She was busy from early morning to late night almost every day. After showering upon returning to the hotel, she usually fell asleep as soon as she hit the bed, without any leisure time to check her phone.

In such an isolated state, unless someone called persistently, she either ignored unimportant messages or responded only when she happened to notice them, thus missing many non-work-related texts.

Even the occasional greetings from Zhou Qishen, which were currently important to her, often took her a long time to respond to. This led her to inadvertently overlook his text asking to visit.

By the time she noticed, that message had already sunk beneath numerous other texts.

Glancing at the timestamp, it was sent around eight o’clock last night.

The night outside the hotel window was deep and dark. A whole day had passed since then. Jiang Xiao paced back and forth in the room, holding her phone, carefully recalling that she had just finished work at that time and had planned to have dinner with several lead actors, so she had handed her phone on silent mode to her assistant Xiao Zhang.

Because they had an early morning shoot the next day, after returning from the restaurant, she hurriedly washed up and went to bed without checking her phone again…

Regret swept over her in an instant. After much thought, she called him.

After a brief cold beep, a low and pleasant male voice came from the other end of the phone: “Xiaoxiao?”

Zhou Qishen’s voice sounded unusually steady, without any signs of anger. Jiang Xiao’s anxious heart gradually calmed down. However, she couldn’t help but grip the edge of her phone tighter and deliberately softened her voice: “It’s me.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Well, I’ve been too busy these days and didn’t get around to checking my phone, so…” She forgot to reply to his text.

As she spoke, she faltered, her lips opening and closing. The rest of the words were stuck because no matter how she put it, her words seemed like useless excuses.

Unexpectedly, Zhou Qishen didn’t blame her. His tone remained as calm as before: “It’s okay, I understand. You’ve been busy these days.”

Jiang Xiao bit her lip. She couldn’t deny that she was moved by his words at this moment. After all, she had ignored his message first. It was already good enough that he could speak kindly to her, let alone turn around to care and comfort her.

The pounding of her heart sounded particularly loud in the quiet room. Jiang Xiao tentatively asked in a low voice, “So… are you still coming?”

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a few seconds. When he spoke again, his clear and slightly apologetic voice came through: “Sorry, I’m at the airport now. I have to go on a business trip to New Zealand for a while. I might not be able to come.”

Upon hearing this news, Jiang Xiao ran her hand through her hair in frustration, feeling even more regretful that she had missed his message. But now she could only accept the situation and continued with the topic, “How many days will you be gone?”

“Probably two weeks.”

Business trips of such length were usually planned well in advance. Jiang Xiao instantly realized that he might only have had today to come see her, but because she hadn’t replied to him promptly yesterday, he had to change his plans and missed the opportunity.

Realizing this, Jiang Xiao couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed. “Oh…”

Seemingly sensing her unhappiness, his breathing quickened slightly, and he said, “Xiaoxiao, I’ll come back as soon as possible.”

His words sounded more and more like the admonition of a husband to his wife before leaving, and also like a promise to make up for the regret of not being able to come this time. Jiang Xiao listened, her thoughts swirling, feeling as though her heartbeat had skipped a beat.

After a moment, she shook her head gently, trying to dismiss the unusual restlessness in her mind.

“It’s okay, work is important. Whenever you can come it is fine.” Finally, she mumbled inexplicably, “It’s okay even if you don’t come.”

With her trailing off, both fell silent, the silence spreading between them.

After a while, he murmured softly, “Do you not need me to come now?”

His tone of grievance caught Jiang Xiao off guard. For a moment, she didn’t react. “What?”

He didn’t answer her question, and the atmosphere once again fell into an eerie silence.

It wasn’t until an airport announcement sounded faintly that Zhou Qishen’s voice came through again, as if in a daze, “Xiaoxiao, don’t forget the clause in the contract that prohibits infidelity in marriage.”

Jiang Xiao keenly sensed the underlying slight anger and warning in his words, becoming even more puzzled. Just as she was about to ask further, the call page on her phone suddenly lit up and returned to the desktop.

