Weakly, she leaned heavily on his shoulder, her eyes slowly closing to slits as she whispered ever so quietly in his ear, “Are you one of my moronic fans?”

He realized that he had crossed the line by asking her that question. Perspiration dripping from his forehead, Shi Jin hesitated for a few seconds and said quietly, “…Yes.”

Possibly under the influence of a fever, she mumbled in a daze, “Let me touch your hands, and I will sign as many autographs as you want.” Breathing evenly, her voice grew weaker as she let herself go and flopped to the ground, murmuring, “Let me touch them for a little longer, and we could even take a picture together…”

Jiang Jiusheng was burning up at 38 degrees and was in a state of confusion.

Shi Jin carried her to the master bedroom. His room and bed were enveloped by the smell of her, and he desperately wanted to hide her away and keep her all to himself. Here, now, in his arms, was the person that he had obsessed over. Throwing caution to the wind, he pressed down and kissed her hard on the lips, without caring about the consequences.

Woof! Woof!

Jiang Bomei was barking at the doorway, tail wagging furiously.

Shi Jin lifted his head and said angrily, “Get out!”

The dog was terrified!

Scurrying away from its Master Papa’s room, it stole a glance at the person on Master Papa’s bed and realized that she looked a lot like its photo-Mama.

The silence in the room was punctuated only by continuous, heavy breathing.

“Sheng…”

Sighing, Shi Jin tucked the person in his arms tightly under the comforter, planted a light kiss on her forehead, and rose to retrieve his medicine chest. Jiang Jiusheng was burning up so badly that the usual non-medicinal fever-reducing measures would not have been effective. She slept, completely oblivious as Shi Jin wiped away the perspiration from her forehead and neck.

“Sheng… Sheng…”

When she did not respond to his efforts to rouse her, Shi Jin sat her cocooned body up against himself to give her some medicine. Her deathly pale lips were shut tightly, perspiration again forming on her furrowed brows.

Placing a pill to her mouth, Shi Jin coaxed, “Sheng, my good girl, open your mouth.”

Her brows twitched, and she opened her mouth, so he fed her the medicine.

As she tasted the pill, she frowned and complained, “It’s bitter.”

A delicate voice, soothing and lyrical like the tranquillity of a Jiangnan village—quite unlike her usual laid-back, spontaneous persona and definitely nothing like the powerful voice on stage, singing to the accompaniment of the guitar.

Feeling bad for her, Shi Jin tried to feed her a spoonful of water. “Drink some water and flush away the bitterness,” he said.

Mumbling, Jiang Jiusheng shut her eyes, refusing to open her mouth. After a moment’s hesitation, Shi Jin took a mouthful of warm water and placed his lips against hers.

After an hour, the medicine took effect, and her fever subsided a little. It was after ten, and Jiang Jiusheng was in a deep sleep, her body soaked in perspiration. Shi Jin dithered for a long time before he turned off the lights and stripped her of her clothes.

At eleven, Jiang Jiusheng’s phone rang. On the first ring, Shi Jin grabbed the phone and walked out of the room. When he saw the caller ID, his eyes turned cold with rage.

The person at the end of the line said, “Jiang Jiusheng, let’s talk.” It was Su Qing speaking with some urgency in a medium-toned voice.

Su Qing was about to repeat himself after the long silence that followed. Then he heard a deep voice reply, “She’s asleep.”

A man? A man was answering Jiang Jiusheng’s phone in the middle of the night. Su Qing’s brain went into overdrive as scenes of a clandestine affair filled his head. Overcome by curiosity, he asked, “Who are you?”

The phone replied with a low tone: toot, toot…

The guy had hung up on him!

Su Qing said nothing. He swiped to the call log and redialed.

A cold and disinterested voice replied, “Sorry. The number you have dialed is not in use. Please call again later.”

Damn! He had been blocked! Su Qing was both incensed and curious.

The person by his side prodded, “What? What?”

It was Su Qing’s manager, He Xiangbo, a slightly pudgy and official-looking man in his forties and one of Tian Yu’s old-school managers.

Su Qing shrugged. “I’ve been blocked.”

“What’s with Jiang Jiusheng?” Flustered, He Xiangbo began to stand up.

