Chapter 17: This Sensual Panting.
After Chu Wantang got in the car, Huai Xing received several photos of herself from the rehearsal.
The “LANLING LIFE” show was of utmost importance to the current “Lan Ling.” The company had been arranging for people to film and document the entire process for months. Now, in the later stages, the filming was becoming more frequent. But she was just a junior employee and didn’t have the right to ask for rehearsal photos. She could only wait for the company’s official account to release them.
But Chu Wantang was different. She was the director of the design department. Getting photos was a simple matter for her.
Huai Xing was pleasantly surprised. She turned on the light in the car, looked through the photos in her hand, and asked with some astonishment, “When did you print these, Jiejie?”
“This afternoon. There’s a print shop nearby. I don’t know if there will be another opportunity like this, so I printed them for you as a memento.” Chu Wantang was driving. She added calmly, “I just found one that was left behind in the trunk. I was originally planning to give them to you after the show was over. There will be many more to be taken.”
“But, a sneak peek seems nice too, right? I’m proud of you.”
Huai Xing carefully placed the photos in her bag and patted it lightly. “I’ll frame them when I get home.”
Chu Wantang’s fingertips tapped lightly on the steering wheel. The photo that Huai Xing hadn’t seen, she had put in her own bag.
Thinking of Wen Shiwei’s undisguisedly grim face under the streetlight, she glanced sideways at the oblivious Huai Xing in the passenger seat and turned on the car’s music in a wonderful mood.
That night, after Huai Xing had dried her hair and was lying in bed, she saw several messages from Wen Shiwei in her WeChat.
Wen Shiwei said she had received a message from the landlord via the agent. If she paid for half a year at once, the landlord was willing to reduce the rent by 1000 yuan. She was asking Huai Xing if she should agree.
Huai Xing: [If you really like that apartment, I think you can agree.]
Sister Shiwei: [Okay.]
Sister Shiwei: [By the way, Xingxing, did you see the photo in the trunk?]
[I saw it.]
Huai Xing looked at the photo that was already framed and placed on her desk. She smiled faintly on her end of the phone and sent another message: [It’s already on my desk. It’s a great memento.]
She asked: [What does Sister Shiwei think of me in it?]
Wen Shiwei looked at the reply, her mind replaying the intimate scene in the photo. She pressed her lips together tightly.
Wen Ruyu had divorced Xia Zhi when she was eight, and she had met Huai Xing around the same time.
There was a three-year age difference between them. Huai Xing was still in kindergarten at the time, but their parents often let them play together. It didn’t take long for her to see Huai Xing as her own little sister, treating her much better than she treated Xia Yi. Back then, she had often heard Xia Yi cry about it.
Looking back now, she was a little hazy herself about when she had realized she had different feelings for Huai Xing.
She only remembered that when she was in university and a friend asked her why she wasn’t dating, the face that came to her mind was Huai Xing’s. Her heart had raced, and she had quickly accepted the fact that she liked Huai Xing. So, on the surface, she had just smiled and said, “Because the person I like hasn’t graduated from high school yet.”
Her friends had immediately “wow”-ed. “A May-December romance? Wen Shiwei, you’re hiding it so well!”
She hadn’t explained immediately, hiding her feelings very well.
But later, the Huai family had the accident. By the time she appeared in front of Huai Xing again, Chu Wantang was already by her side.
Her mother, who had been crying her eyes out over the loss of her best friend, had said with regret that Huai Xing had not chosen to become family with them, and they could only respect her choice.
Hearing this, she had actually felt a sense of relief, because if they had become family, she would have had no chance at all. But… did she still have no chance at all now?
That photo was stuck in her mind. Even if she knew that Chu Wantang had deliberately shown it to her, so what? Weren’t they the two people in the photo? Wasn’t the scene of them whispering in the car not piercing to the eyes?
And Huai Xing’s reply made her eyes redden.
In the two-plus years she had been absent from Huai Xing’s side, she seemed to have missed too much.
She hastily sent a “good night” and then dialed the number of an old friend in Jingcheng.
“Are you free? Let’s go for a drink.”
The next morning, Huai Xing found an empty wine bottle in the living room.
At breakfast, she stirred the congee Auntie Chen had made and asked with some confusion, “Jiejie, why did you feel like drinking last night? Did something unhappy happen?”
“No, I was thinking of some happy things.” Chu Wantang rubbed her brow. She had decided to drink after seeing Wen Shiwei’s Moments post last night. “I didn’t drink much, don’t worry.”
Huai Xing cleared her throat. “I mean, you could have asked me to join you.”
“You get flushed when you drink.”
“I can drink a beverage on the side,” Huai Xing said very naturally. “When you’re happy, I want to be by your side and be happy with you.”
Chu Wantang couldn’t help but laugh. She pushed the plate of stir-fried vegetables forward. “Eat your breakfast.”
“So, did you remember, Jiejie?”
“I remembered.”
At nine o’clock, the two of them arrived at the venue at different times.
The rehearsal for the “LANLING LIFE” show was proceeding in an orderly manner. The marketing department was continuously following up on the developments, and the online discussion about the show was also heating up. Most importantly, “Lan Ling” was a leading brand in domestic womenswear. For an occasion like the big show, they had invited several well-known female celebrities. As the date approached, the official announcements were also being made simultaneously. With the participation of fans, the related topics were pushed in front of more people, attracting everyone’s attention.
Unconsciously, March 8th Women’s Day was getting closer and closer.
Huai Xing had been practicing at the venue almost constantly and hadn’t been back to the company. However, her work buddy, Ren Jiao, would occasionally come to check on her and ask her whether she preferred sitting in the office or rehearsing at the venue.
Huai Xing: [Both are good.]
Ren Jiao: [Born to be a wage slave!]
