Jiang Zhixia seemed to have anticipated Xia Zhi's choice. He didn't say anything and accepted it calmly. However, Xia Zhi still noticed the fleeting disappointment on his face.
A car sped past on the main road in the distance, and the roar of the engine brought the two back to their senses. Xia Zhi calmed down, exhaled lightly, and said, "It's time to go back."
"good."
The two continued walking forward along the ridge of the field. Occasionally when they came across puddles, Jiang Zhixia would remind Xia Zhi to pay attention to his feet, and Xia Zhi would respond calmly, as if nothing had happened.
But some things happened.
Soon, the weird atmosphere between the two attracted the attention of their three teammates.
Xiao Han was the first to notice the subtle change in the atmosphere between the two. Xiao Han noticed that since the two came back from their walk that day, their private communication seemed to have disappeared. Moreover, Xia Zhi was absent-minded these days no matter what he did, and the most common thing he did was to hug his legs and stare blankly. Jiang Zhixia was becoming more and more depressed. He was originally the least talkative among the five people, and now he was almost mute.
Xiao Han felt something was wrong, so he found Sang Luo and Cheng Yunan to discuss it privately.
"Did Xia Xia and Lao Jiang have a fight?"
Sang Luo and Cheng Yunan were both stunned for a moment, and asked in unison: "Fighting?"
Xiao Han told them in detail about his discoveries over the past two days, and the two men's expressions became serious after listening.
Cheng Yunan was a little puzzled: "Didn't they reconcile? Why are they quarreling again out of nowhere?"
Xiao Han scratched his head: "Who knows."
Cheng Yunan and Xiao Han were still speculating, but the resolute CEO Sang Luo had already rushed to Xia Zhi and asked directly, "Did you have a fight with Lao Jiang?"
"No," Xia Zhi denied calmly, "Who told you that?"
Sang Luo didn't believe it: "Then why haven't you communicated in the past two days?"
"Because there is nothing to talk about." Xia Zhi answered flawlessly.
Sang Luo narrowed his eyes and asked, "Are you really okay?"
"It's really okay." Xia Zhi couldn't help but laugh, "What are you worried about? Could we fight again on the show?"
"It's okay as long as you're fine."
Sang Luo believed him temporarily, and after confirming that both of them were fine, he prepared to leave and inform the other friends.
Xia Zhi stopped him.
"Anything else?" Sang Luo stopped.
Xia Zhi lowered his eyes and hesitated. After a while, he asked softly, "Do you know Jiang Zhixia's family?"
"Old Jiang?" Sang Luo spread his hands. "I don't really know much about him. He never told us about his family situation. I just know that his family seems to be in a small county town under G City, right?"
"Um."
"What's wrong?" Sang Luo's expression was stern. "Could it be that something happened to Lao Jiang's family?"
"No, I just asked casually." Xia Zhi paused, then changed the subject and asked him, "Have you ever been short of money?"
"Huh?" Sang Luo seemed to have heard some shocking joke, "Do you think I'm short of money?"
"I've never been short of money." Xia Zhi said to himself, "So we can't understand what it's like when a person is at the end of his rope."
"What a mess." Sang Luo became more and more confused as he listened. "Why are you talking without any focus today? What exactly do you want to express?"
"nothing."
Ever since he learned about Jiang Zhixia's situation, he couldn't help but try to understand what he felt at the time. The more he understood, the more he felt sorry for him, and the more he felt sorry for him, the more he blamed himself, and the more he was afraid to face Jiang Zhixia.
Xia Zhi is very confused now. He doesn't know how to define their current relationship, nor can he be sure how they will get along in the future. Because he can't figure it out yet, he just becomes an ostrich and tries every means to avoid Jiang Zhixia.
The next morning, everyone discussed the itinerary while having breakfast. Yesterday, when Aunt Hua came to give them buns, she mentioned that there was a mountain nearby with beautiful scenery. There was also a temple on the mountain with a lot of incense. Because praying for marriage is particularly effective, many young people come from all over the country to pray for marriage every year. Xiao Han and Cheng Yunan became interested when they heard it, and prepared to take their three single teammates to pray.
But as luck would have it, Xia Zhi received a temporary task from school that needed to be completed as soon as possible, so he decided to stay at home to handle the work.
When Jiang Zhixia heard that the temple was crowded, she decided not to go. After all, it would be big news if a famous artist went to a temple to pray for marriage and burn incense.
So in the end only Sang Luo, Cheng Yunan and Xiao Han went.
After breakfast, Xia Zhi took his computer and found a quiet room to work. He was busy all morning. The crew did not disturb him, but installed a camera in his office to film him the whole time.
It was already one o'clock in the afternoon when Xia Zhi finished all his work. The food he had eaten in the morning had been completely digested, and he was so hungry that he was seeing stars.
He closed his computer and prepared to go out to find something to eat in the refrigerator. When he opened the door, he saw Jiang Zhixia standing outside, raising his hand as if he was about to knock on the door.
Both of them felt awkward for some reason.
Finally, Xia Zhi spoke first: "What's the matter?"
"I cooked some noodles, come out and eat something first."
"Oh... OK." Xia Zhi followed him to the dining room. There were two bowls of hot noodles on the table. He asked Jiang Zhixia in surprise, "You haven't eaten yet?"
"Yeah." Jiang Zhixia answered briefly and didn't intend to explain. "Eat it first. It's been sitting there for a while."
"good."
The two sat down face to face and ate noodles.
Cheng Yunan learned cooking skills through special classes and is proficient in many types of cuisine. When cooking, he pays special attention to color matching and presentation, and his dishes are as exquisite as those made in a hotel.
