She Said: A Passionate Kiss [Entertainment Industry] - Chapter 40
Qiang Huai looked at Gu Pingwan, who was still groggily asleep in bed, and said into the phone, “Got it.”
She had already ordered some hangover medicine. When Gu Pingwan was drinking earlier, a lot of wine had spilled on her clothes and pants. Qiang Huai also planned to have Xiaoyu bring over clothes in Gu Pingwan’s size.
“Ms. Qiang, what size should the clothes be?” Xiaoyu asked.
Qiang Huai stood by the bed, gesturing with her hands. “About…”
She calculated for a while but couldn’t figure out the size.
“Isn’t Chief Engineer Gu asleep? Maybe you could just check directly?” Xiaoyu suggested. After all, she’s asleep—why not just look at the tag?
Qiang Huai thought it over. They were both women—nothing wrong with checking her clothes.
“Hang on, I’ll send it to you on WeChat.” Qiang Huai hung up and leaned over to check the tag on Gu Pingwan’s neckline.
Gu Pingwan twitched slightly from the ticklish touch of Qiang Huai’s fingers. The two were very close. Gu Pingwan’s scent of fresh laundry was very pleasant.
Qiang Huai unzipped her jacket and gently lifted her head, only to find the size tag wasn’t at the collar.
She remembered that some clothing brands placed the tag near the waist, so she unzipped a bit further. Thankfully, Gu Pingwan was wearing a white undershirt underneath. Her chest rose and fell faintly visible under the fabric. Qiang Huai instinctively averted her gaze, afraid of letting her imagination run wild.
She finally found the size tag at the waist and zipped up the jacket again.
Luckily, Gu Pingwan didn’t wake up—or she’d definitely think Qiang Huai was being a creep.
There was still one problem—how to find the size of her pants?
Qiang Huai silently recited, “Form is emptiness; emptiness is form,” reminding herself she was doing something practical and needed to stay focused.
She lifted the hem of Gu Pingwan’s jacket. Her smooth, fair stomach came into view, along with the edge of her white lacy underwear peeking out.
Qiang Huai took a shallow breath and gently began to undo her waistband.
Just then, Gu Pingwan suddenly moved a hand to cover the area Qiang Huai had just unfastened.
She mumbled, “Mm… it’s wet…”
Qiang Huai froze like she’d been caught red-handed, watching Gu Pingwan nervously for any sign of waking. Her mind raced with panic scenarios.
But Gu Pingwan just shifted around, murmuring in her sleep and tugging her pants off, muttering dreamily, “Wearing wet pants will catch a cold…”
Qiang Huai watched her toss her clothes off and couldn’t help covering her forehead, laughing softly. She really shouldn’t drink again.
After sending the clothing sizes to Xiaoyu, Qiang Huai took a shower herself. When she came out, the blanket Gu Pingwan had just tucked in was already kicked off, revealing her long legs.
Xiaoyu arrived with the clothes, and Qiang Huai stopped her at the door.
“Is Chief Engineer Gu doing okay?” Xiaoyu asked, not stepping inside.
Qiang Huai took the clothes. “She’s fine—just had some hangover medicine.”
“Ah, I see. Do you need anything else?” Xiaoyu asked considerately.
“What kind of things?” Qiang Huai thought for a moment. Besides hangover meds, what else?
“Well, like… that kind of thing,” Xiaoyu said shyly, blushing a little.
Qiang Huai lightly knocked her on the head. “It’s still early.”
Xiaoyu giggled and ran off with a gossipy grin.
Gu Pingwan was still mumbling softly in bed. She slowly emerged from sleep and opened her eyes to a ceiling she didn’t recognize.
Her brain spun—Where am I?
“You’re awake,” Qiang Huai said as she entered from the hallway, seeing Gu Pingwan sitting up wrapped in the blanket.
“We… I… you…” Gu Pingwan stammered, unable to get out a full sentence, her head still a bit fuzzy.
Qiang Huai pulled the clothes out of the bag and set them on the bed.
“Me and you? What about us?” Qiang Huai asked deliberately.
Blushing, Gu Pingwan clutched the blanket. She had already realized she was undressed.
“These clothes…?” she whispered, unable to meet Qiang Huai’s eyes.
“You got drunk and started acting wild. You kept saying it was too hot and asked me to help you undress. Said everything was soaked,” Qiang Huai teased, trying to hold back a laugh and sounding very convincing.
Gu Pingwan sat on the bed with a pitiful expression. “R-Really?”
“Hahaha.” Qiang Huai couldn’t help but laugh out loud at her helpless look.
Realization slowly dawned on Gu Pingwan. “You’re teasing me!”
“No, your pants really were soaked,” Qiang Huai said innocently, spreading the new clothes and handing them to Gu Pingwan. “Go take a shower and put these on.”
Still not moving, Gu Pingwan hesitated. With a small smile, Qiang Huai grabbed a bathrobe and handed it to her. Gu Pingwan wrapped herself in it and went to the shower.
Listening to the sound of water splashing, Qiang Huai felt like her heart was crawling with ants. Why is she so cute? How could someone be this pure?
Gu Pingwan finished showering and stood for a while at the bathroom door.
Qiang Huai, noticing she hadn’t moved, asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Could you pass me the clothes?” Gu Pingwan asked.
