Lulling to Sleep
Good little rabbit?
Mom?
Lu Zhenqiu turned her head upon hearing the word. Seeing that Jin Shuiluan was still in a sleepy daze—she hadn’t even opened her eyes when she drank water just now—she figured she was probably still running a fever. Her body relaxed. She pulled Jin Shuiluan’s hands away, pressed her back down onto the sofa, and turned to tear open a new cooling patch, replacing the one on Jin Shuiluan’s forehead that had lost its effect.
Jin Shuiluan’s eyelashes twitched and she frowned, but she didn’t seem to be waking up. Unassured, Lu Zhenqiu placed the back of her hand against her cheek. It was much better than before. She called out, “Teacher Jin?”
Her voice was soft. Maomao, hearing her, trotted over. Lu Zhenqiu stroked its head and gently pushed Jin Shuiluan. “Teacher Jin, wake up.”
Jin Shuiluan let out a mumble, her voice hoarse. Before she could even speak, she started coughing. Lu Zhenqiu went to pour another glass of warm water. By the time she turned back, Jin Shuiluan had already sat up, leaning against the back of the sofa. When she saw Lu Zhenqiu return, she said, “I fell asleep?”
Her voice was raspy, dry, and tight. Lu Zhenqiu sat beside her, handed her the warm water, and said, “It’s probably the cold medicine. You fell asleep just now while leaning on the sofa.”
Jin Shuiluan took the glass and said faintly, “Thank you.”
She looked much more awake, more composed than she had been in her daze. Lu Zhenqiu asked, “Did Teacher Jin have a dream just now?”
Jin Shuiluan turned her head. “How did you know?”
Lu Zhenqiu’s mouth opened, but the memory of the sudden hug from behind left her tongue-tied. After a pause, she said, “Did you dream of your mom?”
Jin Shuiluan put down the glass, pressed a hand to her head, and said, “Yeah. When I was little and had a cold, I was especially fussy. I didn’t want anyone but my mom, and I needed her to hold me and lull me to sleep.”
After speaking, she looked at Lu Zhenqiu. “What about you?”
“Me?” Lu Zhenqiu thought of the past and smiled gently.
Her life with her mother hadn’t been very good back then. The rental they lived in wasn’t even as big as a single room now. Her mother had to earn money, take care of her, and also deal with her father’s harassment from time to time. Once, her father came looking for her while drunk and terrified her. She snuck out, but she didn’t know where her mother worked, so she just stood at the intersection until midnight, waiting for her mother to come back.
It was the change of seasons, and she had been freezing for half the night, so she caught a cold. Her mother, having had enough of that life, moved with her. Later, they heard her father had gotten married, and only then did their lives stabilize. She didn’t know if it was a lingering effect from that cold or a psychological issue, but she always caught a cold whenever the seasons changed.
Every time she got sick, her mother would prepare ginger tea1 for her.
But that was a long time ago.
After Lu Zhenqiu finished speaking, she noticed Jin Shuiluan was very quiet. She called out, “Teacher Jin?”
Jin Shuiluan returned to her senses. “So that’s how it was.”
Lu Zhenqiu was puzzled. “Hm?”
Jin Shuiluan said, “It’s nothing. You like ginger tea. I’ll make it for you next time.”
Lu Zhenqiu smiled. “Teacher Jin knows how to cook?”
Jin Shuiluan’s face flushed at her words, but since she was already feverish, it wasn’t noticeable. Lu Zhenqiu pursed her lips in a smile. “Shouldn’t Teacher Jin go back to your room to rest?”
She stood up as she spoke. Jin Shuiluan had no strength in her body. As she tried to stand, her knee hit the coffee table, and she sat back down again. Lu Zhenqiu thought she couldn’t get up and quickly bent down to help her. Jin Shuiluan leaned against her, not forgetting to apologize. “Sorry, I don’t seem to have any strength.”
Lu Zhenqiu half-supported her, saying, “It’s okay.”
It was just the distance to the bedroom, not far at all. Lu Zhenqiu helped her walk in. The room was pitch-black, letting in no light. Jin Shuiluan hadn’t turned on a lamp, and Lu Zhenqiu didn’t know where the switch was, so she could only guide her to the bedside. As Jin Shuiluan fell onto the bed, she stretched her legs out flat. Lu Zhenqiu, not paying attention, was tripped and fell, landing on Jin Shuiluan’s shoulder.
