A Top-Tier Green Tea Actress Enters a Dating Reality Show - Chapter 59

Meng Ziqing knew this was a dream.

A very real dream.

The afternoon sun was warm, shining comfortably on her body, making it a perfect time for a nap.

In a daze, Meng Ziqing groaned and turned over in bed, opening her hazy eyes. The fog hadn’t completely cleared from her vision, making things somewhat blurry, but she could tell this wasn’t a hotel in Tibet.

In a flash of confusion, Meng Ziqing saw her surroundings darken for a moment, and both the room and her body were covered in red silk threads.

Blood-red threads, extremely fine and dense, hung down—soft yet tough—catching the light in small dots under the sun, densely filling her sight.

What did they look like? Like spider silk, crimson spider silk.

A massive spider web, like a cage, confining her in the center.

But the very next second, Meng Ziqing blinked, and the room returned to its quiet and comfortable state, as if the previous sight was just a hallucination caused by the “toxic mushroom effect” eye strain.

Where was this?

Meng Ziqing looked around and found the answer in her heart.

—This was her childhood home.

Unlike other children’s pink princess rooms, little Meng Ziqing’s room had bluer and lighter yellow. The child herself was also delicate, fond of wearing a puffy dress and playing in her home’s sunroom, much like a budding flower in early spring.

Of course, all of this ended abruptly after her parents’ car accident when she was fifteen.

Why was she dreaming of this place?

Meng Ziqing paused after rubbing her eyes.

She looked at her hands in surprise—they were plump and short, white and tender. There were even soft little dimples where the bones of her fingers and hand connected—

These were the hands of a child.

Meng Ziqing pinched her own face, not holding back. The pinch left a red mark, making her hiss in pain.

“Is the quality of dreams this realistic now?” Meng Ziqing complained while rubbing her face.

It was hard for an adult to suddenly revert to being a child. For instance, children need a lot of sleep, and the little duck clock in the bedroom just pointed to one.

One in the afternoon. It was still napping time.

Meng Ziqing yawned, shook her head, resisted the sleepiness, and climbed out of bed, walking over to the dressing table, which was now a distant childhood memory.

The little girl in the mirror looked about seven or eight years old, with a naturally lovable face and very fair skin, flushed from sleep. She had been practicing dance for two years.

Though still small, her posture was already beautiful, and her raven-black long hair draped lazily over her shoulders, making her look like a little swan.

Unlike other noisy children her age, her every movement possessed a unique sense of stillness.

As the elders would say, this child looked like someone who loved to read.

Though, in reality, Meng Ziqing never actually touched a book.

In terms of appearance, Meng Ziqing had enjoyed the advantages of her looks since childhood.

Meng Ziqing looked at the face in the mirror, which felt both very familiar and very strange.

Meng Ziqing leaned in, examining her face closely, and murmured, “As expected of me, I was pretty even as a child.”

But why did she suddenly dream of this place?

Meng Ziqing still didn’t understand.

You dream of what you think of during the day.

She never thought about the past, nor did she ever have dreams about it.

“Qingqing, why are you awake so early?”

Just as Meng Ziqing was sitting at the dressing table thinking, a knock followed immediately by the sound of the door opening echoed through the room.

Meng Ziqing’s body stiffened at the sound of the woman’s voice behind her, and she didn’t turn around.

Does this dream have to be this real?!

Meng Ziqing’s heart was rattled by the address “Qingqing.”

When someone who had been dead for nearly ten years suddenly reappeared, Meng Ziqing felt a rush of panic and sore eyes.

“Qingqing?”

The woman behind her walked closer. She wasn’t angry that Meng Ziqing hadn’t answered; she was just a little concerned that her daughter had suddenly woken up instead of sleeping well.

The woman picked up Meng Ziqing. Though she didn’t want to face the situation and wanted to stick her head in the sand, she still met those eyes.

Just as she remembered, it was a very young face, well-maintained. A happy family, a successful career, no worries—time had left no trace on this face that loved to smile.

Not even until her death.

“Ms. Song, I can’t sleep anymore.” Meng Ziqing’s nose felt sore, and her voice was muffled. Her reason was very direct.

She hugged Song Xian’s neck and buried her head, her action as natural as any lazy, still sleepy child.

Meng Ziqing was grateful, grateful that she used to pretend to be mature as a child, calling her father “Mr. Meng” and her mother “Ms. Song.”

She was holding back her tears right now.

“Oh—so you couldn’t sleep.” Song Xian breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly, she thought of something and said gently, “Since you can’t sleep, would Qingqing like to help Mommy with something?”

Meng Ziqing looked up, “What help?”

Song Xian slowly explained to Meng Ziqing, “Do you remember the uncle we had dinner with half a month ago, the one with the very pretty blue eyes? He has now moved in next door to us.”

“Hmm? What about him?”

Meng Ziqing’s eyes flickered slightly when she heard “blue eyes.”

“He has a daughter, a few years older than Qingqing. This uncle is a very capable person, and some people really dislike him. Last week, he wasn’t able to protect his wife and daughter.”

Song Xian sighed, realizing this wasn’t a topic to discuss too much with a child.

“When the uncle went to rescue them, he was only able to bring the older sister back.”

She summarized the matter. “Now, that older sister has lost her mother and locks herself in her room every day. She’s very pitiful.”

“The sister doesn’t have many friends. The uncle told Mommy a few days ago that we could bring Qingqing over to see her sometime.”

