Chapter 50

In the end, Cheng Shuyang still didn’t wear that qipao.

The instigator was still standing off to the side, acting all wise as she pointed at the dress and criticized it.

"Aunt Cheng, look at this one. It’s way too revealing; it doesn’t suit your status."

"But wasn’t this the one you picked for me?"

"I only thought it looked good at the time, but now I think it looks awful."

The woman had long since seen through her little scheme. She shot her a reproachful look, then picked another, slightly more conservative outfit from the rack and changed out of the qipao.

The dress had already been ravaged beyond recognition. Blushing, the woman tossed it into Jiang Lai’s arms. "You like it, don’t you? Then it’s yours."

Jiang Lai cleared her throat. "But I don’t like it anymore."

"Then I’ll throw it away..."

"Hey, hey, hey."

She stopped the woman and took the dress with a cheeky grin. "Why throw it away? What a waste."

Joking aside, how could she possibly not like it? She had to keep it. Keep it for later; maybe she’d still get a chance to make Aunt Cheng wear it for her.

"All right."

The woman tapped her on the forehead. "Hurry up and get ready to go out. We’ve been in here for a long time already."

"Wait a moment."

Jiang Lai turned slightly and gently wiped away the lipstick mark with her fingertips.

Meeting the woman’s gaze head-on, she curved her lips. "What is it?"

"No manners. You’re not allowed to do that kind of thing again."

"What thing?"

Jiang Lai looked completely innocent. "You mean what I just did when I kissed—mmph!"

The woman clamped a hand over her mouth in embarrassment and exasperation, the warning in her eyes unmistakable.

Jiang Lai peeled her hand away and pouted. "I get it. I just won’t say it again, okay..."

"Alai..."

"What?"

"Forget it..."

She wanted to scold her, but she couldn’t bring herself to be harsh.

She clearly didn’t want to burden Jiang Lai, and yet she still greedily indulged in her beauty and youth, letting herself be lured step by step into a trap she could no longer pull away from.

Cheng Shuyang, you’re truly shameless.

"Aunt Cheng, what’s wrong?"

Jiang Lai lifted a hand and waved it in front of her eyes.

"Nothing. Let’s go out."

Meeting the girl’s worried gaze, she looked away and spoke so softly it was almost a sigh: "Jiang Lai, don’t always do things like that... you’ll make people worry."

When the two of them came out, the set had basically already been arranged.

It had to be said, Director Zhang was stubborn and inflexible at times, but his eye for aesthetics was undeniable.

Even though it was an artificial set, it looked as if it had always been there.

"Aunt Cheng!"

The sudden hug startled the woman.

Jiang Lai was startled too and pressed a hand to her chest.

"Yu Tian, are you insane? Why are you yelling so loudly?"

"None of your business."

The latter shot her a glare, then hooked her arm through the woman’s and led her away from Jiang Lai.

Jiang Lai: "...People really do get speechless when they’re speechless."

"Alai!"

Gu Xizhou draped an arm over her shoulder, her expression full of teasing amusement. "What were you and Teacher Cheng doing in there? Why did it take you so long to come out?"

She knocked the girl’s hand away. "Looking for clothes. There were too many; it was hard to choose."

"Now that you mention it, your outfit kind of looks like a couple’s outfit with Teacher Cheng’s."

"Is that so?"

Her fingertips paused for a beat as she looked toward the woman.

In matching shades, the two dresses actually echoed each other in a strangely seamless way.

"Maybe it was just a coincidence."

But the other clearly didn’t believe her and asked again, undeterred. "Alai, it really is a coincidence?"

"Couldn’t be more of a coincidence!"

Jiang Lai tapped her on the head. "What are you thinking about all day?"

"Thinking about shipping you and Teacher Cheng!"

"...Then go somewhere cool and stay there."

A breeze drifted by, and the sunlight was just right.

Jiang Lai leaned under a tree and watched the people fooling around not far away with interest.

Her assistant, Wen Nuan, whom she hadn’t seen in days, sent her a message. She let the smile fade from her face, walked to a patch of shade, and checked it.

