CH 6

Regarding the baby milk incident, Si Nian knew she was in the wrong so she took the initiative to deliver four boxes of milk and even gave him the Taobao purchasing address.

Cheng Chen only sent her a two-word reply: “Okay, thanks.” Hugging her phone, she stood inside the train in a daze. She thought that Shen Wei Jue was correct. Perhaps he really did have a girlfriend, perhaps it was even one of the female artists he had worked with. That was why he used her to diffuse suspicion.

Another text popped up. “Scriptwriter, where are you now?” It was Assistant Liu. Si Nian opened her umbrella and swiftly replied, “It’s raining too hard, I wasn't able to catch a taxi. I just left the train.” The rain outside was relentless and unforgiving. Her legs were completely wet from the splashes.  Assistant Liu’s reply was quick. “The boss and the director are already here, Hong Kong Plaza, the café on the first floor.” In the end, she spent almost ten minutes searching inside Hong Kong Plaza but where was that café… when she was beginning to get anxious, she saw a familiar figure standing in front of the Apple store. In the rush of the crowd, he was still silently watching the road, as if he was waiting for someone. Wasn’t this too coincidental? He suddenly moved, turning around to glance in her direction. Si Nian instinctively lowered her umbrella to cover her face to look inconspicuous. The moment she turned away, her phone began to ring. She cleared her throat and then answered the phone. Before she could speak, she heard Cheng Chen asking, “Where are you?”  I’m close to you… But if she said that, won’t they be forced to meet? She rushed over to hide at a corner where Cheng Chen could not see, ducking near the glass door. “Me? I just woke up.” The pitter-patter sound of noise was too obvious, she had no choice but to come up with a suitable story. “I’m at the balcony hanging the laundry.” There were a lot of people who also chose to take shelter from the rain in the spot she was hiding in. Because she was answering her phone, she didn’t manage to close her umbrella in time. The person next to her huffed and glared at her.

“Hang on,” she said. Embarrassed, she closed her umbrella before continuing, “Did you call me for something?” From this spot, she could see his back. The person on the other end was quiet for a moment, before saying in an indifferent manner, “I heard that you were supposed to meet me to discuss about the script. Just now Li Xiao Qing’s assistant said you were on your way.” With him? Discussing the script? Si Nian gaped. This time, she really embarrassed the hell out of herself. Cheng Chen seemingly didn’t care for her little lie earlier. He simply asked straightforwardly, “Where are you now?” “… I’m almost here.” “Hong Kong Plaza has two blocks, one north, one south. Are you on the north or south road?” Outside the glass door, the crowd kept on growing. She was inside, how would she know if she was facing the north or south road? Si Nian desperately tried to determine her location, but before she could decide, Cheng Chen immediately asked another question, “Never mind. Are you next to Apple or Tiffany shopfront?” His voice had traces of laughter, as if he realized that she had no conception of direction. “Apple.” She gave up the useless struggle and honestly revealed her location.  In the end, she indeed couldn’t differentiate between north and south. When she sat down with Cheng Chen, Li Xiao Qing smiled when she told her, “Director Cheng said he was going out for a smoke, didn’t expect he would run into you.”

Si Nian smiled a little but focused on the menu and the list of coffees available. Li Xiao Qing’s company preferred modern city dramas but she specialized in period dramas. Even though they both knew each other since a while back, but they never had the chance to collaborate. This time Li Xiao Qing mentioned that she was going to produce a historical film and found a famed director for the name value. She accepted without much thought. She didn’t expect the director to be Cheng Chen… She lifted her head from the menu and saw Cheng Chen drying himself with the paper napkins.

Her umbrella was too small, when they were sharing earlier, he nearly got wet from head to toe. He used one napkin after another but he didn’t seem to worry about looking pitiful. “But Director Cheng,” Li Xiao Qing turned and said to Cheng Chen, “You were smoking in front of the entrance, how did you ended up getting wet?” Cheng Chen smiled and said, “Just now I saw Si Nian in the opposite entrance and predicted that she went the wrong direction, so I went and picked her up.” Seeing the water that dripped along his jawline, Li Xiao Qing picked up some napkin and helped Cheng Chen wipe his face. What a shocking move. Si Nian discreetly looked away. Li Xiao Qing seemed to be recently divorced? Perhaps… Cheng Chen cleared his throat, then said, “How’s Little Aunt’s post-operation recovery?” Little Aunt? Si Nian contemplated this sudden news. Li Xiao Qing laughed and said, “My mom kept on talking about you. If you really have her interest at heart, you should visit her at the hospital. Let’s start our discussion.” Si Nian turned around and saw Cheng Chen still drying himself. He appeared to have glanced at her, as if he saw through her bold imagination earlier. She lowered her head out of guilt. He can’t exactly blame her, who asked them to be act so flirtatiously earlier? Who would have expected that Li Xiao Qing is his cousin… In the past two years she rejected the opportunities to work with Cheng Chen again and again, though she had heard that he was a very dedicated director. In other words, he was a person who would torment others. In the previous commercial project, she also experienced it first-hand. Now that she was discussing the script with him, she realized he truly was difficult to deal with. The necessary information had already been prepared. Even though she did flipped through the information, it was just a cursory glance. By comparison, Cheng Chen had read through the information again and again. He would talk her into speechlessness. In the end, even Li Xiao Qing also couldn’t bear to go on with the discussion. She smiled and clapped her hands. “There, there. We have not signed our contract, don’t scare away my scriptwriter.” “She’s always like this,” he said, glancing at Si Nian. He concluded, “I won’t force her but even if she’s given three years to finish reading all the information, she won’t be able to do it.” This time, even Li Xiao Qing’s assistant had a difficult expression.

