Chapter 176: Christmas Eve
This translation was originally posted on https://love4baihe.blogspot.com please read it there. and check out other stories too.
"Okay, let’s do it again." Ruan Yesheng raised the phone again and smiled, "Are you ready?"
"Mm." Xi Mo nodded, but her eyes lowered. Her sight seemed like she was trying to avoid Ruan Yesheng’s body.
"One, two, three, start." Ruan Yesheng held the camera steady and fixed what she felt was the best frame for Xi Mo, then she pressed record.
In her eyes, Xi Mo only sat on the sofa while holding a pillow, yet she still looked cute enough to make her heart move.
"Merry Christmas Eve, everyone, I’m Xi Mo." This time Xi Mo spoke calmer than before, and her eyes held a warm smile. In front of fans, she was actually friendly, and her attitude had a bit of honest formality, "My manager said I haven’t been active for some time, so he gave me a Christmas Eve task and asked me to finish it well."
But while she spoke, her gaze kept somewhat averted.
Ruan Yesheng noticed Xi Mo avoiding her gaze. She knew that if Xi Mo recorded the video like this and it got posted, many fans online would watch her like under a microscope. They would read too much into Xi Mo’s dodging eyes and make unnecessary guesses.
“Xi Mo,” Ruan Yesheng stopped and looked at her, speaking softly, “look at me.”
Xi Mo, who had been talking, froze immediately.
“Look at me directly.” Light fell on Ruan Yesheng’s bathrobe, making her skin look even more translucent under the white fabric. Her eyes were charming and gentle. “Just treat me as the camera, okay? If you don’t look at the camera lens, your fans will think it’s strange.”
Xi Mo's gaze fell on Ruan Yesheng's face.
How could she possibly treat Ruan Yesheng as a camera lens.
But when she heard Ruan Yesheng tell her to look at her, she did it, and her eyes couldn’t move away.
“This is very good,” Ruan Yesheng smiled. “Let’s do it again.”
Xi Mo seemed to get a warm comfort and encouragement. She could finally look into Ruan Yesheng’s eyes. She found that Ruan Yesheng’s eyes were so beautiful. They were brighter than all the shining lights she had seen every Christmas Eve.
Xi Mo kept looking at Ruan Yesheng, and she said again, “Merry Christmas Eve, everyone, I’m Xi Mo.”
The short videos took no time to record, Ruan Yesheng came over and sat beside Xi Mo. She watched the video many times and was very pleased. “This last one is good. It’s very natural.”
She sat very close. Xi Mo could smell the scent on her after her bath.
Maybe the bathrobe covered far less than her usual winter clothes, and her body heat spread out. Xi Mo felt this smell was stronger than any time before. It was like it had a shape in her mind.
“Send it to Lu Qingming, let him find someone to adjust the color and do the video work.” Ruan Yesheng didn’t notice anything. She was still worried about Xi Mo’s Christmas Eve work for tomorrow.
Xi Mo didn’t answer.
Ruan Yesheng noticed it, then turned her face. “Xi Mo?”
Xi Mo saw Ruan Yesheng suddenly turn her face toward her. Her alluring face was almost right in front of Xi Mo. Their eyes met, and Xi Mo’s heart almost shivered, but she still kept her expression steady and said, “…Mm, Lu Qingming knows what to do.”
“Mission accomplished,” Ruan Yesheng said with a smile. “I should get going. I want to go over the script again.”
“…Okay.” Xi Mo quickly stood up.
She saw Ruan Yesheng to the door and said seriously, “Hurry and go back.”
“Yes, yes, yes. No one will see. Good night.” Ruan Yesheng smiled at her. Worried Xi Mo might be anxious, she quickly walked to the next room and closed the door.
Xi Mo stood there, staring at Ruan Yesheng’s door for a long while. She both wanted Ruan Yesheng to leave quickly so no one would see, and wanted her steps to be slow so she could look at her a little longer.
After dazing by the door for a bit, Xi Mo finally went back.
She sat on the sofa, opened the little Christmas Eve video she just recorded, and saw her own eyes.
Her eyes were looking at the camera.
But she knew she wasn’t really looking at the camera.
She was just looking at Ruan Yesheng.
