Troublesome – Chapter 2

Getting Acquainted

Jin Shuilan, Teacher Jin

The apartment Jin Shuilan wanted to rent out was the one opposite hers. When she initially bought the properties, her parents had said they wanted to move in, and having apartments opposite each other would make it easy to look after one another. So, Jin Shuilan bought the entire floor. However, once the renovations were done, her parents fell in love with traveling, and this apartment was often empty. When she went home for dinner at the end of the year, her mother said it wasn’t good for the apartment to sit empty and told Jin Shuilan to rent it out. Jin Shuilan couldn’t win against her and posted a rental message on her Moments.

Her original intention was for her parents to see it, but she never expected Hua Luo to see the post.

She knew Hua Luo; they had eaten together before, but they weren’t very close personally. Jin Shuilan tapped the screen with her fingertip, thought for a moment, and asked: 【Are you looking to rent?】

When Hua Luo received Jin Shuilan’s reply, her breath hitched. Who in their circle didn’t know Jin Shuilan? The pioneer of GL film and television adaptations, an unattainable goddess in the dreams of countless readers and authors. Hua Luo’s hands trembled as she typed: 【It’s not me, it’s my friend.】

Jin Shuilan lowered her eyes and typed: 【Which friend?】

Hua Luo, suspecting nothing, quickly replied: 【A friend who does live streams. Don’t worry, she’s very quiet and won’t disturb the neighbors.】

A friend who does live streams?

Jin Shuilan’s thoughts drifted. She lowered her head and took out a personal file from a nearby document bag. A two-inch¹ photo was attached to the file. Jin Shuilan stared at the photo for several minutes.

She snapped back to reality and found that Hua Luo had sent several more messages.

【My friend has a very quiet personality. When she streams, she usually just sings, so she’s very quiet.】

【And she’s super hygienic! If she rents the place, you won’t have to worry about cleanliness at all.】

【Oh, and she has a great attitude. If there are any problems, you can just let her know…】

Jin Shuilan lowered her gaze and scanned the messages. She had been a bit dazed just seeing the words “live stream.” Now, having regained her composure, she was about to refuse when she saw Hua Luo send another message: 【But she has a dog.】

After sending the message, Hua Luo also felt it wasn’t ideal. Many landlords weren’t fond of tenants with pets. Lu Zhenqiu had come here mid-year to develop her career, but because of her dog, she hadn’t been able to find a suitable place. After searching for half a month, Tang Yingxia had let her stay in her own vacant apartment for the time being. Lu Zhenqiu had planned to continue her search while living there and had told Hua Luo about it. They had even discussed waiting until Lu Zhenqiu’s contract with her platform was terminated and she had a few days off before going out to look for apartments again. Who could have expected this turn of events?

However, if she were Lu Zhenqiu, she would also feel disgusted and definitely wouldn’t be able to continue living there.

Hua Luo waited a few seconds but didn’t receive a reply from Jin Shuilan, guessing she probably wasn’t too keen. Hua Luo quickly typed: 【It’s okay, Teacher Jin. I was just asking. If it’s not convenient…】

Before she could send the message, her phone beeped. She saw Jin Shuilan’s reply: 【When can she view the apartment?】

View the apartment? What did that mean? She agreed?

Hua Luo’s heart leaped into her throat, her pulse quickening by a few beats. She typed: 【When are you free?】

Jin Shuilan fiddled with her phone: 【I’m free anytime recently.】

Hua Luo was delighted: 【Then, can I come tomorrow?】

Jin Shuilan: 【Yes.】

It was a very proper and conventional conversation. Hua Luo was so reserved she didn’t even dare to send any stickers². After finishing her conversation with Jin Shuilan, she immediately went to tell Lu Zhenqiu: “It’s a go! We can go see the apartment tomorrow!”

Lu Zhenqiu was still lying on the sofa. The persistent cold had drained her energy, leaving her listless. Maomao stayed close by her side, occasionally licking her cheek as if to comfort her.

The phone screen lit up, a bit glaring. Lu Zhenqiu answered the call. Hua Luo’s voice was still full of vitality. She pressed her lips together. “Okay, what time tomorrow?”

