Troublesome – Chapter 103

Knock on the Door

Don’t forget to knock on the door.

Jin Shuilan didn’t even know when Lu Zhenqiu had slipped into the car. She was stunned for two seconds. Seeing her expression, Lu Zhenqiu asked again, “Is that not okay?”

Of course, it was okay. Who said it wasn’t?

Jin Shuilan came back to her senses, looked at Lu Zhenqiu, and smiled. “It’s okay.”

Afterward, she turned to start the car but couldn’t resist turning back again. Her hand slid across the car seat, cupped the back of Lu Zhenqiu’s neck, and pulled her in for a fierce kiss.

They only broke apart when they were both breathless. Lu Zhenqiu’s thin lips were slightly swollen. She bit her lip as she looked at Jin Shuilan, her eyes shimmering from holding her breath, a stunning sight. Jin Shuilan released her, opened the car door, and got out to steady her breathing.

Lu Zhenqiu rolled down the window and leaned on the edge. “What are you doing?”

Hearing her voice, Jin Shuilan’s heart trembled. She managed to compose herself and said, “You sit in the passenger seat.”

Lu Zhenqiu said “oh” and obediently moved to the front passenger seat. She was carrying her bag, and there was another small bag in the back seat. “My luggage,” Lu Zhenqiu said.

Jin Shuilan smiled. “Is that all you brought?”

“I can use yours,” Lu Zhenqiu said. Jin Shuilan let out a muffled laugh. Lu Zhenqiu was puzzled. “What are you laughing at?”

“Use my what?” Jin Shuilan asked. “Are you going to use my underwear too?”

Lu Zhenqiu was indignant. “Jin Shuilan!”

Jin Shuilan nodded. “Okay, I’ll stop.”

Despite saying that, she couldn’t hold back her obvious amusement. Lu Zhenqiu, sitting beside her, pinched her arm. Jin Shuilan hissed and turned her head. Lu Zhenqiu shot her an annoyed glare. Jin Shuilan gripped the steering wheel, her thumb rubbing its inner side repeatedly.

“What about Maomao?” Jin Shuilan asked her.
Lu Zhenqiu leaned back against the car seat and said, “I already spoke with Auntie. I asked her to take Maomao over. She said she’s just staying at home with nothing to do recently, so she can help me take care of him.”

Jin Shuilan nodded.

Halfway through the drive, she asked, “Why the sudden decision to come with me?”

Lu Zhenqiu said, “I want to see what you’re like when you’re working.”

Jin Shuilan didn’t suspect anything. The two stopped at a gas station for a moment. Lu Zhenqiu then drove, following the GPS, while Jin Shuilan sat in the passenger seat watching her. Lu Zhenqiu’s wrists were a bit thinner than hers, her skin very fair, her fingers long and slender with well-defined knuckles. Jin Shuilan was quite fond of Lu Zhenqiu’s hands; just looking at them made her want to hold them in her own.

She had just reached out a hand when Lu Zhenqiu slapped it away. “I’m driving.”

Jin Shuilan behaved, retracting her hand and sitting quietly in the passenger seat to watch her. Lu Zhenqiu’s side profile grew warm under her gaze, feeling as if it were burning up. She touched her cheek; it was very hot.

She reached out and pushed Jin Shuilan’s face away.

“What?” Jin Shuilan said.

Lu Zhenqiu bit her lip. “Stop looking at me.”

“Oh.” Jin Shuilan was very obedient, but she grabbed the hand Lu Zhenqiu had used to push her and gently bit her fingertip. Lu Zhenqiu shot her an exasperated glare, pulled her hand back, and continued driving.

After that, Jin Shuilan didn’t bother her anymore. The production team called her to discuss the script. Jin Shuilan started a video call. The director said, “We’ll make the changes like this for now. We’ll talk more when you get here.”

Jin Shuilan nodded. “Alright, I’m almost there.”

As she spoke, she told Lu Zhenqiu to turn right. At the end of a highway was a rather large hotel with a fountain at the entrance, its spray shooting high into the air. Water droplets fell back into the pool, making crisp sounds. After getting out of the car, Lu Zhenqiu followed Jin Shuilan into the hotel. She said, “Should I get a separate room?”

