An arrangement? What arrangement?

Holding the freshly signed agreement in her hand, Chen Ruowen returned to the hotel in high spirits.

Everything that needed to be done was now complete. All that remained was to await the results of the competition the day after tomorrow… Oh, nearly forgot—after the contest, there was a wrap party, and then some business banquet scheduled for the twentieth.

Chen Ruowen flipped through her calendar. The eighteenth happened to be a Saturday; the nineteenth she could spare a day for sightseeing. So she decided to book her flight for Tuesday the twenty-first, returning to school on Wednesday. She sent her requirements to Chen Liwan’s assistant, Xiao Zhao, asking him to arrange the tickets and the car for her return journey.

Zhao Yan was Chen Liwan’s special assistant—not only responsible for conveying his instructions to the company, but also for managing his personal schedule, always on call, twenty-four hours a day.

According to Chen Liwan, an assistant must be selected and cultivated personally to become a trusted confidant. As Ruowen hadn’t officially joined Twin Stars yet, if anything came up, it was usually handled by an assistant named Pan. However, Assistant Pan hadn’t accompanied them to North City this time, so Xiao Zhao had to take charge.

Xiao Zhao replied swiftly, saying that Chen Liwan would also be returning to North City the same day. He sent over a highlighted itinerary, asking if Ruowen would travel with Chen Liwan or separately.

“Let’s go together. Arrange it as you see fit,” Ruowen answered, having no special requests. Since Chen Liwan was heading to South City that day as well, traveling together would save a lot of trouble.

“Alright!” Xiao Zhao quickly responded, sending flight details and airport pickup information. Ruowen glanced at the key points he’d marked, then tossed her phone aside.

There were more pressing matters at hand.

Checking the time, Ruowen sighed and opened her email.

Every night at eight, Bai Jingyan would send her the day’s exam papers and notes—punctual as an alarm clock. Yet tonight, despite refreshing the inbox several times, no new mail appeared. Just as she was puzzling over this, her phone rang; she glanced at the screen and saw that it was Bai Jingyan calling.

“Why so early today?” Ruowen exclaimed gleefully, abandoning her notebook and throwing herself onto the bed.

“I received your email,” Bai Jingyan paused, his voice softening a little. “Why are you sleeping so late?”

“Too much to do,” Ruowen replied offhandedly, seizing the chance to complain. “I’m so busy every day and still have to squeeze in time for your exam papers, Bai Jingyan—don’t you feel a bit guilty?”

“I’ve never asked you to do them at two or three in the morning…” Bai Jingyan lowered his voice, concealing his concern as much as possible. “If you have so much to deal with, why not put the papers aside? Why make yourself so tired?”

“But if I don’t do the papers, you won’t call me!” Ruowen protested loudly.

Last time, Bai Jingyan had promised readily to call her, but then added a condition: Ruowen had to revise diligently every day as he instructed, or the phone calls would be off. Not only off, but even if Ruowen called him, he wouldn’t answer.

Ruowen, skeptical, tried calling twice, but Bai Jingyan stuck to his principles and didn’t pick up, forcing her to comply and study as he required.

“All this effort for just one call from you. Isn’t it hard for me?” Ruowen said.

Bai Jingyan apologized good-naturedly, admitting he hadn’t considered things thoroughly, urging her not to stay up so late in the future, then asked about her recent life.

Ruowen immediately perked up, rattling off yesterday’s business secrets from the meeting without a hint of reservation, finally letting out a long breath.

“The issue with the program team is finally settled. Didn’t expect that Gao Tang would have so many ideas—though he talks too much.”

“Gao Tang…” Bai Jingyan repeated the name of the legendary young master from the Wan Guo Group.

He rarely heard other men’s names from Ruowen, but today, within one phone call, she mentioned this person two or three times. Bai Jingyan couldn’t help but take notice.

“They say the young master from Wan Guo is quite handsome. What did you think when you met him?”

Ruowen replied carelessly, “He’s alright—a bit showy, to be honest.”

Bai Jingyan’s grip on the phone tightened, his speech quickening unconsciously. “If you admit it, he must really be handsome.”

Ruowen found it odd—since when did Bai Jingyan care so much about another man’s looks?

“Do you want to see a photo?” she asked.

“You have a photo?” Bai Jingyan’s voice sounded distorted. “Handsome enough for you to sneak a picture?”

“What are you talking about…” Ruowen was speechless. She scrolled through her phone, found a frontal shot of Gao Tang, and forwarded it.

“He posted a picture at the airport in his moments today; I happened to see it.”

“You’ve added him on WeChat…” Bai Jingyan’s tone was hard to read.

He opened the photo Ruowen sent. The man in the picture wore a flashy shirt and white casual pants, looking as if he’d just returned from a seaside holiday. He dragged a suitcase, gazing at the camera over sunglasses perched on his nose, smiling.

From the photo, Gao Tang’s face could easily outshine ninety-nine percent of young idols in the entertainment industry. No wonder the usually picky Ruowen admitted he looked “showy.”

Bai Jingyan suddenly didn’t know what to say.

“In my experience, this photo is definitely staged. Why would a rich second-generation guy, who’s not in showbiz, take airport photos? I don’t get it.”

Listening to Ruowen’s complaints, Bai Jingyan didn’t respond, instead falling into an odd silence.

“Hey, why aren’t you saying anything?” Ruowen asked, puzzled.

A long, quiet sigh came through the phone; Bai Jingyan seemed to return to himself.

“Ruowen, when are you coming back?” he asked, his tone so gentle that Ruowen wondered if she was imagining things.

“I miss you,” he said.

Ruowen: “……”

(/▽＼=)

Suddenly saying that—how embarrassing! (/▽＼=)

“What did you just say?” Ruowen asked, incredulous.

“When are you coming back?”

“Not that—what you said after.”

Bai Jingyan chuckled softly but didn’t repeat himself, deftly changing the subject.

“I remember you said filming ends on the eighteenth, so you should be back in South City at the latest the day after tomorrow?”

Ruowen quickly checked her schedule, then, a little disheartened, put her calendar away.

“There’s a banquet on the twentieth. I’ll probably be back on the twenty-first.”

Bai Jingyan didn’t say much more, just reminded her to take care of herself, then hung up under the pretext of going to class.

Lying on her bed, staring at the hotel ceiling, Ruowen grew increasingly restless. She spent about half a second debating, then decisively called Zhao Yan.

“Xiao Zhao, change my flight to the eighteenth. Any flight will do, first class or economy—I don’t care. Just make sure I can be at the gate of South City No. 1 High School before nine in the evening.”

Zhao Yan was clearly at a loss.

“Miss, all your arrangements are finalized, and Chairman Chen said you absolutely must attend the banquet on the twentieth!”

Ruowen snorted, adopting her usual imperious tone for decisions.

“Arrangements? What arrangements? Haven’t received any. Make new ones.”