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With a snap, Qin Yinong quickly closed the tablet.
The strong wind that lifted up caused Ningning to close her eyes involuntarily, her bangs flew, and settled down again, spreading softly on her forehead.
Xiao Ningning: "..."
Qin Yinong hid the tablet behind her with one hand, as if nothing had happened. Her other hand touched Ningning’s bangs. She coughed slightly, and said solemnly: "Have you finished your homework?"
"I’ve finished it." Ningning’s eyes curved into two crescents, turned around and brought the Tianzige exercise book to Qin Yinong for inspection (T/N Tianzige is a type of paper that is used to practice writing Chinese characters).
Qin Yinong looked over it, and praised her: "It's great."
She smiled and kissed Ningning's face again.
Ningning kissed her back.
She has a good memory. Her eyelashes fluttered twice, and she asked, "Who is she?"
Qin Yinong asked uncertainly, "Huh?"
Ningning tilted her head, pointed to the tablet behind her, and said innocently: "That pretty sister you were watching."
Pretty sister.
Pretty.
Qin Yinong couldn't help but lift the corners of her lips, and immediately pressed her lips, and replied: "She is..." After a pause, a trace of complexity flashed in her eyes, and said, "An actress."
"What's an actress?" Ningning watched very little on TV. So far, she has only watched cartoons and has not been exposed to live-action TV series. Professional terms are a bit difficult for her to understand.
Qin Yinong thought for a while: "Take her as a colleague of your mom, your mom is also an actress."
"Oh." Ningning said, "Then you must like her very much, right?"
Qin Yinong: "..." Isn’t this kid a bit too smart?!
Qin Yinong was worried, but still asked with a smile on her face: "Why do you think so?"
Ningning said without hesitation, "Because she’s beautiful."
Qin Yinong: "..." She couldn't refute the truth.
Qin Yinong suddenly had a headache. How could she explain to Ningning about the relationship between her and Tang Ruoyao? The best thing to do, of course, was to say she didn’t like her, but the child is a curious baby, and she would definitely follow up with a lot of questions.
If you don’t like then why do you keep looking at her so attentively.
Ningning didn’t give Qin Yinong too much time to think. She stretched her small arms and legs, and held out her hands, saying cutely and lovingly: "Mom, I want to take a bath."
Children are very active and their body temperature runs hot. Even though Ningning doesn't like to move very much, immediately holing up in bed after returning home, she still sweated a lot.
She seems to have forgotten about Tang Ruoyao?
Qin Yinong narrowed her eyes, thinking that Ningning might not have a chance to meet Tang Ruoyao anyway, so she simply gave up explaining. She smiled over it, holding Ningning's little hand: "Let’s go, mom will take you to the bath."
Qin Yinong filled the bathtub with water, prepared Ningning’s clothes, and reached out to take off her clothes. Ningning replied shyly, holding the collar to prevent her from touching, and whispered, “I can take a bath by myself.”
Qin Yinong raised her eyebrows, making a surprised face: "Already?"
"If you don't believe me, ask grandma." Ningning proudly straightened her back and said, "I can also wash my socks."
Qin Yinong’s eyes widened. She smiled and applauded: "Wow, you’re doing great."
Ningning couldn't help but boast at first--she seemed to want to smile with restraint, eventually gave in and grinned, revealing her baby teeth that had just grown altogether.
"Anyway, you go out first, I’ll call you after I finish washing." Ningning gently pushed Qin Yinong's arm.
Qin Yinong retreated to the door graciously and gently closed the door, but didn’t walk away, pressing her ears, paying attention to the movement inside.
After a while, Ningning finished washing herself, changed into a brand-new cartoon pajamas, and took a small basin to the bathroom to demonstrate to Qin Yinong washing her socks. Qin Yinong stood beside her with a loving face. After she finished washing, she touched the corner of her eyes and felt tears from laughing.
"I'm going to find Taxue to play." Ningning finished rubbing the baby powder and rushed to the small room next door.
