Huayu: This top star doesn't play by the rules.

On December 4th, Chen Chao's first film, "Duckweed," officially wrapped up filming. The wrap party was held at a private restaurant in JX city, and Han Han generously booked the entire restaurant.

At the beginning of the banquet, everyone was still somewhat polite, simply raising their glasses to congratulate each other and exchanging pleasantries.

But after a few rounds of drinks, the group, who were already quite familiar with each other after spending several months together, gradually relaxed.

The first to stand up and liven things up was the veteran Deng Chao. Holding his wine glass, he first raised it to Han Han, then turned to the others present, saying, "I had a lot of fun filming this movie, not for any other reason than that I met a group of interesting people."

Then came Chen Chao, Zhao Liying, and Gao Huayang. Besides raising their glasses to the staff, they specifically looked at Chen Chao and said succinctly, "Shanghai International Circuit, don't forget."

"Don't worry, I won't forget." In response to his reminder, Chen Chao smiled and raised his glass to clink glasses with him.

The last person to speak was Han Han, the director. He raised his glass but didn't speak immediately. His gaze slowly swept across everyone's faces before finally settling on Chen Chao.

"I've said before that there's only one Xu Zhengtai, and that's you, Chen Chao. But today, I want to add something else." He paused, his voice not loud, but firm and powerful, "There's only one Chen Chao, and I'm so glad I met you at the Shanghai International Circuit."

By the time the party ended, Chen Chao's face was flushed. He was already quite heavy drinker, and with his enhanced physique after his rebirth, this amount of alcohol wasn't enough to make him drunk, but the effects of the alcohol were undeniable.

—————————————————————————————

The next day, in the evening, in Shanghai.

When Chen Chao stepped out of Hongqiao Airport, the cold wind made him instinctively pull his collar tighter. Although both were in the south, Shanghai felt colder to Chen Chao than Jiaxing.

The reason Chen Chao made a special trip to Shanghai today is because it's Meng Ziyi's birthday, and he wanted to give her a surprise.

Sitting in the van driven by his business agent Bai Chen, Chen Chao reached into his backpack and took out a community access card and a smart lock access card for his home. These were the cards Meng Ziyi had given him when she came to visit him on set for a cameo appearance.

"This is a house I bought in Shanghai. If you ever come to Shanghai and have nowhere to go, you can go here." When she said this, although her tone was deliberately casual, the tips of her red ears betrayed her true feelings.

.......

After entering the community with his access card, Chen Chao went straight to Building 12 and took the elevator to the 16th floor. It was a one-apartment-per-floor building, and as soon as the elevator doors opened, Meng Ziyi's door came into view.

I swiped my access card lightly, and with a click, the electronic door lock opened automatically.

The room was quite quiet. The lights in the living room were off, and only the faint moonlight from outside shone through the gauze curtains, bringing a little light to the room.

A laptop sits on the coffee table in the living room, its screen still showing the interface after the live stream ended. A crumpled jacket lies on the sofa, along with a half-open bag of potato chips.

After scanning the room, Chen Chao's gaze quickly fell on the half-open bedroom door, where a sliver of dim light shone through the crack.

Chen Chao entered quietly and gently pushed open the door.

With her back to the door, Meng Ziyi sat on the carpet by the bed, her knees curled up and her chin buried in her arms. A small lamp was lit on the bedside table, its dim light falling on her profile and illuminating the dried tear stains clearly.

She didn't cry at this moment; she just sat quietly with her phone casually tossed on the carpet.

Hearing the very soft creak of the door hinges as it was pushed open, Meng Ziyi turned around abruptly.

When she saw Chen Chao walk in, she was first stunned, then her eyes widened suddenly, her lips moved as if she wanted to say something but it got stuck in her throat.

She blinked, then blinked again, as if to confirm that the Chen Chao standing at the door was real, and not a hallucination she had developed while cooped up in her room.

"You—" Her voice was a little hoarse.

"Happy birthday!" Before Meng Ziyi could finish speaking, Chen Chao greeted him with a smile.

Meng Ziyi scrambled to her feet from the carpet, nearly tripping in her haste. She stumbled and fell into his arms, burying her face in his chest and gripping his clothes tightly, her knuckles turning white from the force.

"How did you get in here...? Shouldn't you be filming in Jiaxing...?"

"I've finished filming." Chen Chao gently patted her back, his tone tender. "The wrap party ended last night, and I flew over today. As for how I got in—" He waved the key card in his hand, "You forgot? You gave it to me yourself."

Lifting her head from Chen Chao's embrace, Meng Ziyi stared blankly at the two access cards. A few seconds later, she suddenly burst into laughter through her tears, gently punching him. "You're the one who forgot! I was just asking to test you."

"Yes, yes, so I passed your test, Sister Meng?" Chen Chao asked with a smile after putting the two access cards away again.

Sniffing, Meng Ziyi tried her best to put on a smug expression, "You pass."

"Alright, wipe your tears first." After gently scraping her nose with his finger, Chen Chao suddenly pulled an exquisite jewelry box from his pocket as if by magic. "A birthday present, but this is only the first one."

With some surprise, Meng Ziyi took the jewelry box and carefully opened it. Inside lay a gold necklace with a blue agate four-leaf clover pendant hanging from it.

"A four-leaf clover represents good luck." Reaching into the box, Chen Chao took out the necklace and helped her put it on, saying softly, "I hope that from today onwards, every day of yours will be a little luckier than yesterday."

Meng Ziyi's fingertips gently traced the four-leaf clover pendant between her collarbones. Her lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, she simply stood on tiptoe and gave him a deep kiss.

"You just said this was only the first gift." Reaching out and swatting away Chen Chao's hand, which was instinctively about to make a mischievous move, Meng Ziyi created a slight distance between them. "And what about the second one?"

"Hmm~ For the second one, we'll need to go pick it up together." Looking at Meng Ziyi, whose cheeks were slightly flushed, Chen Chao smiled and extended his hand to her. "Let's go, I'll take you somewhere."