There was no light in the room, but the door was open, and the light from the living room filtered in, outlining everything in silhouettes. Lu Zhenqiu pressed her hand on the mattress to push herself up, her nose filled with the scent of Jin Shuiluan’s body wash. A flush of heat rose to her face, hidden in the darkness. She said, “Teacher Jin, you should sleep then. I’ll be leaving.”
Jin Shuiluan lifted the covers and lay down, calling out, “Qiuqiu.”
Lu Zhenqiu answered with an “en” and turned her head. Jin Shuiluan asked, “Can you sing a song?”
“Sing?” Lu Zhenqiu was taken aback. “Now?”
Jin Shuiluan said, “Yeah. My head hurts, and I want to listen to a song. Is that okay?”
Of course, of course it was okay.
It was just that this atmosphere, no matter how she thought about it, felt a little strange. But the sick person gets what they want. Lu Zhenqiu used the moment she was brushing her hair aside to pat her own cheeks and said, “Okay. Should I turn on a small lamp then?”
Jin Shuiluan hummed in agreement, her attitude very casual.
Lu Zhenqiu turned on the small lamp. Maomao followed at her side, trying to squeeze onto Jin Shuiluan’s bed. Lu Zhenqiu grabbed its two legs and pulled it back. Jin Shuiluan said, “It’s fine, let it come up.”
Lu Zhenqiu could only nod. “Then I’ll wash your bedsheets for you tomorrow.”
Jin Shuiluan chuckled lightly. Lu Zhenqiu sat on the edge of the bed and asked her, “What do you want to hear?”
“Hmm—” Jin Shuiluan thought for a few seconds. “Is there a song that can make people fall asleep?”
Lu Zhenqiu laughed. “Good Little Rabbit2?”
“Or, Only Mama is Good in This World3?”
Hearing her rare teasing, Jin Shuiluan said, “Sure.”
Lu Zhenqiu froze. “Teacher Jin, are you serious?”
Jin Shuiluan didn’t speak, just smiled. Seeing her smile, Lu Zhenqiu couldn’t hold back and laughed out loud too. In the end, she chose a song with a gentle melody herself. With Maomao there, it didn’t seem quite so awkward. Jin Shuiluan listened to the song while patting Maomao’s head, her gaze deep and profound.
Lu Zhenqiu had hummed two songs before she realized Jin Shuiluan had fallen asleep.
She never expected this person would become so childish when sick. Not only calling for her mom, but also wanting to listen to a ‘lullaby’.
Lu Zhenqiu sat by the bed for a few seconds, tucked the corner of the blanket in for Jin Shuiluan, and left, dragging Maomao with her. The small lamp in the room remained on. Lu Zhenqiu turned off the main light in the living room and went back to her own room to rest.
Because Jin Shuiluan was sick, Lu Zhenqiu told her to rest at home in the morning while she took a taxi over. Jin Shuiluan disagreed, saying a taxi was a waste of money and the wait was a hassle; it would be better to just drive her car. Before Lu Zhenqiu could reply, Jin Shuiluan had already stuffed the keys into her hand. Lu Zhenqiu could only nod.
She had driven Jin Shuiluan’s car last night, so she was fairly used to it. Lu Zhenqiu first went to the gas station to fill up the tank. As she was leaving the station, she got a call from Hua Luo. She frowned. “You didn’t stay up all night, did you?”
“How could I?” Hua Luo said. “I slept very well last night.”
These past few days, she had been so troubled by those events that she was afraid she’d die from another sleepless night. Last night, she took a sleeping pill after her shower and had a rare good night’s sleep. It was only after waking up that she realized the situation had completely changed. She had calmed down after Jin Shuiluan helped her repost that Weibo post last night, but she hadn’t expected Lu Zhenqiu to also set up a lottery, and she certainly hadn’t expected Ji Zibo to repost it. All the authors and voice actors she was on good terms with had helped repost it too. This morning, her phone was full of private messages and DMs. The most laughable was her apprentice, who had sent her several messages in a row.
【Master, you actually know Teacher Jin!!!】
【Master, are you in a bad mood? It’s okay, Teacher Ji is on your side too.】
【Master, are you on really good terms with them? Why didn’t you ever say so before?】
【Master…】
Hua Luo found these messages incredibly ironic. She directly deleted her apprentice and then called Lu Zhenqiu. Lu Zhenqiu was relieved to hear she had slept well. She let out a yawn. Hua Luo asked her, “Didn’t you sleep well?”
