Chapter 8: The Future Movie Queen About to Be Abandoned (8)
The long black jade ruler was heavy, and the sound it made when it landed on flesh was not to be taken lightly.
In reality, Su Mingxiu only wanted to teach Yu Yinglan a lesson. Methodically, she only struck her ten times. This naturally wouldn’t cause any real injury. Besides, the pain on her backside wouldn’t affect her walking or going out.
But somehow—
Su Mingxiu placed the paperweight aside and saw Yu Yinglan burying her entire face in the quilt, as if trying to suffocate herself. She subconsciously reached out to pull her shoulder.
“Does it hurt that much?”
Recalling that the other party hadn’t made a sound, making her wonder if she had been too heavy-handed, Su Mingxiu wanted to see Yu Yinglan’s expression. However, the more she tried to look, the more the other party burrowed into the bed.
Only a half-circle of flushed red was visible amidst her scattered hair.
Unsure if it was from embarrassment or suffocation, Su Mingxiu’s movements were a beat slower due to her resistance. Still, she applied a bit more force and finally saw Yu Yinglan’s face.
…Even when Yu Yinglan had thrown herself into her arms upon their first meeting, Su Mingxiu had never seen such an expression on her face.
Her face was so red it seemed like it would bleed, her eyes tightly shut in panic, a tear track trailing from the corner of her eye amidst her messy hair.
Su Mingxiu straightened her up. As she leaned closer, her slightly cool breath landed on Yu Yinglan’s lips: “Speak.”
Yu Yinglan’s eyelashes trembled. Just as Su Mingxiu thought the trembling would spread throughout her body, she finally heard a sound escape from between the girl’s teeth.
But the sound was too muffled, dissipating into the air the moment it was uttered, making it impossible to discern what was going on.
Su Mingxiu remembered that she had made Yu Yinglan cry once last night. Now, unable to see her thoughts and thinking that since she had already punished her for this matter, there was no need to bring it up again, she moved her palm that was resting on Yu Yinglan’s lower back. “Want me to rub it for you?”
Suddenly!
Yu Yinglan, who was already mortified and determined not to let Su Mingxiu see her current thoughts, opened her eyes and, with a burst of energy she didn’t know she had, slipped out of Su Mingxiu’s arms. She stepped barefoot onto the carpet and ran towards the bathroom.
The door slammed shut with a loud bang.
Only when she heard the sound did Su Mingxiu seem to react belatedly. She raised an eyebrow, picked up the tablet from the bedside table, and replied to work messages while shaking her head: “Such bad manners.”
In the bathroom.
Yu Yinglan turned on the faucet and splashed cold water on her face, as if this could calm her down.
The coolness spread, but her mind was restless with her eyes closed. All the sensations from just now… replayed in her mind as if resurrected.
Hot and cold alternated. After washing her face with cold water for a full five minutes, she raised her head and could still see the blush on her cheeks reflected in the mirror, like rouge that couldn’t be rubbed off.
Water droplets slid from her overflowing eyelashes into her eyes, then, as she blinked, they fell like raindrops on glass, precariously hanging from her jawline.
She met the gaze of her tear-streaked reflection in the mirror.
Yu Yinglan saw the surging desire in her eyes, like magma that couldn’t be extinguished by cold water, churning in the depths of her soul, even though the pain was still screaming on her skin.
She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths.
After a while, she lifted her clothes, turning her back while looking back at the mirror to see the red marks on her body. They should have been punishment, but she…
Yu Yinglan bit her lip, refusing to acknowledge those fleeting, absurd thoughts.
She angrily threw her pants into the laundry basket. After a moment of thought, she threw her shirt in as well. Still not satisfied, she took another shower under the showerhead.
When she came out of the bathroom, Yu Yinglan didn’t dare to go near the bedroom. She hastily made an excuse about meeting a friend and slipped out.
In the room, Su Mingxiu finally figured out a bit of shyness from Yu Yinglan’s evasive attitude.
She quickly understood the reason—
While disciplining her, she had only thought about not letting the marks affect Yu Yinglan’s daily life and keeping them hidden as much as possible.
