Panda Cub – Chapter 20
by Little PandaI don’t date…
Hu Tu was utterly bewildered. “Teach her what?”
He Ying told her about the late-night snack she’d shared with Jing Dan the night before last.
Hu Tu: “…”
She covered her face, finding it a little hard to look He Ying in the eye.
“So — don’t you think it’s time you taught her properly?” He Ying asked.
Hu Tu stayed silent. How exactly was she supposed to teach her this?
“Have you ever considered that maybe not just anyone can swindle her?” Hu Tu said, her expression serious.
With an aunt like Jing Shiyue raising her, Hu Tu had honestly never seen Jing Dan conned by anyone. As for He Ying…
That had been a fluke, right?
He Ying wore a look that said, And you expect me to believe that?
Hu Tu: “…”
She knew how little persuasive power that argument held for He Ying — but it was the truth! With an aunt like Jing Shiyue, how lacking in guile could Jing Dan possibly be?
And another thing…
“Why are you so concerned about her?” Hu Tu looked at her, suspicion written all over her face. “Don’t tell me you’ve developed designs on her?”
He Ying: “…Don’t talk nonsense.”
Hu Tu: “Am I talking nonsense? Then why come to me specially about all this? When have you ever been this invested in anyone else?”
Among all the friends the two of them shared, no matter how warmly people treated her, she always kept a tactful, measured distance — never letting anyone get too close.
He Ying’s expression dimmed slightly. Hu Tu was right about that much: she had grown far too attentive to Jing Dan.
“Perhaps it’s because she’s too pure.” So clean that she couldn’t bear to see the darkness touch her.
Hu Tu went quiet, studying her face carefully. “Only because of that?”
“What else?” He Ying found it amusing. “Why would you think I have feelings for her? It’s not as if I’ve ever fallen for a woman.”
“And no one’s ever seen you fall for a man, either!” Hu Tu rolled her eyes. “You really shouldn’t make absolute statements about orientation.”
Take herself, for instance. At first, like most of the world, she had assumed she would like men. After trying to date one for a while, she found even ordinary time together with them a strain — never mind anything further. Only later, after a relationship with a woman, did it finally dawn on her: she liked women, full stop!
“But rest assured — I only see her as a junior who needs looking after.” He Ying smiled. And it would only ever be that.
She didn’t have that much time, or that much energy, or a love deep as the ocean for chasing someone’s reincarnation through lifetime after lifetime.
“Then I’m relieved.” Hu Tu gave a light laugh, as if a weight had lifted off her.
At the sight of her like this, He Ying turned a little suspicious herself. “Why do you seem so determined that nothing should ever happen between me and her?”
She reached up and touched her own face. Surely she wasn’t a bad catch, was she? Money-wise, fine, she didn’t have Jing Dan’s kind of fortune — but she could earn her own living, couldn’t she?
Hu Tu blinked, the very picture of innocence. “I don’t want anything happening between her and anyone at all. You know what she’s like — what if someone swindles her?”
I did say anyone — any “person,” that is. Hu Tu didn’t see anything wrong with what she’d said.
He Ying: “…”
Who was it, just moments ago, who said she wasn’t so easily fooled?
“So you don’t even trust me.” He Ying’s voice was soft and mournful. What on earth was the matter with her, that she gave people the impression she couldn’t be trusted?
“Uh.” Hu Tu was stuck for words. Did this woman have to come at it from such an impossible angle?
Hu Tu chose her next words diplomatically. “I don’t trust anyone.”
He Ying: “…”
Forget it. What was the point of bickering over this?
Jing Dan — who had finally, at long last, wrestled herself back into human form — was questioning her entire existence. Being a demon was so hard!
And being a demon who couldn’t even keep her Huaxing under control was harder still!
She washed up and headed out, only to discover that her aunt hadn’t come home the entire night. Question marks bubbled up in her head. She called her aunt’s assistant, and only once she learned that her aunt was already at the company did her heart settle.
When she arrived at Qingzhu Entertainment, Xu-jie from the Production Department — the same one from yesterday — came to find her.
