Chapter 52: I’m Just Afraid You, Straight Girl, Can't Do It!
Source: https://www.jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=5821232
This translation was originally posted on https://love4baihe.blogspot.com
Bai Wenxi saw Lin Qingyi’s expression was off. With her excellent eyesight, she secretly glanced at Lin Qingyi’s phone screen. On Weibo, the busiest topic was none other than Qin Shiyue. The CP of Qin Shiyue and Zhou Man was trending. She guessed her master must have seen the screenshot of Zhou Man throwing herself into Baby Qin’er’s arms.
“I heard from Sister Fang that you haven’t contacted Baby Qin’er recently?” Bai Wenxi carefully probed, unsure if her master wanted to talk about private matters.
“Mm.” Scrolling through Weibo made Lin Qingyi a bit annoyed, so she turned off her phone, out of sight out of mind. Perhaps she was missing a certain foolish and fickle woman, so when Bai Wenxi mentioned her, Lin Qingyi was willing to say a few more words.
“By keeping cold to her like this, aren’t you afraid her heart will get frozen?” Bai Wenxi didn’t understand what her master was thinking. She clearly liked the other, so if she liked her, why deliberately ignore her?
“Kong Huizhi kept her frozen for so many years, and she was fine with it. I just cooled her off for three months, and she’s not fine. What, I can’t beat Kong Huizhi? How am I worse?” Lin Qingyi retorted.
So sour. Bai Wenxi roughly understood. Her master wanted to be the most loved, no second love allowed, childish, overbearing, secretly competing.
But Bai Wenxi felt it shouldn’t be compared this way. After all, Kong Huizhi didn’t like Baby Qin’er, but her master cared.
“Kong Huizhi didn’t like Baby Qin’er, so whether Baby Qin’er liked her didn’t matter. But your case is different. You just dropped the bait, and seeing the fish about to bite, you pulled back too early. The timing is off. How about this, we catch this fish first, put it in our own tank, so it can’t swim elsewhere, then slowly train it. By then, you’ll have the fish all to yourself.” Bai Wenxi suggested.
Bai Wenxi’s words made sense. Lin Qingyi felt a little shaken and tempted, but if she ‘trained’ it herself, it would seem like she wasn’t charming enough.
“I want to fish like Jiang Taigong, whoever is willing to take the bait, bites*.” Lin Qingyi said proudly.
*Jiang Taigong (also known as Jiang Ziya) was a wise strategist during the late Shang dynasty. He famously fished with a straight hook and no bait holding his rod three feet above the water. When people mocked his method, he replied: “Those who bear destiny will come and bite the hook.” Eventually, King Wen of Zhou recognized his talent and invited him to help build the Zhou dynasty.
Bai Wenxi thought to herself: there aren’t many who chase someone and end up acting like royalty. White Peacock really thinks she’s universally adored, so arrogant! Maybe she’s a receiver or a seductive receiver.
But her master still had the right to be arrogant.
“Then as long as you’re happy.” Bai Wenxi gave up trying to persuade this proud White Peacock.
“She should like me. What I want is definitely more than just the feelings in the drama. I want her to come out of the drama first, and if after coming out she still likes me, then I’ll go to her.” For the first time, Lin Qingyi admitted to Bai Wenxi that she cared about Qin Shiyue and shared her plan.
Bai Wenxi didn’t expect her master to have such worries. She really cared, so she couldn’t tolerate even a speck of sand.
“What if she comes out of the drama, and the drama feelings have cooled, and she really doesn’t like you?” Bai Wenxi asked curiously. Her master’s charm was undeniable, but love is unpredictable. If the plan couldn’t keep up with changes, and the feelings really faded, it wouldn’t be easy to restart. Better to strike while the iron is hot.
Lin Qingyi frowned, she was clearly unhappy with Bai Wenxi’s assumption.
“She can’t not like me.” Lin Qingyi said firmly. Unless Qin Shiyue is stupid or blind, it’s impossible for her not to like me.