Qiang Huai understood her embarrassment and brought the clothes over. Gu Pingwan reached her hand out from behind the door.
“Here,” she said, fumbling around in the air. Qiang Huai took her wrist and placed the clothes in her hand.
There were still warm droplets of water on her skin. The touch made Qiang Huai’s heart flutter again.
After changing, Gu Pingwan came out. Except for a bit of dizziness, she felt fine.
“It’s already late. Let’s head back tomorrow.” Qiang Huai leaned against the headboard. While Gu Pingwan was showering, she had asked hotel staff to bring two extra blankets. This was a deluxe room with just one big bed, so they had no choice but to share it.
Gu Pingwan thought for a moment. “Alright. Sorry for the trouble.”
“Why is your face still red, Chief Gu?” Qiang Huai teased as she lay back on the pillow, watching her with a grin.
“Maybe the water was too hot.” Gu Pingwan walked over and pulled up a corner of the blanket. Even with separate blankets, she couldn’t help feeling embarrassed from what Qiang Huai had said earlier.
Qiang Huai turned off the room’s lights, leaving only the small lamp by her side on.
“Sleep. We’ve got work tomorrow,” she said, curling up under the covers.
Gu Pingwan covered her face halfway with the blanket. “Goodnight.”
They both fell silent.
After a while, Qiang Huai turned to face her.
“Are you asleep?” she asked softly.
Gu Pingwan flinched a bit at the breath brushing her ear. “Not yet.”
“Wanwan, what kind of people do you like?” Qiang Huai asked gently.
The soft light from the lamp lit up Gu Pingwan’s eyelashes, making them shimmer.
“I’ve never really thought about that,” she replied.
“What about you?” Gu Pingwan asked in return.
Qiang Huai stayed on her side, watching her companion. “I like smart, gentle people. Preferably someone who’s a genius. Like you.”
Both of them were silently testing the waters, but neither made a clear move.
“Isn’t that kind of person hard to find?” Gu Pingwan teased lightly.
“Gu classmate, you’re a bit narcissistic,” Qiang Huai chuckled, turning to lie on her back. They both stared at the ceiling.
“I’ve been wondering what I’d be doing if I weren’t an actress,” Qiang Huai mused.
“Maybe running a coffee shop,” Gu Pingwan replied. “You’d be the café beauty.”
“I’ve actually thought about that before,” Qiang Huai admitted. She’d also considered opening a flower shop. “What about you? If you weren’t working at the institute, what would you be doing?”
“Probably teaching,” Gu Pingwan answered. If she weren’t in research, her mom would’ve pushed her to take the civil service exam and become a teacher.
“If you were a teacher, I’d worry about the students bullying you.” Qiang Huai imagined Gu Pingwan standing in front of a blackboard—and then her mind drifted. She pictured herself as a mischievous student and Gu Pingwan as the innocent teacher, in some racy web-novel scenario.
Lost in thought, she didn’t hear Gu Pingwan continuing to speak.
“Are you asleep?” Gu Pingwan turned to look at her. The light was behind Qiang Huai, but she could still see her dreamy expression.
“Ah, no.” Qiang Huai snapped out of it, feeling guilty.
“I just asked—are you going back to Jincheng for Qingming Festival?” Gu Pingwan repeated.
“Yes. I’ll go with you to visit Dad’s grave.” Qiang Huai did some mental math—it just so happened her scenes would be finished by then.
“Okay. Let’s sleep now,” Gu Pingwan said, curling under her blanket and soon falling asleep.
Qiang Huai stared at her hair, reaching out to gently touch it before falling asleep with a sweet smile.
…
The next day, Weibo exploded with rumors about Qiang Huai and Gu Pingwan.
Old gossip was rehashed with extra embellishments. Many people now believed Qiang Huai wasn’t straight.
Fans: “Just because she’s not dating a guy doesn’t mean she’s not straight!”
Fans: “Love is freedom. Even if she likes women, I still love her!”
Haters: “Ugh, always trending. You’d think she won an Oscar with all this PR.”
Bystanders: “Honestly, whether she likes women or not has nothing to do with us.”
Bystanders: “Gu Pingwan is impressive—she developed that Search positioning software, and I heard she works at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Super cool.”
Qin-jie’s team had already controlled the narrative about Gu Pingwan. Most discussions on Weibo focused solely on Qiang Huai.
When she arrived on set, everyone thought she’d be affected by the drama. But to their surprise, she looked completely refreshed and upbeat.
“Good morning, Ms. Qiang.” Xiaoyu handed her an iced Americano.
Qiang Huai smiled and nodded. “Morning.”
“Are we heading back to the villa today, or to the hotel?” Xiaoyu asked.
“Of course the villa.” Qiang Huai took a sip of coffee.
The director, who hadn’t dared say much yesterday due to her cold demeanor, noticed she was in great spirits today.
“Ms. Qiang, you seem to be in a good mood today?” the director asked, holding his thermos cup.
Qiang Huai nodded. “Not bad.”
“Those online rumors are all BS, if you ask me. Don’t worry about what people say—let the work speak for itself.” The director tried to reassure her.
“If anything makes you uncomfortable, let me know. We can push your scenes back if needed,” he added.
“Thank you, Director. Don’t worry—I won’t let it affect my work.” Qiang Huai thanked him sincerely.