CH 52

Chen Lulu hugged Ji Changge in a hurry, her mind going blank.

At that time, Ji Changge said: “It’s only a secondary illness, so don’t worry about it.”

“Secondary?” Chen Lulu raised her head and looked at the nape of her neck.

“Well, we’re at that steaming restaurant now, won’t you get off the bus?” Ji Changge turned her head slightly.

Chen Lulu looked at her thin and sharp jaw. After a few seconds in a daze, she immediately loosened her grip on her waist and jumped to the ground with a “hey”. She saw that the street was full of all kinds of restaurants, and there were a lot of people. It was full of smoke and fires.

“It’s this one.” Just as Chen Lulu was admiring the environment, Ji Changge’s voice came over.

“Oh!” Chen Lulu retracted her curious gaze, followed behind Ji Changge, and walked towards a restaurant called ‘Youke Steamed Vegetable Restaurant’.

The restaurant looked ugly, all its facilities were outrageously old, but the business was very busy, and there were no empty seats. If it weren’t for the two of them happening to come as a table of diners finished their meal, they would have had to wait.

After sitting down at a position by the window, a waiter came over and handed the drinks list and menu to her.

After Chen Lulu ordered a cup of coconut milk, steamed pork ribs, sea cucumber steamed egg, and steamed tofu with shrimp, she pushed the menu and pen to Ji Changge: “I have ordered what I want to eat. You can see what you want to eat!”

After Ji Changge took the menu and pen and looked for a while, she ordered a yam and red date pork rib soup and handed the menu to a waiter passing by.

Fortunately, the food was served very quickly in this restaurant. Chen Lulu felt that it didn’t take long for the food to come out one after another. Her food filled the table, but Ji Changge just ordered soup.

“Do you like pork ribs and yam?” Chen Lulu asked with a smile, looking at Ji Changge who was eating her soup.

After listening, Ji Changge put her spoon aside: “It’s okay, it’s mainly about keeping in good health.”

Chen Lulu said “Oh”, picked up a piece of steamed pork ribs, took a bite, then hurriedly raised her head, pointing to the ribs with her chopsticks: “This is delicious, try it!”

Ji Changge let out a sigh, grabbed her chopsticks to grab a piece, took a bite, and chewed it slowly.

“How is it?” Chen Lulu asked.

“Hmm. Today, it isn’t steamed soft enough, the meat and bones are tightly connected, and the taste has changed a bit. I don’t know if they changed the chef.” Ji Changge commented on the food in the store like a professional gourmet, being harsh and critical. Chen Lulu hallucinated her holding up a sign saying “I only give five points.”

Chen Lulu was stunned. After Ji Changge finished eating the ribs, she continued to drink her soup slowly. After drinking a bowl, she dug several spoonfuls of egg custard and put it in her bowl.

“Oh, I think it’s pretty good.” Chen Lulu smiled and continued to eat. However, to be honest, she didn’t expect that although Ji Changge was in the barbecue industry, her own appetite was so light. The shop also had a lot of heavy-tasting dishes, but she didn’t order them.

After a while, Chen Lulu asked again: “Changge, are you originally from Chongyuan? Or are you just doing barbecue here?”

After listening, Ji Changge shook her head: “No, my parents used to cook barbecue here when I was young, so I followed. Later, my father fell ill and died, and my mother remarried back to my hometown, so I stayed here alone.”

“That’s sad. Will you go back to your hometown to accompany your mother in the future?” Chen Lulu continued to ask.

“No. She is just a stepmother. My mother is long gone, and there is no relationship between me and her.” When Ji Changge said those words, her expression was light, as if she was saying some very ordinary things.

“Sorry.” Chen Lulu squeezed her chopsticks, not knowing what to say besides apologizing.

Ji Changge shook her head, put down her chopsticks, and took out a tissue to wipe the corners of her lips.

