Can't Hide My Love for You - Chapter 20

“Yixin, you’re done recording? Perfect. I’ve prepared some fruit for you; take a rest.” When the producer saw her, his face wore a smile so warm it was almost sycophantic.

As a regular guest on Happy Saturday, a top-rated variety show, Cheng Yixin had never seen this producer act so excessively hospitable toward any star before.

“Producer Zhang…” She began to speak about the editing, but he cut her off.

“Did you hurt yourself when you fell during the game?”

“I’m fine.” Cheng Yixin shook her head, then lowered her voice. “About that part with Chi Yi earlier…”

“Don’t you worry about that,” the producer said loudly. “I’ll handle it perfectly, don’t worry.” As he spoke, his eyes involuntarily darted toward Chi Yi, who was sitting on the sofa.

Chi Yi remained composed, smiling as she invited the producer to sit. He made an excuse about being busy, handed the fruit platter to an assistant, and beat a hasty retreat from the lounge.

His departure looked like a mouse fleeing from a cat.

Cheng Yixin rubbed her ear, puzzled by the strange undercurrents. However, the producer’s enthusiastic promise to handle the editing allowed her to breathe a small sigh of relief.

She sat on the sofa opposite Chi Yi. Siwen glanced at Chi Yi and quickly found an excuse to take Xiao Yu outside, giving the two some privacy.

“What did Producer Zhang want with you?” Cheng Yixin couldn’t help but ask.

Chi Yi raised her teacup. “He said he wanted to treat me to afternoon tea.”

“…” Cheng Yixin twitched her lips, skeptical of that answer.

“Thank you for helping me during the recording,” she said after a pause. “But in the future, if you encounter people like that again, ignore them, no matter how much you dislike them.”

Chi Yi froze, a flicker of confusion in her eyes as she looked up, but she remained silent.

“It’s not that what you did was wrong, it’s just…” Cheng Yixin searched for the right words. “You probably don’t understand the entertainment industry. Sometimes, the moment you speak, your words take on a different flavor to certain people. Even if your intentions were good, they can turn it into a reason to attack you.”

“Take Li Huang, for example. What he said was disgusting to us, but to his fans, they won’t care about the harm you suffered. They will only magnify the ‘harm’ their idol received and then launch an attack on you.”

“Their words can be very foul. Sometimes it’s not even that you did anything wrong; they just found an emotional outlet to vent their own frustrations.”

“That’s the nature of my job. I can try my best to restrain my own fans, but I can’t control what other people’s fans say.” At this point, Cheng Yixin pursed her lips, her brow furrowing. “Maybe I shouldn’t have invited you…”

“I understand,” Chi Yi said, putting down her teacup. “You’re worried I’ll be bullied online.”

Cheng Yixin didn’t deny it. Since she was the one who invited Chi Yi, she felt responsible for the fallout. Fortunately, Producer Zhang had promised to cut that scene.

Chi Yi stood up, sat down beside Cheng Yixin, and tilted her head to look at her. “But even knowing I might be flamed, I would do it again. I can’t stand by and watch someone bully you right in front of me.”

Chi Yi’s expression was dead serious, her brown eyes locked onto Cheng Yixin’s with a stubborn firmness.

Cheng Yixin was stunned, unable to find a retort. Finally, she managed to say, “Don’t you business people value self-preservation above all else? If you get caught up in a scandal, it won’t be good for your company.”

“True.” Chi Yi didn’t deny it. “But self-preservation is for ‘other’ people. You aren’t ‘other people’.”

“…” A ripple of emotion stirred in Cheng Yixin’s heart. She hadn’t expected to be so effortlessly “charmed” by her younger partner.

The atmosphere softened. Chi Yi took a small tube of ointment from her pocket. “I noticed your arm was a bit red earlier. Let’s put some medicine on it.”

Chi Yi was incredibly observant; Cheng Yixin hadn’t even noticed the injury herself. Looking now, her elbow was indeed red, and it hurt when pressed. She must have hit it when she instinctively braced herself during the fall.

As the green ointment was applied, a cooling sensation spread across her skin, followed by a strong scent of mint. Chi Yi held her wrist with one hand and carefully applied the medicine with the other, rubbing it in gently.

“I promised to take you to the supermarket tonight, but you look exhausted from the recording. Let’s get you home to rest first,” Chi Yi said while massaging the arm.

Watching her so focused on the task, the weight of Cheng Yixin’s guilt lifted, replaced by a sense of ease.

“Okay.”

She wasn’t actually that tired, but when someone cares for you so wholeheartedly, it’s hard not to let your guard down and show a bit of vulnerability.

After Cheng Yixin changed her clothes, they left the lounge. Xiao Yu and Siwen were waiting by the corridor window and turned around as they heard the door.

