Chapter 91
Lin Yuewei lifted her head again and glanced around. Wang Yuanyuan asked, “What are you looking for?”
“Where’s Qu Xuesong?” Lin Yuewei asked.
“Wasn’t she just—” Wang Yuanyuan turned around, but didn’t see the person she’d been expecting. “Huh? She was here a second ago. Why are you looking for her?”
Lin Yuewei shook her head. “Nothing.”
Coincidence once? Could it still be coincidence the second time?
Last time, Qu Xuesong had accidentally helped her break through the gap between reality and the role; this time, Qu Xuesong had helped her bring the feeling of real-life crisis into the scene. It had only been a few days—why were there already more than two coincidences involving Qu Xuesong?
Lin Yuewei pulled her notebook from her bag. As her pen moved across the page, she asked Wang Yuanyuan casually, “Was her assistant already fired?”
“She quit, yeah.”
“Didn’t she still have a whole string of assistants?”
“Yeah.” Only then did Wang Yuanyuan notice that Fang Wen was gone, and the long train of assistants trailing behind Qu Xuesong had disappeared too. “I don’t think I saw them today.”
Lin Yuewei’s pen paused. She glanced toward the makeup room, then looked away.
Lin Yuewei had a night shoot, while Qu Xuesong only had an afternoon scene. Once she finished filming, she left. Lin Yuewei wanted to find a chance to ask her what was going on, but with Qu Xuesong’s cold, keep-away expression in front of her, she didn’t dare step up.
Qin Li slipped over during mealtime and looked at her with concern. “You okay?”
“What could be wrong with me?” Lin Yuewei asked, baffled.
“I saw you walking with Teacher Qu this morning.” Qin Li didn’t put it any more plainly than that.
“She just ate breakfast with me,” Lin Yuewei explained, but Qin Li’s expression was one of absolute certainty, as if he had already nailed the matter down. A sudden wave of irritation rose in Lin Yuewei. She didn’t know where it came from, only that she hated this topic and hated the look on Qin Li’s face.
“Brother Qin, I just remembered a question I wanted to ask you, it’s about…” Lin Yuewei used the script to redirect his attention.
Her night shoot went on until midnight. By the time she left the filming center and got into the car back to the hotel, Gu Yanqiu had already sent her a goodnight message, along with another line.
[Xi Gu: Countdown to our meeting — 6 days]
Lin Yuewei turned to Wang Yuanyuan beside her and said, “Remind me when it’s almost next Friday.”
Wang Yuanyuan: “???”
Lin Yuewei smiled mysteriously at her phone.
Wang Yuanyuan caught on quickly. “A visit to the set?”
Lin Yuewei nodded.
Wang Yuanyuan said, “Fine, but Sister Chen is coming next week.”
Lin Yuewei jolted. The flutter in her heart settled at once. “What did you say?”
Wang Yuanyuan burst out laughing. “I’m kidding.”
Lin Yuewei gave her a light knock on the head. “Say something like that again and I’ll dock your bonus.”
Lin Yuewei was becoming more and more used to her role now. Back then, she’d still been wary of Wang Yuanyuan, always worrying whether she might say the wrong thing; now she could casually toss jokes like that around.
Wang Yuanyuan asked, “What do you need me to do?”
Lin Yuewei said, “I need you to keep your mouth shut.”
Wang Yuanyuan made a zipping motion across her lips. She had promised Lin Yuewei not to say anything, so she wouldn’t. That said, she was still very curious about Lin Yuewei’s mysterious other half.
Lin Yuewei went straight back to the hotel, took a shower, and fell asleep. She slept dreamlessly through the night. When she got up, she put on a cap and went downstairs to the hotel buffet. For several days in a row, Lin Yuewei had run into Qu Xuesong there, but today, even after she finished eating, she didn’t catch so much as a corner of Qu Xuesong’s sleeve. It felt oddly out of place.
She only found out why once she reached the set. Qu Xuesong’s long-lost star treatment was back in full force; a crowd of people surrounded her, tending to her every need, and only half her face was visible. Someone was feeding her breakfast, while another held a coffee for her. Utterly pampered and decadent.
