Whoever Falls in Love First is the Dog - Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Miss Chen, Would You Be Willing to Deliver in Person?

When Chen Yanxing saw the message, her hands paused.

“What’s wrong?” Ren Zhou asked, noticing her sudden stillness.

Chen Yanxing snapped back to reality, shook her head, and quickly typed three words on the keyboard:

Party A – Little Taoist: “No rush.”

Ren Zhou leaned against the sofa, looked up at Chen Yanxing who had barged into her office, taken over her chair, and was flipping through her documents. “So you just ran off like that? Didn’t even have a place to stay?”

“Nope,” Chen Yanxing said.

“Your mom doesn’t care? And Chen Yanqing doesn’t either?”

“She wants to care, but she can’t.”

Meanwhile, Shen Mengke frowned as she read Chen Yanxing’s reply.

No rush? She’s a stunner like that and I’m not worth rushing for? If it’s not urgent, why was the contract drawn up the same afternoon we parted ways?

She assumed the other party was playing hard to get and typed:

“I trust Miss Chen’s professionalism, there’s no need to set traps in the contract. It only takes a minute to sign.”

“I’m currently on set and don’t have a lot of free time. Would Miss Chen be willing to deliver the goods personally?”

Ren Zhou continued, “So what’s your plan? Confess to your mom?”

Chen Yanxing looked up, frowning slightly, her expression tinged with bitterness. She asked Ren Zhou seriously, “Are you insane?”

Ren Zhou laughed. “Then what are you going to do? If you don’t tell her, you can’t even go home—”

She stopped mid-sentence, realizing what Chen Yanxing meant. “Then what do you want to do?”

Chen Yanxing let out a cold chuckle. “You think confessing will fix things? My mother’s appetite is never small—be careful or she’ll swallow your share too.”

She stood up and walked toward the door. “I’ll do things the same way as always. When did you become so naggy?”

Ren Zhou laughed in disbelief. “I’m naggy? I’m doing this for your own good! Hey, where are you going?”

“To find an apartment.”

“Du Junyi’s birthday is today—she invited us over. Are you coming?”

Chen Yanxing didn’t reply and just walked out.

Ren Zhou smirked and replied in the group chat: “She’s coming.”

…

Shen Mengke waited and waited but didn’t get another message from Chen Yanxing. She clicked her tongue in annoyance. Did I come on too strong and scare her off?

Jiang Ranran had finished talking with Director Qing and was heading toward the makeup room. Shen Mengke looked up at the sky—it had just rained, leaving the atmosphere gloomy. The crew was setting up rain equipment for the next scene, which needed rain effects.

Summers in Jiangcheng were rainy. Maybe Director Qing chose to shoot during this season because of that.

The set gradually got back into rhythm. Shen Mengke handed her phone to her assistant Xiao He.

Just then, the phone lit up:

Party A – Little Taoist: “Alright. Give me the address.”

Xiao He glanced at the screen. Seeing that it was marked as “Party A,” she was about to call Shen Mengke, but stopped when she saw she was already immersed in her role.

For someone like Shen Mengke, acting was more important than anything. Once she was in character, interruptions from anyone—no matter how important—would make her angry.

Even her manager Fan Shi had once gotten scolded for disturbing her during a shoot.

…

The wind and rain had forced open a window, but it was now closed again. The cold was shut out. Shen Mengke gradually warmed up and stopped trembling.

Perhaps it hadn’t been the cold making her shake.

Inside the dimly lit room, candlelight flickered. Shen Mengke looked at the figure in black squatting in front of her, extending a hand.

She slowly reached out—but instead of his hand, she reached for the mask.

Bit by bit, the terrifying mask was removed, revealing a delicate face.

The man beneath it was smiling—a gentle smile—but the look in his eyes as he gazed at Shen Mengke was full of amusement and scrutiny, like someone playing with a small animal.

Shen Mengke frowned. She had seen that look too many times, but still she let Xu Shineian pull her up.

“How did you recognize me?” he asked curiously, now sitting opposite her.

“I saw you in the main hall earlier,” she replied softly, “You have a very distinct scent. You had it just now, too.”

“It smells really nice—I’ve never smelled anything like it in Jiuli, so I remembered it.”

Xu Shineian paused for a moment, then smiled. “It’s a special fragrance from the Shen Kingdom. It’s called Xue Yu Xiang (Snow Jade Scent). I’m not the only one in the palace who uses it. If you like it, I’ll send some to you tomorrow.”

Shen Mengke lowered her eyes and nodded. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

“Yes, the envoy from the Jiuli Kingdom is indeed arriving tomorrow,” Xu Shineian said as he reached to lift her sleeve to check her injuries.

But Shen Mengke quickly grabbed his wrist, pulling the sleeve back down and stopping him.

Lowering her gaze, she said quietly, “So, is Your Majesty here tonight only because the Jiuli envoy arrives tomorrow?”

Her eyes flicked to the mask now sitting off to the side. “And… in this way?”

She gave a mocking smile, her eyes full of tears. “You needn’t worry. If I was sent here for marriage, it means I was the most useless one in Jiuli. My only value was to be a bargaining chip.”

Xu Shineian froze, momentarily at a loss for words.

“I’m not like my eldest sister who can debate in court. I’m not like the others who can manage businesses or go to war. I can’t even play an instrument or dance…”

“Your Majesty doesn’t want to touch me—and I’m fine with that. Let’s just stay out of each other’s way. Let me live out my days here. I don’t want to see the envoy tomorrow either.”

Throughout her speech, Shen Mengke was smiling, but her eyes kept filling with tears. They blurred her vision, but she stubbornly kept her head raised, unwilling to let them fall.

So very proud.

Xu Shineian’s heart trembled. Yet he still spoke with a lowered voice: “You have to meet the Jiuli envoy. You know how chaotic Shen Kingdom is right now. If you don’t, Jiuli might use it as an excuse to cause trouble. We can’t afford a war.”

Shen Mengke paused. Her eyes reflected a bitter pain.

“Even if the envoy weren’t coming, I would still have come to see you tonight,” Xu Shineian added. “This is for your own good.”

Shen Mengke nodded with a faint smile. “That’s what they said too, when they told me I’d be marrying for peace.”

…

In that moment, both Lin Shutang—the character—and Shen Mengke—the actress—felt an ache in their hearts.

More and more tears gathered, finally slipping past her lashes and falling one by one.

She clenched her lips tightly, her pride written all over her face. But she couldn’t stop the tears from flowing.

At last, she lowered her head. The tears fell onto her hands.

The camera slowly panned from her tightly clenched skirt to her tear-filled eyes. Her long lashes were covered in glittering drops of water—like a butterfly fluttering its wings after the rain.

Candlelight cast shadows on her face, hiding the sorrow in her eyes…

“Cut! Good!”

Director Qing’s voice echoed, followed by thunderous applause—even Xu Shineian clapped for her.

Tears still in her eyes, Shen Mengke smiled shyly, but the ache in her heart remained.

“Ke Ke, this is for your own good.”

Her mother had said the same thing—when she abandoned her.