Chapter 6: Thanking Her

Ning Ke released Qin Pei’s hand quickly and shook Gao Qi’s as well.

She knew exactly how much power and resources Gao Qi and Qin Pei held. Under normal circumstances, people of their caliber wouldn’t initiate conversation with a younger star.

Xu Jian stepped forward. “Teacher Gao, Teacher Qin.”

Gao Qi nodded. “Ah Jian, so you’re Miss Ning’s manager.”

Ning Ke smoothly took over. “Please, just call me Little Ning. Are you two done with your segments?”

Qin Pei: “Yes, so we came to find you.”

Then, as if just noticing her, Qin Pei turned to Tang Xi with a smile. “You go ahead and get busy.”

As if she’d only just remembered Tang Xi existed.

Tang Xi wanted to scream, but mindful of her fragile-little-flower image, she could only bow her head with elegant grace. “Of course. I’ll treat you and Teacher Gao Qi to a meal another day.”

Her words subtly insisted on being close to the couple. In reality, she’d only met Qin Pei for the first time a few days ago. Zero actual relationship.

Ning Ke paid Tang Xi’s words no mind, carrying herself with her usual poise and confidence. “Teacher Gao, Teacher Qin, would you both like to grab a coffee sometime?”

Gao Qi glanced at his wife. “No need. Let’s just say it now.”

Qin Pei covered her mouth with a laugh. She was forty-three, but her smile was still coquettish and bright. “My Ah Qi is a massive fan of Teacher Yan. When he heard she’d be on this show, and since he had free time, he asked me to come along and see—are you still looking for guests?”

Ning Ke pulled Lin Yun forward. “Funny you should ask. This is the show’s director, Lin Yun.”

Qin Pei: “Perfect. What do you say—if you’d welcome us as a couple, we can sign today?”

Lin Yun: “!!!”

Was she hearing things?

It took Ning Ke a beat to process. These two had come to fan-girl on the spot?

Qin Pei smiled. “And to be honest, we have our own selfish reasons. Ah Qi is learning the violin, and if he could get a bit of guidance from Teacher Yan, that would be ideal!”

Lin Yun was practically over the moon. Ning Ke elbowed her. “Sister, your grin is about to reach the sky.”

“Right, right,” Lin Yun forced herself to calm down. “No rush on the contract. Let’s make an appointment!”

Ning Ke still needed to check with Yan Yunzhi. She smiled at the couple. “Both of you, see you another day.”

Qin Pei linked arms with Gao Qi, smiling. “We’ll hold you to it.”

—

Back in the car and away from the set, Lin Yun was laughing uncontrollably. “Hahaha, you didn’t see Tang Xi’s face just now. It was so satisfying!”

Ning Ke: “Why do you even care about her?”

Lin Yun, excited, tried to hug and kiss her, but Ning Ke pushed her away mercilessly. “Get off, stay away from me.”

Ning Ke disliked physical contact. She hated that clingy feeling—even with a friend of many years like Lin Yun, she didn’t like being held on to when they walked.

Lin Yun was used to her style. “Alright, alright. But seriously, Keke, did you really seduce Yan Yunzhi? What kind of enchantress tricks did you use?”

Ning Ke was drinking water and choked at her words, her face reddening. “Cough—What nonsense!”

Lin Yun: “Ah, I get it. Then it must be that Yan Yunzhi saw our gorgeous Keke and lost her mind, her heart fluttering like crazy!”

Ning Ke: “…”

Seduce her foot. She remembered the ghostly pale face she’d shown Yan Yunzhi while wearing that mask. Yan Yunzhi wasn’t blind. Enchantress tricks? Ghost tricks, more like!

Xu Jian joined in the teasing. “Oh, so I was running my mouth buttering up Teacher Gao to get you that script? But you’ve got connections of your own. I was wasting my time.”

Ning Ke couldn’t take them both joking about Yan Yunzhi. She wiped the smile off her face. “Stop it. We’re just a paper-thin marriage. She did me a random favor. I didn’t know Gao Qi and Qin Pei were her superfans.”

She’d originally planned to confront her about getting her small account banned… but that seemed pointless now. Call it even.

Lin Yun knew she didn’t like people joking about Yan Yunzhi and wisely quit while she was ahead. “How about I prepare a gift for your Yan Yunzhi, to thank her for deigning to come slum it with us?”

Ning Ke said no need. “Even if you gave it, she might not accept.”

Xu Jian was happily scrolling the trending topics. “Free ad space is the best. Just wait—more people will be contacting you. Little Yunyun~~”

Earlier that morning, Xu Jian had introduced Lin Yun to Wei Xuan, a fellow agent in the company. Two of his clients—idols from a talent show, Jiang Lin and Yu You—had open schedules, so they’d joined the show. They’d also been in the cast announcement.

Lin Yun really couldn’t stand his pet name for her, but duty called. “Keke, I’ll skip dinner with you. I’m going back to prepare the contracts.”

Ning Ke called her a fair-weather friend but didn’t stop her. “Go on. I’m heading home anyway.”

An Yu lived nearby and got out too.

The car quieted. Xu Jian, usually a jokester, turned serious. “Keke, this role in Gao Qi’s new film is very important to you. You have to land it.”

Ning Ke lowered her eyes. “Got it.”

Xu Jian had made a pledge to Xu Yinlou before the new year. Ning Ke knew it too—after she’d been blacklisted, Xu Jian had signed her and spent enormous effort rebuilding her career.

