Chapter 53 Part 2

It was just some random excuse.

Lin Zhenshuang finally dropped the subject. “Have you thought about content for your self-media account?”

Gu Liuguang: ……

Why did dinner have to involve this stuff? It totally ruined her good mood for the day.

Before she could figure out how to respond, Lin Zhenshuang continued, “You can film some phone videos as raw material and edit the content later.” Her gaze flicked toward Ye Qingying at the sliding door. Leaning close to Gu Liuguang’s ear, she murmured, “You don’t get to see the Film Empress whenever you want.”

Gu Liuguang thought it made perfect sense. Besides, the chef had to handle portions for three; even at top speed, there were waits between bites. The downtime was boring.

Ye Qingying’s chatter was usually so grating—time she contributed some value. It even fit Gu Liuguang’s cannon fodder role: stir up some hate if Ye Qingying retaliated with those clips, or edit them misleadingly to pull aggro if she didn’t.

Ye Qingying returned from her call looking grave. She looked up to see Gu Liuguang filming her with her phone. Sensitive to lenses as she was, she was lenient with Gu Liuguang. She even beckoned for the phone.

Gu Liuguang glanced over and handed it off.

Ye Qingying flipped it to selfie mode and scooted close. Their shoulders pressed tight; their faces were nearly touching.

Gu Liuguang looked stunning in the frame. She’d tied her hair up after sitting, but her face was still impossibly small. Her sudden appearance lit up and beautified the entire shot.

Even Ye Qingying—hailed in the industry as having a divine beauty—seemed dimmed for an instant beside her.

Gu Liuguang stared at herself in the lens, instinctively tilting her head to squeeze out a smile. Soon, she turned her head and asked Ye Qingying, “What are you doing?”

Ye Qingying didn’t rush to speak. She just fiddled with the lens from several angles and found that the person next to her looked excessively beautiful from every one.

It was as if she was saying that as long as she appeared in the frame, there was no need to deliberately find the perfect angle—she already drew all eyes to her. It left no room for even jealousy.

By the time Gu Liuguang asked again, she sounded a bit impatient. Ye Qingying caught a glimpse of Lin Zhenshuang reaching out as if to grab the phone, so she quickly spoke up to soothe her. “Tch, I’m just finding your most beautiful angle.”

Even though she had already verified multiple times that this person looked perfect from every angle, unreal even.

When Lin Zhenshuang heard Ye Qingying speak, she withdrew her hand. She hadn’t really planned to take it anyway.

With Ye Qingying putting it that way, Gu Liuguang felt a bit restless with shyness. Having someone so beautiful say she was helping find her angle was too embarrassing.

Besides, sharing the frame with Ye Qingying would make her look bad no matter the angle…

No wonder Lin Shixia ended up with Ye Qingying in the end. At the thought, Gu Liuguang suddenly felt sad and lost all interest in taking photos.

She reached out to take back her phone, but Ye Qingying suddenly draped an arm around her shoulders, stretched out the hand holding the phone, and even pulled the nearby Lin Zhenshuang into the frame.

“Don’t rush. We haven’t even taken a single shot yet.”

Just as the words left her mouth, the sliding door facing the lobby was pulled open. A server led Lin Shixia in, then bowed and closed the door again.

Hearing the noise, the three turned to look. Ye Qingying still held up the phone and greeted her. “Xiao Xia’s here.”

Gu Liuguang had already told Lin Shixia who would be at dinner that evening, so she wasn’t surprised to see Ye Qingying and Lin Zhenshuang. She greeted them both with a beaming smile.

Her gaze swept around briefly before she planned to sit next to Ye Qingying.

The sliding door facing the small courtyard was on that side. If Gu Liuguang wanted to go out to the courtyard to take photos, she’d have to pass by her. Then, after snapping pics, she could naturally return and sit beside her.

Lin Shixia put down her bag and headed straight for the seat near the courtyard.

After she entered, Gu Liuguang’s attention stayed fixed on her. She secretly observed for any extra interactions between her and Ye Qingying. This was the first time all three of them were in the same place at once.

When she saw Lin Shixia heading straight for the seat next to Ye Qingying without a second thought, alarms went off in Gu Liuguang’s head. She absolutely couldn’t let these two have too much contact before she and Lin Shixia broke up.

She turned directly to Ye Qingying. “Let’s switch seats, just us two.”

Ye Qingying stayed seated on the stool and eyed her sideways. “Why?”

Gu Liuguang looked at her and also spotted Lin Shixia standing by the seat behind Ye Qingying, not yet sitting down. She had lowered her gaze to watch Gu Liuguang, her expression curious.

Gu Liuguang increasingly felt that Ye Qingying was doing this on purpose. Did anyone else not know why she had come to C City? But Ye Qingying knew, didn’t she?

Ye Qingying said, “If you don’t tell me, I won’t move. I like sitting here.”

Gu Liuguang got a bit angry. “You know…”

Ye Qingying blinked, sat up straight again, and aimed the phone lens at Gu Liuguang. “I don’t know.” As she spoke, she even pulled a goofy face at the phone lens.

Gu Liuguang saw that she was deliberately teasing her. She racked her brains for how to convince Ye Qingying.

Lin Shixia had already sat down behind her by then. Leaning around Ye Qingying’s body, she spoke to Gu Liuguang. “Liuguang, you sit here. There’s room here too.”

