Lady By The Pillow - Chapter 27

Chapter 27: Sting (Part 1)

“I’m so pathetic for being so eager to get revenge for you.”

The suite for the lead actors of Empress was very spacious, a two-bedroom suite with a separate kitchen and a 30-square-meter living room. The curtains in the huge space were tightly closed. The light from the crystal chandelier overhead was fragmented, scattered across her face, making her eyes look unfamiliar in the refracted light.

Shi Qing stood by the sofa. The combination of her jade-white long dress and lake-blue coat made her look like a petal on a lake, even gentler than usual. But the lake was frozen.

“Sorry to drop by unannounced.” Shi Qing looked at her. Her tone was gentle, but it lacked the affection she used to have, not even as polite as her usual perfunctory manner with colleagues. “I have something I need to talk to you about.”

Wei Jiuyi squeezed the hand warmer in her pocket, her knuckles turning white from the force. Her face, however, was light and cheerful. She walked toward Shi Qing gracefully and said, “It’s okay. You can come find me anytime you need something. Have a seat.”

They sat on the two-seater sofa, with a gap of two full body widths between them. Wei Jiuyi had a vague idea of why she was here. Perhaps it was a guilty conscience, so she was the first to start a conversation. “I heard from them that you went out to dinner with someone after work. I thought you wouldn’t be back so soon.”

Shi Qing had been normal during the day’s filming. She came to find her after dinner, so something must have happened during that meal. Shi Qing didn’t intend to hide anything. Since she had come to see Wei Jiuyi, she wanted to be clear. “Sister Yi, or Wen Yi, she came to see me.”

Wei Jiuyi’s head buzzed. As expected. “What did she want with you?” she asked, knowing full well the answer.

Shi Qing didn’t plan on putting on an act with Wei Jiuyi as she had with Wen Yi. She turned her body toward Wei Jiuyi, who still wasn’t looking at her, and asked, “You should know better than me why she came to see me.”

“What do I know? I’ve never even met her,” Wei Jiuyi continued to play dumb.

Shi Qing took a deep breath and sighed. “Did you hire someone to leak her and Tang Bin’s relationship?”

Wei Jiuyi’s foot shifted slightly toward the door. She didn’t say anything.

The silent confirmation made Shi Qing’s heart sink. Her gentle words were now tinged with reproach. “Why did you do that?”

Wei Jiuyi bit down on her back molars, her throat tightening. She countered, “Shouldn’t you be asking them that question?”

“Them?”

“They were jealous that you got the ‘Jiang Ke’ role and you wouldn’t give it to her, so Tang Bin messed with you during the commercial shoot. Didn’t they start all this?”

So, the truth was the same as what Wen Yi had said.

Shi Qing looked at her deeply and said, “They did mess with me, but it didn’t affect me much. I didn’t lose the endorsement, I didn’t lose the role, and I caught up on all the filming I missed. But now, they’re practically unemployed and might have to lie low for a long time.”

These words were very jarring. Wei Jiuyi felt a sting and turned to look at her. “What do you mean? Do you think I went too far and ruined your friendship with Wen Yi?”

Shi Qing explained, “That’s not what I mean. You know that Sister Yi and I have always just been colleagues. I’m worried that the harder they fall, the harder they’ll fight back. You came down so hard on them this time that they will definitely look for an opportunity to retaliate. You didn’t have to get involved in this mess just to get revenge for me.”

Wei Jiuyi folded her arms across her chest, her whole body resistant. “You think I was getting revenge for you? Don’t flatter yourself. I was just worried that you’d affect the filming of this show. This is my first project as a Best Actress, and I’m afraid you’ll mess it up for me.”

Shi Qing’s fingers trembled. She quickly hid them by clenching her hands. “Whatever you want to say,” she said. “The source of this is me. Little… Teacher Wei, you know my personality. I don’t like owing people, and I especially don’t like being in debt to others.”

Wei Jiuyi’s eyes widened in shock. She turned to look at her and asked, “Am I ‘others’?”

“Aren’t you?” Shi Qing’s voice was flat, so flat that it cut a deep, long wound in her heart.

Wei Jiuyi couldn’t believe such heartless words would come out of Shi Qing’s mouth. Even when they broke up, Shi Qing had still affectionately called her “little cat” and said, “If you ever have a problem, you can always come to me.” Back then, she was just an unknown college student, and Shi Qing still cherished her. Now, she was able to stand on her own, to teach those who bullied her a lesson, but she had become an “outsider.”

“Yes, I am an outsider.” She stood up abruptly, her eyes instantly turning red. “I want to make you owe me! To make you feel guilty! To make you pay me back!”

A razor blade sliced through the soft flesh behind her ears, leaving a spiderweb of cracks like shattered glass. Shi Qing was stung by the scarlet in her eyes. Before she could figure out why, her body was already standing up. She used her calmest voice to comfort her. “You’re just saying that out of anger. I know you don’t really think that. You did it out of kindness.”

“I’m not that kind,” Wei Jiuyi said, infuriated.

“I’m not blaming you. I just don’t want you to offend others just to get revenge for me. In this industry, the more people you offend, the more dangerous it becomes.”

Her gentle words floated down, turning into thorns that pierced her feet the moment they landed. Wei Jiuyi’s heels felt a sharp pain, and her heart spasmed. “You’re still saying you’re not blaming me. Then why are you here? What were you doing just now, questioning me? Weren’t you just complaining that I’m meddling and making it impossible for you to cut ties with me? Yes, I am meddling. I’m meddlesome, and I’m pathetic! I’m so pathetic for being so eager to get revenge for you!”