Taxue is a two-month-old beautiful short and white cat with a white collar, a straight face, pink nose and claws, four feet kicking on the snow, so the name is Taxue. Taxue was found by Guan Han, who said that raising small animals can cultivate love and patience in children, so she was sent over here to be raised. Taxue was too young, afraid that they wouldn’t be able to find it in any corner if it ran outside, they let it stay in a small room all the time.
Qin Yinong watched Ningning play with the cat in the small room for a while, moved her sore neck and went to take a bath, taking the tablet away.
Her bedroom is upstairs.
After washing and going downstairs, she saw Ji Shulan reading a book in the living room, wearing reading glasses. She was once a wealthy daughter, who had been tortured by life for so many years, and when she grew old, Qin Yinong encouraged her to pick up a little hobby of her youth. Reading books, gardening or some such.
Qin Yinong sat next to her, picked up the book in her hand and looked at it. Ji Shulan looked up at her, her eyes were very gentle, and Qin Yinong also curled her lips and smiled at her.
Ningning came out of the small room, holding Taxue in her arms, stroking the cat’s soft fur with one hand, her eyes sparkling at Qin Yinong, her little face full of eagerness, and joyfully asked: "Mom, can I sleep with Taxue tonight?"
Qin Yinong refused resolutely: "No."
Ningning pouted her lips, aggrieved.
Ji Shulan explained in a soft voice: "It's still too small. If you accidentally squash it when you sleep at night, it’ll get hurt."
Ningning said, “oh”, looked at Qin Yinong again, saying: "Then can I sleep with mom at night?"
A look of embarrassment flashed in Qin Yinong's eyes. Before she could answer, Ji Shulan hurriedly put down the book to cover for her, wiped her eyes, pretending to be sad and said: "You don't want to stay with grandma now that mom’s back."
Ningning rushed over, lay on her grandmother's lap and acted sweetly. Ji Shulan took the opportunity to persuade the child to sleep with her at night.
Ji Shulan winked at Qin Yinong, reassuring her.
Qin Yinong hesitated for a moment, and said, "Forget it, mom, let her sleep with me."
Ji Shulan: "But..."
Qin Yinong interrupted her softly: "It's just one night anyway, it’s okay." She raised her eyes to look at Ji Shulan, "We’ll all sleep in your room together."
Ji Shulan's lips trembled, Qin Yinong stopped her words with her eyes.
Three generations of people sitting side by side on the bed, Ningning slept in the middle, her hands waving outside of the quilt. Maybe she was too excited-- she talked excitedly, danced around, and gushed about what happened in kindergarten.
The two elders listened patiently and attentively, echoing her sentences from time to time, full of family joy.
Ningning soon became tired, and her eyelids were fighting to stay awake. Qin Yinong fed her a couple of sips of water. She half-squinted and said "Night, mom. Night, grandma," and then tilted her head to sleep.
Qin Yinong tucked the quilt for her, with infinite warmth in her eyes. She took a few photos of Ningning with the phone next to her, saved them, looked at them again, touched the child's puffy face, and got out of bed lightly.
"I'll come over tomorrow morning. If she wakes up at night, just tell her I went to the bathroom." Qin Yinong stood by the bed and whispered to Ji Shulan.
Ji Shulan nodded, looked at her back and stopped herself from saying anything.
"Go to sleep." Qin Yinong mouthed and walked to the door, holding the doorknob in one hand, and turning off the light in the bedroom.
Qin Yinong went back upstairs. She took out a glass and Scotch whiskey from the wine cabinet, filled half the glass with ice cubes, and stood quietly in front of the French window. She raised her eyes and silently stared into the thick night outside the window.
There was no light in the room, just pitch black, and she seemed to melt into the endless darkness.
***
Tang Ruoyao simply packed a few changes of clothes and went back to her alma mater, the Capital Academy of Drama. The graduation thesis defense was just around the corner. She had finished filming the cover of the magazine, and other work projects were either rejected or postponed. The defense was her first priority, it concerned the results of her four-year study.
