I'm Interested In Your Friend - Chapter 21

21

Yu Lili’s fingers hovered over the keyboard. After hesitating for a moment, she put her phone away, deciding to reply to the message after getting home.

Over by the iron railings.

Tan Suran, surrounded by a constellation of stars, suddenly stopped in her tracks, and the others naturally followed suit.

The young celebrity Qin Zhuyu, who was walking beside Tan Suran, noticed the CEO glance toward a certain spot outside before taking out her phone from her designer handbag adorned with black pearls. With slender fingers, she unlocked the screen, tapped in, and sent a message.

After sending the message, Tan Suran continued to stare at her phone screen, seemingly waiting for a reply. But judging by her subsequent reaction, the other person likely hadn’t responded.

They couldn’t even get Tan Suran’s WeChat.

Yet that person made Tan Suran wait for a reply.

The disparity between people…

Qin Zhuyu clenched her fists, mustering the courage to speak in a sweet, gentle voice: “CEO Tan, may I add you on WeChat?”

After saying this, she gazed at Tan Suran with her doe-like almond eyes.

For a moment, no one around her chimed in.

Qin Zhuyu knew they probably wanted to as well but weren’t as bold as her.

Sometimes, you just had to take the plunge. You couldn’t wait for opportunities to come knocking.

She wasn’t without nerves.

Her heart pounded, but she could only maintain a smiling facade as she looked at Tan Suran—who, even among the A-list celebrities, exuded an undeniable air of nobility.

Tan Suran looked up from her phone and cast a glance at Qin Zhuyu, asking indifferently, “What brand are your earrings?”

“ST,” Qin Zhuyu quickly replied.

“Quite unique.”

With that, she turned and walked away, led by her assistant.

Qin Zhuyu knew she had been subtly rejected, and she should have felt annoyed. But for some reason, recalling the moment she locked eyes with Tan Suran, she inexplicably found the night air scorching, a little flirtatious.

—

When Yu Lili got home, she first transferred the fan photos she took that day and the photos of Yu Wei to her computer, giving them some basic edits.

After washing up, she remembered Tan Suran’s message and replied:

[Practicing hard…]

She thought Tan Suran, being a busy and important person, might take days to reply. But to her surprise, Tan Suran responded instantly.

[Good.]

[I have a question.]

Yu Lili couldn’t just pretend to be absent after replying, so she politely said: [Go ahead.]

Tan Suran: [You’re not going to give me the same answer if I ask again six months from now, are you?]

Yu Lili flopped onto the bed and covered her face with her hands. Tan Suran really had a knack for hitting the nail on the head.

That was exactly what she had in mind.

Before she could figure out how to dodge the question, Tan Suran sent another message:

[To ensure my legal investment is put to good use, tomorrow at 8 PM, I’ll personally supervise your driving practice.]

Yu Lili: “……”

She thought she’d have to spend the next day anxiously waiting until 8 PM, but a series of unexpected events unfolded during the day.

“Lili, did you take photos of Yu Wei?” Li Mi asked, holding a magazine sample while half-covering her face and whispering.

Before Yu Lili could answer, Olivia called her into the office.

On the way there, Yu Lili quickly checked Weibo and saw that [#YuWeiFashionNight] was trending again.

Remembering the fiasco with Song Yu’s photoshoot last time, Yu Lili frowned. Was something wrong again?

But this time, she hadn’t used anyone else’s stuff.

Confused, Yu Lili stood in front of Olivia.

Olivia was checking her schedule on an iPad and glanced at Yu Lili. “Don’t know why I called you in?”

Yu Lili nodded.

Olivia smiled. “Qin Zhuyu’s team proactively reached out to Qianyan, hoping to shoot the March cover.”

As a newly launched magazine, Qianyan didn’t have extensive connections with brands or celebrities. Cover stars were usually invited, and even Song Yu’s shoot was secured through Olivia’s connections. This was the first time an A-lister had come knocking on their door.

Yu Lili genuinely admired this. “That’s great.”

Olivia nodded. “They specifically requested you to shoot it.”

“Me?” Magazine covers were usually handled by Guan Xi.

“They saw your work with Yu Wei and were impressed.”

“You’ll probably be very busy soon. I’ll try to find another photographer to take over your current workload.”

Yu Lili was puzzled. “Very busy?”

“Check your Weibo.”

After leaving the office, Yu Lili—who had deleted her original Weibo account after the Yu Mu-Song Yu incident—logged into her new account.

Her last update was months ago, but her notifications showed 999+.

Opening it, she saw fans of various artists leaving comments under her posts, begging for collaborations and tagging their idols’ studios to check out this “god-tier photographer.”

Even her private messages contained requests for contact details from several well-known artists’ teams.

How did this happen?

Yu Lili continued scrolling through Weibo and realized the photos she took for Yu Wei had garnered widespread praise.

[Damn, since when was Yu Wei this pretty? The editing must be heavy.]

The OP replied: [Straight out of the camera, no edits. Thanks.]

[Wow, this is the first time I’ve ever appreciated Yu Wei’s looks. This photographer has skills…]

[? This trash photographer has no professional ethics, taking on any celebrity. Hah, so what if the skills are good? A bad personality ruins everything. Wasn’t this person also involved in that Yu Mu magazine cover scandal? Instead of wasting time on marketing, why not focus on taking better photos?]

