Chapter 45: Absolutely Not, Absolutely Not – Tequila Sunrise
Dong Ling thought Xuan Du must be homophobic, otherwise, why would she ride away on her motorcycle, cursing, with a shocked expression after hearing those words?
“Go to Song Mingzhi’s house, and remember, you didn’t see anything tonight.”
Dong Ling looked at the driver in front, those words couldn’t be heard by others, especially not Song Mingzhi’s family.
The driver nodded repeatedly and quickly changed routes, heading towards Song Mingzhi’s house.
Arriving downstairs, Dong Ling waved the driver away.
For her current self, this task couldn’t be easier, just spending a night at Song Mingzhi’s house.
Dong Ling confidently rang the doorbell, but there was no response.
021: [Is she not home?]
Dong Ling pressed her temples, realizing she had been a bit careless, she had forgotten to call in advance.
After a long period of ringing, a mechanical female voice came from the phone.
“Sorry, the number you dialed is currently unavailable, please try again later…”
Dong Ling frowned slightly, hung up, and called Zuo Zhen.
“Is Mingzhi still at the event venue?”
“No, she doesn’t have any events scheduled tonight.” Zuo Zhen sensed the hidden meaning in Dong Ling’s words and asked hesitantly, “Should I try contacting her for you?”
Dong Ling agreed and hung up the phone.
Zuo Zhen called back two minutes later: “CEO Dong, I can’t reach her, no one answered the phone, I’ve already called Xiao Tan, Xiao Tan said Mingzhi didn’t let her follow, she doesn’t know where Mingzhi is.”
Many unpleasant possibilities flashed through Dong Ling’s mind, not because she had a wild imagination, but because Song Mingzhi was the female lead, there were bound to be some troubles involving her.
Missing? Kidnapped? Encountered some underworld prince, the second male lead?
021 immediately clarified: [There’s no such character in this novel, girl, be reasonable, the novel doesn’t say the female lead is in danger at this time.]
Dong Ling felt slightly reassured and said: “I understand, you don’t have to look for her.”
Dong Ling thought Song Mingzhi probably had some personal matters to attend to, although she didn’t know what it was.
Dong Ling put her phone aside and stared blankly at Song Mingzhi’s closed door.
If Song Mingzhi’s phone was unreachable all night, then this task couldn’t be completed.
Dong Ling didn’t leave, but casually sat down by Song Mingzhi’s door, resting her head on her hand and looking at the floor.
Turning around and leaving was the best option, Dong Ling knew that if Song Mingzhi saw the missed calls, she would definitely call back, and then she could complete the task later. If Song Mingzhi didn’t call back, it probably meant she hadn’t seen her phone or hadn’t returned home, even if she waited here, the task couldn’t be completed.
Dong Ling didn’t like wasting time, but she still didn’t move.
Waiting was both anxious and boring, hesitating to leave, simply hoping for a bit of luck, worried that she would miss an opportunity the moment she left.
Dong Ling’s luck had always been average.
She glanced at the time, 11:20.
She had been playing with her phone for forty minutes, there were no notifications, and the elevator not far away didn’t move.
What was Song Mingzhi doing?
Dong Ling sighed, feeling a little melancholic.
021 said: [Girl, why don’t you try calling again? Just waiting here isn’t a solution.]
021 naturally wanted Dong Ling to complete the task, but in this situation, it felt that just waiting wasn’t going to work.
Dong Ling responded and called again, still no answer.
[021, I think…]
Dong Ling started a sentence, but didn’t finish, hugging her knees and sighing again.
021: [Hmm? Girl, what do you think?]
Dong Ling said absentmindedly: [I think I don’t really know her.]
That’s right, Dong Ling suddenly realized, she didn’t seem to know Song Mingzhi that well.
She didn’t know where Song Mingzhi was from, or who her friends were. When she couldn’t contact Song Mingzhi, she didn’t even have a way to find her.
If their relationship was purely that of a boss and a subordinate, then this was understandable, but Song Mingzhi was her friend.
Or was she?
It was the beginning of summer, the days were hot, but the nights were still cool.
Dong Ling had been sitting on the floor for a long time. A gust of night wind blew by, she touched her cold skin, and her heart felt empty.
She comforted herself inwardly, even close friends had things they couldn’t tell each other, like how she was hiding a big secret from Song Mingzhi, wasn’t she here right now because of this secret?
021: [Don’t really know who? Song Mingzhi?]
021 said with rare embarrassment: [My fault, because my access is restricted, you can’t see the full plot or the female lead’s background.]
Dong Ling knew that this artificial idiot had misunderstood. She had long given up on exploring Song Mingzhi’s past, she wasn’t willing to investigate, after all, that wasn’t how one made friends.
Dong Ling stood up dejectedly, the night wind giving her a headache. She had already had some alcohol tonight, and was then startled by Xuan Du’s reckless act of stopping her car, she might have caught a cold, her head felt heavy.
She thought absentmindedly about He Diesheng’s expression and words tonight, something felt off, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. She originally wanted to remind Xuan Du to be wary of He Diesheng, but then she felt it was unnecessary, Xuan Du saw He Diesheng as an enemy, the fact that she came to question her immediately after learning that they had drinks together wasn’t enough of a precaution?
Dong Ling glanced at the quiet night at the end of the corridor and pressed the elevator button.
Coincidentally, just as Dong Ling reached the main entrance, she saw Song Mingzhi getting out of a car not far away.