In the end, when they were about to leave, Li Xiao Qing and Cheng Chen made plans to go to the production company. The location was nearby Si Nian’s place. Acting as if Cheng Chen would definitely agree to be the driver, Li Xiao Qing dragged Si Nian to carpool with him. When they reached the parking lot, they followed Cheng Chen as he walked to his car. Li Xiao Qing immediately laughed, “Director Cheng, you finally changed your mind to change your car?” Si Nian observed the car in front seriously, it was indeed quite shocking. The last time she saw him, he was still driving an ordinary car. He really changed it fast. A director was indeed a director. She felt a deep sense of regret, why was the difference between a director and a scriptwriter so drastic?  The drive home was not too smooth because not only was it raining, it was also peak hour. Li Xiao Qing took out two tins of coke from inside the mini-refrigerator and passed one to Si Nian. “I still remember that when I was in my twenties, my husband and I were broke to the point we almost couldn’t afford our rent. Yet he was still obsessed with cars, always saying what kind of car he would buy in the future. Whenever he took me around the bicycle, he would always pretend he was riding some luxurious car and asked me, “What do you think about your husband’s BMW?” I could only play along, telling him to step on the pedal, overtake other cars. Truly we were foolish back then.” After she finished, she glanced at Cheng Chen. “There’s no man who doesn’t like cars.” Cheng Chen lightly smiled, steering the car up to viaduct. Li Xiao Qing appeared to have thought of something. She turned around to look at Si Nian who was in the backseat. “I remembered, Chen Qing once told me his first love really liked cars.” … did I? Keeping a poker face, she glanced at Cheng Chen. She pretended whatever Li Xiao Qing said had nothing to do with her.   “Is it?” she replied with a hollow laugh, giving a noncommittal response. “Back then he just started university, he made me accompany him to look at cars.” With a laugh, she continued, “I asked him why was he wasting money when he wasn’t even working but he said something that I still remember vividly.” Cheng Chen turned on the music and continued driving. Si Nian became very curious what was it that he said. But she felt a kind of complicated feeling stirring in her and became afraid of listening further. Li Xiao Qing evidently didn’t notice the other two’s complicated expressions because she continued, “He said he made a promise with her girlfriend, that he must buy a decent car and act out the scene of using the car to chase down the bus. Cute, isn’t it? When he was young, he was really cute.” Li Xiao Qing was beaming with obvious affection but on the other end, Si Nian was completely bewildered. Back then he would often stand in the telephone booth outside his school and called her to have idle conversation. One time he heard her saying she recently became addicted to idol dramas, those pointless but enthusiastic conversations. She remembered, she was pointing at the TV screen excitedly telling him, “The female lead ran away, the male lead jumped into his car prepared to chase down the bus… ah, that’s so romantic.”

She ended up talking a lot but he was still quietly listening. His silence annoyed her. She was so angry that she snapped, “Cheng Chen, are you listening?” She heard the noise of cars zooming past in the background before his voice came up. He calmly said, “I heard you. In the future, after I bought a car, you must take the bus once and let me chase it down with the car. Remember, you must wear like a Cinderella, better yet, wear a school uniform. I will desperately chase after you and in the end, I will stop my car in front of the bus. Who cares about rules or courtesy of the road…” He said so earnestly, yet she actually burst a gut laughing, accidentally spitting the yogurt she was drinking. “Alright, alright, you must not forget.” Such silly conversation, he still remembered. “But that’s already water under the bridge,” Li Xiao Qing lamented, not sure if she was talking about herself or Cheng Chen. “Look at me. Back then I was sitting in the passenger seat of my husband’s bicycle, I was still so happy. Now he had plenty of cars but the one sitting in the passenger seat is not me. Look at Cheng Chen? His first love is probably in god-knows-who’s embrace by now.” Si Nian was both embarrassed and stunned. She merely kept quiet. “Si Nian?” Cheng Chen called. “Ah?” She could feel her entire body stiffen from the nerves. He parked the car on the side of the road. “The traffic is terrible now, I’ll let you off here. You only need to walk for about five minutes to reach home.” “Okay.” She let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you.” When she reached home, Cola was so hungry that her eyes were flashing. She fed her the creampuff that she bought on her way home but unexpectedly Cola was so picky with her food, refusing to even eat the outer crust. She kept on scratching to get to the ice-cream inside. Si Nian didn’t know where to laugh or cry. She simply tore away the crust and scooped out the ice-cream to feed Cola. Cola was a Persian pure breed, she had a lazy disposition, when she was not being frightened, she was actually very gentle.  She couldn’t comprehend what Cola’s previous owner was thinking, how could he be so cruel as to break a cat’s hipbone… When Si Nian was still lamenting about it, Cheng Chen suddenly sent her a text. She stared at the name flashed on the screen, dreading the content of the message. She wasn’t sure what she felt.  Cola was particularly sensitive to phone noises, she kept on pawing the phone. Helplessly Si Nian finally reached for her phone and glimpsed at the text. A series of words: “Read the information carefully. I’ll contact you in a few days.”