Chapter 22: Absolutely Not, Absolutely Not – Savor It Carefully
“No… I didn’t mean it that way, I was just spacing out, thinking about how my childhood friend told me saliva can disinfect wounds, and then I just… spaced out, I wasn’t talking about licking you…”
Dong Ling hurriedly explained, her face flushed with embarrassment, trying to make it clear to Song Mingzhi that she didn’t intend to lick her finger.
This task was absolutely impossible, and she had to blame Wen Han for this. If it weren’t for him doing these things in the original novel, the task system wouldn’t have issued such a task, and she wouldn’t have said such things. In short, she really didn’t have any such dirty thoughts, not at all.
Dong Ling wearily asked herself, did this world really need to exist? If this continued, they might as well all just explode.
Song Mingzhi had recovered from her initial shock, and seeing Dong Ling’s flustered attempt to prove her innocence, she was very understanding.
“I understand, it’s okay. Do you still want to apply the medicine?”
No need for further explanation, she understood. The girl must like her, but was too embarrassed to say it or afraid of being rejected, so she resorted to these ambiguous actions.
Based on Song Mingzhi’s usual personality, she would clarify things that could be clarified, and politely refuse and distance herself from things that weren’t convenient. But with Dong Ling, she wasn’t in such a hurry.
Just like she said, it’s okay.
With Song Mingzhi’s attitude, Dong Ling didn’t know how to explain further, although it was difficult to explain in the first place, and further explanations might make things worse, but Song Mingzhi’s reaction also left her speechless.
No, you don’t understand, you really don’t understand.
“Yes.”
Dong Ling gripped the antiseptic bottle, and between leaving and staying, she gritted her teeth and chose the latter. Leaving would make her seem guilty, and she came to apply medicine for Song Mingzhi with pure intentions, so why should she run away?
Dong Ling calmly disinfected and applied medicine to Song Mingzhi’s wound, mentally dying countless times.
Song Mingzhi shouldn’t overthink it, right? Probably not?
Dong Ling gradually convinced herself, dispelling the awkwardness in her heart, and focused on Song Mingzhi’s wound.
Song Mingzhi’s skin was a healthy white. The bloodstains were wiped away by the cotton swab, and the antiseptic stained the skin, making one’s heart ache for the slight blemish on the jade.
Dong Ling thought Song Mingzhi must be enduring the pain, although she didn’t cry out, the skin around the wound would tense slightly every time the cotton swab touched it.
After applying the medicine, Dong Ling straightened up, her gaze inadvertently sweeping over Song Mingzhi’s waist.
Between the lifted hem of her clothes and her low-slung pants, the lines of abdominal muscles were faintly visible. Dong Ling thought she must have been seeing things, she wanted to look again to confirm, but didn’t dare, because that would make things even more difficult to explain.
Precisely because she couldn’t look, her curiosity was piqued.
Dong Ling poked 021 and asked: [Does Song Mingzhi have abs? Did I see correctly just now?]
021 condemned her righteously: [Girl, do I look like the kind of system that stares at the protagonist?]
Dong Ling was very suspicious: [Really? I don’t believe you.]
021 confessed honestly: [Actually, there’s a mosaic, we can’t see anything below the neck that’s exposed.]
Dong Ling: …Okay, this system is very Jinjiang.
The medicine was applied, and Dong Ling was about to leave this place of social death and go to the business dinner.
But seeing Song Mingzhi sit up, adjust her clothes, and pick up the script again, she couldn’t help but ask: “Aren’t you going to rest?”
“It’s okay, it’s not serious, I can still film other scenes so we don’t fall behind schedule.”
Song Mingzhi wasn’t someone who couldn’t endure hardship, on the contrary, this injury was nothing to her.
Cheng Ge didn’t have a strict schedule, as long as he was satisfied. But Song Mingzhi still needed time to manage her company, her part-time job time had to be squeezed in.
“You’ve worked hard. I’ll ask the kitchen to make you an extra serving of sweet soup tonight to nourish you.”
Dong Ling made an encouraging gesture at Song Mingzhi and said goodbye.