“You don’t want to eat anymore?’ Chen Lulu looked at the dishes left on the table and looked at Ji Changge. Ji Changge seemed to have a bowl of soup, a piece of ribs, and half a bowl of egg custard.

“Yeah.” Ji Changge nodded, then lowered her head and took out a blue portable pill box from her coat pocket and poured one of the pills into her palm.

“You should eat more. If you don’t eat well, you will become a skeleton.” Chen Lulu stared at her closely, furrowing her eyebrows. The last time she came to Chongyuan, Ji Changge didn’t look so thin, and now she really looked like a piece of paper.

“You eat. I’m full.” Ji Changge put the medicine in her mouth, picked up a bottle of mineral water on the table, unscrewed it, took a sip with her head up, and put the lid on the side.

Chen Lulu still looked at her motionlessly, her eyes staring like a Persian cat.

Connecting it with the emotions of Ji Changge before, Chen Lulu immediately panicked in her heart. Was it a serious illness? Was it serious enough to kill people? Thinking about that, Chen Lulu became even more nervous: “What kind of medicine are you taking, are you sick?”

After Ji Changge opened the bottle of mineral water, she raised her eyes and looked at her motionlessly, making it difficult to see what her emotions were. After a long while, Ji Changge shook her head: “It’s just vitamins.”

Chen Lulu nodded when she heard it. The next second, she stretched out a hand to her carelessly: “Vitamins, I want some too!”

Ji Changge looked at her for a moment and nodded: “No problem.”

After that, Ji Changge lowered her head and reached out to dig in her pocket, then took out two small bottles and handed them to Chen Lulu.

Chen Lulu took a look at the small bottles and saw that they were vitamin B2 and C. It was really vitamins. Chen Lulu finally breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that her worries were unnecessary.

After putting the small bottle aside, Chen Lulu put a few more spare ribs into her bowl: “I will eat faster, so you won’t have to wait too long.”

Ji Changge raised her eyebrows: “It’s okay, slow down, don’t worry. Anyway, I’m free today.”

After speaking, Ji Changge paused for a few seconds. Then, she stretched out her hand and took out the blue medicine box from her pocket to take a look, her eyes filled with gloom. After a moment, Ji Changge put it back in place, unscrewed the mineral water and took a sip, looking at Chen Lulu, who was sitting on the opposite side and gnawing on the ribs.

Chen Lulu took a bite of the ribs and soup, and added a shrimp tofu ball from time to time. When she got up, she would shake her body, which was very cute. Looking at her, a faint smile appeared on Ji Changge’s lips.

Fish hot pot restaurant.

After Ye Kehuan and Jiang Laien had settled their bill and left the box and walked out, because both of them just ate, Ye Kehuan decided to go shopping outside first, and then go back to pack up her things later.

Before they knew it, the two of them walked from the restaurant to the main street.

At night, the city was bustling with traffic and dimly lit, and it had a unique view. The two people walked side by side, their shadows drawn on the ground by the street lights, and everything seemed extraordinarily quiet and natural. The feeling was actually pretty good.

While the cold wind was blowing, Ye Kehuan, wrapped in her clothes, stared into the distance, and sighed, “Laien.”

“Huh?” Jiang Laien looked at her sideways.

But at that moment, Ye Kehuan shook her head, and after a while, she suddenly laughed.

Jiang Laien also laughed: “What did you think of, laughing so happily?”

“It’s nothing. I just think…” Ye Kehuan tilted her head and looked ahead. “It’s still a bit unbelievable. I really can’t believe you became my girlfriend.”

“That’s because you are stupid, as I have explicitly said so many times.” Jiang Laien looked at the ground and muttered, dissatisfied.

Ye Kehuan looked at her sideways and did not argue, but just held her hand and continued to walk slowly: “Then you are not allowed to do that thing where you run away without saying anything again.”

