Chapter 146: Accompany Me
This translation was originally posted on https://love4baihe.blogspot.com please read it there. and check out other stories too.
Hearing that the gifts she gave Xi Mo back in college were not in the gift room, Ruan Yesheng froze first, then a huge wave of loss surged up in her heart.
Before, she was full of hope, thinking her gifts must be here, just waiting to be found from the pile. Because of this expectation, she was full of energy. Even though she spent an afternoon searching for the letters, she didn’t seem to feel tired.
Who knew it would all be for nothing.
The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. Ruan Yesheng stood there and sighed softly.
Xi Mo lowered her eyes and stayed silent.
Ruan Yesheng looked over at Xi Mo.
When she first stood at the door, she saw Xi Mo with a lonely face by the pile of gifts, and her heart already felt a little sour. Now that she knew Xi Mo even skipped sleep and came here to search, only to end up empty-handed, she felt even more pained.
When Xi Mo flipped open the last gift box and confirmed the gifts really weren’t here, she must have been so sad.
Ruan Yesheng didn’t witness it right at that moment, but she could completely imagine Xi Mo’s feelings.
Thinking of this, Ruan Yesheng’s heartache for Xi Mo far outweighed her own emptiness at not finding the gifts. She walked up to Xi Mo and said softly, “If we can’t find them, then we can’t. It’s fine, they’re actually not that important.”
Xi Mo lifted her eyes. She could feel the clear comfort in Ruan Yesheng’s words.
Even though Ruan Yesheng herself was also feeling down, she still turned around to comfort her instead.
Xi Mo said seriously, “I think they're important.”
Ruan Yesheng was stunned.
Her feeling was like Xi Mo smoothed her fur, her whole body felt much better, and from Xi Mo’s serious tone she got much comfort. The gifts’ whereabouts were indeed important to Ruan Yesheng, but what mattered more was Xi Mo’s attitude toward those gifts.
Xi Mo now cared so much about the gifts she once gave. Wasn't this enough?
Even if they couldn't be found, there was no need to force it. With Xi Mo’s heart, she already felt enough.
“I feel happy.” Ruan Yesheng followed Xi Mo’s words, a smile rising in her eyes.
Xi Mo frowned: “Not even one gift was found, and you're still happy?”
Ruan Yesheng laughed and said: “You think it’s important, of course I feel happy. I gave you gifts not because they were useful to you, after all you lack nothing. Giving you a birthday gift was just an expression of heart. I wanted to wish you happy birthday, I wanted you to see my heart, to know my heart.”
Her voice was very soft, carrying a warm touch that soothed people: “Now, even though you didn’t see my gift, you would rather not sleep at night but came here to search, this shows you already saw my heart, already knew my heart, and treasured my heart even more. Even if the gift is gone, my heart has already reached your hands. I’m very satisfied.”
Xi Mo didn’t expect her to say such words. Caught off guard, her cheeks turned a little red.
“Alright.” Ruan Yesheng put her hands behind her back, leaned forward, and coaxed her: “Don’t be unhappy.”
Xi Mo’s beautiful brows tightened, her gaze drifting to the side: “...I’m not unhappy.”
Zhou Wenxu stood upright, pulled out his phone, and while watching them, calmly posted a Weibo.
@tukouwenyanwu*: “I Ship.”
*土口文言午 might be built from breaking his surname 周 (Zhou) into radicals/components
He’s just an ordinary netizen. The internet is vast like an endless sea, and he’s like an unnoticed little wave in it. But he often ships CPs and has his own small circle.
Zhou Wenxu has about 1,500 fans. Among them, about 1,000 are bought, just to make his Weibo look like it has more followers. He doesn’t know how to produce content; he only knows the pure “just ship it” method. His fans aren’t many. Of the remaining 500, half are zombie accounts Weibo gradually pushed to him, and the other half are friends he met over the years through shipping CPs. There aren’t many people, but the relationships are good.
Meanwhile, Ruan Yesheng looked at Xi Mo’s sulky but stubborn little face and felt her heart soften. She said, “Actually, this is simple to fix. I can just send you four more gifts later, right? But so much time has passed, it might be hard to send the exact same ones as before. I’ll try my best, and if I can’t find them, I’ll use similar ones instead.”
