Chapter 50: Subtle

Rong Si walked over, and her first action was to take the wine glass from Jinzhi’s hand, replacing it with juice from a waiter’s tray. “Drink less.”

Rong Si didn’t want Jinzhi getting drunk again—otherwise… Once or twice, she could hold back, but Rong Si wasn’t sure she could hold back every time. She looked at Jinzhi’s sexy gown, her shoulder bearing a touch of pink. Looking up at her face, her makeup was extremely alluring.

“Mm…” Jinzhi took a sip of juice. “You look… beautiful today.”

Actually, she wasn’t thirsty. Drinking juice was just to suppress the strange, shy emotions inside. She had been watching Rong Si walk over the whole time. Although she was talking with Xia You, she didn’t even know what she was saying to Xia You—just trying to distract herself. What if Rong Si wasn’t coming to see her? That would be too embarrassing. Only those with guilty consciences felt embarrassed.

Before her rebirth, Jinzhi thought she had no expectations left. Like the later version of herself—she never expected anyone to walk toward her. In the past, she’d meet Gao Yi at such galas too. Sometimes, she just wanted to walk up to her like any normal person and talk. But the other party, afraid of being caught, would only glance at her briefly and walk away. Even if she did approach, it was to talk to someone else. All expectations were extinguished by one person like that.

“Mm.” Rong Si spoke. “Your makeup looks beautiful today too.”

Jinzhi choked. She hadn’t expected Rong Si to respond. Not only did Rong Si respond today, she even complimented her. Usually, Jinzhi had to ask first: “Aren’t you going to compliment how I look today?”

Rong Si’s unusual initiative today actually made Jinzhi a bit shy. “Mm…”

They were in public, so she had to be demure. Even her smile had to be demure.

The gala was now in full swing—wine flowing, people doing business, networking, everyone laughing and chatting. Soon, Rong Si was called away. As Dilika’s spokesperson, she naturally had to accompany Dilika’s board members.

The charity gala also had a bidding segment. The money raised would serve as an education fund donated to children in impoverished mountain areas. Money was more practical anyway—those kids had no use for celebrities’ clothes and shoes. The bids shown on live TV were only for a few large items like porcelain. The other items—clothes, shoes—were auctioned in a dedicated auction hall.

Jinzhi wasn’t interested in bidding, but she had to make a bid to show her concern for charity. The second item was a Qianlong-era landscape painting. Jinzhi knew nothing about it. When bidding started, she raised her paddle, adding 10,000 to the bid. The moment her paddle came down, a familiar voice came from behind. “Add 100,000.”

Jinzhi turned around—it was Gao Yi. Gao Yi smiled at her, appearing very “shy” in public.

“Miss Gao is so charitable.” The host said.

Gao Yi’s public image had always been good. There were many of her “admirers” in the audience.

“I’m just following in Miss Cheng’s footsteps. What Miss Cheng takes an interest in must be excellent.” Gao Yi said, walking over from behind. Since the bidding was short, there were no assigned seats for the guests. The host stood in the middle—this “bidding” was more of a warm-up segment.

Jinzhi glanced at Gao Yi and raised her paddle.

“Miss Cheng, adding 110,000.” The host said.

“Add 110,000 and one.”

Jinzhi raised her paddle. “Add 120,000.”

“120,000 and one.” Gao Yi looked at Jinzhi and smiled brightly.

Jinzhi rolled her eyes at Gao Yi and didn’t raise her paddle again. If you like it, take it.

Gao Yi raised an eyebrow and sidled up to Jinzhi. “Wait a moment, I’ll send it to your house.”

Before the gavel could fall, another paddle went up. “Add 200,000.”

“Miss Rong is also very generous!”

Rong Si said nothing, walking very naturally to Jinzhi’s side.

“Add 300,000.” Gao Yi was extremely displeased with Rong Si and casually raised the price.

“Add 500,000.” Rong Si’s expression was very natural.

Gao Yi gritted her teeth. “Add 550,000.”

Jinzhi quickly grabbed Rong Si’s arm, seeming to not want her to keep raising.

Rong Si patted Jinzhi’s wrist and raised her paddle again. “Add 800,000.”

“Add one million.” Gao Yi, annoyed by the interaction between Rong Si and Jinzhi, took the number straight to a million.

Rong Si glanced at Gao Yi, didn’t raise her paddle again, and let the gavel fall three times. Gao Yi was a little triumphant at first, but then, seeing Rong Si’s expression, sensed something was off. She felt like she’d been played by Rong Si. Gao Yi mentally calculated: the item’s base price was low, so adding a million wasn’t too much of a loss. After all, she’d bought it for psychological satisfaction. At least Rong Si had backed down in front of Jinzhi.

