8
Yan Wenjia had swallowed more than enough salty, bitter seawater before he was finally hauled out.
“Cough, cough, cough…” He clutched his chest, one hand braced against the ground, half-sitting, half-lying. He was drenched through, his wet hair plastered against his cheeks, his vision even blurred.
He looked up toward the nearby figure.
She was still on the phone.
The people around him rushed forward, offering large towels and hot water. The figure raised a hand and gently gathered the towel around herself.
The person who had shoved him underwater was very young, with a slender figure… a woman.
She was also soaked through, her white clothes clinging tightly to her body, outlining her curves. Strands of hair stuck to her cheeks. Her brows and eyes were veiled in a layer of water, giving her a hazy, ethereal beauty.
…Somewhat familiar, yet also somewhat strange.
Yan Wenjia blinked, clearing the droplets from his eyelashes.
Only then did someone hand him a towel and some tissues. He took them and casually wiped his face. The figure of the woman in the distance gradually became clearer in his sight.
Her brows were like distant mountains, her hair like drifting clouds.
Yan Wenjia heard someone nearby cautiously address her: “Mrs. Yan.”
Mrs. Yan?
Whose wife?
Other than Yan Zhao, none of them had married.
That left only one identity…
Gu Xueyi.
The name rolled across his tongue, but the sound got stuck in his throat. Yan Wenjia wiped the water from his face again, now suspecting not that his eyes were playing tricks on him, but that he might very well be going blind.
Otherwise, how could he possibly think the woman before him was Gu Xueyi?
“Are you alright?” a concerned voice asked nearby.
Yan Wenjia diverted a sliver of attention that way. The speaker seemed to be some staff member from the production crew, looking vaguely familiar… Yan Wenjia coldly looked away and gave a perfunctory “Mm.”
The staff member looked a bit awkward, but still blushed and reached out a hand to help Yan Wenjia up.
Yan Wenjia directly avoided him and braced himself to stand up on his own.
Soaked through, his posture was a bit disheveled, but he still stood tall and lean. Many people on the scene couldn’t help but blush while cautiously stealing glances at him.
Gu Xueyi finished drinking the cup of warm water, then looked up to find Yan Wenjia standing right in front of her.
Yan Wenjia narrowed his eyes slightly, his gaze carrying a hint of scrutiny as he studied her. He said, “My net is broken.”
“Mm.” Gu Xueyi responded coolly.
Yan Wenjia felt as if he had punched a ball of cotton.
“You almost drowned me,” Yan Wenjia said again.
“Weren’t you trying to throw yourself into the sea?” Gu Xueyi blinked. “I was helping you.”
Her long eyelashes also held tiny droplets of water. When she blinked, the droplets seemed about to fall but didn’t. The watery look softened her eyes, creating a gentle illusion.
But Yan Wenjia felt a lump in his chest.
He had always done as he pleased. No one in the Yan family controlled him, and even less so once he left the family. He had never had to explain his actions to anyone. Until this moment—
A sea breeze blew, making his drenched body feel even colder.
Gu Xueyi pulled her bath towel tighter, stepped forward, and moved closer to Yan Wenjia. She extended her hand—slender and fair-skinned, exceptionally eye-catching.
She asked, “If you think that wasn’t enough, I can help you again…”
That sentence immediately evoked Yan Wenjia’s near-death memory from just moments ago.
Slender, fair fingers carrying explosive strength.
Soft, smooth skin pressing against his neck, holding him firmly underwater… The suffocating sensation rushed over him.
A strange feeling tightly wrapped around his neck.
Yan Wenjia unconsciously shifted his feet, wanting to step back, but forced himself to hold still. With a stiff face, he finally managed to squeeze out a sentence: “…Extreme sports. Haven’t you heard of them?”
He had a gut feeling.
If he didn’t clarify, she might really drown him in the water.
Extreme sports?
“Haven’t heard of them.”
“…” Yan Wenjia choked up. He couldn’t tell if she was faking it or truly had never heard of them.
Yan Wenjia had no choice but to pull out his phone. He was about to open the Google search engine when he shook it and ended up dripping water all over his hand.
Yan Wenjia: “…”
Yan Wenjia licked his lips.
A mouthful of saltiness.
For the first time, Yan Wenjia set aside his willful, arrogant pride and began to act like a human encyclopedia: “Extreme sports refer to a general category of activities that are difficult, dangerous, and highly challenging.”
“In other words, seeking death?” Gu Xueyi tilted her head.
