Changqing looked at his tall and beautiful back and all the frustration she had from before surged up once again.
She finished washing up and came out. There were three dishes and one soup on the table. The dishes didn’t look like they were made by Auntie Wang.
Her heart skipped a beat. “You made them?”
“Yeah.” Song Chuyi nodded.
Changqing’s throat felt astringent. If it wasn’t for Guan Ying’s words, she might feel as sweet as honey right now…
She drank the soup sulkily. Song Chuyi’s clear eyes watched her for a while and he said, “Shall we go out together in the afternoon?”
“I don’t want to go out. There are people everywhere—people might recognize me,” Changqing replied neither coldly nor warmly.
“Then… the park?”
“No, what’s fun about the park?” Changqing looked annoyed.
Half of Song Chuyi’s handsome face froze. “Then what about going out to the sea?”
“I’m going out with my friends,” Changqing said lightly.
Song Chuyi’s dark and sunken eyes stared at her for more than ten seconds before he withdrew his gaze and spoke no further.
The meal was finished in silence. Changqing put two dishes in the refrigerator.
A wall-like figure pressed against her from behind.
She wanted to walk from the other side but he blocked her with his arm. After that, she felt a cooling sensation around her collarbone.
Changqing looked down and there was a diamond pendant in the shape of a swan on her chest.
Her brain short-circuited for a moment and he hugged her from behind. That alluring face stretched forward and kissed her cheek and corner of her lips.
She suddenly couldn’t hold back and tears rolled down with outrage. She pushed him away with all her might and said while choking, “Don’t touch me.”
Song Chuyi squinted his eyes slightly and he looked straight at her, saying with a mild temper, “Are you venting all the anger and frustration you had from the shoot onto me?”
“So what if I am? Anyway, I don’t want to see you. I hate you kissing me.” Changqing wiped the tears at the corners of her eyes and walked past him quickly, back into her room.
Song Chuyi’s hand pressed against the refrigerator and his eyes were full of treachery.
Changqing went back to her room and she spaced out for a while before lowering her head to look at the pendant before her chest. It was exquisite and it was perfect for her. It wasn’t too high-profile yet it could still bring out her current status at the station.
Only, right now, her heart was all confused.
She liked this person but was also against his intimacy and couldn’t accept that something similar happened between him and Guan Ying too.
Many clean tissues were wet with tears and Changqing heard the door closing from outside. Song Chuchu must’ve left.
She opened the room door and indeed, she couldn’t see Song Chuyi’s figure anywhere outside. There was only Robben wagging his tail and looking at her in protest.
Changqing poked Robben’s head. “Hey, do you know Guan Ying too? Has she come over to this house too?”
Robben barked twice at her.
Changqing stroked his head and sighed. “Are you trying to shake your head or nod your head?”
It was 2 pm. Changqing was getting ready to leave the house. Robben followed behind her, wagging his tail.
“Robben, stay obediently at home.” Changqing walked out and was about to close the door when Robben whimpered, looking pitifully with his pair of dark eyes as though he was about to cry, making it hard to bear.
Changqing’s heart choked up. Every time she left the house, Robben would always be left alone at home and this little fellow would always make her feel extremely sorry for it. “Robben, you’re too mischievous that I don’t even dare to take you out. If I lose you, your dad will tell me off again.”
Robben refused to listen and rubbed against the leg of her trousers while whimpering.
Chuyi couldn’t fight against her softened heart and thought about how he could only go out once a week when Song Chuyi went for a walk. He must be so bored. Since she rarely had a break, she should just take him out.
“Fine, then you have to follow me obediently. You should never repeat what you did last time,” Changqing instructed him before taking him to Sheng Hai.
When she was entering the hotel, the manager of the hall asked her to produce a certificate of rabies immunity before she would be allowed inside.
Changqing was stupefied and pleaded with the manager for a long time but the manager expressed there were no alternatives.
At last, she could only give Jiang Duoyao a call. She used some unknown method on her side and the manager quickly picked up a call. Only then was Changqing allowed in.
At the swimming pool on the top floor, Ruan Yang and Jiang Duoyao had changed into sexy bikinis and were lying lazily on the beach chairs. There were various fruits, juices and snacks on the coffee table at the side.
When Jiang Duoyao saw her coming, Jiang Duoyao sat up, staring at the dog by Changqing’s side speechlessly. “Where did you get such a huge dog from?”
“… We recently got it.” Changqing sat beside the two of them.
A ray of brilliance circulated in Ruan Yang’s eyes and she stroked Robben with love, saying, “This dog is so cute but when did your family start raising dogs? Why was I unaware?”
“There are a lot of things you’re unaware of.” Changqing snorted at her and looked elsewhere.
“Did I offend you?” Ruan Yang seemed to detect something.
Changqing continued to snort. It wasn’t just offending; it was a deep offence.
“Don’t just sit around—quickly change into your swimsuit. I’ll watch the dog for you,” Jiang Duoyao said.
“I’m not going to let you hold it. You’re too clumsy; you might lose it.” Changqing let go of her grudges and passed the leash to Ruan Yang.
Robben kept barking at her back.
