Parting

At noon, there were not many customers in the coffee shop. Yan Yue sat by the window, relaxed and unhurried, glancing at the time. One minute left. She was in no hurry, but she did not want to waste time either; if that person still did not appear after a minute, she would leave.

The minute was up, and just as Yan Yue was getting to her feet, a woman’s figure suddenly appeared in the doorway, breathing a little hard as she looked at Yan Yue.

The waiter brought over the coffee and set a cup in front of each of them before silently withdrawing.

Yan Yue took a small sip. The taste was as good as ever.

“The coffee here has a very distinctive flavor. You can try it,” Yan Yue said.

Yu Qingyan did not move. Even though they were sitting face-to-face, she still felt herself lower by a grade; and not just in status.

“What do you want?” she asked.

Yan Yue set down her cup, a curious smile in her eyes. “How did Miss Yu know Qin Qingyan had shown up in Jingsheng? As far as I know, Jingsheng and Jiang District aren’t even in the same direction.”

“Didn’t you already guess? Otherwise there wouldn’t have been that message,” Yu Qingyan said coldly.

“What did I guess?” Yan Yue asked again.

“That I’d use this to frame Qin Qingyan and stir up public opinion, so you warned me in that way, didn’t you?” Yu Qingyan said.

Yan Yue smiled, saying neither yes nor no.

“I only want to know how you found out Qin Qingyan was living in Jingsheng. Just that one question.”

When Yu Qingyan was about to speak, Yan Yue added, “I’ve put my weakness into Miss Yu’s hands, so I hope Miss Yu won’t lie. This is an honest exchange; you could even call it cooperation.”

Yu Qingyan understood what Yan Yue was referring to, but pretended not to. “I don’t know what you mean. As for how I knew, I don’t know either. Zheng Jingteng just asked me to confirm it.”

“Zheng Jingteng?” Yan Yue murmured the name once before finally remembering him: Zheng Chong’s nephew, and also Xu Changlan’s.

Could Xu Changlan have been the one behind this?

“Anything else besides that?” Yan Yue asked again.

Yu Qingyan shook her head.

They talked for quite a while longer. As Yan Yue was leaving, Yu Qingyan suddenly called her back. After hesitating, she still said, “I don’t know what relationship you and Qin Qingyan have, but Zheng Jingteng doesn’t have clean intentions toward Qin Qingyan. You should be careful.”

Yan Yue understood that Yu Qingyan had already guessed her relationship with Qin Qingyan. But those words were, in effect, telling her that Yu Qingyan would not easily spread it around. So she thanked her and left.

It was only after Yan Yue was out of sight that Yu Qingyan looked away, picked up her coffee, and took a small sip. It had already gone completely cold, but the flavor was still not bad; a little bitter, with a rich, mellow aftertaste.

She was not a good person. She had clawed her way through the entertainment industry for so many years that she had developed some schemes of her own. The weakness Yan Yue mentioned could only be her relationship with Qin Qingyan. But since it was a weakness, how could Yan Yue, with her level of cunning, let it be so easily seized?

Yan Yue had plenty of ways to warn her without arousing suspicion. But when Yan Yue stood up just then, she suddenly understood.

If Yan Yue truly wanted to force her into a dead end, then the photos from yesterday would never have been sent only to her phone.

She had thought she was bad enough already. Especially in front of Yan Yue, she was humble as dust. If there was anyone in this world most qualified to look down on her, it would be Yan Yue. Yan Yue knew all her filthy little secrets; to her, looking at Yu Qingyan was like a moon high in the sky looking down on a rat in a stinking ditch.

And yet it was precisely that person who had considered her reputation.

Zheng Jingteng had wanted to find out the relationship between Qin Qingyan and Yan Yue, but soon enough he had his own hands full. His agent called in a hurry, and even while minding his status, the anger in the man’s voice was impossible to hide. He hurriedly opened Weibo; four or five photos were all of him taking different women in and out of hotels.

His heart turned cold. At a time like this, with this sort of thing suddenly breaking, it was hard not to suspect foul play.

The internet was flooded with abuse. Combined with Zheng Chong’s earlier behavior, the insults and mockery from netizens only became sharper. Yu Qingyan’s Weibo also went down in flames, filled with nothing but comfort in the comments.

Zheng Jingteng’s studio, caught at the center of the storm, never gave any response. Netizens basically confirmed the matter as true, and their curses and sarcasm became even more merciless.

Not long after, another netizen threw out a video. It was from Qin Qingyan’s very early days after debuting, when Zheng Jingteng had failed to get his way and lashed out in a barrage of abuse, only to be kicked flat onto the ground by Qin Qingyan. Back then, the incident in which she had beaten a male actor from the same production had caused Qin Qingyan quite a bit of trouble; even after she became famous, there were still netizens mocking her openly and covertly.

Only now did everyone finally understand the truth of what had happened then.

Busy filming, Qin Qingyan did not notice that the number of comments under her account kept climbing, and her fans increased by quite a lot as well.

That afternoon, after hearing Su Yan talk about the matter, Qin Qingyan was surprised, then faintly felt that Yan Yue had pushed things along behind the scenes. It was not until late at night, after filming ended and she got home, that she understood the full chain of events and became even more certain that Yan Yue had been the one operating all of it.

After washing up, she returned to the bedroom. Yan Yue was neither dealing with documents nor playing on her phone; she looked almost as if she had been waiting specifically for her. Under Yan Yue’s gaze, Qin Qingyan walked over in confusion and sat down beside her on the bed.