Yan Wenjia: “…” He found himself unable to refute it.
Mainly because no one had ever dared to question him like this before.
Seeing the atmosphere on site growing increasingly tense, someone stepped in to smooth things over: “Why don’t we… sit down and talk things over slowly?”
“Brother Yuan, should you go to the hospital first for a checkup?” By this point, the agent Xiao Fang had been utterly stunned by Gu Xueyi’s actions. Now that his soul had finally returned to his body, he asked the first decent, humane question anyone had posed since Yan Wenjia was pulled out of the water today.
“No need.”
I won’t die.
The second half of the sentence reached the tip of Yan Wenjia’s tongue, but he swallowed it back down.
He had said that phrase plenty of times before.
But right now, Yan Wenjia suddenly found he couldn’t bring himself to say it.
He had a feeling the woman in front of him might come back with: “Then let me help you ascend to heaven in one second.”
“Call the set back,” Gu Xueyi said as she turned and headed toward the boat.
“Yes.” This Mrs. Yan moved so decisively that before he even realized it, the person she was addressing had already unconsciously followed her instruction.
Gu Xueyi agilely boarded the boat.
The others followed, but their movements seemed clumsy in comparison to hers.
She was like a white swan.
And behind her followed a flock of clumsy penguins.
Once they were all seated on the boat, with Gu Xueyi at the center like a moon surrounded by stars, she raised her hand and beckoned to Yan Wenjia: “Get on the boat. What are you waiting for?”
Yan Wenjia didn’t move.
Gu Xueyi: “You still want to play?”
Yan Wenjia strode forward on his long legs and stepped onto the boat in just a few paces.
Xiao Fang swore he had never seen Brother Yuan so agreeable!
He was almost moved to tears.
If Brother Yuan were this easygoing during work, they would be rolling in money, dominating the domestic entertainment industry, and skyrocketing to the number one spot in traffic rankings in no time!
Yan Wenjia returned safely to the set.
“What happened?” The crew quickly gathered around him.
“Nothing. I fell into the water.”
“Fell into the water? Oh my god. Are you okay, Brother Yuan?”
“I’m fine. They got there in time… Brother Yuan needs to go change his clothes…”
Director Li stepped forward as well. Suppressing his inner shock, he addressed Gu Xueyi: “Mrs. Yan.”
Yan Wenjia heard the address once again. He frowned almost imperceptibly. No matter how much he didn’t want to admit it, the woman’s identity was practically screaming itself at him now…
“Gu Xueyi?” He looked at her.
Gu Xueyi had just accepted a cup of coffee from a staff member. She took a sip. Bitter. Gu Xueyi frowned slightly, but it didn’t detract from her beautiful features in the slightest.
Just watching this scene, she looked like a young girl who had bitten into a bad piece of candy.
She handed the coffee back, then lifted her head. But now, she had transformed into a sharp-tempered, mature woman. She said, “Call me sister-in-law.”
“Thump.”
It was as if a stone had fallen heavily into Yan Wenjia’s heart.
As absurd as it was… the person before him was indeed Gu Xueyi.
He had lost all dignity in front of Gu Xueyi?
Yan Wenjia’s face darkened. He didn’t call her “sister-in-law.” Instead, he quickly turned around and went to change his clothes.
In just over ten minutes, Yan Wenjia came back out, looking like a different person.
He had changed into a charcoal-gray suit. The suit was impeccably tailored, making his figure appear even more elegant and upright. He looked like a refined gentleman from a bygone era, gliding across a dance floor. Every downward glance and upward lift of his eyes could captivate countless women.
Yan Wenjia walked directly up to Director Li. “Weren’t you always planning to shoot scene thirty-three first?”
The lead role in scene thirty-three was played by Yan Wenjia’s character.
But because Yan Wenjia had always been so willful and unrestrained, Director Li had talked himself hoarse trying to convince him to shoot it. Yan Wenjia still hadn’t done it. Instead, he had even flown abroad for a vacation.
“Let’s shoot it. Right now.” Yan Wenjia turned and scanned the surroundings. “Haven’t the sets been ready for a while?”
Director Li took a sharp breath.
He didn’t know where Gu Xueyi had found this young master.
He also had no idea what pill this young master had taken today, or why he had suddenly changed his tune…
Whatever the case… shoot it! They needed to shoot it! And they needed to do it quickly!
Director Li picked up his megaphone again. “Crew, get to your positions…”
“The entire crew runs around for him. The moment he returns, they immediately start working again. Whatever he says, goes…” Jiang Meng took a breath. “This is the power of the Yan family.”
