She took another step forward, but turned suddenly to hide behind a corner when she spotted two men walking towards her. One of them was a loud, roguish-looking man with spiky, porcupine hair; the other was stoic and taciturn. The quiet man had a frigid, no-nonsense demeanor, his attitude was so frosty he seemed to carry a personal snow storm with him.
Suddenly, the quiet, icy man stopped in his tracks.
“What’s up, Prosecutor Lu? Miss your hospital room already? I can always stab you with a knife and have you admitted again, you know.” Lei Qingyi crossed his arms, his face split into a wide grin as he ruthlessly made fun of Lu Yi. He had been teasing Lu Yi ever since the day he had been admitted into the hospital, the day he had almost died in the operating room. He could not resist cracking jokes at Lu Yi’s expense. He had seen Lu Yi’s skills firsthand during their time in the army together, and he knew it was completely absurd for Lu Yi to almost die from a knife stabbing of all things.He was never going to let Lu Yi live it down.
Lu Yi was now looking in Yan Huan’s direction, but she had plastered herself against the wall, out of sight. The palms of her hands were slick with nervous sweat.
“C’mon, let’s go.” Lei Qingyi touched his spiky hair. He was proud of his hair; it was, in his opinion, extremely stylish. He did not have to apply any hair products; each individual strand of hair stood upright on its own.
“Yeah.” Lu Yi finally looked away and followed Lei Qingyi out of the hospital with long, confident strides. He was neither frail nor ghastly pale; in fact, he seemed perfectly healthy. He did not look at all like someone who had just recovered from a serious injury.
The speed of his recovery was almost as scary as his frosty, no-nonsense personality.
It was hard to believe he was human like everyone else. Lei Qingyi would have believed it if someone came up to him now and told him Lu Yi was actually a mutant.
Yan Huan waited until they had gone a safe distance before emerging from her hiding place behind the corner. She touched the bruise on her arm; it seemed to throb faintly.
She walked out of the hospital with a relieved smile on her lips.
Yup, she thought to herself, a celebration is definitely in order. We’ll celebrate moving to a new apartment, a new home.
She went to the market and bought fish and vegetables. When she returned to her new apartment, she saw that Yi Ling had woken up and was now playing with Little Bean, idly squeezing the kitten’s fleshy paws. Woman and cat seemed to be enjoying themselves.
Yi Ling’s eyes lit up when she saw Yan Huan. Food!
Little Bean’s eyes lit up when she saw her owner. Food!.
Yan Huan lifted the fish in her hand, her eyes twinkling merrily. Yes, food!
That evening, the two women and their cat gorged themselves on a hearty dinner. Afterwards, Yi Ling held Little Bean in her lap as she watched TV. Yan Huan went into her room to study her script. That was the good thing about their new place: she could now study her scripts in peace because the walls were soundproof, and they had very few neighbors. In fact, the entire building was largely unoccupied. It was perhaps a little too quiet for most people, but this was exactly what Yan Huan wanted.
She knew from experience that once she became famous, her life would never be peaceful or quiet again.
The company had not yet assigned new jobs to her because she was still in the middle of shooting Love and Tribulations.
“Are you ready?” Yi Ling poked her head through the doorway.
“Yup.” Yan Huan rubbed her arm; she had covered the bruise with makeup. Just to be safe, she put on a long-sleeved blouse. She would have to change out of it at the set, but there was no point worrying about that now. She was confident she would find a way to keep her bruise hidden.
She made sure to arrive at the set early, as one of the scenes they would be shooting that day was hers. Her role, Hong Yao, did not have many lines; instead, she would have to express herself through her expression and body language. Hong Yao was the hardest character to pull off in the entire show, which was why Jin Hailiang, the director, had insisted on personally choosing the actress for the role. So far, Yan Huan had nailed it: her take on Hong Yao was extremely realistic and fascinating. Perhaps a different actress would be able to top her interpretation of the character in the future, but then again, maybe not. Yan Huan hadn’t heard of any plans to remake Love and Tribulations in her previous life.
