After the Female Star Was Slandered Onto the Trending Search List - Chapter 53

Chapter 53: Encountering Paparazzi

“…What is this?” Wen Xi backed up a few steps.

Shen Yu chuckled softly. “Did Baby forget? You only said it last night, and you don’t remember today?”

Wen Xi pretended to be calm. “There must be some mistake. I never said that.”

“Don’t you like it?” Shen Yu lowered her head. “I thought you would also like this game of mine.”

Wen Xi: “…”

Wen Xi compromised. “I’ll control my game time next time.”

“I didn’t say you couldn’t play,” Shen Yu raised her hand and pinched Wen Xi’s nose. “I’ll be joining the film crew in a week at most. You can play however you want when I’m in the crew. Can you spend more time with me these few days?”

“When did I not spend time with you?” Wen Xi shifted her gaze. “Didn’t you just… call me clingy yesterday?”

Cough, the main reason was that she had decided to spend a few weeks living at the hotel near Shen Yu’s film crew, so she wasn’t in a hurry anymore.

She wouldn’t disturb Shen Yu much; she just wanted to do what Shen Yu had suggested back in her senior year of high school: Shen Yu goes filming, and she stays in the hotel painting, waiting for Shen Yu to get off work. Now, she was just substituting painting with image editing; the difference was minimal.

“Was your attention stolen by the game today?” Shen Yu’s tone carried a hint of accusation, but mostly jealousy.

“…No,” Wen Xi explained weakly. “I was just doing daily quests, the kind that goes offline quickly.”

“It’s alright, Baby,” Shen Yu was very generous. “Now that you’re offline, you can accompany me.”

Wen Xi watched Shen Yu undoing her pajama buttons, her throat bobbing, as she leaned back against the headboard.

“You want to sit up?” Shen Yu answered her own question. “That’s fine. I’ll put a neck pillow behind your waist so you don’t hurt your back.”

“Ah…” Wen Xi felt like crying. “Actually, I’m worried about your hand…”

Since they started early last night, they also finished a bit earlier.

Wen Xi could make it to work by nine o’clock.

It was another day of being dropped off by Shen Yu, but today, Wen Xi got out of the car without any lingering attachment, leaving Shen Yu with an aloof back that looked particularly unapproachable.

Shen Yu smiled, ready to drive off, but her peripheral vision caught sight of a car.

She thought she had seen it nearby yesterday too.

It was commuting time, so it was common for surrounding cars to be similar to yesterday’s, but the sixth sense Shen Yu had developed over the years told her something was wrong.

Since she was alone, it wasn’t wise to alert the enemy.

Shen Yu simply drove to a nearby parking lot. She didn’t get out of the car but called Ke Han. “Are you rested? I have a job for you.”

Ke Han wanted to reply with question marks. “Is it that I don’t want to work, Miss? Aren’t you the one resting?”

Shen Yu stated plainly, “I think I was photographed.”

Ke Han’s tone instantly changed. “What do you mean, ‘think’? You’re alone right now…”

“I know. I haven’t shown my face. Arrange two bodyguards in my vicinity first,” Shen Yu rubbed her temples. Being photographed wasn’t a problem for her, but the issue was she had Wen Xi now.

“I told you to keep two people with you, but you refused. Now look.” Ke Han sighed. “Many people noticed your previous Weibo post that you were in Wancheng, and Lu Xuan Yi’s show just ended in Wancheng. There must be paparazzi squatting.”

“I was careless this time,” Shen Yu said. “First, check with the paparazzi and marketing accounts to see if anyone has taken pictures, and buy them all back, no matter the price. Then, arrange for someone to write a PR draft. It’s completely normal for Wen Xi and me to be out… just say I’m staying at her place.”

In this situation, they should probably do PR by saying they are friends, but… Shen Yu wanted to go public with Wen Xi someday. She couldn’t do PR like this. It was better to keep her relationship with Wen Xi ambiguous.

She wanted to go public with Wen Xi, but not through a paparazzi exposé, which would force them into the spotlight.

She couldn’t go public now, but what about ten or twenty years from now? Shen Yu just wanted her name and Wen Xi’s name to be forever linked.

She wanted everyone to think of Shen Yu when they thought of Twilight, and vice versa.

“How about this,” Ke Han suggested, “You come back first and lay low for a while?”

“No need,” Shen Yu said. “I won’t leave the house for the next few days.”

“Alright. Call me if anything feels wrong.”

