Chapter 67: World Two [37] Part 2

“Jing Ke, do you like me, or do you like your ex-girlfriend?” Shao Qing hadn’t forgotten the things Jing Ke had said the night before. She wanted to get a reliable answer while Jing Ke’s mind was still fuzzy from just waking up.

“Like. I like Shao Qing,” Jing Ke answered without the slightest hesitation.

She had actually figured out this question before falling asleep. Love should be unique. When she faced Shang Siyu, she gave all her sincerity, so when facing Shao Qing, she should do the same.

“Hmph. Get up. Grandma will have probably finished making the Five Blessings Porridge,” Shao Qing said, fairly satisfied with that answer. She propped herself up with one hand on the mattress and sat up.

Jing Ke herself was there, but all her toiletries were still in the other room. So after putting on her coat, she padded back to her own room in slippers to wash up.

–

On the first day of the new year, the two didn’t arrange any activities for themselves.

The only schedule-consuming task was replying to the flood of “Happy New Year” greetings that filled their phones, and incidentally sending out their own mass-message well-wishes.

As the boss, Jing Ke didn’t really need to reply, but with a new girlfriend, she was in a good mood. She directly sent a massive red envelope of one hundred thousand yuan in the work group chat—two hundred envelopes in total—essentially as a celebration gift.

The employees who received a big red envelope from their boss on the very first day of the new year were overjoyed. They showered their boss with flattery in the group and happily started their rare day of relaxation.

Because of the late hour and lack of available flights, by the time Yu Hongjun successfully traveled from the airport to the urban-rural fringe area, it was almost mealtime.

For the same reason as before, seven people were livelier than three or four. With no conflicting schedules, the group gathered together once more.

After lunch, they even managed to form a mahjong quartet.

Grandma Shao needed her afternoon nap and didn’t join. Jiang Qingyi chose to watch from behind Yu Hongjun. Director Li, aware of her average luck, took on the task of pouring tea, letting the other four battle it out at the mahjong table.

Grandma Shao’s house didn’t have an automatic mahjong table, so shuffling was all manual, giving everyone a very strong sense of participation.

None of the four were short on money, so they played for relatively high stakes. The minimum loss per hand was a hundred yuan, with no upper limit, all about the thrill of the game.

Shao Qing was one of the weaker players in terms of skill, and her luck at drawing tiles was also pretty average. If it weren’t for Jing Ke, seated as her downstream player, feeding her some tiles, she likely would have been the only one to end up losing money.

Yu Hongjun and Boss Hao were quite skilled. They could naturally see through Jing Ke’s obvious feeding tactics.

But no one wanted to point it out. Mahjong was all about having a good time. As long as the emotional value was there, whether you won or lost didn’t matter at all.

It was Shao Qing herself who felt embarrassed first. Realizing her new girlfriend was blatantly feeding her wins, she made an excuse to step down, letting Jiang Qingyi, who seemed slightly interested, take her place.

Once Shao Qing stepped down, Jing Ke no longer had a specific person to look after, and her pace of drawing and discarding tiles quickened.

“Self-drawn, Mahjong.”

“Pure One Suit, Mahjong.”

“Kong, Kong Bloom, Mahjong.”

Jing Ke’s win rate skyrocketed. Aside from Jiang Qingyi, who was still playing steadily and making a small profit, Yu Hongjun and Boss Hao, the two self-proclaimed skilled players, suffered consecutive defeats, managing to lose over ten thousand yuan in just one hour.

“Boss Jing, impressive,” Director Li, watching from the sidelines, couldn’t help but exclaim. “When we played before, it was always Sister Hong and Boss Hao who won the most. I never thought the tables would turn.”

“Good luck today,” Jing Ke said with a smile, casually discarding a wind tile.

Letting Yu Hongjun and Boss Hao lose just over ten thousand yuan was actually the result of Jing Ke holding back. If she had truly let loose, the amount could have easily doubled to thirty thousand.

Playing until three in the afternoon, to allow all six people to participate, mahjong turned into an intense game of three-player Fight the Landlord.

Jing Ke and Shao Qing were separated. The former played with Boss Hao and Jiang Qingyi, while the latter partnered with Yu Hongjun and Director Li.

This time, they didn’t play for money but turned it into a variant of Truth or Dare.

If the Landlord won, the Landlord could ask two questions, and the two Farmers could freely choose who would answer the question. If the Farmers won, each Farmer could pose one question, and the Landlord only needed to choose one of the two questions to answer.

If unable to answer a question, no problem. The default Dare was ten push-ups. It was all just for fun and not meant to be serious.

Jing Ke’s card skills were as good as ever. She won as the Landlord and won as a Farmer, too. Three rounds in, and she hadn’t been asked a single question. Instead, she learned a few little secrets about Boss Hao.

