He did end up sleeping in the latter half of the night, but his hand was always unconsciously fiddling around on her, stroking here and caressing there. It was as if he now finally possessed the one thing that he had yearned for in his dreams and was unwilling to let go of it… Half-annoyed, half-amused with his touches, Chu Jian dug her elbow into him, nudging him away.
Feeling hot, she lifted away the quilt to try to catch some fresh air, but he leaned over and sprawled on top of her again—
This was repeated several times.
This night, Chu Jian was like a fish that had been lugged out of the water and thrown onto a chopping block. She had no more energy left to flop and kick and simply let him play around and move her about as he pleased. When dawn was fast approaching, he felt around for the lamp and, with a click, turned it on. The instant the light appeared, Chu Jian wanted to turn away from it, but a weight held her shoulder down and she could not move.
Jian Bianlin spoke. “Hold me.”
His voice seemed as if it had been carried out on his breath, light, and also repressed. Chu Jian mumbled, “I’m honestly so sleepy I could die, Jian Bianlin.” But she still reluctantly lifted her arm and sluggishly slipped it around his waist. She managed to keep this up for a few seconds before falling asleep again, and her arm slid limply back down.
Catching her hand in his, he once more set it behind his waist. As he brushed her sweat-dampened bangs to the side, he gazed at her, becoming more and more mesmerized by what he saw. It was Chu Jian.
He was not dreaming.
She lay in a deep slumber all the way until the afternoon when she was woken by her mobile phone’s alarm.
Five o’clock on the dot—the alarm Jian Bianlin had set for her. The alarm had been labeled, “At an outdoor shoot.”
Following his instructions, Chu Jian ambled her way over to the site of their outdoor shoot. The scenery was quite nice, and the river was flowing rapidly. The weather was freezing, but his upper body and feet were ungarbed as he stood atop a boulder by the riverbank, his back toward where she was. Under the sunlight, Chu Jian could see the large, snaking vine—a vine that wound around a lotus flower—that the makeup artist had painted on his back.
When the staff and crew saw Chu Jian, they nodded to her in greeting.
Nothing was out of the ordinary, but Chu Jian still felt guiltily self-conscious.
Tong Fei saw Chu Jian shuffling over, and while raising her mobile phone trying to find some reception, the first thing Tong Fei said was, “That guy’s the main lead of the main leads. Take it easy when you’re playing with him, eh. Xie Bin didn’t sleep the entire night last night and kept messaging me on WeChat, asking whether you would put scratches on Jian Bianlin’s back. He’s got a few scenes these next days where he has to show his back.”
“……”
“Wait a bit, wait a bit. Look, the cloud has floated away now. I’m going to send out an email first. This place is just too insane. A cloud just drifts by and then there’s no reception.” Tong Fei worked away hard for some time and then, after finally finishing off the work for a 20 million RMB contract, switched back to her BFF channel. “Take it easy, you know, take it easy. Hey, oh, wow, you’re even wearing his ring now?”
Jian Bianlin had worn that pinky ring of his since before he shot into fame. Anyone who had seen him a few times would have an impression of it. Now, it encircled Chu Jian’s ring finger—the meaning of that was very clear.
The guy had had it made according to the size of Chu Jian’s finger. No wonder sometimes it had seemed that the ring’s size was a bit too large and looked really loose on Jian Bianlin’s little finger.
When Tong Fei thought about this particular detail, goosebumps popped out all over her body.
So envious. So jealous! There was no chance in this lifetime for her anymore, but next life, no matter what, she was going to get herself a childhood sweetheart…
Not far from them, Lin Shen was reading through the script. Jian Bianlin likely was taking a break, and he had one of his assistants call Lin Shen over so they could analyze and discuss the scene that they later would be acting in together. Chu Jian stood beside the monitors with her hands in her parka, waiting for them to wrap up their work. Perhaps it was because their minds were in sync or perhaps it was for some other reason, but in any case, Jian Bianlin discovered her presence. Slipping on the button-up shirt that Xiao Yu handed to him, he patted Lin Shen on the shoulder and spoke what seemed to be a couple of sentences of encouragement. Then, while fastening the buttons of his shirt, he strode over to where Chu Jian was.