Lin Yuewei gave up on the idea of going over. She stayed quietly where she was, and Qu Xuesong acted as though Lin Yuewei didn’t exist at all.
Aside from the first day, when Qu Xuesong had gone over to greet the director with warmth and courtesy, she had been cold on set after that. The moment it was time for her scenes, she slipped into them instantly. She was like that not only with Lin Yuewei, but with everyone else as well, so relatively speaking, Lin Yuewei wasn’t all that special.
And so the peace held for a week, until Friday finally arrived.
That Friday morning, Lin Yuewei practically bounced into the elevator. Wang Yuanyuan, following behind her, reminded her for the third time, “Be steady. Steady.”
Lin Yuewei entered the restaurant with great steadiness, then, when no one was looking, secretly did a little tap dance.
Wang Yuanyuan: “……”
Wang Yuanyuan asked, “What do you want to eat?”
Lin Yuewei stopped and picked up a tray. “I’ll get it myself.”
Wang Yuanyuan sighed. “If your whatever-it-is could come every day, that’d be nice.”
Lin Yuewei laughed. “Dream on.”
Lin Yuewei was still the kind of actress whose performance was easily affected by her own emotions. All day long, she kept thinking about Gu Yanqiu coming over that night, and the emotions required for her acting were harder to bring out. It took several stumbles before she barely got through her scenes, which did at least cool down the hot, restless urgency in her heart quite a bit.
Qu Xuesong led a grand procession of assistants past her and flicked Lin Yuewei on the top of the head with her fingers.
Lin Yuewei: “!!!”
She nearly stood up.
She asked Wang Yuanyuan beside her, “Did she just hit me when she walked by?”
Wang Yuanyuan said with some difficulty, “It doesn’t really count as hitting, just a tap.”
Lin Yuewei said, “No, why does she get to do that?”
Wang Yuanyuan: “Maybe she thought you weren’t acting well enough, so she was punishing you?”
Lin Yuewei: “……”
Who the hell did Qu Xuesong think she was? Even if someone was going to punish her, it wouldn’t be Qu Xuesong’s place.
Forget it. For today, since Gu Yanqiu was coming, she wouldn’t bother with Qu Xuesong.
Qu Xuesong’s new assistant was very obedient and didn’t say a word more than necessary. Even if she noticed that when Qu Xuesong wasn’t filming, most of her attention was focused on that newcomer, Lin Yuewei; even if Qu Xuesong had deliberately detoured over to her just to flick her on the head, childish beyond reason.
Qu Xuesong was quite satisfied with this assistant. She had been in the business this long; what didn’t she know about the circle? She didn’t need an assistant to remind her what she should or shouldn’t do. Especially under circumstances like these, she and Fang Lin both knew perfectly well that once this contract expired, the two of them would part ways. This was nothing more than mutual use. Fang Lin arranged all her appearances, kept her working year-round without a single day off, while she enjoyed “absolute” freedom under such high-pressure work; Fang Lin would not interfere with her.
She had been careful and restrained for so many years, and after finally accumulating some capital, a little wilfulness was something she could still bear.
Watching Lin Yuewei dare to be angry but not say anything, looking so cautious and timid with a stomach full of questions she didn’t dare come over and ask—wasn’t that rather amusing? Qu Xuesong didn’t mind letting that amusement last a little longer.
Qu Xuesong swiped her finger and pulled up the short introduction to Lin Yuewei in the phone browser. At that moment, her phone vibrated.
It was her manager, Fang Lin.
Fang Lin said, “I had the production coordinator move your time tomorrow. Go to H City to shoot an ad.”
Qu Xuesong said, “Okay.”
Fang Lin asked, “How’s the new assistant?”
Qu Xuesong glanced at the other woman. Under the other woman’s fearful, flustered gaze, she smiled and said into the phone, “Not bad.”
The new assistant let out a breath of relief.
Fang Lin said, “Then that’s fine. Let her keep working for now.”
Qu Xuesong said, “All right.”
Fang Lin asked, “What do you want to eat? I’m in X City these couple of days, and there are some local specialties that are pretty famous. Want me to mail some to you?”
