Xu Hong did not propose to Bai Xin back then, and they kept their marriage a secret until their divorce.
The regrets they experienced during this process are probably countless for both of them.
During that brief phone call, Xin Ying suddenly thought of herself. Her marriage to Lin Leyao was arranged; they went straight to registering their marriage without a proposal, and even the date for registering their marriage was pre-arranged. She was even worse off than Xu Hong, at least Xu Hong personally told Bai Xin to marry her.
When they first got married, Xin Ying hadn't fallen in love with Lin Leyao yet. She was simply fulfilling her responsibilities and being very polite. Since the two had no feelings for each other and hadn't spent any time together, neither of them thought about proposing.
Now that her on-screen romance with Lin Leyao has become real, Xin Ying regrets not paying attention to many things she had overlooked during her hasty marriage with Lin Leyao.
Xin Ying quickly finished her lunch; her afternoon workday was about to begin.
At this moment, Xin Ying was still lost in thought when her cell phone, which had been silent, suddenly rang again in the room.
It was Iris calling, and Xin Ying answered quickly.
"Ying—I've booked my flight. I'll be going there at the end of this month. You have to pick me up at the airport!"
Xin Ying replied simply, "Okay."
Iris reminded me on the other end of the phone, "Then you absolutely mustn't tell your wife that I'm here to see you?"
Xin Ying replied, "Why?"
When the topic came up, Iris angrily recounted what had happened at the hospital in Australia.
"She lied to me, saying you're my elder, not my childhood sweetheart!"
Iris's Chinese accent was a bit broken, but fortunately Xin Ying understood what she was trying to say.
Xin Ying replied in a serious tone, "According to seniority, I am indeed your elder. White and I are friends, and White is your uncle."
Iris paused for a few seconds, then immediately started acting spoiled, saying, "I don't care, I don't want you to be my elder. You're my childhood sweetheart. If you keep acting like this, I'm not coming to find you!"
Xin Ying replied helplessly, "Fine, fine, do whatever you want."
Iris laughed heartily, "I knew you couldn't do anything with me. I'll come see you at the end of the month. Bye!"
In the last week, the entire crew was working overtime.
Lin Leyao has been contacting Xin Ying much less in the past two weeks.
I wonder if Xin Ying has been very busy with work lately, because she's been sending fewer messages.
At 10 p.m., Lin Leyao finished showering and came out of the bathroom.
She was particularly energetic tonight. Even though she got up early this morning and filmed all day, she wasn't sleepy at all.
She turned on the projector to play a movie, but her mind wasn't really on watching it.
Halfway through the movie, Lin Leyao finally couldn't resist opening her phone and opening WeChat. After thinking for a long time, she edited and deleted the message before sending it.
Is YOYO asleep now?
Xin Ying waited for a long time, until Lin Leyao went to sleep, but she still didn't reply.
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Author's Note:
Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 03:25:06 and 18:13:16 on April 9, 2022!
Thank you to the little angel who threw the grenade: 55157345 (1 grenade);
Thank you to the little angel who watered the nutrient solution: Ziwen 30 bottles;
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 81
The crew of "The Palace Prisoner" wrapped up filming at the end of the month as scheduled.
On the night filming wrapped, the crew held a wrap party at the hotel in the film studio.
All the actors and staff were sitting in the same banquet hall, with a dozen tables not far apart. The place was filled with the noise of people talking and urging each other to drink.
Lin Leyao and several other lead actors sat at a table with the director and producers.
Liu Fang is also here today. As an investor in the TV series, she will definitely attend the wrap-up ceremony.
It's possible that Liu Fang frequently visited Lin Leyao on set, giving the director and producer the illusion that the two had a very close relationship. Although their rumored romance later became a hot topic, Liu Fang didn't appear on set again for various reasons, but today the producer still arranged for the two to sit together.
The last time Lin Leyao and Liu Fang met was at the Fashion Stars Charity Gala.
At that time, her attitude was probably very obvious, and Liu Fang also felt her attitude. After that, she never appeared on set again, nor did she contact her privately.
However, I never expected that the two of them would meet again now.
The director and producer, two middle-aged men in their forties or fifties, kept pouring each other drinks and urging each other to drink, and soon they were both quite drunk.
Lin Leyao sat quietly in her seat, silently drinking the beverage in her cup.
Midway through, other actors came over with cups to offer toasts.
Lin Leyao drank a few cups of beverage with the others.
Liu Fang was sitting right next to Lin Leyao, but it felt like there was an insurmountable chasm between them.
Since Liu Fang arrived, his gaze has been fixed on Lin Leyao beside him. The two had not been in contact for a long time since their last unpleasant meeting.
During this time, she had learned everything about Lin Leyao, including that Lin Leyao was only in her twenties but was already married. She was even more surprised that her secret husband was Xin Ying.