Since her master was confident Qin Shiyue would still like her, then what’s the point of cooling off? It was obviously a bit contradictory. But Bai Wenxi understood. Her master went in a big circle, actually just wanting to know her importance in Qin Shiyue’s heart, unconsciously competing with her love rival.
After understanding her master’s thoughts, Bai Wenxi immediately told Fang Xinhua, so she wouldn’t think her master was playing with Baby Qin’er’s feelings. Little did she know, Teacher Lin, with no real love experience, just cared too much. Seeing Baby Qin’er tangled with another woman now, she couldn’t sit still.
Bai Wenxi thought, if Baby Qin’er tangled with a few more women, Teacher Lin would get anxious. Play hard to get, I’ll raise more fish, let’s see who cracks first. But Baby Qin’er probably had no such sense, only being suppressed one-sidedly by White Peacock.
Bai Wenxi realized she had a bit of a dark sense of humor, wanting to push her luck, eager to see her White Peacock get restless worrying about Baby Qin’er.
“That Zhou Man, don’t let me see her on the same stage with the Vase again, and don’t let me see her on the hot search again.” Lin Qingyi instructed Bai Wenxi. Who are these random people? such an eyesore.”
Bai Wenxi thought, this vinegar is really sour.
That woman who threw herself into Baby Qin’er’s arms, probably go from joy to sorrow.
“Okay, I’ll handle it right away.” Bai Wenxi immediately called, having someone take down the hot search of Qin Shiyue and Zhou Man, and later remove all hot searches related to Zhou Man. Before that, Bai Wenxi let Zhou Man linger on the hot search a bit longer, to enjoy the last taste of it.
Qin Shiyue kept herself very busy, which worked. She didn’t have much time to think about women, this woman specifically meant Lin Qingyi. Actually, Qin Shiyue was also sulking. She had always messaged her first, but that woman’s replies were always cold and indifferent. Later, Qin Shiyue wondered if she didn’t message her, would the woman not reach out at all?
It proved that she really didn’t care about her. If Qin Shiyue didn’t message first, the other was gone like a kite with a broken string. This hurt Qin Shiyue. She used to think Lin Qingyi had at least a little feeling for her, but now she felt Lin Qingyi didn’t care at all, whether she messaged or not.
She was very busy, but not so busy that she had no free moment. Once a moment came, her mind was easily taken over by Lin Qingyi, with no defense. Even though the other didn’t care, she still missed her badly.
On her alternate account, Qin Shiyue couldn’t help but open Lin Qingyi’s perfume commercial. In the commercial, Lin Qingyi wore silver high heels, walking step by step to the red carpet. The split skirt swayed, revealing her long, straight, perfect legs, her waist-hip ratio flawless, sexy and alluring, yet with a cold, untouchable elegance.
Qin Shiyue thought, anyone seeing this commercial would want to pick this high mountain flower. Anyway, Qin Shiyue really wanted to, especially wanted to make love* to her.
*an internet slang word was used here 太阳 (Tàiyáng) which means sun. The sentence goes ‘she wants to 太阳 (sun) her. After searching Google, I found a Zhihu and Reddit post explaining how the slang came about. Apparently, 太阳 is a euphemized version of another slang 日 (Rì）which also means sun but in slang, it means to fuck, because 入 (Rù) - to enter or to fuck in vulgar talks, have the same pronunciation at a certain time until as late as the 1900s. So the line was in a more slangy and vulgar tone.
Qin Shiyue also felt she was strange. Back when she liked Kong Huizhi, it seemed she never had such thoughts. But with Lin Qingyi, she had already had this thought a thousand times, maybe even more.
Qin Shiyue, holding her alternate account, unconsciously gave a like to that perfume commercial. She had only watched this perfume commercial about forty or fifty times. Qin Shiyue scrolled through someone’s Weibo. Lin Qingyi really seldom updated. Lin Qingyi’s official Weibo had been registered for a long time, but there were only dozens of posts, sometimes not even one in a month. Almost all of them were about her movies and the occasional luxury endorsement. But among those dozens of posts, there was one from four months ago where she interacted with her: that heart emoji and the hand-over-mouth smile.