[LOL, judging by your profile pic, you must be a Qin Zhuyu fan. Just saw a bunch of fans begging for collaborations, and now you’re insulting the photographer?]

[This commenter doesn’t represent Qin Zhuyu’s fans. Qin Zhuyu’s fans greatly admire the photographer’s skills.]

[Oh, wow. Getting kicked out of the fandom, huh?]

Fans of different artists were fighting in the comments, livelier than the dramas their idols starred in.

Yu Lili silently scrolled past the comments and returned to the photos she took for Yu Wei.

She secretly smiled.

People really had good taste.

Happy.

Guan Xi came over and knocked on Yu Lili’s desk. “About that incident with the work badge, I asked around. The organizers never changed the badges. No idea about the rest.”

Yu Lili nodded without saying much. After all, apart from preventing her from entering the venue, the incident hadn’t caused any real harm.

Yu Lili sighed.

At lunch, Li Mi scrolled through her phone while eating. “Look, last night’s fan support at Fashion Night is trending. Some even had hot air balloons circling the island. So much money.”

“Yeah, but fan culture isn’t just about this. I have a friend who studied foreign languages to chase her favorite star and ended up becoming a professional translator.”

Yu Lili tapped her bowl. “Why don’t we do a fan-focused feature? Chasing stars isn’t just about consumption—it also helps fans develop skills. We could tie it to Fashion Night. It’d be pretty uplifting.”

“Hey, that’s a great idea. Let’s pitch it to the editor this afternoon.”

Olivia liked the concept and greenlit it immediately. Yu Lili sent the interview footage to Li Mi, and together they selected fan photos to edit.

While getting water, Yu Lili suddenly remembered the work badge she saw during the swap—Su Mianxin’s badge. She quickly contacted Amy, her former colleague at Yehuo Photography.

“Did Su Mianxin leave Yehuo?”

“Yeah, a while ago.”

“Why?”

“Remember how you got flamed by Yu Mu’s fans after shooting Song Yu? Sela found out Su Mianxin leaked it and fired her on the spot.”

“Oh… Do you know where she went after that?”

“No idea. Why?”

“Nothing much. Just ran into her at an event and got curious. Let’s hang out sometime.”

After hanging up, Yu Lili had a sudden thought. She searched for Yu Mu’s Weibo and found the recent nine-grid post, which tagged the photographer, stylist, and makeup artist.

Sure enough, it was Su Mianxin.

Su Mianxin had joined Yu Mu’s studio.

Yu Lili instinctively felt that seeing Su Mianxin’s badge wasn’t a coincidence—she must be involved.

But before dealing with that, she had to face Tan Suran first.

After work, Yu Lili went home, changed into a disguise—complete with heavy makeup and sunglasses—and headed to the location Tan Suran had specified.

A silver-gray Bentley waited quietly, its arrival time unknown.

Stars twinkled in the deep night, and the wide, dazzling streets were sparsely populated.

Yu Lili arrived by taxi and slowly walked toward the Bentley.

The car door swung open.

Tan Suran stepped out.

Today, she was dressed casually—a short black wool coat paired with slim-fit jeans that accentuated her long, straight legs.

Her elbow rested on the car doorframe, and her hair fluttered in the wind.

“You’re early.”

Yu Lili wasn’t sure if Tan Suran was mocking her or being literal. She checked the time—it was exactly when they’d agreed to meet—and nodded confidently. “Just on time.”

Tan Suran didn’t respond. Instead, she lifted her gaze to Yu Lili, twirling the car keys between her slender fingers, the faint sound of metal clicking filling the air.

The silence grew awkward, so Yu Lili tried to fill it. “I thought you’d say…” She trailed off, realizing she was digging her own grave. Tan Suran would never fear awkward silences.

“Say what?”

After a pause, Yu Lili murmured, “Something like, ‘My time is worth thousands per minute. You can’t afford to waste it.’”

Tan Suran let out a soft chuckle.

She motioned with her chin and took the passenger seat.

Huh? She wasn’t sitting in the back? Did that mean she didn’t see Yu Lili as a chauffeur?

Yu Lili’s confusion cleared the moment she got into the driver’s seat.

It wasn’t that Tan Suran didn’t want to sit in the back—there was simply no room.

The back seat was piled high with Eggy plushies. A quick count put the number at twenty or thirty, completely occupying the space.

In her free time, Yu Lili played Eggy Party and had even posted screenshots of her in-game achievements and merchandise collection on social media.

But she never imagined the aloof Tan Suran would share her hobby—Eggy, too?

“Why do you have so many?” Yu Lili asked, surprised.

Tan Suran’s voice was cool. “Ever heard of stress-relief plushies?”

Stress-relief plushies?

Yu Lili knew about them—squeezing or hitting them to relieve stress.

But did she really need this many?

And why use such cute Eggy plushies for that…

“Are you that twisted?” Yu Lili blurted out before she could stop herself.

Tan Suran nodded nonchalantly. “Mhm. After all, my time is worth thousands per minute.”

Yu Lili hadn’t expected her own joke to boomerang back. She grinned.

“Happy now?”

Tan Suran’s indifferent voice cut through the air.

Yu Lili smiled. “Huh?”

Tan Suran’s gaze was reserved and cold, her tone as detached as ever. “You looked upset when you arrived. So, are you happy now?”

Yet, inexplicably, Yu Lili found it warm.