C3 Call Someone Else

And so it was that Yanxi let loose like a madwoman in the ungodly hours of dawn. She yanked the refrigerator doors open and hauled everything out, throwing them into the trash.

'How fitting', she thought. Her rampage was somewhat comparable to how Tiancheng had trampled on her heart and discarded it like garbage.

Daylight soon came, and five o'clock saw Yanxi dragging her luggage out of the house while Tiancheng was still fast asleep.

Jin Xiaolu and her assistant were already waiting for her outside. They had taken the company car to shuttle them all to the airport.

Xiaolu took one glance at her friend's miserable face and hurried over to help her with her suitcase.

"Cheer up, Yanxi! Consider this next month as a holiday trip, I'm sure we'll have lots of fun!"

"Mm…"

Yanxi replied tentatively.

Their schedule proceeded as planned, and they flew out of the country at exactly 7 A.M.

Despite this, Xiaolu found herself treading carefully around Yanxi the entire time. She had initially wanted to brief the other woman on their itinerary, but Yanxi's mood made it difficult to breach the subject.

She finally sighed and put the documents aside before facing her friend. "Let me be honest with you, Yanxi. When you first told me that you and that bastard are getting a divorce, I felt happy and relieved."

Her words had a visible effect on Yanxi, who seemed to have frozen for a few seconds. Then she turned to the window and looked outside, saying nothing.

"Yanxi, look. If it weren't for your sham of a marriage, we both know that you would have been as famous as your sister, Zhi. Maybe even more so! I still can't understand how you could have easily turned your back on the most prestigious entertainment circles just like that."

The regret in Xiaolu's voice was unmistakable.

In her own humble opinion, Qin Yanxi was more than capable of making a name for herself in the industry, surpassing even the fame of her own sister. Sadly, though, she had to turn down all the opportunities that emerged over the years, and all for a simple reason一her husband didn't like her showing her face in public. There was even a point when Yanxi had seriously contemplated leaving show business for good. Luckily, Xiaolu had managed to persuade her against this decision. After all, she knew that film and television had always been part of Yanxi's greatest dreams.

"I'm sorry,"

Yanxi now said, her voice low, her head slightly bowed. "I'm sure you could have just managed other, more notable artists, and yet you never gave up on me. I am so grateful to you, Xiaolu, really."

The agent only chuckled. "I'm holding on to you because I have big expectations for your future! Trust me, okay? One day you're going to be the biggest star and everyone's going to look up to you. But for that to happen, I need you to stop wasting your life on a scumbag like Bai Tiancheng. You can't throw away a promising career just for him, he's not worth it!"

Yanxi smiled timidly. "I will do my best to meet your expectations."

Unbeknownst to her, Jin Xiaolu's words would indeed come to pass. Yanxi would truly reach the peak of the industry, and she would be wanted and envied by everyone around her. And as an added bonus, she would also live to crush Bai Tiancheng and his mistress. But all of this was still waiting for her in the distant future.

Days went by in a busy blur, and on the fifth day, Yanxi couldn't help but lament the fact that Bai Tiancheng still hadn't called her even once.

It ate at her. He was like a nasty wound festering in her heart, rotting with each day that passed.

That night after they finished shooting for a magazine, she excused herself from the team and told Xiaolu that she wanted to take a walk by herself to clear her head.

She walked and walked, aimlessly, along the bright city lights of Japan. Her feet eventually stopped in front of a bustling night club.

Yanxi stared through the glass door at the lively scene unfolding inside of the establishment, with its loud music pulsing through the walls in muted bass beats. Then, as though in a daze, she began to walk inside.

Perhaps this was what she had needed all along, to get piss drunk and forget about everything.

It wouldn't hurt then, would it?

She secured a spot at the bar and got comfortable. She lost count of the glasses she was downing, but she knew that it was the first time she had ever drunk so much.

Cute, good-looking boys would come up and try to talk to her sometimes, most of them Japanese. They seemed awfully at home at the night club.

Yanxi ignored all of them. At some point in the night, she took out her phone. Fueled by the alcohol in her system, she decided to call Bai Tiancheng

"Tiancheng, what are you doing?"

she cried.

His response was aloof as usual. "I'm very busy, Qin Yanxi. If you have something to say, talk to my secretary."

"But it's so late at night, what could you possibly be doing..." she paused to gulp another mouthful of wine. "Always telling me to talk to your secretary, are you stupid? I'm married to you, not your secretary!" And then she started to sob.

"Qin Yanxi, did you drink?" Tiancheng demanded in a serious tone,

and her heart did a silly little flip.

"You're still worried about me, aren't you?" she asked with a wide grin.

"Worried?" Tiancheng scoffed. "Quit deluding yourself. If you want to get drunk, be my guest! But go drunk dial someone else, because I don't have time for you and your desperate antics. I'm hanging up."