Huayu: Starting from retirement, sweeping across the domestic entertainment industry

Zhang Jingyi listened to Li Ran's words without panicking, and drove steadily for a short distance.

She glanced at the roadside, found an empty parking space, turned on her lights, pulled over, and turned off the engine.

Li Ran put on a mask and hat, opened the car door, and got out of the car.

He stood by the roadside, looking in the direction of the car behind him.

Sure enough, the car found a spot and stopped not far away.

Li Ran chuckled awkwardly through his mask, then pointed casually towards the car. The gesture seemed to say, "I see you."

Then he turned around, opened the driver's side door, and got into the car. Zhang Jingyi had already nimbly climbed into the back seat.

Li Ran fastened his seatbelt, started the car, and rejoined the traffic.

Looking in the rearview mirror, the suspect vehicle indeed followed again.

Li Ran smiled slightly and said to the two people in the back seat, "You two, sit down."

Zhang Ruonan couldn't help but complain, "These paparazzi are so annoying!"

Zhang Jingyi asked with some concern, "Brother, what do we do now?"

While observing the road conditions, Li Ran said, "Let's give them a couple of laps first, and then find a chance to shake them off."

He paused, then asked, "Whose car is this?"

Zhang Jingyi explained, "It's a company car, I use it for transportation."

"Have you ever been photographed?"

"No. I don't usually drive; this is the first time I've driven."

"You two didn't get off the bus while you were waiting for me, did you?"

Zhang Ruonan and Zhang Jingyi shook their heads simultaneously: "No, we just waited in the car, we didn't get out."

Li Ran nodded, understanding the situation.

It's confirmed. The car behind him was coming for him, and it was an experienced paparazzi who even had someone watching the back door.

He stopped talking and focused on driving.

First, I drove the car around the area twice, observing the traffic light countdown on the navigation as I drove.

He discovered that the countdown timer for the yellow light at one intersection was about two seconds off from the actual time... This discovery gave him peace of mind.

Another traffic light intersection.

Li Ran slowed down so that the car behind him could follow closer.

He glanced at the rearview mirror, then at the countdown timer of the traffic light ahead, silently calculating the distance and speed in his mind.

There are three seconds left on the green light.

He lightly pressed the accelerator and slowly glided to the intersection.

two seconds.

one second.

The moment the yellow light came on, Li Ran suddenly shifted gears and accelerated, turning the steering wheel to overtake the car in front of him, barely making it across the intersection before the red light turned on.

The car behind was stuck at a red light.

Li Ran saw the car stopped at the intersection through the rearview mirror. The driver seemed to hesitate for a moment, but the red light was already on, so he had no choice but to stop.

Li Ran didn't relax, continued to accelerate, turned into a small alley, and drove around in a winding path for a while before merging back onto the main road from another exit.

He glanced in the rearview mirror... and the car was gone.

After driving for a while and confirming that no vehicles were following him, Li Ran breathed a sigh of relief, readjusted his direction, and headed towards Zhang Jingyi's house.

Zhang Jingyi let out a long sigh and leaned back in her seat: "These paparazzi are so annoying..."

Li Ran smiled and said, "Maybe this is the trouble of being a top star! Little nobodys are too lazy to even bother filming."

Zhang Ruonan couldn't help but laugh out loud: "Your baseless rumors can make it to the trending topics. If we actually photograph you going to Jingyi's house, it'll be big news again."

Li Ran explained, "It doesn't matter if they filmed it, it's just troublesome to deal with. They just want to get photos of my exposé so they can make me pay to avoid trouble."

He paused, then added, "They don't earn anything by posting it online. It's the era of social media now; can they still sell it to newspapers?"

Zhang Jingyi said softly, "You should still be careful. It won't look good for you if you get photographed."

Zhang Ruonan suddenly realized something and looked at Li Ran: "I didn't expect you to have this skill?"

Li Ran chuckled awkwardly, "I still have a lot of technical work to do, you'll find out later."

Zhang Ruonan frowned slightly, feeling that there was something strange about what she was saying.

But Li Ran drove calmly. Was I overthinking things?

She then asked, "How do you remember the traffic lights so clearly?"

Li Ran pointed to the car's navigation system: "The BeiDou positioning system is so advanced now. When I started taking him around in circles, I noticed that the traffic light countdown at that intersection had a two-second error."

He paused for a moment: "It's just a matter of counting down the seconds. Back when I was a pro, I had to calculate much more time... Flash time, enemy skill cooldowns, jungle monster respawn times..."

Zhang Ruonan was stunned: "Is playing a game this complicated?"

Li Ran smiled and said, "What do you think?"

The car continued forward.

The street scene outside the window rushed past, the evening sky over Beijing gradually darkened, and neon lights lit up one after another, turning the city into a dazzling sea of ​​light.

……

By the time the car came to a complete stop, it was already completely dark.

Zhang Jingyi's apartment is in a high-rise residential building in the city center. It is not particularly luxurious, but it is quiet and private.

The three went directly upstairs from the basement, avoiding any potential cameras.

As soon as the door opened, Zhang Ruonan couldn't wait to kick off her shoes and walk into the living room: "I'm starving, I'm starving! I didn't eat anything for lunch."

Following the updates on Cola Novels has never been so enjoyable.

Zhang Jingyi followed her in with a smile: "There's food in the fridge. Would you like hot pot or barbecue?"

Zhang Ruonan turned to look at her: "Can't we have both?"