Liu Fang and Xin Ying were not close, but she had heard of the Huanning Group even though she had lived abroad for a long time.
Unexpectedly, Lin Leyao married the president of Huanning Group.
Considering Lin Leyao's background, as a member of the Ji family, it's not impossible for her to marry Xin Ying.
But why did the two keep their marriage a secret?
Could it be that Xin Ying would choose not to go public for the sake of Lin Leyao's career? Liu Fang didn't believe that Xin Ying, the pampered darling of the Xin family, would go to such lengths for Lin Leyao.
At the dinner table, Liu Fang's eyes were inscrutable, and he was thinking about many different periods of time.
At this moment, everyone at the wrap party was caught up in the atmosphere and was in high spirits.
Liu Fang remained silent the whole time, and Lin Leyao next to her also didn't say much. The two seemed out of place in the room.
Liu Fang lowered his gaze, his eyes involuntarily landing on Lin Leyao's hand holding the glass.
Lin Leyao's hands, like her face, are very beautiful.
Her fingers were slender and fair, and holding a transparent glass made her hands appear even more delicate and beautiful.
Liu Fang's gaze was quickly drawn to the ring on her ring finger.
The ring was very ordinary, like an iron hoop that no one would notice if it were left on the side of the road.
However, Liu Fang's gaze was still deeply stung by the ring.
She suddenly remembered that she had met Xin Ying once before.
She ran into Xin Ying in the hotel lobby, who had just finished a social engagement. They exchanged brief greetings, and at that moment, she noticed the ring on Xin Ying's hand.
She remembered that she had joked about it back then, never expecting that the joke she had taken for granted would be so hard for her to accept now that she knew the truth.
At the wrap party tonight, Liu Fang didn't speak to Lin Leyao at all, but her mind was on Lin Leyao, and she could sense that Lin Leyao was a little unhappy tonight.
She didn't speak, but sat silently in her seat, downing one glass of baijiu after another.
After a while, the producer, who was already quite drunk, raised his glass and pointed it in Lin Leyao's direction.
"President Liu, and Yue Yao too."
Lin Leyao, who had been sitting in her seat playing on her phone, looked up at the producer.
The producer, whose face was flushed from drinking, was in a particularly good mood. Raising his glass, he chuckled and said, "Let me toast you all. Enough with the small talk, let's have more opportunities to work together in the future!"
Lin Leyao immediately stood up politely and said, "You're too kind."
Everyone at the table knew that Lin Leyao didn't drink alcohol, so no one said anything when she drank beverages.
The producer nodded with a smile.
Liu Fang, standing next to him, didn't hesitate and downed another glass of baijiu.
Liu Fang drank very quickly this time, and her head suddenly felt dizzy. She immediately looked at Lin Leyao next to her and saw that the other party suddenly stood up and walked out of the hall.
There were too many people talking in the hall, making the room too noisy. Someone was smoking at the table, which made Lin Leyao feel uncomfortable, so she went out of the hall to get some fresh air in the corridor.
She was chatting with Xin Ying just now. After exchanging a few words, Xin Ying didn't reply for a long time on the other end of the phone.
Since the Lunar New Year, their communication has remained the same.
Xin Ying seems to be very busy lately. It takes her tens of minutes, or even several hours, to reply to my messages.
However, Xin Ying would reply to every single message Lin Leyao sent, no matter how long the time was, and there was no phenomenon of missing or not replying to messages.
Lin Leyao also felt a little sorry for Xin Ying, so she sent her messages much less often, not wanting to bother her.
Lin Leyao stayed in the corridor for a while, went to the restroom, and then prepared to return to the banquet hall.
Just then, Lin Leyao's phone rang.
It was Xin Ying calling.
Lin Leyao clicked to answer, and a familiar voice rang in her ears.
"Hey, why is it so quiet over there? Is the wrap party over?"
Lin Leyao replied, "No, it's still early."
Xin Ying hummed in agreement and cut straight to the point: "I have to go to Yunnan tomorrow, so I can't come pick you up. I'm sorry."
Lin Leyao immediately replied, "It's okay, I'm not a child."
Lin Leyao's emotions didn't fluctuate much, but Xin Ying's tone was somewhat unhappy: "Why don't you stay at the film studio for a few more days and go sightseeing around the area? I'll come pick you up and take you home when I get back from Yunnan."
Lin Leyao couldn't help but laugh and said, "It's okay! You don't need to pick me up. I used to go home by myself after filming wrapped up. Your work is the most important thing, so don't worry about me. Besides, I've filmed so many movies in the film studio, I've explored the whole place, and I don't want to stay here any longer."
Hearing Lin Leyao say this, Xin Ying pondered for a moment and then agreed.
Lin Leyao hung up the phone, and her gloomy mood improved a lot.
Lin Leyao returned to the banquet hall, where the atmosphere was just as lively as it had been before she left.