Chapter 21 p2
Back at the guesthouse, Xu Ling went to shower first, setting the water temperature a little high.
The past few days, she had always dried her hair in the bathroom before coming out. Today, she came out with it half-dry.
She wanted to be willful for once and let Qin Cong’an dry her hair for her.
Before Xu Ling could even say the excuse she had prepared, Qin Cong’an looked at her and frowned. “You’re not going to dry your hair?”
As she spoke, Qin Cong’an had already stood up and gotten the hairdryer.
Xu Ling sat on the bed and let her five fingers run through her hair.
“I have a question,” Xu Ling said. The sound of the hairdryer wasn’t loud.
“Speak.”
“What did you go out to buy this afternoon?”
“It’s all over there.”
Xu Ling looked at the bag on the table. It was full of snacks, nothing else, and mostly sweet snacks, which Qin Cong’an didn’t eat.
“Nothing else?”
“What else can you buy here?”
So what Yi Huai said was wrong. Qin Cong’an had gone out specifically for her. Xu Ling’s face grew hot. “You drove so long just to buy these.”
“It was fine. I like driving. There are few cars and wide roads around here. It’s a great drive.”
“Oh… then why didn’t you come up when you got back? What were you doing in the car?”
“Making calls, reading the script. It was noisy. I didn’t want to disturb you,” Qin Cong’an said. Seeing that she was quiet, she took the initiative to ask, “Any more questions?”
This time, her tone wasn’t impatient. She answered carefully, not minding her questions, as if she were seriously reporting in. But when Xu Ling thought about who she was calling, her spirits dampened a little.
“No more.” Xu Ling’s hair wasn’t very thick and was easy to dry. When it was almost dry, she took the hairdryer, turned it off, and turned around to hug her waist, nuzzling her chest. For some reason, she also wanted to call her “mommy.”
“What’s wrong?” Qin Cong’an stroked the back of her head.
“I want to eat.”
“…” Qin Cong’an’s hand paused, then patted her. “I’m going to take a shower.”
“Mhm, I’ll wait for you.”
Xu Ling leaned against the headboard, looking at the bag of snacks on the table, waiting for her to finish her shower.
She thought, Qin Cong’an must like me. Otherwise, why would she go buy my favorite sweets? And when I said I wanted to eat, she agreed immediately.
And they had had friendly exchanges in bed time and time again. Although they both enjoyed it, didn’t that at least mean that Qin Cong’an wasn’t completely straight?
Xu Ling had originally planned to just cherish the time before the wrap, but now she couldn’t help but want more.
She wanted to be in a relationship with her, to enjoy her doting, and to love her properly. She wanted to hold hands and go on dates, to be photographed by netizens who would say they had a great relationship. Some would guess they were a couple, and they wouldn’t respond, just secretly kiss at home.
People really are greedy. She wasn’t willing to be the third party, even though she knew it was wrong.
The sound of water from the bathroom was like rain, a kind of white noise. Drowsiness gradually crept in. Xu Ling really wanted to sleep.
After Qin Cong’an finished showering and drying her hair, she climbed into bed. Xu Ling familiarly leaned over and buried her face in her chest.
Xu Ling was so sleepy, but she still nibbled on the two freshly baked, soft little pastries, savoring the milky fragrance they emitted.
The little pastries didn’t get cold; they got even hotter. So delicious.
The person in her arms stopped moving. Only her breathing still tickled her. Qin Cong’an stroked her head, reached out an arm, and grabbed her phone.
This person was really ridiculous.
To be able to fall asleep like this, Qin Cong’an thought with some annoyance. She opened IG, searched for Xu Ling’s account, and skillfully scrolled down to that photo.
In October, five years ago, she had posted a photo of a baking sheet with six golden, plump egg yolk pastries. They looked delicious.
The caption read: [Aww, when I’m being tortured to death by my period, only Yanzi’s handmade egg yolk pastries can save my dog life. Delicious, delicious, so fragrant!]
Besides the egg yolk pastries, there was also a photo of the two of them together.
In the photo, although they weren’t completely touching, their faces were very close. The 18-year-old Xu Ling still had a bit of baby fat on her face. She was deliberately making a weak expression, but her lips were genuinely a little pale.
The other face was bright and beautiful, as if she had some European heritage. Her eye sockets were deep, and her irises were a little light. She looked to be in a good mood, her eyebrows raised, making a peace sign, her fingers slender and long.
Qin Cong’an looked through Xu Ling’s interactions with people and knew that this person was called Li Yan. She had also been a model. The two of them had lived together for two years.
She was probably Xu Ling’s ex.
There were quite a few photos of the two of them together. Every time Qin Cong’an looked at one, her gaze was irresistibly drawn to Li Yan’s chest. Tsk, so big.
And Xu Ling loved to eat so much. It was probably a habit she had developed back then.
Qin Cong’an had already looked at these photos several times, but she still couldn’t help but look them up. Not looking was unbearable for a moment; looking was unbearable for a day.
The last time this Li Yan appeared in Xu Ling’s IG was also at home. There was no photo of the two of them, only a photo of a hot pot, the table filled with a lavish spread of food.
After that, she suddenly never appeared again. The same was true for Li Yan’s account. They no longer interacted in the comments, but they were still strangely following each other.
Qin Cong’an guessed that they had broken up very suddenly. The hot pot was their breakup meal. They probably had a bit of a falling out, but there were still lingering feelings. Otherwise, why would Xu Ling have cried when Jiang Ruzhi sang that song about parting?
When Xu Ling saw the egg yolk pastries today, she was stunned. It probably didn’t even take a second for her to think of Li Yan, right?
