Chapter 33: World Two [6] Part 2

“Heh heh, maybe Panda hit its exercise quota for today, so it doesn’t wanna move.” Shu Heng wasn’t embarrassed at all; her smile stayed bright. “Stay at my place a few more days, Teacher Li—you’ll definitely see Panda’s backflip.”

Li Jianwei naturally wouldn’t hold a grudge against the adorable little kitty. She just sat down and asked, “I remember your new drama Moon Full West Tower is premiering next month. Aren’t you doing promo runs?”

“Oh, that. Sister Qin handled it—mostly online promo. We’ll release some behind-the-scenes clips and do a livestream.” Shu Heng said, then hugged Li Jianwei’s arm and nuzzled against her.

“Teacher Li, don’t forget to promo it for me—you promised.” Shu Heng blinked cutely to act moe. “Best if we watch it together so you can critique my acting and help me improve.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t forget yours no matter who else I forget.” The smile never left Li Jianwei’s face; she was much more relaxed than usual. “If I’m free, I’ll watch the TV premiere with you.”

“You have to be free. I’m your girlfriend now, Teacher Li—even if it’s not public, you have to unconditionally support your girlfriend’s work!” Shu Heng stressed.

She’d even pulled out the girlfriend card—what could Li Jianwei do? Of course, raise her hand and promise to finish Moon Full West Tower.

Perhaps knowing its litter scooper was scheming to keep Li Jianwei around, Panda didn’t do a single backflip for five straight days. Only when Li Jianwei had to leave for work, during their goodbye hug, did it leap from flat ground and perform one.

“Shu Heng, Panda really does backflips!” Li Jianwei was amazed. Panda was one impressive little kitty.

“Of course! And without Panda’s backflip, didn’t I perform one for you too, Teacher Li?” Shu Heng, still angling for a goodbye kiss, cupped Li Jianwei’s face.

“Teacher Li, focus on me. You’re about to part from your girlfriend!” Shu Heng looked serious. “Is Panda more important than your girlfriend?”

“I’m just shooting a promo vid for tourism—five days max and I’ll be back.” Li Jianwei, with her face held, felt helpless. How was the Eldest Miss even jealous of a little kitty?

“That’s a full five days—120 hours, 7,200 minutes!” Shu Heng stressed. “Teacher Li, think of me three times—no, four times a day. More than the number of meals!”

Li Jianwei blinked. She had never been asked to do that before. “If I eat a night snack, does that mean I’ll think of you five times a day?”

Shu Heng nodded. “At least five times!”

Li Jianwei nodded too. “Okay, I’ll think of you.”

“Remember to video call me every night, report your schedule to me, and most importantly, stay safe. The promotional video might take you to remote places…”

Shu Heng’s words poured out uncontrollably again. She felt like she could never say enough.

In the end, Li Jianwei cupped her face and gave her a deep French kiss before she could finally leave the Eldest Miss’s villa.

–

“Sister Lu, why are you looking at me like that?” Li Jianwei couldn’t help but adjust her sitting position. Then she touched her face. She wasn’t wearing makeup yet, so there shouldn’t be any makeup issues.

Sister Lu, sitting next to Li Jianwei, didn’t speak. She just kept looking her up and down. After about half a minute, she finally opened her mouth. “You’ve been with Shu Heng these past few days?”

“Yeah, I went to her house to see the kittens right after filming ended,” Li Jianwei said. “The cats at Shu Heng’s house really do backflips.”

Sister Lu: …

“You just watched the cats do backflips?” Sister Lu rubbed her twitching eyelid with her fingertip. “Nothing else?”

Li Jianwei shrugged, her tone casual. “The rest was just normal couple stuff.”

Looking at Li Jianwei, whose complexion was clearly better than usual, Sister Lu hesitated to speak. In the end, she could only say tactfully, “Show some restraint. The shoot in two weeks requires a formal dress, and your back and arms will be exposed. Don’t make it hard for the makeup artist.”

This was all Sister Lu could do. After all, she couldn’t intervene directly in her artist’s private life just because she was the manager.

“Don’t worry, Sister Lu. I sent Shu Heng my schedule for the year. She knows when I’ll be on camera,” Li Jianwei replied naturally.

After chatting about personal matters for a bit, Sister Lu took advantage of the fact that the car hadn’t reached its destination yet and started filling in Li Jianwei’s empty schedule slots.

“The Fruit Channel’s New Year’s Eve gala is finalizing the lineup. They’ve scheduled you to sing the theme song from that award-winning movie, followed by a small game. You should be fine with that, right?” Sister Lu pulled out her little notebook and flipped through it.

“How far in advance is the rehearsal?” Li Jianwei asked.

Sister Lu said, “About two weeks ahead. You don’t need to sing with anyone else, so you can skip some of the processes. Just go for the full run-through and walk the positions a couple of times to get familiar.”

“Okay, then I’ll fly over on the 28th and leave the next two days for them.” Li Jianwei opened a newly downloaded app and marked off the 28th through 31st.

