Chapter 46: Tang Dynasty, Shishi, and Naza

The two of them, holding hands, stepped into the elevator, and Ye Qing looked over at Zhang Qianjun.

"Why didn't you even ask who I'm taking you to meet?"

Zhang Qianjun lowered his gaze to look at her. It was that deadly upward glance, effortlessly generating an infinite and irresistible pull.

"Aside from you, everyone else is just an NPC to me."

Hahaha. Ye Qing laughed so hard her back teeth showed, then instantly put on a disdainful expression.

"You should save a line like that for Xiao Si!"

Stepping out of the elevator, Ye Qing walked to the end of the corridor and pushed open a door at random. The noisy crowd inside instantly fell silent upon seeing the two of them hand in hand.

Without a shred of stage fright, Ye Qing announced,

"Let me introduce everyone. This is my, well, Zhang Qianjun, an actor."

Then she turned to Zhang Qianjun and said,

"These are my friends, the cast and crew of *Scarlet Heart* and *Xuan-Yuan Sword*, the China Film and Chinese Entertainment joint squad."

As Ye Qing's voice faded, a chorus of oohs and ahhs erupted in the room.

Embracing the philosophy of when in Rome, Zhang Qianjun smiled and nodded, allowing himself to be pulled along by Ye Qing to be introduced to everyone one by one.

"This is Jiang Jingfu, friends all call him Fu Zai. This is Lin Gengxin, we all call him Xiao Xin. This is Yuan Hong, you can call him Da Er or Brother Hong. Oh, you definitely know these two, Hu Ge and Shishi.

And this is our junior sister, Naza, from our same school."

Facing the crowd—some looking astonished, others completely in the dark—Zhang Qianjun greeted them one by one. When he reached Shishi, Zhang Qianjun said, "Long time no see," which aroused Ye Qing's curiosity.

"You know Shishi too?"

Zhang Qianjun pulled her in close and whispered right into her ear,

"Keren Tsai brought her to audition for the female lead of *Brotherhood of Blades*. After careful consideration, I still went with junior Liu Shishi."

Junior Liu Shishi? It took Ye Qing a second to process this, but once she thought about who the female lead of *Brotherhood of Blades* actually was, a knowing smile bloomed on her face.

"You really have a wicked tongue. If the Fairy Sister's fans find out about this, they'll skin you alive."

Zhang Qianjun remained noncommittal. The Fairy Sister's fandom was a complex composition; who knew, some of them might even find a nickname like that amusing.

Just then, someone was heard calling out,

"Hi, Sister K."

Zhang Qianjun looked over to see the business-world version of Liu Shishi heading straight toward him.

"President Zhang, you didn't even give a heads-up that you were coming, otherwise I would have personally welcomed you."

Keren Tsai said with a beaming smile, full of practiced pleasantries.

Zhang Qianjun wore a smile of his own as he replied,

"Sister K flatters me. I only realized upon arriving that this was Chinese Entertainment's meeting room. It's my first time here at Chinese Entertainment, and it feels quite novel."

Hearing Zhang Qianjun address her as Sister K, Keren Tsai figured there was room for discussion, so she invited him aside for a private chat. Zhang Qianjun didn't mind, told Ye Qing he would be right back, and walked off with Keren Tsai.

Though as Keren Tsai caught sight of Zhang Qianjun's hand resting on Ye Qing's waist, a flash of strangeness crossed her eyes.

She muttered inwardly, these kids nowadays are really something else.

Her own top star preferred an uncle-aged man who wasn't as famous as her, while a massive film heavyweight like Zhang Qianjun remained completely unfazed upon meeting her top star, choosing instead to fancy the star's little sidekick.

This world was truly making less and less sense.

After Zhang Qianjun left, Liu Shishi immediately grabbed Ye Qing.

"Little Ye, spill it right now. What's going on here?"

Naza crowded around as well, urging,

"Tell us, tell us! Weren't you just whining about a month of *Youth*? How on earth did you manage to bag our Beijing Film Academy male god!"

