t caught wind of it.
Little Li doesn’t eat ginger: [How do you know?]
The other side was clearly holding their phone and replied instantly: [I just scrolled past Lu Yuzhou’s late-night Moments post!]
Jiang Li raised an eyebrow.
Lu Yuzhou—Shang Chi’s best friend. The two had been inseparable since high school, so close they might as well have shared the same pair of uniform pants.
In sophomore year, when it came time to split into liberal arts and science tracks, she chose liberal arts while Shen Luojia chose science.
So starting from sophomore year, Shen Luojia ended up in the same class as those two.
Jiang Li had no idea when she and Lu Yuzhou had added each other on WeChat.
After saying that, Shen Luojia immediately sent her a photo.
The background of the photo looked like some private club, with luxurious and refined decor.
Judging from the angle and composition, it seemed more like a candid shot.
There were clearly several people in the photo.
But Jiang Li still spotted Shang Chi in an instant—his shoulders casually slung around by the boisterous Lu Yuzhou.
The man was wearing a black shirt.
A few buttons at the collar were carelessly undone, revealing a sliver of pale, cool-toned skin.
He was lounging lazily against the sofa, long legs slightly apart.
It looked like he’d just noticed someone taking a sneaky photo, lifting his gaze to glance at the camera offhandedly.
Sharp brows, bright eyes.
Chiseled features.
Handsome in the most unmistakable way.
Jiang Li only looked for three seconds before flipping her phone face-down on her thigh.
She took a deep breath—
A femme fatale.
A seductive demon.
A fox spirit.
Even though there was a screen between them, Jiang Li had no idea why she was flustered, but she refused to open that photo again.
The next second, another message from Shen Luojia came through.
Jiajia doesn’t work: [But… Shang Chi sat on such a long-haul flight. Doesn’t he need to sleep and adjust to the jet lag when he gets back? How does he have so much energy, going out to mess around with Lu Yuzhou in the middle of the night?]
As the culprit who had taken over someone else’s room, Jiang Li felt an inexplicable pang of guilt.
Little Li doesn’t eat ginger: [Um, actually… I ran into him last night]
Jiang Li hesitated as she typed in the chat box, about to tell Shen Luojia about what happened last night.
The next second.
Jiajia doesn’t work: [Did you get into a fight?]
Jiajia doesn’t work: [Who won? [excitedly rubbing hands.jpg]]
Jiang Li: ?
Jiang Li took a deep breath and steeled herself to block Shen Luojia.
But the other side immediately sent a voice message over.
Her voice carried a teasing, mischievous laugh.
“If you two weren’t fighting, what else could you be doing? It’s not like you were kissing, hugging, and lifting each other up, right?”