After Appearing on a Dating Show with a Top-Star Omega - Chapter 8

It was nighttime. Warm light lit up the sixteenth floor, and for the first time, the home meant for one person welcomed an overnight guest.

Yu Qingshi rummaged through her wardrobe and finally found a larger set of clothes in the corner.

She handed them to Jiang Yuan. “I haven’t worn this before. It should have been sent by a brand. The size they sent back then was too big, but it should fit you just right.”

Jiang Yuan took the clothes. “Thank you.”

“You go shower and sleep first. I’ll handle a few things,” Yu Qingshi reminded her with a smile.

“Okay.” Jiang Yuan pressed her lips down. “Qingshi, sleep early. Good night.”

Jiang Yuan stepped into the guest room.

Like the rest of the home, the room used a simple natural wood design, refined and elegant.

The walls were a cool white. Inside, there was only a bathroom and a bed.

The room was clean and tidy, but at first glance, it felt somewhat cold and empty.

According to Yu Qingshi, no one had ever stayed overnight at her home, not even her assistant.

Half an hour later, Jiang Yuan finished showering, changed clothes, and walked out of the bathroom.

It was a white V-neck shirt. The cotton fabric was soft and comfortable, and the big-brand design was simple yet beautiful.

The V-neck was cut low, exposing both sides of her collarbones. Jiang Yuan was not used to it and tugged it upward, covering her collarbones.

Her own clothes were all shirts with similar cuts. She had never worn this kind of design before.

The shirt had been washed and carried a faint scent of laundry detergent. To Jiang Yuan, it did not smell like cold magnolia.

When she suddenly realized what she was thinking, heat rose behind Jiang Yuan’s ears.

So strange…

She shook her head, throwing the thought away.

Jiang Yuan walked forward two steps and flopped onto the large bed. She hugged a pillow, took out her phone, and sent a message to her roommates.

There were already messages asking about her in the dorm group.

[Qi Meng’an: Xiao Yuan, you’re not back yet? The dorm is about to close.]

[Liang You: Are you at the library again? Where are you now? We’ll help you stall the dorm auntie for a bit.]

Their words were filled with their understanding of Jiang Yuan. There was not even the slightest possibility in their minds that she might be spending the night outside the dorm.

Jiang Yuan felt even more embarrassed. She carefully considered her words and typed.

[I’m staying at Senior’s place tonight…]

Those words seemed to declare some kind of ownership. Her finger paused, and she silently deleted them, then typed again.

[I’m staying outside tonight.]

As soon as the message was sent, it was like a stone thrown into a calm lake, forcibly stirring up wave after wave.

[Qi Meng’an: ?]

[Liang You: ?]

Jiang Yuan: “…”

[Qi Meng’an: Are you joking? You’re not sleeping in the library tonight, are you??]

[Liang You: Xiao Yuan, come back and sleep. The library doesn’t even have blankets. Study again tomorrow.]

Jiang Yuan: “…”

How exactly was she supposed to explain this?

Jiang Yuan’s face collapsed. Defeated, she buried her head into the pillow.

Just as Jiang Yuan was struggling over how to word it, there was a ding-dong, and another message appeared in the dorm group.

[Liang You: Forwarded Weibo post]

[Liang You: !!!!]

[Liang You: You went to stay at my goddess’s place??]

[Qi Meng’an: dumbfounded.gif]

Even though Jiang Yuan was not in the dorm, she could feel the pressure of the two of them surrounding her and interrogating her through the screen.

She raised her hand and replied:

[Yes…]

The paparazzi broke the news very quickly, and the topic had already rushed into the top rankings.

Jiang Yuan tapped the link, and it jumped straight to Weibo.

[Passerby Marketing Account: Yu Qingshi strolls around her alma mater late at night with her girlfriend, fingers interlocked, openly showing love!!!]

The Weibo post came with several photos.

Beside the black car, Yu Qingshi held the brim of a baseball cap with one hand, hiding Jiang Yuan’s face under the shadow. With her other hand, she raised their interlocked hands high.

Her brows were tightly furrowed, and her gaze was cold as she stared directly at the camera, like a leopard that had been provoked and was about to attack.

The netizens below exploded.

[Openly showing love? Do you think the Yu family is vegetarian? Pack up and prepare to delete your account.]

[My sister is so domineering. Leopard-coding wins.]

[It’s been so long since I saw my sister this angry. The last time seemed to be a few years ago when she had just debuted and someone slandered her.]

[Pure passerby here. Who is “someone”?]

[You can’t type their name on Weibo. They were completely blacklisted.]

[Why aren’t you all curious about who the person opposite her is? She doesn’t look like Qin Yiting.]

[True. The aura is very different. Qin Yiting wouldn’t stand so properly.]

[Who exactly is it!! Who exactly is it!!!]

[A University. I miss my sister’s cute little cat-coded freshman beauty era at A University.]

