Chapter 14: Teasing × Favoritism √

The Mu Shanyi before her eyes was nothing like the Mu Shanyi Miao Zhu had always remembered.

Even that night when she had said “it’s fine,” Mu Shanyi had kept her distance, maintained her propriety. But now, she seemed too lazy to bother with social etiquette.

Her posture and speech were both indolent and flippant.

Miao Zhu stared at the hand with which Mu Shanyi held the cigarette.

Stacked on her index and ring fingers were jade rings of varying widths, their luster smooth and glossy. Her fingers were as beautiful as she was. Short nails, clean, with reddened tips.

Her gaze extended to the cigarette pinched between those fingers, a faint lip mark on the pristine filter tip.

Alcohol numbed her nerves, dulling all sensations—no shame, no hesitation. Miao Zhu tilted her head slightly and leaned in to take it.

Her eyes half-open, a thin flush of intoxication floated over her delicate skin. Her refined features magnified continuously in Mu Shanyi’s vision, drawing ever closer.

Mu Shanyi’s fingertips trembled, and she quickly pulled her hand away.

Miao Zhu, who had lunged at empty air, let out a puzzled “Mm?” from her nose.

Mu Shanyi took the cigarette into her own mouth, inhaled, and slowly exhaled the smoke toward the window.

“How much did you drink?” she asked Miao Zhu.

“…Don’t know.” Miao Zhu couldn’t stand steadily. “Not much.”

The rain pattered endlessly, the air humid and stifling.

“Did you need something from me?” Mu Shanyi extinguished the cigarette. Once the faint smoke scent dissipated, she casually closed the window.

The cigarette had just been an opener. This was the real matter.

Miao Zhu’s head swam from the alcohol, her reactions sluggish, but she had prepared her lines in advance.

“That day, in the car. I asked if the person you were talking to on the phone was your girlfriend, and you said you weren’t sure what answer I wanted to hear.” She strained to lift her face, trying to enunciate clearly. “I-I’m here to give you the answer.”

“Oh.” Mu Shanyi showed no particular expression. “Go ahead.”

Why was Mu Shanyi swaying?

Miao Zhu reached out with both hands, raised them, and patted Mu Shanyi’s shoulders. “Sister A-Heng, stop swaying. I’ll hold you steady~”

Her usual voice was soft; drunk, it was even more so, like coquetry.

Mu Shanyi: “…”

This was bad.

Why was it still swaying?

“Am I the one swaying?” …The aftereffects of this booze were way too strong.

Miao Zhu nearly stumbled into Mu Shanyi’s arms several times. She withdrew her hands and braced herself against the windowsill to support her unruly body.

This mishap disrupted Miao Zhu’s train of thought, but luckily, she had rehearsed tonight’s lines countless times and still remembered them.

“I don’t mind.” Miao Zhu exhaled hot breath from her nose, reciting mechanically: “I don’t care if she’s your girlfriend or not. It won’t affect things between you and me either way.”

She paused.

“I want to be with you~”

Mu Shanyi processed it for a moment, making sure she fully understood Miao Zhu’s meaning. “I wouldn’t have to care about your relationships with others either. Is that what you mean?”

“Mm!” Miao Zhu’s mind was a whirl of dizziness. Mu Shanyi’s voice was pleasant, though it wasn’t gentle now—rather, it carried a chill.

—An affair.

That was how Miao Zhu defined their relationship: lovers who wouldn’t interfere with each other’s normal lives, kept in the shadows.

“Are you sober?” Mu Shanyi’s deep eyes fixed on Miao Zhu’s drunken features.

“Sober as can be.”

Mu Shanyi gazed at Miao Zhu for a long while, then let out an enigmatic chuckle, her tone emotionless. “Miao Zhu, are you toying with me?”

Miao Zhu rarely got this drunk. The next day, when she sobered up and recalled the night before,

She did black out later—she didn’t remember going downstairs, and Miao Ling’s nagging became some nonsensical background noise.

But she remembered going to find Mu Shanyi, reciting her lines as planned, and confirming their lover status with Mu Shanyi.

The drinking had been for courage, and thankfully, it hadn’t caused any slip-ups.

The next few days brought no word from Mu Shanyi’s side. Miao Zhu busied herself with rehearsals and syncing with the new conductor; time flew by to the weekend.

Tonight’s opera performance ran from seven in the evening straight through to one in the morning—a test not just of skill, but of stamina.

The final intermission was nearing dawn. After hours of intense focus, relaxing left her brain foggy. Miao Zhu and Jiang Jingjing chugged coffee in the break room.

Jiang Jingjing tilted her head back; from the corner of her eye, Miao Zhu spotted her earrings—gold wire twisted into butterflies, dangling teardrop pearls, elegant and lively, quite unique.

“New earrings? They look nice.”

“Right? I love them!” Jiang Jingjing perked up. “Made by a designer friend of mine. If you’re interested, I can recommend her to you.”

“Sure.” Miao Zhu’s back ached terribly; she set down her coffee and started rubbing it.

Jiang Jingjing fished out her phone, still chattering. “Did that young lady come to see your show today?”

In the Miao family, “young lady” specifically meant Mu Shanyi, but Jiang Jingjing only knew Sheng Xingran, so she naturally referred to her.

Miao Zhu: “She went to see an exhibition out of town, not in Cloud City.”

“Oh~” Jiang Jingjing cleared her throat. “Xie Dasu is picking me up later.”

At one in the morning, Xie Dasu was the model boyfriend. —They had officially started dating during Jiang Jingjing’s flu.

Jiang Jingjing winked at Miao Zhu. “Teacher Miao, looks like you’re flying solo tonight~”

Miao Zhu smiled. “Got it.”

The orchestra had dorms for midday naps, and if shows ended too late, they’d crash there overnight. She and Jiang Jingjing were roommates.

Miao Zhu had told Miao Ling she was staying in the dorm tonight.

Previously, Ni Xiaoying and Miao Ling had planned a weekend getaway to a nearby visa-free Sea Island. Sheng Xingran had booked flights and hotel; the two moms flew ahead, while Miao Zhu’s flight was tomorrow afternoon. Sheng Xingran had left her plenty of rest time—she’d sleep in at the dorm and head straight to the airport.

They called it a weekend trip, but really, it was just to give her and Sheng Xingran time alone.

“Sent it over.” Jiang Jingjing put down her phone.

“Thanks.” Miao Zhu’s phone lit up. She picked it up; besides the designer contact from Jiang Jingjing, another message sat quietly on the screen.

[Mu Shanyi: [Location]]

The message had arrived over half an hour ago. Miao Zhu tapped into WeChat to check, and her pupils quivered.

Mu Shanyi’s location pin was in an open-air parking lot near the theater.

One oh-five a.m., the show ended, audience dispersed. Miao Zhu packed her cello and left the theater with Jiang Jingjing.

Xie Dasu waited at the entrance. Jiang Jingjing hiked up her skirt and skipped over to join him. He wrapped an arm around her waist, and the two waved bye-bye to Miao Zhu.

Miao Zhu slung her cello over her back and headed to the parking lot Mu Shanyi had pinned.

It was so late, and so much time had passed—Mu Shanyi might not even still be there.

The city night hid the stars; streetlights pierced the dark, her high heels clicking on the pavement.

Miao Zhu gradually slowed to a stop.

One Tree loomed lush, its magnolia blossoms weighing down the branches.

Beneath the flowering tree, a late breeze stirred. A hand reached out the car window, a watch on the wrist, slender fingers toying with an unlit slim white cigarette.

The dim yellow streetlight bathed that hand in a honeyed glow.

Even the light favored her.