Xi Mo shook her head.
Ruan Yesheng deliberately looked wronged: “You don’t want me to send you gifts in the future?”
Xi Mo immediately said, “…I do.”
Ruan Yesheng chuckled.
Xi Mo added, “But I still want the ones from before.”
Ruan Yesheng pointed at Xi Mo’s nose from a distance, without actually touching her. She said, “Is your OCD acting up again, needing to find it to feel okay? So what, how can you feel better?”
Xi Mo thought, actually, it feels kind of nice talking like this with Ruan Yesheng.
But she said lightly, “My OCD isn’t severe as yousay, I’ve looked everywhere I can. If it really isn’t here, then there’s nothing to do.”
Seeing Xi Mo calm down, no longer looking so tense, Ruan Yesheng relaxed a little. “If you can think like that, that’s good.”
Not long after Zhou Wenxu’s Weibo saying “I ship” was posted, he got a dozen likes from friends. They didn’t really know what the post meant but still liked it to show they saw it.
Someone commented, “You ship what?”
Zhou Wenxu replied slowly, “Deng Ding CP.”
The other person was confused: “What’s that?”
Sui Ting hasn’t aired yet. Right now, only a very small number of people have seen Ruan Yesheng and Xi Mo’s interactions at the wrap-up party livestream, plus some behind-the-scenes clips. They think Deng Sui and Ding’e are worth savoring and started shipping this master-servant CP that’s cold all the way to the depths of the Arctic permafrost*.
*Cold CPs are unpopular CPs
Not having heard of Deng Ding CP is actually the most normal reaction.
Then someone called “Pine and Needle”* replied to the curious netizen: “It’s the lead and supporting female from a drama that hasn’t aired yet. It just wrapped filming. Once it airs, you’ll see.”
*Sōngshù yǔ sōngzhēn - Pine trees and pine needles, same ‘song’ character in Gu Qisong
The netizen replied: “Wow, lead and supporting female, and it’s a yuri CP? That’s rare. Little sister, could you point me to the drama so I can check it out?”
@PineAndNeedle: “I’m not a little sister.”
Netizen: “Then a little brother?”
@PineAndNeedle: “A big brother.”
Netizen: “…”
@PineAndNeedle: “The drama is called ‘Sui Ting’.”
The netizen thanked him and didn’t continue chatting, probably thinking “PineAndNeedle” has a weird way of thinking.
Zhou Wenxu, however, actively replied to “PineAndNeedle,” in a familiar tone, like they’re good friends in real life: “Looks like you’re home on break, resting well, and even chatting online.”
@PineAndNeedle: “Not much rest, I’m busy with some things.”
@tukouwenyanwu: “When you have time, call up those old brothers, let’s go have a meal together.”
@PineAndNeedle: “In a few days, I’m busy these days. I’ll call you then.”
@tukouwenyanwu: “No problem.”
@PineAndNeedle: “You ship Ding’e and Deng Sui?”
@tukouwenyanwu: “Yes, I’m telling you, they’re real. You actually get more chances than I do, didn’t you feel it?”
@PineAndNeedle: “I don’t understand these things, but Ding’e and Deng Sui do have a deep master-servant bond.”
Facing each other, Ruan Yesheng and Xi Mo talked for a while. Xi Mo’s mood brightened a lot, and she said, “There are still letters. Let’s not waste time. If the gifts aren’t here, we at least need to find all the letters.”
Ruan Yesheng checked the time. They had both finished showering early, so there was still plenty of time. She knew Xi Mo’s personality, if she saw she couldn’t find the gifts, not finding the letters too would make her frustrated. She said, “Okay, then let’s look for the letters, but we can’t go too late. The latest is 11, then we need to go rest.”
Xi Mo nodded.
Ruan Yesheng noticed the nod carried an unusually obedient feel, and couldn’t help smiling.
This translation was originally posted on https://love4baihe.blogspot.com please read it there. and check out other stories too.
