Lady By The Pillow - Chapter 61
61 A Kitten’s Thoughts (1)
“Come fast!!!”
The dark red private car finally disappeared from the set’s entrance without a trace.
On the roadside, a slender figure in battle armor stood beneath a street sign. A breeze from the east lifted her cape. Her unruly eyes gazed into the distance, where the river reflected the scorching sun, shimmering with light.
The sky was blue, the clouds were white, and everything was carefree.
On set, Shi Qing’s scene of debating with the prime minister had just finished. In the same setting, they were about to film the next part of the story, which took place in the grand hall.
The Grand Princess was returning victoriously from a bandit suppression campaign.
In the hall, she led all the generals who had made great contributions in the war to the court to receive the Empress Dowager “Jiang Ke’s” commendation.
Ji Lan knelt before Jiang Ke.
Wei Jiuyi knelt before Shi Qing.
Her defiant eyes looked through the golden glow of the hall at the figure behind the curtain, as if she were seeing the lover she guarded day and night standing before her. She said in a stern voice,
“I, your humble general, have not failed in my duty. We have eliminated over two thousand bandits in Black Mountain. We have brought peace to the people and secured our borders. Please rest assured, Mother. As long as I live, I will protect the lands of our Rong Kingdom. Should anyone dare to defy our authority, I will show them no mercy! This heart and this love can be witnessed by heaven and earth!”
Shi Qing was behind the curtain, with no close-up camera angles on her. Through the thin curtain, you could only see her seated figure from a distance.
She was looking at Ji Lan through Jiang Ke’s eyes, but in a trance, she saw Wei Jiuyi in Shi Qing’s eyes.
Yesterday, Fei Ying lost control. If Wei Jiuyi hadn’t arrived in time, the consequences would have been unthinkable. If Wei Jiuyi protected her like Ji Lan protected Jiang Ke, then did Wei Jiuyi have the same feelings for her that Ji Lan had for Jiang Ke?
“Teacher Shi, can I pull up a chair?”
At dinnertime, Fang Fei, holding a lunch box in one hand and a can of canned yellow peaches in the other, eagerly approached Shi Qing’s small four-person table.
Shi Qing moved the dish of food next to her to make room for Fang Fei’s lunch box.
“Of course, you can.”
Dong Ya put her own lunch box on her lap to make room for Shi Qing’s medicinal meal dishes.
“It’s good that Teacher Fang came. Try the medicinal meal I made.”
With that, she shot a look at Zhang Yulan, who was standing far away, signaling that a competitor had appeared out of nowhere and that she needed to find a solution quickly.
Zhang Yulan saw that Fang Fei had taken the seat and was so anxious that she stamped her feet. She quickly took out the dinner she had prepared from the RV, intending to occupy the only remaining seat at the corner of the table.
When she was just over a dozen meters away, Dong Ya waved her hand, signaling that the situation had changed.
What changed?
Fei Ying just left, and now Fang Fei is here. Why is Teacher Shi so popular with everyone!
At the dining table, Fang Fei opened the tin lid of the can and pushed it toward Shi Qing.
“Teacher Shi, you’ve been eating medicinal meals lately. It must be too bitter. I made this myself. Want to try some?”
Shi Qing’s eyes lit up. “You can make canned food?”
Fang Fei chuckled. “I learned it online. Try one.”
Shi Qing used a clean pair of chopsticks to pick up a piece, carefully placing it on the top of the insulated lunch box lid. She pierced the peach with her chopsticks, put it to her mouth, and took a bite. The crisp sound met her taste buds, and sweetness burst out.
“Mhm, it’s delicious.”
Only then did Fang Fei feel at ease. “Heh, as long as it’s delicious.”
She wanted to say something else but stopped. “Well, let’s eat, hehe, let’s eat.”
Shi Qing saw her unnatural movements. She took a bite of yam, chewed, and swallowed. Then she took the initiative to ask,
“You don’t have many scenes today, but I saw you’ve been on set all day, even discussing the script with the director. You seem busy.”
Fang Fei bit into the chicken drumstick in her lunch box. “Oh, just trying to learn. Our company is small. They don’t give us much money for marketing, so I can only improve my acting skills.”
Shi Qing agreed. “Mhm. You’re still young. You can accumulate experience in these few years, and when you come across a better role in the future, you’ll be able to show your true colors.”
“Yes, that’s what I think too, hehe…”
Shi Qing’s eyes moved, and she said, “Earlier, when we were about to finish work, I felt like you were looking for me. Is something wrong?”
Fang Fei was defeated. She admitted that she had stayed on set all day just to find an opportunity to talk to Shi Qing, but Shi Qing was busy all day. She didn’t even have a chance to speak. She thought she could join her for dinner and finally get a chance to say what she needed to. But her clumsy mouth just couldn’t find the right moment to speak. In the end, Shi Qing couldn’t stand it and asked her herself.
On one hand, she marveled at how understanding Shi Qing was, and on the other, she was frustrated at how clumsy she could be.
“Uh, there is something, hehe…” Fang Fei said, biting her chopsticks.
“Tell me. Is it something I can help with?” Shi Qing asked sincerely.
“It’s not really ‘help.’ It’s just…” Fang Fei leaned in and lowered her voice. “Teacher Shi, for your coupledom with Teacher Wei, do you need a Steven?”
“A Steven?”
“You know, the kind of person who is always an unnecessary third wheel in a couple’s relationship.”
Shi Qing was a little confused.
Her “business couple” with Wei Jiuyi had just started. Although it had some traction, the discussion wasn’t very high. How did it sound to Fang Fei like 97Time was a mature coupledom that had been in operation for a long time, to the point where they already had a Steven?
