Chapter 18: Day 18 of Transmigrating into an Object

Shen Wenyi looked at her like she was looking at an idiot.

“If you’re sick in the head, go get treatment quickly. Don’t come here seeking validation.”

As she spoke, she moved to close the door.

How could she possibly let Shen Wenyi close it? She hastily stuck her foot in the door crack.

“Ah, it hurts! My foot’s going to break!”

Shen Wenyi was forced to stop urgently and said, speechless, “Then move it, quickly!”

She said pitifully, “If I move it, I’ll have to sleep on the streets.”

At a time like this, no matter how strong her acting skills, they couldn’t beat bare reality. Even an idiot knew she couldn’t possibly sleep on the streets.

Yet the professional integrity of an actor was such that, even if you didn’t believe it yourself, you had to act so convincingly that even a dog would believe it.

She added tearfully, “You wouldn’t just watch me die, would you? It’s so cold, look, I’ve got goosebumps all over.”

She rubbed her arms, covered only by a thin pajama top.

Shen Wenyi glanced at her arm and, suppressing her anger, said, “Sleep on the sofa.”

She said, “My back is bad. If I sleep there for a night, I probably won’t even be able to stand up straight in the morning.”

Shen Wenyi said, “Go find your assistant.”

She said, “We got back ages ago. Little Xie is definitely fast asleep by now, dead to the world. Kids have weak constitutions. I’m afraid if I force myself to wake her up, it might give her a nervous breakdown.”

Shen Wenyi said, “Can’t you just dry it yourself with a hairdryer?”

She said, “That pot was the durian and yuzu tea I just brewed.”

“Durian can be used to brew yuzu tea?”

Shen Wenyi took a deep breath, laughing from sheer exasperation.

Shen Wenyi said, “Fine. Even if it’s dried and you can’t sleep on it, is the front desk completely useless? Is there no one who can help you change a bedsheet? Or are your legs broken, unable to call the front desk or go downstairs to find them?”

She widened her eyes in disbelief and said, “You actually dare to use the hotel’s bedsheets? Seriously?”

Shen Wenyi was speechless. Although some people in the film crew weren’t too fussy and used the hotel’s bedding, most of the actors still chose to use their own.

Shen Wenyi herself didn’t use the hotel’s; she even brought her own washing machine.

Shen Wenyi closed her eyes in frustration and said, “But I also only have one bed in my room. I’m afraid I can’t help.”

She grinned, leaned her arm against the door frame, her foot still wedged in the door crack.

“It’s fine, I don’t mind sharing a bed with you. I don’t find you disgusting.”

“But I find you disgusting!”

She said unhappily, “I shower every day, I’m very clean. What’s there to find disgusting?”

Shen Wenyi said, “Your heart is dirty. Showering can’t wash that clean.”

Listen to that. What was this, making something out of nothing? Teacher Shen was truly a master of it. How was her heart suddenly dirty?

Wasn’t it just using a few underhanded tricks to force Shen Wenyi to add her as a friend? And more underhanded tricks to not allow herself to be blocked? And now she was preparing to use underhanded tricks to forcibly stay the night?

Analyzing it like that, it really did seem a bit shameless.

Wait, no. When facing a mortal enemy, no matter how shameless, it was the right approach!

Shen Wenyi, those days when you made me so angry I was bedridden are over. Now the tables have turned; it’s my turn to annoy you.

She said, “My dear Teacher Shen, although I am perfectly happy to stand in the hallway flirting with you, and it is indeed 1:30 in the morning so it’s unlikely anyone would come out to watch the show… still, as the saying goes, you can’t be too careful. What if, just in case, someone really does…”

Shen Wenyi glanced at the empty hallway, gave her a fierce glare, and she genuinely admired Shen Wenyi for that. It wasn’t just this time; Shen Wenyi always made sure no one was around before rolling her eyes at her or saying harsh words.

She said, “Actually, I’m quite curious about something.”

Shen Wenyi said, “Hold it in. I’m not curious.”

She wanted to tease a bit more, but Shen Wenyi suddenly reached out and pulled her inside.

“Just this one night. Even if you drop dead at my doorstep tomorrow, I won’t open the door for you again.”

“Such a cruel heart!”

Shen Wenyi ignored her, went inside, and started tidying the bed.

She sat down on the sofa on one side and watched Shen Wenyi tidy up. After all, this was Shen Wenyi’s room; however Shen Wenyi fixed it was how she’d sleep. She had to respect the host.

“Actually, I’m really quite curious about something.”

She brought up the old topic again.