But for Yu Yinglan, who was already an adult, being spanked by a stranger, a girl with strong self-esteem, she would definitely not want to see her again for a while.
Thinking of this, Su Mingxiu frowned, starting to worry about what to do if Yu Yinglan avoided her during this period and she had insomnia again when sleeping alone at night.
She should have just slapped her hand a few times.
After getting used to a good night’s sleep, who would want to return to the state of insomnia all night long?
Several thoughts flashed through her mind. Su Mingxiu put the tablet aside, intending to tell the housekeeper that if Yu Yinglan came back at night and had any requests, to remember to prepare a separate guest room for her and some ointment for external injuries.
The tablet was resting on the quilt that had been lifted earlier.
Su Mingxiu’s gaze inadvertently swept over it, and she saw a small, dried water stain on the quilt.
She remembered that the bed was clean when they slept last night.
This was where Yu Yinglan had slept.
Maybe it was a water stain from her clothes last night?
She thought about it for a moment before dismissing the meaningless thought, preparing to have the housekeeper change the bedding again.
Meanwhile.
In a quiet cafe in the city.
The golden spoon clinked against the porcelain cup, making a “ding” sound. The person sitting opposite Yu Yinglan, who had been dozing off with her head propped up, was instantly startled awake by the sound. Before her chin hit the table, she abruptly raised her head: “What’s wrong?”
After seeing the person in front of her clearly, she gradually calmed down, letting out a sigh of relief, and then said helplessly: “I’ve done my best with the collar clip design. Although there are needle-free injection designs now, your collar clip is too small to store enough. The thin needle is still the most convenient—if someone discovers it, it’s your carelessness, not my fault.”
Yu Yinglan’s attention was drawn back by her voice.
The person in front of her was her friend, Yi Jia.
When she was born, her gambler father disliked her for being a girl and refused to raise her. He simply left her at the entrance of an orphanage, letting her eat the free food there and forbidding her mother from taking her back.
After she started remembering things, she was begged by her mother and had to take food from the orphanage to supplement their income, which led to her being discovered and kicked out.
She was a fake orphan, while Yi Jia was a real orphan from that orphanage.
Later, Yi Jia was adopted by a good family, and they met again at school, maintaining contact ever since.
To some extent, it was also thanks to Yi Jia that she “happened to run into” Su Mingxiu, who was out for a walk, on that beach.
Otherwise, how could a gambler’s daughter with no skills and no backing have such good luck to enter Su Mingxiu’s world?
Hearing her mention the collar clip, Yu Yinglan became restless.
Even though the cafe chair was cushioned, she felt the pain start again. She simply put down the spoon and said through gritted teeth: “Don’t let me hear those two words again!”
Perhaps it was because of the collar clip that Su Mingxiu had settled accounts with her this morning. Now, whenever she heard those two words, she felt those unspeakable sensations and emotions welling up again…
“Why is your face so red?”
“I’m not!”
Yi Jia felt that something was off about her today. Since they met, she was one of the few who knew Yu Yinglan’s true nature. She knew that all her harmlessness and innocence were just a disguise to lower people’s guard. Anyone who tried to scheme against Yu Yinglan would end up suffering a crushing defeat.
Who could make this black-hearted lotus show such an expression?
Biting on the straw, Yi Jia took a sip of cola and stared at Yu Yinglan for a long time. She didn’t understand why Yu Yinglan called her out, mentioned that the collar clip design had been discovered, but wasn’t holding her accountable. Instead, she was just sitting there doing nothing.
She hadn’t slept all night, working on the experiment assignment given by her professor. Now she just wanted to catch up on sleep.
“What on earth did you call me out here for? If there’s nothing else, I’m leaving.”
Yu Yinglan picked up her coffee cup and took a sip. When the bitterness spread, she realized that she hadn’t added any sugar at all. She simply put it down again: “Help me investigate Su Mingxiu’s past relationships. Don’t miss any details.”
Yi Jia: “?”
She said incredulously: “What strange plan do you have now? Didn’t we confirm it last time? She doesn’t like being touched by others at all. Because when she was a child, she accidentally walked into her mother’s room and saw some things, which made her particularly averse to desire. And because of her father’s strict upbringing, she has a strong desire to control both herself and others. Forget about relationships, I don’t think she’s ever even had a crush, okay?”
