“Fine.”
She pulled out her phone, turned on the camera, and aimed it at Shen Wenyi.
“Go on, keep trying. Let me film a professional video of Best Actress Shen, her right hand crippled, forced to eat with her left.”
Shen Wenyi set the chopsticks down. There were still many people around on set. Not daring to vent her anger, the edges of Shen Wenyi’s eyes rimmed faintly red, as if someone had bullied her.
Shen Wenyi, don’t look at me like that. Acting like that won’t make me go soft. I absolutely must see your right hand today.
Shen Wenyi said, “Turn off the video.”
“Show me your right hand.”
“You first.”
She glanced at the striking color at the corner of Shen Wenyi’s eye. Her throat moved slightly. The words “right hand first” rolled to the tip of her tongue before she swallowed them.
Fine, turn it off. She could always turn it back on.
She turned off the video and shoved the phone into her pocket.
“Well? Your right hand?”
Shen Wenyi lowered her eyes and slowly pulled her right hand from her pocket, holding it out to her.
“Behold the evil you’ve wrought. I haven’t even settled accounts with you yet, and you’re here picking a fight with me.”
She grasped Shen Wenyi’s wrist and examined her palm. The scrape was still stained iodine-brown. The exudate and blood had long since dried. The wound itself was no big deal now. But Shen Wenyi’s thumb was swollen a full circle thicker, the joint lines completely invisible.
She pressed it gently. A pit formed with each press.
She looked up at Shen Wenyi. “It’s swollen to this size and you didn’t say anything?”
Shen Wenyi said indifferently, “What’s there to say? It’s no big inconvenience.”
She laughed in disbelief. “No inconvenience? If it’s no inconvenience, why aren’t you eating?”
Shen Wenyi said stiffly, “I told you, no appetite.”
Looking at Shen Wenyi’s state, the words burst from her mouth. “If only you’d be a little gentler with me!”
Shen Wenyi: “What?”
She grabbed Shen Wenyi’s boxed meal and chopsticks, and hauled Shen Wenyi up. “Nothing.”
Who knew why that sentence had suddenly escaped her mouth just now?
She dragged Shen Wenyi all the way back to the makeup room, flicked on the light, pulled her to the makeup desk, slid out the chair, and pressed Shen Wenyi into it.
She pulled the adjacent chair over and sat down herself, holding the lunch box. She picked up a piece of diced chicken and brought it to Shen Wenyi’s lips.
Shen Wenyi frowned at the chicken. “What are you doing?”
“Feeding you. Can’t you tell?”
Shen Wenyi turned her head away. “No need for your hypocrisy.”
“How is your insight so sharp? I am pretending to care. Really, I’m just afraid you’re dieting behind my back.”
She knew Shen Wenyi didn’t believe her excuse for a second. But the excuse itself wasn’t important. What mattered was leaving Shen Wenyi with no retort.
Probably worn out by her elementary school-level bickering, Shen Wenyi glared at her for a long time before squeezing out a sentence. “I don’t like chicken.”
She popped the diced chicken into her own mouth instead, then picked up a piece of eggplant and offered it.
Shen Wenyi stared at the chopsticks, her brow furrowing enough to crush a fly.
“I’m not in the habit of sharing chopsticks.”
After swallowing the chicken, she said, “Your hand is crippled; your eyes aren’t blind, right? I put the chicken directly into my mouth. I never touched the chopsticks.”
“It’s still sharing a pair of chopsticks. I’m a germaphobe.”
Germaphobe my ass. You never seemed germaphobic when using serving chopsticks.
She nodded with a fake smile. “Fine, germaphobe.”
She opened the makeup desk drawer, fished out a brand-new pair of chopsticks, tore off the packaging, and picked up another piece of eggplant.
Waving the eggplant, she said, “Eat up, Shen the Germaphobe.”
Shen Wenyi glanced at the drawer she’d pulled out.
She said, “Stop overthinking. You saw there were chopsticks in there when you were getting my phone for me. Just eat already.”
Only then did Shen Wenyi reluctantly open her mouth and eat.
Sigh.
I’ve never even waited on my own parents like this. The first time I serve someone like this, and I get treated with disdain.
So what wire in her brain exactly had short-circuited, making her insist on coming over and seeking trouble for herself?
By the time they finished feeding, she’d reaped no other harvest except learning that Shen Wenyi didn’t eat diced chicken or shiitake mushrooms, but loved eggplant.
As she cleaned up the leftovers and tossed them into the trash bin, Little He pushed the door open. The moment Little He saw her, her eyes rounded, her black-framed glasses practically glowing.
“Why is it you again?!”
She pulled out a wet tissue and wiped her hands. “You’re really something. If she can’t use chopsticks, couldn’t you just find her a spoon?”
Little He finally noticed the lunch box in the trash bin. She choked for a second, then said, “How do you know I didn’t look? I looked. There weren’t any.”
Sometimes it’s like that. The one thing you need is the one thing missing, even if it’s usually scattered all over the place. When you really need it, it magically disappears.
She noticed the bottle of Safflower Oil in Little He’s hand. No wonder it had taken her so long to get back; she must have gone to the medics.
“Don’t use Safflower Oil. I’ll go get the Bone-Setting Liniment.”
Little He said, “The hand is swollen. Of course you need Safflower Oil.”
“Use your head. How could a thumb swell up like this for no reason? It wasn’t caught in a door. The bone’s definitely out of alignment.”
Little He said angrily, “It’s all your fault anyway!”
She neither agreed nor could she deny it. She sidestepped Little He, went out to find the medic, and returned with a bottle of Bone-Setting Liniment.
