It happened to be C city's annual television awards ceremony the day of Ji Yi's birthday.
She was nominated for the "Best Supporting Actress" award for her role on "Three Thousand Lunatics." Even though she didn't win, she still had to show face at events like this as she was still new to showbiz.
So before the year's end, Zhuang Yi booked a flight to C city for her. However, nobody could've predicted that such an earth-shattering scandal would happen to her over the new year. Her journey was canceled at the last minute.
Lately, Ji Yi hadn't gotten any rest. When she awoke on her birthday, she felt unwell. After taking a whole pack of herbal medicine, she spent the afternoon with her parents to celebrate a simple birthday then fell right asleep.
When she woke up again, it was already seven in the evening.
Maybe it was because she slept all afternoon, or maybe it was because of the herbal medicine, but Ji Yi felt a lot more energized.
The lights weren't on in the house, so it was pitch-black everywhere. She didn't know where her parents were.
Ji Yi turned on the lights and grabbed her phone. Just as she was about to call her parents, she saw a post-it note on the fridge with her mum's handwriting on it: "Xiao Yi, your dad and I went to the cinema. I made dinner for you - it's in the thermal lunch box."
Ji Yi threw the post-it note in the trash, lugged the thermos over to the dining table and took a seat.
At home all by herself, it was so quiet that she could hear the ticking of the clock on the wall.
Ji Yi was a little annoyed by the sound of it, so she turned the TV on in the living room and turned the volume up a little.
Tonight's coverage of C city's television awards happened to be on.
There was about half an hour until the ceremony started, so they were covering the celebrities entering the venue.
Because of her mood, Ji Yi had been avoiding showbiz as much as possible. Just as she was about to change the channel, she saw He Jichen on the screen.
He was in an all-black suit which perfectly fitted his tall, slender frame. He was with two actors, one who was voted the "beauty of the century" online, but he was obviously a little overshadowed in comparison.
Under infinitely flashing lights, not only did He Jichen not crack a smile, but he didn't even reveal a single emotion on his face. From beginning to end, he kept his gaze straight ahead and exuded his majestic charisma while he strode casually ahead.
Ji Yi suddenly hesitated before changing the channel as her eyes lingered on the television set.
It had been over ten days since he took her home that night. The two of them hadn't seen each other since and hadn't really contacted each other.
Well actually, they didn't completely stop contacting each other - he did contact her, but she just brushed him off.
After Ji Yi came back to her senses, He Jichen had already left the screen and in his place was Qian Ge being interviewed by a reporter.
The reporter asked questions about her work which Qian Ge replied to eloquently. But towards the end, a random reporter mentioned her. "Miss Qian Ge, have you been following the recent uproar online about the main actress of 'The Tempestuous Grand Tang,' Ji Yi, plagiarizing your performance on 'The Legend of Qingcheng'?"