He had hung up.

*

At the private waiting lounge of Weixing International Airport, 25 kilometers southwest of downtown Jing City.

Assistant Chen had just finished the necessary procedures and returned to his position. He happened to see Zhou Qishen staring blankly at his phone, looking somewhat puzzled. The boss was usually emotionally stable, decisive, and unstoppable. What in the world could make him so troubled?

As one of the most promising employees at Zhou Group, Chen Lie knew the rules of survival well. He wouldn’t be foolish enough to pry into the boss’s private affairs. Lowering his head respectfully, he approached and said, “Mr. Zhou, you can board now.”

Zhou Qishen remained calm, concealing the surging emotions in his eyes, and resumed his usual clear and cool demeanor, saying calmly, “Have someone remove the top spot on the trending search.”

Chen Lie nodded in understanding, took out his phone, and opened a certain orange-red app. The first hot search read: #Jiang Xiao and Ji Changzheng’s relationship exposed#.

Scrolling further, almost all of them are related to it. He is one of the few people who knows about the boss’s secret marriage with Jiang Xiao. No wonder the boss had been grim-faced since the afternoon. Who wouldn’t be jealous upon seeing rumors of their wife with another man?

“I’ll take care of it immediately.” Chen Lie nodded, realizing that there was more than just one trending topic to handle.

Zhou Qishen’s gaze softened slightly, returning to the screen of his phone, lingering on the chat page with Jiang Xiao.

For each individual green text message on the right, a black time divider will appear in the center. The screen is so long that only five or six messages can be loaded before it reaches the top.

The latest one was from him, sent at around 8:20 PM last night: “Do you have time tomorrow? I’ll come visit.”

No reply.

At that time, she was having dinner with the man who was now trending.

He and Jiang Xiao entered into a marriage of convenience. Personally, he had no right or position to question their relationship. Apart from using the contract to remind her, he couldn’t do anything else.

Pondering this, Zhou Qishen closed his eyes in irritation. His long eyelashes swept down, covering his eyes that resembled deep, tranquil pools. The faint black mole above his left eyelid was fully exposed, giving him a rebellious and sharp appearance, indicating his displeasure.

But the more he tried to calm down, the less successful he was. After a while, he opened his eyes, swiped the screen twice with his index finger, and decisively powered off his phone.

Out of sight, out of mind.

*

Jiang Xiao slumped on the sofa, silently massaging her forehead as she looked at the overwhelming hot search results.

During a gathering of the drama crew, the paparazzi had conveniently captured a photo of her entering the restaurant with Ji Changzheng. This photo was then tagged with a suggestive headline about their alleged romance, effortlessly propelling them to the top of the hot search list.

How did rumors like this start? Just like that.

Taking things out of context, without any responsibility.

At this moment, she also understood the meaning behind Zhou Qishen’s sudden statement about no extramarital affairs within marriage. He must have seen the hot search and misunderstood her relationship with Ji Changzheng, using it as a veiled reminder for a married woman to maintain appropriate boundaries with other men.

As soon as she saw the hot search, she immediately called Zhou Qishen back. However, his flight had probably taken off already, and her calls showed that his phone was switched off. Suddenly, she had no way to clarify things, except editing and sending a couple of messages to explain, which seemed futile.

Feeling full of grievances, Jiang Xiao called Liang Cheng and straightforwardly stated her request: “Sister Liang, ask the company to clarify the rumor between me and Ji Changzheng.”

Liang Cheng, on the other end of the phone, heard this and casually shrugged, “That stuff is obviously fake. What’s there to clarify? It’s best to just ignore this kind of fake news; it’ll die down in a few days, and it’ll add some hype and discussion to the drama.”

Sighing, Jiang Xiao said, “Sister Liang, you know I’m married. It wouldn’t be good if something like this surfaces later.”

Some unscrupulous marketing accounts liked to stir up trouble and post all sorts of things. In the past, Jiang Xiao’s attitude was similar to Liang Cheng’s—unless it involved serious personal attacks or privacy exposure, she would turn a blind eye to such matters.

