Phone Call? Pick It Up

As soon as Ke Wei came out of the hotel, she saw the two of them leaning close together and couldn’t resist teasing them. “Zhen-jie is being watched over pretty closely now.”

Xi Zhen wore an expression that was equal parts indulgent and helpless. She didn’t answer Ke Wei. Instead, she turned to look at Li Xingqing’s slightly longer hair and sighed at how quickly time was passing. In the blink of an eye, it was almost New Year.

Ke Wei and the art director were headed the same way, so they got into the car first and said goodbye to Xi Zhen and Li Xingqing through the window.

Li Xingqing waved back, then suddenly asked Xi Zhen beside her, curious, “Why didn’t the original screenwriter come today?” Xi Zhen had told her before that the project had originally been a novel, and by the time it reached Li Xingqing, it had already been adapted almost to completion.

Normally, the screenwriter should have been here for a day like this, but Li Xingqing hadn’t seen a single unfamiliar face. Everyone who came was someone she knew, so of course she found it strange.

“As for the screenwriter side...” Xi Zhen knew she couldn’t hide this from Li Xingqing for long. Since Li Xingqing had asked, she told the truth. “At first, Ke Wei recommended someone to me. But they couldn’t work out the schedule, so they just sent over bits and pieces of revisions.”

Bits and pieces—not just of the script, but of their attitude too. For a low-budget drama, the fee they could offer was nothing a major editing team would care about. On top of that, Xi Zhen privately suspected that Zhou Ping had something to do with it.

That was also why she’d rather find a screenwriter on the fly than stay in contact with that side. People on different paths didn’t belong together; the two sides wanted different things, and Xi Zhen certainly didn’t trust them with the most important script.

At first, Xi Zhen had thought that if she really couldn’t find anyone suitable, she and Ke Wei would just hurry through it themselves. But heaven had sent her Li Xingqing. Though she was a newcomer, she had insight, talent, and dedication all in one. To be honest, Xi Zhen genuinely admired Li Xingqing.

Not just as a romantic interest; even as a colleague, Xi Zhen would be drawn to someone like her.

Subzero temperatures really weren’t fit for standing around too long. The stuffy warmth they’d felt inside the hotel was swept away by the cold air, and Xi Zhen sneezed without meaning to. Before she could do anything, Li Xingqing’s expression changed, and as if afraid Xi Zhen would catch a cold, she pulled her back into the hotel. “Don’t go out yet. Wait until the car gets here.”

Xi Zhen didn’t mind either way, and she didn’t want to go against Li Xingqing. After all, the other woman was only doing it for her own good.

The two of them found an empty spot to sit. Li Xingqing was checking her phone to see how far away the car was when Xi Zhen suddenly sensed that something was off.

She looked around. Everyone was busy with their own work; not a single gaze was on them. And yet Xi Zhen still felt that something was wrong. It was as if faint shutter clicks were sounding around them.

Seeing Xi Zhen restless, Li Xingqing quickly took her hand and asked with concern, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Maybe I’m just being a little too sensitive. I keep feeling like something isn’t right.” Xi Zhen tapped her temple, starting to wonder if she’d been overworked lately and kept her mind in a prolonged state of high tension.

“What isn’t right?” Li Xingqing followed her gaze and looked around, but didn’t spot anything unusual.

“Nothing. I’m probably just too tired lately.” Xi Zhen shook her head, signaling for Li Xingqing not to worry.

“Then let’s go first. It’s almost here.” Li Xingqing still felt that something was off, and just then the car arrived. She grabbed Xi Zhen’s hand and was about to leave, completely unaware that not far away, there was someone she knew very well.

Cui Man looked at the photo on her phone and drew in a sharp breath. Hurriedly, she pulled up another picture she had taken earlier at school and compared them carefully. In the end, she confirmed they were the same person. Shock and delight surged together, and she truly hadn’t expected Li Xingqing to be this kind of person in private.

The smugness on Cui Man’s face deepened. She hadn’t expected to stumble onto such a windfall today. Who knew? Some time ago, one night, she had seen Li Xingqing with a woman and thought it was strange. After connecting it to the gossip circulating around the academy, Cui Man suddenly thought of a much better way to ruin Li Xingqing’s reputation completely.

Meanwhile, Li Xingqing had no idea at all and was still lost in the sadness of parting from Xi Zhen.

The next morning, Xi Zhen got up early to see Li Xingqing off to the station.

Sticking firmly to the principle that any lie had to be carried through to the end, Li Xingqing accepted Xi Zhen’s escort service and tearfully said goodbye to her at the station. Only after confirming that Xi Zhen had already left did she take a car to the airport and prepare to go to the United States.

A flight of more than ten hours was described as a train ride of more than ten hours in hard-seat class; not replying to messages was also turned into poor signal on the train. By the time Li Xingqing landed, she checked the time back home and ultimately held back from making the call.

Yin Yi’s condition really had improved quite a bit lately; Li Xingqing felt she looked even more spirited than she had last year.

Seeing her daughter after such a long time, Yin Yi was obviously delighted and hurriedly motioned for her to sit down, wanting to take a good look at her.

But not many minutes later, Yin Yi’s illness flared again, and she became violent.