What was it like to be in a relationship with someone who couldn’t forget their ex?
They weren’t in any kind of relationship now, and she was already so annoyed. What if they really got together?
But did Xu Ling want to be with her? Did she like her? Or did she just like sleeping with her?
That night Xu Ling came to find her, how much of it was for the movie, how much was for releasing her desires, and how much was because of her?
If the person filming with her wasn’t her, but someone else, would she have also knocked on their door and asked if they wanted to sleep together?
Like Gu Qi, for example. They happened to get along very well.
The person in her arms moved, probably because her breathing was a little restricted and she wanted some fresh air.
Qin Cong’an tossed her phone aside, pressed her into her embrace, and thought about just letting her suffocate.
Xu Ling moved uncomfortably a couple of times and finally poked her head out, taking two deep breaths of fresh air. Then she buried her head in Qin Cong’an’s neck and rubbed against her reassuringly.
Qin Cong’an gently wrapped her arms around her waist and bit her on the cheek.
…
Xu Ling was woken up by hunger. When she woke up, Qin Cong’an was still asleep.
Her period was already draining, and last night’s shoot had been high-intensity. Xu Ling carefully climbed out of bed and rummaged through the bag of snacks.
There were still two boxes of egg yolk pastries. She wanted to eat them.
Xu Ling took the egg yolk pastries downstairs and asked the owner to microwave them for 20 seconds.
After going upstairs, she went to the crew members’ room to get some fried noodles and buns, then returned to her room.
As soon as she entered, she was startled by Qin Cong’an, who was sitting on the bed.
“You’re awake,” Xu Ling said, putting the food on the table. “I’m back from the hunt. Fragrant fried noodles, you’ll definitely love them.”
Fragrant my ass.
Qin Cong’an glared at her back, got out of bed, sat down in the chair, and pulled her by the waist, making her sit on her lap.
Xu Ling immediately tried to stand up.
“There’s only one chair.”
“I’ll sit on the bed. How are you supposed to eat like this?”
Qin Cong’an still held her and didn’t let go. “It’s fine.” But she didn’t touch her chopsticks. She had just woken up and had no appetite. And seeing her shake her head as she ate the egg yolk pastry made her lose her appetite even more.
“Is it that good? It’s just cheap stuff.”
“You went out of your way to buy it. Of course it’s good.” Xu Ling was overjoyed. And she was eating it while sitting on her lap, which made it even more delicious.
“Oh,” Qin Cong’an said coldly. “So, is it the best you’ve ever had in your life?”
“Yeah.”
Such a liar.
Qin Cong’an didn’t believe her. How could this compare to what her ex-girlfriend had baked by hand?
Xu Ling picked up the second one and asked her, “Do you want some?”
“I don’t like it.”
Xu Ling bit off half and said, her words muffled, “If you don’t eat sweets, you’re missing out on a lot of fun in life…”
Before she could finish, she saw Qin Cong’an’s face lean in and take a bite from her mouth.
Qin Cong’an tasted a little of the flaky pastry left on her lips. It really did have a slightly inferior taste.
Xu Ling’s breath and heartbeat stopped for a second. Seeing her lick her lips, she turned her face away. That girlfriend feeling was back again. So annoying. She wanted to possess her.
The two of them ate their two o’clock breakfast and took turns brushing their teeth.
There were still four hours until they had to leave.
They leaned against the headboard, one on each side, doing their own thing to pass the time.
On previous sets, because she had always played supporting roles with few scenes, Xu Ling had had even more free time. She would usually watch Qin Cong’an’s movies or TV shows, scroll through her few materials, and then look at the posts from the CP fans of Qin Cong’an and Xie Jing.
But now, Xu Ling just scrolled through her phone aimlessly, occasionally glancing at Qin Cong’an.
Qin Cong’an went out to take a call. Xu Ling didn’t even need to look to know who was calling.
Xu Ling started timing from the moment she closed the door. She came back. The call had lasted six minutes.
“They’re playing mahjong. Do you want to play?” Qin Cong’an asked.
Xu Ling shook her head. “I’m bad at it.”
She lowered her head and continued to look at her phone. While Qin Cong’an was on the phone, she had found an interesting novel and started reading it.
Qin Cong’an got back into bed, crossed the line in the middle, and burrowed into her embrace. “What are you reading?”
“A novel.”
Qin Cong’an tapped her phone and looked at the tag: Broken Mirror Reunited.
“…So boring,” Qin Cong’an said, then climbed out of bed again. “I’m going to play mahjong.”
Lin Xinnuo was on a winning streak. Seeing Sister An come over, she was so surprised she played a good tile. When she realized, she quickly tried to take it back but was held down by the others.
Qin Cong’an sat behind Lin Xinnuo and watched them play. After one round, she switched in and started playing.
“Sister An, do you know how to play?” The crew often played mahjong to pass the time, but Lin Xinnuo had never seen Sister An play.
“No.”
“…”
“I watched you play two rounds. I probably get it now,” Qin Cong’an said as if it were true, but she had actually been spacing out the whole time.
As Lin Xinnuo fed Qin Cong’an tiles, she complained internally, Sister, you act so cool. I hope your skills are one-third as good as you make them out to be.
After two rounds, Qin Cong’an really did get the hang of it and even won a few hands.
It was time to get ready for work. Everyone prepared to leave.
Qin Cong’an returned to the room and saw Xu Ling’s eyes were red, wiping away tears.
“Ah, is it time to go?”
“Mhm.” A response as cold as could be.
Xu Ling put down her phone with a sense of regret. She was just about to see the misunderstanding resolved. She couldn’t continue reading in the car. She had to look at the script and get into character; otherwise, she would be led astray by the novel.