But now, things are a bit different. Allowing false rumors to spread wouldn’t benefit her in any way in the future.

After a moment of contemplation, Liang Cheng agreed that her concerns were valid and decided to handle the matter as Jiang Xiao suggested. Although she thought so, she couldn’t resist teasing, “Okay, okay, I understand. You’ve got a strict husband to manage.”

Jiang Xiao rolled her eyes without responding, tacitly accepting this statement.

What could she do? Although she and Zhou Qishen had only a marriage certificate and no actual marital relationship, marital obligations still had to be fulfilled. After all, she had gained many benefits from him, and the most basic terms of the contract had to be honored.

Despite her and Ji Changzheng being completely innocent and clear, merely victims of tabloid fabrications, having this hot search constantly hanging over her head was still troublesome. It was crucial to clarify things as soon as possible.

After a while, Liang Cheng’s surprised voice suddenly sounded, “Huh, wait, when was the hot search removed?”

Jiang Xiao was stunned for a moment, then temporarily ended the call and quickly refreshed the hot search page. As Liang Cheng had said, the top spot had indeed been replaced by something else, and all related entries had been completely deleted.

“What’s going on?” Jiang Xiao was bewildered, her mind flashing with three question marks. Her initial reaction was to think Ji Changzheng might have intervened.

Liang Cheng also found it strange but quickly figured it out and chuckled, “Could it be your husband’s doing?”

“…” It’s not impossible.

“Since someone has taken action, I won’t worry about it. I’ll hang up first; I still need to find a new variety show for that stinky kid Jiang Yihuai.” 

Liang Cheng complained to herself and promptly hung up the phone.

Liang Cheng was managing two artists: Jiang Xiao and a new model-turned-actor, Jiang Yihuai. The company planned to develop him in the variety show field first to gain fans and popularity among the general public, laying a solid foundation before transitioning to acting.

Jiang Xiao tossed her phone aside, half of her body slanting into the soft blanket. After a day of filming action scenes, her whole body felt like it had been run over by a car, sore all over.

If she hadn’t stumbled upon the text from Zhou Qishen before falling asleep, she probably would have been playing chess with Zhou Gong in her dreams long ago.

Drowsiness slowly crept over her. Jiang Xiao closed her eyes, intending to ignore everything and just rest. Yet, after only a few seconds, she sat up straight, retrieved her phone from where she had tossed it in the corner, and sat cross-legged, ready to take action.

First, she logged out of her usual account used for browsing and socializing, then logged into her main account. Opening the editing page, she selected a group photo from last night’s dinner gathering from her album. After a moment of thought, she typed a line of text: “Good friends gathering for dinner.”

Finally, she didn’t forget to add two happy emojis and the tag for “The Legend of Zhu Xi”

After pressing the publish button, within a minute, the comments section flooded with messages from fans. Jiang Xiao even recognized several familiar fan names, mostly helping to control the comments and deny the romance rumors.

Sure enough, personally stepping in to clarify the situation was more effective than anything else.

Forcing herself to stay awake a bit longer, she scrolled through the comments section. Seeing things develop as she had expected, Jiang Xiao felt satisfied and turned off the lights, closing her eyes to sleep peacefully.

The next afternoon, she received a reply from Zhou Qishen.

The first message read: “I misunderstood you, I’m sorry.”

Immediately followed by the second message: “Forgive me.”

The third message came with an overwhelmingly apologetic expression, holding a rose and cat emoji.

Jiang Xiao looked at this cute emoji that was completely inconsistent with his image, couldn’t help but cover her lips and laughed out loud. The flight from Beijing to New Zealand would take about twelve hours. It seemed that he had just landed and promptly replied to her message.

Ji Changzheng, sitting beside her, unintentionally caught Jiang Xiao’s bright smile, paused for a moment, and seeing her staring at her phone without turning away, couldn’t help but curiously ask, “Xiaoxiao, what are you looking at? You’re smiling so much.”

