Translator: Kingbao Editor: DarkGem
Qiao Anxia had kept silent as her mother continuously complained about Han Ruchu. That night, she couldn’t fall asleep.
Qiao Anhao must have loved Lu Jinnian…. She only found out last Christmas, two months after Lu Jinnian had disappeared.
That night, Qiao Anhao was drunk, and she kept chanting his name the entire time. On the night before New Year, she had knelt outside Qiao mansion, crying alone as she whispered his name.
They had been in love.
It wasn’t just Lu Jinnian’s one-sided affection.
If last year when Lu Jinnian had asked her about Qiao Anhao’s whereabouts she had told him, would they have not missed out on each other?
A short while after Lu Jinnian had posted on Weibo, his post reached headlines. The entire web community’s attention was placed on him and Qiao Anhao.
After exiting the webpage, Qiao Anxia entered Wechat, wanting to ask Qiao Anhao if she was really married.
But the moment she entered Wechat, the first thing that caught her eye was the post that Qiao Anhao had shared on her newsfeed, [Today after lunch at ACR, hubby Lu Jinnian took me out shopping to digest the food, and then…]
Below the post was two photos, the entire car boot was packed with designer bags, even the backseats were overflowing.
They seemed to be doing well, and Qiao Anhao seemed to be happy…
But Qiao Anxia couldn’t understand what she was feeling as she stared at “Hubby Lu Jinnian”. She felt anxious, and at the same time somehow bitter.
“Hey, why are you dreaming? I’ve been calling you for such a long time!” Qiao Anxia felt a light tap on her head before processing Cheng Yang’s words.
She hurriedly snapped back to her senses and locked her phone before shaking her head. Shortly after, the car stopped. “We’re here, you can grab a seat while I park the car.”
Qiao Anxia turned to glance at the steamboat shop, and felt herself lose all appetite. “I’m a little tired, I don’t feel like eating anymore. Let’s go back to rest.”
Cheng yang paused for a while before nodding. “I’ll send you back first before getting food for you.”
Qiao Anxia nodded silently. She turned and stared out the window at the night skies, her expression dazed.
After sending her home, Chen Yang took his wallet and left the house.
Qiao Anxia slouched on the sofa staring up at the ceiling in a daze. Moments after she reached for her phone, unable to stop looking at Lu Jinnian’s weibo. When she clicked in, their marriage certificate was in full view once more.
She stared in a daze, and didn’t even notice when Cheng Yang came back with the food.
He poured it into plates and placed on the dining table. “Xia Xia, lets eat.”
Qiao Anxia was still in a daze, motionless as she stared at the phone.
“Xia Xia?”
Cheng Yang frowned slightly. He placed the plates down before walking towards her. He reached out to feel her forehead worryingly when he saw her pale face.
Qiao Anxia was startled back to her senses and hurriedly locked her phone. But despite her swift actions, Cheng Yang was still able to get a glance at the screen. It was Lu Jinnian’s weibo.
Translator: Paperplane Editor: DarkGem
Chen Yang was slightly stunned for a moment, then he asked with a caring tone, “What’s the matter? Do you not feel well?”
“I’m fine.” Qiao Anxia smiled and shook her head.
Chen Yang let out an “oh”, then held her hand. “Let’s go have dinner.”
She looked at the table of dishes he had already laid out, and pulled her arm away. “I’m not hungry. I really want to sleep. You eat.”
Chen Yang pursed his lips and stared at Qiao Anxia with bright eyes for a while. Eventually, he nodded and said in his usually warm voice, “Okay, then I’ll go turn the shower on for you.”
“That’s alright. I’ll do it myself,” Qiao Anxia said in a gentle voice.
Cheng Yang moved his lips and nodded. “Alright, you go sleep for a bit first, I’ll keep your food warm for you to eat when you get up.”
Qiao Anxia let out an “Uh huh”.
Chen Yang instinctively lowered his head and planted a kiss between her brows. Just as his lips left her skin, she pulled her hand away, turned around and left.
Cheng Yang, who had waited for Qiao Anxia’s plane, hadn’t eaten, so he was actually pretty hungry. It was now nine o’clock, but at that moment, he lost his appetite. He chose not to rush back to the bedroom, but instead sat at the table for over half an hour before getting up. He wrapped the dishes in cling film, put them in the thermal food box, and then walked back into the bedroom.
He pushed open the door and saw Qiao Anxia on the bed all of a sudden shove her phone under the duvet and shut her eyes.
He stopped there at the door for a moment, then lightly walked over to the side of the bed. He knew that she was obviously not asleep, but he pretended not to know. After attentively pulling her covers up, he went into the bathroom.
After coming out of the shower, Chen Yang turned the lights off and lay down by Qiao Anxia’s side without disturbing her. He shut his eyes but wasn’t at all sleepy.
