Chapter 110

Chapter 110 [VIP] Extra Five (Ten Years After Marriage)

Not long after returning from their honeymoon in Norway, they went to Wang Cheng. After ten years, Chi Lu finally stood before his grandmother’s grave, offering incense and bowing three times.

That day, he didn't experience any panic attacks. After leaving the cemetery, they went to Wang Cheng No. 1 High School for a visit. They had dinner at a restaurant next to the school, rented a private room, and An Ye even signed for the waiter.

They didn’t go to Wang Shanshan’s place that evening. Instead, they picked a hotel they liked, planning to visit the old neighborhood where Chi Lu’s grandmother had lived the next morning.

Everything went smoothly. After entering the suite, Chi Lu told An Ye that the hotel's bathroom was okay and kept clean.

An Ye was in a rush to use the bathroom, so she pushed Chi Lu outside and shut the door.

Midway, An Ye heard Chi Lu asking her if she wanted a late-night snack, but she threw a roll of toilet paper at him in response. He seemed to chuckle.

After that, there was no more sound.

An Ye didn't pay much attention. In the group chat, Qi Wei was asking her about the red carpet sponsor. She had some psychological baggage about that brand's dresses, and her waist had gained an inch recently. Wearing their dresses now would probably feel like peeling off a layer of skin.

She spent five minutes in the bathroom. When she came out, everything was quiet outside.

"Chi Lu?" An Ye peeked out but didn’t find him. "Did you fall asleep?"

He couldn’t have gone out; he wasn’t the type to sneak away quietly.

An Ye entered the bedroom. Actually, just a second before entering, she thought maybe he had fallen asleep. After all, he'd been sleeping poorly the past couple of days due to the trip to Wang Cheng. Now that things were settled, he could relax and fall asleep normally.

She really did walk into the bedroom with a relatively calm mindset.

However, when she saw Chi Lu curled up in the corner of the carpet, his tall frame shaking, his face flushed red, even starting to turn purple, she froze.

This was the first time An Ye had directly witnessed the shadow of the Chi Lu from his past—the boy who had to survive on his own, with no one to help him.

They had prepared thoroughly before coming, even seeing Dr. Zuo. An Ye was very familiar with all the emergency procedures, but being prepared and actually witnessing it were two different things.

Her hand shaking as she fed him the medication.

For so long, he had struggled alone in a foreign country.

No one helped him.

There wasn’t even anyone to feed him his medication, no one to help him regulate his breathing like this. He could only collapse, drenched in sweat, convulsing as he swallowed the medicine, recovering on his own.

Through the entire process, he remained conscious because he had to survive; he couldn’t afford to lose consciousness.

The recovery time was long. At first, she could only feel that he was starting to breathe again, his face—previously purple from lack of oxygen—gradually turning red and fading.

Next came the tremors, initially frequent, then becoming occasional spasms.

By this point, he had regained some strength and was able to hold onto An Ye, quietly resting against her.

Later, the spasms stopped, but sweat continued to pour from him like he was in a steam room.

Only after he stopped convulsing did An Ye begin feeding him water, one sip at a time, waiting quietly as he furrowed his brow to swallow.

Then, after a long time, Chi Lu’s breathing and heartbeat gradually returned to normal.

He had no more strength, lying limply on the carpet, his head resting on An Ye's lap.

An Ye looked down at his hand, palms facing each other. She had compared their hand sizes her whole life, and as always, his fingers were a whole joint longer than hers.“You have such a long lifeline.” She murmured, “Why is your love line such a mess?”

“…Left for men, right for women.” Chi Lu switched hands for her.

His voice was hoarse, and An Ye gave him another sip of water, mouth to mouth.

“People with hoarse voices shouldn’t speak.” She continued to look down at the palm lines on his other hand. After studying it for a while, the half-baked An Ye sighed, “Your life really has been tough.”

Chi Lu, with his eyes closed, let out a laugh, then reached up to flick her earlobe.

Finally, he had enough strength to turn over. He flipped onto his side, burying his head in her stomach.