Jiang Laien heard that, looked down at her and held her hand firmly, and sighed: “What are you talking about…”

“You don’t know how sad I was after you left.” Ye Kehuan took a deep breath, her jaw loosening. “At that time, everyone around me said that I was like a different person, and almost no one dared to talk to me…”

Ye Kehuan raised her hand and scratched her forehead, smiling a bit foolishly: “Because they never knew when I would explode, and then it would hurt everyone. No one dared to replace you for me, because I won’t even bother learning their name.”

After Jiang Laien heard that, she couldn’t help squeezing Ye Kehuan’s hand.

“I used to intend to completely block you from my memory, but I still couldn’t help but look through the movies you starred in in the middle of the night, and then continued to pretend that nothing happened that day. I really, I’ve never been able to forget a person like this, so, if you can, I hope you can always stay with me…” Ye Kehuan turned her head to look at her.

With their eyes facing each other, Jiang Laien’s nose suddenly became sore: “You thought I wanted to leave you. If it weren’t because I couldn’t watch you in love with someone else, how could I make such a choice? Who wouldn’t want to stay with their love? Maybe there are some people who can bear the pain of the cuts made by someone they like.”

Ye Kehuan heard that, her body stiffened, and then she hurriedly stood in front of her: “Crying?”

“No,” Jiang Laien sniffed, “Do you think I was better off after I left? No. No matter what I did, I would think of you. I wrote you a lot of letters, but I didn’t send them out.”

When Jiang Laien said that, she grinned again: “In order to forget you, I actually forced myself to like others, but I couldn’t help but compare them to you. Then I found out that there was no way I could like others, because you were always in my heart.”

Ye Kehuan frowned and looked at her: “I’m sorry.”

“What ‘I’m sorry’, you didn’t like me at that time, and you didn’t do anything wrong.” Jiang Laien frowned.

“I made you feel wronged.” Ye Kehuan raised her hand and stroked her hair.

“It’s okay,” Jiang Laien shook her head, “let’s go back, you have to pack things today, after all, you will go to your next crew tomorrow.”

Ye Kehuan originally wanted to say something, but at that moment, her mobile phone rang suddenly. Ye Kehuan had to take out her phone first, and saw Cheng Xin’s number displayed on it.

Upon seeing this, Ye Kehuan immediately picked up her phone and asked as she walked: “Hello? Sister Chen, what’s the matter?”

“It’s this. Charles Schwab said today that they want to invite you to participate in a reality show! At present, the guests they want to invite include you, Jiang Laien, and Cheng Yan. Such a hot lineup! This is true. It’s a rare opportunity!” Cheng Xin’s voice was extremely excited, even though she was on the phone, one could imagine her smiling face complete with foaming mouth.

“Why is Cheng Yan… Schwab?” Ye Kehuan was taken aback for a half a second, looked at Jiang Laien, and then continued with her call, “What kind of show is it?”

“‘My Mother and I: Travel Diary’, the shooting time is one month. It will probably start shooting in March and April. I don’t know if you have watched the previous season. This is mainly about shooting you and your mom traveling together. Those who eat, drink, and have fun will not suffer, and there will be no financial pressure, but you can also bring your own money to spend.” Cheng Xin smiled.

“What?” Ye Kehuan was stunned again, “Wait, I think it might not work well, my mother doesn’t even like me mixing in the entertainment industry…”

“Why? To be honest, I know someone on the crew very well. I heard that this show was something your mother stuffed you in…” Cheng Xin was a little confused.

“What?’ Ye Kehuan was more confused than her, how could that be? At that moment, Ye Kehuan’s shock was no less than that of being blown away by a guided missile.

“Wait a minute, I’ll call her first to ask.” After quickly sorting out her thoughts, Ye Kehuan hung up Cheng Xin’s number after speaking, and instead dialed the number of her mother.

After the phone rang for half a minute, the call was finally connected. Before Ye Kehuan could speak, she heard a rustling ring out on the other side of the phone. Then, her mother’s voice came: “This bag looks pretty good, how much is it? One hundred eighty thousand, which is quite cheap. If I get one for you, how much will it be? Three hundred and sixty thousand? Okay, I’ll have it. Gee, this bag is really beautiful…” [Approximately 54,000 USD for comparison.]