She thought for a moment. “I’ll bring it up with Yan Yunzhi and set up a meeting with Gao Qi and Qin Pei.”

Xu Jian smiled. “Right on. Why waste the resources your wife can get you?”

Ning Ke hummed and said no more.

Snow began to fall again outside.

Her manager’s chatter filled her ears. She leaned back and closed her eyes.

—

She got home before dark and handed the tea to Sister Lu.

Yan Yunzhi had a peaceful temperament. When idle, she liked tea and flower arranging—it passed the time and nurtured the soul. On the way home, Ning Ke had stopped to buy two tins of top-grade pine needle tea.

Sister Lu asked with a grin, “Azhi’s in the yard. Why don’t you go tell her yourself?”

This Miss Ning was too young to understand—there was nothing to be shy about between a young couple. And yet she wanted an old woman to deliver a message!

Ning Ke instinctively glanced outside and caught a glimpse of Yan Yunzhi in the yard. She quickly looked away. “…Fine.”

Indeed, it was better to say thanks in person.

The yard had several garden beds, reserved for Yan Yunzhi to grow flowers and plants.

Ning Ke pushed open the door and stood still.

Snow was still falling. Yan Yunzhi was tending the plants in the garden.

She wore a white coat with a pine-green shawl, her figure slender and delicate from behind. She was bent over, her fair, slim fingers stroking a flower stem crushed by the snow.

The world was a blanket of white, snowflakes drifting down silently.

Even time seemed to move more gently around her.

Ning Ke stood there a while before speaking. “Yan Yunzhi.”

The woman tending the flowers straightened and turned. Seeing her, she broke into a smile with an indescribable warmth. “Just got home?”

“Mm,” Ning Ke acknowledged, noticing Yan Yunzhi had makeup on today. She had a dignified, striking beauty, but because of her illness, her face was usually pale and washed out. Not today. Her brows were delicately traced, her features sharp and beautiful—breathtaking.

Yan Yunzhi pulled her coat tighter, speaking slowly and softly. “Just finished work?”

Ning Ke snapped back to attention. “Mm. Did you go out today?”

Yan Yunzhi smiled. “I went to see my teacher.”

Ning Ke had nothing more to say. “I’m going up first.”

For some reason, she didn’t want to bring up Gao Qi and Qin Pei now.

She took two steps, then turned back. “Oh, right. I brought home two tins of tea. Gave them to Sister Lu.”

The subtext: they’re for you.

Yan Yunzhi understood. “I’ll ask Sister Lu.”

Ning Ke: “I’m going up then.”

Ning Ke went up the side staircase. On her right was a large glass window. She climbed and glanced down, seeing Yan Yunzhi still standing in the yard, collecting snow water off the leaves in the falling snow.

Ning Ke stopped. For some reason, she wanted to linger.

But she pulled her gaze away and continued upstairs.

She hadn’t heard her coughing last night.

She should be fine, right?

…

At 5:30, Sister Lu called Ning Ke down for dinner.

Ning Ke was memorizing lines for a script and didn’t go down. She kept at it until 7. Finally hungry, she walked downstairs muttering the lines, pulled out a chair, and sat down.

Yan Yunzhi was reading in the living room. She looked up.

Ning Ke had removed her makeup—completely bare-faced. Her hair was tied in a high, fluffy bun. Her eyes shimmered, and the softness in her cheeks looked eminently pinchable.

Yan Yunzhi smiled softly.

Ning Ke heard it and looked over. “Did I disturb your reading?”

“No,” Yan Yunzhi asked idly, “Eating dinner this late? Aren’t you hungry?”

Ning Ke shook her head. Her bowl held only a pitiful half-bowl of millet porridge, with green vegetables and boiled chicken breast on the side.

Two bites in, grief overwhelmed her. She muttered under her breath, “Is this even human food?”

Yan Yunzhi set down her book and came over. “Can’t eat it?”

Ning Ke: “Just eating whatever.”

Yan Yunzhi sat across from her. “Qin Pei called me earlier.”

Ning Ke stopped her chopsticks. “I meant to tell you about that later. You contacted them?”

Yan Yunzhi shook her head. “Gao Qi and Qin Pei came to my concert two years ago and exchanged contact info, but we’ve never dealt with each other privately. We’re not close. This time, after I posted, Qin Pei asked a mutual friend to reach out. I called her directly and told her I’d be participating.”

Ning Ke: “They said they want to join too.”

“Qin Pei mentioned it on the phone,” Yan Yunzhi offered spontaneously. “Let’s take them out for a meal.”

Ning Ke paused. “Okay.”

She picked up her chopsticks again and poked at the porridge.

She really did owe Yan Yunzhi a big favor this time. How was she supposed to repay it?

Because they were so distant on a daily basis, even thanking her… was hard to say out loud.

Yan Yunzhi noticed her spacing out—cheeks puffed, brow furrowed, as if wrestling with something difficult.

The light cascaded down from above her head, a warm halo.

The woman who was so dazzling under the spotlight, bare-faced and in loungewear, had an indescribable purity and gentleness.

Ning Ke soon realized Yan Yunzhi was watching her. She snapped back, looked up, and met her eyes. “Yan Yunzhi…”

Yan Yunzhi: “Mm?”

Her eyes curved, her lips tilted up as she looked at Ning Ke with a smile, asking softly, “Aren’t you going to thank me?”

Ning Ke was caught off guard by that light, smiling voice. Because she was unaccustomed to owing anyone anything, the tips of her ears, hidden in her hair, burned faintly. She looked away before saying, “Mm… thank you.”