“Won’t you have trouble breathing like that?” An Ye was a little worried about his position.

Chi Lu shook his head.

An Ye rubbed his sweaty hair, casually wiping the sweat onto her own clothes.

Chi Lu chuckled again at her action, the corners of his tired mouth lifting slightly.

“Speaking of which…” An Ye, who usually didn’t talk much in front of others, was quite talkative in front of Chi Lu. “Isn’t the owner of that restaurant where we had dinner tonight the same person who used to sell fried chicken outside?”

“Hmm?” Chi Lu opened his eyes, thought for a moment, “Which one?”

His voice was still hoarse.

“The one who was too stingy to give plum powder.” An Ye said, “I think it’s him, I remember he had a birthmark on his neck.”

Chi Lu laughed: “He’s gotten pretty fat, huh…”

“Chi Lu.” An Ye softly called his name.

“Hmm?” Chi Lu responded.

“It’s really good that you’re back.” She said.

Chi Lu touched her earlobe and smiled.

There were no big words, but they both understood.

Neither of them mentioned what had just happened. An Ye didn’t ask if Chi Lu was feeling better, and Chi Lu didn’t ask if An Ye had been scared by his appearance.

They were so familiar with each other that they knew that if he felt any better, he would have sat up by now. They also knew that An Ye’s fingers were still cold.

The best comfort was simply, like now, talking about trivial things.

These marks etched in their lives weren’t what they wanted, but since they existed, they became part of their lives.

A part they needed to take care of for each other.

It was tragic, but it was still much better than fighting alone. At least, today, Chi Lu could finally bow three times firmly before his grandmother’s grave and burn an incense stick.

Of course, their married life hadn’t always been so smooth.

An Ye’s career meant she couldn’t avoid all the scandals and gossip. In the past, her agency would arrange for her to have scandals, but her current studio would never play those games. Still, they couldn’t avoid companies that didn’t follow the proper channels and wanted to take shortcuts.

The seventh year of marriage.That year, there were no photos of An Ye and Chi Lu together in public. In fact, since the fifth year, the photos that had been secretly taken by fans in the CP fan group had decreased.

An Ye’s work output, however, remained steady. She reduced her participation in variety shows, and now she could have three movies every two years. After finishing Yang Zhengyi’s art film, she opened up overseas markets. Her current pace was basically one domestic film, one collaborative project, or purely overseas. In these past few years, with the rise of female consciousness, An Ye’s acting skills were solid, and she took good care of her reputation. Her career hadn’t narrowed as she grew older.

Since there were no variety shows, fans could only see An Ye through interviews.

After leaving “Illusory Day,” the content of her interviews had few scripted traces. Her brief but straightforward personal style was quite distinctive, but she rarely talked about personal matters.

Except for the wedding ring on her ring finger.

In August of the seventh year, rumors about An Ye and Chi Lu getting a divorce started circulating.

The day the rumor spread, An Ye was shooting abroad. Chi Lu took on the case of an old acquaintance, Lu Yifei, who was terminating his contract and planning to fly solo from his management company. Since the variety show with his opposite-sex friend ended, Lu Yifei had kept in touch with Chi Lu and them. When An Ye announced her marriage, he was one of the first to share it. So, when it came to this termination, Chi Lu immediately took on his case.

Fighting such a case was far more difficult for an idol than for An Ye, a solid actor with a strong foundation. Chi Lu had recently been overwhelmed.

So neither of them clarified the matter immediately. Only Qi Wei released an official statement from the studio.

Since the main parties didn’t show up, the public wasn’t convinced by the official statement. The divorce rumor only became more worthy of discussion because of it.

For example, did An Ye have some endorsement that prevented her from publicly acknowledging the divorce? Or was she the one at fault, which was why the studio was the first to release a statement?

The rumors spread quickly, and the next morning, a marketing account, which had previously received multiple cease and desist letters from Chi Lu and even posted an apology letter to An Ye, released eighteen photos. The headline was "An Ye’s secret late-night meeting with new Best Actor Peng Ling." The photos were typical paparazzi style, filled with watermarks. You could vaguely see An Ye and Peng Ling in a private room, with Peng Ling laughing and An Ye showing no expression.

