Half a Week Without Him
Mu Wan was not surprised.
She calculated quickly.
“So, I don’t have any work for the rest of this week.”
Hearing her say it aloud, Li Nan finally began to sense that something might be wrong.
But he still did not immediately think someone was interfering.
Mu Wan was only a minor supporting actress.
She had never stood in anyone’s way.
Her roles were too small to steal anyone’s spotlight.
There was no obvious reason for someone to target her.
Besides, Mu Wan was not the type to cause trouble.
She was intelligent enough to maintain decent relationships with people.
Even Mi Yu, who was notoriously difficult, had always gotten along peacefully with her.
“Then take the rest of the week off.”
Li Nan slipped into his official managerial tone.
“Treat it like a vacation. Don’t worry about the rest. You’ll definitely have work again next week. You’re signed to our company. We’re not going to stop finding projects for you.”
Mu Wan had only come to confirm the situation.
She listened to perhaps a third of what Li Nan said afterward.
Nearby, another production was filming a water scene.
The female lead had been pushed into the water.
When she climbed back out and heard they needed another take, her expression immediately darkened.
Mu Wan had filmed plenty of scenes like that.
Being thrown hard into freezing water.
Shivering in the middle of winter.
Then having to do it all again because the lead actor had not performed properly.
Mu Wan pulled herself back from the memory.
She looked at Li Nan and smiled.
“All right. Thank you, Your Excellency.”
Li Nan said nothing more.
Mu Wan turned to leave.
She had already said goodbye to him and Mi Yu when Mi Yu, still holding her iced drink, spoke.
“Did you offend someone?”
Mu Wan stopped.
Li Nan looked toward Mi Yu too.
Mi Yu had also had an early-morning shoot.
When she arrived, she had seen Mu Wan walking toward another production unit.
If Mu Wan had now come here to find Li Nan, she had probably spent half the day waiting only to be told that her scenes had disappeared.
Mi Yu had experienced this herself several times when she was still unknown.
After all her years in the entertainment industry, the methods were painfully familiar.
Mu Wan studied her expression and waited.
“Three straight days of scenes getting cut?”
Mi Yu murmured.
“There aren’t that many coincidences.”
It sounded almost as though she were talking to herself.
But the words were clearly meant for Mu Wan.
“In this industry, you need to understand where you stand.”
Mi Yu’s tone was matter-of-fact.
“We’re all slaves to capital.”
She looked at Mu Wan.
“If you have ability but no backing, someone with power can crush you as easily as stepping on an ant.”
She paused.
“You can have pride.”
Her gaze sharpened slightly.
“But first, you need to be able to eat.”
She had survived in this industry for years.
Her words were concise.
Practical.
Brutally realistic.
And underneath them was a genuine warning.
Mu Wan smiled.
“I understand.”
Then she added,
“Thank you, Sister Yu.”
It was only eleven in the morning.
The production base was still in full motion.
Actors in costume hurried between sets.
Extras made phone calls as they rushed toward their next jobs.
Everyone seemed busy.
For the first time, Mu Wan seemed to be the only person with nothing to do.
She did not have enemies.
Even Mu Qing could hardly be called one.
Mu Wan had always thought that, to the Mu family, she was nothing more than a piece of mud they had scraped from their shoe.
Once discarded, whatever happened to her should have been irrelevant to them.
Apparently, that was not the case.
Even if she was only mud beneath their feet, Mu Qing still wanted to step on what little dignity she had left.
Just to display her own superiority.
The sky overhead was bright and clear.
The air beneath it remained humid and suffocating.
Mu Wan did not linger beneath the sun.
She hailed a taxi.
Then she made a call.
“Hello, Liu Qianxiu.”
Her voice softened naturally.
“I’m done filming. Can I come over for lunch?”
Mu Wan took a taxi to Liu Qianxiu’s apartment.
She stood outside and rang the doorbell.
A short while later, the door opened.
Liu Qianxiu stood there in a loose long shirt and trousers.