Seeing that she hadn’t responded, Fang Fei quickly explained.
“It’s nothing, nothing. I was just asking, hehe… It’s just that our company wanted me to see if I could be a ‘business couple’ with Teacher Wei and get some attention. But Teacher Wei wasn’t very willing, so we didn’t go any further. My manager found me a few days ago and said I haven’t made a splash even though I’ve been in the industry for a year. So I thought, maybe I could get some attention from your coupledom?”
Shi Qing was always humble. “But our coupledom isn’t that popular.”
Fang Fei disagreed. “Who says that? You two are the most popular GL couple right now!”
Shi Qing didn’t believe her. “No way.”
“Why not?”
To prove that what she said was true, Fang Fei quickly took out her phone and clicked on the super topic rankings.
“Look, 97Time is ranked first in the coupledom category, even higher than the couples from popular TV shows.”
Shi Qing couldn’t believe it. “How is that possible?”
Fang Fei clicked into the super topic. “This afternoon, they posted a behind-the-scenes video. It’s the one from this morning when Teacher Wei made coffee for you. Look.”
Shi Qing took the phone but accidentally saw Fang Fei’s fan level.
“You’re already level 7?”
Fang Fei’s hands were in a panic, and her chopsticks flew. “No, no, no! This is my friend’s account! I borrowed it! You, you, look at the hot post, the hottest one!”
Shi Qing clicked on the behind-the-scenes video. It was the conversation between her and Wei Jiuyi from this morning when Wei Jiuyi gave her the coffee.
She and Wei Jiuyi both knew they were being filmed, so they cooperated and said a few more words. It was a very ordinary conversation between colleagues, but it made all the coupledom fans scream.
@97Time9thElder: Ahhhhhhhhhhh Sister is finally back to work! We finally get to see the puppy again, waaaaaah
@SisterPuppyLover: The puppy is so impatient. She even made coffee for her sister by hand. What, they didn’t get up from the same bed this morning?
@BigGlutton: The one above doesn’t get it. Sister must have had to film early in the morning, and the puppy didn’t, so Sister was afraid of disturbing the puppy’s sleep and came to the set early!
@MicroscopeByEye: Wow, I just realized that Wei Jiuyi is a calculating little puppy. The sister was still hesitating, and she immediately pretended to be wronged. As a result, the sister immediately softened and agreed to drink her coffee every morning. Tsk, tsk, tsk. You deserve to have a wife.
@BlindGuessingMaster: I’ll make a blind guess. The puppy specially bought a coffee machine to please her sister, and she plans to make coffee for her every day.
@First-ClassPerformerOfNonsense: The one above is so conservative. Why don’t you guess that the coffee machine belongs to the sister, and the puppy went to her room in the morning to make it for her?
Shi Qing didn’t scroll down. She was afraid that she would find a fan who had guessed the truth, and she would look awkward in front of Fang Fei.
Fang Fei took the phone and talked about 97Time’s current popularity.
“Now, as long as you have a little bit of material, it will immediately be shared by all the big marketing accounts. The two GL bloggers on my homepage are also ‘shipping’ you two. You have a lot of fans.”
“Is that so.”
Shi Qing was embarrassed. Although she knew that the surge in popularity was definitely the result of the two management companies pushing it, and they all knew it was a “business couple,” how did it feel like two young people being forced into a political marriage by their parents?
“The Steven you mentioned, what do you plan to do?”
Fang Fei was honest. “Just be around you often and have a good relationship with both of you. I happen to be playing Teacher Wei’s follower, so we have a lot of scenes together, which fits the requirement perfectly. In the eyes of the coupledom fans, I’m always around you, so the sugar I’m seeing is first-hand. This way, I can help you promote your coupledom, and more people will follow me because of it.”
“Steven” was a great role that allowed her to benefit from the coupledom without getting too involved.
Shi Qing wasn’t very active in the fan community. This was the first time she had heard of the “Steven” role. She had to admit that Fang Fei was a very smart artist. The company just gave her a little guidance, and she immediately found her place as a Steven. Her relentless effort to climb up was hardworking and intelligent, much better than when she was just a small-time extra.
“I have no problem with it. Why don’t you ask Teacher Wei later and see what she says?”
Shi Qing never liked to limit others.
Dong Ya finally found a chance to interject.
“Then I’ll go call her. She has to eat anyway, so we can all eat together.”
With that, she waved to Zhang Yulan, who was ready for a hundred-meter dash, not far away. The other party immediately rushed over with the lunch box in her arms.
“Oh, Teacher Shi, Teacher Fang, what a coincidence to run into you here!”
Fang Fei was oblivious. “Wow, what a coincidence. I was just saying I wanted to find Teacher Wei!”
Zhang Yulan, in full character, said, “Isn’t it a coincidence? Sister Qi and I were just looking for a place to eat!”
Fang Fei quickly made room for her in the last empty spot at the four-person table.
“Then you can sit here! Where’s Teacher Wei? She’s not here yet?”
Shi Qing looked at the tense Zhang Yulan up and down and asked softly,
“Don’t you usually eat in the RV?”
Zhang Yulan was a little guilty, but her supposedly strong acting skills covered it up.
“Well, the RV is too small. It’s more lively to eat with everyone else. She just went to the bathroom. Wait, I’ll ask her!”
She put down the lunch box, took out her phone, found Wei Jiuyi’s chat, glanced at the unread message that said [Where did you take my food?], and quickly typed:
[Crew cafeteria. Fang Fei is being very attentive to Teacher Shi. Come fast!!!]