"It's nothing, just an interesting encounter," Laila didn't tell him the whole truth. She knew that if she revealed the guy's offensive words, given his temper, he might resort to violence.
The young people who had been described as "interesting" by the two foreigners looked like they had just eaten a fly. Moreover, their escape routes were all blocked, and they couldn't get away.
At that moment, Laila's phone suddenly rang. When she answered, Wu Yuan's voice came through, "I thought of a few interesting ideas. Can you help me choose the best one?"
Before she could respond, he rapidly listed off several ideas.
Laila had a chance to speak after he finished, "They're good, but do you think they're useful?"
"Do you think they're not useful?"
"It depends on you."
"Alright," Wu Yuan clenched his fist, "I'll keep thinking."
Laila hung up the phone, and when she looked up, she saw everyone staring at her in amazement. It was then that she realized her phone call had exposed her ruse of pretending not to understand Chinese.
Seeing the young man who had made the offensive comments embarrassed and furious, and his friends looking equally hopeless, Laila couldn't resist flashing a somewhat wicked smile.
"Let's continue our conversation."
"..." The young people didn't want to talk to her after what had just happened.
They had initially planned to deceive the foreigners, but now they realized that Laila spoke Chinese better than most of their compatriots. They wished they had known she understood Chinese earlier, as they had made complete fools of themselves trying to deceive her.
"Let's forget about it. Before we have any evidence, I hope you won't make unnecessary moves in the future. What may seem like a harmless scolding to you could bring painful memories to someone else," Laila advised, then walked away with Roy, leaving behind a group of people with various expressions, especially the one who had made the offensive remarks, who was left uncertain about whether he had absorbed her words.
"What made you angry with them earlier?" Roy finally asked the question he hadn't had a chance to ask, now that no one was paying attention to them.
"I wasn't angry," Laila tried to come up with an excuse.
But Roy, who had been watching her closely, could easily see her true feelings. "Don't deny it. I could tell you were angry earlier. What happened?"
Laila fell silent for a moment. She didn't know how to explain it to him. Did she want to bring up some unpleasant memories from her past life?
"That guy back there thought I was an Eastern girl and got involved with a foreigner," she tried to downplay the situation.
But even with that toned-down explanation, Roy was still puzzled. "Why can't Eastern girls be with foreigners?"
"Who knows?" Laila shrugged. "They were probably angry because they thought the guy's girlfriend married a foreigner and emigrated. They probably linked that to why they were upset seeing us together."
Roy looked at her and knew she wasn't lying, but she also wasn't telling him everything. The only reason she might be keeping some things from him was that the people had said something that would upset him. Since she believed it was better not to tell him, there was no need for him to inquire further.
"In that case, let's forget about them. Where do we go next?"
"Let's continue exploring," Laila said, smiling as she linked her arm with his once again.
Winter was indeed cozier this way.
However, things didn't end so easily. That night, Laila had a dream that brought back memories she had long tried to forget.
It was when she had just started her career as a director, and she was gaining experience by working on commercials. During that time, she met a girl who, while not exceptionally beautiful, had a certain charm. She had a knack for being photogenic, and her smiles in front of the camera had a captivating quality. It was as if she could make the audience smile along with her. Impressed by her camera presence, Laila had collaborated with her several times, and they had developed a good friendship.
However, their friendship didn't last long. The girl ended up dead, accused without any evidence. At that time, Laila had taken on an exciting job, her first TV directorial assignment, and had taken the crew to a remote location to shoot a TV drama about fighting against the Japanese invaders.
When she returned from that remote location, she received the news of the girl's death. The reason was absurd—a blurry photograph had surfaced, showing a man and a woman hugging, but it was unclear who the woman was. The man in the picture was a famous male actor, and his wife was also a well-known figure in the entertainment industry. They had twins together, who were adored by their fans.
However, the woman in the photograph was not his wife, especially since she had not yet regained her figure after childbirth.
Yes, it was an affair!
At first, everyone criticized the man for being unfaithful, but when someone pointed out that the woman in the photograph resembled her friend, all the blame and accusations shifted to her.
No matter how she tried to explain, no one believed her, and no one was willing to give her a chance to explain. Her phone and her assistant's phone were constantly bombarded with hateful calls. She was harassed at her home, and she lost the few jobs she had. In the end, unable to bear the constant abuse, she chose to take sleeping pills, and her world fell silent forever.
Laila still remembered that when she saw the newspaper reports about herself, her initial reaction was disbelief. It wasn't until she saw her own lifeless body that she realized what her friend had gone through. But in just over half a month, the girl had already lost her cheerful demeanor.
What infuriated Laila the most was that the man involved remained silent throughout the ordeal. He never stepped forward, and only when someone leaked another photo of him with the woman did everyone realize her true identity. Ironically, the woman in the photo turned out to be her friend's closest friend in the entertainment industry, who had the same beautiful, long, straight hair.
The entire media exploded, and because of one photo, fans had already sentenced the girl. Even when the truth came out, they knew they were wrong, and they all apologized to the girl. But what good did it do? She was already dead.
The photograph that revealed the truth was taken by Laila herself, and she anonymously posted it on various high-traffic websites. She had failed to save the girl's life, so she spent a month following the man around until he believed the coast was clear and met with the woman again. Laila took a picture of their secret meeting, finally clearing her friend's name.