026
Tang Ruoyao slept very deeply.
When she woke up, it was dark. Her limbs had gone soft, and she was so tired she couldn’t lift her head, or even her fingers. She closed her eyes and rested for a short while more before extending her hand to touch the phone next to her pillow, squinting her eyes at the screen as it lit up.
Ten p.m.
The sounds of other students coming and going were still coming from the corridor behind the wall.
Why were the lights already off at ten p.m.?
Just as she was thinking this, her ears picked up the sound of chair legs gently dragging against the floor. In the dim light, a figure stood up and looked at her: "You’re up? Shall I turn on the light?"
It was Fu Yujun.
Her heart filled with warmth, Tang Ruoyao asked softly, "Are those two asleep?"
Click——
The bedroom was illuminated by warm white light, and Tang Ruoyao squinted again.
Fu Yu took his hand from the switch beside the door and said, "The two of them went to another dorm to visit."
Tang Ruoyao said “oh”, and propped herself up into a sitting position, dozing off against the headboard.
"Are you hungry?" Fu Yujun asked carefully from below.
"A little bit." Tang Ruoyao, not regarding her as an outsider, sprawled over the railing and looked down asking, "Is there anything I can eat?" She naturally didn’t prepare any food when she returned to the dormitory this time.
Fu Yujun dragged out a storage box from below the table, picked out a few different kinds of snacks and placed them on the table. She clapped her hands and generously let Tang Ruoyao choose for herself, "Instant noodles, biscuits, chocolate, bread."
"Instant noodles."
"I'll boil the water. Rest a little while more, I’ll call you when it’s ready."
"I can do it myself," Tang Ruoyao moved busily, drawing up her long hair and tying it up, before getting out of bed. She couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable allowing others to take care of everything for her.
"Okay, then I'll go and call those two back to take a bath. They’re having too much fun to remember it’s almost time for lights off." Fu Yujun smiled, accepting her feelings.
The water in the kettle started roiling turbulently, and a fine steam was emitting from it. Tang Ruoyao propped herself up against the table, her lips hooking up slightly, reading the news posted in the class chat again and again, over ten times, until she could memorise it, before she kept her phone away.
While making the instant noodles, she took care to move her chair out to the balcony. This kind of smell would take the better part of a day to air out in a dormitory room.
Tang Ruoyao does not like to eat soft noodles, so she uncovered it in exactly three minutes. She twirled her fork a few times, and blew on it. Before she could even take her first bite, however, Wen Shuxian’s boisterous laughter rang ahead of the sound of the door opening.
Tang Ruoyao looked up.
Three people entered the empty dormitory room all at once, and it immediately became lively again.
Wen Shuxian took one look at Tang Ruoyao, and without caring whether she was still eating her dinner or not, she excitedly shared with her upon closing the door, "Huo Yuke is back! I heard she’s so angry her nostrils have bent out of shape, the whole floor heard her throwing a tantrum in her dormitory!" She laughed loudly, "I am so happy!"
Tang Ruoyao remained calm inside, and continued to restrain the corners of her lips, smiling gently: "Really?"
"Yeah," Wen Shuxian pulled out a chair and sat down, gesturing wildly, and gushingly described Huo Yuke's ugly tantrum, as if she had seen it with her own eyes.
With great tacit chemistry, Cui Jiaren cooperatively supported her performance.
Getting to eat instant noodles while listening to cross-talk, Tang Ruoyao enjoyed a colourful life.
Fu Yujun urged Cui Jiaren to take a bath first, and so the cross-talk turned into a lonely stand-up. Tang Ruoyao wasn’t much of a talker, so Wen Shuxian couldn’t continue the conversion after a while, and waited for Cui Jiaren to come back so she could use the washroom.
Tang Ruoyao took out the garbage.
She threw the cup of instant noodles into the public trashcan at the end of the corridor, and walked back the same way. A few steps away, the door of the 432 dormitory room opened suddenly. Huo Yuke came out from the inside, holding a mobile phone in her hand, and stood stunned upon seeing her clearly. Her appearance, already gloomy, immediately took on an air of hostility, and the knuckles on the edge of her phone tightened until they turned white.
Enemies walk a narrow path.
With an indifferent expression, Tang Ruoyao walked past her with a slight pause, looking straight ahead.
“Tang Ruoyao,” Huo Yuke stopped her the moment she passed by, her gaze cold.
Tang Ruoyao halted, raised her eyelids, and calmly looked back. “What?”
”You were just lucky this time, don’t think that you’ll be lucky every time,” Huo Yuke said hatefully.
“Oh.”
Huo Yuke felt that it was as though her fist landed on cotton, leaving her nowhere to attack. It had already been three years, but every time they interacted was always just like this. No matter how she provoked her opponent, in Tang Ruoyao’s eyes, she was just like an invisible person, unable to attract even the slightest bit of attention, not even worthy of a second glance. Just like now, even though Tang Ruoyao was expressionless, her whole body was clearly saying, “Are you done, can I go? You aren’t worthy of speaking to me.”
