Chapter 58: The Villa Part 2

But seeing the first-class ticket prices, she realized she had not truly reached that level yet.

Her pockets were empty again.

Lin Shixia had helped clear her shopping cart, task progress had advanced nicely, she had transferred most of the money to her family, and spent the rest rewarding herself with buys.

After rewarding herself, she saw a new event in the Super Topic fan group. As the Super Topic host and big fan, did she not need to spend some to boost the stats?

Her pockets were not quite as clean as her face now, but still too light for higher spending.

In A City, food, clothes, and supplies were delivered right to the door. Aside from essentials and in-game spending, she had almost no other expenses.

It was just a forty-minute flight—doze off and she’d be there. Any seat beat sitting on the ground; no need to obsess over luxuries.

Scrolling down, a late-night/early-morning flight was two hundred cheaper than usual. So tempting.

No early wake-up needed; she could head to the airport leisurely.

As she went to buy the ticket, a transfer notification popped up on WeChat.

She got transfers daily, not all accepted, but each one still sent her heart skipping with surprise.

She tapped in quickly: sender Gu Shuang, 50,000, note “Voluntary gift.”

Lin Shixia’s aunt was her aunt; she could accept.

Let the revenge come fiercer!

The receipt popped up, and Gu Shuang messaged that she was leaving C City tomorrow. If she wanted the diamonds, best to pick them up while she was still there; otherwise, wait until next time she returned to C City, whenever work allowed.

Last time at that raw fish restaurant, Gu Liuguang had overheard them mention the branch was in Y Country. People there in the industry loved Gu Shuang, so she might need to go push things forward.

Seeing the message, Gu Liuguang instinctively recalled it.

With 50,000 in hand, she could buy any flight time.

She wanted to avoid meeting Zhang Xibai. Zhang Xibai would not arrive until past four, Lin Shixia would not finish shooting, they’d catch up after, maybe have drinks, and it could drag into the deep night.

If they got into it, they might drink till dawn. Her waiting alone in the hotel sounded boring.

The luggage wasn’t much to begin with, so packing today or tomorrow made no difference. Picking it up tomorrow would feel a bit rushed, and she still needed time to have a good chat with Lin Shixia about Zhang Xibai.

She sent a message to Gu Shuang, saying she wanted to pick it up now.

Worried that asking for it now might come off as a bit gold-digging, she even sent several cute emoji stickers in a row to act coquettish.

-Little Light: Is Little Aunt available now? We can schedule a time if needed.

After sending the message, Gu Shuang didn’t reply. Gu Liuguang could only keep glancing at her phone, waiting a bit anxiously for Gu Shuang’s response.

Lin Shixia had already done her makeup and gone to the prepared set to film. Director Jia Wu stood right beside Lin Shixia. She had a lot of say on set and could be seen rolling up the script almost every day to chew someone out.

Gu Liuguang stayed nearby waiting for a reply and had no mood to play on her phone. She just watched the director chew people out. When someone’s gaze swept over, she immediately lowered her head and turned away, looking at the sky or the ground—anything but Director Jia Wu.

More than half an hour passed before she finally got Gu Shuang’s reply.

Gu Shuang said she had been busy just now and was at Ye Qingying’s place. To keep the diamonds safer, she always carried them on her person.

-Shuang: I’m not comfortable with others holding them. I didn’t notice the message earlier. If you’re coming now, it has to be to Red Maple Forest Night Moon Villa. Shall I arrange a driver to pick you up?

Gu Liuguang instinctively wanted to reply “Okay.” She wasn’t familiar with the roads in C City at all and always relied on drivers arranged by Gu Shuang for pickups and drop-offs.

But as she read the message again, Red Maple Forest Night Moon Villa suddenly sounded familiar, like she’d heard it somewhere before.

She racked her brain but couldn’t recall. Then Gu Shuang sent another message.

-Shuang: Night Moon Villa is under Ye Qingying’s name. It has a pool, and it seems like they’re holding a swimsuit party. If you want to swim, I can have someone prepare a swimsuit in advance.

That keyword jogged her memory—this was exactly the place Ye Qingying had invited her to last time.

Last time, she had wanted to use it as an excuse to get Lin Shixia over. Why was it only mentioning her today, and through Gu Shuang’s messages?

It couldn’t be that Gu Shuang wanted to set up Lin Shixia and Ye Qingying, right?

-Little Light: Sister Qingying mentioned a swimsuit party last time. Is it still going on today?

-Shuang: Not sure. She said it was a birthday celebration for some younger family member. All girls.

-Shuang: If you don’t want to get in the water, no need to go to the pool. I just thought since you’re in C City, you haven’t really had a chance to enjoy yourself properly. Night Moon Villa is famous for its night views. You can hang out a bit before leaving.

With the conversation at this point, and since she had to go there anyway to get the diamonds—calling a delivery service wouldn’t reassure her, let alone Gu Shuang—she needed to hold them herself.

