Five minutes later, Chen Jing, Yun Chu, and Jian You were sitting in the living room.
Chen Jing’s gaze shifted from Yun Chu to Jian You, then quickly back again. She sized up Yun Chu for a moment, then shot a quick glance at Jian You. After this happened several times, Yun Chu finally couldn’t help but protest, “How come you look at me for so long, but at Teacher Jian for such a short time?”
“Isn’t that obvious?” Chen Jing retorted subconsciously. “That’s Director Jian. Do I dare to look her straight in the eye?”
Yun Chu: “…You’re treating us differently!”
Chen Jing: “Uh-huh.”
Yun Chu: “You’re putting one down to praise the other!”
Chen Jing: “Mmm…”
Yun Chu huffed in anger. Her eyes darted around, then she pulled Jian You over, cupped her face, and planted a loud kiss on her lips. Then she turned Jian You’s face to directly face Chen Jing. “This isn’t Director Jian, this is my girlfriend! Look!”
Chen Jing: “…”
The surprise from the sudden kiss hadn’t faded from Jian You’s face. She blinked rapidly a couple of times, and as her eyes met Chen Jing’s shocked gaze, a secret sense of satisfaction suddenly bloomed within her.
She liked how Yun Chu introduced her so directly and openly. She liked that the prefix to her name wasn’t “Best Director,” but “Yun Chu’s girlfriend.” It was like being stamped with a bright, clear seal, announcing to the whole world that she belonged to Yun Chu.
She was very happy.
Chen Jing: “…”
Director Jian, the way the corners of your lips are turned up in that brilliant smile is terrifying! Ahhh! Is this what a woman in love is like? Is this still the great Director Jian she’d occasionally seen on set, explaining scenes to people with a cold expression?!!!
This time, Chen Jing’s gaze lingered on Jian You’s face for a long time, and Yun Chu grew displeased again. “A second or two is enough. Why are you staring at someone else’s girlfriend for so long?”
Chen Jing: “???”
Fucking hell! Someone come burn this damn couple at the stake!
“What on earth is going on?” Chen Jing finally found her voice. She looked at Yun Chu, a headache coming on. “Even if this variety show is that magical, there’s no way you two would’ve confirmed your relationship after only the second recording!”
There was definitely a backstory!
At this thought, the raging flames of gossip ignited within her. Her eyes, which had been blinded by their public display of affection, now shone with the light of gossip. “Spill it, now. I’m your agent. I have a right to know about this.”
“Let me explain.” Jian You sat forward a little. She had been kissed fiercely by Yun Chu, and a trace of Yun Chu’s lipstick now colored the corner of her mouth. It didn’t look messy; instead, it was another blatant display of affection for everyone to see. She opened her mouth. “Yun Chu and I-”
“We’ve known each other for a long time,” Yun Chu cut in.
Jian You: “…”
Chen Jing: “!!!”
Jian You turned her head to look at Yun Chu.
Yun Chu tugged her sleeve sheepishly and whispered, “This is such a good opportunity to show off our love. Let me tell her, let me tell her.”
She was a natural at acting cute, so much so that Chen Jing couldn’t bear to watch. She held up a hand to stop Yun Chu. “Don’t say any more. I’m picking you up at eight tomorrow morning, so you need to get your beauty sleep. I’ll listen to your story when I have time.” She stood up and looked at Jian You, hesitating. “Director Jian, you-”
Jian You: “I’m staying the night.”
Chen Jing: “…She needs to sleep early.”
Yun Chu’s face flushed. “Sister Jing! What-what are you thinking?”
What am I thinking? Chen Jing thought. You think I’ve never been in a relationship? A new couple who just got together, sleeping in the same bed without doing anything? She tried not to let her mind wander, but seeing the expression on Jian You’s face, how could she not?
The corners of Jian You’s lips curved. She stood up to see her out. “I know.”
Chen Jing said quickly, “No need to trouble yourself, Director Jian. I’ll see myself out.” Yun Chu walked her to the door, where Chen Jing pulled her close. “Don’t you dare mess around, you hear me?”
“I know, I know!” Yun Chu, finding her fussy, pushed her out the door. “Am I that kind of person?”
“You are,” Chen Jing said.
Yun Chu: “…”
Chen Jing: “?”
Yun Chu: “Fine, I am.”
Chen Jing: “…”
“Oh, right,” Yun Chu said as she walked Chen Jing to the elevator. “What’s my schedule for tomorrow? You haven’t told me yet.”