It was nothing more than reminders about the competition rules and a few things to keep in mind.

She pressed her fingers to the tight spot between her brows, closed her phone, and started thinking about how much time she had left.

But to other people, that scene meant something entirely different.

Yu Tian walked over to her, still wearing the dress the two of them had fought over. Jiang Lai found it irritating just to look at her and couldn’t be bothered to pay attention.

"What? Without your Aunt Cheng keeping you company, are you that miserable?"

Jiang Lai glanced at her, her tone flat. "What’s it to you? Besides, what does it have to do with you?"

Yu Tian leaned against the tree trunk, her fingertips idly twining around the blue ribbon on her skirt. "What, did I hit the nail on the head?"

"Too lazy to deal with you."

Just as the girl turned to leave, she seemed to remember something and looked back at her.

Yu Tian felt a chill creep up her spine under that stare. "Y-you what? If you can’t talk your way out of it, are you going to hit me?"

"Let’s make a bet."

"What bet?"

Jiang Lai rolled her eyes and pointed at Cheng Shuyang. "We’ll bet on Aunt Cheng. I dare to kiss Aunt Cheng. Do you dare?"

Yu Tian looked as if she’d heard the biggest joke of her life. "You? In broad daylight? What kind of dream are you having? You really do just say whatever comes to mind."

"Just say whether you dare or not."

"Fine, then let’s bet. What happens if you lose?"

Jiang Lai said, "Yu Tian, do you know? I actually didn’t want to use Aunt Cheng as the stake."

"Then you still..."

"It’s just that you’re too annoying, always hovering in front of me! Like a fly; no matter how hard I try, I can’t swat you away!"

"You..."

Yu Tian stamped her foot in anger.

Seeing her at a loss for words, Jiang Lai was in a very good mood. She bounced over to the woman, who was discussing filming details with the director.

With the sunlight falling across her profile, her face looked especially soft.

"Aunt Cheng~"

The moment the woman turned around, she saw Jiang Lai standing in front of her with a sweet smile. A bad feeling suddenly rose in her heart. "What is it? Don’t tell me you’ve caused trouble again?"

Jiang Lai’s smile stiffened. A little indignant, she said, "Aunt Cheng, how can you say that about me? I’m not Wanwan."

"Achoo."

Xia Wanwan, who was hiding nearby and resting, sneezed without warning. She rubbed the tip of her nose.

"What’s wrong? Caught a cold?"

Gu Xizhou leaned over beside her with genuine concern.

"No, no."

Xia Wanwan waved it off. "Maybe Alai’s saying bad things about me."

The woman laughed helplessly and patted the top of her hair. "So what does Alai want with me?"

Jiang Lai said nothing. Looking at the woman’s delicate brows and eyes, she couldn’t help blurting out, "Lower your head a little, and I’ll tell you."

Because she was wearing something comfortable, Jiang Lai had on flip-flops. Standing in front of the woman in heels, she was at a slight disadvantage in height.

Cheng Shuyang only thought she must have something urgent and didn’t question it. She obediently bent down.

Jiang Lai closed her eyes and quickly kissed her on the face.

Cheng Shuyang: !!!

The soft touch lasted only a second, but the woman froze completely. Pointing at Jiang Lai, she couldn’t speak for a long time; she had never imagined the girl would be bold enough to do something like this.

And in a public place, with so many people watching...

The air seemed to freeze at once. Jiang Lai shut her eyes nervously, then couldn’t resist her curiosity and secretly opened one eye to peek; just then, she met the woman’s gaze head-on.

Seeing the tips of her own ears turn red, and then seeing Yu Tian in the distance looking stunned, the woman’s eyes flickered with a complicated emotion.

After a long moment, she simply lifted a hand to touch the spot Jiang Lai had kissed and said hoarsely, "No manners. You’re not allowed to do that again in the future."

No anger. No reprimand. Not even the slightest hint that she was upset.

