After the Scheming Girl Joined a Dating Show - Chapter 5

“You mean push the two beds together? The two of us sleeping in one big bed?” Xia Mozhu couldn’t help but confirm with Su Qin.

“You don’t like sharing a bed?” Su Qin countered.

“No, no.” Xia Mozhu waved her hands hurriedly. “A big bed is definitely more comfortable. I mean, who wouldn’t want to share a bed with a beauty?”

She almost wanted to bite her tongue off. Why did she have to add that last part? Why wouldn’t her mouth behave!

Su Qin didn’t waste any more words; she had already started physically moving the bed.

As Xia Mozhu helped, she thought to herself: Su Qin probably isn’t used to sleeping in a small bed, so she suggested pushing them together. Or… maybe Su Qin is like me and afraid of the dark?

Before this, she never had the chance to be this close to Su Qin. Most of what she knew about her came from gossip or the media—everyone said Su Qin was very cold and aloof.

But spending time together like this, she didn’t seem that cold at all. On the contrary, she was actually a bit cute.

Xia Mozhu was a single-threaded creature; she couldn’t do two things at once. Since she was thinking about Su Qin, her behavior followed suit—she began to steal glances at Su Qin and giggle to herself.

However, it couldn’t exactly be called “stealing” a glance anymore, because the subject of her gaze noticed her.

Su Qin: “Is there something on my face?”

Xia Mozhu jumped, shaking her head. “No.”

Su Qin: “Then why are you looking at me and laughing?”

Looking into Su Qin’s “Dean-like” eyes, Xia Mozhu found it impossible to tell a lie. She whispered, “Because… I think you’re cute?” Her tone was an uncertain question, making her look like a student who had been called on to answer a question but wasn’t sure of the answer.

Su Qin frowned, appearing somewhat displeased. It was impossible to tell what she was thinking.

Xia Mozhu blurted out, “It’s still a while before sleep, I’ll go turn the cameras back on,” and then she bolted.

Her heart was thumping wildly against her ribs. Su Qin… was still a bit scary sometimes.

Su Qin replaced the villa’s sheets, blankets, and pillows with the bedding she had brought herself. It was clean and orderly; she would even pick up and discard a single stray hair if she saw one.

Xia Mozhu, having finished drying her hair, looked at the brand-new “super bed” which was now 2.4 meters wide. “Now I can roll around on the bed without being afraid of falling off.”

Su Qin: “You like rolling on the bed?”

“Huh?” Xia Mozhu froze. “I… I was just praising how big the bed is. That was a rhetorical device. A metaphor? No, a hyperbole?”

One second, two seconds, three seconds passed. The room was pin-drop silent.

Finally, just as Xia Mozhu was racking her brain for a way to make the scene less awkward, Su Qin let out a simple “Mm.”

Xia Mozhu breathed a sigh of relief. What on earth am I saying? I must have spent too much time with those three idiot roommates of mine; I’ve been infected.

The roommates being thrown under the bus: “…” “???”

Speaking of which, she hadn’t checked her phone messages much all day. Knowing she was filming with Su Qin, those three were so jealous they wished they could shrink down to the size of a thumb and hide in her pocket.

After finishing her skincare routine, Xia Mozhu opened her chat app. The dorm group chat already had 1,000+ messages. What were they even talking about?!

“Did you talk to Teacher Su?”

“Is the Celestial’s skin incredibly good?!”

“Was the Celestial kidnapped into joining this show?”

“@Bamboo, did you forget about us the moment you saw the Celestial?!”

“Waaaah, does the show need more staff? I don’t need to be on camera, just let me quietly follow Teacher Su and run errands!”

Out of the 1,000 messages, the “Su-content” was extremely high.

It couldn’t be helped; Su Qin’s onscreen roles ranged from aloof to playful, pure to domineering. She was a total “crowd-pleaser” for both men and women.

At that moment, a new message popped up in the group.

[This is the Empire I Won for You: Where are you? Is Sister Qin super cold? I really want her to give me the cold shoulder!] This nickname belonged to a girl who had been voted the “Department Beauty” of the acting department. She was gorgeous, but she turned into a puddle whenever she saw other beautiful women.

