The Person in His Heart
On the other end of the phone, Liu Qingyuan struggled to keep his emotions under control.
He drew a long, deep breath.
Liu Qianxiu lowered his eyes toward the rain-wet ground outside the window, where several stray cats were darting back and forth.
Then he ended the call.
Listening to the dial tone, Liu Qingyuan felt as though Liu Qianxiu had ground his pride into the mud beneath his heel.
His face darkened.
Behind his gold-rimmed glasses, his eyes were cold and shadowed, the whites showing sharply.
He paced back and forth across the office.
Finally, his jaw tightened.
Liu Qingyuan raised his hand and smashed his phone to the floor.
“Fuck!”
All his refinement and cultivated restraint vanished in an instant.
He could not tolerate Liu Qianxiu any longer.
Back at Mu Wan’s apartment, Liu Qianxiu slowly finished buttoning his shirt.
Then he walked to the sofa, picked up a book, and began his morning practice.
The night before had been intense.
Mu Wan had never felt this exhausted even after filming through the night.
Her body had been pushed to its limit, so once she fell asleep, she slept deeply and well.
Even so, at seven in the morning, Mu Wan opened her eyes.
A thin rain had begun outside again.
The air conditioner was still running, making the damp bedroom cool.
Mu Wan looked across the bed.
She was alone.
“Liu Qianxiu?”
By the time she had lost count the night before, Mu Wan had no strength left to control her voice.
Now her throat was dry and hoarse.
Even the way she called his name carried a faint, pitiful grievance.
Her voice was not loud.
But Liu Qianxiu still heard her through the bedroom door.
The door opened.
He walked in.
Mu Wan sat on the bed.
Her small face was bright and delicate.
A thin white blanket covered her body.
Thick black curls fell over her pale, slender shoulders.
Her collarbones were straight and fine.
Wrapped in white, she looked like some newly formed little immortal hidden inside the petals of a flower.
Liu Qianxiu walked over.
He gathered her into his arms and lowered his head to kiss her.
“Where did you go?”
Still half asleep, Mu Wan lazily returned the kiss.
Her soft body clung to him.
Her waist still ached faintly.
Thinking about the night before, her face heated again.
So this was what intimacy between a man and woman felt like.
No wonder couples became so absorbed in it once they started.
Liu Qianxiu, however, seemed different.
He could indulge himself for an entire night.
Then, once it was over, put everything away and return to being the same restrained Daoist Liu.
Untouched by the mortal world.
Almost otherworldly.
“Morning practice,” Liu Qianxiu said.
Of course.
Mu Wan smiled.
Her shoulders trembled slightly with the movement.
After everything had ended last night, Liu Qianxiu had cleaned her up.
She had fallen asleep without clothes, wrapped only in the white blanket.
Now, moving in his arms, the blanket slipped lower.
Mu Wan’s face reddened.
She immediately reached for it.
Her arm was pale and slender.
Liu Qianxiu’s gaze darkened.
He lifted her together with the blanket.
Wrapped securely again, Mu Wan laughed softly.
Her slender arms circled his neck.
She looked toward the living room as Liu Qianxiu carried her out and sat down on the sofa with her in his arms.
Books were spread across the table.
Still the same dry ancient texts.
Only a few lines on a page, yet carrying meanings far deeper than Mu Wan had patience for.
Liu Qianxiu enjoyed them.
Mu Wan could barely get through a paragraph.
The living room was cool too.
Under the blanket, Mu Wan wore nothing.
Bundled in white and tucked into Liu Qianxiu’s arms, she looked like a little snowball.
Liu Qianxiu calmly returned to his book.
Mu Wan let him hold her.
After a while, his warmth spread through her body.
She grew warm and comfortable, like a little furnace.
She shifted slightly against him.
Liu Qianxiu did not react.
Eventually, Mu Wan turned in his lap and raised her face.
She kissed him once.
Small.
Delicate.
Like a kitten opening its mouth for a tiny meow.
Her dark, clear eyes held fragments of starlight.
Only one kiss.
Careless on the surface.
Yet deliberately provocative.
Liu Qianxiu lowered his gaze.
His eyes were darker than before.
Under that gaze, Mu Wan’s bare shoulders flushed pink, like peaches just ripening on a branch.
Her throat moved.
Then she leaned up and kissed the corner of his mouth again.
She felt his body stiffen.
Yet he remained cool and restrained.
Like an enlightened immortal sitting alone before a solitary lamp.
He only watched her.
Apparently unmoved.
Mu Wan bit her lower lip.
Her lips were already red.
The place caught between her teeth paled slightly.
“Do you have anything to do this morning?”
Her voice was soft.
The corners of her eyes had already begun to redden.
Liu Qianxiu looked at her.
His voice was low, a trace of roughness hidden beneath it.
“No.”
Mu Wan smiled.
Like a flower opening.
Then she kissed him again.
Liu Qianxiu’s throat moved.
At last, the book in his hand was set aside.
He rested one hand against her shoulder.
His palm was dry and warm.
“Can you handle it?”
“Of course I can.”
Mu Wan wrapped her arms around him and leaned close to his ear.
Her voice dropped to a whisper.