It was a U-shaped bar counter. Gu Liuguang glanced and got up to sit next to Lin Shixia. Now she was on the outermost seat near the courtyard, with Lin Shixia to her right, and Ye Qingying next to Lin Shixia.

Ye Qingying seemed to find it boring. She handed the phone back to Gu Liuguang, but midway Lin Shixia intercepted it and passed it to her.

Gu Liuguang’s brows furrowed even tighter. Why did even handing over a phone require contact? Had these two already taken a liking to each other?

She took back her phone and fidgeted left and right on the stool. In a small voice, she asked Lin Shixia, “Can we switch spots?”

After sitting down, the usual smile faded from Lin Shixia’s face, as if she was lost in thought. Hearing Gu Liuguang’s request, she instinctively wanted to refuse but didn’t. She just asked why.

Gu Liuguang couldn’t exactly say that they’d end up together in the future, so she didn’t want them sitting side by side.

She hemmed and hawed, unable to get it out. Lin Shixia watched her and didn’t seem inclined to yield. She stayed put in her seat.

Gu Liuguang gave up. But her eyes stayed glued to the interactions between the two. That was when she spotted something fishy—Lin Shixia wouldn’t let her look at Ye Qingying!

【This is clearly her possessiveness flaring up. She won’t even let me look.】 Gu Liuguang felt both angry and aggrieved, with no one to vent to. She could only tell the System: 【I’m clearly her official girlfriend.】

System: 【…She is indeed deliberately keeping you from looking at Ye Qingying, but why do you think this is her possessiveness toward Ye Qingying?】

Gu Liuguang was heartbroken and tuned out the System. She couldn’t even eat.

Whatever Lin Shixia offered her, she nitpicked. She secretly tried to provoke Lin Shixia into unhappiness. As soon as Lin Shixia showed any emotion, she’d blow up and argue with her, forcing them to switch seats together.

But no matter how she stirred things up, Lin Shixia remained accommodating, even seeming quite happy. She kept offering things and asking if she wanted to eat them.

She looked like she wished she could feed her by hand.

Gu Liuguang felt miserable inside. Was she that happy just sitting next to Ye Qingying?

“Want this one?” Lin Shixia held a piece of extremely fatty sashimi to Gu Liuguang’s lips. She always picked ingredients with great taste, so Gu Liuguang rarely hit a dud and didn’t refuse much.

When Lin Shixia asked like this, she didn’t expect a refusal, so the sashimi touched Gu Liuguang’s lips directly. But Gu Liuguang shook her head.

Even though her lips had already touched it—and no one else would eat it now—Gu Liuguang still turned her face away. “No.”

Ye Qingying had been watching their interactions the whole time. Seeing this, she chuckled and said meaningfully, “She’s pretty picky. Didn’t you like it just now? Wasting food isn’t good…”

As she spoke, Lin Shixia popped the sashimi that had brushed Gu Liuguang’s lips into her own mouth. She grinned at Ye Qingying. “No waste.”

Ye Qingying’s expression stiffened. She stared in disbelief with wide eyes, then quickly looked away and took a sip of juice, as if the shock was too much to process.

Gu Liuguang’s mouth fell open in shock. She stared at Lin Shixia in disbelief.

Lin Shixia had eaten her leftovers before, but only in the privacy of the nanny van when it was just the two of them.

But now, with Lin Zhenshuang and Ye Qingying right there, she still did it. Wouldn’t that make people think things?

Gu Liuguang nervously glanced at Lin Zhenshuang and Ye Qingying. She couldn’t help wondering if Lin Shixia just liked eating others’ leftovers, or if she really just hated waste. Why else would she eat something she’d touched in front of others…

Gu Liuguang’s mind was a mess. After observing for a while, she realized she was the only one overreacting.

Lin Zhenshuang and Ye Qingying showed no reaction. Even the head chef seemed calmer than her.

Had she made a big deal out of nothing? Gu Liuguang felt a bit dazed. Lin Shixia ate something she’d touched right in front of Ye Qingying—didn’t Ye Qingying mind?

Suddenly enlightened, Gu Liuguang told the System in her mind: 【I get it now. Lin Shixia’s doing this on purpose. She wants to see Ye Qingying get jealous!】

Gu Liuguang ate absentmindedly, thinking this was bad. She had to complete her plot tasks before Lin Shixia and Ye Qingying got together.

Then she heard Ye Qingying let out a cold laugh.

“You two are so close. Outsiders might think you’re dating.” Ye Qingying recalled something and half-jokingly teased, “You just hit the Hot Search yesterday, and now you’re this intimate today. It’s really hard not to overthink things. Can’t keep up with you young people’s relationships these days…”

Lin Shixia had just tried to feed Gu Liuguang a mouthful of sea urchin. With no appetite, Gu Liuguang shook her head and refused. This time, she pulled away before Lin Shixia’s chopsticks reached her lips, keeping the food from touching.

Hearing Ye Qingying’s words, her fingers clenched nervously. Pretending to be bored, she kept glancing at Ye Qingying.

Lin Shixia ate the sea urchin herself, took a sip of clear tea, and smiled with an “Mm.” “We are dating.”

Gu Liuguang’s brain short-circuited. She must have hallucinated from the sea urchin.

Her weak gaze inadvertently met the head chef’s across from her. The head chef quickly looked away and focused on slicing salmon.