Chapter 45: Downstairs
“I’m leaving.”
Jiang Mi’s voice was very light, like a speck of dust falling in the still air.
Because of the struggle just now, Jiang Mi was standing against the light, her silhouette clear, her eyes so calm they were almost detached. “If Teacher Yan has nothing else to say—”
She nodded slightly, her tone polite, no longer showing the emotion from just now. “See you on set.”
That “Teacher Yan” was enunciated with particular clarity, drawing a very clear line between the two of them, colder than any indifferent address.
The moment her words landed, she turned without hesitation this time. The corner of her clothes stirred a faint airflow, gently churning in the stagnant air.
“Jiang Mi.”
Yan Wei’s voice was almost subconscious. Her arm even lifted slightly and then stiffly lowered, her fingertips curling slightly, and finally clenching into a fist.
A strong feeling of stagnation welled up in her throat, making her breathing a little tight. She wanted to say something, about the unanswered message, or the chaotic and laughable family matters…
But looking at Jiang Mi’s straight, unlingering back as she was about to step out the door—
Yan Wei’s words stopped.
She disliked this feeling of being influenced by Jiang Mi. She almost forced herself, resisting the urge to pull Jiang Mi back into the room regardless of everything.
That whole day, the rhythm of filming was as tense as a string stretched to its limit. When the final whistle blew, Yan Wei’s gaze passed through the bustling crowd and accurately locked onto that familiar figure.
But this time, Jiang Mi didn’t turn back.
She walked straight to her car. Zhao Jia had already opened the car door. She said something, and Jiang Mi nodded.
The car lights cut through the night, the engine roared, and then it smoothly merged into the endless stream of traffic outside the set. The taillights flickered and soon disappeared from Yan Wei’s sight.
Yan Wei breathed in the cool air and, for the first time, smelled a bitter taste.
She was sure it was bitter.
But she looked back at the others, and it seemed that only she could smell it.
It was as if for the first time, what others didn’t have, she had.
So was that why she liked Jiang Mi?
“Like.”
Yan Wei’s gaze hardened again.
So, she had already reached the point of liking Jiang Mi.
Back at the hotel, the air was so stuffy it was hard to breathe. Yan Wei stared at her phone screen in silence. The phone suddenly vibrated. Her eyelids twitched, and she looked down.
The WeChat icon was really eye-catching.
It was as if a weight had been lifted.
She and Jiang Mi still didn’t have each other on WeChat, so it couldn’t be Jiang Mi.
She saw Jiang Qu’s avatar flashing in WeChat. The message was concise: [Jiang Mi is taking a day off tomorrow. The shooting schedule has been adjusted. I’ve sent it to you.]
Taking a day off?
Her heart felt as if it had been forcefully twisted by something. Yan Wei put down her phone. She watched the bright screen go dark and took out a cigarette, slowly lighting it.
The slim cigarette was held between her fingers, and the smoke drifted like a lonely ghost.
The dark red spark struggled for a moment between Yan Wei’s fingers. She extinguished the cigarette.
Her fingertips were a little numb as she unbuttoned her dress. The soft fabric slid down her shoulders and slumped onto the sofa, as if her energy had been instantly drained.
She didn’t look at her phone again and walked straight to the bathroom.
The warm water flowed over her skin, but it couldn’t dispel the lingering emptiness in her heart. The steam rose, and her face in the mirror was blurry.
She turned her head and looked at the bathroom counter, remembering the wetness on Jiang Mi’s lips that day.
Jiang Mi was half-kneeling between her legs, just looking at her.
Her wet eyes.
So pure, clean, and full of temptation.
The bathroom door was pulled open, and a damp coolness, wrapped in the lingering steam, rushed out. Yan Wei’s gaze unintentionally swept across the living room.
On the sofa, her phone was lying quietly.
Her body moved before her thoughts.
She picked it up again and sent a message to Jiang Qu:
[What is she taking leave for?]
Jiang Qu’s reply was so fast it was almost mocking: [Oh, how rare. The great Movie Queen Yan is gossiping?]
[She said it’s a family matter.]
Since the start of filming, Jiang Mi had been diligent. Seeing that her condition hadn’t been very good these past two days, it was also necessary to make some adjustments.
Yan Wei stared at the line of text. The light from the screen flickered in her eyes, and in the end, only that deep blackness remained.
The same family matter. Was Jiang Mi doing it on purpose, or…
She was silent for a while.
She lit up the screen again, opened her recent calls, and after a few scrolls, found the name “Jiang Mi.”
Her fingertip hovered in the air for two seconds, then fell.
It connected quickly, but what came from the receiver was not that gentle voice, only a mechanical female voice repeating, “The user you have dialed is switched off.”
The cold notification sound pierced her eardrum like a needle. Yan Wei silently put down her phone. This time, the black screen reflected the gloom between her brows.
Her knuckles turned slightly white as she pressed her throbbing temples. An indescribable boredom silently spread through her heart, washing away the little patience she had left.
She was getting tired of this game.
Whatever.
