Chapter 19: Confident Choice
Jun Youning spoke a little loudly and attracted the attention of the people around.
She suddenly felt embarrassed and coughed twice to cover up her embarrassment.
And under her gaze, Jun Youyue's ears gradually turned red, and she pulled up the scarf around her neck and covered her face.
So, did you just hear the last two words, silly sister? Jun Youning was about to burst blue veins.
It wasn't until she took off the scarf that Jun Youning understood why.
"Did she do this last night?" The numerous and impossible to ignore red marks were so ambiguous that it shocked Jun Youning.
"Mm." Jun Youyue only took it off for a while, then put the scarf back on, trying to cover the marks tightly, not wanting them to escape.
"So I think she still likes me."
"Mei, you are really confident."
Although Jun Youyue is not ordinary in terms of appearance or IQ, her lack of common sense makes her seem a bit blindly confident.
"If you look at it from her perspective, you're not communicating with her at all, right? Then she definitely doesn't know that you like her, right?"
"But..." Jun Youyue felt that she was also aggrieved.
Jun Youning said this immediately.
"Yes, from your perspective, you also don't know if she remembers those tender moments. But you don't usually communicate with her much. If only you two would talk more."
She paused, swallowed all the words in her stomach, and continued.
"She probably really likes you very much. Otherwise, if it had been anyone else, she would have been disheartened by you for so many years and would have found a new love."
Jun Youyue's expression darkened. "She was having dinner with someone else yesterday."
"She's already discussing divorce with you, isn't it because she can't go on and is ready to give up on you? You need to find an opportunity to talk to her. Just take your essay, I mean, analysis, and show it to her."
After all, Jun Youning was not a party involved. She doesn't know what triggered Lu Xici's decision to divorce. She only thought that she decided to divorce because her passion was exhausted.
This does indeed make sense logically, but it is not the actual truth.
However, Jun Youyue didn't know how her interactions with her close friend had been seen by Lu Xici so well.
She received an instruction and quickly prepared to carry it out.
But when she tried to call Lu Xici again, she realized that she had been blocked.
All contact methods, without exception, had been blocked.
Jun Youyue stayed on the chair, looking at her sister, with tears in her eyes again.
At this moment, the phone rang abruptly. It was oddly timed as if consoling her.
Jun Youyue trembled and cautiously opened the screen, of course, she didn't see the contact she'd been thinking about day and night.
It was from Tao Sheng.
[Urgent!]
[Urgent! Extremely urgent! Look at my messages! Reply quickly when you see it!]
[Is your wife having a conflict with you? Her mother is looking for someone to go on a blind date with her on a dating website!]
[She has already found one of my friends, and she's very interested! Reply quickly!]
***
Lu Xici's acting performance today hit rock bottom.
Her mood was greatly affected, and her state inevitably plummeted.
Repeating scenes over and over resulted in increasingly poor performance, and Cheng Yi couldn't bear it anymore and gave her half a day off.
Lu Xici returned to her dressing room and let out a long sigh.
The good state she was in a few days ago was gone due to yesterday's unexpected incident.
Now it seemed like that energy was fading, and she felt like she was facing a backlash.
Perhaps to vent her frustration or to have a clean break, Lu Xici took out her phone and deleted all of Jun Youyue's contact information.
But that wasn't enough; she went ahead and blocked each one of them.
After doing all this, she finally took a deep breath, feeling that the tight string in her heart had loosened a bit. It no longer made her uncomfortable, and she couldn't imagine or relate to any other emotions.
She took an eye mask and lay down on the office chair for a short nap. The door was knocked at that moment.
"Come in, it's not locked."
The person who entered was Lin Ni, and she was followed by Song Liufeng.
Lu Xici was, after all, the lead actress, and when she took a break, most of the scenes couldn't be shot. At this moment, Cheng Yi could only film some supporting role scenes that didn't require Lu Xici's presence.
Song Liufeng plays the assistant to the main lead in the film, so of course she also took a half-day off.
Lin Ni has a scene later and is worried about Lu Xici's condition right now, so she came to see her.
"Are you okay?" Song Liufeng moved to a small bench, sat next to Lu Xici, and held her hand.
Still holding her wrist, Song Liufeng began to worryingly check her pulse and chanted some words for blessings, praying for her well-being.
"I'm not sick, I'm not pregnant, I'm still alive, why are you feeling my pulse?" Lu Xici threw the eye mask on this drama queen who had done too many palace dramas.
"Pfft." Lin Ni, who was watching from the side, laughed. "You can even joke around. You seem to be in good spirits."
Lu Xici waved her hand. "It wasn't a big deal. I just need to adjust and it'll be fine."
However, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't return to the state of the past few days.
Seeing Jun Youyue again, who had been so persistent, made Lu Xici somewhat uncertain.
If she didn't have any feelings for her, why would she keep clinging on like that?
If Jun Youyue truly had someone new in her life, shouldn't Lu Xici be glad that she granted her freedom, and then happily go on to create new love stories with her new love, making others envious?
But in the end, Jun Youyue only asked her for the reason.
Perhaps, it's just... to explain Tao Sheng?
It was these random thoughts that affected Lu Xici’s morning shooting.
Once she realized it, she consciously tried to control her wandering thoughts, not letting everything remind her of her ex-wife.