Hua Luo paused; it seemed they hadn’t set a time. She muttered, “In the morning, I guess.”

Anyway, Teacher Jin had just said she was free anytime.

Lu Zhenqiu agreed.

Hua Luo asked, “How are you now? Still have a fever?”

Lu Zhenqiu replied faintly, “I’m fine.”

“Have you eaten dinner?” Hua Luo asked and then answered herself, “Definitely not. Should I order some takeout for you?”

Lu Zhenqiu wasn’t very hungry. She looked down. “No appetite.”

Hua Luo said, “It’d be strange if you did have an appetite.”

She already had a cold, and then there was that incident with Tang Yingxia. Just thinking about her made Hua Luo angry. “Tang Yingxia is too much, openly flirting around. And that Yu Wen—wait, didn’t you say last time that Yu Wen knew about you and Tang Yingxia?”

Lu Zhenqiu was silent for two seconds.

Yu Wen did know. Once, when Lu Zhenqiu logged into Tang Yingxia’s game account, she ran into Yu Wen. They teamed up for a ranked game³, and Yu Wen had said, “Your support plays so much better than God Xia’s! You can actually protect me; God Xia never manages to protect me.”

At that time, she thought Tang Yingxia had told Yu Wen about their relationship to avoid suspicion.

Turns out, it wasn’t like that at all.

Lu Zhenqiu pressed her aching head as she heard Hua Luo ask, “Can you even sleep tonight then? Or should I play a couple of games with you?”

“Get some rest early.” Lu Zhenqiu got up from the sofa and said to Hua Luo, “I’m going to take a shower.”

Hua Luo had no choice but to agree.

Lu Zhenqiu put down her phone and went to the bathroom, Maomao following her. She gently squeezed Maomao’s ears, then slipped into the bathroom. Inadvertently glancing at the mirror, she saw the person in it still had a reddish tinge at the corners of her eyes. Lu Zhenqiu looked quietly for a few seconds, then entered the shower stall.

Outside the window, the moon hung high in the treetops. Jin Shuilan looked up and saw the bright moonlight. After contacting Hua Luo, she had been looking at her phone. Her author group chat had been muted for a long time; when she opened it just now, messages flooded her screen.

【Sisters, is the thing with God Xia and Yu Wen real or fake?】

【The readers in my group are shipping them like crazy hahaha, I think it’s really sweet too.】

【There seems to be something budding⁴ there. But neither of them is in a relationship, so it’s pretty normal if they get together, right?】

Neither of them was in a relationship.

Jin Shuilan tapped the screen with her finger, pondering for a few seconds. She opened Weibo. Although she and Tang Yingxia had been mutual followers for several years, she had never actively visited Tang Yingxia’s Weibo page, only occasionally scrolling past her posts on her own feed.

Tang Yingxia rarely posted on Weibo, and most of her posts were related to her novels, publications, or audio dramas⁵. It was clear she put a lot of effort into promoting her own novels. But her pinned post, uniquely, had nothing to do with her.

The pinned post was a repost from half an hour ago: 【Shengxia: Get your swimsuit ready @Yu Wen // Yu Wen: New book is out! Hope you all like it. Lastly, a special thanks to God Xia for helping me revise my manuscript over voice calls late at night so many times. When I make money from the new book, I’ll treat you to a hot spring @Shengxia.】

Jin Shuilan laughed in exasperation. No wonder the group was discussing them just now.

It was indeed very suggestive.

She didn’t know Yu Wen, nor did she want to dwell on their affairs. She casually closed Weibo and returned to her office chair. Jin Shuilan sat down, looked at the personal file for a good while, then stuffed it back into the document bag. As she turned her head, her peripheral vision caught a poster on the wall. The coldness that had just surfaced in her eyes softened considerably.

The poster was as tall as a person, a solo poster. The woman in it wore a light red long dress, her skin as white as jade. The lighting and shadows were well done, making her facial features and expressions look exquisite, and her temperament gentle and graceful. At the very bottom of the poster, there was a line of small text.

Voice Actor: Zhenqiu.

Lu Zhenqiu was sleeping drowsily. Her sleep quality had been very poor recently; she would wake up many times during the night. Perhaps it was because she had changed residences and hadn’t gotten used to the new environment. Tonight was the same; she kept dreaming.