**
The next morning, the nanny van was filled with the roasted aroma of coffee.
Yan Wei leaned against the window, her eyes closed, resting. In her ear was Surui instructing the temporary assistant on some matters.
The assistant suddenly mentioned Jiang Mi.
“Teacher Jiang is not here today. Should we still order the cut fruit and cakes?”
Surui glanced at the slight movement in Yan Wei’s expression and said, “No need.”
“Oh, okay. It must be tiring for Teacher Jiang to rush back in one day…”
Yan Wei opened her eyes, her gaze sweeping over. “Where did she go back to?”
The assistant was startled. This was probably the first time Yan Wei had taken the initiative to speak to her.
She pursed her lips and said, “Jincheng. I saw on the hot search that she was photographed at the Jincheng airport. Teacher apple was also photographed. It seems they went back together.”
She had seen apple’s Weibo. Recently, apple and that manager were in the process of terminating their contract. It seemed she was going back to Jincheng to adjust and rest for a few days.
Surui suddenly felt the atmosphere in the air sink. She patted the person in the seat next to her. “The clothes for the mid-month event will be delivered today. You remember…”
The two of them returned to the topic of work.
But Yan Wei’s eyes were pitch black, as if she were being strangled by an invisible pair of hands. The feeling of suffocation was simply indescribable. It was both sad and so sourly addictive.
Jiang Mi had taken leave, turned off her phone, and had quietly returned to Jincheng with another woman in the middle of the night.
All the annoyance and hidden pain that she could barely suppress a moment ago, like a spark doused in boiling oil, exploded.
**
The brim of her hat pressed down on her choppy hair. The afternoon wind in Jincheng carried a thin coolness that passed through her mask.
Jiang Mi looked up at the familiar window on the sixth floor. The paper-cut “Fu” character was still on the window glass—she had stood on a stool and put it up herself last Chinese New Year.
The feeling of weightlessness as the elevator ascended pulled her fatigue down. The drowsiness from the few hours of night travel suddenly dissipated when the password lock made a “beep” sound.
A warm, oily fragrance wafted out from the crack in the door.
“Why are you back at this time?” A half-figure emerged from the kitchen. Jiang Youshu thought it was Jiang Hu. “Have you eaten?”
When she turned and met Jiang Mi’s smiling face, her eyes widened in disbelief. Her foot tripped, and she almost stumbled.
“Aiya!”
Jiang Mi rushed over and hugged her. “You scared me to death! Lao Jiang, don’t get so excited!”
“You damn girl!” Jiang Youshu pounded her arm. “You didn’t even say you were coming back! There’s only half a cabbage and two green onions in the fridge. Have you eaten? I can still make it to the market now—”
“Don’t bother.” Jiang Mi helped her stand firm. “It’s so hot. Just have the grocery store deliver it. Besides, your foot is not convenient. Don’t make things hard for yourself, okay?”
Jiang Youshu’s leg had been injured by an external force years ago, and she couldn’t walk for too long. So every time Jiang Mi had to go to another city for filming, she would be even more worried—because she couldn’t see her all the time.
Jiang Youshu craned her neck and slapped her hand away. “The ribs they deliver are all scraps! The ones I pick are good. What do you know?! I’ll just walk a little slower.”
“Dear mother…” Jiang Mi’s voice softened, her fingertips brushing against her mother’s cool hand. “I only have one day off. The time you spend at the market is better spent at home with me.”
The sunlight shone in from the window. Only then did Jiang Youshu see her daughter’s face clearly. Her originally round jawline seemed to have been sharpened, making the two dark circles under her eyes even more striking.
“Do you have to be in this line of work?” The tip of her nose suddenly turned red. “The wind could blow you away…”
Jiang Mi buried her face in her mother’s neck and rubbed it like she did when she was a child. “Aren’t I back for you to fatten me up?”
There was half a bowl of plain noodles on the dinner table. Jiang Mi frowned. “You just make do when no one’s home? Where’s Jiang Hu? Is she busy lately?”
“The auto repair shop is busy.” Jiang Youshu put the fried egg into her bowl. “She’ll be back with just one call. You call her. She’ll be happier.”
Jiang Mi said, “She won’t. She’ll just talk back to me.”
Jiang Youshu smiled and said, “Didn’t apple say she was coming back too? When is she coming back?”
“I came back with her today. But her parents also miss their daughter.” Jiang Mi said, “And I have to catch a flight before dawn tomorrow… Mom, can you give me some of your noodles first? We can eat together.”
In the hot steam of the kitchen, Jiang Youshu reached out and touched the top of her daughter’s head. “Flying a thousand kilometers for three hours, just for this bowl of noodles?”
Jiang Mi said, “Are you happy that I’m thinking of you?”
Jiang Youshu was so happy she couldn’t close her mouth. She served the tomato and egg and added some boiling water to the pot. “Happy, happy. You call your sister and tell her to come home early.”
Jiang Mi went to get her phone. Soon, she heard the call connect. She said loudly, “Sister, dear sister—”
Jiang Hu’s roar exploded from the receiver, “Jiang Mi, are you crazy?”
