On the way back, the two of them sat in silence.
The driver first dropped Jiang Li off at her place.
When the car pulled over by the roadside, Jiang Li quickly took out her sunglasses and mask from her bag, put them on skillfully, and then glanced out of the window.
This was a deeply ingrained habit.
"No one's around," the man drawled. "You can get out."
Jiang Li didn't trust him. She checked the surroundings first before reaching for the door handle. "Thank you, Mr. Xiao. Goodbye, Mr. Xiao."
After watching her figure disappear, Xiao Yanzhi sat in the car with his eyes closed, concentrating.
"Mr. Xiao, shall we head back to the hotel?"
"Not yet."
After saying these two words, Xiao Yanzhi meant for the car to stay parked here for a while.
Recent events had deviated from his plans, completely disrupting his original rhythm. He had to start over and sort things out bit by bit.
He wanted to stay downstairs for a while.
When Xiao Yuanfeng called, Xiao Yanzhi was still sitting in the car, calm and unmoved.
When the phone rang, he merely lifted his eyes and calmly glanced at the screen.
"In Huacheng?"
Xiao Yanzhi pulled his thoughts back. "Yeah," he replied casually, his tone even. "What do you want?"
"Your mother is lying in the hospital, yet you have the mood to run around." There was a hint of reproach in his words. "You're not a kid anymore. Why are you still so playful?"
"Mom has a nurse. She'll be fine."
"Did you come for Jiang Li?" Xiao Yuanfeng cut straight to the chase.
Xiao Yanzhi's expression remained unchanged. "What does she have to do with this? It's Yaoyao who wants to develop here."
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, as if there was a very faint sigh of impatience.
"You unfilial son."
The conversation between father and son was always very brief.
After hanging up the phone, a text message came in.
[Xiao Yuanfeng: I forgot to mention just now. Try to get Jiang Li to take care of your mother. She has experience.]
Xiao Yanzhi didn't reply.
...
When Jiang Li opened the door and entered her home, Sister Chen and Xiaoye had already prepared dinner. Seeing her come back just in time, they greeted her with smiles.
"I heard Mr. Xiao took you out. I thought you weren't coming back for dinner," Sister Chen said as she placed chopsticks on the table. "Next time, remember to call in advance if you have something to do."
"Got it, Sister Chen."
Jiang Li washed her hands and sat obediently at the table.
When Xiaoye passed by the window, she glanced out and saw a car. She couldn't help but mutter to herself, "Is there another rich person living in our building?"
"What rich person?" Sister Chen immediately became vigilant when she heard this.
The house they were living in now was carefully selected by Sister Chen after a long time. She deliberately avoided all kinds of people, fearing that Jiang Li would be targeted by paparazzi or rich people.
If someone followed them here, it meant they would have to move.
"There's a Maybach sedan parked downstairs," Xiaoye said as she clicked her tongue. "It looks quite new. It should be a newly bought one."
Hearing this, Jiang Li suddenly felt panicked. She immediately pushed her chair back and walked over. Sure enough, it was the same car that Xiao Yanzhi had been in just now.
Seeing Jiang Li's reaction, Sister Chen understood what was going on. The stone in her heart that had been lifted just now finally fell. She called Xiaoye, "It should be Mr. Xiao. Stop looking. Come and have dinner quickly."
As long as it wasn't someone else, it was okay.
Jiang Li quickly returned to her chair, but she ate absent-mindedly.
When Xiaoye passed by the window again, she couldn't help but take another look. "Wow, the new Maybach is gone. Mr. Xiao didn't even come up for a visit."
After dinner, they cleaned up the house and went back to their rooms to rest.
Jiang Li was called into Sister Chen's room.
As soon as the door was closed, Sister Chen motioned for her to come over and sit on the chair by the bed.
Jiang Li was confused, but she still sat down in front of Sister Chen. "Sister Chen, what do you want to talk to me about?"
"Let's have a chat."
Sister Chen's eyes were very perceptive. "What did you do today?"
Jiang Li's eyes flickered for a second, but she quickly composed herself. "I didn't do anything. I just went for a walk with Mr. Xiao in the west of the city."
Sister Chen didn't hesitate. "Jiang Li, are you lying to me?"
Jiang Li said, "You're as good at seeing people as you were four years ago."
"It's not that I'm good at seeing people," Sister Chen sighed and looked at her worriedly. "It's that I know you well."
Just the way Jiang Li had been absent-minded and pretending to be calm during dinner could only fool Xiaoye and Jingyi.
But it couldn't fool Sister Chen.
No matter how capable the little girl was, she couldn't escape her eyes.
Jiang Li nodded helplessly and even smiled. "It's nothing serious. I just went for a psychological examination today."
"What's the result?"
"Bipolar disorder."
Jiang Li deliberately said it very casually. "But the doctor said it's only in the middle stage for now. It can be treated with medication, and it definitely won't affect my work."
When she said the last sentence, Jiang Li sounded extremely confident.
"Where's the medicine?" Sister Chen pressed on.
Jiang Li paused and didn't dare to look Sister Chen in the eye. "It's... in a box in the corridor storage area."
She didn't dare to bring it into the house when she came upstairs. Seeing the sundries piled up in the corridor, she just stuffed it into an empty box.
She originally planned to sneak out and get it into her room later.
The room fell into silence.
Sister Chen was usually very kind, but when it came to serious issues, she was never lenient. She wouldn't make any exceptions for Jiang Li either.
After a long time, Sister Chen heaved a heavy sigh. "Lili, do you think—"
"I'm sorry!" Seeing that she couldn't hide it anymore, Jiang Li immediately clasped her hands together and lowered her head to apologize. "I didn't mean to hide it from you. I just didn't know how to tell you yet, and this matter might affect my acting career, so I..."
"So you were worried that if I knew you had a mental illness, I would think you wouldn't be able to get any more scripts in the future and would abandon you as an artist?"
Sister Chen took a deep breath. She said this very calmly, but it was obvious that she was questioning Jiang Li.
Jiang Li squeezed her palms, knowing that her concealment had hurt Sister Chen's feelings.
But she couldn't be blamed for being so cautious.
Three years ago, when the popular movie queen Sang Yuhua was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, her reputation plummeted. No entertainment company was willing to take her in, and even her veteran agent of ten years abandoned her.
Since then, she had fallen from grace and never had the opportunity to act again.
Jiang Li had once co-starred with Sang Yuhua and knew how influential she was in the industry and how large her fan base was.
It was really a pity that she had fallen just because of bipolar disorder.
That was why she was so afraid.
She was afraid that she would become the second Sang Yuhua.
There was a lot of timidity and hesitation hidden in Jiang Li's lowered eyelashes.
Sister Chen stared at her intently, knowing what she was thinking. "Lili, I'm not Sang Yuhua's agent, and you're not Sang Yuhua. Do you understand?"