The first time she saw that emoji, she was furious. But now, looking at it again, she actually felt it was kind of cute, even a little proud. This was one of Lin Qingyi’s rare posts outside of work, and she was part of it, which made her feel special. And she was sure this Weibo was personally posted by Lin Qingyi, because that cheeky hand-over-mouth smile was just like when she used to curl her lips and smile at her.
Source: https://www.jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=5821232
This translation was originally posted on https://love4baihe.blogspot.com
And that heart emoji, it always made her overthink. She always felt that during the time they were filming, Lin Qingyi might have briefly liked her.
She clearly knew Lin Qingyi was a scumbag who only flirted and never took responsibility, but Qin Shiyue still felt she really wanted her. Even if Lin Qingyi only gave her a few half-hearted replies, it was still good enough.
Qin Shiyue found Lin Qingyi’s profile picture on WeChat. That hateful and heartless woman, while cursing her in her heart, she still typed out a message and sent it, as if that could make her feel a little more balanced inside.
[What are you busy with?] Qin Shiyue pretended she had just thought of someone in her free time and casually sent a message like it was nothing.
Just as Lin Qingyi was editing her own message, she received one from Qin Shiyue. The moment she saw it, her heart settled down at once, and a faint smile appeared in her eyes.
[Reading a new script.] Lin Qingyi replied right away.
She was clearly playing on her phone, otherwise, how could she reply in seconds? Qin Shiyue caught that detail, and it made her feel a little better.
[Filming again?] Qin Shiyue asked. She felt a little jealous of the actors who could act opposite Lin Qingyi.
[I'm not rushing. I’ll read the scripts slowly, take my time to pick. I’ll decide after I find the right one.]
[Did you see the hot search?] Qin Shiyue wondered if Lin Qingyi had noticed her and Zhou Man being pushed as a CP. If she saw it, how would she feel?
[I didn't, what is it?] Lin Qingyi said against her heart. She just felt upset, so she didn't want to admit she cared.
[Oh, nothing much.] Qin Shiyue felt lost. The other still replied cold and bland, and it seemed like she was forcing a dry chat. She even wondered if Lin Qingyi might already think she was annoying. Thinking of this, she lost all interest in talking. Sure enough, it was only her one-sided heat.
Lin Qingyi seemed to sense the mood in Qin Shiyue's words. She thought, could it be that she was really too cold?
[I just saw it. Congratulations to someone, they sure are lucky in love, with people throwing themselves in their arms.] Lin Qingyi replied, like she just looked at the hot search.
Seeing this reply, Qin Shiyue's mood finally lifted a little. She couldn't help but guess if there was a hint of care hidden in Lin Qingyi's words, or if it was only a joke.
[Forget it. With her, I would rather be a nun than want that kind of luck in love.] That was Qin Shiyue's true words. She really didn't like Zhou Man at all.
[I'll open a nunnery, and if you come, you'll definitely be the top star.]
[The way your nunnery sounds, it's more like a brothel. If I'm the top prostitute, then you're the madam.] Lin Qingyi didn't sound as cold as before, and that lifted Qin Shiyue's mood a lot. She joked with Lin Qingyi in a light way.
[Then I'd rather be the top patron.] A smile rose again in Lin Qingyi's eyes. She thought Baby Qin'er really had the power to make her happy.
Qin Shiyue felt like they were back in that hotel, acting out their ambiguous scene.
[Come on then, I’m just afraid you, straight girl, can't do it!] Qin Shiyue gathered her courage and sent the message. Her heart pounded like thunder, and her face burned hot.
Author’s Note:
Lin Qingyi’s perfume commercial could be compared to Dior’s Charlize Theron commercial. That one’s super beautiful.
Lin Qingyi: Looks like baby wants to love* me.
Qin Shiyue: I do want to love* you.
Random red envelope drop.