Yan Yue turned off the lights, leaving only the warm bedside lamp on.

Qin Qingyan looked at her and asked in puzzlement, “What is it?” Although there did not seem to be much difference from usual, she still sensed something was off.

“Nothing, just...” Yan Yue looked back at her too. After a moment of hesitation, she said, “I’m going to be leaving Nanjing City for a while.”

Qin Qingyan felt as if every cell in her body had gone rigid. Still, she forced herself to stay calm and asked with a smile, “A while... how long is that?”

“If it’s long, half a year. If it’s short, three or four months,” Yan Yue said, watching her reaction.

The last sliver of hope Qin Qingyan had clung to fell completely silent. She had thought it might be a month, at most no more than two months, but half a year...

She turned her head away and rubbed her fingers together, saying nothing.

Yan Yue reached out and held her shoulder, turning her back to face her. “This time I’m going as a representative of Yan Group. Yicheng will go with me, and I’ll come back as early as possible.”

Qin Qingyan still said nothing. The look in her eyes was enough to show Yan Yue just how unwilling she was to part. There was also so much complicated emotion about to overflow in those eyes, all trying to make Yan Yue stay.

After a long while, though, she only said, “Remember to send me more messages when you have time, and video call me too.” She did not want to make things hard for Yan Yue; she was unwilling to do anything that would put Yan Yue in a difficult position.

The two of them lay in bed, holding each other, saying nothing, each lost in her own thoughts. It was nearly one in the morning before they finally drifted off.

Around seven, Qin Qingyan prepared breakfast. When Yan Yue woke up, they did as they always did, washing up together and then eating together. Qin Qingyan reluctantly saw her downstairs; Yan Yicheng’s car was already waiting outside. She sent Yan Yue into the car, then stood watching as it drove away.

Her vision grew a little blurry. She blinked rapidly, forcing down the urge to chase after the car no matter what, until it was completely gone.

Before boarding the plane, Yan Yue sent Qin Qingyan a message, and at that time Qin Qingyan was still filming. She could now completely control herself, keeping other emotions from interfering while acting and focusing on doing the scene in front of her properly.

It was only after shooting ended in the middle of the night, when she returned to the home that no longer had Yan Yue in it and looked at everything familiar, that a wave of bitterness rose in her heart. In that moment, she wished the room could be a little smaller; smaller still, until it wrapped tightly around her.

She missed Yan Yue. She missed her terribly.

After showering, she buried herself under the blanket and slept in Yan Yue’s spot, breathing in her familiar scent before she finally felt a little steadier.

Not long after, a sudden ringtone rang out in the silent room. She hurriedly glanced at it; it was Yan Yue!

On the video call, it was still daylight on Yan Yue’s side. She was walking along a crowded street, her smile as familiar as ever. “Have you missed me?”

Qin Qingyan nearly cried. She held it in and held it in again, wondering why Yan Yue had to ask such a heartbreaking question.

“Yes.” Her voice was muffled and hoarse.

“Going by the time, you should be getting into bed to rest. I was busy during the day, so I didn’t call you,” Yan Yue said.

Qin Qingyan shook her head to show it was fine. “This is already good.”

Yan Yue found a bench and sat down on the other end. “Are you tired?” She could tell Qin Qingyan’s complexion was not very good.

“I’m not tired; I just can’t get used to being alone at home,” Qin Qingyan said.

She had had many moments alone before, and had never felt lonely or cold. But after being with Yan Yue, even the slightest chill became almost unbearable. If the drama had already not gone into production, she would have long since thrown caution to the wind and followed Yan Yue without caring about anything else.

The warm yellow bedside light cast a gentle glow over her face. A faint trace of worry rested there, so slight that Qin Qingyan herself had not even noticed it.

It was late, and Qin Qingyan still had work tomorrow, so Yan Yue said, “Lie down, and I’ll just keep talking to you, okay?”

Qin Qingyan did as she was told.

At first she listened carefully and with real treasure-like attention. Maybe she was simply too tired, and maybe Yan Yue’s voice was just too soothing, but before ten minutes had passed, Yan Yue heard even breathing from the phone, steady and peaceful. She knew Qin Qingyan had fallen asleep. In a soft voice, she said goodnight, and only hung up when she was about to go into a meeting.

For more than a month, they had at least one call every day. Though separated by a great distance, their hearts stayed close to each other, and the thick longing created by the distance was eased in this way.

Before she debuted, Qin Qingyan disliked days that were monotonous and dull. When every day was too similar, it made time seem to pass especially quickly, so even though life was hard back then, she still chose different part-time jobs so her life would not become too repetitive.

But now, she was content to film in the crew every morning, chat with Yan Yue over video in the afternoon, and go straight to bed after washing up at night. For this whole month, she almost lived like this every day, and time really did seem to pass much faster. She only hoped Yan Yue could deal with everything as soon as possible; ideally she would be back in no more than three months, and at most within four.

After too long, she did not know how much longer she could hold on.

Three months later, Yan Yue still had not returned. Five months later, she still had not. The film wrapped, and Yan Yue still had not come back.

The crew had booked a private room for the evening to celebrate wrapping. All the leads were there, and the last person to arrive was Yu Qingyan. Her coming was not strange; after all, she was an important role too. But when everyone saw Zheng Jingteng beside her, the smiles faded somewhat, though they kept them in place with proper politeness.