Woman
The door didn’t budge at all.
Zhu Qing: !?
What was going on?!
Zhu Qing shoved again, harder this time, but the door still wouldn’t move.
She stared at the gap beneath it, where steam was seeping out. It wasn’t even a sealed door!
In a huff, Zhu Qing planted both hands against it and shoved with all her strength.
The sound of water inside suddenly stopped.
Li Lan tapped on the door twice with her long, elegant knuckles.
Water dripped from her palm along the curve of her fingers, leaving two blurry streaks on the glass.
“Why won’t it open?” Zhu Qing muttered, dejected.
Li Lan’s laughter came clearly through the door.
“I locked it in advance, silly,” Li Lan said. “Didn’t you notice it could be locked from the inside?”
Zhu Qing’s eyes widened.
Of course she hadn’t paid attention to the lock. In the bedroom, it was just her and Li Lan; when the deputy director came over, they went to the small sitting room. Who in their right mind would lock the bathroom after already locking the bedroom door?
Zhu Qing glared indignantly at the bathroom door.
“You,” Zhu Qing said resentfully, then asked in a low voice, “why did you lock it?”
Li Lan replied evenly, “I’m a prophet. I have precognitive abilities.”
Zhu Qing: …
“I’m the one who’s going to get there first,” Zhu Qing exploded. “Why do you get to lock the door, Li Lan? Open it for me!”
Li Lan laughed twice and turned on the shower again, continuing her bath as if nothing had happened.
Zhu Qing scratched at the door in frustration, then stopped when the grating sound of her knuckles against the glass made her bones prickle.
“Fine. You want to keep your distance from me that much? Fine. Taking a bath and still guarding against me,” Zhu Qing said, shaking her hair dry with a rough rub and gathering up her things. “Then I’m sleeping on the sofa tonight.”
Li Lan raised her voice. “There are mosquitoes in the living room. Apparently they’ve evolved. They’re extremely resistant; the production team even fumigated the place with toxic smoke for twenty-four hours and still couldn’t kill them.”
Zhu Qing froze mid-motion.
After a moment, she said unhappily, “If they’re that vicious, there aren’t any in the bedroom?”
Li Lan said, “I’ve already killed two. Want to turn off the lights and look for more?”
Zhu Qing pouted. She was about to say, Who’s going to help you look for mosquitoes? But on second thought, Li Lan didn’t seem to attract them. Zhu Qing had never even seen a mosquito bite on her. Li Lan had probably killed them just so she could sleep better herself.
Her irritation finally eased a little.
“Fine, I’ll make do and look for mosquitoes,” Zhu Qing said.
Li Lan took less time showering than Zhu Qing and was out in less than half an hour.
Zhu Qing was waiting at the foot of the bed with a hair dryer in hand.
She patted the mattress eagerly. “Come on, I’ll dry your hair.”
Li Lan took a cautious step back and studied her. “…No need to trouble yourself.”
Zhu Qing smiled. “How is that trouble? We’ll dry it quickly and go to sleep quickly.”
Keeping a two-meter distance from Zhu Qing, Li Lan walked over to the vanity to look for a face mask. Once she found one, she casually tossed it to Zhu Qing.
“Put down the hair dryer first and do your skincare.”
Zhu Qing gave a reluctant “oh” and slapped the mask onto her face.
Anyway, Li Lan’s face masks were always expensive. If she didn’t use it, it would go to waste.
The mask felt cool against her skin, almost like a seal; once it was on, Zhu Qing had a hard time causing trouble, worried she’d smear it everywhere.
“What do you want to say?” Li Lan asked while applying lotion.
“I want some too.” Zhu Qing held out her hand. “I wasn’t trying to say anything. Didn’t you say you’d tell me tonight why the director said Yu Ling and Qi Yao were at the bottom?”
Li Lan found another bottle of lotion for her and tossed it over, saying flatly, “You’re so smart. Why don’t you guess?”
Zhu Qing looked at the bottle in her hand, then at Li Lan’s. Same brand, different color. She twisted it open, squeezed lotion onto herself, and while rubbing it in, edged closer. “Guess? If I had to guess, it’s probably because what they shot wasn’t suitable.”
Li Lan looked at her approvingly. “Keep going.”
“The slums are exactly what they sound like. We went to the city center, where people were already being robbed after trying to rob others,” Zhu Qing said, rolling over so she could move even closer to Li Lan. “If the two of them filmed scenes with those kids directly, there’s no way it would be suitable for broadcast. There are image rights and privacy rights too.”
Li Lan nodded. “Right. In a segment like this, if you want to show local customs and culture, it’s more suitable to have a guide or local resident take you to places that have already been checked out in advance. It’s not suitable for the guests to explore on their own; who knows what they might uncover that can’t be aired.”
