After A Secret Marriage Agreement With A Rival Omega - Chapter 39

Chapter 39

◎ This was the first time she felt Jian Jixing holding her hand. ◎

After Jian Jixing tightly wrapped the cashmere scarf around Sheng Ruxi’s neck, she naturally kept Sheng Ruxi by her side. Zou Xinjie wanted to speak, but strangely, she could never enter the flow of Jian Jixing and Sheng Ruxi’s conversation.

The two of them were bickering, talking quickly and a lot. It always felt like Sheng Ruxi was about to get angry the next second, but in the end, she never did.

“Director Jian, Director Xie, don’t we get one?” Zou Xinjie couldn’t help but chase after them to ask.

“This is the only finished product. It took some effort to buy. It’s brand new. How could I give it to an alpha like you?” Xie Ruizhang said. “When we were coordinating with the helicopter crew, we finally found this hidden village deep in the mountainside. The village is small, but it has a lot of agricultural products.”

The aerial photography only gave a general idea; manual assistance was needed. They went inside and saw that the place was very primitive. Every household had medicinal herbs drying in front of their doors. Many people couldn’t even speak Mandarin, and there were no proper roads here. But to support the government’s policy, the crew was tasked with bringing out their agricultural products to increase their income.

Among them, the young boy with the fox fur hat had very round eyes, about the same age as Pigeon. The old woman next to him must be his grandmother.

Jian Jixing gave a brief introduction, and Sheng Ruxi finally understood the situation. The boy was named Xiao Liang. He came out and ran into Jian Jixing’s group. The village chief and others later explained the situation, and he ended up leading the way for everyone.

Pigeon knew him and went over to greet him warmly. The two of them whispered in the local dialect for a while. Xiao Liang suddenly pushed Pigeon away, and Pigeon scoffed, “You’re crazy.”

Jian Jixing was still with Sheng Ruxi: “There’s not much left to film today. The rest seems to be for Zou Xinjie’s scenes. The helicopter’s part is done; we’ll wait for Xie Ruizhang to arrange it. Did you rest well just now?”

“No. It’s cold. How far did you walk? Didn’t you feel the lack of oxygen?” Sheng Ruxi wrapped the cashmere scarf tighter around herself. The scarf was very big and incredibly warm. Even though the color wasn’t what she liked, she was willing to keep it on.

After her neck was warm, the heat from her beating heart powerfully rushed up, gradually warming her cheeks.

Sheng Ruxi felt like her face was a little red, and she quickly hid it with the scarf.

“Cold? I thought you were having a fiery conversation with her. How could you be cold?” Jian Jixing teased. Sheng Ruxi gave her a speechless look. She really shouldn’t have expected any kind words to come out of this person’s mouth.

Sheng Ruxi let out a cold breath and then heard Zou Xinjie’s loud voice from the side: “What is this? Can you drink it?”

She looked over and saw that it was Xiao Liang, Pigeon, and his grandmother who had brewed hot milk tea for everyone. Zou Xinjie was holding a cup from Xie Ruizhang, sniffing it with a wrinkled brow.

It was a local salty milk tea. At first, Sheng Ruxi couldn’t get used to it at all and had complained to Jian Jixing about it. But when she heard the slightly disgusted tone in Zou Xinjie’s voice, she felt a little uncomfortable for some reason.

Gu Shengci’s face was a little pale. She brought two cups to Jian Jixing and Sheng Ruxi. Jian Jixing blew on hers a couple of times and drank it without changing her expression. After drinking, she looked at Sheng Ruxi, “You don’t have to force yourself if you don’t like it.”

“Don’t look down on me like that. I’m just waiting for it to cool down a bit. Don’t you know drinking things that are too hot is bad for your esophagus?” Sheng Ruxi held the cup to warm her hands, blowing on it from time to time.

Zou Xinjie took a sip from her cup and spat it out: “Oh my god, what is this flavor? Why is it so salty and sour?”

