My Ex-Wife Seems to Have Ulterior Motives Toward Me - Chapter 4

“I was just teasing her a bit, that’s all.”

Zou Yuran heard words that were hard to comprehend: “What are you even after?”

“You were abroad back then, you probably aren’t clear about what happened between us?”

“I’m certainly not clear on how big the grudge is, but the scandals you’re carrying and the consequences of starring in a Girls’ Love drama—only the Qi family can stabilize that. So it has to be Qi Jianyi.” Zou Yuran felt her forehead throbbing with pain. “If the relationship stays this stiff, both of you can leave my crew together.”

Qi Nianwei lightly brushed the bouquet beside her: “Mm.”

Qi Jianyi was bored in the motorhome and walked to a shaded spot to watch the filming of the villagers’ segments.

A soft sensation came from her calf. Qi Jianyi looked down to see a small grey cat; she crouched down to pet it, finding its fur wasn’t particularly soft.

“Got a smoke?”

Qi Jianyi looked up at the sound of Zou Yuran’s voice. The director looked a bit exhausted.

“No, I don’t smoke.”

“Stop bullshitting. If you don’t have one, forget it.”

Qi Jianyi stood up holding the cat: “Sometimes it’s just to fit in. Did you two have a fight? Don’t take your anger out on me, I’m innocent.”

“We didn’t fight, I just heard some remarks that were hard to respond to.” Zou Yuran patted her head, trying to knock the words she’d just heard out of her brain.

Qi Jianyi asked: “What? Let me hear it too.”

“It has nothing to do with you.” Zou Yuran couldn’t say. She could only retreat to check the current filming progress.

Half an hour later, the performance of the two leads’ plot began.

Qi Jianyi was originally worried that Zou Yuran hadn’t talked things out with Qi Nianwei, but the Qi Nianwei who came over looked to be in a very good mood.

She even greeted Qi Jianyi enthusiastically. Xiaotian brought over the bouquet, and Qi Nianwei took it: “Teacher Qi, I’ll wait for you over there.”

Qi Jianyi nodded with a slight delay.

With no special emotions between them, the subsequent filming proceeded quite smoothly.

The white-collar worker pulled a yellow rose from her bouquet and gave it to the shepherdess. The shepherdess accepted it joyfully and took the initiative to act as a guide, leading the white-collar worker on a tour of the scenery.

The shepherdess also spoke about herself. Her family mainly ran a guesthouse and raised sheep. Now that it was the off-season with no tourists and they had hired hands for the flock, she came to the reserve to find something to do.

When talking about herself, the shepherdess’s eyes were bright. She really liked this kind of life.

After finishing her own story, the shepherdess asked the white-collar worker about things like taking annual leave.

The white-collar worker, who had actually been fired, didn’t give a direct answer to any of the shepherdess’s questions. She only said she could stay at the other’s guesthouse for a short while.

The ‘Meeting’ plot concluded there.

Qi Jianyi waved the yellow rose and approached Zou Yuran with a beaming smile, asking if she had acted well.

Zou Yuran commented: “Your bottom line is truly quite low.”

The yellow rose froze in mid-air.

“What? Didn’t you specifically give me a pep talk, telling me to act well?”

“Was that because of my words? It was clearly because Qi Nianwei showed you some kindness.”

“It’s beneficial for you if the two of us make up, isn’t it?” Qi Jianyi didn’t argue with her. “Are you giving me a cold face because of this?”

“No, I’m just exhausted. There’s no night shoot today, go back and rest early.”

Qi Jianyi saw she was about to hold a small meeting, so she followed the others to the minibus. On the way, she encountered that little cat again.

There were several NGs today because this cat suddenly entered the frame. Qi Jianyi didn’t tease it again—she had to be mindful of Qi Nianwei’s cat hair allergy.

On the bus, Qi Jianyi smelled the yellow rose. This flower had been with the others for a long time and had picked up other scents, sending Qi Jianyi’s thoughts drifting.

Qi Nianwei’s body seemed to have this same scent of blended floral fragrances.

