Chapter 50 – Damn vagabond
After Chen Yang left, Su Yi poked at her phone while walking and had Wu Xue print out the script they had received.
Today, Chu Ying had brought a driver and wasn’t riding the Rover but a Benz limousine. She got into the backseat, the guy put down his file and asked, “Done chatting?”
The heater was turned on. As she took off the suit jacket Su Yi said, “Yeah.”
Taking the jacket from her, Chu Ying put it over her knees.
“Ma-shu*, you can drive.”
[*Ma-shu: the way one would address an ‘uncle’]
“好。”
“Got it.” The driver looked forward and slowly started the car.
Su Yi leant on the man’s arm and Chu Ying didn’t hide from her, continuing to read through his documents.
Soon Wu Xue got back to her.
[Wu Xue: The script is in your room. Where are you now? If you’re free, go on Weibo and post an apology.]
[Goddess Su Yi: What apology?]
[Wu Xue: That ‘none of my business’, the PR guys want you to apologise. They’ve sent me several versions of the content, do you want to do it yourself or do you want me to post it for you?]
[Goddess Su Yi: I’ll do it myself.]
She opened Weibo, frowned, and considered for a moment. After writing and deleting and writing and deleting, she still hadn’t managed to come up with a few lines. She sighed gently.
Chu Ying raised a hand and flicked her fringe. “What’s it?”
“Nothing,” Su YI said lowly. “I get a bit dizzy when looking at my phone while in the car.”
The speed immediately slowed and the driver said, worriedly, “Is it that I’m driving too jerkily?”
“No,” Su Yi explained. “I’m like this in the car regardless of who’s driving.”
The driver then relaxed, though the speed was still a lot slower.
Chu Ying eyed the content and then looked away soon after. “Then write after you go back.”
Su Yi said, “I’m almost done.” After checking it three times, she hit send.
The phone on the person beside her ‘ding’ed once. Chu Ying then took out his phone and slowly began reading.
[Su Yi v: Hi everyone, I am Su Yi. Here, I apologise for the inappropriate comment I made on the 27th of August. As a public figure, I didn’t properly control my emotions, I’m sorry! In the future, I will be mindful of my speech and conduct, please help watch me. However, I also hope that the media would be able to take things as is, please don’t drag me into things I’m not involved in at all! I’m focused on filming diligently at the moment, and I really have no energy to spare for these extracurriculars. Thank you very much for your care, thanks!]
He liked it, then tilting his head found the person beside him smiling at the phone in a silly manner.
“You’re going to be on your phone even though you’re dizzy?”
“No … look.” Su Yi was still smiling when she showed him the phone.
It’s a Weibo comment.
[Chu Ying liked it in a second … Really, open up Chu Ying’s Weibo and it’s like a Su Yi information reblogging station, it’s all likes of Su Yi’s Weibo posts or reblogs, he definitely pays extra special attention to her, I now believe that it’s true love.]
Done perusing, Chu Ying raised an eyebrow. “All right, stop looking at it.”
“Okay.” She put the phone back into her bag. “You shouldn’t read the documents either, it’s dark in the car, that’s bad for your eyesight.”
The two kept the things in their hands and Su Yi snaked her arms around his before interlacing their fingers.
Back at home, the moment she closed the door she was hugged from behind by the guy.
She put her hand on his and smiled. “What’s it? It’s ticklish.”
Small kisses landed on the tip of her ear.
“You’re going back tomorrow?”
“Yeah.” Su Yi couldn’t stand him talking softly by her ear. “Let go first … I haven’t showered.”
“Let’s shower together.”
Su Yi was a little tempted. Her cheeks flushed, she tried to strike a bargain. “Not against the wall, all right?”
Chu Ying lightly bit her neck. “Weren’t you comfortable last time?”
“…” Why is this guy so naughty?
“I’m against it.” She came up with a random excuse. “I … I’m afraid of heights.”
The excuse was so bad Chu Ying chuckled lowly and said, “Okay.”
In the end … A red-faced Su Yi, her hands on the edge of the bathtub, was shattered by the impact, some sounds escaped her lips every now and then. The echoing effect in the bathroom was actually quite good, her voice was crystal clear, awash with embarrassment she bit her lips and tried her best to stop.
