Chapter 59

Limited Edition Acting Masterclass 3.5: I’m aloof and cold, but I hope someone will go to great lengths, just for me.

Kissing Fiend. Two mere lips—how could they make her feel like she was on fire? At first glance, Diao Zhiyu’s lips seemed thin and aloof, even with a faint smile. But upon closer inspection, she found curved corners and surprisingly full texture, warm to the touch—and now, equally heated.

He loved licking her lips, teeth, and tongue—soft yet cunning, stealing kisses until she felt suffocated.

He enjoyed pressing against her body, feeling its curves and contours. His breath puffed onto her face, panting sounds lingering in her ears; where his tongue had been, his breath felt cool, as if reminding her... you’re wet.

The yellow light painted their skin a creamy hue. He said, “You look like a strawberry cake.”

“Hm?”

“I want to eat you up, lick you until there’s nothing left.”

The suggestive atmosphere and enticing bodies of the youths stripped away any shyness or embarrassment. Their bodies awakened precisely where they should have.

Though she often spoke her mind bluntly, never did she imagine feeling such panic when it came time for this moment.

Just thinking about it made her cheeks flush red, her hair disheveled across her face—a messy yet alluring sight. Despite being fully clothed, she felt strangely exposed.

His hand moved downward towards his zipper, but she instinctively grasped it... perhaps because she was a bit nervous.

“How long has it been since you last did this?” he asked softly, as if afraid of startling her.

“A really long time...” She lowered her eyes, recalling past hasty encounters in bed. Strictly speaking, she wasn’t particularly skilled at intimacy and didn’t enjoy romantic movies with explicit scenes. Her ex-boyfriend had favored Asian actresses who played submissive roles.

He got off the bed, rummaged through a drawer briefly, and pulled out a long necktie.

It was a smooth red satin ribbon, perfectly pressed without any creases. Kneeling on the bed, he looked at Hu Xiu curled up by the headboard and said, “I think I know what you need.”

He noticed even that? He draped the tie over her mouth and cupped her chin. “Let me show you something new.”

“You want... me to tie you up?”

The naked boy couldn’t hold back in the darkness. He ran his fingers through his hair and chuckled. “Girls are so interesting. You talk like you’ve been through a hundred battles, but you’re actually scared. What are you afraid of? That I’m not good enough?”

“Maybe after this time, you won’t find me so appealing...”

He paused, fiddling with his tie in his hand as he stared straight into her eyes. “Am I that unreliable in your mind?”

Hu Xiu didn’t answer.

“Look at me...”

His eyelashes flickered as he leaned closer, the red tie covering her eyes. He whispered in her ear, “I love you, so don’t be afraid.”

His voice was gentle, barely audible.

Suddenly, she felt him push her down onto the bed, moving towards her like a wild beast claiming its territory.

He stripped off his clothes one by one, his actions leaving no room for refusal. His tongue danced along her neck and ears, sometimes light, sometimes firm, always unexpected.

When she opened her eyes, all she saw was orange-red, like smooth, vibrant skin pressed against hers. She finally couldn’t help but let out a soft moan. Well, if I’m going to act like a porn actress, I might as well do it.

She wrapped her arms around Diao Zhiyu’s neck as if it were the most natural thing in the world. In the darkness, with all other senses amplified, his hands pulled up her underwear, his tongue reaching her chest before moving downward. Like Santa Claus leisurely stuffing gifts into a stocking.

Of course she wanted to kiss him too—wanted to kiss him until they both ran out of breath—but she could only feel his hair through the fabric.

The tide surged and swelled, washing over the shore. He climbed atop her, devouring her lips. Hu Xiu reacted instinctively, trying to push him away, but he wouldn’t budge, determined to keep kissing her.

“Embrace your own desires. What are you afraid of?”

“You sicko!”

“Tell me, what kind of wild fantasies do you have about me?”

Seeing her remain motionless, Diao Zhiyu continued his teasing. “It was you who stole a kiss from me during REGARD, and you who left that mark on my neck. So tell me, how will you make it up to me?”