“Qingqing isn’t sleepy now. Do you want to go and invite the sister to play in our sunroom?” Song Xian asked tentatively.

Meng Ziqing fell into her own thoughts, blinking without speaking.

She was wondering if this scene really happened in her childhood.

Children start forming memories from two or three years old. It was impossible for her not to remember things from when she was seven or eight.

She might forget, but when the scene reappeared, she should have remembered it.

Yet she didn’t now. Although the feeling was very familiar, the memory of this specific event seemed to have been manually dug out by someone.

Clean, without a single trace remaining.

Odd…

“Qingqing, if you don’t want to go, then we won’t.”

Song Xian frowned when Meng Ziqing didn’t react, a hint of annoyance flashing in her eyes.

She had forgotten.

Although her daughter looked like a little angel, her personality was somewhat solitary. Her classmates all liked to play with her, but she didn’t like playing with them.

Usually, people enthusiastically approached little Meng Ziqing’s cold shoulder, actively inviting her to do things, but little Meng Ziqing had never invited anyone herself.

And just now, she was asking little Meng Ziqing to be enthusiastic and invite an older sister who was cold and in a fragile mental state.

There was no need to make her own daughter get the cold shoulder just because the other daughter was pitiful. That would be slightly unfair to her daughter.

Song Xian thought…

Although it might seem selfish, it was only natural.

There was no need to compromise oneself because others were pitiful, especially since she didn’t cause the situation.

“Qingqing, if you don’t want to see the sister, how about you come with Mommy to the sunroom to sketch and draw?” Song Xian suggested a compromise.

“No…” Meng Ziqing shook her head.

Her subconscious was telling Meng Ziqing that she should refuse now and go see the motherless sister; if she didn’t go, she would regret it.

Moreover, right now, she didn’t want to stay with Ms. Song.

So, she decided to follow her subconscious thought.

The dream was too real, resurrecting a long-sleeping acquaintance, confusing her consciousness, blurring the line between illusion and reality.

Meng Ziqing was afraid, afraid that she would become addicted to this dream.

And stay in the dream as her mother’s child forever.

“Ms. Song, I want to go see that sister.” The little girl looked up; her pure black, clear eyes full of childish innocence. She smiled artlessly, looking exactly like an expensive doll in a display case, utterly beautiful.

“I remember that blue-eyed uncle was very handsome, so his daughter must be very pretty too,” little Meng Ziqing said, nodding earnestly. “I like to play with pretty people.”

Meng Ziqing had been an aesthetic enthusiast since childhood.

Song Xian was amused and tapped her nose. “The way you say that, a lot of students at school are fighting to play with you. Are you not playing with them because they aren’t pretty enough?”

“Yes…” Little Meng Ziqing agreed, nodding. She struggled to get down from Song Xian’s lap and pulled her hand. “I don’t like playing with them. I like staying with Ms. Song because Ms. Song is very pretty, and none of them are as good-looking as Ms. Song.”

Meng Ziqing began to pull her along, pretending to be impatient. “Let’s go, let’s go! Ms. Song, take me to find the pretty sister.”

Song Xian burst into laughter, holding her daughter’s hand as they walked next door, talking all the while with remarks like, “You are a smooth talker just like your father.”

The house next door was also a beautiful villa, decorated in a European style. Perhaps because they had just moved in, the lawn outside was somewhat overgrown. Instead of planting vegetables or flowers like other homes, it had become a playground for young weeds.

—It was clear the owner had neglected its upkeep recently.

When they reached the door next door, Song Xian still gave Meng Ziqing a couple of careful instructions.

“If you don’t feel comfortable interacting with that sister, just come back. Don’t force yourself to play with her.”

“The sister is quite depressed, so Qingqing, be mindful of her feelings when you play with her.”

As Ms. Song gave these instructions, she started to feel a little regretful.

Her own daughter was still a baby. She neither wanted the child to be hurt or wronged, nor did she want to worry the Qin family’s child.

She worried that Meng Ziqing’s careless remarks might worsen the sister’s mental state.

Her daughter was a child, but so was the other one.

She regretted it a lot; she was worried about both sides.

I shouldn’t have brought this up in the first place.

Song Xian had a headache.

But no matter how much her head hurt, they were already at the door, and her daughter was looking at her expectantly. She had to go in.

So, led by Song Xian, Meng Ziqing watched her chat with the blue-eyed uncle for a few moments, and then the blue-eyed uncle went upstairs.

In a moment, the sound of footsteps echoed from above.

Meng Ziqing turned her head at the sound, her eyes widening slightly in surprise.

The afternoon sun streamed in from the window by the stairs, a mixture of dust motes and sparkling gold, dazzling to the eye, like a veil covering the person descending. Light danced in her hair. Her pale hands, with their distinct bone structure, rested on the stair railing. Her hair was raven-black and reached her waist.

She looked young, but the childish innocence in her features was overshadowed by gloom. She appeared thin, with a pointed chin and a face even paler, devoid of color. Yet, none of this detracted from her beauty.

She was like a butterfly caught in a spider web, with a pale, near-death beauty.

The person walked down the stairs, gradually getting closer and closer to Meng Ziqing.

For a moment, Meng Ziqing seemed to see the crimson silk threads wrapped around her in a ball, tightly enveloping her. It looked like there was still a sliver of life, but in reality, it was just waiting for the prey to suffocate.

But that wasn’t the most important thing.

The most important thing was that this neighbor sister—

Was Qin Yue.