Chapter 52
It was just fan service, just fan service. Seeing Qin Cong’an so proactive, it was just fan service. Xu Ling brainwashed herself, trying to lower her sensitivity, trying to see Qin Cong’an as just an ordinary colleague.
But it was fine as long as she didn’t see her face. As soon as she saw her face, even just a glimpse of her forehead, Xu Ling’s brainwashing operation would fail completely.
Qin Cong’an poked her again.
Xu Ling raised her hand and grabbed Qin Cong’an’s index finger. She turned to the side with a look of someone about to be executed. “Come on!” she said and leaned in.
Qin Cong’an looked at her and smiled. “Come on with what? We haven’t even started on the Pocky. You want to go straight to it?”
“…”
“And we have to decide who’s going to bite.”
Xu Ling always felt that the word “bite” was said very ambiguously by Qin Cong’an. Was it her imagination? No, with her gaze, it was definitely not her imagination.
“Can you let go of my hand?”
“…” Only then did Xu Ling realize she was still holding her hand. Damn it, her whole being was in a mess. Her stupid hand was no longer under her brain’s control. She let her go, tidied her hair a couple of times, looking very busy.
Xu Ling didn’t dare to look at the comments now, not even at the staff’s faces. She could only look at Qin Cong’an’s hand. She was still wearing the ring she had put on for her. During this period, she had probably worn it all the time, except when she was shooting for the magazine.
Would she wear the ring she had given her to meet her boyfriend? After this thought popped into her head, Xu Ling was a complete mess. But… why was it so exciting…
Qin Cong’an took out a Pocky stick, milk chocolate flavor, and estimated how much 1.4 centimeters was.
Just this little distance… Xu Ling finally looked at the staff. “Are you sure you didn’t cheat? I feel like I saw you bite it off before you got there.”
“How could we!” a look of great insult. Actually, they had. Behind the camera, they had secretly broken off a piece and then misread the number on the ruler. 1.4 was born before the two people in front of the camera had even reacted. The evidence was destroyed anyway. Where could they go to reason?
Qin Cong’an’s knee touched Xu Ling’s. “Don’t resist.”
“…What kind of line is that?” Like a villain. But Xu Ling really couldn’t resist. Qin Cong’an was a senior and was willing to play the game. She was just a small-timer. Could she not play? How big would her face have to be?
Forget it, forget it. Thinking on the bright side, since she couldn’t treat Qin Cong’an as an ordinary colleague, she might as well treat her as her girlfriend. And this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to flirt with her girlfriend in public, with the cover of “playing a game.”
“I’ll bite,” Xu Ling said.
“Okay.” Qin Cong’an bit one end of the Pocky and looked at Xu Ling’s darting eyes. So interesting, so cute.
Xu Ling leaned in a little, but she soon found that without support for her hands, she would shake so much. The Pocky was very brittle and would break easily. She couldn’t shake, so she propped her hands on Qin Cong’an’s thighs.
Qin Cong’an grabbed her wrist, lifted it, and placed it on her own shoulder, while her knees moved in to clamp her leg.
“…” No, this was a little more stable, but wasn’t this posture too strange??
Xu Ling’s ears were completely red, and her face was also flushed pink. Her breath was so hot it was about to burn her.
“Close your eyes,” Xu Ling said. She couldn’t look at her eyes. But even if she didn’t look, just feeling her gaze was enough to make her crumble, not to mention that Qin Cong’an was still squeezing her leg.
Qin Cong’an obediently closed her eyes.
Wait, it was even stranger.
Xu Ling quickly said, “No, you should open them.”
This time, Qin Cong’an didn’t move, still keeping her eyes closed, just lifting her chin a little.
Xu Ling stared at those two lips. She really couldn’t take it anymore. She patted her shoulder and said anxiously, “Hurry up and open them.”
Qin Cong’an took the Pocky from her mouth. “What do you want? Or should I do it?”
“No.” Xu Ling took it and held it to her lips. “You can open your eyes, but just don’t look at me.”
“Okay. Don’t lose to them,” Qin Cong’an said one last time, then obediently bit down again.