Dong Ling had several business dinners these past few days, flying back and forth between Hengyan and home after meals, busy to the point of dizziness.
Because she couldn’t find the time to do tasks, coupled with the daily energy consumption, Dong Ling’s main storyline progress stalled at 30%.
021 was very distressed: [Some tasks are very easy to complete, like having dinner with the female lead is worth 0.5%, such a pity.]
Dong Ling remained unmoved and sneered: [Why don’t you mention the 3% for seducing the female lead by showing off your abs, the 2% for sharing a milk tea with her, and the 4% for hugging her waist and teaching her how to swim?]
Where would she get abs from? She couldn’t possibly use Song Mingzhi’s straw, let alone hug her waist and teach a beginner how to swim.
The shadow of licking fingers from a few days ago still lingered, she needed time to recover.
Silenced, 021 didn’t dare to utter a word, routinely sending contact requests to headquarters. It had never been so pathetic,wuwuwu, it would be mocked by the other systems when it returned, no domineering aura at all, constantly being scolded by the host.
In the newly built office of Canghai headquarters, Yuki placed the information she had gathered on the actress named Zhu Shini on Dong Ling’s desk.
Dong Ling opened the file. The woman in the photo had a small face, straight across bangs, and was wearing a white shirt, smiling innocently. Seeing the “campus belle” title in the information, Dong Ling immediately knew her persona.
Zhu Shini entered the entertainment industry at 19 with the title of “campus belle,” always playing the gentle, first love type. The TV series she starred in were mostly sweet campus and urban romance dramas. She was moderately famous, a second or third-tier actress.
Yuki didn’t know why the boss wanted her to investigate Zhu Shini, assuming Dong Ling wanted to poach her. So, after listing Zhu Shini’s commercial value, she also included some insider information she had learned.
Zhu Shini’s public persona was a harmless girl next door, but privately she had a bad temper, had verbally abused and driven away several assistants, snatched resources from several actresses, liked to release press releases about outshining others, and was good at stirring up drama and name-dropping to gain popularity.
Dong Ling had already formed a preliminary assessment and put the information aside, not planning to do anything. She wasn’t sure if the plot of this drama would develop as it did in the original novel, but she felt it probably wouldn’t.
In the original novel, Song Mingzhi starred in a campus drama, which clashed with Zhu Shini’s new drama, and their characters were similar. With the obvious difference in acting skill, Zhu Shini resorted to dirty tricks. This time, the movie Song Mingzhi was starring in was a suspense film, completely unrelated to Zhu Shini’s genre, so there was no point for her to stir up drama or buy negative press.
But nothing was absolute, Dong Ling decided to wait and see how things would develop.
Leaving the company, Dong Ling saw the festive atmosphere on the streets, as if a holiday was approaching.
“Wasn’t Christmas already over? Why is it still so lively?”
Dong Ling looked out of the car window and asked curiously.
She remembered giving apples to the entire crew for Christmas, and specifically giving two to Song Mingzhi. She remembered this because it was her own initiative, not a task issued by the task system.
Yuki replied: “Boss, it’s New Year’s Eve tonight.”
Dong Ling suddenly realized that she had been so busy lately that she had lost track of time, it was already the end of the year again.
She let her assistant leave work early and went home.
She had planned to have dinner with her family, but the house was empty.
The housekeeper told her that her parents were abroad for a project, and her brother had several business dinners tonight.
Dong Ling left the small gifts and greeting cards she had bought in her brother’s and parents’ rooms, then left the house as well.
She was going to fly to Hengyan overnight, but she saw a message from Song Mingzhi: the film crew had a day off, and she had bought a plane ticket to come back.
Dong Ling quickly asked: “Do you need me to pick you up?”
“No, my friend will pick me up. I have some personal business to attend to. It’s New Year’s Eve today, I wish you a happy time in advance.”
Song Mingzhi had actually wondered if Dong Ling would invite her out, as it was New Year’s Eve, but unfortunately, she had important work to do with Ji Yiling tonight. Even if Dong Ling invited her, she couldn’t go, so she decided to say it first to avoid disappointing Dong Ling.
