Chapter 49: Day 49 as an Object Part 2

Shen Wenyi lowered her eyes, tears streaming uncontrollably, her voice so choked with sobs it was nearly unintelligible.

“I’m not as strong as you think, nor do I possess such strong willpower,” Shen Wenyi said. “I can’t resist your temptation. Please, let me go.”

“I…” she began.

Seeing Shen Wenyi’s tears, she suddenly felt a pang of heartache. She reached out, wanting to wipe them away, but then felt it would be too inappropriate.

Shen Wenyi’s hand on the sofa armrest loosened. She straightened up and moved aside.

Wiping a tear, Shen Wenyi said, “Just go. Tonight was my fault. I offended you. Everything in the past was my fault, too. I apologize. I won’t fight with you anymore. Next March, I will leave the entertainment industry. For these last three-plus months, please just treat me as an ordinary work colleague. I will be deeply grateful.”

She quickly stood, straightening her disheveled bathrobe. Fortunately, the sash was tied tightly; otherwise, with Shen Wenyi’s fierce pulling and pressing just now, it would have come undone long ago.

Shen Wenyi followed her gaze to the sash, now tied in several tight knots. Tears still on her face, Shen Wenyi let out a self-deprecating laugh.

“Leave,” Shen Wenyi said.

“I… I just panicked for a moment earlier, and I…” she said.

“I’ve offended you,” Shen Wenyi said. “If you feel wronged, you can slap me a few times. Slap me and then leave.”

“It’s not that serious. What I mean is…” she tried to explain.

Red-eyed and weeping, Shen Wenyi wouldn’t look at her, just stared off to the side. “Leave.”

Why did she keep chasing her away, again and again?!

Suddenly, a surge of anger rose within her, the pent-up emotions that had been stuck in her chest finally erupting.

“Don’t you put on that expression like I’m the one who hurt you, okay?” she said. “Clearly, you don’t even love me that much. Haven’t you already arranged a steamy video call with someone tonight?!”

Shen Wenyi turned her head. Teardrops clung to her lashes, and grief seemed about to overflow from her eyes.

“So in your eyes, I’m that kind of sleazy person with no standards?” Shen Wenyi asked.

She stiffened. “I don’t want to think that way, but you weren’t exactly discreet when you made that call. I heard everything.”

“I was…” Shen Wenyi closed her eyes, giving another self-deprecating laugh. “Fine. That’s exactly the kind of person I am. My private life is a mess. I don’t love you that much. Who knows, I might even have some nasty disease. So why aren’t you keeping your distance from me? Why aren’t you leaving?!”

Damn, she had misunderstood Shen Wenyi!

Quickly trying to remedy the situation, she said, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions. I was just suddenly so angry at the time. I don’t know what came over me, I…”

Shen Wenyi grabbed her, dragged her to the door, pulled it open, and pushed her out. She desperately tried to squeeze back through the crack.

Looking through the gap in the door, Shen Wenyi’s eyes, red and brimming with tears, fixed on her. “I’m begging you, Jiang Shiyang. Stop throwing my life into chaos. Please.”

B-begging her?

Shen Wenyi, such a proud person, when had she ever uttered the word “beg”?

She couldn’t say another word. Her strength suddenly drained away as she watched the door close heavily in front of her.

She shut her eyes, pressing a hand over her heart, and suddenly felt like crying.

How did it come to this? She didn’t know.

She hadn’t been quite herself these past two days. Her mind was a mess, her heart was a mess. The kiss from the daytime NGs haunted her; the image of Shen Wenyi kissing her while crying kept replaying in her mind.

She genuinely hadn’t intended to wheedle her way into taking a shower at Shen Wenyi’s place, nor had she planned on asking Shen Wenyi to apply body lotion for her. She… had her brain short-circuited? Why did she act that way then?

It had just happened, yet she couldn’t recall her thought process at the time. She had been swept up by emotion, acted on a whim…

Truly… impulse was the devil.

But she was never an impulsive person. Why was she being so reckless precisely these last two days?

Could it be… she liked Shen Wenyi?

No way, right?

This was no joke. This question was very serious!

No, no, her mind was too chaotic right now. She couldn’t think about this calmly. What if she came to the wrong conclusion again?

She needed to think it over.

And even if she did figure it out, there were still so many problems that couldn’t be changed.

So annoying.

Even now, she still didn’t understand why Shen Wenyi liked her. After all these years, she truly hadn’t noticed! And she wasn’t a dense person. So why had Shen Wenyi never shown any sign of liking her?

What a headache. Stop thinking about it. Shen Wenyi was still crying—the body lotion had picked up on it. The crying made her heart feel like a cat was clawing at it.