Jian Jixing and Sheng Ruxi said nothing, in a rare moment of silent agreement. Xiao Liang said, “If you take out the yogurt block, it won’t be sour. If you still don’t like it, you can add some of our local wild honey.”

Zou Xinjie felt a little choked up and couldn’t imagine how ridiculous the taste would become. She had thought the things put in her cup were cheese. Taking another sip felt like it was burning her throat.

“No, thank you.” Zou Xinjie politely didn’t say, “How on earth do you guys drink this?” She took another sip and still found it hard to swallow, her brow still furrowed.

She wanted some validation and thought Sheng Ruxi must feel the same way. But when she looked up, besides seeing Jian Jixing looking at her like she was an idiot, she also saw Sheng Ruxi drinking it calmly.

Sheng Ruxi said, “Zou Xinjie, if you don’t want to drink it, you can just keep quiet. Don’t look so miserable while drinking.”

“Why does this look so familiar?” Jian Jixing chuckled. “Don’t you know? When you first came, you disliked this stuff even more than she does.”

“What’s that sound? I think I heard a dog barking,” Sheng Ruxi said, sniffing her cup.

Gu Shengci said weakly, “Alright, you two, stop arguing… We still have to go up in a bit. The cliff and blue lake shots can’t be finished in one day, and we still haven’t found a good artist for the intro animation. It’s a headache just thinking about it.”

Sheng Ruxi said, “Why are you talking like that? Your face, too.”

Jian Jixing wanted to tell Gu Shengci to stop talking, but Gu Shengci leaned into Sheng Ruxi’s ear and said, “Jian Jixing only tells you the good news and hides the bad. We ran for a long distance just now and almost died.”

Sheng Ruxi: “?”

“We took the wrong path when we went to find the village and stumbled into a hunter’s trail. Xiao Liang mistook us for poachers. Do you know? An arrow whizzed right past Jian Jixing’s ear.”

The joking expression on Sheng Ruxi’s face froze. This wasn’t a joke.

Gu Shengci: “Of course, we ran! We were so scared. We all sprinted at once. While running, we were shouting that we weren’t bad people. I even fell. We later found out it was a misunderstanding.”

Running at high altitude—afterward, Gu Shengci felt she couldn’t catch her breath until they returned. Jian Jixing hid this little incident to avoid worrying the other staff members.

But if that arrow had been aimed a little straighter, she didn’t even want to think about it. It was the first time Gu Shengci had experienced something like this, but Jian Jixing’s calm demeanor made her feel like it wasn’t the first time she had been in such a life-or-death situation.

This is so dangerous! Why does she seem completely unconcerned?

On the way back, probably due to the panic and a sense of inexplicable worry, the accumulated stress led Gu Shengci to use up both of the oxygen tanks in her bag. She also took some medicine, but she still felt dizzy.

Jian Jixing bent down, and from somewhere, she pulled out another oxygen tank and put it in Gu Shengci’s hand: “Take a breath. This should shut you up, right? Talk less when you’re short of breath.”

Poachers had only started appearing on Snow Sheep Peak in the last two years. The villagers were furious about it. Xiao Liang happened to be guarding the area with his quiver, and Jian Jixing’s group ran right into him.

“Are you hurt?” Sheng Ruxi looked at Jian Jixing without even thinking, her other hand already ready to reach out.

“What, are you worried about me?” Jian Jixing looked back at her with a wry smile, still in her usual joking tone.

Gu Shengci was really tired of her. She didn’t say anything when they got back to avoid people worrying, but now that someone was genuinely worried about her, she started acting up!

Jian Jixing said, “It’s nothing. I wasn’t hit. She also said it just grazed my ear.”

Sheng Ruxi didn’t care about any of that and just reached out.

“Don’t move.” At this moment, she didn’t think too much, not allowing Jian Jixing to turn her head or step back. She reached out to push aside Jian Jixing’s loose hair and leaned in to look. There was a scraped wound on Jian Jixing’s ear.