“However much you give me, I can take it.”
A moment later, Mu Wan was pressed back against the sofa.
They lost themselves in each other for most of the day.
By the following morning, Liu Qianxiu returned to work.
Mu Wan went to the production base.
She had scenes to film today.
There were not many.
She should finish before Liu Qianxiu got off work.
Afterward, the two irresponsible parents planned to retrieve Zhouyi and the kittens from Xu Xingkong’s house.
Around the Beginning of Autumn, the lingering summer heat was fierce.
But Mu Wan’s shoot was comfortable enough.
Her new role had no outdoor scenes.
No action scenes.
Everything was filmed indoors.
She wore a cheap costume made from thin gauze, while wind machines and electric fans blew constantly through the room.
It was a cheaply produced web drama.
A few days earlier at Qingyuan Temple, Mu Wan had read the lighthearted comedic novel it was adapted from.
Since she had finished the book, she already knew the story.
When Li Nan asked which productions she wanted to try, this had been one of them.
Mu Wan played a senior palace maid.
Her character shared an ambiguous relationship with one of the imperial consorts.
The romance between the two women ran quietly beneath the main plot.
That hidden storyline was also one of the reasons the adaptation could only be made as a web drama.
Mu Wan’s role had neither too many nor too few scenes.
They were filmed in concentrated blocks, leaving her with plenty of downtime.
Whenever she had a break, she went to find Gao Mei and borrow another novel.
Gao Mei was filming a spy drama today in the Republican-era section of the production base.
Mu Wan was working in the palace section.
The two areas were adjacent.
Not far apart.
Mu Wan left the palace set and entered the long street of the Republican-era district.
Productions were filming everywhere.
Some actors wore winter clothing.
Others summer clothing.
All of them looked hot.
Mu Wan had played supporting roles for years.
She knew the production base almost by heart.
She turned easily into a narrow alley and headed toward one of the courtyard residences.
More than a dozen houses lined the alley.
Seven or eight were currently being used for filming.
But all the shoots were taking place inside.
The alley itself was empty.
So when someone appeared, Mu Wan naturally looked up.
Mu Qing.
She wore a high-slit qipao.
Her long hair was pinned up.
Lilies patterned the dress, giving her an elegant, almost pristine appearance.
Her figure was slender and graceful.
An assistant followed behind her.
The younger woman was shorter than Mu Qing and struggled to hold the parasol high enough.
Her own body remained exposed to the sun.
But she did not allow even a trace of sunlight to touch Mu Qing.
And just like that, the two women met in the narrow alley.
Mu Wan stood beneath the sun.
Her pale skin looked almost translucent.
She glanced over instinctively.
The moment she recognized Mu Qing, she withdrew her gaze.
Then continued walking as though she had seen a stranger.
Mu Wan was still wearing her costume.
Cheap gauze.
Rough workmanship.
It formed a sharp contrast with Mu Qing’s finely tailored qipao.
A trace of contempt flashed through Mu Qing’s eyes.
So Mu Wan was filming again.
But only this kind of third-rate web drama.
Cheap production.
An insignificant role.
Walking alone through the production base without even an assistant to hold an umbrella for her.
When Mu Wan had suddenly started receiving work again despite the Shen family’s pressure, Mu Qing had thought she had found some powerful backer.
Someone strong enough to suppress the Shen family and help Mu Wan rise.
Now, apparently, that supposed backer was nothing special.
And apparently did not value Mu Wan very much either.
The entertainment industry had no shortage of beautiful women.
A man could sleep with one, enjoy her for a while, and give her a better role.
If he found her dispensable, she received something small.
Countless women threw themselves into arrangements like that.
Trading their bodies.
Discarding their dignity.
“Weren’t you always so proud?”
Mu Qing’s tone was light.
“You’d rather be someone’s kept woman than come ask me for help.”
The words were ugly.
Yet Mu Qing still wore a faint smile.
She had changed enormously on the surface.
At least now, even while insulting someone, she could maintain an elegant expression.
Inside, however, very little had changed.
Her thoughts remained just as foul.
Standing beneath the parasol in her elegant Republican-era costume, she looked refined and expensive.
Mu Wan raised one brow.
Then smiled.
“So what if someone keeps me?”
She looked at Mu Qing.
“Aren’t we basically the same?”
Her smile deepened.
“Besides, the man keeping me is better than the one keeping you.”
She added lightly,
“At least all those roles you had taken away from me are back.”
Mu Wan’s mouth had always been merciless.
Even as a child, when her father was hitting her, she had still known exactly where to strike with words.
Straight at the weakest point.
A vein at Mu Qing’s temple twitched.
For a moment, she could not answer.
Only a cold smile remained.
Talking about being kept by someone out of nowhere.
Apparently, Mu Wan had failed to win by ordinary means and was now comforting herself with fantasies.
Mu Wan turned away.
Lifting the edge of her cheap gauze costume, she continued down the alley.
— To be continued in Part 2 —
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People like MQ is annoying (at least for me). And, if it can make such people to leave me alone, I don't mind to not reveal my real situation and let them feel superior. I really have little energy and time for life and I don't want to waste it for such things.
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