NWWNL – Chapter 51

At one o’clock in the morning, the people working for Xu Xinyi’s studio were all almost gone, but the dance practice room was still brightly lit.

The sound of music and clattering footsteps came from behind the door endlessly.

Anya had come back late to get an important document and so when she heard the movement in the practice room she felt doubts in her heart.

Who was still here so late?

She pushed open the door of the practice room and saw Jiang Nian dancing while covered with sweat. The dark stains on the floor around him that were much deeper than the ones in other places show that he been at it for a long time, perhaps too long.

Eventually, the music stopped.

Jiang Nian sat down in a heap. His head drooped and he was panting. His hair was soaked with sweat that dripped on the floor all around. Eventually, he slumped back until he was lying flat on his back and looking up at the ceiling motionlessly.

“Jiang Nian? You haven’t left yet?”

Jiang Nian was shaken from dazedly staring at the ceiling by the voice and he looked sideways toward the door. When he saw that it was Anya he sat up in silence.

As an excellent agent, Anya felt that she had both a responsibility and an obligation to care about the physical and mental health of her artists.

She went into the practice room, sat down beside Jiang Nian, and handed him a bottle of water and a towel she had grabbed from by the door. “Why are you still practicing here so late?”

Jiang Nian silently unscrewed the cap of the water bottle and took a thirsty gulp of water, then wiped his face and neck with the towel.

“There will be a variety show in two days. I need to perform a live dance. So I need to practice more now while there is time so I don’t make a fool of myself then.”

Anya smiled. “Don’t worry, with your dance skills, nothing will go wrong.”

Jiang Nian hummed but remained silent.

This man seemed to be the opposite of the Jiang Nian who was always talking and laughing that existed in Anya’s impression.

In the past few days, Jiang Nian had been gloomy and lifeless in a way that did not suit his age. His eyes seemed flat, with no warmth or cold.

“Jiang Nian, you’ve been in the entertainment industry for two years. I don’t know how you got along with your previous agent, but in my case, my artists can’t hide anything from their agents. Do you know what I mean?”

Jiang Nian threw the towel on the floor but did not say a word.

Anya didn’t expect him to answer though.

“You should know that the image we are portraying to your fans is a sunny and handsome teenager. Someone who conveys the positive energy of youth. But how can you portray that youthful positive energy when you look like this?”

Anya sighed. “I asked Xinyi, and I know why you are feeling like this even if you don’t tell me.”

Jiang Nian’s dangling hands stiffened.

Anya could see his whole body had stiffened.

“You like Xinyi, don’t you?”

When she suddenly said it out like that, it finally made Jiang Nian lift his head.

“Don’t be surprised,” Anya said. “To be honest, the boys like you that I’ve known are already reaching the triple digits. I know exactly what a boy your age is thinking. You like Xinyi, right? You spent two years in Tianyu for her, and you deliberately went to the Yonghe Club that day to appear in front of her, and then after that, you went to the Film City for her, didn’t you?”

Jiang Nian’s Adam’s apple rolled like he wanted to say something but even though his lips slightly opened he did not speak.

“You don’t have to rush to deny it or feel shy. There’s nothing wrong with liking a person, not to mention that very few people know about Xinyi’s marriage, so it’s not your fault that you liked a married woman.”

Anya noticed that Jiang Nian’s eyes clouded even more when she said ‘a married woman’.

“You are still young and have not yet tasted the taste of true love. The budding feelings you have now are just youthful curiosity generated in your ignorance. You might not even have a real love between a man and a woman for Xinyi. When you meet the girl you are meant to be with, you will…”

“I know what it feels like.” Jiang Nian interrupted, “Sister Anya, if… I mean, IF Sister Xin Yi wasn’t married, would she like me?”

Faced with this question, Anya really didn’t know whether to lie or to tell him the truth.

“For this sort of question, there is no ‘if’. Xinyi she…”

Jiang Nian said, “I want to know.”

Anya’s face sank, “Xinyi…”

“I want to hear the truth.” Jiang Nian looked at her calmly.

This was what people meant when they said a person wouldn’t give up until they saw the Yellow River.*

“…well, since you want to hear the truth, I’ll tell you the truth.”

Jiang Nian looked at Anya nervously. He seemed to be almost holding his breath with anticipation and a trace of hope glimmered in his eyes.

“If Xinyi was not married, and according to my understanding of Xinyi after knowing her for many years, she would not like you.”

The glimmer of hope in Jiang Nian’s eyes gradually disappeared.

In fact, he had guessed it a long time ago, but because he had never heard an answer with his own ears, he could always cling to his illusions.

