Chapter 38: Emotional Demons Part 2

Her phone rang nonstop as she barked orders left and right. Qiu Chao lay on the emergency stretcher, silently watching the medics tend to her horrific wounds.

Xia Yuanyuan was on the verge of tears.

And right then, amid the chaos of people rushing back and forth, Qiu Chao spotted the one who haunted her dreams—

Yan Muyu.

But Yan Muyu wasn’t there for her. She had come for Xu Xue.

That project fell through completely, and Qiu Chao still needed cosmetic surgery for her wounds.

A hideous scar coiled across her back. Even expensive surgery couldn’t restore it to perfection, so Mai Chen suggested she get a tattoo.

Qiu Chao rarely wore backless outfits. Occasionally, she’d glance in the mirror at her reflection’s back—the dandelions scattering on the wind.

Just like Yan Muyu’s indifference etched onto her skin.

It was Qiu Chao’s solitary hatred and longing.

She learned of Xu Xue’s death two months after rejoining the crew.

It came from an actor whose contact info she’d added.

The woman had attended the funeral. In the photos, Yan Muyu wore a black dress and held a black umbrella, her expression one of profound grief in the cold rain. It didn’t look acted.

In that instant, a vile spark of glee ignited in Qiu Chao.

She had thought she was doomed to lose.

Many years later, today.

In a room of a thatched hut deep in the mountains.

The night wind rustled the bamboo leaves behind the house.

Yan Muyu’s steam eye mask had gone cold.

She kept her eyes closed. She thought of the line in Xu Xue’s suicide note: not loved.

She sighed. “Of course not.”

Her guilt festered in the dead of night. “I didn’t love her. Even if I had proposed, she wouldn’t have accepted.”

Yan Muyu’s sigh carried such heavy emotion that her former brightness seemed contrived.

“I know exactly what kind of person I am.”

“Qiu Chao, you know it too. I hate promises. I hate commitments.”

A hand reached over and removed Yan Muyu’s eye mask. Then someone slipped under her thin blanket. Qiu Chao climbed on top of Yan Muyu.

She covered Yan Muyu’s lips and stared into her eyes.

“I only know I want you.”