But the person behind was trying to encourage her with- “I like hearing you.”
The water was stirred, ‘di-di-da-da’ sounds mixed with sounds of smacking into other things, slowly picking up the pace before returning to stillness.
She lay in the guy’s embrace, head buried against his neck, so exhausted she didn’t want to move. The water was changed once and the warm water encompassed her very comfortably.
Chu Ying had an arm around her waist keeping her from sliding down, his other hand lightly rubbing her cheeks.
“Tomorrow I’ll send you to the airport.”
“No need.” Su Yi didn’t open her eyes and mumbled. “It’s not a rest day tomorrow.”
“Then I’ll have Ma-shu send you.” He lowered his eyes and asked, “Very tired?”
Rubbish! It’s always a few times for her before he’d come once, it’s so unequal … it’s unfair!
“After finishing filming I’m going to go to the gym every day.” Hearing the joy in his words, she tried to threaten him. “I’ll wring you dry.”
Chu Ying smiled. “Ah, there’s no need to go to the gym, I can take you elsewhere.”
“Where?”
“My place.
“…”
“……”
“Not the family house, I have a few places here and there’s one I live in more frequently,” Chu Ying said. “There’s everything you’d want.”
???
… Damned vagabond.
After showering Su Yi was carried back to the bed. But not because she couldn’t walk, just because Captain Ying picked her up princess style without giving her the chance to argue and made it to the bed in a couple of strides. After putting her down properly he went to go clean up the bathroom.
Su Yi lazed on the bed, covering her eyes with her hands but not closing them (her eyes). Once the guy returned, he moved her hand aside and met her gaze.
“Why aren’t you asleep yet?”
“Captain Ying.” Su Yi caught his hand and rubbed against it a few times. “We’ve only been together for how long and I’m already spoilt by you.” She pouted. “A few days ago I weighed myself, am a kilo heavier, it almost angered Wu Xue to death.”
“I’ll want you even if you’re fat.” He looked straight into her eyes as he spoke.
“All the guys say so.”
Chu Ying bent over and kissed her. “If you exercise every day, you won’t get fat.”
Su Yi was confused. “What exercise?”
“You forgot?” he said hoarsely. “We just finished it.”
That …
Red-faced, she got up and started rubbing his cheeks. “Who taught you to talk so dirty!”
“After meeting you, I learnt without a teacher.”
Su YI daren’t speak anymore.
The next morning saw her perched on the bathroom counter, seriously and carefully helping the guy in front of her shave.
“You-you-you don’t move.” She was really nervous, reaching out to fix his face. “I’m afraid of nicking you.”
Chu Ying tried not to laugh. “Okay, when did you buy the razor?”
“When I went to the airport, don’t speak … ah!”
She was suddenly picked up by the guy, forcefully hung over him.
… A familiar position.
The guy had his arm under her, holding her very steadily, saying, “Help me shave.”
When Wu Xue came to pick her up, she stared at her face and asked, confused, “You’ve put on make-up?”
Su Yi sipped her milk and shook her head messily.
Wu Xue said, “Then why is your face so red—”
Just when she finished speaking she heard footsteps and turning around saw Chu Ying returning to the living room from the balcony in a tidy suit.
Wu Xue shut up.
Seeing her here, Chu Ying said lightly, “The driver is waiting downstairs.”
No wonder the company refused to send a nanny car out for her today. Wu Xue nodded. “Thanks, Director Chu.”
The guy continued. “In the future be more careful when picking assistants.”
Knowing what he meant, Wu Xue hurriedly said, “Understood, I’ll pick carefully and make sure nothing like this ever happens again.”
“Okay.” Chu Ying looked away from her, his tone at once dropping a few octaves. “I’m going to the office, when you reach call me.”
Su Yi was still thinking about the morning and said, just to be contrary, “No.”
“Hey.” The guy pinched her ear. “Be good.”
Su YI said, “— Got it.”
Wu Xue regretted coming this early. Only after the guy left did the room’s temperature return to normal.
Wu Xue coughed lightly. “Have you read the script?”
“Not yet.” Su Yi then remembered the script. Gulping down the milk she said, “Let’s take it to the set.”
