Troublesome – Chapter 84

Sharing

Why are you not talking anymore?

Xiao Yuan was eating breakfast and saw that the chat in the group was already flying. Across from them, Mo Bai glanced at Lu Zhenqiu, and asked, “Miss Lu, are you satisfied with the breakfast here?”

Lu Zhenqiu was startled, then said, “It’s very good, very plentiful.”

Mo Bai nodded. Xiao Yuan lowered her voice and asked Lu Zhenqiu, “Qiuqiu, are you very familiar with Manager Mo?”

Lu Zhenqiu shook her head and whispered in her ear, “Not familiar, I only met him twice when signing the contract.”

But Mo Bai’s attitude toward her was quite strange. When she had just signed the contract, his expression was merely ordinary, but now he was actually taking the initiative to take her to the company. Lu Zhenqiu was overwhelmed by the favor.

Xiao Yuan understood now: “So you had no contact with Manager Mo before either?”

“Of course not.” Lu Zhenqiu smiled, her gaze clear: “I didn’t even know Manager Mo before.”

Xiao Yuan held it in, holding back the words from the group chat. It was a small group with only a few people in it, all of whom were familiar with each other. As long as one person said something, it was basically possible to deduce who it was. In the end, she and Lu Zhenqiu had only just met, and it wasn’t worth becoming the culprit for her sake. However, she still gave a reminder: “Then you should be careful, keep some distance.”

Lu Zhenqiu nodded: “Okay, thank you.”

Xiao Yuan was silent for two seconds, then lowered her head to continue eating breakfast. After Lu Zhenqiu left with Mo Bai, the other two people gathered around her: “Xiao Yuan, did you hear anything just now?”

“Are the two of them in that kind of relationship? This is too blatant. I heard Manager Mo has a wife.”

“Hah, how can home flowers be as fragrant as wild flowers¹. And to be honest, with Lu Zhenqiu’s looks, being the number one sister² of the Sanshui Entertainment section is a sure thing. Only a fool wouldn’t be tempted.”

“Don’t say it, even as a girl, I blush just looking at her, hehe.”

Xiao Yuan knew these two loved to chat about gossip³ and were prone to hearing wind and thinking it’s rain⁴, so she said: “She is not familiar with Manager Mo.”

“Huh?” The girl in the red dress knitted her brows: “For real, not familiar?”

“Is she just pretending not to be familiar in front of you?”

Xiao Yuan shook her head. Although she couldn’t be considered to have seen countless people, she could still sense fishy business. There was simply nothing going on between that Mo Bai and Lu Zhenqiu. However, Mo Bai’s attitude toward Lu Zhenqiu was indeed a bit strange, but it wasn’t the strangeness of wanting to hit on her, it was more like—respecting her?

In any case, it was definitely not like the rumors.

The two girls still frowned: “That’s not right, then Lu Yan said she didn’t even go back last night.”

The rest were all gossip and rumors, but if she didn’t return to her room, then the nature of it was different. Where would she go if not back to her room? Everyone knew this in their hearts.

Xiao Yuan also hadn’t asked Lu Zhenqiu about returning to her room last night. She was silent for a moment and said: “Let’s stop talking, in a while we’ll also go to the company to take a look.”

This year’s evening party was being held at the main company headquarters, where there was a very large conference hall. Lu Zhenqiu held her script and sat on a red chair, looking at the venue which was already decorated in a fine and proper way. A huge crystal chandelier hung overhead, the stage was red, and countless balloons were tied to both sides of the stage, along with a flower-shaped archway. Lu Zhenqiu took two pictures and sent them to Jin Shuilan.

Jin Shuilan had just brought Maomao home. When she received Lu Zhenqiu’s message, even her emoji stickers exuded happiness: 【It’s really beautiful, very dreamlike.】

In the picture, the angle she stood at was very good. The lighting she captured was splendid and the flowers were in clusters; it was indeed beautiful.

She gave Lu Zhenqiu a phone call.

“Arrived at the company?” Jin Shuilan asked. Lu Zhenqiu sat on the chair and replied to her: “Mm, just arrived.”

She couldn’t hold back: “The venue is really beautiful, just like a TV station’s evening gala.”

Jin Shuilan laughed: “You like it a lot?”

