Still Frame Chapter 39

Chapter 39 The Face That Launched a Thousand Ships

“It was just a club activity. I joined because I wanted to.”

Wen Jin’s voice pulled Zhang Liuxin’s thoughts back.

Zhang Liuxin subconsciously said, “It was only those few times. You never came back after that, and that book… you didn’t give it back to me.”

Wen Jin said, “I thought you didn’t care.”

Zhang Liuxin was stunned.

“The book is in the study. Didn’t you see it?”

Of course Zhang Liuxin had seen it. After moving into Wenfei Terrace, Zhong Sixun had instructed him not to enter the study, but one day after Camellia arrived, the cat snuck into the study and couldn’t be called out. He had no choice but to go in and retrieve the cat, and that was when he happened to see a book in a prominent position on the bookshelf. It looked out of place among a stack of heavy professional books. When he picked it up, he realized it was the book he had lent to Wen Jin during his freshman year.

Wen Jin had already turned a page and changed the subject, asking, “You had a college classmate who later also worked at Silver Mirror Station?”

“Li Hangzhou?”

“Mm.”

In Zhang Liuxin’s memory, Wen Jin and Li Hangzhou had barely met, so he didn’t understand why Wen Jin would care so much. He nodded and said, “Yes, he was in the Entertainment Department.”

When mentioning Li Hangzhou, Zhang Liuxin actually felt a little regretful, but life was always full of various regrets, so this one was not a big deal.

He originally thought the questioning would end there, but unexpectedly, Wen Jin immediately followed up: “He had feelings for you.”

The tone was very certain.

Zhang Liuxin’s hand trembled, and a puzzle piece fell back into the box. Wen Jin reached out, took the piece out again, and placed it in the pile Zhang Liuxin had sorted.

He didn’t understand why Wen Jin would suddenly bring this up, or how he knew about it.

“It was a long time ago.”

One day, he saw Li Hangzhou at Silver Mirror Station. The other party looked surprised. They also had dinner together once. Li Hangzhou brought up Tian Ke, saying Tian Ke had gone to another state after graduating from college. He also understood what happened back then and apologized to him on Tian Ke’s behalf.

Later, Wen Jin came to the TV station to pick him up from work, and they ran into Li Hangzhou in the parking lot. The other party seemed hesitant to speak, perhaps wanting to ask about this sudden marriage, but ultimately didn’t open his mouth.

“I knew it,” Wen Jin closed the book, stood up with an indifferent expression, first turned on the light, and then walked to the bed, asking him, “How long are you going to keep puzzling?”

Was it because he had been thinking about his college days recently? Zhang Liuxin wondered why Wen Jin’s temper felt so unpredictable again, unlike when they were in Silver State, where Wen Jin almost always played the role of the perfect, gentle, and considerate husband.

If what he experienced in Silver State was a perfect love, planned and arranged, and displayed by Wen Jin—a cup of honey water that tasted bitter only to him—then now, what he felt was a more vivid and concrete emotion. Was this also love? Zhang Liuxin didn’t know. He didn’t even know if this was good or bad.

No matter when, he always played the role of the loser in relationships. It was like this in college, where a single expression from Wen Jin or a word about Wen Jin from someone else could keep him awake all night. It was the same now, only the question he pondered had changed from “Should I continue to like Wen Jin?” to “Should Wen Jin and I continue the way we interacted in Silver State?”

Before he could figure out an answer, Wen Jin had already lifted the corner of the quilt: “What time is it?”

Zhang Liuxin tidied up the things on the table, turned off the light, and climbed into bed. Unconsciously, he had completely adapted to sharing a bed with Wen Jin now. Neither he nor Wen Jin needed to work overtime; he wouldn’t write scripts late into the night, and Wen Jin wouldn’t be busy at the Academy of Sciences until dawn.

“Good night.” Zhang Liuxin tucked the quilt in.

“Good night,” Wen Jin said.

