Chapter 27
The bathroom’s overhead light was cold and dazzling, making the white ceramic tiles shine brightly and reflect a piercing glow in the mirror.
Jiang Yuan lifted her head from the water.
Droplets slid down her cheeks. Her hair had been completely dampened, sticking to the side of her face. Water beads ran all the way down, gathering briefly at the ends of her hair before falling into the sink and spreading out in circles of ripples.
Her gaze met the person in the mirror.
The person in the mirror had a clean, bare face. Only her lips had been painted with a touch of red, which had blurred after meeting water, making it look gorgeous and ambiguous.
Jiang Yuan hurriedly pulled out a tissue and dabbed away the water, preventing her lips from becoming even more disheveled.
The redness on her face was suppressed. Once her mood had calmed down, she let out a long breath.
After carefully tidying her hair, she turned and went back.
The staff in the corridor were each busy with their own tasks, walking through with phones pressed to their ears or documents in their arms. Jiang Yuan carefully avoided them and reached the doorway.
The studio door was open by a small crack. Light spilled out from inside. The manager had probably not closed it properly.
Jiang Yuan was just about to push the door open when a voice from inside made her fingertips pause.
“Fanssty’s advertising photos were leaked. The team is preparing PR right now.” Liu Qing’s voice came from inside.
That blue-blood top luxury brand?
Jiang Yuan remembered the conversation they had that morning. She withdrew her hand, preparing to leave for a while first.
“Does your girlfriend know about this?” The next voice made her freeze in place.
Yu Qingshi frowned and denied it. “Yuanyuan doesn’t know. I never told her.”
“I see.” The manager folded her arms, somewhat melancholy. “If we exclude Jiang Yuan, then only people from our own team are left. We’ve worked together for so long, yet there’s actually still a mole.”
Yu Qingshi was not surprised and said lightly, “People chase profit. Are you still not used to that?”
“All right.” The manager shrugged and relayed the news. “Your sister called me. She’s already started investigating.”
Yu Qingshi nodded. “What did Fanssty say?”
“That’s exactly the difficult part. The jewelry’s first reveal has been ruined just like that.” The manager stared at the person in the mirror and guessed, “It was probably a competitor who bribed someone. Fanssty hopes you can go over this afternoon.”
“For jewelry of this level, they should have a Plan B. You may need to shoot another set.”
“I understand.”
The topic ended. Yu Qingshi raised her head and met the manager’s eyes, her gaze serious. “I understand Yuanyuan. Don’t say things like that again.”
She was clearly taking a protective stance.
Liu Qing made a zipper motion with her hand, zipping her mouth from left to right, then made an OK sign. “Received.”
She found it unbelievable. “Xiao Shi, how did I never realize before that you were so love-brained?”
“This has nothing to do with love.” Yu Qingshi lightly shook her head, and in fact, that was true.
Jiang Yuan could not do something like that.
“I know, I know.” Liu Qing smiled teasingly and continued joking, “You’re probably Yuanyuan-brained. ‘Yuanyuan’ has already become a high-frequency word in your mouth.”
“Is that so?” Yu Qingshi froze, unable to help thinking back carefully.
It seemed… it really was like that.
＊
When Jiang Yuan came in, the two of them were already talking about the afternoon schedule. She quietly sat to the side, her lashes lowered, absentmindedly rocking the chair.
Yu Qingshi noticed from the corner of her eye, and her thoughts could not help drifting.
On this side, the manager closed her phone. “Then we’ll arrange it like this for now. I’ll go out and contact the driver.”
“Okay.” Yu Qingshi answered absentmindedly.
After the manager left, Jiang Yuan also came back to herself. “Qingshi…”
She had not yet figured out how to say it, but Yu Qingshi had already taken her hand.
A soft little hand pressed against the back of hers. Jiang Yuan raised her head blankly.
The person opposite her had already curved her eyes. Fine light flickered in her amber eyes. “Yuanyuan heard it, right?”
“…Mm.” Having her thoughts guessed clean through, Jiang Yuan admitted it in a muffled voice.