Chen Jing said, “Oh. A satellite TV station’s New Year’s Eve gala invited you to participate. You’ll be singing a duet with a male celebrity. Tomorrow morning, you’ll go to the company to learn the song. In the afternoon, you’ll fly to S City for the rehearsal in the evening. The official performance is tomorrow night.”
Yun Chu: “…I’m an actress.”
Chen Jing: “I know.”
Yun Chu: “Isn’t there a comedy sketch I can perform?”
Chen Jing: “Heh, how long has it been since you’ve watched a New Year’s Eve gala? Actors sing, singers perform sketches. Get it?”
Yun Chu: “…”
She didn’t get it.
Chen Jing didn’t care if she got it or not. She was about to nag her a bit more, but then she caught sight of Jian You waiting for Yun Chu at the door out of the corner of her eye. She swallowed the words she was about to say, hurried into the elevator, and waved. “Go on, go to your girlfriend!”
Yun Chu was obedient. Before the elevator doors had even closed, she was already turning back joyfully to find Jian You. Chen Jing: “…” She was beginning to understand the heartache of a daughter who can’t be kept at home.
As the elevator doors slowly closed, she saw Yun Chu throw herself into Jian You’s arms.
The fifteenth floor was neither high nor low. In the dead of night, no one else was using the elevator, so it went straight down to the first floor without stopping. Chen Jing fiddled with her car keys, thinking about Yun Chu’s singing ability. Before she reached her car, her steps suddenly halted.
She saw a very familiar car, so familiar she could recite the license plate number—it belonged to Jiang Yu, the head of Mangosteen Entertainment’s film department.
The car window was open, and an arm was resting on it. The tip of a cigarette glowed and faded between two fingers. Ash fell under the streetlight, but there was no motion of smoking. It seemed the owner of the hand just wanted to watch it burn.
Some subjective, even absurd, suspicions had begun to grow in her heart ever since she learned that Jiang Yu and Yun Chu knew each other and were very close. Now that they were completely confirmed, Chen Jing wasn’t surprised at all.
It was just that running into her boss after hours, and clearly being spotted, meant she had to go over and say hello, which was a bit of a pain for a humble employee.
Chen Jing sighed inwardly and walked over. “President Jiang.”
Jiang Yu had always favored overcoats and maintained a composed, coolly beautiful demeanor. But at this moment, she was only wearing a sweater, as if she had thrown it on in a hurry. Her face was bare, and there was a hint of exhaustion in her eyes. She glanced at Chen Jing. “She’s home.”
It was a pointless question to which she already knew the answer, but it made clear who she had come for.
Chen Jing answered what was asked and said no more. “She’s home.”
But Jiang Yu insisted on asking more. “Is Jian You there too?”
Chen Jing: “…Yes.”
Jiang Yu: “They’re together.”
Chen Jing: “Yes.”
Jiang Yu: “Is there any way to break them up?”
Chen Jing was slightly surprised.
Jiang Yu flicked the ash from her cigarette, still not taking a drag, and stared at the glowing tip for a moment. “I’ve tried,” she said. “It was love at first sight for me with Yun Chu. In the bar, you could tell at a glance she didn’t belong to that world. Her body was sitting there, but her heart was already far away. But she was exceptionally captivating.”
Chen Jing, however, was wondering if she would be fired for knowing too many of her boss’s secrets.
“She had someone she liked.” Jiang Yu leaned back against the seat and gave a bitter smile. “When she talked to me about Jian You, her eyes would light up. The way she looked when she was in love was truly beautiful, even if I wasn’t the one she loved.”
Jiang Yu had never loved anyone. She was used to flitting through a field of flowers without a single petal sticking to her. She’d never paid attention to other people’s love lives either. Only Yun Chu had captured her attention, treating her as a close confidante, talking to her about her secret crush, her admiration, that absurd night, and the unforgettable Jian You.
She was the one who accompanied Yun Chu to see every one of Jian You’s films. Other people watched the movie to watch the movie. Yun Chu watched the movie to watch Jian You. And she went to the movies to watch Yun Chu.
A cliché love triangle. If this were a dating show, it would be such a dramatic relationship.
She seemed like a supporting female character who asks for nothing in return, loving the female lead sincerely and hopelessly. But only she knew she wasn’t that pure. Every day she’d known Yun Chu, she’d wanted to take her to bed, wanted to erase the person named Jian You from her mind.
The cigarette between her fingers went out. Jiang Yu tossed it into the car’s trash can and said, “When Jian You was filming Kissed the Deep Sea, she gave Yun Chu an audition opportunity through the company.”
Chen Jing’s eyes widened. “I didn’t know about that.”
