Chapter 47 The Forty-Seventh Fire
Want to try?
The answer is, of course, yes.
Yan Duo sat on top of him; not only did she try it, she succeeded in draining herself, turning herself into someone who could come and go at will, cough.
The next day, when Ji Ran pushed Yan Duo awake, she was in a very foul mood. She rolled over with her eyes closed and mumbled, “I just fell asleep, don’t wake me!”
Ji Ran glanced at the time; it was already 8 a.m., at least seven hours past the time Yan Duo had “just fallen asleep.”
“If you don’t get up now you’ll miss your flight.”
Yan Duo seemed not to hear, lying perfectly still.
Having learned from Yan Duo’s habit of lingering in bed, Ji Ran knew words were useless—hands-on action was the only way.
Five minutes later, in a disheveled nightgown and with tears of physical pain in her eyes, Yan Duo finally gasped and opened her eyes, completely wide awake.
“Ji Ran, you’re such an asshole!”
A flush colored Yan Duo’s face as she pointed at Ji Ran; her words carried no real force.
Ji Ran grasped her hand and pulled it up, a hint of disappointment on his face. “You’re just too weak.”
The “Ji family’s wake-up service” had two moves: one was to use force, the other was to use his mouth. But Yan Duo never gave him the chance to use the second—usually the first move made her burst into laughter, immediately begging for mercy and shouting “Daddy.”
“You’re the one being devious—knowing I’m terrified of being tickled and doing it on purpose.” After sitting up, Yan Duo pushed him away, put on her slippers and headed for the bathroom.
Ji Ran sat on the bed watching her retreating back and reminded her, “You promised you’d be my ‘daughter’ next time. Don’t forget.”
Ji Ran was a quick study who liked to observe and learn. The first time he tried it, Yan Duo called him “husband” and it felt pretty good. Then he tried “Teacher Ji,” “Uncle Ji,” “Big Brother”… after going through them all, he finally settled on “Daddy.”
Yan Duo turned back and made a face at him. “In your dreams!”
After saying that, worried that Ji Ran would rush over, she hurried into the bathroom and locked the door.
Ji Ran saw her sly, crafty look and laughed as he went back upstairs.
An hour later, Yan Duo and Zeng Meng were sitting in the departure lounge. Since she sat down, Yan Duo’s hand never stopped pressing on her phone.
Zeng Meng glanced at Ji Ran, who had arrived early at the airport and was now sitting across from them, then looked at Yan Duo, who was sitting opposite but texting: “You two are something else. It’s only been a week or so apart, and you’re acting all clingy and affectionate. Is that necessary?”
Yan Duo didn’t even look at her and replied, “It is.”
For the next week, Yan Duo would be promoting Phoenix in the Flames with the crew, and Ji Ran would be recording The World of Men — they really wouldn’t see each other at all that week! Even before they parted, Yan Duo was reluctant. Though they sat facing each other, they couldn’t talk easily or do anything intimate, so they could only text.
Sen Meng rolled his eyes big time at the ceiling. “I’ve never seen such clingy, gooey spouses! Let me tell you, shoving PDA down people’s throats is disgraceful!”
Yan Duo stole a glance at Zeng Meng and said, “Once you meet someone you like, you’ll understand.”
Yan Duo had always known she was an especially clingy person: as a child she clung to her parents and older brother, and after marriage she constantly wanted to cling to Ji Ran, the sort who wanted to follow him everywhere he went.
Zeng Meng shrugged indifferently, “The person I ‘like’ is probably still busy figuring out whose wife he’s going to support right now!”
Even though she still found Yan Duo’s clinginess unbearable, when boarding time approached and Yan Duo asked her to help provide cover so she could go give Ji Ran a goodbye kiss, Zeng Meng nevertheless steeled herself and went along.
