She transmigrated into Shen Wenyi’s body lotion. She spent the entire night lying inside that drawer, with only a sliver of light coming through the gap. Before long, even that faint glow vanished. Shen Wenyi had turned off the lights.
Inside the drawer, she couldn’t hear much of what was happening outside. Faintly, she thought she heard a few choked sobs, but she wasn’t entirely sure. It didn’t bother her at first, but the less clearly she could hear, the more agitated she became. Amidst that agitation, she somehow drifted off to sleep without even realizing it.
When she woke again, it was broad daylight. The System time read 7:30. Shen Wenyi was already gone.
Damn it!
She quickly exchanged for Human Form Duration and returned. Little Xie was already crying her heart out, even calling 120.
Ugh, such a headache.
She hurriedly got up and spouted some random excuses. Back when she transmigrated into a ring, she had also lain on the floor, and she managed to fool Little Xie then. But a second time wasn’t so easy to gloss over. Little Xie’s face was full of disbelief, but under her oppressive authority, she could only reluctantly claim she believed it.
While Little Xie dealt with the 120 aftermath, she quickly washed up, changed her clothes, and took a car to the film crew’s location.
Luckily, the first scene of the day wasn’t hers. By the time she arrived, Shen Wenyi was already in makeup, walking through the scene with Zhang Yang.
This scene was the love confession between the Princess and the General. It was the first time the General genuinely fell for the Princess—before this, it had all been manipulation.
After finishing her makeup, she came out and sat on a small camp stool, eating a couple of biscuits and drinking some water as a makeshift breakfast while watching them rehearse.
Director Chen was shouting from the side. “Zhang Yang, did you not eat?! Put some strength into your arm! This is the first time you realize you love her. When you kiss her, your eyes are closed, so you can’t express love through your gaze. You have to rely on the arm wrapped around her waist to suddenly tighten! That’s how you convey the burst of emotion!”
Director Chen’s voice was loud and his tone fierce, but he was genuinely teaching. That was why, despite everyone getting chewed out, few ever held a grudge.
After scolding his arm, Director Chen moved on to his lips, berating Zhang Yang for kissing like a grade-schooler. Couldn’t he exude more pheromones?!
Zhang Yang was on the verge of tears. “Director Chen, I’m too dense. I don’t know how to exude it. Can you teach me?”
Director Chen promptly grabbed the Assistant Director himself. The Assistant Director was clearly used to being a prop and cooperated with a deadpan expression.
Director Chen demonstrated.
“See? Your hand touches their face, gently wiping away a tear first. Then, you kiss them fiercely—there needs to be a parting of the lips, a glimpse of tongue. That’s what makes it sensual on camera! Your arm around their waist also needs a clear tightening motion to express the eruption of emotion! Understand?!”
With such hands-on instruction, anyone still not getting it would be a pig.
Zhang Yang indicated he understood and turned to try it with Shen Wenyi.
She sat on her small stool, watching Zhang Yang part his lips and lean in to kiss Shen Wenyi. Crack! The biscuit in her hand shattered.
Little Xie heard the sound and glanced at the crumbled biscuit in her grasp. Quickly, she reached over to brush the crumbs off her sleeve.
“What’s wrong, Teacher Jiang?” Little Xie asked.
She had already picked up her stool and stood, turning to weave past the fake mountain, past the artificial flowers and grass, searching for a quiet spot.
Little Xie hurried after her and asked again, “What’s wrong, Teacher Jiang? Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”
Fine. How could I be unwell? Everywhere is perfectly fine.
Shen Wenyi’s love confession scene was shot at the pavilion in the Imperial Garden. Her next scene, the confrontation with Shen Wenyi, was also set in the Imperial Garden. Today was entirely dedicated to scenes in the Imperial Garden.
She randomly found a sunny spot, set down her stool, and sat, refusing to even glance at Little Xie, who was tailing her like a puppy.
Little Xie was socially anxious in public but annoyingly talkative in private, with a relentless drive to get to the bottom of things. She asked a third time, “Teacher Jiang, what exactly is the matter?”
I’m fine. I’m perfectly fine. Just stop bothering me, okay?
She knew exactly why she was suddenly so irritable. Right now, she just wanted to be alone for a bit.