Jiang Xiao shook her head. “Nothing, just chatting with someone.”

At this moment, the assistant director reminded them that they were about to start filming. Jiang Xiao quickly replied with a playful emoji and then turned off her phone screen, handing it to her assistant nearby to touch up her makeup.

Ji Changzheng brought up the misunderstanding from last night’s buzz: “Was it you who withdrew the hot search last night?”

After seeing Jiang Xiao’s post last night, he understood that she didn’t want to use the opportunity to promote a relationship rumor. Coincidentally, he wasn’t one to enjoy such publicity either, so he promptly reposted her post, which could be seen as indirectly denying the relationship rumors.

Jiang Xiao could only speculate that Zhou Qishen withdrew the trending topic and didn’t know who actually did it. However, she couldn’t bring herself to mention Zhou Qishen to Ji Changzheng, so she just vaguely responded with an “mm.”

“Thinking about it, it’s actually quite funny. Just having a meal could stir up a scandal.” Ji Changzheng now found it absurd to think back on it. With so many people coming and going for meals, they managed to single him and Jiang Xiao out for news. Paparazzi really have skills.

“Who says it isn’t?”

Jiang Xiao tightly pursed her lips. As the powder flew over her face, her words came out a bit unclear.

Not sure if it was because the makeup artist’s technique was a bit rough, Jiang Xiao’s eyes and nose twitched from time to time, her red lips forming a curved line, her cheeks bulging, looking chubby and adorable.

Seeing this, Ji Changzheng silently chuckled, his lips curving into a faint arc. Unable to resist, he reached out and gently tucked a stray strand of hair behind her thin shoulders.

Jiang Xiao was completely unaware of Ji Changzheng’s small gesture. Her full attention was on her face. Her nose was particularly sensitive. If the makeup artist continued with this technique, she felt she would sneeze soon.

After a while, she whispered to the makeup artist, “Could you please go a little easier? I feel like the powder is getting into my nose.”

Upon hearing this, the makeup artist immediately stopped, “Okay, all done.”

Finally freed, Jiang Xiao wanted to scratch her itchy nose, but she was afraid to mess up the makeup artist’s hard work by rubbing it. She could only endure it and use her hand to fan herself, debating whether it was worth it. This method did indeed have some effect.

So she increased her strength, trying to make the wind more intense.

Ji Changzheng was amused again by her flustered attempts to distract herself with her hands. Kindly using the script in his hand to fan her, helping her alleviate the itching.

“Thank you,” Jiang Xiao smiled and thanked him.

Ji Changzheng glanced down at her, his voice gentle, “It’s nothing.”

The shooting was going well, and before we knew it, another day had passed. It was almost July in Hengdian, which could be said to be the hottest season.

The temperature continued to rise, and basically everyone went out with umbrellas and small fans. However, facing such weather, Jiang Xiao occasionally felt cold all over, shivering one after another, making her suspect if she had caught a cold.

During a break on set, Jiang Xiao returned to her trailer and lay down for a while. Estimating the time, she reapplied sunscreen, topped with layers of thick headgear and ancient costumes, and bent over to walk out of the car door.

The sunlight coming towards her made it difficult for her to open her eyes for a while. The discomfort surged again. Fortunately, assistant Xiao Zhang immediately blocked the umbrella above her head, which made her feel much better.

“Sister Xiao, are you okay?” Xiao Zhang couldn’t help but worry. In the past few days, Jiang Xiao’s physical condition had visibly worsened, and her spirit didn’t seem as good as when she first joined the crew.

Jiang Xiao stood still for a while, attributing it to long periods of sitting and dizziness caused by the sun, not paying too much attention to it. She waved her hand to indicate that she was fine and hurriedly went to the shooting location.

However, two days passed, and her physical condition still didn’t improve. There were even faint signs of a fever. After several persuasions and accompaniments from Xiao Zhang, Jiang Xiao could only ask for leave from the director and took the opportunity to visit a clinic near the hotel.