The next morning, after returning from buying groceries at the market, he saw Feng Xi, whom they had met last night, was back in the shop, carrying a stack of newspapers.

“Xiao Xi came to deliver the papers. Take a look,” Tu Huisha called out from the back kitchen.

“Okay, thank you, Sister Hui.”

Zhang Liuxin saw Feng Xi’s eyes following Wen Jin, staring intently at his back.

“Thank you,” Zhang Liuxin took the newspaper. “Do you need anything else?”

Feng Xi smiled and shrugged: “Nothing else. I’ll just sit for a bit.”

A guest was a guest, so Zhang Liuxin couldn’t say anything to him. He nodded, indicating that Feng Xi was welcome to stay.

“Where are you and your husband from?”

Zhang Liuxin didn’t expect Feng Xi to ask directly. He replied, “Silver State.”

“Oh,” Feng Xi peered toward the back kitchen and asked, “Does he not speak Bernlinian? Why did you come to this small town?”

Zhang Liuxin didn’t have time to entertain the child. The look in Feng Xi’s eyes toward Wen Jin seemed obvious enough. He shook his head and didn’t reply.

Just then, Wen Jin came out. He saw the person by the table, showed no expression, and flipped through the new newspaper.

The atmosphere among the three was subtle. Feng Xi smiled and stood up, just about to speak to Wen Jin, when Wen Jin walked over to Zhang Liuxin with the newspaper, pointing to a corner on it and saying, “What does this say?”

Zhang Liuxin looked over and saw the byline of a Silver State media outlet, a strange name called “Behind the Curtain,” which exposed a couple in Silver State, widely believed to have a good relationship, claiming their marriage was actually a contractual one and everything they displayed was an act.

Zhang Liuxin frowned. The report didn’t name names or provide many details, nor did it include photos, but he felt it was very strange.

Why would such a small media outlet submit a report to Bernlin State?

“What’s wrong?” Wen Jin asked, seeing his expression.

“Nothing. I can’t fully understand it, but it seems to be some gossip from Silver State.”

They spoke a few sentences, and Feng Xi stared at Wen Jin the entire time. When Zhang Liuxin caught that fervent look in his eyes, the discomfort in his heart intensified.

Feng Xi stood up, seemingly intending to strike up a conversation with Wen Jin, tentatively saying “Hello.” Zhang Liuxin knew Wen Jin actually understood, so he was also curious about his reaction.

Unexpectedly, Wen Jin chose to pretend he didn’t hear, rather than pretending he didn’t understand. He didn’t even lift his eyes, pressed the newspaper aside, and turned to enter the kitchen.

Feng Xi: “…”

Zhang Liuxin felt a bit embarrassed for the boy. Just then, Tu Huisha’s voice came from the kitchen, sounding a little urgent: “Yue, you should go out and help Chen. I can manage here by myself.”

Wen Jin was hopeless in the kitchen and only knew how to make cold dishes, let alone more delicate desserts.

Zhang Liuxin leaned against the doorframe and said to Wen Jin, “Professor, you’ve been rejected again.”

Wen Jin glanced at him, made him turn around, untied the bow at his back, and retied it. He only stopped when the two trailing ribbons of the bow were the same length.

Seeing them interact like this, Feng Xi felt it was pointless and left without a word.

Zhang Liuxin returned to the front desk, looking at Wen Jin’s handsome face, which was made even more profound by the shadows cast by the overhead light. He complained in Bernlinian, “Truly a face that launched a thousand ships.”

It wasn’t just Feng Xi; he also thought of his own reaction when he used to see Wen Jin, no different from someone seeing their idol after ten years, staring silently at his face, yet hastily looking away when Wen Jin looked back.

After a while, Tu Huisha suddenly said, “Chen, Yue, come look. Is this number from your Silver State?”

Zhang Liuxin and Wen Jin exchanged a look and immediately went over. Tu Huisha said, “I was going to call my brother, and I saw a missed call. This number isn’t from our state.”