While dodging Liu Shishi's mischievous hands and giggling, Ye Qing looked over at Naza and asked,

"Beijing Film Academy male god? Since when did Zhang Qianjun get a nickname like that?"

Naza looked genuinely astonished.

"Didn't you know? When we enrolled in the Class of '11, Senior Zhang gave a speech on our behalf as the student representative. Right after that, his National Day release *Brotherhood of Blades* blew up the box office.

360 million! Seventh in the country. If you only count domestic films, that's fourth nationwide.

Ahead of him were only *The Flowers of War*, *The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate*, and *Beginning of the Great Revival*. Add to that the over 140 million from *Better Days* earlier this year, that's 500 million across two films—isn't that mind-blowing?

The school has already held several seminar symposia dedicated to him."

Ye Qing blinked her eyes.

"Oh, and then?"

For a moment, Naza felt the urge to rip that girl's mouth apart. What was with that act of utter nonchalance?

Liu Shishi chimed in from the side,

"Naza, don't change the subject. Little Ye, confess right now. What's your relationship?"

Ye Qing smiled.

"What relationship? Exactly the relationship you're seeing."

Naza felt the curiosity in her heart reaching a boiling point, stamping her feet in anxiety.

"Didn't you two just film together for a month? How on earth did you tame him? Tell us, quick, tell us."

Watching her like this, Ye Qing laughed inwardly while maintaining an exterior as light and breezy as drinking water.

"It's very simple, really. We exchanged a greeting when joining the cast, and didn't speak after that.

When I wrapped up, I ran into him in the corridor and told him, 'You like me.' He denied it.

I cornered him against the wall, stared straight into his eyes, and said again, 'You like me.' He fell silent.

Then I told him, 'If you don't sleep with me, I'm leaving.' And then he went wild."

Naza listened in wide-eyed disbelief, the story sounding more and more like an absolute fairy tale by the end.

"You can do that? Just like that?!"

Naza stared in shock, feeling as though her brain was being smoothed out flat.

Ye Qing said nonchalantly,

"Just like that. Actually, men are very simple. Give him room to imagine things, and he'll imagine all by himself just how deeply he loves you."

Naza wore a look of utter disbelief.

"Really, it's that simple?"

Liu Shishi couldn't bear to watch any longer.

"Naza, don't listen to her nonsense. There's no such thing as simple. If you tried that, you'd just be throwing yourself at him for free!"

Then she grabbed Ye Qing.

"I never would've guessed, Little Ye, you're quite the master manipulator. I never noticed you having a man before. Where on earth did you learn this?"

Ye Qing flashed her little canine teeth with a happy grin.

"I may not have a boyfriend, but I do have a girlfriend, so it's pretty much the same thing."

Naza suffered yet another critical hit. Are lesbians this powerful nowadays? Lesbians are coming out to steal men now? And they snatch the absolute best one right out of the gate?

Wait a minute, is she a lesbian? The two of us even took a bath together!

Liu Shishi sighed helplessly. Her friend looked demure on the outside, but in reality, she was wildly eccentric and always possessed a most unusual train of thought.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. After pondering for a moment, she asked in a low voice,

"Doesn't Zhang Qianjun have a girlfriend? Did they break up?"

Ye Qing paused for a fraction of a second, then replied with an air of indifference,

"They hadn't broken up before, no idea about now."

Naza instantly felt her entire worldview being reconstructed. Is acting as a mistress really this righteous and unbothered?

Liu Shishi, however, felt a twinge of anger.

"How can you be like this? Did Zhang Qianjun lie to you?"

Ye Qing caught her friend's hand and squeezed it gently.

"He never lied to me. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing with him."

Liu Shishi was about to say more, but seeing Yuan Hong and the others walking over, she swallowed her words.

Yuan Hong spoke up first.

"You're something else, Little Ye. You hit us with a massive surprise straight out of the gate, staging a sudden raid like this."

Ye Qing smiled.

"I just mentioned it casually, I honestly didn't think he would actually come."