On what basis? Clearly, Tang Ruoyao and herself were the exact same, how could she still pretend to be so pure?
The more she was like this, the more Huo Yuke wanted to provoke her.
"The movie you auditioned for as female lead last time, they had already chosen you, I was the one who snatched it away from you,” Huo Yuke stared at her, a delighted smile flashing across her face.
She thought Tang Ruoyao didn't know about this yet.
Tang Ruoyao said again, "Oh," even her eyebrows remained still.
Huo Yuke’s expression suddenly changed, "You--"
Seeing that she was going to keep talking nonsense, Tang Ruoyao lost her patience, and said mildly, "Huo Yuke."
Huo Yuke was taken aback.
"As we were classmates, let me tell you something."
Finally, she looked this schoolmate who thought of her as an opponent straight in the eyes, with a pensive expression. Huo Yuke, upon seeing her like this, without knowing why, suddenly straightened her back, almost as if she was listening with respectful attention. Her fingernails dug painfully into her palms as she maintained her contemptuous expression.
"."
"Disaster must follow if virtue does not match the station." Tang Ruoyao looked her in the eyes, stating each word clearly. (T/N: This sentence is from Zhu Bolu’s Maxims for Managing the Home, a popular traditional Chinese text on morality which describes the ideal Confucian civic responsibility values that a family head and family should embody. The preceding line is “Destruction immediately follows the usurpation of human relationships”. There are 5 ethically human relationships according to traditional Chinese culture: ruler-subject, parent-child (father-son), sibling-sibling (brother-brother), husband-wife, friend-friend. Taken together, the meaning is that one’s virtues should match their status, and by going against this rule, one will suffer retribution. Hence, one should respect the five relationships and accumulate virtues, and not stray from them.)
"I’ll take my leave." Tang Ruoyao courteously nodded at her, and left.
Huo Yuke's eyes landed on her back, stunned still.
The door to the opposite dormitory room was wide open, providing a panoramic view from the doorway. Meeting the measuring gazes case from inside, Huo Yuke returned to her senses and glared at them viciously, "What are you looking at!"
With a bang, the door of this dormitory room closed from the inside, and it was quiet.
The corridor lights casted Huo Yuke’s shadow, standing still for a long time.
Tang Ruoyao returned to the dormitory, and lay down after taking a shower. Routinely, she used her private account to scroll through Qin Yinong’s supertopic, but unfortunately, Qin Yinong had only taken private trips recently, and there was no recent news.
@My daily life with Miss Q:
【The matter is solved, we’ll meet in 16 days, I miss her】
***
The little storm caused by the choosing of the representative of the graduating class of the Capital Academy of Drama was so insignificant to Qin Yinong’s side that she was not even notified of it, and she did not know that such a twist had appeared in the middle.
Qin Yinong would only see the person who ends up on stage, whoever had the ability to stand in front of her was not something she needed to consider.
June 20 was the day the graduation ceremony took place. Qin Yinong rushed to the company early in the morning. Guan Han had invited her personal stylist team to the company in advance.
Qin Yinong is naturally beautiful, and is very suitable for being dressed up. In private, however, she pretty much did not put on make up, and would at most apply a light lipstick.
At a glance, the large lounge was filled with people, makeup artists, stylists, makeup assistants, etc. and the table and even the floor was filled with one after another makeup containers.
——Qin Yinong’s armoury was not even this grand when she attended the Cannes award ceremony.
Guanhan clicked her tongue in her heart, looked down in shame, and acted like she didn’t see anything.
"What time is it?" Qin Yinong asked lazily, sounding slightly fatigued.
She came over early in the morning, and had already been tormented for nearly two hours.
"Five minutes to seven." Guanhan responded like a timekeeping machine.
Qin Yinong hummed as the stylist continued to cock her fingers, slowly and carefully groomed her exquisite eyebrows.
Not long after.
"Teacher Qin, we’re done, please stand up and take a look."
Qin Yinong stood in front of the full-length mirror. The tall woman with a slim figure in the mirror wore a red dress, her long hair was specially curled, and her make-up was exquisite, her cheeks pale white, and a classic red lipstick outlined her clear lips
The back of this long dress is completely bare, with a gathered waistline, with two thin strings of the same colour crossed.
She turned sideways, the fluffy and soft long curly hair on her back swaying lightly with her movements, the bright and smooth skin of her bare back faintly discernible under the long strands. Her back was smoothly curved, and her shoulder blade slightly raised, as though she had wings.
The people next to her stared in awe.
Qin Yinong probably realised that it was too grand herself, and the roots of her ears reddened slightly. She was too shy to ask the others how it looked, and stepped into her shoes, taking two steps forward, her 172cm tall figure naturally carrying an air of refinement.
"The skirt is a bit long," Qin Yinong frowned.
The richly-experienced stylist came forward with scissors, compared sections, and with one cut - slash!
Cleanly removed a section of the skirt.
Guan Han, "!!!" held in her gasp.
