The Whole World Is Waiting for Me and My Ex-Girlfriend to Remarry (Entertainment Industry) - Chapter 25

“I just feel that as long as I listen to you say these things out loud, you will feel much better.”

It was news about her father.

Qiao Yi, sitting in the front seat, didn’t know what had happened yet. From the rearview mirror, she only felt Dong Huaci suddenly become tense and urgent, her brow furrowed deeply. Her face, which originally possessed a strong sense of affinity and the delicate aura of a white flower, seemed to have been stripped bare by a sudden gale, leaving behind only a lifeless, withered stalk.

“Qiao Yi,” Dong Huaci closed her phone, her voice weak and listless. “Do you have someone you dislike intensely, yet cannot escape?”

Qiao Yi knew this question wasn’t really asking about her own situation; Dong Huaci was clearly asking herself. However, the recently graduated Qiao Yi still replied in the most straightforward manner—answering exactly what was asked. She glanced at the rearview mirror and said sincerely, “I do. My partner’s family. They’re such troublemakers. Honestly, sometimes I wish he were an orphan.”

These words managed to coax a bit of bitter joy out of Dong Huaci. She leaned her head on her hand, and even though the smile was forced from soil of bitterness, its infectiousness still spread to the hearts of those around her. She laughed, nodding vigorously: “Yeah, why couldn’t he just be an orphan.”

The message Dong Huaci’s father had just sent her was: 【Huahua, something’s up.】

Following that were three sixty-second voice messages. Dong Huaci’s brow sank again. With a bitter face, she converted the audio to text; the screen was filled with the “Three-Piece Set” of complaining about hardships, asking for money, and hinting at Dong Huaci’s need to protect her reputation.

With this interruption, Dong Huaci forgot she was supposed to send a message. She was full of resentment, even feeling a surge of displeasure toward the nickname “Huahua.” In this emotional turbulence, she thought of Zhong Qing again—but it wasn’t about sending her a message anymore; it was about small things from the past. Back then, it was because Dong Huaci had casually mentioned to Zhong Qing in their dorm, “I hate the name Huahua,” because that was the nickname her most loathed father often called her.

At the time, He Xizi had been calling her “Miss Resignation,” but that couldn’t continue long-term. While stroking her guitar, Zhong Qing had recited the line of poetry that gave Dong Huaci her stage name: As the youth fades from the mirror, so the flowers fall from the tree. “Little Tree,” she’d said, “it’s so cute.”

Consequently, back when she was in that obscure girl group, every time Dong Huaci introduced herself on stage, she wore a sweet white uniform dress, a sugary smile, standard flat bangs, and made a heart gesture, saying: “Youth fades from the mirror, flowers fall from the tree, everyone come water the Little Tree! Hello everyone, I am the one in the group who loves to smile the most—Little Tree~”

Zhong Qing. Recently, the frequency with which she occupied Dong Huaci’s thoughts was truly too high. Dong Huaci didn’t want to think about Zhong Qing at this moment; the purity of memory felt like a sudden mockery and heartache in the face of reality. Dong Huaci didn’t want to reply to her father’s message.

So, Dong Huaci asked Qiao Yi a second question, again seemingly asking Qiao Yi while asking herself: “Qiao Yi, what did your partner’s family do? To make you hate them so much.”

Qiao Yi said, “What else? Too much trouble, too little money, and bad character.”

Dong Huaci raised her eyebrows, her words carrying a rare edge of aggression. Usually, she was seldom this sharp: “True. Maybe it would be better if he were an orphan. A family like that… don’t let them ruin him. Qiao Yi, you should keep your wits about you too.”

Qiao Yi nodded and agreed with a few words, but in her heart, she was worried about Dong Huaci’s state. She didn’t dare ask. If Shi Xiaonan were here, she could ask, but Qiao Yi was just an assistant and wasn’t sure if her relationship with Dong Huaci was close enough to discuss such private matters. She could only say, “Right now, I don’t expect his family to help my partner with anything. If they just don’t commit crimes or cause trouble, that’s good enough. Sigh, I might not even marry him, to be honest.”

