White Lotus 25.2
25 | Twenty-five Roses (2)
The day after the ball, Tang You moved from Xiao Zexing’s place to Meng Yunqiu’s place, a hundred meters away.
The travel-worn Jiang Chenting came over to help her with the move.
Work didn’t seem to be going well. Seeing Jiang Chenting’s gloomy look, Tang You couldn’t resist asking, “Did you encounter something troublesome?”
“It’s fine, I can resolve them.”
Jiang Chenting smiled and reached out, wanting and touch Tang You’s head.
Before he touched it, Tang You avoided it reflexively and looked at him blankly. “What’s wrong, Brother?”
Jiang Chenting’s hand stopped stiffly in mid-air.
“Nothing.” Jiang Chenting withdrew his hand and spoke as if nothing had happened, “There’s a leaf in my hair.”
“Really?”
Tang You immediately put down the doll in her hand carefully and reached out to touch her hair.
It was empty; there was nothing there.
Jiang Shenting gave a light cough and said in a slightly unnatural manner, “When you lowered your head just now, the leaf fell off.”
Tang You smiled, “Thank you for telling me, Brother.”
Jiang Chenting averted his gaze and didn’t meet her eyes.
Jiang Chenting did not follow Tang You to her new home.
Tang You was now living with Ms. Meng Yunqiu, who detested Jiang Tao so much that she also disliked Jiang Tao’s two children by association.
Jiang Chenting had an extremely clear understanding of his status.
Now that she had moved into a new house, Tang You’s life had not changed much compared to before.
——No, there was one change.
Occasionally, when Tang You woke up early, she would somehow always meet Xiao Zexing who was bringing Tang Huhu back.
Tang Huhu was now very close to Xiao Zexing; his tail is wagged even more happily than when he saw her.
Tang You couldn’t help feeling a little jealous, but when she thought about how the object of jealousy was Second Uncle, she let it go.
She was no match for Xiao Zexing.
Sometimes, when Meng Yunqiu had no plans, she would ask Xiao Zexing to stay and have breakfast together. Xiao Zexing never came empty-handed, and would even bring all sorts of snacks for Tang You.
Tang You squeezed the packaging with the words of some unknown country printed on it; she was full of curiosity, “What is this?”
“It’s a soft candy made of chamomile and lemon juice.” Xiao Zexing smiled. “Try it.”
When she heard the flavour, she was initially unwilling to.
Unable to hold back her curiosity, Tang You opened the packaging and tentatively ate one.
Super super super yummy!
It was so good that Tang You wanted to scream.
The next day, Xiao Zexing brought black truffle chocolates made in France and hazelnut sandwich cookies.
Tang You didn’t have much of a sweet tooth, but she couldn’t resist the temptation and ate them all.
She ate the chocolates happily, and inadvertently caught a glimpse of Xiao Zexing with his hand on his forehead, looking at her with a smile.
That look——
It was like he wanted to take a bite out of her.
Tang You was struck by a sudden realisation.
She carefully broke off a piece and brought it to Xiao Zexing’s lips. “Second Uncle, do you want to eat it too?”
Xiao Zexing shook his head and smiled. “I prefer to watch you eat.”
After receiving the reply that he wouldn’t snatch her food or bite her, Tang You felt relieved.
Tang You, who was immersed in the delicacies, did not notice the dangerous look in Xiao Zexing’s gaze.
——It was like a big bad wolf who had collected a large volume of grass to feed the bunny, and was waiting for the bunny to become white and plump before eating her all up in one bite.
——Or maybe he first feeding the fat and tender little bunny until she grew familiar with him. When she felt at ease enough to act spoilt to him, and follow him obediently, he would then bully her to tears at his leisure, keep her by his side to savour and pamper her.
……
After receiving snacks for three consecutive days, Tang You couldn’t resist waking up early for Xiao Zexing’s snacks, secretly wondering what sorts of things he would bring over that day.
In the past, Xiao Zexing = Second Uncle.
Now, Xiao Zexing = Second Uncle = yummy things!
Unfortunately, after only five days of feeding, Xiao Zexing had to leave the country temporarily because of work.
Before he left, Tang Huhu bit his trouser leg, reluctant to part. He wailed for a long time, and even his big tail seemed to be less fluffy.
Tang You also temporarily lost the motivation to get up early due to the lack of “surprise” snacks.
But one incident rekindled her fighting spirit with her work.
The more popular one was, the more controversies there would be. There was a Weibo account that steadily posted defamatory material about Yuko, called “Skinning Yuko Station”.
Every time Tang You posted a new photo or a new activity, the latter would criticise her wantonly on that account.
Defamatory pictures would be posted, or a detail about her post would be picked on and criticised without restraint.
The account criticised Yuko for trying to win affection by not showing her face, and criticised her for pretending to be rich, fair, and beautiful
Any sentence could be twisted and misinterpreted in the attempt to add another charge to her.
When she first started to become famous, it took a long time for Tang You to successfully convince herself to not be bothered by the likes of them.
However, she was now able to successfully treat such trolls as a joke.