“President Jing, there’s word back from Qiu Shuhuai.”
“Hm? How did it go?” Jing Dan looked up, somewhat surprised.
She hadn’t expected a reply this quickly.
“She says she wants to meet you before discussing anything.” Xu-jie’s tone was fairly relaxed. As far as she was concerned, Qiu Shuhuai being willing to meet Jing Dan at all meant the deal was already more than half done.
“When.”
“She’s waiting for you in the reception room right now.”
“…”
Jing Dan walked to the reception room and paused outside, observing the person within: short hair set in a gentle wave, elegant, generous features, and a naturally bookish air — a very feminine, very charming woman.
She stepped inside and met the woman’s gaze.
Qiu Shuhuai smiled first. “So you’re Jing Dan?”
Jing Dan nodded — and then, looking at that face, abruptly found herself at a loss for words.
She didn’t know why, but the woman gave her a very strange feeling. Something almost… familiar?
Qiu Shuhuai’s smile deepened, and her gaze on Jing Dan took on the doting warmth of an elder regarding a junior. “You look quite a lot like your aunt.”
“You know my aunt?” Jing Dan was astonished.
“‘Know her’ hardly covers it.” A trace of bitterness crept into Qiu Shuhuai’s smile, and she shook her head. “But let’s not talk about her. Shall we discuss business?”
Jing Dan said nothing. She badly wanted to ask more, but judging by the woman’s expression, Qiu Shuhuai plainly had no intention of elaborating on anything involving Jing Shiyue.
What followed was an even smoother conversation — or, one might say, Qiu Shuhuai did the talking single-handedly — and before long, her move to Qingzhu was settled.
It all went so swiftly and so smoothly that Jing Dan was left with the odd illusion that the only reason the woman had wanted to meet her was to see for herself whether she truly had anything to do with her aunt.
After Qiu Shuhuai finally left, Xu-jie came in nearly beside herself, staring at Jing Dan for a long moment without managing a single word.
She considered herself on reasonably familiar terms with Qiu Shuhuai — but nowhere near familiar enough to make the woman make up her mind this fast!
Jing Dan lifted her gaze. “The variety show I mentioned — you can begin preparations. She’ll be heading it up. As for casting, the screening must be done thoroughly.”
Xu-jie: “…Understood.”
Things had gone so smoothly that she was starting to wonder whether her boss was secretly a lucky carp2.
Jing Dan stayed in the reception room, turning the romance variety show over in her mind. If she invited a group of non-celebrities to take part, they might not draw many viewers at the very start — so she would still need to recruit the kind of people He Ying had described: people with Traffic.
With Qiu Shuhuai attached to the program, though, finding those people would presumably be far easier. After all, Qiu Shuhuai alone was a brand unto herself.
Then she thought of one more person. Since He Ying was so short of money that she’d signed onto all those shows, maybe she’d be willing to join this one too?
No sooner thought than done — she fired off a message to He Ying, and once it was sent, she found herself feeling oddly nervous.
After all, hers was a new company with a new show and no track record whatsoever. Would He Ying even think it worth her while?
Ding—
She hurriedly opened it.
【He Ying】: You’re inviting me on? I don’t date…
Jing Dan typed: I’m inviting you to come watch them date.
【He Ying】: …
The author has something to say:
Earlier, when you were all guessing who did you-know-what with Tutu, you first guessed the aunt, then Qiu Shuhuai. Hahahaha, I’m dying.
Jing Shiyue, Qiu Shuhuai: “Oh, so you’re all just going to break up our couple, are you?!”
Footnotes
- 做妖难 | Zuo Yao Nan | A twist on the proverbial sigh 做人难, 'it's hard being a person' — a common Chinese lament about life's daily difficulties, here with the speaker's species swapped for comic effect.
- 锦鲤 | Jinli | Internet slang treating koi carp as luck charms; reposting 'lucky carp' images is believed to summon fortune, so the phrase now means someone impossibly, effortlessly blessed.
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