“Because I’m younger than her?”

“The age is not a small problem, Jiang Nian. But also your personality, your way of thinking, and your way of doing things are all not the type Xinyi likes.”

“Then is Yi Yang her type?”

Anya smiled bitterly. “Of course, otherwise why would she have waited for Yi Yang for two years?”

Waited?

Jiang Nian’s eyebrows furrowed.

After finding out that Xu Xinyi was married to Yi Yang, he had checked Yi Yang’s background.

Almost no one knew the fact that he had married Xu Xinyi. They had kept a tight lid on it and over the years Xu Xinyi had never appeared on any occasion with Yi Yang.

And Anya said she had been waiting?

“She has been waiting for two years? So Yi Yang doesn’t like Sister Xinyi?”

Anya was not in the habit of telling about other people’s matters between husband and wife. “Nevermind that.”

But seeing Anya become secretive, he already had a guess at the truth.

“I’m right, aren’t I? Yi Yang doesn’t like Sister Xinyi at all. Otherwise, why wouldn’t any news come out over these two years? If you really liked someone, even if you covered your mouth, people would still see it in your eyes.”

“…” Anya sighed, “Yes, you’re right. Yi Yang didn’t like Xinyi very much before but that’s all in the past. The couple has a good relationship now. Jiang Nian, you child, you should stop thinking about a married woman. Put aside your thoughts and work hard in the entertainment industry. Sooner or later you will understand what it means when your heart is truly moved.”

“Alright, it’s already very early in the morning. You go back and have a rest. I’ll see you off.”

Anya got up, but Jiang Nian just sat on the ground.

“No, I’ll go by myself.”

Why was this dead boy so stubborn?

Anya’s eyes sank.

This stubborn boy. Don’t mention Xinyi, not even she could control him.

“OK, then be careful on the road. Call me if you need anything. I’ll go first.”

The door of the practice room closed.

Jiang Nian seemed frozen in place for a long time.

What it meant for his heart to truly move?

Slowly standing up, he stood in front of the wide window and looked out at the flickering lights of the city night.

How could he not know what it was like for his heart to move?

She thought he was young?

But he had grown up six years ago.

———-

The next day, the staff of Xu Xinyi’s studio were all yawning one after another.

It couldn’t be helped. Recently both Xu Xinyi and Jiang Nian had exploded. Many people were jealous and wanted to launch their smear campaigns. They spread so-called black material everywhere on the internet. The staff had no choice but to get up and make a move whenever there was a stir online.

It was precisely this group of employees who worked together to reverse the flood of negative attention directed at Xu Xinyi.

“Everyone has been working hard these days,” Xu Xinyi had bought breakfast and refreshments for the staff and was giving them some encouragement. “Everybody just hang on until I get back from Paris, I’ll bring you all presents.”

Bringing back gifts from Paris, the boss would lose face if she bought them too cheap.

As soon as she said this, the staff became noisy.

“Boss, I heard that in Paris there are Louis Vuitton bags being sold so cheaply that it’s a steal. Will you bring one back for each of us?”

Xu Xinyi promised, “OK!”

“The women might want bags, but we men don’t want them.”

“You guys don’t know how to give it to your girlfriends?”

“Who should I give it to if I don’t have a girlfriend?”

“Who cares about you!”

Xu Xinyi smiled, “Alright, think about what you want, and then find Anya and let her know.”

After a burst of cheers, Xu Xinyi returned to her office.

Anya followed up, “Xinyi, this is the contract sent by the brand. Take a look, if you have no objections, we can sign this endorsement immediately.”

Xu Xinyi looked at the contract and asked, “What about Xie Chi? How did he react when I snatched this endorsement?”

“How else could he react? I’ve heard the people around Xie Chi say that he is in a constant rage these days and he said that he is completely irreconcilable with you.”

Xu Xinyi laughed, “If he wants to be irreconcilable than we can be irreconcilable. He shouldn’t have offended me. Imagine how nice his life would be if he just put up with it and shot the magazine with me. Let’s not talk about it anymore, Xie Chi and I can be considered even now. What about the trip to Paris on Friday?”

“I got in touch with the organizers over there and contacted a makeup artist for you. You know, this Paris Fashion Week will be widely reported on by the domestic media, so we can’t let you lose face with your makeup.”

“Fortunately, you and Han Xiao are planning to travel together, otherwise I would definitely be bored to death.”

Xu Xinyi had never been invited to Paris Fashion Week before. For one thing, her career plan had always been to develop into acting and never had much contact with the fashion world. Second, she was just not very popular.

So, regarding the fashion world in Paris, she really didn’t know anyone.