“What are you doing? You knew you were hurt and didn’t put any medicine on it when you got back?” Sheng Ruxi didn’t even realize she had finished her milk tea. She grabbed Jian Jixing and asked Pigeon for the simple first-aid kit.

How much could a little scrape like this hurt? When the iodine was being applied, Jian Jixing thought to herself that it would scab over by tomorrow anyway. She didn’t care about these little scrapes and bumps on her body.

“I’m hurt. Shouldn’t you be mocking me? Why are you so angry?” Jian Jixing asked her, joking, “I was afraid you’d laugh at me, which is why I didn’t say anything.”

Sheng Ruxi directly pressed the cotton swab onto Jian Jixing’s wound. Jian Jixing winced and took a sharp breath.

She threw the cotton swab into the fire. Sheng Ruxi didn’t know where the anger came from, but seeing Jian Jixing be so careless with herself infuriated her.

She walked away, and the short rest period ended. This time, only Xie Ruizhang and Zou Xinjie went to the top with some staff to film some scenes. Jian Jixing and her team followed Granny Liang back to the village to settle in.

Sheng Ruxi didn’t speak to Jian Jixing at all on the way. She deliberately walked next to Gu Shengci.

This time, Jian Jixing walked at the very back of the group, slowly watching Sheng Ruxi’s slender back.

She touched the bandage on her ear, lowered her head, and curved her lips into a smile that no one saw.

—Sheng Ruxi and Gu Shengci probably didn’t have much to talk about, so she didn’t have to worry about Gu Shengci saying anything random.

In reality…

Sheng Ruxi only realized after walking next to Gu Shengci that Gu Shengci was also a long-time friend of Jian Jixing’s. One was a producer, the other a director, and they often collaborated on work in the industry.

Sheng Ruxi was someone who couldn’t hide things. She asked directly, “Do you know Jian Jixing well?”

Gu Shengci’s eyes widened in horror: “The way you’re asking, it makes me think you’re looking for a chance to get rid of her.”

“That’s not impossible,” Sheng Ruxi said with a strained smile. “Look at her annoying face. She doesn’t even say anything when she’s hurt. Has she always been like this, tormenting herself?”

“She’s always been this way, not one to speak out,” Gu Shengci said, taking a breath from the oxygen tank. “I guess this little injury is nothing to her. She has a high pain tolerance.”

Sheng Ruxi scoffed in her heart. High pain tolerance? How high could it be? If she really had a high pain tolerance, why did she always bring up the fact that she bit her a few times?

Her mind was still on the question Chu Wu had asked her. Without much thought, she asked, “Did she ever like anyone else after Wu Wu?”

Gu Shengci even forgot to take a breath from the oxygen tank: “Who, who else? She’s ruthless at work, and when she’s not working, you can’t find her unless she’s at an award ceremony. Wait, why don’t you ask her these things yourself?”

“Just tell me the truth,” Sheng Ruxi said. “Yan Fuzheng is my friend. You know her, right? She’s amazing at hand-drawn effects for your kind of film intros…”

“My ancestor, my ancestor, do you think I dare not tell you the truth?” Gu Shengci’s nerves were on high alert. “What do you want to ask? I’ll tell you everything.”

She looked back like a thief. Jian Jixing was following them at a distance that was neither too far nor too close. But Gu Shengci could tell that Jian Jixing’s attention had never left Sheng Ruxi.

Seeing Sheng Ruxi lost in thought, Gu Shengci even started to nervously recall if she and Jian Jixing had ever done anything inappropriate at any gatherings or dinners. As if facing a formidable enemy, she then heard Sheng Ruxi’s question after she was done thinking: “Does she really hate me?”

What… What the heck?! Gu Shengci felt like she was about to be stabbed with a knife but was only hit with cotton. She looked at Sheng Ruxi as if for the first time. After a few seconds of silence, she said with a strange expression, “You don’t have a fever, do you?”

Sheng Ruxi said, “I’m here to take you back to heaven.”

