A Washed-up Movie Queen's Divorce Strategy [Rebirth] - Chapter 51

Ming Lang had sent people to tail Ji Chenli, partly to protect her and partly to keep track of her movements. She had dispatched the most elite disciples from her master’s ranks, yet they still managed to lose her. This wasn’t entirely due to their incompetence; rather, it was because Ji Chenli was an exceptionally spontaneous person.

Or to put it another way, all the persistence Ji Chenli possessed across her two lifetimes had been given to Ming Lang; for everything else, she had a fleeting “three-minute heat.” Her knowledge of Africa was limited to the Animal World documentaries she saw as a child. Her trip to Africa was a whim, imagining vast savannas, lions, and tigers in her head. However, after getting off the plane at her layover in Paris, she was lured in by the luxury fashion boutiques and jewelry stores, so she lingered in Paris for a few extra days.

In her previous life, Ji Chenli had visited Europe several times—cities like Venice and Berlin—but mostly for film festivals; she had never truly toured them. Thinking it was a pity, she changed her itinerary after a few days in Paris. Her “Wild Africa” tour transformed into a “Romantic Europe” trip. When she applied for her visa, she had obtained a Schengen visa anyway, intending to handle entry visas for African nations once she reached Morocco. Now, she didn’t even have to worry about additional paperwork.

Thus, Ji Chenli’s sudden change of route in Paris caught her shadows off guard, and then… they lost her.

The greatest advantage of being in a completely foreign country is that no one knows you. Surrounded by white people whose language you don’t speak—and some Asians, too—everyone is a stranger to one another. No one even knows if the person next to them is Chinese. Ji Chenli had no fixed destination. When she tired of shopping, she visited landmarks: the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe. An amateur looking for excitement, Ji Chenli simply went where the crowds were, snapping photos everywhere with her DSLR. She didn’t actually understand photography or artistic composition, but since she was traveling, she felt she had to act the part. Everyone else was taking photos, so naturally, she had to as well.

Her route was random: Belgium, the Netherlands, until she found herself sitting in a bar in Berlin drinking beer. Only then did Ji Chenli realize she had been away for nearly a month. In this month, she hadn’t thought of Ming Lang once. Not even once.

Tonight, for some reason, the thought suddenly surfaced. One second, Ji Chenli was watching the beautiful women and handsome men on the dance floor with interest as they danced cheek-to-cheek; the next, she looked at the malt beer in her glass, and her interest vanished in an instant.

No one knew Ji Chenli, and Ji Chenli knew no one. This life was interesting at first, but after a while, a sense of loneliness surged over her like a tide without warning. No matter how exciting the music, Ji Chenli found herself lacking interest. Even the malt-scented beer in her mouth gradually began to taste bitter.

It seems it’s time to go back, Ji Chenli thought. Her home was in C City. No matter how beautiful the scenery outside, after drifting for so long and eating nothing but steak and bread, she was becoming nauseous. She just wanted to breathe the air of her hometown and eat the braised pork trotter made by Tao Yuan.

Berlin’s social atmosphere is relatively open. As Ji Chenli sat alone at the bar drinking beer, it wasn’t long before a blue-eyed foreign man approached her. Ji Chenli was already slightly tipsy. She squinted at the stranger. He was indeed handsome, with a layer of stubble on his cheeks and deep, sculpted features. He held out a glass to Ji Chenli, his gaze intense and affectionate. Ji Chenli didn’t hear what he said; she only saw his Adam’s apple bob. The masculine aura of the man almost surrounded her. If Ji Chenli liked men, she might have liked a hot and sexy man like this. Unfortunately, she only liked women, so she pushed the drink back and shook her head silently.

The man took the hint and left gracefully, only for another man to approach immediately. Every attempt ended in failure. Looking at these handsome men of various styles, Ji Chenli thought with some regret: Why don’t I like men? Otherwise, finding someone to spend a spring night with wouldn’t be bad—a romantic encounter in a foreign land.

To Ji Chenli’s surprise, after several men failed, two “va-va-voom” foreign women also came over to flirt, sitting in the empty seats next to her.

The one closest to Ji Chenli was a blonde, blue-eyed beauty wearing a tight, hip-hugging mini dress. A thin necklace hung around her neck, the pendant resting right in the deep cleavage of her chest. She leaned in close to Ji Chenli, speaking a “bird language” she couldn’t understand, while her thigh beneath the table restlessly brushed against Ji Chenli’s leg.

Ji Chenli maintained her tipsy smile, letting the beauty tease her while she sipped her drink. She thought to herself: Foreign countries really are different; these Western girls are all stunning. Not just stunning, but “sultry”—the kind of sultriness that itches at one’s palms. In a place where the men are sultry and the women are sultry, she suddenly felt like staying a bit longer.

Western beauties aside, Ji Chenli’s attention was drawn to an Asian woman sitting nearby, drinking silently. That woman hadn’t spoken from start to finish; she just sat next to the Western girl, drinking away her sorrows. Her eyes were fixed on her glass, her face devoid of much emotion—a bit cold. In such a hunting ground for romance, she was exceptionally conspicuous.

At first glance, this woman’s temperament was somewhat similar to Ming Lang’s. Although she lacked the aura Ming Lang had accumulated over years of authority, a twenty percent resemblance was enough. Ji Chenli had a “type,” and this woman, just sitting there motionlessly, made Ji Chenli’s heart itch.

