Chapter 26
Ming Xu pointed at the mask on her face. Her meaning was obvious.
“Being a big star really isn’t easy.”
The fluffy cloud in Song Jianzhi’s hand spun once in the air, its sweet threads seeming to drift through the air like silk and floss.
Song Jianzhi bit into it and glanced at Ming Xu, her eyes carrying a little smugness.
Her lashes were thick, and her rippling eyes hid beneath them, shining with a sly little fox-like light.
“So sweet.” Song Jianzhi looked at Ming Xu with a grin, the tip of her tongue licking away the sugar threads stuck to her lips. Her lips gleamed with moisture.
Ming Xu looked steadily at her.
Unexpectedly, she said nothing.
Instead, Song Jianzhi became embarrassed. “If you want to eat it, I’ll buy another one for you. I’ll take this one back.”
In any case, even if people saw her, they wouldn’t dare laugh out loud in front of her, Song Jianzhi thought deeply.
“I don’t want that.” Ming Xu continued walking back, and Song Jianzhi could only follow. “Let’s go.”
By the time they were almost at the hotel, Song Jianzhi had finally eaten most of it. She threw the bamboo stick into the trash, and Ming Xu took out a tissue for her.
Song Jianzhi carefully accepted it, avoiding her fingertips, and complained, “I accidentally got sugar on my hand. It’s sticky.”
“Not just your hand.” Ming Xu looked at the corner of her lips and said leisurely.
Song Jianzhi stuck out her tongue and explored the corner of her lips. Sure enough, it was sweet. “Ah, I’ll wash my face when I go back.”
Song Jianzhi lowered her head slightly and quickly walked through the lobby. The two of them took the elevator back to the sixth floor.
There were not many people staying on the sixth floor. Aside from Li Man, who was nearby to take care of Ming Xu, there were only two or three people who, like them, liked quiet. After all, the whole crew did not need that many rooms, and most people were on the third and fourth floors.
Song Jianzhi took out the room card for 601 and was about to swipe it. Turning around, she said, “I’m going back. If you’re tired, rest early.”
Ming Xu did not answer. Instead, she lightly took the room card from Song Jianzhi’s hand and swiped it.
The door opened. Ming Xu placed a hand around Song Jianzhi’s shoulder and walked in with her.
One step, two steps.
The door closed.
The two figures leaning together disappeared behind the door.
Song Jianzhi became alert. “Why are you coming to my side?”
“To clean you up.”
Ming Xu lowered her head as she answered. Her expression could not be seen clearly, but her tone was natural.
Ming Xu soaked a towel with hot water on her own, then turned around and first wiped Song Jianzhi’s hands with the warm towel.
Song Jianzhi watched her cautiously.
She saw Ming Xu wipe her hands two or three times. The towel’s soft fibers brushed over the back of Song Jianzhi’s hand, warm and itchy.
Her fingers were surrounded by something warm. The towel had not been wrung dry, and the water it had absorbed seeped out as their hands rubbed and squeezed together. The liquid spread over her skin.
Her hand was wet.
Drip.
A drop of water fell from Song Jianzhi’s fingertip and smashed into a tiny splash on the floor.
As if waking from a great dream, Song Jianzhi’s face suddenly reddened.
Ming Xu was washing the towel again. This time, she was going to wipe her face.
Ming Xu lifted Song Jianzhi’s chin, pressing the warm towel against the side of Song Jianzhi’s face.
Song Jianzhi’s eyes darted around, refusing to look at Ming Xu. She heard Ming Xu laugh softly and say:
“I haven’t even wiped your face yet. Why are you already red?”
And so Song Jianzhi’s ears reddened too. Her thin, translucent earlobes were stained with rouge, tender enough to drip.
Ming Xu truly did not seem to have any other thoughts. Just like that day at Ganlin Garden, after Song Jianzhi had cried, Ming Xu had cared for her this thoughtfully.
The sticky feeling on Song Jianzhi’s face vanished completely. The heat seeped into her pores, steaming her into a peach-blossom face. Her cupid’s bow was adorable, and the corners of her lips naturally curled upward.
One of the joints of Ming Xu’s fingers, separated by the thin towel, pressed against the corner of Song Jianzhi’s lips.
