I'm Rich - 70
By the time they were finished, Guan Zhiyi was utterly exhausted.
After her shower, Qi Chengyan lay beside her, idly running his fingers through her hair.
"How many days are you staying in Shanghai?" Guan Zhiyi asked softly, curled bonelessly against him.
"I'm leaving the day after tomorrow."
"Oh." Guan Zhiyi said, "I have to go back to the set tomorrow afternoon. I'll be there until tonight."
"It's fine. You focus on your work. Don't worry about me."
"Mm..."
Qi Chengyan said, "Have you seen Xiao Ran lately?"
"Yeah, I have. Our two productions are staying at the same hotel." Guan Zhiyi suddenly opened her eyes. "You saw those news reports, didn't you?"
He kept an eye on anything involving her, so the reports about her appearing alongside Xiao Ran naturally hadn't escaped his notice.
"Yeah, I saw them," Qi Chengyan said. "Didn't they even make it onto Weibo's trending searches?"
"Well... Those were all photos taken by fans. Then some gossip accounts got hold of them and started making up nonsense."
Qi Chengyan knew there was nothing going on between them. But seeing how many people online were still shipping the two of them, even inventing entire stories out of thin air, was enough to make his eyes ache.
"Oh? Chengyan-gege." Guan Zhiyi tilted her head up to look at him, reaching out to pinch his cheek. "You didn't come all the way to Shanghai because of this, did you?"
Qi Chengyan cleared his throat. "I have work here."
"Oh~"
Qi Chengyan pinched her cheek in return. "What? Am I a jealous boyfriend in your eyes now?"
Guan Zhiyi mumbled, "It's not like you've never done anything like this before..."
Qi Chengyan narrowed his eyes, lowered his head, and silenced her with a kiss, catching her tongue with his.
That single touch led to another long, unrestrained kiss. Before long, desire began stirring again. The moment Guan Zhiyi felt his reaction, she arched her back and hurriedly retreated, letting out a soft, kittenish whimper. "No more..."
After everything they'd just put themselves through, she wasn't about to risk going through it all again.
Qi Chengyan lay on his side, watching her. Her eyes were still red, a result of how hard she'd cried earlier.
His heart softened a little. After giving her a moment to recover, he said, "I won't do anything. Go to sleep."
"Mm. But you still haven't eaten anything."
"It's fine. I'll order delivery."
"Okay."
"Is there anything you want to eat? I'll order something for you, too."
Guan Zhiyi shook her head, pulling the blanket all the way up. "No, I'm not eating. I'm tired. I want to sleep."
Qi Chengyan smiled and stroked her head. "All right."
At ten the following morning, Guan Zhiyi woke up to find Qi Chengyan already gone from the bed. Still groggy, she dragged herself up and went to the bathroom to wash up.
After coming out and looking around, she found him in the study. His laptop was open in front of him, and he was in the middle of a video conference.
He must have heard her footsteps, because he glanced up when she entered. The moment Guan Zhiyi caught his eye, she hurriedly started backing out, not wanting to interrupt his business meeting.
"There's breakfast on the dining table. Eat something first, at least."
Guan Zhiyi froze. The several subordinates on the video call all turned to look at their boss.
Qi Chengyan, however, didn't seem to think anything of it. When he saw her standing there in a daze, he asked, "What is it? You don't like what's there?"
Guan Zhiyi quickly shook her head. She didn't even know what breakfast was yet.
But Qi Chengyan took her response to mean that she didn't like the food. He removed one of his earbuds. "Give me ten minutes. I'll make you something else."
Guan Zhiyi opened her mouth, wanting to explain that wasn't what she meant. But with other people on his call, she couldn't exactly speak freely. All she could do was hurry out of the study.
Only after she had left did Qi Chengyan put his earbud back in and turn his attention to the screen.
By then, the several managers on the call were all staring in open-mouthed astonishment. Their boss had just sounded almost absurdly gentle. They had never known he was capable of speaking in that tone.
"Don't like that?"
"I'll make you something else?"
Was he even planning to cook for her himself?
Well, whoever could make him act like that was probably the girlfriend the news had been reporting on.
The managers were quietly thrilled at the prospect of having stumbled onto some juicy gossip, but not one of them dared let it show.
"What are you all staring at?" Qi Chengyan frowned. "Marketing, continue."
The marketing manager snapped back to attention. "Ah, yes, President Qi."
...
Qi Chengyan kept his schedule with impeccable precision. The meeting ended exactly ten minutes later.
When he came out of the study, Guan Zhiyi was sitting at the dining table, eating.
"Didn't you say you didn't like it? Why didn't you wait for me?"
"I never said I didn't like it. I said I didn't have anything I disliked." Guan Zhiyi took a sip of milk. "There were so many people on your call just now. I felt awkward speaking up."
Qi Chengyan sat down beside her. "What's there to feel awkward about?"
"You were in a meeting..."
"It's fine. They're all our own people." Qi Chengyan reached over and brushed a few crumbs of bread from the corner of her mouth. "Besides, you're the boss's wife. Even if you say something, do you think they'd dare complain?"
The boss's wife...
A flicker of amusement glimmered in Guan Zhiyi's eyes. She lowered her gaze and said, "Oh!"
At noon, Liu Yun arrived to pick her up. Guan Zhiyi returned to the set to film, while Qi Chengyan went off to work. She was busy enough that he didn't go back to the set to bother her afterward. Once his work was finished, he went straight back to the Capital.