He looked at her quietly.
“You didn’t go to work?”
Mu Wan looked him over and smiled.
The clothes on his body were loose and comfortable.
After spending so much time with him, she had gradually learned his habits.
When Liu Qianxiu went to the hospital, his clothes were always neatly fitted.
At home, he dressed for comfort.
Loose cotton and linen.
He looked almost like some wandering immortal temporarily living among ordinary people.
“Just got back.”
Liu Qianxiu closed the door behind her.
The apartment was air-conditioned.
The heat Mu Wan had brought in from outside gradually disappeared.
She changed into slippers.
Then she saw the three kittens tottering out of the cat room on their short little legs.
“I haven’t fed them yet,” Liu Qianxiu said.
Mu Wan had become comfortable enough here that she simply sat down beside the cat-room entrance and scooped all three kittens into her arms.
Three furry little bodies filled her lap.
She looked up at Liu Qianxiu and smiled.
“Then you make lunch. I’ll feed them.”
Her face was still flushed from the heat.
A faint pink showed beneath her pale skin.
With the kittens gathered in her arms, her delicate shoulders rose slightly.
Her legs bent toward her body.
Curled there on the floor, she looked rather like a cat herself.
Liu Qianxiu watched her.
But he did not leave.
Mu Wan’s long pale fingers disappeared into the kittens’ soft fur.
“Tomorrow, I’m taking them to my friend’s place.”
Mu Wan’s arms stopped.
She looked up.
Her long lashes swept down and up.
“Didn’t you just bring them back?”
“Mm.”
Liu Qianxiu answered calmly.
“I’m going to Qingyuan Temple on Wednesday afternoon.”
He paused.
“I’ll be back next Monday.”
Mu Wan’s arms loosened slightly.
The three kittens rolled out of her lap like little dumplings.
She lowered her bent legs and brought the soles of her feet together, making a circle around them so they could not wander too far.
The kittens meowed softly.
Sweetly.
Mu Wan barely seemed to hear them.
She sat there quietly.
Like a tiny island alone in the middle of the sea.
And she really would be alone.
She had no work for the rest of the week.
Liu Qianxiu would not be here.
She suddenly had no idea where she was supposed to go.
The faint scent of agarwood drifted through the living room.
The kittens continued to meow.
Ordinarily, the combination would have been soothing.
Mu Wan shifted.
Instead of standing, she crouched beside them.
She lowered her head.
One slender finger began tracing slow circles over Zhongfen’s head.
After teasing the kitten for a while, she suddenly asked,
“What if they miss you while you’re gone?”
She lifted her face and glanced at Liu Qianxiu.
The brightness in her eyes was faint now.
Then she lowered her head again.
Her finger continued circling slowly over Zhongfen’s fur.
A moment later, she added softly,
“What if I miss you?”
Her voice was very quiet.
Like a kitten’s paw brushing across carpet, its claws hidden safely inside soft pads so no one would hear.
Liu Qianxiu’s lashes moved slightly.
He looked at the back of her lowered neck.
Pale.
Slender.
A few loose strands of hair rested there.
Soft and slightly messy.
His lips pressed together.
Then he spoke.
His voice was low.
“Any other questions?”
Mu Wan froze.
The finger circling Zhongfen’s head stopped.
She raised her face.
Her shoulders had lowered.
One of Zhongfen’s tiny paws touched her fingertip.
Soft fur.
A soft paw pad.
Mu Wan’s heart paused.
Then courage rose inside her.
He was the one who had asked whether she had any other questions.
She did.
There was one more.
She simply did not know whether he would agree.
Light began dancing in her eyes again.
Mu Wan stared at Liu Qianxiu.
She steadied herself.
“Then can I come with you?”
“Mm.”
The answer came lightly.
Mu Wan’s eyes widened in surprise.
Liu Qianxiu looked at her.
“You can.”
— End of Chapter 25 —
Thanks for the chapter! Stay safe!
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