Starlight Descends - 32
Wind Gap
The mechanical hum slowly came to a stop as the elevator doors slid open.
Having just finished dubbing for the day, Qi Yao stepped out behind Lizi, holding her script and thermos cup.
Repeatedly immersing herself in emotional scenes had been draining. Her throat felt dry and raw.
"Don't follow anymore. Go home and have dinner early.”
Qi Yao waved goodbye to the fans who had come to see her off after work, climbed into the van, then suddenly spotted something and leaned back out again.
“Ah, I've got some strawberry gummies here. Here you go.”
A chorus of delighted squeals erupted. Qi Yao smiled too. “I’m leaving, bye bye!”
The staff shut the van door, and the car slowly pulled away.
Only once the scenery outside had become a blur of scenery, no more waving fans in sight, did Qi Yao finally seem to lose strength, collapsing back against the seat.
The moment she relaxed, every ache surfaced at once. Her shoulders and neck throbbed, her limbs felt heavy, exhaustion dragging at every nerve.
Qi Yao unlocked her phone and glanced at it.
Yu Jiashu had sent her a WeChat message.
[S]: When are you coming back?
Qi Yao paused for two seconds. She had no idea what he wanted, but still answered honestly.
“I’m on the way, probably home in an hour.”
No reply came after that.
She was too tired, so tired she didn't even have the strength to scroll through her phone. Qi Yao set the phone down on the center console, accepted the blanket Lizi handed her, and leaned against the window, closing her eyes to doze.
“Wake me when we get there.”
Lizi quietly answered yes.
The autumn equinox had long passed. Days grew shorter, nights longer.
Just past six o’clock, the sky was already dim and heavy. The vehicle drifted through the dusk, the road uneven and noisy beneath them.
Her dreams came in drifting fragments, broken and chaotic.
One moment she dreamed of being strung up and flogged by Gu Heng’s fans. The next, Gu Heng himself stood anxiously outside her door looking for her.
Even the person who had just texted her made an appearance.
He stood at the door, expression unreadable, his features cool and composed, looking thoroughly impatient as he lifted a hand and beat Gu Heng up.
...What a mess of nonsense.
None of it was anything good.
Restless dreams did not help people rest. They only deepened the exhaustion, pulling even her mind dazed and muddled.
Like sinking into a deep pool. A sudden plunging sensation jolted through her.
Qi Yao woke with a start, eyes snapping open, heart still pounding violently.
Sensing movement in the backseat, Lizi immediately panicked, she hurriedly put her phone away and fixed her eyes straight ahead.
Qi Yao took a moment to recover.
The car was silent. The person in the passenger seat sat stiffly upright, pretending nothing was wrong.
Her gaze swept across the front console.
The phone she had left there was gone.
Qi Yao sighed and gathered a corner of the soft blanket in her hand.
Kids really couldn’t hide their thoughts. Their tells were too obvious.
“What happened?” she asked quietly.
“N-Nothing.” Lizi stared straight ahead, stammering.
Qi Yao slowly folded the pale blue blanket. Her slender white fingers smoothed over its soft surface, then set it aside.
“If you don’t tell me, I’ll look myself.”
“…Qiao Nian-jie said you’re not allowed to look at your phone.” Lizi clutched the phone stubbornly, clearly unwilling to hand it over.
“What difference would that make?”
Qi Yao could already guess it was bad news. Qi Yao reached out, her fingers flicking lightly twice.
“If I don’t look, will the situation magically improve?”
“Will people stop cursing at me?”
She had just woken up. Her voice was hoarse, the ending tone faintly rising, gentle and patient despite how uncomfortable her throat felt. Even now, she was still coaxing her softly.
Lizi fell silent for a long while.
Then, meeting those calm eyes, she pressed her lips together and reluctantly handed over the phone.
From the moment Gu Heng was photographed until now, only a day or two had passed, yet public opinion had already completely flipped.
That was the entertainment industry.
When the tree fell, the monkeys scattered.
Qi Yao was logged into her private account, yet notifications still flooded endlessly across the screen. Comments and private messages arrived nonstop. If her private account was already like this, one could imagine the state of her main account.
Qi Yao's expression remained blank. She tapped into the search bar.
The top trending topic was now:
#GuHengCheating#
Her heart gave a faint, sharp jump.
She paused for a long moment, pressed her lips together, and clicked in.
The top trending post came from a user named “XiaoLiNeverSleeps”
A lengthy article accompanied by nine long screenshots began with the words:
“Hello everyone, I am Gu Heng’s girlfriend of seven years.”