“Okay, I wish you all the best.”
Dong Ling had been hesitating whether to invite Song Mingzhi to a party, worried that Song Mingzhi wouldn’t like the atmosphere. Since Song Mingzhi said she had something to do, it was just as well.
Dong Ling opened Chen Shang Shang’s chat window. Just today, Chen Shang Shang had sent her three locations, that is, three different parties. It seemed she was quite busy.
She called Chen Shang Shang and asked where she was.
“Our CEO Dong is finally free! I’m at Ruyi Mansion, it’s Chen Fei’s mom’s party, lots of handsome guys and beautiful women, and there might be some drama to watch, do you want to come?”
Chen Shang Shang’s voice was filled with excitement, the background noise a bit chaotic.
Chen Fei’s mother was a well-known socialite. Dong Ling didn’t like going to her parties, as she wasn’t interested in casual flings. No wonder Chen Shang Shang didn’t send her the location and ask her to come.
Dong Ling was about to decline when the other end of the phone went silent. Dong Ling called again, but no one answered. Concerned about her friend’s safety, Dong Ling still went to Ruyi Mansion.
At the entrance of Ruyi Mansion, Dong Ling wasn’t interested in looking at the handsome guys and beautiful women, her eyes scanning the crowd like searchlights, looking for Chen Shang Shang.
She didn’t see Chen Shang Shang, but she did see Chen Fei.
Chen Fei was wearing a champagne-colored low-cut dress today and looked surprised to see Dong Ling.
“When did you arrive? I didn’t see you just now.”
“Just arrived. Have you seen Chen Shang Shang?”
“I saw her over there just now.”
Chen Fei was holding two glasses of wine. She gestured with one hand towards the area behind Dong Ling. Dong Ling thought she was handing her the glass and subconsciously reached out to take it, thanking her.
“That’s my special blend.”
Chen Fei specifically reminded her as Dong Ling took the glass.
“I’ll savor it carefully.”
Dong Ling thought she was reminding her of the uniqueness of this drink, so she gave a very formal reply, and then walked towards the back to look for Chen Shang Shang.
There were many people coming and going, some of whom Dong Ling didn’t recognize at all, but they remembered her and came up to toast her.
Dong Ling spotted Chen Shang Shang talking to someone in the corner. After confirming her friend was okay, she maintained her composure and drank with those who came to greet her.
This special cocktail was slightly sweet, not too strong, with a hint of plum wine’s tartness. Dong Ling thought it tasted quite good and would ask Chen Fei for the recipe next time.
When Chen Shang Shang saw Dong Ling, she waved and said: “Someone bumped into me and my phone fell into the fountain just now, I thought you wouldn’t come.”
“I was worried about you, so I came. It’s good that you’re okay.”
Dong Ling looked at the party filled with beautiful people and sat down on a small sofa with Chen Shang Shang.
Chen Shang Shang was holding a glass of red wine and looked at the glass in Dong Ling’s hand, asking: “What are you drinking? The color looks a bit light.”
“Chen Fei gave it to me, said it’s her special blend.”
Hearing this, Chen Shang Shang’s expression became strange, and she asked: “Chen Fei gave it to you? Really?”
Seeing her unusual expression, Dong Ling asked: “What’s wrong?”
“At parties like this, handing someone a special blend has the implication of a hookup… She… you…”
Chen Shang Shang’s expression was a little horrified. Chen Fei had her eyes on Dong Ling? That couldn’t be, right?
“No way… Maybe I took the wrong glass by accident.”
Dong Ling recalled the situation. It seemed Chen Fei wasn’t actually handing her the drink, but pointing in a direction. Later, Chen Fei subtly reminded her, but she didn’t understand the rules, so she didn’t return the glass, but just left.
Chen Shang Shang breathed a sigh of relief and said: “Then it’s fine, it’s just a drink, she can just make another one.”
At that time, neither Chen Shang Shang nor Dong Ling knew that Chen Fei liked to add certain things to her special blends.
By the time Dong Ling realized something was wrong, she was already pressed against the wall by a busty girl, who, playing with her hair, asked if she wanted to try her special blend.
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