Zhou Yining and Alice were both a little drunk. Zhang Hui had to practically drag them down the stairs.

A few men were left in the private room. Zhou Shen clapped Shen Yanjun on the shoulder. “Brother, stop thinking about the little devil. You grew up with her; you know her better than anyone. Don’t you understand her personality? She’d marry just about anyone before she’d marry you.”

The words were harsh, but they were the truth. Zhou Yining’s heart could sometimes be harder than stone.

Shen Yanjun kept his lips tightly pressed. He couldn’t stop thinking about her, and it was hard to give up.

Zhou Shen offered him a cigarette. Shen Yanjun took it, put it to his mouth, pulled out a lighter, and lit it. He exhaled a few smoke rings, calming down. “We’ll see,” he said faintly.

Ji Dongyang’s car had already pulled up downstairs. Zhou Yining didn’t know what kind of car he was driving today. She stood on the steps, looking around, still worried about paparazzi. It would be a huge hassle if they were photographed. Alice didn’t share her worries and looked around. “Where’s his car?”

Zhou Yining saw a black Passat parked ahead. It was completely unremarkable next to the surrounding luxury cars. She pointed at the Passat. “There it is.”

Zhang Hui and Alice helped her walk over, slightly uncertain. “A car worth about 200,000 yuan? Are you sure the Movie King is driving that?”

Zhou Yining nodded. “Definitely.”

Just a gut feeling. It had to be him.

Ji Dongyang saw them approaching and rolled down the window slightly. From that angle, Zhou Yining could see his eyes clearly. She smiled at them. “I’m heading off! See you all tomorrow.”

She slipped into the car and waved at them through the window.

She turned to Ji Dongyang, giving him a sweet look. “We’re going home.”

Ji Dongyang drove out. Zhou Yining hiccuped, the car instantly filling with the smell of wine. Her head was spinning. “Don’t drive fast. If we run into any paparazzi, just keep driving. Don’t stop.”

He laughed a little. “No one’s following us. Don’t worry.”

She was curled up in the seat like a little cat.

…

When they reached the parking garage, Ji Dongyang hauled her out of the car. The moment she was out, Zhou Yining practically collapsed into his arms, wrapping her hands around his lean waist and refusing to move.

Ji Dongyang held her backpack and both their coats in one hand, while the other was looped around her waist, dragging her into the elevator.

Zhou Yining clung to his waist, her head resting on his shoulder. Her soft, shallow breaths sprayed against his skin, heavy with the scent of alcohol. Ji Dongyang looked down at the little girl in his arms with her flushed cheeks. He tried to straighten her, but she hugged him tighter, clinging to him like sticky candy, even daring to kiss his neck.

Ji Dongyang took a deep breath and said sternly, “Behave yourself, or I’ll leave you right here.”

She hummed and immediately quieted down.

The elevator stopped. Zhou Yining was lifted out and half-carried, half-dragged to her front door. When she looked up and realized it was her own apartment, she protested, lifting her head from his embrace. “Can’t I sleep at your place?”

Ji Dongyang opened her bag, a mess of random stuff, and felt for her keys. “No.”

Zhou Yining cheekily tried to interfere with his search, giggling. “I didn’t bring my keys. Don’t bother looking.”

Ji Dongyang pressed her hand back down and held it there, admonishing her in a low voice, “Stop messing around.”

She pouted, turned around, and hugged his neck tightly. “It’s not like I haven’t slept at your place before.”

Ji Dongyang had already found the key. He peeled her off him, used the key to open the door, and maneuvered her inside. After a long moment, he finally said, “It’s different.”

Zhou Yining was completely muddled. “What’s different? If you don’t want to sleep you can, you can sleep on the sofa!”

Ji Dongyang couldn’t be bothered to argue with a drunk person. He quickly found the master bedroom, dragged her inside, and tossed her onto the bed. Unexpectedly, the girl grabbed onto him, refusing to let go, and managed to drag him down onto the bed with her. Ji Dongyang pursed his lips and looked down at the girl pinned beneath him. She grinned triumphantly. “Sleep here. My house has your clothes.”

She gestured grandly with her right hand, full of drunken swagger. “I moved all your clothes over!”

Ji Dongyang reached up to pull the arms wrapped around his neck away, propping himself up to sit. His voice was displeased. “So now you admit you stole my clothes?”

Zhou Yining didn’t want him to leave. She climbed up and hugged his waist from behind, rubbing her head against his back. “Don’t go back.”

Ji Dongyang was about to be driven crazy by her pestering. He had never met a girl who could wear a person down like this. In the end, he didn’t push her away. Zhou Yining thought he was actually staying. Happily, she knelt up and started to climb off the bed. “I’ll go remove my makeup…”

She also needed to shower. She reeked of smoke and wine.

Ji Dongyang used the chance to stand up. He patted her head. “I’m going back.”

Zhou Yining: “…”

She watched helplessly as he grabbed his down jacket and strode away.

…

On the first day of the new year, Zhou Yining was woken up by a phone call from Wan Wei. She clawed herself out of bed, grabbed her hair, and answered weakly.

Wan Wei: “The script is in your email. You can start reading it now.”

Zhou Yining’s voice was lazy. “Okay.”

She dropped the phone and rubbed her head. She’d drunk too much last night. She had no energy and lay back down to continue sleeping.