He didn’t know how long had passed when he felt her slightly shift around beside him, turning her phone on. Although he had his eyes shut, he could still sense it light up.
After a long while had passed, the phone screen darkened, and in the still of the night, he could clearly hear the on and off muffled cries of the woman by his side.
Chen Yang’s eyelashes flickered twice, but he still didn’t move an inch, pretending to be in deep sleep.
The sound of crying continued for a long time before it disappeared. After who knows how long had passed again, Qiao Anxia’s breathing became soft and long, as though she had fallen asleep. Only then did Chen Yang opened his eyes and turned his head. Under the pale yellow lights in the bedroom, he saw that her eyes were swollen from crying.
He gulped and his eyes fell on her phone. He hesitated for a moment before picking it up. He entered the passcode and went to Weibo to see Lu Jinnian’s page open.
About four hours ago, Lu Jinnian had sent out a new post, [Excuse me, Mrs. Lu, did the marriage certificate taste good? @Qiao Anhao]
No matter how one saw it, such a short phrase made people feel like the couple was covertly showing off its happiness.
However, as Qiao Anhao’s older sister, Qiao Anxia actually cried for most of the night over her happiness…
In his heart, Chen Yang felt like he understood something. He always gave Qiao Anxia her personal space, but for the first time, he opened her phone contacts. After looking through them for a long while, he eventually found the name “My Love”. He tapped it to find that his number wasn’t saved under that name, but another number he was very familiar with.
Translator: Paperplane Editor: DarkGem
Lu Jinnian’s phone number..
Eleven digits confirmed his suspicions.
So his girlfriend who he had announced he was dating for over half a year now… the girlfriend he was about to propose to in a few days time on the fourteenth of February… the girlfriend who he had been dating for eight months now… the person who she actually loved, wasn’t him.
–
After Qiao Anhao and Lu Jinnian publicly announced their marriage, this news dominated the headlines for a full week. In that week, people didn’t fail to secretly take photos of Qiao Anhao and Lu Jinnian out on the streets or eating a meal.
With those very candid photos of the week, another topic rose to the Weibo top searches: [Unconventionally Warm Man Lu Jinnian].
The reason for this was simple – the Lu Jinnian in the photos appeared cold and distant, but he would always do something thoughtless that would reveal his true inner feelings.
For example, there was a video of Qiao Anhao choosing towels where Lu Jinnian wore a dull look on his face and stood far away, swiping his phone screen as though he wasn’t concerned. However, in just forty short seconds of the video, he sneaked a glance over at Qiao Anhao twelve times. According to people online, the shortest glance lasted under a second, and the longest was over five seconds.
For another example, there was a photo taken by a fan of Qiao Anhao and Lu Jinnian in an elevator. When the elevator got a little unbearably full of people, Lu Jinnian stood with a cold look on his face, but his eyes never looked towards Qiao Anhao’s smiling face. No one knew what Qiao Anhao was jabbering on about but he never once opened his mouth to speak. Instead, throughout the elevator journey, he kept his hand raised around Qiao Anhao’s head. His gesture could be seen as him being afraid that someone might accidentally bump into her head in the crowded elevator.
In the topic [Unconventionally Warm Man Lu Jinnian], there was one particular comment that got over three hundred likes: [He’s not a cold person, you’re just not the person he wants to be warm with.]
–
Eventually, the headliner that overshadowed Lu Jinnian and Qiao Anhao’s news was the polls.
This year, Hollywood’s major picture needed to cast a female celebrity from China, and the character was going to be chosen with the poll method.
There were some things Qiao Anhao might’ve casually said… yet Lu Jinnian clearly remembered that her dream was to become the queen of the silver screen.
If a celebrity wanted to make it big, to become a queen of the silver screen, then they needed to have determination and a portfolio of works. It was impossible to do so without several years under their belt.
This time, Hollywood’s poll was the chance for a female celebrity to undoubtedly propel their career.
Since Qiao Anhao had already completed a few projects, if she got this role, she wouldn’t be far off from becoming the queen of the silver screen.
So Lu Jinnian signed her up for it.
Qiao Anhao didn’t know about it until she was sent a letter to Mian Xiu Garden informing her that she’d been shortlisted.
In truth, Qiao Anhao didn’t really want to be the queen of the silver screen when she entered the entertainment industry, all she wanted was to become the best screen couple with Lu Jinnian. Now that they were husband and wife, she had achieved more than she’d ever dreamed.
She was considering to stop filming, but then Lu Jinnian had already signed her up and she also got shortlisted. If she was to outright reject it, then she’d be taking Lu Jinnian’s wishes for granted. What’s more, after he stopped production for “Love at First Sight”, Qiao Anhao had been quite free, and so she decided to give this Hollywood casting poll her all.