Jiang Duoyao scolded her, “You’re a scatterbrain yourself but you even dared to tell me off. I’ve seen shameless people but never seen someone so shameless.”
“The two of you are a pot calling the kettle black.” Ruan Yang laughed charmingly.
Changqing came out after changing and was a little embarrassed. She took a towel, draped it over her shoulders and waddled her way over.
Among the three, Jiang Duoyao was best at swimming. She swam around the pool alone.
Changqing swam for a while and stopped by the side to catch her breath.
She clearly told herself she came out with her friends to relax but when she saw Robben at the side, she couldn’t help but think of its owner and was still frustrated.
“What’s wrong with you today? You’re usually the most excited every time we get together,” Ruan Yang said while leaning over. “Is it because of Fu Yu? I heard from Guan Ying that he actually liked you all this time.”
“She told you about it?” Changqing was astounded and splashed.
“Yeah,” Ruan Yang said, “I remember you told me in the past that there’s always been someone in your heart that you liked, a childhood sweetheart, and he left the country after that. Were you referring to Fu Yu?”
Changqing’s gaze surged with complexity and she nodded.
“No wonder when you saw Fu Yu in the clubhouse for the first time you had such a weird face. I should’ve connected the dots.” Ruan Yang was a little sympathetic. “When you came to my house to drink when you were feeling down before, was it because of Fu Yu too?”
Changqing bit her lips and stammered, “Not exactly… it’s impossible between me and Fu Yu. Yes, when I first saw that Fu Yu was the person Xiaoying was dating, I did feel miserable for a very long time.”
“Guan Ying actually didn’t like Fu Yu; they were just making use of each other,” Ruan Yang hesitated to speak and looked at her. “If you really still like him, there’s no need to suppress yourself for Guan Ying. After all, the feelings are mutual. You’ve also known Guan Ying for a long time and are close friends. There’s no need to turn hostile for a man. She spoke to me before, and she wouldn’t be angry.”
“You don’t understand…” Changqing hung her head dejectedly.
The tips of Ruan Yang’s brows shifted a little. “Changqing, tell me honestly—are you jealous of Guan Ying?”
This question was too straightforward. A hint of awkwardness surfaced from Changqing’s thin skin.
But she wouldn’t deny that she was indeed jealous and envious.
Because of Song Chuyi and Fu Yu, she was jealous and envious.
Why did the people she liked all have something to do with Guan Ying?
Sometimes, she felt ashamed inside. They had been good friends forever and treated each other sincerely, but Changqing was jealous of her own friend.
“Ruan Yang, do you think I’m very… narrow-minded?” Changqing looked at her own reflection in the water.
Although the water in the pool was clean, there were layers and layers of ripples, blurring her features in the reflection. She couldn’t see herself clearly.
When she was young, Yan Lei always told her that one had to be generous and treat others sincerely.
She was the treasure of the family and was always pampered. Even if she encountered setbacks and quarrelled with friends, she was always well and happy but she never thought that one day, she would like the same man as her friend.
She thought that the melodramatic plots in television serials would never happen to her.
“There’s nothing to be narrow-minded about.” Ruan Yang looked far out at the blue sky and white clouds lightly. “Sure, the four of us shared the same room and when we were in university, we also said that no matter who became popular, we would stay best friends forever. We all managed to do it and such friendships don’t come easy in film and performance schools. How many friends from our batch ended up enemies? Why was that so? Because it’s actually easier to become jealous and competitive between friends. Actually, I was once jealous of you too.”
Changqing looked at her blankly.
It was as though she was getting to know Ruan Yang for the first time again.
Ruan Yang sat by the edge of the pool and took a sip from the fruit juice at the side. “Among us four, I broke through the fastest and climbed the highest, but you guys will never know what I sacrificed to get to where I am today.”
Changqing was silent. She knew this clearly. In their second year, after Ruan Yang was chosen by a famous director to film a movie, she shot to fame and had continuous offers but her studies also fell behind because of that and not long after, negative gossip about her surged like the tide. Baseless news saying things like she was cocky and was a kept woman threw her to the bottom.
After that, their schoolmates would mock her for being the last in class.
The worst thing was that Ruan Yang actively looked for roles but was never chosen again and no matter where she went, she faced with mockery and rejection.
Changqing would never be able to endure falling from glory to an abyss.
But Ruan Yang stood back up again. It was just that she didn’t get leading roles but minor roles instead. She worked her ass off, but her screen time was cut to only 40 to 50 minutes in the entire television serial.
After that, she successfully stood out with the role of a prostitute. However, there was a bed scene in that drama and she had to strip herself naked in front of the entire production crew…
Changqing was unable to imagine how much courage that would require for a woman.
Ruan Yang knew what she was thinking and smiled. “When Duoyao got popular, I was extremely envious of her. She never encountered any unspoken rules and didn’t need to be like me. She just coincidentally received a drama series smoothly and occasionally hit the jackpot. Even though she’s straightforward, lady luck is always on her side. I envy you too because you have your Dad and although you’re not popular, you still didn’t do bad and didn’t have all that messy socializing to do and what’s more, nobody will try to be arrogant with you.”