The collar of Chu Jian’s parka was turned up with the zipper pulled all the way to the top, blocking nearly half of her face, from the tip of her nose downward, and highlighting that pair of eyes.
It was broad daylight now, but simultaneously, they both remembered the intimacy of the previous night…
Chu Jian’s cheeks were burning. She discovered that Jian Bianlin was standing so close to her that his eyes were cast very low. The love that shone in those eyes was so deep it was as if he had not yet stepped out of character from his scene a moment ago. However, it was obvious that his feelings for Chu Jian did not require any acting skills. Everything was real—he loved her.
For a long time, their gazes were silently locked together. From somewhere, Xiao Yu, holding a down parka, wanted to step close to them, but Xie Bin grabbed him and dragged him back. “You’re so oblivious.”
Jian Bianlin, oh, Jian Bianlin. Oh man. Observing that expression in Jian Bianlin’s eyes and the way he looked, Xie Bin felt a twinge of sentiment. For some reason, he wanted to go into his high school group list and search through the contact details to find his first love and catch up with her—even though he had heard that she was long married, for the second time, in Singapore and had a kid already.
In those yesteryears, he had also once been a pure boy. When first year of university came around, he and his first love had been in a long-distance relationship and finally had a rare chance to see one another. Unable to restrain their desires, they had gotten a room in a hotel. The next day when they awoke, he truly had held his first love in his arms and waited on her like she was a little child, helping her put on all her clothing from inside to out. His eyes had been so soft and tender you could almost squeeze water out from them as he gazed at the first woman in his life. What had he said at the time? Ah, right. “You are so good to me. In our lifetime, I will never fail you or this love that you have given me…”
So sappily sad. Anyway, most people’s first love was usually like a novel of the pains of youth. You couldn’t avoid it.
Like everyone was competing to be the sappiest and saddest.
While Xie Bin was sighing away on his end, Jian Bianlin had found a mountain bike from somewhere. Putting the mask that he used to conceal his face over his mouth and pulling up the hood of his down parka, he patted the front handlebar. “Come on up.”
Chu Jian was a little hesitant. “There are so many people.”
The bottom half of his face was hidden behind the mask, and the sound of his low chuckle was muffled and carried a suggestive overtone. “It’s not like you’ve never sat there before.”
That was back in middle school…
While Chu Jian was still silently struggling with herself, he had already pulled her into his arms, lifted her up, and set her on the handlebar. Then, with a step on the pedal, he rode off.
He did not care at all about the marvelous show of expression on the faces of each person in the cast and crew.
It had probably been several years since Jian Bianlin had last touched a bicycle. This one was borrowed from the family who had rented their house out to the production team, and the back rack had been removed. It was not certain whether the owner of the bike deliberately did this as girl-wooing strategy, but regardless, it caused him to think of many things.
The mountain road was actually quite wide, but it was an uneven dirt road, and Chu Jian was joggled and jolted until her bottom was sore. Shifting herself left and right, she tried to find a good sitting position.
Winter was almost at its end, but it was still very cold. The whooshing mountain wind charged straight into the openings at the cuffs of her sleeves and neckline.
Worried that she was cold, Jian Bianlin rode with only one hand, while the other arm encircled her and held her tightly against his chest. Out of the blue, he asked, “Is it too bumpy?”
“It’s okay.” She tilted her head up to look at him. “Where are we going?”
“To have dinner.”
“We’re not going to eat with the rest of the group?” Hadn’t someone been hired specifically to cook for everyone?
“Today is special.”
Chu Jian, of course, knew what he was referring to. Hunching her shoulders and pulling her head down slightly, she leaned herself firmly into his embrace.
Even that had to be celebrated? …
Jian Bianlin had a nice idea: At the nearby town, they would find a clean, little restaurant, which preferably would have a small private dining room, and have some good food. But alas, they arrived too late. In small towns such as this one, once the sky was dark, all the shops on the few streets would close. Only one restaurant owner remained, eating dinner alone over his wok.
Jian Bianlin was worried that if they were to go back now, Chu Jian would be too hungry. Deciding to make do, he stepped into the restaurant. Pulling off his face mask, he, in a friendly and deferential way, basically begged a meal from the restaurant owner.