Wen Jin glanced at it and said to Zhang Liuxin, “It’s Duan Chengzi.”

Seeing their solemn expressions, Tu Huisha said, “Then you should call him back first. I’ll go keep an eye on the front.”

“Okay.”

After Tu Huisha left, Zhang Liuxin reached for the phone to call back, but Wen Jin stopped him. Wen Jin put the phone back: “He will call again.”

Sure enough, the phone rang again, a new number this time. Wen Jin answered, and the person on the other end spoke first: “A-Zhuo, are you two alright?”

Zhang Liuxin breathed a sigh of relief.

“We’re fine. Where are you?”

“I’m not in Silver State, I’m out on a mission,” Duan Chengzi got straight to the point. “Regarding the various speculations in Silver State right now, Auntie’s side means that we should publicly state that you accompanied Zhang Liuxin to another state for treatment. Levi is handling it that way too. The TV station gave Liuxin annual leave, and his program was suspended and replaced with a different travel show. No one at the TV station is gossiping much.”

Zhang Liuxin nodded and said, “Thank you, Colonel Duan.”

Duan Chengzi hummed: “Your assistant Levi is very efficient.”

“A-Zhuo, the Academy of Sciences originally planned to suspend you, but Elder Lin stepped in. He’s covering your classes and told the people at the academy that you heard someone could cure Liuxin’s leg while on a business trip, so you went with Liuxin for treatment.”

“Mm.” Wen Jin glanced at Zhang Liuxin, raising a hand to smooth down the ends of his hair that were sticking up.

“What does the Security Bureau say? They can’t get any evidence.”

“The evidence is indeed baseless, but this is clearly an attempt to investigate the Wen family, so they won’t let it go easily,” Duan Chengzi’s tone was heavy. “The matter of the ledger has also been investigated. It was done by a very senior elder in the main family.”

“Who instructed him?”

“We haven’t found out yet, but Uncle suspects it’s an insider. Secretary Yang is currently investigating the branch families.”

Wen Jin’s finger tapped the table intermittently: “The same group as the hijackers?”

Duan Chengzi paused, then said, “Hard to say. Oh, and Liuxin.”

Zhang Liuxin looked at Wen Jin, who handed him the phone.

“What is it?”

Duan Chengzi: “That assistant who traveled with you, Carter, right?”

Hearing the name, Zhang Liuxin asked anxiously, “Yes, that’s right. Is he okay? Did he return to Silver State?”

“He only arrived in Silver State yesterday. He sustained many injuries, and he seems to have some mental issues. He won’t see anyone except Levi. Levi told Sixun that the hijackers said, ‘What the Wen family wants to hide has never been a secret.'”

“What?” Zhang Liuxin asked. He looked at Wen Jin, who shook his head, indicating he didn’t know either.

“What could the Wen family have to hide…” Before he finished speaking, Zhang Liuxin suddenly realized. There was one thing the Wen family was hiding: his and Wen Jin’s marriage.

Sure enough, Duan Chengzi also thought of it: “Mm, actually, this wouldn’t have a huge impact on the Wen or Zhang families, since your public image has been solid for so many years. But the higher-ups have been sensitive lately, so if it gets exposed, it will be very tricky.”

“Especially Mr. Zhang. We don’t know how he found out about this, but seeing that Auntie and Uncle aren’t in Silver State, he’s getting restless.”

“My father… what does he want to do? Is he going to use this to threaten the Wen family? He doesn’t have evidence. Why would he do something so mutually destructive?”

Zhang Liuxin asked hesitantly, the huge stone hanging over his heart swaying precariously.

This time, Duan Chengzi’s pause was long, long enough to make Zhang Liuxin feel uneasy.

Zhang Liuxin nervously picked at a wood splinter on the edge of the table until Duan Chengzi’s heavy voice came through the receiver—

“You should know that Zhang Qiannan’s physical condition has improved recently.”