Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Pei Chuzhi’s acting teacher once said something:

“Students, details determine success or failure. As actors, how do you make the audience believe in the role you play? First, you must deceive yourselves. Only by truly believing in the character’s experiences will your reactions in the moment be the most authentic.”

At this moment, Pei Chuzhi felt she had seen a Best Actor–level demonstration.

Too real.

So real that just now she even suspected Xing Ye had forgotten they weren’t actually a real couple.

Although Pei Chuzhi didn’t have much filming experience, she had still graduated as an outstanding student, ranking first in her major every year during university.

Directors had praised her before for being smart and spirited, knowing how to draw inferences.

After thinking briefly, she came up with a brilliant idea.

She lifted her head and looked at Xing Ye, who had walked aside to lean against the wall after saying that line, and softly asked, “Should we act more convincingly?”

Xing Ye didn’t speak.

He didn’t know what he was thinking. He lowered his head and didn’t meet her gaze. His expression was cool; under the half-lit yellow corridor light, his jawline looked especially sharp, though his expression oddly carried a hint of annoyance and gloom.

If there weren’t someone lurking in the underground garage, Pei Chuzhi would have happily admired this movie-poster-like lighting and texture for a few more minutes.

She straightened the coat that had been pulled askew and moved closer. “Xing Ye?”

“Mm?”

Xing Ye finally came back to himself and slowly looked at her.

A bright light shone in Pei Chuzhi’s eyes. “If you’re acting, you should go all the way, right?”

·

A few minutes later, the paparazzo lurking in the underground garage finally saw his targets again.

He shrank behind a pillar, only extending the arm holding his phone, trying to capture the two figures slowly approaching.

He saw clearly—it was Xing Ye and Pei Chuzhi who had hidden earlier.

Although one now wore a mask and the other covered half her face with sunglasses, their cautious and quick movements were the best proof that they were wary.

The paparazzo curled his lips happily, thinking tonight’s wait had been worth it.

Xing Ye had recently been frequently interacting with Pei Chuzhi, and his sharp professional instincts had already smelled gossip.

Today he accidentally saw the business car Xing Ye often used nearby, followed it to this building, and after more than two hours of waiting, finally grabbed first-hand explosive news.

Thinking that after tonight he would become famous in the circle, the paparazzo’s smile grew even brighter.

Pei Chuzhi followed behind Xing Ye, keeping less than half a meter of distance.

She occasionally looked left and right as if alert, her right hand constantly supporting her sunglasses as though afraid they might fall.

Meanwhile, Xing Ye walking not far ahead wore a black mask.

He never looked back at her.

They fully adopted the posture of “we’re not a couple, just good friends who came out to eat,” avoiding suspicion.

They stopped in front of the business car. Xiao Zhou inside stuck his head out. Seeing them, he froze, then reacted: “Paparazzi?”

He quickly opened the rear door for them to get in, then started the car and drove toward the exit.

Once the business car left the underground garage, Pei Chuzhi removed her scarf and let out a long breath.

To be honest, experiencing this for the first time, it was impossible not to be nervous.

Even though they were using the paparazzo, the short dozens of meters just now still made her uncomfortable, feeling watched from the dark.

Compared to her, Xing Ye was much calmer.

He hooked a finger under the edge of his mask and gently pulled it down, revealing his whole face.

Then he turned his face slightly, his gaze resting on her face for a few seconds before asking, “You okay?”

“Still okay, just a bit not used to it.”

Pei Chuzhi returned the sunglasses in her hand to Xing Ye—one month ago she had still been an unnoticed nobody walking on the street, and had never developed the habit of carrying disguise tools with her.

Xing Ye took the sunglasses, half comforting and half reminding, “There’ll be more situations like this in the future. Better get used to it early.”

Pei Chuzhi nodded seriously.

·

At eight o’clock that night, a Weibo account named “Stone-Hammer Exposé” entered people’s view again after a long absence.

From the name alone, it wasn’t hard to see that this was a marketing account mainly focused on exposés.

Although it didn’t update frequently, anyone slightly familiar with the entertainment industry knew that this account was run by a media company behind the scenes, with countless paparazzi under it, and gossip about many artists in the circle originated here.

And tonight’s exposed parties were precisely Xing Ye and Pei Chuzhi, who had trended recently because of a secretly photographed video.