The owner was a man in his forties who seemed quite laidback and easy to talk to. However, Jian Bianlin had come directly from the filming location, and hence his garb that made him look like one of society’s undesirables, coupled with the black, surgical-style face mask that he was wearing, intimidated the shop owner a little. The man pointed at a table in the corner of the shop and told them to take a seat.
Other than half a chicken and some eggs, though, there was no other food left.
In order to make this dinner feel special, Jian Bianlin ordered, “Stir-fried chicken chunks, salty crispy chicken skin, scrambled eggs with scallions, and egg drop soup…”
Eventually, even the restaurant owner was chuckling in amusement. “Hey, lad, do you want me to make you a bowl of steamed egg custard, too?”
Jian Bianlin considered this suggestion for a moment. “Sure.”
The restaurant owner felt even more that this young couple was quite amusing, and humming a little tune, he went off to make the dinner.
Jian Bianlin chased after the owner, asking if there were any stores nearby that sold daily necessities.
“Oh, yes. Yes, there is. You go out the door, make a right, and walk all the way to the very end. There’s one once you step outside of the lane. It has any of the basic necessities that you may need. At this time of day, there should be a lot of people there watching TV, so there will be someone in the shop for sure. Go now. It has everything.”
Now that he had learned the location of where he needed to go, Jian Bianlin did not delay. Rising to his feet, he instructed Chu Jian, “Wait for me. I’m going to go buy something.”
Chu Jian was perplexed. “You still need some other daily necessities? I’ve brought everything.”
“I’ll just go take a look. There may not be any.”
It was not often that Jian Bianlin would describe something so nebulously. With this rather vague reason, he left her alone there and went out by himself.
Chu Jian sat in blank bewilderment for a dozen or so seconds. Then, she understood.
Thump, thump. Her heart was hammering rapidly. She had a faint awareness that her chest was rising up and down with the tempo of her breathing and heartbeat. She felt so embarrassed she did not know what to do. However, a very important thought instantly popped into her head.
Wait, no. He can’t go buy that.
Once this thought hit her, she could not concern herself with even letting the restaurant owner in the kitchen know first and simply dashed outside, sprinting all the way out the lane. Catching sight of Jian Bianlin already walking up the steps of the shop, she grabbed him and dragged him back. “You can’t go. If someone recognizes you, there’s going to be a lot of trouble…”
It was not out of the ordinary at all for that small restaurant’s owner to not know Jian Bianlin, given the type of celebrity that he was, but that did not mean everyone else would not know, too. After she had tugged him off the steps, Jian Bianlin also realized that this was problemmatic.
The two of them were a live example of a young couple who had just tasted the forbidden fruit but were too embarassed to take normal precautionary measures of contraception. The wind at the entrance of that narrow lane was strong and whipped Chu Jian’s hair around.
If they kept standing here, they were going to freeze, and the scrambled eggs were likely going to go cold, too. But Chu Jian really was too embarrassed to push open the door and blatantly, in full view of everyone, ask whether there was any of that in the store, aaaah. Just thinking about it made her feel awkward and uncomfortable all over.
Softly, she said, “I’m hungry. Let’s go eat. This type of little corner store shouldn’t… shouldn’t have any of those anyway.”
Thinking about it, he agreed and said, “I’ll go back and ask Xie Bin.”
“No! You’re not allowed to ask. You must not ask!”
Jian Bianlin fell silent for a moment. Pulling her into a shadowy part of the lane, in the dim surroundings, he leaned in close. His warm breath tickled the tip of her nose. Chu Jian evaded his action, quietly protesting, “If you really do ask him, I’m going to go back. You can stay here and film all by yourself.” So humiliating.
His eyes flickered slightly. Accurately taking aim at her lip, he bit down on it. “Then we’ll just let things happen naturally and take whatever comes.”
Let things happen naturally? Let what happen naturally?
In the biting wind that was swirling at the entrance of the lane, Chu Jian paused in confusion for all of half a minute before finally comprehending the meaning of his words.
……
Not even twenty-four hours had passed. How could he already be thinking about wanting a baby? …
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