Pulling a chair next to Shen Wenyi, she unscrewed the cap and poured a bit of the cold, rank liquid into her hand. The smell was awful. Right after eating, it almost made her gag.
Fighting the nausea, she rubbed the medicated oil between her hands, then placed both hands beside Shen Wenyi’s thumb, now swollen like a red sausage, and began massaging it.
Shen Wenyi was clearly still angry. In the makeup room, it was much better than inside the great hall. At least here, Shen Wenyi dared to give her attitude. As she massaged, she watched Shen Wenyi put on an inviolably noble and icy face, remembering how Shen Wenyi secretly listened to audio dramas when she was alone. The thought made her want to laugh.
“If it hurts, just hum. That can make it feel better.”
Shen Wenyi said, “Humph.”
A hum, but a cold, scoffing one.
She looked at Shen Wenyi, surprised. “Did you actually hum? Why are you so obedient today?”
Little He couldn’t stand it from the side. “Jiang Shiyang, don’t push your luck!”
She clicked her tongue. Her long lashes hid the laughter in her eyes. “Birds of a feather really do flock together.”
Little He looked at her, completely baffled. “What are you implying?”
She ignored Little He and directed a half-smile at Shen Wenyi. “So… should I explain it to your little Little He?”
Shen Wenyi turned and glared at her. The slight redness at the rims of her eyes hadn’t fully faded. Paired with the glare, it held a certain allure, like a veneer of abstinence being shattered.
Her eyes narrowed slightly, suppressing a sudden jolt in her heart. She didn’t press Shen Wenyi and looked away.
Too many things had happened today. Shen Wenyi’s heart probably wasn’t the only thing in turmoil; her mind was scrambled too. Even she herself was a little scrambled.
Shen Wenyi suddenly winced. “Hiss! You did that on purpose, Jiang Shiyang.”
She hastily pulled her hands back. “Ah, I hurt you? My hands… they’re a bit unruly today. Right, how’s your face?”
Shen Wenyi said, “It’s fine.”
She sized Shen Wenyi up from left and right. At noon, Shen Wenyi’s face had still been slightly asymmetrical. But now the difference was invisible, so the swelling must have gone down.
She rubbed Shen Wenyi’s thumb for a long time before finally stopping. The Random Five Senses Blocking Talisman’s duration was 24 hours, and her sense of touch still hadn’t returned. Even just rubbing a thumb, she’d been on constant edge, scared she’d accidentally use too much force again.
After capping the Bone-Setting Liniment bottle, she said to Shen Wenyi, “I’ll rub some more on you before bed tonight. It should be about right by tomorrow morning.”
Shen Wenyi said, “Don’t waste your effort.”
“What do you mean, waste my effort?”
Shen Wenyi ignored her again. She didn’t press further, just went to the restroom, washed her hands with soap multiple times, and then returned to the main hall.
She knew what Shen Wenyi meant even without an explanation. She’d heard every word spoken in the car that morning without missing a syllable. Shen Wenyi suspected her of having ulterior motives, of getting close on purpose.
Let her suspect. It didn’t matter. She was a professional actress, after all, who had analyzed countless characters’ psychological states. Especially in romance dramas—female leads’ tangled little thoughts were what she understood best.
As long as Shen Wenyi liked her, no matter how much she doubted her motives, she’d still sink. It was inevitable. She just needed to radiate charm.
Thinking this way… wow, what a player she was.
So be it. She was an honest player. It was for the mission. And for Shen Wenyi’s own long-term good, to cut the pain short.
Wait, why was she calling herself a player again? She was clearly repaying malice with kindness. Doing a good deed.
Filming finished at one in the morning. Saying it was late wasn’t really accurate; compared to other film crews, it was much better. Director Chen was still pretty humane. Other crews forced you to burn the midnight oil for three days straight, but Director Chen allocated time reasonably, avoiding late nights whenever possible.
Back at the hotel, after a shower and drying her hair, she yawned. She still had half an hour until her senses recovered, and her Human Form Duration was almost up too. Just enough time to rub Shen Wenyi’s thumb.
She left her own guest room, walked through the deserted hallway, and stopped in front of Shen Wenyi’s door. She knocked for ages before Shen Wenyi finally answered, leaving the security chain on the door, peering through the crack, asking what she wanted.
Treating her like a thief to guard against?
She waggled the Bone-Setting Liniment in her hand. “Didn’t I say I’d rub some more on before bed?”
Shen Wenyi’s hair was still wet, damp with moisture. It looked like she’d just showered. But instead of the bathrobe she’d seen when she had been an object, she was now wearing a proper set of pajamas.
Tsk.
So that was why it took so long for her to open the door—changing into pajamas. If she hadn’t been transmigrated as an item before, she really never would have guessed.
Shen Wenyi said, “It’s not necessary. It’s already much better.”
She reached through the gap in the door and pulled Shen Wenyi’s hand through. Frowning, she said, “Did you just shower like this? Don’t you know your hand can’t get wet?”
Shen Wenyi’s expression was indifferent. “A minor injury, it’s fine.”
It’s fine?
Do you even remember your rich pampered heiress persona?
The Shen Wenyi in her memories was like a glass doll—couldn’t be hurt, couldn’t be touched. In high school, she’d cried when she fell and scraped her knee during the 3000-meter run. Now she was acting so tough.
She said, “Open the door. I’ll apply the medicine and leave right away.”
Shen Wenyi said, “A scoundrel like you, I’m not opening it.”
“Really not opening?”
Shen Wenyi said, “Not opening.”
“I know your secret. If you don’t open, I’ll start shouting.”
Shen Wenyi said, “Whatever.”
She smiled faintly, leaned close to Shen Wenyi through the door crack, and whispered, “Abnormal Heartbeat… You should be very familiar with that, right?”