Xu Ling dawdled for a long time, and finally held her breath and went for it. She had once been proud of her ability to hold her breath, but as soon as she got close enough to feel Qin Cong’an’s breath, she lost her strength. She even subconsciously closed her eyes, eating the biscuit that smelled of milk and chocolate, until she felt something touch her.
—It was over.
Why did she close her eyes! How could she possibly see when to bite it off if she closed her eyes! Xu Ling bit down in a panic, and even felt a friction. She quickly retreated, a look of terror on her face.
Qin Cong’an bit off her own small piece, took it in her hand, and looked. She didn’t even need to measure. One look was enough to know it was less than 1.4, much less.
“We won,” Qin Cong’an said, then tossed the small piece into her mouth and casually touched her lips. “But it seems we touched.”
Don’t say it. Xu Ling looked at the ground with a look of wanting to die.
“Do you hate me that much?” Qin Cong’an suddenly asked her.
Xu Ling looked up. “What?”
“Looking at you like that, I thought you hated me.”
Xu Ling couldn’t speak. It seemed she really did hate her. She hated her for making her so powerless, for exposing all her weaknesses, for making her flustered and panicked… but it was precisely because she couldn’t control her feelings for her that she was like this.
The livestream’s popularity soared. After the clip was released, it quickly became a hot topic, was reposted countless times, and a large number of viewers flooded in.
But the new viewers didn’t see them get that close. Even the two legs that were touching were trying hard to separate, even though the narrow space was not enough for them to do so.
The atmosphere was too stiff. It didn’t look like the reaction of two ordinary colleagues who had accidentally touched lips while playing a game.
Many new viewers were also made awkward and quickly left.
But more people stayed. Although it was strange, it felt like there was an undercurrent flowing.
[Neither of them knows how to play. They don’t even know to open their mouths wide. It would be strange if they didn’t touch. Hehe, they look so bouncy and soft.]
[Could this be 00’s first kiss? Such a big reaction.]
[I feel like rather than a first kiss, it’s more like the reaction of kissing an ex-wife. Because An An’s reaction is also very off.]
[Nooo, mommy mommy, please make up T^T]
[Make up! Kiss each other’s lips raw! How can you two resist? Both of your mouths look so kissable. You were born to be a pair! You should just keep kissing and kissing!]
Actually, it wasn’t a kiss. It was just a slight brush of their lower lips. But the atmosphere was so strange. Xu Ling had her eyes closed, and Qin Cong’an was staring at her. After it was over, one was in a daze, and the other asked if she hated her.
[So good to ship, but why does it feel a little painful?]
[By the way, I’ve always been on the AnLing side, but I suddenly feel that LingAn is also very good.]
[An An has a seductive feel and is very good at flirting. 00 seems like the clumsy type but would try very hard to please when doing it.]
[Requesting fanfic, fanart, anything and everything.]
The staff in the room could feel this suffocating atmosphere even more keenly. As much as they had been looking forward to them playing this game, they now wanted to run away.
Everyone quickly looked for other games to play, but when the two of them played, it was obvious that they were both distracted.
“Then… let’s start the Q&A session with the comments. Audience, please participate actively. The two of them will try their best to answer any questions about the movie.” The staff guided everyone to ask about the movie and started to screen the questions.
But it was so hard to screen. Nine out of ten questions were about what it felt like to have kissed just now. It had to be said, they were also very curious.
Staff: “I’d like to ask, when you two were filming the fight scenes, did you have to coordinate with each other?”
Qin Cong’an glanced at Xu Ling and answered the question. “It was more about coordinating with the other actors and teachers. Before filming, we also practiced separately.”
Summary: Not close.
Staff: “Did you two eat anything delicious in Mist City?”
Qin Cong’an glanced at Xu Ling again and continued, “There’s a very delicious hotpot restaurant near the hotel we stayed at. It’s open 24 hours. We often went there to eat after filming night scenes. Director Chang always treated us. And there’s a coffee shop near the house we lived in that has very fragrant coffee. It’s a pity we only went once.”
Xu Ling very abruptly scratched behind her ear.
Staff: “In the trailer, there’s a shot of Teacher Xu climbing a large slope. Was that very hard?”
