It was close to one o'clock in the morning, and Xia Zhijin arrived in Anjiang City. After getting off the plane, she immediately turned on her phone, wanting to check if Shi Man had returned her call.
To her disappointment, apart from the happy New Year greetings from her friends, there were no missed calls or unread text messages from the people she cared about on her mobile phone.
Her finger rubbing on the phone screen froze for a moment, took a deep breath, and with faint expectation in her eyes, she dialed Shiman's phone again. However, the mechanical female voice responded to her: "Hello, the phone you dialed has been turned off."
Xia Zhijin subtly retracted her bloodshot eyes, and the corners of her lips under the mask were stained with bitterness. She still sent a text message to Shiman: "I'm back, I'll be home in a while."
"Did you burn again?" Xiao Liu picked up the luggage from the side, and when she turned around, she saw Xia Zhijin's face became more and more ugly, and her fatigue was obvious. She nervously probed her forehead, and muttered: "No, I don't worry, I'll go back with you, and I can take care of anything at night."
"No, sister Liu, don't worry." Xia Zhijin coughed twice, forced a hoarse laugh and comforted her: "It's hard to rest for two days, you can spend time with your boyfriend. I'm home, there are people at home , will take care of me." Speaking of someone at home, when she thought of Shi Man, tenderness appeared in her eyes, and her heart softened again.
"It's best like this." Xiao Liu sighed helplessly: "Then you remember to take your medicine and have a good rest. If Sister Qiong sees me taking care of you like this, maybe she will say something about me." She knew clearly , I have been with Fu Zhiqiong for three years, and she asked me to come and follow her as soon as Xia Zhijin came, which shows how much he attaches importance to it.
Xia Zhijin frowned slightly, and replied jokingly: "Sister Qiong won't know, Sister Liu, why don't you help me worry about what will happen if the director criticizes my poor state and affects my performance."
In fact, she only met Fu Zhiqiong once before joining the group after signing the contract.
"I just brought you into this door and gave you an opportunity. Whether you can seize this opportunity and how many opportunities the company can give you depends on your own ability. This is how this circle is. I also hope that You can go far, I hope you will not disappoint our expectations." Fu Zhiqiong poured her a cup of tea amidst the scent of tea, and sent her this sentence in a neither salty nor weak way. The implication is self-evident.
Success or failure is all up to you, if you can't win it, you can only be an abandoned child.
Afterwards, Fu Zhiqiong assigned her a manager and an assistant, and told her that the manager had full authority to arrange work for her in the future. If she didn't directly participate in the management, she would never see Fu Zhiqiong again.
With such a clear boundary and distance from her superiors, and being able to rely on her own efforts to keep her own name, Xia Zhijin felt at ease and calm.
The car sent by the company to pick up the plane took her home first, and then took Xiao Liu back. The moment Xia Zhijin reported the address of the Shi family's mansion, Xiao Liu was stunned for a moment, and when he realized it, he subconsciously looked at Xia Zhijin with surprised and probing eyes. That area is a well-known wealthy area in Anjiang City, where every inch of land is expensive.
Seeing Xiao Liu's doubts, Xia Zhijin smiled lightly, and calmly explained: "It's not my house, it's Man Man's house."
Xiao Liu smacked the name of Man Man, belatedly thought of something, and involuntarily raised her volume and said in surprise: "Is Man Man's surname correct? Isn't it Shi Xing's time?"
Xia Zhijin nodded.
Xiao Liu was stunned for two seconds, her heart of gossip burning. Because it was too private, she didn't dare to ask about the relationship between Xia Zhijin and Shi Xing, but she still held back and blurted out another doubt: "Then Zhijin, why didn't you consider signing with Starlight Entertainment?"
It is obviously an unusual relationship to be able to live in Shi's house. Frankly speaking, Starlight is a large company that has developed rapidly and matured in the past two years. Backed by Shixing Group, it is obvious that all aspects of resource channels will be better than their studio. Coupled with Xia Zhijin's relationship with the Shi family, as long as Xingguang is willing to push her, she can walk out of the avenue of starlight with ease.
why? Xia Zhijin closed her eyes slightly, and asked herself in her heart.
Manman also asked her this question.
She put her hands on her legs together slightly, and after a while, she replied half seriously and half jokingly: "Because I want to try to rely on myself and see how far I can go."
She also answered Shiman with this sentence, but Shiman didn't understand her thoughts. Obviously there are resources available, why waste them, why do you want to look far away
She couldn't bear to tell Shiman, and it was impossible to tell others, the deepest and most fragile longing in her heart.
