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Cheng Mi was already a bit drunk tonight, and being forced to drink more made her head even heavier.
But she could still walk, talk, and listen. On the way back in the car, she didn’t forget to send a text message to Si Huiru. If she didn’t report her safety, Si Huiru would keep waiting.
Normally, Si Huiru would have been asleep by this time, so this text message would allow her to have a good night’s sleep now.
Si Huiru was indeed waiting; she quickly texted back, telling her that a bowl of hangover soup was on the dining table and to remember to drink it when she got back.
Cheng Mi was leaning against the back seat of the taxi at the time, her head resting slightly against the window.
The streetlights on both sides of the road were dim and yellow, flickering brightly and dimly as they passed the car.
Cheng Mi and Si Tingyan sat on either side. The car was very quiet, with only the sound of the taxi driving over the road.
She put away her phone and looked at Si Tingyan.
Si Tingyan wasn’t looking out the window or at his phone; he was just sitting there.
From this angle, she could see the phone number she had written with lipstick on his face.
Even though he wasn’t happy, he hadn’t wiped away what she had done.
Another person, after being treated that way by Si Tingyan, might not even dare to utter a word to him, but Cheng Mi was not like that.
Cheng Mi often kept a small pack of makeup remover wipes in her bag, a habit from her past as a model. Models’ makeup was usually quite heavy, and walking around without removing it after a shoot would be very exaggerated.
She reached into her bag, pulled out a makeup remover wipe, casually placed the wrapper on her bag, and then leaned towards Si Tingyan.
Cheng Mi slightly bent one leg, her knee lightly resting on the seat, leaning closer to him.
Si Tingyan looked up at her.
Cheng Mi immediately looked into his eyes as well. After leaning close to him, her gaze fell on the lipstick on his face.
She was just about to reach out when her wrist was caught by Si Tingyan.
Cheng Mi looked at him: “What, can’t bear to part with it?”
Si Tingyan’s eyes were calm, but somewhat cold.
Cheng Mi said: “It’s okay.”
She tilted her head slightly, her red lips approaching, and lightly kissed his face affectionately: “Like this.”
“I’ll leave marks thousands of times more in the future.”
Their whispers were exceptionally clear in the car.
The night was thick, and in the confined space, the scent and touch were even more apparent.
Even in the dim light, Si Tingyan’s gaze was not obscured or hidden; it pierced through the darkness and landed on her face as if tangible.
His skin still stood out conspicuously in the night.
Cheng Mi also met his gaze, very close.
Si Tingyan suddenly raised his hand, his four knuckles resting on her chin, his thumb pressing against her lips, rubbing off the lipstick.
The lipstick on Cheng Mi’s lips instantly smeared, leaving a streak of red at the corner of her mouth, fading to a light thin red towards the end.
This reminded Cheng Mi of the time she came out of the teacher’s office, and Si Tingyan treated her the same way in the stairwell.
But that time, there was a test paper separating them.
This time, there was nothing. Cheng Mi’s lips could even feel the texture of his thumb.
She said: “Si Tingyan, have you been wanting to do this for a long time?”
Si Tingyan looked directly into her eyes.
Cheng Mi felt a strange sensation quietly emerge in her heart for a moment as he stared at her.
Sometimes, emotions that Cheng Mi couldn’t fathom would appear in Si Tingyan’s eyes, coming without any reason.
Just like now, Cheng Mi didn’t know what his gaze meant.
It was as if some powerful emotion was enveloping her.
But she found no outlet at all. Although her gaze at Si Tingyan was still the same as usual, without a frown or confusion, it carried a few hints of calm inquiry.
She thought Si Tingyan would say something, but he didn’t.
He subtly averted his gaze.
Cheng Mi still couldn’t figure it out after a few seconds.
She looked at his profile, brought the makeup remover wipe close to his face, and lightly wiped away that small row of red.
Si Tingyan avoided it again, his tone cool and detached: “What are you doing?”
