Zhou Yining couldn’t remember how many years it had been since she ate carrots. Since childhood, she heard Xia Yun telling Zhou JiaHui to eat more carrots, but no one managed her. She had plenty of pocket money and could buy whatever she wanted to eat. Shen Yanjun was the one who cared about her most; when they ate together, he would eat whatever she picked out, never forcing her.

She stared at the carrots in her bowl, glanced at the indifferent-looking Ji Dongyang, pursed her lips, and ate the shredded carrots.

She glanced at him again. “Actually, they’re not that bad.”

Ji Dongyang smiled slightly. “Mm.”

After lunch, it was just 12 PM. Ji Dongyang left first.

At 4 PM, Zhou Yining arrived at the set. The assistant director saw her and smiled. “Yining, you haven’t seen the playback from yesterday, right?”

Zhou Yining nodded. “Mm, I’ll go check it out later.”

Yesterday, after filming, Wei Zhong saw she wasn’t in good shape, so he temporarily switched to filming scenes for supporting roles. The assistant director laughed. “Yesterday’s segment was filmed so well. After you left last night, Director Wei and the screenwriter were praising you endlessly.”

Zhou Yining smiled too. “Thank you. When the director gives us a break, I’ll treat everyone to dinner.”

The assistant director quickly spread the word, and Wei Zhong told everyone the female lead was treating them to dinner.

As soon as Ji Dongyang arrived at the set, he heard everyone talking about it. A Ming heard and turned to say, “Miss Zhou is treating the crew to dinner; no wonder everyone is so happy.”

Recently, the filming schedule had been tight, with many night shoots. Everyone was a bit fatigued and tired of the crew’s boxed lunches. Ji Dongyang glanced around and said to A Ming, “Order late-night snacks for tonight.”

A Ming smiled. “You got it.”

He turned and left to tell everyone about the late-night snacks, eliciting another round of cheers.

Zhou Yining followed behind Ji Dongyang with her script, seriously discussing lines. When Ji Dongyang looked at her, there was a smile in his eyes.

Following him all the way into the restroom, she saw the door was half-closed.

Taking advantage of the blind spot, Zhou Yining hugged him from behind, sniffing his back. “Why did you shower again?”

Ji Dongyang: “Went to the gym.”

Zhou Yining stood on tiptoes, her hand pressing against his firm waist and abdomen, leaning close to his ear, whispering softly, “Exercise last night wasn’t enough? Then continue tonight…”

Hearing footsteps suddenly approaching the door, Zhou Yining quickly let go of him, jumped in front of him holding her script, and looked back to smile at him.

The next second, the door opened.

A Ming walked in with the coordinator. The coordinator said, “Dong-ge, get ready. We’ll shoot your scene with Lu Ling first. Oh, Yining hasn’t done her makeup yet? Hurry up.”

Zhou Yining laughed. “Going right now.”

With that, she turned and left.

Zhou Yining finished her makeup and went to the side to wait. Ji Dongyang was already sitting in the office, wearing a plain black sweater, a white bandage wrapped around his arm, the injury caused by Pei Yuan in last night’s scene. This scene was Lu Ling playing the female assistant confronting Lu Yanzhou. Her words were extreme, full of dissatisfaction with Pei Yuan. She asked, “Have you fallen in love with her?”

This scene had already resulted in several NGs. Wei Zhong’s face wasn’t looking good, and his tone was getting worse. Finally, he had to stop for a break, walking to the front to explain the scene again. “One more time.”

Half an hour later, Wei Zhong was finally satisfied.

Lu Ling breathed a sigh of relief and walked to the side to rest. When passing Zhou Yining, she glanced at her.

That glance was different from the previous disdain and contempt.

It was somewhat complex. Zhou Yining couldn’t understand it, so even after Lu Ling had walked past, she looked back.

Zhou Yining recalled that even before she went to shoot the commercial, the way Lu Ling looked at her was much friendlier than before. She couldn’t figure out the reason for this change, and didn’t plan to ask.

