After the Breakup, the Crazy Movie Queen Clings to Me Every Day (GL) - Chapter 5

“Sister, do you still remember the pudding you bought for me?”… She cried so miserably in the dark that day…

******

“Jiejie, do you remember the pudding cup you bought for me?”

That day, she had cried so terribly in the darkness. Tan You had watched her patiently for a long time and then took her to the village store to buy a pudding cup.

After learning she had night blindness, Tan You had set off fireworks just for her, and she ate the pudding cup in the bright light of the explosions.

Light, it turned out, tasted sweet.

When Tan You left, she told her to remember to write. Lan Jingli did, but for some reason, she never received a reply.

In the deep lamplight, Tan You closed her eyes. Her brow bone and the shape of her eyes were alluring yet so coldly aloof it was almost inhuman.

She seemed to be running out of patience, or perhaps she was simply annoyed. She didn’t answer the question, but instead asked one of her own.

“I really like looking at flowers and plants. Can you guess why?”

Lan Jingli’s attention was almost entirely focused on Tan You, and she immediately began to think carefully. The image of the flawless specimen from earlier popped into her mind, and she blurted out:

“Because you like to make specimens?”

The lampwick flickered in the glass lamp. The girl with black hair and white skin looked at her with sincere, fiery eyes. Tan You raised a hand and, as if to trace the girl’s striking features, her pale, slender fingers moved downward, noticing the red marks on her neck. Her grip tightened for a moment, then relaxed.

The speed was so quick that it was almost impossible to discern the woman’s intent and desire.

“You’re very close. Guess again.”

Touched and held by the woman’s smooth fingertips, Lan Jingli trembled as if she’d been shocked. A shudder of pleasure ran through her body, but also a rising sense of dread.

It was as if a taboo, possessive, and secret desire for control and expectation was at play, something that was both captivating and terrifying.

The woman may not have been trying to seduce her, but Lan Jingli’s own uncontrollable longing for the person she admired was carelessly and unintentionally stirred up by Tan You.

Lan Jingli couldn’t help but feel her face and ears turn hot, embarrassed by her own almost sacrilegious thoughts.

After her mother died, she was left an orphan and was adopted and then abandoned by several families. Tan You’s uncle’s family was one of them, which was where they had spent those brief few months together.

After that, Tan You had suddenly left and was gone without a trace.

“Jiejie, I can’t guess,” she said, looking at Tan You with her bright, black eyes for help.

The woman gave a relaxed, easy smile, as if half-hearted, half-serious. Her pale, slender fingers tightened again on Lan Jingli’s throat. “Because specimens don’t talk.”

Lan Jingli’s breathing stopped for a moment, both from the pressure on her throat and the strange undertones in Tan You’s words.

Tan You then rested her hand gently on Lan Jingli’s shoulder, kneeling beside her, and laughed in a low voice.

“Since you couldn’t guess, your punishment is to keep guessing next time.”

The Tan You in front of her was like a mythical creature leading her into the abyss, one who devoured hearts and souls, yet made her want to offer up everything she had left, and still feel it wasn’t enough.

At this moment, Lan Jingli had completely forgotten what she had wanted to know, her mind entirely under the woman’s control.

Being as beautiful as Tan You was simply an unfair advantage.

Lost in their intimate moment, Lan Jingli wanted to say more, but Tan You glanced at the clock and her expression became distant. It was 9:10 p.m.

“Li Li, you know the rules. It’s time for you to leave. Come back next Saturday,” the woman said, pulling away. The passionate, tender look of affection on her face vanished entirely.

Despite the disappointment in her heart, Lan Jingli felt a sense of awe. She obediently nodded and left.

Returning to her guest room, she happened to glance at a box a servant was carrying. Inside were several packages of traditional Chinese medicine—inhibitors, confirming her suspicion. Tan You was sick, enduring pain day and night, but the woman was too private, keeping her boundaries firm and everything hidden.

Jiejie didn’t want to tell her.

Meanwhile, Aunt Wan brought the traditional Chinese medicine inhibitors for Tan You. Once the room was quiet again, she said, “This is the first time I’ve ever seen you so taken with someone. All those graduate students adored you, and you never showed them this much attention.”

The woman’s face was pale and delicate. Her slightly upturned eyes were now expressionless, conveying an air of coolness. Her beautiful features were utterly devoid of emotion.

“She’s interesting.”

“If she’s so interesting, why do you send her away every time?” Aunt Wan was confused. Tan You’s sexual addiction was becoming more frequent and difficult to bear. Wouldn’t it be better to keep Lan Jingli by her side?

Tan You’s expression was calm and neutral, making it impossible to see the agony and temptation of the addiction that was raging within her fair, seductive body.

“I need her to always be thinking of me.”

Aunt Wan still didn’t understand. Would sending Lan Jingli away make her think of Tan You more?

It was all too confusing, just like how for all these years, Tan You only took seven-tenths of her medicine, letting the remaining three-tenths of her addiction run wild. She refused to surrender to it, and she wouldn’t become dependent on medicine.

“But isn’t it difficult, holding back?” Aunt Wan felt pained just watching Tan You. Since her illness began, she had become even more unpredictable and physically frail. “Even if you don’t feel it, aren’t you afraid that one day Miss Lan won’t want to continue?”