After hanging up, Shen Yu fiddled with the car key, still considering whether to buy a new car.

She waited in place for two hours before stepping on the gas and leaving the parking lot.

She could certainly discuss moving to another apartment with strict security with Wen Xi, but it was too far from Wen Xi’s office and not suitable.

If this relationship made both of their lives inconvenient, it would only lead to constant internal struggle.

A relationship cannot be maintained by simple love alone. A relationship is long, and the future is also long.

Spending the rest of their lives together still requires constant communication and adjustment between the two.

Wen Xi had a photography job this morning. After finishing, she asked Pu Tao to massage her back and shoulders.

“It’s a little sore,” Wen Xi said, sitting on the sofa.

“Why is it suddenly sore?” Pu Tao looked worried. “Was the workload too heavy the past few days?”

Wen Xi was silent for a moment. “Maybe so…”

Pu Tao said, “How about next time you let Ms. Shen Yu take you to a massage parlor to try? Professional techniques are quite effective.”

“Okay, I’ll try it next time.”

Wen Xi got up and stretched for a while, and her phone rang with a “beep beep beep.”

Pu Tao picked up the documents on the table and returned to her desk.

The caller was Lu Xuan Yi, who had just started filming yesterday.

It was lunchtime. Wen Xi leaned back in her chair. “Why are you calling me now?”

It was Yu Qiao yesterday, and Lu Xuan Yi today; she was quite popular.

Lu Xuan Yi sneered, “What else? If I called you tonight, wouldn’t I be interrupting your wife-wife life?”

“How can you say that?” Wen Xi laughed. “It wouldn’t be an interruption.”

“You might not think so, but Shen Yu might,” Lu Xuan Yi said gloomily. “People who are new to dating are all prone to jealousy.”

Wen Xi opened her mouth to argue, but then she remembered that last night, she was too engrossed in a game to pay attention to Shen Yu, and Shen Yu did deal with her…

Wen Xi lightly coughed, changing the subject. “Didn’t you just join the film crew? Do you have time?”

Setting aside other times, the beginning and end of filming are the busiest.

Lu Xuan Yi seemed to punch a table on the other side. “Don’t even get me started. You wouldn’t believe how arrogant the female and male leads in this show are. Not only did they arrive late today, but their makeup took forever, making me wait for them all morning without shooting a single scene.”

“Hiss. Wouldn’t others have an opinion about that?”

Lu Xuan Yi pouted. “If they have opinions, they only say them privately. I estimate that tomorrow, they’ll treat the entire crew to a meal or milk tea. How does that saying go? ‘He who takes is short-handed, he who eats is soft-mouthed.’ It’s hard to speak up again.”

“The entertainment industry is so complicated,” Wen Xi sighed.

“Oh,” Lu Xuanyi said. “You’re already the ‘sister-in-law’ of the industry. How can you say that?”

“…Cough, cough, cough!” Wen Xi suddenly choked, her round eyes widening. “Wait, your words are scary.”

“It’s the truth, the truth.” Lu Xuan Yi comforted her.

Wen Xi was not comforted. “My relationship with her has to be kept secret.”

“I know,” Lu Xuan Yi said. “It’s for her career, right?”

Lu Xuan Yi suddenly remembered something. “Hey, you’re wearing a ring on your hand, showing you’re not single. What about her? What if someone asks if she’s single?”

It was fine not to mention the object of her affection was a woman, but it wasn’t good to maintain a single persona when she had a partner.

“I haven’t talked to her about it,” Wen Xi looked up at the ceiling. “She knows what she’s doing. I don’t need to ask too much.”

Lu Xuan Yi made a very confused face in her RV. “No, how long have you two known each other? You trust her that much? Didn’t you just say the entertainment industry is messy? Let me tell you, people here are very promiscuous! They’ll sweet-talk one person into keeping things private, then turn around and sweet-talk another, ultimately two-timing everyone!”

“Aiya, aiya.” Wen Xi quickly interrupted her. “Shen Yu is not like that.”

Wen Xi laughed again as she spoke. “It’s my fault for not having time to tell you more last time.”

Lu Xuan Yi snorted. “Then tell me now!”

“I have a first love, right?” Wen Xi’s voice was quiet. “It’s actually Shen Yu…”

“Huh??” Lu Xuan Yi paused. “Ah!!!???”

“She and I went to the same high school. We are both from Suishi.” Wen Xi laughed again. “It’s quite a coincidence, but not really. I’ve known she would be famous for a long time.”