Jiang Zhixia is different from him. The dishes he cooks are more homely and not as exquisitely presented as Cheng Yunan’s, but they taste good and are surprisingly to Xia Zhi’s liking.
Xia Zhi quickly finished a large bowl of noodles, put down his chopsticks, and breathed a sigh of satisfaction.
Jiang Zhixia also put down his chopsticks and stood up, opened the refrigerator, and took out half a chilled watermelon. He placed the half watermelon in front of Xia Zhi and handed over a spoon.
"Aunt Niu sent it this morning." Jiang Zhixia said, "Aunt Niu's family grew an acre of watermelons. She just picked some today and gave them to the two of us. I cut one and put it in the refrigerator for a while. It's just right to eat now."
Xia Zhi likes to cut watermelon in half and eat it with a spoon, but now he is a little hesitant: "Why not cut it in half and leave some for the three of them."
"There's still half a piece in the fridge. It's okay. You can eat it."
Xia Zhi thought for a moment and pushed the watermelon to the middle: "Then let's eat this together."
Jiang Zhixia glanced at him, a faint smile appeared in his eyes: "Okay."
Xia Zhi went to the kitchen and got a spoon for Jiang Zhixia. In return, Jiang Zhixia consciously gave him the piece of meat without seeds in the middle.
The two of them ate the watermelon, taking turns to eat a spoonful. The atmosphere was rare and harmonious.
Suddenly, the phone on the table started buzzing.
It was Jiang Zhixia's phone ringing. Xia Zhi glanced subconsciously and saw that the caller ID was her agent.
Jiang Zhixia picked up the phone and frowned slightly when she saw the caller.
"I'm going to take a call." He said to Xia Zhi, then walked out of the house with his phone.
Xia Zhi looked at the little watermelon left, so he put down his spoon and prepared to wait for him to come back before eating together. But he just sat there and waited for fifteen minutes before Jiang Zhixia came back after finishing his phone call.
However, after Jiang Zhixia came back, he did not sit down to eat watermelon, but said he had to go out.
Xia Zhi was stunned: "Going out?"
"Well," Jiang Zhixia explained, "My agent came to Y City, I went to meet her."
"Want to come here?"
"I probably won't come." Jiang Zhixia said, "This place is too far from the airport. It's not convenient to go back and forth. I'll come back after meeting her."
"Okay." Xia Zhi didn't say anything else.
Jiang Zhixia found the director team again and said that he wanted to leave the village for a while, and asked them to borrow a car.
Because he was going to meet his agent, the director decided to suspend the filming of Jiang Zhixia and continue filming after he returned from Y City.
Soon, Jiang Zhixia drove away in the program team's car. As soon as he left, the room, which had already seemed a little quiet, suddenly became even more deserted.
Xia Zhi felt bored staying in the room alone, so he sat back in front of the computer and decided to continue working.
Xia Zhi was busy all afternoon, and Jiang Zhixia was also away all afternoon, returning from City Y in the evening. However, he did not return alone, but brought back a woman.
Xia Zhi heard the sound of a car shutting down and guessed that it was Jiang Zhixia who came back. He closed his computer and got up to go out. But when he reached the door, he saw a strange woman coming in.
The woman looked to be about thirty-five or thirty-six years old. She was pretty and elegant. She was wearing a professional suit and had the elite aura of a strong career woman.
"็ Hello Who are you… "
The woman looked him over and introduced herself with an elegant smile: "I'm Zhixia's agent, Gu Fang."
Xia Zhi understood.
Although he had not paid attention to Jiang Zhixia's news in recent years, he knew some things, and the name of this agent was even more well-known. Because Jiang Zhixia's current achievements can be said to be brought up by this woman. Therefore, these two people are also known as the combination of the strongest Bole and the Thousand-Li Horse in the entertainment industry.
"Hello." Xia Zhi also introduced himself, "I am Jiang Zhixia's former teammate, my name is Xia Zhi."
"I know," Gu Fang smiled slightly, "Teacher Xia, you teach at U University, right?"
"That's right." Xia Zhi was not surprised. As Jiang Zhixia's agent, he probably knew all about his network of relationships.
Soon, Jiang Zhixia also came in.
Xia Zhi guessed that they probably had something important to discuss, so he prepared to leave: "You guys probably want to talk about something, so I'll go inside first."
"Teacher Xia, wait a moment," Gu Fang called him, "This matter seems to have something to do with you, why don't you stay for a while as well."
"Does it have anything to do with me?" Xia Zhi looked at Jiang Zhixia in confusion, "What's the matter?"
Jiang Zhixia frowned and shook his head. It was obvious that Gu Fang did not tell him in advance.
Gu Fang did not explain immediately, but ran to the back room to talk to the production team. Gu Fang did not know what she said to the production team, but when she came back, Xu Tian followed them and told them that today's filming was suspended and all the equipment in the room had been turned off, so they could talk about things in peace. After that, he left the room with the cameraman.
The three of them then sat down in the living room and started talking about business.
"Actually, it's like this," Gu Fang narrated, "A day ago, someone broke a piece of news to an entertainment news agency. This news was about Zhixia. To be more precise, it was about Zhixia and Teacher Xia."
Xia Zhi's expression froze.
Jiang Zhixia's expression also turned serious, and he asked, "What's the material?"
Gu Fang opened her handbag, took out a photo and placed it on the coffee table.
Jiang Zhixia picked up the photo and frowned even more. Xia Zhi became a little nervous and asked him, "What photo?"
Jiang Zhixia handed over the photo.
Xia Zhi took it and looked at it, his face turned pale instantly.
In the photo, Jiang Zhixia hugged Xia Zhi from behind, looking very intimate. The environment in the photo was exactly the field outside the house.
Xia Zhi was shocked: "A paparazzi sneaked into the village?"
(End of this chapter)