Obviously, her mother was not talking to her, but instead an employee in a luxury store. Sure enough, her mother was either on her way to buy something or on her way to eat. The most important thing was that this powerful woman not only spent money, but also had a lot of money. Ye Kehuan and her dad often had to ask her mother some questions.

Sighing, Ye Kehuan finally couldn’t help it: “Mom!”

“Hey! Girl, what’s wrong?” Mommy Ye finally realized that she was called by her daughter, “I told you, I just saw a bag that is very beautiful. I bought it for you and asked them to send it to you, don’t you want it?”

“I don’t want…” Ye Kehuan felt helpless, “Mom, I just heard that you spent money to put me in a show?”

Mother Ye laughed twice: “Are you talking about ‘My Mother and I: Diary of Showing Off Wealth’?”

“It’s a travel diary!” Ye Kehuan corrected.

Mother Ye said “Oh oh” twice: “What did you say about spending money, how vulgar, this is called an exchange of interests. I give people what they want, and people give me what I want. It is reasonable, you know?”

“It seems that changing the wording to a pleasant statement can change the essence…” Ye Kehuan muttered, “No, don’t you and dad hate me entering the entertainment industry? Why did you intervene now?”

She really didn’t understand. Could there be a conspiracy?

“Yeah, it was originally annoying, but what is that compared to being bullied by others?!” Mother Ye’s voice was like an ice queen’s.

“What?”

“I heard that the surname Cheng has been shadowing you every day? Chao Mingqing told me that she used to bully you on crews before, and she always uses yin and yang language to satirize you as a poor ghost. Poor ghost. There are also those netizens who always say that you sleep for money for resources and connections, and the speculations are too ugly. Even if you don’t want face, I, your mother, want face, ha ha ha ha ha.” Mother Ye punctuated her tirade with eerie laughter. 1

“So, Mom, what do you want to do?” Ye Kehuan was stunned.

“Why don’t I just participate on the show with you, why, do you not want to spend some time with your little mother?” Mother Ye replied.

For a moment, Ye Kehuan was choked, but there was nothing she could say, and her brain could not keep up with her mother. She just felt that her mother’s purpose was not so simple.

At that moment, Mama Ye suddenly changed the conversation and her voice smiled: ‘My dear, have you worked hard in filming recently? Is that enough money for you to earn? I’ll just give you tens of millions as pocket money.”

“No need, no need--” Ye Kehuan refused immediately.

“Oh, it’s late, I have to go.” 

Ye Kehuan almost choked to death on her own saliva.

“Okay, I won’t say more. I’m going to try the best food there. Say hello to Jiang girl on my behalf, and goodbye.” After Mama Ye finished speaking, she hung up the phone casually, leaving Ye Kehuan alone facing her phone screen in a daze.

Ye Kehuan put down her phone and was about to talk to Jiang Laien, but saw that she was tapping on her phone at the moment.

“Laien?” Ye Kehuan put her phone in her pocket.

“Are you going to participate in that show?” Jiang Laien asked, raising her head.

“Are you going to?” Ye Kehuan asked.

“If you go, I’ll go.” Jiang Laien said, brushing the hair on her shoulders.

Ye Kehuan laughed after listening, “Do you really want to work with me so badly?’

Jiang Laien listened, snorted coldly, and continued to walk quickly: “Narcissistic.”

Ye Kehuan stood there laughing for a long time, then trotted to follow her: “Then I will you as you want.”

“Shameless.” Jiang Laien turned her head to glare daggers into her again.

Ye Kehuan smiled brightly: “You always knew that I was shameless.”

“Then I should go.” Ye Kehuan said, opening Cheng Xin’s chat box.

After Jiang Laien glanced at her from the corner of her eye, a sweet smile appeared on her cheek.