Jiang Lai immediately relaxed. She lifted her chin and looked triumphantly at Yu Tian, whose face had gone dark as charcoal.

Xiaoman, who had just finished buying water for everyone, also saw this scene. She excitedly shoved the water into someone else’s arms and ran straight to the camera.

"Did you get it? Did you get it? Send it to me right away. This is way more real than fan edits; the real couple feeding us sugar is the sweetest thing of all!"

The camera operator was shaken so hard by her that he nearly dropped the equipment. Laughing helplessly, he patted the machine. "Don’t worry, I got it all. I’ll send it to you in a bit."

"Yes! Amazing!"

Xiaoman bounced twice in place, then leaned over behind the camera to watch the playback carefully. "Oh my god, Teacher Cheng didn’t even look angry. I’m not hallucinating, am I? I really did ship a real couple! This is peak material... no, wait!"

She opened her phone and tapped twice on it at lightning speed. "Happiness shared is twice the happiness. Everyone should watch it together; that’ll be even more fun. Anyway, I’m locking this ship down."

"How about it?"

Jiang Lai walked up to Yu Tian. "I told you you’d lose. Stay away from me from now on."

"Jiang Lai, what are you so smug about?"

Not wanting to waste words arguing with her, Jiang Lai turned to leave; but Yu Tian grabbed her wrist tightly and refused to let go.

Her wrist hurt from the grip. Jiang Lai tugged once, failed to break free, and then glared fiercely at the woman, her voice rising several notches. "Let go!"

Yu Tian not only refused to let go, but tightened her grip even more.

The fresh manicure on her nails practically dug into Jiang Lai’s flesh.

Jiang Lai frowned, forcing down her temper. "I said it one last time: let go!"

The noise between the two naturally drew everyone’s attention, and they all kept looking over.

"Yu Tian, don’t make me hit you."

The latter was equally unwilling to back down. "If you’ve got the guts, then hit me."

"Oh no, are the two of them really about to fight?"

Xia Wanwan panicked, dropped the corn in her hand, and sprinted out at a hundred-meter dash.

The two of them had already tangled into a mess.

"Let go!"

"I won’t. You let go first!"

"I count to three, and then we both let go!"

"My two young ladies, stop fighting."

Jiang Lai was dragged away by Xia Wanwan by the waistband, her legs still kicking in midair. "Yu Tian, just you wait!"

Yu Tian over there was no less fierce, shouting angrily, "I’ll wait then. Jiang Lai, I’m not letting this go!"

"Still causing trouble?"

The woman’s gentle voice came from behind them, and the flames in Jiang Lai’s heart were instantly doused.

She sneaked a glance at the woman, feeling a little guilty.

"Why are you so careless today? You even fought with someone. Are you trying to make it onto the trending list, hm?"

The woman reached out and straightened her wrinkled collar. "Besides, didn’t you also win a round back?"

Jiang Lai curled her lips, tears welling in her eyes as she rolled up her sleeve. "You only know how to scold me. Look what Yu Tian did; she pinched my hand until it went red. You don’t even feel sorry for me, you just keep nagging me..."

Cheng Shuyang’s gaze dropped to her wrist, and her brows snapped together. Sure enough, there was a red ring on her fair skin; in some places, it looked as if fingernails had scratched it open, with traces of blood still there.

"Forget it... I’ll go ask Xizhou to help me."

She lowered her eyes.

"Enough. Why do you always trouble Xizhou?"

The woman brushed over the reddened skin, her voice very soft. "Why was she so rough?"

There was pity in her tone, and then she shot Jiang Lai a glare. "And you too. How can you not even protect yourself?"

"You’re scolding me again..."

"All right, stop feeling wronged."

The gentleness in the woman’s eyes was almost overflowing. "Go wait for me in the room. I’ll get some ointment and rub it on you."

"No need. I’m fine on my own."

She huffed and turned to head back toward the guesthouse.

All that remained was the helpless woman standing there.

TL Note:

feeding us sugar (发糖) = giving fans sweet, affectionate moments between a couple.