The opening alone was enough to hook readers.
The post started with their love story. How they had been deskmates in high school. How they promised to attend the same university. How they once walked hand in hand after countless evening study sessions, deeply in love.
Until Gu Heng entered the entertainment industry, and she followed him as his assistant. That was when things began to change.
“In the past, I was sensitive and insecure. I would often ask him if people all change. He held my hand with absolute certainty and said maybe others would, but he wouldn't."
“Now I know even that sentence was a lie.”
“Five years ago, I had my own life and my own stable job. It was he who said he was constantly on the move, drifting from set to set, with no one to rely on, no one to take care of him, and wanted me by his side. So I quit my stable job and followed him from production to production."
"But in the end, I was the one who got cast aside."
"To let him walk this path, I could endure. I could act like a transparent person beside him. I could pretend in front of everyone that we were merely working partners. But I cannot accept my concessions becoming the reason he can indulge himself without restraint outside.”
"I also cannot tolerate a certain female celebrity, fully aware of our relationship, still choosing to get involved with him."
"Staying out all night, lying to me that it's for work. Ignoring my messages because he was ‘too busy.’ Wanting me to return to work yet unable to provide any reasonable excude. It's simply too laughable.”
"Gu Heng, you are a man. Even if you had told me outright, 'I don't like you anymore. I want to break up,’ I could have accepted it gracefully. I would still have wished you well the next time I saw you on television.”
“But you didn’t.”
“You’re a coward. You want romantic adventures, yet you also want an unpaid assistant who cares for you in every possible way. How could there possibly be such a good deal in this world?”
“Replying to my messages and answering my calls while lying in someone else’s bed, then making up ridiculous excuses to fool me. Do you and that certain female star with a two-character name truly feel no guilt at all?"
"If I hadn't seen the news expose, I might have remained deceived forever. In your eyes, are ordinary people not human? Can ordinary people simply be discarded at will?”
…
The further she read, the heavier her heart became.
Qi Yao scrolled all the way to the bottom.
The screenshots ranged from their high school photos together, to hand-holding pictures from university, to chat logs of Gu Heng saying he would not return because of work, call records showing countless unanswered calls.
The evidence was overwhelming.
Qi Yao lowered her eyes. For a moment, she didn't know what to say.
Objectively speaking, the article was extremely well written. First-person narration, clear structure, emotionally immersive.
Those strings of rhetorical questions at the end made readers almost instinctively empathize with her heartbreak and disappointment.
Aside from certain deliberately suggestive phrases that clearly intended to deflect blame, it was practically a perfect piece.
And the attention it gained reflected that.
Qi Yao casually glanced at the statistics. Hundreds of thousands of reposts. Number one trending post. Over three hundred thousand comments. The blogger even selectively replied to some comments while pointedly ignoring certain questions.
[Holy fuck, really couldn't tell he was this kind of person. Dresses up all clean-cut, claiming in every interview he's single, building that perfect boyfriend persona while happily hyping CPs, doesn’t his conscience hurt?]
@XiaoLiNeverSleeps replied: You never truly know a person.
[This blogger’s also ridiculous. Why quit your own job for a man? Modern women seriously need to stand up for themselves.]
@XiaoLiNeverSleeps replied: You’re right. I regret it now too, and wanted to use this to tell everyone: you must always put yourself first.
[Am I the only one focused on who the “two-character actress” is…? Is it the one who just issued a statement yesterday saying there was nothing going on?]
This comment had been pushed to the second hottest reply through sheer likes and responses.
And yet the blogger never answered it.
The silence was glaring.
It invited speculation.
[No wonder she rushed to deny the CP rumors instead of taking the popularity boost… turns out she had a guilty conscience.]
[Lmao, what innocent pure-girl image? She’s obviously a home wrecker who knew exactly what she was doing.]
[I always thought she looked fake and manipulative anyway. The type that plays innocent but is all green tea underneath.]
[??? Which part of this post did you read that said it was Yao-mei???]
[Don’t spread rumors! You’re convicting an innocent actress based on pure speculation?! Without evidence, we don't believe it! Yaomei is busy working, stop dragging her into this!]
[@XiaoLiNeverSleeps Can the blogger clarify already??? Who exactly is it?? This is important to us!]
[Starting a rumor takes just one mouth. This person says the female star knew, and you just believe it? The woman might not have known she was the other woman, but this man definitely knew he was cheating. Shouldn't the man be the one getting the most heat!?]
[Where are the QiGu fans now? Yesterday when the woman's side issued a statement, weren't you still in denial? Why aren't you dancing now? Oh right, they tucked their tails and ran away.]