Shao Qing’s situation was a little different. Without her girlfriend secretly helping her, Shao Qing lost two out of three rounds, answering one question from Yu Hongjun and one from Director Li.

Yu Hongjun: “Little Shao, have you ever, while filming, had any other thoughts about a co-star?”

Shao Qing thought back seriously, then shook her head. “No. Once I step out of character, they all seem pretty much the same to me.”

Director Li: “Then, Little Shao, what is your ideal type like? Would you mind sharing?”

“Honest and reliable, acts aboveboard, someone I can trust and depend on?” Shao Qing said with a hint of uncertainty. Thinking of her newly minted girlfriend, she subconsciously glanced at Jing Ke.

Oh ho, there’s a situation here. Yu Hongjun and Director Li exchanged a look. They weren’t particularly surprised by this development.

Shao Qing and Jing Ke were already spending the New Year together at home. Even good friends weren’t that close. It was only natural that they’d gotten together.

Shao Qing, having won once, also earned the chance to ask a question. She returned the favor by asking a similar one.

Shao Qing: “Has Teacher Yu ever had feelings for someone in the industry?” Clearly, Shao Qing’s range was broader.

Yu Hongjun smiled. She didn’t dodge the question. “Yes, I have. Not long after my debut, I already had someone I liked.”

“Did Sister Hong confess to them?” Shao Qing, initially just casually asking, was now intrigued.

“No. So many years have passed. I’ve found a more suitable identity to stay by that person’s side. I’m very satisfied with the current situation,” Yu Hongjun said.

“Well then, if you want to know who that person is, Little Shao, you’ll have to try and win against me once more. Only then might I tell you the answer,” Yu Hongjun said with a laugh.

Shao Qing’s curiosity was piqued, but her luck was truly poor. In the subsequent rounds, she either teamed up with Yu Hongjun as a Farmer or lost as the Landlord, never getting a second chance to ask her that question.

Still, Shao Qing harbored some private speculations in her heart.

–

There were many benefits to not having to visit relatives during the New Year. One of them was that Jing Ke and Shao Qing had vast amounts of time to squander.

Compared to the social obligations of family chatter, the two clearly preferred going out for a drive, occasionally wandering into some quiet, deserted alleyways, taking some photos to post on their feeds, and interacting with their adorable fans.

Shao Qing made her living on her acting skills and looks; she wasn’t bound by any rule forbidding dating.

So when taking pictures, Shao Qing loved pulling Jing Ke in. They didn’t need overly professional cameras; a simple selfie stick sufficed.

Both of their looks were highly photogenic. They didn’t need heavy makeup; even completely bare-faced, they were more than striking enough.

As soon as their photos were posted, the comment sections flooded with people calling them “husband” and “wife,” along with the ever-growing ranks of CP fans being directly fed by the idols themselves.

“Why do they call our CP ‘Jingqing’ rather than ‘Shaoke’?” After scrolling through the comments, Shao Qing voiced a genuine question.

“Maybe because I’m a bit taller than you?” Jing Ke also pulled out her phone to take a look. She had directly reposted Shao Qing’s update. Her comment section was relatively smaller, but traces of CP fans could still be found there.

“Then let’s take another one. Come here, hold my arm and lean your head on my shoulder,” Shao Qing said, a competitive spirit emerging from a strange place.

Jing Ke smiled and obediently struck the pose as Shao Qing instructed. To make the picture look more harmonious, she even bent her knees slightly to reduce her height.

[Hahaha, I bet 100 bucks this photo is either Shao Qing standing on a rock, or Boss Jing bending her knees.]

[True that! The CP fans already calculated their heights ages ago. Shao Qing is 173cm, Jing Ke is 178cm. Their height difference lets them walk perfectly side-by-side when Shao Qing wears high heels!]

[Why the sudden concern about height? Qingqing, could it be you saw those CP fan comments and wanted to prove yourself?]

[Maybe. Shao Qing’s posted so many photos together these past two days. Still being together at this time of year… the possibility of another kind of relationship is very high.]

However, neither the CP fans nor the casual viewers changed their minds about Shao Qing being the more assertive one just because of a different pose. Most still believed Jing Ke was in the ‘left’ position.

“Want to take another one with my arm around your waist? That way, you’d look more assertive,” Jing Ke, seeing the comments, very considerately offered a solution.

“Forget it, let it be. If I get really hung up on it, the netizens will just believe those false rumors even more strongly,” Shao Qing said, choosing to close the app. Out of sight, out of mind.

Her goal, after all, was simply to let more people know that she was with Jing Ke right now, to slap her own label onto Jing Ke.

As for whether she was considered the ‘left’ or the ‘right’ position, she didn’t care one bit. As long as her initial goal was achieved.

Who listens to whom, anyway? Wasn’t she the one who knew that best?