Chapter 341 – The Male Lead’s Regret (1)
Translator: MamaGoose
Editor: Amy
An impossible, and incomprehensibly dog-blooded possibility, flashed through Chen Jiao’s mind, which, if true, would be even more exaggerated than the plot twists he had played on TV dramas.
He inhaled a shaky breath and convinced himself that it was impossible. How could there be such a blasphemous mistake in the real world? He had been communicating with Li Shuang all this time, how could her identity have been a mistake? It was simply absurd!
“Brother Jiao, I’m really sorry, the lights in the main dressing room upstairs are not working. Could I trouble you to temporarily make use of the private dressing room on the left? I’m extremely sorry for the sudden change in arrangements!” the studio assistant ran over, apologizing profusely.
Chen Jiao frowned. Until now he had been deep in his own thoughts. When the assistant spoke to him, he finally broke out of his trance and raised his eyebrows in surprise at his own musings. Back then, he had only once communicated with the girl face to face, and soon afterward, had received a letter saying that she had gone to a boarding school. But the second time around, the other party’s letter had arrived a week late.
The new letter had come from a different mailing address, and the handwriting was crooked. She said that she had fallen down the stairs while cleaning and accidentally injured her right hand. Moreover, she claimed to have moved to a new house over the weekend. Her wobbly writing was explained away by having to temporarily write with her left hand, and the change in mailing addresses attributed to her shifting homes.
He had never doubted those words back then.
She had recalled the sequence of events that had occurred the first time they met multiple times over the course of their letter exchange, and there was no discrepancy in any of it. After two or three months, her letters became more legible, but the handwriting wasn’t the same as before. She had just entered middle school back then. She was quite young, and still experimenting with calligraphy, thus her handwriting had seemingly morphed into the mature handwriting of a young maiden. He didn’t find anything strange about that transformation.
But now, Chen Jiao could vaguely sense that something was off. Perhaps his hackles had been raised due to Ling Shuang’s unusual behavior as of late?
But… He shook his head.
His baseless speculations were blowing things ridiculously out of proportion. Ling Shuang must have been facing tremendous pressure recently, and her subsequent bizarre actions were what disappointed him.
“Yu- Mrs. Shen,” Chen Jiao resisted the chaotic thoughts clouding his mind and stepped forward to greet the ever-evasive Yu Yaoyao. The expression on his face could barely be called a smile.
“Huh? Big brother* Chen Jiao?” Yu Yaoyao lifted her face when she heard his voice. Up until now, she’d had her head buried in her sweet Little Bun’s shoulder.
*The brother used here is xiongdi, not gege (elder brother) or didi (younger brother). It gives more of a comrade brother/sworn brother feel.
The moment Chen Jiao’s eyes met her dark ones, he couldn’t help but be overcome with nervousness. But there was also the faint sense of loss painted on his face. She had walked right past him just now. There was no way she hadn’t noticed him.
He had always been called a walking spotlight by his fans. The limelight followed him wherever he went, drawing everyone’s attention to him. He was voted among the top ten most attractive male artists.
It… she really… didn’t notice him?
His eyes grew heated. Big brother? When the little girl from his memories had met him for the first time; that’s what she had called him too.
But Chen Jiao’s expression turned stiff. He hadn’t interacted much with Yu Yaoyao before. However, after listening to Yu Xinjie going on and on about her fascination with him, despite being married and having a child, even willing to divorce for his sake, he had automatically classified her as a person sick in the head. He felt Yu Yaoyao was crazy and unreasonable.
“Is anything the matter?” Yu Yaoyao’s distant tone broke him out of the reverie.
She was treating him like a stranger? Chen Jiao couldn’t help but frown even more.
The past few times he’d met her, she had never acted obsessed with him, not even once. As a person who remained so indifferent every time she faced him… Could she really be someone who would write such unrequited, sappy love letters? Much less profess her love to him in public, and inject secret investment money into his bank account?
The media had revealed that Yu Yaoyao’s bankcard and password had been used by her sister to embezzle Yu Yaoyao’s funds for her own use. Didn’t that imply that it was Yu Xinjie who had transferred the money?
Chen Jiao hadn’t given the matter much thought before, but the more he contemplated, the more he felt that something was really off. Could it be that Yu Xinjie had been lying to him all along, and that her sister had never pursued him?
During the shooting of Director Li’s film, Yu Yaoyao had said that she was her own fan. Could it be that she had expressed admiration towards him only as a fellow crew member, and nothing beyond that? If that was the case, why had Yu Xinjie tried to deceive him? She had deliberately created a scandal, and deliberately advised him to avoid Yu Yaoyao like the plague. To what end did it serve her? What had Yu Xinjie hoped to accomplish from that? Was it to help Lin Shuang win Shen Yichong over? But those two hadn’t even met each other back then. Chen Jiao had been the one who had introduced Lin Shuang and Shen Yichong later on.
Faint panic shrouded his rationality as Chen Jiao flipped through countless scenarios in his mind.
Chen Jiao scrunched his brow, and finally asked, “Mrs. Shen, have we ever… met before?”
Yu Xinjie couldn’t have done this for the sole purpose of having him hate Yu Yaoyao. It didn’t make any sense for Yu Xinjie to go to such extremes to make him avoid Yu Yaoyao… Unless it was to cover something up…
An inconceivable thought slowly but surely emerged from the depths of Chen Jiao’s heart. He felt it was too ridiculous to be true. So many years had passed since then, if Yu Yaoyao was really the girl from that year, why would she not say anything to him?
“I mean, did- we’ve met much earlier, and back then…” Chen Jiao frowned at his own words.
“Excuse me?” Yu Yaoyao took Shen Rui’s soft, tender hands and gave Chen Jiao an odd look.
“I have met you before you! Of course!” Chen Jiao suddenly clenched his fists.
His speculations were met with a deadpan expression.
“Have you written any letters to me before? Your pen name? Did you use a pen name?” the more he spoke, the more anxious and unsettled he became. He grabbed her arm tightly as though begging her to remember something.
Writing letters? Yu Yaoyao didn’t give the slightest reaction. Even her expression was blank. Did he mean love letters? She had already settled all the rumors! What pen name?
Suddenly, a tender, chubby white hand reached out from Yu Yaoyao’s arms and pushed Chen Jiao away. “Uncle, don’t bully my Mommy! My mommy belongs only to Daddy and me! You don’t have the right to hold her hand! Let go of my Mommy!” the little bun, Shen Rui, howled anxiously.
His cat-like face stared at Chen Jiao, accusing. This man had just appeared out of nowhere. The way Shen Rui had rushed in between Yu Yaoyao and Chen Jiao’s advances was like a tiger cub protecting its food. As suddenly as he’d reached out, Shen Rui retracted his hand and gripped onto Yu Yaoyao.