“Don’t—” Qu Xuesong stopped mid-sentence and changed her mind. “Sure, go ahead and send some over.”
Lin Yuewei had no idea and no time to think about Qu Xuesong’s little schemes. She waited from morning until evening; the moment work wrapped, she vanished without a trace.
Gu Yanqiu, equally punctual, rushed to catch her flight. By the time the plane landed in N City, where Lin Yuewei was, it was already ten at night. She called Lin Yuewei, who said she was waiting outside and would be visible the moment she came out.
Hearing the teasing in Lin Yuewei’s tone, Gu Yanqiu guessed there was probably some trick waiting for her. Asking wouldn’t get her an answer, so she could only walk out with curiosity in her heart.
Gu Yanqiu looked around. Since it was night, and N City wasn’t exactly very bustling, there weren’t many people coming to pick up arrivals. Among that small number, the person holding a sign stood out especially clearly.
Gu Yanqiu almost immediately spotted the sign that read: petty and vindictive. The one holding it in front of her was a young woman in her twenties, wearing glasses and with a very ordinary face.
Gu Yanqiu lowered her head and typed:
[Xi Gu: Petty and vindictive?]
Lin Yuewei, hidden in a corner where she could see this spot, curved her lips and replied instantly:
[Two Trees: Yes, that’s her. She’s my assistant, Wang Yuanyuan]
[Xi Gu: ……]
Ten minutes earlier.
Lin Yuewei, who had already wandered aimlessly around outside the airport to kill time, appeared at the exit where Gu Yanqiu’s flight would arrive and handed Wang Yuanyuan a formidable task.
“My girlfriend is about to come out from there.”
Lin Yuewei pulled a sheet of A4 paper she had prepared long ago from her bag and, with a black marker, wrote five big characters on it: petty and vindictive.
“Use this as the sign and hold it in front of you. Once she sees it, she’ll walk over here.”
“……” Wang Yuanyuan accepted it helplessly.
What had she done wrong to be forced to eat this dog food here?
Wang Yuanyuan waited for a while. Tall, short, fat, thin, handsome, plain-looking men all passed by in front of her. Every time she saw a handsome guy, she aimed her gaze at him and raised the A4 sign a little higher so he could read it clearly. Every single time, after the person recognized the words, they walked past without looking sideways; some even shot her an annoyed glare because of the words on the sign.
It wasn’t until a young woman in a long coat of the latest style, standing slightly more than half a head taller than her, stopped in front of her and asked in a clear, cool voice, “Wang Yuanyuan?”
Wang Yuanyuan froze. “I am.”
Gu Yanqiu took off her sunglasses, revealing a flawless beautiful face, and smiled. “Hello. Lin… she told me to come find you.”
Wang Yuanyuan: “……”
Wang Yuanyuan: “???”
Wang Yuanyuan: “!!!”
Why hadn’t Lin Yuewei told her ahead of time that her partner was a girlfriend, not a boyfriend!
She looked back from afar, but there were only pillars everywhere; she couldn’t even tell exactly which direction Lin Yuewei was in.
Gu Yanqiu hung her sunglasses in front of her chest and followed her line of sight. She lifted an eyebrow. “She’s over there?”
“I-I don’t know.” Wang Yuanyuan was inexplicably nervous.
“Wait a moment. I’ll call her.” Gu Yanqiu’s tone was half complaining, half indulgent. “This person.”
Wang Yuanyuan stared at her blankly until Gu Yanqiu called once and dragged the hidden Lin Yuewei out from the corner. The three of them left the airport for the hotel. Wang Yuanyuan came along because she was the driver.
During the ride, Wang Yuanyuan kept glancing back through the rearview mirror from time to time. Because she was there, Lin Yuewei and Gu Yanqiu didn’t do anything intimate; they only held hands and spoke quietly in voices she couldn’t hear clearly.
Wang Yuanyuan searched her memory for whether Gu Yanqiu might have been some celebrity she’d seen before, but after rummaging through everything, she couldn’t find a single person who matched the Gu Yanqiu sitting before her. Could she be a regular person?
