I Fell in Love With My Cold-Hearted, Flirtatious Roommate (GL) - Chapter 8

The group on the other side went quiet for a moment, then a wave of shouts came one after another.

“What? Someone at home?”

“Man or woman?”

“Who is it?”

Xiao Zhi’s voice broke in, “Stop talking nonsense. I remember Xiao Jiu is renting, so it must be her roommate.”

“No, I remember her roommate can’t cook. Could it be her mother?”

Wei Feng’s voice joined the discussion, “She seems to have a new roommate. The new roommate?”

“Don’t mention it. I remember none of her roommates could cook.”

Ran Jiu let them guess wildly and didn’t offer an explanation.

The noisy sounds gradually quieted down. Ran Jiu had just put down her phone and looked around for someone, only to realize Rong Ting had already gone to the vegetable section.

When she walked over, the shopping cart already held potatoes, sweet potatoes, wide glass noodles, baby cabbages, enoki mushrooms, and mini cucumbers. She guessed these were things Rong Ting liked to eat.

Seeing her approach, Rong Ting quickly pointed at the vegetables: “Take whatever you want to eat.” Only after speaking did she realize her tone was a bit imposing.

Ran Jiu glanced at her, then put a box of youmaicai (Chinese lettuce) into the cart. When she reached the refrigerated section, she also grabbed a can of luncheon meat.

When checking out, Rong Ting rushed to pay. Ever since she learned that Ran Jiu was working part-time, she couldn’t help but feel sympathetic. She herself earned a few thousand from tutoring each month, so she felt she should take better care of her.

Ran Jiu silently put the phone she had half-pulled out back into her pocket. She took two bags and packed the items. When leaving, she carried everything herself. Rong Ting only realized Ran Jiu had taken everything after scanning the code, and couldn’t snatch the bags back on the way out.

Ran Jiu, however, was easygoing, saying after they got home: “You pay the money, I do the work. You cook the meal, I wash the pot.”

Yes, she wasn’t being humble. There were currently several insurmountable gaps in her life: she couldn’t get along with people she didn’t want to; she couldn’t learn things she didn’t want to; she easily misplaced things she had put away neatly; and finally, she didn’t like to cook.

She carried the items into the kitchen for Rong Ting. Unusually, she didn’t go back to her room but helped wash all the vegetables. Rong Ting wouldn’t let her do the rest, and she didn’t insist, instead sitting on the sofa outside playing with her phone.

Yu Lai sent a video request. She glanced toward the kitchen, hearing only the sound of the spatula frying and the range hood, then accepted the call.

On the screen, many heads looked over simultaneously. Wei Feng was the first to shout: “Damn, you really are at home!”

Ran Jiu was speechless: “Where else would I be?” She seemed puzzled by their curiosity.

The screen on their end turned. Ran Jiu saw they were eating Chongqing hot pot. The dishes served were quite abundant, including the side dishes she used to love ordering.

Wei Feng deliberately held up a piece of spicy little duck gizzard that had been dipped in the hot pot, took a bite, and provoked her: “It’s all your favorite food. Regret it?”

Ran Jiu’s expression was indifferent, “What exactly is your misunderstanding about me?”

Xiao Zhi managed to interject, “By the way, Xiao Jiu, we recruited a few new members online two days ago. We need to assess their vocal performance first. Please take some time to select a few suitable scripts for the assessment.”

Ran Jiu agreed. After that, there were no more serious matters. The group joked for a few minutes, and the video call ended.

The sliding door of the kitchen rang. Rong Ting was carrying a large pot and using her foot to hook the door. Ran Jiu quickly went over to help.

Rong Ting struggled to steady the pot, the tendons standing out on her slender wrist. She turned her face to Ran Jiu and said, “There’s also a heat-resistant rubber mat.”

Ran Jiu immediately understood. She had initially wanted to take the pot, but seeing her hands shaking while holding it, she stepped aside first.

She quickly retrieved the plastic mat and spread it on the table. Rong Ting then placed the pot on top and shook her hands, which were sore and weak.

