Many people came to the movie premiere. Although Zhou Paihuai had dressed up carefully, she still chickened out when it came time to go to the theater. She didn't go in with Ji Anxi, but only went in with her ticket when the movie was about to start.
When Ji Anxi went in, she didn't hide her face. Everyone took pictures and asked questions. In addition, Zhou Paihuai entered at a very good time, so no one noticed her for a while.
As soon as Zhou Paihuai sat down, the movie's theme song began to play, and the theater gradually quieted down. Taking advantage of the darkness, Ji Anxi handed her a large bucket of popcorn. She grabbed a handful and focused her attention on the movie.
The film tells the story of Princess Hua Ling, played by Ji Anxi, from her early childhood when she was being cared for, to her return after completing her studies and protecting her people; Hua Ling is constantly growing...
Ji Anxi must have poured a lot of emotion into the film; she was in a very bad state during the scene where the Kingdom of Chuyun was trampled by iron cavalry. However, when watching the movie, I didn't feel that way anymore; it's inevitable to feel out of place when watching your own film.
Just as she was about to whisper a few words to Zhou Paihuai when no one was looking, she turned her head and could see tears in the corners of her eyes in the dim light of the screen.
The two were close, and Ji Anxi naturally knew that Zhou Paihuai was an extremely emotional person in private. But... even if he was emotional, he shouldn't have cried over this movie, right? Even if he wanted to cry, he should have waited until Hua Ling sacrificed herself, shouldn't he?
Zhou Paihuai was so focused on being touched that she didn't know what Ji Anxi was thinking. She didn't even react when Ji Anxi gently pushed her arm, and said softly with a nasal tone, "Stop fooling around!"
"... ..." Hey, this isn't someone accompanying me to the premiere at all; she's clearly here to watch the movie by herself. And she still thinks she's so thoughtful. But to be honest, she's not really angry. Her reaction just proves she acted well.
Two hours passed quickly. Zhou Paihuai, who had just come out of the movie world, subconsciously reached out to hold Xiao Heifen's hand, but just as he was about to touch her, he heard the sound of a camera shutter.
Zhou Paihuai withdrew his hand as quickly as lightning, silently giving himself a thumbs up in his heart: His reaction was incredibly fast!
Seeing a group of people gathering around, Zhou Paihuai knew this was a very experienced person. It was rare to catch the person in question, and they would definitely interrogate Ji Anxi about her movie review. It would be strange for him to stay behind.
Seeing that she was about to leave, the restless Ji Anxi called out to her directly: "This audience member, you just finished watching the movie, what are your thoughts?"
Wow, that's really bold!
However, considering her disguise, Zhou Paihuai wasn't too worried. She faced the camera confidently and said, "Anxi, you looked so beautiful in the movie! I spent half of the two-hour movie drooling over you. I love you, I love you the most..."
Her voice was so sweet and cloying, she sounded like a little fangirl.
"It seems this viewer is a fan of Anxi. Thank you for your cooperation. Now let's see what Anxi thinks of her first film—"
The reporter was quite surprised to be suddenly presented with a punk rocker in front of the camera, but her good professional ethics allowed her to adjust her expression in time. After Zhou Paihuai finished speaking, she turned the camera back to Ji Anxi.
Ji Anxi glanced at Zhou Paihuai beside her and said, "I appreciate the fans' love for me, but I think her fan filter is too thick. After all, I'm just a newcomer in this industry, and I still have a lot of room for improvement in the future."
Later, videos of the two together were posted online, keeping it a secret from the vast majority of netizens.
However, when Cheng Minxin saw the video, she recognized Zhou Paihuai at a glance. She could easily understand Ji Anxi's ulterior motive for calling Zhou Paihuai over; she just wanted to stand in front of the camera together, making it look like an official announcement.
Also, what do you mean by "fan filter"? It's clearly a "girlfriend filter"! The way the two of them stand together is just unbearable to look at.
... ...
An hour after the movie ended, Ji Anxi and Zhou Paihuai finally made it home safely.
Before she could even settle into her seat, Zhou Paihuai's phone rang. She answered it, her expression instantly turning strange. After exchanging a few more words with the person on the other end, she hurriedly hung up.
"What's wrong?" After hanging up the phone, the person stood there dumbfounded, frozen in one position on the sofa for seven or eight minutes.
“You probably won’t believe it!” Zhou Paihuai paused for a moment, “I’m trending again.”
Today is the premiere of "Turbulent Times" and the premiere of Ji Anxi's new movie, but Wu Fei, Tan Xue, and Ji Anxi are not trending on social media. Instead, Zhou Paihuai is trending.