Zhou Wenxu finished chatting with “PineAndNeedle.” Hearing they were going to look for letters, he came over and said to Xi Mo, “I’ll call the others. More people will make it faster. Tell us the features of the envelopes you need, and by 10:30, the task should be done. Finding them early will stop you from worrying. You said yourself, it’s not urgent, yet you came over late at night, talking to yourself.”
Xi Mo: “…”
Zhou Wenxu turned to Ruan Yesheng: “Good thing I came out for a night check and saw the lights in the gift room. I saw Xi Mo searching, so I helped. Otherwise, who knows how long she would have searched alone.”
Ruan Yesheng: “Thank you, Mr. Two.”
Zhou Wenxu said, “Miss Ruan, actually Xi Mo was afraid of tiring you out, which is why she said earlier not to search at night. If she searched at night, you would come along, and then you wouldn’t be able to rest properly. That’s why she said no, but secretly slipped out to look for the gifts, without letting you notice. She just didn’t want you following and affecting your rest.”
Ruan Yesheng glanced at Zhou Wenxu, smiling warmly: “I understand.”
Xi Mo: “…”
Zhou Wenxu, can’t you talk less?
…Did I ask you to say it?
After spilling everything, Zhou Wenxu walked out of the gift room.
Leaving Ruan Yesheng and Xi Mo standing there, looking at each other. Ruan Yesheng didn’t speak, just used her slightly watery eyes to gaze at Xi Mo.
Xi Mo felt uncomfortable under that look, lowering her eyes and scanning the floor. When she noticed an open gift box not far off, her attention was immediately drawn. She walked over and picked up the contents.
It was a thick sketchbook, but the cover was transparent. Through the cover, the first page could be seen, with a pressed leaf attached. Xi Mo flipped through it, each page had a leaf stuck on it, all different in color and shape.
This pressed leaf collection was found by Zhou Wenxu while searching through the gifts. Xi Mo hadn’t noticed it before, but now that she had, she quietly placed it on a nearby table.
Ruan Yesheng saw Xi Mo do this and walked over to ask, “Are you going to store this pressed leaf collection somewhere else?”
She had noticed before that Xi Mo was quite interested in pressed leaves. If any handmade gift from fans contained pressed leaves, Xi Mo would specifically set it aside. In Xi Mo’s room at the Xi family manor, there were also several frames displaying pressed leaf collections.
“Mm, after we finish looking for the letters, I’ll take it back and put it with the previous collections,” Xi Mo said, looking at the leaf on the first page with a complex expression.
“You have a lot of pressed leaf collections now, don’t you?” Ruan Yesheng asked out of curiosity.
Many people in the world have hobbies of collecting things they like, which is common, but Ruan Yesheng was a little surprised that Xi Mo’s interest was collecting leaves.
“Not that many,” Xi Mo replied.
Ruan Yesheng smiled, “I didn’t expect you to like leaves so much. If I had known in college, when I was preparing your birthday gift, I would have given you a pressed leaf collection.”
Xi Mo hesitated, “Actually…”
“Actually what?” Ruan Yesheng asked.
“Actually, I don’t really like leaves,” Xi Mo said softly. “I just… when I see them, I want to keep them.”
Ruan Yesheng thought about this and felt there was something odd in her words, “You don’t collect these leaf collections because you like them? Could it be your OCD, that if the pressed leaves appear in front of you and you don’t sort them individually, you feel uncomfortable?”
Xi Mo: “…”
She looked a little resentful at Ruan Yesheng, "Do you think my OCD is that serious?”
Ruan Yesheng pressed her thumb and forefinger together, smiling as she made a gesture, “Just this little bit.”
Xi Mo didn’t reply. Ruan Yesheng observed her expression and felt the reason wasn’t just OCD, there had to be something deeper, but Xi Mo didn’t seem willing to say.
“Let me see who sent this pressed leaf collection. So lucky, you get to keep it all to yourself,” Ruan Yesheng said sourly, picking up the gift box holding the pressed leaf collection. “My gifts never even make it to your hands.”