When they returned to the homestay, it was not too late. After Ye Kehuan opened the door, Jiang Laien also followed her in.

Turning on the central air conditioner, Ye Kehuan went to the cabinet again, and then pulled a large black suitcase out of it, ready to pack her things.

“I forgot to ask you, how big is your role in this movie?” Jiang Laien saw Ye Kehuan’s script on the bedside table and picked it up.

“It’s not too much, after all, it’s just a supporting role. It shouldn’t take too long in total. I guess it will take ten days all in all.” Ye Kehuan opened the closet and looked at the line of clothes inside, thinking, what to bring to the set.

“Oh…” Jiang Laien nodded, opened the script, and paced there slowly, “I forgot to ask you before, who are you acting as here?”

Ye Kehuan took out a black coat, put it on the bed, and folded it: “Wu Qiyun. A psychologist. She’s cool, gentle, and intellectual. I haven’t played this kind of role before. It’s quite far from me, but I’m quite looking forward to it.”

Jiang Laien didn’t speak anymore, just rubbed her chin and looked at the script. She read very fast, plus she only picked the parts played by Ye Kehuan to read. That way, it would be faster. Before she knew it, she finished reading.

After reading it, Jiang Laien couldn’t help but frown: “Why are there so many kisses?”

“Huh?” Ye Kehuan turned her head and looked at her.

“Why are there so many kiss scenes? Your overall scenes are not much, yet there are still so many kiss scenes…” Jiang Laien’s brows were almost twisted into flowers, and she flipped through the script back and forth, her whole aura turning unmistakably sour.

After listening, Ye Kehuan stopped putting her clothes in the suitcase, then stood up, grinned at the corners of her lips, walked behind Jiang Laien, stretched out her hands to caress the sides of her waist, and put her chin on her shoulder, nodding gently: “Are you jealous?”

Jiang Laien’s whole body was slightly stiff, her shoulders slouched slightly, her head turned halfway, and she turned to look at the script: “Where do you see that?”

“No? Then why is the word ‘upset’ written on your face?” Ye Kehuan raised her hand and pulled her hair to one side, revealing a small white and delicate neck.

“If you shoot, just shoot, who cares about you. I bet you’ll enjoy filming it.” Jiang Laien said, closing the script and throwing it back on the bedside table.

“Really angry?” Ye Kehuan walked around her and looked at her with a smile.

Jiang Laien glanced up at her and shook her head: “Why should I be angry?”

“Because you don’t want to see me kissing other people,” Ye Kehuan raised her chin and raised her eyebrows. “No?”

“No…” Jiang Laien met her gaze, only feeling that her gaze seemed to be hot, igniting every cell in her body.

“It’s all fake,” Ye Kehuan stared into her eyes, and stroked her lips with her fingers, “I’ll only ever be real with you.”

After speaking, Ye Kehuan tilted her head and kissed her lips. Suddenly, Jiang Laien’s breathing became hurried again. She found that as long as she was in front of Ye Kehuan, she was really hopeless. She was still sour and unhappy, but as long as she was tempted by Ye Kehuan, she could forget everything, and would become happy in an instant. Some thoughts that were difficult to describe were brought up.

With lips almost still connected, Ye Kehuan growled, “Hold me.”

Jiang Laien gulped, and inexplicably did what she said.

“Teeth, loosen.” Then Ye Kehuan gave the next command in a lazy and gentle voice.

Jiang Laien only felt that she had fallen into her world completely, and her hands could not help but clutch the shirt on her back…

TL/N

1 - Yin and yang language refers to someone who is good at reversing the yin and yang, or changing black to white, and many other ways of saying it. Basically, they use sarcasm to insult people by praising them and things of that nature.

I don’t like to add notes mid-chapter, but I feel like it’s worth putting that note for the money in, to give context to just how disgustingly rich Ye Kehuan’s family is. No point in hiding it anymore.