Cheng Mi persisted: “Not removing these things isn’t good for your skin. Haven’t you ever removed makeup?”
Si Tingyan seemed to think she had stated the obvious, his gaze flickered across her face.
Cheng Mi caught his gaze, flippantly throwing out: “It’s fine, your girlfriend will tell you these things later.”
Si Tingyan’s gaze lingered on her face for a long time.
Cheng Mi said the words “your girlfriend” without any hint of guilt.
The taxi just arrived downstairs, the tires grinding to a halt.
Cheng Mi still hadn’t completely wiped off the red mark on Si Tingyan’s face, a small bit remaining.
She reached out to wipe it again, but Si Tingyan didn’t let her. He pushed the car door open and got out.
________________________________________
Back upstairs, Si Huiru had already gone to bed, leaving the lights on for them.
Si Tingyan went back to his room after entering the door.
Cheng Mi smelled of alcohol, so she went to her room, grabbed some random clothes, and went to the bathroom to shower.
At night, before bed, Cheng Mi loved clothes that weren’t restrictive. Oversized T-shirts and slip dresses occupied a small section of her closet.
Tonight, after showering, she came out wearing an oversized white short-sleeved shirt that barely covered her thighs.
When Cheng Mi came out of the bathroom, she saw the hangover soup on the table and remembered Si Huiru’s instructions in the car on the way back.
Si Huiru had kept the hangover soup warm in a thermos.
Cheng Mi draped a white towel over her shoulder, drying her hair as she walked over and sat down. Halfway through drinking, her phone vibrated.
Cheng Mi glanced at it casually. The sender was unexpected, and she paused the ceramic spoon in her hand slightly.
It was a message from Li Chu.
Cheng Mi picked up her phone, opened it, and it was an image.
The image showed a chat interface from a social media platform for information sharing, and it was her own account.
Cheng Mi rarely used this platform; the account was set up for her by Li Chu in the past, and it had been with Li Chu ever since.
Li Chu rarely sent her messages unless it was something important. This message must have been considered quite important by Li Chu.
Cheng Mi looked at the content of the image.
The sender was Director Li Shen’s studio, whom she had met in the clear bar restroom tonight.
[Hello, Miss Cheng Mi, we are Li Shen’s studio, because of your...]
Following that were a hundred more words, a sincere and official invitation for cooperation with Cheng Mi. Finally, it informed her that Director Li Shen happened to be in Fengxun these days and asked if she had time to meet tomorrow, as Director Li Shen would personally meet her.
She had to admit, Li Chu really understood her.
It wasn’t that no one in the industry had ever offered Cheng Mi an olive branch before; in fact, there were quite a few, but Cheng Mi had refused them all.
It wasn’t because she had no intention of developing a career in that circle; on the contrary, for certain reasons, she had planned to enter the industry since she was a child.
The refusals were simply because she preferred quality over quantity. Having a big, reliable company was crucial for this path. Small, unknown companies not only offered fewer opportunities but could also potentially ruin one’s career.
And now, what lay before Cheng Mi was one of the top directors in the country.
If Cheng Mi’s memory served her right, when she was four or five years old, her mother, Cheng Zi, loved watching Li Shen’s movies, especially those starring a certain actor who had won the Best Actor award at a young age, watching them repeatedly with her in her arms.
A few seconds later, she sent a message to Li Chu.
[Thanks.]
The meaning was clear: she was going.
Just then, Si Tingyan opened his room door. Hearing the sound, Cheng Mi’s eyes left her phone and looked at Si Tingyan.
Si Tingyan also saw her at once.
A bit of red still lingered on his left cheek, leaving a faint reddish smudge. His shoulders were straight, and his hand, hanging by his side, held clothes.
He hadn’t showered yet? Or did he let her shower first?
Si Tingyan walked towards the bathroom. Soon, the bathroom door closed.
A new message came in on her phone. Cheng Mi retracted her gaze, looking at the screen.
Li Chu had replied, likely sent by Li Shen’s studio after she gave a positive answer.