“No matter what kind of person you are.”

~~~

The next morning, just as dawn broke, Xi Xi and Liu Song returned with groceries.

Yan Muyu had just gotten up. In the kitchen, Pei Wan was discussing rice noodle recipes with Qiu Chao.

Yan Muyu looked bleary-eyed and disheveled, prompting Liu Song to ask, “Young Boss Yan, did you and Sister Qiu Chao stay up late last night?”

【I just remembered that live stream shutting down suddenly yesterday!】

【That scene looked like it was about to go… next second.】

【Xi Xi’s up so early. I opened the stream and she was already on the road.】

【Did you miss the shot of Xi Xi and Liu Song sharing a bed?】

【They might as well have shared a big bed. That little one looked cramped.】

【Yeah, Ding Yingxue even rolled off the bed.】

【A ninety-centimeter bed—you can’t even move!】

【I really want to see Yan Muyu pick cow dung. When can we redraw lots?】

【This feels like a food variety show mixed with daily life. The cooking shots could sell merch.】

【Qiu Chao’s noodle vid has tens of thousands of shares. I checked the old gossip this morning—if it’s true, she didn’t have it easy.】

Yan Muyu had just washed her face, water still dripping from it. She hummed an acknowledgment, her tone a little teasing at the end.

“Past eleven, probably.”

Xi Xi asked, “How do you know?”

Liu Song chimed in, “Sister Qiu’s making rice noodles—the kind Young Boss Yan loves.”

Xi Xi let out a long, meaningful “Oh.” Perhaps from waking too early, she hadn’t applied heavy makeup and looked like a different person at first glance.

But that “oh” twisted with layers of implication, unmistakably teasing.

Yan Muyu’s brow twitched. Sure enough, the next words came: “Why make it just for you? Aren’t you her manager?”

It was a pointed jab right back at her. Yan Muyu: …

Liu Song: “Well, Sister Qiu was Young Boss Yan’s sister-in-law before.”

【LMAO, Xi Xi holds grudges.】

【Liu Song… don’t bring that up. Can’t you read the room?】

【Our Liu Song debuted at peak fame—what room to read?】

Yan Muyu opened her mouth to speak, but Qiu Chao emerged with a plate of smashed cucumbers and added smoothly, “Not anymore.”

Ding Yingxue took the veggies Xi Xi had bought, noticing there were a lot. Remembering what Xi Xi had said last night, she asked, “Sis, you making noodles for Liu Song?”

Liu Song: “I can have porridge…”

“Where’d these cucumbers come from? Don’t eat them.”

Yan Muyu spoke up abruptly.

Everyone turned to the cucumbers on the table, then to Qiu Chao.

Qiu Chao looked more spirited than yesterday. “Veggies from yesterday.”

Ding Yingxue: “Why not? What’s wrong?”

Yan Muyu: “She’s allergic to cucumbers.”

Ding Yingxue: “Oh, got it.”

She didn’t find it odd—Pei Wan knew her better than she knew herself.

Ding Yingxue had grown used to it over the years.

Xi Xi raised an eyebrow instead. “Looks like you two were really close back then.”

Yan Muyu’s head buzzed. Sleep deprivation made even opening her eyes a chore.

She took the task card from a staff member and saw she had to go to the Embroidery Workshop with Qiu Chao—and buy ingredients too.

Guests were coming tomorrow.

Yan Muyu had resigned herself to it. She didn’t hide it: “We lived together. Swap places with me—live with someone for years and you wouldn’t know either?”

Xi Xi: “Mine was marriage. Same thing?”

The two bickered like clockwork in the same frame. Qiu Chao glanced at Yan Muyu. “Don’t make Sister Xi mad.”

Xi Xi: “I’m not mad.”

Yan Muyu: “Sure don’t look it. You look like you want to kill me.”

【These two have weird chemistry.】

【Just the beginning—buckle up.】

【Qiu Chao and Yan Muyu used to go shopping and hang out. Even after a decade-plus… not weird if she knows.】

【Why does Liu Song look so down when Xi Xi mentions marriage?】

With that, Yan Muyu pulled out a chair and sat, shoving the cucumbers toward Ding Yingxue.

Ding Yingxue: …

Pei Wan brought out the porridge from inside and reminded Xi Xi, “Weren’t you making Liu Song a loving breakfast?”

Xi Xi didn’t see the harm in it. She nodded and turned to Liu Song. “No complaining, okay?”

Liu Song sat obediently at the table, watching Ding Yingxue and Pei Wan eat.

Ding Yingxue was heading to the Tea Garden soon, and Pei Wan planned to drive her, so everyone was up.

Qiu Chao served the rice noodles to Yan Muyu. She’d made extra yesterday and thought of serving them for breakfast, but Pei Wan said no need.

She knew Ding Yingxue’s tastes inside out and knew she didn’t love porridge, but made some anyway—in small portions.