Then there were photos of them coming out one after another. An Ye was wearing a simple white T-shirt and jeans, carrying a black bag on her shoulder. Peng Ling was the first to come out, and when An Ye followed, he turned around and handed her something. An Ye smiled a little.

That was all. The two of them didn’t look particularly intimate. At most, they had a meal together in a private room.

But An Ye was rarely photographed in private, and since joining her studio, she had kept a distance from men. Even in the promotion for romance films, she would only interact with the male lead during roadshows. Such photos, for someone like An Ye, were indeed considered intimate.

Thus, An Ye’s divorce and affair topped the trending searches.

When the news broke, An Ye was shooting a night scene overseas due to the time difference. This time, she was doing an action movie. She had been hanging on a wire all night and couldn’t lift her arms. She had to have her assistant feed her water through a straw, and she couldn’t even hold her phone.

Chi Lu called her twice and sent several texts, but she didn’t get them. In the end, he had to call her assistant, and she took the call using headphones.

“I’ve already issued the statement and sent a lawyer’s letter to that marketing account.” Chi Lu said briefly. “You can have Xiao Yao or Qi Wei post on your account, no need to prove anything, just say you haven’t divorced.”

An Ye was dozing off, responding with a soft “Mm” after each of his sentences.

Once Chi Lu finished giving instructions, there was a pause, and he asked, “What exactly is going on with that Peng Ling?”

“Ah? Who?” An Ye, confused due to the disconnected network, asked sleepily.

“…The Best Actor you mentioned, who was also in Australia last month, is friends with the male lead of your film and invited you to dinner.” Chi Lu clarified.

“Ah, oh.” An Ye slowly came to her senses, “...Just had dinner.”

“When he left, did he hand you something?” Chi Lu asked.

An Ye paused, now slightly more awake. “How do you know? Did it get photographed?”

Chi Lu made a noncommittal sound.

An Ye hesitated.

Chi Lu patiently waited.

“Well…” An Ye winced, “My back hurts so much.”"…Birthday gift?" Chi Lu helped her explain.

"…Didn't you want a surprise?" An Ye clicked her tongue.

It was rare for her to be so secretive, planning a surprise for Chi Lu. She had specially asked someone to design a pair of wedding rings, thinking after seven years, it was time to get new ones. However, the craftsmanship on one of the rings was too delicate, and it needed a specialist to fix it. The male lead of the movie, Peng Ling, mentioned that his family had been making rings for many years, so An Ye went to that dinner with him. It wasn’t just the two of them—Xiao Yao and the male lead of the movie were also there.

An Ye was the first to leave the dinner, as she had a shoot the next day and didn’t eat much.

Peng Ling chased after her to give her his business card. He had left his phone number on the table earlier, but then he ran after her to say that if she couldn’t get in touch with him, she could reach him through the landline on the business card. His attitude was very polite, so An Ye just smiled in return.

Now that she thought about it…

The excuse for the dinner was to discuss a potential collaboration for the next movie. The private room had floor-to-ceiling windows, and An Ye had originally been sitting near the door. However, Peng Ling told her that this was the serving position and that she, as the guest, shouldn’t sit near the door. So he had moved her to the window side.

The topics at the dinner had already been discussed, but he made a point to run out and talk about them again.

…

An Ye had a slight headache. She had been so well-protected these years that she had forgotten about these typical tricks.

"Is he crazy? I'm married. What does spreading this gossip do for him?" An Ye rubbed her temples and winced; now it really hurt.

"How long have you been on the wire?" Chi Lu furrowed his brows. "I'll come over tomorrow or the day after."

"Did you finish the contract termination case?" An Ye asked.

"Not yet. I’m waiting for Lu Yifei to give me his list of freelance jobs from last year." Chi Lu still frowned. "Let Xiao Yao take you back to the hotel first. Apply the injury ointment we bought earlier, then rest. I’ll handle the rest."