There was actually a regular person this beautiful who hadn’t debuted? If some company scout saw her, they’d probably have dragged her into the company already.
Was she really not some celebrity Wang Yuanyuan just didn’t know?
Wang Yuanyuan dropped the two of them off at the room and couldn’t help asking, “Weiwei, this one…”
Lin Yuewei introduced her. “My girlfriend.”
“I know that,” Wang Yuanyuan mumbled. “Is she a celebrity?”
Lin Yuewei said, both amused and exasperated, “No, just an ordinary person.”
“Oh.” Having gotten her answer, Wang Yuanyuan went upstairs.
Lin Yuewei closed the door, and Gu Yanqiu was already pressing her against it, kissing her.
The chill of the hotel room was instantly swept away; warm, sensuous air filled the whole space. Gu Yanqiu held Lin Yuewei’s face with one hand and braced the other at her waist, kissing her with passionate intensity.
Lin Yuewei: “……”
Wait—something seemed off.
But by then all her breath had already been taken between the other woman’s lips and teeth. Lin Yuewei could only lean back against the door and tilt her head slightly to meet the kiss they had been separated from for half a month.
The scent on Gu Yanqiu was the familiar woody aroma of agarwood. Lin Yuewei nearly lost herself in her embrace. At first her hand held Gu Yanqiu’s, then it slowly shifted to her wrist, brushing over the string of wooden prayer beads there.
The cold beads and the warmth at her lips and tongue formed a sharp contrast; one fleeting thought after another flashed through Lin Yuewei’s mind. Her dazed senses were driven by instinct and gradually slipped out of control.
As the kiss deepened, the two of them leaned intimately against one another. Lin Yuewei tugged at Gu Yanqiu’s prayer beads, but instinct told her what she really wanted to tug at was not that string of beads; she wanted more. Afraid she would snap the beads, Gu Yanqiu had no choice but to free one hand and press her down first.
When their lips parted, Gu Yanqiu was breathing hard, and Lin Yuewei’s cheeks were hot; a hazy sheen of moisture seemed to glimmer faintly in her eyes.
Gu Yanqiu looked down at her prayer beads and said, “How are you so much like…”
She suddenly stopped.
Half of Lin Yuewei’s body had gone soft, but she was still resting in her arms. She looked up at her, breathing hard. “Like what?”
“Mm… like a wolf wanting to tear me apart and swallow me whole?” Gu Yanqiu thought about it and said.
“Yeah, that’s kind of it.” Lin Yuewei smiled.
“Then come and eat.”
“……” Lin Yuewei’s expression turned subtle.
Did Gu Yanqiu really not understand what that meant, or was she pretending not to know? Given how thin-skinned she was, she probably didn’t know.
Actually, not only Gu Yanqiu; Lin Yuewei only knew the figurative meaning of that phrase herself. She only had a half-understanding of how to explain its specific meaning; all the TV scenes showed was taking off clothes, crawling into bed, then it was dark, then light again.
To prevent Lin Yuewei from making a second move on her prayer beads, Gu Yanqiu removed them, coiled them up, and set them on the bedside table.
Gu Yanqiu had an excellent figure. Lin Yuewei had already seen it when she wore a form-fitting sports tank top at home; now that she had removed her coat, underneath was a white shirt and slim-fit trousers. When she bent down, the curve of her back and waist was extremely alluring.
Lin Yuewei walked over and hugged her from behind. Her two hands hesitated a little, but in the end they still settled around her waist.
Gu Yanqiu was about to turn around, but Lin Yuewei stopped her.
Their height was nearly the same, separated by at most two centimeters. Having made up her mind, Lin Yuewei closed her eyes and placed a trembling, careful kiss on the spot behind Gu Yanqiu’s neck near her ear. The entirely different sensation, together with the fullness of psychological pleasure, left Lin Yuewei’s mind completely blank.
It felt like electricity running over her skin; Gu Yanqiu froze on the spot.
Lin Yuewei panicked. She pinched her own palm and forced herself to stay calm. “How does it feel?”
