Chapter 66
Xu Ling had been in Hengdian for a week for filming. They had originally planned to have a proper date at home on the first day she got back. This had been her motivation to get through the week. Unfortunately, it had coincided with the time Li Yan was coming back.
It was a pity, but after all, she had fewer chances to see Li Yan, so they could only save the date for another time.
On the plane back, Xu Ling had been thinking about how to make up for this date, where to go to play in secret, or what gift to give Qin Cong’an. She had thought so hard her head was about to go bald, and had flipped through all the magazines on the plane.
Qin Cong’an hadn’t replied to her messages, and she didn’t know if she was angry.
Xu Ling and Li Yan met at the airport. Meng Bai and another friend drove to the airport to pick them up. Xu Ling said goodbye to Sister Huai, who gave her a look. She nodded.
Xu Ling knew what Sister Huai meant. She was telling her not to tell these friends about her and Qin Cong’an.
After all, she couldn’t be completely sure that these friends wouldn’t tell others about them.
In the car, Meng Bai, in the driver’s seat, turned on the stereo, letting the music celebrate the rare reunion of the sisters. The atmosphere immediately picked up.
Meng Bai started the car and asked Xu Ling, “Do you have any kitchenware at your place? Should we buy some stuff and cook at your place? Or just order takeout?”
“There is kitchenware, but who’s going to cook? Only Li Yan knows how. She just got back. We can’t let her cook. Let’s just order takeout.”
“Then I drove this car for nothing.” Meng Bai had even specially driven the Land Rover out today, thinking of going on a big shopping trip.
Han Qiao, in the passenger seat, said, “Why don’t we go to a campsite for a barbecue? Then it won’t be for nothing. And barbecue is simple. We can all do it. Anyway, Yanzi, you’re not really here to watch a movie, are you?”
Li Yan leaned back against the seat and asked, “What do you mean?”
“Just that,” Han Qiao said, glancing at Xu Ling. “The real person is here. Why watch a movie?”
Meng Bai burst out laughing. “How did Da Qiao know? I’m dying of laughter. Da Qiao, you’ve only seen them a few times, right?”
Han Qiao was Meng Bai’s childhood friend. She had only seen Xu Ling and Li Yan a few times when she had gone abroad to visit Meng Bai. Their relationship was okay, but not particularly close.
“What do you mean?” Han Qiao also asked. “Isn’t it obvious?”
Xu Ling was enjoying the gossip. What were they talking about? It took her a while to realize that they were saying that Han Qiao also knew that Li Yan liked her. Ah… was it really that obvious?
Han Qiao continued, “Even if I only had a vague guess before, Yanzi specially took leave to come back to watch a movie. Don’t I understand now?”
“No, I’m just here to watch the movie,” Li Yan said with a faint smile. “I’m not busy recently. I said it was a leave, but my boss didn’t say anything. If I were really busy, of course I wouldn’t have come back.”
Han Qiao was puzzled. “You can watch it online. If we’re together, who would really be in the mood to watch a movie?”
“I’ve already seen it. I’m just watching it again with everyone. After all, it’s Xu Ling’s first movie, and she’s the lead. It’s worth commemorating.”
Li Yan had always been a very ceremonial person. She would celebrate every holiday, whether it was a domestic or foreign one. She would also carefully prepare gifts for her friends’ birthdays. Even if it wasn’t a special day, if she saw something fun, she would also give it to her friends and Xu Ling.
Han Qiao glanced at Xu Ling’s expression and shook her head. “Yanzi, you look so pitiful.”
“What?” Li Yan laughed. Did unrequited love sound so pitiful? It seemed so, but she was actually enjoying it. A person could also experience the ups and downs of love alone, as long as their imagination was rich enough.
Li Yan then looked at Xu Ling and asked, “Do you have a girlfriend?”
“Huh?” Xu Ling was dazed and started to stutter. “W-why, suddenly, a-ask that?”
“From what you said just now, you still don’t know how to cook. Then how do you have kitchenware at home?” Li Yan asked.
“Uh…” Li Yan was still so meticulous and observant. Xu Ling said, “The house is rented. It came with it.”
“A rental comes with kitchenware?”