"Huh? Why?" Ji Anxi thought someone had some kind of supernatural ability and recognized her by her flamboyant hairstyle.
Zhou Paihuai handed her the phone and said, "See? The three of you really have no class!"
The top trending topics included discussions about how wicked Sheng Huanyan was, Zhou Paihuai's acting skills, and even speculation that she had been blacklisted again, which explained her lack of promotion for her new drama. Of course, some so-called insiders also came forward to claim she had retired from the entertainment industry...
"Yes, you're the most famous person in the universe!" Ji Anxi casually scrolled down, becoming more and more shocked. Finally, she couldn't help but ask her, "There isn't a single video of the two of us together today! What are those reporters doing?"
"So you did this on purpose today?"
"But it wasn't of any use!" Ji Anxi spread her hands, showing no embarrassment at being exposed.
Zhou looked up at her and asked, "Are you sleepy today?"
Ji Anxi shook her head and said, "What do you want to do?"
"I've seen so many discussions about my acting skills, let's watch the show together!" Zhou Huapai said enthusiastically. She really enjoyed playing this role when she played it, and the original owner of the character even came back to play it for a while in the middle, so it must have been very enjoyable.
Ji Anxi had no reason to refuse, and sat down next to Zhou Paihuai while holding Wangcai.
In the drama, Sheng Huanyan kills people as soon as she appears. Her beautiful eyebrows and eyes are full of malice and viciousness. The barrage of comments is almost all criticizing her. The rational comments only criticize the character design, but some people also bring up Zhou Paihuai himself.
Ji Anxi couldn't help but take out her phone to reply to these comments one by one. She was such a nice person, how could she be malicious? How lucky she was to see the side of her that she didn't show to others, and to have her affection.
"Is Sheng Huanyan too ugly? Do you want to look at me to cleanse your eyes?" Zhou Huaihuai felt her burning gaze.
Ji Anxi hugged her and kissed her on the cheek, saying, "Yes, you are so beautiful that I can't help myself."
Zhou lingered and hugged her back, kissing her on the lips... As for the TV and the comments, who cares? Let them watch it!
Chapter 101 Protecting the Little Crispy
Ji Anxi's birthday is in a few days.
This is Ji Anxi's second birthday since the two got together. Last time, Ji Anxi was busy filming and couldn't find the time to celebrate properly.
This time, Zhou Paihuai inquired about Ji Anxi's work schedule several days in advance and even begged Cheng Minxin to give her a few days off.
"What are you planning to do?" Cheng Minxin asked casually, knowing that she had prepared a surprise.
Zhou Paihuai was a little embarrassed and said, "I won two plane tickets to H City in an online lottery a few days ago..." Her face turned slightly red, and she couldn't continue the story.
"The flight ticket isn't for Ji Anxi's birthday, is it?"
“Of course not!” Zhou Huaihuai retorted loudly, then whispered, “It was the day before her birthday.”
Okay, Zhou Paihuai is willing to admit that the plane ticket wasn't won in an online lottery at all; she bought it herself.
When Zhou was little, she wasn't sure if she would ever meet someone she truly loved, but she dreamed that if she did, she would go see the sea with that person. H City, a famous "island," boasts beautiful scenery and is perfect for couples to travel together.
Cheng Minxin was well aware of her little scheme, but since helping others was a good quality, she instructed, "Remember, whatever you do, don't get photographed."
If the two were photographed together in City A, it could be explained that they are good friends. But if they were photographed together in City H, no amount of explanation could clarify the situation.
"Don't worry, with my camouflage skills, how could I possibly be photographed?"
Cheng Minxin recalled the video she had seen, her expression somewhat complicated: "No matter what, we still need to be careful. It's better to be safe than sorry. Anxi is currently in the rising phase of her career."
Zhou Paihuai nodded and said, "Sister Cheng, I want to give Anxi a surprise, so could you pretend to arrange a job for her?"
Cheng Minxin nodded, determined to help.
... ...
With her birthday approaching, Zhou Paihuai made no move to celebrate, and Cheng Minxin even arranged a business trip for her, leaving Ji Anxi extremely frustrated.
"Is it really absolutely necessary to go? Can I protest?"
Cheng Minxin shook her head and said, "It's a really important event that you need to attend. Everything is already prepared in H City."
Ji Anxi was someone who didn't like to trouble others, so when she heard that someone in H City was waiting for her, she took back her refusal: "Alright then."
When I got home, I saw Zhou wandering around playing on the computer by himself and said, "I'm going to H City tomorrow!"