A few days later, the complexity in Lu Ling’s gaze faded. Occasionally, she would exchange a few words with Zhou Yining in private, but not many.

On the night, Zhou Yining treated everyone to dinner, everyone had a good time. Lu Xiao went too. Seeing everyone ordering drinks, he said, “If you want to drink, don’t do it here. Go to my place.”

The place Lu Xiao mentioned was the bar they had borrowed for filming before. Lu Xiao was the owner; the bar had been open for six or seven years. He had borrowed some money from Ji Dongyang back then, so Ji Dongyang also had a share in the bar. Lu Xiao hadn’t told anyone about this. Ji Dongyang didn’t like doing business; all his energy was focused on acting. Sometimes, when Lu Xiao had a good project, he would suggest Ji Dongyang invest some money. Ji Dongyang didn’t need to manage anything, just take the dividends.

Everyone cheered, “Mr. Lu is so generous!”

Round two, at the bar.

When Lu Xiao mentioned these things to Zhou Yining, she was quite surprised. She thought Ji Dongyang only knew how to buy houses; she didn’t expect him to invest in so many side businesses. Lu Xiao said, “If I didn’t tell him, he wouldn’t have the mind to do these things.”

Zhou Yining stared at him for a few seconds. “You’re pretty good to him.”

Lu Xiao laughed. “We’re brothers. He helped me so much; I have to return the favor a little.”

Zhou Yining looked around. Everyone was having fun. Ji Dongyang had gone out to take a call, and no one came to disturb her and Lu Xiao. Blame it on her and Ji Dongyang doing too good a job keeping things secret. Plus, Lu Xiao had visited the set frequently before, so rumors spread that Lu Xiao was pursuing her. This was good; few people suspected her relationship with Ji Dongyang. After all, Lu Xiao and Ji Dongyang were good friends. A man like Dong-ge, how could he steal his brother’s girlfriend?

She leaned close to Lu Xiao’s ear and whispered, “Then you must know about his parents.”

Lu Xiao froze for a moment, looking at her. “What do you want to say?”

Just then, Ji Dongyang walked over from the other side. Zhou Yining added, “Don’t tell Ji Dongyang I asked about this.”

Lu Xiao glanced at her, smiled, and nodded.

Ji Dongyang sat next to Zhou Yining. Zhou Yining drank a little wine, watching the crowd dancing on the dance floor, feeling a bit itchy. She stood up. “I’m going to play for a bit.”

Zhou Yining took off her jacket, wearing only a bright red off-shoulder sweater, revealing a section of her white, tender, water snake-like waist.

The dance floor was nearby. Zhou Yining had a good figure and danced well. Her waist movements were extremely seductive. Her face was clean, her eyes pure, looking somewhat devoid of desire, very different from the other women on the dance floor.

Seductive without being vulgar, that probably described a woman like her.

As her body twisted, her clothes rode up higher and higher, revealing a hickey on her waist, right where a hand would grip.

Lu Xiao saw it, looked at Ji Dongyang, jutted his chin toward Zhou Yining, and smiled wickedly. “Didn’t expect you to be quite the wolf.”

Ji Dongyang didn’t understand at first. He looked over and saw it too. Frowning, he called A Ming over. A Ming then went to find Zhang Ran. Zhang Ran quickly ran onto the dance floor, grabbed Zhou Yining, and whispered something in her ear. Zhou Yining froze, looked down at her waist, and then, across the short distance in the ambiguous, dim light of the bar, looked at Ji Dongyang.

She smiled at him, raising an eyebrow like a lazy and cunning cat, pulled her clothes down a bit, merged into the center of the crowd, and continued dancing.

That night, a drunk Zhou Yining stayed at the hotel again.

Pressed against the back of the door by Ji Dongyang, the man’s large, slender hand stroked her waist lightly. Zhou Yining felt ticklish and laughed out loud.