"Don’t be too ruthless…" An Ye reminded him before hanging up. "They’re from a big company too."

Chi Lu made a noncommittal sound.

It was hard to stop Chi Lu from doing things ruthlessly.

He was efficient. By the time he visited her on set, the gossip had already mostly settled. An Ye had only seen it online, where Peng Ling’s side explained the reason for their dinner. He clarified that there were other people in the private room and that An Ye had contacted him to surprise her husband. He asked everyone not to speculate too much.

It wasn’t a lie, and there were no embellishments. It was straightforward and resembled the style of PR statements that Qi Wei often wrote.

Then, Chi Lu used his own lawyer’s account to post a statement saying they had not divorced, and An Ye’s account reposted it.

This matter had seemingly passed.

Privately, Qi Wei said Peng Ling’s manager almost came to their studio to hang himself.

"Your husband sent all the dirt he had on him." Qi Wei sighed. "Peng Ling’s really not very bright. His Best Actor award is kind of inflated. His company spent a lot of effort on the numbers, but the traffic still wouldn’t rise. So, he got a bit desperate, thinking of creating a big scandal."

"He really believed the rumors in the industry, thinking that you and Chi Lu had already divorced, and that you didn’t go public because of that drink commercial contract. Plus, the CP fan group still has commercial value."

"You’ve always been great for generating CP, haven’t you? None of your previous partners have ended up irrelevant. Look at Qing Ze, he’s still active at the top level. So, he decided to target you, thinking he could stir up a divorce rumor."

An Ye: "…"

Sometimes, An Ye really wondered about the intelligence of her colleagues. The lengths they would go to for traffic, throwing away their dignity, brains, and even their conscience—it was truly terrifying.

"Chi Lu figured out what was going on, then sent a zip file to their manager. Inside were all the details about buying awards and unfair competition. Just that kind of shady stuff, you know."

So, Peng Ling was brought to his knees.

"This isn’t a huge problem, but I do have some personal opinions," Qi Wei added after explaining the situation. "Can you two make some effort for your career? Stop buying groceries online every day. If you're not shooting, you're either at home or running around the world. At least post some material for the CP fan group. Although we don’t need the traffic, a little positive energy from a loving couple would be nice, don’t you think?"An Ye: "…"

So, on the fourth day after the divorce rumors spread, the CP fan group received a batch of materials.

Chi Lu went to the film set. At that time, An Ye was still in the air, but when she landed, Chi Lu was carrying her back to the car. When they reached the hotel, it was still Chi Lu carrying her back to the hotel.

In the following days, more materials kept coming.

When filming, An Ye looked graceful and heroic, but once the shoot was over, she would nestle in Chi Lu's arms, barely keeping her feet on the ground.

According to a source, An Ye had been on the wire for an entire night. When she came down, her entire back was bruised, but she didn't make a sound.

But when her husband arrived, she was flying on the wire for another four hours. When she came down, she couldn’t even move her clothes and just blinked at Chi Lu, and then Chi Lu carried her to the car.

After that, when Chi Lu's vacation ended and he returned to the country, An Ye went back to being the dedicated Best Actress, who, despite her skin and flesh being pulled apart by the wires, gritted her teeth and didn’t say a word.

After Chi Lu returned to the country, he reposted a behind-the-scenes video from the movie’s official Weibo on his own account with a short message: "Baby, be happy every day."

Thus, the drama of the seven-year itch in the CP fan group quietly ended with a series of ellipses.

In the tenth year of their marriage, Chi Lu’s nominal younger brother got married.

An Ye and Chi Lu didn’t attend. The only time they went was in the third year of their marriage, when they went to Singapore. They didn’t even return to that home but only brought Zhang Rou out and spent two days in the neighboring country, having a meal with her.

An Ye had a personal reason for this. The family photo from that time had impacted her too much, and she was afraid that Zhang Rou hadn’t put it away. She didn’t want Chi Lu to see the expression she had when she saw the photo.