“What’s that, your memo app?” Sister Lu glanced over curiously.

Li Jianwei coughed lightly. “A couple’s shared calendar app. It makes it easy for Shu Heng and me to plan our dates in advance.”

Sister Lu: …

Could her own artist really put her career before dating? It seemed like she was heading toward becoming love-struck already.

“Sister Lu, didn’t Shu Heng’s manager recommend a resource to you? How did the vetting go?” Li Jianwei changed the subject.

“It’s a foreign clothing brand with a great reputation. You’re the first domestic endorser,” Sister Lu said seriously. “You need to seize this opportunity. I hear the big boss behind the scenes has connections with luxury brands abroad. It might get you a lot of fashion circle resources.”

Li Jianwei nodded, then emphasized, “This is a resource Shu Heng fought for so we could do matching endorsements.”

Sister Lu took a deep breath. She couldn’t argue with that. Her artist’s relationship was proving quite valuable so far.

“Promise me I won’t see any negative relationship news about you in the year-end summaries,” Sister Lu could only warn her like that.

–

The promotional video shoot went smoothly. The local leaders, who were all women, were very amiable throughout the process.

Because the leaders were female, there was no obnoxious drinking culture. Instead, they showed Li Jianwei a lot of care and even stuffed the nanny van full of local specialties before she left.

The leaders’ reasoning left Li Jianwei unable to refute. These were things she’d eaten growing up, no doubt. But she could give them to her celebrity friends, and who knew—maybe they’d go viral someday and boost the local economy.

The shoot ended a day early, so Li Jianwei took the chance to go home. She rolled up her sleeves and cooked a delicious dinner as a surprise for her mom and dad when they got back from work.

Li Jianwei’s background was pretty ordinary compared to some second-gen celebs in the industry. Her mom was a high school math teacher, and her dad was a high school PE teacher.

Her parents’ romance had been straightforward too. They’d caught each other’s eye at school—from “I’ll teach your PE class today” to “Your homeroom teacher isn’t here yet, so I’ll cover for her and have you all study quietly on your own.”

Mother Li’s sharp mind had clearly been inherited by her daughter. Li Jianwei had always excelled in school. If she hadn’t been interested in acting, her grades could’ve gotten her into the top university.

“Mom, surprise! I’m back! I made your favorite big shrimp!” Li Jianwei gave her mom a big hug.

“What about me?” Father Li grumbled, holding his car keys.

“Hello, you’ve worked hard. How many classes did you teach today?” Li Jianwei clung to her mom without letting go.

“I taught a full three classes today,” Father Li emphasized. “Your mom only taught two!”

“Oh, but Mom’s classes take brainpower. You just blow the whistle, gather the students, and let them run laps or do free activity.” Li Jianwei looked indifferent. “Of course Mom works harder and needs to eat something good!”

“You little rascal. I spent more time with you when you were little,” Father Li said with a laughing shake of his head.

Mother Li patted her daughter’s head, then slapped Father Li hard on the back. “The girl’s made dinner. What are you standing around for? Go to the kitchen and bring out the dishes.”

“Hey hey, I’m going, I’m going.” Father Li agreed repeatedly.

After a harmonious family dinner, Father Li was sent off to wash the dishes in the kitchen. Mother and daughter sat on the sofa and chatted idly.

When she learned her daughter had helped promote their hometown for the cultural tourism bureau, Mother Li beamed. Even the worry lines from naughty students smoothed out.

“How long can you stay home this time?” Mother Li asked.

Li Jianwei answered honestly. “Less than two days. I have to catch a flight back the afternoon after tomorrow.”

Mother Li said, “Is your schedule that tight afterward? Didn’t you say after winning the award, you’d focus on quality over quantity?”

Li Jianwei touched her nose. “Mom, I need to leave some personal time.”

“Hm?” Mother Li raised an eyebrow. Seeing her daughter’s guilty look, she knew what was up.

“You’re dating someone?” Mother Li asked. Her smile faded, and the homeroom teacher authority kicked in full force, making Li Jianwei shrink back a bit despite not having done anything wrong.

She’d done nothing wrong, but Li Jianwei still lowered her voice instinctively. “Yeah, with someone in the industry. She’s pretty clingy with me.”

“How much older or younger, height, income, what do her parents do, and do you have reasonable plans for the future?” Mother Li rattled off the questions smoothly.

“Only a few months apart from me, about my height, her income’s probably a bit lower than mine, parents likely in business, and no plans yet. We’ve only been together a few days,” Li Jianwei answered all at once.

“Same height as you?” Mother Li latched onto her biggest issue right away. “Then if you wear heels, won’t she have to use height-increasing insoles?”

Li Jianwei blinked. “Uh, maybe she can wear heels like me.”

“He… is a she?” Mother Li frowned. “You’re dating a female celebrity?”

“Yeah, a female celebrity.” Li Jianwei nodded, then reminded her, “Mom, you were just praising that mathematician who solved the century-old problem. Her partner is a female celebrity too.”