In addition, two friends gathered around to cheer her up. When she returned to work in the afternoon, Lu Xici turned back into the new young movie queen who could only take three shots and often took one shot.
Everyone on set noticed her change.
Some sharp-eyed people noticed that when she left the set, she no longer had the iconic ring on her hand.
They were very curious, but because they were too embarrassed to ask, they could only gossip in private.
One of the friends who knew the situation had made plans to have dinner with Lu Xici today.
Initially, Song Liufeng wanted to tag along, but Lin Ni shot her a glare, leaving her to go to a different restaurant with her assistant.
The location for the dinner was arranged by Lin Ni.
Considering that they had heavy scenes to shoot the next day, Lin Ni didn't choose a meal with strong flavors like hot pot or barbecue, which suited Lu Xici's preference.
Seeing that Lu Xici only ordered two vegetables, Lin Ni raised an eyebrow. "Not eating meat? Losing weight?"
Lu Xici's phone was placed on the side, and her mother was sending her messages.
The screen kept lighting up, but Lu Xici couldn't check it at the moment, so she placed her phone upside down.
"No, I just don't like it, I find it too greasy."
"I didn't realize you were such a vegetarian before. You should check it; it seems important."
"It's just my mom, if it were something serious, she would call me."
Lu Xici, however, opened her phone obediently and started reading the messages sent by her mother.
"I'm not a vegetarian, I just dislike greasy food. You can order according to your taste, don't worry about me."
She couldn't help but think of Jun Youyue, who also preferred a mild taste.
It annoyed her that she kept associating everything with that person.
Lin Ni took the menu and silently noted this.
Lu Tingyi sent her daughter a list of reliable potential blind date candidates. Lu Xici scrolled through the list, which had two full pages with over a dozen names.
Lu Xici: [Mom, why are you picking consorts for me? I'm not an emperor]
Lu Tingyi: [Hehe, isn't it because you have high standards and might not like any of them? You don't have to try everyone. Besides, you have a company to inherit, you are the heir apparent.]
'Hehe', what the hell? Her mother could have been possessed by a spirit.
Lu Xi sent a string of ellipses.
Just like her, her mother could relate any matter to her not inheriting the company yet, urging her to quit the entertainment industry and return home to take over the family business.
Probably because Lu Tingyi deliberately avoided the type that looked like Jun Youyue, the girls she chose were all sweet and cute.
At the bottom of the list, there were even two clean-cut young men, and Lu Xici immediately crossed them out.
They're not in line with her orientation, it was absolutely impossible.
After a quick glance, Lu Xici realized she was being too picky and wasn't interested in any of them.
Lu Xici: [I'm not interested in these. I'll stop looking for now; I'm having dinner with a friend.]
After sending it, Lu Xici turned off her phone.
"Sorry, my mom is sending me potential blind dates," Lu Xici replied, recalling Lin Ni's earlier probing questions and responding in kind.
Lin Ni seemed to be very concerned about her divorce.
Lin Ni almost spit out her tea.
"Ahem, ahem. Are you in such a hurry to go on blind dates?"
"Yeah," Lu Xici said openly. Her gaze didn't reveal any hint of longing for her ex-wife; she had kept that hidden deep within her heart.
Lin Ni is about to break.
"Yesterday, I had a blind date too," Lu Xici gave another stab.
She felt that she was about to figure out the trick, and was ready to unravel Lin Ni's trap in one go.
Lin Ni slammed the teacup on the table, startling Lu Xici.
She calmed down her inner anxiety and tried to put away the complicated emotions in her eyes.
"What type do you...like? What are your requirements?"
Lu Xici squinted her eyes.
If Lin Ni's expression hadn't been so natural, like that of an older sister caring for her younger sister and wanting to look out for her, Lu Xici might have suspected that Lin Ni had feelings for her.
"I like people who are a little older, taller, and smarter than me."
These three points cannot be regarded as Lu Xici's criteria for choosing a partner, but can only be regarded as the characteristics she summarized from Jun Youyue.
She didn't love someone because of specific traits, she loved a person for who they were.
Lin Ni's eyes slowly brightened.
She is 26 years old this year and Lu Xici is 24 years old.
She is 1.75 meters tall, and Lu Xici is close to 1.7 meters tall.
Except for the last point, which is still open to question, she completely complies with the first two points.
She even felt for a moment that Lu Xici was talking about her.
Perhaps this was a common trait of someone secretly in love – always thinking the other person liked them.
This idea exploded in Lin Ni's mind like a firework.
She took a deep breath, and with a buzz, she lost her previous calmness and rationality.
She couldn't wait any longer, couldn't take her time.
"I think I quite meet your requirements. Can you consider me?"
Author's Note:
Don’t be anxious, everyone~ Lin-jie is just assisting.
Ah, before I know it, it’s New Year’s Eve in China. While we poor international students are struggling with due dates. Spring Festival has nothing to do with me (crying).
But there are red envelopes for commenting today
After looking at the data, this seems to have surpassed the V-line*. I'm contemplating whether to apply for V now or wait a bit longer. The day I enter V three updates will be merged, so you can see their tug-of-war a bit earlier.
*eligible for applying for VIP (paid chapters)