Seeing this, Ran Jiu went back to get bowls and chopsticks. When she came out, she saw Rong Ting lifting the lid, and a spicy aroma diffused throughout the house. Rong Ting took off her apron and was still wearing a mask, revealing only her small nose, her cheeks flushed red from the steam.

Ran Jiu couldn’t help but feel a little apologetic, “The pot is a bit heavy. We bought it a while ago but never used it.”

Rong Ting was scooping rice and handed her a full bowl, “I noticed that long ago.”

“Ah?”

“I just scrubbed it clean with a steel wool pad. Eat without worry.”

Ran Jiu then noticed the rubber pot mat, “What about this?”

“Oh, I bought it when I was at the supermarket.”

The two then ate in silence. Ran Jiu hadn’t eaten anything this spicy in a long time, yet it was full of flavor, perfectly hitting her taste preference. She used her chopsticks more frequently, eating a lot of both meat and vegetables. A light pink color actually bloomed on her cool, fair face.

Rong Ting had a small appetite and was full after one bowl. She was worried about what to do with the leftovers, but then watched with her own eyes as the person opposite her finished everything, one chopstick-full at a time.

After the meal, Ran Jiu went to wash the pot. Ran Jiu, who hadn’t been in the kitchen for a long time, automatically put on the purple floral apron. Rong Ting also stood by the doorway, watching her wash, and digesting her food at the same time.

Ran Jiu asked casually, afraid she was bored, “It’s delicious. How did you make it?”

Rong Ting’s eyes lit up and she immediately started talking enthusiastically: “First, of course, stir-fry the scallions, ginger, and garlic to bring out the fragrance. Oh, the essence is dried chili peppers. Not too many, not too few. Three at most. You can cut them into small pieces with a knife, because you’ll add hot pot base later. The hot pot base should be chosen…”

The girl’s voice patiently talked about the cutting quantity of the hot pot base. Her voice was clear and gentle, meticulous, sometimes with the indistinct front and back nasal sounds typical of a southerner, sounding somewhat tender.

Ran Jiu, rarely, did not let her occupational habits take over, and didn’t correct her. She listened to her slow, rambling chatter while washing the pot.

She suddenly felt that this kind of meal might be something she could continue to eat in the future.

Anyway, she didn’t have to cook it herself.

In the evening, Yu Lai initiated a Zoom meeting, pulling a few people in to start discussing the script selection issue.

Yu Lai suggested selecting some professional scripts for the new recruits’ assessment. Wei Feng, however, disagreed. Some voice actors indeed had professional training, but another portion started as amateurs. If the scripts were too difficult, it would block this type of person at the threshold. The group then argued and chatted for a long time but didn’t hear the main person speak.

Wei Feng directly @ Ran Jiu, “Jiu, do you think we should choose challenging scripts like Blackbird, or just ordinary scene plays?”

Ran Jiu tapped her index finger on the mouse, cupped her chin, and her eyes playfully lifted at the corners: “How about we try cooking recipes?”

Wei Feng clapped his hands in praise: “Brilliant! Recipes don’t have any fixed emotional constraints, which makes it easy for contestants to improvise. Furthermore, the contestants’ own background settings can also determine their future voice acting direction.”

Yu Lai also mused, “Are you saying our studio has too few people for commercial voiceovers? This certainly helps to filter out some potential candidates.”

Xiao Zhi finally concluded, “Alright, let’s go with recipes then!”

Their studio had recently recruited new members, and those who came for the interviews were all long-time fans of the voice acting circle. Xiao Zhi and Yu Lai interviewed over a dozen people that day, and finally kept five promising talents. Among them were two junior male students and one junior female student from J University.

To strengthen their bond, Xiao Zhi organized a get-together at a seafood street food stall behind the commercial building.

Xiao Zhi was worried about affecting their work, so she brought a few bottles of eggnog from home. It tasted mellow and sweet, with a hint of white chocolate.

