The Secret Realm of Time, His and Her Life Through the Changes

Shang Yibo was driving, Ding Jiajia was sitting in the passenger seat, and Zhou Yanruo was sitting in the back seat on the passenger side.

At 9 p.m., there were still many cars on the ring road.

No one spoke in the car; only the whirring sound of the SUV engine could be heard.

Shang Yibo adjusted the rearview mirror so that he could see Zhou Yanruo from just the right angle.

She was looking out the car window, a thoughtful expression on her face.

The streetlights and car lights along the way intertwined to form a complex neon pattern. As the car moved, the lights flickered, sometimes bright and sometimes dim, making Zhou Yanruo's face appear to light up and dim with the changing light and shadow.

It wasn't until the car entered the Fourth Ring Road that Shang Yibo spoke: "Ding Jiajia, you should go back to the company dormitory."

Ding Jiajia hadn't dared to breathe loudly since they started at the villa's dining table, and she had been holding her breath for quite some time now.

Now, Shang Yibo finally spoke, and his tone seemed calm.

She breathed a sigh of relief and said cheerfully, "Just drop me off at the company entrance."

"And you?" Shang Yibo glanced at Zhou Yanruo in the rearview mirror.

Shang Yibo waited for a while, but Zhou Yanruo did not react.

He frowned and asked Ding Jiajia beside him, "Do you know?"

Ding Jiajia shrugged and turned to Zhou Yanruo, asking, "Sister Yanruo, Yibo is asking you something."

Zhou Yanruo then realized what was happening and looked away from the car window.

"what?"

She looked up and her eyes met Shang Yibo's in the rearview mirror.

"I live on the East Third Ring Road. Could you put me in the front? I'm already on the Fourth Ring Road, so it's easier to get a taxi here."

Ding Jiajia: "Yibo lives near the East Second Ring Road, so it's convenient for him to go there."

Without saying a word, Shang Yibo drove off the Fourth Ring Road and stopped on the side of the road after driving a short distance on the auxiliary road.

Zhou Yanruo was taken aback for a moment, then understood and said, "I'm leaving now, see you tomorrow."

Ding Jiajia looked at Shang Yibo, then turned to look at Zhou Yanruo; she was truly confused.

She had no choice but to get out of the car and move the passenger seat forward.

Zhou Yanruo got out of the car and had just walked around to the back when the trunk opened, and she took out her luggage.

Ding Jiajia followed Zhou Yanruo and helped her pull her luggage onto the roadside: "Sister Yanruo, go back and get some rest. There's a notice at 10 a.m. tomorrow."

"Okay, you too, see you tomorrow."

As soon as Ding Jiajia got back into the car, Shang Yibo started the car and drove away.

Shang Yibo sat on the beanbag chair in front of his bay window, his brows furrowed slightly, his eyes fixed on the myriad lights outside the floor-to-ceiling window.

The city nights are always so noisy yet lonely; the lights illuminate every corner, but cannot illuminate the bewildering darkness in his heart.

Before his mood hit rock bottom, he rushed into the bathroom and turned on the shower. The hot water washed over every inch of his skin, but it couldn't wash away the guilt and remorse in his heart.

From the moment Zhou Yanruo got out of the car, he began to regret it.

Why did you leave her stranded on the road out of spite? Her face must have been filled with hurt and disappointment again.

Shang Yibo shook his head violently, as if in doing so he could shake off everything and start over.

He could have taken her home, gotten to know her better, wouldn't that have been better? What a great opportunity! What was he doing? He'd been so eager to find her, and now that they'd finally met, was he just going to hold a grudge?

Isn't it just that in the villa's dining room just now, she promised Chu Fanqing that she would help organize her contracts and find a way to retire from the entertainment industry?

She had just come to his side and he didn't know much about her. She had only been with Rushang Group for half a year, so how much could she possibly know about their family?

Besides, she was Chu Fanqing's assistant. What was wrong with following her boss's instructions? Yet he treated her with such an attitude.

Shang Yibo stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the bustling street outside, but his heart felt desolate. He recalled the scene from just now, leaving Zhou Yanruo all alone on the roadside, letting her drag her heavy suitcase and take a taxi home by herself. He had never treated anyone this way before; even a lowly assistant, he would personally escort them home. Why had he been so cruel to Zhou Yanruo? His heart was filled with guilt.

The more Shang Yibo thought about it, the more he felt he was a complete bastard.

Now that I'm Zhou Yanruo's boss, shouldn't I care about my employees?

"Should I send her a message?" Shang Yibo thought to himself.

Once the thought flashed into my mind, I couldn't suppress it any longer.

"Zhou Yanruo, send me a message when you get home."

"I didn't mean anything by it, I just wanted to check if it was safe, since it's a business trip after all," Shang Yibo explained childishly.

After waiting for a while, Zhou Yanruo did not reply to his message.

He returned to the living room, then went to the dining room and took a can of beer from the refrigerator.

After opening it, I remembered that he has a schedule tomorrow morning. He is prone to swelling, and if he drinks this beer, the makeup artist will be crying tomorrow.

He poured himself a glass of water, took a small sip to moisten his throat, and put the glass down. It was too late, and he didn't dare drink any more water.

Zhou Yanruo picked up her phone again and glanced at it, but still hadn't replied to his message.

Shang Yibo began to wait anxiously, increasingly hoping that Zhou Yanruo would reply to him with a message, even just a word or two.

The phone on the bar finally beeped with a message notification. Shang Yibo quickly picked it up, swiped the screen, and saw that the message was from Ding Jiajia: "Yibo, the schedule for tomorrow morning has been adjusted. The original plan was to shoot indoors, but now we need to add an outdoor scene. Therefore, the overall shooting time will be extended by 2 hours, and we need to leave 2 hours earlier."

Shang Yibo was slightly disappointed. He mechanically replied, "I understand."

However, he soon became excited because he finally had an excuse to contact Zhou Yanruo. Afraid that he might change his mind if he hesitated even slightly, he immediately dialed Zhou Yanruo's WeChat.

The phone rang for a while before the other end answered: "Hello, Shang Yibo?"

"Well, I just wanted to let you know that the schedule for tomorrow has changed. We need to arrive at the filming location two hours earlier."

"Jiajia sent me a message, I know."

"Really? Ding Jiajia notified you." Shang Yibo was a little embarrassed and quickly added, "Well, sorry to bother you."

"Oh, by the way, I was cooking wontons in the kitchen when you texted me and didn't see it. I was just about to reply when you called. Thanks for your concern!"

Shang Yibo breathed a sigh of relief, thinking to himself, "It's good that he's not angry."

"I'm sorry, because of me, you didn't eat much for dinner."

"It's okay, I like to eat some wontons with soup at night."

Shang Yibo swallowed hard through the screen: "I also like wontons, but I don't even dare to drink water at night."

"You can have breakfast now, right? Or I can bring it to you tomorrow morning."

"I have filming tomorrow, so I can't eat too much soup for breakfast, as I'm prone to water retention."

Zhou Yanruo sighed, "It's really not easy for big stars to maintain their condition."

Shang Yibo pouted, feeling a little annoyed with himself. Why did he always talk to Zhou Yanruo about random things, like wontons?