“Then…” Lu Xuan Yi’s mouth dropped open in shock. “Then, how did you two break up?”

Lu Xuan Yi wanted to scratch her head, but fortunately, she remembered her recently done hairstyle before doing so, but her mouth kept moving. “Oh my God, then you’ve been secretly following Shen Yu all these years, watching her slowly become famous, and then supporting her and collecting data for her, but silently, even afraid to let her find out about you!”

Lu Xuan Yi then realized, “No wonder you never came to visit when I was in a crew with Shen Yu. It turns out you were afraid of being discovered by her. It must be a bit awkward for ex-girlfriends to meet. Aiya, but you’re so devoted, still in love with her.”

“I wasn’t silent…” Wen Xi offered a weak explanation.

Seriously, was her fan account just for show? She was a famous Big V fan of Shen Yu, after all.

Lu Xuan Yi seemed immersed in her own artistic world, already thinking of labels for Wen Xi and Shen Yu’s script.

“Xuan Yi, calm down,” Wen Xi said helplessly. “I was the one who broke up with her. I encountered some things back then, and I dumped her, which is why I was afraid to see her.”

Lu Xuan Yi froze. A line of text appeared in her mind: This is even more bittersweet.

—Is this the definition of a broken mirror reunited?

“The fact that you two could get back together,” Lu Xuan Yi commented, “is true love!”

“Then how did you know you fell in love with her?” Lu Xuan Yi continued. “You weren’t very old back then, were you? Could you tell the difference between friendship and love?”

“I was eighteen then, not a child,” Wen Xi complained, and her tone softened in the next sentence. “The feeling she gave me was very special. At that time, I wasn’t sure I would like girls, but I just felt that I liked her very much. I felt happy when I was with her, and I even fantasized about being with her forever.”

Today was Friday. The next two days were the weekend, but as the boss who suddenly took three days off, Wen Xi had to work overtime this weekend.

That evening, Wen Xi coaxed Shen Yu, “How about you come to work with me tomorrow? It’s an outdoor photography shoot. If you won’t be bored, you can wait for me in the car.”

Shen Yu didn’t know how to bring up her sixth sense from earlier today with Wen Xi. Ke Han hadn’t found any news about photos being taken. She was afraid Wen Xi would worry about an unconfirmed matter.

Shen Yu simply didn’t say anything.

She hugged her baby and asked, “Does your assistant have a car?”

“I arranged one for Pu Tao so it’s convenient for her to travel for work,” Wen Xi said, lying in Shen Yu’s arms. “What’s wrong?”

Shen Yu always liked to talk close to Wen Xi’s ear, as Wen Xi was genuinely sensitive there, and her reactions were very cute.

“My car is a bit dirty. Can you have your assistant drive my car out tomorrow and then take it to the car wash for me?” Shen Yu whispered. “Let me be your assistant for a day?”

“You don’t need to be my assistant. I have people on set. You just rest well. I’ll pamper you after I finish work.” Wen Xi touched her earlobe. “I’ll tell Pu Tao.”

Shen Yu smiled. “Thank you, Baby.”

After Wen Xi fell asleep and her breathing became steady, Shen Yu carefully got up and picked up her phone.

S: “Are you asleep?”

Pu Tao replied instantly.

Taotaotao: “Ms. Shen, I’m not asleep. What’s up!”

Shen Yu described the appearance of the car she saw this morning.

S: “I suspect it’s a paparazzi. When you drive my car out tomorrow, please keep an eye out for it.”

Taotaotao: “What if that car is following me?”

S: “Call the police.”

Pu Tao’s identity was that of an ordinary person. If she called the police, the police wouldn’t ignore it. Even if the police seized the negatives, the paparazzi might have already made backups, but in that time, Shen Yu could definitely find out who they were.

Shen Yu also instructed Pu Tao to wear a hat and mask tomorrow and dress up.

Shen Yu’s car was parked in the underground garage, which was dark, and the paparazzi wouldn’t dare get too close. This distance could give the paparazzi the illusion that the person was Shen Yu.

Taotaotao: “No problem, Ms. Shen!]

S: “Thank you for your hard work. I’ll have Wen Xi give you an extra year-end bonus later.”

Taotaotao: “It’s not hard work, Boss’s Wife.”

Shen Yu smiled wryly.

She actually had another purpose: she needed to see what kind of pictures the paparazzi had taken so she could prepare in advance.

But unfortunately, things often happen unexpectedly.

The preparations Shen Yu made would be useless when that day arrived.