Tan You’s eyelashes fluttered slightly. “Maybe that would be even more interesting.”

Even if she allowed herself to cast aside reason, love, and hate, she couldn’t accept losing control and becoming a beast in pursuit of pleasure.

Even as her addiction grew stronger each day, she had to be the one in control.

She loathed desire so much; how could she easily give in to satisfying it?

Her family was complicated, and her father had many illegitimate children. She could only feel secure when she held everything tightly in her own hands.

As for Lan Jingli, she was certainly to her taste. It would be fine to keep her by her side, always.

Every Saturday night, after their time together ended, Lan Jingli would be asked to leave the mountain villa first thing Sunday morning. It was as if she were a guest trespassing on private property, who had to leave precisely on time.

She also had to arrive at exactly 7 p.m. every Saturday.

Standing by the window of her practice room, Lan Jingli looked out at the hazy blue flower bushes, trying to clear her mind of distractions.

She knew the gap between herself and Tan You was vast, and hard work was the only way forward.

She quietly practiced her new hand-waving dance. She saw the person in the mirror covered in a light sweat, her skin glowing with a healthy, delicate sheen in the sunlight.

A strict new teacher had joined the company this year, and she had to learn several classic Shakespearean plays. As one of the leads, she had many lines to memorize in English, and the emotional shifts of her character were incredibly challenging to grasp.

In the afternoon, she would be a backup dancer for another company artist to earn some extra money. On top of her time with Tan You, her schedule was tight and she never had enough time.

The door to the practice room opened, and Wei Yixi walked in with another trainee she was close with. They immediately noticed the dark circles under Lan Jingli’s eyes.

“Jingli, I heard you found your sister?” the other trainee, in a white outfit, looked at Lan Jingli with curiosity. Over the years, she had seen how much Lan Jingli obsessed over this “sister” of hers.

The same person who was so frugal she would only eat steamed buns and pickles would suddenly spend money on three pudding cups and eat them all at once.

“Yeah, I guess you could say that,” Lan Jingli said, her long eyelashes lowered. Her expression was troubled yet held a hint of sweetness. She wasn’t sure if Tan You had forgotten her, but perhaps the riddles were a game Tan You enjoyed.

“When are you going to introduce her to us?”

Wei Yixi joked, “Jingli treasures her sister. She wouldn’t even let me have a bite of her one-dollar pudding and won’t even tell me her sister’s name. So mysterious.”

Lan Jingli felt a bit awkward, but she held her ground. “That’s… that’s private.”

Wei Yixi stopped teasing her and changed the subject to business. “I heard the company’s big boss changed. Yun Shu Entertainment was sold to the Tan family.”

“The Tan family,” the trainee in white’s eyes lit up, and she excitedly lowered her voice. “Could it be… could it be Tan You? My aloof goddess, the one who stole my heart with a single glance.”

Wei Yixi nodded, completely agreeing. “Yeah, our boss Shu Su is good friends with the Tan family’s seventh daughter, Tan You. The two families have always had business partnerships.”

Hearing a topic related to Tan You, Lan Jingli unconsciously moved back, feeling guilty. She hadn’t figured out how to tell her teammates about her strange, undefined relationship with Tan You.

“Are you really talking about Tan You, the one who won two Best Actress awards?” The trainee in white looked at her with admiration, unable to hide her fan’s excitement. “Will she come back to act in movies? I love her so much. Her acting rhythm and emotions are so perfect. She’s a genius. If only I could date her.”

“A little secret: the actress you love, who seems like a cold, untouchable goddess, is actually a player. She goes through lovers faster than she changes clothes,” Wei Yixi said mysteriously, not noticing Lan Jingli’s face turn pale and her body stiffen.

A lot of lovers? Lan Jingli thought of the number “17” on her access card.

Was it proof of her identity as lover number 17?

She didn’t want to overthink it. The jiejie she knew was absolutely not that kind of person.

The trainee in white put her hands together and her eyes sparkled. “I only know that Tan You has a first love that she was madly in love with. Rumor has it that Tan You swore she would only marry her first love in this life, but they were kept apart by their families. Even separated by thousands of miles, they never forgot each other.”

Wei Yixi sneered. “Your version is outdated. The Tan family and her first love’s family don’t get along. Tan You and her first love were in a secret relationship at first, and it was so sweet.”

“That’s so dramatic.”

“But her first love couldn’t handle the family pressure. They broke up and got back together many times. They have a twisted, deep love story.”

“That’s so exciting and interesting,” the trainee, a very emotional person, exclaimed. “Jingli, don’t you think it’s a shame? Lovers should end up together in the end.”

Lan Jingli managed a forced laugh and woodenly turned her face to the window. The winter day, which had just been sunny, was now looking like rain.

It was raining again. A ceaseless, dreary drizzle. She remembered the umbrella Tan You had held for her that day, but now, a small weed in the corner of her heart was being drenched by the rain, with nowhere to curl up.

“But her first love came back to the country today. Some paparazzi found out they were meeting and got some juicy info. Apparently, they were acting very intimate. Maybe the two of them, with all that love and hate, will resolve their misunderstandings and rekindle their old flame.”