Twin Flowers was being filmed in the countryside, so a proper candlelit dinner was simply out of the question. The two of them made a full loop around the village, and the biggest “store” they found was a little general goods shop with a crowd of kids clustered inside buying snacks. Jiang Ning and Lin Yiren stood off to the side, feeling rather out of place.
Only after the children had all grabbed the spicy strips and candy they wanted did the two of them hesitantly step forward, purchasing two red candles and two small buns. Then they went up the hillside, sat down, and began their humble candlelit… dinner.
Thankfully, Jiang Ning had known the filming conditions would be poor and had brought a boxed meal with her when she came.
Truthfully, Jiang Ning wasn’t holding out much hope for completing the task. This was anything but romantic. After lighting the candles, she handed her boxed meal to Lin Yiren and tore open one of the small buns she’d just bought.
“Isn’t it hard to get used to it here?” Jiang Ning’s journey over had been one long, bumpy ride. As inconvenient as the roads were, she figured that even if the air really was fresher, the quality of life couldn’t possibly compare to before.
Lin Yiren didn’t pretend otherwise and nodded. She truly wasn’t used to it yet, but she wasn’t about to complain about something she had chosen for herself.
But staring at her own boxed meal, Lin Yiren found she couldn’t bring herself to eat a bite. Her eyes stayed glued to the bun in Jiang Ning’s hand, and the moment Jiang Ning tore open the second one, she spoke up. “I think… that bun in your hand looks really delicious.”
Feeling Lin Yiren’s gaze fixed on her, Jiang Ning’s expression didn’t change in the slightest as she took a huge bite. “It is pretty good.”
But she showed no intention of sharing. Lin Yiren could only poke miserably at her boxed meal, chatting with Jiang Ning in fits and starts, when suddenly there was an unfamiliar sensation at her lips.
Seeing that Lin Yiren hadn’t opened her mouth for ages, Jiang Ning shot her a sidelong glance and pulled her hand back.
“Wait!” Lin Yiren lunged forward and ate the piece of bun Jiang Ning had just torn off. It didn’t even taste that good, but her eyes lit up instantly. Then she held her boxed meal out to Jiang Ning. “Good things should be shared!”
With that, she fished the unused spoon out of the bag and handed it over too. Jiang Ning had only packed one meal because she’d expected to get carsick and have a poor appetite; she hadn’t anticipated Lin Yiren being this persistent. She went along with it and ate a couple of bites, and right then she heard the System notification that had been silent the whole time: the task was complete.
Now Jiang Ning genuinely had no idea what Lin Yiren’s heart was even made of. Could happiness really be satisfied that easily? She turned her head to look at her. After a month of filming, Lin Yiren had tanned quite a bit, yet somehow, against all expectation, Jiang Ning found her heart stirring a little. She took another few bites along with her.
Worried that the path would be hard to walk once dark fell, Jiang Ning pushed the thought aside, tidied up their things, and headed back to the set with her. The area was extremely isolated, the only means of contact being the village chief’s telephone, so Lin Yiren wasn’t worried about paparazzi in the slightest. Hand in hand with Jiang Ning, like an old married couple, she strolled down the middle of the field ridge, treading through the sunset with a quiet joy, the feeling that they could walk like this all the way to the end of life itself.
It wasn’t safe to travel at night, so Jiang Ning stayed in the village. With not enough rooms to go around, the driver was set up to bunk with one of the cameramen, while Jiang Ning gathered her things and headed toward Lin Yiren’s room.
“Sister Jiang, long time no see.” Bai Keke came up to make conversation halfway there, the familiarity in her brow and eyes as if nothing had ever happened between them.
Bai Keke could betray someone and still shamelessly flash a bright smile afterward, but Jiang Ning saw no reason to give her a pleasant face. “Good dogs don’t block the road.”
Bai Keke’s face darkened at the jab, but she quickly lifted her smile again, feigning cheerfulness. “Six months ago, I never imagined I’d get to act in a director’s film like Lu Youen’s.”
Six months ago was back when she was still with Jiangtian Entertainment, when the quality of the roles she landed was nowhere near what it was now. Jiang Ning understood the implication perfectly and gave a noncommittal response, letting the woman carry on like a strutting clown before walking right around her without sparing her a single word.
She couldn’t fathom what there was to brag about. A fine bird chooses its tree to perch in, fair enough, but resorting to dirty tricks was no way for a clever person to operate. Nobody could ever say for certain how circumstances might turn, so Jiang Ning’s policy had always been simple: either don’t do a thing at all, or do it thoroughly. Keeping Bai Keke around for now was simply to deny her any chance to bite back.
Still, Bai Keke’s current attitude was a useful reminder. If someone like her could keep Chen Corporation propping her up, she probably had some other card up her sleeve.
“System, keep a close watch on her.”
The moment she finished speaking, she rounded the corner and saw Lin Yiren standing there with a gloomy expression. Lin Yiren stepped forward, seized Jiang Ning’s hand, and pulled her back to the room, looking so indignant it was as if a wife had just caught sight of her husband being bullied outside.
“Sister Jiang, I’m definitely going to help you teach that awful woman a lesson.” For the past month she had barely given Bai Keke a single kind look. If she couldn’t kill her with kindness, she’d annoy her to death.
As she spoke, Lin Yiren opened Jiang Ning’s suitcase, pulled out some clothes and toiletries, and led her to the small washroom set aside for bathing. Then she stood guard right outside the entire time, terrified someone might stroll past with wicked intentions.