Jiang Yu said, “You were busy with other things at the time, so of course you didn’t know. It was submitted directly to me.”
Chen Jing: “You…”
Jiang Yu: “I rejected it.”
Although she had braced herself, Chen Jing still found it unbelievable. “You rejected it?!”
“Yes, I rejected it,” Jiang Yu said with a smile that held a cruel indifference. “I didn’t want them to have any interaction. Isn’t it better for Jian You to just live on in her memory? Isn’t it better for her to remain an unattainable first love? Why did they need to cross paths?”
“You…” Chen Jing was speechless with anger. “If Yun Chu had taken Jian You’s film back then, she’d be a Best Actress winner by now!”
Jiang Yu hummed in agreement. “I suppose so, right?”
Not a hint of guilt.
Did she regret it? Of course not. It was just that she had underestimated Yun Chu’s persistence when it came to Jian You. She never expected that Yun Chu, who had always been too timid to confess her love, would take the initiative for Jian You. She had miscalculated on this point, and now she had lost completely.
“That’s not it,” Chen Jing said.
Jiang Yu pulled another cigarette from the pack, lit it, and asked casually, “What?”
Chen Jing was tired of standing. She shifted her stance, resting a hand on the car roof, and looked at Jiang Yu. She didn’t know where the courage came from, but she retorted, “You didn’t lose because you miscalculated on that point.”
The cigarette was lit. Jiang Yu lowered her head, took a drag, and smiled. “Then what was the reason?”
“Because you love yourself more than you love Yun Chu,” Chen Jing said.
Jiang Yu’s hand trembled violently.
An ember landed on the back of her hand. It took a long moment for the faint sting of pain to register.
“If you really loved her, why didn’t you tell her? Because what you love is the way she looks when she loves someone else. You were afraid that if you confessed and she loved you back, but not as much as she loves Jian You, you would be disappointed. You were afraid she wouldn’t love you, and that it would push her even further away.”
Chen Jing felt she had really grown a spine. Here she was at two or three in the morning, standing outside her boss’s car and lecturing her on her love life, and doing so eloquently and with righteous indignation. “President Jiang, you could hide your feelings from Yun Chu, but you couldn’t hide them from me, and you couldn’t hide them from Jian You. Why do you think she never told Yun Chu to stay away from you?”
“Because she respects Yun Chu. This is Yun Chu’s career, and even as her lover, she has no right to interfere. The prerequisite for love is respect. You don’t respect her, so she doesn’t love you-”
Chen Jing stopped abruptly. The words that followed were too harsh; she couldn’t bring herself to say them.
But Jiang Yu suddenly laughed and finished her sentence: “She doesn’t love me, and she’s right not to.”
Chen Jing fell silent.
Jiang Yu took a deep drag from her cigarette. She closed her eyes and blew smoke rings toward the roof of the car. The smoke veiled her face as a tear slid from the corner of her eye. She repeated with a smile, “She doesn’t love me, and she’s right not to.”
Her gaze traveled up the floors of the building. She had counted them countless times and could find Yun Chu’s window almost instantly. A dim, warm light was on in the sixteenth-floor bedroom.
Yun Chu had said that Jian You was afraid of the dark, so this light would stay on all night.
The light would shine all night, and she, too, would bloom all night for Jian You.
Jiang Yu finished the entire cigarette, said “Thanks” to Chen Jing, then turned the steering wheel and drove out of the residential complex. She left Chen Jing standing there alone, wondering if she had enough time left to write a resignation letter. As she thought, she sent a message to Yun Chu: I’ve sacrificed too much for you! Don’t stay up too late!
Not long after, a voice message came back.
Chen Jing played it: She’s asleep.
It was Jian You’s voice.
…Damn couple.
Chen Jing muttered curses as she shoved her phone back into her pocket.
Yun Chu had work the next day, and Jian You also had to start preparing for her new film, so the two of them really did just sleep. It was just that when they woke up in each other’s arms before dawn, they shared a kiss and then held each other and slept until seven-thirty.
Chen Jing’s life-or-death chain of calls had been ringing for ten minutes: “Eight o’clock! Eight o’clock! Eight o’clock!”
Only then did Yun Chu struggle out of Jian You’s arms. She washed up and got dressed as if her soul had left her body. Knowing she was just going to the company, she didn’t bother with makeup or styling and was about to leave with just a mask on.
Just as she was about to leave, she remembered her wife was still in bed. She trotted back, knelt by the side of the bed, and leaned down to call softly to Jian You, “Baby!”