Zhu Qing thought that made sense. Then something clicked, and she suddenly realized, “So that’s why you suggested I go on a date this afternoon instead of doing a task.”
Li Lan smiled. “Not bad. That little brain of yours works fast.”
Zhu Qing said proudly, “Don’t underestimate me.”
As soon as she finished speaking, she knelt up on the bed until she was only one step away from Li Lan. Li Lan was applying lotion to her legs and completely failed to notice Zhu Qing drawing near.
“Li Lan,” Zhu Qing said suddenly, “look at me.”
Li Lan looked up; a streak of movement flashed before her eyes, and the lotion in her hand vanished in an instant.
“I’ll take a look,” Zhu Qing said, darting back to the bed with startling speed. “Wow, anti-aging, wrinkle-reducing, firming—”
Li Lan chased after her. “Give it back.”
“Nope,” Zhu Qing laughed herself breathless, shouting, “Teacher Li, you use anti-aging products? No wonder ours are different. Mine’s the moisturizing and brightening kind, hahaha!”
Zhu Qing was too nimble; several times she slipped out from under Li Lan’s hands. Li Lan was so angry a thin sheen of sweat broke out across her forehead. “I’m counting to three.”
“Three,” Zhu Qing said fearlessly. “What can you do to me?”
“Come to think of it, Teacher Li, you’re thirty this year, eight years older than me. When I was born, Teacher Li was still in elementary school.”
The vein at Li Lan’s temple began twitching, and not gently.
Zhu Qing grinned and stoked the fire. “When Teacher Li was twenty-two, I was still in middle school.”
Li Lan stared at her. “Not giving it back?”
At last Zhu Qing felt triumphant, having reclaimed the high ground of age. “Give it, give it. Of course I’ll give it.”
She tossed the lotion back. Li Lan caught it, thinking the other woman was giving in. Taking a deep breath, she turned to leave.
Zhu Qing said leisurely, “Of course I’m giving it to you. I’m not the one who needs anti-aging and anti-sagging products.”
Li Lan: …
Fine.
Very well.
Li Lan turned around. Zhu Qing smiled sweetly. “Still messing around? You can’t catch me—”
The bed was large, two meters wide. Zhu Qing was as slippery as a fish and hard to catch.
But Li Lan no longer bothered trying to grab her directly. She raised a hand, seized the two corners of the bedsheet, and yanked hard.
Before Zhu Qing could react, she was dragged straight in front of Li Lan.
Li Lan’s gaze was dark, dangerous. Zhu Qing jolted awake and immediately turned to crawl away.
Li Lan caught her by the ankle and pulled her back.
Zhu Qing let out a yelp. “Ahahaha, it itches, my foot, it’s too itchy!”
Li Lan’s brows lifted slightly. Ticklish? Her fingers, resting on Zhu Qing’s ankle bone, slid two inches lower at once and pressed against the sole of her foot, rubbing slowly.
Zhu Qing, who was already flailing, instantly turned into a wildly writhing loach.
“No way, hahaha, it’s too itchy, hahaha. Li Lan, let go, I was wrong, hahaha, let go—”
Li Lan said, “Wrong?”
Zhu Qing was laughing until tears came to her eyes; she could barely get enough breath. “I was wrong, I was wrong, I was wrong.”
Li Lan said, “What were you wrong about?”
Zhu Qing blurted out nonsense. “Teacher Li isn’t old, Teacher Li is the prettiest, Teacher Li is the best in the world, darling, I’m ticklish, hahaha, just let go already, hahaha.”
At last, Li Lan curled the fingers that had been rubbing so gently and pinched Zhu Qing once, with a bit of force.
Pain cut through the itch. It worked beautifully.
Zhu Qing stopped itching immediately and collapsed flat on the bed, limp with exhaustion, curling her foot and begging for mercy. “You can let me go now, right?”
Li Lan got into bed, lifted Zhu Qing’s chin, and under the gaze of those tear-bright, reddened eyes, looked at her for two seconds before lowering her head and kissing her.
Zhu Qing’s toes curled, then relaxed; she closed her eyes in pleasure.
Li Lan’s hand slid to the back of Zhu Qing’s head and, with a little force, deepened the kiss.
The sound of the kiss carried a damp intimacy, warm and suggestive.
—
The next day, Li Lan unusually slept in. Zhu Qing chirped in her ear for ages before she finally woke up.
“Hurry up, let’s watch the newest episode together.”
Li Lan dragged a pillow over her eyes and muttered indistinctly, “You watch first.”
“What do you mean, I watch first? Is that appropriate?” Zhu Qing said softly. “Teacher Li, get up already. You’re only thirty, you can’t act like an old person and not get enough sleep…”
A pair of eyes opened and looked at Zhu Qing quietly.