The nurses rushed over to restrain her and told Li Xingqing to stay away from the patient for the time being, even though they were close family.

Xi Zhen looked at Yin Yi’s ferocious, distorted face and said nothing. Silently, she hid the blood streaks that had just been scratched into her hand, pretending nothing had happened.

This wasn’t the first time. Ever since Yin Yi had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, she would often have episodes like this. Sometimes she was Li Xingqing’s gentle, kind mother; the next second, she would turn into something like a demon, and the hatred in her eyes when she looked at Li Xingqing was unbearable.

The psychologist said Yin Yi was mistaking Li Xingqing for her father, which was why she reacted that way. Li Xingqing was helpless in the face of it; she really did resemble her father very much, and that was something she couldn’t change.

By the time Yin Yi had been given a sedative and finally calmed down, Li Xingqing could only stand at a distance and look through the window in the door at her mother. This pitiful woman had been ruined for a lifetime by Li Taihong.

What a pity that after causing so much harm, the real culprit couldn’t even be bothered to come look at her once.

When Li Xingqing arrived, the psychologist took out Yin Yi’s treatment report from this period.

Yin Yi really had improved lately; the amount of time she could stay calm in a day had been steadily increasing. It had been a long time since she’d lost control like this. Regarding this incident, the doctor suggested that Li Xingqing appear in front of Yin Yi as little as possible. Li Xingqing nodded to show she understood. Not seeing each other was fine; at least it was better than constant stimulation.

Just after the Christmas holiday had passed, the streets were full of Christmas decorations. Li Xingqing walked aimlessly down the road and suddenly wanted to know what Xi Zhen was doing at that very moment.

Separated by a twelve-hour time difference, it was already close to midnight back home. But Li Xingqing felt she couldn’t hold out any longer; she turned and made a call.

The wait was agonizing. From anticipation to impatience, Li Xingqing’s first call went unanswered. Then came the second, the third; it wasn’t until the fourth call that someone finally picked up.

She thought it was Xi Zhen, still busy working in the middle of the night, but the moment the voice came through the phone, it was a heavy blow to Li Xingqing.

“Who is this?”

The voice on the other end was unmistakably thick with alcohol; it was a man’s voice. His tongue seemed swollen, every word dragged out in a sticky slur. In the background, there were faint sounds of clinking glasses and women’s laughter. It was so noisy it sounded like Li Xingqing had called the wrong number.

Li Xingqing frowned slightly and moved the phone farther away before asking again, “Xi Zhen?”

The person on the other end seemed to have heard a familiar name and said thickly, “Did you dial the wrong number? Looking for Xi Zhen?”

“Hm?” Xi Zhen’s voice came from the receiver. Though it was only a sound of acknowledgment, Li Xingqing immediately caught it and called out twice more, “Xi Zhen? Sister?”

“What sister? What younger sister? You called the wrong number.” The phone was taken over by someone else, and Li Xingqing knew this voice very well too—Song Xunqing.

“Song Xunqing?”

Realizing the caller was Li Xingqing, Song Xunqing laughed. “Li Xingqing? You have no right to tell us what to do. Let me tell you, Xi Zhen doesn’t want you anymore. She’s mine now.” With that, the call ended with a click.

The noisy private room, the dead of night, the ambitious ex-girlfriend; everything was pounding at the thread of reason in Li Xingqing’s mind.

What little reason she had left told Li Xingqing that she shouldn’t let her imagination run wild right now; she should trust Xi Zhen. But then the words Song Xunqing had said a few months ago suddenly echoed at exactly the wrong time in her ears: “You think Xi Zhen really loves you? You’re nothing but a substitute.”

The distance across the entire Pacific Ocean made Li Xingqing afraid to gamble. Her hand trembled as she reached for flight tickets home, only to be interrupted by another call. The name flashing on the screen was unmistakable—Yin Shu.

---

Ever since Li Xingqing claimed she had returned to Huizhou, Xi Zhen had felt an emptiness around her. A living, breathing person had suddenly vanished from her side; even Xi Zhen, who was used to being alone, found it hard to adjust.

Realizing she wasn’t quite herself, Xi Zhen felt puzzled. Was it really because she hadn’t been in a relationship for too long, to the point that even this brief separation was hard to bear?

While trying to temporarily forget that Li Xingqing had left, she began checking the online buzz around *Seal the Heart* for the day.

The traffic was still trending favorably; almost as soon as the drama released a related keyword, the discussion picked up. Xi Zhen hadn’t seen momentum like this in a long time. She thought Li Xingqing really was her lucky star, yet she still faintly felt that something was off, like the calm before a storm, making her heart pound with unease.

Even though they were in different places, the two of them still kept in touch. But because of the time difference, Li Xingqing could only cover things up by moving their communication time to nighttime back home. Her excuse was that she needed to spend her days caring for her sick mother, and only had time at night.

When Xi Zhen heard that, she tactfully hinted at whether Li Xingqing needed financial help, but Li Xingqing refused neatly and decisively. Still, Xi Zhen couldn’t relax, so she quietly transferred some money anyway. Thanks to having paid Li Xingqing before, Xi Zhen was very familiar with her card number.

Author’s Note:

The misunderstanding count is ticking down!