Having a rare moment of leisure, Qi Jianyi opened her phone to play.

On her WeChat ‘alt’ account, a fan group for Qi Nianwei was in the middle of an argument.

Someone had @-ed Qi Jianyi three hours ago.

Qi Jianyi scrolled down from the @ and finally discovered the source of the argument.

Autographs.

In the past few days, five of Qi Nianwei’s autographs had suddenly appeared online, but some strokes in two of them didn’t look like her previous ones. Because these two were different, several people believed the other three were fakes as well.

Because of the autographs, the group had been arguing intermittently for over three hours.

They @-ed Qi Jianyi just to get this anonymous big-shot fan to come and distinguish them.

Among the five autographs, one had a very high degree of authenticity and came from the first page of a notebook. The person who bought it for a high price even posted the cover.

Qi Jianyi had an extremely deep impression of this notebook.

Wasn’t this one of those three people who sought Qi Nianwei’s autograph after the script reading, saying they wanted to sell it to brainless fans?

The other two highly authentic ones were likely from the other two people, or other crew members.

These people were certainly in a hurry, selling them through a middleman after only a few days.

Qi Jianyi felt that since her relationship with Qi Nianwei had softened, she could go and ask about the authenticity of the two that didn’t look quite right.

Qi Jianyi: “Teacher Qi, a friend bought an autograph. Is it yours?”

Qi Nianwei: “Yes.”

Qi Jianyi: “Thanks. My friend thought they’d been cheated.”

Qi Nianwei: “After learning someone wanted to sell them, I altered the two I signed yesterday a bit.”

Qi Nianwei was so meticulous just to avoid price gouging… unfortunately, the buying and selling still happened.

Qi Jianyi switched back to her alt account.

QI: “All five were leaked from the newly joined crew. The probability of authenticity is quite high.”

The group chat, which had gone quiet, exploded again.

Qi Jianyi’s words carried high credibility in the group.

“QI” became famous seven or eight years ago for appearing in Super Topics with various leaked photos. Later, some insider info was also about seventy to eighty percent accurate, and there were plenty of autographs.

Some people even suspected “QI” was Qi Nianwei herself.

Qi Jianyi wanted to chat more, but someone mentioned that there was an ugly rich kid in the new drama who had joined using their family’s capital.

Qi Jianyi exited in a huff.

She hadn’t joined with her own funding, and she wasn’t an ugly kid!

During the final two days at the scenic area, they began filming the ‘First Parting’.

The white-collar worker’s relaxing vacation in the Tibetan region was over. She was prepared to go back and start applying for jobs everywhere.

But she was also conflicted about whether she should return to that bustling city.

That city, where she had lived ever since graduation, had seen her go from a newcomer to a junior executive, only to leave during a ‘Great Progress’ plan that laid off thousands.

Busy, overdrawn, unstable.

It wasn’t as good as this grassland.

Simple, fresh, with friends.

The shepherdess tentatively invited the white-collar worker to the local dairy product assistance area. They wanted to develop online live-streaming, and the white-collar worker, who had experience in this area, seemed suitable.

But the difference in salary and benefits was so large that staying here after quitting a big city job would be a waste of talent; the shepherdess only mentioned it in passing.

They returned to the place where they first met. The weather was no longer sweltering, and there were faint traces of autumn.

“Will you… still come back during your next holiday?”

The white-collar worker looked down at the ground, making an unlikely promise: “I will.”

The shepherdess clutched her chest, pretending to be happy: “It should be peak season when you come. You must tell me in advance so I can save that room with the view for you.”

“Mm…”

The white-collar worker responded extremely softly.

“Cut! The feeling of parting isn’t heavy enough. You two, take a break.” Zou Yuran propped her chin in thought.

Qi Nianwei went to touch up her makeup. Qi Jianyi guessed it was her problem, so she proactively sought out Zou Yuran.

“Is it because I don’t look sad enough?”

Zou Yuran handed Qi Jianyi her script with all the notes: “Your expressiveness is indeed average, and you’re even dragging Qi Nianwei down. What, are you thinking that since it’s not Qi Nianwei leaving, you can’t feel depressed?”