Ji Dongyang held her tight, asking, “What are you laughing at?”

Zhou Yining hugged his neck, twisting her body. “Your touching tickles me a bit.”

The next second, Ji Dongyang picked her up and pressed her onto the soft, large bed. He quickly got up again, taking a small box from a bag in his suitcase. Zhou Yining glanced at it, surprised, then looked at him with a smile. “You went to buy them?”

He didn’t use the condoms placed on the hotel cabinet. She only stayed over occasionally. Before, it was her safe period, so he didn’t use one. Last night was at her house.

It was really hard to imagine Ji Dongyang going to buy condoms.

Ji Dongyang put the item on the nightstand, turned off the light, covered her body again, and whispered in her ear, “A Ming bought them.”

Zhou Yining: “…A Ming really is China’s Best Assistant.”

In the darkness, he chuckled low and kissed her lips.

…

Early the next morning, the two went to the set.

At noon, Zhou Yining received another call from Zhou Lihui, still saying he wanted to have a meal with her. Recently, Zhou Lihui asked her for a meal every week. Zhou Yining said, “The filming schedule is tight lately; I don’t have time.”

Zhou Lihui paused. “Is there anything you’re not adjusting to?”

Zhou Yining knew what he wanted to say. “No.”

Zhou Lihui added, “JiaHui won’t speak nonsense. Don’t worry.”

Zhou Yining pursed her lips. “That better be the case.”

Hanging up, Zhou Yining placed her hand on her chest, pressing lightly. She felt her mood had improved a lot recently. She turned to look at Ji Dongyang, who was leaning back in his chair. Recently, he had left almost all his free time for her. If they finished work early in the evening, and she didn’t stay at the hotel, he would find a chance to go to her house.

In the past, he wouldn’t have done such things. Thinking back carefully, he seemed more tolerant of her than before.

Zhou Yining returned to the restroom and fished out her medicine from her bag.

Ever since Zhou JiaHui went to her house last time, she was afraid of losing control and started relying on medication to control her emotions again. Staring at the pills in her hand, she thought Qin Yuan actually understood her in some ways, at least bringing her medicine was the right thing to do.

The door suddenly opened.

Zhou Yining quickly turned around and saw Ji Dongyang standing at the door. He looked at her. “Didn’t hear me knock?”

Zhou Yining hurriedly capped the bottle, stuffed it back into her bag, threw the pills into her mouth, and swallowed them dry. It was too rushed, and she choked, covering her mouth and coughing violently. “Cough, cough, cough…“

Ji Dongyang frowned, walked over, took her water cup from the table, handed it to her, and patted her back gently to help her breathe.

Zhou Yining quickly took it, gulped down two mouthfuls, her eyes tearing up from choking. She looked at him with red eyes. “Why are you here?”

Ji Dongyang asked, “What did you just eat?”

Zhou Yining lowered her head and took out a white medicine bottle from her bag. “Vitamins.”

A very small white bottle with no writing on it.

Ji Dongyang pursed his lips, took it, and looked at it. “What vitamins?”

Zhou Yining snatched the bottle back, stuffed it into her bag with her head down, her tone drifting a bit. “Alice bought them for me. You wouldn’t understand even if I told you.”

Ji Dongyang stared at her for a few seconds and didn’t press further. Zhou Yining quickly looked up. “You were looking for me?”

Ji Dongyang nodded. “Mm. Director Wei said a line in tonight’s scene needs to be changed. Come with me.”

Zhou Yining followed behind him. “Which line?”

Ji Dongyang: “It’s my line, not yours.”

Zhou Yining said, “Oh.” Before he opened the door, she jumped in front of him, looking up with a smile. “For tonight’s scene, shouldn’t we rehearse?”

NOTES

Safe period: A method of contraception relying on the menstrual cycle, generally considered unreliable but culturally referenced here.

China’s Best Assistant: A playful internet slang title praising someone’s dedication or competence..

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