Now Liu Song eyed it longingly. Qiu Chao smiled and asked, “What about you? Want some?”

The noodles smelled irresistible. Viewers had watched her make them, and now the chat urged her to just give in.

Liu Song shook her head. “Sister Xi said…”

Yan Muyu: “She’s your manager, not your mom. You’re so obedient.”

Qiu Chao: “She means you don’t have to listen to your manager.”

She sat beside Yan Muyu. The tension had eased from before, though not as cozy as Pei Wan and Ding Yingxue.

Ding Yingxue recalled the midnight scene she’d witnessed and felt like she was about to burst, so she kept glancing at Pei Wan.

Pei Wan: “Something wrong?”

Ding Yingxue didn’t dare say, only lowered her eyes, thinking: Wonder what kind of partner Sister will find.

Like that cute idol from last time?

Did they even date?

Before that, Ding Yingxue had always assumed Pei Wan liked men.

From childhood, Pei Wan had excelled academically with elegant looks—the type confessed to every other day.

By comparison, Ding Yingxue’s vibe wasn’t as distinctive.

An exceptional aura could somewhat offset imperfect features, and Pei Wan was just that type.

Now Ding Yingxue’s mind replayed the entangled shadows of those two women in the dead of night.

Honestly, it was scorching hot.

She’d pondered it half the night and woke up groggy.

Young Boss Yan was too thirsty.

But why didn’t Sister Qiu refuse?

Just like now—Sister Qiu was still so good to this Young Boss Yan.

Yan Muyu noticed Ding Yingxue staring. “Why do you keep looking at me?”

Maybe from rising early, Yan Muyu hadn’t put on her earrings. She looked stripped of adornment, and sitting with Qiu Chao, it amplified that sister-in-law vibe.

So sinful.

Ding Yingxue: “I’m not looking at you.”

Pei Wan looked up at Yan Muyu, who didn’t bother hiding it.

Pei Wan asked Ding Yingxue, “Did something happen?”

【Damn! Did something huge go down after the stream ended?】

【Ding Yingxue’s hesitation is killing me with curiosity.】

【Qiu Chao is still peeling her boiled egg… She ate so little. Two bowls of noodles? Looks like she only took two bites to me.】

【Liu Song… staring so pitifully, totally heartbroken.】

【Aren’t you guys gonna check out Xi Xi? I’m dying laughing—she’s boiling noodles without straining them…】

【Liu Song… in danger!】

“It’s nothing,” Ding Yingxue said.

“What you saw yesterday wasn’t actually like that,” Qiu Chao added.

Ding Yingxue hadn’t even planned to bring it up, but Qiu Chao just had to open her mouth.

Yan Muyu had just taken a sip of soup and nearly spat it out. “Didn’t you say Yan Muyu was the one who started it, Sister Qiu?”

【Started what? Did they fight?】

【Yan Muyu’s got a cut on her lip. Did Qiu Chao hit her?】

【Her face looks swollen too.】

【Program team, please do a full-day live stream!! I’d pay for it!】

The barrage scrolled with exclamation marks. Liu Song leaned in and whispered to Yan Muyu, “Did you two fight?”

“No,” Yan Muyu replied.

“I was just joking,” Qiu Chao said.

She ate with such deliberate slowness, sharing the frame with the elegantly refined beauty Pei Wan in a scene that was utterly pleasing to the eye—like something out of a classical scroll painting.

“There was flour all over the kitchen floor, and water had splashed everywhere. I nearly slipped, and Little Yan caught me.”

Ding Yingxue: ……

What kind of excuse was that? Who steadied someone by slipping their hand inside their clothes?

And she’d seen it herself—there had been milk foam on the floor!

Yan Muyu thought Qiu Chao’s lie was pathetically unconvincing.

But all she could do was nod. “That’s exactly what happened.”

Ding Yingxue’s eyes went wide. She felt like these two were playing her for a fool.

“If Qiu Chao says it happened that way, then it did,” Pei Wan said.

【What the hell actually happened?!】

“Weren’t you two making rice noodles together?” Liu Song asked.

Qiu Chao smiled, her gaze lingering on the plate of smashed cucumber. She remembered that year when she’d had an allergic reaction and Yan Muyu had fussed over her in a panic.

She also thought of how she’d snuck into bed last night—and now, Yan Muyu’s bitten lip.

With deep meaning, she said, “We made them together, yeah.”

Qiu Chao turned to Yan Muyu, her expression utterly serious. “Little Yan, were the noodles I made tasty?”

Yan Muyu caught the teasing intent behind Qiu Chao’s words, of course.

She drew in a deep breath and forced a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “They were tasty.”

“Just way too spicy. My mouth’s still hurting.”