Dong Huaci burst out laughing again. She had just cried emotionally at Zhong Qing’s place, and her moods were coming in waves: “That’s for sure. If they commit a crime, that would be the end of it!”

She squeezed her phone again.

Sometimes she wondered if her past violence and abrupt coldness toward Zhong Qing was a result of those “deadbeat dad” genes. Dong Huaci was unwilling to admit she shared character traits with that father of hers. That man had indeed been handsome when he was young—otherwise, her mother wouldn’t have fallen for him—but he had put on an act for two years before being found out for gambling debts. He spent more than he earned and stopped providing for the household. When her mother was seriously ill, they survived entirely on social security. Dong Huaci’s most vivid memory was of her mother trying to tuck some money into her hand so she could buy a small cake for her birthday; her father had come home, slapped her, and while the middle-school-aged Dong Huaci wailed, he dragged her along and forcibly snatched the money away.

It was her mother who had crawled out of bed, pulled her into her arms, tended her wounds, coaxed her, and then gave her another crumpled bill.

Mother.

Dong Huaci lost herself in thought. Why couldn’t her mother have waited until she became a star? How could she pass away before Dong Huaci even became famous! Truly, the good die young, while the wicked live for a thousand years.

After a while, Dong Huaci replied to the message:

【If you want to go to the press, then go. I’m curious too, what “dirt” I even have. You can ruin me, but money? I won’t give you a single cent.】

【I’d throw it into the sea before giving it to you, I’d donate it before giving it to you, I’d burn it before giving it to you.】

A message instantly popped back.

Dong Huaci’s Father: 【Support is a child’s responsibility!】

Dong Huaci laughed at the sight of it, covering her mouth, unable to stop, nearly frightening Qiao Yi in the front seat again. She waved her hand, signaling Qiao Yi to pull over. The car happened to have reached the riverside. It was busy at night, but Dong Huaci was fully disguised today for her secret set visit. She said it was fine, that they were already in a remote spot, and she would call a car herself later to return to the film crew, or have Shi Xiaonan send one. “Don’t stay with me this late, Qiao Yi. Go on home.”

Qiao Yi was startled by being forced to take off. Dong Huaci’s departure from the set today had been hidden from Shi Xiaonan, specifically calling Qiao Yi to pick her up. Qiao Yi knew Dong Huaci hadn’t been drinking, but she was still worried. She got out of the car as well: “Teacher Dong…”

Dong Huaci sat squatting by the roadside, waving her hand, still maintaining her surface-level good temper: “It’s nothing, Qiao Yi. I just want to be alone for a bit.”

Qiao Yi wouldn’t leave.

Dong Huaci suddenly broke down. She cried again: “Qiao Yi, look, sometimes relatives aren’t as good as anyone else. Even you care about me this much. And I’m the one who forced you to run around and work overtime…”

After much persuasion, Qiao Yi realized she couldn’t comfort her. Helpless, Qiao Yi had to drive away first, but she parked not far away, needing to report to Dong Huaci’s manager, Shi Xiaonan, just in case. As for Dong Huaci, she was simply crying toward the river, wearing sunglasses, crying in a mass of black, and when she tired of crying, she stared blankly at the river surface. She clutched her phone; an astronomical figure for “maintenance fees” was now at the top of her messages. Dong Huaci didn’t even bother to remember it, directly and fiercely blocking the person. She finished this task in a huff, then calmed down and felt she was being childish. Her father would always find a way to reach her if he wanted to, right? So what if she blocked him? It wasn’t like she hadn’t blocked him before.

But this kind of blocking still had a certain effect—it was cathartic, very cathartic.

Dong Huaci scrolled up and down through WeChat for a long time before clicking on Zhong Qing’s profile picture again. It was still that atmospheric, artistic female headshot, and it was still a cold, distant Moments feed. But if there was one person in the whole world who could understand her feelings right now, it had to be Zhong Qing. In a fit of emotional madness, Dong Huaci hardly thought twice; acting almost on instinct, she placed a voice call to Zhong Qing. It wasn’t until the interface opened that she suddenly woke as if from a dream, realizing what she had done. But the call had already been connected.