A flicker of envy, longing, and even something verging on obsession surfaced in Jiang Meng’s mind.
“What?” Her agent hadn’t quite caught what she said.
Jiang Meng’s gaze flickered. Vaguely, she said, “I said Gu Xueyi is quite impressive.”
The agent couldn’t help but smack her lips in agreement. “She is quite impressive.”
“How did you know where he was?” the bodyguard asked, puzzled.
Gu Xueyi answered casually: “Children of prestigious families are all like this.” They always want to play at something exciting.
The bodyguard: ?
The way she said it made it sound like she had personally corrected eight or ten such people before.
“Then why did you insist on calling the police if…”
“If you waited until after negotiating terms with various families, borrowing their influence and gathering their people, only to find out in the end that he was just off playing at jumping into the sea…”
The bodyguard imagined the scenario and twitched the corner of his mouth.
That would be damn embarrassing.
With Mr. Yan missing, every move the Yan family made was already being monitored by the outside world. There were plenty of people looking to take advantage of the situation…
But calling the police was different.
Calling the police was a precaution against the one-in-a-million chance that something truly abnormal had happened.
Furthermore, calling the police was a legitimate right of every citizen when facing danger. There was no need to trade any favors for it. The Yan family wouldn’t get entangled with any other faction, nor would it cause panic among the Yan Corporation’s shareholders or the public, making them think the Yan family couldn’t survive without Mr. Yan…
If anything, they had been the ones to lose their composure.
They had truly believed that Second Young Master’s disappearance was connected to Mr. Yan’s disappearance… They had nearly made fools of themselves.
Just then, Gu Xueyi suddenly turned around and asked, “Did no one in your Yan family know that Yan Wenjia is this kind of person?”
This kind of person…?
The bodyguard opened his mouth, then awkwardly closed it again.
Who would know that?
Besides, Mr. Yan was truly busy.
So busy that he rarely came home.
He wasn’t particularly close with the young masters and misses of the Yan family, nor were their bonds especially deep. Since Mr. Yan didn’t concern himself with such things, how could those of them underneath possibly pay attention?
Especially since Second Young Master was rarely seen for long stretches of time anyway.
“How strange…” Gu Xueyi murmured softly.
One who would be surprised by a little food she sent. Another who was completely left to his own devices, acting wantonly and recklessly, hanging his own life on a cliff’s edge without a care…
This Yan family was quite strange.
No rules, but also no familial affection.
Back on set, the crew had all returned to their positions.
The director shouted, “Action!”
Yan Wenjia stood under the lights, handsome and exuding an air of nobility. Everyone unconsciously held their breath.
He seemed to have transformed into his character from the script—
A warlord with a troubled past who desperately tried to climb up the ranks, presenting himself as a refined, elegant, and exquisitely handsome gentleman, but in reality, he was cold-blooded and ruthless.
He had to save face somehow, Yan Wenjia thought.
Five minutes passed.
The director called, “Cut!”
A burst of applause erupted from the set.
“Excellent!” Director Li exclaimed excitedly.
Yan Wenjia truly was a perfect fit for the role.
Just then, Yan Wenjia looked off-camera.
That space was completely empty.
Yan Wenjia’s expression froze.
“Where is Gu Xueyi?”
The crew member didn’t know Yan Wenjia’s true identity. Hearing him address Gu Xueyi by name, the person thought dizzily, Holy shit! The way Brother Yuan rushed to perform that scene just now… it couldn’t be… it couldn’t be that he did it specifically for Gu Xueyi to see, could it?
Holy shit… the two of them…
The two of them…
“She… she left. She said she was going to a mall to buy some new clothes.”
Yan Wenjia choked.
So, she didn’t see a single second of it?
Gu Xueyi moved quickly. To get out of her wet clothes, she swiftly picked out an outfit.
Then she swiped Yan Zhao’s supplementary card.
On the other side of the world, far away.
A phone buzzed as a text message came in.
“Your card ending in **** made a QuickPay expenditure of 335.00 yuan at (Duoduo Clothing Company) on October 12th at 15:11…”
This wasn’t the first time Gu Xueyi had used this supplementary card.
But for a spoiled, willful young lady who had grown up accustomed to luxury goods and was particularly resentful when life in the Yan family didn’t go her way, and who would normally spend tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of yuan each time she swiped the card…
She had just spent 335 yuan.
335???
**