Chapter 584 The scenery is better over here!
A while later.
Ding dong. Ding dong. Ding dong. Ding dong.
The doorbell rang continuously four or five times.
If your own family members forgot to bring their keys and came home, they would usually just press the doorbell once, all casual like. If they were guests or relatives who had come to visit, they would usually press the doorbell twice, so they would appear a little more modest as visitors. Sometimes, some people who were more careless might press it three times. That was still fine and within accepted norms. However, someone who was visiting another person’s house for the first time and pressing the doorbell continuously four to five times made it needless to ask who it was. Just from hearing that, it could only be that Heavenly Queen who was always cool and kind in front of the media but had a terrible character in private!
“Coming, coming!” Zhang Ye shouted.
Ding dong. Ding dong. He was still taking his time to get there when the doorbell rang twice more.
Zhang Ye could do nothing about it. He went to the door and pulled it open. Sure enough, the woman standing outside “armed to the tooth” was indeed Zhang Yuanqi.
“What took you you so long?” She lifted a leg and stepped in.
Zhang Ye closed the door. “You have to at least let me walk to the door.”
She asked, “No one is around?”
“No one. Don’t worry,” Zhang Ye said.
She put the zipped and locked bag in her hands down onto the ground and said, “The alcohol is inside. There’s red wine and beer. Take your pick.”
Since it had come to this, Zhang Ye could only play along. “What will you have?”
“Red wine.” She sat on the sofa in the living room.
Zhang Ye bent over and opened the bag to take out the red wine. He realized that underneath the red wine bottles was some red and white clothing. As they stacked together, he did not know what type of clothes they were. He asked, “Why did you bring so many things? Where do you intend to go? I heard over the phone that your manager was looking for you.”
She lay tiredly on the sofa with her eyes closed, napping for the moment. “The suburbs in Beijing, at the movie studios. I’m filming a movie during these next few days and will be staying around that area.” She opened her eyes and looked over. “Where’s the wine?”
“I’m opening it right now.” Zhang Ye had a wine bottle opener at home that apparently came as a free gift when his mother had bought a new rice cooker some time back. However, as he was not too familiar with how to use it, it took him a very long time before he got the bottle opened. He found two glasses and poured the wine into each, one for the both of them.
Right when he finished pouring the wine, Zhang Yuanqi immediately picked it up and raised her glass.
Zhang Ye helplessly clinked glasses with her and said, “Don’t drink so much. It’s bad for the stomach to drink so early in the morning.”
Before he could finish saying that, Old Zhang had already finished hers in one gulp and then took a look at his glass.
Zhang Ye couldn’t do anything except accompany her and finish his glass as well.
Old Zhang picked up the bottle and poured half a glass of wine for herself before pouring some for Zhang Ye. “Come.” This red wine did not look cheap at all, but the way they were drinking it was as good as pouring it down the drain.
They drank two glasses in quick succession.
The wrinkles on Zhang Yuanqi’s beautiful forehead finally loosened.
Zhang Ye smiled and asked, “How many days have you been holding back your urge to drink?”
“2 months,” she said.
Zhang Ye said, “Heh, if you really want to drink, you can come look for me.” Although he spoke as though he was annoyed with her, however, if Old Zhang actually came over, Zhang Ye would definitely still be very welcoming to her. In the past, whenever the Heavenly Queen wanted a break from her work, she would always end up going to Zhang Ye’s place. First, because when she was at his place, no one else would be able to find her as even Fang Weihong did not know about the close relationship between Zhang Ye and Zhang Yuanqi. Second, in this world, other than Zhang Yuanqi’s parents, probably only Zhang Ye knew about her aloof personality. Every time she was here at Zhang Ye’s place, Old Zhang never had to put up a false front and could act like her own natural self.
She looked up at and said, “You’d still have to make time to drink with me. In just the past two months, all I’ve seen on TV is the news of you relentlessly causing trouble everywhere.”
When he heard this, Zhang Ye laughed in ridicule. “Listen to what you’re saying. What do you mean relentlessly causing trouble? I was serving the people alright? Did you watch the public service announcement I produced? How is it?”
She said, “It’s whatever.”
Zhang Ye just laughed it off and did not bother her anymore.
At this time, when Zhang Yuanqi had taken off her sunglasses and jacket, Zhang Ye suddenly noticed that her clothes were all wet. Old Zhang was dressed very normally today and had her hair in a ponytail, a look that kept her low profile. She wore a long-sleeved shirt paired with track pants and a pair of white canvas shoes, though they were stained with quite a few muddy spots. Her shirt was wet from the rain at the shoulders and sleeves areas. Walking outside in this getup, even if someone got beaten up and told that this was the famous celebrity, Zhang Yuanqi, they wouldn’t have expected or believed it.
Zhang Ye said, “You didn’t bring an umbrella?”
“What do you think?” she said.
“Didn’t you bring some clothes here? Why don’t you go and get dried. Change so that you don’t catch a cold.” Zhang Ye said hospitably, “If not, you can also take a shower here.”
She agreed and said, “OK.”
Zhang Ye blinked and asked, “You’re really going to shower here?”
She looked over. “What, do you think I am going to take a fake shower then?”
“Hai, that’s not what I meant.” Zhang Ye was thinking to himself that he was just trying to appear as a hospitable host by saying that. “Then go ahead and wash up. I will turn the water heater on for you, but I have to warn you that my house’s bathroom is a little messy, so make do with it.”
She stood up and said, “Drink by yourself first.”
