Chapter 16 Wen Tang was genuinely startled by the suggestion to meet up! Just imagine if she showed up with the persona of an eighteenth-tier minor celebrity to meet Gong Yue tomorrow… The scene was unimaginable. What an awkwardly massive exposure disaster that would be! Meeting in person wasn’t something to rush into. Wen Tang racked her brains for a sufficiently legitimate reason and politely declined his invitation. He didn’t seem to mind, simply saying they could arrange it another time. By then, it was approaching her usual bedtime. Sure enough, he messaged her right on schedule: [Y: It’s ten o’clock.] Wen Tang’s inner thoughts: “…” Before knowing him, she never imagined there would be a time when she was so disliked. In any case, currently she held no position in his heart—sleep was more important than her! … Around one in the morning, Wen Tang was sleeping soundly when her phone rang. Half-asleep, she didn’t even look and directly hung up, continuing to sleep. The ringing started again. She was about to turn off her phone entirely when she noticed a familiar name on the screen. —Lu Zhilin. During a relationship, WeChat and phone contacts are saved under nicknames, but once you break up, they revert to their original names. After all, they had just recorded a variety show together. The ringing continued. With the phone in her hand, after a moment, Wen Tang answered the call. After connecting, there was silence for a while until Wen Tang called out his name first: “…Lu Zhilin?” Then came an uncontrollable sound of sobbing. Throughout their relationship and even after the breakup, Wen Tang had never seen Lu Zhilin like this. He had a stubborn temperament, carried himself with pride, and wouldn’t easily bend—let alone show vulnerability in front of anyone. “…Tang Tang, why did we have to break up?” “Wasn’t I good enough?” “…I can change. Tang Tang, can we not break up?” … On the other end of the phone, Lu Zhilin was incoherent. From his tone, Wen Tang could tell he was probably drunk—very different from his usual self. …She’d actually encountered this situation many times before. Her ex-boyfriends always wanted to get back together after breaking up, but for her, when she liked someone, it was genuine, but once it was over, it was simply over. Soon, Lu Zhilin’s assistant, who was always by his side, confirmed Wen Tang’s suspicion. “Tang Jie, sorry about this! Zhilin drank a bit too much today and dialed the wrong number! Don’t mind what he said to you. I’ll take him back to the hotel right now!!” The assistant’s voice came through the phone, speaking hurriedly before there was a flurry of activity, and finally the call ended. The next morning, Wen Tang got up early to participate in the recording of “Rush Forward.” “Rush Forward” wasn’t like “Happy Sunday,” which invited eight people at once. This show only invited the male and female leads plus the second male and second female leads—four people total. Wen Tang had expected to see Gong Yue at the recording site and had briefly imagined what would be appropriate to say when they met. However, upon arriving, she discovered he wasn’t there. A staff member from the production team came to explain the process to Wen Tang. Noticing she seemed distracted and looking around, they curiously asked: “Teacher Wen, what are you looking for?” Wen Tang casually asked as if it were an afterthought: “Your resident guest Gong Yue is in the same production crew as me. We’ll be joining the set soon to film, but since I arrived here, I haven’t seen him anywhere.” The production staff member suddenly said “Oh” and nodded: “We heard he’d be joining a production crew to film soon. So he’s in the same crew as Teacher Wen! He’s really lucky then.” Lucky indeed! Who in the industry didn’t know that Wen Tang was the ratings queen? Any drama starring Wen Tang was guaranteed to be a hit! With her talent and looks on display, and given people’s tendency to admire the strong, Wen Tang was extremely popular in the circle—both with other celebrities and behind-the-scenes staff. The staff member then said: “He didn’t come today.” And explained: “Although he’s our resident guest, he’s still a newcomer after all. When necessary, he has to make some sacrifices… Teacher Wen, you understand!” She tilted her chin toward another area where people were densely gathered, winking suggestively: “We heard Teacher Wen was coming to this episode, so everyone wanted to catch a glimpse of you. Today the veteran members are returning, so we’re doing a special episode just for them. The new members aren’t coming.” Wen Tang: “…” So that was it. This situation was extremely common in the entertainment industry—it all came down to connections and seniority. Even if the meat was right at your mouth, as long as you haven’t swallowed it, nobody knows who’ll end up with it in the end. Whoever is more popular, whoever has stronger backing, whoever has the say. A small newcomer like Xiao Kuge, even with company backing, couldn’t escape being pushed around by seniors! Wen Tang actually quite enjoyed chatting with him on WeChat, but strangely, she didn’t feel particularly attached to meeting him in person. After all, once he finished recording the variety show, he’d be joining the production crew, and then they could see each other every day. However, being replaced probably wouldn’t put him in a good mood. Wen Tang thought she should be a considerate person and take this opportunity to comfort him a bit. The variety show recording lasted the entire day, and phones couldn’t be used during filming. Sports variety shows were the most exhausting, especially with Wen Tang’s extremely competitive nature. By the end of recording, Wen Tang was half-dead from fatigue. But on the way back, she still managed to get her phone from Kexin and sent Gong Yue a message. Chatting when in a bad mood could count as comfort, right? She didn’t bring up the unfortunate events from the show, just chatted about things he’d be interested in. [One Candy: Senior, I heard Jiang Qianya is also filming in Liuzhou recently. Did you know?] [One Candy: But it seems she already left yesterday.] [One Candy: What a shame!]