◎Engage in a Deep Exchange◎
Su Yicen leaned in too close, and Song Chan had nowhere left to retreat.
Her back pressed tightly against the room door, the thin silk nightgown unable to block the door’s hard chill.
Song Chan looked up and met those pitch-black pupils. He lowered his head, his warm breath carrying the faint scent of elegant perfume as it sprayed onto her body.
He seemed to really like seeing her nervous like this.
Song Chan turned her head away. “Pre-interview is pre-interview. Why are you getting so close?”
Su Yicen lowered his eyelids. His palm brushed casually past Song Chan’s waist before landing on the door handle.
That instant of contact felt like an electric current surging through her body, making her tense up.
The closed room door opened, and Su Yicen smiled faintly.
“Miss Song closed the door without preparing anything. How are we supposed to do the pre-interview?”
“Or does Miss Song have no intention of doing it at all?”
“But wants to use work as an excuse for a deep exchange with me.”
He enunciated each sentence heavily, every word laden with meaning.
Hearing him say that, Song Chan’s cheeks flushed slightly red. She shyly lowered her head, wishing she could slip through the door crack.
Having pretty much figured out her temperament and seeing she was about to get annoyed, Su Yicen took a step back, creating an appropriate distance.
In a mild tone, he asked, “Miss Song, are we doing the pre-interview tonight? Or should we wait until you return from your business trip?”
Song Chan’s heart, which had nearly jumped into her throat, calmed now that some distance existed between them.
Having worked at ZE Fashion for five years, no one understood Lin Jinhe’s impatience better than Song Chan. If she couldn’t deliver tomorrow’s assigned task, she would definitely face a stern lesson.
Song Chan pulled open the room door and stepped out, tossing behind a sentence.
“Then I’ll trouble Mr. Su to wait for me in the living room. I’ll prepare the pre-interview in a moment.”
Su Yicen nodded, showing no trace of a top idol’s airs. He just said meaningfully,
“Since Miss Song prefers doing it in the living room, I’m naturally happy to oblige.”
Hearing that, Song Chan’s stepping foot halted. She clenched her fist and hadn’t even turned around to vent her anger yet.
Then she heard the man behind her slowly add,
“Doing… the pre… interview…”
Song Chan went back to her room to grab the pre-interview equipment. Su Yicen unhurriedly ground a cup of coffee and squeezed a cup of orange juice.
A voice recorder, laptop, and a thick stack of materials.
Song Chan came over hugging a full armful.
Su Yicen pushed a cup toward her.
“Orange juice, freshly squeezed.”
“I drink coffee.”
Su Yicen didn’t budge. “Does Miss Song want the one I drank from?”
“Or do you plan to stay up all night with me reading the script and skip your business trip tomorrow?”
That made sense—orange juice was indeed more suitable. Song Chan ignored him and cut straight to the topic.
“Mr. Su, let’s start the pre-interview then.”
He agreed. “Whatever Miss Song says.”
The pre-interview was just a teaser for the electronic edition and might not make it into the formally published issue.
Song Chan had selected a few questions that fit ZE Fashion’s 20th Anniversary Issue theme as the pre-interview focus.
She turned on the voice recorder and placed it on the table. Once the blue recording light lit up, even though she was in her nightgown at home, she and Su Yicen quickly shifted into work mode.
Song Chan: “Everyone knows Mr. Su often attends fashion shows. How do you define your own fashion style?”
Su Yicen listened to her question seriously, pondered for a moment, and then answered earnestly.
“I think fashion shouldn’t be defined. In different periods and moods, I make different choices, so I never stick to one style.”
Her fingers flew across the keyboard as Song Chan recorded his previous answer and continued asking.
“Then what do you think the current trend is? Do you follow it?”
His dark eyes calmly fixed on Song Chan with a smile as he said confidently and calmly,
“I never follow trends. Everyone’s sense of aesthetics is different. Being casual, free, and unbound by any person or thing—that’s the real trend.”
Song Chan nodded. She strongly agreed with Su Yicen’s view.
Now fully in work mode, her tense emotions relaxed, and she continued inquiring.
“Among the fan messages we’ve received, fans are very concerned about what style of film or TV project you’ll take on next, and what your artistic dreams are?”
At that, Su Yicen bit his lower lip, his thick brows furrowing slightly.
“I’m currently looking at a script related to fashion, and I’m quite interested. It just so happens that I’m collaborating with ZE Fashion’s 20th Anniversary Issue, which has given me a better understanding of the fashion world. I’ll probably focus in that direction going forward.”
“As for my artistic dreams, I haven’t thought that far ahead. When I do, I’ll answer this question then.”
His speech was slow and steady, matching Song Chan’s typing speed. He answered every question seriously and expressed his ideas perfectly.
Among all the artists she’d worked with, Song Chan had to admit he was the most considerate and low-maintenance.
