AAUMOBIP C37

Chapter 37

Very quickly, Liu He was swept into busyness. Every day he was buried in the laboratory, rarely even returning to his rented apartment near campus, instead sleeping directly in the dormitory.

Yun Jingqiu’s new drama crew had begun filming, leaving him no time to come home either.

As the weather grew colder, Liu He never managed to spare a break to go to City A, and Yun Jingqiu had no time to come to City C to see him.

They had once again slipped back into a long distance relationship. Only at night could they sometimes find a spare moment for a video call—seeing their beloved through the screen, hearing his voice, bidding each other goodnight.

But gradually, both got busier still. Even nightly video calls became impossible. Messages piled up unanswered, sometimes the text Liu He sent in the morning would only get a reply the following day.

Looking at his phone, Liu He’s chest cramped with a sour ache. Even his eyes stung faintly.

It had been two whole days without Yun replying to any of his messages.

Had he really grown that busy?

During a rare rest, Liu He scrolled absentmindedly through Weibo, hoping to glean some trace of Yun Jingqiu.

But Yun hadn’t personally posted anything recently—only his manager had used his account to repost promotions for the show.

The contrast was stark.

Yun’s personal Weibo updates always sounded like casual conversations, whereas the manager’s were stiff, formal, all business. At a glance, anyone could tell who had written them.

No personal updates, no replies to messages. Yun Jingqiu felt as if he had cut all connection.

Then a message came from Song Zhiyuan:

【Song Zhiyuan: [photos][photos]】

【Song Zhiyuan: Don’t worry, sister-in-law. Yun-ge is fine, just exhausted. The fight scenes cost too much strength. Once filming’s done, he collapses straight into bed with no chance to check his phone.】

【Song Zhiyuan: Look at his styling. Handsome, right?】

The picture showed Yun in a police uniform—long legs, narrow waist highlighted by the cut, gun in hand, eyes toward the camera, expression cold.

【fon: Very handsome. Thank you for looking after Yun-ge.】

【Song Zhiyuan: With me here, you can rest assured.】

Thank goodness for Song occasionally sending updates.

Even knowing from him that Yun was simply too busy to touch his phone, Liu He still felt bitter.

No one could be that busy, surely?

Not even falling asleep after resting properly, only filming and sleeping in fragments. Yun was human, not a machine!

Taking a breath, he stamping down the frustration, he forced himself to focus on his experiments.

That night, lying on the dorm bed, he finally got a new message from Yun.

【Husband: Been a little busy recently. Haven’t had time for replies】

【Husband: I miss you, Xiao He】

The second Liu He saw it, he fired back, terrified of delaying and missing Yun again.

【fon: How are you this busy? You’ve never been so absent before. Is your body holding up?】

【fon: I miss you too】

【fon: I want to call you. I want to video. I want to see you.】

【Husband: Sorry. Not right now】

What he longed to see wasn’t a cold, curt “Sorry.”

It should have been an instant incoming video call request.

How long since they had last spoken on video? Flipping his record, he saw it was half a month ago already—early October.

He hadn’t really seen Yun in so long.

Disappointment gnawed him.

【fon: Then when can we call? I just want to hear your voice.】

No answer.

Liu He waited. Still none. Finally, despair settled in.

Opening Weibo again, fresh hot searches filled the screen:

**#Yun Jingqiu Secret Meeting with Famoustar#

**#Breakup between Yun Jingqiu and Nonelebrity Lover?!#

#Yun Jingqiu’s New Romance#

Frozen, Liu He clicked in.

All three trending tags included blurry long-distance paparazzi photos.

Yun Jingqiu, at a hotel entrance, seemingly intimate with a well-known actress—was that… handholding?

Even knowing it could easily be gossip and speculation, Liu He couldn’t stop connecting it with Yun’s silence these past days.

Had a new love replaced the old?

【Yun-ge and Yun-sao were so solid! Just a week ago Yun-ge posted showing off their relationship. A breakup?!】

【Impossible! It’s just an irresponsible gossip post. This has happened so many times. @XingyaoEntertainment please deal with this!】

【Why do such unreliable outlets always dig up fake dirt?】

【Seriously? Is Yun with Hua-jie now?】

【Why isn’t Yun clarifying? He used to post statements so quickly.】

【He’s just too busy right now. Probably hasn’t seen it.】

【If @Yun Jingqiu doesn’t come out soon, people will start spreading rumors of marriage.】

But this time, no immediate denial.

Rationally, Liu He knew—just like before—these pictures were loose conjecture, no evidence.

But feelings rarely obeyed reason.

Too long without seeing his beloved, too drawn by the strain of distance. Every string in him was taut. Exhaling shakily, Liu He opened the chat box with Yun.