Xi Mo watched the little video a few times, held her face in her hands, and let out a soft sigh.
Maybe she really… is sick?
….
The next day, the script reading continued, as snow drifted from the sky.
Gu Ru often worked late into the night, ignoring any holiday atmosphere. She stayed in the reading room with the actors and staff the whole time, and the reading went on in an orderly way.
Li Siran performed a bit better than yesterday. Though there were still many flaws, her progress was clear, especially after Gu Ru gave notes, she could adjust quickly according to Gu Ru’s requirements.
Gu Ru never praised her, nor did she criticize her. It was hard to tell her attitude, but with encouragement from Ruan Yesheng and Xi Mo, Li Siran felt less nervous. As long as Gu Ru hadn’t asked her to leave, she held on to hope that she might be chosen.
If she was chosen, Gu Cen would definitely be very happy.
By evening, the snow still hadn’t stopped, falling like icy feathers. Normally, it would already be dark at this hour, but with streetlights flowing, the festive Christmas Eve atmosphere, and the snow reflecting the light, everything glowed hazily, like in a dream.
In the afternoon, Gu Cen came to see them. In the evening, Ruan Yesheng, Xi Mo, Li Siran, and Gu Cen had dinner together. Gu Cen, who knew how to enjoy food and fun, found a hidden hotpot restaurant. In the private room, it was just the four of them, no one to worry about watching, and it was very comfortable.
“This is my favorite hotpot restaurant!” Gu Cen dipped beef tripe into the hotpot, eating and gasping from the spice. “So good, so good!”
They ordered a yinyang pot*.
*hotpot that’s split into two sections in one pot: one spicy, the other not.
Gu Cen grew up in Beijing but had always loved spicy food. Her sister and brother couldn’t handle chili at all, especially her brother Pei Tingquan, who was strict about body and skin care and rarely ate anything spicy. Without a spicy-eating companion, Gu Cen always felt it was boring. When she joined Eos8 and met Li Siran, she was overjoyed, Li Siran was from Chengdu. On the first day, she dragged Li Siran to a hotpot restaurant and ordered a fully spicy pot.
Li Siran looked at the bright red soup and barely ate before feeling like her ears were on fire and her eyes teared up. Gu Cen realized Li Siran really wasn’t good with spicy food.
“You fake Sichuan person!” Gu Cen had said back then.
Li Siran was speechless for a while. “Who says Sichuan people have to eat spicy food?”
“Do you want to try the spicy side?” Ruan Yesheng glanced at Xi Mo and smiled.
Xi Mo shook her head. “No, thank you.”
Ruan Yesheng wasn’t picky about flavors. Even though she couldn’t eat very spicy food, she didn’t mind trying. She dipped some things into the spicy side and, after eating, her lips turned even redder, cherry-like.
“Ah, it’s really spicy,” Ruan Yesheng fanned her mouth with her hand. “Xiao Cen, you’re amazing. You can eat this and not even flinch.”
“Hehe,” Gu Cen said proudly. “I’ve trained for it.”
Xi Mo quietly poured a cup of warm water for Ruan Yesheng and handed it to her.
Ruan Yesheng smiled at her.
Xi Mo glanced at Ruan Yesheng’s red lips, then quickly looked away.
Li Siran stared at Gu Cen. “Eat less, or you’ll get pimples.”
“I won’t,” Gu Cen said. “I only get pimples when I’m anxious. What's there to be afraid about eating hotpot?”
They enjoyed the hotpot leisurely, eating until around eight in the evening.
The short Christmas Eve video Xi Mo recorded was released by the studio. Fans hadn’t seen new content for a while, so they were thrilled. Plus, it was Christmas Eve, and everyone sent Xi Mo holiday wishes.
“Ahhh, goddess! Merry Christmas Eve! Merry Christmas! Be happy every day!”
In the video, Xi Mo asked fans what gifts they wanted, telling them to write it in the comments. The company would pick the top liked wishes and arrange for gifts, and then hold a lottery for fans.
The comment with the most likes was: “Xi Mo, we want you ahhhhhhh! Look at us!”
When Xi Mo had a moment, she picked up her phone to check the comments: “…”
Thanks, but no.