This was a question directly for Xu Ling. It would be bad if she didn’t answer. Xu Ling started to squeeze the candy in her hand again. Squeezing something really did help relieve stress.
“That time was very tiring. There was a one-take shot of climbing all the way up. After I got to the top, I felt like my heart was about to come out of my mouth. But… mmm, it was pretty good.”
A strange ending.
Xu Ling remembered that time when her heart was beating so fast, and Qin Cong’an had suddenly appeared, making her heart skip a beat. She also remembered the wind blowing when they were riding the motorcycle down the slope, the rustling sound and the smell of the trees on both sides of the road.
Everything was still so vivid.
The two legs that had been avoiding each other had somehow touched again.
Staff: “What do you two do when you’re not filming?”
Hearing this question, the candy in Xu Ling’s hand fell to the floor with a plop.
Qin Cong’an bent down to pick it up and squeezed it instead. “Is everyone expecting us to do something? We can’t do much on set. Just go over the script and things like that. Most of the time, we’re just resting, sleeping.”
Staff: “But didn’t you two go to Jiang Jiang’s concert together?”
“Oh, yes. And the coffee shop I just mentioned, we also went there together,” Qin Cong’an said calmly. “We just walk around when we’re resting. We have a pretty good relationship, right?”
Xu Ling nodded. “Mhm, mhm, of course. We have a very good relationship.”
The CP fans found the atmosphere between the two of them truly magical. When they said they had a “good relationship,” it was like they were “not good.” But when they deliberately acted “not close,” it felt like they were actually very close.
Staff: “I’d like to know your ideal types, what you expect from your other half, your attitude towards exes, and if you can be friends with an ex.”
“You go first.” Qin Cong’an’s knee bumped Xu Ling’s. She was very curious about her answer.
Xu Ling was a little dazed. Ideal type, she had never had one. After meeting Qin Cong’an, it was just her. Ex, she didn’t have one. But if she were to count her relationship with Qin Cong’an as a romance…
“It depends on the feeling. I don’t have any expectations. As long as we get along. As for being friends with an ex…” Xu Ling shook her head. “Impossible.”
Seeing Qin Cong’an in a relationship with someone else, and maybe even receiving the “happy news” of her marriage to someone else, she would rather kill her.
Xu Ling bumped her back. “Your turn.”
Qin Cong’an was still thinking about what was going on with her and Li Yan. She put it aside for now and answered the question first. “I like someone like Jian Yu, a little mischievous, always optimistic, but very strong inside. I don’t have any expectations for her either. As long as she’s always there. As for exes, I don’t have any, so the answer is I don’t know.”
The comments didn’t miss the expressions of the two of them. They were both listening to the other person very seriously, and after listening, they both had a thoughtful look on their faces.
Some people interpreted Qin Cong’an’s words as a subtle confession to Xu Ling. Some interpreted it as just promoting the movie.
But everyone was very surprised that Qin Cong’an didn’t have any exes. That meant she had either never been in a relationship, or she was currently in her first love.
To say she had never been in a relationship was too bizarre. Everyone didn’t believe it. So the speculation that she was in her first love was more credible. And Qin Cong’an did indeed seem to be in a long-term and stable relationship. One could only say that she had hidden it too well.
[Ah, then what’s with the post-divorce vibe of AnLing? I’ve always been so sure they had dated.]
[Another day of being hurt by CP fans’ wild imagination.]
[They are dating, thank you. 0 is An’s first love. I don’t care. Host, please pick two more relationship questions!]
“Director Chang has entered the livestream. Welcome, welcome. Let’s connect with her.” The staff moved on to the next segment, making the audience so angry they wanted to throw their phones.
As soon as she was connected, Chang Ning asked, “I just saw you two kiss. What’s going on!”
“We didn’t kiss!” Xu Ling said quickly. “We just touched while playing a game.”
As if she hadn’t heard, Chang Ning was still asking, “How did it feel?”
The staff couldn’t screen this. They couldn’t just kick Director Chang out of the connection.