Friday’s itinerary went forward as scheduled. Xu Xinyi and Han Xiao were invited to attend Paris Fashion Week and planned to go together, the fans were all clear on that. So many fans came out to send off Han Xiao at the airport. Before arriving at the airport, Han Xiao took a look at the scene. He was afraid of any trouble happening because of the overcrowded airport so, after communicating with the airport, he and Xu Xinyi kept a low profile and tried to sneak in the VIP entrance.

But even though they tried to sneak in the VIP entrance, they were still ambushed by fans.

As soon as Han Xiao showed up, they got very excited and began to pour forward one after another.

“Brother Han, Brother Han! I’m your fan. I like you very much! “

“Han Xiao, I have liked you for ten years! I have liked you ever since your debut. Can you give me your autograph?”

“Han Xiao! Give me your baby! “

Dozens of fans appeared and created chaos at the scene.

They would only put Han Xiao in their eyes and regarded all the people around him as his staff by default.

The staff of the airport came forward to maintain order. But as soon as the fans saw the security guards coming they got more and more excited and began to push forward. They quickly broke through the encirclement of staff and Anya was squeezed into Luo Jie’s arms. Xu Xinyi staggered and almost fell but thanks to Han Xiao by her side offering a hand she was able to steady herself.

“Is everything all right?”

Xu Xinyi had lost her hat and the sunglasses she was wearing were crooked on the bridge of her nose.

But she just said, “It’s nothing.”

The security guards who came to maintain order finally separated the two from the wild fans.

“Excuse me, please observe the order at the airport!”

Protected by the security guards, Xu Xinyi, Han Xiao, and their party all quickly boarded the plane.

The plane’s first-class cabin also had several fans mixed in. They were constantly moving around to secretly take peeks at Han Xiao or even try to take some pictures.

Han Xiao was long used to this sort of scene, but it was obvious that Xu Xinyi was not.

After the flight attendants appeared and started explaining the flight rules, the fans finally began to calm down.

The 11 or 12 hour flight passed safely while Xu Xinyi slept.

But what she and Han Xiao, who were on the plane, didn’t know was the fans had already blown things up online.

The reason was that most of Han Xiao’s fans did not manage to see Han Xiao at the airport. But after the plane took off, they found that Han Xiao had entered using the VIP entrance. Meanwhile, the fans who had waited at the VIP entrance posted their videos and photos of Han Xiao triumphantly, which aroused a lot of envy from the first group of fans.

But soon, those fans who would magnify a photo hundreds of times to count Han Xiao’s pores used their sharp eyes to spot that Xu Xinyi was there in one of the videos.

In the video, Xu Xinyi almost fell because of the crowd but was then held steady by Han Xiao.

After the video was spread around a bit Han Xiao’s fans blew the matter up directly.

“What’s going on? Why did I see Xu Xinyi?”

“Why did Han Xiao and Xu Xinyi show up at the airport together?”

“Aren’t they going to Paris Fashion Week?”

“Paris Fashion Week? Can Xu Xinyi be invited to Paris Fashion Week? Please stop dreaming. It seems anyone can go to Paris Fashion Week as long as they pay for it. Xu Xinyi must have spent a lot of money!”

“Maybe she’s just showing off!”

“If she was showing off, how could she go with Han Xiao?”

“Ah~ ah~ ah~, those rumors on the internet aren’t true, are they? I heard that Han Xiao and Xu Xinyi fell in love with each other while they were working together on the “The Way of the Phoenix”. But no, I won’t believe it!”

“It might really be true. Before, when Xu Xinyi was being smeared Han Xiao personally posted a clarification for her, and then the two later worked together to shoot a magazine. I think there must be something between those two!”

“But before, didn’t people say that Xu Xinyi was being kept by some Gold Master? And despite that, she was entangled with several other actors! A woman with such a messy private life must have seduced Han Xiao! Han Xiao, please wake up and don’t be fooled by that woman!”

The waves set off on the internet were rising one after another.

As more and more of Han Xiao’s fans knew about this and other interested people began to stick their oars in, very quickly, even while the two were still on the plane, many marketing accounts were working in overdrive to blacken Xu Xinyi. Xu Xinyi’s reputation that had been clean for a few days suddenly became black again.

She must have spent money to go to Paris to show off.

She must have seduced Han Xiao in order to take her to Paris to show off.

What Gold Master? She already tossed him aside and now hooked up with Han Xiao for resources.

The crazy imaginations were all very intriguing and painfully poked at the weak point of Han Xiao’s fans.

Therefore, when Xu Xinyi and Han Xiao got off the plane, both of their phones were blowing up. And the people on the other end of their phones were almost crazy.