Qi Yao stopped scrolling and switched back.
Looking at the trending page again, #GuHengCheating# still dominated the headlines.
Only now, the second trending topic was her own name.
#GuHengCheating# and #QiYao# sat side by side. Just looking at it was irritating.
Lizi sat beside her pale-faced and terrified, nervously watching Qi Yao scroll through her phone.
Back at the company, Qiao Nian was even worse off.
The management team had immediately rushed back to the office for emergency meetings. Calls were being made and received without end.
“She’s smart. Posting this now guarantees maximum traffic, there’s no doubt we’ll be caught in the crossfire. Her vagueness and refusal to clarify are fatal for us.”
“Right now the entire internet thinks Qi Yao is the other woman! If we don’t clear this up, that stain will follow her forever!”
A rumor is easy to start, a thousand times harder to quash.
Qiao Nian was on the verge of losing her mind. Qiu Lang’s expression had darkened completely.
“Clean up all the negative keyword tags! Now!"
“Contact Gu Heng’s side immediately! Release the schedule comparison charts from that day. Buy marketing accounts to suppress the topic. Contact the blogger directly!”
The car gradually slowed as the automatic gate lifted and they entered the parking garage.
A suffocating frustration lodged itself in Qi Yao’s chest, to the point where she almost wanted to laugh.
She glanced through the public discussions again.
Many people had already connected the scandal to her. Polite ones merely asked for clarification in the comments. More aggressive netizens skipped straight to insults.
As the situation spiraled, her Weibo comments and private messages filled with abuse.
Words like “mistress” and “slut” appeared constantly, alongside insults directed at her entire family.
[Lmao, yesterday everyone praised you for being sober-minded and career-focused. Turns out you were just trying to avoid suspicion. Disgusting.]
[Can you just NOT be the other woman? Are there no other men left in the world?]
[Shameless. Is it fun knowingly being the third party??? Did your parents raise you just so you could become a whore?]
Ye Qingman had just finished filming and immediately called her, unleashing a furious tirade the second the call connected.
“Is that woman insane? She doesn't know who her boyfriend cheated with? What the hell is she playing at with all this vague insinuations?”
“And you were even sympathizing with her yesterday! She clearly doesn’t care. She just has to throw mud on you. Is that last scrap of clout really worth that much to her?"
Qi Yao said nothing.
Once the car stopped, she bent slightly and stepped out, taking a deep breath before quietly saying, “Enough.”
"Fucking hell, who the hell was that man actually seeing?! I swear I'll dig her up!"
Qi Yao pressed her lips together, about to answer, when she turned her head and noticed a flash of light in the distance.
The underground garage was quiet at this hour, few people around. Their parking spot was relatively tucked away in the back. The camera shutter and flash were painfully obvious.
“What are you doing?!” Lizi spotted it too and rushed over instantly. “What do you think you're doing?!"
Xiao Wang leapt out of the driver’s seat and sprinted over, pinning down one man carrying a camera who tried to run. Lizi clung tightly to another man’s arm, refusing to let him leave while shouting for security.
The man wore a mask and cap. Angling the camera around toward them, he barked, “What are YOU doing? I’m filming here! I’m just a law-abiding citizen passing by taking a few pictures, what’s wrong with that?”
“The hell you are!” Xiao Wang snarled, pinning him harder, veins bulging along his neck. “You fucking paparazzi, don’t think I don’t know!”
"Hey, who the hell are you, man?” The man’s exposed face reddened as he pointed the camera toward Qi Yao and shouted stubbornly, “People, come look! Celebrities bullying civilians…”
Lizi was so furious she could barely breathe. She was desperate to claw at him. “What nonsense are you spouting?!”
"What's going on here, what's going on!" The security guard was running over from a distance. "What's the situation? Who are you people?"
The man’s expression changed instantly.
This complex had strict security. He had only managed to sneak in by blending into a large group entering earlier. In serious terms, it was trespassing on private property. If he got caught, he could be sent to the police station.
"If I get taken in, that clip I just took will get released."
The man's visible eyes were narrow and slit-like. He fixed them on Qi Yao.
“A female celebrity throwing her weight around, smashing a passerby's camera. Not exactly good press, is it?"
“Better to let things slide than stir up more trouble, don’t you think?”
Qi Yao stared at him without expression.
Her peach blossom eyes held no curve. Her irises were a deep brown. Beneath the brim of her cap, the dim lighting obscured her emotions completely.
The man gave her an unfriendly grin.
“Who do you think people will believe at a time like this? A 'popular' female celebrity, or an ordinary, powerless nobody?"