Zhou's fingers hovered over the keyboard, seemingly oblivious to the trouble her character was facing, which prevented her from even turning her head. She replied dismissively, "Thank you for your hard work."
"..." Ji Anxi said angrily, "What's the date today?"
Zhou, amidst his "busy schedule," glanced at the computer screen and said, "June 18th—"
That was all? June 20th is her birthday, the two dates are so close, and Zhou Paihuai didn't react at all. Does that mean once you've won someone over, they're worthless? What a scumbag!
Ji Anxi was angry, but she couldn't say it. She couldn't very well point to the calendar and tell Zhou Paihuai that it was her birthday and ask her to prepare a birthday present for her, could she? She simply couldn't bring herself to do such a thing.
Hearing Ji Anxi enter the bathroom, Zhou Paihuai stopped typing. To be honest, when she heard Xiao Heifen's slightly aggrieved voice, she almost broke down and told her the truth.
"I'm a little tired today, so I'm going to my room to sleep!"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Huaihuai immediately realized that things were getting serious. Had she really angered him? Although literary works often employ the technique of building suspense before revealing the truth, she had done all this to please Ji Anxi. Trying to make amends after angering him would be pointless.
"What's wrong? How about I give you a massage?" Zhou Paihuai followed closely inside.
Ji Anxi should have told her to leave, but seeing her follow her in, her anger inexplicably subsided. She said, "Play games with me, you can be my support!"
What is this request? Nevertheless, Zhou Paihuai nodded and said, "Okay, I promise to scout out the bushes for you thoroughly, so you can focus on dealing damage."
"You said it!"
Seeing the wicked grin on Xiao Heifen's face, Zhou Huaihuai had a bad feeling, and this feeling reached its peak the moment she entered the Peak Canyon.
During the hero selection phase, Ji Anxi hesitated for a while before finally choosing Qikachi, a squishy marksman with almost no self-destruct ability. However, if he were to develop properly, his late-game damage would be invincible.
The ADC pick was fine. Zhou Paihuai thought for a moment and locked in the support hero, Bao Si. It sounded very domineering, but it looked very cute, round like a steamed bun, so everyone called it "Bao Zi".
"Baozi" has three healing abilities and two crowd control skills, making him the most common support hero paired with Qikachi. Zhou Paihuai was confident he could protect Ji Anxi.
Upon entering the game, Ji Anxi calmly went to farm the lane. Since his own jungle was relatively weak, Zhou Paihuai chose to help the jungler clear a wave of jungle camps first, then helped the jungler invade the enemy jungle, and even used his control skills to help the jungler get the first kill.
What should have been a joyous occasion turned into a nightmare when Ji Anxi started typing in all chat: "See? My support is amazing, isn't he? With a support like that, you guys definitely can't kill me!"
That's a sentence that's sure to incite hatred.
Zhou resignedly moved from the jungle to the bottom lane, not even daring to return to base to replenish her health and mana. Hearing this, anyone on the opposing team who could read would gank her, even if it meant sacrificing minions and jungle resources.
Sure enough, just as Zhou Paihuai circled around from his own jungle to the tower, he caught a glimpse of the enemy mid laner and jungler "whoosh" and crouched in the bushes.
It's too late to go home now. Zhou is in poor condition, but Ji Anxi isn't at full health either. There's only one health potion under the tower.
Thinking of his vow to protect her just ten minutes ago, Zhou Paihuai reluctantly gave up the health pack: "Go and use the health pack to fully restore your health. There are four enemies on the other side!"
Ji Anxi didn't hold back and used the arrow keys to guide the little figure on the screen to the blood pack.
Just then, the enemy marksman suddenly appeared in front of the two of them, moving around while returning to base.
She started by stirring up trouble for Zhou Huahuai, but Ji Anxi wasn't really trying to get herself killed. Zhou Huahuai had already said that there were four people on the other side, so she definitely wouldn't be provoked by such a small trick.
But with four opponents, they naturally didn't take the two squishy marksmen and the low-health support seriously, and charged the tower with their interference skills activated.
While Zhou Paihuai activated interference to counteract the opponent's interference status, she also had to quickly release her skills. Whether or not she could keep someone alive was not important; the most important thing was to prevent their skills from hitting Ji Anxi. She had to protect this fragile little girl.
Chapter 102 Where is Zhou Paihuai?
Where is Zhou Paihuai?
Both players were of high rank, so the opponents they were matched with were also skilled. The support had low health and poor condition, and despite Ren Zhou's skillful maneuvers, he still lost his life under the tower.