When they arrived, Wei Feng said he had never had anything so fancy. After a small sip, he found it too sweet and sticky, not satisfying. He ordered a bucket of draft beer and challenged Yu Lai to a drinking game.

The junior male and female students were freshmen and a bit reserved. Only Ran Jiu was close to their age. Additionally, she was already somewhat famous in the voice acting circle, so the younger ones’ eyes were sparkling when they drank with her. Especially the junior female student, who, for some reason, was particularly clingy and toasted her several times.

Everyone teased the junior female student for acknowledging Ran Jiu as her senior so quickly.

The junior female student’s reply was astonishing: “Who doesn’t like pretty older sisters?”

Yu Lai burst out laughing, spitting out a mouthful of beer. Wei Feng swiped at his sleeve that had been sprayed: “You’re a grown person, can’t you be calmer? Why are you spraying milk everywhere? As if you don’t like pretty older sisters.”

Yu Lai: “Among the pretty older sisters, who can drink as well as Xiao Jiu?”

Xiao Zhi mediated, “So what? Can’t girls have a good alcohol tolerance? Even if she can drink, she’s still a pretty girl.”

Ran Jiu listened to everyone’s words with an indifferent expression and didn’t eat much of the grilled skewers.

She had a heavy workload. When hungry, she instead longed for the few bites of vegetable noodles Rong Ting had made. She couldn’t stomach anything too greasy.

The junior male student, hearing that she could drink well, also came over to offer a toast, generously suggesting she could just stick to the eggnog.

Ran Jiu smiled and clinked glasses with them.

The junior female student, Li Wei Lin, asked curiously from the side: “I’ve heard many of Senior Sister’s voice-acted radio dramas, and even some unreleased demos. Do you really enjoy voice acting, Senior Sister?”

Ran Jiu: “It’s just work.”

The junior female student continued to chatter: “Are you happy though?”

Ran Jiu: “Mmm, sometimes I am very happy.”

“Many of Senior Sister’s radio dramas use a female dominant/attack voice (nu gong yin), and your voice quality is really special. It sounds exactly like that now.” The junior female student leaned closer, “Senior Sister, have you looked into ‘lily culture’ (baihe wenhua, referring to Yuri/female same-s3x relationships)? I used to follow Yuri web novels and books. I know a bit about queer theory, and Haruki Murakami’s Sputnik Sweetheart is also somewhat related…”

This close distance made Ran Jiu a bit uncomfortable. She pretended to reach for her drink, creating some distance: “It’s required for work, so I’ve encountered it, but I don’t know much about it.”

She smiled: “Besides, it’s too academic. I really didn’t pay attention to these things when working.”

The junior female student seemed a little confused, not realizing Ran Jiu’s aloofness: “Then, does Senior Sister feel repelled by girls approaching you?”

Ran Jiu’s movement paused. She opened a new bottle of eggnog and poured some for the student. Her tone remained gentle: “Just read the books, try not to apply it to real life. You’ve listened to so many dramas from voice actors—” She smiled faintly, but there was a tone of instruction, “How can you know what they are like in real life?”

This time, the junior female student finally understood. Her cheeks were crimson, and she stopped asking unnecessary questions.

Ran Jiu continued drinking with them, but the later it got, the dizzier and sleepier she felt.

When she was young and living with her grandfather, she often stayed in a yurt, which had all kinds of strong liquor.

When she was five or six, the old man would put liquor on a chopstick and put it into her mouth. When she grew older, she tasted Fen Jiu, Lao Bai Gan, and Lao Jiao Jiu. She had never been drunk from drinking…

However, she had a mild lactose intolerance and had reacted to milk before, so she had never touched dairy products since.

She glanced around. There were no dairy-related products on the table. Then her eyes landed on the eggnog. She picked up the bottle and, as expected, saw the ingredients: fresh rum, eggs, and… milk.

Just then, Xiao Zhi saw her action and the flush of alcohol on her face, and as if waking up from a dream, grabbed the bottle: “Oops, this was brought by my husband from Australia. I wanted you all to try it, but I forgot Xiao Jiu can’t drink milk.”

