Chapter 702: Chapter 702
He Jinxia nodded solemnly.
He Jinxia smiled at her, slightly shyly said, "I plan to get engaged to him in July and don’t intend to invite anyone else. We’ll just set a table for the relatives. You’re my friend, and I hope you can come."
At that moment, Sheng Yan, who had been quietly sitting at the front, also spoke up. Even though his voice came through layers of black gauze, it did not lose its timbre.
"Hmm, I hope you can come."
Xie Jiahui might as well come over and see for herself that he was engaged to Jinxia, and cut off all those muddled thoughts in her heart, thought Sheng Yan.
Xie Jiahui’s eyes widened in fear upon hearing this voice, and she shuddered. If she wasn’t mistaken, this, this was...
She silently mouthed the shape with her lips—Sheng Yan?
He Jinxia smiled and nodded.
Xie Jiahui rolled her eyes and leaned back, oh my god, just let her faint!
She couldn’t bear to look back; she had cursed Sheng Yan so much in the car, she simply couldn’t face him, and as for the upcoming engagement party, she was even less inclined to go. How could she have the nerve!
Xie Jiahui’s heart, just recently calmed, became tumultuous again, the shock no less than the night before!
Her old friend had transformed into the fiancée of the man she once had a crush on, yet that friend repeatedly mentioned it to her, and she unbelievably never believed it, foolishly left in the dark for so long!
Unable to continue sitting in the car, she quickly found an excuse and got out immediately.
The world changes too fast, now Xie Jiahui just wanted peace.
Watching Xie Jiahui’s retreating figure, He Jinxia, seeing that it was getting late, asked Sheng Yan to drive to Huaxia Airport.
Her visit to the M country was only for two days; after a hasty promotion, she had to leave.
After arriving at the airport and still having some time, they embraced in the car, chatting with each other about matters in the production crew, whiling away a few hours before parting ways.
Upon entering the airport, and with a bit of time left, He Jinxia hesitated, unsure whether to call Ola to explain.
Her relationship with Ola was not bad, but not yet at the point where she felt comfortable disclosing such news. The opportunity to tell Xie Jiahui had been just right, and even if she had wished not to, she had no choice but to reveal it.
Back in her home country, she had closer relationships with people like Xiao Xiuxiu and Dong Qiin, who knew her very well. He Jinxia didn’t want them to learn of it either, fearing that too many people talking might accidentally leak the information, which would be a storm for both her and Sheng Yan.
Ultimately, it all came down to the disparity in their status within the circle: the man too strong, the woman too weak. Once together, it would look as if the woman was thriving in the entertainment circle solely on the man’s recommended resources.
Without proper guidance prepared, this narrative would dominate the majority, severely impacting her career.
Although He Jinxia didn’t care about netizens’ comments, her life was not dictated by others’ remarks.
Yet, her career needed a good reputation to flourish. To gain acceptance from netizens, going public with such matters couldn’t be rushed and had to be done gradually.
The biggest issue at hand was that He Jinxia didn’t dare to place her hopes of not being exposed on her not-so-close friendship with Ola. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ NovelHub(.)net
He Jinxia sighed lightly when her phone began to ring. She looked down; it was a call from Ola.
Whether it was fortune or misfortune, you can’t evade fate. He Jinxia took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and answered it!
She had braced for a storm of questions from Ola, but instead, Ola started with a cautious tone, as if speaking louder might hurt her fragile spirit, "Jinxia, are you okay?"
He Jinxia paused, this was completely different from the script she had imagined!
Ola’s record of twenty phone calls to her from yesterday was still clear in her mind, how could she suddenly become so "tender as water"?
He Jinxia’s lips parted slightly, completely clueless about what this tactic was, she chose silence as a response.
Her reaction seemed to have led Ola to even more misunderstandings, both parties fell silent for a while, then Ola said softly:
"Don’t be afraid, even if Bai Bing has a lot of power, that’s in M-country, once you’re back in Huaxia, everything will get better. She can’t ban you, and she doesn’t know you were the woman with the mask yesterday."
He Jinxia was utterly confused, Bai Bing??
Ola continued talking to herself: "Xie Jiahui told me everything, you’re just too pitiful, getting caught up in the conflict between her and Bai Bing all because of Xie Jiahui. Luckily, Emperor Sheng still gave Xie Jiahui some face, and didn’t chase you out right there and then.
My God, when I saw you holding hands with Emperor Sheng, I thought you two were lovers! I couldn’t sleep all night, too excited and thrilled. I never thought you were just hired by Miss Jiahui to act out a play."
Ola’s slightly excited tone turned to envy: "I just found out Xie Jiahui and Emperor Sheng have known each other since childhood. Bai Bing is also after Emperor Sheng. To stage this play for Bai Bing and make her give up was really painstaking, but—"
Ola’s tone shifted, speaking earnestly: "Next time, don’t do this, Xie Jiahui isn’t entering the entertainment circle, but you are still a star. Bai Bing is a star too, it’s best not to get involved."
"After you left, you wouldn’t know, but Director Rogels issued us a do-or-die order, saying not to speak of today’s events in the lobby, or else we would be banned by him!"
"Not only that, but Bai Bing had the waitstaff ask us one by one if we knew who the woman in the mask was. I didn’t tell them it was you; thank goodness you had the mask on, they didn’t recognize you. We small-time people, we better not get involved."
"Xie Jiahui told me that it was an emergency at that time, so she sought you out without the time to find someone else, and since you owed her a favor, you had to help.
But Sister Jinxia, it’s really too dangerous; one misstep and your whole career could be over, don’t do anything this risky ever again."
He Jinxia was completely baffled the entire time, listening to Ola’s non-stop babbling through the phone, filled with genuine concern.
She blinked her eyes, a touch of emotion flitted through her heart, a surge of desire to tell her the actual truth.
However, just after a short while, she suppressed that impulse.
"Sister Jinxia, did you hear everything I said?" Perhaps He Jinxia’s silence made her anxious, Ola couldn’t help but ask.
He Jinxia nodded like a pecking chicken, "I heard it, I won’t do it again next time, this time it was unavoidable, I needed to repay Jiahui’s favor."
Since Xie Jiahui had already explained on her behalf, He Jinxia decided to just go with the flow and stick with Jiahui’s explanation.
Before long, He Jinxia hung up the phone, couldn’t help but send a message to Xie Jiahui—
He Jinxia: [Well done, darling, love you to death (づ￣ 3￣)づ Thank you for the big help!]
Xie Jiahui, who was irritably scrolling through her phone, suddenly saw this message. She paused, deleted the message, and muttered, "Don’t think a few perfunctory words will make things right with me, hmph!"
Without getting a reply from Xie Jiahui, He Jinxia didn’t mind; with the relief of having resolved the issue, she boarded the plane to Huaxia, feeling refreshed.
Time quietly advanced to July, bringing another year’s brutal summer heat.
On July 10th, the weather was clear, cloudless, with the scorching sun baking the entire ground.
Film City housed several film crews, mostly shooting costume dramas. Everyone on the surface looked splendid and full of vigor, but in reality, the sweat had soaked their underwear; it just didn’t show through their outer garments.
Shooting a costume drama in the summer was truly suffering.
In this sweltering heat, when people were irritable and tempers flared, "Xiao Xiangyu’s Many Sorrows" welcomed its wrap-up!