Shen Wenyi took a deep breath, clearly already holding her breath, the kind that would cause heaven and earth to collapse if she said one more word.

Unfortunately, she usually had great tact, but in front of Shen Wenyi, she was like a blind person.

She continued, picking at the topic: “You care so much about your established persona that you even check if anyone’s watching before rolling your eyes at me. What if, one day, your belly gets big and you need to have a baby? Would you also check if anyone’s around before starting your labor pains? Giving birth is really painful, your expression would definitely be contorted. You absolutely must control it—make sure no one’s there before you feel the pain.”

This was clearly a provocation.

Shen Wenyi, however, didn’t seem nearly as angry as she appeared. Instead, she said calmly, “That day will never come.”

She asked, “How could it not? Every woman can give birth, right? Unless you’re infertile.”

She paused, then shivered. “Are you really infertile?! How? How do you know? Don’t hide your illness and refuse treatment! If you’re sick, treat it quickly!”

Shen Wenyi’s back, bent over to tidy the bed, radiated speechlessness.

“Can’t you think well of me for once?”

So it was a false alarm.

She muttered under her breath, “We’re mortal enemies, why should I think well of you?”

Before her voice faded, Shen Wenyi suddenly turned around, grabbed her arm, and walked her toward the door.

How did this make her angry?

Her point of anger was truly baffling.

Stumbling as she was dragged, she quickly begged for mercy.

“I was wrong, I was wrong! You can definitely give birth to a big fat boy! No! You can definitely give birth to twins, a dragon and a phoenix!”

“Heh heh.”

The cold laugh on Shen Wenyi’s beautiful face was practically the premium version of a blackened villain. A stylist’s smoky eye makeup and such were all cheap imitations.

Shen Wenyi twisted the door handle, about to throw her out into the hallway. She quickly grabbed the door frame, her mouth reacting faster than her brain.

“I won’t mention it, won’t mention it anymore! Let’s not talk about having babies! We won’t have any! Not a single one! Why should having a uterus mean you have to have kids? We just won’t have them, okay?!”

Shen Wenyi finally let go and rubbed her temples with a headache.

“Watch your words from now on. Not just anyone is suitable to hear any kind of talk.”

How was I supposed to know that having kids was a sore spot for you?

Although many women don’t like having children, she truly hadn’t expected Shen Wenyi to be so averse to it. After all, Shen Wenyi was different from ordinary mortals like them. Shen Wenyi had a throne to inherit; without an heir, how could the inheritance continue?

Once you enter a wealthy family, it’s like an abyss. Although the Shen family was so lacking in descendants that Shen Wenyi was the sole heir, perhaps there were still some schemes and intrigues that ordinary mortals couldn’t understand… right?

The bed was mostly made, and not much of the half-hour remained. Usually, Jiang Shiyang wouldn’t say much at this time, but thinking this might be the last time she could speak as a human, she couldn’t help but chatter more. She ended up dragging it out until the last few minutes before finally having a quilt of her own.

Only…

Wasn’t the direction of this quilt a bit off?

Jiang Shiyang looked at Shen Wenyi, then at her pitiful little quilt nest, laid horizontally at the foot of the bed where one rollover would send her tumbling down.

Jiang Shiyang said, “Uh, I don’t mind sleeping at the foot of the bed, but… can we turn the quilt lengthwise? I just want to be another parallel line to you. I don’t want to be perpendicular to you just yet.”

Shen Wenyi responded with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “No. I’m used to rolling around in my sleep; you’ll obstruct my trajectory.”

She said, “But I also have a sleeping trajectory. I’m afraid that while sleeping, I’ll follow your feet up to your legs, then climb mountains and ridges and roll right onto your face.”

Shen Wenyi sneered. “Before that happens, I’ll kick you off first.”

At a normal time like this, she would definitely argue back. Her banter with Shen Wenyi never went fewer than five rounds; that was basic protocol.

But today, she suppressed the primordial power surging within her and sighed softly, weakly.

She said, “Although the spot is a bit small, I still thank you. In all my life, I’ve never had a true friend. At a time like this, the only person I can turn to is actually you, the one who’s always disliked me. You can mock me.”

Shen Wenyi seemed to have already prepared for a three-hundred-round battle with her. Holding back a breath, she had just lifted the quilt and gotten onto the bed when she was caught off guard by this weakening statement. That breath stuck in her throat, unable to go up or down. Her expression even subtly changed, and her eyes, wet and glistening, blinked, making Jiang Shiyang’s mind wander a little.

Bah, wrong word choice.