Ran Jiu waved her hand: “It’s fine, Sister Xiao Zhi.” However, the growing feeling of drowsiness made her body weak. She could only lean on the table with her arm and gently rub her temple.

It was only when people were almost done with the barbecue that they realized Ran Jiu was already semi-conscious. Xiao Zhi rushed over to help her up, Yu Lai frantically asked for tea, and Wei Feng was about to hail a cab. Xiao Zhi, worried about safety, decided to take her home herself.

Later, the two senior male students took the junior students, and Xiao Zhi took Ran Jiu. The meal ended in a hurry.

Rong Ting was still at home writing her assignment. She watched the clock hands reach the 11 o’clock mark, and the person still hadn’t returned.

A voice call request suddenly came through on WeChat. Seeing it was Ran Jiu, she immediately accepted.

But the voice on the other end was an unfamiliar woman’s, who said Ran Jiu was drunk and asked if Rong Ting could come down to help bring her up.

Rong Ting hurriedly said okay, grabbed her key, locked the door, and went downstairs.

A red Porsche was parked at the door. An elegantly dressed woman was standing in front of the car, looking down at her phone. She walked over after Rong Ting came out, smiling warmly: “You must be Xiao Jiu’s roommate, right?”

Rong Ting nodded, momentarily not seeing Ran Jiu.

The woman opened the back door of the car. Ran Jiu was lying quietly inside, her face flushed, her fingers resting messily on her forehead.

“Is she drunk?” Rong Ting subconsciously stepped forward, not even noticing the increased urgency in her tone.

Xiao Zhi leaned over and gently pulled Ran Jiu out. Rong Ting immediately supported the other half of her body. At this moment, Ran Jiu still had a little consciousness and could support herself, but she was very weak and instinctively leaned toward Rong Ting.

Rong Ting was a little shorter than her. When Ran Jiu lowered her head, her light breath misted Rong Ting’s neck, carrying a sweet scent of alcohol. Rong Ting felt strangely numb all over. She held Ran Jiu’s arm tightly, preventing her from leaning further.

Going up the stairs, Xiao Zhi told her what had happened that day, full of apologies: “My memory is too poor. The last time I gave her milk tea, Xiao Jiu said she couldn’t drink pure dairy products. And this time, to celebrate the new recruitment, I even brought eggnog.”

Rong Ting’s thoughts were snagged by the words “new recruitment,” which reminded her of university clubs. She was a little confused: “New recruitment? Did you hire new employees?”

“Yes,” Xiao Zhi suddenly felt that Xiao Jiu’s roommate was a little dense, a bit cute, “Didn’t she tell you? We recruited new voice actors these past two days, and Xiao Jiu is in charge of recording the auditions and screening them.”

“Ah?” The information Rong Ting was receiving deviated from her previous guesses, and she was inevitably shocked.

What? Voice acting?

Ran Jiu was in charge of the interviews?

“What’s wrong?”

“I always thought she was working part-time outside, earning money very hard,” Rong Ting lowered her head as she spoke, “I thought it was at a fast-food restaurant, a milk tea shop, a clothing store…”

“Little one, you’re underestimating your roommate a bit too much,” Xiao Zhi couldn’t help but laugh, “Xiao Jiu is the best voice actress in our studio. Next time, I must let her bring you to see our studio, so you won’t keep thinking Xiao Jiu is serving dishes and washing plates.”

“Oh,” Rong Ting mumbled in response, recalling that when they rented the place, Ran Jiu seemed reluctant to talk about her job.

It turned out it wasn’t because the job was bad; perhaps she just didn’t want outsiders interfering with her privacy.

The two women worked together to get Ran Jiu upstairs. Just as they were about to enter the door, Xiao Zhi stopped: “Ah, I just remembered the car downstairs isn’t locked. I’ll leave the rest to you.”

Xiao Zhi slowly let go of Ran Jiu. The weight of Ran Jiu’s body gradually settled onto Rong Ting’s hands. Rong Ting opened the door but suddenly remembered something, “Sister.”