She didn’t wake up until noon. After getting ready, she went next door and rang the doorbell. She pressed it several times, but no one answered. She muttered to herself, “He didn’t run off again, did he?”

She had promised to have lunch with Alice and Zhang Hui, and seeing that she was running out of time, Zhou Yining rushed out the door.

She sat down at the restaurant and opened WeChat, seeing a message from A Ming: “Dong-ge is attending the opening ceremony of a sponsor’s flagship store today.”

Zhou Yining was confused. “I didn’t ask you.”

A Ming: “Well, I still want to tell you! From now on, if you want to know Dong-ge’s schedule, just ask me. As long as it’s not under a confidentiality agreement, I can tell you. Dong-ge gets so busy and tired, he sometimes forgets his own schedule. I know it better than he does.”

A lightbulb went off in Zhou Yining’s head. She slowly typed out: “Did Ji Dongyang tell you to do this?”

Ji Dongyang hadn’t explicitly said so, but he knew Zhou Yining and A Ming were on good terms and often chatted on WeChat. It wasn’t hard to guess the girl’s intentions toward him. Before, A Ming wouldn’t have dared to say anything without his permission, but now, he had merely given A Ming a subtle nod.

He didn’t have a habit of reporting his itinerary to anyone. Sometimes, he genuinely hadn’t looked at the schedule or had forgotten.

A Ming replied: “You can think that.”

Zhou Yining smiled. “Fine. Since you’re being so cooperative, I’ll give you your lighter back next time.”

She already knew that the lighter was A Ming’s treasure, a gift from Ji Dongyang.

A Ming was overjoyed. “Really? Don’t lie to me!”

Alice tapped her bowl with her chopsticks, raising an eyebrow. “Texting the Movie King? You look so happy.”

Zhou Yining stopped smiling. “His assistant.”

Alice rolled her eyes. “You’re that happy texting his assistant? Anyone would think you’re dating the assistant.”

What did it matter? Zhou Yining didn’t feel like it mattered. She asked them, “When are you two heading back to the UK?”

Zhang Hui said, “We’re staying a while. Alice’s mom is sick.”

Zhou Yining pursed her lips. Was she truly sick or just pretending? Alice’s mom had faked illness more than once or twice. This was never a pleasant topic, just as Zhou Yining didn’t like bringing up Zhou Lihui or Zhou Jiahui. They all tacitly agreed to avoid these unhappy subjects.

Their time together was brief, and joy took priority.

They didn’t stay in B City for long, leaving on the fifth day.

Wan Wei had also arranged an assistant for Zhou Yining and asked her to come to the company.

Zhou Yining walked into Wan Wei’s office. The girl sitting inside stood up and smiled at her. “Miss Zhou, Sister Wei is in a meeting. My name is Zhang Ran, and Sister Wei has asked me to follow you from now on.”

Zhou Yining stared at her. “How old are you?”

Zhang Ran: “I’m twenty-five. I’ve worked as an artist’s assistant before.”

Zhou Yining sat on the sofa, smiling lazily. “Just call me by my name.”

Zhang Ran nodded. “Okay.”

She also secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She’d read online gossip about Zhou Yining, a rich young lady who liked to carry cash and had many weird habits. She had been worried the job would be difficult, but it seemed okay so far.

After a while, Wan Wei came in with a notebook. “Have you two met?”

Zhou Yining nodded. “Mm-hmm.”

Wan Wei sat back down in her chair, busy writing on a document without looking up. “Zhang Ran will be following you from now on. I’ve also assigned a van for you, and Zhang Ran will be the driver.”

Zhou Yining frowned slightly, pausing before she said, “I can manage on my own when I’m not busy.”

Wan Wei finally looked up at her. “We’ll see.”

She flipped through the itinerary. “The Taiping Dynasty crew still needs to promote the show. Except for Ji Dongyang, the other main actors will attend. I negotiated with them, and you won’t participate in the promotions after the 16th. We’ve confirmed the press conference for Heart Knot on the 16th. How’s the script reading going?”

Zhou Yining lowered her head, a little hesitant. “I read a little bit.”

She had only skimmed a few pages. It was hard to keep reading; it felt too much like reliving her own past.

Wan Wei frowned. “Are you unhappy with the script?”

Zhou Yining shook her head. “No, the script is excellent. Very professional.”

Wan Wei smiled. “You know about ‘professional’?”

Zhou Yining pursed her lips. “Yes. I had a friend who was very similar to Pei Yuan before, so I did some research.”

Wan Wei remembered what Director Wei Zhong had said, 

that the girl’s acting was genuine and unpretentious. She looked at Zhou Yining. “So that’s why. No wonder Director Wei praised you so much.”

Zhou Yining took a deep breath, feeling she might have made the wrong decision.

After returning home from the company, she lay in bed and flipped through the script.

Suddenly, she turned to a section that made her painfully curl up. She buried her head in the pillow, taking deep, gasping breaths.

Her phone on the side suddenly rang. She lifted her head, dazed, to look at the screen. It was Ji Dongyang.

This was the first time he had ever called her.

“Hello.”

Her voice was small, sounding off.

Ji Dongyang asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Are you back yet?” she asked urgently.

Ji Dongyang: “Yes, I’m at the door.”