She wants not to rely on the Shi family, wants to earn a piece of the sky on her own, and wants to stand beside Shi Man as Xia Zhijin one day, instead of, when mentioning Xia Zhijin, she can only think of the Shi family and Shi Man accessories.
Xiao Liu didn't care about it, and only thought that she was a common problem of children from rich families. She doesn't understand the troubles of rich people who cannot sing or act well, but have to go home and inherit the family property. She has to admit that sometimes she really has to accept her fate, some people just win at the starting line, and the distance of this starting line is a distance that you can never cross in your life.
To Xia Zhijin's surprise, when she returned to Shi's house in the middle of the night, she nervously dragged her luggage and walked up to the second floor in the dark, trying to find her lover, only to find that Shi Man was not at home.
The bedroom door was wide open, and it was empty. The last expectation also fell through, and Xia Zhijin's heart became empty in an instant.
She smiled wryly in the dark, rubbed her forehead uncomfortably, pushed the luggage to the door, found the small bread and medicine from inside, pulled off the mask, turned and went downstairs.
She turned on the light, took the water, ate a few mouthfuls of small bread and swallowed it, then raised her head and swallowed the medicine in one gulp. She returned to the sofa in the hall on the first floor and sat quietly, waiting for Shi Man's return. She was so exhausted that she almost fell asleep on the plane. At this moment, she didn't know what she was thinking, and the more she sat, the more awake she became.
When it was almost two o'clock, in the silent night, the slight friction sound of cars finally sounded, and two beams of light came in through the large floor-to-ceiling windows.
Xia Zhijin immediately stood up, shook her drowsy head, stabilized her body and walked quickly to the door, pulling open the heavy wooden door.
Sure enough, Shiman came back.
With difficulty, Chen Zhi helped Shiman, who smelled of alcohol and walked frivolously, walk towards the house, and the driver followed behind. Chen Zhi murmured vaguely: "I told you not to drink so much, I really believe your nonsense to believe that you will not get drunk after a thousand cups." She raised her head, and suddenly found the person standing in the light in front of her. The beautiful woman, as if she had found a great savior, called out happily from a distance: "Ah, sister Zhijin, you are back! Come and help me, I'm so drunk, I'm going to die of exhaustion."
Seeing that Chen Zhi was by Shiman's side, Xia Zhijin breathed a sigh of relief. Her eyes lingered on Shi Man, whom she hadn't seen for almost two months, and her expression gradually softened. She strode up to Chen Zhi's side, hugged Shi Man, and walked inside with her half in her arms.
"Zhijin." Shi Man was still conscious, seeing Xia Zhijin leaning up to her naturally and intimately, whispering in the crook of her neck.
"Huh..." Chen Zhi relieved more than half of the weight, feeling relieved.
Only now did she have time to carefully look at Xia Zhijin beside her, and secretly admired: She is indeed a person who is going to debut as a star, and sister Zhijin seems to have a different aura now than before. I can't tell exactly what is different, but it is more eye-catching, like the kind that will shine in the crowd. But it seems that the spirit is a bit not good
"Sister Zhijin, are you sick? Your face looks so red, and so do your eyes."
"It's okay, just a little cold." Xia Zhijin smiled and responded to her indifferently.
Helping Xia Zhijin to help Shiman onto the sofa, Chen Zhi said wittily, "Sister Zhijin, then I'll go back first."
Xia Zhijin gently touched Shiman's flushed face, turned her head to hold Chen Zhi back and said, "Thank you for bringing Manman back, it's so late, let's rest here for the night."
Chen Zhi joked: "No need, I told my parents to go back. If I wake up in the middle of the night and find that I haven't come back, I'm afraid my legs will be broken." In fact, she originally planned to stay and take care of Shiman, But since Xia Zhijin came back, naturally there was nothing wrong with her.
Xia Zhijin smiled softly, seeing that she persisted, it was not easy to force others to make things difficult for her. She stood up, asked Chen Zhi to wait a while, took off her coat and gently covered Shi Man's body, then went upstairs to get a coat, and handed it to Chen Zhi: "It's cold in the middle of the night, don't catch a cold."
Chen Zhi put on her coat, and couldn't help but sigh, tonight, I really envy Lin Xian and Shiman by real name. Xia Zhijin sent her to the door, but she told her not to. The driver was outside, it was fine. When she turned to leave, Chen Zhi thought about it, and still kindly told Xia Zhijin: "Sister Zhijin, Manman seems to be very unhappy today. When she wakes up, do you want to have a good chat with her?"
Xia Zhijin's eyes darkened, she sighed, nodded and said, "Okay, I will."
