Beauty? Take a Nap

Even though it was already October, the temperature in City D was still high.

There was no air conditioner running in Li Xingqing’s room, but since it was night, it didn’t feel hot.

Xi Zhen had been sitting quietly on the bed, watching Li Xingqing type on the computer. Unfortunately, her gaze was a little too burning; Li Xingqing couldn’t take it. In the end, her ears turned red, and she looked back at Xi Zhen. “Sister Zhen...”

At those two words, Xi Zhen immediately understood what she meant. Her brows lifted; she absentmindedly tucked the hair by her ear, then, for the time being, let the overtime-working Li Xingqing off the hook. Turning around, she pulled out a tablet and began sketching on it.

Xi Zhen and Ke Wei had met in an art studio. Xi Zhen was one year ahead of her, and later they went to the same university. There had been a small incident at the time, so Ke Wei was delayed by two years and didn’t end up taking the art path after all; she switched to directing instead. But in the end, different roads led to the same destination. After they met again at university, they kept in touch until now.

Xi Zhen’s pen never stopped moving; she roughed out the sketch, added the outlines, and colored it in. By the time Li Xingqing looked over, a vivid chibi character had already appeared on the tablet.

“Is the little rabbit done?” Sensing Li Xingqing’s gaze, Xi Zhen looked up. A loose strand of hair had sprung up behind her, adding a touch of domestic warmth to her appearance: slightly messy hair, an oversized sleep shirt, and a pair of square, non-prescription glasses on her face. Li Xingqing took a deep breath, but she still couldn’t calm the pounding of her heart.

“Almost. What are you drawing?” Li Xingqing closed the computer, got up, and sat down by the bed. She wrapped her arms around Xi Zhen and buried her face in the other woman’s shoulder, breathing in deeply.

Xi Zhen indulged her, relaxing her shoulders so the person clinging to her could nestle in more comfortably. She lifted the hand that had been holding the pen and gently patted Li Xingqing’s head. “Being spoiled?”

Whether it counted as being spoiled no longer mattered. Feeling Xi Zhen’s indulgence, Li Xingqing grew bolder. She reached up, carefully took the glasses off Xi Zhen’s face, and leaned in to kiss her. The glasses were casually tossed onto the bedside table, where they caught the faint light from the lamp.

Li Xingqing’s fingers combed through Xi Zhen’s disheveled hair again and again. It could only stay obediently at the back of her head, but under her owner’s movements, it kept rubbing against the pillow until it was pressed firmly against it.

At last getting a chance to breathe, Xi Zhen’s chest rose and fell as she looked at Li Xingqing with burning eyes. Her fingertips wandered over the other woman’s face, from her brows and eyes all the way down to her lips, before finally pressing against Li Xingqing’s slightly parted mouth.

“Behave.” Her voice was low, carrying the scent of desire.

Li Xingqing didn’t answer. Instead, she buried her head in Xi Zhen’s shoulder hollow again, rubbing against her little by little like a rabbit begging for affection.

“Still want to look at the drawing? I drew it for you.” Xi Zhen ruffled her hair; with the other hand, she circled Li Xingqing’s waist and gave it a teasing pinch. She hadn’t used much force, but it was especially seductive.

Unfortunately, Xi Zhen’s little prank failed, because Li Xingqing wasn’t ticklish. Still, she gave her the face-saving response she deserved. “I want to see it.”

The tablet, which had just been turned off, lit up again. A diligent little rabbit sitting in front of a computer and typing appeared before them. Xi Zhen had drawn the rabbit with a pair of gray drooping ears; they were swishing back and forth behind its head at the moment, as if it had been worn down by work until it had lost all vitality.

“Looks good, right?” Xi Zhen tapped the rabbit in a blue T-shirt on the screen, her tone full of teasing.

“It looks good. Can you send me this picture?” Li Xingqing stared at the screen, feeling deeply moved. It was as if some part of her heart that had always been missing had finally been filled in properly by someone; not only that, the other person had carefully patched up all the edges too, afraid it still wouldn’t be enough.

“Yes, but there’s a condition.”

“Mm?”

“Ask me nicely.”

The wicked joke made them both laugh, but Li Xingqing suddenly wrapped her arms around Xi Zhen and whispered in her ear, “Please, sister.”

With a click, the lights in the room went out. What followed were long, lingering breaths.

When Li Xingqing was awakened by the alarm, it was only eight o’clock. She checked her phone; besides one message from Ke Wei saying it had been received, there was also a screen full of messages from Bai Mo.

[Teacher Xingqing, do you know where Sister Zhen went?]

[I went looking for her today and found she wasn’t in the room.]

Half an hour later, Bai Mo’s messages changed again.

[Wait, you two were in the same room yesterday, right?]

[??]

[Teacher Xingqing, don’t bewitch yourself by her.]

After a while...

[No one’s replying, so I’m going to start spreading rumors.]

[This single dog has been cruelly wounded.]

[Fine, I’m going to work. Another day of hard labor.]

Li Xingqing skimmed through them and found nothing of any value, so she turned off the phone and tossed it onto the bedside table. Xi Zhen was still asleep; she was probably truly exhausted from last night.

Looking at the marks scattered over her body, two feelings rose in Li Xingqing’s mind for no apparent reason. One was lingering satisfaction; the other was tenderness. She bent down and kissed Xi Zhen’s forehead, then got up to prepare breakfast.

There were quite a few places in the nearby town selling food. By now, Li Xingqing had finally figured out the crisscrossing roads of those winding little alleys. She casually bought some common local breakfast items and brought them back to the room exactly as they were.