She murmured an explanation. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I just happened to hear it.”
Her honest answer made Yu Qingshi curve her lips and laugh softly. “How has Yuanyuan still not learned how to lie about this sort of thing?”
Not putting in coffee and secretly setting the alarm earlier—she had learned those things.
Yu Qingshi continued, “I already told Liu-jie not to suspect you.”
Her finger moved slightly, scratching Jiang Yuan’s palm. “Yuanyuan, don’t be unhappy anymore.”
Her palm tingled, the numbness traveling from her fingertips to her heart. Jiang Yuan’s eyes lit up. “Qingshi believes me?”
“Of course.” Yu Qingshi paused, but felt that something was wrong. “Yuanyuan didn’t listen to the end?”
“…No.” Jiang Yuan answered honestly.
After hearing that sentence, she had fled the place, unwilling to listen any further, afraid that what came next would be something that made her sad.
Hearing this, Yu Qingshi narrowed her eyes and shook her head with a smile. “Bad puppy’s evolution failed.”
“……” Jiang Yuan was embarrassed. She unconsciously tightened her hold on the hand in her palm and softened her voice. “Qingshi… tell me.”
Yu Qingshi raised her other hand and pinched Jiang Yuan’s face. “You already listened, so why didn’t you just listen to the rest while you were at it?”
“I was afraid.” Jiang Yuan’s lashes trembled.
Afraid?
Yu Qingshi followed her words. “Afraid of what? Afraid I’d say… Hurry and investigate Jiang Yuan. She’s the biggest suspect?”
“No, mm… don’t know.” With her face pinched, Jiang Yuan’s words were muffled and unclear.
“What I said…” Yu Qingshi slowly began.
Her curiosity was stirred. Jiang Yuan silently straightened, her eyes full of focus, her ears practically about to stand up.
“What did I say again?” Yu Qingshi’s tone suddenly dropped, her words filled with confusion, while the teasing in her eyes was about to overflow.
How could Jiang Yuan not see through it? She instinctively shook Yu Qingshi’s hand. “Qingshi, mm, stop teasing me.”
“All right.” Yu Qingshi showed great mercy and switched to rubbing Jiang Yuan’s face instead. She said softly, “I said, our Yuanyuan is the most obedient. How could it possibly be our Yuanyuan?”
Her gentle words were like a light breeze, brushing open the knot twisted inside Jiang Yuan’s heart. A smile unconsciously spread from the corners of her lips, and her tense nerves finally relaxed.
“Thank you, Qingshi.” Her dark puppy eyes flickered with light, like scattered stars in the sky.
“Then how about Yuanyuan really lets me sleep ten more minutes tomorrow?” Yu Qingshi suggested, emphasizing the word “really.”
“…No.” Jiang Yuan shook her head, her stance firm. She still could not bear to hear even one “I hate Yuanyuan.” “But tomorrow, you can drink one cup of coffee.”
Her taste buds remembered coffee. Yu Qingshi could not help licking her lips and reluctantly relented. “Fine.”
Jiang Yuan continued asking, “What will Qingshi do next about Fanssty?”
“I’ll go reshoot this afternoon. They’ll probably change to another set of jewelry.”
Thinking that another job had been added to Yu Qingshi’s schedule, Jiang Yuan’s heart softened. Her eyes were full of pity as she rubbed Yu Qingshi’s hair. “You’ll have to work hard again. Good luck, Qingshi.”
Yu Qingshi rubbed against her palm and even comforted Jiang Yuan instead. “It’s part of my responsibility. I was always supposed to bear this kind of risk.”
They stayed a little longer. Worried she would disturb her, Jiang Yuan got up first. “Qingshi, then I’ll go back first.”
She cleaned up the trash on the table, stacked the lunchboxes layer by layer, and picked them up. “I’ll wait for you to come back at the house.”
Yu Qingshi raised her eyes and stared at her. Calculating it all together, they had not even spent two hours together.