“Some do,” Xu Ling said, trying to quickly brush it off.
Originally, when Li Yan had asked that question, it had just been a guess. The two in the front had been startled but had also thought it was unlikely. But Xu Ling’s reaction was a little strange, which really made them suspect that there was something going on.
Han Qiao suddenly turned around and looked at Xu Ling. “You and Qin Cong’an aren’t real, are you?”
“Huh?”
“I don’t know if Qin Cong’an can cook, but didn’t she say she was playing with baking? That also requires kitchenware.”
Xu Ling’s mouth twitched. Why did it feel like all her friends were so smart, so sharp?
Han Qiao clapped her hands and said excitedly, “Let’s go to your kitchen later and see. If there’s only baking utensils, then there’s no need to say more.”
“What’s wrong with you? Are you shipping a CP?” Meng Bai asked.
“I am! It’s so good to ship, and you’re not? No taste.”
“Sorry, I ship Lingzi and Yanzi.” Meng Bai glanced at the two of them in the rearview mirror and saw that Li Yan was a little helpless, and Xu Ling had a look of terror.
She knew that these two were also unlikely, but the key was that Xu Ling and Qin Cong’an were even more impossible.
The feeling Qin Cong’an gave off was too distant, not at all real. Even when Meng Bai had gone to visit the set before and had seen Qin Cong’an, she had still felt that way. She couldn’t imagine such a person being in a relationship with her buddy. It was as ridiculous as saying an alien had come to Earth and fallen in love with Xu Ling.
In the car, Xu Ling had already ordered takeout and had also given the password to her other friends, telling them to go in first if they arrived.
This movie viewing party had a total of eight people, including Xu Ling. But after checking in the group chat, she found that everyone had actually seen it at least once. Today was just a pure gathering, a pure celebration.
Han Qiao asked in the group chat and found that quite a few were shipping the real person ship. Although rationally, they all felt it was unlikely, what was wrong with shipping it a little? Only Meng Bai was very stubbornly trying to be a wingman for Li Yan.
Xu Ling looked at the discussion in the group chat, and a cold sweat was about to break out. Good thing she didn’t actually have any baking stuff at home. It was all at Qin Cong’an’s house. The utensils at her house were what Qin Cong’an sometimes bought to make some simple meals.
Although it was indeed related to Qin Cong’an, it didn’t match Han Qiao’s imagination. When Han Qiao saw her house, she would know that it was just her fantasy.
Xu Ling breathed a sigh of relief.
She tilted her phone to the side and opened Qin Cong’an’s WeChat. What was she doing? It had been 18 hours, and she still hadn’t replied.
Xu Ling sent a cat-peeking-out emoji, then switched to her own packed schedule and looked at it, then sent another message: [I have a magazine shoot next Thursday morning. After that, I’m free. See if there’s anything you want to do. Anything is fine. Please feel free to order me around?]
After a long while, there was still no reply.
“We’re here.”
Xu Ling put away her phone and took her week’s worth of luggage from the trunk. It was just a duffel bag, not very big, but it still had some weight. Li Yan reached out to help, but Xu Ling turned to the side. “I can do it myself.”
Upstairs, the other friends hadn’t arrived yet, but two of the takeouts had, piled up at the door.
Everyone took their things. Xu Ling opened the door and, as soon as she pulled it open, she saw Qin Cong’an’s shoes, a pair of black kitten-heeled sandals.
She was so scared she almost slammed the door shut again.
No, this didn’t necessarily mean that Qin Cong’an was in her house. Maybe she had just left a pair of shoes here, just like she had also left some other clothes and things here.
No, no, no. She had left clothes here because some of their clothes could be worn by each other. But their shoe sizes were very different. They couldn’t wear each other’s.
Meng Bai, carrying the somewhat heavy takeout, had already pushed Xu Ling aside and gone in. She put the things on the cabinet and saw the shoes in the entryway, and immediately found something was wrong. “Can you wear these shoes?”
“Th-these shoes don’t have my size, but they’re beautiful, so I bought them anyway,” Xu Ling said, forcing a smile and talking nonsense. She opened the shoe cabinet and looked. It was over. Qin Cong’an’s slippers weren’t there. That meant—
“Whoa, that’s too pitiful. No matter how beautiful, I can’t wear them.” After saying that, Meng Bai saw Xu Ling staring at the shoe cabinet, frozen. She asked her, “What are you doing? Hurry up and get us some slippers.”