“Weren’t you ‘not interested’ in it previously?” Wu Xue was surprised at her change in mood.
“Yesterday, I had a chat with Chen Yang.”
“What did you talk about? Oh right, where’s yesterday’s trophy? Take a photo with it later, someone from that side notified me to have you post a Weibo.”
The moment they brought up that trophy Su Yi felt a headache coming on. “Can we not?”
“Why?” Wu Xue demanded.
“First off, that award didn’t belong to me, the organisers switched mine with Chen Yang’s last minute.”
Wu Xue was silent for half a minute. “It’s not your first few days in this industry, there’s nothing much to it. It’s not a very important award and Senior Chen wouldn’t care as much either. There aren’t that many fair things in the world to start with anyway, don’t be so sentimental.”
Su Yi propped up her chin and said, “I’m not being sentimental, I just look down upon the organisers and don’t want to help them advertise.”
Wu Xue helped her clean up the plates. “No, go get your trophy, film, and head to the airport.”
Back in Shanghai, Su Yi was like a fish out of water – she couldn’t bring herself to feel excited however hard she tried.
‘Undercurrents’ was almost done filming and the number of times they held discussions began increasing. Sometimes, even for a single detail in a scene, they would have to hold a discussion to carefully study it.
Su Yi actually quite liked this working environment, only that it was a little too tiring. Every time they filmed and held meetings, it would be almost midnight or later by the time they returned to the hotel.
Today, there was yet another last-minute meeting. The venue was Cheng Anan’s make-up room.
The scriptwriter waved the script about and said loudly, “I don’t agree with this change, see, in the beginning, I’d already put down some foreshadowing— ”
“We’re filming a show, not writing a story.” Li Min cut him off. “A reader can go back to look for foreshadowing, can they do that for a TV show? The audience would just find it hard to understand!”
The two of them went back and forth for a while, then Li Min asked, “Anan, it’s your part, how do you think we should change it?”
Cheng Anan had never seen something like this before and was at once too scared to speak. After being suddenly pulled in like this, she stammered for a long while and couldn’t come up with a decision.
“It’s your character, have you no understanding of it?” The scriptwriter was frowning.
Seeing that they’re not going to get anything from Cheng Anan, Li Min changed her direction. “Little Yi, what do you think?”
Su Yi said, “— I feel.”
They all looked at her hopefully.
“I feel that they’re both pretty good.”
Once she said that she received two eye-rolls. Su Yi curved the corner of her lips and laughed a few times, then the topic turned away from her. It’s not her part, so she daren’t randomly suggest. She curved her eyes and continued daydreaming while staring at the black phone screen.
The screen suddenly lit up. Wu Xue had sent over an URL.
[Wu Xue: [url] watch immediately if you have the time.]
Su Yi quickly borrowed earphones from Cheng Anan and, putting the phone under the table, opened the link.
Once the video opened, she could hear a voice that had been transformed reading off the news.
“September 12, 8 p.m., a journalist under our Phoenix’s World saw a tall, well-built guy with a good aura. Hmm … Why does this guy seem so familiar? ‘Cos it’s the new director of Chu Corporation! Speaking of which, this director kept flashing his relationship to the world recently, it’s making everyone jealous, even the editor! Unexpectedly, just when our journalist was about to leave, a woman suddenly walked over to him and the two seemed to be conversing quite happily, seemingly their relationship is very close. This mysterious lady’s background was soon uncovered. It’s the treasured daughter of the Yang Corporation … Yang Ruolin.”
Following which was a very long, boring introduction of Yang Ruolin, praising her to the point where she’s something that could only exist in the sky and not the earth. In the video, there was only a blurry image of two people’s side profile and nothing else.
But Su Yi recognised at a glance the man in the video – it really was Chu Ying.
The video was only a few minutes long, she finished it very soon. She was silent for a moment before taking out the earphones and returning them to Cheng Anan. “Thanks.”
When taking it back, Cheng Anan accidentally saw the big headline on the URL.
She paused, then asked, “— Yi-jie, are you all right?”
“Yeah.” Her face was calm, it’s hard to see any emotions. Casually putting the phone back in her bag, she looked up and asked, “Which scene have we gotten to?”
*edited by larkspur ~~
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