A month later, there was one week left until filming wrapped.
That afternoon, Guan Zhiyi finished her lunch from the production crew but remained in the break room without coming out. After waiting outside for quite a while without seeing her, Mao Mao went in to look for her, only to find her throwing up in the bathroom.
"Zhiyi-jie! What's wrong?"
Guan Zhiyi rinsed her mouth. "My stomach feels uncomfortable."
"Are you okay? Is it serious? Let's go to the hospital and get you checked out."
Guan Zhiyi hesitated, worried about delaying the production schedule. "What about the director..."
"I'll let Liu Yun-jie know and have her notify them," Mao Mao said. "Your health comes first. You haven't been getting enough rest lately, either. You should really go to the hospital."
"Mm..."
Mao Mao led her outside and grabbed a down jacket on the way out, draping it over her shoulders. "It's really cold today. Don't catch a cold."
"Okay."
In the end, Mao Mao and Liu Yun accompanied Guan Zhiyi to the hospital. After a series of examinations, it turned out to be a stomach issue. They didn't leave until the doctor had prescribed her medication.
On the way back, Qi Chengyan happened to call. Bundled up in the oversized down jacket, Guan Zhiyi curled into herself and began whining softly to him.
But the moment she heard Qi Chengyan anxiously say he was going to fly over, she immediately stopped her pitiful little complaints. "I was just telling you in passing... The doctor already gave me medicine. I'm fine."
Qi Chengyan still wasn't reassured. "I've told you before, stop restricting your diet all the time. You skip meals and eat irregularly. Do you really think your stomach can handle that?"
Guan Zhiyi pouted. "Don't scold me..."
Hearing her soft, listless voice, Qi Chengyan felt both angry and worried. "You wrap filming in a week, right?"
"Mm..."
"I'm coming over tomorrow. I'll come back with you afterward."
"No, no, really!" Guan Zhiyi said. "It's just a little thing. I'm going back soon anyway. I'll come find you when I get back, okay?"
Qi Chengyan said, "You're telling me not to worry, but how am I supposed to not worry..."
"Then contact Liu Yun-jie and have her report to you every day," Guan Zhiyi said. "She's your subordinate. She wouldn't dare lie to you."
It took quite a while of coaxing, but Guan Zhiyi finally managed to talk Qi Chengyan out of flying over.
A week later, filming wrapped. She headed to the airport with the production staff, preparing to return home.
Just before boarding, Liu Yun hurried over and thrust her phone in front of Guan Zhiyi. "Zhiyi, whose down jacket were you wearing when you went to the hospital that day? It was so puffy."
Guan Zhiyi had no idea what she was talking about. "What?"
"See for yourself."
Guan Zhiyi took the phone and lowered her eyes. A large, bold headline stared back at her from the screen:
Guan Zhiyi Suspected of Being Pregnant
That headline alone was enough to give anyone a heart attack...
The article's basic claim was that someone had reported seeing her experiencing morning sickness on set, and photos of her hospital visit had also been circulated. In the pictures, she was wearing an oversized down jacket that concealed her stomach, with one hand repeatedly shielding her abdomen...
By the time Guan Zhiyi finished reading, she was completely dumbfounded. "This news... is ridiculously far-fetched."
"There's nothing new happening in the industry lately, so the reporters are working overtime," Liu Yun said.
Guan Zhiyi laughed helplessly. "These people are so bored. And it even made the trending searches... Am I supposed to magically produce a baby ten months from now?"
"If that's what you want, you could always put in some effort," Liu Yun said.
"If I actually gave birth to a baby, you'd be the one crying, my dear manager."
"......"
There was no shortage of rumors and speculation in the entertainment industry, and neither Guan Zhiyi nor Liu Yun took the report seriously. Besides, they were about to board their flight, so they stopped paying attention to it. They figured Guan Zhiyi could simply post a denial on Weibo after landing later.
But things were different for the people in the Capital who had no idea what was really going on. When Guan Yuanbai saw the news at home, he nearly leaped off the sofa.
"What the hell..."
He knew that things posted online weren't necessarily true, but he was still worried. He immediately called Guan Zhiyi, only to find that her phone was switched off.
Given how much Guan Yuanbai worried about his sister, there was no way he was going to let it go at that. He went straight out to find Qi Chengyan. As it happened, he had just been in contact with him earlier, and the man was home right now.
When Guan Yuanbai arrived at the Qi residence, Qi Chengyan was chatting with Old Master Qi. Guan Yuanbai politely greeted the old man before turning to Qi Chengyan. "Something's come up. Come outside for a moment."
Qi Chengyan hadn't seen the news yet and had no idea what this was about. He followed Guan Yuanbai outside, then asked, "What's going on?"
Guan Yuanbai turned around and asked calmly, "Xiao Wu's pregnant?"
Qi Chengyan hadn't expected that question at all. He froze. "Who told you that?"
"The news."
Qi Chengyan frowned and pulled out his phone to look it up.
Seeing that Qi Chengyan hadn't known about it either, Guan Yuanbai immediately breathed a sigh of relief. "So it's fake. You scared the hell out of me. I almost wanted to bury you alive."
"......"
Qi Chengyan said nothing.
When Guan Yuanbai saw him staring at his phone in silence, his smile slowly faded. "What's with that look?"
Qi Chengyan pressed his lips together, then raised his eyes to meet Guan Yuanbai's.
"Actually... I'm not sure either."
"???”
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