Chapter 38

Chapter 38

Lan Yifang had been secretly watching An Ye and Shi Tuo, who were sitting in the back row.

The driver of the nanny van was a stranger. Recently, Yan Wan had been openly dismantling her team, starting from the edges. A few of the assistants and work assistants had been replaced by newcomers from the company or even temporary workers from the film city. The driver and bodyguard teams were also replaced, and every time she got in the car, she had to check the license plate number and the driver's ID. Yan Wan didn’t mind the trouble, and neither did she. She wasn’t the type of person who needed a crowd around her when she went out. Lan Yifang was enough to help with the daily tasks.

The only inconvenience was that she no longer had any private space to chat.

When Shi Tuo got in the car, the driver gave him a long look. After getting in, the car was completely silent.

When the car drove onto the elevated road, An Ye’s phone in her pocket vibrated.

Shi Tuo: [I need some background information.]

An Ye pouted and looked down to type.

Little Goose: [Qing Ze asked me to meet him at a crowded amusement park entrance this afternoon, saying he wanted to give me the photos from the variety show I did before.]

Shi Tuo: [???]

Shi Tuo: [Can't he just send them to you via phone? Is your data not enough?]

An Ye couldn’t help but find it amusing. It had been a long time since she saw that string of question marks.

Little Goose: [His TV show aired last month and received a lot of bad reviews, saying his acting was terrible, blah blah. So he wants to start a rumor this New Year to boost his popularity and attention.]

Little Goose: [An amusement park is the perfect place to get someone to take photos. There are so many people. Even if there are a bunch of people standing next to him and me, the paparazzi can still single us out and say it’s a New Year’s outing.]

Shi Tuo: [???]

Shi Tuo: [So why are you helping him?]

Little Goose: [We share the same agent. I can’t keep refusing Yan Wan’s requests too often. If I make her angry, it might ruin Qi Wei’s PR rhythm. Qi Wei can be scary, and if she gets mad, she might bite.]

She was more lively chatting on her phone than in person.

She used to be like that too.

Shi Tuo: [You often give in to Yan Wan?]

Little Goose: [In the past two years, I only went to half of the ten drinking parties Yan Wan organized.]

Shi Tuo, sitting next to her, chuckled lightly and didn’t reply.

An Ye locked her phone and threw it back into her coat pocket.

The car drove onto the ring road, and An Ye’s phone vibrated again.

Shi Tuo: [Take a nap.]

An Ye: ...

She turned her head to look at Shi Tuo.

Shi Tuo mouthed, “Take a nap.”

An Ye mouthed back, “Two words? You can't be serious?”

Shi Tuo: “…”Chapter 38

Lan Yifang, from the front seat, caught a glimpse of An Ye and Shi Tuo in the back row, both smiling as they looked out the window. After a while, they both closed their eyes almost at the same time.

Lan Yifang quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

When An Ye was in character, it was terrifying. This morning, when she saw the thick fog outside, half of her heart sank. The atmosphere today was the kind you'd find in a hospital for psychiatric patients, and she was really worried about An Ye's state of mind today.

She was also worried that An Ye might try to drag her into a scene.

Lan Yifang wasn’t very experienced and always felt that An Ye’s way of getting into character was quite eerie. How could someone change completely just by closing and opening their eyes? Even their voice could change, as if they were a completely different person.

And once she was in character, it was hard to get out. Sometimes, this state could last for the entire shooting cycle, for months. An Ye wouldn’t be An Ye anymore; she would become someone else.

Or, even worse.

But this time, it felt a bit different.

She didn’t accompany An Ye today while she was getting into character, so she didn’t know if An Ye was the same as before, whether the inspiration would suddenly strike while observing, like it usually did.

But An Ye seemed quite relaxed today. When she came out of the state, her expression was still that of An Ye, and her demeanor was relaxed.

The dynamic between An Ye and Shi Tuo was something Lan Yifang had never seen before. It wasn’t quite a couple’s dynamic, but it was more intimate than friendship. Sometimes, Lan Yifang even felt that An Ye trusted Shi Tuo more than she trusted Aunt Wang.

It suddenly gave her a bit of confidence for the future.

She also suddenly felt that An Ye’s mental state wasn’t as bad as Yan Wan and Aunt Wang thought. Maybe she was just lonely. Once her childhood companion found her, she’d be fine.

This feeling came out of nowhere, something Lan Yifang wouldn’t normally think too much about. But today, sitting in the back seat with the two of them, silently but perfectly in sync with one another, she immediately recognized it.

It felt like when she was a child, watching her best friends glance at each other and then hold hands to go to the bathroom together.

Qing Ze was a male idol selected from a talent show invested by Huanyou Entertainment. As soon as he debuted, he became very popular. He had the trendy "little brother" look, with a slender build and a youthful vibe. The most prominent feature in his face was his drooping eyes, which gave him a pitiful look when he stared at people.