But in the past few days, this skinning station had started reposting another blogger’s photos frequently and making a big deal out of it——
o Skinning Station: This is the real natural beauty, so much better than that Yuko, that demon face and demon figure // Song Yu Yusun
The familiar name of the blogger attracted Tang You to click on the post. When she expanded the image, she realised that it was indeed the same Song Yu she knew of.
However, most of her photos were taken outdoors, or on the streets.
Her style was very different from Yuko’s; the only similarities were her long legs and slender waist. But for some reason, many marketing accounts were scrambling to compare the two.
Not revealing her face is a silent admission to being a toad. Anyway, Miss Song Yu smiles really beautifully~ Did anyone see Song Yu’s background exposé? She’s an honest to goodness heiress, probably just trying to gain popularity, right? Even her English name is similar to Yuko’s.
……
Marketing accounts always like to step on one while raising up the other, or deliberately cause a quarrel between two fandoms. As expected, the comment area below was already in utter chaos.
They were not afraid of being scolded at all; they were afraid of having no one to scold.
Tang You massaged her temples, pushing these chaotic thoughts out of her mind and turned off her phone.
The car came to a stop. The road was lined on both sides with tall and thick sycamore trees; sunlight was pouring down.
The driver called out to her smilingly, “Miss Tang, we’ve arrived.”
She took her bag and thanked him with a smile.
The hotel bellboy came out quickly and helped her with the suitcase.
Just the day before, a certain lite luxury brand, s&c, threw her an olive branch and invited Tang You to shoot their promotional videos and posters for the Chinese market.
s&c originated in France. It was originally a niche brand and wasn’t well-known in China. But in recent years, their designs had been quite brilliant, and have been popularised by a few prominent influencers. In turn, their renown within the country had also increased by quite a lot. They were now planning to enter the domestic market, and had invited people to come to shoot the commercials before officially setting up the physical stores.
It so happened that the previous brand she had worked with, which had been cooperating with her for a long time, recommended Tang You.
s&c offered a sizeable remuneration. What was unexpected was that they had also agreed to Tang You’s request of not revealing her face——
And would even specially make a mask that matches the clothes for her to cover the upper half of her face.
Tang You was initially hesitant to take on the job, but when she heard that the other party was also considering engaging Song Yu, she immediately agreed to it without hesitation.
Tang You also learned of interesting: the models and photographers on s&c’s waiting list all had small waists and long legs.
It seems like the s&c executives loved slender waists and long legs.
The s&c staff had been waiting at the hotel for a long time. He took the initiative to welcome her and shake her hand, with unconcealable astonishment in his eyes. “Miss Yuko? You are more beautiful than I thought.”
Tang You accepted his compliment with a smile, “Thank you, Mr. Wang. You are also much younger and more handsome than in the photo.”
Mr. Wang went to the front desk, said a few words to someone, and handed her a room card. “I see that you don’t look well. The shoot will only start the day after tomorrow, why don’t you have a good rest tonight.”
This was exactly what Tang You wanted.
Tang You had stayed up late the night before to write her thesis proposal, and she was so sleepy that she couldn’t even open her eyes. She hadn’t rested well on the plane, and with the jet lag, she was so tired that she just wanted to have a good sleep right now.
She smiled and said goodbye to Mr. Wang, took her room card and stepped into the elevator.
Just at the moment when the elevator doors were about to close, Tang You could clearly see through the slit that the smile on Mr. Wang’s face had disappeared without a trace.
The expression that replaced it contained a little pity, and a little… sympathy?
Tang You shook her head.
She was probably too tired.
To her surprise, the other party had actually booked a presidential suite for her for the first day of her stay.
Sure enough, he who has wealth speaks louder than others
Tang You first sent a message to her grandmother to tell her that she had gotten here safely. Then, she took off her clothes one by one and piled them casually on the bay window in one corner, pulled open the shower curtain, and got into the bathtub for a soak.
Although there was also a shower, but the current Tang You did not want to stand.
This was the extent of her laziness—if she could sit, she would never stand, and if she could lie down, she would never sit.
Soaking in the tub dazedly, Tang You almost fell asleep halfway through.
The water had already turned cool. Tang You opened her eyes, and was just planning to get out of the bathtub when she heard the sound of the door opening.
The sound was so clear that it sounded like the bedroom door.
Could it be room service?
Tang You jolted and almost sat up.
She was worried about the steam getting her clothes wet, so she didn’t bring any of them in; now she didn’t have any clothes to hide her body with. The bathtub was only so big, and wasn’t very deep either—she couldn’t hide herself well at all.
She desperately gathered the bubbles, attempting to bury herself in a large swath of bubbles.
Sitting amidst the bubbles, the sound of footsteps in her ears became clearer and clearer.
Her heartbeat also sped up rapidly.
Through the gap under the shower curtain, Tang You saw with utmost clarity, a pair of men’s leather shoes, and a pair of perfectly ironed trouser legs.
It wasn’t room service.
Could it be that the front desk gave out the wrong room card? No, no, no, could it be that they gave her the wrong room?
