The meeting lasted until one in the afternoon. By half past one, the scriptwriting team finally got to eat boxed lunches in the conference room.
Each box contained four dishes, a soup, and a dessert—all meticulously prepared high-end cuisine, the elite configuration of boxed meals. Rumor had it that Director Wei had arrived and treated everyone.
The conference room buzzed with admiration, everyone praising the producer’s generosity.
Perhaps because Li Shican had warned her beforehand, or because Director Wei’s piercing gaze had unsettled her at first glance, Ruan Yu didn’t join in the chatter. Instead, she massaged her sore neck and focused on eating.
Just as she was finishing, her phone vibrated.
Thinking it might be Xu Huaisong messaging that he’d gotten home from overtime, she immediately pulled out her phone—only to find a message from Li Shican: Are you still on the seventh floor?
She replied with a simple "Yes" but got no further response. A short while later, Zheng Shan, the producer’s assistant, arrived carrying armfuls of milk tea, announcing it was a treat for the entire scriptwriting team.
Amid the chorus of thanks, Ruan Yu quietly sent Li Shican a message: Thanks, but you shouldn’t have.
Li Shican replied: Don’t mention it.
Then he added: Director Wei and a few directors reviewed some new actresses this morning. They’ll be coming to your conference room soon to get your input.
Ruan Yu: What kind of input?
Li Shican: They’ll pick lines from the script to read—just a superficial show to impress the newcomers. Who gets cast won’t depend on this.
Thinking of Sun Miaohan, Ruan Yu asked: Did you see a girl named Sun Miaohan on the nineteenth floor?
Li Shican: Didn’t notice. I spent the whole morning in the lounge blasting the AC.
Ruan Yu didn’t ask why—why a big star like him had personally come to negotiate a contract, or why he’d idled in the lounge all morning instead of attending to other business.
She gripped her phone silently before continuing: I know that girl. Would it be awkward if we ran into each other in front of everyone? I’m not familiar with industry etiquette.
Ruan Yu knew she had no say in casting decisions, but the fresh-faced candidates might assume otherwise. If Sun Miaohan happened to cross paths with her and later got the role, rumors of favoritism could spread.
Better to avoid that kind of trouble.
Li Shican replied: Then slip out to the restroom or break room. I’ll let you know when they’re coming down.
Armed with this "intel," Ruan Yu grabbed her cup and headed to the break room at the end of the seventh-floor hallway when the group from the nineteenth floor arrived. Just then, she received a message from Xu Huaisong: I’m home. Done with the meeting?
Setting her cup down by the coffee machine, she typed back: There’s still a second half. Taking a break in the break room now.
The moment she hit send, Xu Huaisong’s video call request popped up.
She turned toward the door, peeked down the hallway toward the conference room, and saw that the actors had arrived—the place was packed and lively. With no one else in the corridor, she gently closed the break room door and answered the call, holding up her phone with a complaint: "My neck’s killing me from all that sitting."
On the other end, Xu Huaisong was shrugging off his suit jacket. San Francisco nights in summer barely reached the mid-50s (°F), so he could only dress lightly at home.
He chuckled. "Wait till I get back."
"Back for what?"
"A full-body massage." Hearing such down-to-earth phrasing, Ruan Yu let out a snort of laughter while rubbing her neck. "What's the use of waiting for you to come back? I might as well just write the word 'dung' myself," she said, starting to stretch her neck up, down, left, and right.
But then she must have pulled something, letting out a pained "Ow!"
"What happened?" Xu Huaisong's voice tensed up immediately.
"I strained it..." Ruan Yu grimaced as she spoke, only to suddenly hear a loud "thud" behind her—the door was flung open.
She turned in surprise to see Li Shican standing there frozen, mouth agape, his stiff posture mirroring the slightly stunned Xu Huaisong on her raised phone screen—an impromptu transcontinental face-off.
A meeting that was silent yet earth-shattering in its awkwardness.
Why did she keep getting caught in these embarrassing situations?
Every cell in Ruan Yu's body cringed with awkwardness, her hand holding the phone hovering uncertainly—neither able to raise it further nor lower it.
Between these two men, who would save her?
But neither came to her rescue. They just stared at each other in silence, as if bonding over some priceless revolutionary camaraderie.
Left with no choice, she forced a dry chuckle and said to Li Shican, "Sorry, I was using the break room. Did you need it?"
Snapping out of it, he shook his head. "No, I just heard noises nearby and came to check if something happened to you..."
What could possibly happen here? After a brief pause, Ruan Yu connected his earlier warning about Director Wei with her pained cry and the closed break room door, suddenly understanding.
Before she could say anything, Li Shican nodded at Xu Huaisong on the screen. "My apologies for interrupting," he said, then stepped back and closed the door.
Ruan Yu turned back, adjusting her phone to look at Xu Huaisong.
His expression wasn't exactly grim, but it was far from pleasant.
