Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
[You must be craving my beauty, aren’t you?]
He knew that he shouldn’t have asked such an inappropriate question. Still, his mind had been particularly cloudy that day, and he didn’t think it through well enough before deciding to do what he just did.
It goes without saying that he went into a panic after realizing what he had done.
Zhou Xufang’s reply came mere seconds after his unexpected question had been sent. His phone rang out 4 times, meaning she had sent him 4 separate messages. This time, his palms were extra-clammy from all the sweat when tapping into their conversation.
[No, I don’t.]
[I really don’t.]
[Please, you have to believe me.]
[I am not craving anything!]
These 4 lines sounded increasingly urgent and each one sounded more sincere than the last. For her to use an exclamation mark in her text, it must’ve meant that she was literally swearing to God about the truth to her statement.
“…”
He was done for. Her response only made him even more flustered.
This Zhou Xufang gal!
Once more, Jiang Zhi tossed his phone aside. Forcefully, he jerked two napkins out of a box and wiped at the wet spots on his pants with frustration written all over his face. If he continued talking to her, he would be her dog, no doubt.
After being met with a long silence, Zhou Xufang figured that their conversation had ended there, so she got up and prepared to head for the shower.
Ding!
Yet another notification bell rang. It had been 8 minutes since she had last received a text from Jiang Zhi.
[We need a hand model for the set. You gonna take the job? You’ll just need to clap your hands.]
‘Hand model?’
Zhou Xufang went into deep thought.
Jiang Zhi sent another text over, interrupting her thoughts: [The pay is 2,000 yuan.]
She responded immediately: [I’ll do it]
With an additional 2,000 yuan, she would be able to make a wall out of marshmallows in her room. She was ecstatic at the thought of that scene.
Jiang Zhi: [Come in tomorrow at 8 am sharp.]
The corners of her mouth bent slightly upward—she was smiling unconsciously. In her cold, desolate gaze, a light had finally appeared.
She replied: [Okay.]
Feeling happy, she went off to get some more marshmallows.
Zhou Xufang’s phone was still ringing out as she looked around her room for her slippers. She had no idea where it went, so bare-footed, she walked over to grab her phone. Shoved into her mouth were three marshmallows, in which their combined sweetness made her squint her eyes blissfully.
[Zhou Xufang.]
[Yeah.]
Jiang Zhi did not have anything meaningful to say to her. Instead, he continued repeating her name.
[Zhou Xufang.]
[Yeah.]
[Zhou Xufang.]
[.] She stopped responding.
The messages stopped for a moment, but right after that said moment, Jiang Zhi continued bugging her.
[Zhou Xufang.]
Zhou Xufang closed up the glass marshmallow container and placed it securely on a nearby surface. Recently, she had begun to feel that Jiang Zhi was prettier than that box, hence why she wouldn’t be annoyed even if he was actively trying to annoy her—she simply couldn’t. Xufang liked all things beautiful, which were things that created happiness when she gazed at them.
These days, however, she felt a bit naughtier than usual. She had started thinking about stealing pretty things and bringing them back home, like that chandelier at the shop she worked in. Perhaps, if she couldn’t purchase Moonlight Bay, she would have to steal Jiang Zhi home. She would place him right at the end of her bed. That way, she would be able to see him every time she woke up in the morning.
The Moonlight Bay plan was ditched. After all, she couldn’t bring the dainty little Jiang Zhi there. He would freeze to death on their second day there, no doubt.
Zhou Xufang stopped herself from going down the rabbit hole. Snapping out of her imaginary scenarios, she replied to Jiang Zhi: [What’s the matter?]
[It’s nothing.]
[But you kept calling for me.]
Jiang Zhi’s reply came at the speed of lightning. The time gap between each text lasted not more than a few seconds: [I just wanted to see how strong your OCD could get.]
With nothing left to say, Zhou Xufang responded with her usual [.]
[Zhou Xufang.]
[Yeah.]
[Zhou Xufang.]
[My OCD is pretty serious. Stop texting me already. I’m gonna sleep now.]
[Go ahead and sleep then.]
[.]
Still bare-footed, she walked over and plopped onto her bed. Just when she had placed her phone down, it rang yet again.
[Zhou Xufang.]
With pursed lips, she picked up the phone: [I’m sleeping now.]
[Sure, go ahead. You sleep and I’ll continue sending these texts.]
[.]
[Zhou Xufang.]
Pouting her cheeks, this was the first time she had felt how un-cute this person was. She wanted to squeeze him to death. Laying on her back, she was so sleepy that she couldn’t move. Her eyelids were about to shut when they suddenly popped open.
‘No. No way. I must respond.’
[Zhou Xufang.]
She yawned sleepily. [.]
[Zhou Xufang.]
[Here’s my final warning. Stop replying and go to sleep.]
She dropped her phone and laid back into bed.
‘No. I must reply…’
Climbing out of bed, she fumbled around for her phone as her eyes started to tear up.
[.]
And then, silence.
Zhou Xufang burrowed underneath her pure-black duvet which she used to turn herself into a black cozy cocoon. Before she drifted off to sleep, she thought about what she would do if Jiang Zhi continued bugging her…
‘Should I blackmail him?’
‘That’d be bad. His temper shouldn’t be messed with. I’d lose my job if I made him angry.’
‘What about taking him away? That way, he won’t be able to play on his phone at night anymore.’
‘Nope. My identity would be exposed. Jiang Zhi would possibly even report me to the police. Maybe he’ll think that I’m working for someone else. Worse, he might even mistake me as a perverted kidnapper.’
