Filming? Might as Well Move In Together

The air in the car gradually turned awkward. Bai Mo finally shut up, but he looked like he was just gathering strength for some bigger move.

Li Xingqing glanced down at her phone, swiped twice, then closed it again.

Xi Zhen was driving, so it wasn’t easy to talk. Her gaze stayed on the curtain of rain ahead; the wipers moved back and forth with a creak and a squeak.

Bai Mo could hardly stand the strange atmosphere anymore, and curiosity kept getting the better of him. So he kept trying to fish for information on his sister’s behalf in roundabout ways.

“Teacher Xingqing, when’s your birthday?”

“In October.”

“That’s soon. Which day?”

“...October 17.”

“Ah, maybe we’ll still be on set by then. Teacher Xingqing, how old will you be? Let us celebrate with you.”

“No need, really.” Li Xingqing waved it off. She hadn’t liked celebrating her birthday much since she was fifteen. Being asked out of the blue only made her instinctively refuse.

“Fine then,” Bai Mo said, sounding a little disappointed. “So how old are you? You always seem really young, Teacher Xingqing.”

“......Twenty.”

“Huh?” This time it was Bai Mo’s turn to be shocked.

He had just graduated from university this year, at twenty-two; he had always thought he was the youngest on set. He hadn’t expected Li Xingqing to still be under twenty.

“You’re really that young? You’re amazing, Teacher Xingqing.”

Being praised by Bai Mo made Li Xingqing feel an indescribable awkwardness, but she didn’t know how to stop him. In the end, she could only look helplessly toward Xi Zhen.

But when her gaze shifted to the driver’s seat, Li Xingqing heard Xi Zhen quietly repeat, “Nineteen,” followed by a teasing, “little kid.”

After saying that, she quickly went on speaking to Bai Mo in the back. “It’s raining pretty hard outside. Want to see what it feels like to get drenched?”

Bai Mo: “......”

He was doing all this for who, exactly? Fine. From now on, he was sealing up his heart and love; he would become a cold, detached person.

Bai Mo kept his word. The cabin quieted down very quickly. But Li Xingqing felt as if the car’s air conditioner had broken; the air coming from the vents suddenly went from icy to thirty-degree warm, and her cheeks started to burn.

Before she could adjust, that mysterious cold man spoke again. “Teacher Xingqing, let’s add each other as contacts too.”

“Hm?” Li Xingqing didn’t quite understand. Weren’t they already connected on the first day?

“The one I have now is basically my work account; there aren’t many people I can chat with. Let’s add each other on our private accounts.”

“Oh, sure. But I only have one account.”

“Then I’ll just send you a request.”

“Okay.”

“Mm, sent it. Hey, Teacher Xingqing, why don’t you add Sister Zhen too? We’re about to be coworkers; you two should have each other as contacts.”

Bai Mo had a point. Li Xingqing had indeed wanted Xi Zhen’s contact information for a while.

But she had no good excuse, and even less standing to ask. So she had kept quiet. After all, she couldn’t just suddenly walk over and say, “Sister, add me on WeChat,” could she? That would be far too strange.

Since Bai Mo brought it up, Li Xingqing agreed immediately.

The next light was a sixty-second red. Xi Zhen stopped the car and opened her phone to pull up her QR code.

Bai Mo, sitting in the middle of the back seat, glanced over and, just as he’d expected, saw his sister’s private account.

Oh, come on. These two.

Bai Mo snickered to himself, his stomach full of complaints but nowhere to put them. In the end, he finally settled down.

Xi Zhen drove steadily. It was raining, so they couldn’t go fast anyway, and what should have been a drive of less than two hours somehow stretched into three.

Li Xingqing never fell asleep; she quietly kept Xi Zhen company. Bai Mo in the back, probably because he’d pulled another all-nighter last night, was sleeping soundly.

The car finally stopped in front of a... rather old-fashioned house.

To put it nicely, it was old-fashioned; to put it bluntly, it was shabby.