“I’m perfectly fine,” she said. “Don’t worry about nothing.”
Little Xie muttered, “If you’re perfectly fine, why do you keep fainting?”
She narrowed her eyes at Little Xie. “What did you say?”
Little Xie quickly shook her head. “Nothing, nothing! I didn’t say anything.”
She ignored Little Xie. Only then did she realize she was still holding half a broken biscuit. With no appetite left, she got up and tossed it into the trash can.
Seeing that she wasn’t eating anymore, Little Xie rummaged through her bag, pulled out a small clip to seal the biscuit packaging, stuffed it back into the bag, and stole a glance at her.
Little Xie said, “Teacher Jiang, you absolutely must live a long, long life. I want to work for you for the rest of my life.”
What complete nonsense.
She said flatly, “Just don’t jinx me, and I’ll be fine.”
Little Xie promptly covered her mouth, then uncovered it to ask, “Why did you suddenly come back here? Not going to watch them film anymore? Director Chen was giving a live masterclass—shouldn’t that be worth learning from?”
She really wanted to sew Little Xie’s mouth shut.
She picked up the script and flipped through it. “I’ve already learned it.”
Little Xie said, “Then don’t you want to see the filming process?”
She replied, “Nothing worth seeing.”
Little Xie rested her chin on her hands. “I really wanted to watch. A live kiss scene, and Shen Wenyi’s lips, at that! Who wouldn’t want to tear off that icy, aloof facade of the untouchable goddess and watch her in the throes of ecstas—uh… ahem!”
Little Xie suddenly clamped her mouth shut, shot her a glance, and hastily corrected herself. “What I meant was, Zhang Yang is so handsome. I really, really wanted to see his on-screen first kiss.”
She flipped another page of the script and nodded. “Go ahead.”
“Huh?” Little Xie’s single-eyelid eyes went wide. “Teacher Jiang? What did you say?”
She said, “If you want to go, then go.”
Little Xie shot to her feet excitedly, her lean frame practically vibrating with eagerness.
Little Xie said, “Th-then I’m going?!”
Little Xie spun around, ready to bolt. Without even lifting her eyes, she said icily, “Go be Shen Wenyi’s assistant. She can definitely afford to keep two without any problem.”
Little Xie’s leg, already halfway through its stride, froze in place. The sight was exactly like a tiny mouse frozen mid-action into a car emblem in sub-zero temperatures.
About to cry but utterly helpless, Little Xie sat back down on the small camp stool. “Are you angry, Teacher Jiang?”
She glanced sidelong at Little Xie and offered a faint smile. “No. What do I have to be angry about?”
Little Xie huddled up, arms wrapped around her knees as she lay on her legs, and said weakly, “Teacher Jiang, please don’t be mad. I just wanted to go scout the enemy, you know? Since you two will be in scenes together. Even though she’s the female lead, your screen time is actually about the same. When the show airs, fans will inevitably fight over billing. We need to know ourselves and the enemy to prepare in advance.”
What a gloriously high-sounding excuse.
She ignored Little Xie and continued flipping through the script.
Little Xie was quiet for a moment, then said in a tiny voice, “Teacher Jiang, what’s with you today? Usually, when I watch Shen Wenyi act, you don’t say anything. But today you’re so weird. Could it be… you didn’t want me to watch Shen Wenyi and Zhang Yang kiss?”
Little Xie suddenly straightened up, staring at her in disbelief. “Teacher Jiang? Did your eyelashes just flutter?! Don’t tell me I hit the nail on the head?!”
Very sharp eyes there.
She glared at Little Xie. “Say one more stupid thing, and you’re fired.”
Little Xie actually dared to continue. “Let me tell you, Teacher Jiang, I won’t say anything else, but you’re in a crucial rising phase right now. A romance would definitely affect your career. Sister Li would absolutely come storming down and flay the skin off both of us!”
She said, “If anyone gets flayed, it’s me. What’s it to you?”
Little Xie replied, “Disaster affects the fish in the moat! I’m that poor little fish. You absolutely cannot fall for Zhang Yang! Sure, he’s really handsome, and he has abs, but you absolutely can’t like him!”