After a basic check-up, the doctor said there was nothing wrong with her body, just a bit of low blood sugar due to overwork. He advised her to go back and rest well. If her condition worsened, she should come back for a re-examination.

Hearing this answer, Jiang Xiao breathed a sigh of relief. Because she didn’t want to trouble others, she politely declined Xiao Zhang’s offer to stay and take care of her. She planned to go back and have a good sleep, maybe she would feel better the next day.

Back in her hotel room, Jiang Xiao reached out and touched her feverish forehead. She instinctively felt that this temperature was unusual, but when she measured her temperature at the hospital, everything showed normal, leaving her puzzled.

After a simple wipe of her body and changing into a nightgown, Jiang Xiao planned to drink some water and go to bed.

As she walked to the low table, preparing to bend down to pour hot water, suddenly everything in front of her plunged into darkness. Her body moved uncontrollably forward, accidentally knocking over the handbag on the table, tissues, lipstick, makeup mirror, charging cable… scattered all over the floor.

Crash!

The harsh sound awakened Jiang Xiao’s consciousness. In the split second before falling, she managed to grab the edge of the table and stabilize her body, maintaining this bizarre posture for a while before finally recovering her clarity.

As her awareness returned, Jiang Xiao covered her chest with some fear, struggling against the discomfort in her body. Squatting down among the scattered items, she found her phone. In her current state, she didn’t know when she might faint, so she had to find someone to accompany her.

However, just as she was about to dial Xiao Zhang’s phone and ask her to come to her room, the system that hadn’t appeared in a long time suddenly popped up.

[System 003: This is a side effect caused by you not fulfilling the system’s tasks, no need to panic too much.]

Jiang Xiao froze with her action of unlocking her phone, almost bursting into tears of anger. 

“Side effects? What side effect? If there’s a side effect, why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

[System 003 (looking helpless): Well, the thing is, you didn’t ask, Little Mistress.]

Jiang Xiao was speechless. She couldn’t believe this system, always making her ask just to get an answer. Isn’t it basic to inform the Awakeners about the conditions and restrictions for completing tasks? How else was she supposed to know?

[System 003: It’s true that sponging enough traffic can help you avoid a fatal fate, but on the flip side, if the traffic you sponge isn’t enough, the energy in your body will weaken, your health will deteriorate, until you’re on the brink of death.]

[System 003: Though you won’t die immediately, if you stay away from the villain for too long and your energy completely dissipates, there’s a chance the system will automatically judge it as abandoning the task, and then, Little Mistress, you’ll be done for.]

So that “but” the system didn’t finish saying at the police station that day actually meant this. Jiang Xiao had read many novels about systems, and she dared to say hers was probably the most useless one among them all. It only cared about her pathetic life every day.

How long had it been since she and Zhou Qishen parted ways? A little over twenty days? Not even a month had passed, and her energy was already insufficient?

But what use was it to just complain? It would be better to think of a way to solve the current dilemma. Jiang Xiao decided to go to the hospital first. If she became critically ill before Zhou Qishen returned to the country, at least the doctors could try to save her.

[System 003 (confused, scratching its head): Go to the hospital? Isn’t the priority to go to the villain’s side?]

Jiang Xiao: It’s not that I don’t want to go. It’s that he’s far away in New Zealand. How am I supposed to go? Fly over there?

She remembered Zhou Qishen saying his business trip would last about two weeks. Counting from that day, it had already been a week and a half. With a little push, maybe she could even force him to come back a day or two earlier.

Thinking of this, Jiang Xiao immediately sent a message to Zhou Qishen: When are you coming back from New Zealand?

Fearful that her urging wasn’t strong enough, she gritted her teeth and added a cheesy line: I want to see you, really really want to see you.

[System 003 (even more confused): Wait, isn’t the villain right there…]

But before the system could finish its sentence, an urgent doorbell interrupted.

Jiang Xiao also saw the reply from Zhou Qishen on her phone: Open the door.