Li Yan just told her the address of the hotel they were going to and had her follow along.

They drove off, with Shinohara Mirai and Matsushima Kui sitting in the back seat while Li Yan drove in front. The atmosphere quieted down a bit. Maybe because of Yu Xiaodi’s sudden appearance, a lot of lines and topics they had prepared no longer felt appropriate to bring up.

"S City is so warm, so comfy. I really want to stay here a few more days!"

"Yeah, it’s warm."

When you don’t know what to talk about, awkward silence is bad, so the two of them defaulted to the most basic topic: the weather.

Li Yan could feel their awkwardness. He thought for a moment and quickly figured it out. While driving, he organized his wording, then spoke in slower Yun Country language so they, with their not-so-great level, could follow more easily: "Actually, I’m really happy you came. I didn’t deliberately bring my girlfriend over, and I wasn’t trying to hint at anything. Bumping into her here was an accident, so I just had her wait with us."

Hearing that, the tension on both their faces clearly eased. No matter what, they were still girls who had taken the initiative to come all the way to Yun Country to see Li Yan—that already meant tossing aside a lot of pride. If Li Yan had said he was too busy, refused to host them, and pushed them off onto other Paradise Group business staff for a formal reception, they definitely would’ve felt bored and would’ve left pretty quickly.

But now that he had shown up in person while bringing his girlfriend along, it easily gave off another message: I have a girlfriend now, so please be mindful of that—I don’t want to get any closer to you than we already are!

To them, that would have been a tactful rejection, which of course would be awkward and embarrassing. But now that Li Yan had personally explained, they felt a lot more at ease.

"Li Yan, us... showing up so suddenly, does it... cause you trouble?" Shinohara Mirai asked a bit apologetically.

Matsushima Kui chimed in, "Especially since... tomorrow’s Valentine’s Day. You should be spending it with your girlfriend, but now the company’s making you entertain us. That must be really awkward for you, right? Actually, we originally planned to come after the New Year, but then we heard Paradise Group was on holiday and you might not have time. Later we talked to you, and only after you agreed did we decide to come. We just wanted to get here as soon as we could, we really didn’t intentionally pick today..."

After meeting Yu Xiaodi, she’d felt the need to explain, to avoid Li Yan misunderstanding that they’d come specifically to cling to him for Valentine’s Day.

Li Yan shook his head with a smile. "It’s fine. No matter when you come, I’m really happy. I’m the one who’s pretty busy and hasn’t had time to visit you, so making you run all the way here instead actually makes me feel a bit embarrassed."

"N-no, no, we’re the ones who should be embarrassed."

"We’re the ones being presumptuous!"

All that polite back-and-forth made them all feel that the easy closeness they once had was a bit thinner.

Li Yan thought that if he wanted them to have fun for the next few days, he needed to quickly erase the distance created by time and geography. So he didn’t keep explaining or trading pleasantries. Instead, he switched to another, more interesting topic: "Oh right, did you know? After I came back from Beihai Country last time, I stopped doing my old job. The company set up a film company with me in charge, and I rushed to get things going. In just a few months, we’ve already finished shooting a romance film. These days, it’s actually showing in Yun Country cinemas."

"Really? That’s amazing!"

Shinohara Mirai and Matsushima Kui both exclaimed in surprise, and this topic helped them break out of the earlier awkwardness. From the back seat, they looked at Li Yan with eyes full of admiration.

"So you can even make movies! And you finished one in just a few months—that’s seriously amazing!"

"I like Wong Jiawai’s movies, but he’s too slow... You’re better, Li Sang!"

A lot of people like Wong Jiawai’s films; they think the lines are poetic, the mood, music, and visuals are all great, and they toss around terms like postmodern deconstruction. But even more people think Wong Jiawai’s movies are just petty-bourgeois posing, style over substance, pure pretentiousness. So he’s never been mainstream, and whether on Cloud Island or in the mainland, none of his films have been real blockbusters.

But there’s no denying that Wong Jiawai definitely counts as one of the very few Yun Country directors with real international influence. Of course, over on Siro Continent he’s still niche, and even in the most appreciative Celestial Continent he’s still considered an art-house-type big director. In Beihai Country, Wong Jiawai also has quite a bit of name recognition.

Back in the day, 2046, which started planning even before In the Mood for Love, just happened to coincide with the peak era of Beihai Country’s almighty idol, the great God Kimura. But from the time Brother Takuya was still the never-dated golden bachelor to the point where his son was old enough to show up as a background extra, 2046 was still nowhere near wrapped. By the time the film finally came out, after N years of shooting, Kimura Takuya’s scenes had been whittled down to just a tiny bit, basically there to be background for Liang Chaowei. Other than walking the red carpet once, he got basically nothing out of it. That was probably the most frustrating project of his career.

Seeing their reactions in the rearview mirror, Li Yan couldn’t help finding it funny. Matsushima Kui was really into Yun Country language, and Shinohara Mirai was half Yun Country by blood, so it was no surprise they were interested in Yun Country films. But the fact that they were now associating him with being a director, and even praising him for being faster than Wong Jiawai, really amused him.

"Ahem... actually, you’ve got it wrong. I run the film company and invested in one movie, but I’m not the director or an actor. The director’s an unknown, but several of the actors are pretty famous stars from Cloud Island and Lan Island. You might’ve heard of them..." Li Yan started chatting with them about the leads of Springtime Leaked.