“Why?” Jin Shuilan asked.

Her tone was perfectly self-assured, as if it was only natural that they should live together. Lu Zhenqiu was taken aback by her confident attitude. After a pause, she said, “Didn’t Auntie say you don’t let people into your place?”

Jin Shuilan nodded. “I was lying to her.”

Lu Zhenqiu’s eyes widened. Jin Shuilan chuckled. “It was my first time with a production team. After she came, one moment she liked this celebrity and wanted an autograph, the next she wanted to watch that celebrity film a scene. She spent the entire day on set. I was afraid she would affect other people’s work, so I said it wasn’t allowed.”

“Oh.” Lu Zhenqiu understood. Jin Shuilan led her by the hand straight into the elevator and handed her the room key. “1302. I have to go to the set in a bit. Do you want to come with me and have a look?”

“No need,” Lu Zhenqiu said. “I’ll unpack my things.”

Jin Shuilan had no objection. “Alright, I’ll come back to have dinner with you tonight.”

Lu Zhenqiu smiled, suddenly feeling a bit like a pampered young wife¹ waiting for her spouse to come home. This strange association made her laugh out loud. Jin Shuilan looked at her curiously. “What are you laughing at?”

“Nothing.” Lu Zhenqiu tried to look serious, but she couldn’t hold it together when faced with Jin Shuilan’s straight face. Her eyes crinkled into crescent moons as she smiled. Jin Shuilan reached out and poked her on the forehead. “Are you going to tell me or not?”

Lu Zhenqiu pulled her hand down, took a deep breath, and suppressed her smile. “It’s really nothing.”

Jin Shuilan was about to ask again when Lu Zhenqiu suddenly tilted her head up and kissed the corner of her lips. A faint fragrance lingered at the tip of her nose, and a soft, sweet taste spread from her lips to her heart.

Jin Shuilan forgot what she was about to ask.

Lu Zhenqiu smiled. “You should get to the set.”

Jin Shuilan touched her own hot earlobe and nodded. “Got it.”

She then lowered her head to look at Lu Zhenqiu’s thin lips, which were perfectly suited for kissing. She took two deep breaths to calm herself down before turning to walk out.

Lu Zhenqiu looked around the room. It was a standard room with two beds. One had some clothes on it, while the other was neatly made. Before she came, Jin Shuilan had told her she was the only one living in this standard room. Those clothes must have been Jin Shuilan’s, which she hadn’t had time to put away. Lu Zhenqiu helped her hang up all the clothes, then sat on the edge of the bed. Turning her head, she saw several books on the bedside table. None of them belonged to Jin Shuilan; some were foreign, some were essays. Lu Zhenqiu flipped through them for a long time but didn’t find a single novel. She pressed her lips together and stopped rummaging, simply tidying up the books and playing on her phone for a while.

The platform told her that after the rumor-mongering alternate account apologized, many fans hoped she would return to streaming soon. Lu Zhenqiu looked left and right and thought Jin Shuilan’s place was quite suitable for a livestream. There was no one around, and she had nothing better to do. The only problem was the lack of streaming equipment. Lu Zhenqiu thought of Jin Shuilan’s laptop. She tilted her head. The laptop was on the coffee table, with two books and a notebook on top of it. She didn’t touch it directly, instead sending a message to Jin Shuilan first.

As soon as Jin Shuilan entered the set, she was surrounded by several people. “Teacher Jin is here.”

“Teacher Jin, the meeting is about to start.”

Jin Shuilan knew there was a meeting; she had rushed over just for it. She first went to the director to check in. Ye Wei’s eyes lit up when she saw Jin Shuilan. A colleague from the production team nudged her arm. She smiled shyly. The colleague said, “Teacher Jin is here.”

“I see her.” Ye Wei walked over to Jin Shuilan’s side and greeted her with a smile. “Hello, Teacher Jin.”

Jin Shuilan gave her a slight nod.

She wasn’t very familiar with Ye Wei. Ye Wei was in the props department and would usually buy afternoon tea for everyone. She was also in charge of lunch and dinner and had brought Jin Shuilan coffee twice, so they would exchange a few words when they met, but they weren’t close.

