Famous Actresses, Please Keep Your Distance From Me - Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Cen Zhi was forced to join this homophonic pun-name association.

Cen Zhi: “…”

Seeing her response, Yu Lu sent an entire page of “Hahaha” in the group chat, filling her phone screen, before finally switching back to say: “It sounds good, doesn’t it? A-Zhi.”

Yu Lu: “We discussed this while we were in the car.”

“Boring.”

Cen Zhi felt her tone was a bit stiff, so she changed the subject to business: “I won’t be around on Wednesday @ByAnyMeans. I’ll mail the record to you.”

By Any Means: “But wouldn’t that mean you’d know my address?”

Cen Zhi: “?”

Cen Zhi: “So only you are allowed to know my work address?”

“My company’s work address is public; you can search for it.”

Duan Rujin wasn’t wrong. Her agency, “Xunsu Entertainment,” was a major name in the industry. Its headquarters occupied an entire building in Haicheng, and the address was indeed public—fans often staked it out hoping to catch a glimpse of their favorite artists.

Cen Zhi: “Then I’ll take a photo of it for you. You just need to show it to the doctor; their system will have it recorded anyway. Otherwise, what was the ID card for?”

By Any Means: “But then I won’t have a memento. I want to keep this sheet as a souvenir.”

By Any Means: “So I can only accept an in-person hand-off. You pick the place, or I will.”

Cen Zhi closed her eyes and took a deep breath before typing a single word with feigned composure: “Fine.”

She followed up with: “We’ll talk about it when the time comes.”

“Okay.”

Exiting the group chat, Cen Zhi finally felt the air was a bit fresher. She put her phone down and rubbed her eyes with both hands. Recalling the past 24 hours, she found it hard not to suspect she had encountered some supernatural event.

It also made her feel more certain that Duan Rujin didn’t trust her.

Perhaps this supposed “meeting again” was just a way to test if she would truly keep her mouth shut as she had promised.

But honestly, Cen Zhi felt it was quite absurd. That incident happened five years ago right after graduation; even if she spoke of it, no one would believe it, right? Besides, both she and Duan Rujin were adults then. They had just spent that one night together—what did it matter?

This question lingered in Cen Zhi’s mind until she returned home that night.

She had retrieved Duan Rujin’s vaccination record that afternoon; it had been “dropped” neatly on the passenger seat of the van. Now, looking at it on the coffee table made her feel annoyed. Finally, she locked it in the cabinet under the TV.

Out of sight, out of mind.

To Cen Zhi’s regret, however, the nature of Duan Rujin’s work made her impossible to escape. While scrolling through Weibo in bed after her shower, even her simple account was flooded with posts from bloggers sharing news about Duan Rujin.

The most forwarded post was an anonymous submission claiming that Duan Rujin had attended a friend’s birthday party. It included several photos, though the other people were blurred out.

Even so, Duan Rujin seemed to exist on a different plane from everyone else. Her simple outfit that day only served to make her stand out more in the crowd.

The comments and reposts were filled with shock at Duan Rujin’s beauty.

“She’s so insanely gorgeous, holy sh*t!”

“DRJ is truly a goddess. Which direction do I need to pray to look like that?”

“I am literally drooling over her figure.”

“I’m willing to go on a balanced diet for life if it means I can be Duan Rujin in my next life qaq”

Cen Zhi’s brow furrowed.

It wasn’t that she thought the comments were too exaggerated, but rather that Yu Lu had strictly forbidden secret filming, yet these photos were clearly taken from a hidden angle.

Cen Zhi pressed her lips together and opened WeChat.

She discovered that Yu Lu was already hunting for the culprit in the party’s group chat. After layers of screening, the person was identified: a rising food blogger with about 30,000 followers—a male university student who had recently graduated and had attended the same event as Yu Lu.

Yu Lu was so angry she tagged him and scolded him directly, showing no mercy whatsoever.

The guy was even more aggressive: “Are you crazy? Didn’t you bring her just to show off and capitalize on her? You’re the one with ulterior motives, so what if I took a photo? Stop faking it, you idiot!”

Others who had followed the rules: “?”

Soon, the group chat became a battlefield. Everyone ignored their social status and launched a counter-attack. In particular, Xiao Shi and the other undergraduates were even more fierce. Eventually, the guy was flamed until he left the group.

Cen Zhi never spoke in the group; she stayed quiet. This time, she chose to message Yu Lu privately.

She sent a wallpaper of a character “stepping on a villain.”

Cen Zhi: “Maybe you need this.”

“I need it very much.”

“I wonder if Rujin knows about this. I’ll go ask her.”

Cen Zhi suddenly asked: “How do you know Duan Rujin?”

“Remember I went on a business trip to Nancheng for half a month a few months ago? I was actually doing a cameo as a chef in a TV drama. Rujin was the female lead.”

“That’s how we met.”

Cen Zhi: “Mhm.”

