“Huanhuan, why are you walking so fast?”
Yi Ling had to run to keep up. This was the first time she had seen Yan Huan walk so quickly—and in high heels, too.
As soon as they entered their apartment, Yan Huan set Little Bean down. They had requested for a room cleaning service to clean up their apartment while they were away to save time: their schedule was extremely tight, and they would have had to give up their precious sleep just to dust off their furniture otherwise. Yan Huan had previously suffered through those miserable, sleepless days, and her experience had taught her what to do to make the most of her time, and get a good night’s sleep.
Yi Ling flopped onto the sofa. “Huanhuan, what are we having for dinner?” She rubbed her stomach. “I’m starving.”
“What do you feel like eating?” Yan Huan had picked up Little Bean again and was now using the cat’s tiny paw to bat at Yi Ling’s head. She was feeling a little hungry, but she was nowhere near “starving,” as Yi Ling had put it.
“I want to eat the lunch boxes they give out on the set,” said Yi Ling. It was a ridiculous request.
Yan Huan: “…”
That evening, Yan Huan put on a hat, a scarf, and a pair of non-prescription glasses. She wrapped herself securely in the scarf, making sure that the lower half of her face was obscured.
“You still look drop-dead gorgeous, you know.” Yi Ling pinched Yan Huan’s cheek. “You only have your mother to blame—it’s her fault you turned out so pretty!”
Yan Huan blinked. She was sure that her disguise was good enough.
She did not know exactly how popular she was now, but she had put on a disguise anyway. It was better to be safe than sorry.
“We’ll be going now.” Yi Ling patted Little Bean on her tiny head. Little Bean looked up at Yi Ling, and then went back to sleep in her cat nest.
Yi Ling grabbed Little Bean’s fleshy paws and rubbed them. Finally satisfied, she went out with Yan Huan to get dinner.
They stepped outside into a biting wind. It was very cold.
Yan Huan breathed into her hands to warm them. She wondered where all the time had gone. It had been spring. Before her 20th birthday, when she had first awakened to her second chance in life. Now, it was already winter, and her 20th birthday had come and gone. She was going to be 21 next.
She adjusted her scarf again, and followed behind Yi Ling on their quest to find something to eat.
“Let’s eat here.” Yan Huan pointed at a restaurant: it was a dumpling shop that was somewhat famous in the neighborhood. The restaurant was popular because they were generous with the dumpling fillings: the meat used for the dumplings were juicy without being greasy, and lean without being dry. They were also very pretty to look at.
The restaurant was one of the more expensive joints because of their emphasis on quality, but Yan Huan did not mind. She was not particularly hungry and would not be eating much, anyway.
Yi Ling ordered two plates of dumplings: one meat, and one vegetarian. As the two women waited to be served, Yi Ling whipped out her phone and began browsing Yan Huan’s Weibo for the umpteenth time. She had to check in constantly; it was a habit that was now deeply ingrained in her.
The follower count had increased again. Yi Ling was now staring at her phone with a gaze so intense she looked as though she were about to shoot lasers from her eyes. The follower count had increased without fail every time she checked the Weibo; in fact, the counter was rolling at a frightening pace.
Yan Huan did not look at her phone. She tried to keep her phone-browsing time to a minimum as she was afraid that it would affect her eyesight; it would be extremely inconvenient for her if she ended up having to wear prescription glasses or contact lenses. She propped her elbows on the table and closed her eyes to rest them. Suddenly, she heard the diners at the table next to her begin to chatter excitedly.
“Are you all watching Journey to Fairyland?” Several young ladies had started an animated discussion on the show. Yan Huan thought of them as “young ladies” without realizing that she was also supposed to be a young lady herself. In fact, she could walk into a college campus and fit right in. Inside, however, she was nearly 30, almost ten years older than her outward appearance. Mentally and spiritually, she was much, much older than the group of young girls chattering beside her.