“I like it.” Lu Zhenqiu’s voice was clear and translucent: “How is Maomao now?”

In the morning, Jin Shuilan had told her that Maomao wasn’t eating much, guessing that it was starting to show a reaction only after she left. Jin Shuilan said: “It just drank a little water. If it doesn’t eat in a while, I’ll take it to the hospital for a look.”

“It should be fine.” Lu Zhenqiu said: “It has rarely ever been sick, its digestive tract is very good. It’s just suddenly separated from me, probably not used to it.”

That was also possible.

Thinking this, Jin Shuilan stroked Maomao’s head and said: “Let’s start a video call, let it see you.”

Lu Zhenqiu glanced around. No one had arrived yet. She nodded: “Okay.”

She switched to video. On the other side, Jin Shuilan was in the pet room. Maomao was originally lying limply on the floor. She chuckled lightly: “Maomao.”

Maomao suddenly raised its head, looking around everywhere. That anxious expression made the tip of Lu Zhenqiu’s nose sting. She called out: “Maomao, I’m here.”

Jin Shuilan aimed the screen at Maomao. Maomao moved closer, whimpering with wuwuwu sounds, no longer looking as energetic as before, a bit listless. Lu Zhenqiu’s heart ached immensely watching it. She comforted: “Maomao, be good and eat your food, wait for me to come home, okay?”

Her voice was slightly choked, and a circle around her eyes turned red. Hearing her voice, Maomao barked wangwangwang. It took a long while before it was calmed down by Jin Shuilan. Lu Zhenqiu was reluctant to hang up the video call. It was only when people started arriving one after another that she said to Jin Shuilan: “Then I’ll go to rehearsal first.”

Jin Shuilan hummed in agreement: “Let’s talk at noon.”

Lu Zhenqiu took a deep breath and said: “Let’s talk at noon.”

After she hung up the video, she sat in her seat and saw people coming in successively. Some she knew, some she was not familiar with. The few people she wasn’t familiar with looked at her with very strange gazes. Lu Zhenqiu lowered her head to look at herself several times, then went into the restroom to straighten her clothes and see if anything was wrong anywhere.

Just as she entered the restroom, two streamers she didn’t know came in. Thinking of their strange gazes, Lu Zhenqiu subconsciously went into a stall. It must be said that the restroom is always a good place to hear gossip. Just a few minutes after she went in, she heard her own name.

“Hey, what you guys said about that Zhenqiu and Manager Mo, is it real or fake?”

Manager Mo? Mo Bai? Her and Mo Bai?

Hearing this, Lu Zhenqiu suddenly thought of Xiao Yuan’s hesitant expression in the morning, and her brows tightened.

“Who knows, anyway, for a new streamer at Sanshui for less than half a year to host the annual meeting, this is a first time, oh.”

“There are quite a few exceptions being made, you know. Her previous section head, Zhou-ge, remember him? That Zhou-ge used to protect Lu Yan. The moment she arrived, he was immediately fired by the company and replaced with the current person.”

“I heard it was a work mistake?”

“Seems so. At that time, didn’t Lu Yan also subtly diss her on Weibo about her livestream room being banned?”

Lu Zhenqiu’s brows furrowed tighter and tighter. This rumor was too absurd. How did it spread to seem like she immediately got together with Manager Mo? She had only met Manager Mo twice. Lu Zhenqiu sat on the toilet and listened for a short while, but still couldn’t resist sending a message to Xiao Yuan.

When Xiao Yuan saw the WeChat message, she hesitated for a moment but still asked her if she had rested in her room last night. Lu Zhenqiu immediately replied: “Of course I rested in my room.”

“You didn’t go out last night?” Xiao Yuan was also baffled. Lu Yan had spoken so assertively in the group chat, she felt it was impossible to lie about such a thing, but now Lu Zhenqiu’s attitude didn’t seem fake either.

Lu Zhenqiu got angry. She sent: “Last night I had a joint livestream with Xiao Yu in her room, then went back to sleep. Who said I didn’t go back to my room?”

Xiao Yuan still hadn’t sent anything.

Lu Zhenqiu had already guessed.

It must be Lu Yan!