The background noise was the sound of metal tools clanking.
“You’re the one who’s crazy,” Jiang Mi said. “When are you coming back? After tonight, it’ll be a fee to see me again. I have to leave at dawn.”
In the evening.
Jiang Hu pushed open the door, bringing a faint smell of engine oil with her. The woman was wearing gray work clothes, with neat short black hair, and a string of English letters tattooed on her slender, healthy-skinned neck.
Her long legs strode in.
Jiang Mi, sitting on the sofa, glanced out. “Oh, you’re back.”
Jiang Hu glanced at the person curled up on the sofa. “Did the crew cut your rations? You’re as thin as a refugee.”
Her disdainful tone hit her, but she put the things in her hand on the coffee table. The sweet smell of cantaloupe mixed with the coolness of refrigerated yogurt spread out.
Jiang Mi craned her neck and glanced at it. “Just these?”
They were all her favorite foods. She picked up a yogurt and poked the straw through the aluminum foil opening with a “pfft.”
“Then don’t eat it.”
“I will.”
Jiang Youshu peeked out from the kitchen. Seeing the two of them bickering, her face was full of a happy smile.
In the background noise of the TV news, Jiang Hu washed her hands, greeted Jiang Youshu in the kitchen, and then sat down next to Jiang Mi. Her phone vibrated continuously. Jiang Mi kicked her ankle. “Business is booming. Something going on?”
Jiang Hu’s foot stepped back and crushed the tip of her slipper. “Less gossip. You?”
Jiang Mi said, “A little, but it’s not going well.”
Jiang Hu paused, glanced at her state, and then looked away again. “If you’re not happy, then forget it. You’re not very happy this time you’re back… Don’t let Lao Jiang worry, and don’t make yourself unhappy, you hear me?
Jiang Mi was about to say “I know,” but her eyes rolled. “None of your business.”
Before her words had faded, her ear suddenly hurt.
Jiang Hu was pinching her ear and pulling it up. “Who are you being fierce with?”
Jiang Mi also grabbed her short hair with her backhand. Jiang Hu’s face darkened. “Let go.”
Jiang Mi: “You first.”
Jiang Hu threatened, “Three, two—”
Jiang Mi: “Four, five—six.”
She wasn’t afraid!
Jiang Hu took a deep breath and let go. “Can you not be so childish!”
Jiang Mi said, “You’re older than me. You’re even more annoying when you’re childish!”
Jiang Youshu came out with a fruit platter. “Whoever argues again will sleep in the corridor tonight.”
Jiang Mi immediately said, “You hear that? She’s talking to you.”
Jiang Hu rolled her eyes and tidied her hair, swallowing a cold sneer. “You and apple are on the hot search. Did you know?”
“My phone is off. I didn’t see.”
She had used Jiang Youshu’s phone to call Jiang Hu.
Jiang Mi thought for a moment, said something to the two of them, and then went back to her room. The moment she turned on her phone, dozens of messages rushed out. She went on Weibo and saw that it was indeed a mess of private messages.
Returning to WeChat, she first skipped over the other messages and directly opened the one from Zhao Jia.
[Don’t worry about the Weibo hot search. The company will handle it.]
Jiang Mi’s fingertips hovered over the screen. Recently, Huadian Entertainment had been very concerned about her, and had even asked if she needed another assistant. It was rare for them to be so proactive about something like a hot search. Her thoughts unconsciously drifted to Huai City.
Then Yan Wei must have seen it too, right?
As she was thinking, a wave of drowsiness washed over her.
Jiang Mi fell asleep without realizing it. When she woke up and looked out the window, she found that someone had drawn the curtains for her.
She took out her phone. It was already past seven in the evening.
She had actually slept for so long…
Jiang Mi rubbed her dry eyes and sat on the bed for a while. Just as she was about to get out of bed and go out, the phone in her palm suddenly buzzed.
She lowered her eyes. In the glaring white light, the two words “Yan Wei” were flashing wildly.
She paused for a few seconds.
Staring at the name, her fingertip never landed.
Until the phone went quiet.
Jiang Mi let out a long breath, as if relieved, and also as if she had been drained.
Before her breath had calmed, the phone lit up again.
Her eyes were fixed on those two words, as if she were making eye contact with Yan Wei through the screen.
Another few seconds.
Jiang Mi sighed. She said to herself, Just this once. Just listen to what Yan Wei has to say.
If Yan Wei says something she’s not happy with, she’ll just hang up!
It seemed this was the most thorough preparation she had.
Jiang Mi’s finger swiped.
The moment it connected, the receiver seemed to be filled with the night wind, so strong it hurt her eardrums:
“Come down.”
Jiang Mi was silent for a moment, then said faintly, “Teacher Yan, I’m not in Huai City.”
A crisp “click” of a lighter came through the noise. A cool voice entered her ear.
“I know. Come down.” Yan Wei paused. “I’m downstairs at your place.”