His singing was decent. His tone was good, and his pitch was on point. He could also dance well. After all, he stood out among a group of boys with his singing and dancing skills and was then noticed by Huanyou Entertainment, who gave him a fast-track ticket to success.

However, the singing market wasn't very profitable. Variety shows, acting, endorsements, and live streaming were where the real money was. Yan Wan had led Qing Ze down a completely different path from An Ye’s, and his positioning was very clear. Qing Ze was a quick-turnaround product, with his golden period likely to last only three to five years.

So, Qing Ze was in a hurry. His window of opportunity was those three to five years. Once his popularity waned, if he didn’t have any noteworthy works, he would be quickly eliminated by the market.

But he really had no acting talent.

An Ye, although a graduate of a prestigious film academy, still carried the lasting imprint of her first movie on her acting. Even though she had learned acting techniques, when it came time to shoot, she still relied largely on her feelings in the moment. There was little she could teach Qing Ze.

She had starred in two movies, but the film industry had very high demands on looks, and Qing Ze didn’t have standout acting skills. As a result, he faded into the background. In the end, he could only rely on variety shows and rumors to stay relevant.

After all, An Ye was still a top actress who had won all the Best Actress awards. Yan Wan wasn’t willing to let go of that kind of traffic, and Qing Ze, who was afraid of being eliminated, naturally couldn’t afford to abandon An Ye either.

So, things started to get ugly.

For instance, meeting in a noisy, crowded place at the beginning of the New Year.

“Why don’t we skip it?” Lan Yifang looked at the long line at the entrance with a grim expression. “If the crowd outside gets pushed in, it’ll be dangerous.”

An Ye lowered her head and checked her phone. “Let’s go around to the west gate. There’s a bookstore over there.”

The driver obediently turned the steering wheel without saying a word.

An Ye searched online for photos of the bookstore's exterior, sneered, and called Qing Ze.Shi Tuo naturally took out his phone and opened the camera.

"What are you doing?" An Ye mouthed at him.

"Preserving evidence." Shi Tuo mouthed back.

An Ye rolled her eyes, but obediently clicked the record button on her own phone before answering the call.

She really hadn't changed much. Apart from the thicker wall between herself and the crowd, everything else was still the same.

On the other end of the line, Qing Ze’s voice was noisy. As soon as the call connected, he quickly apologized, "Ah, Sister An, sorry, sorry, sorry! I have a shoot here today, so I had no choice but to meet here..."

"Why don't we change the day?" An Ye interrupted him.

Qing Ze hesitated, saying, "Wait, wait," and then moved to a quieter place. Lowering his voice, he said, "Sister An, please don’t make things difficult for me..."

An Ye smiled and casually asked, "Has Brother Yan been looking for you again?"

Qing Ze was silent for half a second before responding with a laugh, "Which day has Brother Yan not been looking for me recently?"

An Ye frowned slightly, silent.

Qing Ze stayed quiet for another half-second before continuing, "Actually, today’s matter has nothing to do with Brother Yan. It's just that a few of the photos my assistant took involve privacy, so I can only give them to you in person."

An Ye and Shi Tuo exchanged a glance.

In fact, Shi Tuo couldn’t hear what they were talking about, but An Ye turned her gaze away and looked out the window. "Where exactly are we meeting?"

"There’s a little alley next to the coffee shop. I'll be waiting for you there. It won’t take long." Qing Ze spoke quickly, and then hung up.

There was nothing in the phone conversation worth recording. Anyone in this circle knew the game rules very well.

Qing Ze just couldn’t act, but his IQ was still intact.

Inside the car, An Ye observed the alley. Qing Ze was quite dedicated to his approach to paparazzi shots. The entire alley’s walls were covered with vibrant but faded artistic graffiti. From the angle at the mouth of the alley, the shots would come out exceptionally well.

An Ye felt hopeless about this idol economy, where even paparazzi shots had to focus on the aesthetic of the image. Before getting out of the car, she still took the time to fix her hair in the small mirror.

She also pulled Shi Tuo aside, helping him adjust his scarf.

"Tsk," she said.

"What’s wrong?" Shi Tuo turned his neck, resisting the scarf that she had almost tightened too much around him.

"That all-black outfit of yours might steal the spotlight more than mine," An Ye clicked her tongue again. "You stand on my right side later."

Shi Tuo: "..."

She had changed.

Back then, the girl who would run around in school uniform during holidays now had the habit of criticizing his outfit multiple times.

And...

The thin figure waiting for An Ye in the alley stood in the shadows. Despite wearing such a thick cotton jacket in the middle of winter, you could still feel the skeletal structure underneath.