“President Chi, your jacket.” Xiao Yu was holding the blazer. She stepped forward, holding the lapels, and helped Chi Yi into it. She even smoothed Chi Yi’s hair out of the collar and straightened the fabric.

“Thanks,” Chi Yi nodded.

“…” Cheng Yixin gave them a lingering look. It was a perfectly natural act for an assistant—Xiao Yu did similar things for her—but seeing the two of them interact like that felt strangely awkward for reasons she couldn’t quite name.

The group waited for the elevator to take them to the parking garage. When the doors opened, they saw Li Huang and his manager inside. Li Huang was leaning against the wall like he had no bones, staring down at his phone.

Away from the cameras, his “sunny boy” facade was gone, replaced by a sullen expression. He glanced up, saw them, and pointedly rolled his eyes before returning to his screen. He stood there like a log until his manager nudged him. “Move back a bit.”

The four of them entered the elevator. Cheng Yixin and Chi Yi stood side-by-side near the door. The polished metal reflected the scene inside the car.

“Some ‘wild pheasants’ really know how to give themselves extra scenes,” Li Huang suddenly sneered. The snarky intent was unmistakable.

Since it was just the six of them in the elevator, it was obvious who he was talking about. He was clearly still bitter about Chi Yi making him look bad during the recording.

Cheng Yixin turned immediately. “Who are you calling a pheasant!?”

Li Huang whistled nonchalantly. “I’m calling whoever answers me.”

“You—!” Cheng Yixin’s temper flared. She turned to confront him but was stopped by Chi Yi.

“Don’t mind it,” Chi Yi said gently. “If a dog bites you, you don’t bite the dog back, do you?”

“Good point.” Cheng Yixin shot Li Huang a glare. “I guess I’ll have to go get a rabies shot then.”

This time it was Li Huang’s turn to lose his cool. Just as he was about to blow up, his manager snapped, “Li Huang! Stop causing trouble!”

“Shut up, you old hag!” He turned his venom on his own manager.

The elevator doors opened, and Li Huang’s anger vanished instantly. He greeted the staff members entering the car with a cheerful smile, slipping right back into his professional persona.

“…” Cheng Yixin rolled her eyes internally.

When they exited at the basement level, Cheng Yixin huffed indignantly. “I really want to slap that trashy mouth of his!”

In contrast to her fury, Chi Yi seemed to be in a good mood. She chuckled and said, “I thought all managers were like Sister Wenjing. Being his manager must be miserable.”

“For many agencies, as long as a star has traffic and brings in money, they can treat the boss like a brother, let alone a mere manager.” Cheng Yixin paused and explained, “It really depends on the person. Some people are just rotten to the core; give them a little success and they become unbearable.”

Chi Yi nodded. “People like that will get what’s coming to them eventually.”

And as it turned out, Chi Yi’s words would soon come true—Li Huang’s brand deals began to be canceled one after another shortly after.

Happy Saturday aired as scheduled. That night, Cheng Yixin was working out of town and didn’t have time to watch. By the time she finished, it was past 10:00 PM and the show had just ended.

Normally, she wouldn’t go out of her way to watch her own shows, but this time she was anxious to see if the editing had protected Chi Yi. She opened Weibo to check the fan discussions.

The result surprised her. Chi Yi’s scenes were edited, but mostly preserved. The part where she insulted Li Huang was gone, but the “highlight” had become a trending topic.

She clicked on a fan-uploaded clip. It showed the moment she fell on the mats. At the time, she hadn’t realized her skirt had shifted—even with safety shorts, it was an incredibly awkward position for an actress.

Before anyone else could react, Chi Yi vaulted onto the stage, stripping off her jacket to cover her.

Cheng Yixin hadn’t felt much in the moment, but seeing it from a third-person perspective was entirely different. Especially the way Chi Yi single-handedly jumped onto the stage and knelt to cover her—the “girlfriend power” was off the charts.

Because of this, her fan community was exploding with screams for Chi Yi. This one thoughtful act had instantly won over her entire fanbase.

As the video replayed, Cheng Yixin watched it again. Under the high-definition lens, Chi Yi’s subtle expressions were magnified. Her usually calm eyes were filled with worry the moment the accident happened. The way her brow furrowed made Cheng Yixin’s heart skip a beat.

Even though she was used to professional acting, she knew that an instinctive, unstudied emotion like that couldn’t be faked.

A WeChat notification snapped her back to reality. It was a voice message from her mother, only a few seconds long.

“I saw you on the show. Did you get hurt when you fell?”

Hiding the bruise, she replied with a voice note: “No, Mom. The mats were really thick; it didn’t hurt at all.”

A moment later, a text reply came back.

[Mom]: That’s good. That girl who covered you with her jacket is really something special.

[Cheng Yixin]: Mom, her name is Chi Yi.