“Chinese?” Ji Chenli ordered a drink from the bartender and pushed it toward the woman.

The woman accepted the drink readily and gave a light laugh. “Chinese-American.” Just then, a blue light swept over her head, highlighting the smirk at the corner of her mouth. Ji Chenli’s heart skipped a beat as a certain person’s image flashed in her mind. “You’re very beautiful.”

“Thank you.” The woman scanned Ji Chenli nonchalantly, her eyes containing three parts aloofness, three parts cunning, three parts flirtatiousness, and one part of something icy. Ji Chenli was hooked instantly and offered a subtle invitation: “Would you like to have a drink together tonight?” She winked and smiled. “Just the two of us.”

“Sure,” the woman nodded.

The well-proportioned Western beauty, having been ignored, was unhappy. She rattled off something to the woman. The woman let her finish before replying briefly. The Western girl huffed and stormed off. Curious, Ji Chenli asked, “What were you talking about?”

“Sarah said I was cheating and that this competition wasn’t fair.” The woman moved to the seat previously occupied by the Western girl, her glass lightly clinking against Ji Chenli’s. “I’m Lea. And you?”

“Ji Chenli. Chen as in morning, Li as in parting.”

“That name is quite inauspicious.” Lea drained her glass and then finished Ji Chenli’s as well. “This isn’t the place for a chat. Let’s go somewhere else.”

“Somewhere else” moved from the bar to Ji Chenli’s hotel suite. The room had a large floor-to-ceiling window. The two sat by the window sharing a bottle of red wine. Once they became more familiar, Ji Chenli said, “I can tell.”

“Tell what?” Lea asked.

“That Western girl from before—she’s your girlfriend, isn’t she?”

Lea didn’t deny it, taking a sip of wine. Ji Chenli said with a half-smile, “You have a heavy palate. Dating someone like that… can you really be at ease?”

“That’s why I have to watch her every day,” Lea said. “She’s probably home by now.”

A few words, vaguely spoken, yet Ji Chenli felt a sense of kindred spirit with Lea. The word “love” is often nothing more than an obsession. Casting aside the obsession would naturally lead to a vast world, but it’s easier said than done; most people in this world simply can’t let go. Otherwise, where would phrases like “love arises from nowhere, yet grows ever deeper” come from?

As a veteran of such things, Ji Chenli wanted to advise Lea, but they were just passing acquaintances. Besides, such things are only understood through personal experience; others’ advice doesn’t count. So, Ji Chenli merely said, “Take it slow.”

Lea and Ming Lang had a twenty-percent similarity in temperament. Ji Chenli thought that perhaps she simply liked this type of woman; it wasn’t that it had to be Ming Lang. In her past life, she had just run into a dead end and couldn’t get out, torturing herself.

She and Lea talked purely as friends all night. Perhaps thinking they would never see each other again for the rest of their lives, Lea told Ji Chenli much about her story with Sarah.

Sarah had a Chinese great-grandfather, so she actually had a tiny bit of Asian blood. The two had been neighbors since childhood and had rolled into bed together in a drunken stupor at sixteen. Lea truly loved Sarah, but Sarah wanted a so-called “open relationship”—the kind where “I love you, but we can still sleep with other people.”

Ji Chenli felt that perhaps her values were still quite traditional, as she was left dumbfounded. “You agreed to that?”

“At least I can keep an eye on her.”

Ji Chenli was speechless. She felt that although Ming Lang was cold, she was far better than this foreign girlfriend of Lea’s. At least if Ming Lang didn’t like someone, she didn’t like them; she rejected them clearly and decisively, never stringing others along while flirting everywhere.

Matters of the heart are like drinking water—only the one drinking knows if it’s hot or cold. Ji Chenli had no standing to advise Lea; she could only listen. Looking at this woman, Ji Chenli felt like she was seeing her past self—so foolish, guarding an inheritance of destined hopelessness.

They drank from the pitch-black night until the break of dawn, and then until the sun was high. Lea finally rose to leave. Ji Chenli saw her to the door. They clearly hadn’t done anything, yet Ji Chenli felt passersby were giving her strange looks. She wondered if it was just her imagination.

“Chenli, Chenli. Leaving now… fits your name perfectly.” Lea gave Ji Chenli a hug. “We will likely never see each other again. Thank you for listening to my nonsense.”

“I wish you the best.” Ji Chenli hugged her back and whispered in her ear, “If you ever change your mind, come visit China. Maybe if fate allows, we’ll run into each other again.”

“I will.”

Lea gradually walked away. Ji Chenli stood outside the hotel watching her disappear around a street corner, feeling a bit melancholy. She took a deep breath, turned around, and froze.

The person about to enter the hotel seemed just as stunned.

“Chenli.” Ming Lang came back to her senses and explained, “I’m here… for business, not…”

“Mhm.” Ji Chenli knew what Ming Lang hadn’t finished saying. She didn’t believe Ming Lang had specifically followed her here either. After all, if she were tailing her, she could have appeared a month ago; there was no need to wait until Ji Chenli was about to return home to stage a “chance encounter.” With Ming Lang’s status, she wouldn’t do such a thing.