The profile picture enlarged, the timer started—zero seconds, one second—and as time moved forward, Dong Huaci’s heart beat exceptionally fast.

There was silence on the other end, as if waiting for Dong Huaci’s first word.

Dong Huaci suddenly couldn’t control her emotions, yet she didn’t want Zhong Qing to notice, so she wept silently.

She didn’t dare press mute. Zhong Qing was sharp; if she couldn’t hear her breathing during a voice call, Zhong Qing would definitely notice and, in her anger, hang up the phone. Zhong Qing’s possessiveness used to be that inexplicable, and the things she got angry about were just as unreasonable. Dong Huaci had forgotten that the past was the past and they were in the present—yet she still maintained the old habit.

The two of them just sat there, listening to each other’s breathing, neither of them speaking the first word.

After nearly a minute, it was ultimately Zhong Qing who couldn’t hold out any longer.

“What’s wrong?”

she asked. Through the voice call, her voice was deep but not hoarse, warm but not cloying, as beautiful as always.

The moment Dong Huaci heard this sentence, her tears somehow began to flow even faster. She didn’t dare let out a single sob. Facing the river wind, wearing a large black mask and not daring to take off her sunglasses, she wiped her tears in a messy scramble and naturally had no leisure to reply to Zhong Qing.

“Are you crying?”

This was the second sentence Zhong Qing spoke during the call.

Dong Huaci’s emotions completely collapsed. She snatched off her sunglasses and buried her head in her knees, the result being that she cried even harder. She didn’t care anymore and cried out loud: “Zhong Qing, have you thought I was hilarious these past few years? After all that, I dumped you, left the group, ruined my reputation, and I still haven’t made any waves or built a real career. I’m just a vase moving from one place to another.”

Unexpectedly, Zhong Qing answered every question: “I don’t think you’re hilarious.” She paused. “I only think you are soaring upwards.”

“I can’t get up there!” Dong Huaci, as always, as always, dumped her foul mood onto this victim who shouldn’t have had to bear this responsibility long ago, switching to her hometown dialect. “I can’t! With my background, I’m destined not to get up there.”

Zhong Qing appropriately refrained from replying.

Dong Huaci continued her fragmented mumbling: “Zhong Qing, I’m going to ask you straight today. Looking at those people—yes, that group of your [Censored] fans—is it satisfying to watch them curse me? Does it feel like they’re getting revenge for you? Does it feel great to see me make a fool of myself, huh? Is it?”

But honestly, on the other end, Dong Huaci’s scolding didn’t sound forceful at all; it was very soft, almost like she was acting spoiled.

Zhong Qing remained silent, not hanging up even in the face of Dong Huaci’s inexplicable and overwhelming emotional outburst. She was sitting in the car on her way home, wearing Bluetooth headphones. Her mood was actually rare and somewhat good; if the face-to-face encounter at the last performance was a low point, then everything today with Dong Huaci had undoubtedly pushed her mood to the other extreme.

“Why aren’t you saying anything! Zhong Qing, what are you pretending for~ You’re happy to see I’ve wronged you, even now, aren’t you? Say something, don’t just stay quiet.” By the end, Dong Huaci was too exhausted to cry. Half of her logic suddenly returned. A wrongdoer habitually shifts the blame first; she hadn’t given Zhong Qing a reason, but by throwing out a few accusations first, it made her behavior seem relatively less harmful.

Truly, at this moment, Dong Huaci wished she could throw her phone into the water. The person speaking a second ago and the person speaking now seemed like two different personalities. If time could go back, she definitely wouldn’t have pressed that voice call confirmation button.

The call continued.

It was that same voice, the one that sang love songs and charmed thousands of fans, now calmly coaxing… coaxing an ex who was essentially a rival.

“I just feel that as long as I listen to you say these things out loud, you will feel much better.” Zhong Qing’s voice was steady. She didn’t provide any reply or critique; she only gave Dong Huaci a question. “So, do you feel any better now?”