Little Xie had lowered her voice, so no one else could overhear. Otherwise, she would have genuinely wanted to wring Little Xie’s scrawny neck right there.
She said, “Will you shut up? Since when did I like Zhang Yang? Fine, fine. If you want to go watch, then go. Let me have some peace and quiet.”
Little Xie hesitated. “Really? You won’t tell me to go be Shen Wenyi’s assistant again?”
She rolled her eyes at Little Xie. “Even if you wanted to, they’d have to accept you.”
Little Xie rubbed her chin sheepishly. “Th-then I’m really going?”
Without raising her head, she held the script in one hand and waved the other at Little Xie dismissively.
Go, go, just go already. So damn annoying.
Little Xie scurried off gleefully. No other assistant was as freewheeling, audacious, and casually insolent as Little Xie—daring to abandon her boss and run off all by herself? Whatever. It was her own fault for spoiling her. Little Xie was only afraid of her in words, not in the slightest in practice.
Little Xie was gone, but her bag was left behind. She pulled it over and rummaged through it, intending to find a wet wipe to clean the hand that had held the biscuit. After a couple of digs, she spotted the bone-setting liniment.
She wondered how Shen Wenyi’s hand was doing.
Last night, she just left Shen Wenyi there and bolted. Shen Wenyi probably hated her guts now and was definitely still fuming. Better not to go looking for trouble. She’d wait a couple of days until Shen Wenyi’s mood improved.
She stuffed the bone-setting liniment back, found the wet wipes, and pulled one out to clean her hands.
But knowing that stubborn mule Shen Wenyi, if she didn’t deliver the bone-setting liniment, Shen Wenyi would definitely not take care of her hand. Little He was quite attentive, but she couldn’t override Shen Wenyi. If Shen Wenyi refused treatment, Little He could do nothing about it.
Maybe… she should just take the liniment over to her?
But what if Shen Wenyi just threw it straight into the trash?
There was a precedent for this. Back in high school, during the school sports meet, Shen Wenyi ran the 3000-meter race and scraped her knee. She cried so heart-wrenchingly that it actually scared her. That was the first and only time she ever saw Shen Wenyi cry. Not counting the times she saw it while transmigrated as an object.
Putting aside their grudge, she carried Shen Wenyi on her back to the Infirmary. At the Infirmary, Shen Wenyi obediently let the School Nurse apply medicine. But afterward, when the nurse prescribed medication and she took it to Shen Wenyi, telling her to remember to apply it when she got back, Shen Wenyi turned around and threw the medicine into the trash.
If she hadn’t happened to see it, she would never have known Shen Wenyi detested her so much. The medicine from the school nurse? Just because her hands had touched it, Shen Wenyi didn’t want it anymore.
Thinking back now, maybe Shen Wenyi didn’t detest her back then. Maybe it was love turning to hate, unrequited love, so she couldn’t bear to use medicine she had touched.
Of course, it was also possible Shen Wenyi didn’t like her yet at that time, and it was genuine rejection.
After all, they were only high school sophomores, barely teenagers. Could she have… liked her yet? Probably just rejection, right?
So why did she panic last night and snatch the bone-setting liniment back with her? If she hadn’t pulled it back, would she be in this mess now?
She opened the backpack again and pulled out that bottle of bone-setting liniment, hot to the touch. Actually, she could completely ignore Shen Wenyi. Her hand would heal eventually, with or without this bottle.
But she remembered Shen Wenyi standing at the boundary of light and shadow last night—always so lofty and proud, someone to look up to—yet looking at her with those eyes on the verge of tears.
This was really going to be the death of her.
Whatever. She’d just deliver the liniment. If Shen Wenyi wanted to throw it in the trash or whatever, so be it. At least she’d have done her part. If it could mend her relationship with Shen Wenyi, great. If not…
Thinking about the task, another wave of frustration hit her.
A massive bottle of body lotion, no joke. If she used it every day, all over, not missing a single inch, it would still take at least half a month.
How was she supposed to get Shen Wenyi to finish it within seven days?
Especially now that things were so tense between them. Shen Wenyi was in a bad mood. Normally, she never saw Shen Wenyi use body lotion. In a bad mood, she’d definitely use it even less.