Anyway, it meant that this dazed, confused look was actually quite… quite something… cute.

Shen Wenyi held it in for a long time before squeezing out a single word: “You…”

She let out another long, drawn-out sigh, curling up tightly wrapped in the quilt, making herself look even more like a pitiful little thing.

“Everything I said this morning was true. I really wish I had someone to put lipstick on me. In ancient times, Zhang Chang painted his wife’s eyebrows. ‘After finishing makeup, she asked her husband in a low voice, are my eyebrows painted in the right shade?’ Given my status, I shouldn’t even think about romance for the time being. I just thought, it would be nice to have someone I can somewhat trust let me feel a moment of relaxation. Painting eyebrows is too complicated; just applying lipstick would be enough.”

Shen Wenyi didn’t speak. Jiang Shiyang sniffled, used all her professional skills, and effortlessly squeezed out two drops of tears.

“Shen Wenyi, can you put it on for me? Just once.”

The quilt wrapped around her, only revealing a pair of eyes and the very top of her head. She didn’t know what she looked like under the dim yellow wall lamp. She only knew that the way Shen Wenyi looked at her was extremely strange. It was a long while before Shen Wenyi seemed unable to bear it anymore and averted her gaze.

Shen Wenyi said, “If you’re sick in the head, go get…”

She interrupted, “My head isn’t sick. I just want you to put lipstick on me. That lipstick from this morning. Just once, okay?”

Shen Wenyi didn’t look at her and just said, “No.”

She asked, “Why not?”

Is it necessary to be so stingy?! It’s just applying lipstick once! Can’t you just treat it as doing a good deed for the day? Huh? Is that not okay?!

Don’t force me to kneel down for you!

Shen Wenyi said, “I’m not your assistant. Why should I? Right, you can get Little Xie to put it on for you.”

Shen Wenyi found a solution and turned her gaze to Jiang Shiyang.

She smiled bitterly and said, “Little Xie is just an assistant after all. If I asked her to put lipstick on me and she agreed, it would be work, just work. The meaning is different.”

Shen Wenyi looked away again and said quietly, “Who knows what trick you’re trying to pull this time?”

The Human Form Duration countdown had already started in her mind. Time was running out.

She was burning with anxiety inside, but she didn’t let any of it show on the surface. She continued to coax and guide according to the necessary pace.

She said, “I’m not pulling any tricks, really, I’m not. If you’re not comfortable, wait until I’m asleep and then put it on.”

Shen Wenyi laughed, amused by her stupidity.

Shen Wenyi said, “What feeling is there to experience when you’re asleep? What meaning is there?”

She said, “Of course there’s meaning. It means that while I was asleep, you put it on for me. So I’m not a pitiful creature with no one to put lipstick on her.”

But she had exhausted all her good words, her throat was parched, her tongue was practically about to grow sores from talking, and Shen Wenyi remained completely impervious. She stubbornly repeated that one line: “Won’t do it.”

“You really won’t do it?”

“Won’t do it.”

“Really, really, really won’t do it?”

“Won’t do it.”

“Shen Wenyi!”

“Won’t do it.”

Ah…

She was wrong. She had originally thought Shen Wenyi was just a bit stubborn and hard to persuade. Now, what stubbornness was this? She was simply a rock! Made of steel and iron! A machine without a heart!

There was one last minute. She gritted her teeth and said, “Fine, I’ll stop pretending. I admit it. Actually, I have a disease where, if you don’t put lipstick on me, I’ll die. It’s up to you.”

Shen Wenyi directly turned off the lights and lay down under the covers.

“Then just die.”

Ugh.

A woman’s heart is the most venomous! The ancients didn’t deceive me!

A minute passed in a blink, and she turned back into the pitiful lipstick.

She wondered if Shen Wenyi, seeing her dead-corpse-like form tomorrow, would have a pang of conscience and put lipstick on her?

That was her only hope now.

Shen Wenyi, you absolutely must be a decent person! You absolutely must not take revenge at a time like this! Someone really could die!

Although she was quite annoying, and Shen Wenyi was indeed particularly annoyed by her… but… Shen Wenyi shouldn’t be annoyed enough to actually want her dead, right?

Surely… not, right?

The night passed without a word. She actually slept heartlessly until early morning, only jolting awake when Shen Wenyi’s alarm clock rang.

Shen Wenyi got up.

Shen Wenyi went to the bathroom.

Shen Wenyi got dressed.

Shen Wenyi seemed to walk over next to the “corpse.”

“Hey, if you keep sleeping, you’ll be late.”