One of the girls in their group had a younger sister who was a crazy fan and couldn’t be controlled. This girl was very harsh in her critiques of idols. She said that today's idols were the Barbie dolls of the new era; if they were supposed to have a youthful look, even gaining a little weight would get them eliminated by the market.

The person standing in front of her was likely this type.In front of the camera, it didn’t seem obvious, but in real life, he was so thin that he looked like a 15 or 16-year-old boy, the kind that was sickly thin.

He leaned against the wall in a static pose that looked fine but would be very uncomfortable if done in real life. Beside him was a striking piece of 3D graffiti art on the wall, depicting a futuristic-looking camera.

The colors matched perfectly with his mustard-colored cotton jacket.

It was definitely planned, and probably took quite a bit of time to find this shooting location.

When An Ye walked in, he hesitated for a moment, lowering his sunglasses just slightly as if deciding whether to take them off. He took off his mask and was about to speak, but then saw Shi Tuo, who had entered with An Ye.

Shi Tuo was tall. An Ye, who was 1.72 meters and wearing mid-heeled boots, was still shorter than him by almost half a head. Plus, his all-black outfit gave off a strong sense of pressure.

"An Jie, you… just for a photo, you don’t need to bring a bodyguard, right?" Qing Ze put his mask back on.

"My friend," An Ye replied. The alley was narrow, and the two of them walked side by side, with An Ye walking right next to Shi Tuo, which conveniently blocked most of Qing Ze’s body.

Qing Ze: "…"

He had to straighten up, only to realize Shi Tuo was still a little taller than him.

Qing Ze glanced at Shi Tuo a couple more times. An Ye had never brought a friend out by herself. This face looked unfamiliar—definitely not someone from the industry.

"Hello," Qing Ze, as a celebrity who needed to manage his public image, greeted Shi Tuo first.

Shi Tuo nodded with no expression, not introducing himself, "Hello."

Qing Ze cleared his throat.

He felt a little irritated. An Ye clearly knew his intentions for bringing her here, yet she deliberately brought someone along—was it because she didn’t want to continue with him or did she have other intentions?

"Photos?" An Ye reached her hand out.

Qing Ze couldn’t help but glance toward the alley entrance, meeting An Ye’s smiling eyes.

He paused for a moment, licked his lips, then took out his phone and handed it to An Ye. "It’s my assistant’s phone. All the photos are in the album."

"He originally just wanted to take behind-the-scenes shots for a variety show, but when he saw you backstage, he took these."

It was a very clean phone, with only a dozen photos and a video in the album. Most of them were taken in the same scene, with An Ye squatting in the corner of a makeup room, sticking her tongue out at a green plant in the corner.

In the video, she made a playful expression, like a little girl playing hide-and-seek, shrinking her body, eyes wide open, eagerly and curiously peering outside.

An Ye smiled as she looked at the photos.

"Brother Yan asked me for them before, but I didn’t give them to him," Qing Ze added, leaning in closer, his face nearly touching An Ye's as they both viewed the photos.

Shi Tuo stepped to An Ye’s left side, his tall figure effectively blocking the paparazzi’s angle.

Qing Ze: "…"

He had no choice but to step back and lean against the wall again. From this angle, he could still be in the shot.

An Ye directly handed the phone to Shi Tuo, then asked Qing Ze, "Why did Brother Yan ask you for these photos?"

Qing Ze was already smiling when handing over the phone, that exaggerated kind of smile one would give when saying, "We’re being ambiguous," in front of an audience. But when An Ye asked him this direct question, his smile froze. He stood there in shock, mouth agape: "Huh?"

An Ye took a step forward, looking up at Qing Ze.

Qing Ze took a panicked step back, mouth still agape, "Huh!"Shi Tuo: "..."

He understood why An Ye said this person couldn’t walk upright.

"Give me your phone. I’ll clear it and return it to you," An Ye said with a smile, her entire demeanor warm and friendly, as if she wasn’t even speaking to Qing Ze. "Find something else to stir up. Right now, I’m in deeper trouble than you are. I can’t help you."

Qing Ze: "… I…"

"If Brother Yan still asks you for these things later," An Ye didn’t wait for him to respond, taking a step back to stand side by side with Shi Tuo. "You can just give them to him. It’s just for the rehearsal. If this video leaks, others will just praise me for being professional."

Qing Ze: "…"

He regretted it. He should have listened to his assistant and stayed out of things between Yan Wan and An Ye.

Today’s probing was useless and had backfired.

He stared blankly as An Ye whispered a few words to her unnamed friend. That friend shot An Ye a long look, but still obediently moved to her right side, clearing the angle for the paparazzi.

Then An Ye moved forward again, leaning her body slightly and smiling sweetly as she got close to Qing Ze’s ear.

She said, "You picked a good background. The shot should come out pretty well."

Qing Ze: "…"