Chapter 25: Greedy Drinking
Source: https://www.jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=7288969
"You're already on a blind date. Doesn't that indicate you want to move on?"
Lin Ni's words suggest advising Lu Xici to consider, but upon closer listening, her tone already indicates she's almost giving up on this matter.
Glancing at her phone, Lu Xici thought about that online friend who seemed to have some affection for her, but inwardly, she didn't feel much about it.
She shook her head, "I don't want you to misunderstand. Blind dating, in the end, is just a trial. The other party surely won't take it too seriously either. I wasn't close to that person before, and now I only consider her a friend. Even if I break up with her, she probably won't be too hurt."
In reality, Lu Xici didn't have so much energy to care about everyone's feelings. Most of the time, she only managed surface appearances.
A person's heart is that small, accommodating three to five good friends and beloved relatives, filling it up.
Regarding that slight fondness from the unfamiliar Miss Shang, if Lu Xici becomes annoyed again someday, she might just cut ties with her for real.
Lin Ni finally smiled.
She heard Lu Xici's concern for her and confirmed that Lu Xici really had no inappropriate thoughts about her.
At least compared to that unknown blind date who could be discarded at any moment, isn't this much better?
She's older, a sister; she should learn to be content and adjust herself.
Although the strong wine is fragrant, it was not made by her, so she shouldn't be greedy for it.
"Alright." It was a long sigh, yet Lin Ni's smile became more genuine.
"I won't make it difficult for you anymore, I give up."
Lu Xici finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Then, can we still be friends?"
"Of course. I will adjust myself as much as possible, so you don't have to worry. I'll ask the waiter to reheat this, and you can eat some more."
This dinner between two friends has officially begun.
Having smoothly resolved Lin Ni's confession, Lu Xici felt relieved and had many thoughts about how to proceed with the second phase.
Upon returning to the hotel, she swiftly grabbed her tablet and started writing before the inspiration disappeared.
Subsequently, she reorganized the initial biography records, making changes to a few points.
She worked with fervor, unable to stop for a moment, yet she had a lingering feeling that she had forgotten something.
What was it? Lu Xici pondered while drinking milk as a break, but she couldn't recall.
She had forgotten about Miss Shang on her phone.
Not until the habitual bedtime phone check did Lu Xici realize, nearly jumping off the bed.
She had left her supportive online friend hanging all night.
The other person had sent her about two messages. The first one mentioned being done with her busy day, and getting ready to go home, and included a night view picture.
The second message shared a piece of music with the note 'for sleep aid.'
Lu Xici typed an apology first and then clicked on the music.
It was instrumental music she liked—its soothing melody carried hints of the stars and the mystery of the night sky, resembling fireflies on the ground, creating a celestial atmosphere within the mortal world.
The song's title, 'Night of Fireflies,' aligned with Lu Xici's imagination and complemented the picture sent by the other person.
The location in the picture seemed somewhat familiar.
"Shang Shixu" responded immediately as always.
[Staying up late again?] These simple words, ordinary concern, but Lu Xici sensed a hint of reproach.
Yet she felt no guilt. If Miss Shang didn't stay up, how could she respond so quickly?
[Aren't you doing the same thing? Didn’t you finish your work very early today? Why did you still go to bed late?]
Jun Youyue lay on the sofa and turned over.
She had been waiting for Lu Xici's message until this hour.
During this time, she had prepared some of tomorrow's work in advance since there would be a variety show tomorrow night with Lu Xici's participation, and she wanted to free up some time to watch it.
[I'm waiting for you.]
After sending the message, Jun Youyue worried that Lu Xici might feel burdened, so she added: [But indeed, I'm still working overtime.]
Seeing the first sentence, Lu Xici's heart suddenly tightened, skipping a beat.
The tingling sensation was quite obvious, and it dispelled most of her already faint drowsiness.
How could this person be so straightforward? Waiting for her reply until this late, could she really mean something more?
It wasn't until Lu Xici received the second message that her pounding heart settled down.
