Jin Si said lightly, “It’s a tattoo. Can’t wash it off.”
How could a tattoo not wash off?
But asking further would seem too probing, as if she were overly curious about him.
Ying Chan inexplicably didn’t want him to think she was curious about him, so she didn’t ask again.
Jin Si suddenly remarked, “Anyone who knows would say you’re in the entertainment industry; anyone who doesn’t would think you’re in the mafia.”
Ying Chan used scissors to cut open the gauze for easier tying: “Don’t talk nonsense.”
Jin Si lifted his eyelids: “Two illegal break-ins within ten days—has anything like this ever happened in your circle before?”
Ying Chan paused and looked up at him.
Jin Si said, “The first time, you could chalk it up to an extremely rare obsessive fan. But the second time, a different person, just as crazy—do you think that’s normal?”
It was indeed a bit abnormal…
But Ying Chan had also heard people talk about how some male idol’s young female fan not only took secret photos and chased his car, but even followed him to his hotel, wrapped in a bath towel, and knocked on his door trying to offer herself to him.
Looking at it that way, there really were plenty of irrational people among fans. She was also one of the top actresses in the industry, with over seventy million followers on a single social platform. So having one or two extreme “fans” wasn’t that surprising.
Ying Chan asked again, “So what are you getting at?”
Jin Si raised an eyebrow: “Have you offended anyone?”
“That depends on the degree of offense… The pie is only so big. You want this role, someone else wants it too. What can you do? You can only fight for it with your own skills. At times like that, whether you win or lose, you end up offending the other party.”
“Anything else?”
That level of conflict clearly wouldn’t warrant breaking into someone’s home to harm them.
Ying Chan: “It’s not like I’m in the mafia.”
Jin Si shrugged. They’d only known each other for a day, knew nothing about anything, so there wasn’t much to analyze.
After the bandaging was done, the doorbell rang. Ying Chan was about to go answer it: “It’s probably the police. Let’s hand it over to them and see if they can dig up any inside information. If there really is something, it won’t be too late to be vigilant then. Let’s not scare ourselves first.”
Just moments ago she’d been trembling all over in fear, and now she was back to that carefree attitude of “life and death are whatever, deal with things when they come.”
Jin Si let out a laugh, stood up before her, made a gesture that he’d go open it, and walked toward the door.
Peering through the peephole, he saw three men and one woman, all in police uniforms. Only then did he open the door.
“Hello.”
After brief greetings, two officers went to the bedroom to check on the man.
Jin Si leaned against the window, lit a cigarette, and casually turned his head to watch Ying Chan’s profile as she cooperated with the police taking her statement on the sofa.
Very clean, very delicate. The small red mole between her brows was especially distinctive.
He exhaled a wisp of smoke, his Adam’s apple trembling slightly with the motion, like a dove fluttering its wings, ready to take flight.
After Ying Chan finished her statement, the police also figured out how the man had gotten into her home—
He’d scouted the area and discovered that the unit downstairs had been unoccupied for a long time. So he pried open the door downstairs, climbed out from the balcony below, first scaled the wall’s water pipes, then climbed over the air conditioner unit’s mounting frame, and successfully reached her balcony.
Ying Chan had also happened not to lock her floor-to-ceiling window, so he got in.
But that couldn’t really be blamed on Ying Chan’s lack of security awareness, because she lived on the sixteenth floor. Who would’ve thought someone would dare to climb barehanded from the fifteenth floor to the sixteenth floor in the middle of the night??
Was he really not afraid of slipping and falling to his death?
The police took the man away and reminded Ying Chan to stay vigilant, to call them anytime if anything happened, and that they’d contact her once they got anything out of him.
By the time everything was handled, it was already 4:30 in the morning.
Ying Chan lay in bed, wide awake, her mind racing with all sorts of thoughts.
Besides those two incidents, she was also thinking about how Jin Si’s voice resembled the man in her dreams… She wondered if people with alluring voices just naturally had similar tones?
She didn’t even know what time she finally fell asleep.
She slept straight until the afternoon, woken by her phone ringing. Ying Chan turned over, fumbled for her phone, and checked the time—2:30 PM.
She pressed the answer button: “Sister Wei.”
Sister Wei’s voice came through: “Achan, you just woke up? Get up quickly, you’re on the hot search again!”
Huh? Ying Chan sat up, her temples throbbing with pain. She ran her fingers through her hair, instinctively assuming: “Did what happened last night get exposed?”