Gu Yanqiu didn’t say anything.
Summoning her courage, Lin Yuewei kissed her again in the same spot, behind the neck.
Gu Yanqiu still didn’t resist. Lin Yuewei tried to extend just the tiniest bit of her tongue; Gu Yanqiu shivered, and just as Lin Yuewei was about to press on, Gu Yanqiu turned around and, for once, stammered, “You, I, are you trying to…”
Lin Yuewei’s face and ears went bright red.
Gu Yanqiu looked troubled. “Wouldn’t that be too fast?”
She wasn’t Cheng Guiyuan; she couldn’t have intimate relations with someone she had only been with for not very long. Even though last time she had foolishly tried to imitate Cheng Guiyuan and entertained the thought of seduction, she had never imagined going this far so quickly.
Lin Yuewei was embarrassed by her words and said, “No, you misunderstood. I actually wasn’t thinking that.”
Gu Yanqiu seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. “That’s good.”
Lin Yuewei had already lost face so thoroughly that she announced she was going back up first. Gu Yanqiu hadn’t expected that, and said in surprise, “You’re not staying to sleep with me?”
“It’s not convenient. There are a lot of crew members in the hotel; someone might gossip.”
“Oh.” Gu Yanqiu’s displeasure was plain to see.
Lin Yuewei immediately softened. “Why don’t I stay with you then? It’s only two nights.”
She thought to herself that if she were an emperor in ancient times, she would definitely be a foolish one.
Lin Yuewei changed her mind so quickly that Gu Yanqiu was instead pleased by it, and said with a smile, “No need. Go back.”
“Petty and vindictive?”
“Absolutely not.” Gu Yanqiu smiled helplessly.
The more she said that, the less willing Lin Yuewei became to leave. “Then I’ll stay a little longer. It’s not that late yet; it isn’t even eleven.”
They dawdled until eleven-thirty. For the third time, Gu Yanqiu urged her, “Hurry and go upstairs. Tomorrow have your assistant give me a work pass, and I’ll go in with you.”
Lin Yuewei said plaintively, “You’re kicking me out.”
Gu Yanqiu: “……”
She said, “Then don’t go.”
Lin Yuewei sprang upright from the bed and, while she still had the impulse to leave, bolted out without looking back.
Three minutes later.
[Two Trees: I’m back in my room]
[Xi Gu: [heart]]
[Two Trees: I miss you so much]
[Xi Gu: Didn’t we just see each other?]
[Two Trees: Aaaaaaaaaaaaa]
Sitting in front of her phone, Gu Yanqiu sighed helplessly. Lin Yuewei was practically descending into madness; how much better off was she herself? She had come all this way, only to meet in a hurry and end up one floor above, one floor below.
[Two Trees: Fine, let them gossip if they want. I’m coming to find you. Wait for me [smile]]
This time, it didn’t even take three minutes before Lin Yuewei returned. The moment she pushed the door open, she nearly tackled Gu Yanqiu to the floor. Gu Yanqiu stepped back several paces, dissipating the force of Lin Yuewei’s rush; thankfully, the door was already closed.
Lin Yuewei buried her face against Gu Yanqiu’s neck and sniffed at her. Just now she had been like a fierce little wolf; now she looked like a clingy puppy.
She lifted her head and looked straight into Gu Yanqiu’s eyes, confessing again, “I miss you so much.”
Gu Yanqiu nodded. “Mm.”
Lin Yuewei: “……”
Gu Yanqiu said again, “So do I.”
Lin Yuewei: “……”
That wasn’t quite what she had expected. Gu Yanqiu had secretly stored up so many sweet lines; couldn’t she just casually spill some of them for her to hear when they met? Last time it had been “I miss you” and “I’ll show you” as if they were free; now she was like a mute gourd that you couldn’t even kick a fart out of.
The two of them stared at each other. Gu Yanqiu conveyed her question with her eyes.
Lin Yuewei said, “Nothing.” Forcing sweet words out like that wasn’t sweet.
Gu Yanqiu asked, “Are you sure you want to sleep here?”
Lin Yuewei nodded.