Xi Zhen was already awake, but she still hadn’t gotten out of bed. She lay lazily under the covers. Her calves were probably exposed because she’d gotten hot; they poked out from beneath the blanket, white enough to be dazzling.

Li Xingqing set the food on the table, wiped her hands, and took hold of Xi Zhen’s ankle.

“Be careful not to catch cold.” The skin in her hand was icy. Li Xingqing coaxed her up and massaged her waist.

“You’re pretty obedient at this hour.” Xi Zhen narrowed her eyes, looking like a coquettish cat. Li Xingqing caught the implication in her words, but since she was indeed at fault for last night, she silently shut her mouth.

Still, Xi Zhen didn’t actually mean to blame her. After all, she’d been the one to strike the match; in this sort of thing, there was no reason for anyone to feel wronged.

Li Xingqing massaged her for quite a while, and Xi Zhen curled up in her arms, feeling the warmth of her body. If... Bai Mo hadn’t called, that would have been even better.

“Sis!! What are you doing?”

“...If you have something to say, say it.” Xi Zhen barely restrained the urge to hang up, forcing out a few words through clenched teeth. Her tone was full of threat, as if if Bai Mo couldn’t come up with anything useful, she might march straight to the set and beat him up on the spot.

“Nothing...” Bai Mo seemed to have noticed Li Xingqing was nearby and deliberately dragged out the ending.

“Then I’m hanging up.” Xi Zhen said coldly.

“Wait, wait, wait, I do have something.”

“Then speak.”

“Uh... maybe you should come to the set. I...”

“Got it.” Xi Zhen hung up.

For Bai Mo to be this hesitant, something serious was probably happening on set.

Li Xingqing was holding Xi Zhen, so she naturally heard the call. Feeling Xi Zhen move, she asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. You bought breakfast? Let’s eat first; we’ll go to the set afterward.” Xi Zhen didn’t explain in detail, though even she wasn’t entirely clear on the situation yet.

But the right eyelid that had been twitching nonstop made unease rise unconsciously in her heart.

“Okay.” Li Xingqing pulled her out of her arms and, while Xi Zhen was putting on her shoes, tied up her originally messy hair.

The two of them hurried to the set, only to see that the things which had originally been properly stored in boxes were now violently thrown on the ground. Ke Wei stood alone at the very front, facing another group of people who were clearly aggressive.

“What happened?” Xi Zhen didn’t know the situation, so she temporarily grabbed Bai Mo and prepared to ask him.

“Sister Zhen, you’re finally here.” Bai Mo looked as if he’d seen a savior. As if pouring out his grievances, he explained what had just happened.

This morning, they had originally been filming as usual, but these people seemed to have come on purpose. The moment they arrived, they said *Seal the Heart* had taken over their place. Their voices were so loud that they were even deliberately trying to disrupt filming, so Ke Wei had no choice but to stop work and negotiate with them first.

Unfortunately, this group clearly hadn’t come to negotiate. After talking for half the day, they accomplished nothing except wasting time.

This was Li Xingqing’s first time working on a set, and even more so her first time running into a situation like this. She only felt baffled. These people kept saying that the *Seal the Heart* crew had occupied their location, yet they couldn’t see the slightest sign of another production at all.

Ke Wei was still doing her best to argue with them. Xi Zhen couldn’t say anything in front of Li Xingqing, although her assistant disguise was already hanging by a thread; but this clearly wasn’t the time for that kind of conversation.

She passed Li Xingqing to Bai Mo and sent the two of them inside to get ready for the scene, while she silently walked over to Ke Wei’s side.

Bai Mo’s not-so-bright brain was incredibly sharp at this moment. Realizing that Xi Zhen didn’t want Li Xingqing to know too much, and with that group looking so aggressive that it didn’t seem safe outside anyway, he quickly dragged Li Xingqing away.

“Teacher Xingqing, let’s look over the script while we have time. Zheng Yuyu is inside too; we can’t help with what’s happening outside, so we’d better not add to the chaos.”

Seeing Xi Zhen arrive, the tightly furrowed lines between Ke Wei’s brows relaxed a little, though her expression still looked worried.

Xi Zhen didn’t say anything comforting. Instead, she looked at the group of people who had come and said calmly, “From Starlight Entertainment?”

The people across from her clearly hadn’t expected to be seen through so quickly. Their expressions changed several times before they finally let out a cold snort.

“So what if we are? Since that’s the case, I’ll put it plainly: at most, you can keep using this place until the day after tomorrow.” He kicked the box on the ground hard, then turned and left.

Ke Wei wanted to step forward and stop him, but Xi Zhen blocked her.

“Don’t go. They were sent by Zhou Ping; it won’t do any good even if you do.” Xi Zhen withdrew her hand into her pocket and fished around, but couldn’t find any cigarettes.

Only then did she remember that she hadn’t smoked in a long time. The half-pack from last time had all been lit during that stormy night when the power went out.

After that, Xi Zhen hadn’t had the mind to buy more; it seemed that since then, she really hadn’t touched them again.

When Ke Wei heard that, her eyes instantly turned red. “That bastard Zhou Ping; is he still thinking about that?” After speaking, she looked at Xi Zhen again. Seeing that there was no expression on her face, she couldn’t help worrying even more.

“Zhen..."

“Don’t overthink it. It’s nothing like that. Zhou Ping probably just doesn’t like me and wants to make trouble for me.” Unable to find cigarettes, she felt a little empty in her mouth, so Xi Zhen peeled open the candy she’d found and put it into her mouth.

Author’s note:

Yet another hateful person has come to disrupt the sweet daily life of the couple!