n

nChapter 25: The Sudden Arrival of Reporters

nAt around noon, Ran Jing went to the kitchen to cook up some food, while Lin Chuxue and Shen Yao continued to chit-chat in the living room.

n“Friendship over, you rarely get a one-week break and you actually didn’t tell me?” Lin Chuxue began blaming Shen Yao when no one was around.

nShen Yao replied like she was wronged, “Come on, I wanted to let you know too, but you can’t play with me… Look at you right now, so popular that all the streets are covered with your posters, and wherever you go, you cause a traffic congestion. If I stay with you, I would be tortured to death… What happened last time is still vividly in my memory, so I’m going to tell everyone but you. I didn’t want to tell you that I actually have one month of vacation this time.”

nLin Chuxue brushed her hair behind her ear and finally let it go. She picked up the fruit knife and said as she cut the apple, “Last time was an accident, I didn’t know that that fan could recognize me.”

n“Screw you! It was my first time going into the men’s washroom to hide from your crazy fans. My reputation would have been ruined if people were to find out!” Shen Yao glared once at Lin Chuxue. “Wait, how did you know I’m on vacation?”

n“You… you would always post your pictures on Weibo (Chinese twitter) whenever you get to a new country, and I saw that you hadn’t updated your Weibo for three days now, so I thought you must be taking a few days off,” Lin Chuxue said proudly.

nShen Yao: “And you really dared to come and find me by yourself? Not even letting your agent follow you? If you were to get recognized by your fan, then you are done for. I’ve seen the level of madness of your fans…”

nLin Chuxue took a bite of the apple and said as if she wasn’t worried at all, “If I bring my agent and assistant, you think I can still come out to see you? Arrangements here, arrangements there, every single day. I’m about to die from exhaustion.”

nShen Yao curiously shifted closer. “How did you get out then?”

n“I pretended to go to the washroom, then sent them a text, turned off my phone, and voilà.” Lin Chuxue smiled; it didn’t seem to be her first time doing this.

nShen Yao gloatingly commented, “I think your agent and assistant are already going crazy now.”

nJust at this time, Xu Cheng got up from his nap and went to the balcony to hang the clothes he placed into the washer earlier. Not long after, Xu Cheng saw from the corner of his eyes that Lin Chuxue, in her floral-patterned dress, was standing behind him. After Xu Cheng hung up the last piece of clothing to dry, he looked out of the window into the clear sky, not knowing what to say.

nLin Chuxue came over, placed her hand on the window too, and said, “Don’t misunderstand, I didn’t know you were here, this is a coincidence. I only made a few good friends after I came to this country, and Shen Yao’s one of them.”

nXu Cheng nodded, “I was also just joking when I told Ran Jing that. Besides, no one’s going to believe the thing between us, so don’t worry, no one knows that you are already married.”

nLin Chuxue silently nodded, looked at the sky, then back to look at the side of Xu Cheng’s face, and then changed the conversation topic, “How is it? Is your job treating you well?”

n“Pretty good, I‘m just not used to the pace of life here. After staying in the army for four or five years, I didn’t expect the outside world to have changed this drastically.” Xu Cheng turned around and slightly smiled, “But you, you can be so popular no matter where you go. On the other hand, I have been eliminated.”

n“Are you still going after that goal?” Lin Chuxue looked at him and asked.

nXu Cheng looked at the sky, and after sinking into silence for a while, he gritted his teeth and said, “I will find that Ye Family that abandoned my dad and me, and seek justice from them!”

nLin Chuxue saw the determination from the side of Xu Cheng’s face, and she silently said in her heart, “I won’t give up either, I will wait for you to slowly find the confidence and courage to face this marriage.”

nAfter standing by the window for awhile, she spoke, “To be honest, we don’t need to be so distant. After all, we are married, aren’t we?”

n“How’s that going to work? You are now a celebrity queen high up there, I don’t want you to be affected by any gossip, not to mention how explosive the news of your marriage will be. We should be careful. I didn’t want to call you and get eavesdropped on and have our relationship exposed. This is what I promised you before.”

nLin Chuxue nodded silently and then said, “Do whatever.”

nThen, she turned around and went back inside.

nBut outside, Ran Jing who just came back from outside said with a face full of anxiousness, “Not good, there are so many reporters and paparazzi below us. Chuxue, did your whereabouts get exposed?”

nShen Yao’s face slightly changed.

n“Crap, we need to hurry up and bring Chuxue out of this area.” As someone who was almost driven crazy last time, Shen Yao knew very well the consequences of being besieged by the media and fans. She immediately turned to Ran Jing to think of a way together.

n“Chuxue, hurry and give your agent and assistant a call. Also bring some bodyguards, hurry,” Shen Yao said to Lin Chuxue.

nOn the contrary, Lin Chuxue actually appeared pretty calm herself, because being nervous wouldn’t do her any good in this kind of situation anyways. She would usually leave it to her agent or assistant to think of a way, and her company would usually dispatch security and bodyguards to escort her between business arrangements.

nXu Cheng came back in with his empty clothes basket and said nonchalantly, “We have a police captain here that can be used as protection, what are you guys afraid of?”

nRan Jing was dumbfounded for a second and said, “Oh true, I’m a police officer and I’m supposed to maintain order, but how can I do it by myself? I will get trampled before I can even get in front of their faces and talk.”

nRan Jing then looked towards Xu Cheng. “But wait a minute, isn’t this also your job too? As a patrol officer, shouldn’t you at least keep your neighborhood in order? Can you just stand and watch the celebrity you like get squeezed and groped by those paparazzi and fans?

n“I didn’t say I like her,” Xu Cheng reiterated.

n“It’s fine we get it, you don’t have to say it out loud.” Lin Chuxue seemed to be a little pissed.

n“Xu Cheng, I will leave this matter to you.” Shen Yao placed her hands on her waist and said, “If Chuxue loses a single hair, I will get my dad to buy this condo and kick you out.”

nIn fact, Xu Cheng didn’t say that he wasn’t going to help Lin Chuxue, but he just wanted to deny that he liked Lin Chuxue so she doesn’t have any other thoughts.

n“Okay, I will send her back to the company, but you two have to cooperate with me.” Xu Cheng said, “Wear some sunglasses and hats. There are four elevators in this condo, let’s split up and use decoys to distract the media and fans.”

nRan Jing and Shen Yao thought it might work. Shen Yao ran into her room and brought out a pair of sunglasses for herself and another pair for Ran Jing. The two then went to find hats. They couldn’t find caps so they used some other hats, and then they each took an elevator and went down.

nXu Cheng brought Lin Chuxue to the elevator and waited for it to come up. Lin Chuxue had her hands behind her back and didn’t appear to be nervous at all. She looked at Xu Cheng and said, “If you don’t want to send me back, you don’t have to.”

n“I didn’t want to hinder your career so I helped you hide our marriage, but after all. your dad handed you over to me, so I have the obligation to protect you.” Xu Cheng had his back towards Lin Chuxue as he waited for the elevator to come up. He closed his eyes, and his sensitive earlobes slightly moved.

nThen, he heard three reporters’ voices from the elevator that was slowly coming up.

n