Song Chuyi blinked. “Are you sure she didn’t quarrel with Li Shaobin on purpose so that she could go out with her friend?”Changqing rolled her eyes at him. “Definitely not. Ruan Yang said Scriptwriter Liang had hit a bottleneck recently and she wanted to ask Ruan Yang out to get some inspiration since they hadn’t seen each other for almost a year too. Ruan Yang also only made the decision to go yesterday.”

“Then I can’t help.” Song Chuyi shrugged.

Changqing sighed. “Brother Shaobin is so pitiful. He’s always being misunderstood by Ruan Yang.”

“Now’s not the time to worry about others.” Song Chuyi blew at her ear ambiguously and rolled on top of her again. “Qing Bao…”

Changqing felt herself heating up as she said shyly, “Chuchu, you just did it and it’s broad daylight…”

“Mm, I know that too, but I’m leaving in two days. I really can’t bear to part with you. I just want to be like this with you every day.” Song Chuyi pulled the blanket up to cover both of them and quickly displayed how much he wanted to be with her intimately…

…

At around 4 pm, Ruan Yang and Liang Yu finally reached the top of the mountain. The two of them were very tired so they found a random rock to sit on.

Liang Yu panted as she said, “Ruan Yang, you should just come back to the industry. I’ll write a good story and you’ll be my lead actress. Then we’ll get a good director to direct a good show. The industry’s been coming out with awful films nowadays. I can’t bear to watch them anymore.”

Ruan Yang laughed softly. “If you keep talking about it, I’ll leave you here and go back. We won’t need to go to Lake Qiandao either.”

“Say, why are you so bullheaded?” Liang Yu said.

“Now that I’m not a celebrity anymore, I can hike whenever I want like this. What’s so bad about that?” Ruan Yang said with a smile. “As a celebrity, a crowd would follow me around wherever I go. When would I have the time to hike with you? I’d have to rush from city to city every day around the clock.”

“Aye, I don’t even have any interest in editing the script, looking at the male and female leads that the sponsors designate nowadays.” Liang Yu let out a long sigh. “I heard that the male lead for my current script is Xia Junmeng again. His acting… well, you’ve worked with him before.”

Ruan Yang suddenly pitied her a little. Just as she was about to say something, Changqing called. “Didn’t you say you wanted to spend time your Song Chuyi? Where did you find the time to call me?”

“I did. I don’t have to be with him every second of the day, right?” Changqing said with a grin. “Are you at Mount Huang?”

“Mm.”

Changqing said with a reprimanding tone, “Ruan Yang, you’re a little too much. You didn’t even tell Brother Shaobin you went to Mount Huang.”

Ruan Yang walked over to one side with her phone. “Are you trying to put in good words for him again? Let me tell you—you don’t know the situation this time. He injured someone. If I keep giving in to him…”

“I know, Ruan Yang, but you’ve misunderstood Brother Shaobin.” Changqing sighed. “I didn’t want to tell you this because I was afraid of hurting you, but I don’t want you to keep misunderstanding him either.”

Ruan Yang was stunned.

Changqing said, “I didn’t know about it too at first. Chuchu told me about everything that happened on the day of the class reunion. Brother Shaobin didn’t do anything wrong. It was Xin Ziao who made Xiang Qizhe say a lot of bad things to Brother Shaobin. He said… mm… said that Brother Shaobin picked up Xin Ziao’s worn-out shoes and he was the one who treated them like treasure. Brother Shaobin only smashed him with a bottle because he was angry. Actually, I heard from Chuchu that Xiang Qizhe’s been very close to Xin Ziao ever since they were in high school and has always followed him around. Xin Ziao must’ve planned for Xiang Qizhe to say all those things. After Brother Shaobin hit him and said that Xin Ziao wasn’t a man, Xin Ziao said that he just needed to go home and ask you to find out if Xin Ziao was a man and even said… you’re just a woman whom he got tired of, so why should he care about your dignity…”

Standing at the peak of the mountain, although Ruan Yang was dressed very warmly, the chilling wind still pierced through the thin skin on her face. Every inch of flesh on her face felt as though it was numb from the cold.

Changqing said carefully, “Ruan Yang, are you alright?”

“Mm, I’m fine.” She only managed to squeeze out these few words after staying silent for a few seconds.

“Ruan Yang, I… I know that you’d definitely feel uncomfortable hearing that. After all, you really loved Xin Ziao and also sacrificed a lot for him. You didn’t even hate him despite his betrayal,” Changqing said softly, “but all this is true. Chuchu was there at the scene. After that, they went to the police and Xin Ziao even warned Station Chief Yu to handle the case properly, that he couldn’t take the law into his hands. Brother Shaobin was furious but I bet he didn’t tell you about that. He’d rather you misunderstand him and not explain what happened to you because he was afraid you would feel terrible, ashamed, and upset. He only told Chuchu to set up a farewell dinner and got me to invite you along, hoping he could see you because he really missed you a lot in the past few days, but he didn’t even know that you went to Mount Huang.”