She didn’t make things difficult for Xiao Yuan. After all, how long had they known each other? It was unreasonable to ask someone to have a falling out with their friends over her own affairs. After thanking Xiao Yuan, Lu Zhenqiu bottled up a stomach full of anger. When she came out of the restroom and saw Lu Yan, she also took several deep breaths.

Lu Yan had a performance to do, and several people were already standing by her side. Lu Zhenqiu didn’t rush up, but instead sat to one side holding her script, occasionally chatting with a few streamers she had just met, looking completely unaffected.

Xiao Yu was not coming over today, so Lu Zhenqiu had lunch with the people she had just met. She didn’t have much of an appetite, and after a few bites, she returned to the venue and sat on a chair to chat with Jin Shuilan.

Jin Shuilan had just sent all the manuscripts to the magazine publisher. She usually worked on the web and physical publications simultaneously. Now, the magazine publisher had already started working on a promotional video.

In the morning, Lu Zhenqiu had been very happy, but during the lunch break, she was listless, just like Maomao. Jin Shuilan asked: “Missing Maomao?”

“I miss him.” Lu Zhenqiu said: “I miss him very much.”

Jin Shuilan chuckled softly: “What about me?”

Lu Zhenqiu reacted. She lowered her head, her profile slightly red: “I missed you too.”

“As a side note, huh.” Jin Shuilan grasped the key point. Lu Zhenqiu retorted: “Of course not.”

Hearing her clear and translucent voice, Jin Shuilan’s heart was content. She turned her head to stroke Maomao and said: “You started memorizing your lines today, right?”

“I started.” Lu Zhenqiu said: “My partner is a streamer from the outdoor section, he’s quite handsome.”

Not only handsome, but he also had a very good temper, smiling at everyone he met. In the morning when he rehearsed lines with Lu Zhenqiu, he laughed for a long time. He looked very easy to get along with. Jin Shuilan was silent for a moment after hearing her speak. Lu Zhenqiu was suspicious: “Why are you not talking anymore?”

Jin Shuilan’s tone was gentle: “I’m listening to you.”

Lu Zhenqiu pursed her lips, she lowered her eyes: “Am I talking too much?”

Jin Shuilan laughed: “Not at all.”

After she said that, she spoke again: “I really like listening.”

Lu Zhenqiu’s profile felt hot, scorching. She raised her hand to fan herself. In the past, she also really liked sharing these things with Tang Yingxia, but every time, Tang Yingxia would say she was busy. Sometimes she would send four or five messages and only get one reply after half a day. Over time, she felt that she shouldn’t be too talkative, so she restrained her habit of liking to share.

But now Jin Shuilan said she liked it.

She liked her sharing.

Because of Jin Shuilan’s one sentence, Lu Zhenqiu’s bad mood from the whole morning disappeared. She lowered her head and bit her fingertip, hearing Jin Shuilan ask: “Why are you not talking anymore?”

Lu Zhenqiu smiled a little.

For no reason at all.

Jin Shuilan heard her laugh but didn’t ask, laughing lightly along with her. Hearing her light laughter, Lu Zhenqiu’s mood became even more joyous. She held up her phone and smiled foolishly, her face turning completely red in the darkness.

There weren’t many people in the venue in the afternoon. After Lu Zhenqiu finished rehearsing lines with her partner, she went to find Xiao Yu for dinner, and then stayed at Xiao Yu’s place until past eight o’clock. She glanced at her phone and said to Xiao Yu: “Then I’ll head back first.”

Xiao Yu was surprised: “So early?”

Lu Zhenqiu nodded: “Go back and rest early.”

Xiao Yu figured she must be dead tired on the first day and didn’t keep her for long. When Lu Zhenqiu got on the elevator, she even ran into some streamers she knew who were on the same floor. Lu Zhenqiu returned to her room, looked around, and as expected, Lu Yan still hadn’t come back. She closed the door, went into the restroom to remove her makeup, and after a while, stood on the balcony looking down. The lights were brilliant, and the neon signs flickered. At around nine o’clock, she took her pajamas out of her suitcase, walked to the suite door, and reached out to bolt the door from the inside.

---

The author has something to say:

Thirty red envelopes memeda.

Jin Shuilan: My wife is so cute.

Lu Zhenqiu: QAQ.

---

---