Just before boarding, Zeng Meng saw Yan Duo on the verge of tears and thought it would take her a long time to recover. But after getting on the plane, seeing Yan Duo sitting in her seat, watching a movie and laughing happily, she realized she had been wrong—her ability to bounce back was far stronger than Zeng Meng had imagined!
At Q City airport, the TV station’s car was already waiting outside. Yan Duo and Zeng Meng, each with their assistants, got into the car and went straight to the hotel arranged by the station.
This program will record two sessions: a dress rehearsal this afternoon and the official recording tomorrow morning.
The two of them decided to drop off their luggage before going to the TV station.
They just hadn’t expected that, as soon as they got out of the car, they’d witness a scene.
At that moment in front of the hotel, a man stood before Zhou Yingmeng. He was visibly agitated, saying something as he reached out to grab her hand, but Zhou Yingmeng dodged away.
Fang Fang stood beside Yan Duo and asked her, “It seems to be Meng Meng姐’s ex-boyfriend Mu Tian. Should we help her?”
Yan Duo shook her head, “Let’s wait and see first.”
Yan Duo’s “look” wasn’t a casual glance from afar but stepping closer to watch intently. Fang Fang watched her movements, her mouth twitching, but she still followed.
Zeng Meng brought Xiao Man right behind her.
Only when she got closer did Yan Duo hear what Mu Tian was saying.
“Mengmeng, please forgive me this once. I really know I was wrong. I swear I won’t look for other women again; I’ll only be with you, okay?”
Zhou Yingmeng: “Give it up. If you hadn’t owed someone money and couldn’t find anyone to help you pay it back, would you have come to me?”
Mu Tian tried again to take Zhou Yingmeng’s hand but was rejected once more. He shook his head and said with deep feeling, “Why would I borrow money from you? It’s just that after going through all this, I realized the one I love most is still you. No other woman is even a thousandth as good as you. I still want to be with you, so can you give me another chance?”
Zeng Meng seemed to have heard the greatest joke in the world; standing to the side she couldn’t help but laugh and couldn’t stop. After laughing for a full thirty seconds, she clutched her stomach and, looking at Mu Tian who was glaring at her, said, “Sorry, I cracked up. Carry on, carry on—I promise I won’t interrupt when you get to the even funnier part later!”
Mu Tian shot her a glare, then turned to say something more to Zhou Yingmeng, but she had long since lost patience with his entreaties. She said to Mu Tian, “Go. I won’t be with you again.”
Mu Tian saw that Zhou Yingmeng was resolute in refusing him. He started to speak, then stopped, glanced once at the onlookers Zeng Meng and Yan Duo, and asked Zhou Yingmeng, “If you have a better option I won’t make things hard for you, but could you lend me a hundred thousand yuan? I’ll pay you back by the end of the year!”
This time it wasn’t just Zeng Meng who laughed; even Yan Duo and the two assistants burst out laughing. There are scumbags every day, but a top-tier scumbag like Mu Tian was truly a rare sight.
Zhou Yingmeng looked at Mu Tian and said calmly, “Don’t say I don’t have money. Even if I did, I’d sooner throw it in the water than give it to you!”
With that she headed for the hotel first, clearly unwilling to say another word to Mu Tian.
Mu Tian followed behind her, still wanting to step forward, but was stopped by Fang Fang and Xiao Man.
“I ask you, do you even have any shame? When you were dating Mengmeng, you were addicted to cheating. After you broke up, you still humiliated her when you saw her. Now that you owe money you suddenly remember Mengmeng? Ha, keep dreaming!”
“Oh, right, didn’t you want money? Then you shouldn’t be here — go to Baima. If you go there you can pay off your debts and even have a chance to be kept by some rich woman! Oh, wait, I heard yours is like a needle and useless. How about selling your ass instead? It doesn’t require any skill, you can make money lying down, get rich quick. Hurry up and go!”