It wasn’t unusual for one of the girls to have someone keep watch while she bathed. The washroom was only a crudely partitioned room, after all. If anyone truly wanted to peek, it would be absurdly easy. The village folk were honest enough, but you could never guarantee some scoundrel wouldn’t work up the nerve.
Jiang Ning washed quickly. Taking the jacket Lin Yiren handed her, she draped it over her shoulders and let her go in to bathe. She’d assumed tonight would pass peacefully, but then another System notification sounded.
【The night is dark and the wind is high, and a beauty is right beside you. Don’t you have any… other ideas?】
【If you do, then…】
Jiang Ning: Shut up. No. Not happening. Get lost.
The Jiang Corporation Four-Hit Combo made the Conquest System stutter for a moment, but it was a robot without feelings, and once it recovered, it issued the task as usual.
【If you do, then go in there and share the room with the beauty to deepen your bond!】
Jiang Ning gave a cold snort. Have you ever seen someone bathe twice for no reason?
Right after mocking the idiotic System, a bird came flying out of nowhere and, with lightning speed, let loose a dropping right in Jiang Ning’s direction. Only a bit of it touched the jacket, but she was thoroughly grossed out. She had just taken the jacket off when she heard a dog bark, and by the sound of it, the dog was heading this way.
???
It’s not coming here to take a dump, is it?
When she saw the dog really was circling her, poised and ready, Jiang Ning cursed under her breath. This Conquest System was worse than a beast.
After mentally instructing the System to file a five-star-negative complaint with headquarters, Jiang Ning yanked open the door and slipped inside to contemplate her sins against the wall. Before Lin Yiren could even ask, she rattled off an explanation at top speed. “There are a lot of mosquitoes by the door. And some feral dog I’ve never seen before. I’m just coming in to hide out for a bit. Keep washing, I won’t turn around.”
On the surface, Jiang Ning’s tone was calm, but when she felt the heat thickening in the air behind her, she still couldn’t quite relax. A faint fragrance drifted into her nose, and listening to the sound of water at her back, her heartbeat lost its rhythm.
The washroom had only a single, very dim lamp. Lin Yiren believed what Jiang Ning had said and didn’t notice her stiffened body, but with her beloved standing right there, even her bathing movements turned awkward.
Lin Yiren had nearly finished when, inexplicably, the showerhead stopped producing water. Even after fiddling with it, the flow came out in a weak trickle, forcing her to slow down. As she reached for her towel, she suddenly caught sight of a dark shadow and cried out on reflex.
“What’s wrong??” Jiang Ning heard the panic in Lin Yiren’s voice and spun around instinctively. The moment she saw the cockroach, she snatched up the body wash beside Lin Yiren and hurled it with quick, unerring precision.
Fast, accurate, ruthless. The cockroach was finished in one blow. Then she saw Lin Yiren standing there awkwardly, one arm shielding her chest and covering some of the view, biting her lower lip, eyes darting.
Jiang Ning glanced at the dead showerhead. The weather had already turned chilly, and if this went on, Lin Yiren would catch a cold sooner or later. She knew that if they didn’t bathe together tonight, some other mishap was bound to happen.
Jiang Ning pressed her lips together, planning to file another complaint on her way out. As she hesitated, she caught Lin Yiren trembling slightly, and so she took off her clothes and adjusted the showerhead. Sure enough, the water came out far stronger than before.
Lin Yiren was a little surprised that Jiang Ning had fixed it so quickly, but she stayed rooted in place.
“Come on over. I got dirty outside, and it’s cold now anyway. We might as well wash together.” Jiang Ning took Lin Yiren’s hand and pulled her into the reach of the warm water.
Lin Yiren barely dared to breathe, drawing each breath slowly so as not to take in too much. Looking down, there were Jiang Ning’s long, fair legs; looking up, there was soft, snow-white skin. Everywhere she looked, it seemed, there was nothing but scenery no one should be seeing. Tonight was simply too much stimulation for Lin Yiren.
And for Jiang Ning too. She might have made a show of telling Lin Yiren to “keep” her, but she had always been confident she could maintain a reasonable distance between them. This sudden Conquest System, however, had thrown her plans into disarray, challenging her bottom line over and over again.
What surprised Jiang Ning most was that she had genuinely lowered that bottom line for Lin Yiren. If it were anyone else, even if it meant going bankrupt on Points, she would never have agreed to those tasks. Watching Lin Yiren’s wavering gaze, Jiang Ning felt no disgust stirring in her heart.
You could say she was being remarkably indulgent toward Lin Yiren.
Though both of them had excellent figures, the two of them, as if by unspoken agreement, hurried through their washing, got dressed quickly, and stepped out together, leaving Lin Li, who had been waiting at the door, jaw dropped.
She had assumed Lin Yiren was in there alone. Who knew that the moment Jiang Ning arrived, things would get this spicy? A shared bath? Lin Li made up her mind on the spot: from today forward, she was locked in on the Across the Water ship. The thrown-away-the-key kind of locked in.
Neither of them spoke on the way back, both still thinking about what had happened in that little room. Nothing had actually happened between them, and yet whether it was bathing in the same room as the person you loved, or walking in on someone mid-shower and then washing together, either way it was mortifying and… thrilling all at once.
Perhaps her complaint had done some good, because that garbage Conquest System finally stopped issuing bizarre tasks. Jiang Ning lived in fear of waking up to something like a task titled A Night the Female Lead Will Never Forget. She had no idea who else she could even call to bail herself out this time.
Holding Lin Yiren in her arms, Jiang Ning sighed inwardly. If things truly went that far, there would be no walking away.