Dong Ling took two steps forward, realizing her luck wasn’t that bad after all. If she had come down two minutes earlier, she might have missed Song Mingzhi.
She was about to go over and greet her when she saw Song Mingzhi stop by the car. A man got out of the driver’s seat, took a box out of the trunk, and handed it to Song Mingzhi.
They seemed to be talking about something, so Dong Ling didn’t approach and interrupt.
That should be Song Mingzhi’s friend, Dong Ling had never met him before. They were still some distance apart, she could only vaguely see that the man was quite tall, about the same height as Wen Han.
Dong Ling became wary and immediately poked 021, asking: [Dude, that’s not the second male lead, is it?]
Absolutely not, absolutely not, it was absolutely not the time for this. Even if that was the second male lead, without the task system’s instructions, she had to cut off this potential love rival and send him away.
021 thought for a moment and said: [Probably not, the second male lead shouldn’t appear so early, he should still be abroad at this time, he’ll probably return when the male and female leads are about to get engaged.]
Dong Ling was slightly relieved, then her face twisted at the mention of engagement.
The task tonight was to stay the night at Song Mingzhi’s house, would the next task be to have sex with Song Mingzhi? The engagement was bound to happen sooner or later, and after the engagement, wouldn’t it be marriage… Dong Ling felt immense pressure.
Song Mingzhi accepted Wen Qian’s thank-you gift, offered him a few words of advice, and then turned to walk towards the entrance of her building, slightly startled when she saw the slender figure standing under the streetlight.
Under the white light, Dong Ling’s face looked even paler, her clothes thin, she might be cold, her arms wrapped around herself, making her look even more delicate and frail.
She was clearly a pampered, rich flower, but at this moment, she looked somewhat wilted.
Song Mingzhi hurried towards her, holding the box, and their eyes met.
Dong Ling didn’t say anything, but her cat-like eyes were downcast, with a hint of melancholy.
Song Mingzhi asked softly: “Why are you here? Why didn’t you call me?”
“I did, you didn’t answer.”
Song Mingzhi frowned slightly and said apologetically: “I was at a dinner party just now, I didn’t check my phone on the way, I might have set it to silent.”
Song Mingzhi had an important matter to attend to tonight. Wen Qian specifically flew from Jingzhou to discuss business, and she had been talking with Ji Yiling, Wen Qian, and some other important people for several hours, the meeting had just ended.
“Shall we go up? It’s cold at night, and there are mosquitoes.”
Dong Ling nodded and followed Song Mingzhi.
Looking at the box in her arms, she asked curiously: “What is this?”
“Alcohol.”
Dong Ling nodded, sniffed Song Mingzhi, and said: “You’ve been drinking, rum.”
The sweet fragrance of rum was rich, Dong Ling felt her headache easing slightly.
Dong Ling leaned closer, her breath brushing against Song Mingzhi’s neck, making her feel a little itchy, her hand holding the box trembling slightly.
Song Mingzhi opened the door while replying, put the alcohol aside, changed her shoes, and during this time, asked about Dong Ling’s reason for coming.
Dong Ling naturally couldn’t say she was just here to sleep at her place, so she brought up the previous incident.
“I was planning to go home, but Xuan Du went crazy and stopped my car in the middle of the road. If I went home, she would probably follow me, and my parents couldn’t just ignore her, so I came here instead.”
Xuan Du wouldn’t dare confront Song Mingzhi, so Dong Ling could say whatever she wanted.
“Then stay at my place tonight, I’ll go and prepare the guest room.”
“Okay, then I’ll go take a shower first, I have a bit of a headache from the wind.”
Song Mingzhi said naturally, Dong Ling readily agreed, and the matter was settled just like that.
When Dong Ling came out in her bathrobe, Song Mingzhi was arranging the alcohol.
Dong Ling watched, resting her chin on her hand, and smelling the rum on Song Mingzhi, she became even more tempted.
Drinking with the right person made even the finest wine taste better. He Diesheng treated her to good wine tonight, but affected by her mood, it didn’t taste that great.
Song Mingzhi felt her intense gaze and said with a smile: “Want a drink?”
Dong Ling nodded eagerly, her craving already aroused.
Song Mingzhi picked out the best bottle of tequila and took out her bartending tools.
Dong Ling’s eyes lit up: “You even know how to do this?”
Song Mingzhi nodded, her eyes crinkling with amusement: “I won’t disappoint you.”
Song Mingzhi made two drinks for Dong Ling, a Tequila Sunrise and a Frozen Margarita.
The former was sweet and sour with a hint of tequila’s spiciness, the latter icy and refreshing, addictive.
Dong Ling leaned against the bar, her face slightly flushed, watching Song Mingzhi turn on the projector. The living room lights were turned off, leaving only a dim light above the bar.
The French film, in its original language, had a romantic atmosphere. Dong Ling clinked glasses with Song Mingzhi and quietly enjoyed the movie, but her gaze gradually drifted.
The light and shadows played on Song Mingzhi’s profile. Dong Ling unconsciously leaned closer, her gaze fixed on the small mole on Song Mingzhi’s cheek.
Song Mingzhi’s lips were a beautiful shade of red, reminiscent of a mysterious red moon, making one easily think of a noble, elegant, mysterious, and powerful lord in an ancient castle. The mole was like a blooming rose in the moonlight, with a cool-toned beauty, Dong Ling found it extremely sexy.
She narrowed her eyes and lightly licked it with the tip of her tongue.
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