He didn't mention the awkward encounter, pausing before saying, "I'll be back next Friday evening and will come straight to your place."
It was only Monday now, meaning nearly two weeks until next Friday. But with her busy script schedule, time didn't feel particularly slow for Ruan Yu.
August arrived in the blink of an eye. At 9 PM on Friday, after another script meeting at Huanshi, she missed the last bus and had to take a taxi home.
Xu Huaisong called just as she got in the cab, saying he'd exited the expressway and would arrive in about an hour. Hearing she was alone in a taxi, he insisted she keep the call connected.
They stayed on the line throughout the ride. Half an hour later, when Ruan Yu got out, her phone battery was down to 5%.
"I'll see you soon, no need to keep chatting," she told Xu Huaisong. "I'm entering the apartment building now—you can focus on driving."
Xu Huaisong gave an "Mhm" before hanging up.
As Ruan Yu entered the lobby, she saw the elevator doors about to close and hurried forward to press the button. Just as she opened her mouth to say "Sorry for the trouble," she froze.
Inside the elevator stood two people she recognized—Wei Jin, a Huanshi director, and Sun Miaohan.
Sun Miaohan's eyes widened in apparent alarm upon seeing her.
Wei Jin, however, didn't seem to recognize Ruan Yu. Leaning casually against the handrail with one arm around Sun Miaohan's waist and the other touching his lips, he looked perfectly at ease.
After a brief hesitation, Ruan Yu clutched her bag and stiffly stepped inside, silently positioning herself in the corner while pretending not to recognize them either.The atmosphere in the cramped space was suffocatingly tense.
Or perhaps it was only Ruan Yu who felt that way. From the corner of her eye, she noticed Wei Jin tilting his head to rest his nose atop Sun Miaohan's hair, inhaling her scent as if completely oblivious to the presence of others.
It wasn't until the elevator dinged and stopped at the fifteenth floor—Sun Miaohan's floor—that Ruan Yu realized she'd forgotten to press the button for her own floor on the twelfth.
Wei Jin led Sun Miaohan out with an arm around her.
Just as Ruan Yu reached to press the "12" button, she saw Sun Miaohan—walking stiffly—turn back to glance at her.
Their eyes met for only a fleeting moment before the elevator doors automatically slid shut, descending to the twelfth floor.
Ruan Yu stepped out, fumbling through her bag for keys with trembling hands before unlocking her door.
In the darkness, Sun Miaohan's final glance seemed to replay before her eyes.
If she wasn't mistaken, the motion-activated hallway light had illuminated unmistakable fear—and a silent plea for help—in that look.
Distraught, she flipped on the living room light and leaned against the door, standing frozen for a long moment before pulling out her phone to call Li Shican. "Hello?" she managed, her voice shaking slightly.
Li Shican immediately noticed her distress. "What's wrong, senior?"
"That time you warned me to stay away from Director Wei... what exactly were the reasons?"
A pause. "Did something happen?"
"No, not to me..." Ruan Yu swallowed dryly. "Could you explain in detail? Was it about casting couch situations, or something else?"
"More than just casting couch—those consensual arrangements are too common in this industry. There are rumors... about violent tendencies." Li Shican hesitated, clearly uncomfortable. "Specifically... sexual proclivities."
Ruan Yu's breath caught.
"Heard he once hospitalized a young actress. Her family had no resources to pursue justice, so it was settled with money." Another pause. "Tell me what's really going on."
"I... saw Director Wei entering Sun Miaohan's apartment. She didn't seem willing..."
Silence stretched before Li Shican responded, "Stay out of this. There's nothing you can do."
"Do you have any—"
"I can't help." A sigh. "Senior, I could barge into a break room for you, but I won't wade into dangerous waters for some actress I don't know. Those extreme cases are rare—most likely nothing will happen. Just pretend you didn't see anything, okay?"
As he spoke, Ruan Yu's phone died from low battery.
But she'd heard enough.
Clenching her fists until nails bit into palms, Sun Miaohan's desperate eyes kept flashing through her mind—the look of a drowning woman grasping at her last lifeline.
Time ticked relentlessly forward.
Li Shican had said he couldn't help.
Xu Huaisong wouldn't arrive for another twenty minutes. Even if he had some solution—which was unlikely—by then it would be far too late.
Ruan Yu squeezed her eyes shut.
Pretend she didn't see.
Could she really do that?
When she opened her eyes again, her gaze landed unintentionally on the white smoke detector embedded in the ceiling.
Her pupils flickered with sudden realization.She remembered that during a video call with Xu Huaisong recently, he had mentioned that once this alarm was triggered, the entire building where she was located would sound the alarm.
After half a minute of silence, Ruan Yu turned and rushed into the kitchen.
Author's note: It seems Jinjiang has been a bit glitchy lately. Many readers said they couldn't see updates. I've never missed an update since starting this story - sometimes before midnight, sometimes after, but I'd never stop without reason. If you encounter this situation again, try clicking into the chapter from the table of contents page.
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