“Don’t say anymore...” Even with her eyes covered, Hu Xiu felt embarrassed and refused to answer, clutching tightly at his arm instead.

“Let go of me. I’m looking for something.”

That voice...

“When did you buy this?”

“I’ve told you already—I planned this for a long time.” Diao Zhiyu waved the box. “Can you guess what brand it is?”

“You!”

“Don’t worry, you’ll figure it out eventually.” He climbed up beside her, his laughter still echoing in her ear. “Bullying you is just too much fun. Besides, I can tell... you want me just as much.”

He loosened his tie and looked at her without warning. In that moment, he found the perfect angle.

She felt uneasy, her body tensing and spine stiffening before quickly turning into shivers. His handsome face and passionate gaze were the best aphrodisiacs—everything about him was incomparable because it was Diao Zhiyu, making everything exquisite beyond measure.

She grabbed his neck, cupping his face. Oh no, she wanted him so badly.

It seemed like he knew countless ways to make her tremble. Hot kisses covered her neck and chest, accompanied by gentle touches that alternated between deep and shallow, clearly aiming to make her cry out loud.

His skills were surprisingly advanced for someone so young...

The way he drove almost seemed meticulously planned...

This was obviously an act of revenge...

Doubts swirled in her mind until she couldn’t help but ask at an awkward moment, “When you say you love me, is it true?”

“Mm-hmm, I promise.”

“You’re not just saying that to get what you want?”

“Don’t talk...” His finger gently brushed against her earlobe. “Call me Minister Qin.”

“...”

This is terrifyingly potent aphrodisiac.

She had never before thought of this as something pleasurable. Her ex-partner liked watching her act out scenes—she’d furrow her brow and pretend to be aroused, timing everything precisely while keeping a forced expression on her face. It was all about maintaining control; showing too little interest or revealing too much would have ruined the illusion. Erotica lingerie was merely part of the performance, and afterward, she always felt bored. Her ex seemed convinced she was satisfied, though perhaps not quite as seductive as a professional actress.

Only now did she understand that pleasure wasn’t an act. The voice controlling her wasn’t from her brain but her body. Excitement wasn’t pretending—it was feeling aroused even after thirty hours without sleep, hunger so intense it was unbearable, clarity so sharp that she wanted to be completely drained.

The young man’s sweat-drenched body, his hair dampened by their embrace, clinging tightly together without letting go—the desire wouldn’t stop.

After bathing, it was as if his body had fully recharged. The boy leaned closer, demanding new positions.

As if something inside her had been awakened, she straddled him, kissed him, let him capture her chest with his tongue—just to make her scream on purpose. Naughty, so very naughty.

In the end, time seemed to blur together. She couldn’t even tell if she was in 2019 or 1934.

Hu Xiu felt dizzy from kneeling at the head of the bed, her limbs numb, her mind buzzing, throat dry and voice hoarse. All she could think was that Ning Zechen’s joke about their situation was pure deception.

Minister Qin wasn’t some weakling with kidney problems—he was vigorous and relentless, refusing to yield even when wounded. The sounds coming from the box grew fainter and fainter until they finally disappeared altogether.

Just how many were there in that pack?

Diao Zhiyu exhaled heavily, collapsing off her. “We can’t go on anymore—the condoms are gone.”

Lying buried in the pillows, Hu Xiu gazed up at him through hazy eyes. Diao Zhiyu squinted. “Want more?”

“No...” Exhaustion threatened to swallow her whole; those continuous orgasms left her drained beyond belief.

Propping himself up on an elbow, Diao Zhiyu hissed softly and touched his neck. “Are you a cat?”

A scratch on her neck seeped blood. Hu Xiu’s face flushed red as she buried it in the quilt. “I don’t know,” she mumbled. “I have no idea what happened.”

“Did I satisfy you?”

“Mm...”

“What was that? No?” The other person seemed incredulous. “Wasn’t enough for you?”