And not the kind of shabby that looked out of place among its surroundings. A glance at the neighboring houses made it clear this was probably the best of the lot.

D City was by the sea, and being in the south, the walls of the houses were mottled with greenish mold. It was a three-story building; streaks of water stains ran down from the windowsills like tears carved by years of weather.

Even the second-floor balcony was made of perforated cement, probably a style that had been popular last century. Much of the cement had already fallen away, exposing bright red bricks underneath. A rope had been strung up above the balcony; it was probably used as a clothesline.

Xi Zhen opened the trunk. This time, Li Xingqing didn’t let her help; she was quick enough to lift the suitcase down herself.

Bai Mo, who had just been woken up, was clearly shocked by the place too. He stared at the house in disbelief.

“Sis, I... where do I stay?”

“Here.” Xi Zhen replied coldly, pointing to the room at the far east end of the third floor. “There. Your room. Go on. Want me to carry your suitcase for you?”

Bai Mo wouldn’t dare trouble his sister; he hurriedly took the suitcase and went upstairs.

In a house like this, not to mention an elevator, even the stairwell felt cramped. The hallway, only about a meter wide, couldn’t fit two adults walking shoulder to shoulder.

Li Xingqing still had her suitcase in hand. She was about to say goodbye to Xi Zhen, then ask Ke Wei which room she was supposed to stay in, when a strong scent of bar-lemon wine suddenly filled the air.

“Come on, I’ll go up with you. You’re staying next to me.”

“Huh?” Li Xingqing’s shock didn’t look fake.

“What, you don’t want to?” Xi Zhen deliberately stretched out the last syllable, her voice turning faintly sticky with something unreadable. She leaned back slightly, one hand on Li Xingqing’s suitcase handle, her gaze sliding over from the corner of her eye.

“No, I just think it’s a coincidence.” When they had been preparing, they had already been assigned adjacent rooms. She hadn’t expected the same arrangement here.

“Mm, it is quite a coincidence.” Xi Zhen nodded in agreement, then added, “There’s no coincidence without a story.” With that, she led her up to the second floor.

Li Xingqing didn’t want Xi Zhen helping her carry the suitcase anymore, so she walked in front first.

But the hallway was even narrower than she’d imagined. She almost immediately regretted letting Xi Zhen walk behind her. Now they were trapped in this narrow, airtight cement box together.

Xi Zhen’s breath; the scent of perfume mixed with a slight tipsiness; drifted over from behind her ear and quietly tangled with her own breathing. It brushed lightly over the fine hairs at the nape of her neck, sending a tremor through her.

The two-turn staircase was finally over. The perforated balcony she had glimpsed when she first looked up was now below her line of sight, and only then did she realize the space on it had been leveled off and held all sorts of odd little things.

A few glass marbles, a small iron box rusted through from sitting in the rain, and a couple of potted flowers underneath; unfortunately, they already showed signs of withering.

She was so absorbed in looking that she didn’t notice Xi Zhen behind her. This was one of Li Xingqing’s habits; she always instinctively noticed small details most people didn’t bother with.

Xi Zhen stepped up beside her and, seeing her dazed expression, explained a few things.

“I heard from the director that there wasn’t a hotel nearby, so I had someone rent this house. It looks a little basic, but it’s pretty safe to live in; no need to worry about formaldehyde.”

“Mm. It feels very lived in.” Her hand lightly touched the cement balcony, catching a bit of moisture; it was slightly prickly.

“Alright, the second room here is yours. There’s only a bed and bedding inside. If you need anything else, there’s a supermarket nearby, or you can just tell me.” Xi Zhen used a key to open the wooden door, then handed the key to Li Xingqing.

“Th-thank you, Sister.”

“It’s nothing. Is this your first time on set? You’re so young; take good care of yourself, little kid.”

“Mm, it is my first time.”

“Good. I’m right next door, so if you run into any problems, come find me.”

“...Okay.”

Li Xingqing pushed her suitcase in and looked around the room.