“You two are a couple, and your mouths are more poisonous than the other. Aren’t you afraid of poisoning yourselves?” Gu Shengci said. “I’ve never seen her let anyone ride a horse with her or ride her motorbike. That Meng Zhao just brushed against her car, and she wanted to get rid of it. If you consider bickering a form of hatred, then she’s only like that with you.”

Gu Shengci added, “Because no one else gets the chance to be like that in front of her. She doesn’t even give them a chance to talk. If it weren’t for Chu Wu, I’d suspect she likes you.”

Sheng Ruxi said “oh” and fell silent. Gu Shengci decided to be a good person all the way and was about to ask what the deal was between Sheng Ruxi and Zou Xinjie when many villagers appeared to greet them.

The village chief had heard that someone was almost hurt earlier and quickly gathered some villagers for a simple welcome ceremony. But the chief didn’t know what this director named “Jian Jixing” looked like. A large group of people came over excitedly, their voices a chaotic mix of “Welcome” and “Sorry,” and they kept asking:

“Where is Director Jian?”

Jian Jixing was at the back, blocked by many staff members. Even the villagers who came to greet them couldn’t recognize her, but Sheng Ruxi just turned her head and found her. Her gaze seemed to know exactly where to land on Jian Jixing, almost without searching.

“That’s her,” Sheng Ruxi pointed, and a group of people immediately surrounded Jian Jixing. One person said, “Welcome,” and another said, “We’re sorry,” a chaotic and lively scene that left Jian Jixing in the middle.

Jian Jixing started talking to the village chief, and Sheng Ruxi didn’t pay much attention.

She was observing Jian Jixing.

Jian Jixing’s expression was different when she talked to other people, with a subtle sense of detachment that felt unreal. But when she argued with her, she was very real, a person who was so alive that she made people incredibly angry.

New questions arose in her mind, piling on top of the old ones. Sheng Ruxi had never been so confused before because she still couldn’t find the answers.

She never used to let complicated matters stay in her head.

It wasn’t until Jian Jixing walked up to her that she finally heard what she was saying. Jian Jixing was making arrangements with the village chief, saying that the most comfortable wooden cabin should be given to Sheng Ruxi.

She touched the cashmere scarf still wrapped around her neck. It seemed that after Jian Jixing got closer, the temperature started to rise, and her ears felt the warmth.

As if to test something, Sheng Ruxi slowly took her hand out of her pocket.

Jian Jixing, who was still talking to the village chief, noticed this. She subtly took Sheng Ruxi’s hand and put it back in her warm pocket.

Sheng Ruxi then put her other hand next to Jian Jixing’s hand. This time, her hand was held by Jian Jixing, palm against the back of her hand.

Jian Jixing’s gaze didn’t move. She could see from her peripheral vision that Sheng Ruxi’s hands were being restless, as if they were playing a game with her.

Wasn’t she cold?

Didn’t she feel cold even when sitting by the fire?

Why was she taking her hands out? Knowing Sheng Ruxi was just being playful, she instinctively warmed Sheng Ruxi’s hands. Afraid that if she let go, Sheng Ruxi would still be restless, she didn’t let go.

During a break in the conversation, she glanced to the side and saw that the meaning in Sheng Ruxi’s eyes was easy to understand. It was a proud look that said, “You’ve fallen for me, haven’t you?” Her eyes were slightly upturned at the corners, like a bright moon about to curve into a smile.

Sheng Ruxi was a rare kind of docile. Besides her expression, she followed Jian Jixing all the way, walking right by her side.

Her gaze was fixed on their clasped hands. From time to time, Jian Jixing would switch her hand to warm another part of Sheng Ruxi’s.

This wasn’t the first time they had held hands. They had had physical contact before, at award ceremonies, meeting family, or during arguments.

But Sheng Ruxi felt that—

This was the first time she felt Jian Jixing was holding her. It was like a gentle pebble being dropped into a lake, and many ripples were spreading out in circles.