Translator: Paperplane Editor: DarkGem
After all, Qiao Anhao right now didn’t represent just herself. She was also Mrs. Lu, and she couldn’t embarrass Lu Jinnian.
The Hollywood casting selection was no different from most of China’s variety show competitions. There were three stages; the selection process, the top eight, and the finals.
There were many people participating, and so there was very little time for each contestant. You had to make the judges see your brightest talent in the shortest amount of time to keep you.
There wasn’t a dress rehearsal for the selection, it was all live. Contestants were lined up in an alphabetical order according to their surnames. Qiao Anhao’s surname began with a ‘Q’, which was neither close to the start or end of the twenty six letters of the alphabet. Among over a hundred contestants, Qiao Anhao’s name was forty-ninth.
The female celebrities shortlisted for selection did have some acting skills and they weren’t bad looking. The competition looked extremely fierce. As the thirtieth person went up on stage, Qiao Anhao started to feel a little nervous.
When contestant number thirty-eight was called, Qiao Anhao started to prepare. As the number kept coming closer to hers, she wasn’t nervous, on the contrary, she gradually started to calm down.
As she was taking deep breaths in front of a mirror to calm herself, she couldn’t help but turn her head when the presenter called contestant number forty’s name. There she saw a well-dressed Lin Shiyi step onto the stage in her high heels.
Although Qiao Anhao was backstage, she could still see the broadcast of Lin Shiyi on the televisions backstage. Lin Shiyi sang an English song. Although she came from an acting background, she had a good set of pipes. The moment she hit a high note, the audience and the judges started to clap their hands.
Four out of five judges put Lin Shiyi through to the next round, the top eight.
Lin Shiyi returned from the stage with far more confidence on her face than when she got on. So much so, she glanced over at Qiao Anhao with an extremely provoking expression in her eyes.
Qiao Anhao pretended as though she didn’t see it and turned her head with a calm expression. She ran through the lyrics she’d memorized in her mind again, straightened her waist and back, and raised her chin high up.
She remembered well the words that Lu Jinnian had told her. The more Lin Shiyi wanted to compete with her, the more she had to pretend as if nothing had happened. Because it’s just as Edison Chen said, “Pretending as if nothing happened is the cruelest revenge.”
When number forty-seven finished performing, Qiao Anhao received Lu Jinnian’s text. It was just two simple words “Good luck!”, but they filled her with boundless confidence.
When the presenter said “Welcome number forty-eight Qiao Anhao on to the stage”, She handed her phone to Zhao Meng and stepped onto the stage.
Qiao Anhao had chosen to sing a song. But what was different from other actors was that she didn’t dance, play the piano, the guitar, and couldn’t hit a high note. She just stood at the center of the stage and calmly and clearly sang every word of the song she had chosen, “So What”.
This was a song she had accidentally stumbled upon in the car last year.
At the time, she didn’t know where Lu Jinnian was and had searched for him for a long time. When she heard the song, she just felt like the lyrics mirrored the thoughts in her heart, so she listened to it repeatedly and learned it by heart.
Translator: Paperplane Editor: DarkGem
“It’s just hiding alone to be sad,
“It’s just not having anyone to talk to when you’re hurting,
“It’s just that this time I’ve been hurt too badly,
“I’m not afraid to love but I’m afraid to love so deeply.”
The memories of her and Lu Jinnian came to mind one frame at a time like in a slow motion video whilst Qiao Anhao sang. At that very instant, she wasn’t singing for the competition but simply for their romantic journey together.
She remembered the good times when she secretly had a crush on him, and how difficult it was because she didn’t dare to tell him. Happiness is to be able to turn around and smile. Every time they thought they were getting closer, they ended up farther away. They were clearly too timid to dare love, yet it was so deep-rooted in their bones.
“It’s just spending the dark nights alone,
“It’s just a kitchen without you and I,
“It’s just not having a song to play before sleep,
“I can still live on my own…”
They were now married and she wasn’t in pain like before, so she felt like she was quite fortunate whilst she sang this song again.
She was fortunate to receive blessings from heaven… to be able to find him, and hold hands with him again.
It was this kind of fortune that gave the song a very special feeling when she sang. It started to sound really emotional and it gave people a feeling of underlying hope.
It was like sadness, but it wasn’t really sad.
The moment Qiao Anhao’s singing came to an end, the entire audience fell silent. Half a minute passed. She didn’t know who started to clap, but like a coming tide, the applause from below the stage came rushing in. The judges snapped to their senses and also started to clap along. After waiting for the applause to stop, Qiao Anhao received compliments from all five judges and all five votes to go through to the next stage
–
Lately, Han Ruchu’s mental condition wasn’t that great. Since Qiao Anhao released the recording of her and Lu Jinnian at the charity gala, it shrouded the Xu family in ashes. Xu Wanli had been ignoring her recently, and he’d often didn’t come home to sleep. Sometimes he would come home late. At times, he wouldn’t sleep in the master bedroom but head straight for the guest bedroom to go sleep.