Considering they’d gone at it so hard despite her fever, of course it had been enough. But she refused to admit it. Peering out from under the covers with one eye, her mind finally cleared from the fog of pleasure. “Minister Qin...”

“Hmm?”

“This time we’re parting in such a hurry. Who knows when we’ll meet again.”

Diao Zhiyu laughed. “I became Rongcheng’s manager and drove that old German car of General’s to marry you.

“I hope Miss Hu will be kind enough to stop pining for Pei Zechen, that bandit.

“In my whole life, I’ve never loved anyone as seriously as I do you. If Miss Hu is unfaithful, then in this lifetime, I, Qin Xiaoyi, won’t ever love anyone else.”

Hu Xiu was caught between laughter and tears at his antics. But Diao Zhiyu wasn’t done yet. “Miss Hu, the marriage contract—will you sign it?”

“Huh?”

“The one from Rongcheng. I still have it with me, you know.”

“You sure hold grudges.”

“Of course. You never did marry Minister Qin.” Leaning over the bed, Diao Zhiyu rummaged through the bedside table for a while. “Where did I put it?”

His naked back was strikingly beautiful, its contours enticing even when he was relaxed and sprawled on the sheets. Blinking sleepily, Hu Xiu watched him search. If Diao Zhiyu can’t find it within a minute, she thought, don’t blame me if I refuse to sign...

In her dream, Hu Xiu found herself in the middle of a heavy snowstorm. She rarely saw such icy weather in Nanjing; despite holding an umbrella, she quickly felt damp and cold. The wet ground made everything seem so boring.

The snow in her dream reached up past her knees, blindingly white. Struggling forward with a box of gifts, she looked back only to see no footprints behind her.

The snow stretched endlessly before her. It clung to her hat and eyelashes as she rushed anxiously toward home, eager to open her gifts. The boxes jingled like porcelain pieces colliding.

A light shone in the distance, but the faster she ran, the farther it seemed to recede. Gifts tumbled from her arms one by one, disappearing into the snowy expanse... As night fell, the snow grew terrifyingly white; direction and purpose vanished...

Diao Zhiyu woke with a start, finding him at her bedside. Through the dim dawn light, he couldn’t clearly see his expression.

“You were dreaming...”

“Uh-huh...”

“A nightmare?”

“Not too bad...”

But sleep eluded her now. Diao Zhiyu leaned against the headboard, his lashes lowered. “I must make you feel very insecure, don’t I?”

Hu Xiao remained silent. She picked up the discarded tie lying beside the pillow, winding it around her fingertips. The porcelain doll that had fallen in the snow hadn’t broken—but it was lost nonetheless.

“I’m just a kid from Worker Village,” he said. “Do you know about Worker Village?”

She stared blankly...

“In Northeast China, it was really common to name kids ‘Yu,’ ‘Peng,’ ‘Hang,’ ‘Xin’... I wasn’t spared either.” Diao Zhiyu lay back on the pillow. “My mom overheard names being chosen in the hospital next door. She thought they all sounded alike and boring, so she hoped for me to have fewer worries growing up. That’s why my middle name is ‘Zhi.’“

She was beautiful. When she married my father, everyone at the factory said he’d found a movie star. The women in the company housing building wouldn’t talk to her. In the long corridors of the outside stairs, if they met head-on, they would give each other nasty looks before brushing past.

Her luck was really bad. As a dancer with the drama troupe, her temper was too proud. She couldn’t get along with others and failed to become a lead actress. Later, when the factory closed down, even being third female lead was gone.

From as far back as I can remember, we moved from the company housing to Grandma’s place. Next door was the abandoned transformer factory where two or three big wolf dogs barked all day. Our building stood alone in that area – three units with forty-two households, and every family got along well. There were many pretty women there too.

Grandma loved playing mahjong and didn’t pay much attention to me. My mom rode her bicycle over on Fridays to see me, then left again on Mondays.

The road behind our building was mud. You had to pedal hard just to get out, and it always made your wheels dirty.