Lu Xici breathed a sigh of relief, not even sure what she was relieved about. [So busy, can't it wait until tomorrow?]
[I have other plans tomorrow.] Jun Youyue tapped the screen and double-checked the timing of the variety show.
Then she added: [I'll be busy for a while longer. Can you tell me about your previous experiences with confessions?]
[Okay.] Since she had agreed, Lu Xici didn't decline.
[I'm different from you. I'm someone who has always carried 'I am lesbian' written on my face since I was young.]
Lu Xici tried to recall her first crush but found it hard to remember who it was exactly.
When she was young, she was pretty and adorable like a porcelain doll, not as aloof as Jun Youyue, someone who could play with anyone and was quite popular.
Naturally, starting from primary school, she received love letters from more admirers than she could count on one hand.
[So, even though boys confessed to me at the beginning, they lost patience due to my repeated emphasis, and in the end, only girls confessed to me.]
[You're so good!] Jun Youyue punctuated her words perfectly, making her reply seem a bit like that of an experienced person.
Lu Xici stared at that exclamation mark and couldn't hold back, bursting into laughter.
Luckily, there wasn't even an assistant in her room, so she wasn't worried about disturbing anyone.
[Being popular is also a kind of trouble, too much attention]
In comparison, Lu Xici's messages often lacked punctuation and had jumbled syntax.
She had been paying attention recently, but in non-written situations, she simply couldn't be bothered.
[During middle school, my friends and I used to bet on how many new love letters I'd receive each day. The loser would buy a pack of spicy sticks.]
[I remember the most was probably... over forty letters, it was Valentine's Day, and that year the rumors about the end of the world were spreading widely. We were all young and believed it.]
At that time, Lu Xici hadn't realized her feelings for Jun Youyue yet. She just heard about the end of the world and instinctively wanted to hide at the Jun family’s house.
Lu Tingyi heard this and angrily took her over to question her.
She vaguely remembered that the reason given by her younger self was that the Jun family was engaged in scientific research and seemed safer.
In fact, was it really a safety issue?
Lu Xici hid these memories, feeling a little uncomfortable in her heart.
She is a love brain who wants to be with Jun Youyue during the ‘’end of the world’.
Lu Xici is so popular.
Source: https://www.jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=7288969
For the first time, Jun Youyue realized this problem so clearly.
In the past, she did not understand the fireworks of the world and did not understand the joys and sorrows of love.
Later, Lu Xici tripped her and caused her to fall into the mortal realm, where she watched the "Fairy Qingxi" on the screen along with countless other fans.
Because of the network barrier, a netizen can only be regarded as a string of characters in Jun Youyue's mind, which is incompatible with the concept of "people ''.
Therefore, even though she knew that more than 20 million people liked her wife on Weibo, she did not have a very specific idea of Lu Xici's popularity.
Now, listening to Lu Xici talk about her past, receiving over forty confessions in a single day from classmates alone, Jun Youyue started feeling nervous and a big sense of crisis.
She truly felt that in the past four years, Lu Xici had been firmly choosing her and running towards her.
Jun Youyue hadn't done well at all. She never conveyed her own choice to Lu Xici, and never even communicated her feelings for Lu Xici.
Although she cannot be entirely blamed, Jun Youyue values the results more.
Given Lu Xici's popularity, unless one had a special affection, as her sister put it, how could anyone hang themselves on her "ice tree"?
There was the woman seen at the restaurant in a qipao before, and now Lu Xici's good friend at work.
As long as Lu Xici wanted, she could let go at any time, release that already unstable marriage, and turn to someone else willing to run towards her.
The result was naturally that Lu Xici was very disappointed with her and gave up on her.
‘Do you have time to meet?’ Jun Youyue typed this paragraph word by word with a heavy heart.
Then felt it was inappropriate and quickly deleted it.
After repeating this process three times, and seeing "Typing..." without receiving a reply, Lu Xici, feeling puzzled, sent a question mark.
