She's Crazy, I Love Her - Chapter 24

One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand, million…

Sun Zhiping had called specifically to say he had a surprise for her. This must be it.

It was indeed a substantial sum—a salary that would place her firmly within the upper-middle tier of the entertainment industry. Unlike before, when her appearance fees, after multiple rounds of deductions, would dwindle to mere scraps by the time they reached her account.

Sun Zhiping had also reminded her that after filming this drama, she could apply to the company for a higher profit-sharing percentage.

How generous.

“Teacher Chi?”

A hushed voice called from the doorway. Chi Yue snapped out of her daze and looked up to see her assistant, Xiao Wu.

“Sister Yang said they’re clearing the set. If you’re ready, you can go over for the rehearsal,” Xiao Wu said softly, still viewing Chi Yue through the starry-eyed lens of a fan. He spoke gently, as if afraid of startling her.

Chi Yue put away her phone. “Alright, I’ll head over now.”

Today’s scene involved trapping the Ghost-Faced Man. The female lead, disguised as a noblewoman, would bathe in a lake, lulling the Ghost-Faced Man into complacency. She would then seize the opportunity to extract information and subdue him with force.

By the time Chi Yue was needed on set, the scene had progressed to the brink of action. The “madam’s” true identity had been exposed, her face transforming into Hua Fangfei’s in an instant. The female lead issued a cold command, snatched a long robe from a wooden rack to wrap around herself, and simultaneously attacked the Ghost-Faced Man.

Although the earlier bathing scene focused primarily on the actress playing the “madam,” Chi Yue was required to show her back.

The sensual atmosphere created on screen was entirely absent during the actual filming. Chi Yue didn’t even need to remove her shirt; she simply unbuttoned a few buttons, pulled down the back collar to expose her shoulder, and looked at the camera.

The shot was retaken twice because her hair and makeup weren’t wet enough, and her gaze lacked sharpness.

On the third attempt, the director suddenly called for the makeup artist to touch up Chi Yue’s back.

Unable to see her own back, Chi Yue asked the makeup artist, “Do I have a pimple back there?”

“No, no, not a single one!” The makeup artist, an overly cheerful young woman, buzzed around her, speaking rapidly and excitedly. “Teacher Chi, your skin is amazing! Your pores are so tiny—I’m so jealous! The only downside to skin like yours is how easily it bruises. This little blue mark here… did you bump into something? Just a light touch-up will do…”

“Blue?”

Chi Yue’s first thought was Qi You, but she quickly dismissed the idea.

After all, it had been thirty-two days since Qi You had bitten her.

They hadn’t seen each other or had any contact since then.

Once the marks on her body faded after frequent hot compresses, those days at the villa began to feel like a preposterous yet beautiful dream.

Sometimes, Chi Yue wondered if she had been delirious from a fever. How else could someone experience such intense and overwhelming desire and then detach so completely?

But perhaps Qi You was simply that kind of person, capable of perfectly separating physical intimacy from emotional connection.

“Alright, alright, it’s gone now, Teacher Chi. I was just saying you look amazing in backless dresses—not a single flaw to be seen.”

Chi Yue smiled. “Thank you. You’ve worked hard.”

Yet her mind drifted back to Qi You lying prone on the bed, her slender, smooth back trembling slightly under Chi Yue’s kisses, soft moans escaping her lips.

Had the wounds on her back healed completely? Had they vanished entirely?

Probably not yet. The scratches had been so deep.

“Fang Fei, your focus isn’t the bath—it’s murder, murder! Understand? Don’t look so gentle! Put some force into it! You need to shoot blades from your eyes! Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! Like that! Get it?” The director stood up behind the monitor, pointing his finger at Chi Yue across the set.

A few chuckles rippled through the set at the director’s humorous remark, but Chi Yue was in no mood to laugh. After apologizing, she blinked rapidly twice, adjusting her focus.

The director said a few more words before settling back into his chair, remembering to tap Assistant Shen beside him. “Keep this take for promotion. It’s striking.”

After two more takes, Chi Yue finally emerged from the bathtub. In the scene, she casually wrapped herself in a robe, but in reality, the costume designer had to tailor the garment precisely. To prevent the fabric from slipping during the action scenes, double-sided tape was applied to various points on her skin.

Zeng Chuling, filming her first xianxia idol drama, sometimes forgot that looks mattered more than acting, obsessively fixating on minor details.

The assistant director occasionally reminded her, and she would nod in understanding, but never changed her approach.

With both the action and dialogue scenes completed, Chi Yue returned to the makeup room in her soaking wet costume, her arms already pale from the water.

After changing, Xiao Wu sent her the photos. “Sister Yang said these could be used as promotional stills. She asked us to pick a few. Take a look.”

Chi Yue rubbed hand cream into her skin as she scrolled through the images. When she reached the bath scene photo, she frowned slightly. “This one won’t work, will it?”

Xiao Wu replied, “But the director kept praising how striking it was, saying it had a great atmosphere.”

Thin gauze curtains, a misty haze, bare shoulders, watery eyes.

Striking? More like borderline suggestive.

“It doesn’t fit Hua Fangfei’s character or image. All the others are fine, just not this one.”

Xiao Wu let out an “Oh,” his disappointment barely concealed, and moved to the side to edit the promotional text.

Chi Yue waited for the warmth of the hand cream to oxidize on her skin, her head bowed as her fingertips flicked back and forth across the stills. In the end, she kept returning to the bath scene photo.