Ruan Yang recalled how he left after finishing that egg silently that morning and felt her heart tearing up.

To be honest, if those words came out of his mouth, she might even think that he was exaggerating and wouldn’t really believe him. However, Changqing was the one who told her this, so she believed it. She believed that Xin Ziao had humiliated her publicly before.

She suddenly seemed to understand this person a little better. He might like to exaggerate even the smallest things, pout, and grumble, but when it came to the big things, he would stay silent instead. Sometimes, his silence might make one think he was guilty. Actually, he wasn’t and it was quite the opposite. He was meticulous and didn’t want her to be unhappy.

She felt as though a bottle of seasoning had toppled inside. She felt a mixture of emotions: bitterness, sourness, sweetness…

“Ruan Yang, give him a call and don’t tell him I told you all this. Otherwise, he’s going to be unhappy. Chuchu said he was bent on keeping this from you,” Changqing told her.

“Mm, thank you.” Ruan Yang squeezed out a smile.

“You’re nuts. We’re friends. Besides… I really shouldn’t have told you all this. I knew I would make you upset, but after thinking about it, telling you would give you a clearer picture of what kind of person Xin Ziao really is.” Changqing sighed.

Ruan Yang clenched her fists and felt a surge of rising anger.

She had never blamed Xin Ziao because she knew that he left her and got married to Zhao Zhu because he was forced by his family’s situation. Besides, she liked him. She was the one who couldn’t control her heart, but that was too much.

Her taste was really bad in the past.

“Ruan Yang, what’s wrong? Why do you look so bad?” Liang Yu asked as she walked over.

“Nothing.” Ruan Yang shook her head with a bitter smile. “I just mistook a fisheye for a pearl and a pearl as a fisheye in the past.”

…

When they were on their way down the mountain, she gave Li Shaobin a call.

“Yangyang…” Li Shaobin was very agitated when he received her call. “You’re finally not ignoring me anymore.”

Ruan Yang felt her heart turning sour. She also felt annoyed when she recalled her attitude that morning, but she promised Changqing to not tell him. Since things had come to this state, she could only continue the pretense. However, she still tried to sound him out. “It’s been a few days. Do you have anything you want to tell me?”

“Yes, yes, yes,” Li Shaobin said. “Mm… I definitely won’t fight again without your permission. I’ve listened to you and have been reflecting a lot the past few days. I think everything you said makes sense.”

Ruan Yang smiled. What a fool. He’d rather admit his mistakes obediently like that just so she wouldn’t feel upset. “Alright, you seem pretty sincere in your reflection so I’ll let it go this time. But I’m on Mount Huang with a friend right now so I’ll only be back the day after tomorrow.”

“What? You went to Mount Huang with your friend?” Li Shaobin’s thumping heart almost broke again. “Ruan Yang, you’re too much. How could you not have told me that you were going so far away?”

Ruan Yang also felt very sorry. “I was thinking of punishing you then. Alright, I’ll bring you a lot of presents and local specialties, alright? Think about it—you’re earning money at home while I’m helping you spend money outside.”

“That’s a lie. You haven’t even spent my money before.” Li Shaobin felt devastated.

“Then I’ll spend your money, alright?” Ruan Yang smiled.

“Okay. I’ll transfer the money to you.” Li Shaobin was happy when he heard that. “I don’t want any local specialties. No present is as important as you.”

“Mm, I’ll try to return as quickly as possible.” Ruan Yang’s eyes formed a crescent.

“Mm, mm.” Li Shaobin only put the phone down after blowing a few kisses to her.

“Your boyfriend?” Liang Yu asked with a smile. “How sweet. No wonder you don’t even want to return to the entertainment industry anymore.”

“That’s true. I only came to realize what I should prioritize after I came back.” Ruan Yang looked at the clouds and mist at the bottom of the mountain and lamented, “I’m going back the day after tomorrow. Let’s go to Lake Qiandao earlier tomorrow morning.”

“Can’t stand you. You can’t wait to go back.” Liang Yu shook her head with a smile.

————————————————-

The day after, the moment Ruan Yang came out of the airport, Li Shaobin went up eagerly to fetch her in his sports car. He even helped her carry her things.

Ruan Yang glanced at him and felt that he merely exuded foolishness.

Didn’t he feel a single bit of grievance?

She reached her hand out to grab his arm. Li Shaobin was stunned at first, then elated. He knew that Ruan Yang had really forgiven him. She really did dote on him. She said that she would ignore him for a week but it hadn’t even been a week.

“Yangyang, you must’ve had a lot of fun on Mount Huang. It seems like you’re in a good mood,” Li Shaobin said panderingly.

“It was alright.” Ruan Yang suddenly tiptoed and kissed his cheek. “I bought you a cup.”