Fang Fang always spoke quickly; now she unleashed a barrage of cutting sarcasm at Mu Tian so fast he couldn’t find an opportunity to retort. Furious, he reached out to hit her, but before his hand could touch her, Fang Fang had already extended a leg and kicked him in the groin.
That Mutian was useless too — he got kicked squarely, doubled over holding himself, hopping and trying to say something, but it hurt too much for words to come out.
Fang Fang was too lazy to talk to him anymore; she grabbed Xiao Man and went into the hotel. niaoshuw.com
As the two assistants caught up to the three ahead of them, Zeng Meng gave Fang Fang a thumbs-up. “Your way with words is simply unbeatable.”
Fang Fang smiled and clasped her fists in thanks. “You flatter me!”
Yan Duo glanced at Fang Fang with a smile, starting to believe she really was good at arguing. Thinking of Mu Tian, Yan Duo suddenly became curious about Mu Tian’s girlfriend who had argued with them before.
“What happened to the woman we spilled milk tea on before?”
After being forced to drink the milk tea, that woman had sworn they’d all wait and see—but they waited so long and she seemed to have vanished.
Zeng Meng snorted, “She’s long gone from the records.”
A few months ago, that woman’s sugar daddy’s wife somehow discovered her existence, had people beat her badly, it was said she was disfigured, and then she simply disappeared from the entertainment industry.
Yan Duo sighed a little at the words, then thought back to how she had told Qi Sixian about this matter—likely she had had someone inform the sugar daddy’s wife. She had to admit, that move really cut off the root.
As they spoke, everyone took their key cards and found their rooms. Zeng Meng had a room to herself; Zhou Yingmeng was sharing with another actress. Given Yan Duo’s previous status on the crew, she should have been sharing too, like Zhou Yingmeng, but lately she had made a name for herself through the TV drama “Power Plays,” a film collaboration with Ji Ran, and the very public and ambiguous scandal between her and Ji Ran. That was enough for the network to give her a private room—one even nicer than Zeng Meng’s.
Zeng Meng clicked her tongue after seeing Yan Duo’s room. “Once you announce your relationship with Ji Ran, won’t you be getting the star suite? The entertainment industry is all about reality!”
Yan Duo looked a little embarrassed toward Zhou Yingmeng. Among these people, she was the only one who didn’t know about her relationship with Ji Ran, and she wasn’t sure whether Zhou Yingmeng would still want to be friends with her.
To her surprise, Zhou Yingmeng showed no shock at all; she smiled and said, “Could I say I guessed it a long time ago? I just didn’t want to make you feel awkward, so I didn’t have the heart to ask.”
They had been roommates for months. One day, Yan Duo took a two-hour break and came back covered in kiss marks. Then the next day Zeng Meng mentioned that Ji Ran had stayed at the hotel they were in. It was only natural for Zhou Yingmeng to connect the dots to Ji Ran. At that time, however, she had noticed that Yan Duo’s relationship with him seemed to be having problems, so she hadn’t pressed her.
Hearing her words, Yan Duo felt embarrassed and went over to take hold of her arm. “I didn’t mean to lie to you,” she said. “Things inside are just too complicated; I really didn’t know how to start.”
She added, “My room’s pretty big. Why don’t you move in with me?”
Zhou Yingmeng freed her arm from Yan Duo’s embrace and shook her head, saying, “Better not. I’m worried Teacher Ji might suddenly show up tonight—I’d be mortally embarrassed!”
After speaking, he walked straight toward the door.
Yan Duo wanted to say that Ji Ran definitely wouldn’t come tonight, but seeing someone else pass by outside the room, she could only clamp her mouth shut.
Zeng Meng and Yan Duo had agreed on a time to go to the TV station later, and then left Yan Duo’s room.
Once the room quieted down, Yan Duo lay on the bed, took out her phone and checked it—at this hour Ji Ran was probably still on the plane.
After rolling once on the bed, Yan Duo privately felt that without Ji Ran by her side, the mattress seemed much firmer.