While her friend was talking, Yu Yinglan kept rubbing the rim of the cup.
Compared to her previous probing attitude when she tried to seduce Su Mingxiu, she was listening much more attentively this time, as if wanting to etch every word Yi Jia said into her bones.
She thought of the scene last night where her hands were bound, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t kiss the other party’s lips, crying out of frustration.
In Su Mingxiu’s eyes, was she, consumed by desire, very ugly?
But because she cried, the other party could only overcome her instinctive aversion and condescend to kiss her.
Su Mingxiu hated being touched by others, but when facing her, she indulged her again and again, giving her hugs, letting her wear her clothes, and even willing to kiss her.
Recalling how she had even felt wronged yesterday, suspecting that Su Mingxiu’s hot and cold behavior was just playing with her, Yu Yinglan’s fingertips holding the coffee cup couldn’t help but curl up.
Her heart was filled with regret.
—Was there anyone in the world who loved her more than Su Mingxiu?
This person was willing to overcome her own instincts for her, to conquer those shadows and principles.
And what about her?
Fortunately, the New Year’s gift she had finally thought of hadn’t been given in the way it almost was last night. Otherwise, she didn’t know what Su Mingxiu would think of her.
Yu Yinglan breathed a deep sigh of relief, unaware that her changing expressions had made Yi Jia even more confused.
“Why are you always inquiring about her love life? Could it be that you’ve fallen for her?” The person biting the cola straw joked with her vaguely, not knowing that she had accidentally hit the truth.
“Yes.”
Yu Yinglan admitted it readily.
Yi Jia was so shocked that she almost choked on her cola. She stared at Yu Yinglan wide-eyed: “Are you crazy? Didn’t I tell you that this woman is dangerous, and you shouldn’t be fooled by her appearance? Don’t you know what happened to those artists who fell for her in the past?”
“It’s different.”
Thinking of the kiss last night, Yu Yinglan pursed her lips and quickly smiled, a bright smile that Yi Jia had never seen before: “I’m special to her. Maybe she hasn’t even realized how many rules she’s broken for me—she loves me very much.”
Yi Jia listened to her confident declaration with worry, unsure whether to suggest she see a neurologist or an ophthalmologist.
And the person who had fallen in love was still lost in her own thoughts.
She had been too impatient yesterday.
They still had plenty of time.
They could build a foundation of feelings first and then slowly try to get the other party to accept more of her. If Su Mingxiu really didn’t like too much physical contact, then it wouldn’t matter if they did things in a way that Su Mingxiu was comfortable with in the future.
7:00 PM, Su residence.
Unwilling to watch any more drama at the dinner table, Su Mingxiu simply asked the housekeeper to bring her meal to her room. At the same time, she ordered someone to pack her things, planning to return to her own place tomorrow and spend less time in this uncomfortable environment.
Just as the meal was set, someone approached the door.
She glanced over and saw that it was Yu Yinglan, who had fled from her bed blushing this morning. The other party seemed to have forgotten the embarrassment from earlier, walking towards her with a smile, her voice warm: “I’m back.”
Su Mingxiu didn’t start eating immediately. She looked her up and down, initially not wanting to mention what happened in the morning. But she was also afraid that she had been too harsh and the other party was hiding her injuries.
So she slowly said: “This morning…”
“I was wrong this morning. What happened last night was also my fault. I was being unreasonable and made you worry.”
Yu Yinglan picked up the topic, walked over to her, knelt on one knee beside her, and held her wrist through her sleeve, her cheek resting on Su Mingxiu’s palm.
She looked at Su Mingxiu with trust and focus, promising earnestly: “I guarantee that I won’t do anything to make you angry again in the future.”
Su Mingxiu was momentarily bewildered.
What had the protagonist been doing?
Why had she suddenly become so well-behaved?
But that wasn’t all. Yu Yinglan’s cheeks flushed slightly, but she quickly suppressed it and continued: “No matter what you do in the future, I won’t run away again.”
As long as it’s from you, I’ll like it.
Whether it’s love or pain, I’ll accept it.
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