The studio Ji Fanyin and Zhang Ning established was already getting on track, but He Shen, despite being one of the co-founders, hadn’t made an appearance even once. He simply entrusted everything to Zhang Ning.
Whenever there was an important decision to be made, Zhang Ning would say that he had no opinions at all and that they could just decide between themselves. It was almost as if he was an emotionless investing machine.
“… Didn’t you say it yourself? I got too immersed in the role. I’m still trying to recover.”
He Shen’s voice was extremely soft, to the point that only Ji Fanyin, who was standing right beside him, could hear it.
Ji Fanyin could understand where he was coming from since she had lived a similar life in another world. If anyone on the street discovered his identity, it would lead to a series of complications.
“You’re a professional actor. No matter how immersed you’re in a role, it shouldn’t take months for you to recover,” teased Ji Fanyin. “You seem to be a regular on Weibo.”
The two of them had quite a few interactions on Weibo despite hardly meeting in real life. It was the perfect example of the current era’s virtual friends.
Perhaps it was because they were both actors who had achieved a high level of competency in their craft, they had many common views regarding films. It was their first time chatting face to face with each other, but Ji Fanyin felt comfortable, as if she was talking to an old friend.
“Rather than socializing, I prefer to be on the net…” He Shen’s words sounded a little muffled due to his mask. “Are you waiting for someone?”
“I’m waiting for my taxi,” explained Ji Fanyin. She glanced at the bags from a convenience store in He Shen’s hands and asked, “You live in the vicinity?”
It was a fairly upscale residential district, so it wasn’t too surprising for He Shen to live here.
It’s just that…
Ji Fanyin took another look at the convenience store bags and noticed that they were filled with canned drinks. She found it a little amusing. “A film emperor like you is spending Christmas alone?”
He Shen uncomfortably adjusted his mask as he replied, “… Mm. I’ll accompany you till your taxi arrives.”
It just so happened that the taxi that had been caught up in the traffic arrived at this moment. Ji Fanyin checked the license plate number and confirmed it was hers before gesturing to He Shen. “My ride's here. Byebye.”
He Shen nodded. He silently escorted her into her taxi while sheltering her with his umbrella.
After closing the car door, Ji Fanyin raised her head and unexpectedly noticed a pile of snow accumulated on one of He Shen’s shoulders. It stood out quite a bit under the illumination of the streetlights.
In the first place, his umbrella wasn’t big enough for two, and they had been keeping a polite distance between them. One of them was bound to get snowed on.
Ji Fanyin spent a second thinking about it before telling the driver to wait for a moment. She lowered the car window and told He Shen to stop. She couldn’t possibly call He Shen’s name in the middle of the street, so she shouted “Mr He” instead.
He Shen stopped and turned around.
Ji Fanyin took out an apple from her pocket—she had swiped it from Song Shiyu’s house earlier—and stuffed it into He Shen’s hands through the lowered car window. “Merry Christmas.”
He Shen took the apple with a dazed expression. He was having difficulty trying to understand where Ji Fanyin had conjured the apple from.
Ji Fanyin waved him goodbye with a smile before raising the car window back up. She took out her phone and started Baidu-ing ‘He Shen social anxiety disorder’.
There were a few joking posts, but all in all, there was not a single person who earnestly shared her thoughts.
On the contrary, most thought that He Shen was a serious and uptight person outside of the silver screen. Even when he was promoting his movie, he often avoided social interaction wherever possible. He was like the aloof flower of male actors.
Ji Fanyin changed her search query to ‘He Shen aloof flower’, and it immediately generated a flood of results. She stared at the two words ‘aloof flower’ and thought about He Shen’s shocked expression when he was suddenly stuffed with a big red apple.
Hm… No matter how I look at it, it feels like He Shen is using a cold persona to conceal his social anxiety disorder.
Ding! Ji Fanyin received two consecutive messages on her phone.
The first one was from the bank, informing her that she had received a sum of money from Song Shiyu.
Mm, the money for the painting is in. Hopefully, he’ll be able to get what he wants when he gifts Ji Xinxin the painting. Amen.
The second was a message from Ji Xinxin. She said that she wanted to meet Ji Fanyin tomorrow and she would be free all day.
【Let’s meet at the handicraft shop that big sis likes. I’ll keep waiting until you come】