Chapter 488: What About Wong Kar-wai?

"... Miss Ni Ni, now that we've finished talking about the movie, can we continue to chat about other things?"

"Of course."

"From what I've heard, when this movie was filming, a big star once went to visit your set. Is this true?"

"Huh? Who... are you talking about?"

"Haha, Miss Ni Ni, what do you think? Of course, it's your good friend, Mr. Chen Nuo."

"Uh..."

"May I ask, did Mr. Chen Nuo visit the set because of you?"

"No, it's because he actually has good relationships with many people in our crew. For example, the male lead Christian Bale, for example, his classmate from the Beijing Film Academy is also in our crew, and Director Zhang Yimou also has a very good relationship with him, so..."

Before she could finish, the reporter interrupted: "Recently, there are rumors on the internet that when you were filming Director Zhang Yiyi's 'The Zhang Zhang Yaba's House' with him, you were once a couple. Is this true?"

"Huh? No, that's all nonsense. I don't have that kind of relationship with him."

"Is that so? But, we got this news from your New Pictures boss, Mr. Zhang. I heard that you two previously..."

"What? Mr. Zhang?"

"Huh?"

"Good morning, Grandpa."

"A-Jun, looking at you like this, are you preparing to go on a long journey again?"

"Ah, yes, going to the mainland to handle some business."

"No way, you're a delivery boy, what business are you handling? Do you have deliveries to send across by boat?"

"Haha, no, just going over to see some relatives."

"Oh, I see. When will you be back?"

"In a couple of days. Why, Grandpa?"

"Oh, it's like this, in a few days, it's Grandpa's birthday, I want to invite you and A-Qi to have a meal."

"..."

"What's wrong? Come and have some fish soup."

"Grandpa, haven't I been coming to drink soup whenever I have time lately?"

"That's right, so you see, your complexion has been much better during this time. Alright, it's settled then. Grandpa will wait for you to come back... Don't look so worried, listen to Grandpa, Grandpa won't harm you."

"Uh............"

"Hey, did you hear what your mother said to you?"

The man's voice came, and Zhang Jiaqi ignored it, picking up a chopstick of food.

The woman continued: "When Grandpa invites him to dinner, you go and see what he's really like. I heard from Grandpa that the person is very handsome, just usually very shy. Although there are some problems with his body, they've mostly recovered. I also met him once a few days ago, and you can't really tell usually. Think about how he almost shattered himself for you that day; such a loyal man is rare these days."

Zhang Jiaqi picked up her wine glass.

"Smack."

"Ah!" Zhang Jiaqi cried out in pain, dissatisfied: "Mom, what are you doing?"

The woman withdrew the chopsticks that had hit Zhang Jiaqi's hand and said calmly: "Young girl, don't drink so much. You won't be able to get married later."

The man said: "You have to listen to what your mother says, A-Qi. We only have you in our family; if there were a second one, your mother and I wouldn't care about you anymore. You need to get married early so we can rest easy. You're 27 this year; if you get any older, you'll only be able to find those divorced men and help them take care of their kids. That's not as good as going with that A-Jun. Although he has no money, at least he lives close to us, so if he hits you, you can run back."

"Hit me?" Zhang Jiaqi laughed in anger. "What right does he have to hit me?"

"What right?" The woman said coldly, "The right of you daydreaming all day long."

"..." I'm not eating anymore." Zhang Jiaqi threw her chopsticks down.

"Every time we talk to you, you stop eating," the man muttered. "Your mother is right, you said you wanted to chase your dreams and be an actor when you were a teenager, but it's been ten years and you're still dreaming. Reading books every day, buying so many, look at under the bed, it's almost full, I ask you, have you..."

"I'm going out." Zhang Jiaqi stood up, picked up the bag by the door, opened the door, and rushed out.

"Hey, you..."

The man's voice came from behind, but the woman ran like the wind, leaving it far behind.

"Daydreaming and flying

Never too far, too abstract

Finally becoming a queen

Or becoming a bride are both ideals

In the square of the era

Everyone will always have a prize..."

An old, slightly outdated song came from a clothing store on the street, the melody brushing past Zhang Jiaqi's ears, but she didn't care.

She was no longer the little girl who would stand at the bus stop fantasizing about being the "next station queen." Besides, one of the two who sang this song had long since fallen from the altar.

She took out her phone and dialed a number.

"Hey, A-Wei, what are you doing? Are you free to go shopping... Ah? You're already working? Really? Who introduced the role to you?... Alright, alright, call me back when you're busy, I'll wait for your call."

The call ended, and Zhang Jiaqi's expression became somewhat complex.

She held that old, paint-chipped iPhone and clicked on another contact.

"Brother Hao, how are you? I'm Kiki. I just heard from A-Wei that you found her a role at TVB. Are there any extra opportunities you can give me?... Ah? It wasn't you? Then I'm sorry, Brother Hao, maybe I got it wrong... You're not free today? I have to go to the countryside to help my mom watch the shop, I'll call you when I get back... Okay, bye Brother Hao."

Zhang Jiaqi made a few more calls, but didn't hear the news she wanted.

Finally, she sighed and clicked a number in her call history to dial out.

"Gigi, are you awake? Do you know that A-Wei found a part in a crew... I'm not joking with you, she just called me and told me, I asked her who introduced it to her, and she wouldn't say... It wasn't Zhang Tianhao, I just asked... Money? I haven't had work for many days, where would I get money to lend you? Alright, I'm hanging up, bye."