After seeing off Chen Zhi, and returning to the hall, Xia Zhijin saw that Shi Man seemed to be a little sober, staring at her with a pair of peach blossom eyes that were stained crimson by alcohol. She touched Shi Man's head, and asked her warmly, "Do you feel uncomfortable?"
Shiman shook his head lightly.
"Let me help you upstairs." Xia Zhijin reached out to hug her, Shi Man did not refuse, and obediently cooperated with her to get up with difficulty.
"You're back." The girl muttered vaguely, as if there was some grievance in it.
"Well, I'm back." Xia Zhijin coaxed her softly.
During the short distance on weekdays, Xia Zhijin, who was not feeling well, was sweating all over, so he sent Shiman to the room with difficulty. She helped Shiman take off her coat, covered her with the quilt, sat on the edge of the bed and brushed her messy bangs covering her eyes, and was about to get up: "I'll make you a cup of hangover tea."
Shi Man grabbed her wrist and said in a low voice, "You haven't told me Happy New Year yet."
Xia Zhijin had a doting smile on her lips, leaned over and kissed Shiman's forehead, and said softly, "Manman, Happy New Year."
Shi Man still held her wrist tightly and refused to let go, looking at her, his eye circles slowly turned red.
Xia Zhijin bit her lip, as if thinking of something, reached into the pocket of the coat that was put aside with Shiman's other hand, took out a small box from it, and handed it to Shiman's face. Tenderness coaxed her: "New Year's gift, open it and have a look." This was bought for Shiman with the down payment of the filming contract she received. She thought that Shiman would definitely like it.
Shiman's throat twitched, tears slowly overflowed from the corners of his eyes, and wet the pillow. She was suddenly so wronged, sobbed loudly, reached out and knocked the gift box in front of her to the ground with a bang. In the silent night, the sound was particularly harsh.
Xia Zhijin straightened up in an instant, as if her heart had been stabbed hard by that soft sound.
Shi Man covered his eyes and complained with choked sobs: "I don't want it! Why do you know to give me a gift? Why are you like her? You don't even know what I want."
Shiman's tears seemed to be hot, and they burned Xia Zhijin's heart drop by drop. The pain made the tip of her nose sour, and her head swelled from grievance. What she can give Shiman may be insignificant in Shiman's eyes, but it is already all she can give with all her efforts.
She bent down and picked up the gift that was swept away by Shiman, like picking up her unclaimed heart. She reached out to help Shiman wipe away her tears, and her voice was full of tears. For the first time, she frankly asked Shiman, "Manman, do you know what I want?"
Shiman was crying a little bit, and when he heard her question, he seemed to be getting more and more sad, and he replied unconsciously: "I don't know, I don't know. Zhijin, I don't know. I feel so tired. "One sound more sad than the other. Sometimes she felt that Xia Zhijin was far away from her, as if she had never really entered her heart.
Xia Zhijin's eyes became more and more bleak. Shi Man didn't know, how would she know how difficult it was for him to stand upright beside her and win the word "good match"; how could she know that when an unknown person like her was with Shi Man, It is doomed to endure the gossip and disrespect of others in this life.
But it wasn't Shiman's fault, how could she let Shiman bear it. Maybe if you change someone else, you should feel content with gratitude, right
The gap between her and Shiman is her original sin. She asked herself if she did not do enough, did not love enough, and made Shiman feel so wronged.
People are poor and have endless aspirations. Her mother's earnest teaching since she was a child supported her to come here from the barren small col stubbornly. She is willing to sacrifice her life for Shiman, but she is unwilling to forget her name for Shiman. What is it like to love someone deeply? She couldn't give herself an answer.
She rubbed her fingertips affectionately on the cheek of Shiman who was tired from crying and fell into a deep sleep, and shook her brain that was so painful that it seemed to explode, exhausted both physically and mentally. She looked down sadly at the undelivered gift on the bed, opened the drawer, and put it in the innermost part silently.
She packed up the quilt while helping, got up and walked out of the bedroom, and was about to wash up when the mobile phone in her pocket vibrated violently.
The time was displayed on the screen—two thirty in the morning. The caller—Zhi Qi.
This time, this call... For an instant, Xia Zhijin's heart trembled, and an ominous premonition enveloped her heart.
With trembling fingertips, she swiped the answer button.
The Lin family in the southern district of Anjiang City, the study room is brightly lit. Zhou Qin has been sitting stiffly since he checked his email when he was about to take a break at 12:30. As if unwilling to give up, unwilling to believe, Zhou Qin once again checked the so-called "New Year's gift" email that was sent on time at twelve o'clock.
Her expression became more and more solemn, her lips were tightly pursed into a straight line, and the hand holding the mouse, the fingertips were already blue and white due to too much force.