Chapter 189: Caught by a bunch of reporters?
The next morning.
Around 9 – 10 o’clock.
Zhang Ye mockingly laughed, “You’re awake?”
“Yes.” the Heavenly Queen answered coldly.
“You didn’t sleep well? I can see your dark eye circles.” Zhang Ye said.
“I will make do with it.” the Heavenly Queen commanded, “Go see if there are still people downstairs.”
Zhang Ye got off the bed and he went over, pulling the curtain slightly apart. He said impatiently, “There are still several dozens of people. It looks like the reporters have changed shifts. Looks like we won’t be leaving today either?”
“Let’s eat first,” Zhang Yuanqi said.
Zhang Ye was hungry too, “Order take away? Sure, let me see.”
He checked online and made a few calls. In the end, none of the eateries were willing to deliver take away as the area was too isolated. Even fast food restaurants were not willing to deliver here. Out of desperation, Zhang Ye called the motel front desk, “Hello, what can we eat over here? Bread? Instant noodles? Biscuits? OK, please give me 2 sets of everything. I want a bottle of cola and a bottle of mineral water too… please deliver it to my room, thank you.”
The Heavenly Queen put on her sunglasses, “Don’t let anyone come in.”
“I know.” Zhang Ye put on his coat and walked to the door to wait.
Momentarily, the cleaning lady came to deliver the food. When the door was opened, she handed the things over, “The money will be deducted from the deposit. Oh yes, are you checking out today?”
Zhang Ye messed up his hair on purpose so that no one would recognize him. But it was obviously unnecessary, as even if his face was not covered, the cleaning lady would still not be able to recognize him. Zhang Ye thought for a while, then said, “I won’t be checking out today, I will stay another day.”
The cleaning lady said, “Then you need to go downstairs to hand over the money.”
Zhang Ye said quickly said, “I’m too lazy to go down, I will hand the money to you.”
“Alright then.” the cleaning took the money and counted it, “Do you need housekeeping?”
“No need, no need.” Zhang Ye did not dare to let anyone into the room, “Oh yes, why is the thermostat turned off? It’s pretty cold and rather gloomy. The temperature’s turning cold.”
The cleaning lady explained, “The thermostat is externally controlled. There’s only electricity after 9PM.” It was obviously to save power and after explaining, the cleaner went downstairs.
Back in the room, Zhang Ye put the food onto the bed, “What do you want to eat?”
Zhang Yuanqi took a look and pointed to the instant noodles. She did not even say a word.
Zhang Ye glanced at her, then went to boil some water. He prepared the instant noodles and placed them at the dressing table in front of the bed. He took some bread for himself and he had some hot water to go along with, “I think today won’t be the day too, we won’t be able to find a chance to slip away. If you have something on today, you can call your manager with my phone?”
The Heavenly Queen was eating her instant noodles with a not too happy expression. She still ate it anyway, “Use your phone to call? And tell her that I am with you at the motel?”
Zhang Ye realized that her manager had his number. A call would reveal everything. This was not something that they could let anyone know even if there was nothing between the two of them.
……
After the meal.
It was almost noon.
The two of them were doing nothing, there was basically nothing to do at all.
Zhang Ye switched the old CRT television on. There were only about 20 channels, but every channel was only showing static. The reception was probably terrible, so there was no way to watch anything. The Heavenly Queen lay in bed under her blanket. She had already read Zhang Ye’s compilation twice. There weren’t many words to begin with anyway, so she didn’t bother to read it again. Zhang Ye switched the television off. It was getting cold as it looked to be almost raining outside. He rubbed his hands together to keep warm. He did not wear much as he came out in a rush last night.
“Phone.” the Heavenly Queen said.
“What’s the matter?” Zhang Ye blinked.
Zhang Yuanqi did not explain, but repeated, “Phone.”
“Here.” Zhang Ye uttered as he threw it to her.