Pathetic.

It was the first time Shi Qing had heard Wei Jiuyi use that word, and she was using it to curse herself. The soft flesh behind her ears completely shattered, crushed into powder by a car. Her delicate hands lifted and fell, and she was speechless for a moment. Just as she was about to open her throat to say something, she saw a large teardrop roll down Wei Jiuyi’s cheek.

“Little cat…” The long-lost nickname sounded particularly harsh right now. Her slender fingers touched Wei Jiuyi’s sleeve, and she was roughly pulled away.

“I’m telling you, Shi Qing, I won’t ever get involved in your business again! I won’t help you even if you get on your knees and beg me!” With that, she turned and rushed out.

The security door closed automatically with a bang, separating the tenderness and the temperature difference between them.

The film city had no nightlife. The nights were very cold, and the temperature was low. There were very few people, and the late-night mist seeped into her bones, freezing her from the inside out. Wei Jiuyi rushed onto the street. At this time of night, there were only a few figures who had just finished work from the set. It was eerily quiet. No one recognized her, and no one cared about her. She could probably sit on the bridge all night, and no one would even notice if she froze to death.

The heartless words “Aren’t you?” echoed in her ears over and over again. Her heart felt as if a pair of hands had torn it into pieces, thrown it on the ground, and stomped on it until it became mud. She didn’t dare to remember how pale Shi Qing’s face was when she was throwing up. If a single frame of that image flashed in her mind, her heart would spasm painfully.

That was the person she had secretly hidden in her heart. She was so afraid of conflict or offending her that she didn’t even dare to reveal a hint of her humble affection. She could always be an observer, even if she didn’t want to. She could also act as if nothing had happened and film scenes with her like a normal colleague. But she couldn’t tolerate the person she held so dear being bullied. She couldn’t forgive Tang Bin, and she also couldn’t forgive Wen Yi, who had tried to steal Shi Qing’s role from the very beginning.

Shi Qing might be easy to bully, but that didn’t mean that Wei Jiuyi, who was protecting her, was. So, she would rather risk “offending people,” bear the “shameful” name, and be warned by her management company “not to cause trouble again” just to teach those two a lesson.

She didn’t care if everyone blamed her. As long as Shi Qing was okay, that was all that mattered. But she never expected Shi Qing to blame her too. She had made so many concessions, endured so much criticism, and paid so many prices, but everything she did was wrong.

The arched bridge over the small river was illuminated by the moonlight, making a curved arc. The wind made the river’s surface choppy. The crescent moon swayed, becoming distorted and sharp. Her life was like this moon. It looked glamorous, but it was just a reflection in the water, a flower in a mirror. All her efforts were an illusion, filled with falseness and absurdity. It was a complete failure.

A black figure huddled on the bottom step of the stone staircase of the arched bridge, small and merged with the shadows. She rested her head on a stone pillar, took out her phone, opened her contacts, scrolled down, and found a name.

Beep… Beep…

Before the third ring, the call was answered. A cheerful, a woman’s voice came through. “Why are you calling me, you rotten thing?”

Behind the woman’s voice was a soft, melodious violin. The sound was rich and real, not from a speaker but live. But why was it a violin, the very instrument she was forced to learn as a child, an instrument she cried while playing?

The grievances in her heart suddenly erupted. The sobs instantly turned into broken cries. “Mommy…”

No mother could fail to detect her child’s emotions. With just one word, Wei Shu’s expression froze. The fine lines around her eyes tightened. She raised a hand toward the person playing the violin, and the music stopped abruptly. Her voice instantly became gentle, with the utmost motherly tolerance. “Puppy?”

Wei Shu was from Hong Kong. Back in the golden age of Hong Kong cinema, a group of directors became famous, and she was one of them. To celebrate Hong Kong’s return to China in 1997, she named her daughter “Jiuqi” (97). At home, the mother and daughter always communicated in Cantonese. But Wei Jiuyi hadn’t called her “Mommy” in a very long time.

Wei Jiuyi was sobbing so hard she could only utter broken syllables. “I want to go home…”

Wei Shu’s brow furrowed. She tossed her gray cape onto the sofa with one hand, got up, and walked to the balcony. Her voice deepened. “What’s wrong? Tell Mommy.”

Hearing her mother’s voice, the little leopard who had run away from home finally found its den and started to wail. “I feel like everything I do is wrong.”

The stray cat cried on the cold stone bridge under the moonlight. Not far behind her, her thinly dressed owner stood behind a flagpole, watching, not daring to come any closer.

The crying gradually subsided into sobs, and then the sobs stopped too. Shi Qing took out her phone and sent her location to Zhang Yulan.

Shi Qing, you shouldn’t have followed her.

As you said, you are strangers now. You have cut ties, cleanly and completely. That one year was a secret, and your current relationship is that of colleagues. You should have turned that page neatly, just like you would a book, and moved on to the next one.

You should analyze a script carefully, but not people.

You shouldn’t waste your time on anyone, and you definitely shouldn’t pour your feelings into them.

You know you don’t have love.

So why did you follow her when you saw that teardrop fall from the little cat’s eye?

Yeah, why?

Shi Qing stood in the negative 10-degree night wind, lost in thought. Before Zhang Yulan arrived, she finally figured out the reason.

Animal instincts.

Shi Qing, you have animal instincts.

Your body was intertwined with the little cat’s for a whole year. So when you see her upset, you feel a physical sense of concern and pity. You’re afraid she’s in danger by herself, so you instinctively follow her. You feel pain when you see her cry.

These all stem from the animalistic connection you once shared, not from feelings.

Definitely not from feelings.