After the Female Star Was Slandered Onto the Trending Search List - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Get Out of the Car and Grab Her!

Before Wen Xi could think of what to say, Pu Tao’s phone buzzed with several WeChat notifications.

The WeChat alert interrupted Pu Tao’s words. She glanced at the messages and said, “Those competitor studios are texting me. They probably saw the trending topic about you and Shen Yu and are trying to gauge the situation.”

“Okay, you go ahead and deal with that,” Wen Xi said.

Wen Xi watched Pu Tao’s fingers fly across the screen, feeling a bit unsettled.

She let out a slight, almost helpless sigh and picked up her phone.

She clicked on Weibo and carefully typed a response.

Twilight: “Thank you for the appreciation, Teacher Shen Yu. I’ll certainly collaborate if the opportunity arises.”

After replying to Shen Yu’s comment, Wen Xi slid her screen to the WeChat page and accepted Shen Yu’s friend request.

She decided to just give up and see what happened.

Wen Xi couldn’t quite articulate her feelings. It had been ten years, truly too long. So long that the heart that was initially numb from pain was starting to feel normal again.

But there had to be closure with the past. She couldn’t keep dragging this on or avoiding the issue.

If Shen Yu questioned her, she would say nothing.

If Shen Yu hated her… then let her hate. It was better than her having no feelings for her at all.

A few days later.

Things were a little different from what Wen Xi had expected. After she accepted Shen Yu’s friend request, the other party didn’t actively start a conversation. So, Wen Xi slowly went from being constantly startled to being less “concerned.”

At least today, she wasn’t constantly checking Shen Yu’s contact page, waiting for a message.

But what good would being concerned do anyway?

She was the one who decided to abandon Shen Yu in the first place. She had no right to still hope that Shen Yu, ten years later, harbored any special feelings for her.

Pu Tao had also noticed Wen Xi’s odd behavior these past few days. For example, Wen Xi wouldn’t respond when called at close range, or she would constantly stare at her phone. When asked what was wrong, she wouldn’t say anything.

Pu Tao suspected the source of this strangeness was Shen Yu’s proactive offer to collaborate with her boss.

Pu Tao thought, The boss must be too happy. After all, she knew how much the boss admired Shen Yu. For example, Wen Xi had bought multiple copies of every magazine or collaboration related to Shen Yu.

On the other side, to stay home, Wen Xi had heeded Yu Qiao’s advice and postponed all possible collaborations and found ways to have other excellent colleagues cover the unavoidable ones, even having to call in many favors.

To show her apology, she also promised the partners subsequent free photoshoots.

Wen Xi felt this was a much-needed vacation for herself.

She was too poor in the early years and took on many jobs within her capacity, leaving virtually no time for rest. Later, as she gradually became popular, collaborations increased.

Although she had taken on fewer projects in the last two years, she was plagued by anxiety about her skill level stagnating, and the trivial matters were no less numerous than before.

Now, she wondered if this counted as a blessing in disguise, giving her a valid reason to rest for a few days.

She had been in a daze these past few days. Besides feeling mentally scattered, she was also engaging in “retaliatory rest.”

However, today was clearly not going to be a day of rest.

She had just received a message from Pu Tao. Pu Tao said she couldn’t come to Wen Xi’s place to work today because there was a problem at an external location for a shoot planned next month, and she needed to go check it out.

Wen Xi replied with an acknowledgment and sent Pu Tao a red packet.

T.T: “You worked hard. Go straight home and rest after you finish.”

PeachPeachPeach: “Okay! Thank you, Boss!!”

Not long after, the studio called her.

Her studio team wasn’t huge. Aside from her two assistants, there were about a dozen people, including business representatives responsible for client communication, set designers for indoor and outdoor staging, makeup artists, and post-production retouchers.

The caller was Xiao Du, the meticulous girl responsible for client communication.

However, Xiao Du’s voice was somewhat urgent. “Boss, have the photos from Teacher Xu’s shoot been processed?”

Wen Xi frowned slightly, thought for a moment, and said, “Not yet. Isn’t the deadline still far off?”

Although the studio had retouchers, Wen Xi still preferred to roughly process all the photos according to her aesthetic first, and then hand over the parts that required fine detail to the retouchers.

The “Teacher Xu” Xiao Du mentioned was the popular young star Xu Shuili. Her photos were taken at the beginning of the month, but the agreed-upon deadline for delivery was the twentieth of this month. Today was only the eleventh, so there was still plenty of time, and Wen Xi hadn’t processed them yet.

Xiao Du’s voice held a trace of helplessness. “Yes, but for some reason, they’re in a hurry for them now, saying they’ll pay an urgent fee.”

Wen Xi also felt a headache coming on. She asked, “When do they need them?”

Xiao Du: “Tomorrow.”

Wen Xi acknowledged it and raised her hand to rub her temple.

She kept a lot of her files on the studio’s computer. If she really had to meet tomorrow’s deadline, she would have to go to the studio.

Xiao Du knew her boss was resting at home and hesitated. “Brother Feng is at the office now. Should I ask Brother Feng to copy the files and bring them to you?”

The “Brother Feng” Xiao Du mentioned was Wen Xi’s other assistant, Feng Lexian.

Wen Xi: “That won’t really work. I have too many files on the computer. He wouldn’t be able to find them all right away.”