Zhang Yuanqi began dialing some numbers, after recalling for a long while, the call finally connected. The expression on her face changed to one of a smiling one, “Hello, is this Director Jiang?”
It was a young man’’s voice on the other side, “Yo, it’s Sister Zhang?”
“Great, you can still recognize my voice. Hur Hur!” Zhang Yuanqi said.
Director Jiang said, “I listened to your songs growing up, how could I not know? Oh yes, there’s news of you being at a motel that’s spreading online now, is this true?”
Zhang Yuanqi laughed, “It’s just the company doing some publicity. I’m at home but because too many people are calling me, I switched my phone off. I borrowed a friend’s phone to call you, there’s something I need your help with. The movie that you are directing, isn’t it almost done? I heard that there are a few scenes that you need to reshoot? Do you need an actor? I would like to recommend someone, Zhang Ye. I don’t know if you know him, but he has a little bit of fame in Beijing.”
“Zhang Ye? The one who wrote a song for you, that Zhang Ye?” Director Jiang remembered, “I know who he is, I have some some impression. I think he’s really good at writing poetry?”
Zhang Yuanqi said, “Yes, you can give him a supporting role.”
Director Jiang hesitated and said, “I’m directing a wuxia movie, the roles… ”
“I still owe him one for that song, I don’t care whether it’s wuxia or not. You need to help me repay him this favor, Hur Hur. That’s settled then?” Zhang Yuanqi said laughingly.
Director Jiang laughed bitterly, “Alright then, since Sister Zhang has spoken, we will have some discussions first. When the time comes… ”
Zhang Yuanqi said, “Don’t wait until the time comes, I will ask him to report for filming tomorrow. That settles it, if you have another movie in the future, I will do a cameo role for you.”
“Haha, then that will be great. It’s done, settled!” Director Jiang did not have any complaints with that.
After hanging up, she threw the phone back to Zhang Ye who caught it. He immediately said, “Thanks, Sister Zhang.” He had not expected it to be done so quickly.
With the called ended, Zhang Yuanqi’s amicable expression had changed back to the usual cold-faced expression. She hugged her own shoulders before saying, “We need to find a way out by tonight. I have some activities in Hong Kong and Taiwan tomorrow, it’s an afternoon flight. I can’t cancel them!”
Zhang Ye wondered, “How do we leave?”
“You think of a way.” after saying, Zhang Yuanqi laid down and had her afternoon nap.
Zhang Ye also lay down to think, but as he cracked his brains, he fell asleep.
……
At night.
It was 1AM.
Zhang Ye wore his clothes properly and Zhang Yuanqi also wore her heels. The 2 of them had something to eat before Zhang Ye pulled the curtains aside to take a look outside. There were much fewer people now. The fans were almost all gone since they did not have the time to keep waiting aimlessly. The others left were those reporters with nothing to do, either from the television station or the newspapers. They had shifts of two or three people waiting there without moving. Some were hidden from view, like in the car or the staircase landings. They were holding on to their cameras and waiting patiently for things to happen.
Going out through the main entrance — impossible.
Zhang Ye breathed in deeply, “You wait for me here, I will go take a look.”
“What’s the plan?” Zhang Yuanqi asked.
“One step at a time.” Zhang Ye already had a plan, but he did not dare tell the Heavenly Queen. He was afraid that the Heavenly Queen would not take him seriously, so he went ahead to scout first.
To be safe, Zhang Ye waited for the Heavenly Queen to not pay attention before he took out a “Save Crystal” from the inventory of his game ring. 2 Save Crystals and 1 Lucky Bread. This was all inside Zhang Ye’s inventory. He had gotten them some time ago through the Lottery. Zhang Ye knew the importance of the matter, so he didn’t dare be careless. He crushed the Save crystal with his hands.
It took effect!