Later, Gao Yi had experts appraise it and was so angry she jumped. The expert put it delicately: “There’s a type of item with an awkward position in history—period reproductions.”

In other words, she’d bought a Qianlong-era forgery imitating the Northern Song Dynasty. The assistant obliviously asked, “Should we send it to Miss Cheng?”

“Send what? Send it to be laughed at??” Gao Yi was nearly mad at her assistant. She’d been played by Rong Si. Losing money was minor; looking stupid was major. The whole gala would probably laugh at her—”fighting over a woman” to the tune of a million.

Jinzhi, who understood nothing, looked like a little lamb next to Rong Si. Coming down from the gala, she even comforted Rong Si: “I was just bidding for show. I didn’t care about that painting.”

“Mm.” Rong Si didn’t say anything, knowing Jinzhi had no knowledge of such things.

“Don’t be discouraged. I appreciate the thought.” Jinzhi said this to cheer Rong Si up. It was also the sentence she would regret most in the following days—after Gou Yu told her the true value of that item, and how Rong Si had outmaneuvered Gao Yi.

Jinzhi felt like an idiot. The worst part was that Rong Si hadn’t exposed it and had let her say all those idiotic things. “Do you think you’ve been too perfunctory with me lately and now want to be nicer to me?”

Why had she said that? Jinzhi wished she could down two bottles of baijiu and black out.

The words were out. What could she do? She’d just have to play dumb all the way. What made her happy was that only Rong Si knew she was being dense. What made her unhappy was that she’d been dense in front of Rong Si.

Fortunately, Rong Si never mentioned the item afterward. She’d preserved Jinzhi’s last shred of face and given her an invisible stepping-stone.

After the “E.T.” gala, Jinzhi went to the “Silver World” crew. The drama had already announced its leads—she would play Huo Yuxiu—and released the makeup tests. “Silver World” told the rise and fall of the Shanxi Merchants, highly restoring historical events. It was said the author, “Han Shiyue,” had spent over half a year in Shanxi investigating and verifying potential errors in the materials. Han Shiyue specialized in business-war dramas; the hit “Red-Top Merchant” had also been his script.

On the opening day, besides slaughtering chickens and worshiping gods, two plaques were hung. One read “Huo’s Business Across the World,” the other “Integrity Above All”—highly faithful to the script of “Silver World.” Reporters who came to cover it got a firsthand experience of draft bank rules. The drama used the rise and fall of a draft bank as its microcosm.

Before filming, the director had Jinzhi practice with an abacus. “Boss Huo can’t even use an abacus without a hand double, right?”

During downtime, Jinzhi practiced the abacus until her hand nearly cramped. In the drama, her character had an incredible skill: mental math. There was a scene where people in front were using abacuses while those seated beside them did mental calculations—those holding tea cups kept their fingers moving as if there were invisible abacuses beneath their hands. The others had no requirements, but because Jinzhi would get a close-up, the director specifically demanded: “Miss Cheng, you didn’t count correctly.”

It was an invisible abacus. How could the director be so eagle-eyed?

This director was famously meticulous. Filming continued into January, when he allowed Jinzhi two days off to return for final exams. Fortunately, she’d been diligent and retaken and passed the courses she’d failed in sophomore year. After her exams, Jinzhi asked about Rong Si and learned Rong Si had also returned from “The Returner” crew.

Jinzhi ran into Rong Si on the road. Rong Si seemed to have just returned from somewhere, a black ribbon tied around her arm. She stood under a streetlamp, raising a hand to cover her eyes—her wrist slender, her arm trembling slightly. Under the light, her whole figure looked fragile, stripped of her usual composure. Jinzhi suddenly remembered: these days were the anniversary of Rong Si’s parents’ deaths.

Perhaps Rong Si had been strong in front of her for too long, and Jinzhi had forgotten her circumstances. Besides bearing enormous debt, Rong Si also had to face the reality of losing both parents while her younger brother was still young.

Jinzhi had Ah Wei park the car some distance away and didn’t go disturb Rong Si. Only after Rong Si went home did Jinzhi slowly head back. By then, the black ribbon around Rong Si’s arm had been removed.

“The director is too strict. I was going to sneak off to the set to visit you.” Jinzhi told Rong Si.

She’d been saying she would come visit Rong Si on set for a while.

“Mm, the crew has been busy these days. If you came, I’d be afraid I couldn’t host you properly.” Rong Si said.

“Mm…” Before going to her room, Jinzhi paused. “I have no commitments these days. I’ll be home.”