She unconsciously reached out and tugged Jiang Yuan’s shirt. “Since Yuanyuan is already here, why don’t you come with me?”
“Ah? I’m going too?” Jiang Yuan pointed at herself and could not help trying to decline. “But, but…”
“But you’re my girlfriend.” Yu Qingshi blinked innocently and naturally continued.
In an instant, an arrow pierced through her soft armor. Jiang Yuan was routed, unable to say anything.
She paused. After her heart recovered a little, she agreed. “Okay.”
“Knock, knock, knock.”
The manager’s knock sounded at just the right time. Her voice came through the door, slightly muffled. “Xiao Shi, the driver is here. We need to go.”
“Okay.” Yu Qingshi turned her head and answered.
The two put away the cosmetics together. Before they even left, Yu Qingshi was the first to notice the corner of Jiang Yuan’s lips. “Yuanyuan?”
“Mm?”
Yu Qingshi was puzzled. “Yuanyuan went out for a bit. How did your lipstick get smudged?”
Although the blur was subtle, if one looked closely, one could still notice the crimson part that had spread beyond the lip line.
“Ah, here.” Jiang Yuan covered her mouth, stumbling over her words. “…It was smudged by water.”
“Yuanyuan can’t go out like this.” Yu Qingshi leaned closer. Her body was slender, as if she had been gathered into Jiang Yuan’s arms.
Her voice was deliberately lowered, as if this were some secret that could not be spoken aloud.
“Otherwise, other people will think that we were here…”
As her voice continued, Jiang Yuan’s eyes widened slightly.
Her voice had already grown so light it was almost breath. Yu Qingshi’s red lips parted. “Kissing.”
The word was light and airy, yet with a clang, it dropped a heavy hammer onto Jiang Yuan’s heart.
“I-I’ll remove it now.” She rummaged through the makeup bag, her fingertips numb and trembling uncontrollably.
Yu Qingshi instead picked up a makeup-removing wipe first. She stood on tiptoe and came closer. “Remove what? We haven’t done anything guilty.”
A cool, damp touch spread beside Jiang Yuan’s mouth. Yu Qingshi tilted her face up and wiped away all the extra lipstick on her lips.
Her breath brushed against Jiang Yuan’s chin, itchy, stretching all the way to the tip of her heart. Jiang Yuan could not help curling her hands tightly.
Yu Qingshi pulled away. Just when Jiang Yuan thought it was over, she stood on tiptoe and attacked again.
The lipstick that had touched Yu Qingshi’s pink lips pressed against Jiang Yuan’s lips once more, retracing her lip line.
Jiang Yuan had nowhere to hide and personally experienced another indirect touch.
Thump, thump. Thump, thump.
Her heart leapt with joy, the heartbeat becoming restless, as if it could bounce straight out of her body.
Jiang Yuan could only grab the edge of her pants, praying that the person only two inches away had not heard her drum-like heartbeat.
After carefully applying it, Yu Qingshi finally stepped back completely and stared at her. “Now it’s fixed.”
“Thank you, Qingshi.” Jiang Yuan immediately blurted out the words. Her voice spilled out without thought, unusually loud in the room where there were only the two of them.
As if she were covering something up.
Yu Qingshi was startled. She blinked, puzzled. “Yuanyuan?”
Jiang Yuan silently said, “…Sorry.”
The two went downstairs. Yu Qingshi had already put on a mask and sunglasses. Jiang Yuan stayed by her side, protecting her and shielding her from the surrounding gazes.
Fortunately, there were few people along the way, and they smoothly got into the black car.
The manager was already sitting inside. Seeing them come in, she shifted aside to make some room.
Seeing Liu Qing also sitting in the back seat, Jiang Yuan silently moved her gaze toward the window to avoid making eye contact.
But Liu Qing’s eyes were sharp. Just now, she had immediately locked onto Jiang Yuan’s mouth.
She loudly praised, “That’s more like it. After kissing, you should know to touch it up too. You’re half a celebrity now.”
“……”
Jiang Yuan silently flushed red.
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