She dreamed of Tang Yingxia.

She had met Tang Yingxia three years ago. She was participating in a studio recording for an author’s audio drama and was living with many well-known voice actors. The investors had booked an entire villa for them, so they gradually became familiar with each other. She remembered that three authors’ audio dramas were being produced simultaneously at that time, and Tang Yingxia was one of them. Later, after becoming familiar with Tang Yingxia, Tang Yingxia invited her to make a guest appearance in her own novel’s audio drama.

This was how she came to voice act in Tang Yingxia’s audio dramas.

She had a constitution that made her particularly susceptible to colds, especially during the change of seasons. Each time she caught a cold, it would take a long time to recover. So, before every recording session, she would be especially careful about keeping warm, terrified of catching a cold. But, as fate would have it, what you fear most is what comes to pass. During that studio recording, she still caught a mild flu. It wasn’t very serious, but she was unable to participate in the recording for a few days.

At that time, she liked to sit by the window during meals, so everyone would often leave that spot for her. Lu Zhenqiu clearly remembered one morning when she sat down and saw a thermos flask. It wasn’t hers, and she wouldn’t have touched something that didn’t belong to her, but her name was stuck on the flask.

It wasn’t handwritten.

She looked left and right but saw no one. Finally, she opened the thermos. Inside was a cup of ginger tea, still warm. She used to drink ginger tea often as a child because of her poor constitution, so her mother frequently brewed it for her. After she started working, she became busy and rarely drank it anymore.

She never expected someone would prepare this for her.

She wanted to know who it was, but unfortunately, the recording schedule was hectic those two days. Every time she went for a meal, she would only see the pre-prepared ginger tea on the table. For three consecutive days, she didn’t see the person. Later, after one meal, she forgot something and went back to the dining hall, only to see Tang Yingxia holding the thermos.

Getting together seemed like a very natural thing.

Lu Zhenqiu opened her eyes. Maomao was lying by the bedside. Hearing her turn over, he jumped onto the bed. Lu Zhenqiu reached out and hugged the big dog, falling asleep with him in her arms.

Her phone screen lit up. She glanced at it and saw two WeChat messages.

Tang Yingxia: 【Did you find Maomao?】

Sent past twelve last night.

There was another one from past three in the morning.

Tang Yingxia: 【Asleep?】

Lu Zhenqiu pressed her lips together and put down her phone. Tang Yingxia often stayed up late; she said she had more inspiration at night. Lu Zhenqiu rarely messaged her late at night, afraid of disturbing her writing. But Yu Wen’s comment about “voice calls late at night” still struck a nerve.

Like a knife, stabbing into the softest part of her heart.

Dripping with fresh blood.

Lu Zhenqiu didn’t reply to Tang Yingxia. She got up and tidied the room, then stripped the duvet cover and bedsheet and put them in the washing machine. Although Tang Yingxia didn’t live here, Lu Zhenqiu still restored everything to its original state. She even calculated how much rent she should pay for a week’s stay. As she was calculating, Hua Luo’s call came through. Lu Zhenqiu tilted her head. “Ten o’clock? Okay. How do I get there? I’ll take a taxi over later.”

Hua Luo laughed, “Sure, you can come straight to my place, and then we’ll go together. By the way, what about Maomao?”

Lu Zhenqiu said, “I’ll leave him here for now.”

After saying that, she asked Hua Luo, “Did you tell your friend that I have a dog…”

Hua Luo’s voice was bright, “Of course! Something this important has to be mentioned beforehand. But she’s not exactly my friend, and you know her too.”

“I know her?” Lu Zhenqiu was slightly surprised. “Who is it?”

Hua Luo said, “Jin Shuilan, Teacher Jin.”

Hearing this name, Lu Zhenqiu’s brows slowly furrowed.

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The author has something to say:

Fifty red envelopes⁶, muah! Thank you all for your well wishes. This is my fifth birthday on Jinjiang⁷, and I’m so fortunate to walk hand in hand with all of you. I’m very content, and I hope my readers are happy every day.

Jin Shuilan: And such a good thing as someone coming to my door proactively.

Lu Zhenqiu: …

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