Li Ran was the last to come in, and casually closed the door behind him: "Then come on over, there are three of us anyway, we can reheat what we can't finish tomorrow."

Half an hour later, the coffee table in the living room was filled with ingredients.

In the middle is a divided hot pot, with red oil bubbling on one side and clear broth boiling on the other.

Next to it was an electric grill, on which the pork belly was sizzling, and puffs of white smoke rose as the fat dripped down.

Several plates of sliced ​​beef, lamb, vegetables, and mushrooms were laid out in abundance, and the drinks were chilled plum juice and beer.

The three of them sat around on the carpet, eating and chatting in a relaxed atmosphere like a college roommates' gathering.

Zhang Ruonan picked up a piece of tripe with her chopsticks, dipped it in the spicy broth a few times, then put it in her mouth, squinting her eyes in satisfaction: "Ah...it's back to life."

Zhang Jingyi smiled and poured her a drink, saying, "Eat slowly, no one's going to take it from you."

Li Ran focused intently on flipping the pork belly on the grill, grilling it until both sides were golden brown and crispy. Then he picked it up, put it in lettuce, wrapped it up, and handed it to Zhang Jingyi.

Zhang Jingyi took it and gave him a sweet smile: "Thank you, brother."

Zhang Ruonan watched from the side, pouting, "Can you two please stop showing off your love in front of me? Have you considered how I, a single person, feel?"

Li Ran didn't even look up: "You don't have to look, and you don't have to eat the meat I grilled."

Zhang Ruonan immediately pushed the plate in front of her forward: "No, we still need to eat the meat."

Zhang Jingyi was amused by her.

Halfway through the meal, Zhang Ruonan habitually picked up her phone and started scrolling.

Then she froze.

"Oh my god..."

Zhang Jingyi looked up at her: "What's wrong?"

Zhang Ruonan placed her phone on the coffee table and slowly said, "Li Ran, he really is a paparazzi!"

Zhang Jingyi immediately moved closer to Zhang Ruonan, and the two squeezed together to watch the screen.

Li Ran remained calm, continuing to flip the meat on the grill as if it had nothing to do with him.

The video was posted by a popular entertainment paparazzi on a short video platform. His ID is "Liu Dachui" and he has over a million followers.

The latest video is about what happened this afternoon...

The video opens with footage of fans welcoming Li Ran at the airport. Li Ran walks out wearing a mask and hat, and the crowd surges around her, with some screaming and others holding up light sticks.

The video followed Li Ran's vehicle all the way to Wajijiwa Entertainment...

Then the camera zoomed in on Li Ran getting into a car, revealing the license plate.

Then, there's the moment when Li Ran, realizing he was being followed, got out of the car and pointed at the camera.

The image freezes on his gesture of pointing at the camera, accompanied by the text: "Burning God truly lives up to his reputation as an e-sports player; his sense of killing intent is absolutely amazing. And his driving skills are truly superb; I genuinely couldn't catch up."

Zhang Ruonan scrolled to the comments section, reading aloud as she went: "'Burning God is still strong!'... That's a fan."

"Am I the only one who thinks Li Ran was cool when he pointed at someone after getting out of the car?"... That's from a fan who's attracted to his looks.

"Did anyone capture photos of Li Ran getting into whose car? What did he go there for?"... That's just gossip from the public.

"Which of Li Ran's CP pairings are real?"...This is from a CP fan.

Zhang Jingyi frowned as she looked at the pinned comment, which was Liu Dachui's own reply.

"No substantial progress has been captured yet. Li Ran's fans can follow us; we will continue to track and break the news."

She exploded: "No way, how can this person be so disgusting?!"

Li Ran chuckled and slowly put a slice of grilled beef into his mouth: "Paparazzi, it's normal. It's better now, but back then, Zhuo Wei was really something else."

He chewed on his meat, picked up his phone, opened a short video platform, and found Liu Dachui's account.

Click on the secretly filmed video.

Type in the comments: "Be careful with your account."

send.

Then he thought about it for a moment, and then clicked the report button again.

Seeing his actions, Zhang Jingyi couldn't help but laugh out loud: "I'll report him too! Isn't this invading privacy?"

She immediately took out her phone, clicked on the video, and reported it without hesitation.

Zhang Ruonan looked at the two of them and shook her head helplessly: "These kinds of people have a lot of accounts. If one is banned, they will just have other small accounts to continue posting."

Zhang Jingyi snorted: "As long as it makes me feel better."

She looked up at Li Ran: "Brother, do you think he might actually be afraid of you?"

Li Ran smiled and said, "I'm not afraid, but at least let him know that I'm not someone to be trifled with."

It's fine if he doesn't know who's following him; if he does, he'll have plenty of connections to deal with it.

The hot pot in the living room was still bubbling away, and the aroma of roasted meat filled the air.

The three continued eating and chatting, occasionally checking their phones and sometimes complaining to each other.

Li Ran's phone, which was on the coffee table, vibrated.

It was a message from Liu Haocun. He glanced at Zhang Jingyi across from him.

She was watching short videos and chatting with Zhang Ruonan and didn't notice what was happening here.

Li Ran opened WeChat and saw a message from Liu Haocun: "Brother, you're back in Beijing? I miss you."

"I want to be caught doing something wrong..."

Li Ran looked at his phone screen, a slight smile playing on his lips.

He typed back: "Just arrived today, will contact you tomorrow."

He typed back: "Just arrived today, will contact you tomorrow."

……