At that moment, Lin Gengxin suddenly chimed in,

"What do you guys think Sister K went to talk to him about? Could it be a film project collaboration?"

Hu Ge's eyes lit up slightly upon hearing this, though he remained silent.

Yuan Hong expressed skepticism. What does Chinese Entertainment even have to collaborate on a film with? As they were discussing this, Zhang Qianjun returned, exchanged pleasantries with everyone once more, and then took Ye Qing away.

"It wouldn't be appropriate for me to attend tonight's gathering."

Zhang Qianjun explained as he looked at Ye Qing in the passenger seat.

"I know. That's why I'm leaving with you, isn't it?"

Ye Qing gazed out the window, lost in thought.

Then she asked,

"Where are you taking me?"

Zhang Qianjun kept his eyes on the traffic ahead.

"World Trade Riverside Garden."

Gazing out the window at the brightly lit Bund and the Huangpu River, Ye Qing fell silent for a long moment before murmuring,

"It's really nice to be rich."

Zhang Qianjun took off his jacket.

"This one isn't that big. 280 square meters, just under 15 million."

Ye Qing let out a dry, sarcastic laugh and turned her head to look at him.

"280 square meters isn't big, and it's *just* under 15 million?

How come I never noticed before that you're such a show-off?"

She turned her gaze back out the window.

"Do you really like high-rise buildings?"

Zhang Qianjun hugged her from behind, looking out at the night view together.

Seeing that Zhang Qianjun remained silent, Ye Qing asked again,

"This is a second-hand apartment, right? Doesn't really feel like your preferred style of interior design."

Zhang Qianjun turned her around to face him.

"I don't want to talk about these things."

The two figures by the floor-to-ceiling windows rapidly merged into one.

-----------------

Lying in bed, watching the neon lights outside the window, Ye Qing suddenly burst into laughter.

Zhang Qianjun looked at her in bewilderment. Ye Qing slowly explained,

"I originally thought I'd met the love of my life, so I mustered up all my courage and shamelessly took a shot at it, and it actually worked.

I was so happy I couldn't even contain it, giggling uncontrollably the whole flight back to Beijing. The passenger sitting next to me probably thought I had some kind of mental disorder.

A month later, I figured it was just a fling—a one-night stand between a big movie star and a minor actress.

Another half a month passed, and I came to Shanghai to clear my head, planning to head home right after seeing my friends. I never expected that dead man to come back to life.

I wanted to see if he was willing to make this relationship public, and without a moment's hesitation, he walked right into the crowd.

So now, I'm wondering... what exactly are we to each other?"

Zhang Qianjun opened his mouth to speak, but she covered it with her hand.

"If you can't follow through, don't make promises. Rather than getting together only to break up later, I'd prefer things to stay just like this."

Sensing the awkwardness in the air, Zhang Qianjun shifted the topic to work. Upon hearing that Ye Qing had just finished filming a unit drama called *Behind True Love*, he couldn't help asking in alarm,

"President Hou isn't in it, is he?"

"President Hou?" Ye Qing looked confused.

"You mean Teacher Hou Tianlai?"

Damn, he really was in it! A wave of irritation washed over Zhang Qianjun.

"You didn't play one of his female secretaries, female clients, or female subordinates, did you?"

Seeing his expression, Ye Qing burst out laughing.

"Look at you, where on earth do you get such a strong sense of possessiveness?"

Noticing he was about to get mad, Ye Qing quickly soothed him.

"It doesn't have the kind of scenes you're imagining, okay?"

Zhang Qianjun pulled her right up onto his lap.

"From now on, you are not allowed to take roles like that!"

She let out a huff.

"You think I'm you, able to pick and choose whatever I want to act in? Besides, by what qualification are you telling me what to do?"

Zhang Qianjun searched his mind for a moment before coming up with a title,

"Sugar daddy!"

She pressed close to him, their faces less than ten centimeters apart.

"Then my sugar daddy, are you going to be my daddy tonight?"