“What happened last night?” Sister Wei didn’t know what she was referring to and cut straight to the point: “Your ‘romance’ has been exposed. The whole internet is saying you’re dating Cheng Xu!”
??
Ying Chan was stunned for two seconds before remembering who Cheng Xu was—a male idol who’d risen through a talent show, recently famous for covering girl group dances, nicknamed “puppy boy.”
She was baffled. How could she possibly be connected to him? She’d never even met him.
She minimized the call window and tapped on the hot search tags. Four or five of the top ten were about her.
#YingChanChengXuRomance#
#YingChanChengXuMatchingItems#
#TopActressXSingingDancingPuppyBoySoCute#
#YingChanShangLübai#
“…”
Ying Chan tapped in to look, and it turned out to be that photo she’d seen in the super topic last night—the one that had sparked fans’ speculation.
The difference was that this time, instead of guessing the person in the photo was Shang Lübai in disguise, they were asserting with absolute certainty that this person was Cheng Xu!
The reason was that the masked man and Cheng Xu had the same black windbreaker, and also similar jawlines. Their profiles overlapped by nearly 95%. Following the trail, netizens also dug up various subtle ways Ying Chan and Cheng Xu were showing off their relationship.
For example, similar captions, similar photo poses, matching accessories, and visiting the same places, etc.
What sealed the deal was that Cheng Xu actually liked the analysis post. Although he deleted it within seconds, it had already been screenshotted, and thus it was branded with the labels “confirmed by the real person” and “evidence is conclusive.”
Ying Chan opened the comments section, where Chan fans and Xu fans were already tearing each other apart.
Among them were also comments from bystanders who just wanted to watch the drama, or paid trolls from rivals stirring the pot, posting things like “the older sister and her puppy dog romance is becoming reality” and “Did Ying Chan break up with Shang Lübai?”
“…” Ying Chan was utterly speechless and said to Sister Wei, “That profile is Jin Si.”
“I know that, but netizens don’t. They’re convinced that person is Cheng Xu. The PR department analyzed that even if we issue a statement to clarify, it won’t help. Netizens will just think we’re making excuses!”
Sister Wei was furious. “I just got off the phone with Cheng Xu’s manager. Even over the phone, I could imagine the smug grin on their face! They even told me ‘no need to bother~ it’ll blow over in a few days~’ They’re deliberately tying themselves to you to leech off your fame!”
“I’m keeping a mental note of this debt. Don’t let me catch an opportunity, or I’ll destroy them!”
Ying Chan listened to Sister Wei venting, but her own mood remained calm. She walked barefoot across the cashmere carpet toward the bathroom: “Whether they believe it or not, we need to issue a statement to show our stance, so we won’t be accused of tacitly admitting it.”
Sister Wei: “I know that. The PR department is already drafting the copy. I’m still on the high-speed rail. I’ll go straight to the company for a meeting when I arrive… And the fact that Cheng Xu’s team dares to do this means someone might be backing them. This isn’t simple. President Shang also asked about it and said to have you come to the company when you have time.”
She paused, then added, “If you don’t have time, he can come to your place after work.”
“No need, I wouldn’t dare trouble President Shang to make the trip. I’ll get ready and head to the company.”
After hanging up, Ying Chan washed up, changed clothes, and walked out of the bedroom to see Jin Si sitting on the sofa playing games.
It was as if he had eyes in the back of his head. Without turning around, he said, “There’s food on the table. Heat it up yourself.”
Ying Chan walked over to look—it was steamed buns and milk.
She tossed them into the microwave and pressed two minutes.
Jin Si appeared behind her at some point, reached over, and pressed the button again: “Two minutes is too long. 45 seconds is enough.”
His breath brushed past her earlobe. Ying Chan’s ear tingled, and she subtly stepped aside, leaning against the fridge: “I need to go to the company later. You can drive me.”
Jin Si raised an eyebrow: “Don’t I need to keep a low profile?”
Ying Chan was surprised: “You saw the trending topic too?”
Jin Si also leaned against the kitchen island, snorting with a laugh: “It’s not like I don’t go online.”
“But I gotta say, what kind of eyesight do those people have? I’m a hundred times more handsome than that guy. 95% similarity? 95% in their dreams? I suggest they go get their eyes or brains checked.”
Hearing this, Ying Chan instinctively looked at him.
Behind him was the window, and the afternoon sunlight crept in. The man’s features were steeped in laziness, wearing a short-sleeved shirt, the muscles of his bandaged arm clearly defined. He was indeed a hundred times more striking than some Cheng Xu.
Especially the pigeon tattoo at his Adam’s apple—wild and sexy.