The video was divided into two segments.

In the first segment, the two walked out of the elevator entrance without any guard up. Then they seemed to notice something, and Xing Ye directly pulled Pei Chuzhi back. It was very obvious they were avoiding the paparazzi’s camera.

In the second segment, the two who appeared again had both disguised themselves to some degree, and even tried to cover it up by deliberately keeping distance, with no interaction from beginning to end.

These days, netizens had eaten enough gossip and naturally learned to analyze and judge.

【Stone-Hammer messed up this time, right? The two clearly look like friends hanging out.】

【Would you stand that far from a friend? Obviously they were afraid of being photographed, so they deliberately pretended not to be close.】

【Xing Ye pulling Pei Chuzhi looked very loving. That was instinctively wanting to protect her, right?】

Just as both sides were already passionately battling in the comments, a certain netizen used sharp eyes to capture several frames from the video, stitched them into a long image, and posted it in the comments.

【I think I found the key point. The screenshots are arranged chronologically—look carefully at Xing Ye’s actions. He first noticed someone suspicious, then made a move as if to step forward. But at that moment Pei Chuzhi turned to talk to him, and only then did he suddenly pull her behind him.】

Once this image was posted, it immediately awakened many people’s memories.

Right—today’s photographed person was Xing Ye.

Did he look like someone who would hide just because of paparazzi?

Wasn’t he the one who directly confronted paparazzi outside a hotel last year?

【Now that you mention it I remember! He was criticized for confronting paparazzi for a long time, but he clearly responded at the time, “Next time I see a pap I’ll still confront them.” No reason he’d change personality in less than a year.】

【…So this time it’s because Pei Chuzhi was there, and he didn’t want to confront paparazzi with a girl present?】

【emmm, am I the only one who finds this shippable?】

【You’re not alone. Xing Ye, who’s usually so arrogant, suddenly became so gentle.】

When the topic climbed onto the trending list, Xing Ye was at home having a video meeting with Song Shiqing.

Song Shiqing had already asked the PR department to monitor public opinion: “I hope you can change the publicity plan.”

“What do you mean?”

“At present the effect is better than we estimated. Plus the groundwork from the previous times, your fans are relatively calm this time and haven’t come out to scold on a large scale.”

“In this situation, directly announcing your couple status—I think this is the most appropriate timing.”

Xing Ye lowered his eyes slightly, tapping the keyboard with his finger.

The page refreshed with “Pei Chuzhi” as the search keyword.

【No wonder Pei Chuzhi could play Jiang Nanyan, now I understand.】

【Pei Chuzhi and Xing Ye are probably real. A nobody suddenly rising by clinging to a powerful backer—I even thought she got it by real ability.】

【I said it already—how could Pei Chuzhi get the resources for “Secretly Fall in Love With You”? Tsk tsk, virtue unworthy of position will invite backlash.】

Song Shiqing’s voice came from the laptop: “Xing Ye, you don’t agree with my suggestion?”

“…”

Xing Ye frowned, his expression turning gloomy. “If we announce it directly now, is it the best timing for her?”

Song Shiqing smiled. “That’s something Huaxing needs to consider. What you signed is only a contract couple, not being her nanny. The purpose of our publicity proposal is to prevent your personal image from being tarnished by too many scandals. I only need to achieve that goal; I have no obligation to wait for her to grow.”

Xing Ye was silent for a few seconds, then asked, “What did Huaxing say?”

“They didn’t object.”

Though it was only that—they didn’t object.

On the surface it was a cooperative proposal between both sides, but in reality, in the entire plan, the dominant side was definitely the financially powerful Ya-Ying Media.

Many times, even if Tang Dong had doubts, due to limitations in company resources and capabilities, he couldn’t propose a better plan.

A brief silence appeared in their conversation.

Song Shiqing was waiting for Xing Ye’s reply.

But in Xing Ye’s mind appeared the look in Pei Chuzhi’s eyes tonight in the restaurant, when she talked about her childhood.

It was a pure and happy expression.

She truly liked acting.

And truly wanted to act well.

The answer quietly surfaced in his heart.

When he spoke again, Xing Ye’s voice was soft yet firm: “Sorry, I’m willing to wait for her.”