“…Oh.” Xu Ling still hadn’t accepted the fact that Qin Cong’an was in her house at this moment. She a little stiffly took out the disposable slippers. “I didn’t prepare any slippers in advance. Just make do.”
“Fine.” Everyone wasn’t picky, as long as they didn’t have to be barefoot.
Xu Ling had many tall friends, like Meng Bai and Li Yan, who were both around 1.8 meters, so she had prepared all large-sized disposable slippers.
Han Qiao was just over 1.6 meters, and her feet were also small. The slippers were loose on her, but that didn’t stop her from being very excited. As soon as she put them on, she asked Xu Ling, “Am I really going to the kitchen?”
Xu Ling turned on the air conditioner. “Mhm.”
“Such a cold reaction?” Han Qiao pouted. “You’re not even flustered. It seems I was wrong about you.”
However, Han Qiao was still very enthusiastic and went to the kitchen. It was a pity that she didn’t see the expected scene. There wasn’t even an oven. She came out very disappointed and said, “Hah, I guessed wrong. But I’m still firmly on the real person ship. I say, Lingzi, do you want to try pursuing her? I think Teacher An is quite proactive towards you. If you try, you might have a chance.”
Meng Bai looked at her with a “this person is hopeless” expression. “Qin Cong’an is definitely acting.”
Han Qiao retorted, “Her acting is very good, but if it’s purely acting, it’s very easy to see, okay! Do you think all of us CP fans are blind? And they both said they had some feelings during filming. So maybe there’s some real feelings when they’re selling the CP?”
Meng Bai also retorted, “Xu Ling and Ming Yao are so fake, but there are still many CP fans. These people are indeed a little blind.”
Xu Ling didn’t hear a single word. She pretended to be very calm on the surface, putting the takeout boxes on the table and then going to the kitchen a few times, getting some water, getting some chopsticks. In short, she was stalling for time, not wanting to rush into the bedroom too quickly, in case it made them suspicious.
But her behavior was strange enough. Li Yan walked up to Xu Ling and asked, “Are you okay? Are you not feeling well?”
Xu Ling shook her head. Just then, some more takeout arrived at the door, as well as some fruits and drinks, which were quite heavy. Meng Bai and Han Qiao also stopped arguing. It was strange to argue about this for no reason. They brought the things in together.
At this point, Xu Ling finally picked up her duffel bag and said, “I’m going to my room to tidy up. You guys make yourselves at home.”
Xu Ling’s hand was on the bedroom doorknob. She took a deep breath before she dared to go in.
Huh? There was no one.
Oh no… she heard the sound of water from the bathroom.
Xu Ling closed the bedroom door tightly and even locked it. She gently knocked on the bathroom door. The door quickly opened from the inside.
Qin Cong’an was casually wrapped in a towel, which was about to fall off. As if she didn’t know anything, she just saw her beloved girlfriend come back and gave a smile, about to pull her into the bathroom.
“Hey!” Xu Ling’s heart was beating abnormally fast. To avoid being dragged in, she held onto the bathroom door, her feet firmly planted on the ground, her voice very soft, almost just a breath. “Didn’t you see the message I sent you? My friends are all outside now.”
“What?” Qin Cong’an frowned. “I went to a boxing class yesterday. After that, I thought you were coming back today, so I came directly to your house. I was too tired and didn’t look at my phone, so I just slept.”
“You didn’t look when you woke up this morning?”
“No. I slept for a long time. I just woke up.”
“You’re a sleeping god!” Xu Ling couldn’t help but shout, then quickly covered her own mouth.
But the soundproofing in this house was very good. Plus, they were making a lot of noise outside with the various bags, so they couldn’t hear the voices from inside the bedroom.
“What’s wrong?” Qin Cong’an pulled her hand down and placed it on her own waist. She also pressed against her, the towel looking even more precarious. “Why do you look so guilty? My friends are here. Can’t I be here? What kind of friends are they that I can’t see?”