Xi Mo: “…”
Ruan Yesheng checked the gift box inside and out. There was no card, no note, and when it was first sent, it only contained the pressed leaf collection. She had no idea which fan had sent it.
She remembered back in Hengdian, one time a fan came to visit the set, and Xi Mo had also received a pressed leaf collection, at the time just as mysterious, no one knew who sent it.
Usually, fans sending gifts to idols would write some message or blessing, right? Just sending a gift with no other information left behind was, after Ruan Yesheng thought about it, a bit unusual.
The style of the two pressed leaf collections was almost identical, could it be the same fan?
Ruan Yesheng put the gift box back, feeling she might be overthinking it. It was just someone sending Xi Mo a gift, maybe she was too sensitive.
Zhou Wenxu quickly called a few security guards and helpers over. Ruan Yesheng and Xi Mo went to the letter room, and a group of people started searching through Ruan Yesheng’s letters.
Now with everyone giving their all, dividing the work, efficiency was high. Just as Zhou Wenxu said, by 10:20, the search through all the letters was finished.
Xi Mo put down the last letter, her face heavy. Ruan Yesheng couldn’t help but frown.
Her letters weren’t here either. Seventeen letters in total, not a single one was found.
Xi Mo was silent for a moment, then asked Zhou Wenxu, “When we moved, are you sure all the gifts and letters I received before were moved over?”
Zhou Wenxu nodded, “I’m sure. I saw them pack all the gifts and letters into big cartons. Back at Xi family manor, your original gifts and letters were concentrated in two rooms. When we moved, I even checked, both rooms were empty, nothing left behind.”
“Then why aren’t any of Yesheng’s gifts or letters here?” Xi Mo asked, “There must have been a problem somewhere along the way.”
Zhou Wenxu also found it strange. After thinking for a moment, he said, “Could some of it have been lost during the move? That’s impossible too. Trusted manor staff drove and handled everything. Everyone was careful. It wasn’t an outside moving company, the cartons were new, there’s no way they were damaged or gifts fell out.”
“Think back to the day of the move. Did anything happen that day?” Ruan Yesheng, though still disappointed, was now more curious about why all the gifts and letters had disappeared.
Xi Mo said, “Nothing happened, it was a very calm day.”
“Wait.” Zhou Wenxu paused for a moment, then said, “The weather that day was clear, the sun especially bright. The helpers took some of President Jian’s belongings to air them out.”
Xi Mo realized something, and her expression immediately changed.
“Those were your mother’s belongings being aired out?” Ruan Yesheng carefully asked, recalling the sadness on Xi Mo and her father Xi Ji’s faces during the previous memorial for Jian Yuan. “Were there a lot?”
“A lot.” Zhou Wenxu said, “President Jian dealt in antiques and collected many. There’s a small villa in the manor she used just to store her collection. That villa is cool and dry, perfect for keeping collectibles. There were also some empty rooms. Back then, Xi Mo also put the gifts and letters she received in that villa.”
Ruan Yesheng thought quickly, “So the room where Xi Mo put the gifts and letters was next to the rooms where the collectibles were kept?”
"Not next to each other, the collections are on the second and third floors, all locked up, security is strict," Zhou Wenxu said. "The two rooms where Xi Mo kept the gifts and letters are on the first floor, while the other rooms on the first floor hold President Jian's belongings from when she was alive. All are everyday items, clothes, books, documents and letters, gifts President Jian received. Chairman* Xi gathered them on the first floor for easy regular maintenance and airing, because many of them are paper items, and clothes and hats can get damp and moldy if stored too long. Chairman Xi instructed that they be taken care of regularly."
*these are just assumed titles, both are called 总 (Zǒng) which means head or chief, unless specific title is mentioned, we can't know for sure.
Ruan Yesheng said, "If they aired a lot of President Jian's things that day, the helpers had to take them out or put them back in. They probably didn’t take everything out one by one, that would be inconvenient. Did they use boxes?"
Xi Mo already understood Ruan Yesheng's meaning and said, "Yes, they did, and they were the same size as the boxes from my move. Because we needed to air my mom's belongings, my dad stored many boxes in that small villa for easy transport, and I used them back then. During the move, some helpers were bringing the aired items back in boxes."
