A Billion Stars Can’t Amount to You

The morning rush-hour traffic was bad. After he hung up the phone, He Jichen sat in the car and waited forty minutes for Chen Bai to arrive.

When Chen Bai saw He Jichen all dejected, his face looked stunned for a moment. After two seconds, he spoke with a discreetly cautious tone, ”Mr. He.”

At the sound of his voice, He Jichen turned and glanced at Chen Bai. He gave a gentle nod in reply but didn’t say anything then got right out of his car, pulled open the door to Chen Bai’s car and took a seat.

Mr. He’s wearing the same clothes from yesterday, his hair is messy, there’s some stubble on his chin, his face looks pale white, and there’s an intense look of exhaustion on his face... He couldn’t have stayed in the car all night long after leaving the office yesterday, right?

Chen Bai stood by the car with a blank look.

He Jichen saw that Chen Bai was taking ages to get into the car so he knocked twice against the window.

Startled by the noise, Chen Bai suddenly snapped to attention and hurriedly got in.

When he started the car up, Chen bai shot a few glances at He Jichen through the rearview mirror.

He was probably tired as he was lying back in his seat and had his eyes closed like he was sleeping.

Chen Bai knew He Jichen hadn’t slept. After he shifted around in the car, he softly said, ”Mr. He, are we...”

Chen Bai wanted to say ”going to the office,” but seeing how awful He Jichen looked, he decided to say: ”... going to your apartment first?”

”No...” quickly replied He Jichen to Chen Bai. ”... to the office.”

”But...”

Before Chen Bai could finish, He Jichen realized what Chen Bai wanted to say and he added with his eyes shut: ”There’s a set of clothes at the office.”

”Yes.”

Chen Bai responded quickly but didn’t say anything more and concentrated on driving.

The car slipped into silence.

At the back of the car, He Jichen looked like he was fast asleep as his breaths became slow and drawn out.

Chen Bai suddenly felt a lot more comfortable while staring straight at the road ahead. He didn’t seem as rigid as before.

Halfway into their journey, Chen Bai suddenly heard a voice from behind: ”How’s the investment going for ’Jiuchong Palace’?”

Huh! Mr. He isn’t asleep!

Chen Bai was so shocked that his leg shook and he almost hit the emergency brakes. Luckily, his reflexes were fast enough to control himself. As he let out an inaudible sigh of relief, he politely replied, ”We’re almost at our destination.”

”When is ’Jiuchong Palace’ scheduled to start shooting?”

”May.”

May. It’s just March... There are two more months... That’s too long... He Jichen thought about it for a moment then said, ”When’s the earliest we can start shooting?”

Chen Bai pondered it for a moment then replied, ”Early April.”

He Jichen remained silent for a moment then said, ”We have to start shooting on March 20th. I know it’ll be a little difficult, but if we push it, we can make it in time.”

”I can fight for it,” said Chen Bai.

He Jichen didn’t reply.

The car fell silent once again.

After some time, He Jichen spoke again but with a more sluggish tone of voice: ”How much did Qian Ge’s company’s stocks fall?”

”It’s been falling for two consecutive days now. I’m guessing it’ll fall today too,” replied Chen Bai.

”After today’s decrease, start buying stocks for Qian Ge’s studio tomorrow.”

”Mr. He, isn’t it a little too early? We could wait a little more. Qian Ge’s stocks will continue to fall for a week at least...”