Nearly half an hour passed, and the pre-interview ended.
This was probably the most they’d talked—and the most pleasant and natural conversation—in the past six months.
“Mr. Su, the pre-interview is over. Thank you for your cooperation.”
In a great mood, Song Chan offered a formal thanks before diving back into work to refine the interview content.
A long while later.
Song Chan reviewed the draft one last time to confirm it was error-free. As her work focus relaxed, she suddenly sensed a scorching gaze from beside her, fixed on her.
Looking up, their eyes met. Su Yicen still sat properly, a thick script in hand. He hadn’t budged from his spot.
Song Chan hadn’t even noticed that Su Yicen had stayed by her side the whole time.
She leaned back and closed her laptop with a raised hand.
“Mr. Su, aren’t you going back to your room to rest?”
His page-turning fingertip paused slightly. Su Yicen arched a thick brow lightly and said leisurely, “No rush.”
Their pleasant collaboration had closed some distance, but Song Chan still maintained proper boundaries.
“Then carry on. I’m heading back to my room.”
She stood up, and the man beside her did the same.
Song Chan’s steps faltered. “What are you doing?”
“Going back to my room to rest.” Su Yicen looked at her, a dangerous glint flashing in his eyes. “Does Miss Song want to join me?”
A flush spread across her face. Song Chan averted her gaze and hurried back to her bedroom, hugging her laptop.
The breeze from her nightgown hem curling up carried her scent as it brushed lightly past Su Yicen.
His gaze swirled as he watched Song Chan’s retreating figure close the door. He couldn’t help but chuckle to himself.
“Scared her off again.”
—
The sky hadn’t brightened yet when Song Chan dragged her luggage out of Hermitage Splendor Residence.
She’d deliberately taken the earliest high-speed train, arriving in Hangnan right at the brand’s working hours.
This light luxury brand was backed by ZE headquarters. Word was that with ZE Fashion personnel coming to inspect for next season’s collaboration project, the vice president had personally come to accompany them.
Progress went much faster than expected. By afternoon, Song Chan was free and returned to her hotel.
Business trips were like that—frantic when busy, utterly idle when not.
After reporting her work progress, Song Chan lay on the hotel’s soft king bed, not wanting to move an inch.
She scrolled Weibo on her phone for a bit. Seeing that the hot search tags related to “Chanyi Mianmian” had mostly disappeared, she finally relaxed.
But with just one refresh, Song Chan watched as #Chanyi Mianmian# shot back up to the front of the hot search list.
It was a post from a marketing account half an hour ago. The traffic had just surged, propelling it into the top ten.
The account’s avatar had changed to a screenshot from yesterday’s live stream with Su Yicen. It was clearly the two of them looking back from different angles, but it had been photoshopped into a deep, affectionate gaze.
@CP Gathering Place: Shocking! Suspected “Chanyi Mianmian” spotted touring Hangnan together.
Just that short line, paired with two screenshots of Weibo pages. In half an hour, it had racked up over 100,000 likes and retweets.
Song Chan tapped the image. The first was a screenshot of her Weibo homepage, with a red circle highlighting that her IP location showed Hangnan.
That was her work Weibo account. It had fewer than 20,000 followers before, but after her name hung on the hot search all day yesterday, fans had exploded to over 3.5 million.
Her heart skipped a beat. Before even seeing the second image, Song Chan had a rough guess.
Had Su Yicen come to Hangnan too?
The thought made her heart race erratically.
Her thumb swiped the screen. The next image was a screenshot of Su Yicen’s Weibo page.
Song Chan spotted it at once. The tourist photo he’d posted was from Hangnan’s most famous mountaintop spot, Cloud Sea Immortal Realm.
This time, the #Chanyi Mianmian# tag rocketed straight to number one on the hot search. Inside were nothing but screams from CP fans.
Greedy Mouth’s Greedy: 【I told you, Chanyi Mianmian is definitely real!】
Greedy Greedy and Cen Cen: 【So these two went on vacation right after the live stream? [sneaky laugh.jpg]】
Song Chan couldn’t stomach reading more than a couple. The misunderstanding had only grown bigger. Their already hard-to-explain relationship was now even murkier.
She opened WeChat. Her chat with Su Yicen had been buried at the bottom by various contacts.
Her fingertip tapped the screen, and Song Chan asked directly.
Song Chan: 【Why are you here too?】
Su Yicen was probably busy and didn’t reply right away like before.
But he didn’t keep her waiting long. Soon, the WeChat notification chimed.
Su Yicen: 【Business trip.】
Song Chan: 【You didn’t mention last night that you were coming to Hangnan on a business trip too.】
The more she thought about it, the more suspicious it felt. Just as she was about to press further, two new messages popped up in the chat.
Su Yicen: 【Miss Song, don’t be so controlling.】
Su Yicen: 【Why can you go on a business trip, but I can’t?】