Shen Qingzhou got up to open the door. Yu Wan pursed her lips and continued eating the noodles in her bowl.
“My dear Director Shen, I’ve brought your dinner. Well? Don’t you think I’m amazing?”
Shen Qingzhou stood at the entrance and looked at the two people who had come in. “Why did you come together?”
Tang Yue said, “Didn’t I just happen to run into Ye Yu? We haven’t seen each other for ages either, so we came to your place together to visit you.”
Behind him, Lin Yeyu took off her sunglasses. A smile hung on her delicate and beautiful face. “I called Tang Yue. When I found out he was coming to see you, I came along. I’m not disturbing you, am I?”
Shen Qingzhou’s expression was calm. “No. Have you finished filming?”
Lin Yeyu took off her ten-centimetre high heels. “Not yet, but I have a short break, so I came back.”
“Mm.” Shen Qingzhou did not say much and turned to walk back inside.
“Hey, where should I put dinner?”
“In the kitchen.”
“You help me carry it. We happen to not have eaten either. Let’s eat together. I bought a lot.”
Shen Qingzhou’s steps paused. “I’ve already eaten. You two eat.”
“What?” Tang Yue followed him with two large bags in his hands. “Weren’t you the one who told me to bring dinner? How have you already eaten? What did you eat?”
As soon as he finished speaking, Tang Yue suddenly stopped.
His gaze went past Shen Qingzhou and fixed on the woman sitting on the sofa not far away.
Holy crap. Holy crap! What was going on? There was a woman in Shen Qingzhou’s house!!!
When they had first entered, the living room had been blocked by a partition, so he had not seen clearly. Only now that he had walked in did he realise there was actually someone here!
From the moment Yu Wan heard voices outside, she had felt that something was wrong. So the takeaway he had mentioned was dinner brought over by a friend. Just now, she had insisted on making him eat noodles. This was awkward…
Seeing the newcomers standing in front of the living room, Yu Wan put down her bowl and chopsticks and stood up.
“Hello.”
Tang Yue’s eyes widened as though he had discovered a new continent. He threw down the two bags of dinner and moved closer to Yu Wan.
“Watery eyes, and so cute. Director Shen, so this is the type you like.”
Yu Wan choked and instantly realised that her appearance here had been misunderstood.
“No, no, no. That’s not it. You’ve misunderstood. I’m just the neighbour from opposite.”
“Lives opposite?” Tang Yue clicked his tongue and shook his head, then turned back to look at a certain expressionless person. “Shen Qingzhou, good move. I thought you were completely immune to everything, but I didn’t expect you to know to move opposite someone.”
Yu Wan shook her head like a rattle drum.
“Little sister, how old are you? Looking at you…” There was a hint of doubt in Tang Yue’s eyes as he cautiously asked, “Are you an adult?”
The corner of Yu Wan’s mouth twitched. “…I’m twenty-three.”
“Ah? You don’t look it…” Tang Yue looked at her with fascination. “But that’s good. I was worried our Director Shen would be accused of seducing a minor.”
Yu Wan: “…”
Shen Qingzhou had probably reached the limit of his patience. He walked to Tang Yue’s side and said coldly, “Take the food to the kitchen. Don’t leave it here.”
“Qingzhou, how could you not tell me about something this big?” Tang Yue said with a cheeky grin.
At this moment, Lin Yeyu also walked forward. The moment she saw Yu Wan, her expression stiffened slightly. But she was an actress after all, and she quickly concealed it.
“That’s right. You have a girlfriend and you didn’t say anything?”
Shen Qingzhou said coldly, “You’re overthinking it. I hired her to make dinner for Hongdou.”
Yu Wan hurriedly echoed, “Yes, yes, yes. I’m only here to look after Hongdou.”
“Aren’t you always so precious about Hongdou that you don’t casually let anyone take care of it?” Tang Yue clearly did not believe it. His gaze swept over the two empty bowls on the coffee table. “Besides, while looking after Hongdou, she conveniently looked after you too?”
A cold look flew from Shen Qingzhou, and Tang Yue shut his mouth.
“Fine, fine, fine. I won’t say it. Isn’t that enough?”
Seeing that the atmosphere was a little awkward, Yu Wan quickly said to Shen Qingzhou, “Mr Shen, since you have guests, I’ll go home first.”
Shen Qingzhou nodded slightly.
Yu Wan nodded at Tang Yue and Lin Yeyu, then went to call Yu Diandian.
“Your Highness, we’re going home.”
Yu Diandian looked at her, then looked at Hongdou, seeming a little reluctant. Yu Wan crouched down and patted her head.
“I’ll let you see Hongdou again tomorrow. For now, come home with me.”
“Woof woof woof!”
Yu Wan stood and walked toward the door. Yu Diandian kept looking back at Hongdou reluctantly, but in the end, she still followed Yu Wan out. Hongdou followed them the whole way and finally squatted by the entrance hall like a stone waiting for its wife, staring at the tightly shut door.
“This is incredible. How many days have you only just moved in? Hongdou already likes that girl this much.” Tang Yue felt a little bitter. “Back then, when I wanted Hongdou to accept me, I had to suck up to it for a whole month.”
Shen Qingzhou glanced at Hongdou, his expression unreadable.
Yu Wan did not go home immediately. She first went to the management office. Otherwise, without electricity or air conditioning tonight, there was no way she could survive.
On the way back, she looked at a cosmetics advertisement on the LCD screen of a building outside.
No wonder she had felt the woman looked a little familiar. So she had seen her here before. Recently, this cosmetics advert had been playing on loop there, and whenever Yu Wan came out to walk the dog, she would unintentionally glance at it a few times.
Brand ambassador: Lin Yeyu.
The woman she had seen in Shen Qingzhou’s home seemed to be quite a popular celebrity.