“Not very well,” Lu Zhenqiu said. “Teacher Jin is sick.”
Hua Luo shot up. “Sick? What kind of sickness? Is it serious?”
The rapid-fire triple question stunned Lu Zhenqiu. She said, “Just… a cold.”
Hua Luo: …
She changed her tone. “But about yesterday, help me thank her.”
Lu Zhenqiu said, “Got it.”
Hua Luo let out a long sigh of relief. “And thank you too, my good Qiuqiu, the best Qiuqiu in the whole world, I love Qiuqiu.”
Lu Zhenqiu: …
She said, “If there’s nothing else, I’m hanging up.”
“There is, there is,” Hua Luo said. “Your birthday is coming up, right? What do you want for a present?”
Lu Zhenqiu frowned. “I can get whatever I want?”
Hua Luo declared magnanimously, “Name it!”
Lu Zhenqiu said, “One hundred Love Warships.”
Hua Luo hung up with a click and sent Lu Zhenqiu a message: 【Talk later.】
Seeing her run faster than a rabbit, Lu Zhenqiu knew she had recovered. She pursed her lips into a smile, took off her Bluetooth earpiece, and placed it on the passenger seat. The Bluetooth disconnected, and the car’s stereo automatically started playing music. It was that familiar song, “Happy Breakup.”4 Lu Zhenqiu suddenly remembered that the first time she rode in Jin Shuiluan’s car, she had also heard this song. It was truly familiar yet strange.
Back then, she still held a sliver of illusion about Tang Yingxia, and hearing this song felt like being pricked by thorns everywhere. Now, she was completely at peace with it.
It was half an hour later when she arrived at the studio5. Because she had detoured for gas, she was delayed and arrived later than usual. Lu Zhenqiu got out of the car and hurried toward the studio. Her phone beeped twice—someone had sent a message. She took out her phone, and just as she opened it, she bumped into someone.
Jin Shuiluan sat on the sofa, glancing at her phone from time to time. It usually took twenty minutes to get to the studio. Why hadn’t she received a message from Lu Zhenqiu after half an hour today? Before she left this morning, she had specifically told Lu Zhenqiu to let her know when she arrived.
Did she forget? Or did something happen on the way? Lu Zhenqiu wasn’t a forgetful person. Thinking of this, Jin Shuiluan felt a little restless. She wrapped the thin blanket around herself and stood up. Just as she was about to call Lu Zhenqiu, she felt that maybe she was being too nervous.
She stewed for a moment, then finally picked up her phone from the sofa and sent Lu Zhenqiu a message.
The phone was picked up by the person in front of Lu Zhenqiu, who had bent down. Lu Zhenqiu subconsciously said, “Thank you…”
Before she could finish, she saw the person’s bracelet and pursed her lips. Then she looked up and saw Tang Yingxia standing in front of her. Tang Yingxia was holding her phone, looking down at it. Jin Shuiluan’s message was right there.
【Have you arrived?】
Those three simple words tore Tang Yingxia’s sanity to shreds. She gripped the phone tightly and looked at Lu Zhenqiu. Lu Zhenqiu tried to take her phone back, but Tang Yingxia held it in a death grip, causing ripples to appear on the screen. The two looked at each other. Lu Zhenqiu said, “Let go.”
Tang Yingxia’s gaze was like a cold wind, icy and piercing. She opened her mouth to ask, “Is this the real reason you wanted to break up with me?”
What reason?
Lu Zhenqiu looked down at her phone, saw Jin Shuiluan’s name, then looked back at Tang Yingxia. She suddenly understood what Tang Yingxia was thinking. She was so angry she laughed. “Tang Yingxia, do you think everyone is like you?”
Tang Yingxia gritted her teeth. “Like what?”
Lu Zhenqiu calmly snatched her phone back and met Tang Yingxia’s gaze, saying, word by word, “Selfish, cowardly, and utterly shameless.”
The author has something to say:
Thirty red envelopes, muah muah.
Jin Shuiluan: Qiuqiu, I want to listen to a song. Your… your humming is so nice.
Lu Zhenqiu: Shameless!
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