Ruan Yesheng said, "The boxes were on the first floor. Your boxes went out, and the boxes with your mom’s things came in. During this, the helpers carrying the items might have mixed up a few of your boxes, thinking they were your mom's things, and put them in the rooms with her belongings?"
"That possibility is very high," Xi Mo analyzed. "Otherwise, it can't explain why your gifts and letters aren’t there. My mom's belongings also had letters and gifts. The helpers probably mixed them up and didn’t notice when sorting the room."
Ruan Yesheng breathed a sigh of relief. "If that's the case, then my gifts and letters are probably still at the Xi manor."
Seeing hope, Xi Mo’s expression relaxed a lot. "Next time I go back to the manor, I’ll look again."
"Now you’re finally not upset, right?" Ruan Yesheng smiled.
Xi Mo lowered her gaze and made a soft 'Mm'.
"Thank you, you all worked hard today." Ruan Yesheng thanked Zhou Wenxu, and the other guards and helpers in the room all thanked her in return.
"Miss Ruan, you are too polite." Those guards and helpers looked like they all liked Ruan Yesheng, even though it was late at night searching for letters, each of them was very willing.
"It's late, go back and rest." Xi Mo also said to them, "Leave this here, we can tidy it up tomorrow."
Zhou Wenxu and the others left, and Ruan Yesheng returned to the main building with Xi Mo.
Thinking of Jian Yuan, Xi Mo looked a little troubled, sat on the sofa, and took out her phone. There were a few photos of Jian Yuan from when she was alive, she flipped them out and quietly stared at the photos.
Ruan Yesheng did not disturb her, and went to the refrigerator, took out some cherries, cleaned them, put them in a clear glass bowl, and poured two cups of water, placing them one by one on the coffee table in front of Xi Mo.
"You worked all night, eat some fruit and rest." Ruan Yesheng said softly.
Xi Mo quickly put away her phone, her gaze fell on the cherries.
She didn’t know why, even though cherries used to be just ordinary fruit for her, now that Ruan Yesheng washed them herself and served them, Xi Mo strangely felt the bright red color a little burning.
She thought of Gu Ru’s script, and her neck suddenly felt hot.
Xi Mo washed her hands, walked back, holding her expression, took a cherry, and bit it.
Ruan Yesheng also took a cherry, sat beside Xi Mo. But she did not eat it, just pinched the cherry with her long fingers, seemingly playing with it while looking at Xi Mo: "All the gifts and letters were not found, how do you plan to pay me?"
Xi Mo: "…"
"You said they might still be in the manor, that doesn’t count as not finding them, there is still a chance." Xi Mo said.
"But today they really were not found." Ruan Yesheng looked at her, "This is the fact, I really did not see the gifts and letters now, you have to make up for it."
After a moment, Xi Mo said, "You said before, you haven't decided how you wanted me to make up."
"I’ve decided now." Ruan Yesheng’s eyes held a sly light, she lightly bit her lips.
"…What?" Xi Mo paused, biting the cherry in her mouth halfway.
"Accompany me to eat cherries." Ruan Yesheng smiled.
"You are sitting next to me now, am I not accompanying you to eat cherries?" Xi Mo sat straighter, her expression tense.
Ruan Yesheng shook her head, voice soft and charming, "Not this kind of accompany. I want you to accompany me in the cherry-eating scene."
Xi Mo: "…"
Author’s Note:
Ruanruan, you are so flirty [. Only an Earth lesbian like you can make a Universe's straight girl like Wood Block slowly bloom like an iron tree*[.
*铁树开花 (Tiěshùkāihuā)/ Blooming of an Iton tree - Chinese idiom meaning something extremely rare or unlikely occurrence.
But everyone pay attention, this is a suspense mystery story, with many details, not as simple as you think.
The plot is really complicated, so remember the details, or later you'll get confused.
Please rate and leave comments, updates will gradually speed up.
Our goal is to make Wood Block go from Universe's straight girl to Universe’s lesbian!
Ruanruan, you have a heavy task, but you are so capable, I believe in you!