I wasn’t very talkative and didn’t fit in with the others. On the first floor, I had nothing to do but watch the dogs through the iron gate. Two dogs ate rat poison and died. One was eaten by the others, and half the people in the building who ate dog meat ended up in hospital. The other was thrown straight into the smelly ditch. I had nothing else to do, so I went there every day to watch it rot.”

Dawn slowly painted the ceiling. Hu Xiu asked, “Where’s Dad?”

“He drank too much. He worked odd jobs in the staff building and often got into fights. Even I couldn’t control my temper around him. We’d start brawling from upstairs all the way down to the ground floor. Thinking back on it now, he probably didn’t know what to do after losing his job of over a decade—let’s not dwell on this.”

“The first girl I liked lived above Grandma’s house. Her name was Qiao Yinhè, and I still remember her.

Big eyes, fair skin, and long legs. She was three years older than me. On weekends, I’d sometimes see her playing hopscotch downstairs. She called me ‘Cucumber Seed Brother,’ but at that time, I hadn’t developed double eyelids yet.

My mom sent me to learn classical dance, so we weren’t at the same dance school. The last time I saw her was when I was in seventh grade and she was in ninth. We ran into each other outside the restroom, and she smiled at me. Behind her, another girl pointed and whispered, “I saw her lace underwear peeking out under those jeans—she must be going on a date with some local thug.”

She became known as a bus stop girl—a one-night stand for a hundred bucks. Just like her mother before her. After repeating her final year once... her mind finally snapped.

Only then did I realize why her mom brought her here every weekend—it was because their sugar daddy lived right above Grandma’s house.

That building had its share of pretty women, hiding all sorts of secrets. Many were willing to risk everything for a man.

In high school, I lost interest in dancing and my grades weren’t good either. So I quit dancing and started doing what guys usually do.

I became a troublemaker—fighting in gangs, smoking, going to video arcades. I partied hard for two years.

During the second year of high school sports meet, I hit a boy from another class with a vase. It was bad enough that he had to go to the hospital. When he came back, he brought sixty people to beat me up. I was scared stiff. The principal had to step in and stop them.

After that... I moved to Shanghai for college. My mom remarried and is doing well now. She has a new family and doesn’t need me much anymore.”

Hu Xiu kept rolling her tie around her finger as she spoke. “I’m not telling you all this because I want you to feel burdened or pity me,” Diao Zhiyu said. “I just want you to know that when it comes to feeling safe and secure, I’m not much better off than you.”

“I’ve never believed anyone could truly care for me, nor have I trusted in unrealistic dreams.

“Ever since I was little, no one paid attention to me. And the girl I liked ended up badly. Because of that, I don’t expect anything from life. I know falling in love is like a terrifying nightmare. After all, choosing the wrong person means losing everything after taking such a big risk.

“I’m proud and self-centered, but deep down, I still hope there’s someone out there who would travel far just to be with me. Love seems to come and go, so I’ll only grab onto it if I’m really sure.”

I hate being betrayed more than anything. Whenever I discover someone’s been dishonest with me, my heart sinks immediately, and all I want is to get even.

That year seemed like God had given him several extra years of life. After a long silence, Hu Xiu reached out as if making a promise pact, “You’re the brightest star in my galaxy.”

“Thank you. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me.”

Hu Xiu smiled. “Can you do something for me?”

“Hm?”

“If you ever decide to leave me—I mean, when that day comes—give me some hint so I’m not the last person to know.”

Diao Zhiyu’s grip tightened slightly. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re an actor; I won’t ask you to belong only to me forever—that’s unrealistic.

In this city, it’s normal for love stories to end and start again, intertwining over time. I just hope we can both be honest with each other.”

“I can’t do that—I want you to always belong only to me.”

After cuddling close for a while, Diao Zhiyu opened the window, his heavy eyelids drooping as he rummaged through the fridge. In the end, he found a caramel pudding in Hu Xiu’s bag.

A spoonful of pudding rolled around on both their tongues as sunlight streamed through the gauzy curtains. The wind lifted the fabric, causing Diao Zhiyu to sway back and forth, keeping the sun just inches away from him. He laughed. “Oh no, I’m thinking about it again.”