[You're quite popular.] Jun Youyue timidly typed these words that wouldn't change the current situation, staring at the screen with reddened eyes.
Lu Xici laughed at her for being honest again. [That’s all your thoughts, Miss Shang?]
She wanted to tease "Shang Shixu" a bit, almost writing, "I'm very popular, why don't you show some reaction," on her face.
But Jun Youyue didn't understand. Whatever Lu Xici asked, she answered.
She was also a little sad for no reason because of the words "Miss Shang", and for the first time, she wanted to end the conversation with Lu Xici.
[Mm. I'm almost done, I'm going to sleep now. Good night, sweet dreams.]
[Good night~] After sending the message, Lu Xici looked at the unchanged "Typing..." at the top of the chat box with some confusion.
Is her phone stuck?
But there were no more messages coming from the other side.
Perhaps WeChat was acting up again. Lu Xici didn't dwell on it, put on her eye mask, and drifted into dreams.
The next day's shooting went smoothly.
After Lin Ni finished her scenes, she left for other schedules and programs, not staying on set any longer.
When she left, Song Liufeng unexpectedly breathed a sigh of relief.
God knows how many times in the past few weeks this senior had stared or glared at her without reason. She felt she hadn't done anything to upset Lin Ni and didn't quite understand why Lin Ni seemed to have a grudge against her every day.
“Jiemei*, let me ask you. It seems like Movie Queen Lin doesn't like me. Do you have any clues?"
*Sis
During a break in filming, Song Liufeng couldn't hold it in anymore. She leaned in beside Lu Xici and asked her.
She hadn't been able to hold her temper that much either. Previously, Lin Ni was almost always around Lu Xici, and with Lu Xici having heavy scenes, Song Liufeng hadn't found a chance to ask before.
"Because you're a little piggy*." Lu Xici pinched Song Liufeng's increasingly round face, while also playing a pun on her.
*a pun, Song Liufeng's role is the assistant "助手" (zhù shǒu) while pig is 猪 (zhū), and a cute way to say it is "piggy 猪猪" (zhū zhū)
It’s just that the effect wasn't as good as expected.
Song Liufeng fiercely swatted away Lu Xici's teasing hand.
"You're going too far! Isn't it clear in the character design that your assistant is a little plump? I'm sacrificing my beauty for my career!"
"I'm just kidding, thank you for your hard work, Baby Feng, mommy loves you." Lu Xici insincerely quipped, further infuriating the already angry Song Liufeng.
Eventually, she managed to calm down with dinner that evening, reluctantly letting go of her anger.
"Speaking of which, did you have a conflict with Lin Ni a few days ago?" During dinner time, Song Liufeng seemed to hold on to this topic and continued to gossip with Lu Xici.
"Could you tell?" Lu Xici maintained her composure.
Anyway, the issue had been resolved, and she and Lin Ni had returned to their usual interaction, so she had nothing to worry about.
"So, it's resolved?"
"Yeah, it's resolved. Why are you so concerned about her? Don't tell me you have a crush on her?"
Lu Xici's remarks belonged to the category of bantering between good friends, and she never thought that Song Liufeng would take an interest in Lin Ni.
Although this person has been making noises about finding a fierce elder sister.
But judging by their auras, Lu Xici instinctively felt they wouldn't match well.
Song Liufeng was silent for a second. Before Lu Xici's expression changed drastically, she looked serious and replied: "You are overthinking. I think she likes you."
This genuinely surprised Lu Xici. How could Song Liufeng be so certain about something she herself hadn't noticed?
"Really?"
Lu Xici was left speechless this time.
“Mm." Thinking that Song Liufeng even knew about Jun Youyue, and their closeness, there was nothing to hide. So, she admitted it.
At the same time, she received a message.
Shang Shixu: [Do you have time to meet?]
Author's Note:
Jun・Unknown blind date・Youyue: QAQ
Guess what stimulated Jun Youyue?
In the next chapter, will she be losing her vest? (will she?)