Ren Jiao: [You could have clearly chosen neither is good!]
Huai Xing looked at the two messages, her eyes curving into a smile.
Ren Jiao: [Let me know when you’re on. I’ll watch the livestream just for you and cheer you on from the screen.]
[Okay, thank you.]
The seating at the venue was limited, so not many people from the company could attend. Most of the seats were open to other audiences.
For several days in a row, Huai Xing went to the nearby Junling Hotel for a lunch break. Once, He He had even asked her where she had gone, and she had to make up an excuse to brush it off. There was no way she could let anyone discover her relationship with Chu Wantang. However, she still hadn’t gotten used to sleeping in the same bed with Chu Wantang on such a sunny day. She had never once fallen asleep. Her lunch break was limited to closing her eyes and carefully feeling her own swelling heartbeat.
She wanted to escape, but she also knew that such opportunities were rare.
As she struggled, time quietly arrived at Saturday.
Tomorrow was Women’s Day, and also the day of the “LANLING LIFE” show.
The venue was particularly busy today. The two-hour lunch break had been canceled. After eating, they gathered in the backstage lounge. In the afternoon and evening, they would have a full-makeup rehearsal, and they would also walk the runway in the custom-made clothes the design department had made for them.
The lounge wasn’t very big. With so many of them, plus the makeup artists, it was a bit crowded.
The space was noisy. After her makeup was done, Huai Xing sat on the sofa and waited.
A photographer came in with a camera, and the room quieted down a bit. The camera moved slowly, lingering in front of Huai Xing for a few seconds. She gave a proper smile, and the camera gradually moved away to film others.
Huai Xing was used to this kind of filming.
But the workload had been quite heavy recently, from morning to night, so it was inevitable that she would feel a little tired. But when she thought of the even busier Chu Wantang, she felt that her own troubles were nothing. She had come to work here, apart from her own selfish reasons, to indeed lighten some of Chu Wantang’s financial burden.
And yesterday, she had received her first salary in her life, about 7000 yuan after tax. What troubled her was that she didn’t know what gift to buy for Chu Wantang.
The high heels she had given her before, although she had said she had bought them with her yet-to-be-paid salary, couldn’t be counted as a gift from her, because she had used Chu Wantang’s money.
After her makeup was done, He He sat down next to her and let out a long sigh. “Finally, just one more day, and we’ll be through it.”
Huai Xing was scrolling through an app on her phone, looking at the dazzling array of gifts, deep in thought.
Seeing that she didn’t respond, He He couldn’t help but ask, “What are you doing, Huai Xing?”
“Looking at gifts,” Huai Xing said with some trouble. “I don’t know what to buy for my sister.”
“What’s your budget?”
“Five or six thousand?”
He He: “…”
She had always noticed that Huai Xing’s family must be well-off. The watches, jewelry, and clothes she wore were not ordinary. The figure of five or six thousand was not too exaggerated, but they were of similar age, and she herself didn’t have the confidence to spend so much on a gift. So, she could only say, “That’s beyond my scope. I’ve never given anyone such an expensive gift.”
“My sister is not just anyone,” Huai Xing said, very sensitive to such words.
He He was very curious. “Do you have a photo of your sister? I want to see. I feel like you two sisters should look quite alike?”
“Not at all.”
But now, just talking about Chu Wantang, Huai Xing felt like she was about to be drowned in longing.
Chu Wantang had gone to the company today. She was the design director. Although the big show was the top priority, she also had other work to do, so even though it was Saturday, she still had to go back to work overtime.
It had only been half a day since she had seen her. Huai Xing sighed secretly. It was a good thing they weren’t dating, otherwise, she would definitely be considered too clingy.
On the other side, at the “Lan Ling” company headquarters.
Chu Wantang was pressing her temples in her office. The company’s spring collection was being launched, and some of the styles needed her design approval.
Most of the employees were not working overtime, so there were very few people in the company.
During a break, she received a message from Wan Yi.
Wan Yi was a time management master. Even with the full-makeup rehearsal approaching, she could still use her secondary account to chat with pretty young girls.
She sent Chu Wantang a few screenshots of her chat with a girl and said: [I was only gone for three hours this morning for work, and look, she’s so clingy. It’s such a sweet trouble.]
Chu Wantang looked at the messages that were sent at not-so-long intervals in the screenshot. She didn’t care about the content of the messages, only the time intervals. Her lips pressed together lightly.
Wan Yi: [Aiya, I forgot, you have a little sister too.]
Wan Yi: [You have such sweet troubles too.]
Chu Wantang switched out and opened her chat with Huai Xing.
A whole morning had passed, and it was now noon. Huai Xing hadn’t sent her a single message. Her expression turned a little cold.
…
The full-makeup rehearsal felt very different from a normal rehearsal, especially with more and more people in the audience, their eyes on them from the moment they appeared.
After another round, they returned to the backstage lounge. They had a half-hour break to review and then participate in the next round of rehearsal.
Huai Xing’s phone screen lit up at that moment. She opened WeChat and saw.
Jiejie: [Come to the parking lot.]
Huai Xing: [Okay.]
She had performed excellently and didn’t need to review her shortcomings. The model teacher quickly let her change her clothes and leave.
Huai Xing jogged all the way. At this time, there were almost no new cars in the underground parking lot. She quickly found the familiar silver car, opened the passenger door, and got in.
“Jiejie, aren’t you busy at the company?” Huai Xing asked, panting.
Hearing the panting echoing in the car, Chu Wantang’s anger instantly dissipated.
She was absolutely not mistaken about Huai Xing’s feelings for her.
And, this sensual panting, she would soon hear it in bed.
“I missed you,” Chu Wantang used the same old trick. “It sounds better to say it in person than on the phone.”