His fingers hovered on the input. But he couldn’t press send.

Instead, he turned to Song Zhiyuan.

【fon: [link to the trending topic]】

【fon: Brother Song, what is this about?】

【Song Zhiyuan: ! Let me check】

【Song Zhiyuan: Yun-ge in a scandal? Again?】

【Song Zhiyuan: This is just a fellow actress in the production. The whole cast stays at the same hotel. That paparazzi shot’s angle is misleading—they weren’t holding hands.】

His sharp eye spotted the false perspective instantly.

【Song Zhiyuan: Yun-ge’s already asleep, he probably hasn’t even seen this yet. I’ll tell him when he wakes. Don’t worry, sister-in-law. Your love is under my protection.】

Bursting with messages, Song managed to ease Liu He’s chest somewhat. Still, until Yun’s own public clarification, he couldn’t truly settle.

Blankly he stared at his phone, screen going dim, pressing it awake again, over and over.

Then—an incoming call.

So shocked it was like scalding iron, Liu He nearly dropped it. Hastily retrieving it, he answered.

“Sorry for making you worry. I’ve already spoken with the team, we’ll release a response.” Yun’s voice was thick with drowsiness. Clearly Song had dragged him fresh from bed.

“It’s the paparazzi who erred. Yun-ge, why apologize to me?” Hearing his voice after so long, Liu He’s flustered anxiety dissolved instantly.

A splash of water came through faintly on the other end—Yun must be splashing his face awake. Then he answered: “No—it’s my mistake. A partner shouldn’t feel unsafe. If I had shown enough love, Xiao He wouldn’t need to fear such rumors.”

“It’s just that you’re too busy,” Liu He said flatly.

“My fault.” Yun took a deep breath, struggling to stay awake.

Listening to the exhaustion in his voice, Liu He’s heart pinched.

“I’ll sing for you, so you can sleep easier.”

While Liu He scrolled Weibo, saw Yun’s official statement appear—explaining, promising lawsuits against the paparazzi.

After long silence, his return was another Weibo post, not showing love or life, but clarifying and refuting rumors.

The storm quickly died down. In truth, it wasn’t much of a storm at all.

“You should sleep. Song said you were sleeping, right? So hurry back to bed.”

“I dozed off eating…” Yun admitted, tone rueful. “Not that I didn’t want to call.”

Eating and falling asleep halfway? How had he driven himself this far? Was this even a proper production?

Liu He doubted.

But hearing his voice falter into thicker and thicker drowsiness, soon only humming nasal notes in response, Liu He stopped pestering.

Then even Yun’s breath steadied out—sleeping again, phone still in hand.

With a sigh, Liu He hung up.

This time, relief truly came.

Afterward, though they couldn’t chat much, Yun Jingqiu made a point to call once a week, report his work progress, share silly stories from set, just to make sure trust never wavered again.

Early November.

Liu He’s project finally saw preliminary results. He petitioned his advisor and got a week off.

Meanwhile, Yun continued filming in City A, staying at the hotel near set.

At the high-speed rail station, Song Zhiyuan came to fetch Liu He.

“Sister-in-law, I’ll take you to Yun-ge’s hotel.” Song grinned. “Got some disguises prepared in the back. Use them.”

There was a face mask and cap.

By now, Liu He was intimately familiar with these props. Putting them on, brim pressed low, even a frontal picture wouldn’t reveal much.

“The crew’s rushing progress. Yun-ge has to keep pace. He won’t be back until late tonight,” Song explained.

“No problem,” Liu He nodded.

“This drama is aimed for a TV release next year. Tons of prep still after film. So yeah, the pace got pushed.”

Not understanding much, Liu He still nodded again. In any case, Yun being busy was expected. He didn’t mind. He’d come just to see him.

They arrived at the hotel. Attendants parked the car, and together they went upstairs to Yun’s room.

“Here’s the room key,” Song handed it over. “If you’d rather not stay in Yun-ge’s, I can open you another one.”

“I’ll stay here,” Liu He answered at once.

He swiped the card and entered.

The room was messy. Yun clearly hadn’t time to tidy. But not filthy, just lived-in.

Glancing around, Liu He saw clothes on the sofa, notebooks and laptop askew on the desk.

Walking to the bed—covers half undone, wrinkled.

This was Yun’s world these days. Yun’s bed.

Carefully, Liu He picked up the clothes and tossed them into the hamper. He didn’t touch the desk, wary something might be an important file.

Then he stepped into the shower.

Fresh, he emerged and pulled on one of Yun’s T-shirts. Crawling into bed, hugging the blanket—

This was the bed Yun slept in.