Gu Yanqiu glanced around, seeming to think of something. Then she turned back to Lin Yuewei and asked, “Do you want to shower first, or should I?”
Just like that?
“I’ll shower first,” Lin Yuewei said. If she showered first, she could admire a beautiful woman fresh from the bath to her heart’s content; if she showered last, all she’d get was a beautiful woman reading a book. She was clever, all right.
“All right. Go ahead.”
Lin Yuewei waited for a long while, but Gu Yanqiu still didn’t say anything more. She went into the bathroom in a huff, and only after she finished showering did she remember that she had forgotten to bring her pajamas down from upstairs. She didn’t dare wear the hotel robe, afraid it was dirty, so she opened the door a crack and called, “Gu Yanqiu?”
“What is it?” Gu Yanqiu’s voice sounded as if it were coming from far away.
Lin Yuewei found that odd, but she asked plainly, “How many sets of sleepwear did you bring?”
“Two sets.”
Lin Yuewei brightened. “Perfect. Give me one set; I forgot to bring pajamas down.” In truth, she had considered this beforehand. Carrying pajamas out would make it look too deliberate if someone saw her, so she simply hadn’t brought them. But before coming downstairs, she had forgotten to tell Gu Yanqiu in advance.
“Wait a moment.” After a while, Gu Yanqiu knocked on the bathroom door. “I brought it over.”
The room Gu Yanqiu had booked was a king room, and the bathroom inside was all glass, not even frosted. Lin Yuewei wrapped herself in a bath towel, checked herself over once, and then said, “Come in.”
The bathroom door slowly opened, and a back came into Lin Yuewei’s view.
Gu Yanqiu had backed step by step into the front of Lin Yuewei’s shower area, her back turned to her.
Lin Yuewei: “………………”
She felt her temples pounding. A nameless fire was about to burst up from the bottom of her heart.
Lin Yuewei took a deep breath. “Miss Gu, I’m wrapped in a bath towel.”
“Huh?” Gu Yanqiu turned around. Seeing clearly what she was wearing, she relaxed. “I thought…”
“What did you think?” Lin Yuewei blurted out.
She could understand not wanting to move too quickly into something intimate, because she herself hadn’t learned that much either. She even fully agreed with it. But what was with Gu Yanqiu’s attitude, as if she were avoiding Lin Yuewei like the plague? As though just looking at her once would get her devoured; was she really that hungry-looking?
Gu Yanqiu blinked blankly, not understanding why she had suddenly gotten angry.
Lin Yuewei was about to explode. “You’re acting cute again?!”
Gu Yanqiu immediately stopped blinking and stared at her, holding out the sleepwear. Lin Yuewei didn’t take it, and Gu Yanqiu just kept holding it there. If this were at home, Gu Yanqiu would definitely have gone toe-to-toe with her, but absence makes the heart grow fonder; for the time being, Gu Yanqiu was in quite a mood to indulge her.
Lin Yuewei snatched it over angrily and shook it open with one hand. It was a pink long-sleeved set, with a rabbit on the chest.
Holding the towel in place with one hand, Lin Yuewei threatened, “If you still don’t get out, I’m going to untie this.”
Gu Yanqiu fled like she was running for her life.
Lin Yuewei was half exasperated, half amused; she changed into the sleepwear. After drying her hair, she shuffled out in slippers and stared expressionlessly at Gu Yanqiu, who was crouched in the corner packing her suitcase.
“I’m done. Go take your shower.”
“I’ll blow-dry your hair first,” Gu Yanqiu offered proactively.
Lin Yuewei was still angry and refused. “No need. I’ll do it myself. Finish showering early and get to bed early. I still have to shoot tomorrow.”
“All right.”
Gu Yanqiu picked up her sleepwear and went into the bathroom. Lin Yuewei lowered her head to blow-dry her hair; listening to the sound of water coming from inside, she set the hair dryer down for the moment and poured herself a cup of water to moisten her dry throat.
Author’s Note: Right now, President Gu: Wouldn’t that be too fast?
A little while later, President Gu: I was so naive, so naive indeed.
Go, Lin attack!