Liquid Courage
Mu Wan inhaled slowly.
She moved the fan around her face once, exited WeChat, and opened her messages.
Mu Wan: Doctor Liu, where are you staying? I’m at Wen City Hotel.
After sending it, she remembered that Liu Qianxiu was probably still in the conference.
He might not see the message for a while.
Mu Wan tapped one finger against the screen.
Then, after a moment, she sent another.
Mu Wan: I come to Wen City for filming pretty often, so I know the area. There’s a restaurant here that makes really good home-style food. Let’s eat there when you have time.
An assistant director called for her.
Mu Wan answered and put away her phone.
She had barely reached the filming area when her phone chimed.
She stopped immediately.
A message appeared on the screen.
Daoist Liu: The hospital arranged for us to stay at Wen City Hotel.
Again with the hospital arranging things.
Mu Wan’s eyes curved.
A second message followed.
Daoist Liu: All right. When?
Her smile widened.
Mu Wan: Tomorrow. I have a dinner tonight.
Daoist Liu: All right.
And just like that, Mu Wan was happy again.
Whenever she traveled for filming in the past, she rarely knew anyone in the city besides a few people from the crew.
This time, she did.
And not just anyone.
The person she liked.
They had agreed to eat together the next day.
Barring some accident, that meant Mu Wan would not see Liu Qianxiu again until tomorrow.
Naturally, she found that unacceptable.
Whenever she had a break between scenes, she wandered past the emergency building several times.
There were plenty of doctors moving through the busy department.
None of them were Liu Qianxiu.
Apparently, the research conference was keeping him busy enough that even an accidental encounter was impossible.
That evening, once filming ended, Assistant Director Ma took Mu Wan to Yingke Pavilion.
Why Zhang Chengze had specifically invited a minor supporting actress like her was hardly difficult to understand.
Mu Wan had spent years in the entertainment industry.
When she first started, she had not known how to handle situations like this.
Now she did.
She had no desire to become famous at any cost.
The opportunities a director could offer her held very little temptation.
If she refused the unspoken invitation behind those offers, most directors understood.
There were countless actresses in the industry.
No director had the time or patience to obsess over one minor actress who clearly had no intention of sleeping with him.
But dinners like this still had to be attended.
Mu Wan could refuse the olive branch.
She could not refuse so openly that she humiliated the person extending it.
By the time Mu Wan and Assistant Director Ma arrived, dinner was already underway.
The female lead had not come.
Mi Yu, the second female lead, and An Cheng, the male lead, sat on either side of Zhang Chengze.
There were many people around the table.
One or two more arrivals barely attracted attention.
Everyone simply found a place and continued talking.
When Mu Wan entered, Mi Yu glanced at her.
There was an empty chair beside her.
Mu Wan understood and sat down.
She had barely settled when Zhang Chengze laughed.
“People from the same agency really are close. You even save seats for each other.”
Zhang Chengze liked to drink.
He had drunk heavily at their previous dinner, and tonight was no different.
He was nearly fifty.
Years of alcohol had left his face naturally flushed, making him look faintly like Guan Yu painted in red.
“Of course.”
Mu Wan smiled.
“Thank you, Sister Yu.”
Mi Yu glanced at her from the corner of her eye.
“Why thank me? Director Zhang is the one who personally asked you to come tonight.”
“Hey, no need to thank me either.”
Before Mu Wan could respond, Zhang Chengze waved a hand.
“I just remembered how sincerely she drank last time. I wanted a drinking companion.”
Mu Wan immediately reached for the bottle beside her.
The strong scent of baijiu rose the moment she opened it.
She had not even taken a sip, yet warmth already seemed to spread through her body.
Without hesitation, she filled her glass.
“If Director Zhang thinks that highly of me, then I’ll drink to you first.”
She opened with three glasses.
After that, the atmosphere loosened.
Zhang Chengze began talking about the project he planned to make after Red Embroidery.
Mu Wan responded politely.
Every time he mentioned a bigger opportunity, she found a way to imply that she was not capable of carrying a major role.
Back and forth they went.
Eventually, Zhang Chengze understood.
He stopped speaking to her.
People came and went throughout the dinner.
There were enough guests that no one paid much attention to a minor actress.
After three glasses of baijiu, the alcohol hit Mu Wan harder than expected.
While everyone else continued drinking and talking, she quietly stood and slipped away.
She did not return to her room.
Instead, she went to the restroom first.
Wen City’s aged liquor was stronger than she had expected.
Her stomach burned.
Mu Wan washed her face.
Then she stepped outside and leaned against the corridor wall.
Three glasses were not enough to make her completely drunk.
But her body felt hot.
Her thoughts had become slightly unfocused.
The wall against her back was smooth and cool.
Comforting.
Mu Wan pressed herself closer to it and stared at the crystal lights along the corridor.
Halos expanded and contracted in her vision.
Bright.
Blurred.
Then bright again.
The scene felt familiar.
Barely half a month earlier, she had also left a dinner after drinking too much and leaned against a corridor wall to sober up.
She remembered the bamboo leaves woven into the carpet that night.
One after another.
And the man who had stood among them.
A cool face.
A tall, lean body.
The faint scent of disinfectant.
Perhaps drunken memories were stored somewhere different from ordinary memories.
Things forgotten after sobering could return the next time alcohol clouded the mind.
And now Mu Wan remembered.
A deep voice.
Quiet breathing.
A steady heartbeat.
And the firm body she had wrapped her arms around.
Her own voice returned too.
I turned into a... cat.
Mu Wan tipped her head back.
Heat gathered in her throat.
She swallowed.
Her skin seemed to grow warmer by the second.
The halos around the chandelier expanded again.
Lin Wei’s ridiculous suggestion from earlier suddenly seemed far less ridiculous than it had at noon.
Mu Wan took out her phone.
Liquid courage really was a dangerous thing.
She made the call.
Liu Qianxiu answered.
“Hello?”
Mu Wan closed her eyes for a moment.
“Doctor Liu.”
Her voice was softer than usual.
Then she asked,
“What room are you in?”
— End of Chapter 15 —
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