Xiao Wu finished editing the text and sent it over. Just as he was about to ask for her opinion, he noticed Chi Yue’s actions.

Xiao Wu perked up. “Are you going to post this one? I can rewrite the text if you want.”

Post it?

Post it to her?

No, probably not.

Posting it would be weird, like I’m trying to seduce her.

But she still desperately wanted to send it to her.

She wanted to know how she would react to seeing this version of her.

She wanted to know if she dreamed—wet, sticky, unspeakable dreams that left her drenched in sweat upon waking, as if she’d been caught in a spring rain in her sleep, the places touched by the rain tingling and flushed—

Chi Yue had awakened in her both a physical and psychological longing for s3x.

She was trapped by this longing.

Chi Yue shook her head. “No, I won’t send it.”

Xiao Wu nodded.

Then Chi Yue asked, “Can I hug you?”

“Ah?” Xiao Wu froze, staring into her teary eyes, suddenly flustered. “Y-yes, you can…”

Chi Yue stood up and reached out to hug the young woman.

Two seconds later, she released her, her gaze now clear.

She smiled at Xiao Wu. “Okay, thank you.”

So quickly?

No, wait. Xiao Wu pressed down on her racing heart, taking a long moment to dare observe Chi Yue’s expression in the mirror before asking, “Teacher Chi, are you… are you alright? Are you tired?”

Chi Yue shook her head. “I’m fine.”

She lowered her eyes to the draft on her phone. “Just send the version you edited.”

“Alright,” Xiao Wu replied, turning away but unable to resist glancing back at her.

Look what she’s done to me, he thought.

Qi You was staring at the number 71.

The label on the glass container had faded. Inside were perfectly sectioned slices of a human brain, its bl00d vessels and medulla swollen and saturated with formalin.

“This has been fixed,” Qi You explained. “Fresh brains are actually very soft and pliable. If you put one on a table, it would collapse and spread out.”

“Like a water-filled balloon,” Qi You added.

Pei Man raised an eyebrow and turned to look at her.

After leaving the cold storage room, they walked down the long corridor of the laboratory to the sink, where they removed their gloves.

The gloves were made of nitrile and latex, fitting tightly against the skin and feeling restrictive. When they were removed, fine wrinkles were imprinted on their hands from the knuckles to the wrists.

Pei Man glanced at Qi You’s practiced handwashing technique. “I swear, I can’t tell how old you are. Your movements are more professional than those of my own students.”

Qi You remained noncommittal.

“Qi You, be honest,” Pei Man pressed. “Is there some underground organization behind you, pulling the strings? All this data couldn’t have appeared out of thin air, right?”

“Maybe,” Qi You replied.

Pei Man chuckled twice before continuing, “If my hideout gets raided someday, you’ll have to save me.”

Qi You didn’t respond immediately. She meticulously washed her hands, then dried each finger with a paper towel before finally looking up at Pei Man.

“Madam Pei, I hope this is the last time we probe each other about the source of our research data. Is that acceptable?”

The smile on Pei Man’s face faltered briefly, but she quickly regained her composure. “Of course.”

Qi You turned and pushed open the glass partition.

In the small reception area outside the corridor, Assistant Shen had just finished reviewing the documents. Noticing the two women emerging, he quickly stood up.

“President Qi, the contract has been verified.”

Qi You nodded without asking for details. She picked up a pen from the pen holder on the table, flipped to the last page of the document, and signed her name: Qi You.

Three copies were made. Qi You pushed the documents across the table to Pei Man.

Pei Man stared at them for a few seconds.

Even after making her decision, she hesitated at the last moment. Something strange is afoot, she thought. Moreover, Qi You herself radiated an unsettling aura.

But it was only a few seconds. After those fleeting moments, her intense curiosity as a researcher about the fundamental research she had conducted ultimately led her to surrender.

She signed her name on the final page, then extended her hand to Qi You, smiling. “Wishing us a pleasant first collaboration.”

Of course, it wasn’t their first.

Anyone facing Qi You’s situation would likely struggle to accept the anomalies in their mind. For a long time, Pei Man had willingly devoted her energy to researching brain consciousness.

Her repeated rebirths had made acquiring money and resources easy; the only limitation was time.

Scientific research requires time to develop. Even with iterative data refinement and continuous improvement of her team and talent pool, she couldn’t achieve a qualitative leap in technology within a short timeframe.

Later, her mental state began to deteriorate. Each time she awoke, simply maintaining basic rationality consumed all her energy.

Nevertheless, Qi You still shook hands with Pei Man.

“Pleasant collaboration.”

By the time they emerged from the laboratory, the daylight had faded. Assistant Shen opened the car door for her, and a chauffeur sat in the driver’s seat.

Zheng Qing had always maintained a scrutinizing interest in Qi You’s life, her instincts sharp and her demeanor cool. When Qi You first started working at the media company, Zheng Qing had merely nodded in acknowledgment, almost indifferent. But the moment Qi You showed any inclination toward collaborating with Pei Man, Zheng Qing immediately dispatched her own team.

Qi You felt nothing toward Zheng Qing’s pragmatic moves—she simply accepted the personnel and the money.

The business car smoothly pulled away.

As Assistant Shen gave his report, Qi You glanced at her constantly vibrating phone.

The red notification number in the message box kept climbing due to Zhou Wei’s relentless barrage of messages. Qi You took one look and retreated, tapping on the fourth chat interface.

5:11 PM

“Chi Yue” recalled a message

“Chi Yue” recalled a message

“Chi Yue” recalled a message

What did she recall?