The comment section was full of all kinds of remarks, but there were no urgent fan clarifications or controlled comments. Everything revealed the relaxed vibe of veteran fans.

Leopard-coded? Cat-coded? Freshman beauty?

Jiang Yuan rested her chin on the pillow, knowing nothing about these entertainment industry terms.

She tapped open the search bar and typed.

As soon as she typed the seven characters “Yu Qingshi leopard-coded cat-coded,” a related topic popped up below.

#Who Invented Yu Qingshi’s Leopard-Coded and Cat-Coded Images?#

Jiang Yuan tapped in.

After the page buffered and opened, the first thing that entered her eyes was two extremely impactful photos.

The one on the left was from a magazine shoot.

Yu Qingshi’s hair and eyebrows had been dyed flaxen, her hair curled into large waves and scattered over her shoulders.

She wore a long black leopard-print patchwork dress and held a leopard cub in her arms.

The leopard cub hugged her hand with both paws and mischievously bit Yu Qingshi’s thumb.

Yu Qingshi merely lifted her eyelids slightly and looked lightly toward the camera, yet her aura pressed down like dark clouds covering the sky.

Her amber eyes displayed their greatest advantage, glowing with a cold golden light beneath the camera.

Wildness and tenderness intertwined perfectly.

Jiang Yuan looked until her face grew hot and her heart pounded, yet for a long time, she still could not move her eyes away.

When she finally reacted and looked at the right side, she was melted again by the cat-coded photo.

The photo on the right was from an earlier period. It was a candid photo of Yu Qingshi from her university days.

At that time, Yu Qingshi’s face was still youthful, and she still had a little softness on her cheeks.

She wore no makeup, dressed in a simple white T-shirt and shorts, lowering her head to eat in A University’s cafeteria.

Small and obedient.

It made one’s heart want to soften into a puddle of water.

Jiang Yuan could not hold back. She stretched out a fingertip and lightly touched the softness of Yu Qingshi’s cheek in the photo, then pinched the air.

The feeling was as if it had truly reached her fingertip—smooth and soft.

After realizing what she had done, Jiang Yuan seemed like someone who had committed a guilty act. She immediately buried her head into the pillow, leaving only the roots of her bright red ears exposed, standing out sharply against the white pillow.

The person on the bed did not move for a long time.

Only after quite a while did she lift her head slightly. She slowly opened her right eye and glanced at the photo of Yu Qingshi from her youthful days.

What was Qingshi… like when she was in university?

＊

On the other side.

Yu Qingshi stood by the window with her arms crossed. Moonlight spilled down, coating her in a layer of silver glow.

She lowered her eyes and gave her final instruction. “Send the investigation results to my email.”

After saying that, she hung up the phone.

This time, her whereabouts had been exposed, and paparazzi had quickly been arranged to follow and photograph her. The other party was clearly targeting her.

A competitor?

In the blink of an eye, Yu Qingshi already had a suspect in mind.

Before she could send over the direction of the investigation, a phone call suddenly came in.

The phone screen clearly showed the three characters: Qin Yiting.

Yu Qingshi raised her hand and swiped to answer.

“Sister!! This time it really wasn’t me!!” As soon as Qin Yiting opened her mouth, it was the familiar sound of ghostly wailing.

It was as if something had exploded beside Yu Qingshi’s ear. She moved the phone a little farther away and raised her hand to rub her brow. “I know.”

“Ah? You know?” Qin Yiting instantly lost her voice.

Yu Qingshi said coldly, “You’re not that stupid.”

“……” Qin Yiting paused, not knowing whether she should be happy or not.

“As long as you know. You probably won’t tell your sister, right?”

Yu Qingshi poured cold water on her. “Even if I don’t tell her, she can find out herself.”

Qin Yiting: “……”

With Yu Qingyi’s personality, any news involving her younger sister would be delivered to her office in no time.

This piece of news was the best proof.

Although it had exposed the matter of Yu Qingshi strolling around campus with her girlfriend, the comment section was completely clean, without a single malicious comment.

Yu Qingyi had already stepped in.

“I was wrong, Sister,” Qin Yiting apologized.

If Qin Yiting had not deliberately created a scandal with Yu Qingshi first, Yu Qingshi’s whereabouts that day would not have been exposed and attracted these paparazzi.

“It’s fine.” Yu Qingshi’s expression was calm, and she even had the mood to comfort her. “People who want to target me will find a crack no matter what. You just happened to become the opportunity.”

Yu Qingshi had only recently returned to the country. She had won a major international award and was at the height of attention. Someone making moves against her in secret was something Yu Qingshi even considered normal.

“Sigh.” Qin Yiting felt guilty. “For the dating show payment, I’ll add more for you and your girlfriend?”

Yu Qingshi asked in return, “Has she agreed to go?”