On reflex, Zhu Qing covered her backside and scooted back.
“If you touched me yesterday, you’re not allowed to touch me today.”
Li Lan gave a helpless laugh.
“You’re going to get dealt with sooner or later.” She rubbed her temple and sat up, only for a glass of water to be handed to her immediately. Zhu Qing said, “Sugar water.”
Li Lan lifted her eyelids, amused and slightly surprised. “Sugar water?”
“Aren’t you a little low on blood sugar?” Zhu Qing said. “I saw you carrying candy around.”
Li Lan didn’t hide it and somehow felt her mood lift. “You observed pretty carefully.”
“Drink it and lie down to watch,” Zhu Qing said. “I’m lying down too.”
Li Lan sighed. “Fine, fine. Watch then.”
The first half of the episode showed the results of the clue search. Because of Qi Yao’s disappearance, that segment hadn’t been finished filming and had to be moved to the next episode.
Zhu Qing had photographed all the clues they found. Her photography was actually quite good; not only was the subject clear at a glance, but the pictures also had a certain artistic feel.
“The production team adjusted the colors for me,” Zhu Qing said, touching her chin. “Not good. They adjusted them badly. The originals could’ve gone straight out of camera.”
“It’s probably a filter,” Li Lan said. “The whole episode has one.”
Zhu Qing nodded. “True. After all, they have to account for the older audience. Skin-smoothing, whitening, all that.”
Li Lan glanced at her, assuming she was talking about the other two teams, and said nothing.
They kept watching, and the program shifted to yesterday’s segment about “finding items that reflect local customs and culture.” The two episodes were both about searching, filmed separately, and the production team once again demonstrated the art of balancing things; each pair’s screen time was exact to the minute.
Li Lan and Zhu Qing’s museum visit wasn’t especially exciting, so the production team smoothly inserted the segment where the two of them asked for half-price admission.
Zhu Qing stared unblinkingly at the progress bar and kept confirming, “They, they filmed that too?!”
Li Lan commented on the GoPro’s image quality. “Needs improvement.”
“What needs improving?” Zhu Qing was frantic. “Li Lan, what is wrong with you? You brought a GoPro when you went out? You’re a celebrity, not a vlog blogger, and you even secretly turned it on!”
The video played up to the moment Zhu Qing shamelessly reached for Li Lan’s hand.
The comments section, however, hadn’t rolled to that part yet. It was still stuck on the segment about “Zhu Qing and Li Lan’s English being so sexy and so nice to listen to.”
In the next second, Zhu Qing took the initiative to kiss Li Lan, and a line of comments lazily drifted across the screen: “She’s grown up.” Zhu Qing covered her face. “Oh heavens, just let the video stay on this second and hurry up and film the other group already.”
But the video cruelly continued, capturing first Li Lan’s stunned expression, then the subtle shift in her gaze into something deeper and darker.
Then Li Lan pressed Zhu Qing’s head down and kissed her again.
A deep kiss.
Open-mouthed, head tilted, grinding and pressing.
The comments froze for two seconds, then exploded.
【Li Lan is so 1, so dom】
【Th-th-this twist!】
【Zhu Qing, if you’ve got guts, don’t blush aaaah——】
【Are you trying to sweeten us to death?!】
【It’s over, it’s over, ahhhhh】
Zhu Qing felt like she was about to lose her mind too.
Seeing yourself in a video felt completely different.
You never knew until you saw it; who was that dumb-looking person, staring blankly and following along like a goose when she was kissed?
Why are you blushing like that, Zhu Qing!
Li Lan only had red ears, and the video didn’t even show that clearly. Why were you blushing so hard?!
Zhu Qing covered her face and flopped backward onto the bed. “I can’t face anyone anymore, sob sob.”
Li Lan was thoroughly pleased by the spectacle and fully awake now. She reached out and pulled Zhu Qing over beside her. “Keep watching.”
Zhu Qing covered her face and scooted away. “I don’t want to watch. I’m going into seclusion.”
Li Lan said with a smile, “Hurry up, or I’m going to kiss you.”
Zhu Qing said gloomily, “Even biting me won’t work. I hate you, Li Lan. You actually aired our kissing scene like that. Shameless.”
Li Lan: ?
Zhu Qing said, “As expected, the older you get, the thicker your skin. I’m just a young girl fresh out of school, still innocent and naive, and you go and abduct me like this, make me get played with on screen by you. How am I supposed to show my face in public after this?”
Li Lan: …
“Are you coming over or not?”
Her tone had already gone cold.
Zhu Qing was completely oblivious. “I need to draw a line between myself and this old woman. Old woman… ah——”
————————
Zhu Qing protested indignantly: There’s no love anymore.
Li Lan, very obediently: Then I’ll make some now.
Zhu Qing: ?????