What surprised Xi Mo even more was the second top comment, which was quickly gaining likes: “Xi Mo, we want the sweater you knitted! Can you arrange it?”
Xi Mo: “…”
Thanks, no.
Absolutely no.
Besides asking for gifts, many fans had taken photos of gifts they’d made, hoping to send a little thought to Xi Mo from afar. The ridiculous part was that many of these photos were of hand-knitted sweaters. Apparently, Xi Mo’s knitting had gone viral before, and fans assumed she really wanted a handmade sweater, which led to all the different sweater comments.
But a lot of fans didn’t care about gifts, they were commenting on small details in Xi Mo’s video.
Some were watching closely, saying things like: “Is it just me, or did Xi Mo look especially gentle when she looked at us in today’s video?”
“Gentle is right! This is a video from our goddess to us. When the goddess looks at the camera, isn’t she looking at us! Yes! The goddess is looking at me! And with that loving gaze! I must admit our relationship today, I greeted her, wife!”
“Oh my, her eyes seem to be smiling the whole time. Ah, I’m dead.”
Some fans joked: “Someone who doesn’t know would think she’s in a romance with the person filming the video.”
“I think you found the blind spot! Xi Mo has never looked at the camera with such an ambiguous gaze. Who exactly is filming her video?”
These few points didn't get much attention and were buried at the bottom of the list.
Some fans were more serious and didn’t joke around. They calmly analyzed: “The person filming is probably a staff. This is a work video. Xi Mo looking at the camera like this, showing fan love, isn’t that normal?”
Xi Mo saw the comment: “Someone who doesn’t know would think she’s in a romance with the person filming the video,” and got distracted. Her fingers moved like they weren’t under her control. When she came back to herself, she realized she had liked the comment.
Seeing the like light up, Xi Mo froze. “...”
She quickly unliked it.
Ruan Yesheng knew it was about time for Xi Mo’s company to post the Christmas Eve video, so she took out her phone to check too. When she saw all the sweater photos in the comments, her eyes almost curved from smiling. She leaned over Xi Mo and said, “So many sweaters.”
Xi Mo: “...”
“So many styles,” Ruan Yesheng hinted, “Which one do you like?”
Xi Mo said, “None.”
It wasn’t like Ruan Yesheng made them for her.
Ruan Yesheng asked in vain and felt helpless.
After finishing hotpot, the four of them put on masks and left the restaurant. The snow was falling harder, but the blizzard couldn’t stop people from celebrating outside. Snowflakes danced in the reflected lights, Christmas songs drifted from street shops and malls, and couples strolled hand in hand, faces full of happiness.
Every year’s Christmas Eve seemed like this, whether Xi Mo was in Shanghai, now in Beijing, or in other cities before, the atmosphere felt the same.
But Xi Mo felt this year’s Christmas Eve was different.
Ruan Yesheng walked beside her, sometimes speaking softly, her eyes brighter than all the lights in the world. On the other side were the two new girl-group friends she just met.
They hadn’t had time during the day, so they had dinner together at night. Since it was Christmas Eve, they naturally wanted to buy gifts for the other three. Gu Cen wanted it to be a surprise and suggested splitting up to buy the gifts, then meeting at the car later. The other three agreed.
Ruan Yesheng didn’t have any shows or variety programs airing at the moment. Although her online popularity was rising again, not many people recognized her outside. Whether she wore a mask or not didn’t matter. They strolled through the mall, and Ruan Yesheng picked out three gifts, wrapped them, and carried them back.
She noticed Xi Mo sitting in the car, the back seat empty, nothing brought back.
“Why are you so fast?” Ruan Yesheng opened the door and got in. The car was warm. She teased, “Were you afraid someone would recognize you, so you bought and ran? Where’s your gift?”
“I didn’t go to the mall.” Xi Mo’s gaze fell on the gift boxes Ruan Yesheng carried, big and small. Silently, she wondered which one was hers. She said, “I prepared your gifts during the day and had someone I know deliver them to the hotel.”
She also sent one to Pei Tingquan, so he wouldn’t keep nagging.
“So you’ve been preparing for so long?” Ruan Yesheng was full of expectation.