Fortunately, Zhang Rou hadn’t said anything. She was the type of person who preferred to move forward and never look back. Chi Lu had told her that as long as she felt happy, all his past suffering would be worth it.

So Zhang Rou had to be happy.

He still called Zhang Rou once or twice every month. The rest of the time, they maintained a lukewarm relationship.

This time, when his rarely-contacted younger brother got married, An Ye sent a set of gold jewelry as a gift, wishing them a long and happy marriage. She put some thought into it, carefully picking a pair of birds of a feather design. It was golden and quite beautiful.

As for Chi Lu, for some reason, he had a dream that night.

A long dream, starting from their teenage years all the way to old age.

In the dream, they hadn’t separated for those ten years. Their family hadn’t been as irreconcilable as it was now—just a single-parent family, just poor.

So they supported each other through life. She acted in movies, and he worked hard to make a living. After she finished shooting "Lin Luo," he confessed to her under the magnolia tree downstairs in the old neighborhood in Wangcheng.

The spring was beautiful. He watched An Ye, who had just turned 20, smile at him while holding his love letter.

He saw her 30th birthday, when she was wearing a gown, coming out from the backstage of an award ceremony, and throwing herself into his arms.

He saw them kissing in the icy cold of the Arctic Circle during Chinese New Year at the age of 40.

He saw them in their 50s, both semi-retired, having traveled the world. They grew vegetables on the terrace of their penthouse and kept a white cat with blue eyes, identical to Old Bai.

At the age of 60, they went to Norway and bought a small red cabin by the sea. It was summer, and the mountains were covered in moss-like green.

At 70 and 80, the scenes in the dream had become blurry, but he could still see An Ye, hands on her hips, telling him to start doing Pilates with her. She warned him, "If you don't take care of yourself, your back will bend, and you'll shrink a lot."

It was a very long dream. In the dream, neither of them had the ear bone piercings nor the youthful holes.

When Chi Lu woke up, he was dazed for a long time.An Ye, still asleep in his arms, had gotten used to burying her face in his chest over the years. She would say that always sleeping on one side would cause nasolabial folds, so every month, they had to switch sides to balance it out.

Looking at it this way, it really wasn't much different from his dream.

Except for the part where they were twenty, in every subsequent decade, they would always be together. The scenes in his dream would become reality.

"It's only seven o'clock." An Ye was woken up by him and groggily checked her phone with a moan.

"I dreamt of you at eighty years old." Chi Lu lay flat, pulling her onto him, letting her lie down and continue sleeping.

An Ye rested her chin on his chest, dazed. "Eighty?"

"Mm."

"Do I have wrinkles?"

"…Do you think you’ll be wrinkle-free at eighty?"

"Then do you still have hair?"

"…Yes."

"What about ninety?"

"…I haven’t dreamt that far yet."

"Then keep sleeping. By eight o'clock, we’ll see what you look like at one hundred."

"…Okay."

"Chi Lu."

"Mm?"

"Will I be ugly when I’m eighty?"

"No, you’ll be a very beautiful old lady."

"That’s good."

"Mm, that’s good."

Old Bai stepped on the feet of the two lovey-dovey humans again, squeezing himself between their legs, turning himself into a long strip.

Chi Lu, as expected, fell back asleep, smiling, unsure if he had truly seen An Ye at ninety.

The sunlight cast dust particles into the air, making them lightly dance in the rays.

The two of them slept peacefully, their breathing tangled together. And so, slowly, their lives would become intertwined forever.

【Online Edition Extra Finished】

The author has something to say:

It's over!!! (Not at 111 endings, this will drive Chi Lu crazy, hahaha)

The author is spinning around in circles, throwing flowers, munching on catnip, bam bam bam.

On Wednesday, I will change it to "Completed" status, so it’d be great if everyone could leave a rating then! Thanks, everyone!The next book will probably be in September, the one titled The Future All Things Shop.

The first 800 comments will get red envelopes.

Thank you again, and we’ll meet again in the next book if fate allows!