Qi Jianyi kicked Zou Yuran: “Stop talking nonsense. It’s that my acting skills aren’t up to par and I can’t trigger the emotions. Should I add some movements? Like constantly twining my fingers, tugging at my clothes, or staring at the lake in a daze?”

“You have quite a few small habits already.” Zou Yuran picked up the megaphone. “Teacher Qi, come here for a moment.”

Zou Yuran’s intention was to have Qi Nianwei guide her.

After finishing her makeup, Qi Nianwei came over and agreed. She took Qi Jianyi out of the tent and into the light.

“Can’t we find a shaded spot?”

Even if it wasn’t a sunny day in the drama, it was in reality!

Xiaotian and Xiaoyuan each brought over a folding chair.

“The influence of light is very great. Emotions built up in the shade can easily be ruined under the sun. It’s best to generate them and express them in the light.”

Qi Jianyi believed Qi Nianwei’s explanation. After all, she was out in the sun too.

Qi Nianwei looked at her: “A newly befriended friend is leaving, and you might never see them again. Aren’t you sad?”

The notes on the script also stated that the shepherdess was clear the probability of the two of them meeting again was zero.

Qi Jianyi found it hard to step into the shepherdess’s mindset: “I am sad, but friendship with outsiders is destined to be a temporary phase.”

“A temporary friendship is still a friendship. Do you know about ‘Graduation Season Separation Emotion Syndrome’? it mainly exists during high school and university graduations.” Qi Nianwei said. “Think about sharing hardships for three years. After the Gaokao, returning to school to get the graduation photo and facing classmates who are scattering everywhere and an unknown future—wouldn’t there be feelings of sadness?”

Qi Jianyi was stunned: “Are you talking about our high school? The one with 7 AM to 9 PM classes, finishing at 6 PM on Saturdays, and returning at 6 PM on Sundays? There would only be the joy of escaping a death trap.”

The reason Qi Nianwei didn’t use a university example was because she guessed this rich second-generation’s life had been all sweetness, but it turned out high school was useless too.

“Alright, perhaps you are cold-hearted. This example is quite useless.”

Qi Jianyi: That sounds like an insult.

Qi Nianwei moved her chair close to Qi Jianyi, speaking in a volume only the two of them could hear: “What about when we divorced?”

Qi Jianyi leaned against the side of her chair. Hearing this, her fist clenched instinctively, then quickly loosened. Qi Nianwei, leaning on the other side, couldn’t see this scene at all.

“I didn’t.” She did—a strong sense of self-respect.

Qi Nianwei straightened her body: “Is that so? I had a little bit.”

Qi Jianyi opened her eyes wide against the intense light. Turning her head, she saw Qi Nianwei smiling faintly.

“You received quite an inheritance back then, I should have taken a bit before leaving.”

So it was a joke. Qi Jianyi leaned back against the chair: “It’s too late now. Back then, I would have given you whatever you asked for.”

Five years ago, Qi Jianyi never hid her love. Now, facing Qi Nianwei, she could only hide it behind the title “Teacher Qi.”

Qi Nianwei shook her head. She opened her phone and forwarded some short sad stories she had saved to Qi Jianyi.

“After reading Director Zou’s notes, read some of these. It should have some effect in the short term.” Qi Nianwei stood up and left after saying that.

Qi Jianyi was left alone to bake in the sun.

These short pieces with a hint of melancholy were actually quite useful.

But Qi Jianyi found that remembering the psychological state of her divorce was even more useful. She felt a bit resentful; Qi Nianwei knew about her reluctance to let go five years ago, yet she used that point to provoke Qi Jianyi with such nonchalance.

After sorting out her state of mind, Qi Jianyi went to report to Zou Yuran.

The shepherdess and the white-collar worker parted. They both believed this was the last time they would meet.

After the last line ended, the director’s tent called for one more take.

Qi Jianyi felt her emotions were sad enough; even the little grey cat seemed to know, as it ran up to her.