When Yu Wan returned home, she happened to receive a call from her brother, Yu Huan.
“Brother, the power suddenly got cut off today. I went out just now to pay the property fees.”
Yu Huan said helplessly, “How long had you owed them for the power to get cut?”
“Hehe, it was… still okay, I guess.” Yu Wan laughed. “Are you busy lately? When are you coming back?”
“Very busy. The drama only just started filming.”
“Another new drama? Brother, do you have to be such a model worker? Jian Yunong said your dramas have dominated the screen this year. What, do you want to continue dominating next year too?”
“I have to earn money to support you, little pig,” Yu Huan said with a laugh.
Yu Wan rolled her eyes. “Although I don’t earn as much money as you, I have more than enough to support myself. So I think you’re earning money to support my future sister-in-law, right?”
“Your brother is very busy. I haven’t even seen the shadow of a sister-in-law yet.”
“Tsk tsk. Rest properly. Don’t tire yourself out so much,” Yu Wan said. “When you have time, can you come back and see your left-behind little sister?”
“Alright, alright. I’ll find time to come back and see you.”
“That’s good.” Yu Wan suddenly remembered something. “By the way, I want to ask you something. Do you know someone called Shen Qingzhou?”
“Shen Qingzhou? I do. Why are you asking about him?”
“Ah? I was just curious. I’m planning to write a male lead who’s a director in my next novel. I happened to see him online and thought he’d make a pretty good prototype, so I’m asking you.” Yu Wan did not mention that Shen Qingzhou lived opposite her, instead coming up with a reasonably believable excuse.
After hearing this, Yu Huan did not suspect anything. He thought for a moment and said, “He’s a very talented director. A few years ago, he became famous after directing *The Puppet Game*, and it won a lot of awards. The male and female leads of that film also became popular because of it. In the following years, he directed several TV dramas and films. In any case, his reputation is excellent.”
“Oh. What about his personal conduct? Have you worked with him before?”
“We haven’t worked together so far, but I did run into him last year and chatted with him for a bit,” Yu Huan said. “Everyone in the industry knows Shen Qingzhou has a detached personality. He doesn’t really show warmth to anyone. It’s just his nature. Over time, everyone naturally got used to it. Also, anyone who has filmed under him knows he’s very strict at work—picky, demanding, and unable to tolerate the slightest flaw. But perhaps it’s precisely because of that that the quality of his work is so good.”
Yu Wan nodded. She could almost imagine Shen Qingzhou looking exactly like that. Someone like him probably would not deliberately try to please others. Even in the entertainment industry, where flattery and personal connections were needed, he remained this independent and unconventional.
“Yu Wan, don’t tell me you think he’s good-looking, so you’re saying he’s like the prototype for a novel’s male lead,” Yu Huan suddenly teased.
Yu Wan laughed. “Yes. It’s very common for actors to be good-looking, but a good-looking director is rare.”
Yu Huan laughed on the other end of the phone. “It’s rare for my little sister to praise someone like this. How about this: if I run into him in the future, I’ll observe him carefully and then tell you my close-up impressions of his looks.”
Yu Wan made a sound of agreement while silently thinking: I’ve already had plenty of close-up impressions of his looks. Who needs you?
After chatting with Yu Huan, she prepared to take a shower and then start working.
After her shower, she changed into a comfortable oversized T-shirt. Yu Wan turned on her computer, uploaded today’s update, then began working on tomorrow’s chapter.
After writing more than a thousand words, Yu Wan stopped and went to get snacks. Late at night, snacks and writing were a perfect match.
She opened a packet of chocolate beans and grabbed a handful, putting them into her mouth. As she ate, she picked up her phone. After thinking for a moment, Yu Wan still sent Shen Qingzhou a text message.
“I seem to have caused you trouble today. Your friends didn’t misunderstand, did they?” —Yu Wan.
There was no reply for a long while. Yu Wan felt a little deflated and started typing again.
As she typed, she multitasked by thinking: Lin Yeyu was an actress, and Shen Qingzhou was a director. If this were following the rhythm of a novel, then something should be going on between a director and an actress.
After thinking for a long time, Yu Wan shook her head and silently spat at herself.
What nonsense was she imagining…
“Ding.”
A text notification sounded. Yu Wan immediately picked up her phone and opened it.
“No.”
Simple and clear. Completely his style.
Yu Wan stared at those two words for a while. Suddenly, her phone dinged again, and another message came in.
“Besides noodles, what else can you cook?”
Yu Wan froze, then typed a few words back.
“Most ordinary dishes.”
“Your occupation, and your working hours.”
Yu Wan looked at Shen Qingzhou’s baffling questions in confusion. Why were his questions so disconnected from each other? Even so, she still replied seriously.
“I don’t have working hours. I write books at home…”
“Good. Starting tomorrow, you’ll cook dinner for me and Hongdou. I’ll double your pay.”
When Yu Wan received that message, her face was blank with confusion.
Originally, she had only been raising one pet in her life. Starting yesterday, it had become two pets. And from tomorrow onward… was she inexplicably about to start raising a third one?
Yu Wan propped up her chin and began to ponder.
Logically speaking, unless she was especially lazy, she usually cooked dinner for herself at night anyway. If she also cooked for Shen Qingzhou, it would only mean making a little more food and would not take up much extra time.
More importantly, she quite enjoyed looking at him. That ice-block face—no matter how cold it was, she still thought it looked good. Perhaps this was also an illness?
Yu Wan changed posture and continued thinking. Or perhaps, as Jian Yunong had said, she really was currently experiencing that cliché called love at first sight.
If she truly had feelings for someone who was neither warm nor cold toward her, did that mean she, Yu Wan, had rather masochistic tendencies…
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