“It’s alright. I will wait for you here.” Zhang Ye also found a towel for her. “This towel is mine, but my mom has already washed it, so it’s clean.”
She said, “I have my own in the bag.”
“Oh, alright then,” Zhang Ye said.
At last, after Zhang Yuanqi sneezed and sniffed, she finally took her bag with her and went into the bathroom. Peng, the bathroom door closed and then all was silent.
Out in the living room, since Zhang Ye had nothing to do, he started chatting with her across the bathroom door. “You have no filming schedule today?”
From inside the bathroom, a woman’s voice sounded, “It’s raining.”
Zhang Ye acknowledged and asked, “What movie are you busy with these days?”
“Grandmasters.”
“Oh, wuxia genre?”
“It’s a martial arts 1 type.”
“Hey, you even know martial arts?”
“There’s a martial arts director.”
“What kind of martial arts are we talking about?”
“Eight Trigram Palm, Xingyi Fist, and Taiji Fist.”
“Taiji Fist?” Zhang Ye was stunned. “I’ve heard of it. Isn’t it a lost form of martial arts? There are even people in the production team who know it?
“It’s just a movie. Why do you think they need to really know about it?”
“Oh, I see. I was still thinking how anyone living on Earth now could know Taiji Fist.”Zhang Ye mumbled softly, like he was talking to himself.
The woman’s voice sounded, “What did you say?”
Zhang Ye quickly said, “Nothing.”
In the bathroom, the sound of the slippers on the wet floor could be heard shuffling and squelching. Old Zhang had probably already undressed. Sure enough, the sound of the running water could be heard next.
Zhang Ye knew that even if he talked now, it wouldn’t be heard from the inside. So he went back out to the living room and sat down. It seemed that Old Zhang had also showered very quickly and was probably only washing off the rain from her body. After around 10 or 15 minutes, the door to the bathroom opened, and a whiff of hot air and the fragrance of her shampoo wafted out into the living room.
“You’re done showering?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve poured some wine for you.”
“OK.”
Old Zhang had not come out from the bathroom yet.
So Zhang Ye went over and saw Zhang Yuanqi in a white bathrobe, obviously her own since Zhang Ye’s house did not have any. Zhang Yuanqi was looking into the mirror and applying something on her face. A bottle of moisturizing water, some face cream, and even skincare and cosmetic products were all fitted into her bag. She was so well equipped that it made Zhang Ye wonder if she was going to stay at his house and intended not to leave.
He asked, “What time will you be leaving?”
Old Zhang did not look at him and just answered, “Noon or sometime in the afternoon.”
“Alright then, my parents usually get off work at 5 or 6PM. Just leave before that.” Zhang Ye reminded and then asked, “Oh Sister Zhang, do you shed much hair?”
Zhang Yuanqi did not bother answering him.
Zhang Ye was already long on familiar terms with Old Zhang. They knew each other quite well and could speak whatever was on their minds. Zhang Ye said, “My mom’s hair isn’t as long as yours. If it dropped all over the bathroom floor and they see it, my parents will surely think I brought someone home.” In the past, when he was at the rented apartment in Jiaomen, it was still alright since he stayed by himself. But since this was his parents’ place, he felt that he needed to be more careful.
After applying the skincare products, Old Zhang did not blow dry her hair but just walked out with that scent following her. She sat back onto the sofa and picked up her glass to have a drink by herself.
Zhang Ye also sat down and accompanied her in drinking.
“This wine’s quite good.”
“It’s not bad.”
“Heh, drink slowly. Wait for me.”
“Hurry up.”
“How could I drink any faster? You’re the only one around here who drinks so early in the morning.”
The two had nothing serious to talk about, but the atmosphere blended together extremely well.
This had been the kind of relationship between Zhang Ye and the Heavenly Queen all along. If it was said they shared commonalities being celebrities in the entertainment circle, there wasn’t actually much in common between the two of them since their personalities were very different. Old Zhang was not a person who liked to talk much in private and was even considered a little stiff, unlike her bright and cheerful persona in front of the cameras. These factors had created such a situation between the two of them. They didn’t have much to talk about. But somehow, these two persons who seemingly came from different worlds and were not expected to cross each other’s paths much had a friendship that wasn’t shallow.
They had spent a night together at an express motel. Zhang Ye had also helped Old Zhang when she had encountered a problem during the Spring Festival Gala. When Zhang Ye met with his own problems, Old Zhang had helped him to the best of her efforts as well, prompting her fans on Weibo to help pressure the police station to release him. She had also prevented him from being discovered by the other female celebrities in the changing room during the Spring Festival Gala. They both hid and ran away from reporters by escaping through a window and scaling a wall together. The two of them had many secrets that could never be spoken to anyone else, only shared between them. This had also created a very special relationship in which they were friends even though they did not seem like friends. Speaking of, it might also be one of the more bizarre things that happened.
Zhang Ye treated Old Zhang as a friend.
Old Zhang did not put up much defense around him either.
Just like now. He didn’t know if the Heavenly Queen had brought extra clothes or not. She just sat there with most of her legs showing, deep cleavage visible at the neckline of her bathrobe. As her hair was not blowdried, even if she did dry her hair with a towel, it was still wet. Occasionally, droplets of water would slide and fall from her hair onto her bathrobe at the shoulders or directly onto her neck and bosom, slowly gathering before becoming too heavy to cling onto the skin and sliding down from her neck to her collarbone and then finally down her cleavage and disappearing, unknown whether absorbed by the fabric in there or just continuing down to her belly.
The scenery outside was beautiful.
But compared to the person in the house, this scenery in here was much better.
1. Wushu