Tang Ruoyao walked onto campus. She wore a T-shirt, denim and canvas shoes, and a black baseball cap. She’s dressed like normal college girls, but she has long legs and a slender waist, with a fair complexion, so the clothes on her seem to be even more elegant, attracting a lot of attention. As once stated, not all students who graduate from professional schools can enter the performing arts industry smoothly, and even fewer can make a name for themselves during their studies.
"Hello?" A girl quickly poked her head over and greeted her nervously.
Tang Ruoyao lifted the brim of her hat a little, amber eyes looking calm. She nodded slightly, cold but still gentle and said, "Hello."
"Xuexuexue, xuejie, can you sign your name for me? I’m your fan." The girl quickly took out a pen and paper from her backpack, her eyes lit up, looking at her in admiration. (T/N: 学姐 xuejie is the honorific for female upperclassman)
Tang Ruoyao took the pen, lowered her head, and said lightly: "What’s your name?" Signing on blank paper is very dangerous for celebrities.
The girl said her name.
Tang Ruoyao asked which two characters they were and wrote "to XX" before adding her artistic signature below and returning it back.
"Thank you!" The girl held her notebook and kissed her with excitement, then glanced at her, biting her lip and said, "Xuejie, can I give you a hug?"
Tang Ruoyao looked at her indifferently, without saying a word.
It was the scorching summer, but the temperature around the girl suddenly dropped a few degrees. She touched the chilly nape of her neck, took two steps back unconsciously, and whispered cautiously, "Goodbye, xuejie."
Tang Ruoyao was still expressionless: "Yeah, goodbye."
The girl backed away, only then boldly shouted: "Xuejie, good luck!"
Tang Ruoyao didn’t stop walking, nor did she look back.
It is said that Tang Ruoyao is cold and does not like being close to others. The girl pursed her lips, didn’t take it personally, too ecstatic about the signature. She showed off to her roommates in the WeChat group that she got Tang Ruoyao’s autograph!
Tang Ruoyao was stopped several times on the way before she finally returned to the dormitory in one piece.
Approaching the date for thesis defense, despite filming outside or doing other things, most of the students had gone back to school. When Tang Ruoyao came in, her three roommates were all there and simply greeted each other. Tang Ruoyao put her bag on the chair, climbed the stairs, and made her bed. She would be staying here for a while this time.
Her roommates were chatting below. Tang Ruoyao was busy, sweating from her white forehead, when she suddenly heard the words Qin Yinong.
She paused.
"Xiaowen." Tang Ruoyao poked her head out from above, interrupting the heated conversation among her roommates.
The roommate called Xiaowen raised her head: "What's up?"
"Did you just mention..." Tang Ruoyao paused, took a light breath, and said the name, "Qin Yinong?"
"Oh, didn’t you know? Everyone’s going crazy." Xiaowen propped an elbow on the table, her face turned up and said longingly, "I heard that at our graduation ceremony this year, the principal especially invited Qin Yinong to come and give a speech. She will also personally issue degree certificate to this year’s representative of outstanding graduates."
The representative of this class of outstanding graduates was, not surprisingly, Tang Ruoyao.
Whatever else her roommate said, Tang Ruoyao couldn't hear her at all. Her heart suddenly tightened, beating fiercely, and the shocks made her brain go blank gradually.
Was she going to be on the same stage as Qin Yinong?
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The author has something to say:
Small theater:
The principal of the Capital Academy of Drama: Why didn't you come when I asked you before?
Qin Yinong: Was my wife in the graduation ceremony before? ﹁_﹁
Principal: You have the ability to say this in front of Tang Ruoyao!
Qin Yinong: I'm not capable [humble.jpg]
Thanks to the little angel who voted for me or irrigated the nutrient solution~
Thanks to the little angel [a long list of readers]
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!
translated by drew, edited by noba