Song Jianzhi knew nothing of it.
After two breaths, Ming Xu suppressed the desire in her heart. Her knuckle gently rubbed against the fullness beneath it.
The towel absorbed the last trace of sugar, loyally, dutifully, cautiously, and restrainedly completing its cleaning task.
Ming Xu lowered her hand, washed the towel, and hung it back in place.
Ming Xu led Song Jianzhi away from the sink and over to the chair, making Song Jianzhi sit down.
On the small table between the two chairs was a little night-light, made in the shape of a lotus. Ming Xu pressed it lightly, and warm yellow light spilled out.
Song Jianzhi was a little baffled and looked up at her. “Isn’t it clean already?”
Ming Xu’s lowered hand naturally touched her slender, fair neck.
From her neck, it slowly invaded toward the side of her cheek, until it finally stopped and lingered on her face, her little finger supporting Song Jianzhi’s chin.
“It’s not clean yet.”
Ming Xu bent down and murmured by Song Jianzhi’s lips.
“May I?”
Ming Xu asked for Song Jianzhi’s opinion.
Song Jianzhi was like little Tang Monk captured by a spirit, trapped in a tiny space coiled by a snake demon’s body, stuck to the chair by a spider spirit’s endless silver threads, and also pinned in place by the Woman Kingdom’s queen with clear, light brown pupils.
Song Jianzhi blinked. What Woman Kingdom queen? Those eyes clearly belonged to Ming Xu.
Song Jianzhi: I suddenly understand how hard it was for Tang Monk in Journey to the West. Tang Sanzang was freaking amazing! Voice crack.
She was already so nervous that her thoughts had started flying everywhere.
Ming Xu was still patiently waiting. A beauty always had a bit of confidence.
Even Ming Xu, who had grown fearful because of love in front of Song Jianzhi, still relied on the admiration Song Jianzhi always revealed toward her.
Who knew whether people, when nervous, would suddenly perform a string of ridiculous operations, or whether subconscious actions represented the most secret answer in the heart?
Song Jianzhi’s small tongue slipped out, flashing once between her red, water-chestnut lips.
Song Jianzhi: Holy crap, who am I, where am I, what am I doing?
Maybe she had only been nervous and wanted to moisten her lips. Maybe she had simply gotten used to sticking out her tongue tonight to lick the corners of her mouth. Maybe she—
In any case, Ming Xu gladly accepted the invitation.
Two soft lips pressed and crowded together, grinding and squeezing away the last of the air.
Softness, powdery sweetness, flavor.
Just as she had wiped Song Jianzhi’s hands and face with meticulous patience, Ming Xu cleaned the last place on her that had been soaked with sticky sugar.
Once eaten into the mouth, it turned into sugar water. Water was everywhere, so Ming Xu had to inspect it even more carefully.
Not an inch could be yielded.
Not the slightest bit was up to anyone.
The quiet little night-light sat on the table, its halo falling over two intimate beauties’ faces.
The beauties beneath the light were gentle and hazy, clear, alluring, and tempting.
The next day, Song Jianzhi did not go to the filming set.
The crew always set out fairly early, rushing to capture suitable morning scenery. Since Song Jianzhi had no scenes, she naturally did not need to get up before dawn and stumble around in the dark with them.
Even by late morning, Song Jianzhi still had not come.
During a break, Ming Xu kept glancing outside a few times. Li Man knew what she was thinking, and only after asking around did she say, “Director Song went back to S City.”
The makeup artist was simply touching up Ming Xu’s makeup. Beneath the busy hands of the makeup artist, Ming Xu’s expression was not very clear.
With others present, Li Man did not say anything else.
Instead, the makeup artist smiled and said, “People outside keep saying Teacher Ming and the director have a bad relationship. I almost believed it before too. Only after joining the crew did I find out—this relationship really needs no explanation!”
“People are still spreading that?” Ming Xu asked.
The makeup assistant cut in, “People who haven’t seen it will say anything. Teacher Ming, don’t mind them.”
Ming Xu lowered her eyes.
Song Jianzhi’s return to S City was really not to avoid Ming Xu—although it did conveniently let her ease some of her embarrassment.
