Chapter 3

Chapter 3

When Xie Xingyun returned, I was sitting on the sofa, leisurely sipping tea.

Song Zhongtong stood awkwardly and aggrievedly beside the sofa opposite me. She did not sit down. Her face was pale, and the rims of her eyes were red, making her look as though I had bullied her.

Xie Xingyun was carrying a bag of things in his hand. He froze for a moment when he saw me, while Song Zhongtong immediately called out to him in a pitiful voice, as if she had just found her protector, “Brother Xie.”

Xie Xingyun ignored her, acting cold toward her. He only asked me, “Jinhe, what brings you here?”

I glanced at him. Although he had ignored Song Zhongtong and was speaking only to me, he was standing beside her. I knew him too well not to recognize that he had taken up a subtle, protective stance.

Without showing anything on my face, I set my teacup on the table, took out my phone, and pulled up the video the media had sent me. I handed it to him.

He took the phone and only glanced at the video before quickly explaining, “This is a misunderstanding. She’s my sister, Song Zhongtong.”

At those words, Song Zhongtong looked at him, her eyes growing even redder. She looked as though she might collapse at any moment.

I smiled and asked, “Your biological sister?”

He paused before explaining, “She’s my neighbor’s daughter. We haven’t seen each other in a long time. Something happened to her family, so she came to me for help.”

I had already investigated Song Zhongtong thoroughly on my way here. After Xie Xingyun dropped out of school back then, she was completely unaffected. She took the college entrance examination as usual, got into a mediocre university, and after graduating, found a perfectly ordinary job as a clerical worker.

I knew that she had contacted Xie Xingyun during his first year after entering the entertainment industry. Back when he had been expelled from school because of the trouble involving her, she had not even gone to see him off.

I did not know what Xie Xingyun was thinking, but he had not replied to her messages.

This time, she had come looking for Xie Xingyun because her father had fallen for a pyramid scheme. Not only had he lost a large sum of money himself, he had also dragged all his relatives and friends into it, leaving them with nothing.

Her father had run away, and Song Zhongtong could no longer stay in her hometown. So she had come to Xie Xingyun as a last resort.

Judging by the situation now, she had probably made the right gamble.

Xie Xingyun resented her for abandoning him when she had crossed the river and for her cold indifference back then, but in the end, he still could not bring himself to leave her to fend for herself.

Perhaps the person who was your moonlight in your youth was always special.

That was true for me, and it was true for Xie Xingyun as well.

I nodded and got straight to the point. “What are you planning to do? Let her stay here?”

Xie Xingyun glanced at Song Zhongtong and frowned slightly, as though considering the matter.

The sight made my chest tighten. I stood up and made the decision for him without hesitation. “I’ve already helped you deal with one public-relations crisis. She can’t stay here. It’s too dangerous.”

“I’ll have my assistant rent a place for her soon and help her get settled.” After a pause, I looked him in the eye and continued, “Xie Xingyun, I hope you won’t get involved in anything concerning her again.”

“I’m not saying this only as your manager. I’m also saying it to you as your girlfriend.”

Only then did Song Zhongtong timidly speak up. She was quite good at making herself seem vulnerable. She was not particularly pretty, but her delicate, yielding manner easily inspired pity. She said, “Sister, you’ve misunderstood. There isn’t anything between me and… me and Brother Xie. I was starving when I arrived, so Brother Xie took me out for hot pot. The smell clung to my clothes, so I took a shower.”

“But I ran away and didn’t bring anything with me, so I could only wear Brother Xie’s clothes.”

After speaking, she opened the bag of things Xie Xingyun had just gone out to buy and showed me its contents. It looked as though she were explaining herself as she said, “See? Brother Xie went out to buy clothes for me. I’ll change and leave with you. Don’t worry, I absolutely won’t cause Brother Xie any trouble.”

When she finished, she picked up the clothes and walked toward Xie Xingyun’s bedroom with practiced familiarity, apparently going to change.

I had seen everything there was to see in the entertainment industry. She was being so blatantly performative that I could hardly miss it, but her tactics were too low-level to be worth my attention, so I simply stood there and waited for her to come out.

Xie Xingyun stood across from me and offered an explanation. “Jinhe, I wasn’t deliberately hiding this from you. I just didn’t think it was necessary.”

“There’s nothing between us. Don’t overthink it.”

I raised my head to look at him. Even then, I was still smiling. After spending so long in the entertainment industry, I had learned long ago to shut out all my emotions. My smile was gentle, but my words were anything but polite.

“Xie Xingyun, you could have sent her to a hotel or given her some money. You didn’t have to bring her to your private residence, let her shower and wear your clothes, and then let her flaunt all of that in front of me.”

“This is the first time, so I’ll forgive you.”

“I hope you’ll keep your distance and know where to draw the line.”

As soon as I finished speaking, Song Zhongtong came out of the bedroom.

She froze for a moment when she saw the tense scene between us. Then I saw the corners of her lips twitch upward, almost as if she could not control them.

But in the next instant, she composed herself and walked over with her eyes lowered, speaking softly. “Sister, I’m ready. Let’s go.”

I turned to pick up my car keys. When I reached the door, I turned back as though I had just remembered something and said to Xie Xingyun, “Oh, right. I won’t be coming here again. You know how particular I am about cleanliness. Please throw away everything of mine that I’ve left here.”