Su Qing simply shook his head, saying thoughtfully, “Not her. It was a man.”

A man? He Xiangbo looked at his watch. It was past eleven. “Mo Bing once told me that her artiste was single, so where did this secret lover come from?” Deep in thought, he couldn’t believe what he had heard. He passed his phone to Su Qing. “Use my phone and call again.”

He needed to get to the bottom of this unexpected situation so as to be prepared for any PR incidents.

Su Qing dialed the number. “Can’t get through,” he said. “Phone’s been switched off.”

What was Jiang Jiusheng’s game? What was Jiang Jiusheng’s man playing at?

Growing more suspicious and increasingly worried, He Xiangbo asked his artist, “Are you sure she found out?”

Su Qing stretched backward, arms grabbing the back of the chair as he mused lazily, “Are you dissing my physique?”

“Oh, come on!” He Xiangbo said, then reminded him rudely of his shortcoming. “Even your 40 million fans haven’t realized anything. Does it matter if I critique your physique?”

Su Qing said nothing.

“You should put your schedule on hold for the near future. Let me hear Mo Bing out before we decide what to do next.” Mulling over the matter, He Xiangbo decided that since the other party had a hold on them, they ought to adopt a wait-and-see attitude for now.

“Okay.”

“But then, who is Jiang Jiusheng’s secret lover?” Manager He could not suppress his curiosity and gossipy nature. “Is it big boss Yuwen?”

Thinking back, Su Qing said, “It didn’t sound like him.”

“Xie Dang?”

Su Qing shook his head. “Xie Dang is still overseas.”

“Don’t tell me its Xu Qingjiu!” He Xiangbo was horrified at his own guess.

Xu Qingjiu was not on good terms with Jiang Jiusheng. During the few times they had met, Xu Qingjiu had always regarded Jiang Jiusheng with contempt.

“If that was Xu Qingjiu, I will eat dirt on live telecast.” Xu Qingjiu was bad news, and knowing Jiang Jiusheng to be more discerning, Su Qing waved his hand, dismissing the notion. “Stop making wild guesses.”

There were only a few men in entertainment whom Jiang Jiusheng had had any dealings with, so if it wasn’t any of those men, then…

“The secret lover is not from the entertainment industry,” He Xiangbo concluded.

Through the window, the moon had lit up the night sky, its brilliance overshadowing the stars. At this moment, “Secret Lover” Shi Jin sat at the top of the bed, watching in adoration as Jiang Jiusheng slept soundly. As the moon hovered above them, the branches of the pine trees bowing under the weight of the frost.

Shi Jin slid downward, pausing beside her ears.

“Sheng. Sheng.”

She did not respond. Her eyes were tightly shut.

Pulling back the covers, Shi Jin lay down by her side. As he held her close, the corners of his mouth rose slightly.

The day after was a pleasantly breezy fall day. Shining through the sky-blue drapes, sunlight danced on the bed, forming specks of gold on the black covers, adding a touch of softness to the cold, presenting a picture of natural peace and tranquillity.

Jiang Jiusheng opened her eyes and found herself staring into a pair of big, round eyes. For a moment, she remained in a state of sleep.

Jiang Bomei, excited, unexpectedly hyper, let out a bark.

Woof!

Jiang Jiusheng was speechless.

In an instant, a ball of fur jumped into her arms. Lowering her head, Jiang Jiusheng realized that it was a chubby Pomeranian. It was pure white in color—very cute and pretty.

Woof! Jiang Bomei jumped and scrambled excitedly, arching playfully. Woof, woof!

The door opened, and a man’s voice commanded crisply, “Out.”

Master Papa was here! Time to scram! Trembling, Jiang Bomei snorted and jumped deftly off the bed to scurry along the wall and out of the room. It went to the living room and insightfully dragged its bed out to the balcony.

Jiang Jiusheng was still half-dazed.

Standing at the doorway, Shi Jin refrained from entering the room. “That’s my dog, Jiang Bomei,” he explained.

Jiang Jiusheng made a sound of acknowledgment and checked out her surroundings. She frowned and said, “Doctor Shi…”

“Yesterday, you shouted my name,” Shi Jin said gently.