Xia Mozhu typed “tap-tap-tap” rapidly: “I’m sharing a room with her.”

The group chat suddenly went silent.

Xia Mozhu scratched her head. Did they all fall asleep?

A few minutes later:

[This is the Empire I Won for You: The ‘her’ you’re talking about… it couldn’t be Su Qin, right?]

[Bamboo: Yes.]

As soon as she sent the confirmation, Xia Mozhu’s phone began to vibrate violently. Messages flooded in one after another.

“Jealousy has made me unrecognizable!”

“You have been expelled from Room 309.”

“Love rival, draw your sword.”

“…”

Xia Mozhu looked up at Su Qin. Is this the power of the Nation’s White Moonlight?

Su Qin locked eyes with Xia Mozhu. Expressionless, she said, “It’s time to sleep.”

“Oh, okay.” Xia Mozhu didn’t delay for a second. She turned off her phone and obediently crawled under the covers.

Although the beds were pushed together, the two blankets were separate. Afraid of crowding Su Qin, Xia Mozhu slept on the very edge of the bed, wrapping herself in the blanket from head to toe like a caterpillar.

Su Qin glanced at her but said nothing. Just as she was about to turn off the lights, Xia Mozhu poked her head out of the blanket. “Can we leave one light on?”

“Mm,” Su Qin replied, leaving the small bedside lamp on.

“Thank you.” After thanking her, Xia Mozhu asked bashfully, “Will the light keep you from sleeping?”

Su Qin: “No.”

Xia Mozhu’s eyes crinkled into crescents. “Thank you. Goodnight.”

Su Qin: “You really like saying ‘thank you.'”

Xia Mozhu: “Huh?”

Su Qin: “Nothing. Go to sleep.”

Xia Mozhu nodded and, like a little loach, slid her head back under the covers. Su Qin looked at the bulging blanket, a hint of curiosity appearing in her eyes.

In the middle of the night.

Xia Mozhu dreamed she had joined the cast of The Legend of the White Snake. Su Qin played the White Snake, and she played the Green Snake. There was a scene where Sister White Snake and Sister Green Snake were bathing in a hot spring.

The pool, surrounded by rocks, emitted rising steam. White mist swirled as if they were in a fairyland. The White Snake slowly shed her white veil, revealing milky-white shoulders, and stepped into the water one step at a time—splash, splash.

Xia Mozhu, the little Green Snake, was already soaking in the water. Watching Sister White Snake get closer and closer, she saw her face moistened by the spring water, her skin smooth as an egg, and her cheeks flushed pink—more tempting than a ripe red apple. Xia Mozhu wanted to take a bite.

Sister White Snake had Su Qin’s face. Her hair was wet, with a few strands clinging to her face, and water dripped down her jawline. She looked both cold and alluring.

The beauty raised an arm, creating ripples. Just as she reached toward Xia Mozhu, the sound of the water startled Xia Mozhu awake.

Dreaming of water—that meant she had to go to the bathroom!

Xia Mozhu opened her eyes and let out a long sigh of relief. That was close. She felt her nearly-exploding bladder and whispered, “You’ve worked hard.”

Xia Mozhu rolled out of bed to go to the bathroom. She opened the bedroom door and froze.

Why did the production crew turn off all the hallway lights?!

It was pitch black outside; she could only see the blurry silhouettes of objects. Xia Mozhu had a very vivid imagination. She saw a standing object she couldn’t identify, and the more she looked at it, the more it resembled a child—specifically, one of those creepy paper-effigy children from horror games.

“…”

She didn’t even know where the light switch was.

Xia Mozhu took two steps back. Should I just hold it?

Just as that thought surfaced, the water pipes in the wall let out a gurgling sound, more effective than a whistle.

Xia Mozhu took a deep breath and, with a “do-or-die” determination, walked to the bedside and tugged at the corner of Su Qin’s blanket.

Su Qin slowly opened her eyes. Her light eyelids formed three creases, and her gaze was still a bit hazy from sleep.

Xia Mozhu’s cheeks burned as she stammered, “Could you… please walk me to the bathroom?”