Chapter 15: Cool Older Sister 1 Ji Wushan

The sea breeze really did make Ji Wushan feel a little cold.

But thinking of yesterday, just thinking of yesterday...

She didn’t want to accept Xue Erbai’s coat.

Because she had no way of knowing whether Xue Erbai, who had been out in the sea breeze today, would feel unwell again.

So she could only tug at it and shake her head in refusal. “No need.”

“You only got over your fever this morning.”

The words were brief, but they stirred a lot of emotion in Xue Erbai.

Being rejected was unpleasant, of course.

But thinking that Ji Wushan might have woken up this morning and checked whether she was still running a fever made her inexplicably pleased.

So she scooted a little closer, not very noticeably; their arms were almost touching as she lowered her voice and said, “Then I’ll move a little closer. You’ll be warmer too.”

Ji Wushan said nothing and didn’t move away.

She simply kept her head down and looked at the script.

But before long, they arrived at the small island where the shoot would be recorded.

The clothes hadn’t even warmed up yet before Ji Wushan returned the coat to Xue Erbai.

Xue Erbai looked at her with some regret; her smile faded, and she even forgot what she had been about to do. She just stood there, watching Ji Wushan work by the sea.

She wasn’t familiar with anyone else, and she didn’t want to talk, so she lingered in silence and kept her eyes on Ji Wushan.

It was just some overly poetic, overly romantic copy.

Because they weren’t standing too close, Ji Wushan’s voice rose and fell, sometimes louder, sometimes softer, but always gentle and low.

Xue Erbai listened intently and didn’t notice that assignments were being handed out.

Her gaze was completely drawn to Ji Wushan; she even noticed that Ji Wushan’s hands were trembling faintly.

Just for this seaside opening sequence!

She even wanted, without another word, to pull Ji Wushan into her arms and give her her own warmth so she could warm up again.

But reality was blocked by that professional voice.

Even while trembling, Ji Wushan...

was glowing.

By the end, she watched Ji Wushan walk over to begin the next stage of filming.

Since there was no office work or documents to handle, Xue Erbai was basically half-dazed, her eyes locked on Ji Wushan as they followed her slowly, almost against her will.

No matter what, Ji Wushan was beautiful; more beautiful than her, more beautiful than everyone in the world.

She couldn’t help but smile as she watched, and her feet started carrying her toward Ji Wushan as well.

But someone behind her called out, “Teacher Xue, you have a phone call!”

The moment she heard it was a call, Xue Erbai’s expression shifted. She took the phone from Cong Yuan’s hands.

Her social circle had always been simple; when she was young, it was studying and being obsessed with 2D stuff, and when she grew up, it was work, work, work!

So at this hour, the only people likely to contact her were Qiao You or Tian Qiyue.

Sure enough, it was Tian Qiyue.

She held the phone and stood up, intending to walk away, but after pacing back and forth for a couple of steps she felt that looked too deliberate. In the end, she stopped after Ji Wushan had moved a few steps away, cleared her throat, and answered the call.

“Hello...”

Her voice had once been bright and crisp, but when she was working, she seemed to have two faces.

A little lower now, and steadier.

“Mm, okay. I’ve arranged for Qiao You to follow up. She’ll arrive in Province Y tomorrow afternoon, and I’ll have her go straight to the branch office..."

“My schedule? I should be able to fly over directly next Thursday, and schedule it for Friday.”

“That’s all.”

Xue Erbai hung up. Her tense shoulders relaxed, and then she saw Ji Wushan holding the script and looking at her. Besides her, Yi Fan and Zhong Dai were also looking over.

The smile Xue Erbai had been about to put on froze; it looked more like a forced smile.

Among the three watching her, Ji Wushan and Zhong Dai said nothing, but Yi Fan remarked, “Little Bai really feels different when she’s working.”

Her voice was still soft and sweet; Xue Erbai felt uncomfortable hearing it.

But she had worn the mask for too long. In the end, she only showed a standard smile. “Every job is still a job. It all needs to be taken seriously.”

The words were vague.

And at the same time, they explained the difference between the two kinds of work!

She had already decided not to keep pretending; at least... not in front of Ji Wushan.

But with other people around, she still had to pretend a little!

-

Everyone moved to the beach, and the program officially began filming. As the host, Ji Wushan briefly introduced the rules.

The first segment: room assignment.

In Task One, they drew lots. The people who drew the same card could have lunch together; among the seven of them, there was one special card.

Whoever drew that card could invite anyone to lunch.

Xue Erbai hadn’t heard the introduction clearly at first, but this time she did.

It just wasn’t quite what she had hoped for.

Following the card’s instructions, she took a car to a seaside restaurant.

The person having lunch with her was Zhong Dai.

Their meeting was naturally a little awkward.

They looked at each other; when ordering, both of them were distracted, yet still had to be polite and perfunctory.

Xue Erbai really knew nothing about Zhong Dai, let alone who she would have wanted to invite.

But the draw had already happened, so she still had to follow the rules.

“We... drew each other, right?”

Xue Erbai spoke first and didn’t miss the faint irritation in Zhong Dai’s eyes.

But it flashed by quickly, and Zhong Dai curled her lips into a smile. “Yes, we drew each other.”

Both of them sounded a little too polite, a little too official.

So they introduced themselves to each other; only after that did they realize they were the same age.

That opened the conversation up a little, but not much.