Without overthinking it, Gu Liuguang replied okay. But she had no intention of swimming, since she didn’t know how.

Just like Gu Shuang said, she could treat it as a bit of relaxation.

With Gu Shuang there, she didn’t have to worry too much about what Ye Qingying might do.

When the driver arrived to pick her up, Gu Liuguang wanted to talk to Lin Shixia during a break in filming. But perhaps because they’d wasted too much time earlier, there were no gaps to chat. The crew kept bustling around Lin Shixia.

Everyone was working, so it felt awkward to butt in. Plus, reporting her itinerary to Lin Shixia felt like tying herself a little more to this world.

In the end, she told Wang Li about it. She hadn’t gone far from the film set when she couldn’t hold back and sent Lin Shixia a message anyway: she was heading there to pick up the diamonds, might hang out a bit, and would return to the hotel late.

After sending it, Gu Liuguang felt much better.

Night Moon Villa was on the half-mountainside of a certain mountain in the suburbs of C City. A bit further down was a very famous temple.

Eighty percent of tourists visiting C City came to that temple to burn incense and make wishes, whether for love, wealth, or career. It was hyped online as miraculous.

Night Moon Villa sat a bit higher up from the temple, built grandly with a unique aesthetic. It was said to have a century of history and even got a ten-second feature in some documentary.

There was no public transport to the villa; you had to drive or take a cab.

From the set all the way to the suburbs, through the evening rush hour, they didn’t reach Night Moon Villa until past six in the evening. The sky had already taken on a faint blue of night, like rinsed-out pale blue.

Gu Liuguang played on her phone in the car, checking out Lin Hang’s drama. It started with a long Weibo post from a girl accusing him, which blew up online. More people contacted her, dropping one bombshell after another.

Every so often, the girl updated her Weibo. Lin Hang’s team seemed to take hours to catch on, and their first move was to flatly deny everything.

Then came netizens picking sides, marketing accounts analyzing, fans tearing into each other—it was a spectacle.

It felt like Lin Hang couldn’t turn this around this time. There was no such plotline in the original plot, so she couldn’t help wondering how his storyline had advanced so early.

Even if she had flapped some butterfly wings, it shouldn’t have caused this much chaos.

Fortunately, Lin Hang’s arc had nothing to do with her. She just hoped she could safely complete her own plotline.

Even Lin Shixia’s fan group had blown up with over 999+ messages. It took an admin announcement banning off-topic discussion to calm it down a bit.

She really envied Lin Hang for speedrunning his cannon fodder fate.

Eventually, Gu Liuguang got tired of her phone, her eyes too heavy to keep open. She closed them in the back seat and soon lay down fully.

She had no idea when they arrived at Night Moon Villa. She only knew her sleep had been comfortable yet uncomfortable.

Comfortable because it was quiet around her; uncomfortable because her waist ached and her legs couldn’t stretch straight.

When she opened her eyes, she sensed something off.

She was still lying in the back seat, but her legs were in Gu Shuang’s lap.

Still groggy from sleep, and because it felt so nice, her legs pawed twice in Gu Shuang’s lap—like a cat kneading milk, the sensation utterly cozy.

Once she realized what was happening, she froze stiff as a board in the back seat.

Gu Shuang wore rimless glasses, her eyes downcast on her phone as if handling something serious. The sidelong glance from the corner of her eye seemed sharp. The casual sweep of her gaze carried an effortless intensity.

Gu Liuguang’s mind went blank. Gu Shuang set her phone down and pinched the flesh on her calf, leaving clear red marks on the young skin.

“Awake? You slept in the car after all. Anywhere uncomfortable?”

Gu Shuang’s expression was calm. The rimless glasses made her seem restrained and aloof, and her perfectly even tone only amplified it.

Gu Liuguang, who should have felt mortified, suddenly felt much better. Her legs were still in someone else’s lap, though, so she didn’t dare move them.

At Gu Shuang’s question, her legs twitched instinctively.

Gu Shuang pinched her leg again. Her fingertips trailed down from the calf, as if the seductive scent of flesh could transmit through them.

Her neatly trimmed nails didn’t scratch the delicate skin but stirred a tingling itch.

Her fingertips brushed the pale skin like a gentle stream. She grasped Gu Liuguang’s ankle, giving it a loose squeeze—teasing, yet seemingly just checking for discomfort without any ambiguity.

“So slender.” After saying that, Gu Shuang looked up at Gu Liuguang. One hand circled her ankle again. “I can hold it with one hand.”

Gu Liuguang’s breath hitched. Her gaze lingered on Gu Shuang, whose face held an aggressively beautiful invasiveness, but whose eyes were coolly detached.

She was probably overthinking it. How could Lin Shixia’s little aunt have any interest in her? If she did, something would have happened the first night she stayed at Lin Shixia’s house.