It couldn’t be that too.
In any case, there shouldn’t be the appearance of a man in this place.
Tang You held her breath, watching the man stay for just a brief moment before leaving again in the direction of the door.
She breathed a soft sigh of relief.
In any case, she would be able to come out after he leaves.
However, the man outside obviously still sensed that there was something wrong. He turned around and headed her way.
Tang You suddenly remembered.
Her clothes! She had thrown them on the bay window outside ahhhhhhhhhh!
The shoes reversed direction and came straight this way.
With a trembling voice, Tang You decided to make a pre-emptive strike, “Who’s there?”
The shoes stopped in front of the shower curtain.
She had been so close.
She heard Xiao Zexing’s voice, which was slightly confused: “Youyou?”
!!!
Why was Second Uncle here?
Luckily, it was him!
Tang You suddenly felt like she had just barely managed to escape from death. Her eyes lit up and she couldn’t help but call out to him, “Second Uncle! It’s me, don’t come in yet——”
The next moment, the man opened the shower curtain and came in with big strides.
He had taken off his jacket. His shirt was messy and his tie was crooked; he cast his eyes down at her from his great height.
Realising her current situation, Tang You couldn’t help but hug her knees and shrink into herself.
She was trying to bury herself in the bubbles.
She was very embarrassed. “Second Uncle, can you help bring my clothes in first?”
Xiao Zexing did not respond, still standing quietly at the same place.
Tang You felt that his gaze at this moment was not too good.
The bubble bath soap provided by the hotel was sweetly fragrant, with a touch of bewitching quality. The ending note was like plum candy, which nicely neutralized the childishness of the milk scent.
Like a tender bud, blooming little by little.
Her beauty was not just a slender waist.
Snow-white skin, black hair, red lips, almond eyes.
Dimples at the back of her waist, shoulder blades.
Slim and long limbs, small hands and feet.
As well as the confused expression right now, unaware of how beguiling she was.
No matter which aspect it was, it all made him want to pull her out and hold her in his arms. All of them combined made up a sweet and quick-witted Tang You.
Tang You had no inkling of how delicious she looked right now.
After so many times, she now had incomparable trust in Xiao Zexing.
Tang You believed that Second Uncle would help her get her clothes.
Just like he would help her before.
Completely unguarded, Tang You reminded him, thinking that he hadn’t heard her clearly just now, “Second Uncle?”
Xiao Zexing’s Adam’s apple bobbed.
His fingers clenched.
He said hoarsely, “Didn’t I ask you to change how you address me?”
Tang You was dumbfounded, “Huh?”
Xiao Zexing took a step forward and looked down at her. “You keep calling me Second Uncle, you’re making me old.”
Tang You was stunned.
But… he was an elder after all, it would be too disrespectful to call him by name.
She realised that Xiao Zexing had been drinking.
A faint smell of alcohol, a cool, cedar scent; sweetly fragrant plum candy, and child-like milk.
Mixed together, even the atmosphere seemed to be stained with some ambiguous suggestiveness.
Xiao Zexing was undoing his tie, but his eyes did not leave her for even half a second. “Call me by my name.”
His eyes narrowed slightly, and the dimple in his cheek had disappeared without a trace.
Like a hungry wolf staring at its prey with great precision.
Tang You was frightened by his current expression. “……Zexing.”
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh it feels so strange!
Tang You was used to being well-behaved and docile in front of her elders. Although due to a strange combination of circumstances, she now dared to show her claws in front of Xiao Zexing, it did not mean that she would disrespect him.
No matter what, his seniority was higher than hers, and he had always been helping her.
If she called him by name directly, it would be as if she not only disrespected her elder but also bullying this elder by pressing him ruthlessly to the ground.
Although it now appears that the person being bullied seemed to be her.
Xiao Zexing looked down at her, seemingly without the slightest intention to go out. He smiled, “So perfunctorily?”
The Second Uncle when he was drunk was really too mean.
Why was he forcing her to do such a treacherous thing?
It’s just that one had no choice but to bow one’s head when one was in a disadvantageous situation.
Tang You soaked in the cold water, blushed, and hugged herself tightly. “Zexing… you can hand me the clothes now, right?”
Xiao Zexing neither agreed nor disagreed. He took off his tie, casually tossed it aside, bent down, and cupped her cheek.
A touch that was soft, yet true.
It was not an absurd dream in which he could recklessly do whatever he wished.
Xiao Zexing gave a low laugh. “Good Youyou, try calling me Brother.”
“Call me Brother, and I’ll bring them to you.”
——————————————————————————————————————————————
The author has something to say:
A small scene:
During the waltz, Tang You naively thought that Xiao Zexing and she were just not compatible in height.
Xiao Zexing smiled. “How will we know if we don’t try?”
Later, Tang You thought that it wasn’t just their heights that were incompatible, but also…
Xiao Zexing hugged her gently, “How will we know if we don’t try?”
After “developing their feelings”——
Tang You cried tearily, “Don’t try anymore, it’s useless no matter how many times a day you try, it’s really not compatible…”