After a while, Gu Cen and Li Siran came back one after the other. Gu Cen complained, “There were so many people in the mall. Someone recognized Li Siran and kept pulling her for photos and autographs. She was a Li Siran solo fan, and she didn’t like me. She even looked at me with that kind of look. Bah. I think she's one of those bastards cursing me online.”
“Alright, your solo fans don’t like me either,” Li Siran said.
“You shouldn’t have taken a photo or signed for her!” Gu Cen huffed, “You’re not loyal.”
“I… couldn’t offend her.” When Li Siran saw how the girl looked at Gu Cen, she wasn’t happy either. But she still had to act like a star, so she smiled, took a photo, and signed.
Xi Mo said to Li Siran and Gu Cen, “I left your gifts in the hotel room. It’s not on your way, so go home first. I’ll give them to you tomorrow.”
This translation was originally posted on https://love4baihe.blogspot.com please read it there. and check out other stories too.
“Thank you, Sister Xi.” Gu Cen was now familiar with her, so she didn’t call her Teacher Xi anymore. “Then the next Christmas gift. Sister Xi, Sister Ruanruan, this is the gift I picked for you. I hope you like it. Merry Christmas Eve.”
“These are mine.” Li Siran handed over two gift boxes. “Merry Christmas Eve.”
“Thank you,” Ruan Yesheng and Xi Mo thanked her at the same time. Ruan Yesheng also gave her gifts to Gu Cen and Li Siran.
After exchanging Christmas Eve gifts, they said goodbye in pairs and left in their cars.
Back at the hotel, Xi Mo followed Ruan Yesheng to her room. She wanted to see what Ruan Yesheng gave her. Ruan Yesheng opened the two gift boxes on the table and found that Li Siran gave her a bottle of perfume, while Gu Cen gave her a bracelet.
Xi Mo opened her gifts too. She found Li Siran gave her a bracelet that matched the one Gu Cen gave. Gu Cen gave her a bottle of perfume, and its scent matched Li Siran’s bottle.
“They’re good at picking gifts,” Ruan Yesheng said, a little surprised. She glanced at Xi Mo and smiled.
“Mm.” Xi Mo nodded.
“What did you give them?” Ruan Yesheng asked.
“A watch each,” Xi Mo said quietly. “I didn’t know what else to give.”
Ruan Yesheng wasn’t surprised. A watch was a good choice. But knowing Xi Mo, those watches were probably not cheap.
“And you?” Xi Mo looked at the big box Ruan Yesheng had brought. “What did you give me?”
“Open it yourself,” Ruan Yesheng said, sitting down and pointing at the box.
A faint smile touched Xi Mo’s lips. She hurried over and opened the box quickly.
Then she froze. “…”
Xi Mo held the box in front of Ruan Yesheng. Inside were a few balls of yarn for knitting sweaters and a set of knitting needles. All the joy on her face vanished. She wanted Ruan Yesheng to give her a hand-knit sweater, not knitting needles so she could knit it herself.
“I can’t knit sweaters,” Xi Mo said, unhappy. “This is useless.”
“It’s fine if you can’t knit.” Ruan Yesheng propped her chin with one hand and smiled. Her other hand pointed at herself. “I’m giving you someone who knits. I’ll knit it for you.”
Xi Mo’s tense look eased a little. Joy rose in her eyes. She answered, forced but pleased, “This is okay. As long as I don’t knit it myself.”
“Now you can tell me which sweater style you like, right?” Ruan Yesheng looked at her closely. The more she looked, the more she wanted to laugh.
So cute.
“I need to think about it,” Xi Mo said. “When I find a reference picture, I’ll send it to you.”
“Okay.” Ruan Yesheng leaned close. “Then… what about my gift?”
Her voice was soft and sweet, and the tail sounded like a light feather.
Xi Mo’s body went stiff at once. “You go shower first. When you come out, you’ll see it.”
Ruan Yesheng agreed. After tidying up, she went to the bathroom. Xi Mo hurried to her own room and brought her gift back.
When Ruan Yesheng came out after her shower, she saw Xi Mo sitting at the edge of her bed. She dried her hair and said, “You’re giving yourself to me?”