Before long, it went cold again.

Even though they were having lunch together and filming, both of them understood that not everything would necessarily make it into the edit.

After thinking about it, Xue Erbai said again, “Let’s just pretend we’re only here to eat.”

“Dig in.”

Xue Erbai didn’t actually talk all that much, especially not to anyone besides work and Ji Wushan.

And that know-it-all woman online.

Now that work and Ji Wushan weren’t by her side, after eating a few bites she lowered her head to look at her phone.

The message she had sent that morning still hadn’t been answered by the know-it-all woman.

Xue Erbai hesitated for a long time, thinking whether to send something else, when a reply finally came.

Know-It-All Woman: 【Then do you dare tell her that you’re a dream girl online?】

Dreaming in Broad Daylight: 【Of course I don’t...】

Of course she didn’t dare. What if she scared Ji Wushan? What if Ji Wushan immediately tore up the agreement and said, We don’t need to help each other anymore? That would be pure torture for her!

She couldn’t make a fight she wasn’t sure of winning.

It wasn’t that she absolutely wouldn’t say it; it was just not now.

Dreaming in Broad Daylight: 【I won’t say it. Let’s wait a bit longer.】

Dreaming in Broad Daylight: 【You can’t even imagine how gentle she was last night. (Though I don’t remember that much of it either.)】

Dreaming in Broad Daylight: 【But she was just so gentle!】

Dreaming in Broad Daylight: 【That glance and that smile made my heart flutter like crazy; I was moved to tears!】

Dreaming in Broad Daylight: 【Wuwuwu...】

Then came row after row of crying emojis.

Xue Erbai’s eyes were almost blurring from reading it, and she unconsciously looked up at Zhong Dai.

Zhong Dai was also looking down and playing on her phone, tapping here and there.

Xue Erbai’s brain suddenly jolted.

Same age, obsessed with gaming—could Zhong Dai be the know-it-all woman?

Wow! That would be like hitting the jackpot!

But she still felt it was unlikely. After all, there were plenty of people the same age who liked gaming!

So she simply lowered her head again and looked at the know-it-all woman’s reply.

Know-It-All Woman: 【I saw her too. Even after all these years, she’s still breathtakingly beautiful.】

Know-It-All Woman: 【I can be her zero, her one, anything she wants!】

Dreaming in Broad Daylight: 【Even be Sister’s dog?】

Know-It-All Woman: 【If Sister needs it, I can!】

Xue Erbai locked her phone and closed her eyes.

For the moment, she didn’t want to chat with the know-it-all woman anymore. As if nothing had happened, she looked up at Zhong Dai, who was still messing with her phone. When Zhong Dai looked up, Xue Erbai pointed at the orange juice on the table and said, “Hehe, this juice looks pretty good.”

“Hehe, yeah.”

Awkward. So awkward.

But the two girls, dressed in somewhat similar styles, still smiled at each other.

The awkwardness in the air seemed to ease a little.

Looking at them from afar, they actually seemed kind of well matched.

Yi Fan and Ji Wushan had just reached the restaurant when they happened to see this scene.

Yi Fan had drawn the invitation card and, without much hesitation, invited Ji Wushan. Because of the rules, she had to wait until Ji Wushan finished lunch with her “previous” partner before she could join her.

Luckily, the distance wasn’t far, so they arrived here soon enough.

Yi Fan had a purpose in coming. Apart from popularity, why else would she be on this show?

She caught sight of Ji Wushan and Fu Lingnan drawing each other, and after thinking it over, chose Ji Wushan.

After all, even a faded movie queen was still a movie queen; dignified and sexy, with higher recognition than Ji Wushan, and higher than her too.

Inviting her seemed almost natural, so she chose the opposite path and invited Ji Wushan instead.

Whether she was rejected or not, she would still profit.

“Miss Ji, can I call you that?”

“You look even prettier than you do on the show.”

Her voice was sweet and crisp; more natural than Xue Erbai when she put on a fake voice, though also sweet to the point of being cloying.

Ji Wushan felt a little uncomfortable. After thanking her, her gaze gradually drifted away; once she stepped down, it landed on Xue Erbai, who was already talking and laughing with someone else.

Thinking of what she had glimpsed yesterday, her mood became somewhat complicated.

But in Yi Fan’s eyes, that looked strange.

The whole way here, Ji Wushan had been somewhat distant.

Not the kind of coldness that was hard to accept, but simply too polite; when Yi Fan glanced over, she even vaguely caught the impression people online had of her.

“Cool older sister 1” Ji Wushan.

She had seen all kinds of women in the entertainment industry, and all of them were top-notch in appearance. She considered herself one of them, and she also had public appeal that matched mainstream tastes.

But that also meant she was ordinary, without much edge.

Ji Wushan was different.

She had an edge, but it wasn’t sharply defined; at least not like Fu Lingnan, who was on the same program and was basically a walking, super-A, domineering big sister.

Ji Wushan was a little cold, and a little cool; that was what Yi Fan had learned on the way over.

But now, sitting in the restaurant, those calm, rippling eyes seemed to warm a little.

The water’s surface stirred, faintly brightening.

Author’s Note:

--

TL Note:

Cool older sister 1 (冷酷姐1) = slang for a cool, aloof woman in the top/"1" role.

doing 0, doing 1 (做0，做1) = taking the bottom or top role in a same-sex relationship.