‘Maybe I should steal his phone. I’ll do it at night and return it to him during the daytime…’
These thoughts floated around Zhou Xufang’s mind as she entered the world of dreams, which was a rare occurrence for her. She dreamt of Jiang Zhi that night. In her dream, he was trussed up on the chandelier at the porridge shop where she worked, and on a dark moonless night, she had stolen both the chandelier as well as Jiang Zhi back home. On her way back though, Jiang Zhi had bawled his eyes out, accusing her of being a traitor and a rapist…
Zhou Xufang was jolted upright from the nightmare. Looking at the clock, only 30 minutes had passed, and so, she went back to sleep.
On the other end of the screen, Jiang Zhi was smiling at the single dot on his screen. All of a sudden, that smile faded away into a frown.
‘Sh*t. What am I doing? Have I become a dog!?’
Reaching out and pulling the blanket over himself, Jiang Zhi lay there on the sofa, his eyes wide open. It was only a few hours before dawn and yet, he still couldn’t force himself to sleep. The lights were a bit too glaring, so he moved his arm over to shield his eyes. Naturally, he was now face-to-face with the two bright-red imprints on the back of his hand.
‘That girl, her grip strength was certainly incredible. She had merely grabbed my hand for a few seconds at most and yet, these marks are still here. Her hands… her hands looked pretty nice. They were rather pale, too…’
Jiang Zhi sat up immediately, sighing in frustration. Fishing up his phone, he dialed a number.
Receiving the director’s call in the middle of the night, whatever sleepiness Assistant Director Zhao was feeling was overwhelmed by fear. “D-director Jiang?”
“Yeah.”
Assistant Director Zhao checked the time on his phone.
‘Oh, man. 2 am in the morning.’
“Sir, it’s really late now. Did you need my help or something?”
‘Since when was this guy a night owl? Didn’t they say he would go to bed as early as 8 pm?’
Being sleep deprived, Jiang Zhi’s voice sounded a bit hoarse, but he felt as energized as if he had just woken up in the morning. “I’ve found a hand model. I need you to make preparations on your end. You’ll have to personally show her around the set tomorrow morning.”
“Hand model?” So, the director had rung him up in the middle of the night just to talk about this? Assistant Director Zhao started to doubt whether or not this was truly happening.
“For who?”
Jiang Zhi responded with a low and hoarse voice. “Who else?”
To be frank, his sassy tone sounded a bit charming. Jiang Zhi had always reminded the assistant director of a cat in heat. However, this particular cat’s claws were so sharp that it made people nervous when standing too close to it.
“But Yu Ran-”
‘Did she even need a model to replace her hands?’
Assistant Director Zhao was cut short by Jiang Zhi’s pre-emptive response. “I’ve found someone better-looking than her. So what if her hands got replaced?”
“…”
Since when did the director start speaking so pompously? Assistant Director Zhao suspected that Jiang Zhi must’ve developed a serious fever from staying up so late.
The next day, on the set.
Ah Wan felt that something was off when he saw the young master’s eyes darting around his surroundings for over ten minutes.
“Boss.”
No response.
Ah Wan raised his voice. “Boss?”
Still no response.
Ah Wan stepped in front of Jiang Zhi. “What are you looking at?” His gaze was like that of a monk who was craving for some meat.
Jiang Zhi’s brows knitted, his dreamy eyes instantly transforming to give Ah Wan a cold, deadpan stare. “You’re blocking my way.”
“…”
Ah Wan stepped aside silently. Then, he tried to peek in the direction in which the young master was looking at.
Oh, it was Miss Zhou, the screen-protector girl.
Jiang Zhi was staring at her hands. The more he looked at them, the more he grew infatuated with them.
He had the urge to touch them, and this urge was growing.
Just as he was about to stare a hole into her hands, his line of sight was blocked by the back of someone wearing a cheongsam.
It was Fang Lixiang. Wearing her costume, she danced her way to the front of Zhou Xufang. Smiling like a blooming flower, she asked, “Xufang, you cold?”
Today was a sunny day, so it was around 4-5 degrees centigrade.
Zhou Xufang shook her head. To be honest, she couldn’t tell the difference between hot and cold. Since her body temperature was much lower than other people, she would tell others that she easily got cold to cover up the truth.
Thinking that her friend must’ve been freezing, Fang Lixiang wrapped her down jacket over Xufang’s shoulders.
“Xufang, are you hungry?” she proceeded to ask.
Zhou Xufang had just had breakfast. She had eaten 3 basketfuls of soup dumplings as well as two cans of milk. Shaking her head, she replied, “I’m not hungry.”
Acting as though she hadn’t heard her friend’s response, Fang Lixiang pushed two large bags of snacks into Zhou Xufang’s arms. “I bought you some good stuff. Feel free to eat them when you’re hungry.”
Today, “Ula Nara” Lixiang was being particularly generous.
Zhou Xufang accepted her gift. “Thank you.”
As it was customary to exchange gifts, she reminded herself to get something for Fang Lixiang in the future.
After taking care of Zhou Xufang’s stomach, Fang Lixiang followed up with another question.
“You thirsty?”
Without waiting for an answer, she lifted up a box of AD calcium milk. “I’ve got you some milk! I wasn’t able to get that brand you were always drinking since its imported, so you’ll have to drink this for now. It’s still pretty good, though.”
Zhou Xufang had never tried it before, and she placed the snacks down, standing there frozen in place. She was not used to Fang Lixiang’s over-the-top enthusiasm.
“Xufang. If anyone tries to bully you here, you must come and tell me about it, okay?” Her expression seemed extremely loyal.
“Ula Nara” Lixiang will stick her neck out for you, you got that!?”
After she was done with her words of grandeur, Assistant Director Zhao started roaring for her.
“Fang Lixiang! Hurry up and get over here!”