Xiao Du was troubled. This was true. The studio had a lot of files to manage. Not to mention the new files every day, there were also countless archives that needed to be kept.

Fortunately, the studio’s computer configuration was excellent.

Wen Xi said decisively, “I’ll come to the studio later.”

She could push off unstarted work, but that was only with compensation and alternative solutions provided. Since Xu Shuili’s photos had already been taken, they couldn’t really be postponed.

Moreover, the urgent fee she charged was not cheap, and Wen Xi wouldn’t turn down money.

Xiao Du let out a long breath. “Okay, Boss! I’ll give them an answer now. They’re terrifying. They just bombarded me with messages. My computer’s alert sound hasn’t stopped.”

Wen Xi chuckled. “Thanks for your hard work. I’ll give you a bonus this month.”

After hanging up the phone, Wen Xi felt a slight unease, but at the same time, she felt she was overreacting.

She was being too self-important. Who was she? Would a superstar, busy non-stop, constantly keep an eye on her?

Wen Xi lowered her gaze, thinking with a self-deprecating air.

It was afternoon now, and the temperature outside was gradually rising.

Wen Xi chose a long dress, casually tied her long hair into a low bun, put on a mask, and went out.

Wen Xi had never learned to drive, but the apartment and the studio were quite close, about a fifteen-minute walk. She sometimes chose to walk, but today was too hot, so taking a taxi would be easier.

On the other side, outside the residential complex gate, Shen Yu sat in a car parked by the side of the road, having been waiting there for a long time.

Just as Wen Xi understood Shen Yu well, Shen Yu, correspondingly, knew Wen Xi well too.

From the hesitation Wen Xi showed before accepting her friend request that day, Shen Yu knew Wen Xi was trying to avoid her.

As expected, Wen Xi hadn’t left the house for several days.

Shen Yu couldn’t help but wonder, Is she that afraid of me?

She had considered messaging Wen Xi on WeChat, but Shen Yu knew very well that if Wen Xi didn’t want to come out, she could find a thousand reasons to evade her invitation.

Shen Yu didn’t want to force Wen Xi either.

These past few days, she had unconsciously clicked into Wen Xi’s contact page countless times. After realizing what she was doing, she would feel annoyed and then click into her moments page as a cover-up.

But Wen Xi’s moments were very formal. All she saw were a few reposts of the studio’s public account posts.

At this time, Shen Yu didn’t know that the friend she added was Wen Xi’s work account.

But it didn’t really matter.

So, the only way Shen Yu could keep up with Wen Xi’s recent life was through Wen Xi’s Weibo.

In previous years, Wen Xi would still post small snippets about her life, but in recent years, it was only very official promotional pictures.

It was boring, very unlike Wen Xi.

In Shen Yu’s memory, Wen Xi was someone who loved sharing her life and was very chatty, telling her about many things that happened in a day.

In those days, phone camera quality was poor, but Wen Xi loved posting graphic updates on her QQ space. Many of those accompanying pictures were moments of Wen Xi and Shen Yu together.

There were the little cats and dogs they fed, the flowers they looked at together, the lunches they ate together…

Only later, with Wen Xi deleting her WeChat and QQ accounts, those updates instantly vanished, leaving only their endless chat history.

Today, she was waiting outside the gate closest to Wen Xi’s studio. Whether Wen Xi chose to take a taxi or walk, Shen Yu would catch her.

Ke Han had interjected at one point, “How do you know Wen Xi won’t leave through the underground parking garage?”

Shen Yu glanced at her. “Wen Xi doesn’t own a car.”

Ke Han looked back with a knowing expression. “You don’t get it. Why wouldn’t Yu Qiao have bought her one?”

Shen Yu was silent, but her eyes gradually grew cold.

Ke Han laughed, patting Shen Yu’s shoulder. “Just kidding, just kidding.”

Shen Yu pursed her lips, her voice slightly muffled. “I don’t like that joke.”

But looking now, Shen Yu realized she had been right.

She watched the approaching figure from a distance, and her first thought was, She’s too thin. Why is she so skinny?

Holding a parasol, she looked as if she could be easily blown away by the wind.

Their distance wasn’t close, but as soon as Shen Yu saw that figure, she knew it was her.

No matter how much a person changes, some subtle details don’t—like their gait, demeanor, and so on.

Shen Yu had watched Wen Xi leave countless times and had waited on the street corner for her to arrive.

Shen Yu had thought the memories from ten years ago were long sealed, but that was just what she thought.

Seeing Wen Xi again, those sealed memories seemed to instantly wipe away the thick dust, turning into faded old film reels playing back in Shen Yu’s mind.

The memories of the past and the figure before her were overlapping across time.

Shen Yu’s voice was a little hoarse. “She’s out.”

Her assistant, Yu Yan, was driving, and Ke Han was in the passenger seat.

Hearing this, Yu Yan quickly lowered the driver’s side window.

Yu Yan hadn’t met Wen Xi before and asked, “Who is it?”

Shen Yu stared intently at Wen Xi, unable to speak for a moment.

Ke Han chuckled and followed Shen Yu’s gaze. “The girl in the black dress with the parasol.”

Yu Yan craned her neck, locking onto the target. “So, what do we do now?”

“What else can we do,” Shen Yu said with a smile as she watched Wen Xi get closer, “Grab her.”

With that, Shen Yu ignored the two of them, swiftly opened the door, and got out of the car.