Ye Wei said, “Teacher Jin, did you have a substitute player² for your game yesterday?”

She had guessed it. The most common thing in this game was substitute players. When she got busy, she would also ask friends to help her rank up, so she assumed it was a substitute.

Jin Shuilan looked at her, puzzled. “Substitute player?”

Then she remembered giving the game to Lu Zhenqiu to play, but why hadn’t Lu Zhenqiu told her?

Jin Shuilan glanced at Ye Wei and suddenly understood why Lu Zhenqiu had insisted on coming with her today. She shook her head. “It wasn’t a substitute player.”

Ye Wei looked at her with confusion. The director called for her, so she had to run over. Jin Shuilan stood behind her as her phone buzzed twice. She opened it; it was Lu Zhenqiu asking if she could use the computer for a bit. Jin Shuilan called her. “You need to use the computer?”

Lu Zhenqiu affirmed, “Mhm, the platform manager asked me about streaming. I don’t have much to do these two days, so I was thinking of using the laptop to stream.”

Jin Shuilan said, “Is the laptop good enough? Should I borrow some streaming equipment for you?”

Lu Zhenqiu laughed. “Even a phone would work.”

She paused after saying that. “That’s right, I can stream with my phone.”

But the screen was too small. Jin Shuilan found her conflicted tone incredibly cute, making her heart itch. She really wanted to hug her right away. Lu Zhenqiu said, “Then I won’t use the computer.”

“It’s fine, you can use it,” Jin Shuilan said. “The screen lock password is your birthday.”

Lu Zhenqiu was stunned and didn’t speak for a long moment. Jin Shuilan called out, “Qiuqiu?”

“Mhm.” Lu Zhenqiu came back to her senses, her voice a little hoarse. “Got it.”

Someone on Jin Shuilan’s end shouted, “Teacher Jin, meeting time!”

She said to Lu Zhenqiu, “I’m going to the meeting. Message me if you need anything.”

Lu Zhenqiu agreed.

Jin Shuilan went to the conference room. The director, the producer, and the leaders of a few different teams were all there. Ye Wei was also seated, and upon seeing Jin Shuilan, she wanted to wave, but Jin Shuilan had already walked to the director’s side and sat down. The assistant director was still outside filming. The director handed her the script and explained the next day’s shooting schedule and plan, as well as the parts of her script that needed minor adjustments. Jin Shuilan lowered her head to look at it. The professor beside her said, “This does need to be changed. This part is a bit unrealistic.”

“Okay.” Jin Shuilan noted it down, marking the spot. After discussing it with the professor, she had a rough idea of the changes. The others chattered with seven mouths, eight tongues as they discussed tomorrow’s filming content. The director sat to one side while his assistant was responsible for compiling everything. The meeting lasted for about half an hour. Only when no one else had any more suggestions did the director stand up. “Are we all OK?”

Everyone else nodded, indicating there were no more problems. The conference room was noisy. The director said, “If there are no more issues, then meeting adjourned.”

As the others prepared to leave, Ye Wei walked over to Jin Shuilan with her notebook. Jin Shuilan was looking down at the script, her side profile clear and distinct, her features exquisitely beautiful, exuding an air of competence and decisiveness. Ye Wei’s heart tightened. Before she could speak, Jin Shuilan looked up. “Ye Wei, could I trouble you with something?”

Ye Wei was overjoyed. “Of course, what is it?”

Jin Shuilan smiled. “I was in a hurry just now and forgot to grab a script for one of the scenes. Could you help me get it from the hotel?”

She was usually so serious and stern. With that one smile, Ye Wei was utterly captivated, her soul gone, staring blankly at Jin Shuilan. “O-okay.”

Jin Shuilan stood up. “Thank you.”

Ye Wei’s heart pounded, her face slightly red. After walking a few steps, Jin Shuilan didn’t forget to turn back and remind her, “Don’t forget to knock on the door.”

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The author has something to say:

Thirty red envelopes, Memeda.

Jin Shuilan: Remember to knock on the door, my girlfriend is there.

Ye Wei: Was killing the person not enough, you also had to attack the heart³?

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