“Huh?” Xu Ling had thought Director Chang was her lifesaver, but this lifesaver was now strangling her. “N-nothing.”
“Hey, you’re lying. How could it be nothing? Little Qin, Little Qin, how did it feel?”
Qin Cong’an said, “Like a kitten’s belly.”
Xu Ling frowned at her. “My mouth doesn’t have any fur!”
“No, it’s the feeling of a kitten’s belly after it’s been shaved. The color is also very similar.”
“…” Xu Ling immediately pursed her lips, then couldn’t help but ask, “How have you kissed a shaved kitten’s belly?”
Qin Cong’an explained, “I found a kitten, took it for a check-up, and they shaved the fur on its belly. After I brought it home, I did indeed kiss it. Is that not allowed?”
“Oh.” Xu Ling pouted. Qin Cong’an didn’t dare to say “Mo Yun’s” name, afraid that Xie Jing’s fans would find out that his cat was the one she had found.
Chang Ning had shipped it. “You only touched for a moment, and you felt so much, Little Qin.”
“More than once. I’ve kissed it many times,” Qin Cong’an said, then, seeing Xu Ling’s glare, asked, “Just kidding.”
Xu Ling couldn’t smile. “Very funny. You should be in a few comedies. You have the talent.”
***
For the CP fans, there was another textbook. Just study it. There was no end to learning.
Especially since this was a livestream, and it was nearly two hours long. Everyone didn’t miss a single interaction.
Someone even counted how many times Xu Ling had blushed, how many times Qin Cong’an had turned to look at her, and even specified how many times she had looked at her eyes and how many times she had looked at her mouth, and also, how many times the conversation had stalled.
The non-CP fans were dumbfounded:
[Is Qin Cong’an in debt? Why is she working so hard on the fan service for this one?]
The CP fans were not happy but were too lazy to refute. They just said, [Yes, yes, yes. So hurry up and buy a movie ticket to support her tomorrow.]
Many of Qin Cong’an’s fans were also shipping them.
Because the Qin Cong’an with Xu Ling was very different, mainly in that she talked a lot. Whether it was just for promotion or interaction, it was an unprecedented amount of talking.
She even made jokes!
The video series Qin Cong’an’s Double Standards for Xu Ling and Others was already on its tenth episode, and there was still a lot of material that hadn’t been edited in.
[This is what you call seeing a different side of An An. I hope those who ship An Jing will come and see.]
[Exactly. The candy for An Jing is too hard. AnLing is better to ship. First of all, the fact that An An, who never touches sweets, started to study baking is very telling. People on the set all say that Ling Yu loves to eat bread and often buys it for everyone.]
[Your An is really like she’s been possessed. But if you think about it as her being in love, then it’s normal. After all, 00 is really beautiful, with a good figure and a cute personality. The episode that An fans support the most.]
Xu Ling was numb.
She, the other woman, was even stepping on the main wife.
Don’t be like this! If this continues, it won’t be good for anyone. Xu Ling hoped the promotional period would end quickly. Don’t sell this fake product under the guise of promotion anymore. In the end, everyone would be hurt.
The first day of release.
Meng Bai drove a flashy sports car to the platform building to pick up Xu Ling after her interview. “Let’s go eat first, and then go to the movies after. I’ve booked the afternoon show.”
“Okay,” Xu Ling said, listless.
Meng Bai glanced at her. She had been traveling these past few days but hadn’t missed any of Xu Ling’s fun.
“You really kissed last night. How did it feel? Lingzi, just tell me if your heart was racing.”
“No. My heart was as still as water.”
“Cut the crap. In front of such a great beauty, you didn’t have any thoughts? Are you even human? Tell me the truth, was it on purpose? Look, who plays that game with their eyes closed?”
“I’m not!”
“You’re not human? I don’t think you are either. Look at you blushing. When I saw the video, I thought they had added special effects for you, but you really were that red.” Meng Bai shook her head in pity. “Lingzi, don’t pretend in front of me.”
Xu Ling didn’t want to pretend either. She also wanted to confide in someone. But she was the other woman. She couldn’t say it, couldn’t say it to anyone. She knew it was wrong and was afraid of being despised by her friends.