She did not say “I,” but “she.”

The meaning in Yu Qingshi’s words was obvious. The decision about the dating show was in Jiang Yuan’s hands.

Qin Yiting said, “You henpecked people…”

Yu Qingshi cut straight to the point. “Even if she agrees, I still won’t let you pay only this much.”

Qin Yiting found it unbelievable. “Sister? What I offered is already top-star pay.”

Yu Qingshi said, “Do you want to see what number we’re trending at right now?”

Qin Yiting: “…Is this how you scam your childhood friend?”

Yu Qingshi clearly pointed at the trending search. “Is this how you scam your childhood friend?”

Qin Yiting: “……”

She had no moves left. Was she really going to bleed money heavily?

＊

In the guest room.

Jiang Yuan lay on the bed, browsing through photos of Yu Qingshi from her university days one by one.

Some were side profiles in classrooms edged with golden light. Some were full-emotion audition scenes in acting class. Some were hurried back views from chance encounters on wooded paths…

She flipped through them one by one, her finger unconsciously pressing and holding. Every time she saw one, she saved one.

“Knock, knock, knock.”

A knock came from outside the door.

The sound was very soft, but it truly startled Jiang Yuan.

Feeling guilty like a thief, Jiang Yuan instinctively turned off her phone screen and hid it under the pillow.

The person at the door seemed to have heard some movement. Yu Qingshi said softly, “Yuanyuan? Are you asleep?”

“N-no.” Jiang Yuan replied hastily and quickly got out of bed.

Jiang Yuan opened the door.

Yu Qingshi was standing at the doorway. She wore a French-style camisole nightdress, her long black hair scattered over her collarbones, her fair skin faintly visible.

Jiang Yuan did not know where to put her eyes.

Yu Qingshi handed her a cup of milk. “I was worried you wouldn’t sleep well, so I heated some milk.”

“Thank you.” Jiang Yuan did not hesitate and quickly took it.

The warm wall of the cup transferred its warmth to her palm, and a patch of warmth rose in her heart.

Yu Qingshi mentioned the news. “I’ve already officially announced it on Weibo. The matter should be resolved by tomorrow morning.”

“Officially announced it?” Jiang Yuan was still dazed.

Yu Qingshi said, “Mm. The sooner we respond, the fewer days we’ll hang on the trending list.”

“Okay.”

As the two talked, Yu Qingshi’s gaze seemed to fall on Jiang Yuan from time to time.

Jiang Yuan noticed it, and her body immediately stiffened. Even her breathing slowed by half a beat.

Yu Qingshi suddenly said, “This outfit suits you very well.”

The V-neck shirt was loose and lazy, the fabric falling beautifully. It exposed winding collarbones, and the shirt fit her body, faintly revealing hazy curves. Refined and sexy.

“It’s my first time seeing you wear this kind of style.”

Jiang Yuan lowered her head to look at herself. She had been lying on the bed for a long time earlier, so the V-neck had slipped down again. The top was wrinkled and piled messily, making her look disheveled in it.

Her face and ears flushed red as she hid a little behind the door and said stiffly, “Thank you. Qingshi looks good too.”

Yu Qingshi chuckled softly. “This outfit might go very well with those earrings.”

“The cat paw earrings?”

“Yes.” Yu Qingshi’s gaze swept over the other person’s empty earlobes, and she suggested, “Next time we meet, wear the earrings and let me see?”

“…Okay.” Jiang Yuan agreed.

“Then… good night?” Yu Qingshi’s gaze flowed, fragmented light scattering at the bottom of her eyes.

She said their second good night of the evening.

“Good night, Qingshi.”

After Yu Qingshi left, Jiang Yuan closed the door and quickly walked to the bed, gently placing the milk on the bedside cabinet.

She took out the phone under her pillow and searched Yu Qingshi’s name on Weibo.

Her account immediately popped up, along with the new Weibo post that was still rising in popularity.

[Yu Qingshi V: Please stop making random guesses. She is someone outside the industry. Also, it wasn’t a late-night secret meeting; it was open and aboveboard. Thank you all for your concern. [Photo]]

The photo was taken in the kitchen. Sunlight passed through the glass and fell onto the girl’s back.

Her shirt sleeves were half rolled up, revealing arms with smooth lines. The apron cinched her lean waist.

The girl held a pot in one hand and used the other to scoop noodles into a porcelain bowl.

The kitchen’s decoration was simple, yet its ornaments were small and exquisite. Paired with this lively and warm scene, it made the corners of one’s mouth rise unconsciously.

The comments below were also full of blessings.

Jiang Yuan’s face was filled with embarrassment. She directly fell face-down into the blanket.

Qingshi… when did she take that photo…

It’s fine, Jiang Yuan. You’re puppy-coded. [let me see]

Dogs and cats are such good civilization. Yay, yay, yay. [milk tea]