Chu Yao and Shan Wei were practically the last to leave. Behind them was only Mi Feifei, who had stayed to chat for a bit with Director Gu's people.
Chu Yao's expression was grave, and Shan Wei's wasn't much better. Her years of intuition told her this was probably a lost cause.
They both put on their sunglasses and walked to the entrance. The crowd had mostly dispersed. Besides their nanny van, a black Bentley was also parked at the curb.
Chu Yao and Shan Wei got into the van. Before the door could even close, Chu Yao's gaze shifted and suddenly froze.
The back window of the black Bentley was halfway down, revealing a face in profile: wisps of short hair across the forehead, a high-bridged nose, and lightly pressed lips. His eyes were gently closed, exuding an air of relaxed elegance.
Compared to her memory, the face had lost some of its youthful roundness and gained more defined angles. It had shed its immaturity for a touch of refinement.
But no matter how it had changed, it was still the face etched deep in her heart.
'Lu Xize!'
'He… he's back?'
'And why is he here?'
The thought had barely crossed her mind when the answer appeared.
In the van's rearview mirror, Chu Yao clearly saw a driver open the Bentley's door, and a woman in white sat down inside with a charming smile.
"I didn't expect Mi Feifei to show up. As far as I know, she's already accepted a role in Director Li's Qing dynasty drama, and Mi Feifei never juggles projects. Why would she come here?"
"If it's her, Yaoyao, then this time..."
Shan Wei's brow was furrowed as she muttered, only to realize the person beside her had a vacant stare, as if she hadn't heard a word.
"Yaoyao?"
Shan Wei tapped her shoulder in annoyance. Chu Yao snapped back to reality, her expression grim. Seeing her look, Shan Wei assumed she was just upset about Mi Feifei and sighed. "Yaoyao, I didn't see this coming. But no matter what, we should still give it a shot. At worst, we'll just chalk it up as experience."
Shan Wei tried to comfort her in the gentlest tone possible. It was unclear if Chu Yao heard her; she just nodded, her face pale, and then said, "Sister Wei, I'm not feeling well. I want to go back and rest a bit."
Shan Wei opened her mouth, but in the end, she said nothing and just nodded.
Chu Yao returned to her apartment. Shan Wei didn't follow her up. She sat alone on the sofa, in front of the nutritious lunch Shan Wei had ordered for her.
Chu Yao didn't move. That profile still lingered in her mind.
'Lu Xize, Lu Xize!'
'He's really back.'
'Why did he have to come back now?'
There was a time she had desperately wanted to see him, but she couldn't. Now, when she desperately wished he had no idea she even existed, he just had to return.
Chu Yao buried her face in her hands.
Shan Wei had asked her more than once: if she wanted to be a star, why didn't she fight and compete for roles? And if she wasn't going to fight or compete, why be a star at all?
Every time, Chu Yao had just joked her way out of the conversation. It wasn't that she couldn't tell her the reasons; she just didn't want to.
Why did she want to be a star?
Because someone once told her to never appear before him again.
A fourteen-year-old Chu Yao, a golden child used to getting her way, would never be so obedient.
'He doesn't want me to appear before him? He doesn't want to see me?'
'Fine, then. I'll become a star. I'll plaster my ads on every street and alley and fill every TV and movie screen with my work.'
'I'll appear in the public eye in the most high-profile way possible, appear right before his eyes, and make it impossible for him to avoid me.'
So, she gave up on the national college entrance exams, choosing to take the art school entrance exams instead. At a young age, she became a student at the Film Academy.