Although it was not the first time, every time she saw this kind of luxurious and heirloom-worthy dresses being cut without hesitation like curtain cloths, she felt a stab of pain.
Qin Yinong tried again, and said mildly, "It's okay now."
The team of stylists, who had been busy all day long in full swing, collectively breathed a sigh of relief, and kept away the things on the table one after another. Guan Han and Qin Yinong arranged her long hair so that it would nicely cover her back, and then, looking at her watch, “Time to go.”
Qin Yinong glanced at her lipstick in the mirror and nodded.
Guan Han guarded her as she left the studio, thinking to herself that it was lucky that it was still too early for the staff to arrive at the studio for work, or countless people would be walking into walls today.
"When does the graduation ceremony start?"
"It starts at nine o'clock, but the media has arrived. You are the focus today, they will definitely want to interview you. Principal Sun suggested that you arrive before 8:30." After a pause, Guan Han added her two cents, "It's okay if you don't, those people can't do anything to you anyway."
Qin Yinong laughed, and raised her hand to pat her head.
"I've already come, I should give Old Sun some face," Qin Yinong fluttered her eyelashes at her and smiled amorously, "Besides, don’t I still have you? You can protect me."
Guan Han said indifferently, "Can you stop smiling like this at me? I'm not Miss Yao." If Qin Yinong kept flirting indiscriminately, she’d just report her!
Qin Yinong: "..." In a flash, she said dryly, "We should rehearse in advance."
Guan Han gathered up her courage, and glanced at her suddenly, saying recklessly, “Don’t be nervous, you’re only there to see her.”
Qin Yinong: "..."
When was she nervous?!
Qin Yinong turned her head, and walked quickly, her heart pounding in her chest.
Guanhan resisted a laugh as she followed.
Qin Yinong’s celebrity van drove in through the gates of the Capital Academy of Drama, followed closely by a black car ferrying her bodyguards. There was a parking lot near the hall where the graduation ceremony was held, and they went straight to it.
Just then, the driver slowed down until they were moving like a tortoise. Guanhan pressed the intercom and asked, "What's wrong?"
Qin Yinong, who had closed her eyes to meditate, also opened her eyes.
The driver replied, "The road is blocked."
Guanhan asked, "Can you bypass it?"
The driver responded, "Yes, but it will take some time, wait a moment."
Bored, Qin Yinong rested her chin on one hand, and looked out from the tinted car window. Blocking the road was a group of students in academic dress, probably the graduating students.
She couldn't help but fantasize about what Tang Ruoyao would look like in academic dress. Even if she was dressed exactly the same, Tang Ruoyao would still shine like a star in the crowd. The corner of Qin Yinong’s lips lifted at the thought that she would be seeing it shortly.
The celebrity van changed direction and slowly bypassed the group of graduating students. Qin Yinong's car window just happened to face them, and she was so close that she could see them clearly.
All of these people were girls, each in a battle, and several of them pushed each other back and forth, a conflict having seemingly arisen.
Qin Yinong was about to withdraw her gaze, when her eyes suddenly narrowed.
She had seen a familiar face among the group of people at the frontlines of one camp, with no extra emotions showing on that perpetually cold face.
Guan Han had seen her too, her eyes widening suddenly at the same time. Keeping her calm, she quietly notified, "It’s Miss Y..."
"I." Qin Yinong interrupted her, "Stop."
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The author has something to say:
small theater:
Guan Han: Don't be nervous, just meet in person
Sister Qin: What is just a meeting, maybe you have to drink water from afar →_→
Yaoyao: I'm ready! [Lying Ping.jpg]
Acknowledgement in this chapter: Deep water of marmalade x1
Thanks to the little angel who voted for me or irrigated the nutrient solution~
Thanks for the little angel who cast [Rocket Launcher]: zzz, Xia Ou 1;
Thanks to the little angel who cast [Grenade]: csyisghost, 1 noodles;
Thank you for the little angel who cast [land mine]: South Street Old Wine. 3; Wu is seven years old, You Zuoya, Jingxuan's girlfriend, Shaohua Jin, I am a little bitch, shadow fish, Luo Xin, lazy, Mu Lin Da, Yunqian, Jiaguaiguai, Moyilong, Zichu, Xiao Yuqing, Miyaki 1;
Thanks to the little angel who irrigated [nutrient solution]:
Luo Guichen 90 bottles; Joe 47 bottles; idlers 31 bottles; good wise men 16 bottles; Xiaohua Acridine ~ 12 bottles; csyisghost, Murong Xuefei, Nanjie Old Wine. 10 bottles; CRANE 8 bottles; Luoxin 7 bottles; Silently 5 bottles; Jiujiu 3 bottles; Yellow Bird Bird 2 bottles; moonfish, ordinary people, 7766, Ziqian, Jin, j, qiquam, HIMARO, cqr that can’t eat spicy food, watching meteors under an umbrella, lamb 1 bottle;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!
translated by tetris. edited by ryn.