His words were deeply double-edged. Rich with implication.
He was threatening her.
Even Lizi, good-tempered as she was, was shaking with rage, glaring daggers at him, ready to lunge and bite.
“What the hell did you just say?!”
The security guards drew closer, footsteps echoing louder across the concrete floor.
After a long pause, Qi Yao exhaled slowly and quietly said:
“Let him go.”
“Huh?” Lizi stamped her foot in disbelief. “Yao-mei! If we let him off this easily, next time won't he just charge straight into the apartment to take photos?!"
Qi Yao had already turned away, her slender figure looking unbearably thin as she repeated softly:
“Let him go.”
Xiao Wang's chest heaved. Veins strained across the back of his hands as he grabbed the man by the collar, hauled him upright, then hurled him hard to the ground.
“Get lost.”
Lizi's face was scarlet with fury. She glared at the man and reluctantly let go, turning to explain to the security guards that it was all a misunderstanding.
A few minutes later, the two paparazzi swaggered off together laughing and slinging arms around each other’s shoulders.
Their voices echoed grotesquely through the underground garage.
Qi Yao remained silent the entire time, her face hidden beneath her mask.
Xiao Wang accompanied them upstairs and deliberately pressed several random floors along the way, going up and down a few times before finally reaching the eighteenth floor.
How pathetic.
Qi Yao thought.
Ding.
The elevator doors opened.
Qi Yao stepped out of the elevator first. Lizi was behind her, thanking Xiao Wang.
Her cap was pulled low, narrowing her vision to only a small patch of floor. Her steps, originally aimed at her own front door, came to an abrupt halt when she glimpsed the half-open door across the way.
The first thing she saw was a pair of long legs. Gray lounge pants hung loosely over them.
She stood frozen for a long moment, then slowly lifted her eyes.
The man was tall and lean, leaning diagonally against the doorframe, upright yet casual. One hand absentmindedly twining his earphone wire as he watched her with dark eyes.
Several seconds passed.
“Traffic jam?” he asked.
“…Hm?”
Qi Yao took a moment to process the question before lightly shaking her head.
“No.”
Yu Jiashu lifted a brow slightly. “Then why are you so late?”
Qi Yao parted her lips, slowly digesting the meaning behind his words.
“…Were you waiting for me?”
—What else?
The words reached the tip of his tongue.
But looking at her misty peach blossom eyes, dazed and dulled with exhaustion, like the little rabbit on that hair tie, he swallowed the answer back down after two seconds.
He had only taken two steps toward her when Qi Yao instinctively retreated.
“…Don’t come closer.”
Yu Jiashu stopped where he was. He lifted his eyes and just looked at her.
Silence settled between them.
Qi Yao pressed her lips together beneath the mask, fingers clenched, glancing at the open window in the center of the hallway. Her voice carried a faint nasal tone as she quietly explained:
"I'm afraid someone might be filming."
Even as she said it, she knew it was unlikely.
For the complex's security to let a paparazzo slip into the parking garage was already an extremely rare lapse, let alone following her to her floor to secretly photograph them in the hallway.
But in that instant, her first instinct had simply been:
She couldn’t drag him into this.
He was clean and untouchable, bright as the moon and clear as the wind.
No messy scandal, real or fabricated, should ever involve him.
He deserved only everything best in the world.
Time passed second by second.
Cold autumn wind howled through the unlatched hallway window, amplified into something sharper by the narrow corridor.
Between her delayed reaction and obvious emotional state, he could more or less guess what had happened.
Yu Jiashu let out a low, cold scoff. His features darkened, carrying a hint of contemptuous disdain. He stepped forward in two strides, his tall, broad silhouette blocking the light from the sound-activated lamp behind him, casting a shadow down over her.
He leaned down suddenly, gazing into those peach blossom eyes veiled in mist.
Then he reached out and pulled her away from the draft.
The windy spot was only a single step from her doorway.
Standing where he pulled her, she was enclosed on three sides by walls, and the only direction the wind could enter from was entirely blocked by him.
Sealed off completely.
Like a warm fortress.
Snow blanketed the roof outside, while inside, the amber glow of firelight flickered warmly, the fireplace crackling softly.
Somewhere nearby, someone was cooking. Rich, comforting aromas drifted through the hallway. The sound-activated light, combined with the light spilling from the foyer across the way, was exceptionally bright.
Yu Jiashu lowered his gaze to her.
For once, there was a trace of cold aggression in his features as he casually murmured in a low voice, coaxing:
“What the hell are you scared of?”
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