The unfamiliar term of address got no reaction from Jian You. Yun Chu pouted. “Teacher~ Jian~”
Each word came with its own tilde, a self-aware attempt at being cute. Jian You opened one eye to look at her and beckoned her closer. Yun Chu leaned down a little more, and Jian You hooked an arm around her neck. “Give me a kiss.”
Yun Chu was wearing a mask. “It’s not convenient.”
Jian You reached for her mask, but then thought better of it and didn’t move it. She kissed her on the mouth through the mask, then looked dissatisfied and commented, “Not as soft as your lips.”
With that, she took off Yun Chu’s mask, nibbled lightly on her lip, then ran the tip of her tongue over her teeth, forcing her to part her lips and let her in. Yun Chu braced herself on the bed with one hand, unable to catch her breath, left panting by the kiss.
By the time the doorbell rang, Jian You had already been pressing her down on the bed, hands roaming, for a while. Her chest was heaving, and a fine sheen of sweat had broken out on her back. Her mind was dizzy from the kiss, and it took her a moment to realize someone was ringing the doorbell. She pushed at Jian You. “Sister Jing… mmm… is here…”
Jian You’s movements paused. She gave her another light kiss, then rolled over to lie on her side and look at her. Her upward gaze was completely innocent. “Go on.”
Yun Chu: “…”
I really want to just hold my wife and go back to sleep! Ahhh!
The doorbell was still ringing. Yun Chu shouted, “Coming!” not caring if anyone downstairs could hear, then said to Jian You, “I’ll miss you so, so much.”
Jian You hummed in response.
“You have to miss me too.”
“Mm.”
“And-”
“Hm?”
“If I call out ‘Baby,’ I’m calling for you, okay?”
“…”
“Baby!”
Jian You smiled. She hummed softly. “What are you calling me for?”
Yun Chu’s face immediately turned red. “Remember to miss me!”
Jian You closed her eyes. “I will miss my baby.”
Yun Chu: “…”
Ahhhh! Being called ‘Baby’ by Jian You is so embarrassing!
She grabbed her bag and rushed downstairs. The moment she opened the door, she ran into Chen Jing, who was about to call her. She pushed Chen Jing along. “Let’s go, let’s go!”
Pushed along by her, Chen Jing asked, puzzled, “Why is your face so red?”
Yun Chu: “I-”
Chen Jing: “Alright, don’t say it. I don’t want to hear it.”
It was the crack of dawn. Only someone with nothing better to do would subject themselves to this PDA!
The song Yun Chu was to perform at the New Year’s Eve gala was a well-known one. She could sing in tune, and with guidance from a professional teacher, she quickly learned the whole song. After learning it, she went to the company’s recording studio to record it.
By the time she was done with everything, she hadn’t even had a bite of a hot meal before she was on a plane to S City. She only had time to send Jian You a message that she was about to take off before being told to turn off her phone or switch to airplane mode.
Yun Chu slumped in her seat. Chen Jing reminded her, “You’re a celebrity!”
Yun Chu sat up straight again and let out a sound of surprise. “Wow, it’s first class.”
Chen Jing said, “The company is really taking you seriously this time!”
Before this, the company had always booked economy class flights for Yun Chu, and she always had to pay out of her own pocket to upgrade. She never thought the day would come when the company would foot the bill.
Yun Chu was feeling smug. “My market value is just shooting up and up.”
Seeing how easily satisfied Yun Chu was, Chen Jing thought of what Jiang Yu had said about rejecting Jian You’s film and couldn’t help but feel even more regretful. If Yun Chu had been able to take Jian You’s film earlier, she would have a Best Actress award by now.
But it was alright. All these years, Yun Chu had remained neither arrogant nor impatient, developing at her own pace. She had finally seen the light of dawn.
While she was lost in thought, Yun Chu was still muttering to herself, “Teacher Jian sent me so many messages today. I didn’t even have time to reply. This damn work!”
“It seems like she can’t live without me. What should I do?”
“She really loves me.”
“Hehe.”
Chen Jing expressionlessly pressed the recline button for her. “Just go to sleep. I’ll wake you when we land.”
“Mhm.” Yun Chu obediently closed her eyes. “Since I’m thinking about Teacher Jian right now, if I fall asleep, I’ll definitely dream of her!”
Chen Jing: “…”
No matter how much you guard against it, the PDA always gets you in the end.
Whatever, she thought. It’s her first relationship. I should be more tolerant.
On her phone, which was in airplane mode, messages were still coming in one by one on WeChat.
【Saw your airport photos】
【Image】
【So cute】
【Message me when you arrive】
【Miss you】
【Baby】