Cen Zhi: “I’m going to sleep.”

But she tossed and turned, unable to sleep. Memories of that night filled her head.

Not only was Duan Rujin’s performance not very good, but Cen Zhi herself had no experience. Groping through it by instinct, she had eventually made Duan Rujin cry. Duan Rujin kept calling her name, and when she asked what was wrong, Duan Rujin couldn’t say; her eyes were just filled with tears, her voice nasally, weeping like a pear blossom in the rain.

Cen Zhi had leaned in to kiss those shimmering eyes.

Those eyes hadn’t changed at all in five years—still as beautiful and full of feeling as ever.

“…” Cen Zhi exhaled, forcing herself to sleep.

When she woke up, the Weibo post she had seen last night had over 10,000 reposts, and the original poster had added a hashtag: #HowToLookLikeDuanRujin, which predictably trended.

The “Go Fur-babies Go” group was silent.

Cen Zhi looked down, feeling she was a very contradictory and fragmented person. Her mind told her not to have any more involvement with Duan Rujin, yet at a moment like this, she wanted to send Duan Rujin a “stepping on a villain” wallpaper too.

She curled her lip, mocking herself as she got out of bed.

Her work for the day was supposed to be routine, but in the middle of the night, she received a call from Feng Xingxing. An old man had called asking them to pick up an old dog that had just passed away at home.

She didn’t get back home until 3:00 AM. These late-night emergencies were always exhausting. Since it was Tuesday and she didn’t have to work, she was able to sleep through her alarm until 1:00 PM.

And there, in her WeChat “New Friends,” lay a friend request from Duan Rujin.

Cen Zhi paused, realizing she wasn’t seeing things. It was indeed Duan Rujin’s profile picture—a cute little cloud. Her official ID was “It is Xiao Jin.”

The message with the request was brief: “Regarding the hand-off tomorrow.”

For a moment, Cen Zhi wanted to say they could chat about it in the group, but her fingertips didn’t listen. She accepted the request. She stared at the system notification of the added friend, feeling somewhat lost.

Duan Rujin messaged back quickly, getting straight to the point: “What time and where tomorrow?”

“I just woke up.”

Cen Zhi ran a hand through her hair: “Let’s talk later.”

“Okay.”

In truth, Cen Zhi hadn’t thought of a time or place. Given Duan Rujin’s status, she needed to find a location where they wouldn’t be easily spotted. If all else failed, her car would do—it was just picking up a vaccination record, a matter of seconds.

Having made up her mind, Cen Zhi planned to message Duan Rujin that evening.

But Duan Rujin’s message came first: “Tomorrow morning at 11:00 AM, see you at 12 Linshui Road.”

Cen Zhi frowned and checked the navigation map. It was the address of a small restaurant, barely five kilometers away from her.

Fine. It matched her envisioned criteria.

Yet, as she drove on Wednesday, Cen Zhi couldn’t help but feel dazed—

How on earth was she seeing Duan Rujin for a third time?

Five years ago, she thought they would never see each other again. She had even stopped using her old WeChat and moved to Yuncheng with Wen Lin, as if cutting all ties to those university days. And Duan Rujin had become more and more famous, a person from a completely different world.

She never expected the person she was least likely to see would be the one she was seeing now.

Cen Zhi watched the flow of traffic, her expression blank.

She arrived at the five-kilometer mark exactly on time and parked by the roadside. The light rain in Yuncheng had stopped yesterday, but some areas under the trees were still damp. Leaves swayed in the breeze. The weather was comfortable. Cen Zhi got out of the car and stood by it, observing the small restaurant while messaging Duan Rujin to ask if she had arrived.

Duan Rujin: “I’m at the health center across the street.”

“…”

Cen Zhi knew it wouldn’t be that simple! She blamed herself for not looking closely at the surroundings last night.

She had fallen into a trap.

She crossed the road to the health center. Upon entering, she immediately saw Duan Rujin sitting on a chair. This health center was much busier than the last one; Duan Rujin was currently waiting in line with a slip in her hand.

Cen Zhi stood beside her, looking down at the top of the fisherman’s hat she was wearing today. She handed over the vaccination record: “Here. I’m leaving.”

She pretended she didn’t know Duan Rujin was afraid of needles. Because she was wearing thin clothes again today, she didn’t want to experience the feeling of Duan Rujin’s breath against her waist again.

Clearly, Duan Rujin had no intention of letting her go. She grabbed Cen Zhi’s wrist and tilted her head back, with only her eyes exposed: “No.”

“You have to lend me your waist.”

Cen Zhi paused, then squatted down and asked in a low voice: “By Any Means, do you still not trust me and think I’ll talk?”

She was still worried about being overheard, so she used the group chat nickname.

“Hmm?”

Cen Zhi took a breath and turned serious: “I understand. Giving money is the most reassuring thing. So, how much hush money do you want to give me? A million?”

“I’ll accept it.”

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