Diao Zhiyu, you real pervert... Hu Xiu thought, staring at the tent in his white underwear. Young men really are... terrifying.

Safety is such a big deal... she mused. Maybe one night isn’t enough to solve it. But if we hold hands and walk together, maybe fear will fade with time. Or perhaps happy memories will make painful ones disappear faster.

Before leaving, she put on Diao Zhiyu’s hoodie and jacket, her body now carrying the scent of laundry pods. She suspected that if this continued, she’d gradually start smelling like him.

Behind them, Diao Zhiyu was still fuming, “I quit my job on the Snowpiercer just so Wang Wei could bring me a marriage certificate! Where did I put it?”

“Does it really matter that much to you?”

As she bent down to put on her shoes, she remembered adding ten reviews for the Snowpiercer on Dazhong Dianping. Since she’d clicked the anonymous button, she’d let loose and written some pretty wild stuff.

Especially when strangers who stumbled upon the restaurant liked her anonymous comments, it felt like encouragement, making her more enthusiastic as she wrote.

If she’d known that clicking through to someone’s profile would also show these buggy anonymous comments, nothing in the world could have convinced her to write those reviews.

“Add a Qin Xiaoyi romance plotline, and I’ll come back for round two!”

“He’s like a movie star—just a walking clothes rack. I wonder what treasures are hidden beneath those clothes.”

“Christmas is coming soon. Hoping for a naked Santa Claus in Room 301.”

“A boy with such striking features shouldn’t wear suits or white shirts. Even military jackets aren’t suitable. The allure of uniforms is too tempting for female players.” She was particularly proud of this comment, which had received over fifty likes.

Her other reviews were written beautifully, full of heartfelt emotion. Each one was featured as an excellent review on the homepage, often getting pushed to the main page by merchants.

“Qin Xiaoyi is truly a natural actor. Standing under the lights, he has that unmistakable aura of a leading man. When the train whistle sounded and Rongcheng’s big gates opened, my secret crush story began right there.”

“I’ve been here ten times already. Snowpiercer has become more than just another game—it feels like home now.

Especially Officer Ning—he’s the heart of our little family. My favorite part about playing here isn’t just the great interactions; it’s how everyone gets so into character. Yet somehow, we all remember who we really are every time we come back.”

(This time, Officer Ning wasn’t Wang Wei but Geng Zhongliang—a handsome and gentle guy who always treated me specially during the games.)

“A good script-based murder mystery is like a dream machine. Snowpiercer feels like my own fantasy world within parallel dimensions. It has the family members I long to see, plus Minister Qin—who makes my heart skip a beat each time I catch sight of him.

When life gets tough, I always come here to hide out and talk with my friends. They’re easygoing about cheating and scams, understanding my temper and shyness.

I wish they would always be there—my dream world never fading away...

Hu Xiu’s eyes snapped open. In front of her was Diao Zhiyu’s smug look.

“So you saw everything?”

“Of course...”

“You actors even read reviews?”

“C’mon! We have a staff group chat, and we give thumbs-ups for good comments. Haven’t you noticed someone always liking your posts where you praise Qin Xiaoyi?”

Hu Xiu felt like she’d been struck by lightning. “Holy crap! That ‘Single Scene’ senior is actually you!”

Limited Edition Acting Master Class 3.5

Don’t discuss physical strength with young men—they all think they’re invincible machines.

A handsome face and an “I love you” are the best catalysts for passion.

Don’t post anonymous reviews on review sites without thinking. Once you leave a shameful comment, it’ll haunt you every time you visit your profile page—it’s social death. Remember, there will always be someone who makes you realize that the romance from idol dramas really exists. Someone who fits your ideal image perfectly. Before meeting them, you might suffer a bit, but it’s all worth it in the end.

Sugar-coated movies and industrial-grade sweeteners are just putting on a show; real emotions don’t follow a script. But sometimes, someone will travel mountains and rivers, coming only for you alone...