It was actually fine. After renting the house, Ke Wei had already hired someone to clean it once, so the room wasn’t messy.

Li Xingqing quickly changed her bedsheet, then took the stuffed toy out of her suitcase and placed it by the pillow.

It was a rabbit. It looked like it had been used for quite a long time, but it was clean. Its two long ears drooped obediently, resting on the corner of Li Xingqing’s bed.

It was getting late. Xi Zhen had just been about to call Li Xingqing to go eat when she saw her sitting on the bed through the balcony window, silently staring at the rabbit.

The windows of old houses were easy to open, and this was the south, so there was naturally a large window to let in sunlight.

Xi Zhen’s motion to call out to her paused, but Li Xingqing, sitting on the bed, caught sight of the figure standing by the window.

She looked up instinctively. After confirming who it was, she called out a little strangely, “Sister Zhen?”

“Oh, are you done unpacking? It’s getting late. Want to go eat together? There aren’t many takeout options around here, and the roads are a bit of a maze, so I’m afraid you might get lost.” Xi Zhen brushed her hair back, without the slightest guilt about spying.

“I’m done. Sis, wait for me.”

“No rush.”

Li Xingqing agreed in words, but she was already quickly pulling on her shirt jacket and heading out the door. She’d thought Bai Mo would be there too, but after going down the stairs, she still didn’t see him.

“What’s wrong?” Noticing she was looking for something, Xi Zhen turned back to ask.

“Nothing, Sister. Isn’t Teacher Bai Mo coming with us?”

“Him? He made plans with Zheng Yuyu; don’t worry about him.”

“Okay.”

This place was basically a small town, full of long, narrow alleyways twisting every which way; it really would be easy to get lost.

The rain had stopped, and quite a few grandmothers were sitting on the steps outside their doors, sewing or sorting vegetables.

Walking through it all, Li Xingqing even felt a rare sense of ease.

It wasn’t as if she had never been to a place like this before, but traveling and living here were different. Seeing things in a quick, passing glance wasn’t the same as this; especially not when there was someone beside her.

Xi Zhen seemed to have some innate ability to calm people down. Li Xingqing thought about it carefully; maybe it was because she always carried such a reassuring air.

Even though she was just Bai Mo’s assistant, it felt like she knew everything on set. When she said Li Xingqing could come to her if anything came up, it absolutely wasn’t just polite small talk; it really meant Li Xingqing could go to her.

The roads in town weren’t very wide. On the stone-paved lanes, ferns and moss would occasionally poke their heads out.

It was already autumn, but the place was still alarmingly green.

The faint fishy smell of rainwater that hadn’t dried yet overlapped with the rich fragrance of osmanthus in the air, leaving a sweetness that lingered on the tongue.

Xi Zhen didn’t check a map. She just kept walking and led Li Xingqing to a small restaurant.

It was probably one of the few restaurants in town. It wasn’t in a remote spot, and the frontage was small, but there were quite a lot of people eating at the moment; it was probably the dinner rush.

“Order whatever you want.”

Even in a small town, scanning a code to order had become the norm.

Li Xingqing looked at the menu on her phone and randomly picked a few very ordinary dishes.

“Are you really familiar with this place, Sister Zhen?” After finishing her selections, Li Xingqing asked casually; it seemed like just a throwaway question, but the repeated swallowing and lip-biting betrayed how nervous she really was.

Xi Zhen heard the probing in her words, but still answered. “Pretty much. I came here a few times before.”

“On vacation?” Li Xingqing raised her head and met Xi Zhen’s gaze.

“......For work.”

“Oh.” So it was work. Of course it was work.

Li Xingqing felt a reassuring sense of, as expected. Right, Xi Zhen was a celebrity assistant, and this was a fairly well-known filming location; if she came here, what else could it be besides work?

Author’s Note:

Li Xingqing: She invited me to dinner; she must love me

Xi Zhen: She’s eating with me; she must be saying she loves me

Our little couple really is just studying each other like this~