[ Progress Saved! ] [ Save Record Retains 30 Minutes! ]
Zhang Ye pulled the door open and walked out without making a sound. It was already midnight. There was no one in the corridor so Zhang Ye relaxed his senses a little. He quickly walked towards the escape stairway as the elevator was definitely a no go. It was too enclosed and there were too many factors to consider. But just as he was approaching the escape stairway, the room beside it opened without a warning. The person who opened it was a middle-aged man holding a camera, there were still three or four youths in the room. They were obviously reporters!
Zhang Ye kept walking, he was numb. So, they had laid an ambush.
The middle-aged man had come out due to hearing a noise. He wanted to know who was passing by. These reporters had been waiting outside in the day, but at noon, many people had checked out. Naturally, they could get a room and gain entry into the building. He did not expect to see headline news the moment he opened the door. After a momentary shock, he found the person familiar. Then after some recollection, he got excited, “It’s Zhang Ye! Teacher Zhang, what are you doing here? Are you with the Heavenly Queen?”
He chased after him.
Zhang Ye kept going.
The man was busily taking photos. Kacha, kacha!
Upon hearing that, several other reporters who were in the room also realized that this was big news! The Heavenly Queen and Zhang Ye had worked together before, the two of them had now appeared at this motel? This was definitely unusual!
They gave chase!
Zhang Ye had already gone to the second floor through the escape stairway. On the second floor, there was another reporter. He was probably not part of the group from upstairs but hewas probably just having a smoke along the corridor. But Zhang Ye did not see him as he did not have a line of sight to the corridor. When he heard no commotion, he went outside into the corridor. In the end, he had direct eye contact with that reporter in the distance.
“Ah! Zhang Ye!” said the thin reporter excitedly!
Zhang Ye turned his head and continued walking down the stairs, but there were even more people on the first floor. Some were seated on the staircase reading newspapers, some were leaning against the wall and napping. This route had been sealed off. The elevator was probably the same too, there would probably be people keeping watch.
The bunch of people also saw Zhang Ye now, many of them did not recognize him but there were some who did. Once they shouted his name, everyone’s eyes lighted up!
Zhang Ye turned back to the second floor. The reporters from upstairs had now chased after him down the stairs while those from the first floor chased after him up the stairs. But Zhang Ye totally ignored them. No matter how they took his pictures and asked questions, Zhang Ye just continued walking coldly. He turned the corner at the second floor. Firstly, he wanted to know the locations of all the reporters. Secondly, he wanted to check the route.
About 20 minutes later.
A bunch of the reporters had surrounded Zhang Ye by now. They were joined by the others from the yard, this included a number of Zhang Yuanqi’s fans. After a day and a night, many of her fans had already left. But there were still some hardcore fans who had nothing better to do who stayed on.
“Teacher Zhang Ye?”
“Why is it you!?”
“Teacher Zhang, why are you here?”
“What’s going on between you and Sister Zhang!?”
“Where is the Heavenly Queen? Is she in your room? Can you please explain?”
“What the f**k!? The Heavenly Queen came to the motel to meet you? This… this… when did the two of you start?”
“Teacher Zhang, please answer us!”
The flashes kept going off. It was no different from a press conference!
Everyone was either questioning or taking pictures. This was already a mess now, many of the people who had seen Zhang Ye appear were in disbelief!
Zhang Ye and Zhang Yuanqi?
How can it be!? That was such a terrible match!
Zhang Ye knew that he couldn’t explain himself but he also knew that he did not need to explain. He gave a smile and looked around at all the reporters. He then said something very puzzling, “Even if I told you, all of you wouldn’t know anything the next moment.”
“Eh?”
“What did that mean?”
“Teacher Zhang, please answer straightforwardly!”
“What are you and the Heavenly Queen doing here? There’s no such coincidences!”
Zhang Ye was not nervous at all. He was extraordinarily calm. He did not bother himself with these people and he lowered his head to open the game screen up. When the virtual game screen came up, he lightly tapped onto a button — Load file!
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