“Hmm?” Xiao Zhi paused, looking at her with a warm smile.

Rong Ting hesitated, “What’s the name of your studio? I want to support you.”

Xiao Zhi still smiled, seeming to see through something without revealing it: “Freesia Studio (Xiao Cang Lan Gong Zuo Shi). You can check it out on Bilibili. Xiao Jiu’s CV name is also related to ‘Jiu’ [wine/alcohol].”

At this point, Ran Jiu was almost unconscious. Relying on instinct, she put her weight on Rong Ting. It was impossible to expect her to clean up herself.

Rong Ting opened the door to Ran Jiu’s bedroom for the first time.

The guilt of seeing someone else’s privacy and a subtle thrill tugged at her. She pressed down on the doorknob.

As the dim light from the room seeped out, Rong Ting saw deep blue curtains, a deep blue rug, and matching desk and chair.

The desktop was very large, with almost nothing on it except for a wide, slightly curved monitor connected to a peculiar-looking microphone and headset. The wires under the desk were complexly intertwined.

So it really was voice acting.

The entire room had a dark, simple color palette.

Rong Ting placed Ran Jiu on the bed and helped her take off her jacket and shoes. Rong Ting had just wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead when the person on the bed kicked a leg like a child and turned over.

Rong Ting didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She went to the bathroom to get makeup remover wipes and oil. Ran Jiu had half her face buried in the duvet. She gently pulled her out, making her face up.

Ran Jiu had taken off her jacket, and underneath was only a thin, black lace-trimmed short sleeve. Because she was lying on her back, a rounded curve of her chest was visible, and two thin shoulder straps were faintly discernible.

This was the first time she had observed Ran Jiu at such close range.

Perhaps she had been close before, but she had never looked at the other person so unrestrainedly.

She hesitated when she was about to remove her makeup, afraid Ran Jiu would be angry when she woke up.

Rong Ting sighed. She suspected her courage was fluctuating, getting thick for a moment and thin for the next. Finally, she applied the makeup remover and started wiping.

The makeup remover wipe rubbed against Ran Jiu’s skin inch by inch. She could feel the smooth texture of the skin underneath. Looking at the face, it was fair with a reddish glow, like a clear jelly.

Rong Ting finished wiping one half of the face. Besides the lipstick that was wiped off, the makeup remover wipe was clean. There was nothing else.

Just then, Ran Jiu suddenly opened her eyes, startling Rong Ting.

She still held the makeup remover wipe in her hand, looking like a culprit caught in the act of doing something bad.

But upon closer inspection, Ran Jiu’s eyes were unfocused, not concentrating on any point. Instead, they radiated a sort of innocence.

Rong Ting breathed a sigh of relief, then some playful thoughts arose, “Ran Jiu?”

The person on the bed blinked, tilted her head, and looked at her.

“Lift your head, I need to wipe your face.” Rong Ting deliberately spoke to her quite impolitely, “Who told you to come back so late? Now I have to take care of you.”

Ran Jiu’s lips moved. Rong Ting couldn’t hear clearly, so she leaned closer to listen.

“You’re so annoying!”

Rong Ting: “…”

“Bad guy!”

Rong Ting: “…”

“You’re mean to me. I won’t play with you anymore.”

Rong Ting sheepishly pretended not to hear. She was about to quickly wipe the other half of her face, but the other person obediently tilted her face up. Her nose rubbed against Rong Ting’s palm, tickling her.

A strange sensation struck her sensitive nerves. The atmosphere changed inexplicably.

She couldn’t quite describe it, and her hands paused for a moment. Ran Jiu looked at her with confusion. Her reaction time cycled back: “I’m sorry.”

Those eyes were moist and beautiful, deep like the night stars. She blinked twice, making Rong Ting’s hand tremble even more.

They were too close, almost breathing the same air. Rong Ting finished wiping the last inch of her cheek and fled in a panic, carrying the basin.