I’m sorry, Shen Wenyi. Stop crying. You’d be better off coming out and beating me up.

She returned to her own guest room and tossed and turned all night. Shen Wenyi cried for a long time. A phone call came in at some point, but Shen Wenyi didn’t answer. It rang several more times before she finally picked up, only saying, “I’m not in the mood right now,” before hanging up.

Only a tiny amount of the body lotion had been used. She was far from completing the mission. Now that things had blown up like this, she was probably doomed.

Just in case, maybe she should write a will first.

Since she couldn’t sleep anyway, she got up, found paper and a pen, and followed an online will template, writing while referencing it and thinking. After finishing and signing it, she turned on her phone’s video recorder and taped a testamentary video to confirm the will’s legal validity.

People without foresight will soon have worries. Even if she survived this ordeal, there was no harm in drawing up a will early. She’d have Little Xie contact a lawyer tomorrow to add another layer of verification, be thorough about it.

This damn near-death mission—she still didn’t even know what kind of system this was, just the word “System.”

She wouldn’t die in peace.

On set the next day, she didn’t dare say a single unnecessary word to Shen Wenyi. She hadn’t figured out her own feelings yet, and she really shouldn’t provoke Shen Wenyi again.

She hadn’t slept well the night before. After lunch, she took advantage of the twenty-something-minute break to nap in the lounge. Little Xie, not wanting to disturb her, went outside with a phone to contact the lawyer.

Shen Wenyi saw Little Xie alone on the phone outside the door. She went into her own dressing room, retrieved the autograph book Jiang Shiyang had left behind yesterday, walked over to Little Xie, and held it out.

Into the phone, Little Xie was saying, “Alright, I’ll send the will over to you then. Okay, thank you, Lawyer Zhang.”

Little Xie hung up, took the autograph book, and said, a little embarrassed, “Thank you, Teacher Shen. You didn’t have to bring it over yourself.”

“It’s nothing,” Shen Wenyi said.

With that, Shen Wenyi was about to leave, but Little Xie quickly caught up a couple of steps. “Um… Teacher Shen, could I bother you for two minutes?”

Shen Wenyi turned back. Her expression was somewhat tired, but she still spoke gently. “Go ahead.”

Lowering their voice, Little Xie asked, “When Teacher Shen took Teacher Jiang abroad for a check-up last time, did the tests find any other issues?”

Shen Wenyi paused slightly. “Why do you ask?”

Worriedly, Little Xie said, “Teacher Jiang has been very strange lately. She fainted inexplicably several times before, and then claimed she was fine.”

Shen Wenyi interrupted, “She fainted several times?”

“Yes,” Little Xie replied. “Besides the time you took her abroad, she fainted once before in her bathroom at home, and again in her guest room a couple of days ago. There were also a few times where we couldn’t wake her up no matter what. I was just about to call 120 when she finally woke up.”

Shen Wenyi lowered her eyes. “Besides fainting, anything else?”

“There are other even stranger things,” Little Xie said. “A couple of days ago, she kept muttering about ‘such a big bottle of body lotion’ and sighing. I asked her what she meant, but she wouldn’t say.”

Shen Wenyi murmured, “Body lotion…”

Little Xie continued, “And this morning, Teacher Jiang suddenly gave me a will and told me to contact a lawyer. She even said that if she’s no longer around, the lawyer would provide me with an extra year’s salary. We’re right in the middle of filming, everything’s normal, so why would she suddenly draft a will? I’m really worried.”

Shen Wenyi listened silently, glancing at Jiang Shiyang’s dressing room not far away. After Little Xie finished, she said, “Nothing was found back then. Don’t overthink it. Many people draft wills in advance; it’s perfectly normal.”

Little Xie looked distressed. “Normal?”

Shen Wenyi nodded. “Normal.”

The day passed quickly. Shen Wenyi and Jiang Shiyang had no exchanges beyond work.

Back at the hotel, Shen Wenyi took a shower. She couldn’t wash her hair today because the wig had to stay on, so she just rinsed her body.

After changing into her pajamas and getting into bed, she was about to sleep but stopped. She reached over, pulled open the drawer, and took out that newly opened bottle of body lotion, barely used.

She held it and looked at it for a long time, then placed it on the table. Next, she pulled out the charging case for her Bluetooth earbuds from the drawer.

Opening the charging case, both earbuds were inside. She took out the broken one, turning it this way and that, her gaze shifting. Then, she picked up her phone and called Little He.

“Are you asleep, Little He?” Shen Wenyi asked.

“Not yet, Teacher Shen. Is something the matter?” Little He replied.

Shen Wenyi asked, “I wanted to ask you, when exactly was my Bluetooth earbud broken? And roughly how long after you left the dressing room that day did it happen?”