Ruan Qingxiao’s face turned bright red.
Li Mengjue pulled her along, using her other hand to press Ruan’s hat down further. Other customers walked past them, laughing and chatting, completely oblivious to the fact that two famous actresses were hiding in plain sight.
Li Mengjue peered over toward the staircase. The man in black, realizing he had lost his target, stomped angrily toward the main exit. It was unclear if he had given up or was simply planning to wait at the entrance like a hunter at a burrow.
The shop owner, having failed to keep her previous customers, turned back to Li and Ruan with a beaming smile. “Did you beauties see anything you like? These are all the latest styles.”
“Just these two,” Li Mengjue said calmly, pointing to the jackets they were already wearing. “And these two hats. Think of it as a birthday gift for my cousin. How much total?”
“Excellent taste!” The owner did a quick mental calculation. “Five hundred and twelve. I’ll drop the change—let’s say five hundred even.”
Li Mengjue paid immediately without haggling. The owner was stunned; she rarely met anyone who didn’t negotiate. She looked at Li, but the actress was standing directly under a bright light with her hat pulled low, making her features blurry and soft. The owner was more captivated by Li’s hands—long, slender fingers and clearly defined joints. More importantly, she was a very decisive spender.
“Would your sister like to see anything else?” the owner asked, looking at the “cousin” hiding behind Li.
“She’s shy,” Li Mengjue smiled, taking Ruan’s wrist. “That’s all for today. We’ll be back next time.”
Once they were outside the shop, Li Mengjue kept holding Ruan’s hand. The clothing market was a labyrinth, and it was easy to get lost. As the shops became more sparse and the lights dimmer, the sound of their footsteps echoed in the hallway.
Ruan Qingxiao felt like her face was going to start smoking. To her, even holding hands was an act of extreme intimacy. Usually, if she were forced to touch someone for etiquette, she would scrub her hands raw afterward. But being pulled along by Li Mengjue felt different. Her fingertips felt tingly, and she felt a sudden, subconscious urge to squeeze back.
Li Mengjue tightened her grip slightly. “There are too many forks in the road here. We’ll circle around to the back exit; the stalker probably doesn’t know about it.”
Recalling that Ruan supposedly disliked physical contact, Li loosened her grip and moved her hand up to hold Ruan’s sleeve instead. “Just bear with it for a moment.”
“Okay…” Ruan whispered, though in her heart, she wished Li hadn’t been quite so considerate about the boundaries.
They exited through the back, which led to a quiet street. Li Mengjue immediately let go to call a taxi on her phone.
“Are you still going back to the hotel?” Li asked.
Ruan hesitated, rubbing her wrist where Li had held it. “I’m worried someone might be watching the hotel too. Yunhe said it’s a place I always stay at; people who know me will know to look there.”
“Then we’ll change hotels.”
“Um…” Ruan stammered, looking a bit sheepish. “I’m not used to staying in other hotels.”
Even the clothes she was wearing felt wrong. The fabric of the cheap jacket was coarse compared to the silks and fine cottons she usually wore. In just a short time, the skin on her wrist had turned red from the friction.
Li Mengjue noticed the red marks. “Are you the Princess and the Pea?”
“I… I…” Ruan stammered, giving Li a small, pouted glare that was more hurt than angry. “It’s just my constitution.”
Li Mengjue couldn’t help but laugh. “You really are… hard to raise.”
Ruan fiddled with her sleeve, depressed. If it were anyone else, she would have rolled her eyes and told them to mind their own business. But she didn’t want Li to think she was high-maintenance. If I’m hard to raise, does that mean she won’t want to live with me?
“Actually… I’m not that hard to keep,” Ruan said, her voice dropping lower. “I have my own money. I can give it all to you, so it’ll be… it’ll be easy.”
Li Mengjue was stunned, taking a moment to follow Ruan’s drifting train of thought. She hadn’t been criticizing her; she was just genuinely surprised to meet a real-life “Princess and the Pea.” The contrast between the icy “Goddess” the world saw and this fragile, pampered girl was… interesting.
“I wasn’t criticizing you,” Li explained. “I just found it unexpected.”
“Oh.” Ruan felt a weight lift, only to have it drop again when Li added: “How you choose to live is your freedom. An outsider like me has no right to interfere.”
The taxi arrived. As they drove toward the hotel, it began to rain.
Li Mengjue stared out the window, looking worried. She told Ruan she was thinking about the flowers on her balcony and the kittens in her room. “The sun was out when I left, so I left the windows open for ventilation. If the rain gets heavy, it’ll be a mess.”
As the car pulled up to the hotel, the driver slammed on the brakes to avoid another car. Li Mengjue instinctively threw her hand out in front of Ruan to stop her from flying forward. Ruan’s forehead slammed into the back of Li’s hand.
“Are you okay?” Li asked urgently, checking Ruan’s forehead for bruises. She was terrified Ruan would get another concussion and lose even more memories.
“I’m fine,” Ruan said. Her forehead stung a little, but her mind was replaying the look of genuine worry on Li Mengjue’s face. She cares about me. She actually cares.
They stepped out under the hotel’s grand awning. The lobby was luxurious, elegant, and filled with staff wearing perfectly practiced smiles. But to Ruan, it felt empty, cold, and fake.
She reached out and lightly tugged on Li Mengjue’s coat.
“Sister Li.”
Li Mengjue turned. “What’s wrong?”
“I…” Ruan looked at the hollow luxury of the lobby, then back at the only person she felt she could trust. “I don’t want to stay here.”
“Then do you have somewhere else in mind? I’ll drop you off.”
Ruan didn’t let go of her coat. She gathered every ounce of courage she had left.
“Sister Li… can you take me home with you?