Gu Yinglian went to her date with her girlfriend, but her mind was elsewhere the entire time. She couldn’t stop thinking about Ye Yansheng.
Seeing her like this, Chen Chenggu couldn’t help but tease her. “What’s wrong? Are you in heat?”
“Not at all,” Gu Yinglian shot back with disdain. “You think everyone is like you?”
“But you have ‘lovesick’ written all over your face,” Chen Chenggu said with a grin. “Hey, tell me more about the Great Queen Ye. Can you help me get an autograph? Please, please~”
Having just “broken up” with Ye Yansheng, Gu Yinglian was a bit reluctant to fulfill this request. “My relationship with her isn’t actually that good…”
“Aren’t you two the leads in a double-heroine drama? You have scenes together every day—how can the relationship be bad?”
“It just is. She’s actually… a bit cold and aloof. Not very easy to get close to.” Though her words were dishonest, Gu Yinglian felt incredibly conflicted. Part of her wanted to use the autograph as an excuse to approach Ye Yansheng, while another part wanted to stay far away to avoid falling into a bottomless abyss.
“Is that so?” Chen Chenggu looked at her skeptically. “But from those leaked photos I saw, she seemed to be taking quite good care of you.”
“What you saw was an illusion,” Gu Yinglian said heartlessly.
“Even if things are tense, she wouldn’t refuse a small thing like an autograph, right? Xiao Lian, really? Look into my big, cute eyes and tell me—you really can’t do it?” Chen Chenggu pleaded piteously.
“Fine, fine…” Gu Yinglian figured it wasn’t a huge deal and relented. “I’ll try.” Even as she said it, she began imagining the scene of asking for the autograph. Would she be rejected? Mocked? After their recent unpleasantness, showing up to ask for a favor felt thick-skinned.
…
Because they had to film the next day, Gu Yinglian headed back early after seeing her friend.
Returning to the company dormitory, she happened to run into Ye Yansheng just as the latter was coming out of her room. Ye Yansheng showed no reaction upon seeing her.
“Sister Ye,” Gu Yinglian greeted her out of politeness.
“Oh, back from your date?” Ye Yansheng’s voice was indifferent. It stung. Unlike her previous cold mockery, this indifference felt like a deliberate, sudden distance. Gu Yinglian felt an unbridgeable chasm between them—a chasm she had dug with her own hands.
“Yes,” Gu Yinglian said softly. “Are you going out?”
“Mm,” Ye Yansheng replied, offering no explanation of where she was going. Gu Yinglian watched her proud silhouette walk away, feeling a wave of desolation as if the tide were pulling out. Are we really going back to being strangers? Why does it have to be like this?
Gu Yinglian stood there blankly for a while before turning back to her room, utterly disappointed. She couldn’t explain how she felt about the ambiguous tension between them, but she knew she didn’t want Ye Yansheng’s sudden coldness.
Back in her room, her mood didn’t improve; it grew worse. She numbly grabbed her clothes to shower. As she washed, she thought of the person who had made her heart stir—a woman.
She had to admit she was afraid of becoming “abnormal.” The spit of society would drown her, let alone with someone as famous as Ye Yansheng. She could already see the online vitriol in her mind.
Don’t think about it. Just focus on the acting, she told herself. The Great Queen was in a bad mood; tomorrow would likely be another day of being picked on.
…
The next morning, Gu Yinglian woke up very early. She went to the cafeteria to get two breakfasts and knocked on Ye Yansheng’s door, feeling a bit apologetic. Usually, it was Ye Yansheng who brought her food; today, she would return the favor.
Ye Yansheng opened the door with a yawn. Her face was expressionless. “What?”
“I brought you some breakfast.” Gu Yinglian’s hopeful excitement was instantly chilled by that indifferent face. She pulled back her emotions and simply lifted the bag in her hand.
“Oh. Come in.” Ye Yansheng turned and walked toward the sofa. Gu Yinglian followed and carefully closed the door.
Seeing Ye Yansheng still in a camisole nightgown made Gu Yinglian’s heart race like a trapped deer. She couldn’t understand herself—she had rejected the woman yesterday, yet here she was, rushing to her door. What was she even doing?
Ye Yansheng sat and waited. Seeing that Gu Yinglian hadn’t moved, she frowned slightly. “What are you doing?”
“Oh,” Gu Yinglian snapped out of it and hurriedly brought the breakfast over.
“You haven’t eaten either?” Ye Yansheng noticed there were two portions.
“No. Let’s eat together.”
Ye Yansheng didn’t object. They ate in silence. They were like strangers again. Gu Yinglian thought that perhaps she had gone too far yesterday—that her words had been too hurtful.
After a few bites, Ye Yansheng said, “There’s a big scene today.”
“Mm,” Gu Yinglian replied, looking at her and waiting for instructions.
But Ye Yansheng said nothing more. Gu Yinglian waited, feeling a sense of loss. Is she really unwilling to say even one extra word to me now?
When they finished, Ye Yansheng said, “You should head out first. I need to change.”
“Oh, okay.” Gu Yinglian was effectively evicted. Standing outside the door, the bitterness in her heart was overwhelming. Why did I have to offend her? Now she clearly can’t stand me!
Regret gnawed at her. Even if she wanted to refuse, she should have been more tactful. Such a blunt rejection had wounded Ye Yansheng’s pride and destroyed their harmony. Gu Yinglian’s heart ached with a sharp, stinging pain. She knew Ye Yansheng could be incredibly gentle—but that gentleness was no longer for her.
…
The day’s filming was strictly professional. Gu Yinglian stayed in character well and didn’t hold Ye Yansheng back. Despite her mood, Ye Yansheng’s professional standards were ironclad; the acting didn’t suffer, but the atmosphere on set was subtle and tense. Even the director noticed.
“What’s the matter? Did you two have a fight?” the director asked after a scene.
Gu Yinglian quickly protested, “No, not at all.”
Ye Yansheng gave her a fleeting, empty glance and said nothing.
The director looked from Gu Yinglian to Ye Yansheng, pointing at the latter. “Then why is her face so long?”
“Isn’t that how the scene is supposed to be played?” Ye Yansheng refused to admit her mood was showing.
“So you’re just stuck in character?” the director asked, confused.
Ye Yansheng didn’t give a straight answer. She took a bottle of water from her assistant and drank deeply.
The director didn’t have time to dwell on it and hurried off to prepare the next shot. Gu Yinglian watched Ye Yansheng, feeling incredibly awkward. She knew she had offended her, but she had no idea how to make amends.
When Ye Yansheng saw she had no more scenes for a while, she simply left the set. Gu Yinglian could only stand there, watching her walk away.