The content was a hotel address, the meeting place with Li Shen tomorrow.
________________________________________
What Cheng Mi didn’t know was that while she and Si Tingyan were entangled in the clear bar tonight, their names had already exploded multiple times on the forum.
At 7 PM, a post suddenly appeared on the forum.
[School Belle Cheng Mi is pursuing Si Tingyan, the top student of sophomore year.]
Those dozen short words stirred up a thousand waves, shattering the illusion of everyone on the forum recognizing and reviewing for tomorrow’s exams.
The original poster in the first floor revealed the gossip.
[That great beauty said she’d get him in a month. She’s been pursuing him for ten to twenty days. Although Si Tingyan is hard to get, with Cheng Mi’s vixen-like face, I’m putting my words here: this time, that Si Tingyan guy is definitely going to fall.]
Within ten seconds, the post instantly racked up ten replies.
[Damn! When did this happen?!]
[True or false?! Those two are totally unrelated.]
[OP, what do you mean? Si Tingyan isn’t someone who judges by looks, okay? If he were, would Qi Yunmiao have pursued him for over three years without success?]
Wherever Si Tingyan was, the girls secretly crushing on him ran faster than anyone. The replies below, echoing the previous one, clearly came from girls who liked Si Tingyan.
[Exactly, OP is so biased. It’s not like Si Tingyan will like just anyone you like, okay? Si Tingyan isn’t as superficial as you are.]
[Win him over in 30 days? Is Cheng Mi joking? Si Tingyan probably won’t ever look at her.]
The next reply, from someone enjoying the drama, broke the chain of agreement.
[Damn, hahaha, I agree with OP! Cheng Mi is a woman that no man can resist, let alone her face, just her figure, tsk tsk tsk.]
[Oh my, has that vixen Cheng Mi extended her claws to Si Tingyan now?]
This sentence suddenly enlightened the shocked crowd who hadn’t yet reacted.
[Wait? Isn’t Cheng Mi still with Li Zhiyu?!]
[Holy shit!]
[Did they break up? I haven’t seen them together at school recently.]
[No, they didn’t break up?! My buddy, Li Zhiyu’s brother, was just saying yesterday that Li Zhiyu’s current relationship has lasted quite a long time, over a month.]
[You upstairs, did you forget one more? Chu Xinhe, our senior year director’s daughter, that lofty fairy.]
But this post was already ignored by everyone, because someone then dropped a bombshell.
[Has no one noticed? Si Tingyan is Li Zhiyu’s younger brother! What kind of love triangle is this?!]
Si Tingyan being Li Zhiyu’s younger brother was no secret at Fengxun High School.
This thread, already hot, saw its reply count surge after this mention.
Cheng Mi pursuing Si Tingyan was already big news, as she was the well-known school belle and he the school heartthrob. It was hard not to pay attention to the gossip.
Now, another bucket of drama was spilled: Cheng Mi was still with Li Zhiyu, and before even breaking up, she was pursuing her boyfriend’s younger brother.
The thread was chaotic for a while, with people who loved drama, those secretly crushing on both boys, and those who liked Cheng Mi, all holding their own opinions, a hundred mouths speaking a hundred different things.
Fenggao was a small place, and Cheng Mi pursuing Si Tingyan was a fact that would inevitably be seen by a few people.
[What the original poster said should be true. Just a week ago at the school gate, Cheng Mi and Si Tingyan both got highlights.]
[Right, didn’t any of you notice? I saw it that day and came to the forum, but no one was talking about them.]
[I raise my hand... I think I also saw a hickey on Cheng Mi’s neck that day...]
For a time, question marks flooded the comments, and the Fenggao forum remained hot for several hours straight.
Cheng Mi was woken up by a frantic phone call at around 2 AM.
As soon as she answered, the voice of Hong Mao (Red Hair) almost burst her eardrum.
“Holy shit! Cheng Mi, what they’re saying on the forum, is it true or false? Are you actually pursuing Si Tingyan?!”
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