In fact, it wasn’t only Xu Xinyi’s and Han Xiao’s staffers going crazy. The staff in the Yi Group who could communicate directly with Yi Yang were also going crazy.

“Do you need to ask me about such a trifle? How did you become a director?”

“This project was handed over to you a month ago, so why do you have to discuss these things with me now? How did you become a manager?”

“Do you really want to ask me about such a little thing? Find the vice president! Don’t waste my time!”

“Your team has been following up on this project for nearly half a year, but now you made a mistake at the last critical moment? Are you deliberately wasting my time?”

There were a lot of reprimands flying around in Yi Yang’s office. Today was the last day of the month, so there were a lot of reports coming in. Coupled with all the large and small meetings he had to attend, Yi Yang had to reduce his meal time to ten minutes.

The boss had not lost his temper in a very long time but today every project manager who came out of his office was roundly scolded.

The little assistants outside the office whispered to one another.

“What happened to President Yi today? Why is he so angry?”

“Today? Didn’t you come to work the past couple of days? President Yi has been angry for three days now.”

“What on earth is going on? President Yi is never angry like this.”

“Zhao Bin, do you know?”

Zhao Bin shook his head. “I don’t know.”

He didn’t know why his boss was in a bad mood recently. He just knew he was afraid to enter the office.

He knew that when he would enter the office later, as soon as he put the papers on the boss’s desk, he would be scolded.

But forget it. If he was going to get scolded, then he would just get scolded. Humans had to eat.

Zhao Bin steadied himself, then took a deep breath and knocked on Yi Yang’s office door.

The response was a voice that was icy like the arctic tundra.

“Come in.”

Zhao Bin pushed the door and put a document on the desk.

Yi Yang was frowning behind his desk. He opened the document with a cold face and then his face looked even worse after reading it. He heavily set his pen to the side.

“Why is this document in front of me? Shouldn’t it have been taken to the vice president?”

Zhao Bin explained: “The vice president asked me to show it to you, so you could check if there was any problem..”

“Zhao Bin, I don’t need every single thing to be put in front of me. I don’t have enough time to deal with it all one by one. In the future, if it’s not for a specific project don’t put it on my desk. The company has a vice president and many directors. Don’t pile up their work on my desk, do you understand?”

“Alright, President Yi, I’ll keep that in mind.” With that, Zhao Bin picked up the papers and went back out.

Back when Yi Yang first inherited the company he was not familiar with the company’s business and was not confident enough about his own ability, so he had to ask questions about his decisions, big or small, all throughout the company.

With so many things to ask, his workload doubled easily, and his personal time was compressed almost to nothing.

But using this method he was quick to know and master the company.

And now that the company was fully under his control, there was no need for him to micromanage the company the way he used to.

After pushing away the last document that was piled up on his desk, Yi Yang breathed a sigh of relief.

The computer showed that it was Friday.

Xu Xinyi should already be in Paris by now.

Thinking of how he couldn’t accompany Xu Xinyi to the Paris Fashion Week because he was too busy at work, Yi Yang couldn’t help but feel upset.

He turned on his phone to check how things were going with Xu Xinyi’s trip to the Paris Fashion Week. The most popular video title was very eye-catching.

-“Han Xiao, could it be… he acknowledges his relationship with Xu Xinyi?”

His relationship?

Yi Yang clicked on the video.

It was a video of Han Xiao gently supporting Xu Xinyi in a noisy airport.

There was a lot of speculation going on in the comments below.

Someone also posted some photos secretly taken on the plane.

Xu Xinyi and Han Xiao were sitting next to each other and looked like lovers on vacation.

There is also some text overlaid on the photo with photoshop, asking what kind of love this was, circling the two people sitting down, and generally talking about how ambiguous it was.

“…” Yi Yang calmly dialed the company inside line, “Zhao Bin, come here for a moment.”

Zhao Bin, who had just brought the documents back to the vice president, returned to Yi Yang’s office again.

“I’m off on Saturday and Sunday and I’m taking a holiday next Monday and Tuesday. I’m going to Paris. Help me set it up right away.”

“Monday?” Zhao Bin reminded him, “But President Yi, you have a meeting next Monday.”

Yi Yang’s icy gaze swept over.

Zhao Bin instantly changed his tune with a smile, “You need to stay in Paris for four days? I’ll arrange it for you right away.”

——-

At eight o’clock that evening, Yi Yang boarded a plane.

Twelve hours later, he arrived at the hotel where Xu Xinyi was staying. Today, he would really like to see how ambiguous those two would be in front of him!

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*the yellow river is where you go when you die