Zhang Jiaqi put the phone in her bag, cautiously stepped over a puddle of water on the ground, walked out of the alley, and arrived on the main street.

Before she had walked two steps, there was a newspaper stall on the roadside. An old woman was sitting on a small stool, and seeing her come over, she smiled and said: "A-Qi, "East Week" just came out, do you want a copy?"

"Yes." Zhang Jiaqi walked over, took out 10 dollars from her bag, and handed it over.

"Heavenly King Aaron Kwok secretly meets old flame Lynn Hung, wedding news imminent?"

"Sammi Cheng suspected of quitting 'Love in the Buff II', black-faced throughout the set"

"Twins reunion concert backstage exposed: Do Charlene Choi and Gillian Chung have zero communication in private?"

And the biggest headline among them read—

"Chen Nuo, who has been working in Hong Kong for many days, secretly returns to the mainland, attended the premiere of 'The Flowers of War' yesterday"

Below, there was a picture of a man in a sharp black suit standing on the red carpet, a high-definition photo.

Some say it's because he lost weight for this new movie filmed in Hong Kong, others say it's because his health is poor.

But regardless, in Zhang Jiaqi's eyes, he was born to belong on the red carpet, his whole body shining with a dazzling radiance. With a slight smile, I'm afraid there isn't a woman in the world who wouldn't be captivated by him.

Zhang Jiaqi looked at the photo and saw below the headline, another line of small yellow text:

"Traveling thousands of miles for an appointment, for love or for loyalty? Puzzling."

The corner of the cover also wrote:

"Rumored to have rekindled old love with the latest 'Zhang Girl' Ni Ni. When questioned by reporters on the spot, Chen Nuo didn't say a word, suspected of tacitly agreeing. Things are really getting big! Latest responses from Liu Yifei and Janice Man!"

Zhang Jiaqi put away the magazine and continued walking on the bustling street.

Five minutes later, Zhang Jiaqi walked into a McDonald's, ordered a juice, sat down in a corner, opened the "East Week" she had just bought, and flipped through it page by page amidst the noisy human voices.

The gossip feature report on the inside page was written in large bold letters:

"Rekindled old love? Chen Nuo secretly returns to the mainland for 'The Flowers of War' premiere"

"—Ni Ni, Janice Man, Liu Yifei, who is the true queen?"

Recently, the rumors between Chen Nuo and "The Flowers of War" lead actress Ni Ni have been spreading more and more fiercely. Last May, he specifically went to Nanjing to visit the set, suspected of visiting this old flame. According to informed sources, during the filming of their debut work "The Zhang Zhang Yaba's House" back then, the male and female leads fell in love because of the play, turning fiction into reality.

Later, because of Janice Man's intervention, the two broke up. Ni Ni has always held a grudge about this.

Finally, last May, the two were suspected of rekindling their old love. According to relevant people in "The Flowers of War" crew, during Chen Nuo's visit, he and Ni Ni stayed in the same room late at night, and the woman was only seen leaving at dawn.

The crew subsequently responded that "there is absolutely no such thing," but hotel staff privately stated that the two did indeed live on the same floor, and their entry and exit times highly coincided.

And this time, Chen Nuo, who was originally filming a Hollywood production in Hong Kong hailed as the "Chinese version of 'Game of Thrones'," suddenly returned to the mainland secretly, which is considered to be specifically to support Ni Ni, helping his old flame return to the peak.

What is even more speculative is that at the premiere, when a reporter tried to question Director Zhang Yimou about this, Director Zhang's face turned black on the spot, and he flew into a rage, suspected of being extremely dissatisfied with the internal leak of the crew.

As everyone knows, since Chen Nuo's debut, there have only been two public girlfriends—one is Janice Man, and the current one is Liu Yifei. Now that a "third one" has broken out, the entertainment industry has suddenly exploded, and mainland social media has been on the trending list for three consecutive days. Countless fans feel disappointed and angry, saying that Nuo-zai's love history is rich and inconsistent with previous publicity.

So what is the attitude of his current girlfriend Liu Yifei? Will his former lover Janice Man respond?

Three women fighting for one husband, who is the true queen?

For more reports, please pay attention to the next issue of "East Week," our reporter will bring you exclusive scoops."

After Zhang Jiaqi finished reading, she sighed slightly. Sure enough, it was another headline made up by these weeklies to sell money. There was no substance at all.

As someone who often follows entertainment news, she could tell at a glance that Ni Ni and all that were just gossip hyped up to promote the movie "The Flowers of War."

As for the latest scoops about Liu Yifei and Janice Man mentioned at the end, she dared to bet ten thousand dollars that there would definitely be nothing in the next issue. Now, these entertainment newspapers and magazines in Hong Kong are like this, making up whatever sells well.

After finishing the biggest cover story, she started reading from the beginning again.

Heavenly King Kwok, Sammi Cheng, and Twins... However, in this issue of the weekly, gossip news about Chen Nuo still occupied more than one item.

Besides the rumors that had just spread, there were two other pieces of news.

One was from the United States—it was the "Chinese Theatre cement slab theft incident" that caused a sensation last year.

Zhang Jiaqi remembered that this cement slab later ran to Italy, and someone auctioned this cement slab at an underground auction site in Milan.

And this time, "East Week" reported that this cement slab had inexplicably appeared in the United States again.

It is said that a police station in Florida received an anonymous tip, saying it was hidden in a warehouse by someone. But by the time the police rushed over, the cement slab had disappeared again. Finally, they only found the owner of the warehouse, who was the boss of a freight company and knew nothing about the cement slab. ===== CHAPTER 489 =====