But going from Qijue Mountain back to S City was a bumpy journey. It had only been a kiss. She was not so shy that she would cat-run all the way back from thousands of miles away.
The main reason was that early in the morning, Song Jianyin had told her that their elusive parents had actually returned to the country.
And they would only stay in S City for two days before going back out to happily travel again.
It would take Song Jianzhi more than half a day to return from N City. The moment she received the news, she immediately set off.
At first, she wanted to tell Ming Xu, but then she felt that specially telling her seemed a little pretentious. She dawdled back and forth, and in the end, she only greeted the three giants before leaving.
On the plane, she stretched slightly and looked at the endless sea of clouds outside the window, somewhat lost in thought.
The parents of this world…
What would they be like?
She was the only person in first class on this flight. In this quiet time alone, her longing for her parents from her previous life quietly rose in her heart again.
Without her, they would live much more easily, right?
Song Jianzhi looked at the clouds gilded with golden light and quietly leaned her head against the window.
Yet no matter how she imagined it, she never expected that after stepping into the Song residence, the two middle-aged people on the sofa would turn around and reveal faces almost identical to her parents from her previous life.
The handbag in Song Jianzhi’s hand suddenly fell to the ground—
“Dad? Mom!”
In her words, there was disbelief, surprise, and even more fear.
A sour impulse rushed straight up Song Jianzhi’s face. For a moment, her nose stung, and tears immediately surged from her eyes.
How could this be? How could this happen? Was it real? Was it fake?
Was she actually dreaming? Was she still in the hotel at Qijue Mountain, sleeping soundly through a beautiful dream, everything nothing more than the emotions suppressed in her heart floating to the surface at night?
Constructing this exquisite deception.
Mother Song revealed a smile. She was already middle-aged, but to have given birth to these two daughters, she was naturally a beauty. This beautiful woman beckoned to Song Jianzhi.
“You must be Jianzhi, right? You’ve already grown so big!”
Song Jianzhi: …
Ah?
This relative-visit-exclusive greeting was way too immersion-breaking, wasn’t it??
Father Song beside her also said with relief, “Jianyin, look. Your younger sister really does look so much like us.”
Song Jianzhi: ?
Who else would I be supposed to look like??
Song Jianyin was clearly already used to their unreliable parents. She raised her eyes and looked at Song Jianzhi. “Why are you crying? Come here quickly and wipe your tears.”
Song Jianzhi was shocked by these two sentences, and the storm of emotion in her heart vanished. Now, she had already understood.
They only looked alike.
They were not them.
Perhaps their original faces were the same, but the Song couple loved each other deeply, maintained themselves exquisitely, and spent every day traveling outside, too happy to think of home. Their complexions were excellent, and they looked only in their early thirties.
As for her own parents, they had worked themselves ragged everywhere for medical expenses. Their faces had long since been pressed into lines by life and medical bills, and worry had turned strands of their hair white.
They were different.
Song Jianzhi drank a sip of hot tea and completely calmed down.
But being able to see her parents after death, even if it was only the same faces—how was that not fate?
Even her drawing this identity, could it also have been due to some power in the unseen world…
Thinking of this, she immediately asked the system, “4399, are they connected to my parents?”
The system said cordially, “Song Ankang and Lin Yue did not appear in the original work. Therefore, their appearance could be altered according to the host’s inner wish power. This is a reward from the branch for an outstanding employee.”
Song Jianzhi lost focus for a moment.
How wonderful.
Being able to see their faces again was truly wonderful.
Song Jianzhi looked at the two people before her with eyes full of attachment.
Her phone, placed on the table, lit up. The screen displayed “Ming Xu.”
Looking at the family members currently talking, she secretly opened her phone and took a look:
Ming Xu: “I saw a squirrel and thought of you.”
Below it was a photo. The silly little squirrel looked at the camera, its black-bean eyes full of innocence untouched by the world.
Author’s Note:
Song Ankang, Lin Yue—the system says there is no connection, but there may still be a connection.
Who can say for sure about this kind of thing?
A little easter egg.
Extra update at midnight.
Thank you, bosses. Tonight, you are all little night-lights!
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