Xi Mo: “…”
She frowned, but the tips of her ears turned red. “Stop talking nonsense. The gift is by the bed. Go look.”
Ruan Yesheng smiled with curved eyes. She walked to the other side of the bed and saw a red Christmas stocking hanging there. The shape was not very clear, and it looked cute, like a red little pouch hanging there, with a Christmas tree and Santa Claus stickers on it.
Inside the stocking was a rectangular box.
She didn’t expect Xi Mo to be this ceremonial, preparing a Christmas stocking for her Christmas Eve gift.
Ruan Yesheng took the box out of the stocking and carefully removed the wrapping paper. When she saw the logo on the exposed box, she froze.
It was a top luxury brand.
Ruan Yesheng could roughly guess what was inside. But when she opened it and saw the diamond necklace lying inside, she still couldn’t hide her shock.
She was once a popular star, and she had seen plenty of jewelry. But this necklace still stunned her.
Not only because of the design and the quality of the diamonds, but also because of what this brand represented.
In the industry, no matter how famous a female star was, most would borrow new dresses or jewelry from brands. Those dresses or jewelry were usually worn only once when walking a red carpet. Almost no one bought them for just one appearance. Even high-income stars couldn’t afford it.
But if you don’t reach some top level, or if you’re not the brand’s image ambassador, those high luxury brands won’t lend at all.
And this brand now is even harder to borrow from.
But since Xi Mo gave her this diamond necklace, she must’ve bought it.
“This… this is way too expensive.” Ruan Yesheng murmured. “I couldn’t even borrow jewelry from this brand before. And it’s a new model, right? It hasn’t officially come out, has it?”
“Not yet.” Xi Mo said. “I asked someone to get it early.”
“Xi Mo, I…” Ruan Yesheng almost couldn’t speak.
It was only a Christmas Eve gift. She never thought Xi Mo would give something this costly.
“I know giving a necklace is boring, nothing new or special.” Xi Mo was afraid she wouldn’t like it. She lowered her head and explained with some worry. “But I really couldn’t think of any other pretty and expensive gift.”
“It doesn’t need to be expensive.” Ruan Yesheng felt mixed in her heart and smiled. “A simple gift is fine.”
“I just want to give you something expensive.” Xi Mo said at once.
The more expensive the better.
And this expensive wasn’t only about money. She just felt Ruan Yesheng deserved it. Why could those other actresses borrow this brand, but Ruan Yesheng was looked down on by top luxury brands.
Ruan Yesheng’s eyes froze. She stared at Xi Mo.
“What I mean is… when your popularity rises, you’ll definitely be invited to walk the red carpet at events.” Xi Mo said sincerely. “You can wear this once, so you don’t need to borrow from the brand. Sometimes you can’t get it, and the brand’s attitude can be arrogant. You don’t have to put up with that.”
“I definitely couldn’t borrow this.” Ruan Yesheng said. “If the brand saw me, they’d think I’m not worthy of it.”
“Who says?” Xi Mo frowned. “This is bought. What does it have to do with them?”
“Others wouldn’t think that way.” Ruan Yesheng was almost moved to pieces inside. She knew she couldn’t wear this diamond necklace now, she had no right, yet Xi Mo’s thoughtfulness completely captured her. “I’m someone who could never borrow from this brand. I can’t afford it, and very few people would buy it just to attend an event. When the media takes photos of me, the internet will only guess one thing, that I’m being kept.”
Xi Mo: “…”
Ruan Yesheng laughed.
“I didn’t think that far.” Xi Mo realized Ruan Yesheng was right, blaming herself for not thinking carefully. “Sorry. Then you… you can just wear it normally. It’s not flashy. Just treat it as a simple…”
…gift.
Xi Mo didn’t finish, because Ruan Yesheng walked over and wrapped her in a hug.
Xi Mo’s hands froze in midair.
“Thank you.” Ruan Yesheng buried her face in her shoulder and whispered, “Xi Mo. I’m really happy. Merry Christmas Eve.”
Author's Note:
This chapter is about Christmas Eve, which happened to be Christmas Eve in real life, so it was very fitting. Merry Christmas Eve! A little while later, I'd like to say something here again.
"I love her. Of course I want to give her the best, the most expensive, because she deserves it."
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