The year Xu Jiamu turned three, Han Ruchu learned that her husband had another child with someone else. It was at that very moment when she poured her entire life into Xu Jiamu. In those years, she and Xu Wanli appeared courteous with one another, but that was just a show for outsiders. In reality, when they closed the bedroom door, the two of them didn’t talk much. So much so, it had been almost ten years since she and Xu Wanli had lived a regular life as a married couple.
So when Xu Wanli treated her coldly, she didn’t really feel much. She only cared about her son, Xu Jiamu.
Since that night when he drove off from the entrance of Beijing Club, it had been over a week. He never returned her texts and when she went to the company to see him, his assistant would just give her excuses.
At six o’clock tonight, Han Ruchu tried to call Xu Jiamu several times again. As usual, no one picked up. The housekeeper got the dinner ready, but she wasn’t the slightest bit hungry. She got angry and went upstairs.
She shut herself in her room and blanked out for four hours. When she went downstairs to get some water, the two servants in the house were watching TV.
It looked like they were watching some kind of variety show, so she didn’t pay much attention to it. After she waited for a servant to pour her a cup of water, she heard Qiao Anhao’s name from the TV as she was just about to take her cup upstairs with her.
Translator: Paperplane Editor: DarkGem
Han Ruchu subconsciously halted. She turned her head and looked over at the television screen that was as large as half the wall.
There was Qiao Anhao holding a microphone and giving a self-introduction in front of everyone. Then she quietly stood at the center of the stage and started to sing.
Her voice was pure and soft. She sounded beautiful and pleasant to listen to.
Not to mention the live audience and the judges, even the two servants watching the TV were transfixed by her song.
When Qiao Anhao finished singing, the judges were obviously surprised and excited. They were always picky, but this time they surprisingly couldn’t stop complimenting Qiao Anhao. The woman herself stood at the center of the stage, composed and graceful, with a smile that made her eyes curve.
That smile pierced Han Ruchu’s eyes.
If it weren’t for her, how could her son, Xu Jiamu, ignore her, his mother?
If it weren’t for her, how could she lose her reputation in Beijing’s business industry? And have her good relationships with her lady friends ruined to the point they all alienated her.
If it weren’t for her… how could she, Han Ruchu, be in such an embarrassing state today?
So she was participating in a selection show? So her performance was shocking? So she wanted to be famous online? So she wanted to look perfect in everyone’s eyes?
Alright… Since you now gained a name and garnered enough attention on yourself, I’ll use what you won and ruin your reputation. I’ll make you carry the name of a fickle woman!
With that thought, Han Ruchu curved her lips into a cold smirk. She suddenly cried the housekeeper’s name, “Aunt Yun.”
She didn’t know what the woman was doing in her bedroom when she heard an “Ai”, and she was late to come out. Han Ruchu then screamed with a higher pitch, “Aunt Yun!”
“Madam…” The housekeeper ran out of her room in a hurry. “Madam, I was just on the toilet.”
Han Ruchu didn’t even say a word. She only shot a look towards her room, then strode up the stairs.
The housekeeper immediately followed.
After they went into the bedroom, the housekeeper closed the door. “Madam, you were looking for me?”
Han Ruchu gave a cold nod of the head, then made a hand gesture at the housekeeper and whispered a few words into her ear. “You got it?”
The housekeeper nodded frantically. “Got it, madam. Don’t worry, I’ll go do as you ask now.”
–
This time, the organizers for Hollywood’s casting selection set up a poll on Weibo to add points for the next round of top eight contestants.
Qiao Anhao knew that her performance last night really stood out, but she never imagined that the day after the competition, she’d casually go on Weibo to find that her name was in top place among those in the poll, leading with almost ten million votes over the holder of the second place.
After breakfast, Lu Jinnian was busy, so he had to leave the house.
After the competition for the top eight contestants was set for Monday, Qiao Anhao spread out in front of the computer and racked her brain over what she could do in the next competition to make the show more outstanding.
She thought about it for the whole afternoon, and before it finally reached four o’clock, she thought of the most spectacular idea. Just as she gleefully picked up her phone, ready to call Lu Jinnian and tell him the results, she suddenly received a call.
The incoming call was from an anonymous number.
Qiao Anhao paused for a moment before taking the call and politely said, “Hello.”
“Hello, am I speaking to Miss Qiao Anhao?” a woman said quickly over the phone.
